Geochronology of khondalite-series rocks of the Jining Complex: confirmation of depositional age and tectonometamorphic evolution of the North China craton

Abstract

A belt of khondalite-series rocks in the Western Block of the North China craton (NCC) are considered to represent products of the collision between the north Yinshan and the south Ordos terranes before final amalgamation of the NCC basement. The Jining Complex of Inner Mongolia occurs in the eastern part of the Khondalite Belt and is crosscut by the Trans-North China Orogen. Khondalite rocks of the Jining Complex mainly comprise sillimanite-garnet gneiss, garnet/sillimanite-bearing granite, massive porphyritic granite, garnet quartzite, calc-silicate, and marble with minor felsic gneiss and mafic granulite. LA-ICP-MS, U-Pb dating and cathodoluminescence (CL) image analysis of zircons from five rocks from the complex, i.e. Sil-Bt-Grt leptynite gneiss, Spl-Sil-Ksp-Grt vein in (Crd)-Sil-Grt gneiss, Sil-Grt-K-Fsp mylonite from a shear zone, Crd-bearing Sil-Grt gneiss, and granite were used to determine protolith and metamorphic ages of the khondalite-series rocks. Results of 315 detrital zircon grains indicate five age populations: 2410-2550 Ma, 2162 Ma, 2047-2099 Ma, 1950-1993 Ma, and 1866 Ma. CL investigation reveals that zircon grains of most samples are rounded, unzoned with low Th/U, indicating a metamorphic origin, whereas quite a few grains in some rocks are characterized by magmatic oscillatory zoning and comparatively high Th/U, and are typically overgrown by metamorphic, low CL rims with low Th/U. Three samples of Sil-Bt-Grt gneiss record oldest ages of 2550-2480 Ma, suggesting an Archaean/early Palaeoproterozoic provenance for the Jining Complex. Ages of 2162-2047 Ma are interpreted as the metamorphic modified inherited source of supercrustal protoliths of the khondalite-series rocks. The khondalite depositional age is defined as 2228-2027 Ma by concordant ages obtained in this research. The Sil-Ksp-Grt vein and the granite have single population ages of 1985 +/- 28 Ma and 1957 +/- 19 Ma, respectively, and are inferred to record the same metamorphic event, i.e. formation of the Khondalite Belt within the Western Block owing to the collision of the north Yinshan and the south Ordos terranes. The Sil-Grt-K-Fsp mylonite yields a single group age of 1866 +/- 22 Ma, which may date final suturing of the Eastern Block and the Western Block and stabilization of the NCC.