Growth rate of continental crust in the northeast margin of the North China Craton: Constraints from the U-Pb dating and Lu-Hf isotopes of detrital zircons from the Laoha River

Abstract

1.2 Ga (McCulloch and Bennett, 1994; Condie, 1998, 2000). The fastest continental crust growth period of the North China Craton is ~2.7 Ga (Wu et al., 2005; Yang et al., 2009; Geng et al., 2012; Peng et al., 2012, 2013; Wang et al., 2012, 2013; Zhao and Zhai, 2013; Zheng et al., 2013; Bao et al., 2013). The other hypothesis is that the mass of continental crust that formed between 4.0 Ga and 4.5 Ga was similar to today’s and has been a steady-state since then with continental crust being recycling into the mantle as fast as it forms (Armstrong and Harmon, 1981; Armstrong, 1991; Wang et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2009). In recent years, how to quantitatively estimate the growth rate of continental crust is an enigmatic issue (Iizuka et al., 2010; Dhuime et al., 2012). With the development of ICP-MS technology, the U–Pb dating and Lu–Hf isotopic compositions of detrital zircons from fluGrowth rate of continental crust in the northeast margin of the North China Craton: Constraints from the U–Pb dating and Lu–Hf isotopes of detrital zircons from the Laoha River