Subduction history of the Paleo-Asian oceanic slab along the northern margin of the North China Craton: A case study of zircons and cherts from central Jilin Province, NE China

This paper presents U-Pb ages and Hf isotope data for detrital zircons and whole-rock geochemical data for siliceous-clastic sedimentary rocks of the Shitoukoumen Formation, central Jilin Province, NE China. The new data combined with published data for the northern North China Craton enable us to constrain the temporal changes in crustal thickness along the Solonker−Xar Moron−Changchun−Yanji suture belt (SXCYB). The Shitoukoumen Formation contains ophiolitic lenses, radiolarian-bearing cherts, and volcanic-sedimentary units of various ages. A radiolarian-bearing volcanic-sedimentary unit exhibits a Bouma sequence, in which detrital zircons from a rhyolitic tuff and siliceous-clastic sedimentary rocks yielded youngest ages of 278−273 Ma, which constrain the depositional age of the unit. The geochemical compositions of the cherts suggest the pelagic deposits contain some continent-derived clastic material and may be near-trench gravity flow deposits. The dominantly depleted zircon εHf(t) values of the sedimentary rocks in the Shitoukoumen Formation record extensive crustal growth during the Paleozoic. The variations in the crustal thicknesses during the Paleozoic to early Mesozoic record a tectonic transition from subduction initiation, mature continental arc, and finally to Paleo-Asian ocean closure. The thickest crust (∼58 km) at ca. 245 Ma might have been related to an orogenic peak during the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean along the SXCYB.