High-quality reservoirs in the Lower Zhujia Formation in eastern Pearl River Mouth Basin have trigged many disputes over their provenance distribution patterns and lithologies.As an attempt to dispel the doubts over the issue

we performed U-Pb dating on some detrital zircons in sandstone samples from the Lower Zhujiang Formation in the Lower Miocene of 7 different structural zones in eastern Pearl River Mouth Basin with LA-ICP-MS dating technology.The results show that the zircons were mostly magmatic origin

followed by metamorphic origin.The zircons of magmatic origin showed up during four age intervals:98-114

137-163

211-247 and 387-428 Ma.By comparing the ages of the zircons with those of potential provenance rocks and combining the age spectrum

we suggest that there were at least 4 water systems serving as detrital material providers during the early Zhujiang time of the Early Miocene.Hanjiang provenance was the source of sediments in Haifeng 28 and Lufeng 2 structural zones

Dongsha uplift provenance provided sediments for Lufeng 22 structural zone

Shanwei provenance generated materials for Huizhou 10 structural zone and joined Zhujiang provenance at Huizhou 08 structural zone

and Dongsha uplift provenance

possibly together with Hanjiang provenance

provided materials for Lufeng 13 structural zone.Based on the above analyses

we propose that Hanjiang-Lufeng area

with favorable geological conditions for the formation of shallow and medium to deep reservoirs

be the key future exploration target in Pearl River Mouth Basin.