Eastern Ancient Terrane of the North China Craton

Based on the spatial distribution of ancient rocks and zircons, three ancient terranee older than ca. 2.6 Ga have recently been identified in the North China Craton, namely the Eastern, Southern, and Central Ancient Terranee. The Eastern Ancient Terrane is the best studied and understood of the three ancient terranes. It has a long geological history back to ca. 3.8 Ga ago and includes the areas of Anshan-Benxi, eastern Hebei, eastern Shandong and western Shandong. In Anshan-Benxi, several different types of 3.8 Ga rocks were discovered together with 3.1–3.7 Ga rocks, whereas 2.9–3.0 Ga K-rich granites and 2.5 Ga syenogranite occur on larger scales. In eastern Hebei, 3.0–3.4 Ga rocks and ol…