Zircon U–Pb ages of the Paleozoic volcaniclastic strata in the Junggar Basin, NW China

A large set of Paleozoic volcaniclastic rocks is exposed in the northwestern margin of the Junggar Basin from the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The Carboniferous volcaniclastic strata in this area have been studied in depth, and an accurate chronostratigraphic framework of these strata has been established. However, there is a lack of sufficient geochronological data for the deposition times of the other Paleozoic volcaniclastic strata. In this study, zircon U–Pb dating of the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian volcaniclastic strata in the area reveals that the youngest age of the tuffite sample collected from the originally defined Ordovician strata is 398 ± 11 Ma, which represents the age of volcanic activity during the period of tuffite deposition. Based on this finding, the originally defined Ordovician strata are redefined as the Lower Devonian. The youngest ages of the silty tuff samples collected from the originally defined Silurian strata peak are 445–418 Ma, so its age is Upper Silurian. The youngest ages of the tuffaceous sandstone samples collected from the originally defined Devonian strata peak are 346–342 Ma, so these Devonian are redefined as the Early Carboniferous strata. Two Archean ages (2,501 ± 12 and 3,193 ± 8 Ma) were obtained in Silurian strata, thus confirming the existence of metamorphic rock basement in the provenance areas from which the sediments were derived.