Cenozoic faulting of the Bohai Bay Basin and its bearing on the destruction of the eastern North China Craton Sanzhong Li a,⇑ , Guochun Zhao b , Liming Dai a , Lihong Zhou c , Xin Liu a , Yanhui Suo a , M. Santosh d a College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China b Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong c Dagang Oilfield Company, CNPC, Tianjin 300280, China d Faculty of Science, Kochi University, Kochi 780-8520, Japan article info Article history: Available online 18 July 2011 Keywords: North China Craton Lithosphere thinning Cenozoic Zhangjuhe Fault System Strike-slip faulting Extensional basin Destruction abstract The Cenozoic Bohai Bay Basin is located at the center of the Eastern Block of the North China Craton. The structural architecture of this basin provides important clues on the deep-seated lithosphere thinning of the North China Craton. The Cenozoic regional stress field is characterized by NW-oriented extension. However, the various Cenozoic structural patterns of normal faulting and related transverse folding in the Bohai Bay Basin are controlled not only by Cenozoic stress field, but also by strain field and Mesozoic basement fault assemblages in this area. Regionally, the Cenozoic tectonic features and the dynamic evo- lution of the eastern North China Craton are dominated by two lithosphere-penetrating fault systems including the sinistral Tan–Lu Fault System and the dextral Lan–Liao Fault System. To the west of the Lan–Liao Fault System, Cenozoic extensional tectonics includes NNE-trending listric normal faults that controlled half grabens. However, between these two fault systems are WNW-trending half grabens which show basement-involved faulting in the north and overlapping relations between sedimentary cover and basement in the south. To the east of the Tan–Lu fault, the North Yellow Sea Basin is a WNW-trending fault depression with faulting in the south and overlapping relations in the north. These structural features are inherited from the Mesozoic tectonic framework of this area, whose tectonic char- acteristics were completely controlled by two opposite strike-slipping faults, the trans-extensional or oblique rifting in the Paleogene, followed by extensional faulting and subsequent subsidence. Further- more, the culmination of the decratonization of the North China Craton was also related to an eastward jump of Cenozoic subduction of the Pacific Plate and the far-field effect of eastward extrusion of Cenozoic subduction of the Indian Plate, and was not essentially restricted to the early Mesozoic processes. There- fore, the Cenozoic, especially 25 Ma marks the time of cessation of the processes that led to lithosphere thinning and destruction of the Eastern Block of the North China Craton. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Recent evidence gathered from geological and geophysical stud- ies confirm that the Eastern Block (EB) of the North China Craton (NCC) lost its lithospheric root (Fig. 1, Zhang, 1993, 2007; Cope and Graham, 2007; Li et al., 2007; Gao et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2008; Xu and Zhao, 2009; Zheng et al., 2009; Chen, 2009). The problem of how and when was the process of lithosphere thinning initiated in the NCC has attracted many studies (Yang et al., 2008; Santosh, 2010; Zhang, 2011; Zhang et al., 2011). The Bohai Bay Basin (BBB) is a typical Mesozoic and Cenozoic extensional basin located at the center of the eastern part of the NCC and records structural processes of deep-seated lithosphere thinning beneath the NCC (Zhang, 2007; Cope and Graham, 2007; Li et al., 2007; Gao et al., 2008). Studies of the Cenozoic structures in the BBB pro- vide the basis for a better understanding the cause and cessation of lithosphere thinning and the decratonization of the NCC. They also provide a basis for interpreting the Mesozoic tectonic framework because the Cenozoic structural framework has inherited many features from the Mesozoic structures (Li et al., 2004). Therefore, to restore the previous structures, tectonic setting and the process of lithosphere thinning, it is necessary to understand the structures of the Cenozoic composite basins in East China. There has been a hot debate on the origin and nature of the Cenozoic basins in the eastern part of the NCC, among which the BBB is a typical example. It is generally considered, as viewed from the tectonic mechanism, that the BBB is a rift basin or an exten- sional basin (Li, 1980; Ma et al., 1983; Chen, 1991; Hu et al., 1982; Zhao, 1984; Qi and Chen, 1992; Meng et al., 1993; Shao 1367-9120/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2011.06.011 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Marine Geology, College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, No. 238, Songling Road, 266100 Qingdao, China. Tel.: +86 532 66781971. E-mail address: Sanzhong@ouc.edu.cn (S. Li). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 47 (2012) 80–93 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Asian Earth Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jseaes