Sequence-Stratigraphic Framework from the Carboniferous to the Permian Chuanshanian Epoch in Dianqiangui Basin and Its Adjacent Areas, Southwest China

INTRODUCTION Alotofprogresshasbeenmadeinthestudyof Carboniferoussedimentologyandstratigraphyinthe Dianqianguibasinanditsadjacentareas,whichin cludethecomprehensivesummariesonchronostratigraphyandbiostratigraphybyJinetal.(2000)and Kuangetal.(1999);theoverallandsystematicsum mariesonCarboniferouslithostratigraphybyDong(1997),Yin(1997)andZhao(1996);thecompre hensivestudyonCarboniferoussedimentaryfacies andpaleogeographybyChenetal.(1994)andFeng etal.(1998)etc..AsshowninFig.1,theDian qiang…

Sequence-Stratigraphic Framework from the Carboniferous to the Permian Chuanshanian Epoch in Dianqiangui Basin and Its Adjacent Areas, Southwest China

The Carboniferous can be divided into four series in the Dianqiangui basin and its adjacent areas, Southwest China: the Yanguanian series, the Datangian series, the Weiningian series and the Mapingian series. The Maping Formation, traditionally used as the lithostratigraphic unit of the Upper Carboniferous, became an inter-system unit from the Carboniferous to the Permian. Thus, the top part of the Carboniferous and the bottom part of the Permian (Chuanshanian series) constitute a third-order sequence in the Dianqiangui basin and its adjacent areas. In the study area, the Carboniferous system and the Chuanshanian series of the Permian constitute a second-order sequence that can be subdivided into 6 third-order sequences. The bottom boundary of this second-order sequence is an unconformity formed in the principal episode of the Ziyun movement (the second episode), and the top boundary is also an unconformity formed in the principal episode of the Qiangui movement (the second episode). In different paleogeographical backgrounds, the strata from the Carboniferous to the Permian Chuanshanian epoch are marked by different sedimentary features. For example, coal measures and more dolomitic strata are developed in the attached platform; carbonate rocks mainly constitute the isolated platform strata; the inter-platform ditch strata are mainly composed of dark and fine sediments. Therefore, third-order sequences with different architectures of sedimentary-facies succession are formed in different paleogeographical backgrounds. Although the third-order sequences are different in the architecture of sedimentary-succession in space, the processes of their depositional environmental changes due to the third-order relative sea-level changes are simultaneous. Biostratigraphically, the surfaces of the third-order sequences can be correlated and traced in space; the framework of sequence stratigraphy from the Carboniferous to the Chuanshanian epoch of the Permian can be established in the Dianqiangui basin and its adjacent areas in terms of two types of facies-changing surfaces as well as two kinds of diachronism in stratigraphic records. The sequence-stratigraphic subdivisions from the Carboniferous to the Permian Chuanshanian epoch in the study area show that the duration of third-order sequences, formed in the convergent period of Pangea, is more than 10 Ma. This could reflect the elementary feature that the period of sea-level change cycles formed in a relatively quiet period of tectonic action is more than 10 Ma. And this succession shows a marked cyclicity which is supposed to be the low-latitude response to the Gondwanan glaciation in the southern hemisphere.