Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous Deformation in the Western Yanshan Fold‐Thrust Belt: Insights From Syntectonic Sedimentation in the Chicheng Basin, North China

Abstract

The Yanshan fold‐thrust belt is a significant intraplate deformation belt along the northern margin of North China Craton and records multiple phases of deformation during the Mesozoic. However, the specific tectonic evolution of the Yanshan belt during the Mesozoic has long been debated. In particular, many arguments exit regarding whether a contractional or extensional context dominated the Yanshan belt in the Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous. One reason for this argument is the poor understanding of the tectono‐sedimentary relationship preserved in the sedimentary records. A lack of evidence of syntectonic sediments makes it more difficult to reconstruct this relationship. The Chicheng basin in the western Yanshan belt contains complete Upper Jurassic‐Lower Cretaceous succession and is bounded by marginal faults. New regional geological mapping, detailed sedimentary facies analysis, and recognition of two growth strata packages help reconstruct the tectono‐sedimentary relationship in the Chicheng basin. Additionally, zircon U‐Pb dating provides constraints on the timing of the deformation. Our results suggest that the dynamic sediment dispersal system in the Chicheng basin during the Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous were controlled by two phases of thrusting, including the activities of the Shangyi‐Pingquan fault during 162–147 Ma, and the Fengning‐Longhua fault during 140–135 Ma. Therefore, we propose that the western Yanshan belt was in a contractional context during the Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous. Our findings indicate that the tectonic setting of the Yanshan belt experienced a prominent transition from E‐W trending structures to NE‐SW trending structures and that this transition was probably related to subduction of the Paleo‐Pacific plate beneath the East Asian continent.

Thrust duplexing and transpression in the Yanshan Mountains: Implications for early Mesozoic orogenesis and decratonization of the North China Craton

“…170–161 Ma and ca. 157–135 Ma (Lin et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2018) during Yanshanian orogenesis (Huang, 2019; Liu et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2015; Wong, 1927) are similar to broken foreland basins formed during the Laramide orogeny of North America. These are characterized by their limited horizontal scale, elongate distribution, association with steep, basement‐involved reverse faults, high‐relief basin margins and development of axial drainage systems (Dickinson et al., 1988; Lawton, 2019).…”

“…The NE‐SW–striking thrust faults mostly developed in the western and eastern segments of the Yanshan orogen (including the Taihangshan belt) and superimposed on its middle segment (Cope et al., 2007; Li et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2011). Some thrust faults involve crystalline basement, but most are restricted to Proterozoic strata that were thrust above Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic successions.…”

“…Davis, 2005; Davis et al., 2009; Hu et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2018; Meng et al., 2014; Zhao et al., 2004). Some scholars have argued that Yanshan deformation phases in the Middle‐Late Triassic, Middle‐Late Jurassic and Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous developed within a generally contractional setting involving the formation of intermontane flexural basins containing growth structures and coarse‐grained synorogenic strata (Li et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2019; Liu, Zhang, et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011). In contrast, others have attributed Yanshan stratigraphic successions and associated unconformities to episodic basin inversion during short‐duration thrusting events within a regional tectonic setting that was fundamentally extensional, with rift basin development in the Triassic, Early‐Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous (Davis et al., 2009; Meng et al., 2014, 2020; Shao et al., 2003).…”

Late Mesozoic Intracontinental Deformation in the Northern Margin of the North China Craton: A Case Study From the Shangyi Basin, Northwestern Hebei Province, China

“…The Yanshanian intracontinental orogeny (Zheng et al, 2000;Davis et al, 2001;Cope et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2007;Lin et al, 2013;Huang, 2019) and the subsequent large-scale lithospheric extension and thinning of the NCC (Meng, 2003;Zhu et al, 2011;Zhu and Xu, 2019;Wang et al, , 2012Lin and Wei, 2018;Liu et al, 2020) are the most representative during the complex Mesozoic tectonic evolution, attracting extensive attention from a large amount of geologists. Multiple research approaches, such as analysis of structural geometry and kinematics Li et al, 2016;Clinkscales and Kapp, 2019), study of palaeo-stress field based on fault-slip data (Zhang et al, 2003;Huang et al, 2015;Yang and Dong, 2018;, study on basin-mountain coupling (Liu and Yang, 2000;Cope et al, 2007;Liu et al, , 2018; Y. C. Lin et al, 2019;, geochronology (Wu et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2012Wang et al, , 2015, lithogeochemistry (Dai et al, 2016;Li and Wang, 2018), geophysics (Zheng et al, 2009;Zhu et al, 2011;Zhu and Xu, 2019) and numerical simulation analysis (Hou et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2017;Li and Hou, 2018), have been applied to try to reconstruct the history of intracontinental evolution of the NCC during the late Mesozoic. However, detailed structural analysis of key areas remains inadequate.…”

“…Abundant late Mesozoic intracontinental basins were developed along the northern margin of the NCC (He et al, 1998;Liu et al, 2004;J. Liu et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2016;Lin et al, 2019) and were considered as natural laboratories for studying on intracontinental deformation. In this paper, a multidisciplinary survey has been conducted in the Shangyi Basin, which is a typical area in the northern edge of the NCC that recorded late Mesozoic polyphase deformation events.…”