Progress of deep exploration in mainland China: A review

The SinoProbe is a multidisciplinary earth science research program of unprecedented scope and scientific ambition in geosciences. The overall aim of the SinoProbe is to reveal the composition, structure and evolution of the continental lithosphere in China. The SinoProbe (2008-2012) has successfully conducted researches and experiments on crust and mantle exploration technologies, accumulated abundance of experiences, and significantly accelerated China's development on deep exploration. It has made some new understandings on the Mesozoic-Cenozoic geological evolution of the mainland China. It has collected deep seismic reflection profiles in Tibet, South China, North China, and Northeast China for a length of ca. 6000 km, which accounts for the same length conducted previously in China. It have carried out national-wide geochemical baseline (with 78 elements) and magnetotelluric (MT) Array (by 4 degrees X 4 degrees, and 1 degrees X 1 degrees in North China and Tibet), 3D exploration in ore deposit districts in eastern China, several continental scientific drilling holes, regional in-situ stress monitoring networks, geodynamic modeling of the lithosphere underneath the continental China, and instrumentation development for deep exploration. For the first time, SinoProbe has obtained deep seismic reflection evidence for the thick-crust Moho surface in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and for the lithospheric mantle in Northeast China. The preliminary results from MT array observations of SinoProbe show an abnormal electric-conductivity structure of the lithosphere under the Ordos basin, providing important evidence for the evolution mechanism of the North China craton.