Early Cretaceous sedimentary evolution of the northern Lhasa terrane and the timing of initial Lhasa-Qiangtang collision

Abstract

Lower Cretaceous strata in the Baingoin basin of the northern Lhasa terrane record initial collision between the Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks, followed by the early uplift of central Tibet. North-south traverses across the Baingoin basin highlight major differences between the Duba Formation in the north and the quasi-coeval Duoni Formation in the south. The Duba Formation documents upward transition from shallow shelf and deltaic environments to coarse-grained siliciclastic fluvial sedimentation. Abundance of detrital zircons yielding Jurassic-Cretaceous ages with εHf(t) values mainly between −2 and +10, occurrence of chert, Cr-spinel, and pyroxene grains, together with southward paleocurrent directions indicate that the Duba Formation was sourced from the southern Qiangtang terrane and Bangong-Nujiang suture zone to the north. The Duoni Formation in the south was deposited in shelfal to fan-delta and fluvial environments. Abundant volcanic clasts, detrital zircons yielding Cretaceous ages with mainly negative εHf(t) values, and northward paleocurrents indicate an active volcanic source located in the central Lhasa terrane to the south, with minor input from the northern Lhasa terrane. Only the northern part of the Baingoin basin was directly controlled by the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision and may thus be considered a peripheral foreland basin, whereas the southern part was mainly influenced by tectonic processes related to the northward subduction of Neotethyan lithosphere, and may thus be comparable to a retroarc foreland basin. But these sedimentary features and the 139–79 Ma Baingoin plutonic intrusion do not fit well with classical foreland-basin models. Zircon chronostratigraphy constrains the final consumption of Bangong-Nujiang oceanic lithosphere and initial collision between the Lhasa and Qiangtang microcontinents to have taken place by 122 Ma, which has major implications for paleotectonic reconstructions of the Tibetan Plateau.