Genesis and Tectonic Significance of Quartz Sandstones in the Southern Subzone of Tethyan Himalayas: A Case Study on the Paleocene Jidula Formation in Gamba Area, Southern Tibet

doi:10.19657/j.geoscience.1000-8527.2019.03.09

Abstract

Abstract:

The Tethyan Himalayas is the main tectonic unit of the northern Indian passive margin. Compared to other similar tectonic units, there are many suites of special quartz sandstones, implying that the terrigenous supply capacity had changed overtime. Tectonic setting and significance of these quartz sandstones are yet to be clear. In this paper, the quartz sandstones (Jidula Formation) in Gamba of the Tethyan Himalayas were analyzed for their detrital compositions, paleocurrent, heavy minerals and detrital zircon ages. Sedimentology and provenance characteristics of these quartz sandstones, their formation and tectonic significance were discussed. According to sedimentary facies analysis, in the Early Paleozoic Gamba area belonged to the Indian passive continental margin of the Neotethys. Littoral facies dominate and show a change from shallow shelf to continental facies. Sandstone lithofacies suggest that the terrigenous clastic material of the Jidula Formation comprises mainly quartz sandstone with very high maturity, and the paleocurrent direction was near NNE. Detrital zircon dating results suggest that the detrital zircon ages of the Jidula Formation coincide with those from the Early Cretaceous Degan Plateau. It is suggested that the formation of quartz sandstones (Jidula Formation) was led by the sudden increase of terrigenous clastic supply in the northern Indian plate margin and the tectonic uplift of the passive continental margin, which was in turn caused mainly by the formation of the Deccan large igneous province (LIP). We concluded that the origin of the quartz sandstones is related to the reactivation of stable cratons caused by the up-doming of the Deccan LIP on the northern Indian plate margin.

Key words: Paleocene, Jidula Formation, quartz sandstone, provenance analysis, Deccan large igneousprovince

CLC Number:

P548

LIU Qingshan, WEI Yushuai, ZHANG Baosen, PAN Wanying. Genesis and Tectonic Significance of Quartz Sandstones in the Southern Subzone of Tethyan Himalayas: A Case Study on the Paleocene Jidula Formation in Gamba Area, Southern Tibet[J]. Geoscience, 2019, 33(03): 561-573.

Figures/Tables 9

References 49

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样品名称	采样米数 /m	分析质量 /g	重矿物总量 /mg	Zr	Ru	Tur	Mon	Sph	Ep	An	Cr-spl	Leu	Hem	N.I.	tHMC	ZRT	RuZi
16GJ01S1	0	440	1438.0	306.6	79.7	0	24.4	61.1	0	10.8	38.1	249.7	557.3	74.6	1.1	74.2	26.0
16GJ01S2	5.0	790	492.0	234.8	34.3	0	4.5	13.0	0	0	1.9	2.8	163.0	37.7	9.4	93.3	14.6
16GJ01S3	9.0	510	52.0	25.6	4.5	0	0	0.3	0	0.3	0.1	7.0	9.3	5.0	58.1	97.8	17.5
16GJ02S1	25.0	240	183.0	65.9	30.4	9.3	0	0.1	0	7.8	0	38.3	1.3	13.9	8.1	93.0	46.2
16GJ02S2	26.0	210	35.0	3.3	2.1	7.2	0	0	0	2.5	0	0.9	14.6	4.5	25.8	83.3	62.4
16GJ03S1	37.0	250	81.0	11.7	8.5	10.4	0	0	0	16.5	0	3.9	21.6	8.4	17.9	64.9	72.1
16GJ04S1	41.0	420	714.0	13.7	17.6	17.5	1.5	0	0	38.7	0	3.8	551.3	69.9	0.7	54.8	127.8
16GJ05S1	48.0	190	10	3.1	2.5	0.6	0	0	0	1.2	0	1.7	0.2	0.8	139.8	83.7	78.9
16GJ06S1	53.0	400	26.0	4.8	3.9	2.8	0	0	0	1.4	0	4.3	5.9	2.9	76.7	89.1	80.9
16GJ07S1	63.0	840	193.0	36.7	30.4	9.6	0.3	0	0	6.7	0	56.9	38.2	14.9	18.9	91.7	82.9
16GJ08S1	73.0	330	155.0	15.6	19.0	2.3	0	0	0.2	25.5	0	33.2	46.8	12.5	8.6	58.9	121.9
16GJ09S1	137.0	590	32.0	7.3	3.9	2.8	0	0	0	3.2	0	5.2	6.6	3.1	98.7	81.5	54.1
16GJ10S1	148.0	530	182.0	6.7	3.9	10.4	0	0	0	11.8	0	2.5	99.5	47.2	5.2	64.1	58.2
16GJ11S1	155.0	320	295.0	25.2	20.3	9.0	0	0	0	43.2	0	30.1	80.4	54.5	3.6	55.8	80.5
16GJ12S1	163.0	450	297.0	24.1	14.5	23.0	0	0	0	18.2	0	35.8	151.0	30.5	4.1	77.2	60.2
16GJ13S1	167.0	310	1297.0	91.0	9.8	0	0	1.5	0	20.1	0	422.9	641.1	110.6	0.2	82.4	10.7

样品名称	采样米数 /m	分析质量 /g	重矿物总量 /mg	Zr	Ru	Tur	Mon	Sph	Ep	An	Cr-spl	Leu	Hem	N.I.	tHMC	ZRT	RuZi
16GJ01S1	0	440	1438.0	306.6	79.7	0	24.4	61.1	0	10.8	38.1	249.7	557.3	74.6	1.1	74.2	26.0
16GJ01S2	5.0	790	492.0	234.8	34.3	0	4.5	13.0	0	0	1.9	2.8	163.0	37.7	9.4	93.3	14.6
16GJ01S3	9.0	510	52.0	25.6	4.5	0	0	0.3	0	0.3	0.1	7.0	9.3	5.0	58.1	97.8	17.5
16GJ02S1	25.0	240	183.0	65.9	30.4	9.3	0	0.1	0	7.8	0	38.3	1.3	13.9	8.1	93.0	46.2
16GJ02S2	26.0	210	35.0	3.3	2.1	7.2	0	0	0	2.5	0	0.9	14.6	4.5	25.8	83.3	62.4
16GJ03S1	37.0	250	81.0	11.7	8.5	10.4	0	0	0	16.5	0	3.9	21.6	8.4	17.9	64.9	72.1
16GJ04S1	41.0	420	714.0	13.7	17.6	17.5	1.5	0	0	38.7	0	3.8	551.3	69.9	0.7	54.8	127.8
16GJ05S1	48.0	190	10	3.1	2.5	0.6	0	0	0	1.2	0	1.7	0.2	0.8	139.8	83.7	78.9
16GJ06S1	53.0	400	26.0	4.8	3.9	2.8	0	0	0	1.4	0	4.3	5.9	2.9	76.7	89.1	80.9
16GJ07S1	63.0	840	193.0	36.7	30.4	9.6	0.3	0	0	6.7	0	56.9	38.2	14.9	18.9	91.7	82.9
16GJ08S1	73.0	330	155.0	15.6	19.0	2.3	0	0	0.2	25.5	0	33.2	46.8	12.5	8.6	58.9	121.9
16GJ09S1	137.0	590	32.0	7.3	3.9	2.8	0	0	0	3.2	0	5.2	6.6	3.1	98.7	81.5	54.1
16GJ10S1	148.0	530	182.0	6.7	3.9	10.4	0	0	0	11.8	0	2.5	99.5	47.2	5.2	64.1	58.2
16GJ11S1	155.0	320	295.0	25.2	20.3	9.0	0	0	0	43.2	0	30.1	80.4	54.5	3.6	55.8	80.5
16GJ12S1	163.0	450	297.0	24.1	14.5	23.0	0	0	0	18.2	0	35.8	151.0	30.5	4.1	77.2	60.2
16GJ13S1	167.0	310	1297.0	91.0	9.8	0	0	1.5	0	20.1	0	422.9	641.1	110.6	0.2	82.4	10.7