Subdivision of tectonic units in China

Abstract： Researches on tectonic formation, evolution and subdivision in China have had a history of more than 100 years. There are several kinds of opinions concerning the tectonic subdivision of China, which are based on different sorts of epistemology and methodology regarding the formation and evolution of the continental crust. Tectonic subdivision blueprints guided by “three mainstream tectonic views” include Mr. Huang Jiqing's polycyclic tectonics, Mr. Wang Hongzhen's historical tectonics and Mr. Li Chunyu's plate tectonics. The ideas of these researchers have been playing a guiding role in this field and hence have had extensive and profound influence in China. Nowadays tectonic subdivision seems to be the key to the research on micro-structures of plates in that it is not only a theoretical problem in the study of plate tectonics but also a practical problem which must be solved immediately so as to help perform studies in such aspects as regional geology, metallogenic prognosis and mineral resources evaluation. In this paper, the tectonic subdivision is based on records of stratigraphic division and correlation, sedimentary formation, volcanics formation, intrusive magmatism, metamorphism and deformation, and consistent with the classic division theory of “three mainstream tectonic views” in China. Guided by theories of plate tectonics and earth dynamics, based on the requirements of metallogenic regularity and mineral energy resource prognosis, and following the main line of spatial-temporal structure analysis of tectonic facies environment of different-sized stable ancient continent block domains and different episodic orogenic systems, the authors have divided the tectonic environment of China into continent block domains and orogenic systems, which include nine first-order tectonic units and fifty-six corresponding second-order tectonic units. As there are a number of major tectonic problems in China that remain to be solved in future, a prolonged painstaking efforts are still needed for more accurate subdivision.