Seismic evidence for the subduction of North China Block to Yangtze Block beneath Tongbai-Dabie Orogenic belt

The Tongbai-Dabie Orogenic belt formed in the Middle-to-Late Triassic through a collision between the Yangtze Block (YB) and North China Block (NCB) and is a key component of the Central Orogen of China, which is famous on the most extensive high and ultrahigh pressure (HP/UHP) metamorphic zone in the world and marks the irregular suture between the YB and NCB. It is an ideal place to study the ancient orogenic processes between collided continents. In this study, we used a large number of P-wave arrival times recorded by portable and permanent seismic stations to reveal the structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath the Tongbai-Dabie orogenic belt and its adjacent region. Our images show the south-dipping high-velocity anomalies beneath the Tongbai-Dabie orogenic belt and the east-dipping high-velocity anomalies beneath the Tanlu Fault, which represent the southeastward subducted NCB in Mesozoic. While a huge high-velocity anomaly beneath the Wudang Moutin region extending down to 250 km is possible the ancient lithosphere of the Yangtze Craton remnant since the Paleoproterozoic. The northward subducted YB is only limited in the Eastern Dabie terrane and Yangtze foreland. Break-off retained Paleo-Tethyan oceanic slab are revealed at depths from the upper mantle 250 to 400 km. The structure of the crust and upper mantle suggests that the southeastward subduction of NCB resulted in the collision of NCB with YB.