Late Archean to Paleoproterozoic evolution of the North China Craton: key issues revisited

A recently proposed model for the evolution of the North China Craton envisages discrete Eastern and Western Blocks that developed independently during the Archean and collided along the Trans-North China Orogen during a Paleoproterozoic orogenic event. This model has been further refined and modified by new structural, petrological and geochronological data obtained over the past few years. These new data indicate that the Western Block formed by amalgamation of the Ordos Block in the south and the Yinshan Block in the north along the east-west-trending Khondalite Belt some time before the collision of the Western and Eastern Blocks. The data also suggest that the Eastern Block underwent Paleoproterozoic rifting along its eastern continental margin in the period 2.2–1.9 Ga, and was accompanied by deposition of the Fenzishan and Jingshan Groups in Eastern Shandong, South and North Liaohe Groups in Liaoning, Laoling and Ji’an Groups in Southern Jilin, and possibly the Macheonayeong Group in North Korea. The final closure of this rift system at ∼1.9 Ga led to the formation of the Jiao-Liao-Ji Belt. In the late Archean to early Paleoproterozoic, the western margin of the Eastern Block faced a major ocean, and the east-dipping subduction beneath the western margin of the Eastern Block led to the formation of magmatic arcs that were subsequently incorporated into the Trans-North China Orogen. Continued subduction resulted in a major continent-continent collision, leading to extensive thrusting and high-pressure metamorphism. The available age data for metamorphism and deformation in the Trans-North China Orogen indicate that this collisional event occurred at about 1.85 Ga ago, resulting in the formation of the Trans-North China Orogen and final amalgamation of the North China Craton.