Four dunite xenoliths from the Tietonggou intrusion of western Shandong, China, were subjected to SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating to constrain timing of the North China Craton (NCC) destruction, a topic of much controversy. Cathodoluminescence images revealed that 15 of the 18 zircon grains from the xenoliths display striped absorption. The rest showed oscillatory growth zoniation. All the zircons had variable contents of Th (49-3569 ppm; average, 885 ppm) and U (184-5398 ppm; average, 1277 ppm), and

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... variable Th/U ratios (0.15-2.04). These zircon characteristics indicate a magmatic origin. The zircon age data can be divided into five groups: [131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][261][262][263][264][265][266][267][268][269][270][271][272][273][274][275][276][277][278][279][280][434][435][436][437][438][439][440][441][442][443][444][445][446][447][448][449][450][451][452][500][501][502][503][504][505][506][507][508][509][510][511][512][513][514][515][516] is consistent with timing of formation of the Tietonggou high-Mg diorites. Group II (151-164 Ma) is similar in age to Middle-Late Jurassic magmatism in the eastern NCC, which included both mantle-derived and intensive crust-derived magmatism. Group III (261-280 Ma) is similar in age to the Emeishan large igneous province, and Group IV (434-452 Ma) is similar in age to Paleozoic high-silica magmatism in the eastern NCC. Group V (500-516 Ma) may correspond to the global Pan-African event. Results indicate repeated modification of lithospheric mantle in the eastern NCC, and suggest that the most intensive modification occurred in the late Mesozoic (131-164 Ma). dunite, SHRIMP zircon dating, lithospheric mantle, multiple modification, North China Craton