Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary-tectonic development in the Chengde Basin, Yanshan fold-thrust belt, North China Craton

Abstract

The Chengde Basin is located in the central part of the Yanshan fold-thrust belt in the northern North China Craton. The sediments in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Tuchengzi Formation in the Chengde Basin provide a detrital record of basin dynamics and uplift of the basin margins during that time. We analyzed the sedimentary facies, paleocurrents, and provenance of the Tuchengzi Formation in the Chengde Basin for the period of the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous shortening in the Yanshan fold-thrust belt. Four sedimentary facies associations have been identified in the Tuchengzi Formation, corresponding to proximal fan, mid-fan, distal alluvial fan, and fluvial facies. The transport and distribution of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous sediments in the Chengde Basin was controlled by the faults bounding the basin. Paleocurrent indicators and provenance data of conglomerate clasts reveal that the sediments of the Tuchengzi Formation in the northern part of the Chengde Basin were delivered from source regions to the north of the basin. The early sediments of the Tuchengzi Formation in the southern part of the basin comprise a suite of fluvial deposits, similar to the fluvial sediments in the northern part of the basin, and their paleocurrent data and the compositions of conglomerate clasts also suggest a northern source. However, the subsequent sedimentation in the Tuchengzi Formation in the southern part of the basin changed markedly to proximal fan facies, with sediments being derived from the south of the basin, according to the paleocurrent data and conglomerate clast lithology. The Sandaohe sheet, which is located in the southeast limb of the Chengde syncline, is not a klippe formed as a result of long-distance northward thrusting, but an autochthonous pop-up tectonic wedge generated by N–S shortening during the Early Cretaceous sedimentation of the Tuchengzi Formation. The sedimentation ended before the onset of the Early Cretaceous volcanic eruption recorded by the Zhangjiakou Formation, which unconformably overlies the Tuchengzi Formation.