Lithosphere thinning and destruction in the middle-eastern North China Craton(NCC), a region susceptible to strong earthquakes, is one of the research hotspots in solid earth science. All 42 seismic wide-angle reflection/refraction profiles have been completed in the middle-eastern NCC. We collect all the 2-D profiling results and perform gridding of the velocity and interface depth data, building a 3-D crustal velocity structure model for the middle-eastern NCC, named HBCrust1.0, by using the Kriging interpolation method. Our result shows that the first-arrival times calculated by HBCust1.0 fit well with the observations. The result demonstrates that the upper crust is the main seismogenic layer, and the brittle-ductile transition occurs at depths near interface C(the interface between upper and lower crust). The depth of interface Moho varies beneath the source area of the Tangshan earthquake, and a low-velocity structure is found to extend from the source area to the lower crust. Based on these observations, it can be inferred that stress accumulation responsible for the Tangshan earthquake may have been closely related to the migration and deformation of the mantle materials. Comparisons of the average velocities of the whole crust, the upper and the lower crust show that the average velocity of the lower crust under the central part of the North China Basin(NCB) in the east of the craton is obviously higher than the regional average. This high-velocity probably results from long-term underplating of the mantle magma.
A National Science Foundation of China(NSFC) major research project,Destruction of the North China Craton(NCC),has been carried out in the past few years by Chinese scientists through an in-depth and systematic observations,experiments and theoretical analyses,with an emphasis on the spatio-temporal distribution of the NCC destruction,the structure of deep earth and shallow geological records of the craton evolution,the mechanism and dynamics of the craton destruction.From this work the following conclusions can be drawn:(1) Significant spatial heterogeneity exists in the NCC lithospheric thickness and crustal structure,which constrains the scope of the NCC destruction.(2) The nature of the Paleozoic,Mesozoic and Cenozoic sub-continental lithospheric mantle(CLM) underneath the NCC is characterized in detail.In terms of water content,the late Mesozoic CLM was rich in water,but Cenozoic CLM was highly water deficient.(3) The correlation between magmatism and surface geological response confirms that the geological and tectonic evolution is governed by cratonic destruction processes.(4) Pacific subduction is the main dynamic factor that triggered the destruction of the NCC,which highlights the role of cratonic destruction in plate tectonics.
We present a digital crustal model in North China Craton(NCC). The construction of crustal model is based on digitization of original seismic sounding profiles, and new results of three-dimensional structure images of receiver functions. The crustal model includes seismic velocity and thickness of crustal layers. The depths to Moho indicate a thinning crust ~30 km in the east areas and a general westward deepening to more than 40 km in the west. The P wave velocity varies from 2.0 to 5.6 km/s in the sedimentary cover,from 5.8 to 6.4 km/s in the upper crust, and from 6.5 to 7.0 km/s in the lower crust. By analyzing regional trends in crustal structure and links to tectonic evolution illustrated by typical profiles, we conclude that:(1) The delimited area by the shallowing Moho in the eastern NCC represents the spatial range of the craton destruction. The present structure of the eastern NCC crust retains the tectonic information about craton destruction by extension and magmatism;(2) The tectonic activities of the craton destruction have modified the crustal structure of the convergence boundaries at the northern and southern margin of the NCC;(3) The Ordos terrene may represent a relatively stable tectonic feature in the NCC, but with the tectonic remnant of the continental collision during the assembly of the NCC in the north-east area and the response to the lateral expansion of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic in the south-west.
