An Ediacaran Metasedimentary Fragment With Northern Gondwana Affinity in the Southern East Kunlun Accretionary Belt, Northern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for the Dispersal of Peri‐Gondwanan Terranes

Precambrian supercontinent reconstructions largely rely on robust geological constraints. Among these, the basin affinities recorded by Precambrian sedimentary fragments preserved in orogenic belts provide critical evidence for resolving the paleogeographic configurations of microcontinents and continental blocks. In this study, we integrate detailed field investigations with detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology, zircon Hf isotope analysis, Monte Carlo unmixing modeling, and multidimensional scaling to constrain the depositional age, provenance and paleogeographic significance of the Sayanggou metasedimentary fragment in the southern East Kunlun accretionary belt, southern Qaidam Block. The detrital zircon age spectra of the Sayanggou metasedimentary fragment feature prominent Ediacaran and older Neoproterozoic multimodal age populations. The absence of late‐stage detrital zircons, multiple calculating maximum depositional age approaches and stratigraphic evidence further indicates deposition in a comparatively stable Ediacaran depositional environment, possibly a passive‐margin setting. Corresponding zircon ε Hf ( t ) values are predominantly negative, indicating sediment derivation primarily from recycled ancient crust. Statistical evaluation of these data sets against global detrital zircon archives reveals a diagnostic Gondwanan signature. Monte Carlo unmixing analyses and multidimensional scaling models firmly tether the Sayanggou metasedimentary fragment to the contemporary basins in the South Qiangtang Block and related Ediacaran peri‐Gondwanan margins. Zircon U–Pb ages of crosscutting granitoid and dioritoid intrusions indicate that this metasedimentary fragment was probably accreted to the southern East Kunlun accretionary belt during the early Paleozoic in response to Proto‐Tethyan subduction. Our findings further advance the understanding that the Qaidam and South Qiangtang blocks were located in relatively close paleogeographic positions within the peri‐Gondwanan domain during the Ediacaran.