No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

We present new sedimentary data integrated into a regional Mesozoic stratigraphic framework to provide a detailed picture of spatio-temporal variations in deposition and depocenter migration of the northwest Sichuan basin. The Mesozoic sedimentary evolution is utilized to interpret basin subsidence history and to unravel coeval basin-margin tectonics. The northwest Sichuan basin, together with the Songpan-Ganzi terrane, behaved as a passive margin south of the Qinling Paleo-Tethys from late Paleozoic to early Middle Triassic times and then evolved into a peripheral foreland basin in response to collision of the North and South China blocks since the late Middle Triassic. Coeval with strong north-south contraction of the Songpan-Ganzi terrane in the Late Triassic, sinistral transpressional deformation of the Longmen Shan belt led to fl exural subsidence of the adjacent western Sichuan basin. Renewed basin-margin fold-thrust activity triggered recurrence of fl exural subsidence of the northwest Sichuan basin since the Middle Jurassic, with the depocenter eventually shifting to the northwestern corner of the basin in the Early Cretaceous. Sedimentary evolution of the northwest Sichuan basin and the basin-margin deformation imply that the South China block had been rotating clockwise relative to the North China block throughout the Mesozoic with an interim period of Early Jurassic tectonic quiescence. A model is advanced that invokes clockwise rotation of the South China block as a driver for tectonic evolution of both the basin and adjoining structural belts and provides an explanation for several salient features that are otherwise puzzling.

The North China Craton (NCC) hosts numerous gold deposits and is known as the most gold-productive region of China. The gold deposits were mostly formed within a few million years in the Early Cretaceous (130-120 Ma), coeval with widespread occurrences of bimodal magmatism, rift basins and metamorphic core complexes that marked the peak of lithospheric thinning and destruction of the NCC. Stable isotope data and geological evidence indicate that ore-forming fluids and other components were largely exsolved from cooling magma and/or derived from mantle degassing during the period of lithospheric extension. Gold mineralization in the NCC contrasts strikingly with that of other cratons where gold ore-forming fluids were sourced mostly from metamorphic devolatization in compressional or transpressional regimes. In this paper, we present a summary and discussion on time-space distribution and ore genesis of gold deposits in the NCC in the context of the timing, spatial variation, and decratonic processes. Compared with orogenic gold deposits in other cratonic blocks, the Early Cretaceous gold deposits in the NCC are quite distinct in that they were deposited from magma-derived fluids under extensional settings and associated closely with destruction of cratonic lithosphere. We argue that Early Cretaceous gold deposits in the NCC cannot be classified as orogenic gold deposits as previously suggested, rather, they are a new type of gold deposits, termed as "decratonic gold deposits" in this study. The westward subduction of the paleo-West Pacific plate (the Izanagi plate) beneath the eastern China continent gave rise to an optimal tectonic setting for large-scale gold mineralization in the Early Cretaceous. Dehydration of the subducted and stagnant slab in the mantle transition zone led to continuous hydration and considerable metasomatism of the mantle wedge beneath the NCC. As a consequence, the refractory mantle became oxidized and highly enriched in large ion lithophile elements and chalcophile elements (e.g., Cu, Au, Ag and Te). Partial melting of such a mantle would have produced voluminous hydrous, Au-and S-bearing basaltic magma, which, together with crust-derived melts induced by underplating of basaltic magma, served as an important source for ore-forming fluids. It is suggested that the Eocene Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada, occurring geologically in the deformed western margin of the North America Craton, are comparable with the Early Cretaceous gold deposits of the NCC because they share similar tectonic settings and auriferous fluids. The NCC gold deposits are characterized by gold-bearing quartz veins in the Archean amphibolite facies rocks, whereas the Nevada gold deposits are featured by fine-grained sulfide dissemination in Paleozoic marine sedimentary rocks. Their main differences in gold mineralization are the different host rocks, ore-controlling structures, and ore-forming depth. The similar tectonic setting and ore-forming fluid source, however, indicate that the Carlin-type gold deposits in ...

No abstract

The China–Mongolia border region contains many late Mesozoic extensional basins that together constitute a regionally extensive basin system. Individual basins within the system are internally composed of a family of sub‐basins filled with relatively thin sedimentary piles mostly less than 5 km in thickness. There are two types of sub‐basins within the basins, failed and combined, respectively. The failed sub‐basins are those that failed to continue developing with time. In contrast, the combined ones are those that succeeded in growing by coalescing adjacent previously isolated sub‐basins. Thus, a combined sub‐basin is bounded by a linked through‐going normal fault that usually displays a corrugated trace on map view and a shallower dip on cross‐section. Along‐strike existence of discrete depocenters and alternation of sedimentary wedges of different types validate the linkage origin of combined sub‐basins. Localized high‐strain extension resulted in large‐amount displacement on linked faults, but contemporaneously brought about the cessation of some isolated fault segments and the formation of corresponding failed sub‐basins in intervening areas between active linked faults. Some combined sub‐basins might have evolved into supradetachment basins through time, concurrent with rapid denudation of footwall rocks and formation of metamorphic core complexes in places. A tectonic scenario of the broad basin system can be envisioned as an evolution from early‐stage distributed isolated sub‐basins to late‐stage focused combined or/and supradetachment sub‐basins bounded by linked faults, accompanied by synchronous cessation of some early‐formed sub‐basins. Initiation of the late Mesozoic extension is believed to result from gravitational collapse of the crust that had been overthickened shortly prior to the extension. Compression, arising from collision of Siberia and the amalgamated North China–Mongolia block along the Mongol–Okhotsk suture in the time interval from the Middle to Late Jurassic, led to significant shortening and thickening over a broad area and subsequent extensional collapse. Pre‐ and syn‐extensional voluminous magmatism must have considerably reduced the viscosity of the overthickened crust, thereby not only facilitating the gravitational collapse but enabling the lower‐middle crust to flow as well. Flow of a thicker crustal layer is assumed to have occurred coevally with upper‐crustal stretching so as to diminish the potential contrast of crustal thickness by repositioning materials from less extended to highly extending regions. Lateral middle‐ and lower‐crustal flow and its resultant upward push upon the upper crust provide a satisfying explanation for a number of unusual phenomena, such as supracrustal activity of the extension, absence or negligibleness of postrift subsidence of the basin system, less reduction of crustal thickness after extension, and non‐compression‐induced basin inversion, all of which have been paradoxical in the previous study of the late Mesozoic basin tectonics in...

No abstract