Late Triassic bimodal igneous rocks in eastern Heilongjiang Province, NE China: Implications for the initiation of subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia

• Late Triassic bimodal igneous rocks are identified in Northeast China.
• Late Triassic igneous rocks formed in an extensional environment.
• The subduction of Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia happened after Late Triassic.

This paper reports new zircon LA–ICP–MS and SIMS U–Pb ages and Hf isotope data, and whole-rock major and trace element data for Late Triassic igneous rocks of eastern Heilongjiang Province, NE China. These data provide new insights into the timing of the initiation of subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian continent. The zircon U–Pb age data indicate that a suite of Late Triassic (228–202 Ma) igneous rocks is present within the Songnen–Zhangguangcai Range Massif and within the western margin of the Khanka Massif. The Late Triassic igneous rocks within the Songnen–Zhangguangcai Range Massif consist of basalts, basaltic andesites, gabbro-diabases, and rhyolites, whereas coeval igneous rocks in the western margin of the Khanka Massif consist of hornblende gabbros and syenogranitic porphyries. These Late Triassic rocks constitute a geochemically bimodal igneous rock association that contains mafic rocks enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) and large ion lithophile elements (LILE), and depleted in heavy rare earth elements (HREE) and high field strength elements (HFSE) such as Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, and Ti. Zircons from these mafic rocks have εHf (t) values and TDM1 ages of +2.8 to +9.8 and 477–733 Ma, respectively, suggesting that they formed from a primary magma generated by the partial melting of depleted lithospheric mantle material that had been previously modified by subduction-related fluids. The coeval felsic rocks are characterized by enrichments in LREEs and LILEs, and depletions in HREEs and HFSEs (including Nb, Ta, and Ti), and their zircons have εHf (t) values and TDM2 ages of +0.6 to +7.9 and 766 to 1461 Ma, respectively, implying that these rocks were generated during the partial melting of juvenile crustal material. The Late Triassic bimodal igneous rocks in eastern Heilongjiang Province, combined with the regional geologic information, therefore record a post-orogenic extensional environment related to the final late Permian–Early Triassic closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean. In addition, the presence of Late Triassic bimodal igneous rocks within the eastern margin of the Eurasian continent suggests that the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian continent began after the Late Triassic.