Geochronology and petrogenesis of the Late Neoproterozoic granitic gneisses of Golpayegan metamorphic complex: a new respect for Cadomian crust in the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone, Iran

The studied granitic gneiss bodies of the Golpayegan metamorphic complex, located in the central part of the Sanandaj Sirjan Zone (SaSZ), in western Iran. Zircon U-Pb dating of two samples shows that the crystallization of the protolith occurred at 557 +/- 12 Ma in the Late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran), broadly coeval to the Neoproterozoic-Early Palaeozoic basement in other parts of Iran. Geochemically, the protolith of the gneisses probably corresponds to differentiated I-type granites with subalkaline affinities in composition. The ratios of Y/Nb >1.2 reveal an affinity to Cordilleran I-type granites for the granitic gneisses. The high Th/U ratios (2.8 to 9), low Eu/Eu* (0.13 to 0.73), with, low contents of FeO (0.55 to 1.72 wt.%), MgO (0.07 to 0.53 wt.%) and MnO (0.01 to 0.04 wt.%) and the high(87)Sr/(86)Sr((i))ratios (0.70693 to 0.73557), negative Nd((t))values (-4.4 to -1.7) and Nd model ages (T-DM2 = 1.35 to 1.56 Ga) suggest that the protolith may have been derived from partial melting of a pre-existing felsic crustal source (most likely differentiated granitoids). The new results reveal that the granitic source magma has been evolved in an active continental margin tectonic regime during the southward subduction of the Proto-Tethys ocean beneath the northern margin of Gondwana, like other coeval fragments dispersed in the entire Cadomian active continental margins. Also, the Cadomian crust widely extended in western Iran and it confirms these rocks have some clear affinity with Cadomian crust in the world.