Early-Middle Permian paleogeomorphic transformations in the northwestern Upper Yangtze region: Implications for the evolution of the eastern Paleo-Tethys oceans

Abstract

Understanding how the multi-branches subduction of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean controlled the intraplate tectono-sedimentary evolution of the South China Block (SCB) is fundamental to comprehending the mechanisms of ocean-continent transformation in cratonic basins and the formation of the Sichuan super-basin. This study investigated the Lower-Middle Permian successions (Liangshan, Chihsia, and Maokou formations) on the northwestern margin of the SCB, a critical area lies at the junction between the Songpan-Garzê and Qinling tectonic domains. These Permian successions are subdivided into four three-order sequences based on an isochronous stratigraphic framework that integrates various analyses of lithofacies, gamma-ray, stable isotopes, and zircon U-Pb ages. Lithofacies associations reveal that Lower-Middle Permian sequences record the sedimentary evolution process from shore-swamp environments to rimmed platforms. The paleogeomorphology pattern transitioned from a northwest lowland and southeast highland in the early Permian to a northeast lowland and southwest highland in the middle Permian, with corresponding development of linear high-energy grain shoals trending to northeast and northwest, respectively. These changes in lithofacies and paleogeography were attributed to the evolution of multiple branches of the Paleo-Tethyan, including the opening of the Garzê-Litang back-arc Ocean, along the western margin of the SCB in the Early Permian, followed by the rapid northward subduction of the Mianlue Ocean stretching along the northern margin of the SCB. Our findings demonstrate the regional cratonic tectono-sedimentary evolution coupled the multi-stage and multi-directional subduction of Paleo-Tethyan oceanic branches enhances our understanding of global deep-time multi-sphere interactions.

Keywords

Stratigraphic framework / Paleogeomorphic transformation / Extension / Paleo-Tethyan branch oceans / South China Block

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Minglong Li: Writing - original draft, Investigation, Formal analysis. Qiang Xu: Writing - review & editing, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Xiucheng Tan: Investigation, Funding acquisition. Bing Luo: Resources, Investigation. Yuan Zhong: Resources, Investigation. Di Xiao: Funding acquisition, Formal analysis. Zhanfeng Qiao: Resources, Methodology, Funding acquisition. Wenjie Yang: Visualization, Data curation. Qilong Yang: Visualization, Software. Yu Cao: Visualization, Software.

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

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 42272257, 42472167 and U23B20154), and the Science and Technology Cooperation Project of the China National Petroleum Corporation—Southwest Petroleum University (CNPC–SWPU) Innovation Alliance (No. 2020CX010000).

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2025.102204.

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