When did the subduction first initiate in the southern Paleo-Asian Ocean: New constraints from a Cambrian intra-oceanic arc system in West Junggar, NW China

We report here a Cambrian southward-subducting intra-oceanic arc system in the southern West Junggar, NW China, where an immature arc occurred initially on SSZ-type ophiolites and finally evolved into a more mature one. The immature arc is dominantly represented by Early–Middle Cambrian (∼510 Ma) low-K tholeiitic felsic rocks, whereas the mature arc is characterized by Late Cambrian (∼495 Ma) medium- and high-K calc-alkaline felsic and mafic rocks. The SSZ-type ophiolites show remarkable depletion of Nb and Ta and contain high-Cr spinel (Cr# > 0.6), resembling these formed in the forearc. Altogether, they record the initiation of subduction and transformation of crust during early subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The subduction initiation might occur in the Early Cambrian (>515 Ma), as constrained by both the SSZ-type ophiolites (516 Ma) and the oldest arc plutons (515–509 Ma) that crosscut the ophiolites. The immature felsic plutons have high SiO2 (>72 wt%) contents and variable MgO (0.42–1.49 wt%) and Mg# values (22–62). Crustal anatexis may be responsible for the genesis of those plutons and thus the transformation from oceanic to continental crust. These results, combined with regional data, convincingly indicate that it is one of the oldest intra-oceanic arc systems in the southern CAOB, which may mark the initial subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean in its southern part, much later than those reported in the north. An archipelago-type model is proposed for the evolution of the southern West Junggar and has implications for the development of the southern part of the CAOB.