Paleozoic Stratigraphy in the Qiangtang Region of Tibet: Relations of the Gondwana and Yangtze Continents and Ocean Closure Near the End of the Carboniferous

Paleozoic sequences are defined for the northern and southern Qiangtang by linking field observations in the Gaize Province to the known Paleozoic record in neighboring areas. The pre-Devonian Gemuri Group of earlier authors is divided and the use of that term is no longer recommended. The upper Paleozoic rock assemblages, geological structures, and biota of the southern Qiangtang are of Gondwana glacial aspect, but those of the northern Qiangtang show more resemblance to those of the ancient Tethys. The two assemblages are interpreted as representing, respectively, the northern margin of Gondwanaland and the southwestern margin of the Yangtze continent. The two continents are suggested to have begun to separate during the Early Carboniferous and to have rejoined in the earliest Permian. Throughout this cycle of events, the northern Qiangtang occupied a passive margin while the southern Qiangtang rocks show evidence of the development of an active margin. Basaltic rocks from the southern Qiangtang are indicative of rifting. The authors consider that the boundary separating Car-boniferous and Permian rocks of Gondwanaland and Eurasia in the Qiangtang is marked by a suture zone that extends from Lungmuco through Heitonshan, Lake Gangma, Chasang, and Dongshuanghu. This suture is linked to Lancangjiang to the east and extends on to Malaya. In the Qiangtang the suture zone is marked by evidence of substantial rifting and by dismembered ophiolites.