Detrital zircon in the Huashan Group, northern Yangtze Block: Implications for the nature of Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins and Precambrian crustal evolution

Abstract

The Huashan Group preserves Neoproterozoic volcanic‐sedimentary sequences in the northern Yangtze Block and is an ideal target for determining the provenance and characteristics of Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins and the Precambrian crustal evolution of the Yangtze Block. Here, we report LA‐ICP‐MS detrital zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopes from four metamorphic clastic rock samples in the Huashan Group. Detrital zircons ages yield four major peaks at ca. 2,670, 2,040, 940, and 840 Ma and five subordinate peaks at greater than or equal to ca. 2,850, 2,490, 1,840, 1,600, and 1,240 Ma. The provenance of the Huashan Group includes Archean to mid‐Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks, and reworked sedimentary rocks from the northern Yangtze Block. The Huashan Group was deposited from ca. 830 to 800 Ma and represents sedimentation accompanying the development of a mid‐Neoproterozoic continental rift basin in Yangtze Block associated with the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. Hafnium isotope analyses of detrital zircon from the Huashan Group suggest that most crustal growth in the northern Yangtze Block occurred during the Late‐Mesoproterozoic and early to Middle Neoproterozoic and crustal reworking occurred from the Archean to the Neoproterozoic.