Tectonic affinity of the Alxa Block, Northwest China: Constrained by detrital zircon U-Pb ages from the early Paleozoic strata on its southern and eastern margins

•The Alxa block was not the western part of the NCB during the early Paleozoic.•The lower Paleozoic strata in the Alxa Block sourced from the eastern Gondwana.•The Alxa Block was a part of the passive continental margin of the eastern Gondwana.•The Hexi Corridor is a part of the Alxa Block during the early Paleozoic.

The tectonic affinity of the Alxa Block is important in the reconstruction of the paleogeographical evolution of China. The early Paleozoic strata (the Dahuangshan Formation and Xiangshan Group) of the southern and eastern Alxa Block have consistent rock compositions, similar depositional ages, paleocurrents, detrital zircon age distributions, and cumulative probability curves of crystallization ages for detrital zircon grains relative to the depositional ages, and were deposited in similar slope basins. All these data indicate that the early Paleozoic strata of the Alxa Block were sourced predominantly from Neoproterozoic orogenic belts in the eastern Gondwana continent, instead of the Alxa Block to the north, the North China Block to the east and the North Qilian Orogenic Belt to the south. During the early Paleozoic, the Alxa Block was an independent block with the South China Block (SCB) to the west and the North China Block (NCB) to the east and situated to the northwest of the eastern Gondwana with its long axis trending north northwest-south southeast, and it belonged to a passive continental margin dipping to the north northwest, with the eastern part of the margin located closer to the eastern Gondwana. The Hexi Corridor is part of the Alxa Block and a part of the same slope basin during the early Paleozoic. The southern boundary of the Alxa Block is now the front thrust of the North Qilian Shan.

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