Meso‐Cenozoic thermal structure of the lithosphere in the Bohai Bay Basin,eastern North China Craton

Thermal structure of the lithosphere studies the partition of crustal and mantle heat flow of the continental area and is of significant importance to understand various energy‐related geodynamic processes. The study addresses the spatial distribution of the Meso‐Cenozoic mantle heat flow and Moho temperatures in the region of the Bohai Bay Basin based on the thermal history of the sedimentary basin, radioactive heat production rate and thickness of crustal layering. The results show that the ratio of the mantle and surface heat flow (q_m/q_s) experienced two peaks in the late period of the Early Cretaceous (q_m/q_s ~ 68%) and the Middle to Late Palaeogene (q_m/q_s ~ 75%), respectively. Based on the q_m/q_s ratio, the lithosphere of the Bohai Bay Basin transformed its thermal structure during the Meso‐Cenozoic, from the ‘cold mantle but hot crust’ stage in the Triassic–Jurassic to the ‘hot mantle but cold crust’ stage in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. The Moho temperatures (T_m) during the Meso‐Cenozoic were also calculated by using the equation of one‐dimensional heat conduction, and the result shows that there exist three T_m peaks occurring in the late period of the Early Cretaceous (930–1080 °C), the Middle‐Late Palaeogene (820–890 °C) and the Early Neogene (770–810 °C). The q_m/q_s ratio began to exceed 50%, and the Moho temperature started to go over 700 °C from the Cretaceous to the present day, which revealed that the activity of the upper mantle in the eastern North China Craton (NCC) increased significantly accompanied by the strong crustal movement in the Cretaceous. The thermal structure revealed the Cretaceous to be a revolutionary period during the evolution of the Bohai Bay Basin, and this paper may provide some thermal evidence for the studies of the geodynamic evolution during the destruction of the NCC. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.