Mesozoic contraction deformation in the Yanshan and northern Taihang mountains and its implications to the destruction of the North China Craton

Mesozoic contraction deformation in the Yanshan and Taihang mountains is characterized by basement-involved thrust tectonics,basement-cored buckling anticlines and ductile thrust and nappe tectonics.Most of these deformations are orientated west-east,west-northwest and northeast to north-northeast.The contraction deformations began in the Permian,continued through the Triassic and Jurassic and terminated in the Early Cretaceous,and constitute an important part of the destruction of the North China Craton.It is estimated,from balanced cross-section reconstructions,that the north-south shortening of the central part of the Yanshan belt before 135 Ma was around 38%.The initial crust thickness,pre-dating the major contraction deformation in late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic,was estimated to be around 35 km based on paleogeographic characteristics.Assuming that the inferred depth of ductile thrusting deformation,20-25 km,was the crust thickness involved in the contraction deformation,and also assuming that the N-S contraction deformation was accommodated by vertical crust thickening,the thickness of the crust after the contraction deformation was expected to be around 47-50 km.This was the approximate crust thickness required for the eclogitization of the lower crust for delamination.The gravity potential accumulated by the isostatic uplift of the thickened crust,together with the decrease in crustal strength caused by the coeval magmatisms associated with the contraction deformation,led to the subsequent extensional collapse of the middle and upper crust although the regional stress regime associated with the plate interactions remained constant.It is inferred that the Mesozoic contraction deformations in the Yanshan and Taihang mountains were not only a significant tectonic process contributing to the destruction of the craton in middle and upper crust but also stimulated delamination at a deep level and the extension of the shallow crust.In other words,both the suspected delamination of the lower crust and upper mantle and the well constrained extension deformations of the shallow crust in the eastern North China Craton during the late Mesozoic are a consequence of crust thickening due to previous contractions.Extensional deformations could be expected to occur independently in the shallow crust,and are not necessarily associated with or responding to delamination at a deep level.

A Structural Interpretation Model and Restoration of the Mesozoic Proto-basin for the Kuqa Depression,Tarim Basin

A thrust-fold belt consisting of a series of thrusts and buckling folds developed in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata within the Kuqa Depression,Tarim Basin.In this study,a structural interpretation model of the Kuqa Depression is established and the Mesozoic proto-basin is reconstructed on the basis of outcrop geology along the basin margin,seismic,well-log and CEMP data.The model is called‘delaminate contractional deformation',which emphasizes the decoupling between the Cenozoic,Mesozoic,pre-Mesozoic and the basin-basement within the Kuqa Depression,but there is no unified detachment.The model has a shortening amount ranging from 12 km to 16 km and the depth involved in contractional deformation ranges from 21 km to 28 km.A prototype of the Mesozoic basin reconstructed by interpretation model is a subbasin superposed on the transitional zone between the uplift at the northern edge of the Tarim Craton and the southern Tianshan orogenic wedge formed in the Hercynian orogeny.Lithospheric thermal and crustal isostatic activity after the Hercynian orogeny maybe the controlling dynamic factors of basin subsidence during the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic,the difference in rock mechanical properties between different levels,craton and orogenic wedge being the major cause of the‘delaminate contractional deformation'during the Himalayan orogeny.