Zircon U-Pb ages of leucoleptite on the southern margin of the Dabie Mountains and their geological implications

Abstract: Abundant leucoleptite is exposed in the Dabie orogen. Zircon U-Pb dating of two leucoleptite samples from the Susong Group-complex on the southern margin of the orogen and its adjacent Dabie Group-complex to its north suggests that the protolith of the leucoleptite in the Susong Group-complex formed in the early Neoproterozoic (866 ± 48Ma), while that in the Dabie Group-complex at the end of the Mesoproterozoic (1159 ± 80Ma) and was reworked by a tectono-thermal event in the Caledonian (479 ± 16Ma). It furnishes important evidence for the determination of the age of the Susong Group-complex and correlation with the leucoleptite in the Dabie Group-complex