A new pattern of tectonic units of China considered in light of the lithosphere

Abstract：This paper proposes a new pattern of tectonic units of China based on the petrological structure model of the lithosphere under continental China and five types of lithosphere, namely, cratonic lithosphere, orogenic lithosphere, rift lithosphere, marginal-sea oceanic crust lithosphere and island arc lithosphere,distinguished according to the dynamic properties of the lithosphere, combined with the present characteristics of compression in the west and extension in the east of continental China. The content of the new pattern is as follows：the lithospheric discontinuity along the western boundaries of the Sichuan,Ordos and Yinchuan basins is used as the boundary to divide continental China into two first-order tectonic units, i.e. the western China tectonic unit and the eastern China tectonic unit;the above-mentioned different types of lithosphere are considered as their second-order tectonic units; and some subtypes of the orogen-type lithosphere are the third-order tectonic units. On the basis of the new pattern of tectonic units, combined with the geological history, their formation processes and implications for ore finding are also discussed briefly in this paper.