Huang Baochun

Paleomagnetic constraints on the tectonic history of the major blocks of China duing the Phanerozoic

Paleomagnetic study of China and its constraints on Asia tectonics has been a hot spot. Some new paleomagnetic data from three major blocks of China. North China Block (NCB), Yangtze Block (YZB) and Tarim Block (TRM) are first reported, and then available published Phanerozoic paleomagnetic poles from these blocks with the goal of placing constraints on the drift history and paleocontinental reconstruction are critically reviewed. It was found that all three major blocks were located at the mid-low latitude in the Southern Hemisphere during the Early Paleozoic. The NCB was probably independent in terms of dynamics. its drift history was dominant by latitudinal placement accompanying rotation in the Early Paleozoic. The YZB was close to Gondwanaland in Cambrian, and separated from Gondwanaland during the Late-Middle Ordovician. The TRM was part of Gondwanaland, and might be close to the YZB and Australia in the Early Paleozoic. Paleomagnetic data show that the TRM was separated from Gondwanaland during the Late-Middle Ordovician, and then drifted northward. The TRM was sutured to Siberia and Kazakstan blocks during the Permian, however, the composite Mongolia-NCB block did not collide with Siberia till Late Jurassic. During Late Permian to Late Triassic, the NCB and YZB were characterized by northern latitudinal placement and rotation on the pivot in the Dabie area. The NCB and YZB collided first in the eastern part where they were located at northern latitude of about 6°—8°, and a triangular oceanic basin remained in the Late Permian. The suturing zone was located at northern latitude of 25° where the two blocks collided at the western part in the Late Triassic. The collision between the two blocks propagated westward after the YZB rotated about 70° relative to the NCB during the Late Permian to Middle Jurassic. Then two blocks were northward drifting (about 5°) together with relative rotating and crust shortening. It was such scissors-like collision procedure that produced intensive compression in the eastern part of suturing zone between the NCB and YZB, in which continental crust subducted into the upper mantle in the Late Permian, and then the ultrahigh-pressure rocks extruded in the Late Triassic. Paleomagnetic data also indicate that three major blocks have been together clockwise rotating about 20° relative to present-day rotation axis since the Late Jurassic. It was proposed that Lahsa Block and India subcontinent successively northward subducted and collided with Eurasia or collision between Pacific/Philippines plates and Eurasia might be responsible for this clockwise rotating of Chinese continent.

Magnetic properties of high-road-side pine tree leaves in Beijing and their environmental significance

This is a report on magnetic properties of highroad-side tree (Pinus pumila Regel) leaves collected along an expressway linking Beijing City and the Capital International Airport and further focus on their environmental contributions. A series of rock magnetic experiments show that the primary magnetic mineral of leaf samples was identified to be magnetite, in the pseudo-single domain (PSD) grain size range 0.2–5.0 μm. On the other hand, magnetite concentration and grain size in leaves are ascertained to decrease with increasing of sampling distance to highroad asphalt surface, suggesting that high magnetic response to traffic pollution is localized within a distance of some two meters away from highroad asphalt surface. Although magnetic susceptibility is ordinarily regarded as a simple, rapid and low-cost method for monitoring traffic pollution, saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) can be treated as a valid proxy for monitoring air particulate matter (PM) when samples are magnetically weak. It is believed that a synthetic rock magnetic study is an effective method for determining concentration and grain size of ferromagnets in the atmospheric PM, and then it should be a rapid and feasible technique for monitoring atmospheric pollution.

Apparent polar wander path and tectonic movement of the North China Block in Phanerozoic

The results on the Early Paleozoic from the North China Block (NCB) are reported. and a series of reliable poles are selected from the available Phanerozoic data, based on the conventional reliability criteria, e.g. the number of samples, the uncertainty limit, any suspected incomplete demagnetization or overprint and field test (including fold, reversal, conglomerate tests). Especially, paleopole data is excluded if the sampling area suffered from the tectonic (e.g. rotation) and thermal effects. A new Phanerozoic apparent polar wander (APW) path for the NCB is compiled, and its tectonic evolution is discussed.

Origin of the Red Earth sequence on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its implications for regional aridity since the middle Miocene

The Red Earth deposit around Xining, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, has been studied in terms of soil micro-structure, grain-size distribution, major-and trace-element chemistry and magnetostratigraphy. Field investigations indicate that the Red Earth sequence consists of 25 visually definable yellow-brown and weakly-developed soils interbedded with reddish strongly-developed soils, and has a similar structure to the aeolian Red Clay deposit on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Grain-size analysis shows that the Red Earth deposit is very fine-grained with a negligible sand fraction (>63 µm). Thin-section observations under light microscopy show that the deposit has a clayey texture and the coarse fraction (>10 µm) mainly consists of quartz, feldspar and micas. Pyroxene and hornblende were also observed. This mineralogical composition of the coarse fraction is similar to that of the Quaternary loess. In addition, all of the mineral grains are semi angular semi-angular and are generally finer than 63 µm. There is a good agreement between the major and minor trace element chemistry of loess-soil units and the Red Earth deposit. The REE distributions of the loess-soil and the Red Earth deposit are similar in shape, with enriched LREE and fairly flat HREE profiles and a clear negative Eu anomaly. The geochemical characteristics of the Red Earth deposit are also identical to those of upper continental crust, thus indicating a wind-blown origin.Magnetostratigraphic investigation shows that onset of the Red Earth deposition predates 11.4 Ma BP (13.6 Ma at a nearby site). The distribution of the reported Miocene aeolian loess at Qin’an of the Loess Plateau is still unknown. Our results indicate that this aeolian deposit had extended to the northeastern Tibetan Plateau by at least the middle Miocene. The similarity of the element geochemistry between the Red Earth deposit and the overlying loess shows that they may have similar sources and dynamic transport system, and may indicate that the aridification of the interior of the Tibetan Plateau and central Asia began by at least the middle Miocene. Compared with the last interglacial-glacial loess, the grain-size of the Red Earth deposit is finer. This may indicate a lower energy transport agent and/or aridity in the dust source region. However, changes in grain-size and other proxies indicate many climatic fluctuations, with two important shifts at 9.61–9.91 Ma and 7–8 Ma. In addition, the grain-size record shows a shift from a high-frequency and high-amplitude pattern to a low-frequency and low-amplitude pattern at around 10.4 Ma and may indicate a significant environmental event at this time. Previous research has shown that the intensity of the southwest Asian monsoon increased at this time, coincident with heavier foraminiferal oxygen isotope values and a sharp fall in sea-level. Thus the environmental event in the Northeast Tibetan Plateau at 10.4 Ma may have global implications.

Paleomagnetic study on the Early Triassic red beds from Jiaocheng, Shanxi Province ——Local rotation and tectonic significance

Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study has been conducted on the Early Triassic red beds of Liujiagou Formation from Jiaocheng, Shanxi Province. Hematite was shown as the main magnetic mineral. After eradicating an initial viscous component at room temperature to ~100°C–200°C, thermal demagnetization shows that most samples contain two remanence components, intermediate-temperature remanence component at 250°C–500°C and high-temperature component at 500°C–680°C. The intermediate-temperature component has a negative fold test at the 95% confidence level. And the pole position of the intermediate-temperature component in geographic coordinates is correlated with the Middle Jurassic reference pole of the North China Block (NCB) within the 95% confidence, suggesting that it might be a remagnetization component acquired during the Yanshanian period. The high-temperature component contains both reversal and normal polarities with positive fold test and C-level positive reversal test at the 95% confidence level, which suggests that this high-temperature component can be regarded as primary magnetization. Comparison of this newly obtained Early Triassic paleopole with the coeval mean pole of the Ordos Basin suggests that a locally relative rotation may have happened between the Ordos and the Jiaocheng area of Shanxi Province. This rotation may be related with two faults: one is Lishi big fault separating Ordos from Shanxi and the other is Jiaocheng big fault, which is situated in the southeast of sampling locality and was still in motion during the Cenozoic.

Paleomagnetic study on orogenic belt: An example from Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks, Inner Mongolia, China

We report paleomagnetic results for Early Cretaceous lava flows collected from the Suhongtu area of Inner Mongolia, the middle part of the Tianshan-Mongolia Fold Belt (TMFB). Rock-magnetic experiments for different lava flows indicate that the main magnetic mineral is pseudo-single-domain (PSD) magnetite. The characteristic high-temperature remanence component is isolated by thermal demagnetization temperature steps between 300°C and 585°C, which yields a mean direction of D = 23.6°, I = 56.0° with α 95 = 2.3°. We interpret this high-temperature remanence component as primary magnetization based mainly upon the petrographic analysis, which shows that the shape of magnetite crystal is relatively rounded square or polygon without internal reflection and deuterogenous phenomenon. The corresponding pole of the high-temperature remanence component is at 71.1°N, 200.5°E with A95 = 2.7°. This Early Cretaceous pole is in good agreement with those for Siberia, North China, and Inner Mongolia, suggesting that these continental blocks had already sutured together in the Early Cretaceous, which would further provide constraints on better understanding of the formation and evolution of the TMFB.

Rock magnetic study of the Early Paleozoic limestone from northern part of Henan Province

Rock magnetic study was carried out on the samples of non-remagnetized Lower Paleozoic limestone from Henan Province. These studies suggest that the properties of the natural remanent magnetization are usually dependent on the grain size of magnetic carrier, e.g. the grain size of magnetite mineral (multidomain or single domain). The different contents of the single and multi-domain magnetites could cause the different levels of overlapping of the middle-high and high temperature components. This may be the reason for “easy” or “difficult” separation of magnetic components.

Distribution of apparent magnetization for Asia

Magsat total field anomalies over Asia were used to construct an equivalent magnetization model, which represents the apparent magnetization distribution within an equivalent layer 40 km thick and correlates well with large-scale tectonics, for example, the Kazakhstan, Tarim, Yangtze, India, Sino-Korea and Indochina blocks. The basin, plain, sea basin, and islands are delineated by magnetization lows whereas the plateau and marine ridge correspond to magnetization highs. The boundary between Tibetan Plateau and India marked by a strong gradient along its length coincides with the Yarlung Zangbo River fault roughly. The Tanlu fault belt is the boundary between positive and negative anomalies. This boundary stretches in southwest direction and joins Sanjiang fault belt. The boundary between the Southeast China block and the Yangtze block is also clearly delineated by the magnetization anomalies. Generally, the magnetization boundaries are consistent with the collisional suture of blocks.

Remagnetization of the Early Paleozoic rocks from southern part of the Huabei basin ( I )

Although paleomagnetic study of the Early Paleozoic for the North China Block (NCB) has witnessed rapid progress since the 1980s, significant difference in the results can be found from the widespread areas in North China. Besides the paleomagnetic techniques used in the laboratories, the difference of these Paleozoic poles could also be due to the early and late Mesozoic remagnetization in the eastern part of China. It is therefore necessary to carry out systematic paleomagnetic and rock magnetic studies for the Early Paleozoic rocks in the NCB. The remagnetizarion re-sults from the northwestern part of Henan Province are reported, and related geological implications are discussed.