The basement of the North China craton (NCC) can be divided into eastern and western blocks separating the Trans-North China orogen on the basis of petrologic associations, structures, metamorphic processes, and isotopic ages. Aluminous gneiss khondalites occur in the western block, and record a clockwise metamorphic P–T history characterized by nearly isothermal decompression following peak metamorphism at ca. 1.3 GPa and 825°C. Four metamorphic stages are recognized based on mineral assemblages. The early prograde metamorphic assemblage contains Ky+Bt+Ms+Grt+Pl+Qtz. The peak metamorphic mineral assemblage is characterized by Grt+Sil+Bt+Kfs+Pl+Qtz and the formation of cordierite after garnet, leading to a retrograde assemblage of Grt+Sil+Crd+Pl+Kfs+Qtz. Garnet retrogrades to biotite and the formation of pervasive matrix muscovite define a final metamorphic stage, inferred at ca. < 0.6 GPa and 700°C. Quantified metamorphic stages and a related clockwise P–T path derived from pseudosection analysis in the KMASH system suggest collision of the north Yinshan block with the South Ordos block at 1.92 Ga, before final suturing of the entire NCC basement.

The Ondor Sum Group in the central Inner Mongolia is mainly composed of meta-basic volcanics intercalated with ferruginous quartzite and quartz schist, and has been interpreted as slices of oceanic crust or an ophiolite suite of the Early Paleozoic or much older ages. This paper presents new LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating and geochemical data for the meta-basic volcanics. The results show that zircons in the meta-basic volcanics were derived from complicated sources, most of which may be captured by basic magma from the country rocks or other sources. They yield a large age range from the Late Archean to Early Mesozoic with the youngest age group between 246 and 261 Ma, constraining the protolith of the meta-basic volcanics formed in the Late Permian to Early Triassic. The meta-basic volcanics have an affinity to E-MORB in geochemistry, and also a similarity toward OIB, representing a tectonic setting of limited intra-continental ocean basin. This limited basin might have been related to the continuous extension of the area since the Early Permian and finally closed in the Early Mesozoic.

The origin of angiosperms has been a long-standing botanical debate. The great diversity of angiosperms in the Early Cretaceous makes the Jurassic a promising period in which to anticipate the origins of the angiosperms. Here, based on observations of 264 specimens of 198 individual flowers preserved on 34 slabs in various states and orientations, from the South Xiangshan Formation (Early Jurassic) of China, we describe a fossil flower, Nanjinganthus dendrostyla gen. et sp. nov.. The large number of specimens and various preservations allow for an evidence-based reconstruction of the flower. From the evidence of the combination of an invaginated receptacle and ovarian roof, we infer that the seeds of Nanjinganthus were completely enclosed. Evidence of an actinomorphic flower with a dendroid style, cup-form receptacle, and angiospermy, is consistent with Nanjinganthus being a bona fide angiosperm from the Jurassic, an inference that we hope will re-invigorate research into angiosperm origins.