Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2022, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (4): 278-292.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2022.1.24

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Characteristics and provenance significance of iron-rich heavy minerals in Quaternary fluvial sediments in Yibin area, eastern margin of Tibetan Plateau

YOU Wenzhi1(), XIANG Fang2,3,*(), HUANG Hengxu2, YANG Kunmei1, YU Xiantao2, DING Li1, YANG Qi1   

  1. 1. College of Earth Sciences, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
    2. Institute of Sedimentary Geology,Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation,Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059,China
  • Received:2021-11-01 Revised:2022-03-08 Online:2022-07-25 Published:2022-07-28
  • Contact: XIANG Fang

Abstract:

The development and evolutionary history of large river systems have attracted much attention from geoscientists. Exploring the characteristics of iron-rich heavy minerals in the Quaternary sediments in Yibin area where the Jinsha and Minjiang Rivers meet may reveal important evidence for the evolution of the Yangtze River; it can also be of great significance for understanding the uplift and sedimentary response of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The chemical and morphological characteristics of iron-rich heavy minerals were analyzed by electron probe and backscatter imaging to explore the provenance evolution of the Yangtze River and its tributaries. Sediments of terraces Ⅴ and Ⅳ of the lower reaches of the Minjiang River contained a lot of magnetite from mainly the Longmenshan tectonic belt. Although sediments of terrace Ⅲ contain plentiful ilmenite, their provenance is still mainly in the Longmenshan tectonic belt. More iron-rich heavy minerals with inclusions such as kyanite and apatite can be found in the modern sediments, which proves that both the Longmenshan tectonic belt and the Songpan-Ganzi fold belt provided materials to the sediments. So we can conclude that when terraces V to III of Minjiang River formed, the source of Minjiang River was located in the Longmenshan tectonic belt. After the formation of terrace Ⅲ, the Minjiang River continued to erode upward to the source area and entered the Songpan-Ganzi fold belt to gradually form the modern Minjiang River. In terrace Ⅴ of the Jinsha and Yangtze Rivers the Panzhihua vanadium titanomagnetite was not found, which means the Panzhihua-Yibin section of the Jinsha River was not cut-through, and the provenance of the Yangtze River in the study area at this time was mainly the Minjiang River sourced from the Longmenshan tectonic belt. However, the Panzhihua vanadium titanomagnetite is abundant in terrace Ⅳ of the Jinsha River, indicating that the Panzhihua-Yibin section of the Jinsha River was cut-through at the time (~0.5-0.3 Ma B.P.) of sediment deposition in terrace Ⅳ.

Key words: Yibin area, iron-rich heavy mineral, electron probe, provenance evolution

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