Jurassic Igneous Activity in the Yuseong Area on the Southern Margin of the Gyeonggi Massif, Korean Peninsula, and Its Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of Northeast Asia during the Jurassic

Abstract

Jurassic dioritic to granitic igneous rocks extensively intrude into the southern Korean Peninsula, including the Yuseong area located at the boundary between the southern margin of the Gyeonggi Massif and the northern margin of the Okcheon Belt. In this study, the petrogenesis and sources of Jurassic igneous rocks in the Yuseong area were investigated. The U–Pb zircon age data from the Jurassic plutonic rocks in the Yuseong area give two igneous ages, ca. 178–177 Ma and 169–168 Ma, indicating that two stages of igneous activity occurred in the Yuseong area during the Jurassic. The geochemical characteristics of Jurassic diorites indicate that they originated from enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB; Nb/Yb = 5.63–7.27; Zr/Yb = 118–156). The enriched Th/Yb ratios (5.5–8.0) in the diorites imply that they experienced crustal contamination during magma ascent. The Jurassic granitoids in the Yuseong area are divided into I- and S-type granites. The Jurassic I-type granitoids may have formed via the partial melting of mafic rocks with mixtures of 10–40% pelite-derived melt, while the S-type granites originated from felsic pelite. The Jurassic diorites have low Nb/Th ratios with depletion of the Nb and Ta components, indicating that they formed in a volcanic arc tectonic environment. On the other hand, the Jurassic granitoids show two different tectonic environments: a volcanic arc, and a syncollisional environment. The granites with syncollisional character are S-type granites, and may give incorrect information about tectonic setting because of the changes in the trace elements of the S-type granite due to fractional crystallization. Early Jurassic (200–190 Ma) igneous rocks are distributed only in the southeastern Korean Peninsula, including the Yeongnam Massif; Jurassic igneous rocks formed at ca. 190–180 Ma occur mainly in the Okcheon Belt and southern Gyeonggi Massif, which includes the Yuseong area. Middle Jurassic igneous rocks widely intruded from the Okcheon Belt, through the Gyeonggi and Nangrim massifs in the Korean Peninsula, to the Liaoning area in the North China Craton at 180–160 Ma. This distribution pattern of the Jurassic granitoids suggests that flat subduction started after 180 Ma in Northeast Asia.