The nature and spatial–temporal evolution of suture zones in Northeast China

Abstract

Northeast (NE) China is located in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and evolved from the amalgamation of several microcontinental blocks, which, from west to east, include the Erguna, Xing'an, Songliao, and Jiamusi-Khanka blocks. Since the Paleozoic, NE China has undergone multiple stages of subduction–accretion and tectonic destruction under the tectonic domains of the Paleo-Asian Ocean, Panthalassa, and the Paleo-Pacific Ocean. This complexity has resulted in uncertainty surrounding the amalgamation processes of the various microcontinents. Fortunately, several suture zones in NE China, including the Toudaoqiao–Xinlin Suture, the Hegenshan–Heihe Suture, the Solonker–Xar Moron–Changchun Suture, and the Jilin–Heilongjiang High-pressure Belt contain information that provides key constraints on the tectonic evolution of NE China. This paper reviews the spatial distribution, composition, and formation ages of these suture zones based on published geological records. Our temporal and spatial analyses of these suture zones enable the evolution of NE China to be assigned to those three tectonic domains: (1) In the earliest of these, the Paleo-Asian Ocean tectonic domain (650–250 Ma), the Erguna Block amalgamated with the Xing'an Block along the Toudaoqiao–Xinlin Suture during the Late Cambrian (ca. 500 Ma); the Erguna–Xing'an Block then collided with the Songliao Block along the Hegenshan–Heihe Suture during the Late Carboniferous (ca. 300 Ma), whilst the combined Erguna–Xing'an–Songliao Block amalgamated with the North China Craton along the Solonker–Xar Moron–Changchun Suture at the End-Permian (ca. 250 Ma). (2) in the Panthalassa tectonic domain (315–230 Ma), the subduction of Panthalassa (or locally, the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean) was initiated in the eastern Jiamusi-Khanka Block during the Late Carboniferous (ca. 315 Ma), resulting in back-arc extension in the western Jiamusi-Khanka Block, which evolved into the Heilongjiang Ocean separating the Jiamusi-Khanka and Songliao blocks during the Late Permian to Late Triassic (260–230 Ma). (3) in the Paleo-Pacific Ocean tectonic domain (230–130 Ma), the first stage of westward subduction of the Paleo-Pacific oceanic plate occurred during the Late Triassic (ca. 230 Ma), causing the Jiamusi-Khanka Block to amalgamate with the North China Craton during the Late Triassic (ca. 230 Ma) and subsequently with the Songliao Block during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic (210–180 Ma), forming the Jilin–Heilongjiang High-pressure Belt, whereas the second stage of subduction induced the emplacement of the Nadanhada Terrane during the Early Cretaceous (ca. 130 Ma). This represented the final assembly of NE China in the eastern CAOB.