ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Earth and Planetary Materials
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1607066
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Structure, Characterization, and Failure Mechanisms of Geomaterials: Theoretical, Experimental, and Numerical ApproachesView all 10 articles
Palaeoclimatic characteristics of the Late Jurassic-Cretaceous in Emei area, Sichuan Basin, China
Provisionally accepted
- 1China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, Beijing, China
- 2Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 3China Coal Science and Technology Xi'an Research Institute (Group) Co., Ltd, Xi’an, China
- 4School of Art, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Langfang, Hebei Province, China
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The Late Mesozoic is a typical period for studying the greenhouse climate and the interaction of the Eearth's systems. To expound the interaction between the evolution process of the terrestrial surface system and the environment in the Late Jurassic -Cretaceous, a typical profile with relatively complete exposure of the Mesozoic strata in the Emei area of the Sichuan Basin, the Chuanzu Profile, was selected for this study. The sedimentary environment of the study area was qualitatively analysed based on the macroscopic characteristics of the lithostratigraphy of outcrop profiles in the field and the statistical data of detrital composition under a microscope. Factor analysis and the chemical alteration index after correction (CIAcorr) were used to quantitatively analyse the characteristics of major and trace elements. Finally, the palaeoclimatic evolutionary characteristics of the Late Jurassic-Cretaceous in the Emei area are systematically discussed. The results show that the formation of Cretaceous sediments in the Emei area of the Sichuan Basin is mainly controlled by climatic factors, but is little affected by tectonic activities, and the maturity of the rock clastic composition is relatively low; therefore, it should be a near-provenance deposit. The range of CIAcorr values was 55-79, indicating that the degree of chemical weathering of the provenance was weak to moderate. The palaeoclimate in the Late Jurassic gradually became humid from Early to Late; in the Early Cretaceous, it was semiarid to semihumid, with an extremely dry event occurring; and in the Late Cretaceous, it was semiarid and drier than that of the Early Cretaceous.
Keywords: Emei area, Late jurassic-cretaceous, paleoclimate, factor analysis, Chemical alteration index after correction (CIAcorr)
Received: 07 Apr 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Xiang, Shao, Ma, Zhao, XU and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fang Xiang, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan Province, China
BIN XU, School of Art, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Langfang, Hebei Province, China
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