Mesozoic terrane accretion in Northeast China, Sikhote-Alin and Japan regions

Abstract

The Nadanhada Range in Northeast China is composed of upper Paleozoic limestone, greenstone, middle to late Triassic bedded chert, and middle Jurassic siliceous shale; these rocks are enclosed in post-middle Jurassic clastic rocks. The lithologic association, ages, radiolarian assemblages and geologic structure of the Nadanhada Range are very similar to those of the Tamba-Mino-Ashio terrane in Southwest Japan. This indicates that the Nadanhada Range is the northern extension of the Tamba-Mino-Ashio terrane. Mesozoic tectonostratigraphic terranes identified in Northeast China, Sikhote-Alin and Southwest Japan are: the Khanka terrane (a micro-continent composed of Precambrian metamorhic rocks and Paleozoic to Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic covers), the Nadanhada-Western Sikhote-Alin terrane (a disrupted terrane composed of upper Paleozoic to Jurassic sedimentary rocks), the Eastern Sikhote-Alin terrane (a terrane composed mainly of early Cretaceous clastics), the Tetyukhe terrane (a disrupted terrane composed of upper Paleozoic to early Cretaceous sedimentary rocks), the Hida terrane (a continent-type stratigraphic terrane composed of Precambrian and upper Paleozoic basement covered with Jurassic to Cretaceous coarse clastics), and the Tamba-Mino-Ashio terrane (a disrupted terrane composed of upper Paleozoic to earliest Cretaceous sedimentary rocks). Accretionary history of these terranes is discussed on the basis of paleomagnetic and paleobiogeographic data.