Evolution of an intra‐oceanic island arc during the Late Silurian to Late Devonian,New England Fold Belt

Geochemical studies of volcanic rocks in the Gamilaroi terrane and Calliope Volcanic Assemblage, New England Fold Belt, eastern Australia, indicate that the setting in which these rocks formed changed in both space and time. The Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian basalts of the Gamilaroi terrane show flat to slightly light rare‐earth element (LREE) depleted chondrite normalised patterns, depletion of high field strength elements (HFSE) relative to N‐MORB, low Ti/V and high Ti/Zr ratios, high Ni, Cr and large‐ion lithophile element (LILE) contents, features characteristic of intra‐oceanic island arc basaltic magmas. They are associated with low‐K, less mafic volcanics, showing moderate LREE enrichment, low Nb and Y contents and Rb/Zr ratios. The depletion of HFSE in the basalts indicates that the magmas were derived from a refractory source in a supra‐subduction zone setting. The presence of such a zone implies that the arc was associated with a backarc basin, the location of which was to the west where a wide backarc region existed from the Middle Silurian. This polarity of arc and backarc basin suggests that the subduction zone dipped to the west. In contrast to their older counterparts, Middle to Upper Devonian basalts of the Gamilaroi terrane have MORB‐like chondrite normalised patterns and higher Ti and lower LILE contents. Moreover, they have low Ti/Zr ratios and MORB‐like Ti/V ratios and HFSE contents, features typical of backarc basins. Dolerites of the Gamilaroi terrane also have predominantly backarc basin signatures. These features suggest that both the basalts and dolerites have been emplaced in an extensional environment produced during the rifting of the intra‐oceanic island arc lithosphere. A progressive increase in Ti/V ratios, and TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ contents at constant MgO, of stratigraphically equivalent basalts, towards the north‐northwest part of the belt, is consistent with either greater extension to the north or melting of a more fertile magma source. By contrast, basalts in the southeast part of the terrane have moderately high Ti/Zr and low Ti/V ratios and in some samples, exhibit depletion of HFSE, compositional features transitional between island arc and backarc basin basalts. The Lower to Middle Devonian mafic rocks in the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage show both LREE enriched and depleted chondrite normalised REE patterns. Further, the majority have high Ti/Zr ratios and low Zr contents as well as relatively high Th contents relative to MORB. These features are common to rocks of Middle Devonian age as well as those of Early Devonian age and are suggestive of eruption in an arc setting. Thus, the data from this study provide new evidence for the evolution of the New England Fold Belt from the Late Silurian to the Late Devonian and reveal a history more complicated than previously reported.     

内蒙古贺根山蛇绿岩中玄武岩锆石U-Pb年龄、地球化学特征及其地质意义

贺根山蛇绿岩（套）中发育有气孔杏仁状玄武岩,为蛇绿岩套的组成部分。通过对其锆石U-Pb测年,其加权平均年龄为395.9 Ma±3.0 Ma,结合区域地质背景,认为贺根山蛇绿岩（套）形成时代为中泥盆世—早石炭世。玄武岩为亚碱性系列,具有LREE亏损、类似N-MORB的稀土配分模式,同时具备大洋玄武岩和岛弧玄武岩特征,认为贺根山蛇绿岩（套）应形成于弧后盆地;通过与现代典型Mariana洋内弧后盆地和Okinawa陆缘弧后盆地的玄武岩以及同属中亚造山带的新疆库尔提洋内弧后盆地蛇绿岩对比,发现贺根山玄武岩同Mariana玄武岩和库尔提蛇绿岩更加类似,由此认为贺根山蛇绿岩（套）很可能形成于洋内弧后盆地环境,而非大陆边缘弧后盆地环境。     

Significance of Middle Devonian granitoid‐bearing conglomerates in the Mt Morgan region,central Queensland

The presence of granitoid clasts in Devonian sequences of the Mt Morgan area has been considered indicative of a Late Devonian age, with the clasts derived from the Middle Devonian (377 Ma) Mt Morgan Trondhjemite. However, a sequence of limestone and volcanolithic arenites and breccias containing Middle Devonian corals and conodonts, overlies a granitoid‐bearing conglomerate in Station Creek. This sequence, previously mapped as Dee Volcanics, is now assigned to the Raspberry Creek Formation of the Capella Creek Group. Petrographic and geochemical similarities between the granitoid clasts and phases of the Mt Morgan Trondhjemite indicate formation in similar tectonic environments by similar magmatic processes. These clasts were derived from either an earlier phase of Mt Morgan Trondhjemite magmatism, or from a discrete earlier magmatic episode of similar type and inferred tectonic setting to the Mt Morgan intrusion.     

Devonian supra-subduction zone setting for the Princhester and Northumberland Serpentinites: implications for the tectonic evolution of the northern New England Orogen

The Princhester Serpentinite of the Marlborough terrane of the northern New England Orogen is a remnant of upper mantle peridotite that was partially melted at an oceanic spreading centre at 562 Ma, and subsequently interacted with Late Devonian island arc basalts in an intra-oceanic supra-subduction zone (SSZ) setting. The full range of rare-earth element (REE) contents, including U-shaped patterns, can be explained by a single process of reaction of partially melted, depleted peridotite with Late Devonian calc-alkaline and island arc tholeiite magmas by equilibrium porous flow, fractionating the REE by a chromatographic column effect. The Northumberland Serpentinite on South Island of the Percy Group has similar REE and high field strength element (HFSE) contents to the most depleted samples of the Princhester Serpentinite, supporting a common origin. However, spinel compositions suggest that the Northumberland Serpentinite interacted with boninitic magmas. The REE and mineral geochemistry indicates that the Princhester and Northumberland Serpentinites both represent part of the mantle component of a disrupted SSZ ophiolite. The ophiolite is considered to have formed above an east-dipping subduction zone, based on the geochemistry of Devonian island arc basalts between Mt Morgan and Monto, which include compositions identical to dykes and gabbroic blocks within the Princhester Serpentinite. Blockage of the subduction zone by collision with the Australian continent during the Late Devonian led to slab breakoff and the reversal of subduction direction, trapping the Late Devonian ophiolite in a forearc position. Its location, in a forearc setting above a growing accretionary wedge, conforms to the definition of a Cordilleran-type ophiolite. This interpretation is consistent with current views that most ophiolites are formed from young, hot and thin oceanic lithosphere at forearc, intra-arc and backarc spreading centres in a SSZ setting, and that emplacement follows genesis by 10 million years or less. Late Devonian crustal growth may have been widespread in the New England Orogen, because the disrupted ophiolite assemblage of the Yarras complex in the southern New England Orogen is probably of this age. Extensional tectonism at the end of the Carboniferous dismembered the Princhester – Northumberland ophiolite, removed the crustal section, and produced windows of accretionary wedge rocks within the fragmented ophiolite. The Princhester Serpentinite, together with fault slices of metasedimentary rocks, was thrust westward as a flat sheet over folded strata of the Yarrol Forearc Basin by a Late Permian out-of-sequence thrust during the Hunter – Bowen Orogeny, completing the emplacement of the Marlborough terrane. The Princhester and Northumberland Serpentinites could have been displaced by strike-slip movement along the Stanage Fault Zone or an equivalent structure. There is no record in the northern New England Orogen of SSZ ophiolites and volcanic arc deposits of Cambrian age, as exposed along the Peel Fault. Partial melting of the Princhester Serpentinite at an oceanic spreading centre at 562 Ma, recorded by mafic intrusives displaying N-MORB chemistry, was an earlier event that was outboard of any Early Paleozoic subduction zone along the margin of the Australian continent, and cannot be regarded as representing the early history of the New England Orogen. It is possible that the formation of intra-oceanic arcs in latest Silurian and Devonian time was the first tectonic event common to both the southern and northern New England Orogen.     

新疆卡拉麦里地区早泥盆世洋内弧：来自火山岩地球化学及锆石U-Pb 年龄的证据

新疆东准噶尔卡拉麦里地区早泥盆世火山岩由玄武岩和玄武安山岩组成,采用LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年方法,获得玄武安山岩锆石的U-Pb年龄为404.5±1.9 Ma,表明喷发时代为早泥盆世。岩石地球化学显示早泥盆世火山岩属岛弧拉斑系列,具相对较高的Mg^# 值(41.25～55.32)及较低的Nb(1.11×10^{- 6}～2.42×10^{- 6})、Zr(73.9×10^{- 6}～95×10^{- 6})和ΣREE(81.50×10^{- 6}～121.80×10^-6)含量。富集大离子亲石元素(LILE：K、Rb、Ba)和轻稀土元素(LREE),而亏损Ta、Nb和Ti高场强元素（HFSE：Ta、Nb、Ti）,并显示Eu弱的亏损,这些特征与岛弧火山岩类似,其原始岩浆可能起源于俯冲流体交代的亏损地幔楔的部分熔融。结合区域地质背景,认为早泥盆世火山形成于洋内弧的构造环境,为卡拉麦里古洋盆向北俯冲消减的产物。这是在卡拉麦里地区首次报道的洋内弧火山岩,这一新的发现和认识对研究东准噶尔古生代洋盆演化及区域构造格局均具有重要的意义。     

Geochemistry of late Paleozoic mafic igneous rocks from the Kuerti area,Xinjiang, northwest China: implications for backarc mantle evolution

The composition of Kuerti mafic rocks in the Altay Mountains in northwest China ranges from highly geochemically depleted, with very low La, Ta and Nb and high ε_Nd(t) values, to slightly enriched, arc lava-like composition. They display flat to light rare earth element (REE)-depleted patterns and have variable depletions in high field-strength elements (HFSE). These mafic rocks were most probably derived from a variably depleted mantle source containing a subduction component beneath an ancient intra-oceanic backarc basin. Together with the slightly older arc volcanic rocks in the Altay region, the Kuerti mafic rocks display generally positive correlations of their key elemental ratios (e.g., Th/Nb, La/Yb and Th/Yb). These indicate that the more mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) component was contained in these magmas, the less arc component was present in their mantle source. Therefore, we propose a two-stage melting evolution model to interpret the compositional evolution of the Kuerti mafic rocks and associated arc volcanic rocks. First, arc basaltic melts were extracted from the hydrated arc mantle wedge beneath Kuerti, leaving behind a mantle source that is variably depleted in incompatible trace elements. Then, mafic rocks were erupted during seafloor spreading in the Kuerti backarc basin from the upwelling asthenospheric mantle. The variably depleted mantle source produced mafic rocks with composition ranging from arc lava-like to more geochemically depleted than MORB. The recognition of Kuerti mafic rocks as backarc basin basalts (BABB) is consistent with the proposed tectonic model that an active backarc basin–island arc system along the paleo-Asian ocean margin was formed in the Altay region during Devonian–Early Carboniferous. New data further indicate that the final orogenic event in the Altay Mountains, i.e. the collision of the north and south continental plates in the region, most probably took place in Late Carboniferous and Permian.     

Mid to late Paleozoic shortening pulses in the Lachlan Orogen,southeastern Australia: a review

In the late Silurian, the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia had a varied paleogeography with deep-marine, shallow-marine, subaerial environments and widespread igneous activity reflecting an extensional backarc setting. This changed to a compressional–extensional regime in the Devonian associated with episodic compressional events, including the Bindian, Tabberabberan and Kanimblan orogenies. The Early Devonian Bindian Orogeny was associated with SSE transport of the Wagga–Omeo Zone that was synchronous with thick sedimentation in the Cobar and Darling basins in central and western New South Wales. Shortening has been controlled by the margins of the Wagga–Omeo Zone with partitioning along strike-slip faults, such as along the Gilmore Fault, and inversion of pre-existing extensional basins including the Limestone Creek Graben and the Canbelego–Mineral Hill Volcanic Belt. Shortening was more widespread in the late Early Devonian to Middle Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny, with major deformation in the Melbourne Zone, Cobar Basin and eastern Lachlan Orogen. In the eastern Melbourne Zone, structural trends have been controlled by the pre-existing structural grain in the adjacent Tabberabbera Zone. Elsewhere Tabberabberan deformation involved inversion of pre-existing rifts resulting in a variation in structural trends. In the Early Carboniferous, the Lachlan Orogen was in a compressional backarc setting west of the New England continental margin arc with Kanimblan deformation most evident in Upper Devonian units in the eastern Lachlan Orogen. Kanimblan structures include major thrusts and associated fault-propagation folds indicated by footwall synclines with a steeply dipping to overturned limb adjacent to the fault. Ongoing deformation and sedimentation have been documented in the Mt Howitt Province of eastern Victoria. Overall, structural trends reflect a combination of controls provided by reactivation of pre-existing contractional and extensional structures in dominantly E–W shortening operating intermittently from the earliest Devonian to Early Carboniferous.     

Structure and metamorphism of the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage: Implications for middle to Late Devonian orogeny in the northern New England Fold Belt

The Late Silurian to Middle Devonian Calliope Volcanic Assemblage in the Rockhampton region is deformed into a set of northwest‐trending gently plunging folds with steep axial plane cleavage. Folds become tighter and cleavage intensifies towards the bounding Yarrol Fault to the east. These folds and associated cleavage also deformed Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the age of this deformation is Middle to Late Permian (Hunter‐Bowen Orogeny). In the Stanage Bay area, both the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage and younger strata generally have one cleavage, although here it strikes north to northeast. This cleavage is also considered to be of Hunter‐Bowen age. Metamorphic grade in the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage ranges from prehnite‐pumpellyite to greenschist facies, with higher grades in the more strongly cleaved rocks. In the Rockhampton region the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage is part of a west‐vergent fold and thrust belt, the Yarrol Fault representing a major thrust within this system.

A Late Devonian unconformity followed minor folding of the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage, but no cleavage was formed. The unconformity does not represent a collision between an exotic island arc and continental Australia as previously suggested.     

东天山古生代板块构造特点及其演化模式

东天山的古板块构造格局主要由塔里木陆壳板块、西伯利亚陆壳板块和哈萨克斯坦洋壳板块在古生代的活动所奠定的。在古生代，东天山的板块构造格局主要表现为多列岛弧及其间弧间盆地和弧后盆地的形式。自北而南依次发育：博格达－哈尔里克泥盆－石炭纪岛弧，吐哈弧间盆地，觉罗塔格泥盆－石炭纪岛弧，吐哈弧间盆地，觉罗塔格泥盆－石炭纪岛弧，中天山志留－石炭纪岛弧，南天山－红柳河弧后盆地和北山陆缘裂谷带。其主要成因是由于准噶尔洋壳板块向塔里木陆壳板块下俯冲，俯冲带不断后退所形成的。奥陶纪中后期，中天山由塔里木北缘分出，形成具有古老陆块基底的类似于现今日本列岛的中天山岛弧。在其后形成南天山－红柳河弧后盆地和北山陆缘裂谷带。泥盆纪早期，俯冲带后退至觉罗塔格北侧形成觉罗塔格岛弧。泥盆纪晚期，俯冲带后退至博格达－哈尔里克北缘，形成博格达－哈尔里克岛弧。中石炭世至早二叠世，博格达同准噶尔陆块碰撞造山，哈尔里克同麦钦乌拉岛弧碰撞造山。与此同时，南天山－红柳河弧后盆地和北山裂谷带也相继闭合，而吐哈弧间盆地则成为未被消减完的弧间盆地残留下来。东天山古生代板块演化可与现今印度尼西亚地区的板块演化相类比。     

Devonian volcanics in the New England Orogen: tectonic setting and polarity

The tectonic setting of the Devonian rocks in the New England Orogen has been the subject of considerable debate and controversy for many years. Our studies reveal that they have formed in intra-oceanic island arc and back arc basin (BAB) settings based on Th/Yb, Nb/Yb, Ba/La and Zr/Y ratios. Further, many of the samples that formed in a BAB have a mixture of MORB and arc-like characteristics, a few are almost entirely MORB-like. The arc-like features are believed to be due to the presence of a subduction component in the basaltic magma, the amount of which is controlled by the distance from the arc. Those samples with MORB-like compositions are thought to have originated at spreading centres. The compositions of Late Devonian basalts become more arc-like to the west suggesting a west facing polarity. Based on the tectonic setting and spatial relationship of Late Devonian sequences, we propose that two subduction zones existed during the Late Devonian, one dipping west beneath the Lachlan Orogen, the other dipping east beneath a rifted intra oceanic arc. Obduction of this intra oceanic arc over the continental margin of the Lachlan Orogen in the latest Devonian at approximately 375 Ma led to the development of a new west dipping subduction zone oceanward and commencement of continental, arc magmatism.     

Palaeoproterozoic subduction‐related and passive margin basalts in the Halls Creek Orogen,northwest Australia

Palaeoproterozoic basaltic rocks in the Halls Creek Orogen form part of two stratigraphic sequences on either side of a major structure, the Angelo‐Halls Creek‐Osmond Fault System. The two sequences have contrasting geological histories and probably formed in different tectonostratigraphic terranes. To the east, basalts of the Biscay Formation, which are part of the Halls Creek Group, were erupted at ca 1880 Ma and deformed and metamorphosed first at low grade between ca 1845 and ca 1820 Ma. To the west, basalts of the Tickalara Metamorphics were deposited after 1865 Ma, and were metamorphosed at medium to high grade and intruded by tonalite and leucogranite sheets at 1850 to 1845 Ma. Two groups of metabasalts are identified in the Biscay Formation. Group 1 samples have compositions similar to enriched (E‐)MORB. Group 2 samples have lower TiO₂, P₂O₅, Cr, Y, Nb and Zr contents, and trace‐element ratios (e.g. Ti/V and Zr/Nb), similar to low‐TiO₂ continental flood basalts. Metabasalts from the Tickalara Metamorphics consist of depleted and enriched types. The depleted samples have high field strength element (HFSE) and rare‐earth element (REE) abundances similar to oceanic island arc/backarc basin tholeiites. The enriched samples have compositions similar to E‐MORB, and are similarto group 1 samples from the Biscay Formation. Basalts of the Biscay Formation were erupted on a passive continental margin, whereas those of the Tickalara Metamorphics formed in an oceanic island arc/backarc basin or ensialic marginal basin, the two terranes being brought together by ca 1820 Ma. This is consistent with the evolution of the Halls Creek Orogen during the Palaeoproterozoic by plate‐tectonic processes similar to those operating in the Phanerozoic.     

Geochemistry of Early–Middle Palaeozoic basalts in the Hodgkinson Province: a key to tectono-magmatic evolution of the Tasman Fold Belt System in northeastern Queensland, Australia

The Palaeozoic Hodgkinson Province in northeastern Queensland, Australia, is host to Late Ordovician to Devonian rock assemblages that contain tholeiitic to calc-alkaline basalts. These basalts occur as massive fault-bounded units interspersed with marine sedimentary rocks and limestones that are metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies in the Ordovician Mulgrave, Silurian Chillagoe and Devonian Hodgkinson formations, respectively. The petrogenetic and Sm–Nd isotope characteristics of these mafic volcanic rocks were investigated to constrain the tectonic setting in which they erupted. Major, trace and rare earth element analyses were carried out on samples from these formations and intrusive dolerites. The mafic rocks can be classified as basalts and basaltic andesites with distinct MORB characteristics. Furthermore, the basalts are characterized by a slight to moderate enrichment in Th and concomitant depletion in Nb, both of which become less pronounced with basalt evolution through time. These features are consistent with decreasing volcanic arc affinity of Silurian and Devonian MORB-type basalts in the Hodgkinson Province. Sm–Nd isotope characteristics of these basalts indicate a change in source region from dominantly sub-continental lithospheric mantle in the Silurian to asthenospheric input in the Devonian. Collectively, the geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the Hodgkinson Province basalts are interpreted to reflect deposition in an evolving back-arc basin setting. The onset of basin extension was initiated in the Silurian. Accelerated basin subsidence occurred throughout the Devonian and was halted by basin inversion in the Late Devonian. Basin evolution was controlled by an eastward stepping subduction zone outboard of the Australian Craton.     

识别洋陆转换的岩石学思路——洋内弧与初始俯冲的识别

阐述了洋陆转化形成的洋内弧与初始弧的岩石组合序列及其地球化学特征,提出岩浆弧是由洋陆转化以及底侵的壳幔转化共同作用形成的认识,前弧环境是洋陆转化形成初生大陆的场所,由特征的类似洋中脊的洋内弧前弧玄武岩类构成。大陆的形成过程如下:从地幔中生长出洋壳,从洋壳中的洋陆转化生长出不成熟的弧陆壳,最后从弧陆壳底侵的壳幔转化中长出成熟的陆壳。这样,地壳的生长和形成主要通过岩浆增生作用来实现。     

New radiolarian biostratigraphic age constraints on Middle Triassic basalts and radiolarites from the Inner Hellenides (Northern Pindos and Othris Mountains, Northern Greece) and their implications for the geodynamic evolution of the early Mesozoic Neotethys

The Avdella Mélange in the northern Pindos Mountains and its equivalent formation, the Loggitsion Unit in the Othris Mountains expose early Mesozoic (Mid-Late Triassic) oceanic fragments beneath the Western Greek Ophiolite Belt of the Inner Hellenides, Northern Greece. The mélange consists of locally interfingering blocks and slices of ribbon radiolarite, radiolarian chert and pillow basalt and is usually overthrust by Jurassic ophiolites. New Middle and Upper Triassic radiolarian biostratigraphic data are presented from radiolarites and basalt-radiolarite sequences within mélange blocks. Pillow basalts associated with the radiolarites provide clues to the opening of the Neotethyan ocean basin. The radiolarians indicate a Middle Triassic age (latest Anisian, probably early Illyrian), which is documented for the first time in the northern Pindos Mountains. The new radiolarian biostratigraphic data suggest that rift-type basalt volcanism already began in pre-Ladinian time (late Scythian?—Anisian). These basalts were then overlain by Upper Anisian to Carnian (?Norian) radiolarites.     

右江盆地晚古生代深水相地层沉积构造演化

在对测自桂西地区的田林八渡、那坡坡荷、百色平圩、阳圩等地晚古生代的深水相沉积地层的沉积特征、玄武岩地球化学分析以及重要的构造地质事件研究的基础上．对右江盆地晚古生代盆地沉积演化做了阐述,提出了右江盆地自早泥盆世晚期开始出现大陆边缘裂离,先后经历了裂谷盆地形成阶段(早泥盆世晚期-中三叠世早期)、洋壳盆地形成阶段(晚泥盆世-早石炭世)、洋壳盆地强烈扩张阶段(晚石炭世-中二叠世)、洋壳盆地收缩阶段(晚二叠世-中三叠世早期)-洋盆封闭快速充填阶段(中三叠世晚期)的完整沉积盆地演化序列。     

Evidence for the Jurassic arc volcanism of the Lolotoi complex,Timor: Tectonic implications

We report the first sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon ages with geochemical data from metavolcanic rocks in the Lolotoi complex, Timor. The zircon U–Pb ages of two andesitic metavolcanic rocks yield a permissible range of the Middle Jurassic extrusion from 177 Ma to 174 Ma. The geochemical data indicate that the origins of the basaltic and andesitic metavolcanic rocks are products of prolonged oceanic crust and arc magmatism, respectively. They are originated from partial melting of lherzolites, providing an insight into the tectonic evolution of the forearc basements of the Banda volcanic arc. Thus, parts of the Banda forearc basement are pieces of allochthonous oceanic basalts and Jurassic arc-related andesites accreted to the Sundaland during the closure of Mesotethys, and are incorporated later into the Great Indonesian Volcanic Arc system along the southeastern margin of the Sundaland.     

内蒙朝克山蛇绿岩地球化学: 洋内弧后盆地的产物？

朝克山蛇绿岩是内蒙贺根山地区出露最好的蛇绿岩之一,可能形成于中晚石炭世。朝克山蛇绿岩中的基性岩具有LREE亏损、类似N-MORB的稀土配分模式,而相对N-MORB富集大离子亲石元素,亏损Nb、Ta等高场强元素又类似岛弧火山岩的成分特征,因此,我们认为朝克山蛇绿岩应形成于弧后盆地。将朝克山蛇绿岩的基性岩与现代Mariana洋内弧后盆地和Okinawa陆缘弧后盆地的玄武岩及同属中亚造山带的、形成于洋内弧后盆地的新疆库尔提蛇绿岩对比,朝克山蛇绿岩更类似于Mariana玄武岩和库尔提蛇绿岩,因此其很可能形成于洋内弧后盆地而不是大陆边缘弧后盆地环境。     

Provenance and Evolution of the Guarguariiz Complex, Cordillera Frontal, Argentina

The Guarguardz Complex, basement of the Cordillera Frontal, included in the proposed Chilenia Terrane, consists of metasedimentary rocks deposited in clastic and carbonatic platforms. Turbiditic sequences point out to slope or external platform environments. According to geochemical data, the sedimentary protoliths derived through erosion of a mature cratonic continental basement. Volcanic and subvolcanic rocks with N and E-MORB signature were interbeded in the metasedimentary rocks during basin development. A compressional stage, starting with progressive deformation and metamorphism, followed this extensional stage. Continuing deformation led to the emplacement of slices of oceanic crust, conforming an accretionary prism during Late Devonian. The Guarguardz Complex and equivalent units in western Precordillera and also in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera share common evolutional stages, widely represented along the western Gondwana margin. These evidences imply that Chilenia is not an allochthonous terrane to Gondwana, but a portion of its Early Paleozoic margin. Regional configuration indicates that the Guarguardz Complex and equivalent units represent the accretionary prism of the Famatinian arc (Middle Ordovician-Late Devonian).     

Late Palaeozoic arc flank and fore‐arc basin sequence of the New England fold belt in the stanage bay region,central Queensland

Devonian and Carboniferous (Yarrol terrane) rocks, Early Permian strata, and Permian‐(?)Triassic plutons outcrop in the Stanage Bay region of the northern New England Fold Belt. The Early‐(?)Middle Devonian Mt Holly Formation consists mainly of coarse volcaniclastic rocks of intermediate‐silicic provenance, and mafic, intermediate and silicic volcanics. Limestone is abundant in the Duke Island, along with a significant component of quartz sandstone on Hunter Island. Most Carboniferous rocks can be placed in two units, the late Tournaisian‐Namurian Campwyn Volcanics, composed of coarse volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, silicic ash flow tuff and widespread oolitic limestone, and the conformably overlying Neerkol Formation dominated by volcaniclastic sandstone and siltstone with uncommon pebble conglomerate and scattered silicic ash fall tuff. Strata of uncertain stratigraphic affinity are mapped as ‘undifferentiated Carboniferous’. The Early Permian Youlambie Conglomerate unconformably overlies Carboniferous rocks. It consists of mudstone, sandstone and conglomerate, the last containing clasts of Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, diverse volcanics and rare granitic rocks. Intrusive bodies include the altered and variably strained Tynemouth Diorite of possible Devonian age, and a quartz monzonite mass of likely Late Permian or Triassic age.

The rocks of the Yarrol terrane accumulated in shallow (Mt Holly, Campwyn) and deeper (Neerkol) marine conditions proximal to an active magmatic arc which was probably of continental margin type. The Youlambie Conglomerate was deposited unconformably above the Yarrol terrane in a rift basin. Late Permian regional deformation, which involved east‐west horizontal shortening achieved by folding, cleavage formation and east‐over‐west thrusting, increases in intensity towards the east.     

东天山大南湖岛弧带石炭纪岩石地层与构造演化

详细的地质解剖工作表明,东天山地区大南湖岛弧带石炭纪出露4套岩石地层组合,即早石炭世小热泉子组火山岩、晚石炭世底坎儿组碎屑岩和碳酸盐岩、晚石炭世企鹅山组火山岩、晚石炭世脐山组碎屑岩夹碳酸盐岩。根据其岩石组合、岩石地球化学、生物化石、同位素资料以及彼此的产出关系,认为这4套岩石地层组合的沉积环境分别为岛弧、残余海盆、岛弧和弧后盆地。结合区域资料重塑了大南湖岛弧带晚古生代的构造格架及演化模式。早、晚石炭世的4套岩石地层组合并置体现了东天山的复杂增生过程。