Destruction timing of the North China Craton

The North China Craton (NCC) is a typical case of destruction of the ancient cratons in the world. However, the destruction mechanism and geodynamic controlling factors still remain enigmatic due to controversial on the destruction time, which is undoubtedly the key to understand the destruction processes. Based on temporal and spatial distribution, sources and tectonic setting of magmatism, it is recognized that five stages of magmatism and tectonism occurred in the NCC during the Phanerozoic, i.e., Carboniferous to Early Permian, Late Permian to Middle Triassic, Late Triassic, Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The first four stages of magmatism and tectonism, related to the southward subduction of Paleo-Asian plate and the assembly of Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons, are locally distributed in small parts of the NCC, reflecting a multiple stage modification of the NCC during Late Carboniferous to Jurassic. However, the intensive development of the Early Cretaceous magmatism, extensional deformation and associated gold mineralization, with significant continental crustal growth indicate that the eastern NCC had been destroyed during this time of period. This destruction was deduced from the Paleo-Pacific subduction beneath the eastern Asian continent, with lithospheric removal and/or replacement of an ancient cratonic lithosphere by a juvenile oceanic lithosphere.