Paleoproterozoic basins in the Trans-North China Orogen: stratigraphic sequences, U-PB ages and HF isotopes of detritalzircons and tectonic implications

Abstract

The Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) has been recognized as a continent-continent collisional belt along which the Eastern and Western Blocks amalgamated to form the North China Craton. However, controversy has surrounded the timing and tectonic processes involved in the collision between the two blocks, ranging from the westward-directed subduction with final collision at ~2.5 Ga, through the west-dipping subduction with two collisional events at ~2.1 Ga and ~1.85 Ga, to the eastward-directed subduction with final collision at ~1.85 Ga. This project aims to present detailed lithostratigraphic, geochronological and isotopic data for the low-grade supracrustal successions in the TNCO to examine current models and to establish a reasonable scenario for the tectonic evolution of the TNCO in the Paleoproterozoic.

The low-grade supracrustal successions include the Hutuo and Yejishan Groups in the middle sector of the TNCO and the Songjiashan, Lower Zhongtiao, Upper Zhongtiao, Danshanshi and Songshan Groups in the southern sector. Lithostratigraphic data indicate that the Songjiashan, Lower Zhongtiao Groups and lower parts of the Hutuo and Yejishan Groups are composed of metaclastic rocks, carbonates and metavolcanic rocks, interpreted as back-arc basin deposits, whereas the Upper Zhongtiao, Danshanshi, Songshan Groups and the upper parts of the Hutuo and Yejishan Groups consist only of metaconglomerates and metasandstones, interpreted as foreland basin deposits.

To constrain the provenance and maximum depositional ages for these low-grade supracrustal successions, the LA-MC-ICP-MS technique was applied to analyze U-Pb and Hf isotopic compositions for detrital zircons from them. For the Hutuo and Yejishan Groups, we found major age peaks at ~2.5 and ~2.2 Ga and minor amounts of 2.8-2.6 Ga detrital zircons, which are consistent with ages of the lithological units in the middle sector of the TNCO. On the other hand, for the Songjiashan, Lower Zhongtiao, Upper Zhongtiao, Danshanshi and Songshan Groups, detrital zircons from them have the major age population of 2.85-1.95 Ma and the minor age population of 3.6-3.1 Ga, of which the former is comparable with ages of the lithological units in the southern sector of the TNCO and the latter was derived from the Paleoarchean and Mesoarchean crust of the Eastern Block. The maximum depositional ages of the low-grade supracrustal successions have also been well constrained in this study. For the back-arc basin deposits, their maximum depositional ages were constrained between ~2.15 and ~2.10 Ga. For the foreland basin deposits, the presence of ~1.85 Ga detrital zircons indicates that they were deposited after this time.

Taken together, we present a brief scenario for the evolution of the sedimentary basins in the TNCO. At 2.15-2.10 Ga, a series of back-arc basins developed behind an “Andean-type” arc that were subsequently incorporated into the TNCO during the collision of the Eastern and Western Blocks. At ~1.85 Ga, the two blocks collided along the TNCO, resulting in the crustal thickening followed by rapid exhumation/uplift, which shifted the back-arc basins to foreland basins. Such a shift in the late Paleoproterozoic supports the model that the collision between the Eastern and Western Blocks occurred at ~1.85 Ga.