Abstract:
Middle Neoproterozoic carbonates are found in the western part of Shandong Pennisula (i.e., the Jiaobei terrane) that is located in the northwestern part of the Sulu orogen in east-central China. For the first time, a successful SHRIMP U-Pb dating, coupled with CL imaging, was conducted on two samples of impure marble from the Fenzishan Group in this tectonic unit. The results yield consistent ages of 786 ± 67 and 240 ± 44 Ma for igneous and metamorphic zircons, respectively. Positive δ13C values as high as +5.6‰ are measured for both pure and impure marbles, consistent not only with the worldwide Neoproterozoic limestones in connection with the Sturtian ice-age, but also with the marbles associated with UHP metamorphic eclogites in the Dabie orogen. O isotope fractionation between calcite and garnet from one sample gave a temperature of 680 °C, pointing to upper amphibolite-facies metamorphic conditions. These results indicate that protolith of the marbles is a kind of limestone that was synchronously deposited with volcaniclastic rocks in the mid-Neoproterozoic rift basin of continental margin. Like the UHP metamorphic rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt, both mid-Neoproterozoic magmatism and Triassic metamorphism are recorded in the impure marbles. Therefore, protolith of the impure marbles corresponds to the sedimentary limestone of rift basin developed during the mid-Neoproterozoic breakup of supercontinent Rodinia, but it was the sedimentary cover along the northern margin of the South China Block prior to its Triassic subduction. The occurrence of the mid-Neoproterozoic limestone with the Triassic metamorphism in the southern margin of the North China Block thus indicates tectonic overthrust by a crustal detachment between the sedimentary cover and the Precambrian basement during the continent subduction. As a result, the marbles in affinity to the South China Block were northward thrusted over the basement of the North China Block. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
