6 勿 H ongzhen W ang and X uanxue M o A n o u tlin e o f th e tecto n ic ev o lu tio n o f C h in a 'Fectonicall-V C hina is com po s e d o厂three P recam brian aily bOUnded by subduction zones (here called accretional conlinenlat p la晌 rins, Sino K o，二‘，，Yangtze. Tarim , and CrUstal consum ption zones, or A Z ). 4 T erranes w ithin the Cold 7ones. I、h ese rnw ht he rc-arded as spe- possiblIN, also C athaYsia. W ith their interstitial.户/d belts, cial ca ses o f th e third i-ank . thel, 、：二re It w o rporated iogether to .1o" n part of' the T hree ranks of tectonic st a g e m ay be discerned (W ang. 1982). E ura,sian Sup ercontinent 1hrough the Indosinian R e first is inainly of a (flobal nature and denotes profound changes in the geospheres and in w orld tectonic fraines. T he second is the tra- orogen-v in the late 7)-iassic. Ili addition, there are the 山tional tectonic stage. in w hich there w ei℃川iporlant change％川tec- northern hot-det ‘，／the Indiall P hl咖 rin, the H iniala-vas tonic trarnes or patterns. T he third refers to cpoclis of intense ot-o- and the northern ，，，‘，‘、‘、叮、、，／G ondw anan 、，厅illiti(、，w hich "enic deform ation and ina.,niatic activitv. I-ive rnc,asta-(,es are recognised, w hich led to the form ation ot 、，，‘re accreted or colla t}cel m cce.%、；、·、IN, onto the I continental nuclei (c. 2.8 G a); E urasian Superconlinent in post-Indosinian iiines. N ine -) continental protoplatforins (c. 1.8 G a): tectonic doinains (a-(, w cogniw d, which al-c delim ited b-N 3 continental platform s (c. 800 M a)} 4 SUpercontinents (c. 208 M a), and intijorgeosutures called (-oil vergent critsial consum p tion 5 disinte-Iration Ofthe Supercontinent to fOrIn the present earth ：‘，，，。‘、．P ie leclollic ‘／‘velopillent，、，‘，‘、infi ve inegaslages frain e. dit，一；ng w hich w crc /0/-//le(I:./l`l.sl/v, conlinellial lilw lei（‘ 1,11c tuain leatm es and pcological events in the d ifferent tec- tonic sta,lc} of(’h ina are suirunarised in T able 1. Foi- con\ cruence ot 2.8 G ‘，）；SeCOndlY, /he p rolo-p leqtorm s （。： 1. 8 G a); discussion. " c have spccial]N included K orea in Fi}'Lrrcs I and I thinfly, the, pla功，，：，，、（‘·，SOO m a少,j Ourthiv, the E urasian N ine principal tectonic dom ains inay be reco-nised in (、h in a Silpercontinew （‘2 10 M a ), and ./ift hlY, Ille presenifi -aine (W amI, e t aL, 1990 ). T hey are front north to South (Fi}-_,urc I）： I T he A ltai-Flingan B elt (A H B ), },vhich is the southern part of the ol'(’h ina. A m on } thcs}、/Ile／，1‘，lj‘J，，，，／‘，，·，，，‘，1＊‘，，， (i t the ellel Sibeiia-M on-olia D om ain. 。，／the j；，，，11，1‘gj‘、，， o r ogeny (SOO M a ) and the superconti- 2 T he Jum - ar T ianshan B elt O f’1 3), kvhich is tire eastern part of lient八w m alioll tit the 。，，‘八，／the Intlo,sinian orogenY (210 the K azakhstan D om ain (K Z D ) 3 ]'Ile BUFCVa--JaIIIus B elt（IB B ), w hich is the SOLIthCI_u IM 11 of tlIC M a ) a re the m a m la m lil7tirks. N orth-east A sian D ornam . A ll the three dom ains are com posed 、）！Sinall M aSSH'211-OLIJ)s interconnected h\, FarIN Palaeozoic told /ones and are delim ited from each other by Early 11crcynian corivci-L,erit zones, the Erfi x-K alarricili (EK C Z ) in the w cst a nd T h e tec to n ic fra m e a n d cru sta l the H e,-,en (IIG C Z ) in the cast. 4 T he I a n in D o m a in (『I ’A D ). w h ich inc lu des the LIIIUSLI,11]V 1110 1111C developm ent of C hina platform and SUFFOUnding Palaeozoic fold helt}. 5 the Sin(）一K orea D om ain (SK D ) is SUrrOLIndCd M ainly by L arly P alaeo zoic to ld be lts w ith se }eral detached P reca m brian niassi l' s T erm inology of tectonic units in the south. T he boundary bet" een the T A D and the SK I) is confroxersial, its the Q aidarn (Q d) and the A lxa (A x ) inassit's A tecton ic u nit （）｛the first ran k, here called it tecto n ic do m ain, is a scelll to be closel} related to both dom ains. A recent study plate of com posite Structure and prolonged history of' developm ent. (W an-, T , 1994) has disco}ered an ophiolitc zone, the Eno e r I he 11OUndarie,, beovcen plaies, here callcd Cott\ CrVCI)t CFLIS(al COII- U su (IE U C Z ), \Ahich m ay be a convergent zone c1tea k cly dc li n - suniption /ones. are the rn}、川"COSLItUrcs. T he recent loose Usage of eatiruI, a southern (SK D ) and a northern (K Z D ) fautral province 山C VCF}' LISCfUl icrin 、 terraric' to c0、VCF TCCtO11iC units front com incri- durino t he Palaeozoic. T his boundary betw een the SK P and the tal platform s to sinIgle thrust m asses has caused som e confusion. III K Z D is truncated by the A ltun transcuri-crit fault in its w estern order to inake the tectonic t0FIuiI1OlOYy 11101-C SVSICInatic, w e use a segm ent (Figure I）．The Southern boundary ofthe platform in K orea is also） problem atic, because the cratonic area south （们 h e four-rank hiel-,IFCIV} 川山c hope that anihig,川tv 川ay be avoided: Irrijingang and north of the O chcon Belt belongs certainly to the ］ T ectonic doinains com posed of a continental platforin and its S K P not the Y ZP its generally believed (Y in ct：，｝．，1993 ). T his surrounding fOld bells, OF Ot a PFOL甲of' Precarnhrian niassits interpretation seem s to he supported by 山c 日identation ofthe interconnected by FaFIV Palaeozoic fold /ones 、（）、，、to forni： 、 north-c-astern part ofthe Y Z P into K orca alonp, the Ini.j ingIa riL-, m ore or less inlet-,raied w hole (W an", 198 1, 1986). 1’l ie tecton ic R iver durin" or after the Inclosinian Stage ( Figure ］）．『I he nort h - dom ains are delinnied front each other by convcroent Crustal crn houndaries ofthe T A D and the SK D are m arked h}, the cOnSLIII1pt1OII /Ones （（’2 ）that rnark- the final convergence oft he South T ianshan M azong shan convergent zone (T M C Z ) and the opposite continental inam ins. SUOILm - L.inxi convergent zone (SL.C Z ) respectively, both of 2 P latfo rm s (crato ns ) and 川（)b ile bell,,. Late Flercynian age. Evidence for collision is not m anifest角 r 3 L T n i t s w ith川a plallorni that c(）川prisc ancient continental nuclei the S l（’2 ，but biogeographic evidence seem s to be convincinIo and P] ccarnbriall basem ent of \ arious a-c-,． and those w ithin it (FIuan,_,, B . 199 1 } Li et al., 1992). m obile bell attrihutable to a single continental tract, inade tip o f 6 The Y ar qIt z e- -Q ia n-I t a n g D o m ain (Y Q D ) iI)CILIdeS the Y angItze fo ld /o n es o f vario u s }w c s w ith o r W ith O LIt in ed ian in assits. ']'he Platform in the cast and a I-roLIj) of m assil's in the w est, com p ris- to ld zo ne s a nd ru assifs o ri6 nalc fron t SU ccessivelv accreted ing the N orth Q ian-tan- (Q t), the Q arndo (Q i川 zinc] the Lin- island arcs an(] traLrucias split front the continent: they are L IS U- can,, Sim ao (I-s), w hich w ere probably parts、）！tile Y Z P that M a rc h 浅 J u ile 1 9 () S 7 Table I Tectonic stages in th e crustal evolution Qf C hina. E o n E ra. M egastage Stage lOrogenic epocbs and geological events M ain regim es U pheaval of Q uin(,hai-T ibet Plateau － 一 H im alayan orogenc} 30 一 K z H im alayan C lose of Y Z A Z northw ard indentat io n ol ：1 V N E India onto T ibet-Y unnafl forcland C om pression dom inant (W ) ， 卜 Intracon tm ental basins (W ) rift basins and m arginal sea s (E ) extension dom inant (E ) 6 } 一 developm ent 9 （） -t 一 Y arlshanian orogeny ︺ Form ation ot'circum -Pacific m ag m atic belt o一 N 呱 丫a n s h a n ia n In d e n ta tio n o f N E Y Z P o n to K o re a o · C lose of Q N A Z ．l t 2 （）8 ，＿ 一＿ Indosinian orogeny 门l 一尸 C ollision of T ZD .