Tectonic and Sedimentary Response of the Huangshan Basin to Paleo-Pacific Subduction undernearth Southeast China

Abstract:

The subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate predominated the Late Mesozoic tectonic evolution of southeast China. This process is well documented by Jurassic-Cretaceous deposition and structural deformation. Zircon U-Pb ages of volcano-sedimentary rocks and fault-slip data of brittle faults were investigated in the Huangshan Basin. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages show that the provenances of the Huangshan Basin changed during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The source region of Early and Middle Jurassic sediments is mainly the Wuyishan domain to the southeast. But the Early Cretaceous clastic rocks are derived from the Jiangnan domain to the north. The inversions of fault-slip data show that paleostress fields also changed during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The strike-slip regime with nearly E-W compression and N-S extension predominated in the late Middle Jurassic whereas intense NW-SE-striking extensional one during Early Cretaceous. Moreover, geochemistry and zircon U-Pb ages of Late Jurassic (156~152 Ma) and Early Cretaceous (~130 Ma) felsic volcanic rocks in the Huangshan Basin also argue for a tectonic event occurred during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. Above results imply that the tectonic background of southeast China changed from the initial subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate during the Early and Middle Jurassic into subsequence back-arc extension in the Early Cretaceous. The paleostress field then changed into the strike-slip regime with N-S compression and E-W extension during late Early Cretaceous, which is caused by the collision between the Philippine and South China blocks. And after that, a weak and short-lived N-S extension was replaced by the strike-slip regime with NW-SE compression and NE-SW extension. Meanwhile, the South China continental margin also changed from an Andean-type to a Western Pacific-type plate boundary in early Late Cretaceous.