THE GEOCHEMISTRY AND AGES OF ROCKS IN THE FOOTWALL OF THE BUTULIYN-NUR AND ZAGAN METAMORPHIC CORE COMPLEXES (NORTH MONGOLIA - WESTERN TRANSBAIKALIA)

This article reviews data on ages of rocks in the footwall of the Butuliyn-Nur and Zagan metamorphic core complexes (MCC) and provides new data on the geochemistry of the rock complexes. It is noted that the oldest rocks are mylonitized gneisses on rhyolites (554 Ma) in the footwall of the Butuliyn-Nur MCC. The Late Permian -Triassic (249-211 Ma) igneous rocks are ubiquitous in the footwall of the Butuliyn-Nur and Zagan MCC. The youngest rocks in the studied MCC are the Jurassic granitoids (178-152 Ma) of the Naushki and Verhnemangirtui massifs. In the footwall of the Butuliyn-Nur and Zagan MCC, the most common are granitoids and felsic volcanic rocks (249-211 Ma) with many similar geochemical characteristics, such as high alkalinity, high contents of Sr and Ba, moderate and low concentrations of Nb and Y. Considering the contents of trace elements and REE, the granitoids and the felsic volcanic rocks are similar to I-type granites. Specific compositions of these rocks suggest that they might have formed in conditions of the active continental margin of the Siberian continent over the subducting oceanic plate of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean. The granitoids of the Naushki and Verhnemangirtui massifs, which are the youngest of the studied rocks (178-152 Ma), also have similar geochemical characteristics. In both massif, granitoids are ferriferous, mostly alkaline rocks. By contents of both major and trace elements, they are comparable to A-type granites. Such granitoids formed in conditions of intracontinental extension while subduction was replaced by collision. Based on ages and geochemical characteristics of the rocks in the footwall of the Butuliyn-Nur and Zagan MCC, a good correlation is revealed between the studied rocks and the rock complexes of the Transbaikalian and North-Mongolian segments of the Central Asian fold belt (CAFB), and it can thus be suggested that the regions under study may have a common evolutionary history.