Geology of the 2022 Winter Olympic sites, Beijing-Zhangjiakou, China: An analogue of the North China Craton

The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou area, which is located in the eastern North China Craton (NCC) and contains a comprehensive geological record from the Archaean to Cenozoic. In this paper, we first review the geology of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou area, then, combined with data from the rest of the NCC, we discuss the geological evolution of the area in the context of the NCC. The geological and tectonic evolution of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou area can be regarded as a proxy or analogue for the geological history of the whole of the NCC. Six stages have been divided as follows: 1) Neoarchean massive continental crust growth; 2) Paleoproterozoic cratonization; 3) Meso-Neoproterozoic multi-stage rifting; 4) Palaeozoic marginal orogeny; 5) Mesozoic craton destruction; and 6) Cenozoic intra-plate extension. We hope this paper will be helpful to both geologists and non-geologists who will attend the 2022 Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics and may be interested in rocks and geology around the Winter Olympic sites.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the geology of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou area and discusses its geological evolution in the context of the North China Craton. The geological and tectonic evolution of this area can serve as a proxy for the whole craton's history. The paper provides helpful information for both geologists and non-geologists attending the 2022 Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics who are interested in rocks and geology.