Transgression-regression event element geochemistry records of southwestern Fujian in Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic

• Published in: Journal of Central South University Vol. 20; no. 10; pp. 2819 - 2829
• Main Authors: Xu, Zhong-jie, Cheng, Ri-hui, Zhang, Li, Wang, Liao-liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2013
• Subjects: Engineering; Metallic Materials; Early Mesozoic; comparison; northern South China Sea; southwestern Fujian; element geochemistry; sea-level change
• ISSN: 2095-2899; 2227-5223
• DOI: 10.1007/s11771-013-1802-6

Southwest Fujian area has experienced a large-scale transgression-regression cycle in Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic and the maximum transgression has taken place in Early Jurassic. The migration and enrichment of geochemical element in the continuous fine-grained sediments in the basin recorded the paleosalinity and the paleodepth. The changes of paleosalinity and paleodepth indicate the sea (lake) level relative change in every period of Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic in southwestern Fujian. The relative change curve of sea (lake) level in southwestern Fujian is established based on the m value ( m =100× w (MgO)/ w (Al 2 O 3 )) and the ratios of w (B)/ w (Ga), w (Sr)/ w (Ba) and w (Ca)/ w (Mg). The curve indicates that level I sea-level relative change in southwestern Fujian is composed of the transgression in Late Triassic-Early Jurassic and the regression in the late period of Early Jurassic-Middle Jurassic. The level III sea-level relative change is frequent, which is composed by the lake level descent-lake level rise-lake level descent of Wenbin Shan formation in Late Triassic, the regression-transgression-regression of Lishan formation in Early Jurassic and the lake-level rise-lake level descent-lake level rise-lake level descent of Zhangping formation in Middle Jurassic. The transgression-regression cycle in southwestern Fujian is significantly controlled by the sea-level change in the north of South China Sea. The relative change curve trends of the level I sea-level in the north of South China Sea and the one in southwestern Fujian are the same. The maximum transgressions both occur in Early Jurassic. The level III sea-level curve reflects the fluctuation of a transgression and two regressions in the early period of Early Jurassic.