Characteristics of hydrothermal sedimentation process in the Yanchang Formation, south Ordos Basin, China: Evidence from element geochemistry

•Geochemical study was performed to investigate hydrothermal sedimentation process.•The Yanchang Formation is a set of atypical hydrothermal sedimentation.•The stratum was influenced by four episodes of strong hydrothermal activities.•Hydrothermal fluids overflowed from the south margin of Ordos Basin.

Hydrothermal sedimentation occurred in the Triassic Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin, China. However, their macroscopic features at the scale of the stratum and hydrothermal sources still lack correlational research. This paper performed element geochemical study on a large number of core samples collected from the Yanchang Formation of a new drilling well located in the south Ordos Basin. The SiO2/(K2O + Na2O) vs. MnO/TiO2 crossplot and Fe vs. Mn vs. (Cu + Co + Ni) × 10 ternary diagram demonstrate that the Yanchang stratum in the study area has, in general, hydrothermal components. The Al/(Al + Fe + Mn) and (Fe + Mn)/Ti ratios of the core samples range from 0.34 to 0.84 and 4.81 to 50.54, averaging 0.66 and 10.67, respectively, indicating that the stratum is a set of atypical hydrothermal sedimentation with much terrigenous input. Data analysis shows that the hydrothermal source in the study area was from the deep North Qinling Orogen around the south margin of the basin, where some active tectonic and volcanic activities took place, rather than from the relatively stable internal basin. Early Indosinian movement and volcanic activities activated basement faults around the southern margin of the basin, providing vents for the deep hydrothermal fluid upwelling. The hydrothermal indicators suggest that the study area experienced 4 episodes of relatively stronger hydrothermal activity, namely during the Chang 10, Chang 9–1, Chang 7–3 and Chang 6–2 periods. We also propose a new hydrothermal sedimentation model of hydrothermal fluids overflowing from basin margin faults, for the Yanchang Formation, which is reported here for the first time.