Tectonothermal events in the central North China Craton since the Mesozoic and their tectonic implications: Constraints from low-temperature thermochronology

The North China Craton (NCC) experienced important tectonic events during the Meso-Cenozoic as implied by many geological studies. Combined with existing low-temperature thermochmnological data, new apatite fission track (AFT) and zircon (U-Th)/He data from the Liiliangshan and Taihangshan mountains in this study reveal that the central NCC experienced tectonothermal events during the Meso-Cenozoic, i.e., ca. 150 Ma, 110-80 Ma, 50-40 Ma and 30-20 Ma. The Late Jurassic event caused the formation of the Liiliangshan basement-involved anticline. The main folding and thrusting in the central NCC developed in the Mesozoic instead of the Cenozoic and resulted from the low-angle subduction of the Paleo-Pacific ocean plate beneath the Eurasian Plate during the Late Jurassic; and the Late Cretaceous tectonic event stopped the Early Cretaceous extension across the eastern Asia, thrusting and sinistral strike-slip faulting occurred across the central NCC, which was possibly caused by a collision along the southeastern boundary of eastern Asia. The early Cenozoic event in central NCC was coeval with an event occurring throughout eastern Asia and may have been a regional response to changes in the movement direction and velocity of the Pacific Plate, and this event may have resulted in the formation of rift basins in the eastern NCC. The whole central NCC experienced uplift during this period in isostatic readjustment to this extension.