Metasedimentary melting in the formation of charnockite: petrological and zircon U-Pb-Hf-O isotope evidence from the Darongshan S-type granitic complex in southern China

Charnockites are Opx-bearing igneous rocks commonly found in high-grade metamorphic terranes. Despite being volumetrically minor, they show a wide range in both bulk geochemistry and intensive parameters. They form a characteristic component of the AMCG (anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite) suite, but their association with typical S-type granites is less well-known. The Darongshan S-type granitic complex (DSGC) in Guangxi Province, southern China, contains granites varying in mafic silicate mineral assemblages from Bt+Crd (Darongshan suite) to Opx+Grt+Bt+Crd (Jiuzhou suite) and Opx+Crd±Bt (Taima suite), corresponding to a geochemical transition from magnesian calc-alkalic to ferroan calc-alkalic. However, its genesis, even the accurate age of intrusion, remains highly contentious despite intensive research. In order to understand the genesis of charnockite and its genetic relationship with S-type granite; here, we first determined zircon U-Pb ages of each suite using a SIMS on the basis of a detailed petrological study. Zircon U-Pb ages show that all suites of the complex were emplaced contemporaneously at ca. 249Ma. Monazite apparent U-Pb ages are indistinguishable from zircon U-Pb ages within analytical error. Further in situ zircon Hf-O isotope analyses reveal that the granitic complex was dominantly derived from reduced melting metasedimentary rocks (δ¹⁸O_zircon=ca. 11‰; ε_Hf(t)_zircon=ca. -10; Δlog FMQ≤0; Mn in apatite oxybarometer) with rare material input from the mantle. The variation in δ¹⁸O (7.8‰-12.9‰) is more likely a result of hybridization, whereas that in ε_Hf(t) (-31.9 to -1.8) is a result of both hybridization and disequilibrium melting. The variation in mineralogy and geochemistry may be interpreted as a result of entrainment of peritectic garnets from biotite-dehydration melting. Nevertheless, heat input from mantle through basaltic intrusion/underplating is considered to play a major role in high-temperature (>850°C) melting at mid-crustal levels (i.e. the cordierite stable field) for generation of the granitic complex. We interpret that the granites were intruded in a back-arc setting and basaltic magmatism was directly associated with slab roll-back and tearing during the latest Permian and early Triassic times