Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses

We use detrital provenance data from Cambrian sandstones to examine whether the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks in South China were separated by an ocean during the Cambrian period. Zircons from the Cambrian sandstones exhibit a dominant ~800 Ma age peak in the central Yangtze Block, being sourced from...

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Main Authors: Yao, Weihua, Li, Zheng-Xiang, Li, W.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39545
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author Yao, Weihua
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Li, W.
author_facet Yao, Weihua
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Li, W.
author_sort Yao, Weihua
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description We use detrital provenance data from Cambrian sandstones to examine whether the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks in South China were separated by an ocean during the Cambrian period. Zircons from the Cambrian sandstones exhibit a dominant ~800 Ma age peak in the central Yangtze Block, being sourced from the western Yangtze Block, whereas a ~980 Ma peak dominates in the northwestern Cathaysia Block, being sourced from an exotic continent once connected to Cathaysia. A mixed provenance with both age peaks is found in Cambrian sandstones from the southeastern Yangtze Block, indicating that detritus can travel from the Cathaysia Block to the Yangtze Block, and therefore arguing against the existence of a broad Cambrian ocean.
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format Journal Article
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:59:11Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Cambridge University Press
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-395452017-09-13T16:03:55Z Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses Yao, Weihua Li, Zheng-Xiang Li, W. detrital provenance Cambrian ocean South China U–Pb geochronology We use detrital provenance data from Cambrian sandstones to examine whether the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks in South China were separated by an ocean during the Cambrian period. Zircons from the Cambrian sandstones exhibit a dominant ~800 Ma age peak in the central Yangtze Block, being sourced from the western Yangtze Block, whereas a ~980 Ma peak dominates in the northwestern Cathaysia Block, being sourced from an exotic continent once connected to Cathaysia. A mixed provenance with both age peaks is found in Cambrian sandstones from the southeastern Yangtze Block, indicating that detritus can travel from the Cathaysia Block to the Yangtze Block, and therefore arguing against the existence of a broad Cambrian ocean. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39545 10.1017/S0016756814000338 Cambridge University Press restricted
spellingShingle detrital provenance
Cambrian ocean
South China
U–Pb geochronology
Yao, Weihua
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Li, W.
Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title_full Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title_fullStr Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title_full_unstemmed Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title_short Was there a Cambrian ocean in South China? – Insight from detrital provenance analyses
title_sort was there a cambrian ocean in south china? – insight from detrital provenance analyses
topic detrital provenance
Cambrian ocean
South China
U–Pb geochronology
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39545