J. metamorphic Geol., 2013, 31, 49–62 doi:10.1111/jmg.12012 Origin and Tectonic Implication of Ophiolite and Eclogite in the Song Ma Suture Zone between the South China and Indochina Blocks R. Y. ZHANG,1 C.-H. LO,1 S.-L. CHUNG,1 M. GROVE,2 S. OMORI,3 Y. IIZUKA,4 J. G. LIOU2 AND T. V. TRI5 1Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan (
[email protected]) 2Department of Geological & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA 3Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan 4Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan 5Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam, No. 6, Pham Ngu Lao St., Hanoi, Vietnam ABSTRACT Southeast Asia consists of several microcontinents that detached from the northeastern margin of Gondwanaland. The Song Ma belt in northern Vietnam consists of ophiolite, metabasite, metasedi- mentary rocks and eclogite, and it is thought to be a suture zone between the Indochina and South China blocks. However, the nature and boundaries of the Song Ma belt and the collision age of the two blocks have long been debated. In this article, petrological and geochemical studies on the Song Ma ophiolite and eclogite and first sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) age dating of eclogite provide new light to resolve such debate. Eclogite consisting of garnet, omphacite, phengite, quartz, barroisite and rutile is closely associated with garnet–phengite–quartz schist in the ÔNam Co antiformÕ, a northern subunit of the Song Ma belt. The eclogite experienced a three-stage metamorphic evolution: (I) pre-eclogite stage (amphibolite facies) defined by inclusions of taramite, barroisite, quartz, zoisite ⁄ epidote, mica, rutile & rare chlorite in garnet, (II) eclogite stage and (III) retrograde stage of amphibolite to greenschist facies.