Zircon U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions from the Sin Quyen Formation: the Precambrian crustal evolution of northwest Vietnam

This art icle was downloaded by: [ I nst it ut e of Geology and Geophysics ] On: 02 August 2012, At : 19: 18 Publisher: Taylor & Francis I nform a Lt d Regist ered in England and Wales Regist ered Num ber: 1072954 Regist ered office: Mort im er House, 37- 41 Mort im er St reet , London W1T 3JH, UK International Geology Review Publicat ion det ails, including inst ruct ions f or aut hors and subscript ion inf ormat ion: ht t p: / / www t andf online com/ loi/ t igr20 Zircon U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions from the Sin Quyen Formation: the Precambrian crustal evolution of northwest Vietnam Pham Trung Hieu Siebel e a b , Fukun Chen & Ting-Guang Lan a , Le Thanh Me c , Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy d , Wolf gang b a Key Laborat ory of Crust -Mant le Mat erials and Environment s, School of Eart h and Space Sciences, Universit y of Science and Technology of China, Hef ei, 230026, China b Inst it ut e of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beij ing, 100029, China c Depart ment of Geology, Hanoi Universit y of Mining and Geology, Hanoi, Viet nam d Research Inst it ut e of Geology and Mineral Resources, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Viet nam e Inst it ut f ür Geowissenschaf t en, Universit ät Tübingen, 72074, Tübingen, Germany Version of record f irst published: 23 Dec 2011 To cite this article: Pham Trung Hieu, Fukun Chen, Le Thanh Me, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, Wolf gang Siebel & Ting-Guang Lan (2012): Zircon U–Pb ages and Hf isot opic composit ions f rom t he Sin Quyen Format ion: t he Precambrian crust al evolut ion of nort hwest Viet nam, Int ernat ional Geology Review, 54: 13, 1548-1561 To link to this article: ht t p: / / dx doi org/ 10 1080/ 00206814 2011 646831 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTI CLE Full t erm s and condit ions of use: ht t p: / / www.t andfonline.com / page/ t erm s- and- condit ions This art icle m ay be used for research, t eaching, and privat e st udy purposes Any subst ant ial or syst em at ic reproduct ion, redist ribut ion, reselling, loan, sub- licensing, syst em at ic supply, or dist ribut ion in any form t o anyone is expressly forbidden The publisher does not give any warrant y express or im plied or m ake any represent at ion t hat t he cont ent s will be com plet e or accurat e or up t o dat e The accuracy of any inst ruct ions, form ulae, and drug doses should be independent ly verified wit h prim ary sources The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, act ions, claim s, proceedings, dem and, or cost s or dam ages what soever or howsoever caused arising direct ly or indirect ly in connect ion wit h or arising out of t he use of t his m at erial International Geology Review Vol 54, No 13, 10 October 2012, 1548–1561 Zircon U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions from the Sin Quyen Formation: the Precambrian crustal evolution of northwest Vietnam Pham Trung Hieua,b , Fukun Chena *, Le Thanh Mec , Nguyen Thi Bich Thuyd , Wolfgang Siebele and Ting-Guang Lanb a Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; b Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; c Department of Geology, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, Hanoi, Vietnam; d Research Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam; e Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Tübingen,72074 Tübingen, Germany Downloaded by [Institute of Geology and Geophysics ] at 19:18 02 August 2012 (Accepted 28 November 2011) The location of the suture zone between the South China and Indochina blocks in northwest Vietnam has been under debate for decades Generally, the boundary between these blocks has been placed along (1) the Ailaoshan–Red River zone or (2) the Song Ma zone The Sin Quyen Formation, lying between these zones, was previously regarded as a Palaeoand Mesoproterozoic sequence It comprises its provenance and tectonic affinity We analysed detrital zircons from two paragneisses and one migmatite of the Sin Quyen Formation employing laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb dating techniques U–Pb ages of these zircons show three main periods of zircon formation: ∼2.7–3.0, ∼2.2–2.5, and ∼1.8 Ga, suggesting that Sin Quyen rocks were mainly derived from Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean basement units Inasmuch as the South China basement comprises rocks of similar ages, we conclude that the Sin Quyen Formation belongs to that block Our new data strengthen the view that the suture between the South China and Indochina blocks is located within the Song Ma zone In addition, zircons with U–Pb ages >3.0 thousand million years represent the oldest minerals reported in northwest Vietnam so far, indicating the existence of Mesoarchaean crustal remnants in this region Keywords: Precambrian; northwest Vietnam; Tethyan; zircon U–Pb ages; zircon Hf isotopes Introduction Northern Vietnam is part of the eastern Tethyan orogenic belt lying between the South China and Indochina blocks It represents a key area for the study of the collisional history of the eastern Tethyan orogen The suture zone between the South China and Indochina blocks is formed by the closure of the Palaeo-Tethyan ocean during the late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic period (Tapponier et al 1981; Metcalfe 1988, 1998, 2002, 1996a, b; Sengưr ¸ et al 1988; Hutchison 1993, Singharajwarapan and Berry 2000; Lepvrier et al 2008) In western Yunnan, southwest China, two ophiolite belts have been distinguished along the Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan and Lancangjiang–Changning–Menglian zones, both being interpreted as Palaeo-Tethyan sutures (Zhong 1998) A strong debate has arisen concerning the southeastward continuation of the Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan suture into northern Vietnam Both the Ailaoshan–Red River zone (Dovjikov 1965; Trinh et al 1996; Findlay and Trinh 1997) and the Song Ma zone (Bunopas and Vella 1978; Tri 1979; Sengưr ¸ 1984; Maranate and Vella 1986; Sengưr ¸ et al 1988; *Corresponding author Email: fkchen@ustc.edu.cn ISSN 0020-6814 print/ISSN 1938-2839 online © 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2011.646831 http://www.tandfonline.com Hutchison 1989a, b; Tung and Tri 1992; Metcalfe 2002; Hieu et al 2009, 2010) have been advocated as the continuation of this suture (Figure 1) Hence, deciphering the formation time and geochemical features of the basement rocks between the Red River and Song Ma zones is essential to understand the tectonic evolution of northwest Vietnam and to place constraints on the tectonic boundary between the Indochina and South China blocks In order to put constraints on the location of the suture zone, it is important to characterize the basement beneath northwest Vietnam Different geological terrains are often distinguishable in terms of crust formation ages and evolution histories and bear unique tectonic and metamorphic imprints or special sedimentological and palaeontological features Recently, geochronological and geochemical characteristics of detrital minerals from sedimentary rocks have been shown to provide a powerful tool to decipher the provenance and tectonic evolution of geological terrains (e.g Valverde et al 2000; Nelson 2001; Chen et al 2002, 2003, 2009; Cawood et al 2003, 2007; Dickinson and Gehrels 2009) The closure of the Tethyan ocean and Downloaded by [Institute of Geology and Geophysics ] at 19:18 02 August 2012 International Geology Review 1549 Figure Sketch map of tectonic units in northwestern Vietnam subsequent orogenic processes had a profound influence on the geology of northwest Vietnam Manifestations are seen in major Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic, metamorphic, and igneous activities Only a few studies, however, have shown direct or indirect evidence for the existence of Precambrian basement rocks in this area (e.g Tri 1979; Bodet and Schärer 2000; Lan et al 2000, 2001; Nam et al 2001, 2002, 2003) In this study, we report U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic composition of zircons from the Sin Quyen Formation, northwest Vietnam Characterizing its basement and tectonic affinity allows us to locate the suture between the South China and Indochina blocks The discovery of detrital zircons from the Sin Quyen Formation with U–Pb ages as old as ∼3.0 thousand million years and an Hf model age of ∼3.3 thousand million years suggests that the evolution of northwest Vietnam started earlier than previously thought Our results demonstrate that here crust formation began during the late Archaean and early Proterozoic This is essentially identical to the crustal evolution history proposed for the South China block Based on these similarities, we postulate that the Song Ma zone represents the suture between the South China and Indochina blocks Geological background Northwestern Vietnam is composed of three major tectonic zones, namely (1) the Red River zone (or Red River shear zone), (2) the Song Da zone, and (3) the Song Ma zone These zones, which extend into western Yunnan, played an important role during the evolution of the eastern Tethyan orogenic belt The Red River zone is mainly composed of highgrade metamorphic rocks and deformed granitoids The Day Nui Con Voi massif, a large-scale antiformal ‘core complex’-type structure, bounded by the Red River fault and the Song Chay fault, records the shear activity of the Downloaded by [Institute of Geology and Geophysics ] at 19:18 02 August 2012 1550 P.T Hieu et al Red River zone in North Vietnam (Anczkiewicz et al 2007) Microfabrics document high temperatures between 700 and 500◦ C during extensional and strike–slip shearing (Anczkiewicz et al 2007) The Song Da terrane west of the Red River zone is commonly interpreted as an intra-continental rift represented by the Da Mai Formation (Lepvrier et al 2008) The sedimentary succession in this rift zone is dominated by Permian to lower Triassic clastic rocks Mafic extrusive rocks of the Yen Duyet, Cam Thuy, and Vietnam formations are interbedded in this sedimentary succession (Hutchison 1989b; Lepvrier et al 2008) The Song Ma zone is located between the Truong Son zone and the Song Da zone and is known as the Song Ma anticlinorium in the Vietnamese literature (e.g Tri 1979; Krobicki et al 2008) The basement of the Song Ma zone consists of low- to high-grade non-fossiliferous schists, metagreywackes, greenschists, amphibolites, and marbles intruded by late Palaeozoic granitoids According to their metamorphic grade, the basement rocks in northwestern Vietnam are subdivided into two formations: the lower grade Nam Co Formation and the high-grade Nam Su Lu Formation (e.g Lepvrier et al 2008; Nakano et al 2008) The Nam Co Formation is composed dominantly of muscovite and garnet–phengite schists, with intercalated layers of mafic and calc-silicate rocks The Nam Su Lu Formation consists mainly of amphibolites and interlayers of garnet–biotite and garnet–sillimanite– biotite gneisses Late Palaeozoic high-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks (eclogites and HP granulites) have been reported and interpreted as a result of the Indochinese orogeny (Nakano et al 2008, 2010) Serpentinite lenses that outcrop within the metamorphic belt have been regarded as relicts of former Palaeo-Tethyan lithosphere (Hutchison 1989b) Two tectonic events are generally considered to have influenced the geological evolution of northwestern Vietnam (e.g Lepvrier et al 2008) One of them is the large-scale sinistral shear displacement along the Red River zone that was active between 27 and 22 Ma (Chung et al 1997) The other is the suturing between the Indochina and South China blocks along the Song Ma belt The time of the collision was previously placed in the Silurian period on the basis of a greenschist metamorphic age of 455 million years obtained by the K–Ar method (Tri 1979) Detailed Ar–Ar dating, however, indicates metamorphic ages of 245 million years for the Song Ma ophiolites (Lepvrier et al 1997) Recently, Hieu et al (2008) have reported U–Pb zircon ages between 254 and 262 million years for the Huoi Hao meta-basalt, the Chieng Khuong granite, and the Song Ma granite along this suture zone Such Permian to Triassic magmatic rocks are widely distributed in northwest Vietnam, especially along the Song Ma zone and the Truong Son zone, and provide evidence for the closure of the Palaeo-Tethyan ocean and/or the collision between the South China and Indochina blocks (e.g Lepvrier et al 1997, 2004, 2008) during the late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic period Analytical techniques Rock samples, each of about kg, were crushed for mineral separation using standard procedures including wet shaking table, magnetic separation, and heavy-liquid separation techniques More than 1000 zircon grains were obtained from two paragneisses and one migmatite Zircons of different sizes, colours, and morphologies were further hand-picked under a binocular microscope, mounted in epoxy resin, and polished to expose the grain interiors Prior to the U–Pb dating and Hf isotopic analysis, cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging of zircon grains has been undertaken to verify internal structures and for guidance in choice of analytical spot sites Electron microprobe analyses were performed on a CAMECA SX51 (CAMECA SAS, Gennevilliers, France) at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, using an accelerating voltage of 15 kV and a beam current of 15–20 nA Zircon U–Pb dating was performed at the China University of Geoscience in Wuhan using the laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) technique (for detailed analytical techniques, see Liu et al 2007) Analyses were done on an Agilent 7500 (Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) with a 193 nm ArF excimer laser Helium was used as the carrier gas to enhance transport efficiency of the ablated material The helium carrier gas inside the ablation cell was mixed with argon as a makeup gas before entering the ICP to maintain stable and optimum excitation conditions Analytical spot diameter was 40 µm Analytical runs include a background acquisition of about 30 s and a signal acquisition time of about 80 s Standard silicate glass NIST SRM610 (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MA, USA) was used to calibrate and calculate U, Th, and Pb contents Raw data were processed using the GLITTER 4.0 software (Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia) Zircon 91500 was used as a reference standard Since large uncertainties are associated with the measurement of 204 Pb content by the LAICP-MS technique, common Pb correction was made using the EXCEL program ComPbCorr#3_151, assuming that the observed 206 Pb/238 U, 207 Pb/235 U, and 208 Pb/232 Th ratios of zircon can be inferred from the discordia curve by a combination of lead loss at a defined time (Andersen 2002) Calculation of apparent U–Pb ages was done by the Isoplot software (Ludwig 2001) with 2σ errors Zircon Lu–Hf isotopic ratios were measured on a Neptune multi-collector ICP-MS (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences The laser system delivers a beam of 193 nm UV light from a Geolas excimer laser ablation system Sampling spots had beam Downloaded by [Institute of Geology and Geophysics ] at 19:18 02 August 2012 International Geology Review diameters of 63 or 32 µm for small grains Ar and He carrier gases were used to transport the ions derived from the ablated material in the laser ablation cell via a mixing chamber to the ICP-MS torch Analytical procedures and the interference correction method are given in Xu et al (2004) The output raw data of 176 Hf/177 Hf were not processed by isobaric interference corrections of 176 Lu on 176 Hf due to extremely low 176 Lu/177 Hf in zircon (normally 3.5 Ga crustal components in the Yangtze block (Zhang et al 2006) 1558 P.T Hieu et al 32 South China 28 Sin Quyen (northwest vietnam) were linked with northwest Vietnam Preliminary comparison shown in Figure suggests that the Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of northwest Vietnam possibly came from the South China block On the basis of isotopic data of detrital zircons, we can propose that northwest Vietnam had Yangtze block affinity prior to the Palaeo-Tethyan event and the Song Ma zone probably represents the continental boundary between the Yangtze and Indochina blocks (e.g Lepvrier et al 2008; Nakano et al 2008) 24 Downloaded by [Institute of Geology and Geophysics ] at 19:18 02 August 2012 Number 20 16 12 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 207Pb/206Pb age (Ma) 3500 4000 Figure Comparison of detrital zircon ages of the Sin Quyen Formation and zircon ages of early Precambrian rocks reported in South China Data for South China from Zheng and Zhang (2007) and references therein Furthermore, U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic composition of xenocrystic zircons found in lamproite diatremes from three Proterozoic outcrop areas within the Yangtze block suggest widespread presence of unexposed Archaean basement (Zheng et al 2006) Palaeoproterozoic magmatism (ca 1.8 Ga) is also a characteristic feature of the Yangtze block (Zhang et al 2006; Zheng et al 2006) Neoproterozoic magmatic activity was widespread in the Yangtze block as well, but was weak in northwest Vietnam as well as in the Cathaysia block, being a part of the South China craton (Li et al 2005) So far, only a few studies have provided evidence for Precambrian basement or intense magmatic activity and high-grade metamorphism at ∼1.8, ∼2.2–2.5, and ∼2.7–2.9 Ga in northwest Vietnam (Lan et al 2000, 2001; Nam et al 2002, 2003; Hieu et al 2010) The reasons for this could be twofold: (1) igneous and metamorphic rocks were formed, but strongly reworked and recycled during subsequent geologic processes so that few rocks have retained their original age record and (2) no magmatism or metamorphism occurred at all during Palaeoproterozoic and late Archaean times and consequently, detrital zircons of this age were derived from other crustal blocks that Conclusions Metasedimentary rocks of the Sin Quyen Formation in northwest Vietnam contain clastic material that formed during Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchean times The zircon population of these rocks includes grains up to ∼3.0 thousand million years old This is the oldest dated material yet identified in the region Coupled with zircon Hf isotope data, we conclude that the crust of northwest Vietnam was dominantly generated during the Archaean and is older than 3.0 thousand million years Important episodes of crustal growth and crustal reworking took place between the Archaean and late Palaeoproterozoic, indicating that northwest Vietnam experienced a strong magmatic activity during this time period From the detrital zircon crystallization ages, it can be inferred that both the Neoarchean and early Palaeoproterozoic magmatic rocks were produced by the reworking of old crustal material or a mixture of mantle-derived juvenile material and more ancient crust Sedimentary sources of the Sin Quyen Formation probably originated from Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchean basement units of the South China block Thus, we conclude that this unit was deposited on or close to the South China continental crust, and the suture between the South China and Indochina blocks lies in the Song Ma zone Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (project no 2009CB825002) and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC project nos 41090372 and 40973042) The Chinese Academy of Sciences offered a scholarship to P.T Hieu during the stay in China Y.-S Liu is sincerely thanked for assistance during the zircon dating analysis References Anczkiewicz, R., Viola, G., Muntener, O., Thirlwall, M.F., Villa, I.M., and Quong, N.Q., 2007, Structure and shearing conditions in the Day Nui Con Voi massif: Implications for the evolution of the 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Hf model ages; (B) histogram of two-stage Hf model ages; (C) histogram of initial ? ?Hf values; and (D) initial ? ?Hf values versus zircon U? ? ?Pb ages crustal history, while the Hf model ages (Figure... 1548–1561 Zircon U? ? ?Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions from the Sin Quyen Formation: the Precambrian crustal evolution of northwest Vietnam Pham Trung Hieua,b , Fukun Chena *, Le Thanh Mec , Nguyen... Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MA, USA) was used to calibrate and calculate U, Th, and Pb contents Raw data were processed using the GLITTER 4.0 software (Macquarie University,