Onset of sedimentation near the Carnian/Norian boundary in the northwestern Sichuan Basin: New evidence from ammonoid biostratigraphy and zircon U-Pb geochronology

Upper Triassic deposits formed at the onset of subsidence in the Sichuan foreland basin of South China, and may record a crisis of carbonate deposition related to the Carnian Pluvial Episode. However, there is no consensus yet on the precise age of these deposits in northwestern Sichuan. In this work, ammonoid biostratigraphy has been improved, and a U/Pb age from detrital zircons has been obtained from the Upper Triassic of northwestern Sichuan. New ammonoid taxa Sinotropites sichuanensis n. gen., n. sp. and Hadrothisbites hanwangensis n. sp. are described from the upper part of the Ma'antang Formation in Hanwang and Jushui area and are assigned to the uppermost Tuvalian (Anatropites spinosus Zone, Gonionotites italicus Subzone). Ammonoid and conodont biostratigraphy, combined with U/Pb concordant ages of 227.2 +/- 1.1 Ma obtained from youngest detrital zircons, provide a robust constrain on the initial sedimentation phases of the foreland basin in northwestern Sichuan, and suggest that the terrigenous turnover was not related to the Carnian Pluvial Episode.

Automated summary

The Upper Triassic deposits in northwestern Sichuan were formed at the beginning of subsidence in the Sichuan foreland basin of South China, and may reflect a crisis of carbonate deposition linked to the Carnian Pluvial Episode. New ammonoid taxa and improved biostratigraphy, combined with U/Pb concordant ages, provide a robust constraint on the initial sedimentation phases and suggest that the terrigenous turnover was not related to the Carnian Pluvial Episode.