Occurrence of Mafic Rocks within Ediacaran Strata in the Aksu Region, NW Tarim Craton, and its Geological Implications

Abstract

The Tarim Craton is an ancient Precambrian continental block, and detailed knowledge of its thermo-tectonic history is crucial for understanding the early history of continental evolution. Abundant layered mafic rocks, which have commonly been regarded as basalts, occur within the Ediacaran Sugetbrak Formation (Fm.) in the Aksu region of the northwestern Tarim Craton. Clear intrusive features have now been discovered, including mafic rocks truncating Ediacaran sedimentary layers, exhibiting an intrusion-baked margin where they interact with both the overlying and bottom wall rocks, and displaying a fine-grained transition zone from their interior to their margins. The new findings demonstrate that these mafic rocks within the Aksu Ediacaran strata were not erupted basalts but instead are intrusive diabase dykes. Therefore, these mafic rocks cannot be used to constrain the timing of the Sugetbrak Fm. in the Aksu area, nor as marker layers for regional stratigraphic correlation. Furthermore, the Ediacaran thermo-tectonic evolution in this region, deduced from the assumption that the mafic rocks are lavas, needs to be revised.