Abstract
Here we report an integrated study of zircon U-Pb age and Hf isotope composition for a gneiss sample from the Kongling terrain in the Yangtze Craton. CL imaging reveals that most zircons are magmatic, and a few of them have thin metamorphic rims. The magmatic zircons gave a weighted mean U-Pb age of 3218±13 Ma, indicating the gneiss is the oldest basement rock in the Yangtze Craton found to date. They have ɛ Hf(t) value of −2.33±0.51, and two-stage Hf model age of 3679±49 Ma, indicating that the gneiss was derived from partial melting of >3.6 Ga crustal rock. The metamorphic rims yielded an age of 2732±16 Ma, implying that the metamorphic event occurred in the Neoarchean era, which may be also a major tectono-thermal event in the Yangtze Craton.
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Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40772042, 90714010, 40873043 and 40821061) and the Ministry of Education of China (Grant Nos. IRT0441, B07039 and NCET-06-0659), and the Opening Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University
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Jiao, W., Wu, Y., Yang, S. et al. The oldest basement rock in the Yangtze Craton revealed by zircon U-Pb age and Hf isotope composition. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 52, 1393–1399 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-009-0135-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-009-0135-7