ABSTRACT

Sericite phyllite from the Sinian Shisanlitai Formation, Dalian area, Liaodong Peninsula, NE China, contains an assemblage of newly-formed lower-greenschist facies minerals (sericite, chlorite, Fe minerals and Ti minerals) plus aggregates of fine-grained monazite. The texture of the monazite, its mineral inclusions, and its close association with Fe oxide minerals show that it is not detrital or diagenetic, but a product of the low-grade metamorphism. SHRIMP U-Th-Pb dating of the monazite at 217 ± 15 Ma shows that the metamorphism, and associated regional deformation and fluid flow, occurred in the Late Triassic, coeval with the waning stages of the Dabie-Sulu orogeny. The Dabie-Sulu tectonothermal event has produced both deformation and metamorphism in rocks of the eastern North China Block at least up to ∼200 km north of the main continent-continent collision zone.