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The Mystery of the Qinling Orogenic Belt: How Was It Formed in Earth History?
On the vast land of China, the Qinling orogenic belt winds like a giant dragon, carrying a long geological history. This orogenic belt was formed by a complex series of geological activities, and the latest research has revealed the mysterious process of its evolution. The geological history of the Qinling Orogenic Belt can be traced back to 2.5 billion years ago, including geological processes such as plate collision, separation, and the formation and disappearance of oceans, making the topography and geological features here unique.
The formation of the Qinling Orogenic Belt is mainly due to the collision between the North China Plate and the South China Plate, which is one of the most important geological events on Earth.
It is understood that the Qinling orogenic belt consists of two main areas: the North Qinling Mountains and the South Qinling Mountains. These two areas are located at the boundaries of the North China Craton and the South China Craton, respectively. Historically, these regions have experienced multiple interactions of microplates, not just one single event. Scientists have divided these evolutionary processes into four main stages, which led to the formation of the terrain we see today.
Stages of crustal evolution
Development of the basement (2.5 billion to 800 million years ago)
In the earliest period, the formation of the South Qinling Belt was mainly attributed to the magmatic activity of the ancient continent. After cooling, these magmas became the main basement of the current southern Qinling Mountains. The northern Qinling belt was formed slightly later than the southern Qinling belt and mainly came from magmatic activity in an oceanic arc environment. The diversity of this history provided the basis for subsequent geological evolution.
Evolution of the belt and associated oceans (800 million to 250 million years ago)
With the breakup of the ancient supercontinent, the two belts of the Qinling Mountains further split, accompanied by the formation of new oceans. This process involves not only the transport of material but also new geological activity, which provides the historical context for subsequent attempts at recombination.
Formation of the major belts (250 million to 140 million years ago)
With the collision of the South China Plate and the Qinling Belt, the violent collision between the continents led to the formation of mountains, and the Mianlue Ocean was completely closed, which promoted the accumulation and metamorphism of the strata and formed the geological structure we see today.
Extension and stretching of the belt (140 million years ago to present)
Since 1.4 million years ago, the Qinling orogenic belt has undergone a transition from collision to extension. The extension of the earth's crust caused deformation of the strata, accompanied by active fault activity, which eventually formed the current surface morphology.
As the earth's crust stretches, the geological activity in the Qinling Mountains changes to be dominated by normal faults, which has a profound impact on the surface morphology of the region.
Geological composition of Qinling Mountains
The geological structure of the Qinling Mountains is extremely complex, caused by the interaction of multiple plates, and can be divided into nine main components. The interaction of these parts and their geological background make the geological characteristics of Qinling unique and diverse.
North and South China Plates
The interaction between the North and South China plates is an important part of the Qinling Orogenic Belt, and the geological characteristics of these areas summarize the entire geological history from the evolution of ancient basement to modern sedimentary layers.
Kuanping Group
The Kuanping Formation consists mainly of metasedimentary rocks, including greenschist and amphibolite, which show geological features related to the collision of the North China Plate.
Erlangping Group
The formation of the Erlangping Formation is closely related to the geological movements of the early Paleozoic, and its unique rock structure records the sedimentary history of the plate.
Northern Qinling Formation
The North Qinling Formation is characterized by its metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that reflect the complex geological history of the region.
Other components
The vast majority of geological features, including the Shangdan and Mianlue joint zones, bear witness to the region's flexural and metamorphic history as a whole.
The Qinling Orogenic Belt is not only one of China's magnificent natural landscapes, but also an important object of global geological research. From its formation process, we can not only understand the evolutionary history of the Earth, but also reflect on how these forces of nature shape the current surface. The future of Qinling Mountains is destined to change with the movement of the earth and the passage of time. How should we understand these natural phenomena and gain inspiration from them?
