The limited geochronology and geochemistry data available for the Early Cretaceous igneous rocks of the southern Gangdese Belt, southern Tibet, has resulted in the proposal of conflicting geodynamic models for the generation of the widespread Cretaceous igneous rocks in the middle and northern parts of the belt. To explore this issue, we present SHRIMP U–Pb zircon data and geochemical and Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotopic data for the Mamen andesites from the southern margin of the Gangdese Belt. The Mamen andesites, emplaced at 136.5 Ma, are sodic (Na2O/K2O = 1.2–2.3) and have geochemical characteristics typical of adakites (i.e., high Al2O3, high La/Yb ratios and Sr contents, low Y and HREE contents, and positive Eu anomalies), except for high Cr, Ni, and MgO contents. The andesites have initial (87Sr/86Sr)t ratios of 0.70413–0.70513, positive εNd(t) values of 3.7–5.8, and (206Pb/204Pb)t ratios of 18.37–18.51, (207Pb/204Pb)t ratios of 15.59–15.65, and (208Pb/204Pb)t ratios of 38.43–38.72. In situ Hf isotopic analyses of zircons that had previously been dated by SHRIMP yielded positive initial εHf(t) values ranging from +11.0 to +15.5. A model calculation using trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data indicates that several percent of subducted sediment is required to generate the Mamen andesites, which were derived via the partial melting of subducted Neo-Tethyan slab (MORB + sediment + fluid) and subsequently hybridized by peridotite in the mantle wedge. Our data indicate that the Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust was subducted northward beneath the Gangdese Belt during the Early Cretaceous at a high angle. Our results are inconsistent with a tectonic model that advocates the low-angle or flat-slab subduction of Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust in generating the widespread Cretaceous magmatism recorded in the Gangdese Belt.
