Sea level changes and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower-Middle Jurassic Quse and Sewa formations in the Qiangtang Basin, central Tibet: Geochemical and palynological perspectives

Sequence stratigraphy is a commonly used approach to understand basin-fill history and the occurrence of conventional reservoir and/or probable source rocks. Reconstructing a sequence stratigraphic framework in carbonates, marls, and organic-rich mudstones is challenging due to environmental, petrophysical, and sedimentological variations that can be subtle, whereas seismic data may be lacking or of limited use. For this reason, incorporation between palynological analysis and chemostratigraphic profiles is becoming increasingly common to facilitate sequence stratigraphic reconstruction. This study investigates the Quse (lower Toarcian) and Sewa formations (upper Bajocian-Bathonian) in the Bilong Co section from the Qiangtang Basin of central Tibet. Eighty-three rock samples were analysed for their whole-rock inorganic geochemical composition, of which 25 rock samples were tested for palynological and palynofacies analyses. The palynological composition defined two associations for the study section. The lower part of the Bilong Co section consisted is dominated by a moderate to high abundance of opaque phytoclasts versus low to moderate amorphous organic matter (AOM) content with a high concentration of sphaeromorphs pollen grains, revealing deposition of this interval at times of low relative sea level in fluvio-deltaic settings. The middle to upper parts of the section comprised of significantly high AOM content versus low phytoclasts and high content of sphaeromorphs pollen grains, but with increasing the relative abundance of dinoflagellate cysts, indicating a phase of high sea level. Chemostratigraphic variations relevant to changes in relative sea level delineated the subdivision of the Quse and Sewa formations into two and three third-order transgressive-regressive sequences, respectively. The collision between the Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks during the Early-Middle Jurassic is suggested to control consequent subduction and sea level highstand, especially during deposition of the Sewa Formation. Geochemical proxies that relate to shelf carbonate production are calcium, strontium, whereas proxies that relate to siliciclastics include titanium, zirconium, manganese, aluminium, and silicon, other redox-sensitive proxy like uranium is also implemented. This indicates that chemostratigraphic proxies are a promising tool for the interpretation of sea level cyclicity in terms of systems tracts and bounding surfaces.