Late Cretaceous granitoids in Karakorum, northwest Tibet: petrogenesis and tectonic implications

ABSTRACTNew zircon LA-ICP-MS U–Pb age, zircon Hf isotope, and whole-rock major and trace elemental data of the Late Cretaceous Ageledaban complex in the Karakorum Terrane (KKT), northwest Tibet, provide new constraints on the tectonic processes of the collision and thickening of the terrane between the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes. The granitoids from the Ageledaban complex have a variable SiO2 content, from 62.83 to 73.35 wt.% and A/CNK<1.1 (except for YM61-2). They have rare earth element and trace element patterns that are enriched in light rare earth elements, Rb, Pb, Th, and U, and are depleted in Ba, P, Sr, Ti, and Nb, indicative of weakly peraluminous-metaluminous I-type affinity. Zircon U–Pb dating reveals that the Ageledaban complex was emplaced at ca. 80 Ma. Zircons from the monzogranite and monzonite samples with concordant 206Pb/238U ages about 80 Ma have a zircon eHf(t) of −6.6 to −1.1, corresponding to the Mesoproterozoic Hf crustal model ages (TDMC = 1.2–1.6 Ga); the remaining inherited zir...