3.85 Ga continental crust beneath the southern North China Craton: Evidence from zircon xenocrysts in Cretaceous granites

A fragment of Hadean continental crust has been postulated to underlie the North China Craton based on the discovery of >3.8 Ga detrital zircons, but these detrital zircons may be transported from a lateral source. Here we report new U Pb ages of 3823 to 230 Ma for zircon xenocrysts directly from Cretaceous granites (129 Ma), which rules out a lateral source. Our results for the first time demonstrate the existence of 3.85 Ga crustal precursors beneath the southern North China Craton based on the Hf isotopic compositions of the 3.82 Ga zircon. The crustal precursors might be a granitic source that was produced by the wet melting of ancient continental crust. We further show that the southern North China Craton has experienced the global Columbia, Gondwana, and Pangaea supercontinent events, based on the inherited zircon age groups of 2017–1896 Ma, 1792–1776 Ma, 584–570 Ma and 251–230 Ma. These Eoarchaean to Triassic U Pb ages document the evolution of the early continental crust and the geological process in the development of the North China Craton.