Late Paleozoic anorogenic magmatism of the Gobi Altai (SW Mongolia): Tectonic position, geochronology and correlation with igneous activity of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Abstract Geological and geochronological U–Pb (zircon ID-TIMS) and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar (amphibole) data were obtained for six anorogenic magmatic associations in the Gobi Altai, southwestern Mongolia, in order to reveal its relationships with Late Paleozoic tectonothermal events in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). In the Gobi Altai massifs of alkaline granites and grabens filled with bimodal volcanic suites occur as a chain 450 km long east–southeast direction. The massifs and volcanic fields are controlled by contacts of pre-Ediacaran continental crustal blocks with Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian juvenile ophiolite and arc-type complexes of the Lake zone. Gobi Altai alkaline granites bear sodic-rich mafic silicate minerals and possess typical properties of ferroan A-type granites. Our geochronological data constrain emplacement time of the Gobi Altai alkaline granites and bimodal volcanic rocks at 293 ± 1–279 ± 1 Ma. This age interval coincides with timing of the emplacement of I-type granites (with a few S-type granites) and gabbroic intrusions in the Mongolian and Chinese Altai as well as with numerous massifs of A-type granites, layered mafic–ultramafic intrusions, and eruption of bimodal volcanic rocks between the southern edge of the Siberia craton and the northern margins of the Tarim and North China cratons. Hence, the Gobi Altai anorogenic magmatic complexes were produced by a large-scale Late Paleozoic magmatic event (or events) that encompassed a wide spectrum of terranes in CAOB. The most realistic models explaining these magmatic processes are: (i) the effect of the Tarim mantle plume, (ii) slab (or slabs) break-off after subduction blocking due to accretion of terranes of various types.