Neoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Hongseong area, southwestern Gyeonggi Massif, South Korea; implication for the tectonic evolution of Northeast Asia

Two types of Neoproterozoic metabasites occur together with regionally intruded arc-related Neoproterozoic granitoids (ca. 850–830 Ma) in the Hongseong area, southwestern Gyeonggi Massif, South Korea, which is the extension of the Dabie–Sulu collision belt in China. The first type of metabasite (the Bibong and Baekdong metabasites) is a MORB-like back-arc basin basalt or gabbro formed at ca. 890–860 Ma. The Bibong and Baekdong metabasites may have formed during back-arc opening by diapiric upwelling of deep asthenospheric mantle which was metasomatized by large ion lithophile element (LILE) enriched melt or fluid derived from the subducted slab and/or subducted sediment beneath the arc axis. The second type of metabasite (the Gwangcheon metabasite) formed in a plume-related intra-continental rift setting at 763.5 ± 18.3 Ma and is geochemically similar to oceanic island basalt (OIB). These data indicate a transition in tectonic setting in the Hongseong area from arc to intra-continental rift between ca. 830 and 760 Ma. This transition is well correlated to the Neoproterozoic transition from arc to intra-continental rift tectonic setting at the margin of the Yangtze Craton and corresponds to the amalgamation and breakup of Rodinia Supercontinent.