Late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic volcanic-sedimentary history of the southeastern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Timing of uplift of the Inner Mongolia paleo-uplift

The Kulun region is located in the eastern Bainaimiao arc belt on the southeastern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), adjacent to the North China Craton (NCC) to the south. This region records the closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean during the Paleozoic to early Mesozoic and is key to study the tectonic evolution of the northern margin of the NCC. We conducted zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotope analysis of volcanic-sedimentary and intrusive rocks in the Kulun region. The volcanic-sedimentary rocks were previously assigned an early Carboniferous age, but include volcanic rocks with ages of 267–266 Ma and sedimentary rocks with youngest detrital zircon age peaks of 265–244 Ma, which were intruded by a granite with an age of 242 Ma. This indicates that these rocks are actually middle Permian to Middle Triassic in age (267–242 Ma) and correspond to the Qingfengshan and Liujiagou formations. Moreover, two volcanic rock samples have high ε_Hf(t) values (+1.6 to +16.1) and relatively young two-stage Hf model ages (1095–327 Ma), indicating their sources associated with the CAOB. The age spectra and Hf isotopic characteristics of detrital zircons from the sedimentary rocks suggest that, during the middle Permian to Middle Triassic, the sedimentary provenance in the Kulun region was mainly the CAOB. However, by the Early Jurassic, the provenance changed to the NCC (i.e., the Inner Mongolia Paleo-uplift, IMPU). This result, combined with the development of a series of conglomerates on the northern margin of the NCC in the Late Triassic (i.e., Xingshikou, Xiaoyingzi, and Xiaohekou formations), indicates the Kulun region experienced an abrupt change in paleogeography during the Late Triassic, with the IMPU undergoing significant uplift and thus becoming the main sediment source in the Kulun region. Based on the Late Triassic alkaline igneous belt (235–215 Ma) in the IMPU, we speculate that this uplift was caused by detachment of the southward-subducting Paleo-Asian oceanic plate, which occurred in a post-orogenic extensional setting. The boundary between the NCC and CAOB (i.e., the Bainaimiao arc belt) in the Kulun region is defined by the newly identified Paleoproterozoic granites (1.8 and 1.6 Ga) and our zircon geochronology and Hf isotope data.