Tectonic Evolution of an Early Precambrian High-Pressure Granulite Belt in the North China Craton

A large-scale high-pressure granulite belt (HPGB), more than 700 km long, is recognized within the metamorphic basement of the North China craton. In the regional tectonic framework, the Hengshan-Chengde HPGB is located in the central collision belt between the western block and eastern block, and represents the deep crustal structural level. The typical high-pressure granulite (HPG) outcrops are distributed in the Hengshan and Chengde areas. HPGs commonly occur as mafic xenoliths within ductile shear zones, and underwent multipile deformations. To the south, the Hengshan-Chengde HPGB is juxtaposed with the Wutai greenstone belt by several strike-slip shear zones. Preliminary isotopic age dating indicates that HPGs from North China were mainly generated at the end of the Neoarchaean, assocaited with tectonic assembly of the western and eastern blocks.

Carboniferous Alaskan-type complex along the Sino–Mongolian boundary,southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

We present zircon ages and geochemical data for the Hongshishan Carboniferous Alaskan-type mafic–ultramafic complex exposed in the Beishan area along the Sino–Mongolian boundary, southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. This complex mainly consists of dunite,harzburgite, lherzolite, wehrlite, and gabbro, which intrudes Early Carboniferous volcanic rocks and reveals a zoned structure. Zircons of a gabbro sample yielded a 206Pb/238 U age of 357 ± 4 Ma, reflecting the time of Early Carboniferous magmatism. Zircon ages were also obtained for an andesite(322 ± 3 Ma) and a basaltic andesite(304 ± 2 Ma).High initial Nd isotope whole-rock values suggest that the Hongshishan gabbro [e_(Nd(t))= +9.6-+10.2] and basalt[eNd(t)= +10.0-+10.8] were derived from a depleted mantle source. Slightly lower eNd(t)values for the ultramafic rocks [eNd(t)= +8.5-+8.7] suggest some interaction of the parental magma with the continental crust. In contrast, the Late Carboniferous Quershan samples in this area represent subduction-related arc volcanic rocks with Adakite-like compositions. The early Carboniferous Hongshishan Alaskan-type complex was interpreted to represent the remnants of a magma chamber that crystallized at the base of a mature island arc, whereas the Quershan island arc volcanic rockssuggest the resurrection of the subduction process after arccontinent collision and uplift of the roots of the arc.

Constraints on sedimentary ages of the Chuanlinggou Formation in the Ming Tombs, Beijing, North China Craton: LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP U–Pb dating of detrital zircons

Detrital zircons in five sedimentary samples, MC1 to MC5, from the bottom of the Chuanlinggou Formation in the Ming Tombs District, Beijing, were dated with the LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP U-Pb methods. Age spectra of the five samples show a major peak at 2500 Ma and a secondary peak at 2000 Ma, suggesting their provenances were mainly from the crystalline basement of the North China Craton and the Trans-North China Orogen. The youngest zircon has an age of 1673 d： 44 Ma, indicating that the Chuanlinggou Formation was deposited after this age. From sample MC4 to MC5, lithology changed from a clastic rock （fine-grained sandstone） to a carbonate rock （fine-grained dolomite）, suggesting that the depositional basin became progressively deeper. The age spectrum of sample MC5 shows a major peak at 2500 Ma and a secondary peak at 2000 Ma. Sample MC4, which is stratigraphically lower than sample MC5, only had one peak at 2500 Ma. We conclude that there was a transgressive event when sediments represented by MC5 was deposited, and seawater carried ca. 2000 Ma clastic materials to the basin where the Chuanlinggou Formation was deposited, leading to the addition of ca. 2000 Ma detritus. Our research indicates that the source area for the sediments became more extensive with time. We conclude that the Chuanlinggou Formation in the Ming Tombs District was deposited in a low-energy mud fiat sedimentary environment in the inter-supra tidal zone because it is mainly composed of silty mudstone and fine-grained sandstone with relatively simple sedimentary structures.

Age and Origin of Paleogene Granitoids from Western Yunnan Province,China:Geochemistry,SHRIMP Zircon Ages,and Hf-in-Zircon Isotopic Compositions

We report geochemical data, SHRIMP zircon ages and Hf-in-zircon isotopic compositions for Cenozoic granitoids from major fault systems in the Tethyan belt in western Yunnan Province, southwestern China.Four magmatic pulses occurred in the Paleogene, namely at ca.57 Ma, ca.50 Ma, 45–40 Ma, and 38–34 Ma.Early magmatism of this episode（57–50 Ma） produced S-type granites whose zircons yielded εHf（t） values of-5.0 to-0.3.In contrast, late magmatism of this episode reflects heterogeneous sources.Zircons from a granite porphyry along the Ailaoshan-Red River fault system have slightly positive εHf（t） values suggesting derivation from relatively young crust and/or a juvenile source.However, zircons from a granite along the Gaoligong fault system have strongly negative εHf（t） values and suggest derivation from a Paleoproterozoic crustal source.The composition of the granitoids varies with age（from ca.57 Ma to ca.34 Ma） from peraluminous to metaluminous and also suggests a change from syn-collisional to late-orogenic tectonic setting.A new tectonic model, impacting lithospheric wedge（ILW） is shown for the origin of Paleogene granitoids in this paper.

Eastern Ancient Terrane of the North China Craton

Based on the spatial distribution of ancient rocks and zircons, three ancient terranes older than ca. 2.6 Ga have recently been identified in the North China Craton, namely the Eastern, Southern, and Central Ancient Terranes. The Eastern Ancient Terrane is the best studied and understood of the three ancient terranes. It has a long geological history back to ca. 3.8 Ga ago and includes the areas of Anshan-Benxi, eastern Hebei, eastern Shandong and western Shandong. In Anshan-Benxi, several different types of 3.8 Ga rocks were discovered together with 3.1-3.7 Ga rocks, whereas 2.9-3.0 Ga K-rich granites and 2.5 Ga syenogranite occur on larger scales. In eastern Hebei, 3.0-3.4 Ga rocks and older detrital and xenocrystic zircons were identified. In eastern Shandong, there are a large volumes of 2.7 Ga and 2.9 Ga rocks. In western Shandong, early Neoarchean （2.6-2.7 Ga） intrusive and supracrustal rocks are widely distributed. Whole-rock Nd and zircon Hf isotope data suggest that both mantle additions and crustal recycling played important roles within the Eastern Ancient Terrane during almost every tectono-magmatic event. Most BIFs in the North China Craton are late Neoarchean in age and are distributed on continental crust along the western margin of the Eastern Ancient Terrane, probably suggesting that a stable environment was one of the key factors for the formation of large-scale BIFs.

Geochemistry and SHRIMP U-Pb Zircon Dating of Mafic Rocks North of Zunhua City, Eastern Hebei, North China Craton： Paleoproterozoic Gabbro rather than Neoarchean Ophiolite

Abundant mafic-ultramafic blocks and dikes occur in the area north of Zunhua City, eastern Hebei Province, and were previously suggested to be part of a late Archean ophiolitic assemblage. We employed SHRIMP zircon dating and a geochemical study on these mafic and surrounding rocks to test the ophiolite hypothesis. The SHRIMP data suggest that three metagabbro samples were metamorphosed at ～1.8 Ga. Numerous ～2.5 Ga zircons display strong oscillatory zoning, characteristic of zircons from granitoid rocks but not from gabbro, so we suggest that these are xenocrystic grains. The age of these xenocrystic zircons and their metamorpbic rims suggests that these mafic blocks formed in Paleoproterozoic. The surrounding gneiss of intermediate composition also contains 2.5 Ga zircons with oscillatory zoning and 1.8 Ga metamorphic rims. Fractionated REE patterns and Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf negative anomalies to variable extent were observed in the mafic blocks and surrounding rocks, also supporting a significant difference in the chemistry of ophiolitic rocks. Our data suggest that many mafic blocks in northern Zunhua are not part of a late Archean ophiolite complex but part of a tectonically dismembered Paleoproterozoic intrusive gabbro complex. This study shows that late Paleoproterozoic metamorphism occurred in the western part of eastern Hebei Province.