Formation and evolution of the Eastern Kunlun Range, northern Tibet: Evidence from detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes

The Eastern Kunlun Range, as a high-elevation and granitoid-rich tectonic element in northern Tibet, records Paleozoic-Mesozoic amalgamation process of the East Asia continent and Cenozoic uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. However, Precambrian evolution of the Eastern Kunlun remains poorly understood and relations between Eastern Kunlun and adjacent terranes (e.g., Qaidam and Qilian) during the Phanerozoic accretion process are still highly controversial. We use detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and Hf isotopic data of Proterozoic and Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks from the Eastern Kunlun Range, to reconstruct its origin and subsequent evolutionary history. Detrital zircons of the Proterozoic rocks are dominated by early-middle Neoproterozoic ages (700-1000 Ma), with two age peaks at ca. 800 Ma and ca. 920 Ma and epsilon Hf(t) values ranging from -10 to 5. The youngest detrital zircon ages (648-788 Ma) demonstrate that these investigated Proterozoic strata, which were previously mapped as Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic, were most likely deposited in the middlelate Neoproterozoic. Abundant 0.9-1.0 Ga detrital zircon crystals are consistent with those crystalline rocks of similar ages across the Kunlun-Qaidam and Qilian terranes, which are generally interpreted as the product of Grenvillian orogenesis. These findings support the hypothesis that these terranes were probably within a single continental landmass (named as KQQ block) during the Neoproterozoic. The high similarity of detrital zircon ages, Hf isotopes and Neoproterozoic lithostratigraphy between western Yangtze and KQQ blocks, supports a temporary connection of the KQQ block to western Yangtze in Rodinia supercontinent. Detrital zircons of the analyzed Paleozoic rocks are characterized by 390-490 Ma age populations.These results, in combination with published granitoids data of the northern Tibet, favor a scenario in which the Kunlun-Qaidam and Qilian terranes underwent separated subduction and accretion processes during the late Cambrian-Devonian, but together formed an upper plate to northward subduction of the Palco-Tethys during the Permian-Triassic. (C) 2020 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.