Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Diagenesis
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2024.1431866

Provenance of Cretaceous Sediments in the West Kunlun piedmont belt and implications for tectonic evolutionary events

Provisionally accepted
Yang Gao Yang Gao 1Lin Jiang Lin Jiang 2*Weiyan Chen Weiyan Chen 3*Fujie Jiang Fujie Jiang 1Hongkui Dong Hongkui Dong 3*Wen Zhao Wen Zhao 3*Changyu Dong Changyu Dong 1*Yingqi Feng Yingqi Feng 4*
  • 1 College of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 3 Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 4 School of Geoscience, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The West Kunlun orogenic belt located in the northwestern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an important record of the formation and northward extension of the plateau, but the current research mainly focuses on the tectonic activities of the Cenozoic era, and there is still considerable controversy regarding the formation and evolutionary history of pre-Cenozoic orogenic belts. This study focuses on Cretaceous sandstone samples from the Kedong region in the piedmont belt of the West Kunlun orogenic belt. U-Pb geochronological analysis was performed on 200 detrital zircon grains from the core samples. Combined with stratigraphic data and previous research, the main provenance direction was investigated to constrain the tectonic evolutionary history of the orogenic belt's peripheral regions. The results show that the detrital zircons are aged from 290-208Ma, 520-310Ma, 810-580Ma, 1400-880Ma and 2548-1730Ma, reflecting the complexity of provenance in this area. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of igneous rocks, zircon age composition, and stratigraphic conditions in potential source areas, it is concluded that the primary source regions include the East Kunlun orogenic belt and the North and South Kunlun terranes, with a low likelihood of contributions from within the Tarim Basin. The evolution of the West Kunlun orogenic belt can generally be divided into two opening and two closing phases. The detrital zircon ages predominantly exhibit two peak values at 259 Ma and 459 Ma, respectively representing the ages of transition from oceanic crust subduction to continent-continent collision for the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and the Proto-Tethys Ocean. Additionally, there is a temporal gap between the evolution of the Proto-Tethys Ocean and the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. The Triassic period marks a transitional phase in tectonic evolution, shifting into an intracontinental evolutionary stage. This study provides new geochronological evidence for the early developmental history of the West Kunlun orogenic belt.

    Keywords: West Kunlun orogen belt, Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology, provenance, TETHYS, Mountaian building

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 28 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gao, Jiang, Chen, Jiang, Dong, Zhao, Dong and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lin Jiang, State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, Beijing, China
    Weiyan Chen, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), Beijing, 100083, Beijing Municipality, China
    Hongkui Dong, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), Beijing, 100083, Beijing Municipality, China
    Wen Zhao, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), Beijing, 100083, Beijing Municipality, China
    Changyu Dong, College of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
    Yingqi Feng, School of Geoscience, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.