Mesozoic granitoids in the structure of the Bezymyannyi metamorphic-core complex (western Transbaikalia)

Abstract

Abstract We performed geological, geochronological, and isotope-geochemical studies of two tectonized-granite bodies intruding the rocks of the lower plate of the Bezymyannyi metamorphic-core complex (MCC) (western Transbaikalia). The U–Pb zircon age of sheared granites sampled on the periphery of the Bezymyannyi MCC near the detachment zone is 202 ± 2 Ma (LA–ICP-MS). The U–Pb dating (SHRIMP-II) of zircon grains from gneissic granite intruding the rocks of the lower plate in the central zone of the Bezymyannyi MCC has yielded an age of 165 ± 2 Ma. The sheared granites dated at 202 Ma (Late Triassic) have low contents of Nb and Ta and high contents of Sr and Ba, probably inherited from magmatic subduction-related sources. These granites are characterized by εNd(T) = –3.7, which, along with the high contents of K2O and medium contents of Th, testifies to the presence of continental-crust material in their source. Thus, they formed, most likely, from a mixed mantle–crust source. The studied granites, like other Triassic igneous rocks in Transbaikalia, might have originated in the suprasubduction setting during the evolution of the active continental margin of the Siberian continent. The gneissic granites dated at 165 Ma (Middle Jurassic) have high contents of K2O, Rb, and Th, are depleted in Nb, and are characterized by εNd(T) = 0 and a negative Eu anomaly on the REE patterns. They formed, most likely, from an intermediate–felsic crustal source. These Middle Jurassic granites, like other small Jurassic granitoid massifs spatially associated with MCCs in western Transbaikalia, intruded in the western part of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean after its closure, during the change of the subduction regime for the collisional one. The studied Late Triassic granites of the Bezymyannyi MCC cannot be associated with MCCs in Transbaikalia because their intrusion was related to the subduction of the oceanic plate of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean beneath the Siberian continent. The Middle Jurassic granites of the Bezymyannyi MCC, together with other small Jurassic granitoid massifs, can be classified as prekinematic intrusions formed earlier than MCCs in western Transbaikalia. However, it is unlikely that their intrusion caused a large-scale crustal extension in Transbaikalia.