Tectonic setting of the Helong Block: Implications for the northern boundary of the eastern North China Craton

LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating indicates that the Bailiping granitic pluton was emplaced during Late Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous (285-116 Ma) by four distinct magmatic episodes, arguing against the previous thought that the Bailiping granites were emplaced during Archean, Proterozoic or Early Paleozoic. It is suggested that the so-called Archean Jinchengdong granite-greenstone belt, mainly composed of Bailiping granites, should be broken down. Sr-Nd isotopic compositions of the Bailiping granites are similar to those of the Phanerozoic granites in the Xing’an-Mongolian orogenic belt, suggesting that their parental magmas were mainly derived from a juvenile crust with some contamination of ancient crustal materials during magma rising and/or emplacement. Therefore, the basement of the Helong Block is similar to that in the northern Xing’an-Mongolian Orogenic Belt, but different from that of the North China Craton. It is proposed that the Archean Jinchengdong complex in this area is probably an exotic slice from the North China Craton, which indicates that the Fu’erhe-Gudonghe Fault, located in northern part of the Helong area, is not the boundary between the North China Craton and the Xing’an-Mongolian Orogenic Belt. The possible boundary should be located further southward more than 50 km and near the Baitoushan volcano.