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U–Pb dating of detrital zircon is widely used in geology to identify the source of sediments and constrain palaeogeography and tectonic history. We collected the detrital zircon from the Paleoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic strata to understand the North China Craton's geological chronological characteristics. After screening and sorting out data information, we managed and analysed 84 papers from 2006 to 2022. Three hundred seventy‐nine samples comprising 29,431 pieces of U–Pb ages of detrital zircons gathered from the Proterozoic to Ordovician sedimentary rocks in North China Craton (NCC). Detrital zircons within five areas in the NCC, i. e., Xuhuai Basin, Zhaertai‐Bayan Obo‐Huade Basin, Yanliao Basin, Xiong'er Basin and Alxa Block, are discussed in detail. Meanwhile, we collected 2,588 pieces of Lu‐Hf detrital zircon data in the study. This Database can be helpful in understanding and explaining the tectonic evolution of the NCC from the Paleoproterozoic to the Early Palaeozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Meso- to Neoproterozoic Eras were characterized by environmental, evolutionary, and lithospheric stability in the North China Craton (NCC). It is controversial that huge uplift(s) occurred in the North China Craton during this period. The southern NCC developed early terrestrial deposition in the late-Paleoproterozoic and glacial sequence in the late Neoproterozoic record integrated geological history of the NCC in the intervening interval. Geochemistry compositions of mid-Mesoproterozoic carbonaceous slates (ca. 1330 Ma) show similar provenances to the underlying Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the southern NCC. Detrital zircons from the mid-Mesoproterozoic strata yield U–Pb ages from ca. 2450 to 1850 Ma with minor ages of 2950 and 2750 Ma. U–Pb ages of detrital zircons from the Neoproterozoic strata yield from ca. 1700 to 1000 Ma besides peak ages of 2600, 2400, and 1950 Ma. The early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks also display peak ages between ca. 1850 and 1000 Ma along with peaks at ca. 2500 and 2300 Ma. These detrital zircon ages are quite different from those of the Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the NCC. According to paleogeography study, the late-Paleoproterozoic to the early Mesoproterozoic clastic sequences are controlled by Xiong'er volcanic event in the southern NCC and carbonate platform developed later. The Mesoproterozoic sequences are overlain disconformably by the Neoproterozoic strata. In combination with compiled magmatic and detrital zircon ages, a sedimentary gap spanned at least 300 Ma from mid-Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic in the southern NCC. Thus, the disconformity between the Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences in the southern NCC should represent a huge sedimentary hiatus. Both the variable provenances and huge sedimentary hiatus between the Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences support that the NCC might not split from relict landmass of Columbia Supercontinent before Neoproterozoic. The relict landmass was involved in aggregation of the Rodinia supercontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Neoproterozoic global climate changed drastically and associated glacial deposits have been found worldwide. However, there are few such records at the southern margin of the North China Craton (NCC), limiting the comparison of the glacial deposits with other parts of the world. In this study, five sections of the Neoproterozoic Luoquan Formation were investigated in a systematic field survey using traditional sedimentology, geochemistry, and geochronology methods to reveal genesis, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and provenance of the Luoquan Formation. The results reveal depositional evidence for glaciation, such as sedimentary characteristics of massive diamictites, bedded and weakly bedded diamictites, sandstone lenses, lonestone-bearing siltstone, glacial relics, and striated pavements. All geochemical indicators show positive trends, such as in the values of Fe/Mn, Mg/Ga, Sr/Ba, ΣREE, and Cu/Zn. The zircon U–Pb data of the stable sandstone strata in the Luoquan Formation show a main peak at 2494 million years (Ma) and secondary peaks at 1656, 2100, and 2233 Ma. Sedimentary characteristics, glacial relics, changes in geochemical values, and the provenance age of detrital zircons suggest that the Luoquan Formation represents glacial meltwater deposits that eroded the nearby strata in a gradually warming environment. The direction of glacier migration, from north to south, revealed that the NCC deposition process occurred in the late Neoproterozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basin formation and sedimentary development in the southern North China Craton (NCC) are closely related to the tectonic evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt (QOB). With the aim of revealing the coupling evolution between the QOB and southern NCC during the Late Palaeozoic, an investigation based on provenance analysis was performed in this study. We present new detrital zircon U–Pb data from the Middle–Late Permian sediments in the Yiyang area, southern NCC. The results show that detrital zircons, from the Middle Permian Shihezi Formation, have three major peaks at 2,447, 1,905, and 296 Ma. In contrast, the lower and upper parts of the Late Permian Sunjiagou Formation yield major peaks at ~1.85 Ga and ~260 Ma, with weak peaks at ~2.5 Ga, ~450 Ma, and ~315 Ma, and the middle part of the Sunjiagou Formation displays a major peak at 429 Ma. Combined with published palaeocurrent data and lithofacies palaeogeography, the sediments of the Middle Permian Shihezi Formation were sourced from the Inner Mongolia Palaeo‐Uplift along the northern margin of the NCC, whereas the Upper Permian Sunjiagou Formation originated mainly from the southern margin of the NCC including the North Qinling Belt. This provenance shift indicates that the North Qinling Belt and southern margin of the NCC initiated the uplift and exhumation during the Late Permian. On the basis of the evolutionary history of the QOB, we attribute the uplift geodynamics to the Mianlue oceanic crust subduction. This study provides important sedimentological constraints for the tectonic conversion during the Late Palaeozoic along the southern margin of the NCC, which also restricts the start‐up time of the Mianlue oceanic crust subduction from the perspective of the basin–mountain system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the North Qinling Terrane (NQT) was accreted to the North China Craton (NCC) in the Proterozoic is still a matter of debate. We report the first detrital zircon study from the Baishugou Formation, which forms the uppermost part of the Mesoproterozoic Guandaokou Group, at the southernmost NCC margin. Detrital zircons from carbonaceous silty phyllite in the lower part of the Baishugou Formation yield U-Pb ages peaking at ca. 2500 Ma, with minor peaks at ca. 2300-2000, 1800, and 1600 Ma, and εHf(t) values ranging from −10.8 to +9.1. These zircons are considered to have been sourced from the NCC. In contrast, the middle-to-upper part of the formation contains detrital zircons which yield an age group ranging from 1800 to 1000 Ma, with peaks at 1800, 1500, 1300, and 1100 Ma; the zircons with ages of 1500-1300 Ma dominantly have εHf(t) values greater than +5 and the majority plot along the depleted mantle evolution curve. The striking difference between the U-Pb ages of the detrital zircons from the upper and lower parts of the formation suggests a shift in provenance. Magmatism at 1500-1300 Ma has not been reported from the southern margin of the NCC but has been discovered in the NQT. Hence, we deduce that the zircons from the upper part of the formation were primarily derived from the NQT, where an episode of crustal growth and magmatism is recorded between 1500 and 1100 million years. The variable sediment provenances imply that the NCC and NQT could be connected during the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic. The pattern of detrital zircon ages in the new sediments from the Baishugou Formation is distinct from those in the Kuanping Group and the Palaeozoic Erlangping Complex, which are at present sandwiched between the NCC and the NQT. The detrital zircons from these two groups are dominated by an age peak at ca. 1000 Ma, which is formed as the result of amalgamation of the NQT and the Rodinia Supercontinent during the Grenville orogeny. It is possible that the new sediments of the Baishugou Formation were deposited before Grenville orogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]