Sedimentary characteristics and provenance of the basal conglomerate of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Jiaolai Basin, eastern China and their implications for the uplift of the Sulu Orogenic Belt

Abstract

ABSTRACT The basal conglomerates (‘Linsishan Conglomerate’, LC, herein) are exposed discontinuously along the northern part of the Sulu Orogenic Belt (SOB) and the southern part of the Jiaobei Terrane. Studying these conglomerates can offer key constrains for the formation age of the Jiaolai Basin and improve our understanding of the uplift and erosional histories of the SOB and Jiaobei Terrane, which are still in great controversy. In Huangyadi section, the LC is characterized as debris-flow deposits, channel deposits, and sheet-flow deposits. However, in Shanjiao section, the LC is changed to sheet-flow and sieve deposits, as well as debris-flow and channel deposits. These deposit characteristics indicate an unstable tectonic setting during initial opening stage of the basin. Based on the data of conglomerate component, palaeocurrent, and debris zircons ages, it can be inferred that the sediments in the Laiyang region were sourced from the Jiaobei Terrane and Northern Sulu Orogenic Belt (NSOB), and the sediments in the Zhucheng and Wulian regions were derived from the Jiaobei Terrane and the Southern Sulu Orogenic Belt (SSOB). Besides, the sediments in the Haiyang and Jimo regions were provided by the NSOB and SSOB, respectively. The significant SHRIMP U–Pb ages of a tuff developing in the LC has been obtained, indicating that 149 ± 2.5 Ma is the oldest age constraint for the Jiaolai Basin. In addition, our result shows that the Latest Jurassic (ca. 149 Ma) may be a critical time; before this time, the Jiaobei Terrane and the SOB experienced a rapid uplift with minimal uplift velocity (~0.9 km/Ma); since then, the Orogen began to collapse and a series of basins formed rapidly in its core, which indicate the tectonic stress regime of the Dabie-Sulu Orogen varied from compressional stress to tensile stress.