Hornblende thermobarometry of the Carboniferous granitoids from the Inner Mongolia Paleo-uplift: implications for the tectonic evolution of the northern margin of North China block

Hornblende thermobarometry has been widely used to estimate the emplacement pressure (P) and temperature (T) of calc-alkaline igneous rocks. Application of hornblende thermobarometry to the newly discovered Carboniferous granitic plutons from the Inner Mongolia Paleo-uplift (IMPU) provides useful information on the exhumation and geotectonic evolution of the northern margin of the North China block (NCB) during the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic. Emplacement depths estimated from aluminum-in-hornblende geobarometry indicate that the Longhua, Daguangding and Boluonuo plutons were emplaced at depths of 15.7-18.7 km. Temperatures of emplacement calculated with the hornblende-plagioclase thermometer range from 676 degrees C to 780 degrees C. Because most of these plutons are unconformably overlain by Jurassic-Cretaceous volcanic or sedimentary rocks and, regionally, the oldest strata overlying them are the Nandaling and Xiahuayuan Formations of Early Jurassic age, most of these plutons must have been exposed at the surface prior to the Early Jurassic. Therefore, the large-scale uplift and exhumation of the IMPU occurred from the Late Carboniferous to Early Jurassic; at least 15 km thick crustal rocks in the IMPU must have been eroded during this period. It is also inferred that the IMPU was not always an uplifted domain from the Neoproterozoic to Early Triassic. Some Meso-Neoproterozoic and, possibly Paleozoic sedimentary rocks or Early-Middle Triassic volcanic rocks were present in the IMPU until the Late Triassic, but were almost entirely eroded before the end of Triassic. The exhumation of the crystalline rocks and formation of the IMPU is a result of this strong erosion during the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic.