Geochemical and palynological records of the Early-Middle Jurassic in the Turpan-Hami Basin, NW China: Implications for paleoenvironment and paleoclimate change

Abstract

The Early-Middle Jurassic is one of the crucial coal-forming geologic periods in the world and an important target for hydrocarbon exploration in the Turpan-Hami Basin, China. The paleoenvironment and vegetation reconstruction of the Early-Middle Jurassic have been investigated using elemental geochemistry and palynological analysis to reveal paleoclimate evolution. A total of 48 genera of pteridophyte spore and 35 genera of gymnosperm pollen were identified, and 5 palynological assemblages were longitudinally divided, which showed significant differences in geochemical behaviours. The paleoenvironment was a transition from suboxidation to anoxia and then to an oxidation environment under freshwater conditions. The paleowater in the northern Taibei Sag was deeper than that in the southern part during the Middle Jurassic, which coincided with the sedimentary background of the sublacustrine fan in the north and the shallow braided river delta in the south. The paleovegetation evolved from mixed lowland–upland forest in the Hettangian-Toarcian, to lowland fern forest in the Aalenian-Bajocian, to upland conifers forest in the early Bathonian, to upland Cheirolepidiaceae forest in the late Bathonian-Callovian. The Toarcian and Bathonian-Callovian arid climate and the Hettangian-Pliensbachian and Aalenian-Bajocian warm-humid climate were responses to the continued global warming events and the intensification of the East Asian monsoon circulation, respectively. The influence of the Bathonian-Callovian aridification event on the sedimentary response in the southern Taibei Sag will be delayed due to the gradual southward migration of the depositional centre.