Final Closure Time of the Paleo‐Asian Ocean: Implication from the Provenance Transformation from the Yangjiagou Formation to Lujiatun Formation in the Jiutai Area, NE China

Abstract

The Jiutai area is tectonically situated at the eastern segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and is close to the North China Craton (NCC) to the south, serving as an ideal place to investigations of the closure of the Paleo‐Asian Ocean (PAO). Sandstone samples collected from the Yangjiagou Formation and the Lujiatun Formation in this area have been studied in detail in terms of petrology, geochronology and geochemistry. The maximum depositional time of the Yangjiagou and Lujiatun formations has been constrained to early Middle Triassic (ca. 245 Ma) and middle Late Triassic (ca. 219 Ma), respectively. The Yangjiagou Formation, with a major provenance of dissected island arcs, is dominantly composed of Phanerozoic sediments from Northeastern China (NE China) massifs. The Lujiatun Formation, with major sediments from active continental margins, has a relatively larger proportion of Precambrian sediments, in which the ∼1.85 Ga and ∼2.5 Ga sediments are typical of the crystalline basements of the NCC and NE China massifs, which were uplifted and eroded during the closure of the PAO. Besides, both formations show the enrichment in LREEs and the depletion in HREEs, the common Eu negative anomalies, and trace element contents similar to that of the upper continental crust. Based on the provenance analysis of these two formations, the final closure time of the PAO in this area is constrained as from the early Middle Triassic (ca. 245 Ma) to the middle Late Triassic (ca. 219 Ma).