Early Paleozoic Arc Magmatism and Accretionary Orogenesis in the Indochina Block, Southeast Asia

Abstract

Southeast Asia plays a key role in the evolution of the eastern Tethys, which is characterized by accretion and amalgamation of numerous terranes since early Paleozoic. In the present study, an early Paleozoic granitoid sequence from the Kontum massif in the central Indochina block was investigated to reveal the early Paleozoic accretionary orogenesis of the eastern Tethys. Early Paleozoic Kontum granitoids include diorites and granites. Early Ordovician (485–473 Ma) Ben Giang diorites show high Mg#, Cr and Ni contents, and negative Nb-Ta and positive Pb anomalies as well as positive zircon ɛHf(t) values (+6.2 to +10), probably reflecting the melting of a metasomatized mantle wedge. Late Ordovician (457–453 Ma) Dien Binh hornblende-bearing diorites and granites exhibit low Mg#, Cr and Ni contents, and negative Nb-Ta and positive Pb anomalies as well as negative zircon ɛHf(t) values (−8.7 to −4.2), which is interpreted to reflect the reworking of ancient continental mafic crust during subduction. In contrast, the Silurian (422 Ma) Dai Loc muscovite-bearing granites are characterized by relatively high A/CNK and heavy rare earth element contents, and a negative Eu anomaly, corresponding to a typical S-type granite affinity. Their negative zircon ɛHf(t) values (−6.0 to +0.6) suggest that a petrogenesis linked to reworking of crustal sediments. In combination with the widespread occurrence of coeval high-pressure metamorphism, we suggest that an advancing accretionary orogenesis was responsible for the generation of the early Paleozoic magmatic arc in the Kontum massif. Such magmatic arc systems dominated the early Paleozoic evolution of the northern Gondwana margin during the subduction of the Proto-Tethys.