A preliminary analysis on lithospheric thickness and crustal ages in central basin of South China Sea

The models about lithospheric thickness and thermal conduction inside the lithosphere and the top layer of the asthenosphere have been proposed in this study for four type regions: the midoceanic ridge, the extinct spreading ridge, the lithospheric fault fissure and the mouth of the extinct submarine volcanoes which are in deep sea bottom. The solutions of the models are found to be the same. The formulas of temperature distribution inside the lithosphere and the top layer of the asthenosphere, the lithospheric thicknesses to the heat flow and the crustal ages to the heat flow are obtained. The crustal ages and the lithospheric thicknesses of the central basin are calculated. And they are used to draw the lithospheric thicknesses and crustal ages maps of the central basin (in this paper both the central basin and the basin are the central basin of the South China Sea). According to their characteristics, the central basin is divided into three regions. The lithospheric thicknesses, crustal ages and heat flow distribution characteristics are discussed respectively. The formation and evolution of the South China Sea are analysed and it is thought that the South China Sea has undergone three episode-seafloor spreadings.

Basement Characteristics and Crustal Evolution of the Copper-Gold Metallogenic Belt in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River:Some Isotope Constraints

Studies of the Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic composition of Mesozoic intrusive rocks indicate that the basement of the copper-gold metallogenic belt of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River has “two-layer structure” and partly has “multi-layered structure”, and is inhomogeneous and shows the distinct feature of E-W provincialism. The calculated model lead ages (t1) are mostly greater than 2600 Ma, and the model neodymium ages (TDM) vary from 953 to 2276 Ma and concentrate in two time intervals: 1800–2000 Ma and 1200–1600 Ma. It is concluded that the basement of the MBYR is composed of the Late Archaeozoic to Middle Proterozoic metamorphic series and that the crust was initiated in the Archaean and continued to grow in the Early and Middle Proterozoic, and the proportion of new crust formed by mantle differentiation during the Late Proterozoic is low.

Source and Significance of Detrital Zircons from Mesozoic Sandstones of the Upper Yangtze Block, China

In this study, we report U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic data for zircons from the Mesozoic sandstones of the Upper Yangtze area, which provide critical constraints on the provenance of these sediments and further shed light on the crustal evolution of the Upper Yangtze block. The results of isotopic chronology indicate the following：（1） The provenances of the study area are very complex, and the tectonic evolution process is relatively closed.（2） The provenances are mainly Archean–Proterozoic crystalline basement or recycled material; Paleoproterozoic crustal accretion in the western margin of the Yangtze block and Neoproterozoic magmatic activities related to subduction of the western margin of the Yangtze block; early Cambrian oceanic magmatic activity, which resulted from the intraplate extension of the northern margin of the Yangtze block; late Ordovician–early Silurian magmatic activity in the northern Yangtze block and Hercynian–Indochina uplift and erosion during the Hercynian movement.（3） The Yangtze crustal growth is episodic, and an increasing amount of ancient recycled material became part of the magmatic activity, as the zircon U–Pb ages are relatively young.