Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and provenance of the Sanxiatian Formation (Huade Group) in the North China Craton: Implications for the breakup of the Columbia supercontinent

Abstract

The tectonic evolution and Paleoposition of the North China Craton (NCC) in the Columbia supercontinent during Mesoproterozoic is still not well constrained owing to scarce outcrops of the Mesoproterozoic geological records. Here we present detailed U-Pb geochronological study on detrital zircons and trace elemental geochemistry of the Mesoproterozoic meta-sedimentary rocks from the Sanxiatian Formation, the upper Huade Group, in the northern NCC. The youngest cluster of detrital zircons from the Sanxiatian Formation has U-Pb age peak at ∼1357 Ma, which constrains the deposition of the Sanxiatian Formation after ∼1400 Ma. We suggest a stratigraphic correlation among the Sanxiatian, Baiyinbaolage, Liuhongwan and Xiamaling formations, all of which were deposited simultaneously in the northern NCC. The small portion of ∼2530 Ma zircons possibly corresponds with the growth of juvenile crust in the NCC at the late Neoarchean. The distinct ∼1850 Ma population may have originated from the syn-and post- tectonic granites distributed in the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO), which is related with the collision between the Western and Eastern blocks in the NCC. The ∼1750–∼1600 Ma zircon populations were also sourced from the NCC and are possibly characterized by the post-collisional magmatic events after the amalgamation of the NCC. The zircon clusters younger than 1600 Ma with peaks at ∼1575 Ma and ∼1357 Ma, were interpreted as exotic sources, while the latter possibly related with the final breakup of the supercontinent Columbia. With the compilation of the detrital zircon dataset from the North India, the West Australia, the North Australia, the Siberia blocks and the northwestern Laurentia, the final fragmentation of the supercontinent Columbia is suggested to be characterized by the separation between the NCC, the Australia or the India blocks during the late Mesoproterozoic.