Mafic dykes are observed in the Korla region along the northern Tarim Block, NW China. Our sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U–Pb zircon ages, the first determined for these dykes, indicate that the mafic dykes were mainly formed at 650–630 Ma, and thus document the youngest known igneous activity associated with rifting in the Tarim Block during the Neoproterozoic. Combined with previous geochronological data, at least three pulses of magmatic activity, from
c
. 830 to 800 Ma, from
c
. 790 to 740 Ma and from
c
. 650 to 630 Ma, are recognized, which reveal that multiple episodes of rifting occurred within the Tarim Block, implying that the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent in the Tarim Block may have been a long-lasting process.
The widely exposed Kuluketage diabase dyke swarm, Tarim Block, NW China, has been considered to have been emplaced in Permian times. New precise zircon U-Pb SHRIMP ages for two samples from the dyke swarm yield Neoproterozoic ages of 823.8 ± 8.7 Ma and 776.8 ± 8.9 Ma. Correlated with peaks of magmatism in South China and Australia at c. 825 Ma and c. 780 Ma, these two new ages provide significant information for palaeocontinental reconstructions. The prolonged duration of the magmatic events, combined with regional stratigraphic relationships, imply that the Tarim Block may have been affected by a mantle plume during the breakup of Rodinia.
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