Zircon SHRIMP U-Pb ages of the Huangling granite and the tuff beds from Liantuo Formation in the Three Gorges area of Yangtze River, China and its geological significance.

Neoproterozoic granite is well developed in South China continent and its age and origin is a marker for Neoproterozoic tectono-stratigraphic evolution in South China. The isotopic chronologic study of the granites are paid a great deal of attention to as those type of granites developed at the same time with the Neoproterozoic violation in South China and its relationship with the starting of“snow-ball” that is based on the high-quality SHRIMP U-Pb age. The authors obtained zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating age from the Huangling granite(a high-quality weighted-mean SHRIMP U-Pb age of 837±7 Ma) and another younger magma (724 Ma±12 Ma) from tuff bed at the top of the Liantuo Formation in Beijing SHRIMP Center. The former shows the same emplacement time with the granite from Eshan, Yunnan Province and Sanfang, Yuanbaoshan granite plutons from Guangxi Province; the later marked the age of top boundary of the Liantuo Formation and this age suggests that the South China deposition worked on at ca. 724 Ma, and therefore, it is of much importance for calibrating the geological time of the bottom boundary of the Nanhua System and the Neoproterozoic in South China as well.