SHRIMP zircon U-Pb geochronology of Indosinian granites in Hunan Province and its petrogenetic implications

The structure, magmatism and sedimentation within the South China Block (SCB) related to the Indosinian Orogeny had attracted considerable attention since De-prat1] and Fromagat2] proposed the “Indosinian move-ment” based on two unconformities between Pre-Norian and Pre-Rhaetian during Triassic in Vietnam. However, Indosinian tectonic evolution of the SCB has been long debated3―6]. Some researchers believed that the compli-cated structure-magmatism-sedimentation within the SCB w…

SHRIMP zircon U-Pb geochronology of Indosinian granites in Hunan Province and its petrogenetic implications

The SHRIMP zircon U-Pb geochronology of three typically Indosinian granitic plutons with peraluminous and potassium-rich affinities (Tangshi ultraunit for Weishan and Baimashan, and Longtan ultraunit for Guandimiao) is presented in Hunan Province, South China. The analyses of zircons from biotite monozonite granites for Weishan, Baimashan and Guandimiao plutons show the single and tight clusters on the concordia, and yield the weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 244 ± 4, 243 ± 3 and 239 ± 3 Ma, respectively, representing the crystallized ages of these Indosinian granites. These data suggest that the Indosinian granitic plutons as previously thought formed at a narrow age span. In combination with other data, it is inferred that the Indosinian granites within the South China Block probably distributed in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces as planar shape, and were the derivation of the crustal materials in the intracontinental thickening setting. These precisely geochronological data provide important constraints for better understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of the Indosinian peraluminous granites and early Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the South China Block.