Decoding Provenance and Tectonothermal Events by Detrital Zircon Fission-Track and U-Pb Double Dating: A Case of the Southern Ordos Basin

Multi-dating on the same detrital grains allows for determining multiple different geo-thermochronological ages simultaneously and thus could provide more details about regional tectonics. In this paper, we carried out detrital zircon fission-track and U-Pb double dating on the Permian-Middle Triassic sediments from the southern Ordos Basin to decipher the tectonic information archived in the sediments of intracratonic basins. The detrital zircon U-Pb ages and fission-track ages, together with lag time analyses, indicate that the Permian-Middle Triassic sediments in the southern Ordos Basin are characterized by multiple provenances. The crystalline basement of the North China Craton (NCC) and recycled materials from pre-Permian sediments that were ultimately sourced from the basement of the NCC are the primary provenance, while the Permian magmatites in the northern margin of NCC and Early Paleozoic crystalline rocks in Qinling Orogenic Collage act as minor provenance. In addition, the detrital zircon fission-track age peaks reveal four major tectonothermal events, including the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic post-depositional tectonothermal event and three other tectonothermal events associated with source terrains. The Late Triassic-Early Jurassic (225–179 Ma) tectonothermal event was closely related to the upwelling of deep material and energy beneath the southwestern Ordos Basin due to the coeval northward subduction of the Yangze Block and the following collision of the Yangze Block and the NCC. The Mid-Late Permian (275–263 Ma) tectonothermal event was associated with coeval denudation in the northern part of the NCC and North Qinling terrane, resulting from the subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and Tethys Ocean toward the NCC. The Late Devonian-early Late Carboniferous (348±33 Ma) tectonothermal event corresponded the long-term denudation in the hinterland and periphery of the NCC because of the arc-continent collisions in the northern and southern margins of the NCC. The Late Neoproterozoic (813–565 Ma) tectonothermal event was associated with formation of the Great Unconformity within the NCC and may be causally related to the Rodinia supercontinent breakup driven by a large-scale mantle upwelling.