Abstract
The Precambrian sedimentary strata on the southern margin of the North China Craton are well developed and widely exposed, making the region ideal for the study of depositional processes. However, because of the length of the depositional history and the lack of biogenic criteria, interpretations of the sedimentary environments of the Precambrian strata are often based on the tectonic background, geographical environment, rock type and sedimentary structures, resulting in controversies in the literature. In this study of the Bingmagou Formation in the Ruyang Group on the southern margin of the North China Craton, analysis of petrologic features, palaeocurrents and sedimentary facies is combined with regional correlation of relevant strata and the reconstruction of ancient landforms to explain the depositional environments and environmental transitions. Dominated by marine deposits on the southern margin of the North China Craton, the sedimentary strata of the Ruyang Group unconformably overlie the Archean crystalline basement or Proterozoic Xionger Group. As the lowermost unit of the Ruyang Group, the Bingmagou Formation, which was depositionally controlled by topography and faults and received abundant detrital material, is a highly distinctive set of sedimentary strata and represents an environmental transition from alluvial fan to sandy coast.
Highlights
The breakup of the Columbia Supercontinent coincided with collision-related ultra-high temperature, high-pressure metamorphic and magmatic events and the development of three troughs
The Xionger rift trough is a three-armed rift at the regional scale (Fig. 1B), with two arms extending along the southern margin of the NCC and the third extending into central Shanxi province in a NE direction
With the formation and development of the Xionger rift trough on the southern margin of the NCC and subsequent continuous marine transgression, the depositional environment of the Bingmagou Formation changed from terrestrial alluvial fan to a marine gravelly and sandy coast
Summary
The Precambrian sedimentary strata on the southern margin of the North China Craton are well developed and widely exposed, making the region ideal for the study of depositional processes. In this study of the Bingmagou Formation in the Ruyang Group on the southern margin of the North China Craton, analysis of petrologic features, palaeocurrents and sedimentary facies is combined with regional correlation of relevant strata and the reconstruction of ancient landforms to explain the depositional environments and environmental transitions. At the southern margin of the NCC, the Xionger rift trough ( known as the Shanxi - Henan rift trough) formed, with most of the trough located west of Henan Province and the central-southern portion in Shanxi Province This trough represents the beginning of the breakup and rifting of the NCC, which occurred at a similar time to the breakup of the Columbia Supercontinent breakup (1.8–1.2 Ga)[16].
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