The Tibetan Plateau and western Yunnan are known to have formed by the amalgamation of Gondwana-derived continental blocks and arc terranes as a result of Tethyan subduction followed by continental collisions during the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The Devonian and the southern Lancangjiang zone, western Yunnan is a critical period and key region for studying the transformation between the "Proto-Tethyan" and Paleo-Tethyan oceanic systems. New geochemical data and LA-ICPMS U-Pb zircon ages of the Late Devonian volcanogenic sediments from the southern Lancangjiang zone in western Yunnan, SW China, are presented. The studied sedimentary rocks of the Nanguang Formation are volcaniclastic rocks with high volcanic lithic content (55-65%, mostly andesite, dacite, with some rhyolite and tuffs). Whole rock geochemistry, zircon trace elements and detrital modal analyses indicate derivation from a subduction-related magmatic arc. Three tuff samples yield Late Devonian weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of 378 ± 4 Ma, 366 ± 5 Ma and 382 ± 8 Ma, suggesting a Late Devonian depositional age. 104 zircon U-Pb analyses on 104 zircon grains from two sandstone samples present extremely tight age clusters, mostly ranging from 380 Ma to 360 Ma. This indicates a single Late Devonian igneous source. A short transport distance and a high rate of denudation and deposition within an arc-related basin are considered likely for the tuffs and volcaniclastic rocks in this study. This implies the presence of an as yet unidentified Late Devonian magmatic arc in the southern Lancangjiang zone. The cryptic Late Devonian arc is likely to represent either a continuation of Late Ordovician-Late Silurian "Proto-Tethyan" subduction or the initial stage of the Paleo-Tethyan Lincang Arc and indicates that subduction of the Changning-Menglian ocean beneath the Simao/Indochina Block occurred in the Late Devonian.

Intraplate volcanism initiated shortly after the cessation of Cenozoic seafloor spreading in the South China Sea (SCS) region, but the full extent of its influence on the Indochina block has not been well constrained. Here we present major and trace element data and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope ratios of late Cenozoic basaltic lavas from the Khorat plateau and some volcanic centers in the Paleozoic Sukhothai arc terrane in Thailand. These volcanic rocks are mainly trachybasalts and basaltic trachyandesites. Trace element patterns and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic compositions show that these alkaline volcanic lavas exhibit oceanic island basalt (OIB)-like characteristics with enrichments in both large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and high field strength elements (HFSEs). Their mantle source is a mixture between a depleted Indian MORB-type mantle and an enriched mantle type 2 (EMII). We suggest that the post-spreading intraplate volcanism in the SCS region was induced by a Hainan mantle plume which spread westwards to the Paleozoic Sukhothai arc terrane.