Detrital zircon U-Pb ages of the Cretaceous strata in the southern Songliao Basin, NE China: Constraints on basin-and-range evolution

The basin-and-range evolution of Northeast China could provide a comprehensive understanding of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. The Songliao Basin preserved the essential and complete records of the Cretaceous tectonic evolution. The systematic detrital zircon UPb geochronological study was conducted on the Cretaceous sequences in the southern Songliao Basin, including Yingcheng Formation, Denglouku Formation, Quantou Formation, Qingshankou Formation, Yaojia Formation, Nenjiang Formation from bottom to up, providing new insights of provenances and tectonic evolution of the basin-range system. The Aptian and Albian sequences with the dominant age populations at ca. 133–125 Ma were derived from the Great Xing'an Range (GXAR). The Cenomanian and Early Turonian sequences with the distinct age populations at ca. 243–227 Ma received the source from the southernmost part of the Zhangguangcai Range (ZGCR). The Late Turonian to Campanian sequences experienced the gradual provenance transition to the GXAR. The main interim period with the dominant peaks at ca.1.8 and 2.5 Ga, and subdominant peaks at ca. 277 Ma, reveals the provenances from the southern margin, including the Inner Mongolia Paleo-Uplift (IMPU) and northern North China craton (NNCC) during the Late Turonian to Early Santonian. Since then, the provenance was skewed towards the GXAR manifesting the distinct age populations at ca. 139 Ma. The multi-provenance transitions reveal two orogeneses of the GXAR and ZGCR with the difference of 9 Ma. The gradual uplift from north to south in the Jiamusi Massif and the ZGCR at ca. 120–90 Ma was related to magmatic activity under the transition from the low angle subduction to slab rollback of the Pacific-Plate. The integral uplift of the GXAR at ca. 90–83.8 Ma was related to the transient compression due to the changes in direction and convergence rate of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. The compression-induced uplift was more intense than magmatism-induced uplift. Our findings can contribute to a better understanding of the basin-and-range evolution of Northeast China and the response to the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate.