Research on Destruction of the North China Craton

Prof. ZHU Rixiang is a geophysicist and a distinguished professor at Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is involved in the research of paleomagnetism, paleointensity, sedimentary geomagnetism, geomagnetic polarity reversal, magnetostratigraphy, geochronology, as well as their applications to geodynamo, tectonics, geoarcheology, and paleoenvironmental changes. His major achievements include: (1) he experimentally documented that paleointensity variations just prior to the onset of the Cretaceous Quiet Zone exhibit an increasing trend and pointed out that during this time interval, there exists an inverse relationship between the reversal rate and paleointensity; (2) on the basis of robust paleomagnetic investigations at the Loess Plateau of China, he found that the Matuyama-Brunhes polarity transition comprises multiple fast-short-reversals, and the duration of transition is ~5 kyr; (3) he magnetochronologically documenteda Paleolithic sequence in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, and extended the earliest definite human occupation at high northern latitudes in northeast Asia back to 1.66 Ma; and (4) he has led and set up a comprehensive and state-of-the-art laboratory incorporated paleomagnetism, rock magnetism, and geochronology (Ar40/Ar39dating).