Geochronology, Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of the Intermediate and Acid Dykes in Linzhou Basin, Southern Tibet

Abstract:

The Linzizong volcanic succession (also called Linzizong Group, ~65-45 Ma), which occurred in southern Gangdese magmatic belt in response to the collision processes between India and Eurasia continents, have been well studied in the Linzhou Basin, to the northeast of Lhasa. Our research obtains some new results of zircon U-Pb, Hf isotopic data, and whole rock major and trace elements geochemical data of the intermediate (diorite porphyry) to acid (granite porphyry) dykes intruded into the Linzizong volcanics in Linzhou Basin. These dykes intruded into Dianzhong and Nianbo formations of Linzizong Group. All the samples are sub-alkaline, varying from calc-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline series. They are peraluminous (A/CNK>1.1). The diorite porphyry, intruded in 62.4Ma with positive zircon Hf isotopes (ε_Hf(t)=+5.1~+7.6), have similar composition to the andesitic rocks from Dianzhong Formation. The granite porphyries, intruded between 55.1Ma and 61.1Ma, with ε_Hf(t) ranging from -1.1 to +10.4, have comparable composition with the rhyolitic Nianbo Formation. A series of evidences, including: (1) the samples have positive, mantle-like Hf feature (average ε_Hf(t)=+5.9 of 86 samples); (2) wide-range variation of ε_Hf(t) in samples (3.5~8.8 ε units in the four granite porphyries), which implying an inhomogeneous source regions; (3) magma-mixing trend in the plots of FeO^T against MgO, suggesting that the magma-mixing processes that have taken place in the southern Gangdese belt, can also be applied to explain the origin of these dykes in Linzhou Basin. The dykes intruded coeval or shortly later than their equivalent volcanic rocks (Dianzhong and Nianbo formations), are in the transitional settings from subduction of Tethyan oceanic crust to the collisional between India and Eurasia continents.