Palaeoweathering Conditions, Provenance, and Tectonic Setting of the Early Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the Upper Yangtze Region (Southern China): Evidence from Geochemistry

The Longmaxi-1 black shales in the Upper Yangtze region are a vital source rocks in southern China. This study investigates the palaeoweathering conditions, provenance, and tectonic setting of the Longmaxi-1 black shale from an elemental geochemical perspective, ultimately revealing its tectonic setting. The results showed that the Longmaxi-1 black shales in the sedimentary period have the characteristics of primary deposition. The Longmaxi-1 black shales were deposited as a primary deposition under a mainly humid climate. However, fluctuations in climatic conditions were recorded from the bottom to the upper part of the formation. The parent rock of the Longmaxi-1 black shales in the Upper Yangtze region is a mixture provenance, mainly composed of intermediate-acid volcanic lithologies (granite and granodiorite), followed by mature quartzite and basalt. Black shale deposition is related to the tectonic setting of active continental margin and island arc-continent collision. The Cathayian orogenic belts and the North Qiangling orogenic belt may have played a role in the genesis of the Longmaxi-1 black shales within the Upper Yangtze region. This study provides significant clues regarding the reconstruction of the palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographical conditions of the Upper Yangtze region during the Early Silurian period.

[1]  Zhongying Zhao,et al.  Late Ordovician-Early Silurian extension of the northern margin of the Upper Yangtze Platform (South China) and its impact on organic matter accumulation , 2022, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering.

[2]  Shengxian Zhao,et al.  Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian Wufeng-Longmaxi Shale on the Yangtze Platform, South China: Implications for Provenance Analysis and Shale Gas Sweet-Spot Interval , 2022, Minerals.

[3]  Chuanlong Mou,et al.  Changes in palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment in the Upper Yangtze area (South China) during the Ordovician–Silurian transition , 2022, Scientific Reports.

[4]  Yingjiao Xu,et al.  Earth’s Orbital Control on Organic Matter Enrichment in the Black Shales of the Wufeng–Longmaxi Formation in the Upper Yangtze Region, South China , 2022, Frontiers in Earth Science.

[5]  Yongchao Lu,et al.  Sources of K-bentonites across the Ordovician-Silurian transition in South China: Implications for tectonic activities on the northern and southern margins of the South China Block , 2022, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[6]  Ping Chen,et al.  Provenance, source weathering, and tectonic setting of the lower Cambrian Shuijingtuo Formation in the Middle Yangtze area, China , 2022, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[7]  Shuheng Tang,et al.  Quartz types in the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations in southern China: Implications for porosity evolution and shale brittleness , 2022, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[8]  Jingchun Tian,et al.  Geochemical characteristics and the constraints on paleoenvironment, provenance, and tectonic setting of Precambrian Xifangshan Formation in the northwestern Tarim Basin, NW China , 2022, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering.

[9]  Baomin Zhang,et al.  Cyclic variations in paleoenvironment and organic matter accumulation of the Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian black shale in the Middle Yangtze Region, South China: Implications for tectonic setting, paleoclimate, and sea-level change , 2021, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[10]  Yuman Wang,et al.  Relationship between volcanic activity and enrichment of shale organic matter during the Ordovician-Silurian transition in western Hubei, Southern China , 2021 .

[11]  D. Canfield,et al.  Sulfidic anoxia in the oceans during the Late Ordovician mass extinctions – insights from molybdenum and uranium isotopic global redox proxies , 2021 .

[12]  A. Knoll,et al.  The Sedimentary Geochemistry and Paleoenvironments Project , 2021, Geobiology.

[13]  Lei Chen,et al.  Impact of pyrite on shale gas enrichment—a case study of the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in southeast Sichuan Basin , 2021, Frontiers of Earth Science.

[14]  Liwei Zhang,et al.  The impact of volcanic activity on the deposition of organic-rich shales: Evidence from carbon isotope and geochemical compositions , 2021 .

[15]  Kachalla Aliyuda,et al.  Major and trace element geochemistry of the shales of Sekuliye Formation, Yola Sub-Basin, Northern Benue Trough, Nigeria: implications for provenance, weathering intensity, and tectonic setting , 2021, Journal of Sedimentary Environments.

[16]  H. Baioumy,et al.  Mineralogical and geochemical imprints to determine the provenance, depositional environment, and tectonic setting of the Early Silurian source rock of the Qusaiba shale, Saudi Arabia , 2021 .

[17]  D. Dong,et al.  Types of biogenic quartz and its coupling storage mechanism in organic-rich shales: A case study of the Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation to Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin, SW China , 2021, Petroleum Exploration and Development.

[18]  J. Charvet,et al.  Neoproterozoic plate tectonic process and Phanerozoic geodynamic evolution of the South China Block , 2021 .

[19]  T. Lyons,et al.  Geochemical Records Reveal Protracted and Differential Marine Redox Change Associated With Late Ordovician Climate and Mass Extinctions , 2021, AGU Advances.

[20]  Hassan Nasir Mangi,et al.  Mineralogy and geochemistry of Lower Silurian black shales from the Yangtze platform, South China , 2021 .

[21]  Wen Zhou,et al.  Quartz types, silica sources and their implications for porosity evolution and rock mechanics in the Paleozoic Longmaxi Formation shale, Sichuan Basin , 2021 .

[22]  W. Du,et al.  Sedimentary Evolution Characteristics of Fine-Grained Lithofacies under the High-Resolution Isochronous Shelf System: Insights from the Wufeng-Longmaxi Shales in the Sichuan Basin , 2021, Lithosphere.

[23]  Cheng Meng,et al.  Redox changes in the outer Yangtze Sea (South China) through the Hirnantian Glaciation and their implications for the end-Ordovician biocrisis , 2021, Earth-Science Reviews.

[24]  Ping Chen,et al.  Relative sea-level changes and organic matter enrichment in the Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations in the Central Yangtze area, China , 2020 .

[25]  Xusheng Guo,et al.  Deep and ultra-deep natural gas exploration in the Sichuan Basin: Progress and prospect , 2020 .

[26]  D. He,et al.  Geochemical characteristics of organic-rich shale, Upper Yangtze Basin: Implications for the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian orogeny in South China , 2020, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

[27]  C. Zou,et al.  Controlling factors on the formation and distribution of “sweet-spot areas” of marine gas shales in South China and a preliminary discussion on unconventional petroleum sedimentology , 2020, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.

[28]  M. Roy,et al.  Sandstone-Shale Geochemistry of Miocene Surma Group in Bandarban Anticline, SE Bangladesh: Implications for Provenance, Weathering, and Tectonic Setting , 2020 .

[29]  S. Ji,et al.  Qinling gneiss domes and implications for tectonic evolution of the Early Paleozoic Orogen in Central China , 2020 .

[30]  Quazi Hasna Hossain,et al.  Geochemical characteristics of Gondwana shales from the Barapukuria basin, Bangladesh: implications for source-area weathering and provenance , 2020, Arabian Journal of Geosciences.

[31]  Yan De-tian,et al.  Climatic and oceanic controlled deposition of Late Ordovician-Early Silurian black shales on the North Yangtze platform, South China , 2019, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[32]  Shu Jiang,et al.  Cyclic late Katian through Hirnantian glacioeustasy and its control of the development of the organic-rich Wufeng and Longmaxi shales, South China , 2019, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

[33]  Wei Liu,et al.  The geochemistry of the sedimentary rocks from the Huadi No. 1 well in the Wufeng-Longmaxi formations (Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian), South China, with implications for paleoweathering, provenance, tectonic setting and paleoclimate , 2019, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[34]  Xiaofeng Liu,et al.  Relationship between the origin of organic-rich shale and geological events of the Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian in the Upper Yangtze area , 2019, Marine and Petroleum Geology.

[35]  Songtao Wu,et al.  Organic-matter-rich shales of China , 2019, Earth-Science Reviews.

[36]  Daizhao Chen,et al.  Ocean euxinia and climate change “double whammy” drove the Late Ordovician mass extinction , 2018 .

[37]  D. He,et al.  Silurian tectonic-sedimentary setting and basin evolution in the Sichuan area, southwest China: Implications for palaeogeographic reconstructions , 2017 .

[38]  S. K. Verma,et al.  Multidimensional classification of magma types for altered igneous rocks and application to their tectonomagmatic discrimination and igneous provenance of siliciclastic sediments , 2017 .

[39]  Junxuan Fan,et al.  Stage-progressive distribution pattern of the Lungmachi black graptolitic shales from Guizhou to Chongqing, Central China , 2017, Science China Earth Sciences.

[40]  Xinjing Li,et al.  Major controlling factors for the high-quality shale of Wufeng–Longmaxi Formation, Sichuan Basin , 2017 .

[41]  Xusheng Guo,et al.  Paleo-environmental cyclicity in the Early Silurian Yangtze Sea (South China): Tectonic or glacio-eustatic control? , 2017 .

[42]  Tongwei Zhang,et al.  Depositional environment and organic matter accumulation of Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian marine shale in the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China , 2017 .

[43]  Zheng‐Xiang Li,et al.  Tectonostratigraphic history of the Ediacaran-Silurian Nanhua foreland basin in South China , 2016 .

[44]  Peter A. Cawood,et al.  Intraplate orogenesis in response to Gondwana assembly: Kwangsian Orogeny, South China , 2016, American Journal of Science.

[45]  Shu Jiang,et al.  Heterogeneity of the Lower Silurian Longmaxi marine shale in the southeast Sichuan Basin of China , 2015 .

[46]  Peter A. Cawood,et al.  Early Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic intraplate tectonic and magmatic events in the Cathaysia Block, South China , 2015 .

[47]  Peter A. Cawood,et al.  Early Paleozoic orogenesis along Gondwana's northern margin constrained by provenance data from South China , 2014 .

[48]  Xiangying Ge,et al.  Early Silurian paleogeography and source-reservoir-cap rocks of the Middle-Upper Yangtze region in South China , 2014 .

[49]  T. Torsvik,et al.  Gondwana from top to base in space and time , 2013 .

[50]  D. He,et al.  Tectonics of South China continent and its implications , 2013, Science China Earth Sciences.

[51]  A. Resentini,et al.  Weathering and Relative Durability of Detrital Minerals in Equatorial Climate: Sand Petrology and Geochemistry in the East African Rift , 2013, The Journal of Geology.

[52]  S. Verma,et al.  New multi-dimensional diagrams for tectonic discrimination of siliciclastic sediments and their application to Precambrian basins , 2013 .

[53]  A. Desrochers,et al.  Orbital-scale climate change and glacioeustasy during the early Late Ordovician (pre-Hirnantian) determined from δ18O values in marine apatite , 2013 .

[54]  Yuandong Zhang,et al.  Onset of the Kwangsian Orogeny as evidenced by biofacies and lithofacies , 2012, Science China Earth Sciences.

[55]  Z. Ni.  REE Characteristics of the 1st Member of Eocene Dainan Formation in Gaoyou Depression of North Jiangsu Basin, and Its Significance in Provenance Instruction , 2012 .

[56]  M. Vecoli,et al.  The end-Ordovician glaciation and the Hirnantian Stage: A global review and questions about Late Ordovician event stratigraphy , 2010 .

[57]  Zhang Yueqiao.  Early Paleozoic orogenic belt in the eastern segment of South China , 2008 .

[58]  T. Ohta,et al.  Statistical empirical index of chemical weathering in igneous rocks: A new tool for evaluating the degree of weathering , 2007 .

[59]  Yang Jian-qiang.  RECORD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE SINCE HOLOCENE IN THE REGION OF GONGWANG MOUNTAIN,YUNNAN PROVINCE , 2007 .

[60]  Chen Xu,et al.  Facies patterns and geography of the Yangtze region, South China, through the Ordovician and Silurian transition , 2004 .

[61]  G. Mateu-Figueras,et al.  Isometric Logratio Transformations for Compositional Data Analysis , 2003 .

[62]  G. Shields,et al.  Diagenetic constraints on the use of cerium anomalies as palaeoseawater redox proxies: an isotopic and REE study of Cambrian phosphorites , 2001 .

[63]  B. Roser,et al.  Geochemical characterization, evolution and source of a Mesozoic accretionary wedge: the Torlesse terrane, New Zealand , 1999, Geological Magazine.

[64]  G. M. Young,et al.  Unraveling the effects of potassium metasomatism in sedimentary rocks and paleosols, with implications for paleoweathering conditions and provenance , 1995 .

[65]  D. Lowe,et al.  The influence of sediment recycling and basement composition on evolution of mudrock chemistry in the southwestern United States , 1995 .

[66]  I. Metcalfe.  Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Palaeogeography of Eastern Pangea and Tethys , 1994 .

[67]  R. E. Wilson,et al.  Recent chemical weathering of basalts , 1992 .

[68]  L. Harnois.  The CIW index: A new chemical index of weathering , 1988 .

[69]  B. Roser,et al.  Provenance signatures of sandstone-mudstone suites determined using discriminant function analysis of major-element data , 1988 .

[70]  P. Floyd,et al.  Tectonic environment of the Devonian Gramscatho basin, south Cornwall: framework mode and geochemical evidence from turbiditic sandstones , 1987, Journal of the Geological Society.

[71]  B. Roser,et al.  Determination of Tectonic Setting of Sandstone-Mudstone Suites Using SiO2 Content and K2O/Na2O Ratio , 1986, The Journal of Geology.

[72]  P. Dutta,et al.  Alluvial sandstone composition and paleoclimate; I, Framework mineralogy , 1986 .

[73]  K. Crook,et al.  Trace element characteristics of graywackes and tectonic setting discrimination of sedimentary basins , 1986 .

[74]  B. Leake,et al.  Petrography and geochemistry of feldspathic and mafic sediments of the northeastern Pacific margin , 1985, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences.

[75]  G. M. Young,et al.  Prediction of some weathering trends of plutonic and volcanic rocks based on thermodynamic and kinetic considerations , 1984 .

[76]  M. Bhatia.  Plate Tectonics and Geochemical Composition of Sandstones , 1983, The Journal of Geology.

[77]  G. M. Young,et al.  Early Proterozoic climates and plate motions inferred from major element chemistry of lutites , 1982, Nature.

[78]  S. Taylor,et al.  Trace-element geochemistry and sedimentary provinces: A study from the Tasman Geosyncline, Australia , 1981 .

[79]  J. Minster,et al.  Quantitative models of trace element behavior in magmatic processes , 1978 .

[80]  A. Parker.  An Index of Weathering for Silicate Rocks , 1970, Geological Magazine.