Mature Archean continental crust in the Yangtze craton: Evidence from petrology, geochronology and geochemistry

Previous studies have shown that the Archean basement is widely distributed throughout the Yangtze craton. To date, however, Archean basement terrains have not been found, except for a few Kongling high-grade metamorphic terrains in the Huangling dome that have been confirmed to be of Archean age. To further understand the basement component and crustal evolution of the Yangtze craton, we carried out a petrological, geochronological and geochemical study of the Jinshan K-feldspar granite emplaced within the Yangpo Group, located in Huji Town, Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province. Results indicate that the zircon SHRIMP U-Pb age of the Jinshan granite is 2655±9 Ma, placing it within the middle Neoarchean. Chemically, this pluton yields abundant silica and alkalis and is depleted in Ca, Mg and Ti. Furthermore, it is enriched in Rb, Th, Ga, Y and Zr, depleted in Sr, Ba, Nb and Ta, and especially lacking in Eu. High ratios of FeO*/MgO (32.0 to 58.7) and 104×Ga/Al (3.19 to 3.41) were also found. The pluton exhibits characteristics typical of A-type granites with crustal source magmas. Moreover, the meta-sedimentary rock association of the Yangpo Group, into which the pluton intruded, clearly shows relatively stable depositional environments of a shallow shelf sequence. Therefore, before the middle Neoarchean, the Yangtze craton contained mature continental crust. This breakthrough discovery opens a new window on the study of the formation and evolution of the Yangtze craton basement.