Western End of Late Cretaceous Fore-arc Basin and Provenance in SW Japan: Detrital Zircon U–Pb Dating of Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene Sandstones in Nagasaki-Nishisonogi Peninsula, Western Kyushu

Abstract

Uranium–Pb ages of detrital zircons taken from seven sandstone samples collected at what were previously called “Paleogene strata” in the Nagasaki and Nishisonogi Peninsula, northwestern Kyushu, SW Japan are measured. Depositional ages of three sandstones in the Nagasaki peninsula are revealed to be e Campanian–Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) or younger. Depositional ages of two sandstones in Terashima Island off the west coast of the Nishisonogi Peninsula are likewise dated as Campanian or younger. By contrast, two sandstones in western Nagasaki Peninsula are confirmed as the Ypresian–Lutetian (Eocene) or younger. These new ages are concordant with sporadically reported mollusk fossils, basically supporting the previous stratigraphic scheme, except for a distinct Upper Cretaceous strata called the Mitsuze Formation. The age spectra of detrital zircons from the four Campanian sandstones share the same pattern; i.e., ranging in the Aptian–Campanian with a peak around the Cenomanian. The Maastrichtian sandstone has grains ranging in the Albian–Maastrichtian with a peak around the Turonian, which is slightly younger than that of Campanian sandstones. Judging from the dominance of Middle Cretaceous zircon grains, the main provenances of the sandstones are probably the Ryoke/San-yo and San-in granite belts in SW Japan, where Middle to Late Cretaceous felsic igneous rocks are extensively exposed. The age spectra of detrital zircons in the Campanian–Maastrichtian sandstones are almost identical to those of the Himenoura and Mifune groups in central Kyushu, and the Izumi Group in Shikoku/western Kii peninsula. All of these units were deposited unconformably over the Ryoke granitoids. Within the elongated arc-trench system extending for over 1,300 km from western Kyushu to northern Kanto, Mitsuze Formation sandstones in the Nagasaki-Nishionogi Peninsula mark the known western end of the large-scale Upper Cretaceous fore-arc basin in Japan.