Provenance Transition From The North China Craton To The Grenvillian Orogeny-Related Source: Evidence From Late Mesoproterozoic-Early Neoproterozoic Strata In The Liao-Ji Area

Late Paleoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic strata in Liao-Ji area (eastern Liaoning-southern Jilin) on the eastern margin of the North China Craton (NCC) provide a significant record of sediment provenance transition from the NCC to the Grenvillian orogeny. A >3000-m-thick sequence of fluvial, margin marine, and offshore marine sediments were preserved, including the Madaling, Baifangzi, Yongning, Diaoyutai, Nanfen and Qiaotou formations. To evaluate the relationship of Rodinia sediment delivery to this area, we synthesize 3177 geochronology data from the Liao-Ji area of which 1499 detrital zircon and 319 monazite ages from 17 sample analyses are newly reported herein. The results indicate that the Madaling, Baifangzi, Yongning, Diaoyutai (not including Dalian samples) and Nanfen Formations have two major peaks at 1.8 Ga and 2.5 Ga. The depositional ages of the formations are 1.27-0.92 Ga, as constrained by the ages of the youngest detrital zircons and later mafic intrusions. In the Madaling/Baifangzi/Yongning period, Longgang and Liaonan blocks and the late Paleoproterozoic Jiao-Liao-Ji belt were dominant in deposition. During the Diaoyutai-Nanfen period, grains derived from Mesoproterozoic rocks began to accumulate in topographically low areas, such as the Fuzhou Gulf. In the Qiaotou period, Mesoproterozoic grain-derived sources dominated the deposition. Combining the studies of late Mesoproteorozoic-early Neoperoterozoic successions from the Xuhuai and Jiaobei areas, the detrital zircon spectra in the Liao-Ji area document the transition from the initial NCC to a distant Grenvillian orogeny related provenance (Laurentia, Siberia, SF-Congo and Baltica have been excluded) from possible south/southeast.