Abstract
The geometry and timing of amalgamation of the North China craton (NCC) have been controversial, with three main models with significantly different interpretations of regional structure, geochronology, and geological relationships. The model of Zhao G C et al. suggests that the eastern and western blocks of the NCC formed separately in the Archean, and an active margin was developed on the eastern block between 2.5 and 1.85 Ga, when the two blocks collided above an east dipping subduction zone. The model of Kusky et al. presumes that the eastern block rifted from an unknown larger continent at circa 2.7 Ga, and experienced a collision with an arc (perhaps attached to the western block) above a west-dipping subduction zone at 2.5 Ga, and the 1.85 Ga metamorphism is related to a collision along the northern margin of the craton when the NCC joined the Columbia supercontinent. The model of Faure et al. suggests two collisions in the central orogenic belt, at 2.1 and 1.88 Ga. Recent seismic results support both the models of Kusky et al. and Faure et al., showing that subduction beneath the central orogenic belt (COB) was west-directed, and that there is a second, west-dipping paleosubduction zone located to the east of the COB dipping beneath the western block (Ordos craton). The boundaries identified through geophysics do not correlate with the boundaries of the Trans-North China orogen suggested in the Zhao et al. model, and the subduction polarity is opposite that predicted by that model. The seismic profiles are consistent with an Archean collision above a west-dipping subduction zone beneath the COB predicted by the models of Kusky et al., and the second west-dipping subduction zone is consistent with the two events suggested in the Faure et al. model.
Similar content being viewed by others
References Cited
Cheng, S. H., Li, J. H., Kusky, T. M., 2007. Komatiites from West Shandong, North China Craton: Implications for Plume Tectonics. In: Zhai, M. G., Xiao, W. J., Kusky, T. M., et al., eds., Tectonic Evolution of China and Adjacent Crustal Fragments. Special Issue of Gondwana Research, 12(1–2): 77–83
Faure, M., Trap, P., Lin, W., et al., 2007. Polyorogenic Evolution of the Paleo-Proterozoic Trans-North China Belt, New Insights from the Lüliangshan-Hengshan-Wutaishan and Fuping Massifs. Episodes, 30(2): 96–107
Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., 2003. Paleoproterozoic Tectonic Evolution of the North China Craton. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 22(4): 383–397
Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., 2010. Origin and Emplacement of Ophiolites of the Central Orogenic Belt, North China Craton. Journal of Earth Science, 21(5): 744–781
Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., Santosh, M., 2007a. The Paleoproterozoic North Hebei Orogen: North China Craton’s Collisional Suture with Columbia Supercontinent. In: Zhai, M. G., Xiao, W. J., Kusky, T. M., et al., eds., Tectonic Evolution of China and Adjacent Crustal Fragments. Special Issue of Gondwana Research, 12(1–2): 4–28
Kusky, T. M., Windley, B. F., Zhai, M. G., 2007b. Tectonic Evolution of the North China Block: From Orogen to Craton to Orogen. In: Zhai, M. G., Windley, B. F., Kusky, T. M., et al., eds., Mesozoic Sub-continental Lithospheric Thinning under Eastern Asia. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 280: 1–34
Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., Tucker, R. D., 2001. The Archean Dongwanzi Ophiolite Complex, North China Craton: 2.505 Billion Year Old Oceanic Crust and Mantle. Science, 292(5519): 1142–1145
Kusky, T. M., Li, Z. H., Glass, A., et al., 2004. Archean Ophiolites and Ophiolite Fragments of the North China Craton, Chapter 7. In: Kusky, T. M., ed., Precambrian Ophiolites and Related Rocks. Developments in Precambrian Geology 13. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 223–274
Kusky, T. M., Santosh, M., 2009. The Columbia Connection in North China. In: Reddy, S. M., Mazumder, R., Evans, D., et al., eds., Paleoproterozoic Supercontinents and Global Evolution. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 323: 49–71
Li, J. H., Kusky, T. M., 2007. A Late Archean Foreland Fold and Thrust Belt in the North China Craton: Implications for Early Collisional Tectonics. In: Zhai, M. G., Xiao, W. J., Kusky, T. M., et al., eds., Tectonic Evolution of China and Adjacent Crustal Fragments. Special Issue of Gondwana Research, 12(1–2): 47–66
Li, J. H., Kusky, T. M., Huang, X. N., 2002. Archean Podiform Chromitites and Mantle Tectonites in Ophiolitic Melange, North China Craton: A Record of Early Oceanic Mantle Processes. GSA Today, 12(7): 4–11
Liu, D. Y., Wilde, S. A., Wan, Y. S., et al., 2009. Combined U-Pb, Hafnium and Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Zircons from Metaigneous Rocks in the Southern North China Craton Reveal Multiple Events in the Late Mesoarchean-Early Neoarchean. Chemical Geology, 261(1–2): 139–153
Polat, A., Herzberg, C., Munker, C., et al., 2006a. Geochemical and Petrological Evidence for a Suprasubduction Zone Origin of Neoarchean (ca. 2.5 Ga) Peridotites, Central Orogenic Belt, North China Craton. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 118(7–8): 771–784
Polat, A., Li, J. H., Fryer, B., et al., 2006b. Geochemical Characteristics of the Neoarchean (2 800–2 700 Ma) Taishan Greenstone Belt, North China Craton: Evidence for Plume-Craton Interaction. Chemical Geology, 230(1–2): 60–87
Polat, A., Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., 2007. Geochemistry of Neoarchean (ca. 2.55–2.50 Ga) Volcanic and Ophiolitic Rocks in the Wutaishan Greenstone Belt, Central Orogenic Belt, North China Craton: Implications for Geodynamic Setting and Continental Growth: Reply. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119: 490–492
Polat, A., Kusky, T. M., Li, J. H., et al., 2005. Geochemistry of Neoarchean (ca. 2.55–2.50 Ga) Volcanic and Ophiolitic Rocks in the Wutaishan Greenstone Belt, Central Orogenic Belt, North China Craton: Implications for Geodynamic Setting and Continental Growth. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 117: 1387–1399
Trap, P., Faure, M., Lin, W., et al., 2009. The Zanhuang Massif, the Second and Eastern Suture Zone of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-North China Orogen. Precambrian Research, 172: 80–98
Zhai, M. G., Guo, J. H., Liu, W. J., 2005. Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic Continental Evolution and Tectonic History of the North China Craton. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 24(5): 547–561
Zhai, M. G., Li, T. S., Peng, P., et al., 2010. Precambrian Key Tectonic Events and Evolution of the North China Craton. In: Kusky, T. M., Zhai, M. G., Xiao, W. J., eds., The Evolving Continents: Understanding Processes of Continental Growth. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 338: 235–262
Zhao, G. C., 2001. Paleoproterozoic Assembly of the North China Craton. Geological Magazine, 138: 87–91
Zhao, G. C., Cawood, P. A., Wilde, S. A., et al., 2000. Metamorphism of Basement Rocks in the Central Zone of the North China Craton: Implications for Paleoproterozoic Tectonic Evolution. Precambrian Research, 103(1–2): 55–88
Zhao, G. C., Cawood, P. A., Wilde, S. A., et al., 2001a. High-Pressure Granulites (Retrograded Eclogites) from the Hengshan Complex, North China Craton: Petrology and Tectonic Implications. Journal of Petrology, 42(6): 1141–1170
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A., et al., 2001b. Archean Blocks and their Boundaries in the North China Craton: Lithological, Geochemical, Structural and P-T Path Constraints and Tectonic Evolution. Precambrian Research, 107(1–2): 45–73
Zhao, G. C., Sun, M., Wilde, S. A., et al., 2005. Late Archean to Paleoproterozoic Evolution of the North China Craton: Key Issues Revisited. Precambrian Research, 136(2): 177–202
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A., et al., 1998. Thermal Evolution of Archean Basement Rocks from the Eastern Part of the North China Craton and Its Bearing on Tectonic Setting. International Geology Reviews, 40(8): 706–721
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A., et al., 1999a. Thermal Evolution of Two Textural Types of Mafic Granulites in the North China Craton: Evidence for Both Mantle Plume and Collisional Tectonics. Geological Magazine, 136: 223–240
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A., et al., 1999b. Tectonothermal History of the Basement Rocks in the Western Zone of the North China Craton and Its Tectonic Implications. Tectonophysics, 310(1–4): 37–53
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A., et al., 2000. Petrology and P-T Path of the Fuping Mafic Granulites: Implications for Tectonic Evolution of the Central Zone of the North China Craton. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 18(4): 375–391
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Zhang, J., 2010. Comment on “New Evidence from Seismic Imaging for Subduction during Assembly of the North China Craton”. Geology, 38: 206
Zheng, T. Y, Zhao, L., Zhu, R. X., 2009. New Evidence from Seismic Imaging for Subduction during Assembly of the North China Craton. Geology, 37: 395–398
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91014002, 40821061), and the Ministry of Education of China (No. B07039).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kusky, T.M. Comparison of results of recent seismic profiles with tectonic models of the North China craton. J. Earth Sci. 22, 250–259 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0178-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0178-5