Discovery of Neoarchean unconformity and its implication for continental cratonization of North China craton

An ancient unconformity event is identified within the granulite-facies province of North China, which is marked by the boundary between the overlying khondalite series (KS) and the basement grey gneiss complex (BGGC). REE patterns of KS suggest that their protoliths are mature sediments. As documented by isotopic ages and metamorphic P-T-t paths, KS is originally deposited after the basement complex formed. Furthermore, the BGGC was overprinted by the metamorphic event associated with the KS. The binary structure of KS-BGGC is well preserved in the western part of North China craton (NCC), and it is structurally truncated and overlain by the Palaeoproterozoic Wutai rift, which suggests that the unconformity occurred in the Neoarchean, and represents the major tectono-thermal episodes of the Neoarchean continental cratonization of NCC.