Micro‐fabrics and Genesis of Pyrite from Zhaoyuan Golden Deposits in Shandong Province, North China

AbstractNorth China Craton experienced significant lithospheric destruction or delamination during the Late Mesozoic, accompanied with the emergence of numerous basins and intensive volcanic activities. Extensional basins also formed in eastern Shandong Province. Even though they have been researched for decades, the relation between basin development and deep tectonic processes still remains obscure. Recently, a set of Early Cretaceous strata, characterized by translating from turbidite deposits to terrestrial strata unit and ending up with a unique volcanicalstic formation within a pretty short time span, has been found on Lingshan Island. Previous Studies have reached an agreement that Lingshan Island strata was formed in a distinct sedimentary background compared with the coeval sedimentary units in Jiaolai Basin. Essential information about basin development and its tectonic setting in the region during Early Cretaceous are preserved in the Lingshan Island strata. In this article, we show the characteristic of heavy mineral assemblage from the bottom to the top, and the characteristic of detrital minerals’ chemical component in the two representative samples. Based on these new works, we indicate that the Lingshan Island basin was developed in transpressional tectonic setting with complex provenance materials mainly from Qianliyan‐Uplift during the period ca.123∼120Ma. Then, the basin evolved within a extensional region and filled with locally derived clastics during 120 to 105Ma. Additionally, the basin was evolved during the procedure of progressive lithospheric thinning and asthenosphere upwelling, which could be proven by stratigraphic characteristics and chemical component of detrital spinels.