The golden transformation of the Cretaceous plate subduction in the west Pacific

Long-term couplings between the subducting and overlying plates are very important to understanding plate tectonics, in particular intraplate evolutions. Geological records of this coupling however, are usually not well preserved. Here we show a good example in eastern China where Cretaceous tectonic evolution matches remarkably well with the drifting history of the Pacific plate. The most pronounced phenomenon is that the eastern China large-scale orogenic lode gold (Au) mineralization occurred contemporaneously with an abrupt change of ~ 80° in the drifting direction of the subducting Pacific plate, concurrent with the formation of the Ontong Java Plateau. Given that lode Au deposits usually form at the onset of compressional or transpressional deformations, the Au deposits dated the major tectonic change from extension to transpression in eastern China, coherent with the subduction regime. The Cretaceous drifting history of the Pacific plate also tallies with other major geological events in eastern China, e.g., the evolution of the Tan-Lu fault and magmatic activities, suggesting that the major geological events in eastern China in the Cretaceous were mainly controlled by the subduction of the Pacific plate, and that plate interactions during subduction are important driving forces for geological evolution in eastern China and intraplate tectonics in general.