Unique Carboniferous-Permian tectonic-metallogenic framework of Northern Xinjiang (NW China): Constraints for the tectonics of the southern Paleoasian Domain

Abstract

The late Paleozoic tectonic-metallogenic framework of North Xinjiang of the southern Paleoasian Domain was characterized by a serious of Carboniferous-Permian events, including: (1) late Carboniferous-Permian Chinese Altay island arc and its metamorphism, granulite in the Chinese Altay, radiolarian chert and high-pressure/ultra-high-pressure metamorphism; (2) late Carboniferous-early Permian adakites, Alaskan-type mafic-ultramafic complexes, and calc-alkaline magmatism, together with porphyry copper deposits, which occurred in the North Xinjiang; and (3) late Carboniferous ophiolite and island arc volcanic rocks located in the Tian Shan. Combined with the facts that there was no typical foreland basin, no typical collisional-type granitoid, and there were large amount of strike-slip faulting, it is suggested that in the Carboniferous-early Permian North Xinjiang was characterized by the coexistence of compression-extension-strike-slip structures with active magmatism and metallogeny. These phenomena all indicate that there were active margins during the late Carboniferous-early Permian, leading to the notion that the complicated accretionary orogeny along the southern Paleoasian Domain may have lasted to the latest Carboniferous-Permian.

新疆北部晚古生代独特的构造一成矿作用以发育大量石炭纪一二叠纪构造一成矿事件为特征, 其中包括: (l) 发育于晚石炭世一二叠世的阿尔泰岛弧及其变质事件、阿尔泰麻粒岩与基性杂岩、西南天山放射虫硅质岩和高压一超高压一低压麻拉岩相变质事件; (2 )北疆发育的石炭纪(一二叠世)埃达克岩一高镁安山岩一富N d 玄武质岩组合、阿拉斯加型基性一超基性杂岩和大量的与俯冲相关的钙碱性岩浆活动与斑岩型铜矿床成矿作用; (3) 天山晚石炭世晚期蛇绿岩与岛弧火山岩等。结合北疆地区相关的前陆盆地发育不明显、碰撞型花岗岩欠发育与大量发育平行造山带大型走滑构造等现象, 可以认为新疆北部在石炭纪一二叠纪挤压一伸展一走滑并存, 岩浆活动与成矿作用活跃。这些新进展表明新疆北部在晚石炭世一二叠纪可能仍存在活动陆缘, 因此, 古亚洲洋构造域南部复杂增生造山作用最后延至晚石炭世晚期一二叠纪。