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Serious errors and inconsistencies in the article undermine many of its interpretations to the point that principal conclusions are not valid. Much dependence is placed on the maximum depositional age (Dmax) of sandstone units based on zircon analysis of 10 samples, but calculation of those Dmax values is flawed, and their use confuses maximum with actual depositional ages and makes age distinctions finer than the resolution of the data. Conclusions that are compromised include the concept of a westward/downward-younging tectonostratigraphic stack of accretionary units, comparison of mapped sandstones with other California Coast Ranges sandstones, comparison of timing of events recorded in the map area with regional events, identification of mélange only in a narrow band in the study area, and detrital provenance of some of the sandstone units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uranium-lead ages are reported for zircons from ultramafic bodies and metamorphic host rocks of the Western Series that outcrop at La Cabaña, in the southern section of the coastal accretionary complex of central Chile. Metasedimentary mica schists hosting the ultramafic bodies contain a main detrital zircon population of Devonian age (365-380 Ma) clustering around ~368 Ma, differing significantly from neighbouring areas where Devonian zircons are scarce. Zircons from the metasomatic reaction zones (albitites and chloritites), formed during the emplacement and alteration of the ultramafic bodies, are mainly Ordovician (~478 Ma) and lack Devonian zircons, resembling a typical detrital zircon pattern from other locations in the Western Series. Zircons from the chloritite reaction zone of the Lavanderos serpentinite, the easternmost ultramafic body in La Cabaña, are in textural equilibrium with metamorphic ilmenite. Some of these zircons yield an average age of 283.4 ± 7 Ma (n = 6) which is identical, within error, to a previously reported K-Ar fuchsite cooling age of 282 ± 6 Ma from the reaction zone. Most zircons extracted from chromitite boulders have euhedral oscillatory-zoned growth patterns with a similar range of ages than those reported for the Western Series (324-1090 Ma; n = 12), except for two zircons with cloudy appearance and high U/Th ratios which yielded an average age of 285.5 ± 7 Ma. The presence of Early Permian zircons (~280-290 Ma) in all studied rocks suggests remobilization of Zr, possibly triggered by metasomatic fluids released during the disequilibrium reaction associated with the tectonic emplacement of the ultramafic rocks into the metasedimentary rock. Simultaneously with the formation of metasomatic zircons, Palaeozoic and Mesoproterozoic zircons from the metasedimentary rocks were mechanically incorporated into the ultramafic rocks, thus providing a record of the timing of crustal emplacement of the ultramafic rocks into the accretionary complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Roshtkhar area is located in the Khaf-Kashmar-Bardaskan volcano-plutonic belt to the northeastern Iran along the regional E-W trending Dorouneh Fault, northeastern of the Lut Block. There are several outcrops of subvolcanic rocks occurring mainly as dikes in the area, which intruded into Cenozoic intrusive rocks. We present U-Pb dating of zircons from a diabase dike and syenite rock using LA-ICP-MS that yielded an age of 1778 ± 10 Ma for the dike, indicating this Cenozoic dike has zircon xenocrysts inherited from deeper sources; and 38.0 ± 0.5 Ma, indicating an Late Eocene crystallization age for the syenite. Geochemically, the dikes typical of high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic magmas. Petrographic observations and major and trace element variations suggest that diabase melts underwent variable fractionation of clinopyroxene, olivine, and Fe-Ti oxides and minor crustal contamination during the differentiation process. Primitive mantle-normalized multi-element diagrams display enrichment in LILE, such as Rb, Ba, Th, U, and Sr compared to HFSE, as well as negative anomalies of Nb, Ta, P, and Ti, suggesting derivation from subduction-modified mantle. Chondrite-normalized REE plots show moderately LREE enriched patterns (<3.83 LaN/YbN <8.27), and no significant Eu anomalies. Geochemical modelling using Sm/Yb versus La/Yb and La/Sm ratios suggests a low-degree of batch melting (~1-3%) of a phlogopite-spinel peridotite source to generate the mafic dikes. The geochemical signatures suggest that the Roshtkhar mafic dikes cannot be related directly to subduction and likely resulted from melting of upper mantle in an extensional setting where the heat flow was provided from deeper levels. These dikes presumably derived the zircon xenocrysts from the assimilation of upper crust of Gondwanian basement. Processes responsible for partial melting of metasomatized lithospheric mantle and post-collision magmatism in NE Iran was triggered by heating due to asthenospheric upwelling in an extensional setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The involvement of the North China Craton (NCC) in the assembly or breakup of Rodinia has long been debated. Studies of palaeomagnetism, mafic sills (dikes), igneous events, and sedimentary records have led to contrasting opinions on this topic. No igneous events related to the late Mesoproterozoic assembly of Rodinia have been reported in the NCC. However, the authors found numerous late Mesoproterozoic zircons in the Tonian system on the northern margin of the NCC. The Tonian Zhulazhagamaodao formation is composed of meta-sandstone, siltstone, slate, carbonate, and dolomine of the littoral to neritic facies and occurs mainly in the western part of the Bayan Obo-Zhaertai-Langshan rift. U-Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Tonian system reveals age peaks at 1079 ± 23 Ma, 1092 ± 22 Ma, 1175 ± 50 Ma, 1175 ± 18 Ma, 1260 ± 45 Ma, 1266 ± 16 Ma, and 1270 ± 26 Ma, which correspond to the timing of Rodinia assembly. Considering that coeval igneous rocks and orogenic belts developed mostly in the Laurentia-Baltica cratons, we propose that these cratons supplied clastic material to the northern margin of the NCC and that they had a close spatial relationship between each other during the Tonian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]