Palaeozoic tectonics and evolutionary history of the Qinling orogen: Evidence from geochemistry and geochronology of ophiolite and related volcanic rocks

The tectonic framework and the evolutionary history of the Qinling orogenic belt are keys for understanding the convergent processes between the North China and South China blocks. The widely exposed ophiolitic and subduction-related volcanic melange along the Shangdan and Erlangping belts provides important constraints on the tectonic evolutionary processes of the Qinling orogen. The melange in the Shangdan zone is predominantly composed of ultramafic and mafic rocks that can be divided into three geochemical groups: (1) N- MORB type; (2) E-MORB type; and (3) island-arc/active continental margin-related basalts. The samples with N- and E-MORB affinity are characterized by depletion or slight enrichment of LREE without fractionation of HFSE and no negative Nb–Ta anomaly. The island-arc/active continental margin-related basalts are typically depleted in Nb–Ta and Ti. It is inferred that the melange within the Shangdan suture represents remnants of an oceanic crust and associated volcanics. An age for the melange can be constrained by a U–Pb zircon age of 517.8 ± 2.8 Ma, obtained from the gabbro within the E-MORB-type ophiolite in the Yanwan area. To the north of the suture zone, the Erlangping melange consists similarly of ultramafic and mafic rocks, andesites and rhyolites. The mafic and andesitic rocks exhibit strong depletion of Nb–Ta and Ti indicating a subduction-related affinity. However, their depletion in Nb–Ta is weaker than that of the island-arc/active continental margin-related volcanic rocks. Taken together, the two ophiolitic melange zones indicate the existence of an early Palaeozoic Shangdan Ocean that was associated with a back-arc basin on the northern North Qinling Island arc terrane, separating the South China from the North China blocks.