Abstract:Early Paleozoic volcanic rocks in Tianshui and Baoji areas along the eastern segment of North Qilian orogenic belt consists of Hongtubu basaltic lavas and Chenjiahe intermediate-acid volcanic rocks. Geochemical analyses show that Hongtubu basaltic lavas are similar to the intercalated basalts in Chenjiahe intermediate-acid volcanic rocks in characteristics, both fallen in the tholeiite series with high TiO2 (1.50%~2.73%). Their∑REE are 65.97×10-6~133.46×10-6 and 78.04×10-6~175.55×10-6 respectively, both are slightly enriched in LREE [(La/YbN being 2.00~4.40 and 2.71~4.40 respectively],and both have no obvious Eu anomaly or weak Eu negative anomaly(δEu being 0.85~1.10 and 0.85~0.99 respectively). Basalts from two groups are typically characterized by selected enrichment of LILEs, low abundances of HFSEs relative to NMORB, and prominent troughs of Nb and Ta, with low Nb/La ratio(0.28~0.43), which indicates the affinity of these volcanic rocks to island arc tholeiite(IAT). In addition, εNd(t)(+2.22~+4.08)values of basalts suggest that their mantle sources are similar to the depleted mantle source. Zr/Nb=17.21~36.33 and Ce/Nb=5.73~8.17, implying geochemical characteristics of N-MORB. Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes from Hongtubu basalts are similar to those in Chenjiahe basalts in composition. In the diagrams of εNd(t)-(87Sr/86Sr)t, (207Pb/204Pb)t-(206Pb/204Pb)t,(87Sr/86Sr)t-(206Pb/204Pb)t and εNd(t)-(206Pb/204Pb)t for basalts, the data are fallen in the DM, EMⅠand EMⅡ areas, probably with a little crustalontamination, indicating that the magma of basalts might have had a mixed gin.Thentermediate-acid volcanic rocks from Chenjiahe belong to the calc-alkaline series,they have relatively high abundances of REE∑REE=127.51×10-6~276.01×10-6), and are significantly enriched in LREE[(La/YbN= 4.79~13.51]. Most intermediate-acid volcanic rocks show weak Eu negative anomaly (δEu=0.53~1.20). The trace element patterns of Chenjiahe acid volcanic rocks are similar to those of the ocean ridge granite (ORG), with marked troughs of Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf. A synthetic study shows that the Chenjiahe intermediate-acid volcanic rocks in the eastern segment of North Qilian orogenic belt were formed in an island-arc setting, whereas the Hongtubu basalts were formed in an intra-arc rift setting (or an initial back-arc basin setting), probably being products of the early spreading evolution of the island_arc system towards the back-arc basin in the eastern segment of North Qilian during late Early Paleozoic. The results obtained provide evidence for the existence of the trench-arc-basin system at the juncture of Qilian and North Qinling orogenic belts.