Age and evolution of a late Archean to Paleoproterozoic upper to lower crustal section in the Wutaishan/Hengshan/Fuping terrain of northern China

Abstract The Taihangshan–Wutaishan area forms part of the central North China Craton and consists of three main components: the Hengshan and Fuping complexes, containing predominantly ductilely deformed late Archean to Paleoproterozoic high-grade granitoid orthogneisses, intruded by mafic dykes of gabbroic composition, and the low-grade late Archean Wutai greenstone belt, developed between the high-grade terrains and consisting of bimodal volcanic rocks and metasediments, associated with coeval granitoids. Zircon dating shows that both the Hengshan and Fuping complexes were intruded by major granitoid bodies between 2.52 and 2.48 Ga, with rare occurrences of 2.7 Ga gneisses. Wutai granitoid…