The North China Craton is one of the smaller continental cratons of the Earth. It covers a total area of around 1.7 million square kilometres (655,500 square miles) in the northeast of China , most of Korea and the southern part of Mongolia, and has a shape quite akin to a funnel, with a long east-west axis in the western part and two shorter perpendicular axes in the eastern half. A craton is an old and stable part of the continental crust that has survived the merging and splitting of continents and supercontinents for at least 500 million years. ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... A typical kitchen funnel. ...

Geological history

The North China Craton is composed of several major blocks that have been heavily titled over time as a result of collisions with other continental land masses. The main blocks comprise the Eastern Block, the Western Block and the Central Orogenic Belt. The Central Orogenic Belt runs from western Liaoning through Beijing municipality to western Henan and contains chiefly igneous rocks of Paleoproterozoic age. The Western Block extends west from this region through Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and northern Gansu. This block is the oldest and most stable part of the Craton and contains some of the oldest and mineralogically most valuable rocks in Asia, especially in Inner Mongolia where huge deposits of coal and iron ore are found. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Liaoning (Simplified Chinese: 辽宁; Traditional Chinese: 遼寧; pinyin: ) is a northeastern province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Beijing (Chinese: 北京; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; ; IPA: ), a city in northern China (formerly spelled in English as Peking or Peiking), is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... Direct-controlled municipalities are the highest-level cities in China, with status equal to that of the provinces. ... Henan (Chinese: 河南; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. ... Volcanic rock on North America Plutonic rock on North America Igneous rocks are formed when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies, with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. ... The Paleoproterozoic is the first of the three sub-divisions of the Proterozoic occurring between 2500 to 1600 million years ago. ... Shanxi (Chinese: 山西; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Shaanxi (Simplified Chinese: 陕西; Traditional Chinese: 陝西; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shensi, pronounced like Shahn-shee) is a north-central province of the Peoples Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling... Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N i Měnggǔ Z qū) is an Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Coal (previously referred to as pitcoal or seacoal) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ...

The Eastern Block is unusual for a craton in that it is affected severely by crustal thinning that began in the Mesozoic and is known to have reduced the thickness of the crust from 200 kilometres to as little as 80 kilometres. In the Changbai Mountains and Shandong there has been extensive volcanism in the Tertiary. The crustal thinning of the Eastern Block is believed to be due to high heat flow within the plates (especially the Pacific Plate) surrounding the North China Craton. The lowest crust is believed to have been replaced during the Mesozoic as a result of a large mantle plume produced by joint affection from other neighboring continental blocks. The Mesozoic is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. ... The Changbai (Changbaek) Mountains are a mountain range on the border between China and North Korea. ... Shandong (Simplified Chinese: 山东; Traditional Chinese: 山東; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-tung) is a coastal province of eastern Peoples Republic of China. ... A volcano is a geological landform usually generated by the eruption through a planets surface of magma, molten rock welling up from the planets interior. ...

Prior to the Triassic, the North China Craton was an independent continent surrounded by oceans. For most of the Paleozoic, it was located in the extreme north of the Earth, often being the northernmost land in the world until it collided with Siberia to comprise the last stage in the formation of Pangaea during the Triassic. The Paleozoic Era is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ... Siberia (Sometimes called Angara) is the craton located in the heart of the region of Siberia. ... Map of Pangaea Pangaea separation animation Pangaea or Pangea (derived from Παγγαία, Greek for all earth) is the name given to the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, before the process of plate tectonics separated each of the component continents into their current configuration. ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 Ma (million years ago). ...

Geography

The Eastern Block of the North China Craton consists mainly of the densely settled and very fertile North China Plain, one of the most densely populated rural regions in the world. It is drained chiefl by the lower reaches of the Huang He and Hai He, both of which are among the siltiest rivers in the world and provide enormous amounts of essential plant nutrients when they flood during the summer. The climate of the North China Plain is humid but continental, with most precipitation occurring between June and September, though significant falls in winter do occur in the southern part of the region. Annual rainfall in the southern part of the North China Plain averages around 1,150 millimetres (45 inches), but declines to around 600 millimtres (24 inches) in the north. Temperatures vary widely, but summer is always hot with July maxima mainly around 31°C (88°F) with high humidity. January temperatures range from about 3°C (37°F) in the extreme south to -10°C (14°F) north of Beijing. The North China Plain (Chinese: 华北平原; Pinyin: HuábÄ›i Píngyuán), also called the Central Plain (Chinese: 中原; Pinyin: Zhōngyuán), is based on the deposits of the Huang He (Yellow River) and is the largest alluvial plain of eastern Asia. ... For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ... Categories: China geography stubs | Chinese rivers ... A continental climate is the climate typical of the middle-latitude interiors of the large continents of the Northern Hemisphere in the zone of westerly winds; similar climates exist along the east coasts (but not the west coasts) of the same continents, and also at higher elevations in certain other...

In complete contrast, the Western Block is a dry, elevated plateau averaging over 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) in elevation and having a dry and extremely continental climate. Annual rainfall is typically only around 300-400 millimetres (12-16 inches) and winter temperatures are often as low as -20°C (-4°F), whilst summers can be blistering. Because of the huge accumulations of loess from Himalayan glaciation, the soils are very fertile when irrigated, but water shortages remain a serious problem for farmers. Sheep are grazed in large numbers away from the rivers. In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat open country if the uplift was recent in geologic history. ... Loess in Hungary has travelled by wind from Asia This article is about the geologic material, for the statistical technique see Loess curve. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... High-altitude aerial view of irrigation in the Heart of the Sahara (, ) Irrigation (in agriculture) is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops. ... Species See text. ...

The Central Orogenic Belt is mainly rocky mountains up to 2,360 metres (7,740 feet) in elevation. Because of the extreme cold and erosion risk, most of this mountainous land is not cultivated and in places extensive forests still remain. A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded function as carbon dioxide sinks, animal habitats, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earths biosphere. ...

External links

• The North China Craton
• Intraplate Tectonics: North China and Other Regions
• Greater North China Initiative