Archean cratons have map patterns and rock associations that are diagnostic of the Wilson Cycle. The North China Craton (NCC) consists of several distinctly different tectonic units, but the delineation and understanding of the significance of individual sutures and the rocks between them has been controversial. We present an actualistic tectonic division and evolution of the North China Craton based on Wilson Cycle and comparative tectonic analysis that uses a multi-disciplinary approach in order to define sutures, their ages, and the nature of the rocks between them, to determine their mode of formation and means of accretion or exhumation, and propose appropriate modern analogues. The eastern unit of the craton consists of several different small blocks assembled between 2.6 and 2.7Ga ago, that resemble fragments of accreted arcs from an assembled archipelago similar to those in the extant SW Pacific. A thick Atlantic-type passive margin developed on the western side of the newly assembled Eastern Block by 2.6–2.5Ga. A >1300km-long arc and accretionary prism collided with the margin of the Eastern Block at 2.5Ga, obducting ophiolites and ophiolitic mélanges onto the block, and depositing a thick clastic wedge in a foreland basin farther into the Eastern Block. This was followed by an arc-polarity reversal, which led to a short-lived injection of mantle wedge-derived melts to the base of the crust that led to the intrusion of mafic dikes and arc-type granitoid (TTG) plutons with associated metamorphism. By 2.43Ga, the remaining open ocean west of the accreted arc closed with the collision of an oceanic plateau now preserved as the Western Block with the collision-modified margin of the Eastern Block, causing further deformation in the Central Orogenic Belt. 2.4–2.35Ga rifting of the newly amalgamated continental block formed a rift along its center, and new oceans within the other two rift arms, which removed a still-unknown continental fragment from its northern margin. By 2.3Ga an arc collided with a new Atlantic-type margin developed over the rift sequence along the northern margin of the craton, and thus was converted to an Andean margin through arc-polarity reversal.Andean margin tectonics affected much of the continental block from 2.3 to 1.9Ga, giving rise to a broad E-W swath of continental margin magmas, and retro-arc sedimentary basins including a foreland basin superimposed on the passive northern margin. The horizontal extent of these tectonic components is similar to that across the present-day Andes in South America. From 1.88 to 1.79Ga a granulite facies metamorphic event was superimposed across the entire continental block with high-pressure granulites and eclogites in the north, and medium-pressure granulites across the whole craton to the south. The scale and duration of this post-collisional event is similar to that in Central Asia that resulted from the Cenozoic India-Asia collision. The deep crustal granulites and volcanic rocks on the surface today, interpreted to be anatectic melts from deep crustal granulites, are similar to high-grade metamorphic rocks and partial melts presently forming at mid-crustal levels beneath Tibet. Structural fabrics in lower-crustal migmatites related to this event reveal that they flowed laterally parallel to the collision boundary, in a way comparable to what is speculated to be happening in the deep crust of the Himalayan/Tibetan foreland. We relate this continent-continent collision to the collision of the North China Craton with the postulated Columbia (Nuna) Continent. The NCC broke out of the Columbia Continent between 1753–1673Ma, as shown by the formation of a suite of anorthosite, mangerite, charnockite, and alkali-feldspar granites in an ENE-striking belt along the northern margin of the craton, whose intrusion was followed by the development of rifts and graben, mafic dike swarms, and eventually an Atlantic-type passive margin that signaled the beginning of a long period of tectonic quiescence and carbonate deposition for the NCC during Sinian times, which persisted into the Paleozoic. The style of tectonic accretion in the NCC changed at circa 2.5Ga, from an earlier phase of accretion of arcs that are presently preserved in horizontal lengths of several hundred kilometers, to the accretion and preservation of linear arcs several thousand kilometers long with associated oceanic plateaus, microcontinents, and accretionary prisms. The style of progressively younger and westward outward accretion of different tectonic components is reminiscent of the style of accretion in the Superior Craton, and may signal the formation of progressively larger landmasses at the end of the Archean (perhaps like the Kenorland Continent), then into the Paleoproterozoic, culminating in the assembly of the Columbia (Nuna) Continent at 1.9–1.8Ga

We report partial melting of an ultrahigh pressure eclogite in the Mesozoic Sulu orogen, China. Eclogitic migmatite shows successive stages of initial intragranular and grain boundary melt droplets, which grow into a three-dimensional interconnected intergranular network, then segregate and accumulate in pressure shadow areas and then merge to form melt channels and dikes that transport magma to higher in the lithosphere. Here we show, using zircon U–Pb dating and petrological analyses, that partial melting occurred at 228–219 Myr ago, shortly after peak metamorphism at 230 Myr ago. The melts and residues are complimentarily enriched and depleted in light rare earth element (LREE) compared with the original rock. Partial melting of deeply subducted eclogite is an important process in determining the rheological structure and mechanical behaviour of subducted lithosphere and its rapid exhumation, controlling the flow of deep lithospheric material, and for generation of melts from the upper mantle, potentially contributing to arc magmatism and growth of continental crust.

Mélanges characterize Phanerozoic convergent plate boundaries, but have rarely been reported from Archean orogens. In this paper, we document a Neoarchean ophiolitic mélange in the Eastern Hebei Province of the North China Craton. The Zunhua ophiolitic mélange is composed of a structural mixture of metapelites, ortho- and para-gneisses, and magnetite-quartzite mixed with exotic tectonic mafic blocks of metabasalts, metagabbroic rocks, and metadiabases, along with ultramafic blocks of serpentinized peridotites and podiform chromitites. The Zunhua ophiolitic mélange shows typical “block in matrix” structures. All units of the mélange have been intruded by granitic dikes and quartz veins that clearly cross-cut the foliation of blocks and matrix of the mélange. Laser-ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry zircon U-Pb dating of detrital zircons from the meta-sedimentary mélange matrix and intruding granitic dikes constrains the formation time of the Zunhua mélange to be between 2.52 and 2.46 Ga. Metamorphic rims on zircons from meta-sedimentary mélange matrix have ages of 2467 ± 27 Ma, confirming metamorphism of the mélange occurred at ca. 2.47 Ga. High-precision (scale 1:20 and 1:50) litho-structural mapping, along with detailed structural observations along several transects documents the internal fabrics and kinematics of the mélange, revealing a northwest to southeast directed transportation. The asymmetric structures in the mélange with folding and faulting events in the Zunhua mélange record kinematic information and are similar to the tectonic style of an accretionary wedge. Field relationships and geochemical analysis of various mafic blocks show that these blocks formed in an arc-related subduction tectonic environment. We suggest that the Zunhua mélange marks the suture zone of a Neoarchean arc-continent collisional event in the Central Orogenic Belt of the North China Craton. Combined with our previous studies, we demonstrate that a ca. 2.5 Ga tectonic suture exists between an arc/accretionary prism terrane in the Central Orogenic Belt and the Eastern Block of the North China Craton. We correlate this segment of the suture with other similar zones along strike, for >1000 km, including sections of the ca. 2.5 Ga in Dengfeng greenstone belt in the southern margin of the Central Orogenic Belt, and the ca. 2.5 Ga Zanhuang ophiolitic mélange in the center of the orogen. These relationships demonstrate that tectonic processes in the late Archean included subduction/accretion at convergent margins, and the horizontal movement of plates, in a style similar to modern-day accretionary convergent margins.