A Mesoproterozoic palaeokarst on the North China Craton in the Xingcheng area of Liaoning Province, China: characteristics and significance on paleogeography

Abstract

ABSTRACT Palaeokarsts are rarely preserved and recognized from Precambrian strata. However, a Mesoproterozoic palaeokarst was recently discovered on the top of the Tuanshanzi Formation in Xingcheng, Liaoning Province, China. This palaeokarst recorded karstification fissures, three types of breccias and unique vadose filling. Four factors: no bedding fillings, vadose cements, restricted palaeokarst development, and the overlying beds without involved any karstification, supported this palaeokarst occurred before the deposition of the Dahongyu Formation. Relative sea-level changes and tectonic movement provided the essential external cause for this palaeokarst, which revealed the hiatus between the Dahongyu Formation and the Tuanshanzi Formation in the Yan-Liao Aulacogen of the North China Craton. This finding was significant and valuable for discussing the ‘Xingcheng Movement’ and unconformity contact relationships between the two formations observed around the basin. As the palaeokarst did not extend to the interior of the basin and the unconformity occurred mainly in the margins of basin, the significance of them is always underestimated. Nevertheless, this palaeokarst and other sedimentary features could represent an apparent transition of Yan-Liao Aulacogen basin evolved from rift to depression under the background of Supercontinent Columbia breakup.