Is the Jurassic (Yanshanian) intraplate tectonics of North China due to westward indentation of the North China block?

Abstract : The northern mountains of Beijing are the type locality of the Mesozoic Yanshanian orogen. Our structural study emphasizes the importance of dextral strike-slip for the formation of this intracontinental belt. The South- and North-directed thrusts are positive flower structures rooted in strike-slip faults. This transpressional tectonics developed from Late Triassic to Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous through three deformation phases coeval with syntectonic sedimentation, separated by two transtensional episodes coeval with magmatism. The Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous tectonic event is also recognized in several places of North China. Strike-slip faulting controls the deformation of the northern border of the North China block in the Yanshan-Yinshan belt. Simultaneously, East-directed thrusts and folds develop along N-S elongated ranges in Helanshan, Shanxi highlands and Taihangshan. The Jurassic tectonics of the North China Block is interpreted in a unitary way as the result of the westward underthrusting of the North China block below the Alashan block.