The Upper Riphean of the Yenisei Range
Authors: Khomentovsky V.V. 
Published: October 2007

The Yenisei Range and the adjacent territories in the east are subdivided into (1) the Mid-Angara intracratonic depression; (2) the Yenisei pericratonic trough; and 3) a marginal oceanic block, the Isakovka-Predivinsk area. The lower part of the Riphean succession is subdivided into two principally different sedimentary complexes — the Lower Sukhoi Pit Subgroup and the Upper Sukhoi Pit Subgroup (the Pogoryui-Alad’in interval of the succession). The fundamental nature of the events that separate these two complexes and the characteristic, rhythmically bedded structure of the Upper Sukhoi Pit Subgroup allow the latter to be ranked a separate straton, the Bol’shoi Pit Group. Its lower boundary is associated with the Grenvillian events commencing with the emplacement of the Teya granite-gneiss domes and other intrusive complexes dated at 1100–1000 Ma. In the sedimentation record these events are manifested as a sudden change from the slate complex, for which we keep the name Sukhoi Pit Group, to the rhythmically bedded succession of the Bol’shoi Pit Group. The latter is interpreted as a product of uproofing of an elevated hinterland to the west. Insofar as the amplitude of this elevated area decreases progressively toward the Mid-Angara trough, the Bol’shoi Pit erosional unconformity and the associated interval of nondeposition are absent from the area. In the west of the Yenisei Range, in contrast, there is a major stratigraphic gap in the sequence, which is associated with the aforementioned events. The hypothesis on intensive events separating the deposition of the Bol’shoi Pit Group of the Kerpylian Horizon and the Tungusik Group of the Lakhandinian Horizon is not supported by the new data. The change from carbonate facies into siliciclastics in the west was misinterpreted as an erosional unconformity, with basal deposits corresponding to the lower boundary of the Tungusik Group. The occurrence of the Upper Tungusik deposits overlying much older rocks is a result of the pre-Bol’shoi Pit erosion and the gradual expansion of the Tungusik transgression. Thus, there are no grounds to argue for significant pre-Lakhandinian events in the region. Hence, the Kerpylian and Lakhandinian in the Yenisei Range, as well as in other parts of the Siberian Craton, constitute two parts of a larger supraregional straton, which corresponds to the lower half of the Upper Riphean and is designated here the Mayanian. The fundamentally different nature of the events associated with the next, Baikalian stage of the development allows its tripartite subdivision in the region. Deposition of the Lower Baikalian (the Oslyanka Group) was preceded by the crustal extension at the junction between the continental and oceanic blocks and, possibly, the formation of one of the Yenisei Range ophiolite complexes, followed by the emplacement of the Tatarka-Ayakhta batholiths at around 850 Ma. Fragments of both complexes are found as clasts in the basal conglomerates of the Middle Baikalian Chingasan Horizon. The specific character of the pre-Baikalian events determines their apparently poor expression in the sedimentation (weaker metamorphism of the Oslyanka deposits compared with the Tungusik Group). Even the activity leading to the formation of the Tatarka-Ayakhta granites cannot be regarded as a full-scale orogenic process. Collisional events separating the Lower and Middle Baikalian are manifested as the erosional unconformity at the base of the Chingasan Group and the emplacement of the Glushikha granites (760–730 Ma). The Middle Baikalian age of the Chingasan deposits is constrained by the data from paleontology, historical geology, and geochronology. Furthermore, the presence of glacial deposits renders this straton as a global stratigraphic marker. Further expansion of transgression in the Upper Baikalian is linked to another important event, but additional paleontological and geochronological information is needed to date the Upper Baikalian (Chapa Group) more accurately. The Baikalian events synchronously manifested themselves in all structural-facies zones of the Yenisei Range and are coeval to structural complexes from adjacent areas of the Siberian Craton. The tripartite Baikalian, therefore, has a potential for being included into the General Scale of the upper Upper Riphean.