Abstract
Early Cretaceous mafic rocks are first reported in the northern Guangxi region from the western Qin-Hang belt in the interior South China Block. A systematic investigation of zircon U-Pb dating, whole-rock geochemistry, Sm-Nd isotopes and zircon Hf-O isotopes for these mafic rocks reveals their petrogenesis and the mantle composition as well as a new window to reconstruct lithospheric evolution in interior South China Block during Late Mesozoic. Zircon U-Pb dating yielded ages of 131 ± 2 Ma to 136 ± 2 Ma for diabase and gabbro from Baotan area, indicating the first data for Early Cretaceous mafic magmatism in the western Qing-Hang belt. These mafic rocks show calc-alkaline compositions, arc-like trace element distribution patterns, low zircon ε(Hf)(t) of - 9.45 to - 6.17 and high δ(18)O values of + 5.72 to + 8.09‰, as well as low whole-rock ε(Nd)(t) values of - 14.27 to - 9.53. These data suggest that the studied mafic rocks are derived from an ancient lithospheric mantle source that was metasomatized during Neoproterozoic subduction. Thus, the occurrence of these mafic rocks indicates a reactivation of Neoproterozoic subducted materials during an extension setting at Late Mesozoic in the western Qin-Hang belt, an old suture zone that amalgamates the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks.