Age, depositional environment, and tectonic significance of an Early Neoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence in the eastern Beishan orogenic belt, southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt

The Beishan orogenic belt, located in the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, includes several discrete arc terranes. Here, we report on a newly discovered Early Neoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence in the eastern Beishan orogenic belt in order to constrain the composition and origin of the Shuangyingshan-Huaniushan Terrane. The similar to 766-m-thick volcano-sedimentary sequence is very low-grade metamorphosed, and characterized by muddy and silty slate with the well-developed parallel laminations and minor thinly-bedded limestone in its lower and upper sections, and thick packages of sandstone-conglomerate and basaltic rocks in the middle section. Lava flow units in the basalt are very common, and the sandstone-conglomerate exhibits sedimentary structures typical of gravity currents, including erosional and slump features, and Bouma sequences. These features suggest that syn-sedimentary volcanism occurred and the sequence formed in an active, deep marine environment. The basalt has a zircon U-Pb age of 901 +/- 10 Ma, indicating that this sequence formed during the Early Neoproterozoic. Basalt samples have moderate SiO2 (45.33-49.18%), and high TiO2 (1.27-4.04%) contents, Mg-# values of 25-48, and plot in the alkali basalt field in the Nb/Y versus Zr/TiO2 diagram, indicative of an evolved alkali basalt magma. They show inclined chondrite-normalized REE patterns with (La/Yb)(N) ratios of 4.74-6.53, no pronounced negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.87-1.22), no obvious negative Zr, Hf, Nb, and Ta anomalies in the primitive-mantle-normalized trace-element diagram, consistent with oceanic island basalts. Considered together, these lithologies resemble those of an oceanic seamount. Our results, and the presence of the previously reported Gubaoquan granitic and mafic rocks (905-865 Ma) that formed in an active continental margin setting and underwent an amphibolite-facies metamorphism, suggest that the Shuangyingshan-Huaniushan Terrane may be an accreted terrane that consists of different lithologies with various origins that formed during the Neoproterozoic.

Automated summary

A newly discovered Early Neoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence in the Beishan orogenic belt suggests the presence of an accreted terrane consisting of lithologies with various origins.