Sr and Nd Isotopic evidence in metacarbonate rocks for an extinct Island arc–ocean system in East Antarctica

Chemically precipitated carbonate sediments directly record seawater composition that helps to decode the Earth’s paleo–environment, the existence of paleo–oceans, and provide valuable clues on the paleo–tectonic position of continents through Earth’s history. In addition, the geochemical and isotopic composition of carbonate rocks have a strong dependence on the depositional tectonic setting and surrounding source rock composition. This was particularly important in the Precambrian, during which biological activity was less prominent and vegetation was virtually absent. Here we present evidence for the existence of an extinct East Antarctic Ocean and its peripheral oceanic island arc system that preceded the formation of the East Antarctic continent in the Neoproterozoic before the final assembly of Gondwana. Applying a multi–element isotope geochemical approach on chemostratigraphically well–constrained metacarbonate rocks collected from the remote Sør Rondane Mountains in East Antarctica, we present a model on carbonate deposition surrounding an island arc system, mid–ocean volcanic islands and a shallow marine continental shelf of a yet unidentified interior Antarctic continent, all of which accreted in the late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic to form the present day East Antarctic continent prior to the final amalgamation of Gondwana supercontinent. Our results support the presence of an oceanic island arc system that might have separated the Mozambique ocean and East Antarctic ocean

A possible transition from island arc to continental arc magmatism in the eastern Jiangnan Orogen, South China: Insights from a Neoproterozoic (870–860 Ma) gabbroic–dioritic complex near the Fuchuan ophiolite

The Fuchuan ophiolite belt in the eastern Jiangnan Orogen of South China provides important constraints on the tectonic setting and evolution of the Neoproterozoic suture zone between the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. Combined U-Pb-Hf isotopic and REE analysis of zircon from gabbroic and dioritic samples of the Shexian complex, located 10 km southwest of the main Fuchuan ophiolite body, indicate that the complex crystallized at ca. 870–860 Ma with a large variation of zircon eHf(t) values from - 4.80 to + 13.30. Whole-rock geochemistry reveals that the magma mainly experienced fractionation of olivine, clinopyroxene and plagioclase and was partly affected by crustal contamination, which resulted in elevated Th/Nb, Th/La and La/Sm ratios, as well as the scattered eHf(t) values. The most mafic and least contaminated sample shows MORB affinity and was probably formed by partial melting of a depleted subduction-metasomatized mantle wedge. Other samples exhibit arc-like signatures and were probably modified by both melt- and fluid-related subduction metasomatism. The emplacement of the Shexian complex corresponds to the time that subduction switched from a ca. 1000–880 Ma intra-oceanic island arc to a 870–830 Ma continental arc along the southeastern Yangtze Block. The sequence of igneous rocks associated with this continental arc resemble those preserved in forearc Tethyan ophiolites, with magma evolving from ca. 870–860 Ma MORB to ca. 860–850 Ma arc tholeiite and ca. 830 Ma boninite. Arc magmatism concluded with the final assembly of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks at 830–800 Ma