Age Distribution of Detrital Zircons in the Psammitic Schist of the Sanbagawa Belt, Southwest Japan

Abstract

We measured the 206Pb/238U age distribution of detrital zircons in five psammitic schist samples from the Sanbagawa Belt in east-central Shikoku and the western Kii Peninsula to constrain their depositional age. The age-distribution diagrams for the five psammitic schist samples all show that detrital zircons of 100 to 90 Ma are most abundant and the age of the youngest zircon in each sample is less than 80 Ma. Considering the age of the retrogressive metamorphism of these psammitic schists, ca. 80-60 Ma, the protoliths age of the psammitic schists is constrained to 75-70 Ma, correlative to the age of the sandstone of the Middle Shimanto Belt (Yanai, 1984). A similar age-distribution has already been reported for two psammitic schist samples from the Central Unit of the Sanbagawa Belt in the Kanto Mountains (Tsutsumi et al., 2009). Thus the Sanbagawa Belt is most widely occupied by metamorphic rocks originating from rocks of the Middle Shimanto Belt. We also measured the 206Pb/238U age distribution of detrital zircons in Turonian sandstone from the Northern Shimanto Belt in the central Kii Peninsula. The age-distribution diagram shows that detrital zircons of around 128 Ma are most abundant and the age of the youngest zircon in the sample is about 100 Ma. A similar age-distribution has already been reported from a psammitic schist sample from the Southern Unit of the Sanbagawa Belt in the Kanto Mountains, overlying the Central Unit (Tsutsumi et al., 2009). The protolith age is still younger than the metamorphic age of the eclogites in central Shikoku, ca. 120-110 Ma (Okamoto et al., 2004), which occupy the uppermost portion of the Sanbagawa Belt. Although some previous studies suggested that the Sanbagawa Belt consists of metamorphosed Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous accretionary complex, the present study shows that the belt is largely occupied by metamorphosed Late Cretaceous rocks: the Shimanto Metamorphic Rocks of Aoki et al. (2007). As a result, the Sanbagawa Belt consists of the following three units with different protolith ages: (1) Lower Unit of Shimanto Metamorphic Rocks with protoliths ages of 75-70 Ma and metamorphic ages of 70-60 Ma, (2) Upper Unit of Shimanto Metamorphic Rocks with protoliths ages of 95-85 Ma and metamorphic ages of 85-75 Ma, and (3) Sanbagawa Metamorphic Rocks (s.s.) with protoliths ages of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous and metamorphic ages of 120-110 Ma. The protoliths of the Upper and Lower units of the Shimanto Metamorphic Rocks are most likely rocks of the Northern Shimanto and Middle Shimanto belts, respectively.