Tectonics and HP–UHP metamorphism of northern Tibet – Preface

This special issue has been prepared for the 8th International Eclogite Conference (IEC) to be held in the Qilian–Qaidam regions, western China during August, 2009. Most papers in this issue summarize results of many current petrological–geochemical–geochronological and tectonic studies of both Qilian Pacific-type and Qaidam Alpine-type lithotectonic assemblages. Important new occurrences include the Qilian lawsonite eclogites which required an extremely cold subduction of the Early Paleozoic oceanic lithosphere, and the mixing of oceanic and supracrustal protoliths in the Qaidam continental subduction channel. These two Early Paleozoic sutures in northern Tibet provide additional constraints on the regional tectonic evolution of Paleo- and Neo-Tethys in south-central Asia.