Triassic turbidites in the West Qinling Mountains, NW China: Part of the collisional Songpan-Ganzi Basin or an active forearc basin?

• Triassic sandstones in the West Qinling Mts. mainly comprise feldspathic litharenite and lithic arkose. • Sediments are mainly derived from ca. 273 Ma, 435 Ma and 1869 Ma sources. • Deposition occurred in a forearc basin in response to northward subduction. Lower to Middle Triassic clastic rocks in the West Qinling Mountains along NE margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are generally regarded as part of the Songpan-Ganzi flysch Basin. However relatively little attention has been paid to the age and provenance of these units. New petrological and geochemical results demonstrate that these sediments accumulated along an active continental margin and are dominated by feldspathic litharenite and lithic arkose with low mineral and compositional maturity. They were derived primarily from a continental arc source dominated by intermediate to felsic igneous rocks, with a minor contribution from older metamorphosed and sedimentary sources. Turbidite samples yielded two primary detrital zircon U-Pb age populations of ca. 273 Ma and ca. 435 Ma, which is different from the Early Triassic (ca. 252 Ma) and Middle Silurian (ca. 427 Ma) age populations that dominate the Songpan-Ganzi Basin. These data together with paleocurrent results indicate that the South Qilian Belt was the primary source origin because this belt contains both early Paleozoic Andean-type igneous and magmatic rocks and has a basement of Precambrian metamorphosed rocks. Regionally, an Andean-type arc traverses the South Qilian belts and extends into the West Qinling Mountains and Kunlun Orogen, which formed by north-directed subduction of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean during the Early to Middle Triassic. Voluminous detritus that originated from the Qilian and Kunlun orogens as they were uplifted and eroded was transported to the south and deposited in the forearc area in front of the A'nimaqen-Mianlue suture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]