Geochemistry and SHRIMP U–Pb zircon geochronology of the Korla mafic dykes: Constrains on the Neoproterozoic continental breakup in the Tarim Block, northwest China

The Kuruktag uplift is located to the north of the Tarim Block, NW China. At the western end of the Kuruktag uplift, mafic dykes crop out in the Korla area, which were rarely subjected to deformation and metamorphism in contrast to their metamorphic wall-rocks that were strongly deformed and metamorphosed to amphibolite facies. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age of 634 Ma was obtained for a spessartite dyke, documenting the youngest known igneous activity associated with rifting in the Tarim Block during the Neoproterozoic. Most samples of the Korla mafic dykes show clear enrichments in Th, La, and variable depletions in Nb, Ta and Ti, except for samples 08T-14 and 08T-19 that display incompatible element distribution patterns similar to those of OIB without obvious depletions in Nb, Ta and Ti. The geochemical signatures suggest that the Korla mafic dykes were formed in an intra-plate setting and their primary magama was possibly produced by partial melting of a sub-continental lithospheric mantle that has been metasomatized by previous subduction processes, and then heated by a rising mantle plume. In combination with previous geochronological data of Neoproterozoic igneous rocks throughout the Tarim Block, at least three pulses of magmatic activity, from ca. 830 to 800 Ma, from ca. 790 to 740 Ma and from ca. 650 to 615 Ma, are recognized, which reveal that multiple episodes of rifting occurred within the Tarim Block, implying that the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent in the Tarim Block may have been a long-lasting process.

Research highlights
► Diabase and spessartite dykes occur in the Korla area, northern Tarim.
► A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age of 634 Ma was obtained for a spessartite dyke.
► The Korla mafic dykes were formed in an intra-plate setting.
► Their primary magamas were derived from a metasomatized SCLM source.