Dizhi lixue xuebao (Feb 2023)
The outline of the Proterozoic South China Ocean
Abstract
The geological circle has been studying the South China Ocean for 40 years. Based on the existing studies, the geological features of the middle Neogene South China Ocean and related geological structures and mineralization issues have been further understood through the topics of Regional Geology of China: Jiangxi, Mineral Geology of China: Jiangxi, and Evolution and Mineralization in South China Ocean–Marginal Pacific. The Pingxiang–Shexian–Suzhou junction zone connects the Jinsha River–Red River junction zone to the north of Henei, which is the subduction zone of the South China Ocean in the middle Neogene. It formed the boundary between the Yangtse plate and the newly-defined China-Southeast Asia plate (referred to as the Jinsha River–Red River–Shexian–Suzhou junction zone), which is now a latitudinal tectonic belt bending southward. The South China Ocean is a Meso-Neoproterozoic ocean between the Yangzi Paleo-plate and the Cathaysia-Southeast Asia Paleo-plate, closed at about 820± Ma. The Jinning movement took place during the collision of the plates, resulting in a consolidation of the Yangtze Block and the Cathaysia-Southeast Asia Block, where they united into one. The region has been an essential part of the Eurasian plate since the Indo-Chinese period, and the South China Rift System had been formed from 815± Ma in the late Neogene to the early Paleozoic. The Tethys and Paleo-Pacific tectonic domains have formed the geological tectonic framework of southern China and plateaus, continents, seas, and island arcs of the neighboring areas since the late Paleozoic. The subduction zone of the South China Ocean has evolved into the “Jinsha River–Hong River–Qinzhou Bay–-Hangzhou Bay” mega metallogenic belt of tungsten-tin-copper-gold polymetallic precious and rare metals, featuring two major magmatic mineralization series of S and I types.
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