Jian Wang

Bio: Jian Wang is an academic researcher from Ministry of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China. The author has contributed to research in topics: Zircon & Supercontinent. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 12 publications receiving 355 citations. Previous affiliations of Jian Wang include China Geological Survey.

Mature Archean continental crust in the Yangtze craton: Evidence from petrology, geochronology and geochemistry

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that the Archean basement is widely distributed throughout the Yangtze craton. To date, however, Archean basement terrains have not been found, except for a few Kongling high-grade metamorphic terrains in the Huangling dome that have been confirmed to be of Archean age. To further understand the basement component and crustal evolution of the Yangtze craton, we carried out a petrological, geochronological and geochemical study of the Jinshan K-feldspar granite emplaced within the Yangpo Group, located in Huji Town, Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province. Results indicate that the zircon SHRIMP U-Pb age of the Jinshan granite is 2655±9 Ma, placing it within the middle Neoarchean. Chemically, this pluton yields abundant silica and alkalis and is depleted in Ca, Mg and Ti. Furthermore, it is enriched in Rb, Th, Ga, Y and Zr, depleted in Sr, Ba, Nb and Ta, and especially lacking in Eu. High ratios of FeO*/MgO (32.0 to 58.7) and 104×Ga/Al (3.19 to 3.41) were also found. The pluton exhibits characteristics typical of A-type granites with crustal source magmas. Moreover, the meta-sedimentary rock association of the Yangpo Group, into which the pluton intruded, clearly shows relatively stable depositional environments of a shallow shelf sequence. Therefore, before the middle Neoarchean, the Yangtze craton contained mature continental crust. This breakthrough discovery opens a new window on the study of the formation and evolution of the Yangtze craton basement.

Locating South China in Rodinia and Gondwana: A fragment of Greater India Lithosphere? (Invited)

Abstract: From the formation of Rodinia at the end of the Mesoproterozoic to the commencement of Pangea breakup at the end of the Paleozoic, the South China craton fi rst formed and then occupied a position adjacent to Western Australia and northern India. Early Neoproterozoic suprasubduction zone magmatic arc-backarc assemblages in the craton range in age from ca. 1000 Ma to 820 Ma and display a sequential northwest decrease in age. These relations suggest formation and closure of arc systems through southeast-directed subduction, resulting in progressive northwestward accretion onto the periphery of an already assembled Rodinia. Siliciclastic units within an early Paleozoic succession that transgresses across the craton were derived from the southeast and include detritus from beyond the current limits of the craton. Detrital zircon age spectra require an East Gondwana source and are very similar to the Tethyan Himalaya and younger Paleozoic successions from Western Australia, suggesting derivation from a common source and by inference accumulation in linked basins along the northern margin of Gondwana, a situation that continued until rifting and breakup of the craton in the late Paleozoic.

Highly fractionated chromium isotopes in Mesoproterozoic-aged shales and atmospheric oxygen.

Abstract: The history of atmospheric oxygen through the Mesoproterozoic Era is uncertain, but may have played a role in the timing of major evolutionary developments among eukaryotes. Previous work using chromium isotopes in sedimentary rocks has suggested that Mesoproterozoic Era atmospheric oxygen levels were too low in concentration ( 1% PAL and thus the possibility that a permissive environment existed long before the expansion of various eukaryotic clades.