Showing papers on "Craton published in 2013"
19 Mar 2013
914 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an up-to-date along-strike synthesis of the Tianshan orogenic collage and a new tectonic model to explain its accretionary evolution is provided.
837 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the 2.6-2.5 Ga basement rocks in the eastern and western parts of the NCC formed under different tectonic settings from those in the central part, consistent with subduction and continent-continent collisional belts.
804 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the three major magmatic-mineralization episodes are the result of distinct geodynamic regimes, based on mineral assemblage, age, and space-time distribution of these mineral systems, integrated with regional geological data and field observations.
Abstract: The ore deposits of the Mesozoic age in South China can be divided into three groups, each with different metal associations and spatial distributions and each related to major magmatic events. The first event occurred in the Late Triassic (230–210 Ma), the second in the Mid–Late Jurassic (170–150 Ma), and the third in the Early–Mid Cretaceous (120–80 Ma). The Late Triassic magmatic event and associated mineralization is characterized by peraluminous granite-related W–Sn–Nb–Ta mineral deposits. The Triassic ore deposits are considerably disturbed or overprinted by the later Jurassic and Cretaceous tectono-thermal episodes. The Mid–Late Jurassic magmatic and mineralization events consist of 170–160 Ma porphyry–skarn Cu and Pb–Zn–Ag vein deposits associated with I-type granites and 160–150 Ma metaluminous granite-related polymetallic W–Sn deposits. The Late Jurassic metaluminous granite-related W–Sn deposits occur in a NE-trending cluster in the interior of South China, such as in the Nanling area. In the Early–Mid Cretaceous, from about 120 to 80 Ma, but peaking at 100–90 Ma, subvolcanic-related Fe deposits developed and I-type calc-alkaline granitic intrusions formed porphyry Cu–Mo and porphyry-epithermal Cu–Au–Ag mineral systems, whereas S-type peraluminous and/or metaluminous granitic intrusions formed polymetallic Sn deposits. These Cretaceous mineral deposits cluster in distinct areas and are controlled by pull-apart basins along the South China continental margin. Based on mineral assemblage, age, and space–time distribution of these mineral systems, integrated with regional geological data and field observations, we suggest that the three magmatic–mineralization episodes are the result of distinct geodynamic regimes. The Triassic peraluminous granites and associated W–Sn–Nb–Ta mineralization formed during post-collisional processes involving the South China Block, the North China Craton, and the Indo-China Block, mostly along the Dabie-Sulu and Songma sutures. Jurassic events were initially related to the shallow oblique subduction of the Izanagi plate beneath the Eurasian continent at about 175 Ma, but I-type granitoids with porphyry Cu and vein-type Pb–Zn–Ag deposits only began to form as a result of the breakup of the subducted plate at 170–160 Ma, along the NNE-trending Qinzhou-Hangzhou belt (also referred to as Qin-Hang or Shi-Hang belt), which is the Neoproterozoic suture that amalgamates the Yangtze Craton and Cathaysia Block. A large subduction slab window is assumed to have formed in the Nanling and adjacent areas in the interior of South China, triggering the uprise of asthenospheric mantle into the upper crust and leading to the emplacement of metaluminous granitic magma and associated polymetallic W–Sn mineralization. A relatively tectonically quiet period followed between 150 and 135 Ma in South China. From 135 Ma onward, the angle of convergence of the Izanagi plate changed from oblique to parallel to the coastline, resulting in continental extensional tectonics and reactivation of regional-scale NE-trending faults, such as the Tan-Lu fault. This widespread extension also promoted the development of NE-trending pull-apart basins and metamorphic core complexes, accompanied by volcanism and the formation of epithermal Cu–Au deposits, granite-related polymetallic Sn–(W) deposits and hydrothermal U deposits between 120 and 80 Ma (with a peak activity at 100–90 Ma).
683 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the ICP-MS zircon U-Pb ages and geochemical data for the Mesozoic volcanic rocks in northeast China, with the aim of determining the tectonic settings of the volcanism and constraining the timing of the overprinting and transformations between the Paleo-Asian Ocean, Mongol-Okhotsk, and circum-Pacific Tectonic regimes.
624 citations
TL;DR: In the last three decades, extensive geological, geochemical and geophysical investigations have been carried out on these cratonic blocks and intervening orogenic belts, producing an abundant amount of new data and competing interpretations.
617 citations
TL;DR: The North China Craton (NCC) has experienced a complex geological evolution since the early Precambrian, and carries important records of secular changes in tectonics and metallogeny.
550 citations
University of Graz1, Oklahoma State University–Stillwater2, King Abdulaziz University3, University of Adelaide4, United Arab Emirates University5, University of Asmara6, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)7, Ministry of Energy and Minerals8, University of Texas at Dallas9, Norwegian University of Science and Technology10
TL;DR: A first phase of ocean closure and accretion of terranes defines the East African Orogeny, which mainly affected the southern parts of east Africa and Madagascar, and was followed by extension phases that were accompanied by emplacement of late- to post-tectonic granitoids.
548 citations
TL;DR: The South China craton was formed at the end of the Mesoproterozoic by Rodinia and occupied a position adjacent to Western Australia and northern India in the early NeoproTERozoic as discussed by the authors.
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.
487 citations
TL;DR: Gondwana is reviewed from the unification of its several cratons in the Late Neoproterozoic, through its combination with Laurussia in the Carboniferous to form Pangea and up to its progressive fragmentation in the Mesozoic.
460 citations
TL;DR: Based mainly on field geological observation and geochronologic data, six tectonic units have been recognized in western Inner Mongolia (China), including, from south to north: North China Craton (NCC), Southern Orogenic Belt (SOB), Hunshandake Block (HB), Northern Orogenics Belt (NOB), South Mongolia microcontinent (SMM), and Southern margin of Ergun Block (SME), suggesting that the Tectonic framework of the CAOB is characterized by an accretion of different blocks and orogenic belts RE
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the tectonic characteristics of the South China Continent (SCC) and extracted the universal Tectonic rules from these characteristics, to help enrich the plate-tectonic theory and better understand the continental dynamic system.
Abstract: This paper aims at exploring the tectonic characteristics of the South China Continent (SCC) and extracting the universal tectonic rules from these characteristics,to help enrich the plate tectonic theory and better understand the continental dynamic system. For this purpose, here we conduct a multi-disciplinary investigation and combine it with the previous studies to reassess the tectonics and evolution of SCC and propose that the tectonic framework of the continent comprises two blocks, three types of tectonic units, four deformation systems, and four evolutionary stages with distinctive mechanism and tectonic characteristics since the Neoproterozoic. The four evolutionary stages are: (1) The amalgamation and break-up of the Neoproterozoic plates, typically the intracontinental rifting. (2) The early Paleozoic and Mesozoic intracontinental orogeny confined by plate tectonics, forming two composite tectonic domains. (3) The parallel operation of the Yangtze cratonization and intracontinental orogeny, and multi-phase reactivation of the Yangtze craton. (4) The association and differentiation evolution of plate tectonics and intracontinental tectonics, and the dynamic characteristics under the Meso-Cenozoic modern global plate tectonic regime.
TL;DR: The NE China Khondalite Belt as mentioned in this paper is a terrane formed by a collision between currently unidentified terranes with the Southeastern Angara-Anabar Province at about 500-Ma, where the rocks were deformed and metamorphosed to granulite facies.
19 Mar 2013
TL;DR: A review of the state of the art regarding the largely accepted data and ideas concerning the Proterozoic to Early Paleozoic tectonic evolution of South China can be found in this article.
TL;DR: This paper showed that post-Archean continental crust does not begin life in oceanic arcs, and that continental crust was not formed by seafloor plate tectonics in the late Archean.
TL;DR: In this paper, SIMS U-Pb zircon ages and Nd isotope data for the felsic volcanic rocks from seven Neo-archean greenstone belts of the Eastern Dharwar craton (EDC) and from the Chitradurga greenstone belt (WDC) were presented.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the Paleoproterozoic tectonics of the Inner Mongolia Suture Zone (IMSZ) and Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO) through zircon SHRIMP geochronology on a representative suite of rocks comprising metasediments and arc magmatic rocks.
15 Mar 2013
TL;DR: The continental crust originated by processes similar to those operating today and continents consist of material most of which originated long ago in arc-systems that have later been modified, especially at Andean margins and in continental collisions where crustal thickening is common as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The continental crust originated by processes similar to those operating today and continents consist of material most of which originated long ago in arc-systems that have later been modified, especially at Andean margins and in continental collisions where crustal thickening is common. Collision-related strike-slip motion is a general process in continental evolution. Because buoyant continental (or arc) material generally moves during collision toward a nearby oceanic margin where less buoyant lithosphere crops out, the process of major strike-slip dominated motion toward a 'free-face' is called 'tectonic escape'. Tectonic escape is and has been an element in continental evolution throughout recorded earth-history. It promotes: (1) rifting and the formation of rift-basins with thinning of thickened crust; (2) pervasive strike-slip faulting late in orogenic history which breaks up mountain belts across strike and may juxtapose unrelated sectors in cross-section; (3) localized compressional mountains and related foreland-trough basins.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that cratons involved in intercontinental collisions in a lower plate position are often affected by orogenic events, leading to the transformation of their margins.
TL;DR: Using SHRIMP zircon ages, the authors in this paper found that the North Tianshan orogenic belt in Kyrgyzstan consists predominantly of Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic assemblages and tectonically interlayered older Precambrian crystalline complexes and formed during early PDEs and collisional events.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors considered that Archaean cratons were the active tectonic agents, accreting and subcreting basaltic plateaux, other proto-cratons, and heterogeneous mantle domains as they drifted.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Zircon U-Pb dating results indicate that Mesozoic volcanisms in NE China can be subdivided into six stages, i.e., Late Triassic (200～228Ma), Early-Middle Jurassic (173ﻞ190Ma), Middle-Late Jurassic (158166Ma), early Early Cretaceous (138 145Ma), late Early CRETaceous (106ﻩ 133Ma), and Late Cretovery (88ﻎ97Ma) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: This paper summarizes geochronology and association of Mesozoic volcanic rocks and their spatial and temporal variations, with the aim of constraining evolutionary history, and ore-forming background of the circum Pacific and Mongol-Okhotsk tectonic systems in NE China. Zircon U-Pb dating results indicate that Mesozoic volcanisms in NE China can be subdivided into six stages, i.e., Late Triassic (200～228Ma), Early-Middle Jurassic (173～190Ma), Middle-Late Jurassic (158～166Ma), early Early Cretaceous (138～145Ma), late Early Cretaceous (106～133Ma), and Late Cretaceous (88～97Ma). Late Triassic volcanic rocks in NE China mainly distribute in the eastern Jilin-Heilongjiang provinces and the Lesser Xing’an-Zhangguangcai Ranges. The former consists of A-type rhyolite, the latter is composed of bimodal volcanic rocks, implying that they formed under an extensional environment after the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean. Early-Middle Jurassic volcanic rocks occur in the eastern Jilin-Heilongjiang provinces, the Lesser Xing’an-Zhangguangcai Ranges, and the Erguna district. Those in the eastern Jilin- Heilongjiang provinces and the Erguna district are composed of calc-alkaline volcanic rocks, suggesting that they formed under the subductions of the Paleo-Pacific plate beneath the Eurasian continent and of the Mongol-Okhotsk oceanic plate beneath the Erguna Massif, respectively. However, those in the Lesser Xing’an-Zhangguangcai Ranges are a set of bimodal volcanic rocks, implying that they formed under an extensional environment similar to a back-arc setting of double-direction subduction. Middle-Late Jurassic and early Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks only distribute to the west of the Songliao basin, including the Great Xing’an Range and northern Hebei-western Liaoning provinces. Middle-Late Jurassic volcanic rocks consist of basaltic trachy-andesite, trachy-andesite, and trachyte, whereas early Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks are composed of A-type rhyolite and alkali rhyolite, which formed under an extensional environment related to the collapse or delamination of the thickened lower crust. The late Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks are widespread in NE China, those in the eastern Jilin-Heilongjiang provinces belong chemically to a set of calc-alkaline series, whereas those from the Songliao basin and the Great Xing’an Range are a bimodal volcanic rocks. The former marks the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate beneath the Eurasian continent, the latter could form under an extensional environment related to the delamination of the thickened lower crust and/or a back-arc setting. Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks mainly occur in the eastern margin of the Eurasian continent, and consist of calc-alkaline series in the continental margin and alkali basalts in intracontinent, suggesting that they formed under the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate. Taken together, we conclude: 1) that the subduction of the circum Pacific tectonic system beneath the Eurasian continent began in the Early Jurassic and took place in three times (Early Jurassic, late Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous) during Mesozoic; the influencing spatial extent of the circum Pacific tectonic system mainly include the Songliao basin and its to east; the active continental margin and Paleo-subduction zone are favorable sites in search of porphyry ore deposits, whereas an extensional regions within intracontinent are favorable for the formation of the epithermal hydrothermal ore deposits in the eastern Jilin-Heilongjiang provinces; 2) that the Mongol-Okhotsk tectonic system experienced Early Mesozoic subduction beneath the Erguna Massif, and Middle Jurassic and early Early Cretaceous thrusting events; the influencing spatial extent of the Mongol-Okhotsk tectonic system include to west of the Songliao basin and northern margin of the North China Craton; the Early Mesozoic subduction of the Mongol-Okhotsk oceanic plate beneath the Erguna Massif is favorable for the formation of porphyry deposits, whereas the extensional environment related to the collapse or delamination of the thickened lower crust in Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous are favorable for formation of polymetallic deposits.
TL;DR: Zircon U-Pb ages, major and trace element analyses, and Hf isotope data for Neoproterozoic intrusive rocks in the Erguna Massif of NE China, in the eastern segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) were discussed in this article.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize the information on mineralization and magmatism, S−Pb-H-O-C-He-Ar isotopic data of the ores and Sr−Nd-Pb−Hf isotopic values of the Mesozoic plutons from the Shandong region.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented new geochemical data, zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes from a suite of metamorphic rocks from the Kuanping, Qinling, Danfeng, Douling and Wuguan Groups in the NQB and the SQB.
TL;DR: Zircon dating results reveal that the magmatic precursors of the supracrustal metapelites and granitoid gneisses were generated at 2.54-2.53-Ga and 2.57−2.55-Ga, respectively.
TL;DR: In this article, the H2O content of clinopyroxene phenocrysts was measured in lithospheric mantle-derived high-magnesium basalts of the Feixian area, in the eastern part of the North China Craton (NCC).
TL;DR: The Hekou Group in the western Yangtze Block is a volcano-sedimentary succession that is intruded by gabbroic plutons with zircon U-Pb ages of ∼1697-1684-Ma.
TL;DR: In this paper, a combined study of zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopes and whole rock major and trace elements and Sr-Nd isotopes has been conducted for 10 tonalitic-trondhjemitic-granodioritic (TTG) and granitic gneisses from the Kongling terrain, the only known Archean microcontinent in the Yangtze craton, South China.