Petrology and geochemistry of late Carboniferous hornblende gabbro from the Awulale Mountains, western Tianshan (NW China): Implication for an arc–nascent back-arc environment

• The Wuling hornblende gabbro was emplaced in the late Carboniferous (313 Ma ± 3 Ma).
• The Wuling gabbro has a mixed source between the MORB-like mantle and the arc mantle.
• An arc–nascent back-arc system occurred between Nalati and Awulale around 313 Ma.

The Awulale Mountains, the conjunction point of the Tarim Plate, Junggar Plate and Yili-Central Tianshan Block, are the crucial place to decipher the tectonic evolution of the western Tianshan. We report results of petrologic, whole-rock geochemical, Sr–Nd isotopic data and in-situ zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopes for the Wuling (poikilitic) hornblende gabbro from the Awulale Mountains, western Tianshan. Two stage crystallization processes are applied to interpret its mineral composition. Zircon U–Pb ages indicate that the Wuling hornblende gabbro was emplaced during the late Carboniferous (313 Ma ± 3 Ma). The Wuling hornblende gabbro is characterized by tholeiitic affinity with low 87Sr/86Sr ratios, positive εNd(t) and zircon εHf(t) values, resembling its coeval mafic rocks in the Awulale Mountains. They are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILEs) and depleted in high field strength elements (HFSEs), indicating a subduction-related setting for their generation and their mantle source were mainly fluxed by fluids released by the down-going slab. The flat REE and depleted Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic signatures imply a shallow and heterogeneous mantle source with the involvement of a deep MORB-like component. We propose that an arc–nascent back-arc system had been developed between the Nalati Mountains and the Awulale Mountains during the late Carboniferous, where the magma derived from decompression melting of MORB-like mantle caused by the slab roll-back and flux-induced melting of mantle wedge were both contributed to their generation. The arc-type features of them were inherited from the strong subduction input at the initiation of back-arc rifting. However, the back-arc rifting ceased at the end of late Carboniferous because of the compressional stress from the collision between the Tarim Plate and the Yili-Central Tianshan Block.