Underplating in the middle-lower Yangtze Valley and model of geodynamic evolution: Constraints from geophysical data

Abstract

The lower crust and Moho are the most active boundary layers in the process of continental evolution, in which marks left by tectonic and magmatic activities during the process are preserved. The evolutionary process of the continental lithosphere may be reconstructed by exploring the structures of the lower crust and Moho. According to a study of the deep seismic reflection data obtained from the middle-lower Yangtze Valley, the authors find bright layered reflections ubiquitous in the lower crust and think that the bright reflections are caused by un-derplating of basic or ultrabasic magmas, which might be related to delamination of the lithosphere. On the basis of an integrated analysis of the geophysical and geological data of the region, the authors propose a model for geodynamic evolution of the middle-lower Yangtze Valley. This model suggests that the middle-lower Yangtze Valley had undergone such geodynamic processes as collision-compression, delamination-extension and underplating-melting since the end of the Permian, finally forming the gigantic middle-lower Yangtze Valley metallogenic belt.