The South China Block was formed through the collisional orogeny between the Cathaysia Block and the Yangtze Block in the Early Neoproterozoic.The northern,western and southern sides of the South China Block were affe...The South China Block was formed through the collisional orogeny between the Cathaysia Block and the Yangtze Block in the Early Neoproterozoic.The northern,western and southern sides of the South China Block were affected by disappearance of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean during the Paleozoic.The southern and northern sides of the South China Block were respectively collided with the Indo-China Block and North China Block in the latest Paleozoic to form the basic framework of the Eastern China.The Eastern China has been affected by the westward subduction of the Pacific Plate since the Mesozoic.Therefore,the South China Block was influenced by the three major tectonic systems,leading to a superposed compound tectonics.The comparative study of the Mesozoic geology between the South China Block and its surrounding areas suggests that although the Mesozoic South China Block was adjacent to the subduction zone of the western Pacific,no juvenile arc-type crust has been found in the eastern margin.The main Mesozoic geology in South China is characterized by reworking of ancient continental margins to intracontinental tectonics,lacking oceanic arc basalts and continental arc andesites.Therefore,a key to understanding of the Mesozoic geology in South China is to determine the temporal-spatial distribution and tectonic evolution of Mesozoic magmatic rocks in this region.This paper presents a review on the tectonic evolution of the South China Block through summarizing the magmatic rock records from the compressional to extensional tectonic process with the transition at the three juncture zones and using the deformation and geophysic data from the deep part of the South China continental lithosphere.Our attempt is to promote the study of South China’s geology and to make it as a typical target for development of plate tectonic theory.展开更多
Neoproterozoic is a very important time in the history of the Earth, during which occurred supercontinent breakup, low-latitude glaciation, and biotic diversification. These concern a series of interdisciplinary studi...Neoproterozoic is a very important time in the history of the Earth, during which occurred supercontinent breakup, low-latitude glaciation, and biotic diversification. These concern a series of interdisciplinary studies involving ancient plate motion, climate change and life evolution, re-sulting in many forefront topics of general interest in the earth sciences. These include exact ages bracketing the Cryogenian System and glaciations, initial age and lasted duration of supercontinent breakup, dynamic reconstruction of China continents in supercontinental configurations, the nature of rift magmatism and extent of hydrothermal altera-tion, paleoclimatic implication of water-rock interaction and low-18O magmatism, and relationship between superconti-nental evolution and global change. A number of outstanding advances in the above aspects have being made by Chinese scientists, leaving many important issues to be resolved: (1) did the Cryogenian start at either 800 to 820 Ma or 760 to 780 Ma? (2) was South China in the supercontinental con-figuration located in either southeast to Australia or north to India? (3) are Paleoproterozoic to Archean ages of crustal rocks a valid parameter in distinguishing North China from South China? Available observations suggest that Neopro-terozoic mantle superwelling occurred as conspicuous mag-matism in South China but as cryptical magmatism in North China. Mid-Neoproterozoic mantle superplume event and its derived rift-magmatism would not only result in the supercontinental demise, but also play a very important role in the generation and evolution of the snowball Earth event by initiating the global glaciation, causing the local degla-ciation and terminating the snowball Earth event.展开更多
基金financially supported by the China Geology Survey(Grant Nos.1212011121098,1212010611805,12010911012,1212011120120)International Cooperation Program for Chinese Science and Technology(Grant No.2011DFA22460)Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province of China(Grant No.2014C33023)
文摘The South China Block was formed through the collisional orogeny between the Cathaysia Block and the Yangtze Block in the Early Neoproterozoic.The northern,western and southern sides of the South China Block were affected by disappearance of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean during the Paleozoic.The southern and northern sides of the South China Block were respectively collided with the Indo-China Block and North China Block in the latest Paleozoic to form the basic framework of the Eastern China.The Eastern China has been affected by the westward subduction of the Pacific Plate since the Mesozoic.Therefore,the South China Block was influenced by the three major tectonic systems,leading to a superposed compound tectonics.The comparative study of the Mesozoic geology between the South China Block and its surrounding areas suggests that although the Mesozoic South China Block was adjacent to the subduction zone of the western Pacific,no juvenile arc-type crust has been found in the eastern margin.The main Mesozoic geology in South China is characterized by reworking of ancient continental margins to intracontinental tectonics,lacking oceanic arc basalts and continental arc andesites.Therefore,a key to understanding of the Mesozoic geology in South China is to determine the temporal-spatial distribution and tectonic evolution of Mesozoic magmatic rocks in this region.This paper presents a review on the tectonic evolution of the South China Block through summarizing the magmatic rock records from the compressional to extensional tectonic process with the transition at the three juncture zones and using the deformation and geophysic data from the deep part of the South China continental lithosphere.Our attempt is to promote the study of South China’s geology and to make it as a typical target for development of plate tectonic theory.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40033010)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KZCX2-107).
文摘Neoproterozoic is a very important time in the history of the Earth, during which occurred supercontinent breakup, low-latitude glaciation, and biotic diversification. These concern a series of interdisciplinary studies involving ancient plate motion, climate change and life evolution, re-sulting in many forefront topics of general interest in the earth sciences. These include exact ages bracketing the Cryogenian System and glaciations, initial age and lasted duration of supercontinent breakup, dynamic reconstruction of China continents in supercontinental configurations, the nature of rift magmatism and extent of hydrothermal altera-tion, paleoclimatic implication of water-rock interaction and low-18O magmatism, and relationship between superconti-nental evolution and global change. A number of outstanding advances in the above aspects have being made by Chinese scientists, leaving many important issues to be resolved: (1) did the Cryogenian start at either 800 to 820 Ma or 760 to 780 Ma? (2) was South China in the supercontinental con-figuration located in either southeast to Australia or north to India? (3) are Paleoproterozoic to Archean ages of crustal rocks a valid parameter in distinguishing North China from South China? Available observations suggest that Neopro-terozoic mantle superwelling occurred as conspicuous mag-matism in South China but as cryptical magmatism in North China. Mid-Neoproterozoic mantle superplume event and its derived rift-magmatism would not only result in the supercontinental demise, but also play a very important role in the generation and evolution of the snowball Earth event by initiating the global glaciation, causing the local degla-ciation and terminating the snowball Earth event.
