Genesis of late carboniferous granitoid intrusions in the Dayinsu area, West Junggar, Northwest China: evidence of an arc setting for the western CAOB

<p>The Dayinsu area is located in the northern part of the West Junggar district near the border between China and Kazakhstan and is an important component of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The Dayinsu area hosts numerous granitoid plutons in Devonian–Carboniferous volcano–sedimentary strata. The older Laodayinsu and Kubei (345–330 Ma) plutons are located in the west with the younger Bayimuzha and Qianfeng (330–325 Ma) plutons in the east. The whole-rock SiO₂ contents of the four granitoid plutons range from 52.22 to 68.42 wt.% and total alkaline contents (K₂O + Na₂O) range from 4.94 to 9.16 wt.%. The granites are enriched in large ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements with depletions in Nb, Ta, Ce, Pr, P, and Ti. The plutons are metaluminous with I-type signatures. The geochemistry of the intrusions suggests that they formed in a subduction zone setting, and subsequently underwent fractional crystallization during emplacement, with higher degrees of fractionation in the eastern sector than in the west. Similarities in the geochronology and geochemical characteristics of the granitoid plutons in Dayinsu to those in the Tabei district (west to Dayinsu area) suggest that both districts are part of the Carboniferous Tarbagatay Mountain intrusive event. The early Carboniferous (345–324 Ma) granitoid intrusions in the Tarbagatay Mountain likely formed in an island arc subduction setting during the evolution of the CAOB.