Linking environmental changes and organic matter enrichment in the middle part of the Yanchang Formation (Ordos Basin, China) to the rollback of an oceanic slab in the eastern Paleo-Tethys

Abstract

The Yanchang Formation, which records the whole evolutionary history of the Middle–Late Triassic lacustrine basin in the western part of the North China Block, provides an opportunity to understand the relationship between the tectono-sedimentary evolution and massive organic matter burial in lacustrine systems. The present study investigates the changes in the lithofacies association, provenance, regional tectonism, depositional environment, and organic matter accumulation in the lower-middle part of the Yanchang Formation, aiming to unravel their links. As a result of the rapid deepening of the southern Ordos Basin, the deposits in the depocenter of the basin shifted dramatically from shallow lacustrine sandstones of the lower part of the Yanchang Formation (i.e., Chang 8 Member) to deep lacustrine shales and gravity flow deposits of the middle part of the Yanchang Formation (i.e., Chang 7 Member). The provenance of the overlying Chang 7 Member is distinct from that of the underlying Chang 8 Member. It is proposed that crustal extension caused by the southwestward rollback of an oceanic slab in the eastern Paleo-Tethys may have triggered the rapid extensional subsidence in the southern Ordos Basin during the early Ladinian. In response to this deep geodynamic process, the depositional environment of the contemporaneous Ordos Basin changed significantly, as reflected by improved primary productivity, enhanced bottom-water anoxia, as well as reduced terrigenous clastic supply in the Ordos Lake. The coupling of these processes further led to the enrichment of organic matter in the Chang 7 Member.