The Committee of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) approved the completion of the major research plan of "Destruction of North China Craton" on January 2, 2018. Since the establishment of the plan in 2007, the Committee of NSFC has issued guidelines of project applications for 8 times and received a total of 214 applications for various projects. There are altogether 66 projects funded with the total budget amounting to 200 million Chinese yuan, including 2 nurturing projects, 55 key projects, 4 integration projects and 5 strategic research projects.

Craton is a stable geological unit of the continent. The North China Craton was stable from its formation at about 1800 Ma to the Mesozoic of about 200 Ma. However, large-scale magmatic activities, strong crustal deformation and great earthquakes have occurred on the North China Craton since the Mesozoic, marking the loss of craton stability. The question why craton could lose its intrinsic stability has been a conundrum of nearly a century. The major research plan focuses on "cratonic destruction" as the core scientific issue, and was guided by observations and experiments to obtain raw data. The layout of the plan includes geological structure, geophysics, petrology and geochemistry, experimental simulation, resource and environmental disasters, subject integration and strategic research. Based on the multidisciplinary observations of geology, geophysics and geochemistry, the major research plan proposed the new concept of "craton destruction", systematically expounded and proved the mechanism of the destruction of North China Craton, established the theoretical system of cratonic destruction, which has made the North China Craton a universal research hotspot, promoting the international academic standing of solid earth science in China.

Since its implementation, the major research plan has relied on experts, scientific management and favorable innovation as the organizational management purpose. Based on the comprehensive advantages of geology, geophysics and geochemistry, the plan was carried out by integrating observations, experimental and theoretical achievements. From the viewpoint of the Earth’s system sciences, the plan determined the temporal-spatial extent and processes of the destruction of North China Craton, revealed the interaction of different spheres in the Earth’s interior and their dynamic mechanism, established the theoretical system of cratonic destruction, explored the resource and biological effect of cratonic destruction. The plan completed three-stage research and two-level integration, which enhanced the level of cognition on the formation and evolution of the continent.

The plan focuses on the core scientific issues and achieved breakthroughs in major scientific issues by means of forward-looking thinking in scientific activities, top-level design in implementation and interdisciplinary intersection. The following key innovative results have been achieved:

1. The geological survey, rock sampling, geochemical experimental and deep structure exploration were carried out continuously in the North China Craton and its adjacent areas to obtain the original observation information. Based on the advanced detection experiment technology, the original samples and data were analyzed and studied with high resolution, which basically reached the multi-disciplinary exploration covering the target area, providing important basic data for further investigation of continental evolution.

2. A series of in-situ micro-regional geochronology and isotope analysis methods and deep exploration techniques have been developed, and they have been widely used in the field of cratonic destruction and global continental tectonics.

3. The evolution of the North China Craton was thoroughly studied. This plan revealed the deep structure, tectonics and variation of lithospheric thickness of the craton, and the temporal-spatial differences of magmatism in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The temporal-spatial extent of the destruction of North China Craton has been clearly determined.

4. The plan concluded that the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate in the Early Cretaceous is the first-order external controlling factor and driving force that led to the destruction of the North China Craton, and that deep dehydration of the subduced slab resulted in unsteady mantle flows, partial melting of the overlying lithospheric mantle; the subduction zone retreat led to strong extension of the lithosphere; these factors finally resulted in the destruction of North China Craton.

5. The plan discovered that the large-scale magmatism, intense structure deformation and lithospheric thinning are all surface expressions of the subsurface catastrophic changes in the process of cratonic evolution. Their essence is the essential changes in chemical compositions and physico-chemical properties of the lithospheric mantle, which led the loss of inherent stability of craton. Based on these observations, the theory of cratonic destruction was established, which develops the theory of plate tectonics by discovering a universal law of global continental evolution that the ocean-continental interaction leads to cratonic destruction and continental accretion.

6. The shallow effect of cratonic destruction was explored, which suggested that the formation of gold deposits in Jiaodong area was mainly controlled by the large-scale magmatism during the destruction of North China Craton. The finding provided scientific basis for gold replacement base of Liaodong area of China.

The researchers, funded by the major research plan, have published a total of 870 SCI papers, including 655 papers published by international journals. They have edited two issues in the journals of Lithos and Gondwana Research and won the Second Prize of National Natural Science award for 3 times. The plan greatly promoted the cultivation of comprehensive talents in the field of earth science in China. There are 32 of the leading scientific researchers were selected by American Institute of Information Science for a list of highly-cited scientists in geosciences. The relevant researchers were funded by the outstanding innovation group of the committee of NSFC. During the implementation of the plan, 7 project leaders were elected as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 16 young researchers were funded by the Outstanding Youth Fund of NSFC.

The panel of experts considered that the implementation of the major research plan made “destruction of North China Craton” a global research hotspot in the field of continental evolution and dynamics. The scientists of China have played a leading role in this field, which has greatly enhanced the international academic status of solid earth science research in China. The destruction of North China Craton was one of the Top 10 research frontiers of earth sciences in both 2014 and 2015 Research Frontiers jointly issued by the Thomson Reuters and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The scientific achievements have improved the international perspective of Chinese earth scientists, and provides research foundation and talent reserve for the establishment and implementation of the major research plans, such as Tethys earth dynamic system, craton destruction and terrestrial lift evolution, deep processes and metallogenic mechanism of North China Craton metallogenic system, and major geological events and metallogenic effects in the Yanshanian.

The major research plan has always followed the general tenet of “limited objectives, stable support, integrated sublimation and leapfrogging development”. By strengthening the top-level design, this plan continuously condensed scientific objectives and actively promoted discipline intersection. In the process of implementation, the mode of the combination of expert academic management and project support management was fully adopted to ensure the pertinence of project research, the impartiality of project fund and the quality of project completion. The major research plan has achieved a series of major innovative results. It put forward to the theory of cratonic destruction, which is one of the most internationally influential solid earth science research achievements in China in recent years, and will lead Chinese earth scientists to the world.

Fig. 1 Schematic map of the destruction of North China Craton

Fig. 2 Distribution of main gold deposits in Early Cretaceous in North China Craton