Formation ages and source regions of the Palaeoproterozoic Gaofan,Hutuo and Dongjiao groups in the Wutai and Dongjiao areas of the North China Craton from SHRIMP U-Pb dating of detrital zircons: Resolution of debates over their stratigraphic relationships

This paper reports detrital zircon age distributions of meta-sedimentary rocks of the Gaofan, Hutuo and Dongjiao groups in the Wutai and Dongjiao areas of the North China Craton. Detrital zircons of a quartzite from the Gaofan Group are mainly ~2.5 Ga in age, with some ~2.7 Ga and older. A quartzite pebble from the basal conglomerate of the Hutuo Group is similar in detrital zircon age distribution to the quartzite of the Gaofan Group. For a meta-feldspar-quartz sandstone from the Dongjiao Group, the age of...     

A new interpretation of the tectonic setting and age of meta-basic volcanics in the Ondor Sum Group, Inner Mongolia

The Ondor Sum Group in the central Inner Mongolia is mainly composed of meta-basic volcanics intercalated with ferruginous quartzite and quartz schist, and has been interpreted as slices of oceanic crust or an ophiolite suite of the Early Paleozoic or much older ages. This paper presents new LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating and geochemical data for the meta-basic volcanics. The results show that zircons in the meta-basic volcanics were derived from complicated sources, most of which may be captured by basic magma from the country rocks or other sources. They yield a large age range from the Late Archean to Early Mesozoic with the youngest age group between 246 and 261 Ma, constraining the protolith of the meta-basic volcanics formed in the Late Permian to Early Triassic. The meta-basic volcanics have an affinity to E-MORB in geochemistry, and also a similarity toward OIB, representing a tectonic setting of limited intra-continental ocean basin. This limited basin might have been related to the continuous extension of the area since the Early Permian and finally closed in the Early Mesozoic.