Has the Yangtze craton lost its root? A comparison between the North China and Yangtze cratons

How craton margins are preserved: Insights from geodynamic models

“…This is consistent with xenolith studies that show that Proterozoic and Archaean mantle lithosphere can be less dense than primitive mantle (e.g., Poudjom Djomani et al, 2001;Lee et al, 2011). The strong and buoyant nature of the cratonic mantle is thought to generally prevent its destruction by delamination or Rayleigh-Taylor-type instabilities, although there is abundant evidence that craton destruction has occurred in geologic history (Li et al, 2015 for an overview).…”

“…Asthenosphere erosion may also affect the marginal regions of cratons, resulting in craton destruction from its side. The North China and Yangtze cratons were both weakened along their margins before destruction (Li et al, 2015). Miocene erosion of Colorado Plateau lithosphere by small-scale upper mantle convection (Karlstrom et al, 2008;van Wijk et al, 2010) may have removed mantle lithosphere material from the edge of this Proterozoic block.…”

Lithospheric Alteration, Intraplate Crustal Deformation, and Topography in Eastern China

“…Lithospheric extension and thinning has been previously documented in the ENCC, and the westward subducted Pacific plate has been implicated in this process (Chen et al, ; Ren et al, ; Sun et al, ; Zhu et al, ). Other seismic data provide evidence of lithospheric modification beneath much of eastern China (H. Li et al, ; X. Li et al, ; Wang et al, ; Zhang et al, ; Zheng et al, ). Our results provide a broad view of lithospheric thickness and support the proposed lithospheric dismemberment in east China.…”

Thermal evolution of the Hengshan extensional dome in central South China and its tectonic implications: New insights into low-angle detachment formation

“…Notably, recent structural and isotopic evidence from the basins and magmatic rocks confirms the role of southeastward migration (rollback process) of the Paleo-Pacific plate as the cause of extension, thus indicating that this extension was primarily related to the back-arc spreading due to the rollback of the subducted Paleo-Pacific Plate (Li et al, 2014a). Similarly, the rollback of the Paleo-Pacific slab was also considered as a major driving force for the loss of the lithospheric root and craton destruction in the North China and Yangtze cratons (e.g., Kusky et al, 2014;X.Y. Li et al, 2015).…”