Meso-Neoproterozoic arc-related sediments of the Xiahe Group in the Qinling block, central China: Implications for the paleogeographic reconstruction of Rodinia

Limin Zhao, Yilong Li*, Hua Xiang, Guoqing Wang, Jianping Zheng, Wenjiao Xiao, Ming Chen, Fraukje M. Brouwer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

The Meso-Neoproterozoic Rodinia supercontinent formed a coherent large landmass, which was later dispersed over all current major continents and a number of microcontinents. The Qinling block is a Precambrian continental mass, located in the Qinling orogenic belt, which marks the junction of the North China and South China cratons. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the petrology, whole-rock geochemistry and geochronology of metasedimentary rocks from the Xiahe Group, which is a key unit of the Precambrian basement in the Qinling block, to constrain the paleogeographic reconstruction of Rodinia. The studied metasedimentary rocks have detrital zircon ages of 3054–1082 Ma that peak at 1172 Ma and 1582 Ma. The protoliths of the metasedimentary rocks are mainly shales and wackes with maximum depositional ages from 1147 to 1082 Ma, representing a part of a continental arc-related sedimentary sequence. Combining our results with existing data, we propose that their protoliths constituted a sedimentary series including an older sequence of basement and a younger sequence with depositional ages between 1262 and 840 Ma. The detritus that is older than 1266 Ma was sourced from the continental margin of the Indian craton, which was part of the Columbia supercontinent. There was a Paleo-Mesoproterozoic continental nucleus in the Qinling block that split from the margin of the Indian craton during the breakup of Columbia. The source rocks for the younger detritus were arc magmatic rocks in the Qinling block, which formed in a continental arc by oceanic lithosphere subduction during the assembly of Rodinia. A sequence of oceanic subduction beneath the continental nucleus of the Qinling block (1262–981 Ma), arc-continent collision between the continental nucleus and the Indian craton (981–911 Ma), continuous subduction of oceanic crust beneath the block with formation of a mature volcanic arc (929–833 Ma), and continental rifting (833–774 Ma) during the formation of the Qinling block was identified. The block faced the Neoproterozoic ocean during the assembly of Rodinia, and finally rifted off the supercontinent during its breakup to form an isolated arc terrane

Original languageEnglish
Article number106263
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages21
JournalPrecambrian Research
Volume361
Early online date14 May 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are indebted to their graduate student, Chengfeng Ouyang, of the School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) for help during field work and sample preparation. This study was funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41872063, 41930215, 41520104003, 41802092, and 41888101), and the Project of China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS (131551KYSB20200021). This is a contribution to IGCP 662. We are grateful for careful reviews by two anonymous reviewers, as well as supportive editorial handling by Prof. Guochun Zhao, which greatly helped us improve the paper.

Funding Information:
The authors are indebted to their graduate student, Chengfeng Ouyang, of the School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) for help during field work and sample preparation. This study was funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 41872063 , 41930215 , 41520104003 , 41802092 , and 41888101 ), and the Project of China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS ( 131551KYSB20200021 ). This is a contribution to IGCP 662. We are grateful for careful reviews by two anonymous reviewers, as well as supportive editorial handling by Prof. Guochun Zhao, which greatly helped us improve the paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

The authors are indebted to their graduate student, Chengfeng Ouyang, of the School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) for help during field work and sample preparation. This study was funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41872063, 41930215, 41520104003, 41802092, and 41888101), and the Project of China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS (131551KYSB20200021). This is a contribution to IGCP 662. We are grateful for careful reviews by two anonymous reviewers, as well as supportive editorial handling by Prof. Guochun Zhao, which greatly helped us improve the paper. The authors are indebted to their graduate student, Chengfeng Ouyang, of the School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) for help during field work and sample preparation. This study was funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 41872063 , 41930215 , 41520104003 , 41802092 , and 41888101 ), and the Project of China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS ( 131551KYSB20200021 ). This is a contribution to IGCP 662. We are grateful for careful reviews by two anonymous reviewers, as well as supportive editorial handling by Prof. Guochun Zhao, which greatly helped us improve the paper.

FundersFunder number
Project of China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS131551KYSB20200021
School of Earth Sciences
National Natural Science Foundation of China41802092, 41520104003, 41888101, 41930215, 41872063
National Natural Science Foundation of China
China University of Geosciences, Wuhan

    Keywords

    • Geochemistry
    • Zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating
    • Qinling block
    • North Qinling orogenic belt
    • Rodinia assembly

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