Lithospheric composition and structure beneath the northern margin of the Qinling orogenic belt - On deep-seated xenoliths in Minggang region of Henan Province

Swarms of mafic-intermediate volcaniclastic bodies occur in the Minggang region of Henan Province, a tectonic boundary between the North Qinling and the North China Block, and emplaced at (178.31±3.77) Ma. These volcanic rocks are subalkaline basaltic andesites and contain abundance of lower crust and mantle xenoliths. Thus this area is an ideal place to reveal the lithospheric composition and structure beneath the northern margin of the Qinling orogenic belt. Geochemical data indicate that these mafic granulites, eclogites and metagabbros have trace elemental and Pb isotopic characteristics very similar to those rocks from the South Qinling Block, representing the lower part of lower crust of the South Qinling which subducted beneath the North China Block. Talcic peridotites represent the overlying mantle wedge materials of the North China Block, which underwent the metasomatism of the acidic melt/fluid released from the underlying lower crust of the South Qinling Block. Deep tectonic model proposed in this paper is that after the Late Paleozoic South Qinling lithosphere subducted northward and decoupled, the upper part of the lithosphere emplaced under the North Qinling and the lower part continuously subducted northward under the North China Block. In Early Mesozoic, the North Qinling Block obducted northward and the North China Block inserted into the Qinling orogenic belt in a crocodile-mouth shape. Copyright by Science in China Press 2004.