Provenance of Lower Jurassic sediments in the South China continental margin: Evidence from U-Pb ages of detrital zircons

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110341Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Defining the zircon fertility factors of granitoids in the South China Craton

  • Lower Jurassic sediments' source areas have significant difference in the SCCM.

  • Coastal currents and drowned river valleys are important transport channels.

  • The chi-square test plays a significant role in provenance analysis.

Abstract

In the Early Jurassic, a large-scale transgression occurred on the South China continental margin (SCCM), affected by the initiation of Paleo-Pacific subduction. This transgression significantly influenced the source areas and transport mode of Lower Jurassic sediments in the SCCM. This study discussed the differences in the major source areas among the western, central, and eastern SCCM and constructed a brief Lower Jurassic sediments transport process in the SCCM. To avoid the bias of detrital-zircon ages caused by variations in zircon fertility, we gathered 1802 whole-rock zirconium content values (ppm) from representative granites with different ages in the South China Craton. Based on mean Zr contents and statistical analyses, we divided these granitic rocks into three groups: Group A consists of Jurassic (200–145 Ma) and Neoproterozoic (900–700 Ma), Group B consists of Paleozoic (490–390 Ma) and Permian–Triassic (280–210 Ma), and Group C comprised Paleoproterozoic (2000–1700 Ma) and Neoarchean (2900–2500 Ma). This research assigned these groups zircon fertility factors (ZFF) of 1.0, 1.4, and 2.5, respectively. Subsequently, by studying corrected detrital zircon ages from Lower Jurassic sediments by ZFF, we found that the Yunkai Terrane and Hainan Island were primary source areas for the western SCCM. The Wuyi Terrane and Nanling Tectonic Belt provided abundant detrital materials for the eastern SCCM. It should be noted that the central SCCM was a vast shallow sea in the Early Jurassic due to the large-scale transgression. Thus, the coastal currents and drowned pre-Jurassic river valleys controlled sediment delivery to the central SCCM. Overall, the Lower Jurassic sediments distribution system in the SCCM was significantly affected by Paleo-Pacific subduction.

Introduction

At present, many studies have indicated that a tectonic transition from the collision of the South China Craton (SCC) and the Qiangtang-Indochina Block to the initiation of Paleo-Pacific subduction controlled the tectonic evolution of the SCC in the early Mesozoic (Faure et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2013b, 2013c; Shu, 2012; Zhang et al., 2012). Although controversy also exists regarding the end time of this transition, more and more evidence suggests that the Paleo-Pacific subduction gradually dominated the tectonic setting of the South China continental margin (SCCM) (comprising major early Mesozoic basins (eastern Guangdong and Yong'an basins), located in the south-east of the SCC) since the Early Jurassic. Li et al. (2013) thought that the Paleo-Pacific subduction began to affect the tectonic evolution of the SCC from the Late Triassic based on the granitoid rocks' geochronology from the Nanling Tectonic Belt. Mao et al. (2013) found that the Jurassic magmatic rocks belt along the southeastern SCC was parallel with the Paleo-Pacific subduction zone and believed that a continental magmatic arc was formed along the southeastern SCC due to the Paleo-Pacific subduction in the Jurassic. Zhang et al. (2018a),b) proposed that there existed an “Andean-type” margin arc related to Paleo-Pacific subduction, which could be dated back to the Early Jurassic. In contrast, the SCC inland area widely developed A-type granites, indicating the extensional setting (He et al., 2010, Li et al., 2007, Yu et al., 2010). Whereas Zhu et al. (2016) proposed that such early Mesozoic “A-type” granitoid in the SCC are related to water-deficient and reduced melting conditions rather than an anorogenic tectonic setting. The whole tectonic setting of the SCC was affected by the subduction retreat of the Paleo-Pacific Block since the Early Jurassic (Wang et al., 2013b, 2013c). As Sloss (1988) said, the tectonic setting is the controlling factor of sedimentary basin evolution and how the initiation of the Paleo-Pacific subduction affected the sediment distribution system for the SCCM in the Early Jurassic. In recent years, researchers began to focus on the provenance analysis of the Lower Jurassic sediments from the SCCM (Xu et al., 2020; Hu et al., 2015; Yang and He, 2013), but the sediment routing pattern had not been studied. A clear interpretation of this issue is useful for understanding Mesozoic sedimentary basins' evolution in the SCCM.

Due to its remarkable durability and abundance, detrital zircon in sediments is adopted by the geological community to perform provenance analysis (Belousova et al., 2002). Based on stable Usingle bondPb isotopic systems, researchers can get sediments' age patterns and then determine potential source areas by contrasting with peripheral representative rocks' ages. In recent years, the temporal and spatial resolution of detrital zircon Usingle bondPb dating has been improved dramatically, but there are still several inherent biases in detrital zircon chronology, such as variations of zircon fertility (Nordsvan et al., 2020; Spencer et al., 2018; Capaldi et al., 2017; Dickinson, 2008; Moecher and Samson, 2006).

Zircon fertility was coined by Moecher and Samson (2006). They studied a lot of sedimentary assemblages and found the abundance of Grenville detrital zircons, which reflected Grenville plutons might cover the whole of North America (from the Grand Canyon to the Appalachian foreland basin) (Becker et al., 2005; Timmons et al., 2005; Thomas et al., 2004; Stewart et al., 2001). However, only 10% of North America is Mesoproterozoic Grenville basement (1.0–1.3 Ga) (Dickinson, 2008), which does not consist with the conclusion from detrital zircons. In order to explain this phenomenon, Moecher and Samson (2006) came up with the term zircon fertility to denote the capability of yielding detrital zircons of different rocks during denudation. The higher the zircon fertility of source rocks is, the more detrital zircons they yield. These detrital zircons can enter more sedimentary rocks, which will mislead researchers into making incorrect conclusions about the actual distribution range and volume of source rocks. After that, Dickinson (2008) expanded the estimation method and application of zircon fertility by studying 1386 granitic rocks from North America. In recent years, the detrital-zircon community has begun to pay attention to the influence of the zircon fertility on provenance analysis (Gehrels, 2014).

This research focused on the provenance analysis of Lower Jurassic sediments and reconstructing Lower Jurassic sediment routing pattern in the SCCM using detrital zircon geochronology. To enhance the reliability of detrital zircon ages, we reviewed zirconium contents and ages of 1802 granitoid rocks and applied the estimation method of zircon fertility proposed by Dickinson (2008) to measure the zircon fertility of different granitic rocks in the SCC. Then, combined with sedimentary facies and statistical analyses, corrected detrital zircon populations by zircon fertility were used to determine potential source areas and transport paths of Lower Jurassic sediments.

Section snippets

Geological setting and lower Jurassic sedimentary facies

The SCCM was a major late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic depocenter along the southeastern margin of the SCC. After the Middle Jurassic, Paleo-Pacific subduction below Eurasia resulted in extensive Yanshanian (Jurassic) granitoid rocks (Zhao et al., 2019; He et al., 2017; Li et al., 2016). The Mesozoic sedimentary evolution in the study area was controlled by three major faults: Changle-Nan'ao Fault (CNF), Zhenghe-Dabu Fault (ZDF), and Wuchuan-Sihui Fault (WSF) (Fig. 1).

The NE-striking CNF controlled

Analytical methods

For this study, we collected one sandstone sample from the lower and upper portions of each section above to perform detrital zircon Usingle bondPb dating analysis. Table 2 lists the sandstone samples from the Lower Jurassic strata in the SCCM for which detrital-zircon Usingle bondPb ages are available. For the eight new sandstone samples, we used a strict testing process. Firstly, zircons were extracted from these sandstone samples by elutriation, heavy liquid separation, and magnetic separation, and every sample

Analytical results

At least 60 U-Pb analyses should be conducted to ensure researchers have a 95% probability of identifying a component that accounts for 5% of the whole detrital zircon populations in provenance analysis (Dodson et al., 1988). Thus, we conducted 80 analyses for each sample to obtain reliable results. Although we need to guarantee completely random during the zircons' selection process, dark zircons and grains with lattice damage were removed based on cathodoluminescence (CL) images because these

Zircon fertility factor

As is well known, although a part of zircons may come from volcanic rocks (Madole et al., 2008), most are derived from granitic rocks (Dickinson and Gehrels, 2003). Thus, zircon fertility can be defined as the ‘capacities’ of yielding zircons from granitic rocks. However, it is very challenging to measure zircon content directly. Forty years ago, Silver et al. (1981) attempted to estimate the zircon content of a granite by point counting, but this work was so tedious and inaccurate that it is

Conclusions

This study is intended to perform provenance analysis of Lower Jurassic sediments in the SCCM using detrital zircon geochronology. To avoid bias on detrital zircon age distributions caused by zircon fertility of different granitic rocks, this study combined 1802 whole-rock zirconium analyses (ppm) and corresponding geochronological data from various granitic rocks and assigned zircon fertility factor to each group. Then, provenance analysis was performed using corrected detrital zircon age

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 41872101). We are so grateful to Thomas Algeo (the journal editor), Dr. Daniel M. Sturmer at the University of Cincinnati, and Dr. Huan Li at Central South University for their constructive comments and suggestions that significantly improve this study.

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