Crustal thinning during Mesozoic extensional detachment faulting in the Yiwulüshan region, eastern North China Craton

Abstract

Two stages of extension affected the Yiwulüshan area, forming the Yiwulü High-Temperature Extensional Ductile Shear Zone (YHED) and the Waziyu Low-Temperature Extensional Ductile Shear Zone (WLED) during the Middle–Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, respectively. The YHED and WLED are characterized by elongation strain and plane strain, respectively. Kinematic vorticity values (Wk ), estimated from polar Mohr diagrams, suggest that pure shear-dominated and thinning-related shearing generated the YHED, whereas simple and pure shearing created the WLED during crustal thinning. From the thickness (H) and the thinning rate (μ) of the ductile shear zones, the reduced crustal thickness due to ductile shearing was estimated to be approximately 3.72 km. Based on structural analysis, contact relationships, and geochronological data, we propose that intense extensional detachment contributed to the stratigraphic gap along a Middle–Late Jurassic ductile detachment shear zone at the contact between Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks and the Archaean basement. Furthermore, this ductile detachment shear zone was reactivated in the Early Cretaceous and lasted for 7.48 million years. After correlating the stratigraphy of the Yiwulüshan area with regions adjacent to it, we conclude that a 1.46–1.69 km-thick section of Proterozoic and Archaean basement is missing along the ductile detachment shear zone. We estimate that the crustal thickness in the Yiwulüshan region has been reduced by more than 5.41 km because of extension-related shearing and this stratigraphic gap. In addition, numerous Mesozoic extensional structures occur throughout the northeastern North China Craton, and crustal thinning has been accommodated along all of them. Our findings highlight the importance of extensional detachments and crustal thinning to lithospheric thinning.