The Evolution History of the Sedimentary Basin and Orogenesis: Insights from Detrital Provenance Analysis

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (13 May 2022) | Viewed by 4406

Special Issue Editor

School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Interests: provenance analysis; deep-time continental weathering; orogenesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mountain and basin are two most important tectonic units on the Earth surface. The formation and inversion of sedimentary basins are tectonically interlinked with orogenesis. The evolution of sedimentary basins and orogenesis can be geologically archived by the detrital records eroded from mountains and deposited in sedimentary basins.  These detrital records range from muds to gravels in size and deposited in various environments by alluvial, fluvial, lacustrine, and marine processes. They can be well-preserved and provide unique clues to track the evolution of sedimentary basins and orogenic processes. The way we studied them is basically through detrital provenance analysis.

Detrital provenance analysis combines various information about the production, transportation, source rock compositions of the detrital sediments. Involved methods include but are not limited to paleo-current measurement, framework composition analysis, and geochemical and isotopic analysis of bulk-rock and detrital single minerals.  Detrital provenance analysis is greatly benefited from the development of in-situ analytical techniques and big-data statistical analysis. Multi-methods detrital provenance analysis can deepen our understanding of the basin evolution and orogenic processes.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to the disclosure of all the applications of detrital provenance analysis to track the evolution history of sedimentary basin and understand the orogenesis.

Dr. Jianghai Yang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • basin evolution
  • orogenic processes
  • provenance analysis
  • sedimentary records
  • detrital minerals
  • source-to-sink

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2791 KiB  
Article
Late Paleozoic Tectonic Evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt: Constraints of Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages from the Southern Margin of North China Block
by Wentao Yang, Te Fang, Yanpeng Wang and Hao Sha
Minerals 2022, 12(7), 864; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min12070864 - 07 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1421
Abstract
The tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt in the Late Paleozoic has long been controversial, especially due to the limitation of the Mianlue Ocean subduction time. Basin formation and sedimentary development in the southern North China Block are closely related to the [...] Read more.
The tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt in the Late Paleozoic has long been controversial, especially due to the limitation of the Mianlue Ocean subduction time. Basin formation and sedimentary development in the southern North China Block are closely related to the tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt, which is an effective entry point to study basin–mountain interaction. We present new detrital zircon U–Pb data from the Shihezi Formation in the Luonan area in the southern margin of the North China Block. The results show that the bottom sample has two major peaks at 288 Ma and 448 Ma, with weak peaks at 908, 1912 Ma and 2420 Ma. The top sample has one major peak at 297 Ma, with weak peaks at 1933 Ma and 2522 Ma. Combined with the published paleocurrent data and lithofacies paleogeography, the sediments of the bottom sample were sourced from the North Qinling Belt, Inner Mongolia Palaeo-Uplift and the basement of the North China Block. The top sample originated mainly from the Inner Mongolia Palaeo-Uplift and the basement of the North China Block. Comparing the obtained zircon U-Pb ages with the published relevant data in the North China Block, it is found that the provenance area shifted from the Qinling Orogenic Belt to the Inner Mongolia Paleo-Uplift in the Late Carboniferous–Permian, and the Qinling Orogenic Belt could hardly provide provenance for the southern North China Block in the Middle Permian. The uplift of the Qinling Orogenic Belt in the Late Carboniferous may be the continuation of Caledonian orogeny in the Early Paleozoic, whereas the uplift of the Inner Mongolia Palaeo-Uplift is related to the tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt during the Late Paleozoic. This tectonic transformation occurred when the Qinling Orogenic Belt no longer supplied sediments to the southern North China Block in the Middle Permian, and the Mianlue Ocean subduction did not occur until at least the Late Permian. Full article
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24 pages, 5135 KiB  
Article
Geochemical Characteristics and Constraints on Provenance, Tectonic Setting, and Paleoweathering of Middle Jurassic Zhiluo Formation Sandstones in the Northwest Ordos Basin, North-Central China
by Yelei Cai, Fei Ouyang, Xianrong Luo, Zilong Zhang, Meilan Wen, Xiaoneng Luo and Rui Tang
Minerals 2022, 12(5), 603; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min12050603 - 10 May 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2487
Abstract
To further explore the uranium-bearing prospects of the Zhiluo Formation, the petrography, major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements of Zhiluo sandstone samples collected from four boreholes were analyzed in this research to determine the provenance, tectonic setting and paleoweathering of the [...] Read more.
To further explore the uranium-bearing prospects of the Zhiluo Formation, the petrography, major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements of Zhiluo sandstone samples collected from four boreholes were analyzed in this research to determine the provenance, tectonic setting and paleoweathering of the formation. The results of the analysis reveal that the Zhiluo Formation sandstone comprises primarily feldspar sandstone, with quartz, feldspar, and mica as the main mineral components. The rare earth elements are mainly characterized by enrichment in light rare earth elements and loss of heavy rare earth elements. The ratio of light to heavy rare earth elements (LREEs/HREEs) is 5.55–7.79, with an average of 6.33. The value of (La/Yb)CN is 12.96–22.33, with an average value of 17.41, indicating obvious fractionation of LREEs and HREEs. The chemical index of alteration (CIA) value of this sandstone is 56.30–63.04, with an average of 59.75, which indicates that the parent rock experienced weak chemical weathering in a dry climate. The discrimination diagrams of the source area and parent rock show that the source area of the Zhiluo sandstones had a mixed intermediate-felsic composition, and that the main parent rocks were andesite and granite. The tectonic setting discrimination diagram indicates that the tectonic setting of the source area was the passive margin. Thus, the provenance of the sandstone of the Zhiluo Formation is proposed to be the volcanic-sedimentary rock series developed on the northern margin of the Ordos Basin. Full article
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