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Professor Liu Jinguo

Professor Liu Jinguo and his students in geological field exercitation

On April 28th, the paper named "Plume-driven recratonization of deep continental lithospheric" was published on the top international academic journal Nature. It was a research completed in collaboration with scientists from Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom with China University of Geosciences (Beijing) as the first signature unit, and Professor Liu as the first corresponding author.

The lithospheric mantle of the cratonic continent formed by various complicated geological processes has the characteristics of super-thick, depleted and refractory, which are also the key to the long-term stability of the ancient cratonic continent. Craton destruction has been identified in the formation of lithospheric mantle, but there is still no consensus on how to identify the regeneration of cratons. In view of the important scientific question of whether there is a craton regeneration in the process of craton evolution, Professor Liu and his collaborators have carried out joint research on the mantle peridotite enclaves in the Canadian Arctic, including geochemistry, geophysics and numerical simulation, and achieved a breakthrough understanding.

The study showed that mantle plumes can use high pressure, high degree partial melting of mantle remnants to heal the previously damaged and thinned cratonic roots back to their pre-destroyed thickness and thus leads to the conclusion that “cratonic regeneration may have been common in geological history”. The result of the study can be used to explain why the cratonic mantle contains mantle peridotite of different age and material composition. The regeneration of craton not only prolonged the survival time of the old stable continent of the earth, retained the precious evidence of the early evolution of the earth, but also reconstructed the formation conditions of diamond, and provided a revolutionary theoretical basis for diamond searching and mining. Soon after publication the result of the study has attracted attention of the international geoscience community.

Professor Liu Jinguao was introduced to CUGB in 2016 as overseas high-level talent. In 2018, the project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Excellent Youth. Professor Liu is a key member of the Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory and the Truth-seeking Research Group of Metal Isotopes and Crust-mantle Matter Cycles in China University of Geosciences (Beijing). He has long been committed to the research and development of key analysis technologies such as Pt-Re-Os isotope and Pt group element system and Hf-W isotope system and has made a series of original achievements in the research fields of mantle geochemistry and early Earth-Moon evolution. Nearly 50 papers of Professor Liu’s high-quality achievements were published in EPSL, GCA, ESR and other top international journals, with a total of more than 1000 citation times.