Single zircon ages from high-grade rocks of the Jianping Complex, Liaoning Province, NE China

The high-grade rocks of the Jianping Complex in Liaoning Provi nce, NE China, belong to the late Archaean to earliest Proterozoic granulite belt of the North China craton. Single zircon ages obtained by the Pb-Pb evaporation method and SHRIMP analyses document an evolutionary history that began with deposition of a cratonic supracrustal sequence some 2522-2551 Ma ago, followed by intrusion of granitoid rocks beginning at 2522 Ma and reaching a peak at about 2500 Ma. This was followed by high-grade metamorphism, transforming the existing rocks into granulites, charnockites and enderbites some 2485-2490 Ma ago. The intrusion of post-tectonic granites at 2472 Ma is associated with widespread metamorphic retrogression and ends the tectono-metamorphic evolution of this terrain. A similar evolutionary sequence has also been recorded in the granulite belt of Eastern Hebei Province. We speculate that the Jianping Complex was part of an active continental margin in the late Archaean that became involved in continental collision and crustal thickening shortly after its formation. There is a remarkable similarity between the ∼2500 Ma North China granulite belt and the equally old granulite belt of Southern India, suggesting that the two crustal domains could have been part of the same active plate margin in latest Archaean times.