甘孜-理塘结合带中段非史密斯地层的划分及组分特征

甘孜-理塘结合带内各种构造岩片(块)均遭受不同程度的变质变形,属于整体无序、局部有序的非史密斯地层,通过查明各类岩片(块)的岩石组合、来源、时代、变形变质及裂解、运移、拼合、定位历程,重新定义了“理塘蛇绿岩群”的含义,并新命名为“理塘蛇绿混杂岩群”。按结合带内岩块的不同组分、不同来源、不同时代、不同变形变质程度的不同,对各类岩块进行四维裂解拼合复原后划分为两个岩组(卡尔蛇绿岩组、瓦能蛇绿岩组)及碎屑岩、大理岩等组成的5类外来岩块。这对于进一步研究甘孜-理塘结合带的造山机制及构造演化历程有着十分重要的意义。     

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.     

Subduction,ophiolite genesis and collision history of Tethys adjacent to the Eurasian continental margin: new evidence from the Eastern Pontides,Turkey

This paper presents several types of new information including U–Pb radiometric dating of ophiolitic rocks and an intrusive granite, micropalaeontological dating of siliceous and calcareous sedimentary rocks, together with sedimentological, petrographic and structural data. The new information is synthesised with existing results from the study area and adjacent regions (Central Pontides and Lesser Caucasus) to produce a new tectonic model for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic development of this key Tethyan suture zone.

The Tethyan suture zone in NE Turkey (Ankara–Erzincan–Kars suture zone) exemplifies stages in the subduction, suturing and post-collisional deformation of a Mesozoic ocean basin that existed between the Eurasian (Pontide) and Gondwanan (Tauride) continents. Ophiolitic rocks, both as intact and as dismembered sequences, together with an intrusive granite (tonalite), formed during the Early Jurassic in a supra-subduction zone (SSZ) setting within the ?zmir–Ankara–Erzincan ocean. Basalts also occur as blocks and dismembered thrust sheets within Cretaceous accretionary melange. During the Early Jurassic, these basalts erupted in both a SSZ-type setting and in an intra-plate (seamount-type) setting. The volcanic-sedimentary melange accreted in an open-ocean setting in response to Cretaceous northward subduction beneath a backstop made up of Early Jurassic forearc ophiolitic crust. The Early Jurassic SSZ basalts in the melange were later detached from the overriding Early Jurassic ophiolitic crust.

Sedimentary melange (debris-flow deposits) locally includes ophiolitic extrusive rocks of boninitic composition that were metamorphosed under high-pressure low-temperature conditions. Slices of mainly Cretaceous clastic sedimentary rocks within the suture zone are interpreted as a deformed forearc basin that bordered the Eurasian active margin. The basin received a copious supply of sediments derived from Late Cretaceous arc volcanism together with input of ophiolitic detritus from accreted oceanic crust.

Accretionary melange was emplaced southwards onto the leading edge of the Tauride continent (Munzur Massif) during latest Cretaceous time. Accretionary melange was also emplaced northwards over the collapsed southern edge of the Eurasian continental margin (continental backstop) during the latest Cretaceous. Sedimentation persisted into the Early Eocene in more northerly areas of the Eurasian margin.

Collision of the Tauride and Eurasian continents took place progressively during latest Late Palaeocene–Early Eocene. The Jurassic SSZ ophiolites and the Cretaceous accretionary melange finally docked with the Eurasian margin. Coarse clastic sediments were shed from the uplifted Eurasian margin and infilled a narrow peripheral basin. Gravity flows accumulated in thrust-top piggyback basins above accretionary melange and dismembered ophiolites and also in a post-collisional peripheral basin above Eurasian crust. Thickening of the accretionary wedge triggered large-scale out-of-sequence thrusting and re-thrusting of continental margin and ophiolitic units. Collision culminated in detachment and northward thrusting on a regional scale.

Collisional deformation of the suture zone ended prior to the Mid-Eocene (~45?Ma) when the Eurasian margin was transgressed by non-marine and/or shallow-marine sediments. The foreland became volcanically active and subsided strongly during Mid-Eocene, possibly related to post-collisional slab rollback and/or delamination. The present structure and morphology of the suture zone was strongly influenced by several phases of mostly S-directed suture zone tightening (Late Eocene; pre-Pliocene), possible slab break-off and right-lateral strike-slip along the North Anatolian Transform Fault.

In the wider regional context, a double subduction zone model is preferred, in which northward subduction was active during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, both within the Tethyan ocean and bordering the Eurasian continental margin.     

The Northern Carpathians plate tectonic evolutionary stages and origin of olistoliths and olistostromes

The olistostromes formed in Northern Carpathians during the different stages of the development of flysch basins, from rift trough post-rift, orogenic to postorogenic stage. They are known from the Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene and Early Miocene flysch deposits of main tectonic units. Those units are the Skole, Subsilesian, Silesian, Dukla and Magura nappes as well as the Pieniny Klippen Belt suture zone. The oldest olistoliths in the Northern Carpathians represent the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rifting and post-rifting stage of the Northern Carpathians and origin of the proto-Silesian basin. They are known from the Upper Jurassic as well as Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous formations. In the southern part of the Polish Northern Carpathians as well as in the adjacent part of Slovakia, the olistoliths are known in the Cretaceous- Paleocene flysch deposits of the Pieniny Klippen Belt Zlatne Unit and in Magura Nappe marking the second stage of the plate tectonic evolution - an early stage of the development of the accretionary prism. The most spectacular olistostromes have been found in the vicinity of Haligovce village in the Pieniny Klippen Belt and in Jaworki village in the border zone between the Magura Nappe and the Pieniny Klippen Belt. Olistoliths that originated during the second stage of the plate tectonic evolution occur also in the northern part of the Polish Carpathians, in the various Upper Cretaceous-Early Miocene flysch deposits within the Magura, Fore-Magura, Dukla, Silesian and Subsilesian nappes. The Fore-Magura and Silesian ridges were destroyed totally and are only interpreted from olistoliths and exotic pebbles in the Outer Carpathian flysch. Their destruction is related to the advance of the accretionary prism. This prism has obliquely overridden the ridges leading to the origin of the Menilite-Krosno basin.

In the final, postcollisional stage of the Northern Carpathian plate tectonic development, some olistoliths were deposited within the late Early Miocene molasse. These are known mainly from the subsurface sequences reached by numerous bore-holes in the western part of the Polish Carpathians as well as from outcrops in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The largest olistoliths (kilometers in size bodies of shallow-water rocks of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous age) are known from the Moravia region. The largest olistoliths in Poland were found in the vicinity of Andrychów and are known as Andrychów Klippen. The olistostromes bear witness to the processes of the destruction of the Northern Carpathian ridges. The ridge basement rocks, their Mesozoic platform cover, Paleogene deposits of the slope as well as older Cretaceous flysch deposits partly folded and thrust within the prism slid northward toward the basin, forming the olistostromes.     

Late Cretaceous oceanic crust and Early Tertiary foreland basin development, Euboea, Eastern Greece

In northern Euboea (Eastern Greece), Late Cretaceous platform carbonates of the Pelagonian Zone pass depositionally upwards into Maastrichtian hemipelagic limestones, possibly reflecting a rifting event in the adjacent Neotethys. This is followed by a c. 1 km-thick unit of siliciclastic turbidites, debris flows and detached limestone blocks. Thrust intercalations of ophiolitic rocks comprise altered pillow basalts and ultramafic rocks with ophicalcite. Calcite veins in sheared serpentinite contain planktonic foraminifera and the ophicalcite is directly overlain, with a depositional contact, by Globotruncana-bearing pelagic limestones and calciturbidites of Maastrichtian age. The ophiolitic rocks are interpreted as Late Cretaceous oceanic crust and mantle, that formed at a fracture zone, or rifted spreading axis within a Neotethyan, Vardar basin to the east. During the Early Tertiary (Palaeocene–Eocene), the Neotethyan basin began to close, with development of a subduction-accretion complex, mainly comprising sheared, trench-type sandstones, associated with ophiolitic slices. In response to trench/margin collision, the Pelagonian carbonate platform foundered and limestone debris flows and olistoliths were shed into a siliciclastic foreland basin. Suturing of the Neotethyan ocean basin then resulted in westwards thrusting of oceanic units over the foreland basin, thrusting of slices of inferred Late Cretaceous Pelagonian carbonate platform slope and large-scale recumbent folding.     

Tectonic and magmatic evolution of the eastern Karakoram,India

Abstract

The Shyok suture zone separates the Ladakh terrane to the SW from the Karakoram terrane to the NE. Six tectonic units have been distinguished. From south to north these are; 1. Saltoro formation; 2. Shyok volcanites; 3. Saltoro molasse; 4. Ophiolitic melange; 5. Tirit granitoids; 6. Karakoram terrane including the Karakoram batholith. Albian—Aptian Orbitolina-bearing lime-stones and turbidites of the Saltoro formation tectonically overlie high-Mg-tholeiites similar to the tectonically overlying Shyok volcanites. The high-Mg tholeiitic basalts and calcalkaline andesites of the Shyok volcanites show an active margin signature. The Saltoro molasse is an apron-like, moderately folded association of redgreen shales and sandstones that are interbedded with ~ 50 m porphyritic andesite. Desiccation cracks and rain-drop imprints indicate deposition in a subaerial fluvial environment. Rudist fragments from a polygenic conglomerate of the Saltoro molasse document a post-Middle Cretaceous age. The calcalkaline andesites of the Shyok volcanites are intruded by the Tirit granitoids, which are located immediately south of the Ophiolitic melange and belong to a weakly deformed trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite-granite suite. These granitoids are subalkaline, I-type and were emplaced in a volcanic arc setting. The subalkaline to calcalkaline granitoids of the Karakoram batholith are I-and S-type granitoid. The I-type granitoids represent a typical calcalkaline magmatism of a subduction zone environment whereas the S-type granitoids are crustderived, anatectic peraluminous granites. New data suggest that the volcano-plutonic and sedimentary successions of the Shyok suture zone exposed in northern Ladakh are equivalent to the successions exposed along the Northern suture in Kohistan. It is likely that the o istan and Ladakh blocks evolved as one single tectonic domain uring the Cretaceous-Palaeogene. Subsequently, collision, suturing and accretion of the Indian plate along the Indus suture (50–60 Ma) together with tectonic activity along the Nanga Parbataramosh divided Kohistan and Ladakh into two arealy distinct magmatic arc terranes. The activity and a dextral offset along the Karakoram fault (Holocene-Recent) disrupted the original tectonic relationships. © 1999 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS     

The geodynamic evolution of the South-Tethyan,margin in Zanskar,NW-Himalaya,as revealed by the Spongtang ophiolitic melanges

Abstract

— The composite nappe of the Spongtang ophiolite is thrust over Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments of the North-Indian margin and shelf. The ophiolitic peridotiles tectonic-ally overlie a sedimentary melange, the detailed stratigraphy of which reveals the evolution of the South-Tethyan margin from its opening to its closure. The matrix of the melange is dated as Upper Campanian to Lower Eocene. Volcano-sedimentary olistoliths indicate carbonate platform sedimentation associated with alkaline lavas in the Permian, followed by more pelagic sedimentation of Upper Triassic and mid- Cretaceous age. They derived from external platforms near to the Indian shelf, but separated from it. Composite olistoliths of mid to late Cretaceous age, containing Permian elements, are found in the upper Cretaceous to lower Eocene wildflysch. Primary contacts of melange upon serpentinites indicates that the deeply eroded oceanic crust served partly as a substratum for the melange.     

雅鲁藏布中新生代深水沉积盆地形成和演化(Ⅲ)——喜马拉雅被动大陆边缘构造沉降分析

喜马拉雅特提斯中、新生代属印度板块北部被动大陆边缘。对充填这个被动大陆边缘的沉积物用“反剥法”(backstrippiog)进行研究,恢复了从被动大陆边缘到前陆盆地的抓降史。对分离出的盆地构造沉降曲线与McKenzie模式图版进行对比相关性分析,判断认为被动大陆边缘成熟期主要为热耗散沉降,前陆盆地时逆冲推覆动力为主要影响因素。     

Evolution of the Himalaya

The compression and attendant deformation of a thick and vast sedimentary prism formed since Early Riphean times on the northern continental margin of the Indian craton gave rise to the Himalaya mountains as a result of convergence and collision of the Indian and Asian plates. The oceanic trench-sediments, tectonically implanted with sea-floor material and intimately associated with calc-al-kaline volcanics in the narrow Sindhu-Tsangpo belt extending from Kohistan through Dras, Leh, Darchen (Mansarovar) to Shigatse and beyond, represent the subduction-island arc complex which developed south of the dynamic southern margin of the Asian continent and was welded to the colliding Indian plate during the late Eocene to Oligocene period. This complex is fringed to the north by a wide zone of Andean-type granitic bodies. The evolution of the Himalayan orogen is closely connected with the development of the present-day Andaman-Nicobar-Indonesia island arc-subduction system in the southeast and the Makran Ranges-Oman Trench in the southwest.The evolution of the Himalaya was accomplished in four major phases of tectonic upheaval during the late Cretaceous to Palaeocene (Karakoram phase), late Eocene to Oligocene (Malla Johar phase), middle Miocene to Pontian (Sirmurian phase), and late Pliocene to middle Pleistocene (Siwalik phase). While the Karakoram phase marks the convergence of continents and the Malla Johar phase represents the collision and subduction, it was during the Sirmurian upheaval that the main tectonic features developed and the Himalaya acquired its distinctive structural complexion     

The Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan Suture Zone, China: tectonostratigraphy, age and evolution

The Jinshajiang Suture Zone is important for enhancing our understanding of the evolution of the Paleo-Tethys and its age, tectonic setting and relationship to the Ailaoshan Suture Zone have long been controversial. Based on integrated tectonic, biostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic and isotope geochronological studies, four tectono-stratigraphic units can be recognized in the Jinshajiang Suture Zone: the Eaqing Complex, the Jinshajiang Ophiolitic Melange, the Gajinxueshan “Group” and the Zhongxinrong “Group”. Isotope geochronology indicates that the redefined Eaqing Complex, composed of high-grade-metamorphic rocks, might represent the metamorphic basement of the Jinshajiang area or a remnant micro-continental fragment. Eaqing Complex protolith rocks are pre-Devonian and probably of Early–Middle Proterozoic age and are correlated with those of the Ailaoshan Complex. Two zircon U–Pb ages of 340±3 and 294±3 Ma, separately dated from the Shusong and Xuitui plagiogranites within the ophiolitic assemblage, indicate that the Jinshajiang oceanic lithosphere formed in latest Devonian to earliest Carboniferous times. The oceanic lithosphere was formed in association with the opening and spreading of the Jinshajiang oceanic basin, and was contiguous and equivalent to the Ailaoshan oceanic lithosphere preserved in the Shuanggou Ophiolitic Melange in the Ailaoshan Suture Zone; the latter yielded a U–Pb age of 362±41 Ma from plagiogranite. The re-defined Gajinxueshan and Zhongxinrong “groups” are dated as Carboniferous to Permian, and latest Permian to Middle Triassic respectively, on the basis of fossils and U–Pb dating of basic volcanic interbeds. The Gajinxueshan “Group” formed in bathyal slope to neritic shelf environments, and the Zhongxinrong “Group” as bathyal to abyssal turbidites in the Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan back-arc basin. Latest Permian–earliest Middle Triassic synorogenic granitoids, with ages of 238±18 and 227±5–255±8 Ma, respectively, and an Upper Triassic overlap molasse sequence, indicate a Middle Triassic age for the Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan Suture, formed by collision of the Changdu-Simao Block with South China.     

Floor-age constraining of a tectonic paroxysm of the Pyrenean orogen. Late Middle Eocene mammal age of a faulted karstic filling of the Quercy phosphorites,south-western France

Breaking effects of a Pyrenean compressive tectonic phase are recognised in northern Pyrenean foreland, such as in the Quercy Jurassic limestone platform. The age of this phase still remains poorly constrained. In the so-called Quercy phosphorites area, within the Prajoux–Mémerlin paleokarst system near the city of Cajarc, a clay filling shows a strike slip fault effect, close to N–S direction. According to an analysis of the mammal fauna and inferred chronology of the polyphased paleokarst infilling, the age of the faulted clay is late Middle Eocene, with a mammal age estimate of 41.5 Ma. This provides reliable precise floor-age constraining for the involved sismo-tectonic paroxysm, seemingly related to the Pyrenean tectonic compressive phase.     

Yakchi chert–volcanogenic Formation—fragment of the Jurassic accretionary prism in the Central Sikhote-Аlin,Russian Far East

The Yakchi chert–volcanogenic formation is differentiated at the base of the stratigraphic succession in the Khor-Tormasu subzone of the Central Sikhote-clin structural–formational zone or the Samarka terrane of the Jurassic accretionary prism. The paper considers the results of biostratigraphic study of its deposits and petrogeochemical studies of its basalts. A tectonically disrupted sequence of the Yakchi Formation is restored on the basis of fossil conodonts and radiolarians, and its Late cermian–Middle Jurassic age is determined. The authors interpret the resulting stratigraphic succession in terms of changing depositional settings on the moving oceanic plate and recognize events of the ocean history recorded in it. Chert accumulated on the oceanic plate in pelagic canthalassa/caleopacifica from the Late cermian through to the Middle Jurassic. Deposition of siliceous claystone in the Late cermian–Early Triassic reflects the decline in productivity of radiolarians and a long anoxic event in Panthalassa. Chert accumulation resumed in the Triassic and persisted in the Jurassic, and it was interrupted by the eruption of basalts of different nature. Formation of the Middle–Late Triassic oceanic intraplate basalts likely occurred on the thick and old oceanic lithosphere and that of the Jurassic basalts on the thin and newly created lithosphere. In the Middle Jurassic, chert accumulation was replaced by accumulation of tuffaceous siltstone at a subduction zone along the csian continental margin. The middle Bathonian–early Callovian age of this siltstone closely predates accretion of the Yakchi Formation. The materials of the upper layer of the oceanic plate that formed over 100 million years in different parts of the ocean and on the lithospheric fragments of different ages were accreted to the continental margin. The bulk of the accreted material consists of oceanic intraplate basalts, i.e., fragments of volcanic edifices on the oceanic floor. accretion of this western part of the Khor-Tormasu subzone occurred concurrently with accretion of the southeastern part of the Samarka subzone in Primorye, which clarifies the paleotectonic zonation of the Central Sikhote-Alin accretionary prism. The cataclastic gabbroids and granitoids, as well as the clastic rocks with shallow-marine fossils in the Khor-Tormasu subzone, are considered as possible analogues of the Okrainka-Sergeevka allochthonous complex.     

Early Eocene Radiolarian Fauna from the Sangdanlin, Southern Tibet: Constraints on the Timing of Initial India-Asia Collision

This is a new report on the early Eocene radiolarian fauna from the Sangdanlin section in the Gyirong region, along the southern margin of the Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone. The Sangdanlin section measured in this study is divided into three lithostratigraphic units from bottom to top: the Zongzhuo, Sangdanlin, and Zheya formations. Abundant radiolarian fossils were obtained from the Sangdanlin section and 54 species of 30 genera were identified and assigned as follows: Cryptamphorella conara-C. macropora the late Cretaceous Zone and Amphisphaera coronate, Buryella tetradica-Bekoma campechensis, and B.bidartensis-B. divaricata the Paleocene-early Eocene Interval Zones. The Paleocene–early Eocene radiolarian zones are comparable to the radiolarian zones RP4-RP8 in New Zealand. Based on the data of radiolaria and lithofacies, it is suggested that the Zongzhuo Formation should be deposited along the base of the north-facing, continental slope of the Greater Indian continental margin, and the Sangdanlin Formation should be a deep marine, sedimentary sequence located in a foreland basin. The early Eocene radiolarian fauna in the Sangdanlin Formation constrains the initial age of the India-Asia collision to no later than 53.6 Ma.     

班公湖-怒江缝合带洞错混杂岩物质组成、时代及其意义

班公湖-怒江缝合带中段洞错混杂岩保存了完整的与大洋演化相关的混杂岩系,包括蛇绿岩岩块、洋岛残片,以及复理石岩片、大陆边缘沉积等沉积岩块体,是恢复和反演班公湖-怒江洋演化的理想地区。在综述前人研究的基础上,结合近年来的研究成果,归纳和总结洞错混杂岩的物质组成和时代,初步阐述洞错混杂岩对班公湖-怒江洋演化的指示意义。结果表明,洞错混杂岩中无论是蛇绿岩残块、洋岛残片还是次深海-深海复理石岩片等,均是不同时代多期次构造混杂的混杂体。最早的年龄记录可追溯至晚二叠世末期,最晚可延至早白垩世中晚期,是班公湖-怒江洋晚二叠世末期—早白垩世中晚期连续演化的记录。洞错混杂岩早白垩世中晚期大陆边缘沉积与蛇绿岩等的不整合仅是弧前楔顶盆地沉积的产物,不能约束班公湖-怒江洋的最终消亡。     

Constraining paleo-latitude of a biogeographic boundary in mid-Panthalassa: Fusuline province shift on the Late Guadalupian (Permian) migrating seamount

The Guadalupian paleo-atoll limestone (Iwato Formation) in SW Japan was primarily formed in low-latitude mid-Panthalassa and was later tectonically accreted to South China (Japan) margin during the Jurassic. The present biostratigraphic study clarified that the Iwato Formation consists of 5 biostratigraphical intervals; i.e. four fusuline assemblage zones (Assemblage zones 1 to 4) and a barren interval on the top. Assemblage zones 1 to 4 correspond to the Neoschwagerina craticulifera Zone, N. margaritae Zone, Yabeina globosa Zone, and Lepidolina multiseptata Zone of the conventional Tethyan fusuline stratigraphy, respectively. The present study newly clarified the following significant aspects of paleobiogeography of the Permian fusulines as to the extinction of large-tested taxa in the latest Guadalupian. 1) The long unknown stratigraphic relationship was documented for the first time between the Yabeina-dominant interval and the overlying Lepidolina-dominant one within a single limestone unit. 2) The occurrence of Lepidolina cf. kumaensis Kanmera, the unique last runner of large-tested fusuine, was detected for the first time in mid-oceanic paleo-atoll limestones. 3) With respect to the northbound migration history of the paleo-seamount capped by the Iwato Formation, the development of the two coeval fusuline biogeographic territories in the low-latitude Panthalassa, i.e., the Yabeina territory on the south and the Lepidolina territory on the north, was confirmed. 4) The paleo-latitude of the biogeographic boundary between the Yabeina and Lepidolina territories is constrained around 12° in the southern hemisphere on the basis of the latest geomagnetic data from the same limestone. This new approach utilizing biostratigraphy on ancient migrating seamounts coupled with geomagnetic paleo-latitude data is applicable to other cases in different time-space co-ordinates and of other fossil groups for constraining position of ancient biogeographic boundaries within lost oceanic domains of deep past.     

Provenance of the Eocene Soebi Blanco formation,Bonaire, Leeward Antilles: Correlations with post-Eocene tectonic evolution of northern South America

Middle to upper Eocene fluvial strata in the island of Bonaire contain detrital components that were tracked to Precambrian to Triassic massifs in northern Colombia and Venezuela. These detrital components confirm previous hypothesis suggesting that Bonaire and the Leeward Antilles were attached to South American basement massifs (SABM). These are composed of different fragmented South American blocks (Paraguana, Falcon, Maracaibo, Guajira, Perija, and Santa Marta) representing an Eocene, right-laterally displaced tectonic piercing point along the southern Caribbean plate margin. U–Pb LA-ICP-MS from the metamorphic boulders of the Soebi Blanco Formation in Bonaire yield Grenvillian peaks ages (1000–1200 Ma), while detrital zircons recovered from the sandy matrix of the conglomerates contain populations with peaks of 1000 Ma–1200 Ma, 750–950 Ma, and 200–300 Ma. These populations match with geochronological data reported for the northern South American massifs. Thermochronological results from the metamorphic clasts yield Paleocene–middle Eocene ages (65–50 Ma) that confirm a regional-scale cooling event in this time. These data imply a land connection between the SABM and the Leeward Antilles in late Eocene times, followed by a significant strike slip right-lateral displacement and transtensional basin opening starting in latest Eocene times. The succession of Eocene tectonic events recorded by the Soebi Blanco Formation and adjacent basins is a major tracer of the oblique convergence of the Caribbean plate against the South American margin.     

A Section Across a Tethyan Suture in Northwestern Turkey

A section across a major Tethyan suture in northwestern Turkey is described in detail. The suture of Early Tertiary age juxtaposes two continental blocks with distinct stratigraphic, structural, and metamorphic features. The Sakarya Zone in the north is represented by Permo-Triassic accretion-subduction complexes, which are unconformably overlain by Jurassic to Paleocene sedimentary rocks. The Anatolide-Tauride Block to the south of the suture consists of two tectonic zones. The Tavsanli Zone consists of a coherent blueschist sequence with Late Cretaceous isotopic ages. This blueschist sequence is tectonically overlain by Cretaceous oceanic accretionary complexes and peridotite slabs. The Bornova Flysch Zone consists of Triassic to Cretaceous limestone blocks in an uppermost Cretaceous to Paleocene flysch. The suture is represented by a N-vergent thrust fault separating lithologies from these two continental blocks.

The orogenic history of the region can be considered in two stages. In the Late Cretaceous, the northern margin of the Anatolide-Tauride Block was subducted under the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere and was metamorphosed in blueschist-facies conditions. Blueschists were largely exhumed by the latest Cretaceous or early Paleocene, prior to the continental collision. In the second stage, during the Paleocene, the continent-continent collision produced a doubly vergent orogen involving both S- and N-vergent thrusting, but did not lead to major crustal thickening.     

Cenozoic sedimentary dynamics of the Ouarzazate foreland basin (Central High Atlas Mountains, Morocco)

Cenozoic continental sedimentary deposits of the Southern Atlas named "Imerhane Group" crop out (a) in the Ouarzazate foreland basin between the Precambrian basement of the Anti Atlas and the uplifted limestone dominated High Atlas, and (b) in the Aït Kandoula and Aït Seddrat nappes where Jurassic strata detached from the basement have been thrust southwards over the Ouarzazate Basin. New biostratigraphic and geochronological data constraining the final Eocene marine regression, the characterization of the new "Aït Ouglif Detrital Formation" presumed to be of Oligocene age, and the new stratigraphic division proposed for the Continental Imerhane Group clarify the major tectonogenetic alpidic movements of the Central High Atlas Range. Four continental formations are identified at regional scale. Their emplacement was governed principally by tectonic but also by eustatic controls. The Hadida and Aït Arbi formations (Upper Eocene) record the major Paleogene regression. They are composed of margino-littoral facies (coastal sabkhas and fluviatile systems) and reflect incipient erosion of the underlying strata and renewed fluvial drainage. The Aït Ouglif Formation (presumed Oligocene) had not been characterized before. It frequently overlies all earlier formations with an angular unconformity. It includes siliciclastic alluvial deposits and is composed predominantly of numerous thin fining-upward cycles. The Aït Kandoula Formation (Miocene-Pliocene) is discordant, extensive, and represents a thick coarsening-upward megasequence. It is composed of palustro-lacustrine deposits in a context of alluvial plain with localized sabkhas, giving way to alluvial fans and fluviatile environments. The Upper Conglomeratic Formation (Quaternary) is the trace of a vast conglomeratic pediment, forming an alluvial plain and terraces. The second and third formations correspond to two megasequences engendered by the uplift of the Central High Atlas in two major compressive phases during late Oligocene and Miocene-Pliocene times. These two geodynamic events were separated by a tectonically calm phase, materialized by palustro-lacustrine sedimentation (Görler et al. 1988). Tectono-sedimentary analysis of the two megasequences shows that the basin structure and depositional processes were controlled by the compressive tectonic context generated by the collision of North Africa and Iberia in Tertiary times (Jacobshagen et al. 1988). The Quaternary Formation was apparently controlled by a tectonic continuum and by climatic variations.     

华北地台北缘乌兰哈雅地区二叠纪末—三叠纪初推覆构造

华北地台北缘乌兰哈雅地区发现二叠纪未-三叠纪初蒙古寺-盘羊山-乌兰哈雅推覆构造,将晚太古代色尔腾山岩群绿片岩系推覆到震旦系什那干组灰岩和古生代碎屑岩系之上.推覆面走向近东西向,延伸长度大于50 kn,推覆方向180～230o,推覆距离大于4.5 km.推覆界面被中三叠世(U-Pb同位素年龄231 Ma)二长花岗岩侵入,又被中侏罗统大青山组不整合覆盖.本推覆构造的发现改变了前人认为本区不存在古生代末大型推覆构造的看法,对了解华北地台(板块)构造发展历史与地壳演化有重要意义.说明华北地台(板块)晚古生代末存在大型陆内造山事件,其动力来源推测为华北板块与华南板块的碰撞所产生的巨大挤压应力.     

The age and nature of Mesozoic-Tertiary magmatism across the Indus Suture Zone in Kashmir and Ladakh (N. W. India and Pakistan)

We report the following new⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages: 130–150 and 90–100 Ma from monzodiorite and tremolite-actinolite schist of the Kohistan Complex; 44±0.5, 39.7±0.2 Ma from dikes cutting the Ladakh-Deosai Batholith Complex; 130–145 Ma from a diorite in the Shyok melange; and 7.8±0.1 Ma from a late stage monzogranite of the Kärakorum Batholith. A 261±13 Ma age from gneiss of the Karakorum Batholith is of uncertain significance. These dates, previously published ones which we summarize here, and some Sr isotope data suggest the following, (due to subduction switching between the Indian and Asian margins during closing of the Tethys ocean): Late Cretaceous emplacement of the Dras-Kohistan Cretaceous Island arc, followed by rapid cooling between abut 85 and 45 Ma. A quiet phase tectonically on the northern Indian plate during the Palaeocene to early Eocene, when subduction was occurring on the Asian margin. Further southward thrusting of the Indian continental margin associated with the development of an Andean-type arc (the Ladakh-Desosai Batholiths) on the northern Indian margin during the Eocene. An Oligocene Andean arc (the Karakorum Batholiths) on the Asian margin, followed by Miocene collision of the two continents and intrusion of ‘true’ granites derived from partial melting of continental crust.