Full length articleRegional Middle Paleozoic metamorphism in the southwestern Gyeonggi Massif, South Korea: Its implications for tectonics in Northeast Asia

- Regional Middle Paleozoic metamorphism occurred in the Gyeonggi massif, South Korea.
- Permo-Triassic high-pressure metamorphism is preserved in Paleoproterozoic augen gneisses.
- Regional metamorphism was possibly due to the microcontinental collision.

The Hongseong area in the southwestern Gyeonggi Massif in South Korea is considered to represent the eastward extension of the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu collision belt in China. We have carried out zircon U-Pb SHRIMP dating and P-T estimations of the gneisses and amphibolites in the eastern Wolhyeonri complex within the Hongseong area in order to constrain their metamorphic and tectonic evolutions. The protoliths of the migmatitic biotite gneisses formed during the Neoproterozoic and underwent granulite-facies metamorphism (750-880 °C, 12-15 kbar) at 442-413 Ma. These rocks subsequently experienced amphibolite-facies retrograde metamorphism at 585-660 °C and 7.5-10.3 kbar. Mylonitic biotite gneiss, hornblende gneiss, and folded amphibolite in the study area yield metamorphic ages that range from 429 to 420 Ma. The protoliths of some garnet amphibolites that formed at 470-456 Ma are arc magmatic rocks; they experienced metamorphism at the boundary between amphibolite- and eclogite-facies (ca. 625-700 °C and 13-15.5 kbar) before 418 Ma and underwent retrograde amphibolite-facies metamorphism (ca. 625-700 °C and 8-9 kbar) at 418-405 Ma. These data suggest that a regional intermediate-P/T metamorphic event occurred during the Middle Paleozoic. In contrast, Paleoproterozoic augen gneiss blocks enclosed in the Deokjeongri gneiss complex preserve evidence of high-pressure (HP) metamorphism (840-960 °C, 17-21.8 kbar) at 234-230 Ma, which are similar to the previously reported results from eclogite blocks in this area. The occurrence of Middle Paleozoic regional metamorphism before the Permo-Triassic HP metamorphism in the Hongseong area may be correlated with the Middle Paleozoic metamorphism in the Qinling belt in China; such regional metamorphic events were caused by the collision of microcontinents with the North or South China Cratons prior to the collision between the North and South China Cratons in the Permo-Triassic.

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