Elsevier

Precambrian Research

Volume 362, 15 August 2021, 106152
Precambrian Research

Detrital zircon constraints on tectonic evolution of the Liaodong Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt, North China Craton

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106152Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The provenance of most of the Liaohe group characterized by arc magmatic rocks and Archean basements.

  • Magmatic activities at 2100–2000 Ma in the Nangrim and North Gyeonggi blocks contribute to the upper Liaohe group.

  • Sedimentary, geochronological, and geochemical evidence supports existence of arcs and a back-arc basin.

  • A four-stage back-arc basin model is proposed tectonic evolution of the LPOB.

Abstract

The Liaodong Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt (LPOB), as part of the eastern North China Craton (NCC), is the result of global collision during the amalgamation of the Columbia supercontinent. Tectonics of the LPOB thus becomes the key to the understanding of the tectonic evolution of the NCC, and may provide important information on the assembly of the supercontinent. Detailed geochronological and geochemical analysis on detrital zircons from the Liaohe group is conducted to unravel the tectonic attribute of the major constituent, i.e., the Liaohe group within the LPOB. The results show that the U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from the Langzishan, Li’eryu, Gaojiayu and Dashiqiao formations at the middle-lower parts of the Liaohe group are mainly characterized by peaks at ~ 2500 and 2200–2100 Ma. However, the ages of detrital zircons from the Gaixian formation at the upper part are peaked at 2100–2000 Ma. The age data indicate that the Archean basement rocks and Paleoproterozoic magmatic activities at 2200–2100 Ma variably provide sources for sediments of the middle-lower Liaohe group. However, sediments of the Gaxian formation at the upper part of the Liaohe group are mainly derived from magmatic activities from the Nangrim and North Gyeonggi blocks at 2100–2000 Ma . The source characteristics of the Liaohe group highlight the importance of back-arc extension in the evolution of the LPOB. The tectonic evolution of the LPOB is, therefore, subdivided into four stages, i.e. early back-arc extension stage (2200–2080 Ma), transitional stage (2080–1940 Ma), main orogenic deformation (1940–1840 Ma) and post-orogenic plutonic emplacement (after 1840 Ma).

Introduction

A global orogenic event at ca. 1850 Ma resulted in collisional orogenic belts between ancient continental blocks, e.g. the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) between the western and eastern blocks in the North China Craton (NCC) (Zhao et al., 2005, a, b). The event was attributed to a global continent–continent collision during assembly of continental blocks to form a “Pre-Rodinia" supercontinent, named “Nuna”, “Hudsonland” or “Columbia” (Hoffman, 1988, Zhao et al., 2000, Rogers and Santosh, 2002; Fig. 1). The processes of orogenic activities during the supercontinent assembly have been widely studied and, in some cases, hotly debated (Dong et al., 2012, Hou et al., 2006, Li et al., 1998, Li et al., 2010, Li et al., 2016, Liu et al., 2008, Liu et al., 2017a, Lu et al., 2006, Peng et al., 2014, Ren et al., 2006, Wan et al., 2006, Wan et al., 2015a, Wan et al., 2015b, Wan et al., 2017, Wu et al., 2018, Yan et al., 2007, Zhai and Peng, 2007, Zhao, 2009, Zhao et al., 2000, Zhao et al., 2002, Zhao et al., 2003a, Zhao et al., 2003b, Zhao et al., 2005a, Zhao et al., 2005b, Zhao et al., 2012b).

The NCC, one of the continental blocks in the Columbia supercontinent, witnessed the processes of the continental assembly (Kusky et al., 2007, Li et al., 2012, Li and Kuskv, 2007, Zhai and Peng, 2007, Zhao et al., 2012b). The craton is separated into the Western and Eastern blocks by the TNCO (Zhao et al., 2005). The latter, is constituted by the Paleoproterozoic Jiao-Liao-Ji belt (JLJB) subdividing two secondary blocks, i.e., the Longgang to the north and the Nangrim blocks to the south, respectively (Fig. 2).

The JLJB that extends from the Jiaodong Peninsula, through the Liaodong Peninsula, Southern Jilin, to North Korea, is probably the largest Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt within the NCC (Wu et al., 2016). Although many studies on the tectonics of the JLJB have been carried out in the last decades, the tectonic evolution of the orogenic belt and dynamics of orogenesis are still hotly debated (Chen, 1990, Dong et al., 2019, Hao et al., 2004, He and Ye, 1998b, Li et al., 1998, Li et al., 2015a, Li et al., 2015b, Li et al., 2017a, Li et al., 2018, Li and Chen, 2014, Li and Wei, 2016, Liu et al., 2002a, Liu et al., 2002b, Liu et al., 2015, Liu et al., 2017a, Liu et al., 2017b, Liu et al., 2018, Lu et al., 2004, Meng et al., 2013, Meng et al., 2014, Meng et al., 2017a, Meng et al., 2017b, Qin, 2013, Song et al., 2016, Tian et al., 2017a, Tian et al., 2017b, Wang et al., 2011, Wang et al., 2015, Wang et al., 2017a, Wang et al., 2017g, Wang et al., 2020, Xu et al., 2017, Xu et al., 2019, Xu et al., 2020, Xu and Liu, 2019, Yang et al., 1995, Yang et al., 2007a, Yang et al., 2015a, Yang et al., 2015b, Yang et al., 2019, Yang and Liu, 1989, Bi et al., 2018, Teng et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2017c). Three categories of models, i.e. rifting, arc-continent collision and back-arc extension models, have been extensively discussed to date. Zhang and Yang (1988) proposed that the volcanic-sedimentary sequences along the northern and southern belts of the JLJB (i.e., the North and South Liaohe groups) are mio- and eu-geosynclinal depositions in a Paleoproterozoic aulacogen, a failed rift basin. Such a model can well interpret early extension, sedimentation and volcanisms along the JLJB (Chen, 1984, Chen, 1990, Li et al., 1997, Li et al., 2005, Meng et al., 2013). Studies revealed that the two basement massifs on both sides of the tectonic belt, i.e., the Longgang and Nangrim blocks, were derived from a united block in the Neoarchean, according to the identical petrological and isotopic characteristics of the two massifs (Li et al., 2006, Li and Zhao, 2007, Luo et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2012a). The block was rifted in early Paleoproterozoic to form the aulacogen. The conclusion is supported by petrological and geochemical characteristics of the widely distributed A-type pre-orogenic granites and bimodal volcanics (Chen et al., 2017, Han and Xia, 2010, Hao, 2004, Hao et al., 2004, Li et al., 2006, Meng et al., 2013, Wang et al., 2017b, Zhao et al., 2012a, Zhao et al., 2012b). In addition, geophysical data showed that the tectonic boundaries of the JLJB at present are similar to those of rift zones (Liu et al., 2014, Chai, 2016, Peng, 2016, Ma, 2017). However, Bai (1993) suggested that rocks from the Liaohe group were deposited at volcanic arc setting. They were deformed and metamorphosed to form part of the LPOB during arc-continent collision (Wang et al., 2017a). The contrasting metamorphic evolution with clockwise and anticlockwise P-T-t paths of the North and South Liaohe groups, respectively, indicate that the basement of the two belts were already separated at the beginning of Paleoproterozoic (Lu, 1996, He and Ye, 1998a, He and Ye, 1998b, Li et al., 2001a, Li et al., 2001b). It is suggested that occurrence of pre-orogenic I-type granites may indicate a subduction setting (Li and Chen, 2014, Li et al., 2005, Li et al., 2015b, Yang et al., 2015a, Yang et al., 2015b, Chen et al., 2016, Li and Wei, 2016, Wang et al., 2017c, Wang et al., 2017d, Wang et al., 2017e, Wang et al., 2017f, Liu et al., 2018). Nevertheless, further studies on geochemistry of mafic rocks and dating of detrital zircons from the sedimentary rocks along the LPOB revealed possible back-arc basin setting (Wang et al., 2011, Yang et al., 2019, Xu et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2020, Xu et al., 2018b, Xu and Liu, 2019). Such a model can be well applied to interpret early extensional and late contractional deformation during orogenesis (Tian et al., 2017a, Tian et al., 2017b, Yang et al., 2019).

Geochronological dating of detrital zircons has been applied in recent studies of the tectonic evolution of the JLJB. Li and Chen (2014), Li et al. (2015c) and Li and Wei (2016) dated detrital zircons from the Liaohe group in some regions, i.e., Haicheng, Dashiqiao, Caohekou and Fengcheng, that constrain the ages of deposition of the Liaohe group to 2205–1940 Ma. Wang et al. (2017b) proposed that the North Liaohe group was deposited in a back-arc basin while the South Liaohe group was deposited in a fore-arc basin, based on geochronological dating of detrital zircons from the Sanjiazi area. However, Xu and Liu (2019), from the collection of existing geochronological data of detrital zircons of the Liaohe group in the literature and interpreted the occurrence of a main peak at 2200–2100 Ma and a secondary peak at ~ 2500 Ma as the result of back-arc deposition. The conclusion is supported by dating the detrital zircons from Helan County and Xiuyan area (Wang et al., 2020) in western LPOB.

The above discussion revealed existence of controversies on present interpretations of the geology, geochemistry of magmatic rocks, structural and tectonic characteristics of the JLJB. Debates are also focused on tectonic interpretations of geochronolgical data of detrital zircons from different parts of the orogenic belt. In this paper, we conduct detailed analysis on sedimentary formations, and geochronological and geochemical characteristics of detrital zircons from the Liaohe group in order to investigate the depositional and tectonic setting of the Liaohe group.

Section snippets

Regional tectonic framework

The JLJB is a Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt of ca. 2000 km in length, that extends across the Liaodong, Jiaodong and northern Korean peninsulas. Paleoproterozoic metamorphosed volcanic-sedimentary rocks and granitic intrusions are widely distributed along the orogenic belt. The JLJB is bounded by Archean metamorphic basement rocks, i.e., the Longgang block to the north and the Nangrim block to the south, respectively. As part of the JLJB, the Liaodong Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt (LPOB) in

Sedimentary characteristics of the Liaohe group

Six typical areas are chosen to study the sedimentary characteristics of the Liaohe group, i.e. Haicheng-Liaoyang and Lianshanguan-Tianshui-Caohekou areas in the north belt, and Dashiqiao, Fengcheng-Dandong and Kuandian areas in the south belt. Their different sedimentary formations and lithological associations are summarized as follows.

The Langzishan formation is a set of clastic and peletic rocks deposited in the shallow marine environment a the northern LPOB (Wu, 1994, Zhao et al., 2011,

Samples, methodology and results

Four detrital zircon U-Pb dating samples are collected and the detailed locations are shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 6.

U-Pb ages of magmatic, metamorphic and detrital zircons from the LPOB

Previous geochronological data on zircons from the magmatic and metamorphic rocks from the Liaohe group are compiled in this paper (Hao et al., 2004, Luo et al., 2004, Luo et al., 2008, Wan et al., 2006; Meng et al., 2013, 2014, 2017; Qin, 2013, Hu et al., 2014; Li et al., 2015c, Li et al., 2017a, Li et al., 2017b; Li and Chen, 2014, Wang et al., 2015, 2016, Wang et al., 2017a, Wang et al., 2017b, Wang et al., 2017c, Wang et al., 2017d, Wang et al., 2018, Wang et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2015a,

Conclusion

(a) Detrital zircon ages of the Langzishan formation are mainly characterized by peaks at ~ 2500 Ma while there is a special peak at 2200–2100 Ma in the Haicheng-Liaoyang area. Detrital zircon ages of the Li’eryu formation are generally concentrated at 2200–2100 Ma with a particular peak at ~ 2500 Ma in the Fengcheng-Dandong area. As to those of the Gaojiayu and Dashiqiao formations, in general, they are both characterized by two age peaks at 2200–2100 and ~ 2500 Ma. However, the detrital

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 study is supported by the the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (grant number 2016YFC0600108-01) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41772201). Helps from Dr. Xiaoyu Chen, Ms Yuanyuan Zheng, Mr. Lei Ji, Jiaxin Yan and Xiangpeng Meng are appreciated.

Data availability

Datasets related to this article can be found at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/r6hxw9t2x3/2, an open-source online data repository hosted at Mendeley Data.

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