Search

The Carboniferous-Permian strata of the North China Block (NCB) contain significant economic reserves of coal and gas. In this paper, a comprehensive dataset comprising 401 stratigraphic sections encompassing the Carboniferous-Permian transition in the NCB is compiled from the OneStratigraphy and Geobiodiversity databases. We conducted quantitative analyses of this dataset using ArcGIS and GPlates software, and utilized an up to date plate motion model, to perform a dynamic palaeogeographical reconstruction. The spatio-temporal distribution of depositional facies were also analysed, including basement terranes, fluvio-lacustrine settings, swamps, shorelines, tidal flats, and carbonate platforms. Our reconstructions reveal that the NCB was flanked by basement areas of the Yinshan-Yanshan landmass in the north and the Qinling-Dabie landmass in the south. Peat (coal) deposition occurred across a range of terrestrial to coastal environments, including fluvio-lacustrine settings, deltas, shorelines and tidal flats. Carbonaceous and organic-rich clastic rocks also developed in these areas while organic-rich carbonate rocks were primarily deposited in carbonate platform. The conditions conducive to peat (coal) formation were intricately connected to eustatic fluctuations, which resulted in frequent transgressions and regressions. The sea-level fluctuations during the Pennsylvanian might be, in part, a response to both the waxing and waning of continental ice sheets and tectonic process in the northern margin of the NCB. In contrast, sea-level changes during the early Permian were probably controlled by the tectonic process only. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of palaeogeographical evolution of the NCB during the Carboniferous and Permian transition, in response to eustatic and palaeoclimate change, and sheds light on resource accumulation based on quantitative analyses. • Carboniferous-Permian palaeogeography of the NCB were quantitatively reconstructed based on 401 sections. • The western, central, and southeastern parts of the NCB exhibit most significant potential for exploring coal and source rocks. • The sea-level fluctuations of the NCB were in response to the global palaeoclimate changes and the regional tectonic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final phase of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) involved a paleoclimatic transition from an icehouse to a greenhouse world during the Cisuralian (Early Permian in traditional stratigraphic correlation frameworks), which was called the Artinskian Warming Event (AWE). Paleogeography is an important tool to investigate the landform response to global sea-level changes in deep time. Stratigraphic sections gathered from published literature were digitized and stored in the Geobiodiversity Database. These biochronologically constrained sedimentary successions are used to reconstruct the paleogeographic evolution of the South China Block (SCB) throughout the Cisuralian. Four consecutive paleogeographic maps are constructed based on the features of sedimentary successions, including the Asselian – Sakmarian, the early Artinskian, the late Artinskian, and the Kungurian time intervals. These maps of the SCB may contribute to the implementation of global paleogeographic schemes. A landmass index based on spatial analysis of different elements is established further to identify the paleogeographic evolution pattern of SCB and reflect the LPIA-driven global eustatic signals. It showed two small cyclic fluctuation episodes during Asselian-Sakmarian, and Kungurian, respectively, and this trend was disrupted by a significant sea-level drop during early-middle Artinskian, which was comparable to sedimentary basins at different latitudes. The AWE and its associated marine transgression occurred no later than the late Artinskian according to rigorous biostratigraphic constraint. Large sea-level rise recorded in the Liangshan Member and Chihsia Formation is hypothesized to be the result of AWE climate change, which is regulated by the dynamic subsidence of the SCB and global concentrated volcanic eruptions since Artinskian. • First high-resolution South China paleogeography during Cisuralian. • Cisuralian sea-level change pattern in South China. • Biochronological constraint on the Artinskian Warming Event in South China. • Abrupt dynamic subsidence induced ultra-thick Chihsia Limestone. • Concentrated LIPs eruption accelerated climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important tool in natural resource exploration, palaeogeography provides a portrayal of deep time Earth. The South China Block located in the eastern Palaeotethys includes multiple natural resources (e.g., coal, shale gas, bauxite, etc.) in the Permian, which are well known for their important economic significance. In this paper, data gathered from literature amount to 431 stratigraphic sections of Wuchiapingian age from South China. These data were quantitatively analyzed and dynamically reconstructed in the global context under the revised plate motion model by GPlates software for the first time. A schematic 3-D model was constructed based on the high-resolution reconstructions in this paper, showing two relatively large highlands developed in the South China Block during the Wuchiapingian, including the Kangdian Highland in the west and the Cathaysia Highland in the east and a small Yunkai Highland in the south. A broad platform-dominated depositional system with small uplifts and depressions was developed between these two highlands. These reconstructions show great potential to explore enriched coal seams and shale gas in the peripheral areas of the two ancient highlands in the west and east of the South China Block. Based on the dynamic evolution of this depositional system, South China experienced an overall sea-level rise with frequent secondary transgressions and regressions during the Wuchiapingian. This is in contrast to the widespread continental and evaporite deposits on much of Pangea and its surrounding margins after the end-Guadalupian global regression. Compilation of conodont biostratigraphic data suggest that the temporal and spatial constraints on the unconformity across the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary (GLB) resulted from Dongwu Uplift movement. The regression began during the Jinogondolella shannoni Zone and ended in the Clarkina leveni Zone, but the response time varies in different localities of South China. These results provide detailed information about sea-level eustacy, tectonic uplift, sedimentary hiatus, resource accumulation and palaeoclimate change from the South China Block during the Wuchiapingian. • Quantitative and dynamical reconstruction of South China palaeogeography. • Platform-dominated depositional system was developed between the two highlands. • Great natural resources potentials in the peripheral areas of the two highlands. • The end-Guadalupian sedimentary hiatus varied identified by biostratigraphy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paleogeographic evolution of the North Qiangtang Block during the Middle and Late Permian has been a contentious issue in recent decades. In this study, the Permian foraminiferal faunas were studied from the Raggyorcaka and Wangka areas in northern and eastern Tibet. The foraminifera from the Xueyuanhe Formation in the Raggyorcaka area suggest a Changhsingian rather than a Guadalupian (Middle Permian) age, as previously determined. A review of Permian strata in the North Qiangtang Block confirms the widespread onset of the Lopingian (Late Permian) paralic sedimentary facies containing gigantopterid plant fossils and the fusuline Palaeofusulina fauna, which lies unconformably over the different pre-Lopingian strata. The similar Lopingian facies and pronounced unconformity across the North Qiangtang and Simao blocks are interpreted as the initial collision between the Simao/Indochina and the South China blocks. • The age of the Xueyuanhe Formation in northern Tibet is early Changhsingian. • A significant onset of Lopingian paralic facies is recognized in the North Qiangtang Block. • The Simao/Indochina blocks may have collided with South China before the Lopingian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]