The Late Carboniferous Mafic–Ultramafic Complex Induced by Slab Breakoff in Eastern North Tianshan, Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Abstract

The Late Carboniferous to Early Permian is a critical period of the Chinese Tianshan, witnessing the tectonic transition from subduction to post-collisional extension during the final amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The late Carboniferous Mozbaysay mafic–ultramafic complex in the Qijiaojing–Balikun area, eastern North Tianshan, provides important clues for revealing the nature and timing of this tectonic transition. The Mozbaysay complex comprises mainly hornblende gabbros and lherzolites. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon ages of hornblende gabbro yielded a weighted mean age of 306 ± 1.9 Ma for this complex. These mafic–ultramafic rocks have high contents of MgO (up to 30 wt.%), Cr (up to 2493 ppm), and Ni (up to 1041 ppm), but low contents of SiO2 (40.34–47.70 wt.%). They are enriched in LREE and show characteristics of enriched mid-ocean ridge basalts (E-MORB). The relatively high Th/Yb and Ba/Nb ratios imply the mantle sources could have been metasomatized by slab–mantle interaction with aqueous fluids from dehydration of the subducted slab. Thus, these mafic–ultramafic rocks were most likely produced by partial melting of the asthenospheric and lithospheric mantle with a slight influence of slab-derived fluids. Therefore, we suggest that the formation of these Late Carboniferous mafic–ultramafic rocks was triggered by the decompression-induced influx of asthenospheric heat and melting through a slab window during post-collisional slab breakoff. Combined with geological data, the petrogenetic links of the Late Carboniferous mafic–ultramafic rocks in eastern North Tianshan to slab breakoff suggest that the tectonic transition from convergence to post-collision most likely initiated in situ at ca. 306 Ma and lasted to ca. 300 Ma.