Paleoproterozoic lower crust beneath Nushan in Anhui Province： Evidence from zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating on granulite xenoliths in Cenozoic alkali basalt

Zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating was carried out for an intermediate granulite xenolith in Cenozoic alkali basalt from Nushan. The results suggest that the lower crust beneath Nushan may have formed at about 2400—2200 Ma, and have been subjected to granulite-facies metamorphism at 1915 27 Ma. The old age of the Nushan lower crust is consistent with the geochemical similarities between Nushan granulite xenoliths and Archean-Paleoproterozoic granulite terrains in the North China craton, but it is not distinguishable from high-grade metamorphic rocks in the Yangtze craton where such old ages were also reported. Significant Pb-loss occurs in the Nushan zircons, implying important influence of widespread Mesozoic to Cenozoic underplating in East China on the lower crust beneath Nushan.     

Thermodynamic evolution of lithosphere of the North China craton： Records from lower crust and upper mantle xenoliths from Hannuoba

Lithospheric thinning in East China attracts much attention of geologists. In many cases where a lithospheric thinning is inferred, the trigger for instability is a preced-ing episode of crustal thickening by the continental colli-sion[1]. Lithospheric processes (e.g. lithospheric thinning) could be recorded by the thermal history of the lower crustal and upper mantle xenoliths. Xu et al.[2] suggested that the cooling (from >1200 to 850℃) recorded by spinel harzburgite from Northeast China …     

Zircon U-Pb ages of olivine pyroxenite xenolith from Hannuoba: Links between the 97—158 Ma basaltic underplating and granulite-facies metamorphism

U-Pb zircon dating by LA-ICP-MS andSHRIMP for one olivine pyroxenite yields complex agepopulations including Mesozoic ages of 97-158 Ma and 228±8.7 Ma, Early Paleozoic ages of 418--427 Ma, Paleoprotero-zoic age of 1844±13 Ma, Neoarchean age of 2541±54 Ma andmiddle Archean age of 3123±4.4 Ma. The 97--158 Ma and228±8.7 Ma zircons show typical igneous oscillatory zona-tion in CL images, suggesting two episodes of magmaticevents. Overlapping of the 97-158 Ma ages with that ofgranulite xenoliths indicates that the Mesozoic granu-lite-facies metamorphism was induced by heating from thebasaltic underplating at the base of the lower crust. Bothprocesses lastcd at least from about 158 to 97 Ma. Ages of 418--427 Ma could be records of the subduction of Mongoliaoceanic crust under the North China craton. Ages of 1.84 Ga,2.54 Ga and 3.12 Ga correspond to the three importantcrust-mantle evolutionary events in the North China craton,and imply preservation of Precambrian lower crust in thepresent-day lower crust.     

Mantle xenoliths from Late Cretaceous basalt in eastern Shandong Province： New constraint on the timing of lithospheric thinning in eastern China

Studies of mantle xenoliths hosted in both the Cenozoic alkali basalt and the Early Paleozoic kimberlite suggest that part of the subcontinental lithosphere as thick as more than 100 km has been lost from the Early Paleozoic to Cenozoic[1—8]. Neither the scale and mechanism nor the accurate timing of the lithospheric thinning has been precisely constrained[7-12]. One of the reasons for this is that there are only a few Mesozoic basalts cropped out, especially, few containing mantle-derived …     

Hf isotopes of the 3.8 Ga zircons in eastern Hebei Province, China： Implications for early crustal evolution of the North China Craton

Zircon U-Pb dating indicates that the fuchsite quartzite in eastern Hebei Province was derived from weathering and erosion of the 3.6-3.8 Ga granitic rocks. In-situ zircon Hf analyses show that the Lu-Hf isotopic system remained closed during later thermal disturbances. Zircons with concordant ages have Hf isotopic model ages of about 3.8 Ga, suggesting a recycling of this ancient crust. The -3.8 Ga zircons have similar Hf isotopic compositions to those of chondrite, indicating that their source rocks （granitic rocks） were derived from partial melting of the juvenile crust which originated from a mantle without significant crust-mantle differentiation. Therefore, it is proposed that there was no large-scale crustal growth before -3.8 Ga in eastern Hebei Province. Considering zircon Hf isotopic data from other areas, it is concluded that the most ancient crust in the North China Craton probably formed at about 4.0 Ga, and the possibility to find crust older than 4.0 Ga is very limited.     

Mantle olivine xenocrysts entrained in Mesozoic basalts from the North China craton：Implication for replacement process of lithospheric mantle

Mesozoic (125 Ma) Fangcheng basalts fromShandong Province contain clearly zoned olivines that arerare in terrestrial samples and provide first evidence for thereplacement of lithospheric mantle from high-Mg peridotitesto Iow-Mg peridotites through peridotite-melt reaction.Zoned olivines have compositions in the core (Mg# = 87.2--90.7) similar to those olivines from the mantle peridotiticxenoliths entrained in Cenozoic basalts from the NorthChina craton and in the rim (Mg# = 76.8--83.9) close to oli-vine phenocrysts of the host basalts (75.7--79.0). Thesecompositional features as well as rounded crystal shapes andsmaller grain sizes (300—800 μm) demonstrate that thesezoned olivines are mantle xenocrysts, i.e. disaggregates ofmantle peridotites. Their core compositions can representthose of olivines of mantle peridotites. The zoned texture ofolivines was formed through rapid reaction between the oli-vine xenocryst and the host basalt. This olivine-basaltic meltreaction could have been ubiquitous in the Mesozoic litho-spheric mantle beneath the North China craton, i.e. an im-portant type of the replacement of lithospheric mantle. Thereaction resulted in the transformation of the Paleozoic re-fractory (high-Mg) peridotites to the late Mesozoic fertile(Iow-Mg) and radiogenic isotope-enriched peridotites, lead-ing to the loss of old lithospheric mantle.     

SHRIMP ages of detrital zircons from the Changcheng System in the Ming Tombs area, Beijing： Constraints on the protolith nature and maximum depositional age of the Mesoproterozoic cover of the North China Craton

The Mesoproterozoic Changcheng System is widely distributed in the North China Craton. Determining its time of deposition and sources is important to understand the Precambrian crustal evolution of the North China Craton. This paper suggests age distribution patterns for detrital zircons from clastic sediments of the Changcheng System in the Ming Tombs area, Beijing. Samples of feldspar-bearing sandstone (CHc-2) and pure sandstone (CHc-9) were collected from the Changzhougou Formation, which constitutes the basal part of the Changcheng System. Detrital zircons show an age range from 2.35 to 2.60 Ga. However, sample CHc-9 in the upper Changzhougou Formation also contains some zircons with ages of 1.9-1.8 Ga and 2.3-2.1 Ga. The age patterns lead to the following conclusions: (1) Most of the detrital material came from a source area composed predominantly of -2.5 Ga continental crust of the North China Craton; (2) 1.9--1.8 Ga reflects the age record of Palaeoproterozoic continent-continent collisional event in the North China Craton; and (3) the oldest age for deposition of the Changcheng System is 1.8 Ga.     

Geochemistry and zircon U-Pb ages of granulite xenolith from Tuoyun basalts, Xinjiang： Implications for the petrogenesis and the lower crustal nature beneath the southwestern Tianshan

The continental lithosphere growth mainly includes the horizontal accretion at the plate boundaries and vertical accretion within the plate[1]. Mafic magmatic materials, as the products of crust-mantle interaction[2,3], became more and more important in studying the formation and evolu- tion of the lower crust. The previous geologic researcheson Tianshan, extending nearly 2500 km from east to west, and the neighbor area were mainly focused on the Paleozoic collision structure[4 ― 6], Mesozoi…     

Geochronology and Hf Isotope Study of Pegmatite in the Xiaoqinling Area of NW China:Implication for Petrogenesis and Regional Metamorphism

In this study, we carried out petrography, zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopic analyses on a granitic pegmatite dyke in the Xiaoqinling area in southern margin of the North China Craton (NCC). Ou...     

Ca. 2.5 Ga TTG rocks in the western Alxa Block and their implications

The Alxa Block is considered part of the North China Craton, but the unambiguous Archean basement has not been reported. In this study, we present the first evidence of the Neoarchean rocks in the Beidashan area of the western Alxa Block. The petrographic and geochemical data show that these rocks are granodiorite with TTG (tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite) characteristics. Zircon U-Pb dating gave an age of 2522±30 Ma for the magmatic core and 2496±11 Ma for the metamorphic recrystallized rim. The near-identical age between the Latest Neoarchean magmatism and the high-grade metamorphism shows that these features were related to the same Latest Neoarchean-Earliest Paleoproterozoic tectonothermal event. The age-corrected Hf (t) value is mainly between 0.4 and 4.9. The two-stage zircon Hf model age ranges from 2.7 to 3.0 Ga, suggesting that the Mesoarchean- Neoarchean (2.7-3.0 Ga) juvenile crust was reworked at the end of the Neoarchean in the western Alxa Block. These data suggest that the western Alxa Block experienced a Mesoarchean-Neoarchean crust growth and Latest Neoarchean-Earliest Paleoproterozoic tectonothermal event similar to the North China Craton.     

Chronological record of the Early Mesozoic underplating in the northern margin of North China─U-Pb chronometry of zircons in the Late Mesozoic andesite from Western Liaoning

Cathodoluminescence spectroscopic analysis of zircons in the uppermost sanukites of the early Cretaceous Yixian Formation in Western Liaoning reveals zoning structures of the zircons in the volcanic rocks. LA-ICP-MS chronometry shows that the central part of the zircons is remnant zircon with a U-Pb dating of 254 Ma, which is consistent with the age of the Early Mesozoic underplating granulites, and that the periphery is zircon crystallizing out of the host magma with a U-Pb dating of 116 Ma, which is highly consistent with the Ar-Ar dating of the host volcanic rocks. Compositions of the clinopyroxenes xenocrystals in the sanukites are similar to those of the clinopyroxenes in the underplating granulites, indicating that the granulites accreted to the lower crust in the Early Mesozoic have been reformed and disrupted by the upwelling diapers of the asthenosphere and taken part in formation of the sanukites in the Late Mesozoic.