The Late Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the central segment of the Andean subduction zone

The presented model of the Late Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the central Andes and the complex tectonic, geological, and geophysical model of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle along the Central Andean Transect, which crosses the Andean subduction zone along 21°S, are based on the integration of voluminous and diverse data. The onset of the recent evolution of the central Andes is dated at the late Oligocene (27 Ma ago), when the local fluid-induced rheological attenuation of the continental lithosphere occurred far back of the subduction zone. Tectonic deformation started to develop in thick-skinned style above the attenuated domain in the upper mantle and then in the Earth’s crust, creating the bivergent system of the present-day Eastern Cordillera. The destruction of the continental lithosphere is correlated with ore mineralization in the Bolivian tin belt, which presumably started at 16° S and spread to the north and to the south. Approximately 19 Ma ago, the gently dipping Subandean Thrust Fault was formed beneath the Eastern Cordillera, along which the South American Platform began to thrust under the Andes with rapid thickening of the crust in the eastern Andean Orogen owing to its doubling. The style of deformation in the upper crust above the Subandean Thrust Fault changed from thick- to thin-skinned, and the deformation front migrated to the east inland, forming the Subandean system of folds and thrust faults verging largely eastward. The thickening of the crust was accompanied by flows at the lower and/or middle crustal levels, delamination, and collapse of fragments of the lower crust and lithospheric mantle beneath the Eastern Cordillera and Altiplano-Puna Plateau. As the thickness of the middle and lower crustal layers reached a critical thickness about 10 Ma ago, the viscoplastic flow in the meridional direction became more intense. Extension of the upper brittle crust was realized mainly in gliding and rotation of blocks along a rhombic fault system. Some blocks sank, creating sedimentary basins. The rate of southward migration estimated from the age of these basins is 26 km/Ma. Tectonic deformation was accompanied by diverse magmatic activity (ignimbrite complexes, basaltic flows, shoshonitic volcanism, etc.) within the tract from the Western Cordillera to the western edge of the Eastern Cordillera 27–5 Ma ago with a peak at 7 Ma; after this, it began to recede westward; by 5 Ma ago, the magmatic activity reached only the western part of the Altiplano-Puna Plateau, and it has been concentrated in the volcanic arc of the Western Cordillera during the last 2 Ma.     

Accretion of crust in the axial zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Martin Vas Fracture Zone,South Atlantic

New data are obtained on the structure, evolution, and origin of zones of nontransform offsets of adjacent segments in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), which, in contrast to transform fracture zones, so far are studied insufficiently. The effects of deep mantle plumes developing off the crest of the MAR on the processes occurring in the spreading zone are revealed. These results are obtained from the geological investigation of the crest of the MAR between 19.8 ° and 21° S, where bottom sampling, bathymetric survey, and magnetic measurements have been carried out previously. Two segments of the rift valley displaced by 10 km relative to each other along a nontransform offset are revealed. A volcanic center of a spreading cell, which has been active over the last 2 Ma, is located in the northern part of the southern segment and distinguished by a decreased depth of the rift valley and increased thickness of the crust. Magnesian, slightly evolved basalts of the N-MORB type are detected in this center, whereas evolved and high-Fe basalts are found beyond it. The variation in the composition of the basalts indicates that the volcanic center is related to the upwelling of the asthenospheric mantle, which spread along and across the spreading ridge. In the lithosphere, the melt migrated off the volcanic center along the rift valley. In the northern segment, a vigorous volcanic center arose 2.5 Ma ago near its southern end; at present, the volcanic activity has ceased. As a result of the volcanic activity, an oval rise composed of enriched T-MORB-type basalts was formed at the western flank of the crest zone. The isotopic signatures show that the primary melts are derivatives of the chemically heterogeneous mantle. The mixing of material of the depleted mantle with the mantle material pertaining either to the Saint Helena or the Tristan da Cunha plumes is suggested; the mixture of all three sources cannot be ruled out. The conclusion is drawn that the mantle material of the Saint Helena plume was supplied to the melting zone beneath the axial rift near the oval rise along a linear permeable zone in the mantle extending at an azimuth of 225° SW. The blocks of mantle material that got to the convecting mantle from the Tristan da Cunha plume at the stage of supercontinent breakup were involved in melting as well. The nontransform offset between the two segments arose on the place of a previously existing transform fracture zone about 5 Ma ago. The nontransform offset developed in the regime of oblique spreading at the progressive propagation of the southern segment to the north. The zone of nontransform offset is characterized by recent volcanic activity. Over the last 2 Ma, spreading of the studied MAR segment was asymmetric, faster in the western direction. The rates of westward and eastward half-spreading in the northern segment are estimated at 1.88 and 1.60 cm/yr, respectively.     

雅鲁藏布江断裂带的构造特征

雅鲁藏布扛断裂带是印度板块与欧亚板块俯冲、碰撞的界面。通过对断裂带及邻近地质体的构造变形及大地构造背景研究，可将断裂带的发展划分成4个阶段：1)蛇绿岩侵位前的板块俯冲阶段（90Ma以前）：2)蛇绿岩侵位时的板块俯冲阶段（90Ma左右—始新世）；3)板块碰撞阶段（始新世以后)；4)走滑阶段（现代）。     

雅鲁藏布江断裂带的构造特征

雅鲁藏布扛断裂带是印度板块与欧亚板块俯冲、碰撞的界面。通过对断裂带及邻近地质体的构造变形及大地构造背景研究，可将断裂带的发展划分成4个阶段：1)蛇绿岩侵位前的板块俯冲阶段（90Ma以前）：2)蛇绿岩侵位时的板块俯冲阶段（90Ma左右—始新世）；3)板块碰撞阶段（始新世以后)；4)走滑阶段（现代）。     

小秦岭金矿田中生代构造演化与矿床形成

作为中国金矿主产地之一,小秦岭变质核杂岩经历两期不同性质的伸展。第一期为沿周缘拆离断层发育、方向与造山带平行的同造山伸展,上盘向WNW运动,活动时代为距今135～123Ma,属燕山期陆内造山形成的地壳增厚和岩浆活动共同作用的结果。第二期为退化变质糜棱岩带和正断层组成的变质核杂岩内部伸展构造,代表造山后进一步隆升导致的垮塌,时代为距今120～106Ma。小秦岭变质核杂岩内部发育与垮塌伸展同期的挤压性逆冲断层,由造山后残余挤压作用和构造剥蚀导致的伸展驱动力降低所致。小秦岭中蚀变千糜岩型金矿受退化变质糜棱岩带控制,成因为典型的伸展控矿机制,石英脉型金矿产于内部逆冲断层,成矿机制与小秦岭变质核杂岩垮塌伸展过程中的构造反转相关。     

Deciphering the Variscan tectonothermal overprint and deformation partitioning in the Cadomian basement of the Teplá–Barrandian unit, Bohemian Massif

The Teplá–Barrandian unit (TBU) has long been considered as a simply bivergent supracrustal ‘median massif’ above the Saxothuringian subduction zone in the Variscan orogenic belt. This contribution reveals a much more complex style of the Variscan tectonometamorphic overprint and resulting architecture of the Neoproterozoic basement of the TBU. For the first time, we describe the crustal-scale NE–SW-trending dextral transpressional Krakovec shear zone (KSZ) that intersects the TBU and thrusts its higher grade northwestern portion severely reworked by Variscan deformation over a southeastern very low grade portion with well-preserved Cadomian structures and only brittle Variscan deformation. The age of movements along the KSZ is inferred as Late Devonian (~380–370?Ma). On the basis of structural, microstructural, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data from the KSZ, we propose a new synthetic model for the deformation partitioning in the Teplá–Barrandian upper crust in response to the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous subduction and underthrusting of the Saxothuringan lithosphere. We conclude that the Saxothuringian/Teplá–Barrandian convergence was nearly frontal during ~380–346?Ma and was partitioned into pure shear dominated domains that accommodated orogen-perpendicular shortening alternating with orogen-parallel high-strain domains that accommodated dextral transpression or bilateral extrusion. The synconvergent shortening of the TBU was terminated by a rapid gravity-driven collapse of the thickened lithosphere at ~346–337?Ma followed by, or partly simultaneous with, dextral strike-slip along the Baltica margin-parallel zones, driven by the westward movement of Gondwana from approximately 345?Ma onwards.     

东天山北部哈尔里克晚古生代推覆构造与岩浆作用研究

东天山北部哈尔里地荀晚古生代火山弧，石炭纪末发生区域性逆冲推覆作用，研究表明，在晚石炭世碰撞造山过程中，哈尔里克地区国三个不同阶段屿性质的构造变形，变民岩浆作用；即３４６－３１２Ｍａ从南向北的推覆作用，对应于这期从北向南的俯冲事件；３１２－２６０Ｍａ从北向南的推覆作用，对应于晚石炭世的陆－陆碰撞陆内变形事件：２６０－２３０Ｍａ洞东西方向的右旋走滑作用，对应于造山期末发生在边界断裂附近的变形事件，大     

西秦岭地区东昆仑-秦岭断裂系晚新生代左旋走滑历史及其向东扩展

要通过在TM遥感图像解译和野外观测的基础上,描述了东昆仑断裂带东段活动形迹的组成和活动断层地貌特征,阐述了甘南高原西秦岭地区新近纪拉分盆地的沉积-构造特征,提出了该区东昆仑-秦岭断裂系晚新生代左旋走滑伸展-走滑挤压-走滑伸展的3个阶段的构造变形模式。指出,中新世晚期至上新世早期,东昆仑-秦岭断裂系以左旋走滑伸展活动为主,伴随着西秦岭地区拉分盆地的形成和超基性火山岩群的发育。这期左旋走滑伸展活动向东扩展导致了渭河盆地新近纪引张应力方向由早期的NE-SW向转变为晚期的NW—SE向。上新世晚期以来(约3．4Ma以前),东昆仑-秦岭断裂系以左旋走滑挤压活动为主,导致早期拉分盆地的轻微褶皱变形,走滑挤压活动主要集中在东昆仑东段玛沁-玛曲主断裂带上。该期构造变动持续到早更新世,它的向东扩展产生了广泛的地壳形变效应,包括青藏东缘岷山隆起带的快速崛起、华北地区汾-渭地堑系的形成和发展以及郯庐断裂带右旋走滑活动等。中、晚更新世时期,断裂系以走滑伸展变形为主,主要集中在东昆仑断裂带东段3个分支上,地块向东挤出伴随着顺时针旋转。     

CENOZOIC VOLCANISM AND LITHOSPHERETECTONIC EVOLUTION IN NORTH TIBET

CENOZOIC VOLCANISM AND LITHOSPHERETECTONIC EVOLUTION IN NORTH TIBET     

鄂尔多斯盆地中部气田奥陶系马五1层的古岩溶作用与天然气富集

鄂尔多斯盆地中部气田的储层为奥陶系马家沟组白云岩风化壳,马五１层为其主力气层,该层可分为四个小层,沉积相为分布稳定的蒸发潮坪环境,经历了表生期和浅、深埋藏期岩溶作用,天然气主要聚集在岩溶孔洞缝中。     

Deformations and Manifestations of Degassing in the Sedimentary Cover of the Equatorial Segment of the West Atlantic: Implications for Lithospheric Geodynamics

Manifestations of fluids and deformations in the sedimentary cover, which are both factors of brightening (blanking anomalies) in seismoacoustic records, in the equatorial segment of the Atlantic coincide with the sublatitudinal zones of the activated passive parts of transform faults and with zones of lower gravity anomalies and higher values of remnant magnetization, which form as a result of serpentinization. The cause-and-effect sequence of intraplate phenomena includes: the contrasting geodynamic state → horizontal movements that form macrofractures → water supply to the upper mantle → serpentinization of rocks in the upper mantle → deformations associated with vertical uplift of basement and sedimentary cover blocks, coupled with fluid generation → and fluid accumulation in the sedimentary cover, accompanied by the formation of anomalies in seismoacoustic records. Based on the seismic data, we have identified imbricate-thrust deformations, diapir structures, stamp folds, and positive and negative flower structures, indicating the presence of strike-slip faults in the passive parts of transform faults. The general spatial distribution of deformation structures shows their concentration in cold mantle zones. Correlative comparison of the structural characteristics of deformations shows the direct relationship between the heights of structures and the development of serpentinization processes. As per the age of the basement, deformations range from 27–38 to 43–53 Ma; a quite thick sedimentary cover makes it possible to reveal them based on the characteristic types of seismoacoustic records. The formation of the Antilles arc ca. 10 Ma ago affected the equatorial segment of the Atlantic; it formed kink bands where lithospheric blocks underwent displacements with counterclockwise rotations, deformations related to compression and vertical uplift of crustal fragments, and local extension that favored degassing of endogenous fluids. Sublatitudinally oriented imbricate-thrust deformations with different vergences indicate irregularity and alternating strike-slip directions as blocks between fractures were laterally influenced.     

Role of lithosphere in intra-continental deformation: Central Australia

Since the Proterozoic, there has been a set of deformation cycles in central Australia culminating in the Alice Springs Orogeny around 400 Ma. These events occurred away from plate boundaries and involved extension as well as compression, although their precise history remains difficult to unravel from the geologic record. Much evidence of deformation is left in the central Australian crust, which features significant Moho topography and an associated gravity signal. In the past, several mechanical models invoked crustal thickening and considerable compression to explain these geophysical characteristics. However, it is hard to envisage extensive deformation affecting the crust alone, but leaving no deformation record in the sub-crustal lithosphere. In recent seismic tomography studies, there is continuous seismically-fast lithosphere in central Australia below depths of about 100 km. In this region, the uppermost lithospheric mantle is seismically slow, but exhibits no significant attenuation of seismic waves. These new constraints make simple crustal thickening unlikely to be the main mechanism to generate variations of the Moho depth in central Australia. Here we propose a mechanical model of deformation that involves the entire lithosphere. We make no strong assumptions about the history of deformation cycles. Our model does not require lithospheric thickening at any stage of the deformation cycle, and results in a present-day scenario compatible with shallow as well as deep constraints on the lithosphere structure.     

华南和南海北部陆缘岩石圈速度结构特征与沉积盆地成因

新近地震层析资料表明, 华南和南海北部陆缘岩石圈及下伏的软流层中存在规模宏大的低速异常带, 它们在研究区新生代演化历史中曾发挥重要的控制作用.其中, 岩石圈底面及内部的巨型NW向异常低速带表明中生代末至新生代早期的神狐运动不仅在华南与南海北部陆缘产生NE向张裂构造体系并催生出内陆-陆架-陆坡沉积盆地, 还导致南海海盆的早期扩张.软流层NNW向的异常低速带则反映岩石圈SSE向的蠕动直接导致南海中央海盆的海底扩张及陆缘地区的持续裂解.研究区深部速度结构特征是历史动力过程所残留的痕迹, 华南陆缘和南海北部新生代沉积盆地的形成和发展, 与岩石圈及软流层的结构和运动方式密切相关.      

Lithospheric evolution of the Andean fold–thrust belt, Bolivia, and the origin of the central Andean plateau

We combine geological and geophysical data to develop a generalized model for the lithospheric evolution of the central Andean plateau between 18° and 20° S from Late Cretaceous to present. By integrating geophysical results of upper mantle structure, crustal thickness, and composition with recently published structural, stratigraphic, and thermochronologic data, we emphasize the importance of both the crust and upper mantle in the evolution of the central Andean plateau. Four key steps in the evolution of the Andean plateau are as follows. 1) Initiation of mountain building by 70 Ma suggested by the associated foreland basin depositional history. 2) Eastward jump of a narrow, early fold–thrust belt at 40 Ma through the eastward propagation of a 200–400-km-long basement thrust sheet. 3) Continued shortening within the Eastern Cordillera from 40 to 15 Ma, which thickened the crust and mantle and established the eastern boundary of the modern central Andean plateau. Removal of excess mantle through lithospheric delamination at the Eastern Cordillera–Altiplano boundary during the early Miocene appears necessary to accommodate underthrusting of the Brazilian shield. Replacement of mantle lithosphere by hot asthenosphere may have provided the heat source for a pulse of mafic volcanism in the Eastern Cordillera and Altiplano at 24–23 Ma, and further volcanism recorded by 12–7 Ma crustal ignimbrites. 4) After 20 Ma, deformation waned in the Eastern Cordillera and Interandean zone and began to be transferred into the Subandean zone. Long-term rates of shortening in the fold–thrust belt indicate that the average shortening rate has remained fairly constant (8–10 mm/year) through time with possible slowing (5–7 mm/year) in the last 15–20 myr. We suggest that Cenozoic deformation within the mantle lithosphere has been focused at the Eastern Cordillera–Altiplano boundary where the mantle most likely continues to be removed through piecemeal delamination.     

华北东部中生代构造体制转折峰期的主要地质效应和形成动力学探讨

华北中生代构造体制转折始于 15 0～ 14 0Ma ,终于 110～ 10 0Ma ,峰期是 12 0～ 110Ma ,总体上是由挤压构造体制转化为伸展构造体制 ,由EW向转变为NNE向的盆岭构造格局。但是转折过程有复杂的细节和多次挤压与伸展的转变 ,边缘与克拉通内部、北缘与南 (东 )缘之间在时间和空间上也有一定的变化。南 (东 )缘的挤压构造以 2 30～ 2 10Ma为主 ,然后在 130～ 110Ma期间达到构造转折的剧变期。北缘则似乎表现出 2 30～ 2 10Ma和 180 ( 170 )～ 16 0 ( 15 0 )Ma两期挤压构造 ,130～ 110Ma是构造转折的峰期。盆地的演化有多样性 ,燕山地区前晚侏罗世时期呈现出北东东向褶皱逆冲带与挤压挠曲盆地带相邻并存的盆山结构 ;而后晚侏罗世时期呈现出北北东向裂谷盆地与断隆相间的盆岭结构 ;晚侏罗世后时期则呈现出北东—北北东向盆地与“活动”断隆相间 ,并受北东东向褶皱逆冲带控制的盆山结构。大别山南北隆升历史完全不同。深部结构的研究表明 ,华北东部的岩石圈在古生代末期已有减薄表现 ,在中生代急剧减薄 ,地幔和下地壳发生大规模置换 ,至 130～ 110Ma到达顶峰。新生代以来又有加厚的趋势。中生代构造转折不具典型造山带特征 ,可能与周围块体夹击引发的区域性大规模地幔隆起有关     

Multistage Extension and Age Dating of the Xiaoqinling Metamorphic Core Complex,Central China

There are two extensional systems in the Xiaoqinling metamorphic core complex (XMCC). One is the detachment fault system developed along the peripheries of the XMCC, which extended in an ESE-WNW direction and whose upper plate moved towards the WNW. The other extensional system includes the retrograde shear zones and normal faults developed within the XMCC, which represent the collapse of the XMCC. Ar-Ar and K-Ar dating shows that the extension of the detachment fault system continued from 135 to 123 Ma, i.e. in the late stage of its evolution at about 127 Ma. The collapse represented by the extensional system within the XMCC was operative during 120(106 Ma, and its main activity occurred about 116 Ma ago. These suggest that the XMCC experienced two extensional stages in its evolution, i.e., the syn-orogenic regional extension and post-orogenic collapse extension.     

The Major Two-stage Shortening Deformation of the Northern Tibet and Tian Shan Area Since the Latest Oligocene

It seems to be progressively recognized that the stress of the India-Asia convergent front can be transferred rapidly through the southern and central Tibetan lithosphere to the northern Tibet, hence leading to the crustal thickening deformation there during or immediately after the onset of the India-Asia collision(ca.55 Ma).This study focuses on the late Cenozoic deformation and tectonic uplift of the northern Tibet and Tian Shan area.Detailed compilations of a variety of proxy data from sediments and bedrocks suggest that the northern Tibet and Tian Shan area underwent one stage of approximately synchronous widespread contractile deformation since 25–20 Ma, which seemed to decrease at circa 18 Ma as revealed by low-temperature thermochronological data.The latest Oligocene-early Miocene was also significant basin-forming episodes when many intermontane subbasins began to receive syntectonic sedimentation in the northeastern Tibet.Subsequently, the other phase of compressional deformation began to encroach more widely into the northern Tibet and Tian Shan area in episodic steps or continuously from 16–12 Ma to present.     

天山西段岩石圈深部结构及其与南北盆地构造关系

根据深部地球物理资料 ,将天山造山带划分为三个不同的构造单元 ,各构造区岩石圈结构表现各异。天山西段岩石圈深部广泛存在低速 (高导 )层 ,它是构成天山地壳“扇状”构造样式的物理基础。天山的软流圈深度浅于南北两侧 ,它具有较高密度的上地幔物质和较深山根。它与南北盆地的深部构造关系为陆内俯冲关系 ,天山岩石圈的深部结构特征 ,与其所处地球动力学环境和中亚地壳组成不均一性有关     

Intraplate deformation adjacent to the Macquarie Ridge south of New Zealand—The tectonic evolution of a complex plate boundary

The distribution of relocated seismicity and the evolving shape of fracture zones through time in the oceanic crust of the Australian Plate adjacent to the Australia:Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand are used to constrain the deformation of this region of the Australian Plate, here called the Puysegur Block. Relocated seismicity reveals a broad distribution of earthquakes in the Puysegur Block on both inter- and intraplate structures, including two great (M8+) earthquakes in the region over the past twenty years, one of which occurred over 130 km from the plate boundary. Plate reconstructions from the Late Oligocene through Early–Mid Miocene allow us to determine the undeformed shape of fracture zones in the Puysegur Block, formed during the Paleogene when the plate boundary was dominantly a divergent mid-ocean ridge system. Comparing these reconstructions to the present-day shape of the fracture zones allows us to map the deformation that has occurred within the Puysegur Block since the fracture zones formed. These two sets of independent observations delineate a broad zone of deformation extending ~ 150 km into the plate interior from the Macquarie Ridge Complex, the modern plate boundary structure through the region. The persistence of this deformation through time indicates a link with the evolution of the plate boundary over the past ~ 25 Ma from divergence to translation and subduction of the Australian Plate further north at the Puysegur Trench. We infer that this deformation may be a result of stresses in the Puysegur Block resulting from the impingement of the subducting plate on the thickened lithosphere of southern New Zealand. Such a collision may resist subduction, and if resistance remains substantial, further deformation internal to the Puysegur Block may lead to a southward migration of the Australia:Pacific subduction interface and the capturing of this section of lithosphere onto the Pacific Plate.     

Seismicity of the Hellenic subduction zone in the area of western and central Crete observed by temporary local seismic networks

Temporary local seismic networks were installed in western Crete, in central Crete, and on the island Gavdos south of western Crete, respectively, in order to image shallow seismically active zones of the Hellenic subduction zone.More than 4000 events in the magnitude range between −0.5 and 4.8 were detected and localized. The resulting three-dimensional hypocenter distribution allows the localization of seismically active zones in the area of western and central Crete from the Mediterranean Ridge to the Cretan Sea. Furthermore, a three-dimensional structural model of the studied region was compiled based on results of wide-angle seismics, surface wave analysis and receiver function studies. The comparison of the hypocenter distribution and the structure has allowed intraplate and interplate seismicity to be distinguished.High interplate seismicity along the interface between the subducting African lithosphere and the Aegean lithosphere was found south of western Crete where the interface is located at about 20 to 40 km depth. An offset between the southern border of the Aegean lithosphere and the southern border of active interplate seismicity is observed. In the area of Crete, the offset varies laterally along the Hellenic arc between about 50 and 70 km.A southwards dipping zone of high seismicity within the Aegean lithosphere is found south of central Crete in the region of the Ptolemy trench. It reaches from the interface between the plates at about 30 km depth towards the surface. In comparison, the Aegean lithosphere south of western Crete is seismically much less active including the region of the Ionian trench. Intraplate seismicity within the Aegean plate beneath Crete and north of Crete is confined to the upper about 20 km. Between 20 and 40 km depth beneath Crete, the Aegean lithosphere appears to be seismically inactive. In western Crete, the southern and western borders of this aseismic zone correlate strongly with the coastline of Crete.