Formation of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous metamorphic core complexes in Northeast China: insight from a structural study of the Yiwulüshan ductile detachment zone

Abstract

ABSTRACTLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous extensional structures are widespread in Northeast China and the eastern part of the Asian continent. The Yiwulüshan ductile detachment shear zone, the master ductile detachment zone of the Yiwulüshan metamorphic core complex (MCC), occurs in the northern North China Craton. This shear zone dips to the northwest on the western flank and to the southeast on the eastern flank of the MCC and consists of brittle faults, breccia, chloritized microbreccia, and ductile (mylonite) zones. The well-developed mylonitic foliation and stretching lineation are characterized by oriented minerals (quartz and feldspar) that exhibit ductile deformation, including undulose extinction, deformation bands, subgrain formations, and recrystallized grains. The shear indicators, such as asymmetric porphyroclasts, S-C fabrics, and shear bands, suggest consistent top-to-the-NW shear on both the western and eastern flanks of the MCC. Strain measurements using feldspar porphyroclasts show that the strain intensity (Es), Lode’s parameter (υ), and Flinn parameter (k) range from 0.46 to 1.03, −0.23 to 0.62, and 0.23 to 1.6, respectively. Kinematic vorticity (Wk) values, estimated by the Polar Mohr diagram and the C′ methods, range from 0.61 to 0.96, with an average of 0.80, for the mylonitic deformation, and from 0.24 to 0.53, with an average of 0.37, for extensional crenulation cleavage (ecc) domains. The kinematic vorticity values, together with the regional structural background, suggest the Yiwulüshan ductile detachment zone experienced simple-shear-dominated general shearing that formed the mylonitic fabric in the early stages of extension. Later in the deformation history, pure-shear-dominated general shearing dominated when ecc developed. Strain measurements and kinematic vorticity estimates indicate that the Yiwulüshan ductile detachment zone is a lengthening-thinning shear zone. It is proposed that simple-shear-dominated general shear developed during crustal extension and that pure-shear-dominated general shear is related to the upward flow of Precambrian basement and Jurassic plutons.