Provenance of sediments in western Foothills and Hsuehshan Range (Taiwan): A new view based on the EMP monazite versus LA-ICPMS zircon geochronology of detrital grains

Chen, Cheng-Hong; Lee, Chi-Yu; Lin, J. C.; Chu, Mei Fei

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.12.015

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…The provenance of zircon in Taiwan Island is a matter of controversy. Potential sources include the YC [71], CF [22], NCC [25] and a subducted unknown microcontinent [52]. As shown in Figure 6, the zircon U-Pb age proportions of samples close to Taiwan Island in our study looks similar to those from the Yangtze source.…”

Section: Hydrodynamic Influence On Zircon U-pb Age Distributionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Although Taiwan Island is relatively small in area, it has a very complicated geological history. It is marked by a Mesozoic basement and a mélange assembly in the Tananao Complex, slate formations of the Eocene-early Oligocene in the Hsuehsan Range and the late Oligocene to Pleistocene at the West Foothills [52]. Similarly, the Korean fluvial sediments may be derived mainly from the Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks [53] and Jurassic-Cretaceous granites and schists [54].…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages in the East China Seas: Implications for Provenance Analysis and Sediment Budgeting

et al. 2020

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Linking marine sinks to potential terrestrial sources is one of most intriguing but challenging aspects of sediment source-to-sink studies. In this study, we analyzed 23 zircon samples (3271 filtered best ages) from surface sediments of the east China seas (ECSs) that cover a large portion of the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea to part of the northeastern South China Sea. The results of U-Pb age distributions exhibit variable signatures in different seas. The Bohai Sea is characterized by 4 age populations at 203–286 Ma, 383–481 Ma, 1830–1940 Ma and 2480–2548 Ma, whereas the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are featured by 5 age populations at 176–223 Ma, 383–481 Ma, 732–830 Ma, 1830–1940 Ma and 2480–2548 Ma. We propose that the presence or absence of the population of 732–830 Ma in the Yangtze Craton (YC) and the North China Craton (NCC) is a possible geochronological signature to distinguish zircon grains derived from the two source regions. Furthermore, on the basis of multidimensional scaling (MDS), U-Pb ages in the sediments of the Bohai Sea, East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait could be correspondently linked to those of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and Taiwan rivers. The good linkages support the view that U-Pb age distributions of detrital zircons in the margin seas are mainly controlled by fluvial discharges, and ultimately, by the tectonic history of the corresponding source regions. Using a sediment forward mixing model, we obtained the relative sediment contributions and spatial variations of five most important river discharges in the region. The mixing results suggest that the major rivers in the region, i.e., the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers, are the dominant sediment contributors to the continental margin, and their mixing coefficients could be used to infer relative sediment budgeting. In addition, spatial variations in mixing coefficient in the East China Sea indicate that sediment mixing and partitioning processes in the marine depositional environment have played a part role in propagating the provenance signals as a result of interaction of oceanic currents and tides. The combined method between provenance analysis and mixing modeling provides a feasible way to appreciate sediment budgeting in the geological past.

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Section: Hydrodynamic Influence On Zircon U-pb Age Distributionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages in the East China Seas: Implications for Provenance Analysis and Sediment Budgeting

et al. 2020

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“…In particular, the ~1.8 Ga peak is most pronounced in Zhuoshui sand and prominent in the sand of the Yangtze and most of its major tributaries (figures 8-11 in He et al, 2013), but subdued or negligible in all other catchments of southern China (Lüliangian peak in Figure 7). This indicates that major sediment supply from the Yangtze River may account for the relative abundance of monazite grains with ages of ~1.8 Ga found in Miocene sandstones of western Taiwan without the need to invoke supply from a hidden microcontinent, as proposed by Chen, Lee, et al (2019). Zircon-age spectra thus indicate that Neogene sandstones of the western Taiwan foothills were mostly derived by a paleo-Yangtze River, with possible additional contributions from the North China Block (Deng, Yang, Li, et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Zircon Tracementioning

confidence: 66%

“…(a) Mg-(Fe + Mn)-Ca plot (Mange & Morton, 2007): Type A garnet is mainly derived from granulite-facies metasedimentary rocks, type B from granitoid (subtype Bi) and amphibolite-facies metasedimentary rocks (subtype Bii), type C from high-grade metabasites (subtype Ci) and pyroxenites and peridotites (subtype Cii), and type D from skarns, very low-grade metabasites or calc-silicate granulites. (b) Mg-Mn-Ca plot (Win et al, 2007) age population (Chen, Lee, et al, 2019). This issue will be discussed further below.…”

Section: Provenance Of Western Taiwan Sandstones Assessed With Multimineral Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…figure 9a in Yokoyama et al., 2007; Deng, Yang, Li, et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2017). The hypothesis of provenance from a microcontinent now‐concealed along the Manila Trench (Chen, Lee, et al, 2019) does not fulfil the requirement of testability (Carnap, 1937) and can thus be neither corroborated nor refuted. This scenario was based on an insufficient content of ~1.8 Ga monazite grains observed in sediments of rivers draining the South China Block compared to Miocene sandstones exposed in western Taiwan, where ~1.8 Ga monazite grains represent 14%–33% of the total age population (Chen, Lee, et al, 2019).…”

Section: Provenance Of Western Taiwan Sandstones Assessed With Multimineral Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

et al. 2021

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In this study, we use provenance analysis to shed light on the Neogene evolution of river drainage and sediment dispersal in eastern Asia as a consequence of the Himalayan orogeny and topographic rise of the Tibetan Plateau. As an attempt to envisage how sediment-routing systems operated in the past, and to identify the ultimate source of siliciclastic detritus originally generated in mainland China and now incorporated in, and recycled from, the western Taiwan accretionary prism, we have used Raman spectroscopy of detrital garnet in modern river sands and upper Neogene sandstones, complemented by detrital-zircon geochronology and by petrographic and heavy-mineral analysis. Garnet grains are relatively abundant and largely represented by almandine with various percentages of pyrope molecules in Yangtze sand as in western Taiwan sandstones and modern river sand derived from them. Instead, they are rare and largely represented by grossular or andradite in the sand of the Pearl River and of coastal rivers of SE China facing the Taiwan Strait. This finding supports the result of detrital geochronology, which documents a sharp difference between U-Pb age spectra of Pearl River and coastal SE China zircons (characterised by a Paleozoic-Mesozoic triple peak) and Yangtze and western Taiwan zircons (characterised by prominent Neoproterozoic, Paleoproterozoic, and latest Archean clusters). The Pearl River and minor rivers facing the Taiwan Strait are thus ruled out as ultimate sources of upper Neogene sandstones exposed today along the western front of the Taiwan fold-thrust belt. In the envisaged scenario, sand mostly supplied by the paleo-Yangtze River was entrained for ~ca.1,000 km southward by longshore currents and deposited on the Chinese passive margin before being accreted along the front of the Taiwan orogen since ~6 Ma. Littoral sand drift represents a major factor of long-distance sediment transport in modern shelves and needs to be taken into full account in source-to-sink studies and paleogeographic reconstructions.

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Storm‐flood‐dominated delta succession in the Pleistocene Taiwan Strait

Vaucher

Dillinger

Hsieh

et al. 2023

The Depositional Record

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Storm‐flood‐dominated deltas are sedimentary systems in which a complex interplay of hydrodynamic processes occurs during storms (e.g. tropical cyclones) due to the coeval action of continental and oceanic processes. This paper reports on a superbly exposed, 135.5 m thick stratigraphic succession of the Pleistocene Cholan Formation exposed along the Da'an River, Taiwan. The sedimentary succession comprises alternating mudstone and sandstone, is mostly fine‐grained, and exhibits multiple event beds that record deposition during tropical cyclones and post‐depositional deformation features produced during earthquakes. Detailed facies analyses reveal that deposition towards the base of the succession occurred in the palaeo‐Taiwan Strait in storm‐flood‐dominated prodelta and delta‐front environments passing upwards into delta‐plain environments. Tropical cyclone beds are encountered throughout the subaqueous storm‐flood delta successions, and are identified by (i) trough cross‐stratified sandstone bedsets with erosive bases that contain both mud clasts and mudstone beds, (ii) sandstone with aggrading wave ripples and (iii) hummocky cross‐stratified sandstone with rare gutter casts filled with coal fragments and shell remains. Tropical cyclone deposits are either top‐down burrowed or capped by massive or laminated mudstone. Seismites are rare and are mainly recognised through soft‐sediment deformation of beds; they do not show evidence of slope failure. Compared to storm‐flood delta successions described elsewhere, the Cholan Formation shows significantly fewer oscillatory‐generated sedimentary structures and gutter casts. This difference is attributed to the Cholan Formation being deposited in and along the margin of a strait characterised by strong shore‐parallel currents and relatively small storm waves due to its position between Taiwan and mainland China. This study refines depositional process interpretations of the Cholan Formation, provides criteria for recognising storm‐flood delta deposits in tectonically active straits with multiple sediment sources fed by steep drainages and short river catchments, and provides additional criteria for recognising tropical cyclone deposits in shallow‐marine settings.

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Provenance of sediments in western Foothills and Hsuehshan Range (Taiwan): A new view based on the EMP monazite versus LA-ICPMS zircon geochronology of detrital grains

Cited by 24 publications

References 118 publications

Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages in the East China Seas: Implications for Provenance Analysis and Sediment Budgeting

Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages in the East China Seas: Implications for Provenance Analysis and Sediment Budgeting

Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

Storm‐flood‐dominated delta succession in the Pleistocene Taiwan Strait

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