A regional tectonic event of Katian (Late Ordovician) age across three major blocks of China

Abstract

The present paper deals with a tectonic event of Late Ordovician age affecting three blocks of China, i.e. South China, North China and Tarim. In the North China and the Tarim platforms, as well as their marginal belts, there was a regional uplift during the early Katian Stage of the Ordovician. The uplift was indicated by the unconformities between the Ordovician successions and overlying late Paleozoic strata. New biostratigraphic studies of conodonts and graptolites from many sections at Longxian and Yaoxian, North China shows that the youngest Ordovician strata are of the early Katian age corresponding to graptolite Diplacanthograptus spiniferus Biozone. The same level has been recognized to represent the uppermost Ordovician in the platform area of Tarim, whereas in the marginal belt the top boundary of the Ordovician is slightly younger, corresponding to the graptolite Dicellograptus complanatus Biozone. Thus, the regional uplift in North China and Tarim is shown by the disconformity between the early Katian strata and Late Paleozoic strata, the onset coinciding with that of the Kwangsian Orogeny in South China. The designation Kwangsian Orogeny later fell into disuse and was replaced by the term Caledonian Orogeny. However, in terms of geographic location, tectonic nature, and the timing of activity, the Caledonian Orogeny differs significantly from the orogenic event in South China, and the continued use of this term in South China is inappropriate and misleading.