Spatiotemporal Variation of the Cretaceous‐Eocene Arc Magmatism in Lhasa‐Tengchong Terrane

Abstract

Abstract It was recognized that two magmatic belts in the Lhasa‐Tengchong terrane formed due to the Mesozoic‐Cenozoic Tethyan evolution. Still, their spatiotemporal variations of magmatic flare‐ups/lulls are rarely discussed. Here we use the new U‐Pb and Lu‐Hf isotopic data of captured zircons and a comprehensive data set to show that the flare‐up of northern magmatic belt has peak ages of 110 Ma in central and northern Lhasa and 120 Ma in eastern Tengchong, possibly related to the tectonic transition from Meso‐ and Neo‐Tethyan double subduction to Neo‐Tethyan single subduction. For the southern magmatic belt, the flare‐ups at 100–85 Ma and 65–45 Ma in eastern southern Lhasa indicate obvious juvenile crustal growth, while flare‐ups at 75–45 Ma in western southern Lhasa and Tengchong record ancient crustal reworking. Such flare‐up variations in the southern magmatic belt possibly resulted from asynchronous changes in the Neo‐Tethyan slab dip.