In the last few decades, the Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic tectonic evolution of South China has been quite controversial. The focus of debate is on both the age of ophiolites and the Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic geological and geodynamic environment. The Huaiyu Domain is located in the NE part of South China and exposes numerous significant geological features that are keys to understand the tectonics of South China. In this paper, we present some new evidence on stratigraphy, petrology and SHRIMP zircon U-Pb geochronology, and together with other geological and geochemical data available in the literature, and the following conclusions are suggested： 1） The eastern Jiangnan ophiolites belt, dated at 858±11 Ma by SHRIMP zircon U-Pb method, was generated during the Neoproterozoic, but not the Late Paleozoic; 2） The sedimentary rocks associated with these oceanic rocks do not contain radiolarians but Neoproterozoic acritarchs; 3） During Permian-Early Triassic times, the Huaiyu Domain was dominantly characterized by a shallow sea depositional environment since deep sea sediments are absent; and 4） The pre-Devonian tectonics of South China has been reworked by late polyphase tectonism through the Triassic and the Cretaceous periods. A Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic deep marine domain floored by oceanic crust never existed in the study area. The geochronological and structural data do not comply with a Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic South China Ocean.
Liangshu ShuMichel FaureShaoyong JiangQun YangYujing Wang
During the geological survey of the metamorphic rocks in Xingning-Wuhua region on the western side of Wuyi Mountain, South China, we discovered the Neoproterozoic rhyolite and rhyolitic greywacke for the first time that outcrop in the Proterozoic metamorphic rocks near Jingnan Town of Xingning County, eastern Guangdong Province. A systematic research on petrology, geochemistry and geochronology of rhyolitic rocks was conducted to understand their tectonic setting and formation age. The Jingnan rhyolite is interbedded with a coeval greywacke, with a total thickness of 60 m; both rhyolite and greywacke display a similar folding and metamorphic pattern. Meta-rhyolite consists of groundmass and phenocrystals including sanidine, orthoclase, and quartz with distinct undulose extinction; the groundmass has been recrystallized into fine-grain feldspar, quartz and sericite aggregation. Meta-greywacke is composed of crystallinoclastic grains (sanidine, orthoclase, quartz and oligoclase) and clay groundmass. Zircon grains used for the SHRIMP U-Pb analysis are light brown-colored and euhedral or subeuhedral. Dating data suggest two age groups; eight grains of magmatype zircon with an idiomorphic form yield an age of 972±8 Ma, and the other seven weakly corroded grains of zircon with euhedral to subeuhedral shape construct an average age of 1097±11 Ma, which were captured from older rocks by an uplifting magma, implying that a late Mesoproterozoic basement exists in the Nanling region. In addition, one Paleoproterozoic age, 2035±11 Ma, is obtained from a rounded detrital zircon, indicating that a Paleoproterozoic thermal event took place in the South China. Geochemically, the Jingnan rhyolitic rocks are characterized by high K2O content, intermediate Al2O3 content, with the ACNK value 0.98―1.11, and belonging to high-K alkaline series. They are rich in ΣREE, Rb, Th and Ce, depleted in Ba, Sr, Eu, Ti, P and Nb-Ta, and with moderate negative Eu and Sr anomalies. These features indicate that the Jingnan volcanic rocks have
SHU LiangShuDENG PingYU JinHaiWANG YanBinJIANG ShaoYong
In three shallow-level fault systems in eastern China, nano-sized (30―100 nm) grinding grain textures are found in the thin-shelled rheological layer representing frictional-viscous high strain field. The surface layer near slipping plane is composed of stacks of grinding grains with high sphericity and uniform nano-sized diameter, while the underlying layer appears as a mixture of irregular ones with diverse diameters. Rock deformation experiments indicate that the grinding grain texture is a common phenomenon in shearing fractures, suggesting a potential transition from sliding friction to rolling one during the rock deformation process. This transition is crucial for many tribological processes in geo- logical fields.
SUN YanSHU LiangShuLU XianCaiLIU HaoZHANG XiHuiK. KOSAKALIN AiMing
