Tectonic setting and geochronology of the Cadomian (Ediacaran-Cambrian) magmatism in Central Iran, Kuh-e-Sarhangi region (NW Lut Block)

• Cadomian (Ediacaran-Cambrian) tranpressional tectonics and pluton emplacement in Central Iran.
• The exhumed roots of the Cadomian magmatic arc are exposed in Central Iran.
• An oblique subduction setting for the terminal assembly of northern Gondwana.

The structure, age and petrogenesis of plutonic basement rocks from the Kuh-e-Sarhangi region, located in the Kashmar-Kerman tectonic zone of Central Iran are described. These intrusive rocks consist of a sub-alkaline, dominantly high-K calc-alkaline acidic suite, characterised by high SiO2 (72.60–77.17 wt%), and alkalis (up to 8 wt%) and low Mg# (07-35). They are also enriched in Th, U and light rare earth elements, and depleted in Nb, Ta, and Ti, thus showing a geochemical fingerprint compatible with arc magmatism. The U–Pb zircon geochronology constrains magma crystallisation and emplacement during Ediacaran-Cambrian (ca. 575–535 Ma) times, under a tectonic regime dominated by transpressional tectonics as constrained by analysis of field structures. Combined inverse and forward modelling thermobarometry indicates pluton emplacement occurred in a thickened crustal environment, suggesting the Kuh-e-Sarhangi magmatic belt exposes the exhumed roots of a volcanic arc. This magmatism is interpreted as part of the Cadomian, subduction-related magmatism and framed within an oblique convergence scenario during formation of an Andean-type active margin all along the northern (proto-Tethyan) margin of the Gondwana Supercontinent.