Linking the Alxa Terrane to the eastern Gondwana during the Early Paleozoic: Constraints from detrital zircon U–Pb ages and Cambrian sedimentary records

•The Alxa block was once a peri-Gondwana terrane.•The Alxa block was not the western part of the NCP during the Early Paleozoic.•The provenances of the Xiangshan Group are mainly from eastern Gondwana.

The detrital zircon ages of the Early Paleozoic Xiangshan Group in the southeastern Alxa Terrane show that the lower age limit for the Xiangshan group is 512 Ma. The Xiangshan Group is older than the Middle Ordovician strata in the study region and is the Middle–Late Cambrian in age, which is the same age as the fossils found in it. The detrital zircon ages record the Grenville and Pan-African Orogenic Events, and the major age peaks are 963 Ma, 1179 Ma, 551 Ma and 2517 Ma. The North China Terrane, the Alxa Terrane and the Qilian Orogenic Belt were not the provenances of the Xiangshan Group. The age spectrum of the Xiangshan Group is similar to terranes associated with eastern Gondwana. The sandstone composition modes of the Xiangshan Group indicate that the source areas were the recycled orogenic belts. The zircons in the Xiangshan Group with an age peak at ca. 963 Ma may come from the Eastern Ghats–Rayner orogenic belt or other terranes located to the north of eastern Gondwana. The zircons with a peak at ca. 1179 Ma may come from the Wilkes–Albany–Fraser orogenic belt. Those with a peak at ca. 551 Ma may come from the Prydz–Darling orogenic belt, and the zircons with a peak at ca. 2517 Ma may be from northern India and the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia. Similar paleontology, paleomagnetic data and detrital zircon age spectra indicate that the Alxa Terrane was located to the east of the South China Terrane and to the north of the eastern Gondwanan continent (present coordinates).

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