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Geochemistry and zircon ages of mafic dikes in the South Qinling, central China: evidence for late Neoproterozoic continental rifting in the northern Yangtze block

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Abstract

Neoproterozoic volcanic–sedimentary sequences of the southern Qinling belt, central China, were intruded by voluminous mafic dikes. secondary ion mass spectrometry zircon U–Pb dating indicates that these dikes were emplaced at 650.8 ± 5.2 Ma, coeval with mafic rocks occurring at the northern margin of the Yangtze block. The dikes are characterized by enrichment of large ion lithophile elements, high Ti contents (up to 3.73 wt%) and Nb/Ta ratios between 14.5 and 19.6, suggesting a mantle source of oceanic island basalt affinity. Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios show positive correlation with SiO2 contents and negative correlation with Zr/Nb ratios, implying that these rocks were affected by crustal contamination during the magma ascend and emplacement process. The dikes have initial ε Nd values of +0.2 to +3.3, low 206Pb/204Pb ratios of 16.96–17.45, and moderate 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.7043–0.7076, likely pointing to the involvement of an enriched mantle source. The mafic dikes and coeval mafic volcanic equivalents in the South Qinling and the northern Yangtze are hypothesized to be related with the prolonged breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, suggesting that continental rifting lasted until ca. 650 Ma.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41202140 and 41372072) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB416606) and the MOE Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China Institute of Technology (Grant NRE1201). We sincerely thank W. Siebel and an anonymous reviewer for constructive suggestions for manuscript improvement, Q.-L. Li, G.-Q. Tang, P. Xiao, Z.-H. Hou and H.-Y. Wang for help during analyses and H.-Z. Wang, J.-L. Wu, X.-D. Ma, W. Wang for helpful discussion during microscopic work.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xiyan Zhu & Mingguo Zhai

  2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Xiyan Zhu

  3. Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Fukun Chen, Bingxiang Liu & He Zhang

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Zhu, X., Chen, F., Liu, B. et al. Geochemistry and zircon ages of mafic dikes in the South Qinling, central China: evidence for late Neoproterozoic continental rifting in the northern Yangtze block. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 104, 27–44 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1056-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1056-z

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