Silurian clastic sediments in the North Qilian Shan, NW China: Chemical and isotopic constraints on their forearc provenance with implications for the Paleozoic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract The North Qilian Shan is an accretion–collision orogenic belt in the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau that connects the North China plate to the north with the Tethyan orogenic assemblage to the south. Its Early Paleozoic temporal–spatial tectonic evolution has been extensively studied, but the nature and tectonic setting of its Silurian deposition is poorly understood. Our new petrological analysis suggests that the clast composition of fan conglomerates is complex. In the Danbanshan and Zhongdabanshan sections, abundant lenticular conglomerate beds contain mainly subrounded–rounded metamorphic clasts; whereas the Tongziba and Haichaoba sections contain volcanic, chert, limestone, ultramafic and granitoid clasts. However, in the Sunan area, clast types are relatively simple, dominated by basalt and granitoids, and at Tongziba gabbro and basalt clasts are subrounded and angular, indicating two different types of provenance. Ultramafic, limestone and abundant chert clasts in the Haichaoba and Tonghe conglomerates indicate an ophiolitic source, whereas subrounded–rounded quartzite and granitoid gneiss clasts were probably derived from the Central Qilian basement. Geochemical data from the volcanic and granitoid clasts suggest an arc-related source and their zircon U–Pb ages of 515–429 Ma suggest that the arc magmatism did not end in the Mid-Silurian. Sandstone petrology and detrital modes suggest that the Silurian sediments were deposited in a forearc basin. Paleogeographic reconstructions inferred from NNW–NNE paleocurrent data indicate that an island arc was present off the southern margin of the Silurian basin, and that southward subduction of oceanic crust between North China and the Qilian Shan was active or continued in the Silurian.