On the tectonic position of the Baoshan region during the Late Palaeozoic

Abstract

The aim of this study is to discuss the tectonic position of Baoshan in Yunnan Province, China, during the Late Paleozoic by comparison of the sedimentary facies, fauna and palaeomagnetic data from the Baoshan region with those from the Yangtze region and southern Tibet. The sedimentary facies change suggests that in the Late Palaeozoic the Baoshan region underwent a similar geological history to southern Tibet, but different from that of the Yangtze region. The rugose corals and brachiopods as well as vertebrates of Baoshan are different from those of the Yangtze region during the Late Palaeozoic. An evident segregation seems to exist between them. The Late Paleozoic fauna of Baoshan shows certain similarities to southern Tibet. The Devonian and Late Carboniferous faunas, especially, are very similar to those in southern Tibet. This indicates that there was no evident segregation between them in the Late Palaeozoic. The palaeomagnetic data reveal that in the Late Palaeozoic the Yangtze region was close to the equator, while the Baoshan region and southern Tibet were situated in the middle latitudes.

On the basis of the palaeontological, sedimentological and palaeomagnetic data, it is inferred that Baoshan and southern Tibet were situated in the same continental margin, and both regions were far from the Yangtze region during the Late Paleozoic. The Baoshan region may be considered as a massif within the Gondwana tectonic domain which includes southern Tibet, while the Yangtze region was located in another tectonic domain—the South Asian domain, with a wide ocean, the Tethys between them.