Formation age and geotectonic significance of Baerluke ophiolite in west Junggar, Xinjiang

Severial ophiolite belts are distributed in west Junggar area, Xinjiang. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating of two gabbro bodies in the Baerluke ophiolite yielded the age of 512.3±7.2Ma and 521.1±2.8Ma, respectively, which indicate that the ophiolite was formed in Late Cambrian. Combined with characteristics of rock combination in ophiolite and its unconformity contact with middle-lower Devonian Kulumudi Formation, the authors hold that this ophiolitic melange belt and Tangbale and Mayile ophiolite belt were formed in the same epoch and in the same tectonic belt, with the emplacement not later than Early Devonian.