A late Carboniferous transition from subduction to collision: Tectono-sedimentary evidence from southern Junggar, NW China

Abstract

The Carboniferous to Permian tectono-sedimentary evolution of the southern Junggar area brings new insights into understanding the subduction-collision processes in the northern Tianshan region. Integrating geophysics, geochemistry, and geochronology approaches, this study investigates the Carboniferous–Permian strata in the southern Junggar Basin. The results have revealed three distinct tectono-stratigraphic evolutionary stages, each marked by a distinctive volcano-sedimentary sequence. The Early Carboniferous strata suggest intense volcanic activities in the southern Junggar area. During the Late Carboniferous, the southern Junggar Basin was controlled by normal faulting in an extensional setting, receiving sedimentary inputs from the Junggar terrane. The Lower Permian, unconformably overlying the Upper Carboniferous, was shaped by an extensional regime and is comprised by volcano-clastic sequences that received detritus from the Yili-Central Tianshan block. These findings indicate that a Late Carboniferous forearc basin developed in the southern Junggar area, and it evolved into a post-collisional rift in the Early Permian. This period marked a dynamic shift from bidirectional subduction (rollback) to the detachment of the North Tianshan oceanic slab. We propose that the collision between the Yili-Central Tianshan block and the Junggar terrane, along with the closure of the North Tianshan Ocean, likely occurred in the Late Carboniferous (ca.306–303 Ma).

Keywords

Tectono-sedimentary evolution / Tectonic transition / Carboniferous–Permian / Junggar Basin / North Tianshan Ocean

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Roni Bhowmik: Data curation, Writing – original draft. Arshian Sharif: Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft. Ahsan Anwar: Conceptualization, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Qasim Raza Syed: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft. Phan The Cong: Data curation, Writing – original draft. Ha Ngo Ngan: Data curation, Software, Writing – original draft.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The funding source for this research are as follows: (1) Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangdong, China (Grant No. 299-GK23G396). (2) This research is funded by Thoungmai University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

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