The Sulu (苏鲁)-Dabie (大别) orogen in East-Central China formed during the subduc-tion and collision of the Yangtze block with the North China block in Early Mesozoic (240–225 Ma). Constraints on the nature and derivation of eclogites, which are a significant component of the orogen, can provide useful information about subduction-zone metamorphism and crust-mantle interaction. The U-Pb ages, Hf-isotope ratios and trace-element compositions of zircons in eclogites from the Jiangzhuang (蒋庄) (Jiangsu (江苏) Province) and Rongcheng (荣成) (Shandong (山东) Province) areas indicate that the protoliths of the eclogites derived from ultramafic-mafic complexes or mafic intrusion in the subducted continental lithosphere. The upper intercept age of 852±10 Ma and high εHf (up to 14.7) of the Neoproterozoic zircons in a Jiangzhuang sample indicate that the protoliths represent products of the Neoproterozoic addition of juvenile materials to the older (i.e., Paleo–Mesoproterozoic) continental crust. The zircon ages of eclogites from both localities mainly record the Triassic (230–220 Ma) metamorphism, consistent with the formation of the Sulu orogen in Early Mesozoic. The lower intercept age of 316±4 Ma in a Jiangzhuang sample suggests that thermal activity relating to the paleoTethyan in Late Carboniferous also affected the eclogitic protolith.
Cratonic destruction or lithospheric thinning beneath North China makes it as one of the most ideal areas for the studying on the formation and evolution of continent. However, the mechanism, time, range and dynamic setting of the destruction, even the lithospheric status before the destruction, are contentious. The comparison among mantle xenoliths in the volcanic rocks from different captured times (e.g. Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic) and locations (e.g. intra-plate or its rim, the translithospheric Tanlu fault or the North-South Gravity Line), and peridotitic massifs within the Sulu-Dabie ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism belt along the southern margin of the North China Craton, indicates that (1) the cratonic lithosphere is heterogeneous in structure and composition, and contains mantle weak zones; and (2) the Mesozoic-Cenozoic lithospheric thinning process is complex, including lateral spreading of lithosphere, interaction between melt and peridotite, non-even asthenospheric erosion (huge lithospheric thinning), and the limited lithospheric accretion and thus thickening, which resulted in the final replacement of the refractory cratonic lithosphere by juvenile fertile mantle. In early Mesozoic, the integrity of the North China Craton was interrupted, even destroyed by subduction and collision of the Yangtze block. The mantle wedge of the North China Craton was also metasomatized and modified by melt/fluids revealed from the subducted Yangtze continent. Lithospheric mantle extension and tectonic intrusion of the North China Craton also occurred, accompanied by the asthenospheric upwelling that due to the detachement of the subducted Yangtze continent (orogenic root). During early Cretaceous-early Tertiary, the huge thinning of lithosphere was triggered by the upwelling astheno- sphere due to the subduction of the Pacific plate. Since late Tertiary, the cooling of the upwelling asthenosphere resulted in the replacement of the mantle in existence by the newly accreted lithosphere, accompanied with a little thi
