Migmatites record multiple episodes of crustal anatexis and geochemical differentiation in the Sulu ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic zone, east–central China

Partial melting of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks is common during collisional orogenesis and post-collisional reworking, indicating that determining the timing and processes involved in this partial melting can provide insights into the tectonic evolution of collisional orogens. This study presents the results of a combined whole-rock geochemical and zirconological study of migmatites from the Sulu orogen in eastern China. These data provide evidence of multiple episodes of crustal anatexis and geochemical differentiation within the UHP metamorphic rocks. The leucosomes contain higher concentrations of Ba and K and lower concentrations of the rare earth elements (REE), Th and Y, than associated melanosomes and granitic gneisses. The leucosomes also have homogenous Sr-Nd-O isotopic compositions that are similar to proximal (i.e. within the same outcrop) melanosomes, suggesting that the anatectic melts were generated by the partial melting of source rocks that are located within individual outcrops. The migmatites contain zircons with six different types of domains that can be categorized using differences in structures, trace element compositions, and U-Pb ages. Group I domains are relict magmatic zircons that yield middle Neoproterozoic U-Pb ages and contain high REE concentrations. Group II domains represent newly grown metamorphic zircons that formed at 230 +/- 1 Ma during the collisional orogenesis. Groups III, IV, V, and VI zircons are newly grown anatectic zircons that formed at 222 +/- 2 Ma, 215 +/- 1 Ma, 177 +/- 2 Ma, and 152 +/- 2 Ma, respectively. The metamorphic zircons have higher Th/U and lower (Yb/Gd)(N) values, flat heavy REE (HREE) patterns with no significantly negative Eu anomalies relative to the anatectic zircons, which are characterized by low Th/U ratios, steep HREE patterns, and negative Eu anomalies. The first two episodes of crustal anatexis occurred during the Late Triassic at c. 222 Ma and c. 215 Ma as a result of phengite breakdown. The other two episodes of anatexis occurred during the Jurassic period at c. 177 Ma and c. 152 Ma and were associated with extensional collapse of the collision-thickened orogen. The majority of Triassic anatectic zircons and all of the Jurassic zircons are located within the leucosomes, whereas the melanosomes are dominated by Triassic metamorphic zircons, suggesting that the leucosomes within the migmatites record more episodes of crustal anatexis. Both metamorphic and anatectic zircons have elevated epsilon(Hf)(t) values compared with relict magmatic zircon cores, suggesting that these zircons contain non-zircon Hf derived from material with more radiogenic Hf isotope compositions. Therefore, the Sulu and Dabie orogens experienced different episodes of reworking during the exhumation and post-collisional stages.