Petrology, Geochemistry and Zircon U-Pb Geochronology of the Xiangshan Group in the Eastern Hexi Corridor Belt: Implications for Provenance and Tectonic Evolution

The eastern Hexi Corridor Belt (HCB) is located in the transitional belt among the Alxa Block, the Qilian Orogenic Belt and the North China Block. Because of its unique tectonic location, the tectonic setting, provenance, and even the age of the sedimentary strata in the eastern HCB during the Early Paleozoic remain controversial. This study analyzes the provenance of the poorly studied Xiangshan Group, discusses its age of development and tectonic setting in the eastern HCB using a combination of petrological, geochemical and LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon dating methods. Based on the youngest age peaks and the fossil evidence, we suggest that the Xiangshan Group is Middle Cambrian to Late Ordovician in age. The complexity of the geochemical characteristics and associated diagrams suggests that the early stage of the Xiangshan Group developed in a passive continental margin environment, late in the back-arc basin of the eastern HCB. Based on the sandstone detrital composition, whole-rock geochemistry and detrital zircon ages, we conclude that the Xiangshan Group had an early provenance that was mainly from the Qilian Block and a late provenance from the Qilian Block and the western Alxa Block. The eastern HCB and its northern and southern blocks have similar palaeontology, lithology and basement age characteristics to the South China Block. This indicates that the eastern HCB might not have formed in the intra-continental aulacogen of the North China Block during the Early Paleozoic but has a close affinity to eastern Gondwana.