Metabasites consisting of metamorphic ultra-mafic rocks, cumulate gabbro, gabbro (diabase), basalt, and plagiogranite are exposed at the Taoxinghu area in central Qiangtang, northern Tibetan Plateau. Zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating for the cumulate gabbro yields a weighted mean age of 467±4 Ma, which is the oldest and most reliable magmatic age in this area. Zircon 176Hf/177Hf ratios range from 0.282615 to 0.282657, with εHf(t) values of 5.02±0.28, indicating that the cumulate gabbro was mainly derived from the depleted mantle. In addition, geochemical data of metabasites suggest that they have similar characteristics to those in the mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). The Taoxinghu metabasites may represent the fragment of Early Paleozoic ophiolite in the "Central Uplift" of the Qiangtang, northern Tibetan Plateau.
ZHAI QingGuo1 WANG Jun1, LI Cai2 & SU Li3 1 Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
In the "Central Uplift" of Qiangtang,Northern Tibet,a large scale of mafic dyke swarms extended in E-W direction.Zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating on two representative samples of diabase dyke yield weighted mean ages of 284 ± 3 Ma and 302 ± 4 Ma,respectively,suggesting they emplaced in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian.Zircon 176Hf/177Hf ratios range from 0.282852 to 0.283041,with εHf(t) values of +12.1 to +12.2 and Hf modal(TDM) ages of ～440―460 Ma.These data indicate that these mafic dykes were mainly derived from the depleted mantle.In addition,geochemical data suggest that these mafic dyke swarms are ofintra-plate origin.Therefore,the mafic dyke swarms represent products during the extensional process associated with the opening of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean in the area.
