Dating of igneous rocks from paleo-island arc complexes of orogenic belts makes it possible to determine the precise timing of subduction processes that occurred during the formation of the orogen. Within the central (East Transbaikal) part of the Mongol–Okhotsk orogenic belt, the Kamenka island-arc terrane is an example of such a complex. Its intrusive part is included into the Bereya complex, represented by a gabbro-diorite-tonalite-plagiogranite series of rocks demonstrating subduction geochemical characteristics. The dating of zircons from acidic rocks of this complex by the U–Pb classical method showed that they were formed in a narrow time interval of 203 ± 1–205 ± 1 Ma, which corresponds to the Norian–Rhaetian boundary of the Late Triassic. Taking into account the previously obtained age of the diorites (254 ± 5 Ma), the timing of formation of the entire series of the intrusive rocks is about 50 Ma, thus indicating the probable subduction along the northern (in modern coordinates) margin of the Mongol–Okhotsk Paleocean under the Siberian paleocontinent in the Late Permian – Late Triassic. The diorites of the first phase have positive values of εND(254 Ma) = 3.2–3.6 (TNd(DM) = 879–994 Ma), and the plagiogranites have ɛND(205 Ma) = 2.3–3.5 (TNd(DM) = 859–1028 Ma), which points to the relationship between these rocks and the substance of the depleted mantle source and is consistent with the Sm–Nd isotope characteristics of the juvenile crust of the Central Asian orogenic belt.
The Paleozoic granitoids of the Urgamal pluton in the crystalline basement of the northwestern part of the Dzabkhan Terrain are considered. The age of these granitoids, 463 ± 2 Ma, was determined by the U–Pb method (ID-TIMS). The Urgamal pluton is located on the border of the Dzabkhan Terrain with the Early Caledonian formations of the Ozernaya Zone. The pluton was emplaced after the the Dzabkhan Terrain had converged with the paleo-oceanic and island arc complexes of the Ozernaya Zone. The granitoids are therefore attributed to post-accretionary formations occurring in the Early Caledonian superterrain of Central Asia. Intrusive complexes similar in age and structural position are known in the Caledonian Ozernaya Zone, Sangilen Block, Tuva-Mongolian Terrain, and the Olkhon Terrain of the framing of the East Siberian Platform. Geological settings of these complexes allow the time of integration of the Early Caledonian superterrain of Central Asia and the Siberian Platform to be estimated.
The formation stages of high-grade metamorphic complexes and the related granitoids of the Dzabkhan terrane basement are considered. The age data (U–Pb method, TIMS) of zircons from the trondhjemite block of the eastern part of the Dzabkhan terrane, which is directly overlain by the dolomite sequence of the Tsagaan Oloom Formation, are given. Trondhjemites yield the U–Pb zircon age of 862 ± 3 Ma. In their structural position, they are assigned to typical postmetamorphic formations that determine the formation and cratonization of rocks of the host block. The geochronological study of trondhjemites gives grounds to distinguish fragments of the continental crust in the Dzabkhan terrane basement, the formation of which occurred at different periods of time: ∼860 and ∼790 Ma. Geological–geochronological and Sm‒Nd isotope–geochemical studies indicate that the Dzabkhan terrane basement is not a single block of the Early Precambrian continental crust, but a composite terrane, comprising Neoproterozoic ensialic and island-arc structural and compositional complexes. Correlation of Sr isotopic characteristics with the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr variation curve in the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian seawater shows that carbonate deposits accumulated at the eastern margin of the Dzabkhan terrane near the end of the Neoproterozoic, 700–550 Ma, and in the central part of the terrane in the Early Cambrian, 540–530 Ma.