Provenance of Oligocene–Miocene sediments in the Subei area, eastern Altyn Tagh fault and its geological implications: Evidence from detrital zircons LA-ICP-MS U–Pb chronology

Abstract

Oligocene–Miocene strata in the Subei and Xiaobiegai basins of the Subei area, located in the eastern Altyn Tagh fault (ATF), northern Tibetan Plateau, record important characteristics of the ATF evolution. Detrital zircons laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U–Pb ages from two samples, together with paleocurrent directions and clastic composition in the Xishuigou section demonstrate that sediments in the Subei basin originated from the Danghenanshan range along its southern margin. Detrital zircons U–Pb ages from three samples in the Xiaobiegai basin, together with paleocurrent directions and clastic composition, indicate that sediments in the Xiaobiegai basin may partly originate from terranes along the northeastern margin of the basin in addition to the Danghenanshan range. Our results, combined with regional evolution, suggest that the Xiaobiegai and the Subei basins was a combined basin in Oligocene–early Miocene. This basin was folded, tilted, and dislocated at ca. 8 Ma by rapid uplift of the northern Tibetan plateau and rapid strike-slip of the ATF. As a result, the Subei basin became a thrust–fold belt of the Danghenanshan range front, and the Xiaobiegai basin grew into an intermontane basin in the northeastern part of the Danghenanshan range. Thus, the Subei area gradually acquired its present morphotectonic patterns.