Cretaceous “Great Sanjiang Basin” and paleogeographic evolution: Constraint from detrital zircon dating in the Hegang basin

WANG Yongchao; HOU Hesheng; HOU Fang; WEI Lijuan; HUANG Shiqi; AN Dongzhao

doi:10.12097/gbc.2024.03.019

2025 Vol. 44, No. 6

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WANG Yongchao, HOU Hesheng, HOU Fang, WEI Lijuan, HUANG Shiqi, AN Dongzhao. 2025. Cretaceous “Great Sanjiang Basin” and paleogeographic evolution: Constraint from detrital zircon dating in the Hegang basin. Geological Bulletin of China, 44(6): 1132-1150. doi: 10.12097/gbc.2024.03.019

Citation:

WANG Yongchao, HOU Hesheng, HOU Fang, WEI Lijuan, HUANG Shiqi, AN Dongzhao. 2025. Cretaceous “Great Sanjiang Basin” and paleogeographic evolution: Constraint from detrital zircon dating in the Hegang basin. Geological Bulletin of China, 44(6): 1132-1150. doi: 10.12097/gbc.2024.03.019

Cretaceous “Great Sanjiang Basin” and paleogeographic evolution: Constraint from detrital zircon dating in the Hegang basin

1.
Laboratory of Deep Earth and Mineral Exploration, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
2.
Exploration Department of PetroChina Changqing Oilfield Company, Xi'an 710018, Shaanxi, China
3.
Research Institute for National Defense Engineering, Academy of Millitary Science PLA, Beijing 100036, China
4.
Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China

Fund Project: Supported by China Geological Survey projects (No. DD20230008, No.DD20190010) and National Natural Science Foundation of China projects (No. 41902116, No.42022029)

More Information

Author Bio: WANG Yongchao, male, born in 1987, associate researcher, engaged in sedimentary basin analysis and tectonic interpretation research; E−mail: yongchao@cags.ac.cn
Corresponding author: HOU Hesheng, male, born in 1980, researcher, engaged in lithosphere structure detection and resource prospects research; E−mail：hesheng.hou@126.com

Received Date: 13 March 2024

Revised Date: 28 August 2024

Publish Date: 15 June 2025

Abstract

Abstract

Objective
Hegang Basin is an important component of the Cretaceous basin group in eastern Heilongjiang. The analysis of its sedimentary filling characteristics and provenance composition can effectively reveal key information about the evolution of the Cretaceous basin−mountain system and the transformation of tectonic paleogeomorphology in eastern Heilongjiang.
Methods
To well constrain the chronological framework of the basin fill, detrital zircon U−Pb dating for the crucial formations has been conducted.
Results
Based on compiling the published and our own data, ages for the Lower Cretaceous Chengzihe, Muling, and Dongshan formations are assigned to be 116~111 Ma, 111~107 Ma and 107~105 Ma, respectively, and the lower age limit for the Upper Cretaceous Houshigou Formation is thought to be ca. 104 Ma. The characteristics of detrital zircon age distribution reveal that the Cretaceous basin groups have already connected and unified a much larger prototype basin, namely the “Great Sanjiang Basin”, during the deposition of the Chengzihe and Muling formations. At that time, the paleogeography featured by a high elevation in the west and a low elevation in the east, and the Lesser Xing’an Range became the main source area for the unified basin. By the deposition of the Houshigou Formation, regional tectonic regime turned to be contraction from extension, resulting in differently uplift in the Jiamusi block and destruction of the “Great Sanjiang Basin”. Under effects of erosion and thrusting load from the eastern continental margin, the Lesser Xing’an Range reduced markedly in the elevation and eventually submerged by the water.
Conclusions
The regional unconformity under the Houshigou Formation has a tightly relationship with this basin−mountain system adjustment, and its corresponding time span could be less than 1 million years.
- eastern Heilongjiang /
- Hegang basin /
- Cretaceous /
- detrital zircon dating /
- provenance analysis /
- geological survey engineering

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References

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