Abstract In the eastern South China Block (SCB), the presence of middle Paleozoic volcanics and mafic rocks is poor in spite of the extensive occurrence of granites in response to the synchronous (Kwangsian) intracontinental orogen event. The nature of the lithosphere and its associated orogenic process are poorly known for such a major orogen. In this paper, a set of new U–Pb zircon geochronological, elemental and Sr–Nd isotopic data are presented for several gabbroic plutons, which were recently identified in the Cathaysia Block. The representative samples of the Longhugang, Xinchuan and Xinsi plutons yielded the weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of 423 ± 8 Ma, 434 ± 6 Ma and 420 ± 3 Ma, respectively, and their gneissoid country-rocks are dated at 442–466 Ma. This evidences the presence of Silurian mafic rocks in the Cathaysia Block. These gabbroic rocks can be geochemically classified into three groups. Group 1 from the western Longhugang pluton exhibits flat REE patterns represented by (La/Yb)cn = 1.1–1.7, (Gd/Yb)cn = 0.99–1.15, and δEu = 1.29–1.51 with negative Nb–Ta and P and markedly positive Sr anomalies. It shows enrichment in LILEs and 87Sr/86Sr(t) ratios of 0.70412–0.70727 and eNd(t) values of − 2.6 to − 0.6. Group 2 from the Xinchuan, Zhouya and Yunlu plutons is characterized by high MgO (11.4–15.8 wt.%), mg-number (66–74) and Cr and Ni contents. It is marked by significantly negative Nb–Ta, Zr–Hf and P–Ti anomalies with high 87Sr/86Sr(t) (0.70920–0.71072) and low eNd(t) values (− 3.9 to − 7.9). Group 3 from the Xinsi and eastern Longhugang plutons has eNd(t) values from − 2.8 to − 5.7 and shows high Nb content of 7.05–9.89 ppm with pronounced enrichment in LILE and weak depletion in HFSE, resembling Nb-enriched arc basalt in HFSE composition. A synthesis of these geochemical data points to the following petrogenesis: Groups 1 and 2 derived from a spinel-bearing, plagioclase-rich source and a garnet-bearing, orthopyroxene-rich source, respectively, proportionally modified by slab- and sediment-derived melts plus fluid fluxing from the earliest Neoproterozoic subduction. The HFSE composition for Group 3 inherited from a metasomatized mantle wedge column with the input of large-proportional slab melts and the absence of residual rutile during partial melting. In conjunction with other available observations, it is proposed that there preserved a paleosubduction-modified wedge column beneath the Cathaysia Block, which might be undisturbed until the Kwangsian intracontinental orogen. During the Silurian post-orogenic collapse of the event, the elevated lithosphere thermal boundary facilitated the partial melting of the column to generate these Silurian gabbroic rocks.