A Paleoproterozoic ophiolitic mélange, Yangtze craton, South China: Evidence for Paleoproterozoic suturing and microcontinent amalgamation

We document for the first time the presence of a Paleoproterozoic ophiolitic mélange in the Archean–Paleoproterozoic Kongling Complex in the northern Huangling Dome, Yangtze craton, South China. Detailed field mapping, petrographic, geochronological and geochemical studies reveal that the mélange consists of a suite of amphibolite facies mafic and ultramafic tectonic blocks including serpentinized harzburgite, olivine pyroxenite, pyroxenite, diabase, gabbro and basalt dispersed in a strongly sheared metasedimentary matrix. The mélange displays polyphase deformation and northwest-verging nappe structures, and underwent amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism in the Paleoproterozoic (2.0–1.95Ga). The metasedimentary rocks are composed mainly of garnet-biotite-plagioclase gneiss, mica schist, mica-graphite schist, marble, quartzite, and banded iron formation (BIF). The mafic–ultramafic rock association shares the lithological and geochemical characteristics of Phanerozoic suprasubduction zone ophiolites. LA-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of zircons from the diabase yield ages between 2142 and 2148Ma for the magmatic cores and between 2042–2048Ma for the metamorphic rims. Zircon cores have ε Hf (t) values ranging from +5.4 to +10.3 (average=+7.2) with corresponding TDM1 ages of 2.24Ga, indicating that these rocks are remnants of juvenile crust derived from the depleted mantle at ca. 2.2Ga. All rock types in the mélange underwent Paleoproterozoic (2.0–1.95Ga) amphibolite–granulite facies metamorphism and were intruded by syn-metamorphic granite (∼2.0Ga), post-collisional (ca.1.85Ga) granite and mafic dykes. Intrusion age of one quartz monzonitic dyke crosscutting the serpentinized harzburgite is 1999Ma, constraining the minimum emplacement age of the mafic–ultramafic complex. The mafic–ultramafic rocks within the metasedimentary matrix in the northern Huangling Dome are fragments of a ca. 2.15Ga suprasubduction zone ophiolite that was incorporated into the suture zone during the accretionary-collisional process. The mélange recognized in the northern Yangtze craton provides important evidence for the Paleoproterozoic subduction and accretion processes possibly associated with the amalgamation of the proposed Columbia supercontinent.