Detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopic data from the Liuling Group in the South Qinling belt: Provenance and tectonic implications

The Liuling Group is exposed in the Northern part of the South Qinling orogenic belt. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb analysis of detrital zircons from the meta-sandstones in this Group yields ages ranging between 400 Ma and 3200 Ma, with three prominent age clusters at 500-400 Ma, 850-700 Ma and 1000-900 Ma. A few older zircon populations with U-Pb ages of 1750-1450 Ma, 2000 Ma and 2600-2400 Ma are also present. Age data integrated with cathodoluminescence, trace element data and εHf(t) values of zircon grains show that the Liuling sediments have a complex source. Source rocks mainly include Early Neoproterozoic and Early Paleozoic granitoids, together with minor ultra-high pressure/high pressure (HP-UHP) metamorphic rocks, and paragneiss in the North Qinling belt, and Middle-Late Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks in the South Qinling belt. The dominant population of detrital zircon grains with ages between 500 Ma and 400 Ma show the characteristics of both magmatic and metamorphic zircons. They show three age clusters at 497 Ma, 451 Ma, and ca. 420 Ma and show marked correlation with the three stages of Palaeozoic magmatism, as well as with the peak and retrograde HP-UHP metamorphic stages in the North Qinling belt. This correlation demonstrates that these Early Palaeozoic granitoids and HP-UHP metamorphic rocks in the North Qinling belt were already exhumed to the surface, underwent erosion prior to Middle Devonian time and were then deposited in an extensional basin. Based on the results from detrital zircon U-Pb dating, combined with geochemical data and the regional geology, the deposition of Liuling sediments is inferred to have occurred in a post-orogenic extensional basin, rather than a subduction-related fore-arc basin or a foreland basin formed during or after continental collision.