Emplacement age for the mafic-ultramafic plutons in the northern Dabie Mts. (Hubei): Zircon U-Pb, Sm-Nd and 40Ar/39Ar dating

The protoliths of mafic-ultramafic plutons in the northern Dabie Mts. (NDM) (Hubei) include pyroxenite and gabbro. The zircon U-Pb dating for a gabbro suggests that emplacement of mafic magma took place in the post-collisional setting at the age of 122.9 +/- 0.6 Ma. It is difficult to obtain a reliable Sm-Nd isochron age, due to disequilibrium of the Sm-Nd isotopic system. Two hornblende 40Ar/39Ar ages of 116.1 +/- 1.1 Ma and 106.6 +/- 0.8 Ma may record cooling of metamorphism in the mafic-ultramafic plutons in Hubei below 500degreesC. The hornblende 40Ar/39Ar ages for the mafic-ultramafic rocks in Hubei are evidently 15-25 Ma younger than those for the same rocks in Anhui, indicating that there is a diversity of the cooling rates for the mafic-ultramafic rocks in Hubei and Anhui. The difference in their cooling rates may be controlled by the north-dipping normal faults in the NDM. The intense metamorphism occurring in the mafic-ultramafic rocks in Hubei may result from the Yanshanian magmatic reheating and thermal fluid action induced by the Cretaceous migmatization. The geochemical similarity of these mafic-ultramafic rocks wherever in Hubei and Anhui may be attributed to the same tectonic setting via an identical genetic mechanism.