Refined chronostratigraphy of the late Mesozoic terrestrial strata in South China and its tectono-stratigraphic evolution

Abstract

The late Mesozoic terrestrial strata in numerous basins in S (South) China provide important sedimentary archives to understand the tectonic evolution of S China and East Asia. However, establishing regional stratigraphic framework within a basin and precisely correlating strata among basins remain challenging due to limited chronological constraints. In this study, we report zircon U-Pb ages of 21 samples and a compilation of 132 reliable age data from 15 type sections of the volcanic-sedimentary basins in S China. The synthesized geochronology allows us to establish a refined chronostratigraphy for the late Mesozoic terrestrial strata. New calibrated results indicate that most of the lithostratigraphic units are diachronic, laterally stacking, and/or interfingering. Six stacking styles are classified for the relationship of lithostratigraphic units. Analysis of the refined chronostratigraphy and the stratal stacking styles, together with lithological composition, reveals three episodes of tectono-stratigraphic evolution. Episode I (~145–125 Ma) is characterized by intense volcanism, as evidenced by widespread occurrence of volcanic strata and (137–120 Ma) A-type granites, and was probably related to the rollback of the subducting Paleo-Pacific plate; The strata deposited during Episode II (~125–100 Ma) are composed of variegated sediments associated with/without volcanic intercalations in sedimentary faulted-depression basins, indicating the waning of volcanism and tectonism attributed to the ending of the Izanagi/Kula plate subduction; In Episode III (<~100 Ma), red strata occurred along the NE-SW sinistral strike-slip faulting or failed rifting in small basins, which probably resulted from the drastic directional change of the Paleo-Pacific plate subduction from NW to SN.