Frozen subduction in the Yangtze block: insights from the deep seismic profiling and gravity anomaly in east Sichuan fold belt

The Sichuan basin is the main part of the middle-upper Yangtze block, which has been experienced a long-term tectonic evolution since Archean. The Yangtze block was regarded as a stable block until the collision with the Cathaysia block in late Neoproterozoic. A new deep seismic reflection profile conducted in the eastern Sichuan fold belt (ESFB) discovered a serials of south-dipping reflectors shown from lower crust to the mantle imply a frozen subduction zone within the Yangtze block. In order to prove the speculation, we also obtain the middle-lower crustal gravity anomalies by removing the gravity anomalies induced by the sedimentary rocks and the mantle beneath the Moho, which shows the mid-lower crustal structure of the Sichuan basin can be divided into eastern and western parts. Combined with the geochronology and Aeromagnetic anomalies, we speculated the Yangtze block was amalgamated by the West Sichuan and East Sichuan blocks separated by the Huayin-Chongqing line. The frozen subduction zone subsequently shifted to a shear zone accommodated the lower crustal shortening when the decollement at the base of the Nanhua system functioned in the upper plate.