Tectonic subdivision of Dabie orogenic belt, Central China: Evidence from Pb isotope geochemistry of Late Mesozoic basalts

It has long been debated that the Dabie orogenic belt belongs to the North China or Yangtze craton. In recent years, eastern China has been suggested, based on the Pb isotopic compositions of Phanerozoic ore and Mesozoic granitoid K-feldspar (revealing the crust Pb) in combination with Meso-Cenozoic basalts (revealing the mantle Pb), being divided into the North China and Yangtze Pb isotopic provinces, where the crust and mantle of the Yangtze craton are characterized by more radiogenic Pb. In this sense, previous researchers suggested that the pro-EW-trending Dabie orogenic belt with less radiogenic Pb in the crust was part of the North China craton. In this paper, however, the Late Cretaceous basalts in the central and southern parts of the Dabie orogenic belt are characterized by some more radiogenic Pb (206Pb/ 204Pb = 17.936 - 18.349, 207Pb/204Pb = 15.500 - 15.688, 208Pb/204Pb = 38.399 - 38.775) and a unique U-Th-Pb trace element system similar to those of the Yangtze craton, showing that the Mesozoic mantle is of the Yangtze type. In addition, the decoupled Pb isotopic compositions between crust and mantle were considerably derived from their rheological inhomogeneity, implying a complicated evolution of the Dabie orogenic belt.