A Tarim-North India connection in northern Gondwana: Constraints from provenance of early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the Altyn Tagh orogen, southeastern Tarim

Amalgamation of northern Gondwana involves a wealth of present-day East Asian blocks (e.g., South China, North China, Alxa, Tarim, Indochina, Qiangtang, Sibumasu, Lhasa, etc.) due to consumption and closure of the Proto-Tethys Ocean. Locating the Tarim craton during assembly of northern Gondwana remains enigmatic, with different models separating Tarim from Gondwana by a paleoceanic domain throughout the Paleozoic, advocating a long-term Tarim-Australia linkage in the Neoproterozoic to the early Paleozoic, or suggesting a Tarim-Arabia connection in the early Paleozoic.

This study carried out field-based zircon U-Pb dating and Hf isotopic analyses for early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the Altyn Tagh orogen, southeastern Tarim. New dating results revealed that the early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks were deposited from ca. 494 to 449 Ma. Provenance tracing indicates the ca. 494-477 Ma sedimentary rocks were primarily sourced from the local Altyn Tagh orogen to the south of the North Altyn Ocean (one branch of the Proto-Tethys Ocean between southeastern Tarim and northern Gondwana). In contrast, the ca. 465-449 Ma sedimentary rocks have remarkably increasing ca. 840-780 Ma, 2.0-1.7 Ga, and 2.7-2.4 Ga detrital zircons, indicating an augmented supply of detritus from the Tarim craton to the north of the North Altyn Ocean. Such a significant provenance shift between ca. 477 and 465 Ma marks the timing of the final closure of the North Altyn Ocean. Combined with the timing of the final closure of other branches of the Proto-Tethys Ocean, the entire Proto-Tethys Ocean might have been progressively closed at ca. 500-420 Ma, resulting in the connection of most East Asian blocks with northern Gondwana. Based on detrital zircon U-Pb-Hf isotopic comparison, Tarim most likely shared a North Indian affinity with many East Asian blocks (such as North Qilian, North Qinling, South China, Indochina, South Qiangtang, etc.). This new finding argues against an Australian or Arabian affinity for the Tarim craton.

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects (grants 41730213, 42072264, 41902229, 41972237, and 41888101), Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund (grant 17307918), and Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to Prof. Toshiaki Tsunogae (No. 18H01300) and to Dr. Qian Liu (No. 19F19020). JSPS fellowship is also much appreciated.