Basin Research (2003) 15, 271285

Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation by using detrital zircon thermochronology: a study of the Khorat Plateau Basin, eastern Thailand
A. Carter and C. S. Bristow
Research School of Earth Sciences, Birkbeck College and University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of detrital zircon thermochronology as a means of linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation studies is assessed by using Mesozoic continental sediments from the poorly understood Khorat Plateau Basin in eastern Thailand. New uranium lead (U-Pb) and fission-track (FT) zircon data from the Phu Kradung Formation identify age modes at 141 + 17 and 210 + 24 Ma (FT) and 2456 + 4, 2001 + 4, 251 + 3, and 168 + 2 Ma (U-Pb), which are closely similar to data from the overlying formations. The FT data record post-metamorphic cooling, whereas the U-Pb data record zircon growth events in the hinterland. Comparison is made between detrital zircon U-Pb data from ancient and modern sources across Southeast Asia. The inherent stability of the zircon U-Pb system means that 250 Myr of post-orogenic sedimentary recycling fails to change the regional zircon U-Pb age signature and this precludes use of the U-Pb approach alone for providing unique provenance information. Although the U-Pb zircon results are consistent with (but not uniquely diagnostic of ) the Qinling Orogenic Belt as the original source terrane for the Khorat Plateau Basin sediments, the zircon FT cooling data are more useful as they provide the key temporal link between basin and hinterland. The youngest zircon FT modes from the Khorat sequence range between 114 + 6 (Phra Wihan Formation) and 141 + 17 Ma (Phu Kradung Formation) that correspond to a Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous reactivation event, which affected the Qinling Belt and adjacent foreland basins. The mechanism for regional Early Cretaceous erosion is identified as Cretaceous collision between the Lhasa Block and Eurasia. Thus, the Khorat Plateau Basin sediments might have originated from a reactivation event that affected a mature hinterland and not an active orogenic belt as postulated in previous models.

INTRODUCTION
Understanding the origin of ancient terrestrial depositional systems can be problematic. A common issue is poor biostratigraphic control, which hinders correlation between sedimentation and regional geodynamic events. For some basins, postdepositional tectonic displacement has resulted in uncertain geographical relationships, so the original source regions are missing or unclear. In such cases, sediment provenance indicators may provide the only evidence of hinterland composition. However, because a source terrane may lie within an area of broadly uniform geology, methods such as sediment petrography or sediment geochemistry lack unique signatures,
Correspondence: A. Carter, Research School of Earth Sciences, Birkbeck College and University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. E-mail: a.carter@ucl.ac.uk
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

which unambiguously tie basin sediments to a specific location or terrane; alternative approaches such as detrital geochronology are required. Definition of the hinterland and transport route to the depocentre provides essential constraints on the mechanism of basin formation. The Khorat Plateau Basin, located in eastern Thailand, covers about 180 000 km2 (Fig. 1) and provides a good example of how problems associated with interpretation of continental clastic sequences can result in a diverse range of basin models. An early model assumed the Khorat sediments represented molasse from the Indosinian Orogeny (Hahn, 1976; Bunopas & Vella, 1978; Hutchison, 1989). But there are considerable problems with this interpretation because sandstone petrography and palaeocurrent measurements are not consistent with proximal derivation from a young orogenic belt in central Thailand. An alternative model suggested that the Khorat Group accumulated in a thermal sag basin that formed after the 271

A. Carter and C. S. Bristow

LAOS VIETNAM

ai fo

Suk hoth

abu

SIBUMASU (SHAN-THAI) TERRANE

ld b e

n fo

ld b etch

Vientiane Basin

elt

lt

Phu

Pha

n anti cline

Andaman Sea

Fig. 1. Location map of the Khorat Plateau Basin region with terrane boundaries and associated fold belts. The principal Khorat Group sediment palaeocurrent directions are also shown, based on data from Howlett (1993) and Heggeman (1994).

Late Triassic extension linked to collapse of overthickened crust produced by the Indosinian Orogeny (Cooper et al., 1989). More recently the Khorat was interpreted as a foreland basin associated with flexural subsidence in front of a Jurassic Orogenic Belt, which helps us explain the broad lateral extent and relatively uniform thickness (Lovatt-Smith et al., 1996). 272

A RM BU

Loe

i-Ph

Khorat Plateau Basin

INDOCHINA TERRANE

THAILAND

Bangkok J

CAMBODIA
200 km
GULF OF THAILAND

Khorat sediment palaeocurrents in the Cretaceous

Various models for the Khorat Plateau Basin highlight how little is really known about basin geodynamic setting and palaeogeographic location. In order to resolve these key aspects of the Khorat Basin evolution the basin needs to be tied to a specific source location, but this has been proved difficult by using conventional sedimentological and petrographic approaches. Study of the Khorat Basin
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation sediment provenance based on detrital zircon fission-track (FT) and U-Pb thermochronology (Carter & Moss, 1999) has provided some important constraints regarding the Khorat sediment source age patterns, but the dataset is incomplete and has not been used in order to identify the location of the sediment hinterland. A primary objective of this study is to build on this earlier work by completing FT and U-Pb zircon dating of the Khorat succession and linking the results to recent palaeogeographical reconstructions (Metcalfe, 1999) to enable evaluation of possible basin models. Geochronology has much to offer sedimentary provenance studies and is an ideal method for understanding sedimentary routing systems and establishing temporal relationships between source evolution and sedimentation in adjacent basins. Detrital geochronology provides two fundamental types of source information: (i) mineral formation ages (high-temperature methods) and (ii) post-metamorphic cooling histories (low-temperature methods) (e.g. Morton et al., 1996; Carter, 1999; Garver et al., 1999; Carter & Bristow, 2000; Najman et al., 2001). It is unclear which approach most benefits the establishment of a temporal relationship between an evolving source and basin sedimentation. Thus, in addition to evaluating the Khorat Basin models, this study also considers the wider issue of effectiveness of detrital zircon FT and U-Pb methods for understanding ancient terrestrial depositional systems. Sibumasu rifted from Gondwana during the Early Permian (Metcalfe, 1999), drifted and collided with Indochina (including the South China terrane) during the Triassic. The exact timing for initial collision is not well defined but in Vietnam the initial contact may be as early as 245 Ma (Carter et al., 2001) and in Thailand, folding and thrusting occurred in the Sukhothai Fold Belt in the Late Triassic (Fig. 1). Late syn-postkinematic granites in northeastern Thailand place an uppermost age limit of 200 Ma on the final stages of collision (Singharajwarapan & Berry, 2000). This Triassic collision event between the Sibumasu and Indochina blocks, which appears to have lasted $45 Ma, is the Indosinian Orogeny that was originally presumed to have produced the Khorat Plateau Basin sediments (Hahn, 1976; Bunopas & Vella, 1978; Hutchison, 1989). Although the Indosinian Orogeny was regionally important, there are problems connecting orogenesis to the Khorat Basin sedimentation. One difficulty stems from sediment palaeocurrent directions. Approximately 800 palaeocurrent measurements (Heggeman, 1994; Howlett, 1993) indicate flow from the N and NE rather than from the SW as would be predicted if the SibumasuIndochina collision zone were the source. Although palaeocurrents indicate a source region to the present-day NE (Fig. 1), minor block rotation occurred in the Tertiary. Palaeomagnetic studies suggest that rotation was not large, limited to a maximum 10158 clockwise rotation of the Khorat Plateau relative to South China (Yang & Besse, 1993). In addition, the Tertiary extrusion has displaced the IndochinaSibumasu suture by left-lateral expulsion. Although the amount of displacement has been subject to debate, most estimates fall between 500 and 1300 km (e.g. Leloup et al., 1995; Sato et al., 1999). Restoration to within this range indicates a pre-extrusion location within South China close to the Sichuan Foreland Basin (Fig. 3).

REGIONAL GEOLOGY
When the first Khorat Basin models were conceived knowledge of the Asian accretion history and Mesozoic palaeogeography was limited (e.g. Bunopas & Vella, 1978; Sengor, 1984). The International Geological Correlation Program (IGCP) Project 321: Gondwana Dispersion and Asian Accretion (Metcalfe, 1999) has significantly advanced understanding and established a more robust temporal framework for the Asian accretion history. The origin of the various tectonic blocks that accreted to form Southeast Asia can be traced back to SilurianDevonian times when the Indochina, North and South China Blocks rifted and separated from northeastern Gondwana. In the Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic this rifting was followed by separation of other continental slithers, including the Qiantang and Sibumasu (also known as Shan Thai) Blocks (Figs 1 and 2). After drifting across the Meso- and Palaeo-Tethys, these various blocks began to collide and accrete to each other in the Late Permian Triassic times (first the North and South China Blocks, then the Qiantang and Sibumasu to the South China Block), and in the Cretaceous (Lhasa, and the West Burma Blocks to the Qiantang and Sibumasu terrane). For the Khorat Plateau Basin, which is situated on the Indochina terrane, the most important accretion events relate to the adjacent Sibumasu block to the west and the South China Block to the northeast (Figs 1 and 2).
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

KHORAT SEDIMENTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY

The Mesozoic Khorat Group in Thailand is composed of continental clastic rocks traditionally considered to range from the Triassic to the Cretaceous. The sedimentology and the stratigraphy of the Khorat Group have been studied in detail by Heggeman et al. (1992) and Racey et al. (1996). Almost all the Khorat Group sediments were transported by large braided river systems that flowed from the present-day N to NE. A continental drainage system is implied with a river system similar in scale to the modern large river systems that drain Indochina. Changes in fluvial character, which forms the basis for the lithostratigraphic subdivision of the Khorat Group, are probably as a result of a combination of climate change, tectonics or redirection of fluvial drainage systems but not a major change in source. Through the Group there is an increase in grain size accompanied by a decrease in mineralogical maturity indicating either a reduction in the time/ transport distance or an increase in the rate of erosional denudation of the hinterland and south prograding facies 273

A. Carter and C. S. Bristow

Tarim Ala shan Qaidam

Qam

North China
M ts

dao

-Sim

ao

Qiantang

Lhasa
West Burma

Songpan Ganze Belt

n Lo

Qinlin

g Belt

gm

en

Qinling foreland basins

35N

? ?
SIBUMASU

South China

25N

?
RR FZ

Khorat Basin
Past location? Present location

15N

IndoChina

N
105E 115E

10N

125E

Fig. 2. Simplified map of Southeast Asia to show present-day outcrop of the Khorat Group sediments (Laos and Thailand), Songpan-Ganze Basin and the Qinling Orogenic Belt (China), relative to underlying continental blocks and fragments (modified from Metcalfe, 1999).

belts. Metamorphic detritus is present in all formations and points to the underlying composition of the sediment source terrane. The youngest formations also contain acid to intermediate volcanic clasts but this change is not linked to any noticeable shift in palaeocurrent directions. The Khorat Group was originally divided into six formations by Ward & Bunnag (1964), which form the basis for the present correlations (Fig. 4). Iwai et al. (1966) recognised the Huai Hin Lat Formation at the base of the Khorat Group, which was assigned a Norian Age by Konno & Asama (1973) on the basis of plant fossils. The lowermost formation in the Khorat Group, the Nam Phong, lies unconformably over the Huai Hin Lat Formation. The top of the group is marked by the Maha 274

Sarakham evaporites, which until recently were included as part of the Khorat Group. The chronology attributed to formations within the Khorat Group has been based on a NorianRhaetian age from the base of the sequence, and the AptianAlbian ages from the top of the sequence (Sattayarak et al., 1991). Despite the presence of some vertebrate remains (Buffetaut & Ingavat, 1986; Buffetaut & Suteethorn, 1991; Buffetaut et al., 1993), the intervening time gap has until recently been filled by adjusting the formations to fill the time available. This is clearly unsatisfactory and the age of the Formations has been disputed (Mouret et al., 1993; Mouret, 1994). Racey et al. (1994) and Carter et al. (1995) have suggested an Lower Cretaceous age for the Phra
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 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

Present-day
95E 100E 105E 110E
Longmenshan

Late Cretaceous (pre-extrusion)

Qinling Belt Qinling Belt
Longmenshan Simao Basin

Foreland basins

Sichuan Basin

30N

Foreland basins

SOUTH CHINA

25N

SOUTH CHINA

Simao Basin

Khorat Basin
20N

INDOCHINA Khorat Basin

200 km Cretaceous granites Mesozoic red-beds

Fig. 3. The present-day location of the Khorat sediments and other basins containing Cretaceous continental sediments is a consequence of Tertiary extrusion along major strike-slip faults such as the Red River Fault Zone (RRFZ). Restoration of the basin to a pre-extrusion location places the Khorat sediments much closer to the Qinling foreland. During the Cretaceous the Khorat basin and continental foreland basin sediments of the Qinling belt would probably have extended over a much larger area.

RR FZ
SOUTH CHINA SEA

Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation

INDOCHINA

15N

10N

275

Khok Kruat Formation Ban Na Yo (=Khok Kruat) KHORAT GROUP KHORAT GROUP Neocomian

Khok Kruat Formation

KHORAT GROUP

276
CRETACEOUS JURASSIC

A. Carter and C. S. Bristow

AGE

Workman (1977)

Chonglakmani & Sattayarak (1978)

Buffetaut & Ingavat (1986) Maha Sarakham Formation

Department of Mineral Resources Geological map of Thailand

Mouret et al. (1993)

This study after Racey et al. (1996)

ALBIANCENOMANIAN

Maha Sarakham

Maha Sarakham

Gallic

Maha Sarakham

CRETACEOUS

Khok Kruat Phu Phan Sao Khua Phra Wihan Phu Kradung ????

APTIAN BARREMIAN BERRIASIANBARREMIAN APTIAN

Khok Kruat

Phu Phan Member

Phu Phan Formation

Phu Phan Formation

Phu Phan

KHORAT GROUP

KHORAT GROUP

KHORAT GROUP

PHRA WIHAN FORMATION

Malm

Phu Phan Member

Sao Khua Formation

Sao Khua Formation

Sao Khua Formation

Sao Khua JURASSIC

Dogger

Sao Kua Member

Lwr Phra Wihan member

Phra Wihan Formation

Phra Wihan Formation Phu Kradung Formation

Phra Wihan Formation

Phra Wihan U. Phu Kradung Lwr. Phu Kradung U. Nam Phong Lwr. Nam Phong

? Hiatus?

PHU KRADUNG FM.

Upper Phu Kradung Member Nam Phong Member

Lias

Phu Kradung Formation

Phu Kradung Formation

2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

LT. NORIANRHAETIAN

Nam Phong Formation Tr3 TRIASSIC

Phu Hi sandstone IMo Volcanics

Nam Phong Formation

Nam Phong Formation

Nam Phong Formation

Phu Hi sandstone

IMo Volcanics

Hua Hin Lat Fm.

Hua Hin Lat Fm.

LATE

? NORIAN

Dat Fa Shale
Sam Khaen Conglomerate Pho Hai Volcanics

Hua Hin Lat Formation

Hua Hin Lat Formation

Dat Fa Shale
Sam Khaen Conglomerate Pho Hai Volcanics

TRIASSIC

Tr2

Fig. 4. Evolution of the chronostratigraphy of the Khorat Group. The most recent definition of the Group by Racey et al. (1996) forms the basis of this study.

Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation Wihan Formation, previously attributed to the Middle Jurassic. Age assignment has since been confirmed by more detailed palynological evidence (Racey et al., 1996) and new vertebrate remains from the Sao Khua and Khok Kruat Formations (Buffetaut & Suteethorn, 1999). As a result, the chronostratigraphy of the Khorat Group has been adjusted to begin in the Late Jurassic (Fig. 4). A consequence of a chronostratigraphic realignment is the creation of an apparent major temporal gap between the Nam Phong Formation (Norian to Rhaetian) and the overlying Phu Kradung Formation (Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous), which suggests that the Nam Phong Formation does not belong to the Khorat Group sensu stricto. However, because the Phu Kradung Formation lacks suitably age-diagnostic material the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous age for this formation is inferred on the basis of a well-constrained BerriasianBarremian age for the overlying Phra Wihan Formation. The assigned age is not unreasonable as most outcrops, including the type locality at Khao Phu Kradung, are confined to the uppermost parts of the formation where it is clearly conformable with the overlying Phra Wihan Formation. This also fits better with a petrography that shows that the Nam Phong Formation has closer affinity with the underlying Late Triassic Huai Hin Lat Formation, and radial palaeocurrent directions that flow towards the basin centre (in contrast to the overlying formations, which consistently show flow from N to NE). For the rest of this paper the Khorat Group is considered as a mostly Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous succession with the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation as the lowermost unit. The detrital zircon study of Carter & Moss (1999) provided useful insight into the age structure of the Khorat sediments but the data are incomplete as the Phu Kradung Formation was omitted because it was assumed at the time that the Nam Phong was the lowermost unit in the Khorat Group. In order to complete this geochronological database we have collected a representative sample from the Phu Kradung Formation (located at 101.24.478N; 15.51.048E) for combined U-Pb and FT analysis. The same analytical techniques and conditions were used as described by Carter & Moss (1999). Raw data are available on request.

Fission track results

Sample T99/5 selected for analysis contained abundant zircon, but proved difficult to analyse because the average grain size (< 150 mm) was small reflecting the finergrained nature of the Phu Kradung Formation. Only 20 grains could be analysed (despite making several grain mounts), because most grains had very high track densities and/or small counting areas. This number of FT grain ages is not adequate for obtaining a full measure of the range of possible provenance types, but the data are suitable for detecting the principal source ages. The FT results are given in Table 1. Significant dispersion among the single-grain age data indicates a mixed age population, which mixture modelling based on the approach of Sambridge & Compston (1994) reveals as bimodal. The two age modes, occurring at 141 + 17 and 210 + 24 Ma (+ 2s), are comparable with age modes detected in the overlying formations in the earlier study (Table 2) (Carter & Moss, 1999).

DETRITAL ZIRCON GEOCHRONOLOGY

Tectonic displacement of the Khorat Plateau Basin has disrupted the normal geographical relationship that helps tie a particular basin to its source area. Sediment petrography and geochemistry in the Khorat Group are not uniquely diagnostic of any specific source within Southeast Asia and hence geochronological evidence contained within the individual sediment grains may represent the best source of information to locate the source region.
Table 1. Fission track (FT) data for the Phu Kradung Formation. Dosimeter rd 0.417 Nd 2888 Spontaneous rs 20.19 ns 2379 Induced ri 2.343 ni 276

U-Pb results
Fifty-two detrital zircon grains were analysed and the data are displayed on concordia plots in Fig. 5. Data quality is generally good, with few grains displaying systematic evidence of Pb loss. The zircons are generally small (< 150 mm) reflecting the fine-grained nature of the Phu Kradung Formation. Grains are predominantly translucent and colourless, but have a wide range of

Sample No. T99/5

No. of grains 20

Age dispersion w2 0 RE% 33.0

Central Age + 1s(Ma) 222 + 22

Component ages + 2s (Ma) (percentage abundance) 141 + 17 (36%) 210 + 24 (64%)

Notes: (i) Track densities are (106 tr cm2) numbers of tracks counted (N ) shown in brackets; (ii) analyses by external detector method by using 0.5 for the 4p/2p geometry correction factor; (iii) ages calculated using dosimeter glass CN-2; analyst Carter zCN2 127 + 5; calibrated by multiple analyses of IUGS zircon age standards (Hurford, 1990); (iv) Pw2 is probability for obtaining w2 value for n degrees of freedom, where n number of crystals 1; (v) Central age is a modal age, weighted for various precisions of individual crystals; (vi) Age modes calculated using the approach of Sambridge & Compston (1994). 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

277

A. Carter and C. S. Bristow

Table 2. Principal zircon U-Pb and Fission track (FT) ages (+ 2s) for the Khorat Group. Data are from Carter & Moss (1999) and this study. Minor U-Pb modes are given in parentheses. SHRIMP U-Pb component ages Formation Khok Kruat FT component ages 135 + 9 203 + 14 188 + 7 Phanerozic (Ma) 166 + 2 299 + 5 170 + 1 254 + 1 445 + 2 161 + 2 242 + 2 433 + 3 168 + 2 251 + 3 (330 + 4) (458 + 8) Proterozoic (Ma) (737 + 8) (876 + 10) 1799 + 8 (770 + 6) 1832 + 7 (889 + 6) (1152 + 11) 1813 + 7 (794 + 11) 2001 + 4 Archean (Ma) 2500 + 14

Sao Khua

2535 + 15

Phra Wihan

114 + 6 175 + 10 141 + 17 210 + 24

2450 + 16

Phu Kradung

2456 + 4 (2643 + 6)

morphologies. Small rounded zircons are most likely polycyclic, but overall there is no systematic relationship between grain morphology, colour and age, although the majority of euhedral grains have the youngest ages. This suggests that the euhedral grains are the first-cycle zircon derived directly from a crystalline basement, whereas the smaller rounded grains were probably derived from a source that retains a record of several cycles of burial and erosion. The principal detrital source age modes were extracted from the mixed age population by using the approach of Sambridge & Compston (1994), and the log likelihood for defining the optimum number of age modes (Table 2).

INTERPRETATION Fission track

The relationship between detrital zircon FT cooling ages and sample depositional age can provide valuable insight into a source regions geodynamic setting (e.g. Garver et al., 1999). For convergent orogens it is possible to distinguish between the construction, steady-state and decay stages. According to Bernet et al. (2001) each phase will give a characteristic pattern of detrital zircon cooling ages with respect to the sample depositional age. Thus zircon sourced from a newly formed orogen associated with growing topography and high exhumation rates will show upsection decrease in the time difference between zircon FT cooling ages and sediment depositional age. This lag time (Garver & Brandon, 1994) will become more uniform in orogens approaching steady-state, while cessation of convergence and a decaying orogen would produce zircon FT ages that show an upsection increase in lag time representing a gradual decline in exhumation rates as topography is reduced. Figure 6 plots the zircon FT ages, together with the results from Carter & Moss (1999) summarized in Table 2, 278

against sample depositional age in order to show the time difference between the zircon source lithology cooling through its closure temperature and entering the Khorat depositional system. Such plots can only be interpreted when it is possible to distinguish between ages that record cooling and those that record zircon formation as in the case of volcanic grains. This will be the case when a zircon FT age is identical with error of a corresponding U-Pb age. Figure 7 plots the FT age modes against the nearest U-Pb age mode for each of the Khorat Group units. Data that plot on the one-to-one line correspond to samples that have identical U-Pb and FT age modes indicative of a volcanic source. As no data plots on this line all of the FT ages must record cooling because of exhumation. The lag plot in Fig. 6 shows that the oldest zircon FT source ages are between 50 and 90 Myr older than the sample depositional ages, consistent with their derivation from a slowly cooled hinterland. If cooling is assumed to be linked to an environment where heat flow and geothermal gradients have global average values ($30 8C/km), this would equate to denudation rates broadly in the range 50150 m/Myr. Such moderate rates are not consistent with either construction or steady-state phases of an orogen. Instead it could be argued that these ages reflect a decaying orogen, and all but one sample shows an upsection increase in age, although analytical uncertainties overlap. Alternatively, these ages may represent reworked sediments the zircon having been effectively held in long-term storage. The younger detrital age modes have very short lag times, between 0 and 20 Myrs, indicative of faster exhumation.

U-Pb data
Table 2 contains the U-Pb results from the Phu Kradung Formation together with previously published data from
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Basin Research, 15, 271285

Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation

A - all grains
0.55 2600 0.50 0.45 2200 0.40 2000 0.35 206 238 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0 800 2400

Pb U

0.30 0.25 0.20

B.

6 207

10

11

12

13

14

15

Pb/ 235 U

0.20

B.

0.16

900 800

0.12 206 238

700 600 500 400 300

Pb U
0.08

0.04 100
0.00 0.0

200

0.4 207

0.8

1.2

1.6

Pb/ 235 U

Fig. 5. Concordia plots of detrital zircon U-Pb ages. Plot B shows the Phanerozoic zircons in more detail. Parallelograms define 2s error.

Carter & Moss (1999). Results show that the Phu Kradung Formation has the same distribution of U-Pb source ages as the overlying formations. Importantly, the Phu Kradung, like the overlying formations, contains a Late Jurassic zircon source. This evidence together with the youngest FT source component (141 + 17 Ma) is consistent with a Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous depositional age. Five pervasive zircon formation events are recognised within the Khorat Group detrital zircon U-Pb data at 24502550, 18002000, 430470, 240260 and 160170 Ma.

Two lesser modes occur between 770890 and 11501350 Ma. These age clusters characterise the principal zircon formation events, which may relate directly to the formation of a lithology within the source terrane, or to recycling of pre-existing material. Given that the Khorat petrography indicates derivation from a predominantly metamorphic terrane it is reasonable to assume that many of these zircon ages will relate to older sources, although this may not be apparent from the zircon structure and growth history.

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279

A. Carter and C. S. Bristow

Are detrital zircon U-Pb ages suitable source indicators?

If zircon U-Pb ages relate to older sources as a consequence of a polycyclic history, it is questionable whether such data are useful for discerning sediment provenance. In order to test whether detrital zircon U-Pb age signatures change with an evolving orogen we examined results
100

Depositional age (Ma)

110 120

Youngest age modes

Oldest age modes

130 140

150 100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

Fission-track detrital age modes (Ma)

Fig. 6. Plot of time difference between the Khorat Formation depositional age (+ 10 Ma) and their constituent detrital zircon fission track (FT) cooling ages. Data from this study and Carter & Moss (1999).

from sediment associated with the Triassic Qinling Orogenic Belt in central China. The first results are from a study of the Triassic marine sediments from the Songpan Ganze Basin (Bruguier et al., 1997) deposited during the early stages of convergence between the North and South China Blocks (Fig. 2). Zircon ages form five principal age groups and these are shown in Fig. 8 together with results from detrital zircon U-Pb data collected from modern sediment in four major river systems (the Mekong, the Irrawady, the Salween and the Red River) (Bodet & rer, 2000), draining an area between the Tibetan Scha Plateau, South China and Indochina. The results (Fig. 8) show that the principal Khorat Basin zircon formation ages are present in the Triassic Songpan-Ganze Basin and modern Southeast Asian river sediments. Present-day exposure of the Archean and Proterozoic basement in Southeast Asia is localised and therefore most of the old detrital zircon ages detected in the river sediments are probably recycled from the Phanerozoic rocks. Consequently, most of the Archean and Proterozoic ages must represent recycled grains, which explains the similarity of principal zircon source ages in the Triassic Songpan-Ganze Basin, Cretaceous Khorat Plateau Basin and modern Southeast Asian river sediments. The inherent stability of the zircon U-Pb system means that 250 Myr of postorogenic sedimentary recycling fails to change the regional zircon U-Pb age signature.

300

dep osi tion al a ge

. m.y 90 .y. m 80 . m.y 70 . m.y 60 .y. m 50

. m.y 20 . m.y 10 .y. 0m

+/

U-Pb Zircon age modes (Ma)

200

Vo

lca

m nis

at rel

ed

c zir

on

100 100

Phu Kradung Fm. Phra Wihan Fm. Sao Khua Fm. Phu Phan Fm.

150

200 FT Zircon age modes (Ma)

250

300

Fig. 7. Plot of paired zircon U-Pb and fission track (FT) age modes. Data that plot on the one-to-one line indicate volcanic zircon ages.

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Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation comparable with the lithological age structure of the Qinling Orogenic Belt: the Proterozoic zircon ages coincide with the Luliang crustal growth event (between 1800 and 2000 Ma) and the Archean zircons (2500 Ma) are similar in age to some of the crystalline basement exposed in the northern and southern parts of the Qinling Belt. However, given the earlier observations concerning the stability of zircon U-Pb age signatures in Southeast Asia, we cannot accept these ages as unambiguous evidence for a direct (first-cycle) link to the Qinling source terrane. For the Phanerozoic zircon ages recycling is less of an issue as a result of the smaller residence time, but the regional nature of zircon formation events still prevents correlation with a unique source area. For example, the Ordovician zircons, although consistent with I-type granites in the Caledonian Belts of the Qinling Orogen and eastern China, are also found in Vietnam, part of the Indochina Block. Similarly, the TriassicJurassic ages linked to the Indosinian magmatism occur throughout South China, Indochina and Sibumasu. Within the U-Pb dataset the only ages that provide a specific indication of source area are between 750 and 850 Ma. This time interval is associated with a crustal growth event within South China linked to breakup of the Rodinia/Palaeopangaea supercontinent between $750 and 850 Ma (Li et al., 1995). Zircons of this age, which are present in some Khorat units, are therefore possibly diagnostic of the South China Block. Although the U-Pb data point to a source within the South China Block, the inherent stability of the U-Pb system, zircon recycling and the regional nature of zircon formation events prevent the Khorat sediments being linked to a more specific source area. The FT data are potentially more useful in that they specifically describe the young cooling history of the source terrain. Two groups of cooling ages are present. A dominant group with ages 5090 Myr older than the Khorat sediments (Fig. 6) implies a slow cooling source, whereas the much younger secondary age mode (Early Cretaceous) is diagnostic of more rapid cooling rates normally associated with tectonically active regions. Both of the FT age modes contain the same zircon U-Pb ages and therefore it is unlikely that they represent very different source areas; the Khorat sandstone petrography and palaeocurrents are also consistent with a single-source area. Two types of hinterland setting can explain the FT cooling data based on whether the primary group of the Triassic zircon ages represents first-cycle or reworked material: . The Khorat sediments represent first-cycle material, so that hinterland erosion must have occurred during the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous (constrained by the secondary age mode) and therefore the main group of the Triassic cooling ages (primary age mode) must describe a mature hinterland (postorogenic decay?) that was subjected to the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous reactivation. . The primary zircon age group might have been rapidly eroded during the Triassic (Orogenic belt?) and held in storage (foreland basin sediment?) before a second phase of 281

Sample 250 450

Principal zircon source ages (Ma)

800

1800

2500

Modern Rivers Songpan Basin Khorat Basin

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Age (Ma)

Fig. 8. Plot to show the stability of zircon U-Pb age signatures between sediments from the Khorat Plateau Basin, Triassic Songpan Ganze Basin (Bruguier et al., 1997) and modern rer, 2000). Width Southeast Asian river sediments (Bodet & Scha of lines denotes the spread in ages for each mode.

DISCUSSION
The Khorat Plateau Basin models were based on the Triassic Indosinian Orogeny because early sedimentation (originally incorporating the Nam Phong Formation into the Khorat Group) took place within extensional halfgraben structures formed after the orogeny (e.g. Cooper et al., 1989). We now know that the Nam Phong Formation does not belong to the Khorat Group and this removes the apparent temporal link to the Indosinian event. A revised Khorat chronostratigraphy based on a (mostly) Cretaceous history fits much better within the regional geology because continuous sedimentation throughout the Jurassic was difficult to reconcile with the occurrence of marine near-shore sediments in western Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam. An absence of sedimentation across the Khorat Plateau Basin during the Jurassic makes sense because marine sedimentation in nearby areas ended by the Bajocian and no Jurassic sediments occur in these areas after this time. Given that global sea levels were generally rising in the Middle to Late Jurassic, it seems probable that the region was affected by a gentle uplift, which may account for truncation of the Nam Phong beds in the southwestern part of the Khorat Plateau Basin. Thus, consideration of the regional geology and Khorat stratigraphy has established that there is no direct relationship between the Indosinian Orogeny (Sibumasu Indochina collision) and the deposition of the Khorat Group sediments, thereby discounting basin models tied to this event. Furthermore, restoration of the basin to a pre-Tertiary location suggests that the Khorat Plateau area was originally located in southern China, possibly close to the Sichuan Foreland Basin which is part of the Qinling Orogenic Belt formed by collision between the North and South China/Indochina terranes in the Triassic. Is this collision belt the Khorat source area? The detrital zircon formation (U-Pb) events recognised in the sediments at 24502550, 18002000, 43070 and 240260 Ma are
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A. Carter and C. S. Bristow erosion in the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous recycled the grains. Sedimentation trends within the Khorat Group show a general increase in grain size through time accompanied by a decrease in mineralogical maturity consistent with increased denudation of the hinterland and support the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous cooling as the dominant control on denudation of the sediment hinterland. The Phanerozoic U-Pb data provide additional evidence. Table 3, which summarises the Phanerozoic U-Pb age data, shows prominent age clusters at 161170 Ma (Middle Jurassic), 242261 Ma (Permo-Triassic), $330 Ma (Early Carboniferous) and $435465 Ma (Late OrdovicianSilurian). The two youngest component populations are present in significant quantities in most samples and are likely to be granitic crystallisation ages rather than volcanism-related because identical ages are not seen in the FT data (Fig. 7). This interpretation is supported by the offset between matched FT and U-Pb ages diagnostic of postemplacement slow cooling. Thus, the FT and U-Pb data are consistent with a slowly exhumed $250 Ma granitic/plutonic complex that reached shallow crustal levels by the Early to Middle Jurassic, evidence that lends support to a mature orogenic hinterland subjected to later (Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous) reactivation. Given these important new constraints on source region evolution, can we now explain the causes of the Khorat Basin sedimentation? The sandstone petrography, palaeocurrents and U-Pb zircon data are consistent with a hinterland located within the Triassic Qinling Orogenic Belt created by convergence of North and South China terranes. The main growth phase of this collision occurred in the Middle to Late Triassic ($240205 Ma) (Meng & Zhang, 1999, 2000), which significantly predates the Khorat Group sedimentation (by $100 Myrs). Denudation of the Qinling Belt supplied detritus to the adjacent foreland basin (Sichuan Basin), which developed through crustal loading on the northern edge of the South China Block aided by south propagating thrusts. Here the Jurassic sediments of the Suining and Penglaizhen Formations were deformed in the Late Jurassic and unconformably overlain by the Early Cretaceous fluvial sediments of the Chengqiannyan Group. A similar pattern is also recognised in the Longmen Shan along the western margin of the Sichuan Basin where argon and FT studies have identified a major ductile deformation event during the Early Cretaceous between 120 and 130 Ma (Arne et al., 1997). The cause of this regional deformation event is not related to a late stage in the convergence history of the NorthSouth China collision but instead is attributed to the collision of the Lhasa terrane with Eurasia (Zhang, 2000). Inversion, thrusting and reactivation of faults associated with the collision of the Lhasa Block (Fig. 2) produced a regional unconformity and widespread rapid erosion of the newly uplifted terranes. In the Longmen Shan this can be seen as rapid influx of fanglomerates into the western Sichuan Basin (Arne et al., 1997). In the southern Qiantang Block (adjacent to the northernmost part of Sibumasu), the Mangang Formation contains an 800-m-thick sequence of coarse continental sediments (Zhang, 2000). Adjacent to the Khorat Plateau in the Vientiane Basin and Pak-Lay fold-belt Khorat sediments rest unconformably on imbricated marine Jurassic volcani-clastic sediments (Stokes et al., 1996). Figure 9 illustrates the regional extent of this Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous deformation event and resultant fluvio-clastic sedimentation. Based on this evidence, we conclude that the Khorat sediment source was the Qinling Orogenic Belt of central China and some component of recycled inverted foreland basin sediments, both of which experienced the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous deformation. The Khorat sediment was not directly sourced from an active orogenic belt as postulated in previous basin models.

CONCLUSIONS
Detrital zircon thermochronology using FT and U-Pb methods has been applied in order to improve understanding of the Khorat Plateau Basin sediments. Results from this and previous published studies show a similarity of zircon U-Pb formation age signatures in the regional Mesozoic basins and modern Southeast Asian rivers that suggest relative stability of the regional signature for at least 250 Myrs. This discovery precludes the U-Pb approach for providing unique provenance information in the Khorat Basin and has important implications regarding the suitability of detrital zircon U-Pb studies performed elsewhere. Instead, this study highlights how more useful provenance information can be obtained from detrital zircon FT data, especially when combined with U-Pb data from the same samples. Zircon FT data provide key temporal information that can be used in order to link

Table 3. The Phanerozoic detrital zircon U-Pb ages for the principal clastic sedimentary units in the Khorat Group. Data are from Table 2. Zircon U-Pb age Formation Khok Kruat Formation Sao Khua Formation Phra Wihan Formation Phu Kradung Formation Ma (+ 2s) 166 + 2 170 + 2 161 + 2 168 + 2 299 + 1 254 + 1 242 + 2 251 + 1 299 + 1 na na 330 + 4 na 445 + 2 433 + 3 458 + 8

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Cretaceous

Early

Jurassic

Late

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South Qiantang Block

Late
Mankuanghe Fm.

South Qinling Orogen

Tertiary erosion

Qinling Foreland

Western Laos

Khorat Basin
Tertiary erosion Khok Kruat Fm. Ma 80-

Fluvial sandstones

Tertiary erosion Sichuan Foreland Basin (Chengqian-nyan Group) Folding & thrusting Penglaizhen Fm.

Hutoushi Fm. Mangang Fm. Jinxing Fm.

Tertiary erosion Ban Thalat Fm.

90100110120130140150160170180Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation

Khorat Group
Nam Set Fm.

Khorat Group
Phu Kradung Fm. Hiatus / missing section ?

v v v v

Sandstone/conglomerate Sandstones

Shales and siltstone

Volcani-clastic sandstone (imbricated)

Fig. 9. Chronostratigraphic correlation to show the regional nature of the Early Cretaceous continental sedimentation across southern China, Laos and Thailand.

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A. Carter and C. S. Bristow source region evolution with basin sedimentation but for robust interpretation, FT data require U-Pb results from the same samples. For the Khorat Plateau Basin sediments the combined FT and U-Pb approach to zircon dating has identified the sediment source region as a mature orogenic hinterland dominated by 250 Ma granitic/plutonic rocks that exhumed slowly and reached shallow crustal levels by the Early to Middle Jurassic. This orogenic belt was then exposed to an Early Cretaceous event that rejuvenated erosion to create a period of enhanced sediment supply to adjacent basins. Restoration of the Khorat Plateau Basin to a pretectonic displacement location together with evidence from sediment petrography, palaeocurrent directions, detrital zircon geochronology and Qinling foreland basin stratigraphy support the Qinling Orogenic Belt as the original source terrane for the Khorat Basin sediment but in a mature rather than active orogenic setting. This discounts previous basin models that require linkage to an active orogenic belt. The mechanism for regional Early Cretaceous erosion is identified as Cretaceous collision between the Lhasa Block and Eurasia.
vertebrate palaeontology. International Symposium on Biostratigraphy of Mainland Southeast Asia: Facies and Paleontology, Chiang Mai, Thailand. pp. 5162. Bunopas, S. & Vella, P. (1978) Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic structural evolution of northern Thailand: A plate tectonic model. In: Proceedings of the Third Regional Conference on Geology and Mineral Resources of Southeast Asia, Bangkok (Ed. by P. Nutalaya), pp. 133140. Carter, A. (1999) Present Status and future avenues of source region discrimination and characterisation using fission-track analysis. Sedim. Geol., 124, 3145. Carter, A. & Bristow, C.S. (2000) Detrital zircon geochronology: Enhancing the quality of sedimentary source information through improved methodology and combined U-Pb and fission track techniques. Basin Res., 12, 4757. Carter, A., Bristow, C. & Hurford, A.J. (1995) The application of FT analysis to the dating of barren sequences: Examples from red beds in Scotland and Thailand. In: NonBiostratigraphical Methods of Dating and Correlation (Ed. by R.E. Dunay & E.A. Hailwood), Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., London, 89, 5768. Carter, A. & Moss, S.J. (1999) Combined detrital-zircon fission-track and U-Pb dating: A new approach to understanding hinterland evolution. Geology, 27, 235238. Carter, A., Roques, D., Kinny, P. & Bristow, C.S. (2001) Understanding Mesozoic Accretion in SE Asia: Significance of Triassic thermotectonism in Vietnam. Geology, 29, 211214. Chonglakmani, C. & Sattayarak, S. (1978) Stratigraphy of the Huai Hin Lat Formation (Upper Triassic) in north-eastern Thailand. In: Proceedings of the GEOSEA III (Ed. by P. Nutalaya), pp. 739762. Cooper, M.A., Herbert, R. & Hill, G.S. (1989) The structural evolution of Triassic intermontane basins in northeastern Thailand. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Intermontane Basins: Geology and Resources (Ed. by T. Thanasuthipitak), pp. 231242. University of Chang Mai, Thailand. Garver, J.I. & Brandon, M.T. (1994) Fission-track ages of detrital zircons from Cretaceous strata, southern British Columbia: Implications for Baja BC hypothesis. Tectonics, 13, 401420. Garver, J.I., Brandon, M.T., Roden-Tice, M. & Kamp, P.J.J. (1999) Exhumation history of orogenic highlands determined by detrital fission track thermochronology. In: Exhumation Processes: Normal Faulting, Ductile Flow and Erosion (Ed. by U. Ring, G.S. Lister & S.D. Willet), Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., London, 154, 283304. Hahn, L. (1976) The stratigraphy and palaeogeography of the non-marine Mesozoic deposits of northern Thailand. Geol. Jahr., Reihe B., 21, 155169. re Entwicklung der KhoratHeggeman, H. (1994) Sedimenta Gruppe in NE und N Thailand. Go ttinger Arb. Geol. Pa laont., 63, 1146. Heggemann, H., Helmcke, D. & Tietze, K.W. (1992) Sedimentary evolution of the Mesozoic Khorat Basin in Thailand. Zbl. Geol. Pa laont. Teil, 1 (11/12), 12671285. Howlett, P. (1993) Sedimentology of the Khorat Group of the Vientiane Basin area, Laos and parts of the western edge of the Khorat Plateau, Thailand. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Birkbeck College, London University. Hurford, A.J. (1990) Standardization of fission-track dating calibration: Recommendation by the fission-track Working
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was funded by the London Southeast Asia Research Group. Our special thanks go to the staff and students at Chang Mai University for their assistance. Constructive reviews by John Garver, Barry Kohn and Yanni Najman significantly benefited this paper.

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Manuscript accepted 1 December 2002.

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