Weidong Sun

Institute of Oceanology · Center of Deepsea Research

The mechanism behind the destabilization of the North China Craton (NCC) remains a contentious topic among researchers. Large-scale Cretaceous adakitic magmatism in the NCC offers insights into the decratonization process. This study focuses on the Huashan and Laoniushan plutons located in the Lesser Qinling on the southern margin of the NCC and co...

Glacial diamictite may provide important information on paleoenvironment and average composition of the upper continental crust (UCC). In this study, we report sedimentary facies, petrological and geochemical characteristics of Neoproterozoic diamictite from a profile of the Luoquan Formation on the southern margin of the North China Block (NCB). U...

Porphyry Mo deposits are important suppliers of molybdenum for industrial applications, but the origin and source of metals in these deposits remain debated. Here, we present Mo isotope data for Miocene mineralized porphyritic monzogranites (MPMs) and Paleocene barren biotite monzogranites and tuffs (BMTs) from the Bangpu porphyry Mo (Cu) deposit i...

Late Cretaceous granitoids are developed in the eastern and western districts of the Gejiu ore district, but tin deposits mainly occur in the eastern district, and the reasons for the difference in mineralization between the eastern and western districts are still controversial. Considering the main factors controlling granite Sn fertility, the who...

At the beginning of the Cenozoic, the atmospheric CO2 concentration increased rapidly from ~2000 ppmv at 60 Ma to ~4600 ppmv at 51 Ma, which is 5–10 times higher than the present value, and then continuous declined from ~51 to 34 Ma. The cause of this phenomenon is still not well understood. In this study, we demonstrate that the initiation of Ceno...

Soil erosion in East and Southeast Asia is believed to have increased significantly since the regional economic boom of the 1970s–1980s. However, limited records of soil erosion make it difficult to understand and indeed verify such changes. Here we present two new monthly resolved Ba/Ca records from Porites coral skeletons from southern Taiwan and...

The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain has shown two subparallel geographical and geochemical volcanic trends, Loa and Kea, since ∼5 Ma, for which numerous models have been proposed that usually involve a single mantle plume sampling different compositional sources of the deep or shallow mantle. However, both the dramatically increased eruption rate o...

The serpentinized mantle wedge is critical for the geochemical cycling of water, volatiles, and fluid-mobile elements in the subduction zone. It is also a major reservoir of magnesium (Mg) in subduction zones, but its Mg isotopic compositions are still not well constrained. To investigate Mg isotopic fractionation during mantle wedge serpentinizati...

We conducted hydrothermal experiments at 300°C and at pressure varying from 2.2 to 3.4 kbar to study the effect of fluid salinity on the coupling between molecular hydrogen (H2) formation and olivine serpentinization, where peridotite and olivine with 25–50 μm of starting grain sizes were reacted with pure H2O and saline solutions (0.5, 1.5, and 3....

Ridge subduction usually has significant influences on the tectonics, magmatic activity and mineralization of the overriding plate because of its special thermal and topographic structures. The Neo-Tethys is a vanished ancient ocean, and thus, its spreading ridge must have been subducted beneath the Eurasian continent. However, where and when the s...

Magnetic anomalies show that the Pacific plate rotated counterclockwise by ~50��, induced by the eruption of the Ontong Java Plateau at ~125 Ma. Meanwhile, the drifting direction of the Pacific plate also changed from southwestward (~265��) to northwestward (~300��). The rotation promoted the destruction of the North China Craton (NCC) and induced...

The origin of the Dexing porphyry Cu deposit is hotly debated. Zircon and apatite are important accessory minerals that record key information of mineralization processes. SHRIMP zircon U-Pb analyses of granodiorite porphyries yield ages of 168.9 ± 1.2 Ma, 168.0 ± 1.0 Ma, and 172.8 ± 1.3 Ma, whereas zircons in the volcanic rocks of the Shuangqiaosh...

The circum-Pacific convergent margin is known as “the Ring of Fire”, with abundant volcano eruptions. Large eruptions are rare but very disastrous. It remains obscure how are large explosive volcanos formed and where are the danger zones. Three largest eruptions since 1900, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, the Mt. Pinatubo, and the Novarupta were fou...

The temperature of the convecting mantle exerts a first-order control on the rheology, composition, and consequently, tectonic behavior of Earth's lithosphere. Although the mantle has likely been cooling since the Archaean eon, how mantle temperature has evolved thereafter is poorly understood. Here, we apply a statistical analysis to secular chang...

The world-class Dachang Sn-polymetallic district, South China, is a magmatic-hydrothermal deposit closely associated with the Late Cretaceous Longxianggai pluton, which is primarily composed of porphyritic and equigranular (from medium-grained, to medium- to fine-grained, and then fine-grained textures) biotite granites. However, the magmatic and p...

Plate subduction links the Earth’s surface and interior and reshapes the redox state of the Earth’s mantle. Mantle wedges above subduction zones have high oxygen fugacity compared with other mantle reservoirs, but the cause is debated. Here we analyse high-pressure metamorphic rocks derived from ferromanganese pelagic sediments in the Qilian subduc...

Ocean circulation transports heat, salt and nutrients, and has profound impacts on the marine environment and climate change. However, the seasonal to centennial variations of the paleocirculation of the South China Sea (SCS) and their driving forces are still unclear due to limited records. Here we reconstructed a high-resolution Δ¹⁴C record of a...

The Fangshan intrusive suite is a composite pluton in the North China Craton that resulted from incremental assembly of small magma batches. The pluton consists of four intrusive units with abundant mafic enclaves. Here we clarify its crystallisation history through zircon UPb dating, which indicates prolonged crystallisation of each intrusive unit...

The interactions between arc-continent collision and subduction zones are still poorly understood. Here, we use 2D seismic data to document upper plate deformational features and identify different structural styles along the New Guinea Trench, western Pacific, and discuss their broader significance. In the western section, normal faults and negati...

Skarn Au deposits are particularly developed along Middle and Lower Yangtze River region, eastern China, but gold behavior and genesis of the skarn Au deposits remain unclear. Whole-rock geochemical, sulfur isotopic and in-situ mineralogical data from the mineralized alteration stages of Chaoshan skarn Au deposit in Tongling region are systemically...

Late Mesozoic magmatism in eastern China was extensive and closely related to the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate, but genetic relationship between magmatism and subduction remains unclear. Cretaceous magmatic rocks distributed along the eastern coast of China can provide an opportunity to evaluate the influence of subduction on the evolution...

Whether or not oceanic crust basalts are affected by plate subduction is a hot topic of debate. The South China Sea is one of the largest marginal basins in the western Pacific Ocean and has been surrounded by subduction of the Pacific plate and Indian plate, yet, to date, no study has clearly shown evidence of subduction in the geochemistry of vol...

Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is the largest loess deposit on the Earth with expansive surface-exposed source rocks of varying origin, age, and history. We present elemental abundances on representative loess and paleosol samples from seven classic sections of the CLP. Most elements, including soluble elements (e.g., Rb and Cs), show significant corr...

About 45% of tungsten, ∼20% of tin, and ∼9% of fluorite of known world reserves are associated with Late Mesozoic igneous rocks, Southeast (SE) China. Here we demonstrate that Fogang granite, the largest inland batholith, is mainly of A2-type that is commonly found in post-orogenic settings and experienced plate subduction induced metasomatism. In...

Early Cretaceous A-type granitic plutons are widely distributed in Shandong Peninsula, which are of great significance to understanding the regional tectonic evolution. Here we report geochemical characteristics, geochronological results, and zircon Hf-O isotope compositions of Wulian granites to reveal its origin and geological significance. Wulia...

To reveal the spatial variations of slab-derived fluids and to trace the in-situ dehydration in the shallow subduction zone, we investigated the petrography, mineral chemistry, and whole-rock B isotopes of metabasites that were recovered from the Fantangisña and Asùt Tesoru serpentinite mud volcanoes and originated from the shallow subduction chann...

Compression is required for all kinds of subduction initiations, which may cause either subsidence or uplift, depending on the ages of the oceanic plates. Subduction initiations associated with the old oceanic crust tend to amplify preexisting subsidence by compression, whereas those associated with young oceanic plates may result in uplift.

Arc magmas are usually more oxidized than lavas from intraplate settings and spreading ridges. However, iron isotopes of arc magmas are generally lighter, and the mechanism is still controversial. The mantle wedge serpentinite provides new insights to resolve this issue. Here we show that mantle wedge serpentinites/serpentinized peridotites from th...

The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest extensional basin in the western Pacific. Due to the lack of sampling appropriate seafloor rocks, few studies focused on magma evolution in the initial expansion of the SCS, which limits the understanding of the tecto-magmatic evolution of the SCS. Here, we analyzed whole-rock Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic compositio...

High-resolution multichannel seismic transects that span from oceanic crust domains, and the Central Basin Fault rift to the Kyushu-Palau Ridge are utilized to investigate the dynamic mechanism of the Oligocene tectonic evolution in the West Philippine Basin based on an analysis of sismostratigraphic sequences and the geometries of acoustic substra...

Recent studies indicate that in temperate climates about 70% of the total annual N2O flux occurred within a few days during thawing. The nature of this remarkable emission burst is controversially discussed, it might be due to (a) the increased amount of microbial organic carbon, (b) soil nitrate (NO− 3 ) liberated during freezing and consequently...

The Qinling Orogen resulted from the collision between the North and South China blocks in the Triassic. Mesozoic granitoids, ranging from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, are widely distributed in this orogen, and they provide excellent clues for understanding the crustal evolution and geodynamic evolution of the orogenic belt. The Triassic belt is...

The eruption of large igneous provinces usually has major geodynamic influences on overriding plates. Seamount chains indicate that the drifting direction of the Pacific Plate changed by ∼80° in the Early Cretaceous when the Ontong Java Plateau formed. This, however, is not fully consistent with the magnetic anomalies. Here we show that there is an...

The circum-Pacific convergent margin is known as “the Ring of Fire”, with abundant volcano eruptions1. Gigantic eruptions are rare but very disastrous. It remains obscure how are large disastrous volcanos formed2,3 and where are the danger zones4-6 in the near future. Here we show that the three largest eruptions since 1900, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga H...

Oil exploration and drilling activities are known to have catastrophic effects on marine environments and ecosystems, yet full understanding of these effects is hindered by sparse observations in many areas of the world. We present annual and bimonthly records of coral Ba/Ca from Weizhou Island in Beibu Gulf in the northern South China Sea (SCS) –...

The Duolong mineral district in western Tibet is one of the largest porphyry Cu–Au deposit fields with significant metallogenic potential in China. Its tectonic environment relevant to Early Cretaceous Cu–Au mineralization remains controversial. Here we report new whole-rock major and trace element, and Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotope data for the newly discov...

To investigate performances of different data evaluation methods on accuracy and precision for in situ Fe isotope analysis, the reference glass BHVO-2G is analyzed in both line scan and spot...

The world-class Gejiu Sn-polymetallic district (southwest China), with ca. 3.27 Mt. Sn metal, is a magmatic-hydrothermal deposit associated with the Late Cretaceous biotite granites; however, the magmatic and hydrothermal processes involved in its formation remain poorly understood. Tourmaline is a ubiquitous phase in the Gejiu district, and here w...

The Southwest Borneo (SW Borneo) block belongs to Sundaland and is the oldest continental fragment of Borneo that is believed to derive from the Gondwana land. The U-Pb isotopic dating ages of 113 detrital zircons from sandstones of the Ketapang Complex in SW Borneo range from 3 298 Ma to 78 Ma, and show six major age populations: 2 476–2 344 Ma, 2...

Full text share link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dk9B3p4ZMrwT: Enrichments in light REE without concomitant enrichments in high-field-strength elements in mantle peridotites are usually attributed to inputs from carbonate-rich melts and referred to as ‘carbonatite’ metasomatism as opposed to interaction with evolved silicate melts. Alternative...

In general, the arc magmas are oxidized, forming magnetite-series granitoids. However, there are also ilmenite-series granitoids at convergent margins. The mechanism that controls the formation of different types of granitoids remains obscure. Here we show that the temporal distributions of ilmenite-series granitoids in Japan have a good correlatio...

Wanning nickel (Ni) abundances in the Neoarchean may have led to a decline in marine methanogenic bacteria due to the loss of a key micronutrient, causing a collapse in atmospheric methane levels and the subsequent rise of atmospheric oxygen – the Great Oxidation Event ∼2.5 Ga. However, this hypothesis currently lacks geological evidence that corro...

In-situ hydrothermal experiments using diamond-anvil cell show that sulfate and sulfide are the dominant sulfur species under P-T conditions similar to those of porphyry magmas. No sulfite was identified using in-situ Raman spectrometer. This supports that porphyry copper mineralization is controlled by sulfate reduction, rather than sulfite dispro...

To constrain the behavior of K isotopes during the low-temperature alteration of oceanic crust and reveal its impact on the global K cycle, we measured the K isotopic compositions of 49 fresh and altered basalts recovered from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Sites U1365 (∼100 Ma) and U1368 (∼13.5 Ma) in the South Pacific Ocean. The mea...

Serpentinization produces molecular hydrogen (H2) and hydrocarbons that can feed the colonies of microbes in hydrothermal vent fields, and therefore serpentinization may be important for the origins of life. However, the mechanisms that control molecular hydrogen (H2) production during serpentinization remain poorly understood. Here the effect of p...

Increasing evidence shows that the mantle contributes (directly or indirectly) to Sn-bearing granites worldwide. However, the specific role of mantle in the formation of tin granites and related mineralization remains poorly understood. In the worldclass Dachang district, South China, tin mineralization is related to the Longxianggai equigranular/p...

Trace element partitioning between coesite and hydrous silicate melt has been investigated at 5 GPa and 1500–1750°C. High-P experiments successfully produced large coesite crystals in equilibrium with large silicate melt pools (plus kyanite and corundum crystals in some cases). Scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy were employed...

Kimberlite is characterized by explosive eruption powered by excess carbon dioxides (CO 2 ) ¹ and water ² . Given that diamond is the dominant stable phase of carbon in the upper mantle ³ , it is obscure where does the excess CO 2 in kimberlite has come from. Here we show that ferric iron oxidizes diamond at 1900K, 20GPa and 2000K, 25GPa, forming C...

Seamounts on the drifting oceanic crust are inevitable carried by plate motions and eventually accreted or subducted. However, the geochemical signatures of the subducted seamounts and the significance of seamount subduction are not well constrained. Hundreds of seamounts have subducted beneath the Philippine Sea Plate following the westward subduc...

Mantle-derived ultrapotassic rocks (K2O/Na2O > 2, K2O > 3 wt%, and MgO >3 wt%) are crucial to reveal crust-mantle interactions. Here, we present petrographic compositions, whole-rock geochemical and potassium (K) isotopic compositions of Baoji ultrapotassic rocks from North Qinling Orogen, China, to trace their origin. The high Ba/La, Ba/Th, Ba/Rb...

Large-scale Late Cretaceous magmatic intrusions have been recognized in the southern Gangdese magmatic belt, although their genesis and mineralization potential remain controversial. In this paper, we present new zircon U-Pb ages, whole-rock compositions, and major- and trace element compositions of zircon and apatite from the Chemen granodioritic...

To better constrain Ca isotopic fractionation during volcanic magma differentiation, we report Ca isotope data for a series of volcanic glasses from the eastern Manus Basin that represent a continuum of compositions comprising basaltic andesite, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite. Our results show that these volcanic glasses exhibit ∼0.25‰ variation in...

Accretionary orogens are the primary sites for continental growth, but the rate and amount of crust generation throughout its evolution are poorly constrained. In this contribution, our new results about the genesis of two intermediate-felsic plutons are combined with a compiled granitoid dataset to evaluate the amount and rate of crustal growth th...

The temperature of the convecting mantle exerts a first-order control on the tectonic behaviour of Earth’s lithosphere. Although the mantle has likely been cooling since the Archaean eon (4.0–2.5 billion years ago), how mantle temperature evolved thereafter is poorly understood. Here, we apply a statistical analysis to secular changes in the alkali...

The temperature of the upper mantle was a principal factor controlling the style of plate tectonics and influencing magmatism and metamorphism on Earth over geological history. Recent studies emphasized that Earth’s tectonic style has transited into the modern plate tectonics since the late Neoproterozoic, which is characterized by a global network...