A missing link of the Proto-Tethys Ocean between the Qinling and Qilian orogens, China: Insights from geochronology and structural geology

Abstract

The Qinling-Qilian connection zone (QQCZ) is a key area to reveal the relationship and to make a link of the North Qinling and the North Qilian orogens, China. Here we present U–Pb dating data of detrital zircons from four sedimentary/metasedimentary rocks in the QQCZ and the southwestern North China Block (NCB) and detailed regional structural data. Three episodes of fold deformation (D1, D2 and D3) are distinguished in the QQCZ, with the former two occurred during the early Paleozoic. The D1 deformation is mainly characterized by regionally penetrative schistosity and some residual rootless intrafolial folds due to the intensive superpositions by the subsequent D2 and D3 deformations. The D2 deformation characterized by tight folds, associated axial plane foliations and crenulation lineations indicates a stress field characterized by NNE–SSW-directed compression, which may be induced by the collision between the NCB and the southern blocks. The D3 deformation which might occur during the Mesozoic is marked by upright open folds and kink bands. The similarity of the detrital zircon age spectra of the Huluhe Group in the North Qilian Orogen and the Erlangping Group in the North Qinling Orogen suggests that the two groups have similar provenance, which may indicate that the North Qilian Orogen corresponded to the North Qinling Orogen in a regional tectonic framework. In addition, the remarkable age peak at ~435 ​Ma of the detrital zircon age spectrum of the Duanjiaxia Formation in the southwestern NCB indicates that this formation obtained the provenance of the North Qilian and North Qinling orogens, which may be generated by the collage of the southwestern NCB and the QQCZ during the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian. Based on structural, detrital zircon and metamorphic data, we suggest that the North Qilian and North Qinling orogens underwent similar evolution during the early Paleozoic due to the closure of the North Qilian and the Kuanping oceans which located at the northern boundary of the Proto-Tethys Ocean.