Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:03:34.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Silurian radiolarians from the Sepon Mine, Truong Son Terrane, central Laos and their palaeogeographic and tectonic significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

HATHAITHIP THASSANAPAK ,
MONGKOL UDCHACHON  and
CLIVE BURRETT
HATHAITHIP THASSANAPAK
Affiliation:
Applied Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy Research Unit, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand
MONGKOL UDCHACHON*
Affiliation:
Applied Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy Research Unit, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand
CLIVE BURRETT
Affiliation:
Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand School of Physical Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Box 79, Tasmania, 7001, Australia
*
‡Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A Silurian radiolarian fauna based on 18 species is described from cherts from three sections in two quarries in the Sepon Mine area, central Laos. Each section contains distinctive assemblages but Futobari morishitai, F. solidus, Zadrappolus yoshikiensis and Z. tenuis are found in all three sections and are characteristic of the Ludlow–Pridoli Z. yoshikiensis Assemblage. In addition, the Hoei Yang pit section contains Zadrappolus hitoeganensis, Pseudospongoprunum sagittatum, Futobari sp. and Secuicollacta sp. Section CQ contains Pseudospongoprunum sagittatum, P. tazukawaensis, Praespongocoelia parva, P. sp., Rotasphaera sp. cf. R. quadrata, Secuicollacta sp. cf. cassa. Section QM also contains Pseudospongoprunum parvispina, P. sp., Zadrappolus sp. and Devoniglansus (?) seponensis new species Thassanapak is common. Evidence from Silurian and Devonian strata of the southern Truong Son Terrane indicates deepening towards the southern margin as defined by the Thakhek–Danang Shear Zone and exemplified by deep-marine Ludlow–Pridoli radiolarian cherts in the south, shallowing to fossiliferous, shallow-water sediments to widespread Old Red Sandstone type terrestrial facies 85 km further NE. The radiolarian cherts are in faulted contact with probable Llandovery limestone and Upper Ordovician – Llandovery graptolitic shales. The graptolitic shales are overlain with slight angular unconformity by the submarine fan, volcaniclastic-dominated, Namphuc Formation of Llandovery age. This fan received andesitic materials from the nearby Long Dai Volcanic Arc which extends eastwards to the Tamky Suture in Vietnam. This plutonic–volcanic arc was probably maintained by northwards subduction along the trend of the Permian–Recent Thakhek–Danang Shear Zone.

Keywords

ChertIndochinapalaeogeographyLudlow–PridoliLlandovery
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 155 , Issue 8 , November 2018 , pp. 1621 - 1640
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitchison, J. C., Hada, S., Ireland, T. & Yoshikura, S. 1996. Ages of Silurian radiolarians from the Kurosegawa terrane, southwest Japan constrained by U/Pb SHRIMP data. Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences 14, 53–70.Google Scholar
Aitchison, J. C., Hada, S. & Yoshikura, S. 1991. Kurosegawa terrane: disrupted remnants of a low latitude Paleozoic terrane accreted to SW Japan. Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences 6 (2), 83–92.Google Scholar
Amon, E. O., Braun, A. & Ivanov, K. S. 1995. Upper Silurian radiolarians from the Southern Urals. Geologica et Palaeontologica 29, 1–17.Google Scholar
Bourret, R. 1925. La chaine Annamatique et le Plateau du Bas Laos à l'ouest de Hue. Bulletin du Service Géologique de l'Indochine 14 (1), 1–110.Google Scholar
Bouthathep, B. 2013. Geology of the Sepon copper and gold deposits, Laos. In Proceedings of 2nd Lao–Thai Technical Conference on Geology and Mineral Resources (eds Senebouttalath, C. & Roibang, P.), pp. 164–87. Department of Geology and Minerals, Vientiane, Lao PDR.Google Scholar
Bunopas, S. 1982. Palaeogeographic history of Western Thailand and adjacent parts of Southeast Asia. Geological Survey of Thailand, Paper 5, Royal Thai Department of Mineral Resources, Thailand, 810 pp.Google Scholar
Bunopas, S. & Vella, P. 1978. Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic structural evolution of Northern Thailand. In Proceedings of the Third Regional Conference on Geology and Mineral Resources of Southeast Asia (ed P. Nutalaya), pp. 133–40. Bangkok, Thailand.Google Scholar
Burrett, C., Long, J. & Stait, B. 1990. Early–Middle Palaeozoic Biogeography of Asian Terranes derived from Gondwana. In Palaeozoic Palaeogeography and Biogeography (eds McKerrow, W. & Scotese, C.), pp. 163–174. Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Burrett, C. & Stait, B. 1987. China and Southeast Asia as part of the Tethyan margin of Cambro- Ordovician Gondwanaland. In Shallow Tethys 2 (ed McKenzie, K.), pp. 65–77. Balkema, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Burrett, C., Zaw, K., Meffre, S., Lai, C., Khositanont, S., Chaodumrong, P., Udchachon, M., Ekins, S. & Halpin, J. 2014. The configuration of Greater Gondwana: Evidence from LA ICPMS U–Pb geochronology of detrital zircons from the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic of Southeast Asia and China. Gondwana Research 26, 31–51.Google Scholar
Cannell, J., Stewart, J., Williams, P., Wallace, M., Burrett, C. & Davis, B. 2015. The Sepon copper deposits (Laos) and their relation to Carlin-like gold mineralisation. In Proceedings PACRIM Congress 2015, Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 1–10. Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Carter, A., Roques, D., Bristow, C. & Kinney, P. 2001. Understanding Mesozoic accretion in Southeast Asia: significance of Triassic thermotectonism (Indosinian orogeny) in Vietnam. Geology 29, 211–4.Google Scholar
Cavalier–Smith, T. 1999. Principles of protein and lipid targeting in secondary symbiogenesis: Euglenoid, Dinoflagellate, and Sporozoan plastid origins and the eukaryote family tree. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 46, 347–66, doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1999.tb04614.x.Google Scholar
Cavalier–Smith, T. 2002. The phagotrophic origin of eukaryotes and phylogenetic classification of Protozoa. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 52, 297–354.Google Scholar
Cavalier–Smith, T. 2003. Protist phylogeny and the high-level classification of Protozoa. European Journal of Protistology 39, 338–48.Google Scholar
Dussault, L. 1919. Contribution à la Géologie du Laos. Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extreme Orient, 28 pp.Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, C. G. 1839. Uber die Bildung der Kreidefelsen und des Kreidmergels durch unsichtbare Organismen. Abhandlungen der Konigliche Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin Jahrgang 1838, 59–147.Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, C. G. 1876. Fortsetzung der mikrogeologischen Studien als Gesammt–Uebersicht der mikroskopischen Palaontologie gleichartig analysirter Gebirgsarten der Erde, mit specieller Rucksicht auf den Polycystinen–Mergel von Barbados. Konigliche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Abhandlungen, Jahre 1875, 1–225.Google Scholar
Furutani, H. 1990. Middle Paleozoic radiolarians from Fukuji Area, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. Journal of Earth Sciences, Nagoya University 37, 1–56.Google Scholar
Gradstein, F. M., Ogg, J. G. & Hilgen, F. J. 2012. On the geologic time scale. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 45 (2), 171–88.Google Scholar
Hada, S., Ishii, K. I., Landis, C. A., Aitchison, J. C. & Yoshikura, S. 2001. Kurosegawa Terrane in south-west Japan: disrupted remnants of a Gondwana-derived terrane. Gondwana Research, 4, 27–38.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E. 1862. Die radiolarien (Rhizopoda radiolaria). Eine Monographie. Reimer, Berlin, 572 pp.Google Scholar
Hai Thanh Tran, Khin Zaw, Halpin, J., Manaka, T., Meffre, S., Kit Lai, Chun, Lee, Y., Hai Van Le, Sang Dinh. 2014. The Tam Ky–Phuoc Son Shear Zone in central Vietnam: Tectonic and metallogenic implications. Gondwana Research 26, 144–64.Google Scholar
Hoffet, J. H. 1933. Etudes géologiques sur le centre de l'Indochine entre Tourane et le Mekong (Annam Central and Bas Laos). Bulletin du Service Géologique de l'Indochine 20 (2), 1–154.Google Scholar
Hoffet, J. H. 1937. Note sur la géologie du Bas Laos. Bulletin du Service Géologique de l'Indochine 24, 1–23.Google Scholar
Kachovich, S., Sheng, J. & Aitchison, J. C. 2016. Silurian radiolarians from the Jenolan Caves region, New South Wales, Australia. Revue de Micropaléontologie 59 (4), 339–46.Google Scholar
Zaw, Khin, Meffre, S., Lai, C., Burrett, C., Santosh, M., Graham, I., Manaka, T., Salam, A., Kamvong, T. & Cromie, P. 2014. Tectonics and metallogeny of mainland Southeast Asia: A review and contribution. Gondwana Research 26, 5–30.Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. 2004. Silurian and Devonian radiolarian biostratigraphy of the Hida Gaien belt, central Japan. Journal Geological Society of Japan 110 (10), 620–39 (in Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. 2007. Uppermost Silurian to Lower Devonian radiolarians from the Hitoegane area of the Hida–gaien terrane, central Japan. Micropaleontology 53 (3), 221–37.Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. 2009a. Morphologic variation of Late Silurian inaniguttid radiolarians from the Hitoegane Formation of the Hida–gaien terrane, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. News of Osaka Micropaleontologists (NOM) 14, 561–9 (in Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. 2009b. Late Silurian radiolarians from the Horagatake Formation of the Kurosegawa terrane in the Tomochi area, central Kyushu, Southwest Japan. News of Osaka Micropaleontologists (NOM) 14, 571–6 (in Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. & Sashida, K. 1998. Occurrence and significance of the Late Silurian and Early to Middle Devonian radiolarians from the Kuzuryu Lake district of the Hida Gaien Belt, Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 104, 845–58.Google Scholar
Kurihara, T. & Sashida, K. 2000. Taxonomy of Late Silurian to Middle Devonian radiolarians from the Kuzuryu Lake district of the Hida Gaien Belt, Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. Micropaleontology 46 (1), 51–71.Google Scholar
Larghi, C., Cordey, F., Corradini, C., Gaetani, M. & Nicora, A. 2005. Palaeozoic (Silurian and Devonian) radiolarians and conodonts from chert olistoliths of the Volissos Turbidites, Chios island, Greece. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 98, 123–31.Google Scholar
Lepvrier, C., Maluski, H., Vuong, Nguyen Van, Roques, D., Axente, V. & Rangin, C. 1997. Indosinian NW trending shear zones within the Truong Son belt (Vietnam). Tectonophysics 283, 105–27.Google Scholar
Lepvrier, C., Maluski, H., Van Vu, T., Thi, P. T. & Van Vuong, N. 2004. The Early Triassic Indosinian orogeny in Vietnam (Truong Son belt and Kontum Massif): implications for the geodynamic evolution of Indochina. Tectonophysics 303, 87–118.Google Scholar
Lepvrier, C., Van Vuong, N., Maluski, H., Thi, P. T. & Van Vu, T. 2008. Indosinian tectonics in Vietnam. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 340, 94–103.Google Scholar
Le Van De, . 1997. Outline of plate-evolution of continental crust of Vietnam. In Proceedings of the International Conference on the Stratigraphy and Tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Volume 2 (ed P. Dheeradilok), pp. 465–74. Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok, Thailand.Google Scholar
Melchin, M., Sadler, P. & Cramer, B. 2012 The Silurian Period. In The Geologic Time Scale, Volume 2 (eds Gradstein, F., Ogg, J.., Schmidz, M. & Ogg, G.), pp. 525–550. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, I. 1996a. Pre-Cretaceous SE Asian terranes. In Tectonic Evolution of Southeast Asia (eds Hall, R. & Blundell, D.), pp. 101–118. Geological Society, London, Special Publication no. 37.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, I. 1996b. Gondwana dispersion, Asian accretion and evolution of eastern Tethys. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 43, 605–23.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, I. 2013. Gondwana dispersion and Asian accretion: tectonic and palaeogeographic evolution of eastern Tethys. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 66, 1–33.Google Scholar
Morris, D. 1998. Sepon Project, Laos. Unpublished report on field studies, June 1998. Tarhet generation, Geological Mapping and Sedimentology. ACT Exploration Consultants Pty Ltd ACT Australia, 30 pp.Google Scholar
Mouret, C. 1994. Geological history of northeastern Thailand since the Carboniferous relations with Indochina and Carboniferous–early Cenozoic evolution model. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Stratigraphic Correlation of Southeast Asia (eds Angsuwathana, P., Wongwanich, T., Tansathein, W., Wongsomsak, S. & Tulyatid, J.), pp. 132–58. Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok, Thailand.Google Scholar
Nazarov, B. B. & Ormiston, A. R. 1984. Tentative system of Paleozoic Radiolaria. In Morphology, Ecology and Evolution of Radiolaria (eds Petrushevska, M. G. & Stepanjants, S. D.), pp. 64–87. Eurorad IV Symposium volume, October 15–19. Akademia NAUK SSSR Ecological Institute.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J. 1994. Silurian radiolarian zonation for the Caballos Novaculite, Marathon Uplift, West Texas. Bulletins of American Paleontology 106, 1–55.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J. & Aitchison, J. C. 2000. Early Paleozoic radiolarian biozonation. Geology 28, 367–70.Google Scholar
Nuramkhaan, M., Horie, K. & Tsukada, K. 2013. SHRIMP U–Pb age of the radiolarian-bearing Yoshiki Formation in Japan. Bulletin of Geosciences 88, 223–40.Google Scholar
Pessagno, J. E. A. & Newport, R. L. 1972. A new technique for extracting radiolaria from radiolarian chert. Micropaleontology 18 (2), 231–4.Google Scholar
Phan, Cu Tien. 1991. Geology of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (explanatory note to the geological map of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at 1:1,000,000 scale). Geological Survey of Vietnam, Hanoi, 158 pp.Google Scholar
Shi, M.-F., Lin, F.-C., Fan, W.-F., Deng, Q., Cong, F., My–Dung, T., Zhu, H. P. & Wang, H. 2015. Zircon U–Pb ages and geochemistry of granitoids in the Truong Son terrane, Vietnam: tectonic and metallogenic implications. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 101, 101–20.Google Scholar
Smith, S. 2009. A discussion of the Volcanic and Conglomerate Facies of the Sepon District. Company unpublished report, Lane Xane Minerals Laos (LXML), 26 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, S., Olberg, D. & Manini, T. 2005. The Sepon gold deposits, Laos: Exploration, geology, and comparison to Carlin–type gold deposits in the Great Basin. In Symposium 2005 Window to the World, Volume 2 (eds Rhodes, H., Steininger, R. & Vikre, P.), pp. 899–909. Geological Society of Nevada, Reno.Google Scholar
Stokes, R. B. 2008. Deprat's trilobites and the position of the Indochina Terrane in the Early Palaeozoic. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Geoscience Resources and Environments of Asian Terranes (GREAT 2008), 4th IGCP 516 and 5th APSEG, (eds Chuwong, M. & Tithimakorn, T.), pp. 201–7. Bangkok, Thailand.Google Scholar
Suzuki, N., Takahashi, D. & Kawamura, T. 1996. Late Silurian and Early Devonian Polycystine (Radiolarian) from the Middle Paleozoic deposits in the Kamaishi area, northeast Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 102 (9), 824–7, doi: 10.5575/geosoc.102.824.Google Scholar
Tetard, M., Noble, P. J., Danelian, T., Monnet, C. & Lenz, A. C. 2015. A new Gorstian radiolarian fauna from the upper Silurian of the Cape Phillips Formation, Cornwallis and Bathurst islands, Canadian Arctic. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 52 (10), 863–79, doi: 10.1139/cjes-2015-0028.Google Scholar
Thassanapak, H., Udchachon, M. & Burrett, C. 2012. Devonian radiolarians and tentaculitids from central Laos. Journal of Asian Earth Science 60, 104–13, doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.08.002.Google Scholar
Tong Dzuy, Thanh, Boucot, A. J., Rong, J–Y. & Fang, Z–J. 2001. Late Silurian marine shelly fauna of central and northern Vietnam. Geobios 34, 315–38.Google Scholar
Tong Dzuy, Thanh, Phuong, T. H., Janvier, P., Hung, N. H., Cuc, N. T. T. & Duong, N. T. 2013. Silurian and Devonian in Vietnam: stratigraphy and facies. Journal of Geodynamics 69, 165–85, doi: 10.1016/j.jog.2011.10.001.Google Scholar
Tran Van, Ban, 2000. Report on the Geology and Minerals of mid–central Laos Region, Scale 1: 200,000 Final Report Part 1 General Geology. Department of Geology and Mines, Lao PDR Vientiane, pp. 300.Google Scholar
Van Ban, Tran Vu, D. C., Le, V. D., Tran, S., Ta, Q. D., Phengthavongsa, B., Vilayhack, S., Sayaseng, B. & Thoummarath, T. 2000a. Geological map of Khamkeut, Sheet e-48, 1: 200,000, Lao PDR Department of Geology and Mines Vientiane and INTERGEO, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Van Ban, Tran Vu, D. C., Le, V. D., Tran, S., Ta, Q. D., Phengthavongsa, B., Vilayhack, S., Sayaseng, B. & Thoummarath, T. 2000b. Geological Map of Nape, Sheet e-48 XVI, 1: 200,000, Lao PDR Department of Geology and Mines Vientiane and INTERGEO, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Van Tri, Tran. 1977. Dia Chat Viet Nam (Geology of Vietnam) General Department of Mines and Geology, Vietnam, Hanoi, 355 pp. (in Vietnamese).Google Scholar
Van Tri, Tran & Khuc, Vu. 2011. Geology and Earth Resources of Viet Nam, General Department of Geology and Minerals of Viet Nam. Hanoi, Vietnam, 646 pp.Google Scholar
Udchachon, M., Thassanapak, H., Feng, Q. & Burrett, C. 2017. Palaeoenvironmental implications of geochemistry and radiolarians from Upper Devonian chert/shale sequences of the Truong Son Foldbelt Laos. Geological Journal 52 (1), 154–73, doi: 10.1002/gj.2743.Google Scholar
Umeda, M. 1997. Late Silurian and Early Devonian radiolarians from Konomori area in the Kurosegawa Terrane, Southwest Japan. Chikyu Kagaku 51, 413–32.Google Scholar
Umeda, M. 1998a. Some Late Silurian characteristic radiolarians from the Yokokurayama Group in the Kurosegawa Terrane, Southwest Japan. Chikyu Kagaku 52, 203–9.Google Scholar
Umeda, M. 1998b. The Silurian and Devonian Yokokurayama Group of the Kurosegawa Terrane, in the Yokokurayama area, Kochi, Southwest Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 104, 365–76.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1990. Geological map of Lao People's Democratic Republic, scale 1: 1,500,000. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in co-operation with the Department of Geology and Mines of Lao PDR.Google Scholar
Vu, Khuc. 1986. Stratigraphic correlation between sedimentary basins of the ESCAP region volume XII, pp. 1–11. ESCAP Atlas of Stratigraphy VI, Vietnam. United Nations Mineral Resources Development Series 54.Google Scholar
Wakamatsu, H., Sugiyama, K. & Furutani, H. 1990. Silurian and Devonian radiolarians from the Kurosegawa Tectonic Zone, southwest Japan. Journal of Earth Sciences, Nagoya University 37, 157–92.Google Scholar
Williams, M., Komatsu, T., Tanaka, G., Nguyen, Huu Hung, Zalasiewicz, J., Vandenbrooke, T., Wallis, S. & Perrier, V. 2016. Upper Llandovery (Telychian) graptolites of the Oktavites spiralis Biozone from the Long Dai Formation, at Lam Thuy Village, Quang Binh Province, central Vietnam. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 53, 719–24.Google Scholar