Palaeozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary evolution characteristics of the Xuefeng Mountain intracontinental orogenic belt

Abstract：In this paper, the authors studied the characteristics of Palaeozoic-Mesozoic stratigraphic sedimentation in the Xuefeng Mountain and its lateral layers by means of field investigation and indoor analysis, and found out the regularity of uplifting-depression change in the Xuefeng Mountain since Palaeozoic. The course of tectono-sedimentary evolution from Palaeozoic to Mesozoic can be divided into five phases according to the features of uplifting-depression change and the palaeogeographic property in Xuefeng area, i.e., the phase of slope-continental shelf-basin from the earlier Sinian to the middle Ordovician, the phase of uplift denudation from the late Ordovician to the late Carboniferous, the phase of carbonate platform in the Permian period, the phase of carbonate continental shelf in the early Triassic and the phase of uplift to continental intermountain basin from the middle Triassic to the Cretaceous. The authors have confirmed that the Xuefeng’s evolution is characterized by a polyphase compounding folded intracontinental orogenic belt, rather than an “ancient land”.