Tectonic evolution of the Proto-Paleo-Tethys in the West Kunlun orogenic belt: Constraints from U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons

IF 7.2 1区地球科学 Q1 GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Gondwana Research Pub Date : 2025-02-28 DOI:10.1016/j.gr.2025.02.010

Yang Gao , Lin Jiang , Weiyan Chen , Hongkui Dong , Fujie Jiang , Wen Zhao , Yingqi Feng , Liu Cao , Xuanwei Liu

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Abstract

The West Kunlun piedmont tectonic belt was formed by the collision and accretion of the West Kunlun orogenic belt and the Tarim Craton. Its sedimentary record captures the processes of basin-mountain interactions, making it an excellent region for studying the formation of orogenic belts and the evolutionary history of the Tethys Ocean. Despite extensive research on the geological evolution of the West Kunlun orogenic belt by previous scholars, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the initiation and termination times of oceanic crust subduction to the eventual closure for both the Proto-Tethys Ocean and the Paleo-Tethys Ocean in this region, as well as the temporal continuity between these two processes. This study obtained 703 detrital zircons with concordant ages from 9 core samples of Devonian to Cretaceous sandstones from 5 wells in the West Kunlun piedmont tectonic belt. Additionally, published detrital zircon data from the surrounding areas of the West Kunlun orogenic belt were collected from other studies for comparative analysis. The results indicate that the provenance of the piedmont tectonic belt during the Permian and Cretaceous periods primarily originated from the adjacent South and North Kunlun terranes. In contrast, during the Jurassic period, the provenance shifted to the Tianshuihai terrane. We infer that this change in sediment source was related to the closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean in the Late Triassic. Synthesizing previous research on magmatic rocks in the West Kunlun region, we identified two discontinuous orogenic cycles within the West Kunlun orogenic belt, which span from the Proto-Tethys Ocean to the Paleo-Tethys Ocean: the 560 Ma-380 Ma Proto-Tethys orogenic cycle and the 340 Ma–190 Ma Paleo-Tethys orogenic cycle. There was a distinct hiatus between the two cycles, during which the subdued volcanic activity during a tectonically stable period resulted in a minimal zircon record.

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西昆仑造山带原-古特提斯构造演化：碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学约束

西昆仑山前构造带是由西昆仑造山带与塔里木克拉通碰撞增生形成的。它的沉积记录记录了盆地-山脉相互作用的过程，使它成为研究造山带形成和特提斯洋进化史的绝佳区域。尽管前人对西昆仑造山带的地质演化进行了广泛的研究，但对于该地区原特提斯洋和古特提斯洋从洋壳俯冲到最终闭合的起始和终止时间，以及这两个过程之间的时间连续性，仍存在相当大的不确定性。本文从西昆仑山前构造带5口井的9个泥盆系—白垩系砂岩岩心样品中获得703个年龄一致的碎屑锆石。此外，还收集了西昆仑造山带周边地区已发表的碎屑锆石资料进行对比分析。结果表明，二叠系和白垩系山前构造带的物源主要来源于相邻的南、北昆仑地体。侏罗纪时期，物源转移至天水海地体。我们推测这种沉积物来源的变化与晚三叠世古特提斯洋的闭合有关。综合前人对西昆仑地区岩浆岩的研究，在西昆仑造山带内确定了从原特提斯洋到古特提斯洋的两个不连续造山带旋回：560 Ma-380 Ma原特提斯造山带旋回和340 Ma- 190 Ma古特提斯造山带旋回。在这两个旋回之间有一个明显的间隙，在此期间，在构造稳定时期，火山活动减弱，导致锆石记录最少。

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来源期刊

Gondwana Research 地学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

12.90

自引率

6.60%

发文量

298

审稿时长

65 days

期刊介绍： Gondwana Research (GR) is an International Journal aimed to promote high quality research publications on all topics related to solid Earth, particularly with reference to the origin and evolution of continents, continental assemblies and their resources. GR is an "all earth science" journal with no restrictions on geological time, terrane or theme and covers a wide spectrum of topics in geosciences such as geology, geomorphology, palaeontology, structure, petrology, geochemistry, stable isotopes, geochronology, economic geology, exploration geology, engineering geology, geophysics, and environmental geology among other themes, and provides an appropriate forum to integrate studies from different disciplines and different terrains. In addition to regular articles and thematic issues, the journal invites high profile state-of-the-art reviews on thrust area topics for its column, ''GR FOCUS''. Focus articles include short biographies and photographs of the authors. Short articles (within ten printed pages) for rapid publication reporting important discoveries or innovative models of global interest will be considered under the category ''GR LETTERS''.