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Ophiolite assemblages of the South Tianshan fold-and-thrust-belt (STS) track the sea floor dynamics of the late Cambrian to Carboniferous Turkestan Ocean in the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt. We interpret new geochronological and geochemical data for the Mailisu ophiolite from western Kyrgyzstan as evidence for an early Silurian incipient subduction zone outboard the South Chatkal Arc of the Middle Tianshan. Igneous zircons from a leucogabbro yielded a U-Pb age of 440 ± 6 Ma indicating one of the oldest sea floor fragments in the STS. Metabasalt samples have N- to E-MORB trace element patterns and initial εNd values of ~5 to 9 support melting of depleted asthenosphere comprising a minor OIB component. Cross-cutting diabase dykes show geochemical characteristics of high-Ca basaltic boninites. Their low REE abundances and highly fractionated middle-heavy REE patterns indicate sources that were more melt-depleted than those of the metabasalts. Concave upwards LREE patterns are compatible with a residual peridotite source, fertilised by small-degree OIB-like melts with εNd of ~5 to 6. Positive Ba, Sr, and Pb anomalies support the involvement of slab-derived hydrous fluids that probably facilitated the melting of the residual mantle. The association of MORB-like metabasalts with younger dykes of boninite affinity suggests subduction initiation for the origin of the Mailisu ophiolite. Our data elucidate one of the major yet little understood episodes in the Paleozoic history of the Turkestan Ocean. Future identification of similar rock assemblages will be helpful to understand the insufficiently constrained history of ocean floor subduction in the Paleozoic Oceans of the western CAOB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Geochronological, geochemical, and structural studies of magmatic and metamorphic complexes within the Kyrgyz North Tianshan (NTS) revealed an extensive area of early Palaeozoic magmatism with an age range of 540–475 Ma. During the first episode at 540–510 Ma, magmatism likely occurred in an intraplate setting within the NTS microcontinent and in an oceanic arc setting within the Kyrgyz-Terskey zone in the south. During the second episode at 500–475 Ma, the entire NTS represented an arc system. These two phases of magmatism were separated by an episode of accretionary tectonics of uncertain nature, which led to obduction of ophiolites from the Kyrgyz-Terskey zone onto the microcontinent. The occurrence of zircon xenocrysts and predominantly negative whole-rock ɛ Nd(t) values and ɛ Hf(t) values of magmatic zircons suggest a continental setting and melting of Precambrian continental sources with minor contributions of Palaeozoic juvenile melts in the generation of the magmatic rocks. The late Cambrian to Early Ordovician 500–475 Ma arc evolved mainly on Mesoproterozoic continental crust in the north and partly on oceanic crust in the south. Arc magmatism was accompanied by spreading in a back-arc basin in the south, where supra-subduction ophiolitic gabbros yielded ages of 496 to 479 Ma. The relative position of the arc and active back-arc basin implies that the subduction zone was located north of the arc, dipping to the south. Variably intense metamorphism and deformation in the NTS reflect an Early Ordovician orogenic event at 480–475 Ma, resulting from closure of the Djalair-Naiman ophiolite trough and collision of the Djel'tau microcontinent with the northern margin of NTS. Comparison of geological patterns and episodes of arc magmatism in the NTS and Chinese Central Tianshan indicate that these crustal units constituted a single early Palaeozoic arc and were separated from the Tarim Craton by an oceanic basin since the Neoproterozoic. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Extensive Cambrian to Early Ordovician magmatic realm revealed in the Kyrgyz North Tianshan • A magmatic arc evolved on heterogeneous basement, mainly on Precambrian continental crust. • Arc-related rocks represent crustal melts with minor contribution from juvenile sources. • The Kyrgyz North Tianshan and Chinese Central Tianshan represent a single early Palaeozoic arc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]