Recently, the project “Formation and Evolution of the Qiangtang Paleo-Tethys Orogenic Belt in Northern Tibetan Plateau,” led by Researcher Zhai Qingguo from the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, was awarded the First Prize of the Natural Resources Science and Technology Progress Award. The project “Geochemical Characteristics of Deep Crustal Melting and Their Implications for Deep Geological Processes,” led by Researcher Zeng Lingsen, received the Second Prize; and Researcher Liu Yan was honored with the Young Scientists Award.

It is reported that the project “Formation and Evolution of the Qiangtang Paleo-Tethys Orogenic Belt in Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau” has successfully completed the compilation of 15 geological maps at scales of 1:250,000 and 1:50,000. The project team employed a series of advanced geological, petrological, and geochemical techniques and theories to carry out intensive research and achieved a number of innovative results. First, a multi-stage ophiolite sequence spanning the Cambrian to Permian periods was discovered and confirmed in central Qiangtang, northern Tibet, pushing back the onset of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean’s development to the Cambrian period. This finding challenges the traditional view that the Paleo-Tethys Ocean was a late Paleozoic ocean, proposing instead that it was a continuous ancient ocean throughout the entire Paleozoic Era. Second, a Triassic oceanic subduction-related high-pressure metamorphic belt was identified and established in central Qiangtang, northern Tibet; this belt represents the product of subduction and subsequent closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during the middle to late Triassic period. Third, Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous and Triassic island-arc-type magmatic rocks were discovered in central Qiangtang, shedding light on the northward subduction polarity and the process of closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. Fourth, stratigraphic and paleobiogeographic studies further confirmed significant differences in sedimentary and paleontological assemblages between southern and northern Qiangtang during the Carboniferous–Permian periods, revealing that the Longmu Co–Shuanghu Paleo-Tethys suture zone in central Qiangtang serves as an important paleobiogeographic boundary.