The Liaonan Metamorphic Core Complex: Constitution, Structure and Evolution

The Liaonan metamorphic core complex （mcc） has a three-layer structure and is constituted by five parts, i.e. a detachment fault zone, an allochthonous upper plate and an supradetachment basin above the fault zone, and highly metamorphosed rocks and intrusive rocks in the lower plate. The allochthonous upper plate is mainly of Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic rocks weakly deformed and metamorphosed in pre-Indosinan stage. Above these rocks is a small-scale supradetachment basin of Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The lower plate is dominated by Archean TTG gneisses with minor amount of supracrustal rocks. The Archean rocks are intruded by late Mesozoic synkinematic monzogranitic and granitic plutons. Different types of fault rocks, providing clues to the evolution of the detachment fault zone, are well-preserved in the fault zone, e.g. mylonitic gneiss, mylonites, brecciated mylonites, microbreccias and pseudotachylites. Lineations in lower plate granitic intrusions have consistent orientation that indicate uniform top-to-NW shearing along the main detachment fault zone. This also provides evidence for the synkinematic characteristics of the granitic plutons in the lower plate. Structural analysis of the different parts in the mcc and isotopic dating of plutonic rocks from the lower plate and mylonitic rocks from detachment fault zone suggest that exhumation of the mcc started with regional crustal extension due to crustal block rotation and tangential shearing. The extension triggered magma formation, upwelling and emplacement. This event ended with appearance of pseudotachylite and fault gauges formed at the uppermost crustal level. U-Pb dating of single zircon grains from granitic rocks in the lower plate gives an age of 130±2.5 Ma, and biotite grains from the main detachment fault zone have ^40Ar-^39Ar ages of 108-119 Ma. Several aspects may provide constraints for the exhumation of the Liaonan mcc. These include regional extensional setting, cover/basement contact, temporal and spatial coupling of extension and magmatism, basin development and evolution of fault tectonites along detachment fault zone. We propose that the exhumation of the Liaonan mcc resulted from regional extension and thinning of crust or lithosphere in eastern North China, and accompanied with synkinematic intrusion of granitic plutons, formation of detachment fault zone, uplifting and exhumation of lower-plate rocks, and appearance of supradetachment basin.

Adakitic rocks and destruction of the North China Craton:Evidence from experimental petrology and geochemistry

The general temporal-spatial consistency for the formation of adakitic rocks and lithospheric thinning in northern China provide a window to examine the processes and mechanism for the destruction of the North China Craton.With experimental petrology data,this paper demonstrates that the adakitic rocks in northern China are the products of partial melting of middle-to high-potassic metabasalts at the base of the lower continent crust.Based on the TiO2 solubility model,many adakitic rocks in Dabie,Jiaodong and the northern part of the craton appear to have been saturated with TiO2.This indicates the presence of a Ti-rich accessory phase in their source regions.This phase must be rutile based on the decreasing Nb/La with increasing La/Yb in the adakitic rocks.The adakitic magmas were,thus,derived from a depth of more than 50 km,based on pressures (higher than 1.5 GPa) for the stability of rutile in a metabasalt system.Because present-day crustal thickness is generally only 35 km,we suggest that the destruction of the North China Craton may have led to at least 15 km of thinning or delamination of the crust.