Sedimentary and Source-to-Sink Evolution of Intracontinental Basins: Implications for tectonic and Climate Evolution in the Late Mesozoic (Southern Junggar Basin, NW China)

Xutong Guan,Xuecai Zhang,Chaodong Wu,Weiwei Jia,Wei Zhang

doi:10.3389/feart.2021.785659

Xutong Guan, Xuecai Zhang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.785659

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Abstract

Sedimentary investigations, petrography, heavy mineral and conglomerate component analyses, and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology were conducted to reconstruct the sedimentary and source-to-sink evolution of the Southern Junggar Basin, an intracontinental basin in the late Mesozoic. A paludal deltaic environment evolved into a fluvial environment, and abruptly prograded into alluvial fan and aeolian environments in the Late Jurassic, which was replaced by fan deltaic and lacustrine environments in the Early Cretaceous. Three source-to-sink systems were identified, according to different source-to-sink system features. In the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Orogenic Belt, the North Tianshan Orogenic Belt mainly provided sediments in the Late Jurassic. The North Tianshan and Central Tianshan Orogenic Belt both supplied sediments in the Early Cretaceous. In the northern piedmont of the Bogda Orogenic Belt, the Bogda Orogenic Belt was constantly the primary provenance, and the Tianshan Orogenic Belt also provided sediments. Sediment recycling occurred in the basin margin in the Late Jurassic and more metamorphic rocks were denudated in the Early Cretaceous. The source-to-sink system shrank in the Late Jurassic and expanded in the Early Cretaceous. This source-to-sink evolution and the conglomerates in the Kalazha Formation with seismite structures responded to the aridification in the Late Jurassic, the uplift of the Bogda and Tianshan Orogenic Belts in the Late Jurassic, and the exhumation of the Bogda and Tianshan Orogenic Belts in the Early Cretaceous.

Highlights

The source-to-sink approach focuses on the connection and reconstruction of the various components of siliciclastic sedimentary systems from initial source areas through the dispersal system to catchment areas, and it has more recently been applied to deep-time stratigraphic systems (Bhattacharya et al, 2016; Walsh et al, 2016)
This study provides insights into how tectonic and climatic evolution influence the source-to-sink system of intracontinental basins
Petrography, sedimentary analysis, heavy mineral assemblages, conglomerate components, and detrital zircon geochronology were conducted for source-to-sink analysis in the southern Junggar Basin (SJB)

Summary

Introduction

The source-to-sink approach focuses on the connection and reconstruction of the various components of siliciclastic sedimentary systems from initial source areas through the dispersal system to catchment areas, and it has more recently been applied to deep-time stratigraphic systems (Bhattacharya et al, 2016; Walsh et al, 2016). Intracontinental basins have been termed “Chinese-type basins”, “collisional successor basins”, “walled basins”, and “plate interior polyphase basins” (Bally and Snelson, 1980; Graham et al, 1993; Carroll et al, 2010; Johnson and Ritts, 2012) and are typical in western China (e.g., the Junggar Basin, Tarim Basin, Qaidam Basin, and Sichuan Basin) These intracontinental basins are relatively undeformed within the basin interiors yet significantly deformed at or near the basin margins (e.g., Graham et al, 1993; Ritts et al, 2009; Liu et al, 2012). Understanding the source-to-sink systems in these intracontinental basins has important implications for unraveling their basin and orogenic evolution

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