Destruction of the North China Craton
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257684968 Destruction of the North China Craton Article in Science China Earth Science · October 2012 Impact Factor: 1.49 · DOI: 10.1007/s11430-012-4516-y CITATIONS READS 69 65 6 authors, including: Rixiang Zhu Yi-Gang Xu Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences 264 PUBLICATIONS 8,148 CITATIONS 209 PUBLICATIONS 7,351 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Tianyu Zheng Chinese Academy of Sciences 62 PUBLICATIONS 1,589 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate, Available from: Yi-Gang Xu letting you access and read them immediately. Retrieved on: 26 May 2016 SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences Progress of Projects Supported by NSFC October 2012 Vol.55 No.10: 1565–1587 • REVIEW • doi: 10.1007/s11430-012-4516-y Destruction of the North China Craton ZHU RiXiang1*, XU YiGang2, ZHU Guang3, ZHANG HongFu1, XIA QunKe4 & ZHENG TianYu1 1 State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2 State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China; 3 School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China; 4 School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China Received March 27, 2012; accepted June 18, 2012 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 in-depth and systematic observations, experiments and theoretical analyses, with an emphasis on the spatio-temporal 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 sub-continental 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 cra- tonic destruction in plate tectonics. NSFC major research project, research progress, craton destruction, North China Craton Citation: Zhu R X, Xu Y G, Zhu G, et al. Destruction of the North China Craton. Sci China Earth Sci, 2012, 55: 1565–1587, doi: 10.1007/s11430-012-4516-y The Earth is a dynamic subsystem in the solar system and pothesis of continental drift and seafloor spreading. The has gone through numerous changes since its formation striped pattern of sea-floor magnetic anomalies provided the about 4.6 billion years ago. Throughout the history of sci- most powerful observational evidence for the theory of plate ence, the Earth has been extensively studied in terms of tectonics. However, the several-hundred-million-year period material, movement, chemical change, physical field and of the seafloor cycle from seafloor spreading to oceanic geologic structure. Plate tectonics, a theory proposed in the plate subduction is only a fragment of the long history of 1960s, described the dynamic movements of the geological Earth’s evolution. During the past several few billion years, plates of the Earth on a global scale. This theory opened a how did continents grow and what caused their demise? Is new chapter in Earth sciences, which view the Earth as dy- the past or the future controlled by the evolution of conti- namically evolving system. nents? The basic idea behind the theory of plate tectonics The theory of plate tectonics was founded on the hy- are still thought to hold true, but many geoscientist have been expanding on the basic theory and have put forward *Corresponding author (email: [email protected]) many new ideas such as crustal growth, crust-mantle recy- © Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 earth.scichina.com www.springerlink.com 1566 Zhu R X, et al. Sci China Earth Sci October (2012) Vol.55 No.10 cling, continental subduction/exhumation, continental re- [11]. working, among many others in the study of continental In the past few years, Chinese scientists have carried out dynamics. a comprehensive study of geology, geophysics and geo- The tectonic evolution of North China Craton (NCC) has chemistry on the NCC using a “natural laboratory research” been a subject of interest to geoscientists. Chinese geolo- scientific model with a global perspective. The major re- gists have extensively explored the tectonic development of search project, Destruction of the NCC, funded by the Na- the NCC in the last hundred years and have put forward tional Natural Science Foundation of China since 2007, has various theories of the NCC evolution. For example, Prof. mainly encompassed the following 5 key scientific issues: (1) Wenhao Wong proposed the “Yanshanian Movement” in spatio-temporal distribution of the NCC destruction, (2) the 1927 [1], which was used to express the strong tectonic structure of deep Earth and thermal-structural-fluid pro- movement of eastern China in the latter part of the Meso- cesses of the craton destruction, (3) correlation of superfi- zoic, or the “Platform Reactivation” theory founded by pro- cial environment, mineral accumulation, and seismic activi- fessor Guoda Chen during the period of 1956–1960 [2]. ties with the destruction of NCC, (4) mechanisms, processes, Since the 1980s, several important ideas, such as continental and dynamics of the NCC destruction, and (5) significance deep subduction [3] (the Qinling-Dabie Mountains on the of the NCC destruction in global geological and continental southern margin of the NCC) and lithospheric thinning [4] evolution. Using mobile seismic stations and in-situ isotope (the eastern part of the NCC), stand out on the basis of geo- tracer technology, high-precision, high-resolution, large- logical observations and experimental studies. For example, scale and multi-attribute observations have been obtained the inference that the Early Paleozoic lithospheric mantle and huge amounts of data analyzed. Interdisciplinary ap- beneath the eastern NCC had the attributes of a typical cra- proaches, built on the observations and experimental data, ton was proposed based on the studies of mantle xenoliths have enabled us to obtain fresh evidence and new under- in the Ordovician diamondiferous kimberlites from the standing of the destruction of the NCC and its implications NCC (Mengyin County in Shandong Province and Fuxian for near-surface resources and the global evolution of the County in Liaoning Province). The lithosphere of the NCC Earth’s continents. This article briefly reviews the new pro- was about 200 km thick when the kimberlites erupted at gress achieved so far in the research area of the destruction about 470 Ma. However, the Cenozoic basalts sampled a of NCC. thin lithosphere of only 80–120 km, which suggests litho- spheric thinning of more than 100 km since the Early Paleozoic. Petrological and geochemical studies have dis- 1 Structure of the crust and the upper mantle cussed possible physical and chemical processes that could beneath the NCC change the nature of lithospheric mantle, and proposed a variety of mechanisms for lithospheric destruction, such as Understanding the role of craton destruction in the evolution delamination, thermo-chemical/mechanical erosion, perido- of the global tectonics is crucial for the study of continental tite-melt interaction, mechanical extension, and water dynamics. To achieve this it is necessary to understand, not weakening model of the lithosphere [5–11]. only the lithospheric nature and modification processes, but The NCC has experienced not only the lithospheric thin- also the dynamic tectonic system, which caused the craton ning, but also the transformation of lithospheric properties destruction. In view of extensional tectonics and magma- and thermal state. Large-scale ductile deformation and tism, the materials and energy of modifying the lithosphere magmatic-metallogenic activities occurred in the crust of could come from several tectonic activities, including man- the NCC, which originally would have been cratonic in tle plumes, the uprising of asthenospheric mantle derived character. The presence of such deformation suggests that from the lithospheric delamination, or the special mantle the NCC has been partially destroyed and the original prop- flow system associated with the subduction. The crust- erties of the craton no longer exist. We call the geological mantle structures are key constraints for differentiating these phenomenon by which a craton loses stability as craton de- tectonic effects. struction. Lithospheric thinning is only a superficial phe- Since 2000, a total of 975 temporal stations equipped nomenon and it is cratonic destruction that controls the with portable broadband seismometers have been deployed evolution of