Early Mesozoic granitoid and rhyolite magmatism of the Bureya Terrane of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Age and geodynamic setting

• We studied the “key-type” Early Mesozoic magmatic rock of the Bureya Terrane.
• The age of the leucogranites and the trachyrhyolites are coeval (~ 209–208 Ma).
• The subalkaline leucogranites have a younger age of ~ 199 Ma.
• The Early Mesozoic events have been related to the amalgamation of continental massifs.

Early Mesozoic granitoids and volcanic rocks are widespread throughout the structures of all of the continental massifs in the eastern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, although its tectonic setting is not yet clear. Generally, they are associated with subduction and plume processes or rifting. Such uncertainty is mostly explained by the unequal investigation of Early Mesozoic magmatism. This paper presents the results of geochemical, Sm-Nd isotope, and U–Pb geochronologic (ID-TIMS) studies of “key-type” Early Mesozoic magmatic rock complexes of the Bureya Terrane. This is one of the largest continental massifs in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt and knowledge of its geological structure is of fundamental importance in understanding the history of its formation. It has been established that the leucogranites of the Altakhtinsky Complex and the trachyrhyolites of the Talovsky Complex are practically coeval (~ 209–208 Ma). The subalkaline leucogranites of the Kharinsky Complex have a slightly younger age of ~ 199 Ma. These data correspond to the general stage of Early Mesozoic magmatic and metamorphic events (236–180 Ma) in most continental massifs in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. We believe that large-scale Early Mesozoic events were related to the amalgamation of the continental massifs of the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt into a single continental structure (the Amur superterrane or microcontinent Amuria) and collision with the North Asian Craton. It should be noted that the collision processes were followed by crustal thickening, thus creating the conditions for metamorphism and formation of magmatic rock complexes of various geochemical types.