Diverse magmatism along the northern margin of Tarim during the Ediacaran: Transition from Rodinian dispersing to Gondwana assemblage

The Ediacaran igneous rocks and sedimentary sequences play a key role for our understanding the transition from dispersing of the Rodinian continents to the assemblage of the Gondwana. On the other hand, some continental massifs at the marginal area of the Rodinia and Gondwana could preserve solid evidences for deciphering the geodynamic background from the break-up of Rodinia to the assemblage of Gondwana. In this contribution, we report field observations, petrography, ages and systematic geochemistry of the diverse Ediacaran igneous activities in the northern margin of the Tarim Block, which was favored as a marginal continental massif in the Rodinia configuration by most geologists. The Ediacaran igneous rocks along the northern margin of Tarim include the Baicheng and Yangxia granites, Tiemenguan syenite, Kurle mafic dykes and the basalt layers in the Zamoketi Formation (northeastern Tarim) and the Sugetbrak Formation (northwestern Tarim). Precise zircon UPb dating revealed that these distinct rocks were broadly coeval with crystallization/eruption ages of 630–600 Ma. Bulk-rock elemental and SrNd isotope compositions as well as zircon LuHf isotope compositions demonstrate that the Baicheng and Yangxia granites were derived from Neoarchean mafic lower crust and underwent intensive fractionation before their emplacements. The Tiemenguan syenites have potassic andesitic compositions, in combination with their pronounced enriched NdHf isotopes and extremely high Zr saturation temperatures (∼900 °C), we argue that their possible shoshonitic primary magmas were derived from previously metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle source (amphibole-bearing) and then, coupling with assimilation and fractional crystallization (AFC) effects in magma chamber and/or en route to the emplacement space. This can account for their intriguing geochemical features. The ca. 615 Ma Zamoketi and Sugetbrak basalts and the slightly younger porphyrite dykes (ca. 580 Ma) cutting the Zamoketi basalt layer, show typical OIB-like geochemical signatures, they were most likely derived from a depleted asthenospheric mantle source with variable fractionation of olivine and pyroxene and negligible crustal contamination before eruption. On the whole, the geochemistry of the diverse Ediacaran igneous rocks unambiguously demonstrates that they were genetically related to an extensional environment. In combination with the significant passive continental features of the Ediacaran-Cambrian sedimentary sequences, we consider that these Ediacaran igneous rocks were the latest phase of igneous activity related to the dispersing of the Tarim at the margin of the Rodinia supercontinent.

The dispersing of the Rodinian supra-continent was diachronic with the assemblage of the Gondwana. Late Tonian to Ediacaran dispersing of the Tarim from northern margin of Australia induced the opening of the Proto-Tethys Ocean. Then the initiation of the southward subduction of the Proto-Tethys Ocean at ca. 530 Ma (Fortunian) led to the Tarim assemblage to Gondwana at ca. 440 Ma.