Jp. Encarnacion et al., ZIRCON U-PB GEOCHRONOLOGY OF THE ZAMBALES AND ANGAT OPHIOLITES, LUZON, PHILIPPINES - EVIDENCE FOR AN EOCENE ARC-BACK ARC PAIR, J GEO R-SOL, 98(B11), 1993, pp. 19991-20004
Two basement terranes, the Zambales ophiolite in the west, and the Ang
at ophiolite in the east, am exposed on the island of Luzon, separated
by a circa 10 km thick and circa 100 km wide sedimentary basin. The s
tructural and age relationships between the two ophiolitic blocks are
central to understanding the geologic and tectonic development of the
northern Philippines and evaluating models of terrane evolution propos
ed for this area of the western Pacific. We analyzed zircons from the
Zambales and Angat terranes to better constrain their origin. Two zirc
on fractions froin tonalite in the Acoje block of the Zambales ophioli
te give concordant U-Pb ages at 44.2 (+/-0.9) Ma. Two zircon fractions
from plagiogranite and one fraction from diorite in the Coto block of
the Zambales ophiolite give concordant U-Pb ages of 45.1 (+/-0.6) Ma.
These results provide a Middle Eocene age for the Zambales ophiolite,
in agreement with the minimum Late Eocene age of the overlying Aksite
ro Formation. No age difference is discerned between the arc-like Acoj
e block and MORB-like Coto block of the Zambales ophiolite. Four zirco
n fractions from two sample sites in the Angat ophiolite give concorda
nt ages of 48.1 (+/-0.5) Ma. This age is considerably younger than the
Late Cretaceous age based on radiolarian fauna derived from a sheeted
dike-pillow lava-sediment sequence south-southeast of the main ophiol
ite. The small age difference between the Zambales and Angat ophiolite
s suggests a common origin and obviates the need for a major structura
l discontinuity west of the Southern Sierra Madre beneath the Central
Valley of Luzon. The Cretaceous biostratigraphic ages of the ophioliti
c rocks southeast of the Eocene Angat ophiolite implies that there are
two ophiolitic basements exposed in the Southern Sierra Madre. The re
lationship between the two ophiolites is constrained by the overlying
stratigraphic relations which indicate that an Eocene volcanic arc and
associated volcaniclastic apron was built on both the Eocene and Cret
aceous ophiolitic basement. This suggests that the Zambales-Angat ophi
olite represents a preserved Eocene back-arc basin that opened behind
an Eocene arc that developed within Cretaceous oceanic basement. In th
is model, the Zambales-Angat ophiolites are therefore not allochthonou
s terranes but part of a single plate, generated in situ, forming part
of the autochthonous basement of Luzon.