Crustal Detachment and Destruction of the Keel of North China Craton.pdf

RESEARCH PAPER EARTH SCIENCE FRONTIERS Volume 15, Issue 3, May 2008 Online English edition of the Chinese language journal Cite this article as: Earth Science Frontiers, 2008, 15(3): 72–81. Received date: 24-Mar-2008; Accepted date: 08-Apr-2008. Corresponding author. E-mail: jliu@cugb.edu.cn Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.. Copyright ? 2008, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University, Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Crustal Detachment and Destruction of the Keel of North China Craton: Constraints from Late Mesozoic Extensional Structures LIU Junlai1, , Gregory A. DAVIS2, JI Mo1, GUAN Huimei1, BAI Xiangdong1 1 State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China 2 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0740, USA Abstract: Extensional crustal detachment is one of the most important tectonic responses of lithosphere thinning. Late Mesozoic extensional structures, i.e., detachment faults, metamorphic core complexes (mcc’s) and fault depression basins, are commonly found in North, South and Northeast China, eastern Mongolia and the Baikal region. The detachment faults associated with these extensional structures may root into either the upper crust (detachment faults of fault depression basins), upper to middle crust (detachment faults), or middle crust (detachment faults in mcc’s). Crustal detachments in North China have features, such as kinematic polarity, geometrically regional symmetry and local asymmetry, and are widely and inhomogeneously distributed. These usually take place during the period between 140 and 60 Ma, and lead to thinning of both the crust and the lithosphere. This study reveals that there is no definite correlation between variation of thickness of the present lithosphere and the development and distrib