Citation: | Ya-ying Wang, Ling-sen Zeng, Ling-hao Zhao, Li-e Gao, Jia-hao Gao, Zhao-ping Hu, Hai-tao Wang, Guang-xu Li, Ying-long Di, Yu Shen, Qian Xu, 2020. Baddeleyite and zircon U-Pb ages of the ultramafic rocks in Chigu Tso area, Southeastern Tibet and their constraints on the timing of Comei Large Igneous Province, China Geology, 3, 262-268. doi: 10.31035/cg2020017 |
A suite of ultramafic and mafic rocks developed in the Chigu Tso area, eastern Tethyan Himalaya. Baddeleyite and zircon U-Pb ages acquired by SIMS and LA-ICP-MS from olivine pyroxenite rocks in the Chigu Tso area are 138.9±3.0 Ma and 139.0±1.9 Ma, respectively. These two Early Cretaceous ages are similar with the ages of the more abundant mafic rocks in the eastern Tethyan Himalaya, indicating that this suite of ultramafic and mafic rocks in the Chigu Tso area should be included in the outcrop area of the Comei Large Igneous Province (LIP). These ultramafic rocks provide significant evidence that the involvement of mantle plume/hot spot activities in the formation of the Comei LIP. Baddeleyite U-Pb dating by SIMS is one reliable and convenient method to constrain the formation time of ultramafic rocks. The dating results of baddeleyite and zircon from the olivine pyroxenite samples in this paper are consistent with each other within analytical uncertainties, suggesting that baddeleyite and zircon were both formed during the same magmatic process. The consistency of baddeleyite U-Pb ages in the Chigu Tso area with zircon U-Pb ages for a large number of Early Cretaceous mafic rocks in the eastern Tethyan Himalaya further support that zircon grains from such mafic rocks yielding Early Cretaceous ages are also magmatic in origin.
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a–Sketch tectonic map of the east-central Tethyan Himalaya and eastern India showing the present locations of the Comei LIP (Zhu DC et al., 2008); b–simplified geologic map showing spatial extent and distributions of igneous rocks of the remnant Comei LIP (Zhu DC et al., 2009) and the location of the Chigu Tso complex.
Field photographs (a) (b) and microphotographs (c) (d) showing the outcrop and mineral assemblage of ultramafic olivine pyroxenites in Chigu Tso area. Ol–olivine, Opx–orthopyroxene.
a–Cathodoluminescence (CL) images of zircon grains; b–back-scattered electron (BSE) images of baddeleyite grains from the olivine pyroxenites in the Chigu Tso area.
U-Pb concordia (a) and age distribution (b) diagrams for LA-ICP-MS zircon analytical results; U-Pb concordia (c) age distribution (d) diagrams for SIMS baddeleyite analytical results from the olivine pyroxenites in the Chigu Tso area.