Mesozoic basins in eastern China and their bearing on the deconstruction of the North China Craton

Mesozoic basins occur widely in the Eastern Block and the neighboring area of the North China Craton, including the Bohai Bay, the Jiaolai, the Hefei and the North Yellow Sea in the north, and the Jianghan and the Subei-South Yellow Sea basins to the south. Their spatial–temporal framework is the consequence of the Indosinian and Yanshanian tectonic regimes in eastern China and record the events related to Mesozoic deconstruction of the North China Craton. Our results demonstrate that the Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the eastern North China Craton was related to both sub-crustal delamination and intra-crustal extrusion or escape tectonics. Thus, we propose that the mechanism of uplift of the Yanshanian North China Plateau and related lithosphere thinning in the eastern North China Craton were related to sub-crustal delamination at depth. However, the different distribution patterns of the basins on both sides of the Tan-Lu Fault System as well as the co-existence of both compressional and extensional basins in the Mesozoic indicate that these were controlled by escape tectonics in different tectonic parts of the crust.

► The Meso-Cenozoic basins in eastern China record structural processes of destruction of the North China Craton.
► Mesozoic shallow tectonism in eastern China is manifested by extrusion tectonics.
► The Mesozoic deep-seated tectonic processes are characterized by local delamination and magma underpalting.