Extreme oxygen isotope signature of meteoric water in magmatic zircon from metagranite in the Sulu orogen, China: Implications for Neoproterozoic rift magmatism

Unusual 180 depletion, with delta O-18 values as negative as -10 parts per thousand to -4 parts per thousand relative to VSMOW, was reported in zircons from ultrahigh-pressure eclogite-facies metamorphic rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt, China. But it is critical for the negative delta O-18 zircons to be distinguished between magmatic and metamorphic origins, because the 180 depletion can be acquired by high-T eclogite-facies metamorphism of meteoric-hydrothermally altered low delta O-18 rocks. While zircon O diffusion kinetics has placed a reasonable constraint on this, zircon trace element compositions can provide a straightforward distinction between the magmatic and metamorphic origins. This paper reports our finding of unusual 180 depletion in zircon from granitic gneiss in the northeastern end of the Sulu orogen. Zircon delta O-18 values vary from -7.87 parts per thousand to -3.1 parts per thousand along a profile of 50 m length at Zaobuzhen. They are close to extremely low delta O-18 values of -9.9 parts per thousand to -5.9 parts per thousand for metagranite at Qinglongshan and adjacent areas in the southwestern end of the Sulu orogen. CL imaging suggests that the low delta O-18 zircons at Zaobuzhen are primarily of magmatic origin, but underwent different degrees of metamorphic modification. Zircon U-Pb dating yields middle Neoproterozoic ages of 751 +/- 27 to 779 +/- 25 Ma for protolith crystallization and Triassic ages of 214 +/- 10 to 241 +/- 33 Ma for metamorphic resetting. However, no metamorphic modification occurs in zircon REE patterns that only indicate magmatic recrystallization and hydrothermal alteration, respectively. Thus, the negative delta O-18 zircons are interpreted as crystallizing from negative delta O-18 magmas due to melting of meteoric-hydrothermally altered negative delta O-18 rocks in an active rift setting at about 780 Ma. The variation in zircon delta O-18 values indicates considerable O isotope heterogeneity in its granitic protolith. Zircon Lu-Hf isotope analyses give positive epsilon(Hf)(t) values of 1.6-4.1 and Hf model ages of 1.18-1.30 Ga. This suggests that the granitic protolith was derived from the mid-Neoproterozoic reworking of late Mesoproterozoic juvenile crust. The metagranites at Zaobuzhen and Qinglongshan, about 450 km apart, are two known occurrences of the unusually low delta O-18 zircons below -6 parts per thousand so far reported in the Sulu orogen. They are similar to each other in both protolith and metamorphic ages, so that they share the same nature of both Neoproterozoic protolith and Triassic metamorphism. Therefore, the locally negative delta O-18 zircons may register centers of low delta O-18 magmatism during the supercontinental rifting. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.