Origin of the volcanic rocks in Dianzhong Formation, central Lhasa Terrane, Tibet: implication for the genesis of syn-collisional magmatism and Neo-Tethyan slab roll-back

The origin and formation of the continental collision-related magmas remain elusive. The volcanic rocks erupted during India-Asia continental collision offer an ideal opportunity to explore their genesis and geodynamic process. Here, we report new zircon U-Pb dating results and Hf isotope, whole-rock element and Sr-Nd isotope data of volcanic rocks in Linzhou Basin, central Lhasa Terrane, southern Tibet. These volcanic rocks are mainly comprised of andesites and belong to Dianzhong Formation. The timing of their formation is ca. 63–66 Ma, coeval with the India-Asia continental initial collision in the central part of southern Tibet. All these rocks show an arc-like geochemical affinity and they have more depleted Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions (87Sr/86Sri = 0.705006–0.705963, εNd(t) = −1.78 to 3.52, zircon εHf(t) = 1.2–7.0) than the Cretaceous pre-collisional andesites and Eocene ancient lithospheric mantle-derived melts beneath the central Lhasa Terrane. The correlation between Mg# and CaO, TiO2, Al2O3, Sr/Y, 87Sr/86Sr, εNd(t) suggests that they were likely hybrid production between an isotopically depleted end-member and the enriched lithospheric mantle (ELM). The oceanic crust-derived melts would be the best candidate for the former end-member according to their depleted Sr-Nd isotopic compositions. The andesitic rocks of Dianzhong Formation in the central Lhasa Terrane were most likely stemmed from partial melts of altered Neo-Tethyan crust and then mixed with the ELM-derived melts. Given the Cretaceous-Tertiary upper crustal shortening, back-arc extension, and voluminous volcanism in the Lhasa Terrane, along with abrupt increasing in the magma temperature and the convergence rate between India and Asia during Palaeocene, the occurrence of the Dianzhong Formation volcanic rocks can be well explained by the Neo-Tethyan slab roll-back. The mixing between the oceanic crust- and the continental lithospheric mantle-derived melts induced by the oceanic slab roll-back would be a complimentary scenario for the formation of the syn-collisional magmatism in collisional orogeny belts.