Destruction of the North China Craton

Authors: RiXiang Zhu YiGang Xu Guang Zhu HongFu Zhang QunKe Xia TianYu Zheng

Publish Date: 2012/09/30

Volume: 55, Issue: 10, Pages: 1565-1587

PDF Link

Abstract

A National Science Foundation of China NSFC major research project Destruction of the North China Craton NCC has been carried out in the past few years by Chinese scientists through an indepth and systematic observations experiments and theoretical analyses with an emphasis on the spatiotemporal distribution of the NCC destruction the structure of deep earth and shallow geological records of the craton evolution the mechanism and dynamics of the craton destruction From this work the following conclusions can be drawn 1 Significant spatial heterogeneity exists in the NCC lithospheric thickness and crustal structure which constrains the scope of the NCC destruction 2 The nature of the Paleozoic Mesozoic and Cenozoic subcontinental lithospheric mantle CLM underneath the NCC is characterized in detail In terms of water content the late Mesozoic CLM was rich in water but Cenozoic CLM was highly water deficient 3 The correlation between magmatism and surface geological response confirms that the geological and tectonic evolution is governed by cratonic destruction processes 4 Pacific subduction is the main dynamic factor that triggered the destruction of the NCC which highlights the role of cratonic destruction in plate tectonics

Keywords: