Detrital provenance, depositional environment, and palaeogeographic implications of Lower Triassic marine sediments in central Tibet

We present our new investigation into the depositional environment and provenance of the Yingshuiquan Formation in the central Qiangtang region of northern Tibet, in order to further our understanding of the environment of the Longmu Co–Shuanghu Palaeo–Tethys during the Early Triassic. The Yingshuiquan Formation is composed of oolitic limestone, calcareous sandstone, calcarenite, thin-bedded ribbon limestone, bioclastic limestone, and coarse oolite limestone that were deposited in a shallow-marine basin and contain abundant Lower Triassic conodont fossils (e.g. <i>Hadrodontina anceps, Pachycladina</i> sp., <i>gen. et</i> sp, <i>Pachyclaina oblique, Hibbardelloides</i> sp). We selected detrital zircons from four calcareous sandstone samples for U–Pb dating, yielding minimum age peaks of 263, 269, 275, and 280 Ma, respectively, and a minimum age of 249 Ma, based on several zircons around the same age. Analysis of the conodont biofacies and zircon LA-ICP-MS dating of calcareous sandstone indicates that the data is consistent with deposition in the Early Triassic. The Yingshuiquan Formation records Early Triassic shallow-water sediment in the Longmu Co–Shuanghu Palaeo–Tethys, and has a Southern Qiangtang and Northern Qiangtang terranes provenance. During the Early Triassic, the carbonate sediments of the Yingshuiquan Formation were deposited in an active environment around the Longmu Co–Shuanghu Palaeo–Tethys, which has became a residual sea basin.