Exhumation of high-pressure granulites and the role of lower crustal advection in the North China Craton near Datong

Granulites in the Datong-Huai'an area of North China are characterized by high P-T assemblages (14 16 kbar, -9OOY) that underwent decompression cooling to -7 kbar and -800°C during a 250&2400 Ma tectonic event. Nearly all structures in the grantilites developed during the retrograde exhumation history, and can be subdivided into: (1) the stratigraphically lower, 'lower structural domain' that is characterized by complex folding with 55-10 km wide domes surrounded by concentric troughs, preserving concentric lineation patterns; and (2) the stratigraphically higher 'upper structural domain' that is characterized by a planar gneissic foliation, upright folds and a constant, shallowly SW-plungi…