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The age of the base of the paleoproterozoic Hutuo Group in the Wutai Mountains area, North China Craton: SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating of basaltic andesite

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Basalt and basaltic andesite metamorphosed at greenschist facies occurs with conglomerate layers at the bottom of the Paleoproterozoic Hutuo Group in the Wutai Mountains area, North China Craton. Detailed geological surveying confirms that these volcanic rocks are conformable within the neighboring sedimentary rocks. The SHRIMP results on basaltic andesite are divided into two groups. In one group the 207Pb/206Pb ages are from 2433 to 2558 Ma, which is consistent with the basement crustal age in Fuping and Wutai areas. In the other group, 13 grains yielded a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 2140±14 Ma. The latter is interpreted as the eruption age of the basaltic andesite, and gives the age of the base of the Hutuo Group. This result further suggests that the Hutuo Group formed in the middle Paleoproterozoic, not the early Palaeoproterozoic or late Archaean, as thought before, and is related to a 2.2–2.1 Ga rifting event in the Central North China Craton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    LiLin Du, ChongHui Yang, Wei Wang, LiuDong Ren, YuSheng Wan & YuanSheng Geng

  2. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    LiLin Du & JingHui Guo

  3. Beijing SHRIMP Center, Beijing, 100037, China

    Wei Wang & YuSheng Wan

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  1. LiLin Du
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  2. ChongHui Yang
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Du, L., Yang, C., Guo, J. et al. The age of the base of the paleoproterozoic Hutuo Group in the Wutai Mountains area, North China Craton: SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating of basaltic andesite. Chin. Sci. Bull. 55, 1782–1789 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-009-3611-8

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