Building an island-arc crustal section: Time constraints from a LA-ICP-MS zircon study

Geochronological studies of samples from continuous crustal sections of fossil intra-oceanic arcs are paramount for determining the precise timing of major processes that took place during the building of an oceanic island-arc crust. In this study, laser ablation ICP-MS U–Pb zircon (and conventional Rb–Sr) analyses pinpoint the timing of major events responsible for crustal growth of the Kohistan paleo-island arc (Northern Pakistan). Inheritance in magmatic rocks is evidence for recycling of intra-arc material and indicates that the Kohistan arc may have formed as early as 135 ± 4 Ma. One older inherited grain indicates that the arc developed on a young oceanic lithosphere whose remnants include a c. 175 Ma old component. An interesting consequence is that intra-oceanic arc magmas can yield inherited zircons, which can be much older than the arc system itself without requiring recycling back into the mantle by subduction processes. In the case of the Kohistan arc, ante-arc Neotethys oceanic lithosphere was tapped by arc magmas during their way upward into the arc crust. The oldest magmatic ages measured in this study fall in the range 101–102 Ma (100.9 ± 0.6 and 102.1 ± 0.4 Ma). This period corresponds to arc build-up and thickening of the arc crust. Leucogranitic melts dated at 89.9 ± 0.4 Ma and 90.9 ± 1.0 Ma are considered as produced by dehydration/melting reaction accompanying granulitisation of the thickened lower arc crust. A maximum age for this event is 97.7 ± 0.7 Ma, the age of emplacement of a garnet meta-tonalite affected by granulite facies metamorphism. Magmatic activity was still ongoing during and after the granulitisation as testified by emplacement of a diorite and a gabbro dated at 89.1 ± 0.6 and 88.2 ± 0.9 Ma respectively. The upper part of the metaplutonic sequence contains diorite samples dated at 84.6 ± 0.5 Ma and 84.3 ± 0.5 Ma and as young as 81.1 ± 0.7 Ma. During this period, and based on the present day outcropping sequences, the mean crustal growth rate varied from 32 to 65 km3/km/Ma (volume per unit width along the strike of the arc) which is comparable to the range for present day arcs of the Western Pacific region. The correspondence of crustal growth rates observed for present-day island arcs and the good preservation of the crustal section in the Kohistan arc, make this area an exceptional natural laboratory to study arc related processes and to check models of continental crust formation by arc accretion.

► U–Pb and REE zircon analyses from the crustal section of the Kohistan island arc.
► The arc formed as early as 135 Ma on an 175 Ma old oceanic lithosphere.
► Leucogranites formed at 90 Ma by granulitisation of the thickened lower arc crust.
► The intra-oceanic evolution lasted until 81 Ma.
► Crustal growth rates are comparable to those observed for present-day island arcs.