A regional tectonic event of Katian (Late Ordovician) age across three major blocks of China

The present paper deals with a tectonic event of Late Ordovician age affecting three blocks of China,i.e.South China,North China and Tarim.In the North China and the Tarim platforms,as well as their marginal belts,there was a regional uplift during the early Katian Stage of the Ordovician.The uplift was indicated by the unconformities between the Ordovician successions and overlying late Paleozoic strata.New biostratigraphic studies of conodonts and graptolites from many sections at Longxian and Yaoxian,North China shows that the youngest Ordovician strata are of the early Katian age corresponding to graptolite Diplacanthograptus spiniferus Biozone.The same level has been recognized to represent the uppermost Ordovician in the platform area of Tarim,whereas in the marginal belt the top boundary of the Ordovician is slightly younger,corresponding to the graptolite Dicellograptus complanatus Biozone.Thus,the regional uplift in North China and Tarim is shown by the disconformity between the early Katian strata and Late Paleozoic strata,the onset coinciding with that of the Kwangsian Orogeny in South China.The designation Kwangsian Orogeny later fell into disuse and was replaced by the term Caledonian Orogeny.However,in terms of geographic location,tectonic nature,and the timing of activity,the Caledonian Orogeny differs significantly from the orogenic event in South China,and the continued use of this term in South China is inappropriate and misleading.     

A detailed Lower Triassic conodont biostratigraphy and its implications for the GSSP candidate of the Induan–Olenekian boundary in Chaohu, Anhui Province

Chaohu is located in a deep part of carbonate ramp on the Lower Yangtze Block, which belonged to the low-latitude eastern Tethyan archipelago during the Early Triassic. Fossils were very rich in the Lower Triassic of Chaohu. Bivalves, ammonoids, conodonts were very common throughout the Lower Triassic, while fish fossils were generally rich in some beds of the upper part. It is one of the most typical sections for the Early Triassic chronostratigraphy in the world. Although various fossils had been studied in the 1980s and 1990s, recent studies based upon new and more detailed collections from the Lower Triassic of Chaohu showed that the conodont zonation needs revision. We collected Lower Triassic conodont fossils from continuous sections of the West Pingdingshan, North Pingdingshan and South Majiashan, Chaohu, Anhui Province, and updated zonations were made for each section. Eight conodont zones have been distinguished. They are, in ascending order, Hindeodus typicalis zone, Neogondolella krystyni zone, Neospathodus kummeli zone, Neospathodus dieneri zone, Neospathodus waageni zone, Neospathodus pingdingshanensis zone, Neospathodus homeri zone, and Neospathodus anhuinensis zone. The first occurrence of Neospathodus waageni eowaageni of the N. w. eowaageni subzone （i.e. the base of the N. waageni zone） is suggested as the marker to define the Induan-Olenekian boundary.     

Stratigraphy and age of the Daohugou Bed in Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia

Recent fieldwork has extended the distribution of the Daohugou Bed deposits from the Daohugou Village to its several neighboring areas. The fossil-bearing Daohugou deposits uncomformably overlie complex bedrocks, and comprise three major parts. The red shales in the lower part were misidentified as belonging to the Tuchengzi Formation. Field excavation has indicated that the shales of upper part of the bed are the major fossil-bearing horizon. Due to strong tectonic activities, sediments were often folded with the sequences inverted in the region. Some newly recognized contacts between the Daohugou Bed and the volcanic rocks showed that the ignimbrite of the Tiaojishan Formation （159-164 Ma） underlies the Daohugou deposits, rather than overlying the latter as previously proposed. Thus, the age of the Daohugou deposits should be younger than the age of the ignimbrite, and thus it was incorrect to correlate the Daohugou Bed with the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation. Although biostratigraphic studies based on conchostracans and insects support a Middle Jurassic-early Late Jurassic age for the Daohugou deposits, vertebrate fossils such as Liaoxitriton, Jeholopterus and feathered maniraptorans show much resemblance to those of the Yixian Formation. In other words, despite the absence of Lycoptera, a typical fish of the Jehol Biota, the Daohugou vertebrate assemblage is closer to that of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota than to any other biota. We propose that the Daohugou fossil assemblage probably represents the earliest evolutionary stage of the Jehol Biota based on both vertebrate biostratigraphy and the sedimentological and volcanic features which suggest the Daohugou deposit belongs to the same cycle of volcanism and sedimentation as the Yixian Formation of the Jehol Group.     

Zircon SHRIMP geochronology and geochemistry of TTG rocks in Sushui Complex from Zhongtiao Mountains with its geological implications

The tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) rocks in Sushui Complex of Zhongtiao Block can be divided into two series according to their zircon U-Pb ages and geochemical characteristics: one is subduction-related (SR) and the other collision-related (CR). The SR TTG rocks, together with other Late Archean island arc magmatism, were developed as a result of oceanic subduction between the Eastern and Western blocks in Late Archean; while the CR TTG rocks formed in a thickened crustal environment, which was responding to the collision between the Eastern and Western blocks in Paleoproterozoic. All these features support a model that the Zhongtiao Block is a part of the Trans-North China Orogen in the middle of North China Craton.     

Sm-Nd isotopic compositions of Cambrian-Ordovician strata at the Jinggangshan area in Jiangxi Province: Tectonic implications

Whole-rock Sm-Nd isotopes were investigated for Cambrian-Ordovician strata from the Jinggangshan area between the Yangtze Block and Cathysia Block in South China. These strata were deposited as a greatly thick unit of muddy-sandy laminas with intercalated carbonate and organic carbon-bearing layers. They have low εNd（t） values of -13.9 to -7.9 and old Nd model ages of 1842 to 2375 Ma. In tDM-tStr diagram, they are far away from the concordant line but fall within the evolution zone of the Proterozoic crust of South China. This indicates that the Cambrian-Ordovician strata are mainly composed of matters eroded from ancient Paleoproterozoic crust that may mainly consist of continental-derived detrital sediments with high maturity in the Cathysia Block. However, the Ordovician Jueshangou Formation and Dui＇ershi Formation have εNd（t） values of -10.5 and -7.9 at the higher end of the above range and Nd model ages of 1842 to 2059 Ma at the lower end of the above range. This suggests involvement of more detritus that were eroded from the relatively juvenile crust from Late Paleoproterozoic to the Early Neoproterozoic. All the Nd model ages for the Cambrian-Ordovician sedimentary rocks in the Cathysia Block and the southeastern margin of the Yangtze Block are older than 1800 Ma, suggesting that no material from the Early Paleozoic depleted mantle-derived magmas was involved in these regions.     

SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology of the zircons from the Precambrian basement of the Qilian Block and its geological significances

Origin and tectonic evolution of the Qilian Precambrian basement on NW China were investigated using zircon U-Pb ages with collaborating stratigraphic and paleontological evidence. Zircon grains were separated from two schists, two granitic gneisses and one mylonized gneiss and dated with SHRIMP. Seventy percent of sixty-one detrital zircon ages from two schists ranges from 0.88 Ga to 3.09 Ga, mostly within 1.0 Ga to 1.8 Ga with a peak at 1.6 Ga to 1.8 Ga, and twenty percent varies from 2.0 Ga to 2.5 Ga. A few falls in the Archean and Neoproterozoic periods. The two granitic gneisses were dated 930±8 Ma and 918±14 Ma, whereas the mylonized granitic gneiss was dated 790±12 Ma. These ages represent two periods of magmatisms, which can be correlated with the early and late stages of magmatisms associated with the Jinningian movement on the Yangtze Blocks. The results from this and previous studies indicate that the ages of the Precambrian detrital zircons from the Qilian Block are widely distributed in the Proterozoic era, distinct from the North China Block which was stable in the Neo-Mesoproterozoic era. By contrast, the age histograms of the detrital zircons from the Qilian Block is similar to those from Precambrian basement of the Yangtze Craton. Therefore, it is suggested that the Qilian Block had a strong affinity toward the Yangtze Craton and might belong to the supercontinent Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic time. This inference is supported by Nd model age (TDM), stratigraphic, and paleontological evidence. It is further considered that the Qilian Block was rifted from the supercontinent Gondwana during late Sinian to form an isolated continent in the Proto-Tethyan Ocean, moving towards the Alaxa Block in the North China Craton. The part of Proto-Tethyan Ocean between the Qilian and Alaxa Blocks should correspond to the so-called Paleo-Qilian Ocean. Following the closure of the Paleo-Qilian Ocean in the early Paleozoic, the Qilian Block collided with the Alaxa Block to form the North Qilian Orogenic Belt. Based on this tectonic explanation, the North Qilian ophiolites should represent parts of lithosphere from the Proto-Tethyan Ocean. Lithological and geochronological evidence also indicates that the Qilian Block underwent continental reactivation possibly induced by the deep northward subduction of the North Qaidam Block in early Paleozoic time.     

Destruction geodynamics of the North China craton and its Paleoproterozoic plate tectonics

Much attention has been paid in the last two decades to the physical and chemical processes as well as temporal-spatial variations of the lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton. In order to provide insights into the geodynamics of this variation, it is necessary to thoroughly study the state and structure of the lithospheric crust and mantle of the North China Craton and its adjacent regions as an integrated unit. Based on the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle constrained from seismological studies, this paper presents various available geophysical results regarding the lithosphere thickness, the nature of crust-mantle boundary, the upper mantle structure and deformation characteristics as well as their tectonic features and evolution systematics. Combined with the obtained data from petrology and geochemistry, a mantle flow model is proposed for the tectonic evolution of the North China Craton during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic. We suggest that subduction of the Pacific plate made the mantle underneath the eastern Asian continent unstable and able to flow faster. Such a regional mantle flow system would cause an elevation of melt/fluid content in the upper mantle of the North China Craton and the lithospheric softening, which, subsequently resulted in destruction of the North China Craton in different ways of delamination and thermal erosion in Yanshan, Taihang Mountains and the Tan-Lu Fault zone. Multiple lines of evidence recorded in the crust of the North China Craton, such as the amalgamation of the Archean eastern and western blocks, the subduction of Paleo-oceanic crust and Paleo-continental residue, indicate that the Earth in the Paleoproterozoic had already evolved into the plate tectonic system similar to the present plate tectonics.     

Carbon isotopic record from Upper Devonian carbonates at Dongcun in Guilin, southern China, supporting the worldwide pattern of carbon isotope excursions during Frasnian-Famennian transition

Two positive δ^13C excursions are presented in records from the Frasnlan-Famenninn (F-F) marine carbonate sediments in Europe, America, Africa, and Australia,having been considered as a worldwide pattern, and attributed to enhanced organic carbon burial during the F-F biological mass extinction, However, this worldwide pattern has not been revealed from the well-deposited Late Devonian sequences in southern China. In this paper, a detailed investigation has been made on the Late Devonian section at Dongcun, Guilin, southern China to constrain perturbationsin δ^13C of carbonates in the F-F deposited sequence. The result from this section also indicates two positive δ^13C excursions during the F-F transition. The first excursion with an amplitude of 1.5‰ occurred at the bottom of linguiformis Zone, later than the early excursion existing in the Late rhenana Zone of the Late Devonian profiles in other continents,especially, in central Europe. This difference has been expected to be a result as conodont Palmatolepis linguiformis occurred earlier in southern China than other sites. The second excursion with an amplitude of 2.1‰ is located at the F-F boundary, same as the records from other continents.This result strongly supports the view that two carbon isotope positive excursions during the F-F transition are common in carbonate sediments, resulting from worldwide increases of organic carbon burial intensity.     

A detailed Lower Triassic conodont biostratigraphy and its implications for the GSSP candidate of the Induan–Olenekian boundary in Chaohu, Anhui Province

Chaohu is located in a deep part of carbonate ramp on the Lower Yangtze Block, which belonged to the low-latitude eastern Tethyan archipelago during the Early Triassic. Fossils were very rich in the Lower Triassic of Chaohu. Bivalves, ammonoids, conodonts were very common throughout the Lower Triassic, while fish fossils were generally rich in some beds of the upper part. It is one of the most typical sections for the Early Triassic chronostratigraphy in the world. Although various fossils had been studied in the 1980s and 1990s, recent studies based upon new and more detailed collections from the Lower Triassic of Chaohu showed that the conodont zonation needs revision. We collected Lower Triassic conodont fossils from continuous sections of the West Pingdingshan, North Pingdingshan and South Majiashan, Chaohu, Anhui Province, and updated zonations were made for each section. Eight conodont zones have been distinguished. They are, in ascending order, Hindeodus typicalis zone, Neogondolella krystyni zone, Neospathodus kummeli zone, Neospathodus dieneri zone, Neospathodus waageni zone, Neospathodus pingdingshanensis zone, Neospathodus homeri zone, and Neospathodus anhuinensis zone. The ?rst occurrence of Neospathodus waageni eowaageni of the N. w. eowaageni subzone (i.e. the base of the N. waageni zone) is suggested as the marker to de?ne the Induan–Olenekian boundary.     

Occurrences of Permian radiolarians in central and eastern Nei Mongol （Inner Mongolia） and their geological significance to the Northern China Orogen

The Zhesi (Jisu) Formation of the Middle Permian in Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) was commonly considered to be a shallow marine sequence. Here I report the radiolarians found in the argillite bed of that formation in Zhesi and Xilinhot areas. This fact indicates a deep marine sedimentary facies persisted during the Middle Permian, and suggests that the ocean between the North China Block and Siberian Craton was not closed until the Late Guadalupian. The suture of this two blocks is probably extends along the Linxi ophiolite belt, south of the Hegenshan ophiolite belt.     

Discovery of marine fossils in the upper part of the Permian Linxi Formation in Lopingian, Xingmeng area, China

Two important geological issues have a long history of debate in the Xingmeng area. The first concerns the final closure of the North China plate, Siberia plate and several intermediate massifs in the area, and the other con- cerns the folding and lifting of the Xingmeng Trough. Dis- agreements arise because of issues involving the tectonic- palaeogeographical environment of the Upper Permian deposits of the Linxi Formation. The Linxi Formation （Upper Permian） is generally considered to be either an exclusively continental deposit or separated into marine- terrigenous facies deposited during the Lower to Middle Linxi Period and continental deposits in the Upper Linxi Period. However, in this study, large numbers of bryozoan and sponge spicule fossils were discovered for this first time in the thick limestone layers and lenses of the upper part of the Linxi Formation found in the Guandi section of Linxi county in eastern Inner Mongolia. At the same time, abun- dant bryozoan fossils were also found in sedimentary tuff slices that were collected from the upper part of the Tao- huayingzi Formation from the Taohuayingzi section in Ar Horqin Banner, and abundant small connecting body crinoid stem fossils were found in the dark shale of the Yangjiagou Formation from the Yangjiagou section of Jiutai county, Jilin Province. These marine fossils provide the first evidence that the Xingmeng area was still a marine or mainly marine environment at the end of the late Permian. This not only provides conclusive evidence for the recognition of the above two major geological issues but also promotes chan- ges in the approach towards research, exploration and development of oil and gas, shale gas （oil）, and other mineral resources that are preserved in the late Permian layers of the Northeast-Xingmeng area.     

华北东部侏罗—白垩纪原型盆地及其演化

在残留盆地展布、地层发育特征以及控盆因素分析的基础上,恢复了华北东部侏罗—白垩纪的原型盆地格局。研究表明,早—中侏罗世,华北东部处于古亚洲构造域向滨太平洋构造域演化的过渡阶段,为弱挤压成盆期,发育中小型山间盆地,早期盆地走向以近EW向为主,晚期NNE向盆地更为发育;盆地早期的沉积表现为对印支期造成的低洼地区的充填,晚期则表现为披覆式沉积。晚侏罗—早白垩世,华北东部构造演化主要受滨太平洋构造域的控制,进入大规模裂陷或断陷盆地发育阶段,火山活动强烈,原型盆地的展布具有明显分区性,受NW/NWW向、NE/NNE向断裂系统的控制,拉张断陷、拆离断陷、反转断陷及走滑拉张型盆地在不同的地区分布。晚白垩世,华北东部隆起剥蚀,仅少数地区沉积充填。     

Mesozoic basin development and its indication of collisional orogeny in the Dabie orogen

The Dabie orogen underwent deep continental subduction, rapid exhumation, and the huge amount of erosion during the Mesozoic. Its tectonic evolution, especially how its evolution was recorded by sedimentary basins at the flanks of the Dabie orogen is one of the most important issues of the world’s attention. These years, newly studies of basin sedimentology, combined with structural geology, have shown a fundamental progress. The overall distribution of different basin types in the orogen indicates that shortening and thrusting at the margins of the orogen from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous controlled the foreland basins, and extension, doming and rifting were initiated in the core of the orogen from the Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous and were expanded to the whole orogen after the Late Cretaceous. Therefore, The Dabie orogen records gradual transition from overall shortening and thrusting to dominantly extension and rift basin formation expanded from its core to its margins, although these shortening and extension overlapped in time from the Jurassic through Early Cretaceous at crustal levels. The unroofing ages of the ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks in the Dabie orogen change from Early Jurassic to Late Jurassic westward. The depth of exhumation increases eastwards. The sediment sources for the Hefei basin are mostly composed of the deeply exhumed, axial Dabie metamorphic complex, and the sediment sources for the Middle Yangtze basin are mostly from cover strata in the southern orogen and related strata with subjacent (i.e. subsequently overthrusted) Mianlue suture belt. Geodynamic analysis represents that continental collision between the North China Block and the South China Block along the Shangdan and Mianlue sutures, subsequently northwestward progradation of the Jiangnan fold and thrust belt, and the underthrusting of the North China Block along the Northern Boundary Fault of Qinling Range led to crustal thickening, gravitational spreading and balanced rebound of the resultant thick crustal welt, and multi-episodic exhumation of the HP/UHP metamorphic rocks. The future studies by the methods of tracing the Dabie orogeny through deposition in the marginal basins should focus on eastward extension of the Mianlue suture, thrust and overlap of the Dabie HP/UHP metamorphic block on different lithotectonic zones and basins along the northern South China Block, the structural framework of the source area of the basins in the syn-depositional stage, the basin lateral extension, huge amount of erosion and sediment transportation from the Dabie blanket and basement rocks, and recovery of subducted and re- moved structural units within the Dabie orogen, etc.     

环渤海地区及海域中、新元古界分布特性分析

中朝板块从震旦纪（680Ma）开始分裂为华北块体（NCB）与胶辽朝块体（JLKB）,环渤海地区及海域元古界主要分布在该板块。华北块体为环渤海地区的陆上区,由于燕辽裂陷槽在华北北部展布,主要发育有中元古代地层;渤海海域区分布在胶辽朝块体上,完全缺失中元古代地层。1000Ma芹峪运动后,华北块体主体抬升为陆,新元古代华北板块沉积范围主要分布于东部,而胶辽朝块体却有较完整的新元古代沉积。在收集野外露头资料的基础上,借助地震、测井数据,对全区中、新元古代沉积特征做了综合分析,特别对争议比较大的海域区作出合理预测。     

江西信丰铁石口剖面晚二叠世的牙形石动物群

对江西省信丰县铁石口剖面晚二叠世长兴阶至铁石口阶下部的牙形石动物群有了新的认识。基于牙形石的研究,将该地区晚二叠世的地层划分为3个牙形石生物带,自上而下分别是：Clarkina changxingensis yini带;Clarkina postwangi带;Clarkina changxingensis带。探讨了浙江长兴煤山标准剖面晚二叠世长兴组至殷坑组下部的牙形石生物带的划分,将这段地层划分为4个牙形石带,自上而下分别是：Clarkina meishanensis meishanensis带; Clarkina changxingensis yini-Clarkina meishanensis zhangi带;Clarkina postwangi和Clarkina subcarinata-Clarkina changxingensis组合带,而最下部的一个带又分为2个亚带,即上部的Clarkina changxingensis亚带和下部的Clarkina subcarinata-Clarkina wangi亚带。最后将铁石口剖面与煤山剖面进行了牙形石生物地层对比,认为铁石口剖面除了长兴组下部被第四纪河床覆盖之外,晚二叠世上部的地层可以完全与煤山剖面进行对比。     

Uppermost mantle structure of the North China Craton: Constraints from interstation Pn travel time difference tomography

The uppermost mantle is the key area for exchange of heat flux and material convection between the crust and lithospheric mantle. Spatial variations of lithospheric thinning and dynamic processes in the North China Craton could inevitably induce the velocity heterogeneity in the uppermost mantle. In this study, we used Pn arrivals from permanent seismic stations in North China and surrounding regions to construct a tomographic image of the North China Craton. The tomographic method with Pn travel time difference data were used to study the velocity variations in the uppermost mantle. Pn velocities in the uppermost mantle varied significantly in the Eastern, Central and Western blocks of the North China Craton. This suggests that the lithosphere beneath different blocks of the North China Craton have experienced distinct tectonic evolutions and dynamic processes since the Paleozoic. The current uppermost mantle has been imprinted by these tectonic and dynamic processes. Fast Pn velocities are prominent beneath the Bohai Bay Basin in the Eastern Block of the North China Craton, suggesting residuals of the Archean lithospheric mantle. Beneath the Tanlu Fault Zone and Bohai Sea, slow Pn velocities are present in the uppermost mantle, which can be attributed to significant lithospheric thinning and asthenospheric upwelling. The newly formed lithospheric mantle beneath Yanshan Mountain may be the dominant reason for the existence of slow Pn velocities in this region. Conversely, the ancient lower crust and lithospheric mantle already have been delaminated. In the Central Block, significant slow Pn velocities are present in Taihangshan Mountain, which also extends northward to the Yinchuan-Hetao Rift on the northern margin of the Ordos Block and Yinshan Orogen. This characteristic probably is a result of hot asthenospheric upwelling along the active tectonic boundary on the margin of the Western Block. The protracted thermal erosion and underplating of hot asthenospheric upwelling may induce lithospheric thinning and significant slow velocities in the uppermost mantle. Fast velocities beneath the Western Block suggest that the thick, cold and refractory Archean lithospheric keel of craton still is retained without apparent destruction.     

河南省卢氏县班子沟锑矿床地质特征及找矿前景探讨

班子沟锑矿床地处华北地台和扬子地台两大构造单元的过渡地带,北秦岭褶皱带东段,区域构造线呈NNW—SEE.其赋矿围岩为古元古界秦岭群(Pt1Q)雁岭沟组(Pt1y):主要岩性为白云大理岩、黑云斜长片岩、斜长角闪片岩、云母石英片岩等;本区秦岭群地层属Sb高背景区,微量元素分析结果表明,岩石中Sb、Pb、As等金属元素富集,为矿源层(矿源岩).区域上在双槐树—五里川一带Sb、Pb、As为高丰度值密集异常富集区,该区已查明锑矿床十余处.班子沟矿区位于锑异常富集区中部,目前所探明的矿石类型主要为角砾状矿石、浸染状矿石、脉状—网脉状矿石,通过进一步勘查可望发现大型块状等类型矿床,找矿前景广阔.