Late Mesozoic basin development and tectonic setting of the northern North China Craton

• Extensional tectonics was dominated from the Early to the early Middle Jurassic.
• Compressioanl tectonics took place between 168 Ma and 152 Ma.
• Late Mesozoic tectonic regime change took place between 152 Ma and 113 Ma.

The Yanshan Movement and the destruction of the North China Craton are two important geological events of the late Mesozoic in the central and eastern China. There are, however, still uncertainties about their initial timing, development, and intrinsic relationship. Late Mesozoic (Jurassic–Cretaceous) basin filling processes are crucial to understanding these questions. The Ningwu–Jingle Basin and the Hunyuan Basin, are situated in the north-central part of the North China Craton, have a complete late Mesozoic sedimentary strata. Their late Mesozoic sedimentary filling characteristics and key geochronology indicate the development of the North China Craton and its tectonic setting in different evolution stages. Our new sedimentary, geochronological and geochemical data of the volcanic rocks combined with the previously published results on Mesozoic sedimentary, deformation and magmatism in the North China Craton indicate a temporal and spatial migration of the tectonic movement. In the study, we divide the late Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the area into several stages using the sedimentary sequences and zircon U–Pb isotope dating, and discuss the intrinsic relationship between the Yanshan Movement and the destruction of the North China Craton. Our conclusions are as follows. (1) Extensional tectonics were probably dominated in the northern North China Craton from the Early Jurassic to the early Middle Jurassic, and continued until 168 Ma. (2) The Yanshan Movement took place between 168 Ma and 152 Ma, involving into an intensive compressional stage at 161–159 Ma with a peak stage at 159–152 Ma. (3) Late Mesozoic tectonic regime change took place in the northern North China Craton between 152 and 113 Ma, with a transitional stage from compression to extension at 152–130 Ma and a peak extensional stage at 130–113 Ma. The compressional tectonic regime became an extensional tectonic regime during the late Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, indicating the initiation and development of the destruction of the North China Craton.