Comparison between the Galicia and Aquitaine margins

There is a great similarity between the Galicia margin and the Aquitaine margin (i.e. the Aquitaine Basin and the North Pyrenean zone). In particular, the timing of the rifting as well as the resulting structures (exposure of perodotite, tilted fault blocks, normal and transverse faults, half grabens) are practically the same. This comparison leads to the interpretation that the northern side of the Pyrenean fold belt is inherited from the Mesozoic deep passive margin of Europe. The Cenozoic thrust sheets and reverse faults of the northern Pyrenees zone are tentatively interpreted as former rift structures (tilted blocks and listric faults) which were removed during the convergence of the Iberian and European plates during the Paleocene and Eocene.     

济阳坳陷构造演化及其大地构造意义

济阳坳陷由负反转盆地、右旋扭张盆地及主动裂谷三个原型叠加而成,并在中、新生代经历了四个演化阶段,三叠纪为板内造山作用阶段,济阳坳陷曾为五条ＮＷ向的以逆冲断层为主的压性构造带占据,早－中侏罗世造山作用结束;晚侏罗世－早始新世为负反转盆地阶段,三叠纪ＮＷ向逆冲断层发生反向伸展;中始新世－渐新世为右旋扭张盆地阶段,ＮＥ,ＥＮＥ向扭张断裂发育,并进而成盆接受沉积,ＮＷ和断裂反向伸展活动受到抑制而渐趋消亡;中新世－全新世为主动裂谷阶段,“拗陷运动”取代“断陷运动”。济阳坳陷构造演化的阶段特征表明了郯庐断裂中、新生代的剪切运动史,即三叠纪右旋剪切,晚侏罗世－早始新世左旋剪切．中始新世－渐新世右旋剪切,中新世－全新世作弱右旋压剪。     

A test of models of fluvial architecture and palaeosol development: Camp Rice Formation (Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene), southern Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, USA

Numerical, experimental and theoretical models of fluvial architecture and palaeosol development are tested with outcrops of Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene sediment in the southern Rio Grande rift, New Mexico. The sediment was deposited and subsequently exhumed in the Jornada del Muerto basin, a westward-tilted half graben whose footwall corresponds to the Rincon Hills and San Diego Mountain fault blocks. The axial river, the ancestral Rio Grande, shared time between the Jornada del Muerto basin and the adjacent Corralitos basin. The ancestral Rio Grande entered the Jornada del Muerto basin via a gap between the footwall blocks, periodically flowing southward towards San Diego Mountain, or making a broad northward sweep into the northern fluvial salient towards the Rincon Hills fault block and unfaulted northern edge of the basin. Ten logged sections up to 35 m thick are correlated using the top of the formation (La Mesa surface), a 1·59 Ma pumice conglomerate, and a ground-water carbonate/opal bed. Additionally, one of the sections is dated by reversal magnetostratigraphy. Consistent with the model of Bridge & Leeder (1979 ) and Bridge & Mackey (1993a ), differential tilting of the Jornada del Muerto half graben resulted in sections directly adjacent to the faults that consist almost exclusively of multistorey channel sands/sandstones, whereas more distal sections contain a greater proportion of crevasse-splay fine sand and overbank mudstone and calcic palaeosols. Along the axis of the northern fluvial salient, a northward decrease in channel/floodplain ratio, a decrease in channel recurrence interval from 171 kyr to 685 kyr, and an increase in the maturity of calcic palaeosols are consistent with southward tilt of the unfaulted northern edge of the basin. An upsection decrease in sediment accumulation rate in the northern fluvial salient from 0·036 mm/ yr to 0·017 mm/ yr corresponds to an increase in the ratio of channel/floodplain facies and in the number of multistorey channel sands/sandstones, and is consistent with the model of Bridge & Leeder (1979 ) in which avulsion frequency is independent of sediment accumulation rate. Stage II and III calcic palaeosols indicate 10³−10⁵ year of landscape stability and soil formation between periods of floodplain deposition in response not only to basin tilting but also because the ancestral Rio Grande had multiple paths within the Jornada del Muerto basin and shared time between the Corralitos and Jornada del Muerto basins.     

Tectonics and evolution of the northeastern extremity of the East-Asian Rift Belt

The northeastern extremity of the East-Asian Rift Belt is designated as the Priokhotsky Rift, comprising the broadly north–south Torom (750 × 100 km) and Nizhneamursky (450 × 100 km) open faults formed by a system of northeast striking grabens associated with the closure of the Tan-Lu shear system and north–south striking grabens formed in a setting of oblique extension. Infilling of the grabens corresponding to the rift stage proper is the Eocene?Miocene coal-bearing molasse; the fields of the Miocene basalts are also related to it. The grabens of the rift belt are overlain by the Pliocene–Neopleistocene associations of rift basins in the forming plate cover of the Alpine platform.     

Rift to post-rift evolution of a ��passive�� continental margin: the Ponta Grossa Arch, SE Brazil

Low-temperature thermochronology was applied at the Brazilian passive continental margin in order to understand and reconstruct the post-rift evolution since the break-up of southwestern Gondwana. Thermochronological data obtained from apatite fission-track analysis of Neoproterozoic metamorphic and Paleozoic to Mesozoic siliciclastic rocks as well as Mesozoic dikes and alkaline intrusions from the Ponta Grossa Arch provided ages between 66.2 (1.3) and 5.9 (0.8) Ma. These data clearly indicate a post-rift reactivation during Late Cretaceous and Paleogene times. Integrating the results of older thermochronological studies, the reactivation of the southeastern Brazilian margin could be described in three main phases related to the rift to post-rift evolution of SE Brazil. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of age data indicates the presence of two age groups: a NE age-group (NE of Curitiba), with ages around 20?Ma and a SW age-group (Curitiba and NW) with ages of around 50?Ma. The change of ages follows the NW?CSE trending S?o Jer?nimo-Curi??va fault zone that can be traced offshore into the southern end of the Santos basin. Within the Santos basin, this lineament ends up to the salt occurrence in the south and seams to play a major role in the structural evolution of the Santos basin and the Rio Grande Rise. Sedimentological studies in the Santos basin evidenced that the transport direction changed in Miocene from WNW to WNW/NNW. During the Oligocene and earlier, the sediments were transported mainly from southeastwards to the direction of the ??Curitiba area?? into the Santos basin. Within the Miocene, an additional transport direction from an area north of Curitiba developed.     

美国Paradox盆地盐构造新生代的拉伸活化

美国科罗拉多高原Paradox盆地中的裂口盐墙和盐背斜,主要是在古生界和中生界沉积物的差异负载作用下发育起来的。盐构造顶部的平缓褶皱,通常被认为是晚白垩纪至古新世拉腊米挤压运动的产物,而其脊顶地堑与山谷,则被认为是挤压后的松弛拉伸及盐溶作用所造成的。基于野外调查、物理模拟以及现代盐构造学理论,研究认为这些平缓褶皱和脊顶地堑,主要是新生代始新世至渐新世北北东向区域拉伸作用的产物。因为岩盐较其围岩软弱,拉伸形变主要集中在早先形成的盐墙、盐背斜及其较薄的顶板中,使盐构造发生活化并形成新的拉伸构造。顶板中的拉伸构造主要包括正断层、地堑、断层滑移(断滑)褶皱以及滚动褶皱。由于区域拉伸方向斜交盐构造走向,断层分布多呈羽列状。在母盐层较厚地区,拉伸使盐刺穿在正断层之下次动上升;而在母盐层较薄地区,拉伸使盐刺穿下降。在初始盐刺穿较高地区,盐构造的侧翼下降;而在初始盐刺穿较低地区,盐构造整体下降。拉伸使盐刺穿变宽,脊顶地堑下沉,形成拉伸型下降盐刺穿特征性的尖角盐体构造。局部地区,盐体从破碎的顶板间溢出,覆盖了下沉的脊顶地堑。     

An overview of the Late Cretaceous-Eocene positive inversions and Oligo-Miocene subsidence events in the foreland of the Tunisian Atlas: Structural style and implications for the tectonic agenda of the Maghrebian Atlas system

Structural interpretation of surface and subsurface data in the Eastern foreland basins of Tunisia, allows us to recognize positive inversion structures, i.e. related to compressional events, expressed and recorded in the Paleogene sedimentary pile of the Atlas domain. These episodes are followed by a period of relative tectonic quiescence during Oligocene-Early Miocene with development of extensional structures with slightly tilted panels, grabens and locally the development of listric normal faults branched at depth on “décollement” levels.Comparison of the seismic interpretations and field data collected along the South Atlas Front as well as in the Atlas belt, allows us to propose a tectonic scenario at the scale of Eastern Tunisia Atlas. In particular, we emphasise the role of the so-called “Atlas event” (Middle-Late Eocene), which was initially defined in Algeria but poorly outlined in Tunisia. We will show that the tectonic agenda defined in Eastern Tunisia is consistent with the one proposed elsewhere in the Maghreb allowing us to propose a unified view of the geodynamic evolution of the whole Atlas system during this period.The negative inversion recorded during Oligocene-Early Miocene along with the occurrence of synsedimentary normal faults are related to an increase of the subsidence rate in the frame of continuous shortening coeval to basin formation in the front of the Atlas. The whole Oligo-Miocene evolution results from two different mechanisms: flexuration in the front of the Atlas and the onset of the extension of the Pantelleria-Linosa-Malta rift system of central Mediterranean, which attained a climax stage later during Pliocene-Quaternary.     

Contribution de la gravimétrie et de la sismique réflexion pour une nouvelle interprétation géodynamique des fossés d'effondrement en Tunisie : exemple du fossé de Grombalia

Troughs in Tunisia are interpreted as Plio-Quaternary structures associated to normal faults (grabens) or to flexure faults. Gravity data and seismic sections are used in this study to clarify the structure and the geodynamic evolution of an example of trough: the Grombalia trough (northeastern Tunisia), since the Upper Miocene to the Quaternary. A high residual negative gravity anomaly, which reaches ?15 mGal, is interpreted as being related to the thickening of Mio-Plio-Quaternary deposits (and probably older), as illustrated by seismic data. This subsidence has been the result of a negative flower structure related to strike-slip faults that have been reactivated with normal component during the Upper Miocene and with reverse component during the Pliocene. Seismic and gravity data demonstrate that the fault system is rooted, and more than four kilometres deep. The Grombalia example outlines the association between troughs and strike-slip faults; such a system is recognized in Tunisia, in the Ionian Sea and in the Pelagian Sea. To cite this article: M. Hadj Sassi et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

The Mercedario rift system in the principal Cordillera of Argentina and Chile (32° SL)

Recent studies carried out in the High Andes of central-western Argentina in the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza have established its stratigraphic and structural evolution. This paper presents new data on the Triassic–Early Jurassic rift system, the depositional sequences, and a synthesis of the tectonic evolution of the region, along with a correlation with the Chilean continental margin.The paleogeographic evolution of the Cordillera Principal at these latitudes is controlled by the development of the Mercedario rift system. This rift began with the sedimentation of synrift deposits of the Rancho de Lata Formation, during the Rhetian (about 190 Ma). Subsidence was driven by normal faults, locally preserved in spite of the severe tectonic inversion of the Andes during the Cenozoic. Different authors have emphasized that an important extension dominated the transition between the Triassic and Jurassic periods along the magmatic arc in the Coastal Cordillera of Chile on the western side of the Andes. Extension was related to the bimodal magmatism that characterized the evolution of this segment (30°–33° SL). The granitic plutonism and the associated mafic volcanism indicate that they were controlled by extension during 220–200 Ma. The first subduction related granitoids at these latitudes are 170 Ma old (Bathonian).The geometry of the Mercedario rift system may be reconstructed by the pattern of the normal faults. Rifting was followed by a thermal subsidence that expanded the original area of sedimentation and controlled the paleogeography of the Los Patillos Formation during Pliensbachian to early Callovian times. This period of cooling and thermal subsidence is correlated with magmatic quiescence in the continental margin. The evolution of the basin closely matches the magmatic history of the Chilean continental margin. Subduction at the continental margin began in the Bathonian, together with deposition of the upper section of Los Patillos Formation.Arc magmatism shifted to the Cordillera Principal during the Kimmeridgian, where it is represented by the volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits of Tordillo Formation.Early Mesozoic evolution of the Andean system at these latitudes is, thus, reconstructed by a comparative analysis of these two adjacent regions, driven by a common tectonic regime, but through different geological processes.     

Miocene Tectonic Evolution from Dextral-Slip Thrusting to Extension in the Nyainqentanglha Region of the Tibetan Plateau

Dextral-slip in the Nyainqentangiha region of Tibet resulted in oblique underthrusting and granite generation in the Early to Middle Miocene, but by the end of the epoch uplift and extensional faulting dominated. The east-west dextral-slip Gangdise fault system merges eastward into the northeast-trending, southeast-dipping Nyainqentangiha thrust system that swings eastward farther north into the dextral-slip North Damxung shear zone and Jiali faults. These faults were took shape by the Early Miocene, and the large Nyainqentangiha granitic batholith formed along the thrust system in 18.3-11.0 Ma as the western block drove under the eastern one. The dextral-slip movement ended at -11 Ma and the batholith rose, as marked by gravitational shearing at 8.6-8.3 Ma, and a new fault system developed. Northwest-trending dextral-slip faults formed to the northwest of the raisen batholith, whereas the northeast-trending South Damxung thrust faults with some sinistral-slip formed to the southeast. The latter are replaced farther to the east by the west-northwest-trending Lhunzhub thrust faults with dextral-slip. This relatively local uplift that left adjacent Eocene and Miocene deposits preserved was followed by a regional uplift and the initiation of a system of generally north-south grabens in the Late Miocene at -6.5 Ma. The regional uplift of the southern Tibetan Plateau thus appears to have occurred between 8.3 Ma and 6.5 Ma. The Gulu, Damxung-Yangbajain and Angan graben systems that pass east of the Nyainqentangiha Mountains are locally controlled by the earlier northeast-trending faults. These grabens dominate the subsequent tectonic movement and are still very active as northwest-trending dextral-slip faults northwest of the mountains. The Miocene is a time of great tectonic change that ushered in the modern tectonic regime.     

Miocene Tectonic Evolution from Dextral-Slip Thrusting to Extension in the Nyainqêntanglha Region of the Tibetan Plateau

Dextral-slip in the Nyainqêntanglha region of Tibet resulted in oblique underthrusting and granite generation in the Early to Middle Miocene, but by the end of the epoch uplift and extensional faulting dominated. The east-west dextral-slip Gangdise fault system merges eastward into the north into the dextral-slip North Damxung shear zone and Jiali faults. These faults were took shape system in 18.3-11.0 Ma as the western block drove under the eastern one. The dextral-slip movement ended at ～11 Ma and the batholith rose, as marked by gravitational shearing at 8.6-8.3 Ma, and a new fault system developed. Northwest-trending dextral-slip faults formed to the northwest of the raisen batholith, whereas the northeast-trending South Damxung thrust faults with some sinistral-slip formed to the southeast. The latter are replaced farther to the east by the west-northwest-trending Miocene deposits preserved was followed by a regional uplift and the initiation of a system of generally north-south grabens in the Late Miocene at ～6.5 Ma. The regional uplift of the southern Tibetan Plateau thus appears to have occurred between 8.3 Ma and 6.5 Ma. The Gulu, Damxungcontrolled by the earlier northeast-trending faults. These grabens dominate the subsequent tectonic movement and are still very active as northwest-trending dextral-slip faults northwest of the mountains. The Miocene is a time of great tectonic change that ushered in the modern tectonic regime.     

Late Cenozoic polyphase deformation and basin development,Kütahya region,western Turkey

The Neogene–Quaternary succession in the Kütahya region is of importance in the neotectonic evolution of western Anatolia because the strata contain clear evidence of compression and extension. During the early-middle Miocene, N–S compression/transpression as well as NE–SW- and NW–SE-oriented oblique conjugate faults formed. NE–SW-oriented horsts and grabens developed, controlled by the dominant NE–SW faults. The Seyitömer and Sabuncup?nar grabens were filled primarily by terrestrial clastic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. At the end of the middle Miocene, the graben fill was locally folded and reverse faulted, reflecting reactivation of compression. Between the late Miocene and the middle Pliocene, the region underwent erosion and lacustrine sediments accumulated in topographic lows. Between the middle and late Pliocene, compression in the region was again reactivated and basal units were thrust over the pre-upper Pliocene units. The late Plio-Quaternary marked the onset of N–S extension and development of the NW–SE-oriented Kütahya Graben, co-genetic equivalents of which are common throughout western Anatolia. This study indicates that tectonic evolution of western Anatolia involved multiple stages of contraction and extension.     

Tectonic Control of the Triassic Santa Maria Supersequence of the Paraná Basin, Southernmost Brazil, and its Correlation to the Waterberg Basin, Namibia

The Middle and Late Triassic Santa Maria Basin, exposed in southernmost Brazil, and Waterberg Basin, in Namibia, are herein interpreted as part of en échelon small basins in southern West Gondwana. The main structures are the Waterberg-Omaruru Fault which can be connected to a NW-strike anastomosed fault zone in Brazil. Based on field structural and stratigraphic analysis two populations of NW-strike fractures, named A-type and B-type, are recognized. A-type fractures (Az = 280°-290°) occur in the Sanga do Cabral Supersequence, underlying units of Santa Maria Basin, as extension of the Waterberg-Omaruru Fault during the Early Triassic. B-type fractures (Az = 295°-345°) are observed in all studied stratigraphic units, from the Triassic Sanga do Cabral Supersequence to the Early Cretaceous Botucatu/Serra Geral formations. Based on the structural analysis we propose that NNE-SSW extension reactivated structures of the Damara Belt, Namibia, with a propagation towards Rio Grande do Sul State forming an anastomosing normal fault system and related-rift basin by Early-Middle Triassic time. The A-type fractures were preferentially active by this phase and the B-type ones are interpreted as secondary link segments within the anastomosing system. During the Gondwana break-up and South Atlantic opening (rift to proto-oceanic phase, Aptian) the B-type fractures were reactivated as normal faults by N50°E-S50°W extension.     

The Çubukludağ graben,south of İzmir: its tectonic significance in the Neogene geological evolution of the western Anatolia

Field studies on the Neogene successions in south of İzmir reveal that subsequent Neogene continental basins were developed in the region. Initially a vast lake basin was formed during the Early–Middle Miocene period. The lacustrine sediments underwent an approximately N–S shortening deformation to the end of Middle Miocene. A small portion of the basin fill was later trapped within the N–S-trending, fault-bounded graben basin, the Çubukludağ graben, opened during the Late Miocene. Oblique-slip normal faults with minor sinistral displacement are formed possibly under N–S extensional regime, and controlled the sediment deposition. Following this the region suffered a phase of denudation which produced a regionwide erosional surface suggesting that the extension interrupted to the end of Late Miocene–Early Pliocene period. After this event the E–W-trending major grabens and horsts of western Anatolia began to form. The graben bounding faults cut across the Upper Miocene–Pliocene lacustrine sediments and fragmented the erosional surface. The Çubukludağ graben began to work as a cross graben between the E–W grabens, since that period.     

Regional sandstone-type uranium mineralization rooted in Oligo–Miocene tectonic inversion in the Songliao Basin,NE China

The tectonic inversion of the Songliao Basin during the Oligo–Miocene may have played an important role in controlling the development of sandstone-type uranium deposits (SUDs). Here we investigate drill holes along a southeast to northwest section in this basin based on apatite fission-track (AFT) and zircon fission-track (ZFT) techniques. We present 50 data from 15 deep boreholes at different depths between 665 and 3956 m and different structural units including grabens and horsts formed in the Early Cretaceous beneath the basin. The results of the effective AFT ages are 100 ± 11 to 2.3 ± 0.4 Ma (P(x²) > 5%) and ZFT ages are 97.5–20.4 Ma (including binomial peak ages). These results reveal that the basin underwent two distinct stages of rapid cooling after Late Cretaceous. In the first stage, during the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene (~80–50 Ma), tectonic uplift occurred in all of the structural units including grabens and horsts, which was marked by an unconformity between the latest Cretaceous Mingshui and the Eocene Yi'an formations. In the second stage, during the Oligo–Miocene (~40–10 Ma), tectonic uplift occurred mainly in the grabens but not in the horsts, corresponding with a few sediments of the Neogene Da'an and Taikang formations. We propose that the folds and the thrust faults mostly characterize in the second stage indicating a major tectonic inversion in the basin. The shifting of the two stages was probably in response to differences in the subduction angles and directions of motion of the Paleo-Pacific Plate from the southeast. Combined with previous information, it was demonstrated that most of the U mineralization ages are younger than 40 Ma, with a peak in the Miocene or later (<20 Ma). We thus propose that the SUDs have been redistributed and redeposited locally in successive stages during and after the Oligo–Miocene tectonic inversion.     

Geochemical evolution of Middle—Late Cenozoic magmatism in the northern part of the Rio Grande Rift,Western United States

Geochemical studies of the Middle—Late Cenozoic succession of volcanic rocks from the northern part of the Rio Grande Rift were conducted. The initial activation of the rift structure was coeval with voluminous eruptions of lava and pyroclastic material of mainly intermediate and acid compositions in the San Juan volcanic field 35–27 Ma. The composition of the volcanic products after the rifting was dominated by basic and intermediate lavas. It is shown that the basanites and alkali basalts of the territory had geochemical characteristics of sublithospheric slab and above–sl ab sources. The processes of the riftogenic thinning of lithosphere are expressed by geochemical parameters that reflect the interaction between the liquids from the sublithospheric mantle and the rocks from different levels of both the lithospheric mantle and lower crust. In the 35–18 Ma interval, melts of different–depth sublithospheric and lithospheric sources erupted simultaneously in the northern part of the rift. However, the products of interaction between the sublithospheric and lithospheric materials dominated later in the past 15 Ma, although the sublithospheric magmatic liquids erupted at the northern structural termination of the rift within the Yampa volcanic field at about 10 Ma.     

Tectonostratigraphic evolution of Cenozoic marginal basin and continental margin successions in the Bone Mountains,Southwest Sulawesi,Indonesia

The Bone Mountains, located in Southwest Sulawesi along the SE margin of Sundaland, are composed of Oligocene to possibly lower Miocene marginal basin successions (Bone Group) that are juxtaposed against continental margin assemblages of Eocene–Miocene age (Salokalupang Group). Three distinct units make up the latter: (i) Middle–Upper Eocene volcaniclastic sediments with volcanic and limestone intercalations in the upper part (Matajang Formation), reflecting a period of arc volcanism and carbonate development along the Sundaland margin; (ii) a well-bedded series of Oligocene calc-arenites (Karopa Formation), deposited in a passive margin environment following cessation of volcanic activity, and (iii) a series of Lower–Middle Miocene sedimentary rocks, in part turbiditic, which interfinger in the upper part with volcaniclastic and volcanic rocks of potassic affinity (Baco Formation), formed in an extensional regime without subduction.The Bone Group consists of MORB-like volcanics, showing weak to moderate subduction signatures (Kalamiseng Formation), and a series of interbedded hemipelagic mudstones and volcanics (Deko Formation). The Deko volcanics are in part subduction-related and in part formed from melting of a basaltic precursor in the overriding crust. We postulate that the Bone Group rocks formed in a transtensional marginal basin bordered by a transform passive margin to the west (Sundaland) and by a newly initiated westerly-dipping subduction zone on its eastern side.Around 14–13 Ma an extensional tectonic event began in SW Sulawesi, characterized by widespread block-faulting and the onset of potassic volcanism. It reached its peak about 1 Ma year later with the juxtaposition of the Bone Group against the Salokalupang Group along a major strike-slip fault (Walanae Fault Zone). The latter group was sliced up in variously-sized fragments, tilted and locally folded. Potassic volcanism continued up to the end of the Pliocene, and locally into the Quaternary.     

The Çubukludağ graben,south of İzmir: its tectonic significance in the Neogene geological evolution of the western Anatolia

Abstract

Field studies on the Neogene successions in south of ?zmir reveal that subsequent Neogene continental basins were developed in the region. Initially a vast lake basin was formed during the early-Middle Miocene period. The lacustrine sediments underwent an approximately N-S shortening deformation to the end of Middle Miocene. A small portion of the basin fill was later trapped within the N-S-trending, fault-bounded graben basin, the Çubukluda? graben, opened during the Late Miocene. Oblique-slip normal faults with minor sinistral displacement are formed possibly under N–S extensional regime, and controlled the sediment deposition. Following this the region suffered a phase of denudation which produced a regionwide erosional surface suggesting that the extension interrupted to the end of Late Miocene–Early Pliocene period. After this event the E–W-trending major grabens and horsts of western Anatolia began to form. The graben bounding faults cut across the Upper Miocene–Pliocene lacustrine sediments and fragmented the erosional surface. The Çubukluda? graben began to work as a cross garden between the E–W grabens, since that period. © 2001 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

ESR Dating of the Evolution of the Shuanghu Basin in the Northern Tibetan Plateau

The Shuanghu basin is a NE-trending rift basin bounded by NE-striking normal faults and NW-striking shear-extensional faults of the northern Tibetan Plateau. Four samples from calcite veins in marginal faults and one sample from mudstone (S-3) were collected for dating the evolution of the Shuanghu basin by using the ESR spectrograph of EXM-type. Ages were calculated according to the close-equilibrium model on the basis of the measured ESR signal spectra of samples, providing good chronological information. It is known from the ESR dating that the extensional faulting and rifting of the Shuanghu area began at 4.92 Ma B.P., followed by regional folding in 3.56-1.36 Ma, NW-striking faulting in 0.60 Ma and normal faulting in 0.024 Ma in the Shuanghu basin.     

Proterozoic deformation in the east Pilbara Craton and tectonic setting of fault-hosted manganese at the Woodie Woodie mine

Neoarchean and Mesoproterozoic sequences in the Oakover Basin provide a record of deformation and sedimentation along the eastern edge of the Archean Pilbara Craton. The early extensional history of the Oakover Basin is overprinted by subsequent compressional events. Five distinct deformation events are recognised in the Woodie Woodie region; the Archean D₁ event, comprising west-northwest–east-southeast extension associated with formation of the Neoarchean Hamersley Basin; the Mesoproterozoic D_2a event, with northwest–southeast extension and basin formation associated with manganese mineralisation; the D_2b event, with renewed extension associated with intrusion of Davis Dolerite during the ca 1090–1050 Ma Warakurna event; the D₃ event, comprising northeast–southwest-directed compression attributed to the ca 900 Ma Edmundian Orogeny; the Neoproterozoic D₄ event, with east-northeast–west-southwest extension producing large D₄ grabens associated with the opening of the Officer Basin; and, the Neoproterozoic D₅ event comprising north–south-directed compression attributed to the ca 550 Ma Paterson Orogeny. Abundant manganese deposits are hosted by the Neoarchean and Mesoproterozoic sequences in the Oakover Basin, including the large high-grade manganese deposits at Woodie Woodie. The orebodies are predominantly hydrothermal in origin, with a late supergene overprint, and deposition of primary manganese mineralisation was synchronous with northwest–southeast Mesoproterozoic D_2a extension and basin formation. The manganese is associated with normal faults, and many of these represent growth faults related to basin formation. Stratabound manganese is found above or adjacent to fault-hosted manganese. An initial structural framework established during Archean rifting was reactivated in the D_2a event and provided a major structural control on manganese distribution. High-grade manganese deposits at Woodie Woodie mine appear to be located in a zone of oblique dextral extension on major north-northwest- to north-trending faults that mark the eastern ‘active’ or faulted margin of an early rift basin. These large north-northwest-trending normal faults are linked to a major northwest-trending transform fault zone (Jewel-Southwest Fault Zone) that separates the Oakover Basin into a northern and southern basin. The transform fault represents a major deep fluid conduit for hydrothermal fluids and most likely accounts for the concentration of significant manganese occurrences immediately to the north and south of this structure.