Post-collisional magmatism of western Chukotka and Early Cretaceous tectonic rearrangement in northeastern Asia

Abstract

The paper presents new data on the isotopic age and chemical composition of volcanic rocks from the Tytyl’veem and Mangazeika basins of western Chukotka superposed on Mesozoides of the Verkhoyansk–Chukotka Tectonic Region. The results of SIMS U–Pb zircon dating (121.4 ± 2.8 and 118.0 ± 2.0 Ma) corroborate the Aptian age of the Tytyl’veem Formation. This age, in turn, indicates its formation after closure of the South Anyui ocean (Neocomian), but before origination of the Okhotsk–Chukotka Belt (Albian–Campanian). Post-collisional Aptian igneous rocks are widespread in the northern Verkhoyansk–Chukotka Tectonic Region; the legth of the corresponding igneous province is no less than 1400 km. In geochemical characteristics, the post-collisional volcanic rocks occurring in Western Chukotka are similar with the rocks from Andean-type igneous belts.