Detrital zircon U–Pb ages from the Middle to Late Permian strata of the Yiyang area, southern North China Craton: Implications for the Mianlue oceanic crust subduction

Abstract

Basin formation and sedimentary development in the southern North China Craton (NCC) are closely related to the tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt (QOB). With the aim of revealing the coupling evolution between the QOB and southern NCC during the Late Palaeozoic, an investigation based on provenance analysis was performed in this study. We present new detrital zircon U–Pb data from the Middle–Late Permian sediments in the Yiyang area, southern NCC. The results show that detrital zircons, from the Middle Permian Shihezi Formation, have three major peaks at 2,447, 1,905, and 296 Ma. In contrast, the lower and upper parts of the Late Permian Sunjiagou Formation yield major peaks at ~1.85 Ga and ~260 Ma, with weak peaks at ~2.5 Ga, ~450 Ma, and ~315 Ma, and the middle part of the Sunjiagou Formation displays a major peak at 429 Ma. Combined with published palaeocurrent data and lithofacies palaeogeography, the sediments of the Middle Permian Shihezi Formation were sourced from the Inner Mongolia Palaeo‐Uplift along the northern margin of the NCC, whereas the Upper Permian Sunjiagou Formation originated mainly from the southern margin of the NCC including the North Qinling Belt. This provenance shift indicates that the North Qinling Belt and southern margin of the NCC initiated the uplift and exhumation during the Late Permian. On the basis of the evolutionary history of the QOB, we attribute the uplift geodynamics to the Mianlue oceanic crust subduction. This study provides important sedimentological constraints for the tectonic conversion during the Late Palaeozoic along the southern margin of the NCC, which also restricts the start‐up time of the Mianlue oceanic crust subduction from the perspective of the basin–mountain system.

Early Triassic Conversion from Source to Sink on the Southern Margin of the North China Craton: Constraints by Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages

“…The detrital zircons in this study showed similar age characteristics to Late Permian in the Yiyang area [77], suggesting that the southern margin of the NCC and the NQOB was still characterized by shortening and elevation during the Early Triassic period. Additionally, the provenance of Jiyuan basin, which is located in north of the Yiyang area, transformed from the IMPU during the Late Permian to the NQOB during the Early Triassic [17,71].…”

“…Therefore, based on the above evidence, we suggest that the provenances of the Liujiagou Formation in the Yiyang area were predominantly derived from both the southern margin of the NCC and from the NQOB. [68]; (e) Liujiagou Formation in the Xishan area, Taiyuan [69]; (f) Early Triassic strata in the Yan'an area, Ordos basin [70]; (g) third section of the Shiqianfeng Formation in the Qinshui basin [8]; (h) Liujiagou and Heshanggou formations in the Jiyuan basin [71]; (i) this study; (j) southern margin of the North China Craton [9,[72][73][74][75][76][77]; (k) North Qinling Orogenic Belt [53,56,78,79]. The diagrams are arranged geographically from north to south.…”

“…Consequently, the topographic slope of the whole NCC reversed to south-dipping and the depocenter significantly migrated southward [8,21,80] in response to the tectonic setting of syn-orogenic compression [11,24,61]. Subsequently, the NQOB and southern margin of the NCC started the uplift probably during the Late Permian period, possibly driven by the compression related to the northward subduction of the South Qinling terrane and the Mianlue Oceanic crust [22,47,77,[82][83][84]. This uplift was proven by the transformation of the paleocurrent, which changed from southward to northward during the Middle-Late Permian era [85], statistical analysis of detrital compositions, sedimentary facies analysis and stratigraphic unconformity [21], and detrital zircon U-Pb data in the southern NCC, which displayed prominent ages from the NQOB [9,77].…”

Detrital zircon trace elements from the Mesozoic Jiyuan Basin, central China and its implication on tectonic transition of the Qinling Orogenic Belt

“…Many investigations, concerning detrital zircon chronology, have been successfully performed in the surrounding basins of the Qinling Orogen [4,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. The Qinling Orogen emerged as the closure of the Mianlve Ocean, which resulted in the final amalgamation of the South China Block and the North China Block [26,27].…”

“…These zircons can be a good object to collect some important information about the development of the Mianlve Ocean. In addition, provenance analysis of the Late Paleozoic sediments on the southern North China Block reveals that the tectonic uplift of the Qinling Orogen retreated during the Permian [20,[30][31][32][33]. However, there is a lack of data describing the Permian tectonic transition of the Qinling Orogen.…”