Tectonics of the Qinling Belt: build-up and evolution of eastern Asia
Abstract
The structure and history of the Qinling range, which separates the North and South China cratons, are a key to the tectonic evolution of eastern Asia. The mountain range is composed of a northern Palaeozoic belt and a southern Mesozoic belt. The Palaeozoic orogeny probably involved the closure of an oceanic basin along a north-dipping subduction zone, followed by south-vergent obduction of ophiolites and intracontinental thrusting during the Devonian. The Mesozoic belt appears to be the product of purely intracontinental, shallow crustal deformation over a large decollement with at least 100 km of horizontal transport. Since the Devonian, both belts have been sliced by huge east-west sinistral strike-slip faults.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- October 1985
- DOI:
- 10.1038/317496a0
- Bibcode:
- 1985Natur.317..496M