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Provenance of detrital zircons from the late Neoproterozoic to Ordovician sandstones of South China: implications for its continental affinity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2010

LONG WU
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
DONG JIA*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
HAIBIN LI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
FEI DENG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
YIQUAN LI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
*
*Author for correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

The U–Pb geochronology of 687 detrital zircons from the voluminous Upper Neoproterozoic–Ordovician succession in the Wuyishan Fold Belt of South China reveals a common dominant c. 1200–950 Ma group, indicative of an outboard provenance terrane with a Grenville-age province to the southeast during the late Neoproterozoic–Early Palaeozoic. Compared with coeval samples from the Gondwanan and eastern Laurentian margins, our data show a scarcity of distinctive Gondwanan provenances (c. 650–500 Ma) and reveal some Laurentian signatures. These results argue against the peri-Gondwanan setting for South China during the late Neoproterozoic–Ordovician, instead implying a Laurentian affinity.

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Rapid Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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