Thickness and geothermal gradient of Neoarchean continental crust: Inference from the southeastern North China Craton

The thickness and geothermal gradient of Archean continental crust are critical factors for understanding the geodynamic processes in Earth's early continental crust. Archean tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) gneisses provide one of the potential indicators of paleo-crustal thickness and geothermal gradient because crust-derived TTG melts are generally thought to originate from partial melting of mafic rocks at the crustal root. In the...