Footwall dip of a core complex detachment fault: thermobarometric constraints from the northern Snake Range (Basin and Range,USA)

Low‐angle detachment faults are common features in areas of large‐scale continental extension and are typically associated with metamorphic core complexes, where they separate upper plate brittle extension from lower plate ductile stretching and metamorphism. In many core complexes, the footwall rocks have been exhumed from middle to lower crustal depths, leading to considerable debate about the relationship between hangingwall and footwall rocks, and the role that detachment faults play in footwall exhumation. Here, garnet–biotite thermometry and garnet–muscovite–biotite–plagioclase barometry results are presented, together with garnet and zircon geochronology data, from seven locations within metapelitic rocks in the footwall of the northern Snake Range décollement (NSRD). These locations lie both parallel and normal to the direction of footwall transport to constrain the pre‐exhumation geometry of the footwall. To determine P–T gradients precisely within the footwall, the ΔPT method of Worley & Powell (2000) has been employed, which minimizes the contribution of systematic uncertainties to thermobarometric calculations. The results show that footwall rocks reached pressures of 6–8 kbar and temperatures of 500–650 °C, equivalent to burial depths of 23–30 km. Burial depth remains constant in the WNW–ESE direction of footwall transport, but increases from south to north. The lack of a burial gradient in the direction of footwall transport implies that the footwall rocks, which today define a sub‐horizontal datum in the direction of fault transport, also defined a sub‐horizontal datum at depth in Late Cretaceous time. This suggests that the footwall was not tilted about the normal to the fault transport direction during exhumation, and hence that the NSRD did not form as a low‐angle normal fault cutting down through the lower crust. Instead, the following evolution for the northern Snake Range footwall is proposed. (i) Mesozoic contraction caused substantial crustal thickening by duplication and folding of the miogeoclinal sequence, accompanied by upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism. (ii) About half of the total exhumation was accomplished by roughly coaxial stretching and thinning in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time, accompanied by retrogression and mylonitic deformation. (iii) The footwall rocks were then ‘captured’ from the middle crust along a moderately dipping NSRD that soled into the middle crust with a rolling‐hinge geometry at both upper and lower terminations.     

The Plankogel detachment of the Eastern Alps: petrological evidence for an orogen‐scale extraction fault

The so‐called Plankogel detachment is an east‐west trending, south‐dipping low‐angle structure that juxtaposes the high‐P rocks of the eclogite type locality of the eastern European Alps against amphibolite facies rocks to the south. It occurs in both the Saualpe and Koralpe Complex in eastern Austria. During Cretaceous intracontinental subduction, the footwall and the hangingwall units of the Plankogel detachment were buried to different crustal levels as inferred by pseudosection modelling and conventional thermobarometry: ~23–24 kbar and 640–690 °C for the eclogite facies units in the footwall of the detachment and ~12–14 kbar and 550–580 °C for the amphibolite facies metapelites in the hangingwall. Despite the different peak metamorphic conditions, both sides of the detachment display a common overprint at conditions of ~10 kbar and 580–650 °C. From this, we infer a two‐stage exhumation process and suggest that this two‐stage process is best interpreted tectonically in terms of slab extraction during Eoalpine subduction. The first stage of exhumation occurred due to the downward (southward) extraction of a lithospheric slab that was localized in the trace of the Plankogel detachment. The later stage, however, is attributed to more regional erosion‐ or extension‐driven processes. Since the Plankogel detachment is geometrically related to a crustal‐scale shear zone further north (the Plattengneiss shear zone), we suggest that both structures are part of the same extraction fault system along which the syn‐collisional exhumation of the Eoalpine high‐P units of the Eastern Alps occurred. The suggested model is consistent with both the mylonitic texture of the Plattengneiss shear zone and the overall ambiguous shear sense indicators present in the entire region.     

Extension of the Louzidian Metamorphic Core Complex and Development of Supradetachment Basins in Southern Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China

The Louzidian metamorphic core complex (LMCC) in southern Chifeng is located on the northern margin of the North China craton. Structural analyses of the LMCC and its extensional detachment system indicate that the LMCC experienced two-stage extension. The ductile regime experienced top-to-northeast shearing extension and the brittle detachment fault underwent top-down-outwards slipping. Between these two stages, a semi-ductile regime recorded the transition from ductile to brittle. The hanging wall of the detachment fault is similar to those classic supradetachment basins in western North America. Analyses of provenance and paleocurrent directions in the basins show that there were two filling stages. In the early stage, materials came from the southwest margin of the basin and the hanging wall of the detachment system and were transported from southwest to northeast; while in the late stage, deposits were derived from the footwall of the detachment fault and transported outwards to the two sides of the     

Late Miocene–Pliocene eclogite facies metamorphism, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, SE Papua New Guinea

The D'Entrecasteaux Islands of south‐eastern Papua New Guinea are active metamorphic core complexes that formed within a region where the plate tectonic regime has transitioned from subduction to rifting. While rapid, post 4 Myr exhumation and cooling of amphibolite and greenschist facies rocks that constitute the footwall of the crustal scale detachment fault system have been previously documented on Fergusson and Goodenough Islands of the D'Entrecasteaux chain, the timing of eclogite facies metamorphism in rocks of the footwall was unknown. Recent work revealed that at least one of the eclogite bodies formed during the Pliocene. We present combined in situ ion microprobe U–Pb age analyses of zircon from five variably retrogressed eclogite samples from Fergusson and Goodenough Islands that document Late Miocene–Pliocene (8–2 Ma) eclogite formation on these islands. Textural relationships and zircon–garnet rare earth element partition coefficients indicate that U–Pb ages constrain zircon crystallization under eclogite facies conditions in all samples. Results suggest westward younging of eclogite facies metamorphism from Fergusson to Goodenough Island. Present‐day exposure of Late Miocene–Pliocene eclogites requires exhumation rates > 2.5 cm yr^?1.     

Structural and kinematic analysis of the Corredoiras detachment: evidence for early Variscan synconvergent extension in the Ordenes Complex, NW Spain

 An important detachment is described in the allochthonous Ordenes Complex, in the NW Iberian Massif, and its meaning is related to the kinematics of contemporaneous convergent structures. The Corredoiras Detachment (CD) separates a hangingwall unit, characterised by a medium-pressure metamorphic gradient, from a footwall high-pressure and high-temperature unit and an underlying ophiolitic unit. An associated ductile shear zone, nearly 2000 m thick, developed in the lower part of the hangingwall unit, where the Corredoiras Orthogneiss, a Lower Ordovician metagranite, was progressively transformed into augengneisses, mylonitic and ultramylonitic gneisses. The attitude of the stretching and mineral lineation in the mylonites varies due to late refolding at map scale, but the sense of movement can be estimated, being roughly top to the SE. According to crosscutting relationships, the CD developed subsequent to the thrusting of the high-pressure/high-temperature unit onto the ophiolitic unit, and prior to younger extensional detachments, upright folding and strike-slip tectonics. The geometric relationships of the CD with the previous structures in the footwall unit, the subtractive character of the metamorphic gap between its hangingwall and footwall, and the available isotopic data suggest that the CD is an early Variscan, ductile extensional detachment, the movement of which was roughly simultaneous with the onset of thrusting of the allochthonous complexes over their relative autochthon. Received: 17 November 1998 / Accepted: 4 April 1999     

Footwall mineralization during Late Miocene extension along the West Cycladic Detachment System,Lavrion, Greece

The West Cycladic Detachment System (WCDS) has been mapped from the western Cycladic islands to Lavrion (mainland Greece), where several top‐to‐SSW low‐angle normal faults at different structural levels are observed. Near the detachment horizon, hydrothermal fluid flow originating from Miocene intrusions lead to high‐temperature carbonate strata‐bound Pb–Ag–Zn ore deposits. Zircon (U–Th)/He cooling ages from the mineralized footwall are 7.1 ± 0.6 to 7.9 ± 0.6 Ma. Carbon‐ and O‐isotope analyses of the carbonate host indicate high water‐to‐rock ratios during brittle deformation‐induced metasomatism, and that this interaction, unrelated to proximity of the intrusions, plays the dominant role in the mineralization. The Late Miocene geology of Lavrion is strikingly similar to Serifos island on the SE termination of the WCDS, both characterized by strong localization of detachment faulting and the interaction of brittle deformation with the injection of fluids related to granitoid intrusions.     

Mesozoic–Tertiary structural evolution of an extensional gneiss dome—the Kesebir–Kardamos dome, eastern Rhodope (Bulgaria–Greece)

The tectonic evolution of the Rhodope massif involves Mid-Cretaceous contractional deformation and protracted Oligocene and Miocene extension. We present structural, kinematic and strain data on the Kesebir–Kardamos dome in eastern Rhodope, which document early Tertiary extension. The dome consists of three superposed crustal units bounded by a low-angle NNE-dipping detachment on its northern flank in Bulgaria. The detachment separates footwall gneiss and migmatite in a lower unit from intermediate metamorphic and overlying upper sedimentary units in the hanging wall. The high-grade metamorphic rocks of the footwall have recorded isothermal decompression. Direct juxtaposition of the sedimentary unit onto footwall rocks is due to local extensional omission of the intermediate unit. Structural analysis and deformational/metamorphic relationships give evidence for several events. The earliest event corresponds to top-to-the SSE ductile shearing within the intermediate unit, interpreted as reflecting Mid-Late Cretaceous crustal thickening and nappe stacking. Late Cretaceous–Palaeocene/Eocene late-tectonic to post-tectonic granitoids that intruded into the intermediate unit between 70 and 53 Ma constrain at least pre-latest Late Cretaceous age for the crustal-stacking event. Subsequent extension-related deformation caused pervasive mylonitisation of the footwall, with top-to-the NNE ductile, then brittle shear. Ductile flow was dominated by non-coaxial deformation, indicated by quartz c-axis fabrics, but was nearly coaxial in the dome core. Latest events relate to brittle faulting that accommodated extension at shallow crustal levels on high-angle normal faults and additional movement along strike-slip faults. Radiometric and stratigraphic constraints bracket the ductile, then brittle, extensional events at the Kesebir–Kardamos dome between 55 and 35 Ma. Extension began in Paleocene–early Eocene time and displacement on the detachment led to unroofing of the intermediate unit, which supplied material for the syn-detachment deposits in supra-detachment basin. Subsequent cooling and exhumation of the footwall unit from beneath the detachment occurred between 42 and 37 Ma as indicated by mica cooling ages in footwall rocks, and extension proceeded at brittle levels with high-angle faulting constrained at 35 Ma by the age of hydrothermal adularia crystallized in open spaces created along the faults. This was followed by Late Eocene–Oligocene post-detachment overlap successions and volcanic activity. Crustal extension described herein is contemporaneous with the closure of the Vardar Ocean to the southwest. It has accommodated an earlier hinterland-directed unroofing of the Rhodope nappe complex, and may be pre-cursor of, and/or make a transition to the Aegean back-arc extension that further contributed to its exhumation during the Late Miocene. This study underlines the importance of crustal extension at the scale of the Rhodope massif, in particular, in the eastern Rhodope region, as it recognizes an early Tertiary extension that should be considered in future tectonic models of the Rhodope and north Aegean regions.     

Metamorphic history of a syn‐convergent orogen‐parallel detachment: The South Tibetan detachment system,Bhutan Himalaya

The South Tibetan detachment system (STDS) in the Himalayan orogen is an example of normal‐sense displacement on an orogen‐parallel shear zone during lithospheric contraction. Here, in situ monazite U(–Th)–Pb geochronology is combined with metamorphic pressure and temperature estimates to constrain pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) paths for both the hangingwall and footwall rocks of a Miocene ductile component of the STDS (outer STDS) now exposed in the eastern Himalaya. The outer STDS is located south of a younger, ductile/brittle component of the STDS (inner STDS), and is characterized by structurally upward decreasing metamorphic grade corresponding to a transition from sillimanite‐bearing Greater Himalayan sequence rocks in the footwall with garnet that preserves diffusive chemical zoning to staurolite‐bearing Chekha Group rocks in the hangingwall, with garnet that records prograde chemical zoning. Monazite ages indicate that prograde garnet growth in the footwall occurred prior to partial melting at 22.6 ± 0.4 Ma, and that peak temperatures were reached following c. 20.5 Ma. In contrast, peak temperatures were reached in the Chekha Group hangingwall by c. 22 Ma. Normal‐sense (top‐to‐the‐north) shearing in both the hangingwall and footwall followed peak metamorphism from c. 23 Ma until at least c. 16 Ma. Retrograde P–T–t paths are compatible with modelled P–T–t paths for an outer STDS analogue that is isolated from the inner STDS by intervening extrusion of a dome of mid‐crustal material.     

The Yaean Metamorphic Core Complex and Extensional Detachment Fault in Inner Mangolia, China

The article describes the characteristics of the Yagan metamorphic core complex, especially the associated detachment fault and various extensional structures in its footwall. The age of the complex is discussed in some detail as well. The basic features of the Yagan metamorphic complex (Jurassic in age) are similar to those of the metamorphic core complex (Tertiary in age) in the Cordilleran area; they are as follows: (a) mylonitic gneisses in the footwall, (b) chloritized sheared mylonitic rocks, (c) pseudotachylites and flinty cataclasites or microbreccias, (d) unmetamorphosed or epimetamorphic rocks in the hanging wall with a layer of fault gouges or incohesive fault breccia next to the detachment fault. In contrast to its Cordilleran counterpart, however, there are many extensional faults with different styles (from dactile low-angle normal faults through brittle-ductile to brittle high-angle normal faults)in the footwall.     

The Yagan Metamorphic Core Complex and Extensional Detachment Fault in Inner Mangolia,China1

Abstract The article describes the characteristics of the Yagan metamorphic core complex, especially the associated detachment fault and various extensional structures in its footwall. The age of the complex is discussed in some detail as well. The basic features of the Yagan metamorphic complex (Jurassic in age) are similar to those of the metamorphic core complex (Tertiary in age) in the Cordilleran area; they are as follows: (a) mylonitic gneisses in the footwall, (b) chloritized sheared mylonitic rocks, (c) pseudotachylites and flinty cataclasites or microbreccias, (d) unmetamorphosed or epimetamorphic rocks in the hanging wall with a layer of fault gouges or incohesive fault breccia next to the detachment fault. In contrast to its Cordilleran counterpart, however, there are many extensional faults with different styles (from dactile low-angle normal faults through brittle — ductile to brittle high — angle normal faults) in the footwall.     

Meteoric fluid‐rock interaction in Variscan shear zones

Variscan shear zones in the Armorican Massif represent sites of strong fluid‐rock interaction. The hydrogen isotope composition of muscovite (δD_Ms) from syntectonic leucogranite allows to determine the source of fluids that infiltrated the footwall of three detachment zones and the South Armorican Shear Zone. Using temperatures of hydrogen isotope exchange estimated from microstructural data, we calculate the hydrogen isotope ratios of water (δD_water) present within the shear zones during high‐temperature deformation. A ~40‰ difference in δD_water values from deep to shallow crustal level reveals a mixing relationship between deep crustal fluids with higher δD values that range from ?34 to ?33‰, and meteoric fluids with δD values as low as ?74‰ in the upper part of detachment footwalls.     

Tectonic Controls on the Formation of the Liwu Cu-rich Sulfide Deposit in the Jianglang Dome, S W China

Abstract. The Liwu Cu‐rich sulfide deposit occurs within the Jianglang dome in the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau. The dome consists of a core, a middle slab and a cover sequence. The main deposit is hosted in the core with minor ore bodies in the middle slab. The protolith of the core consists of clastic sedimentary rocks with inter‐layered volcanic rocks. All of the ore bodies are substantially controlled by an extensional detachment fault system. The ore bodies within the core are distributed along the S₂ foliation in the hinge of recumbent fold (D₂), whereas ore bodies with en echelon arrangement are controlled by the mylonitic foliation of the lower detachment fault. Ore bodies within the middle slab are oriented with their axes parallel to the mylonitic foliation. Pyrite and pyrrhotite from the ores contain Co ranging from 37 to 1985 ppm, Ni from 2.5 to 28.1 ppm, and Co/Ni ratios from 5 to 71. These sulfides have δ³⁴S values ranging from 1.5 to 7.5 % whereas quartz separates have δ¹⁸O values of 11.9 and 14.3 % and inclusion fluid in quartz has δD value of‐88.1 %. These features suggest that the deposit was of hydrothermal origin. Two ore‐forming stages are recognized in the evolution of the Jianglang dome. (1) A low‐temperature ore‐forming process, during the tectonic transport of the upper plate above the lower detachment, and the initial phase of the footwall updom‐ing at 192–177 Ma. (2) A medium‐temperature ore‐forming stage, related to the final structural development of the initial detachment at 131–81Ma. Within the core, the ore bodies of the first stage were uplifted to, or near, the brittle/ductile horizon where the ore‐forming metals were re‐concentrated and enriched. A denudation stage in which a compressional tectonic event produced eastward thrusting overprinted the previous structures, and finally denuded the deposit. The Liwu Cu‐rich sulfide deposit was formed during a regional extensional tectonic event and is defined as a tectono‐strata‐bound hydrothermal ore deposit.     

Exhumation patterns along shallow low‐angle normal faults: an example from the Altotiberina active fault system (Northern Apennines,Italy)

A multi‐method approach (palaeothermal and thermochronological analyses; thermal modelling) is applied to reconstruct the exhumation history of the Altotiberina Fault (ATF), a representative example of crustal‐scale active low‐angle normal faulting in the Northern Apennines (Italy). Thermal maturity and thermochronological data yield similar burial histories but different exhumation patterns for the sedimentary successions in the hangingwall and the footwall of the ATF. Since 3.8 Ma, the ATF footwall has exhumed at rates of 0.90 mm a^?1. Exhumation led to bending and deactivation of the ATF uppermost portion as a result of tectonic unloading and isostatic adjustment, followed by migration of extension and the development of a set of domino‐like, east‐dipping normal faults, rooting on the buried portion of the ATF. ATF activity and isostatic rebound exhumed Triassic rock units from depths of about 4 km. We suggest that isostatic instability is accommodated at shallow crustal levels, in a similar way to what is observed on larger structures at mid‐low crustal levels.     

Extension Model of Crustal Uplifting in Western Shandong

Block faults, as the -dominant tectonic framwork of western Shandong, were formed by the linked extensional fault system through two extensional movements during the Meso-Cenozoic. Both of the extensional movements experienced the same evloutional process: first, the upper crust was pulled apart to form faults; then the Tai-Lu-Yi (Taishan-Lushan-Yishan) fault block occurring in the footwall of the extensional fault was uplifted, which induced the shallow-level detachment movement along the early Precambrian and Palaeozoic unconformity; the " branching" fault in the upper part of the deep-level detachment layer propagated. As the shallow detachment moved towards the north and the deep one towards the south, the Tai-Lu-Yi fault block acted as the common footwall of both the southern and northern detachment systems. The Tai-Lu-Yi fault block rebounded and uplifted as the overlying material was pulled apart to cause an unloading. Sialic material of the mid-crust below the deep detachment flowed to and accum     

Structural controls of fluid flow and gold mineralization in the easternmost parts of the Karagwe-Ankole Belt of north-western Tanzania

Gold mineralization in the Biharamulo region of western Tanzania is confined to the sheared, low-angle basement-cover contact between Archaean basement gneisses of the Tanzania Craton and the structurally overlying, low-grade metamorphic metasediments of the Mesoproterozoic Karagwe-Ankole Belt. Regional-scale fluid flow along this detachment is indicated by the pervasive silicification and retrogression of wall rocks to pervasively foliated phyllonites and pyritization of particularly metasediments, commonly graphite-rich, in the hanging wall of the shear zone. Gold mining centres on specific structural sites along the detachment, but also in stratigraphically higher sections in the structurally overlying metasediments. Zones of gold mineralization along the detachment correlate with NE trending ramp structures (dip angles 20°–35°) that are most ideally orientated for slip and reactivation within the low-angle phyllonitic detachment. Repeatedly overprinted auriferous quartz-vein stockworks in quartzofeldspathic gneisses immediately below the detachment indicate brittle fracturing of the competent footwall lithotypes during slip along the weaker detachment. In cases of massive silicification, up to 50 m thick quartz blows are formed along the contacts between detachment phyllonites and footwall gneisses. The multiple overprinting relationships of successive quartz-vein generations in these zones of massive silicification suggests that the quartz blows acted as competent blocks in the weak detachment, causing the repeated overprint of earlier silicification by later fracturing and quartz-veining events. Gold mineralization above the detachment and in stratigraphically higher metasediments is closely associated with fold structures that form part of the low-grade metamorphic fold-and-thrust belt. Veining is particularly abundant in competent lithotypes, such as quartzite and chemically reactive ferruginous mafic sills. Overprinting relationships between quartz vein sets illustrate fluid flow during fold amplification and, importantly, the final lock-up stage of folds, during which much of the mineralization was introduced. Oxygen isotope values for quartz veins indicate fluids were likely derived from clastic, mainly metapelitic sedimentary sequences of the Karagwe-Ankole Fold Belt. The data also implies that the partially reworked Archaean granitoid-greenstone basement of the Tanzania Craton has not contributed to the fluid evolution and possibly gold mineralization. The extent (> 100 km) of the basement-cover detachment and associated alteration is indicative for a regional-scale fluid system. Gold mineralization is, however, controlled by local structures and lithological contrasts that require the detailed mapping and sampling of the regional structure.     

PETROLOGIC AND GEOCHRONOLOGIC STUDIES OF THE KONGUR SHAN DETACHMENT SYSTEM, CENTRAL PAMIR

PETROLOGIC AND GEOCHRONOLOGIC STUDIES     

Tectonic evolution of an active tectonostratigraphic boundary in accretionary wedge: An example from the Tulungwan-Chaochou Fault system,southern Taiwan

The Tulungwan-Chaochou Fault system in southern Taiwan represents the boundary between a slate belt of moderate metamorphic grade and a relatively unmetamorphosed fold-and-thrust belt. The offset between hanging wall and footwall of this fault ranges from 7 to 11 km and is considered one of the major tectonostratigraphic faults in Taiwan. This 75-km-long fault system is also one of the most conspicuous topographic features in Taiwan. The geometry, kinematic history and associated subsidiary structures have not been resolved. Field mapping of fabrics and brittle faults show that a 45-km-long west-northwest-vergent antiform defined by folded slaty cleavage exists in the hanging wall of the fault. This antiform has not been previously described and apparently formed in a brittle environment. The flat crest and tight forelimb of the antiform suggests a two-stage deformation model composed of a fault-bend fold followed by a trishear fold. We infer that regional scale fold is associated with a thrust that splays upward from the main detachment.     

索伦缝合带中的印支期伸展作用:中国内蒙古苏尼特左旗变质核杂岩(英文)

根据对内蒙古苏尼特左旗地区的野外研究 ,我们将以前描述的交其尔逆冲断层重新解释为一南倾的伸展拆离断层。该断层为一印支期变质核杂的主拆离断层 ,它叠加在缩短的阿尔泰和满洲里带间的晚古生代索伦缝合带上。变质核杂岩的组成要素包括 :下盘的古生代中期和二叠—三叠纪侵入体 (分别是宝底道和哈拉图岩体 ) ,交其尔拆离断层之下、叠加在下盘岩体上的糜棱岩状剪切带 ,拆离断层本身和上盘成分多变、构造复杂的古生代和元古宙岩石。从U Pb年龄为 2 5 2Ma的糜棱岩化哈拉图岩体中获得白云母 ,其40 Ar/ 3 9Ar冷却年龄为 2 2 4Ma和 2 0 8Ma ,而后伸展沉积的下、中侏罗统沉积在下盘之上 ,表明变质核杂岩形成于印支期 ,即晚三叠世至侏罗纪最早期。研究区内 ,北东东走向的交其尔拆离断层的伸展作用方向大致为 2 15°。这是索伦缝合带内首次发现的印支期伸展作用 ,结合分隔遥远的中国各地区 ,如大别—苏鲁缝合带、西藏高原羌塘变质带和东阿尔金山区近来报道的其它一些晚三叠—早侏罗世 (约 2 2 0～ 190Ma)沿韧性拆离断层的伸展作用实例 ,清楚表明东亚地区区域性印支期变形的性质有必要进行重新研究     

What do fault patterns reveal about the latest phase of extension within the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex,Nevada, USA?

The Northern Snake Range is a classic example of a metamorphic core complex, Basin-and-Range province, United States. It is composed of a plastically deformed footwall and a brittlely deformed hanging wall, separated by the Northern Snake Range low-angle detachment (NSRD). Brittle deformation, however, is not confined to the hanging wall.This paper focuses on exposures in Cove Canyon, located on the SE flank of the Northern Snake Range, where penetrative, homogeneous faults are well exposed throughout the hanging wall, footwall and NSRD, and overprint early plastic deformation. These late-stage fault sets assisted Eocene-Miocene extension. Detailed analysis of the faults reveals the following: (1) The shortening direction defined by faults is similar to the shortening direction defined by the stretching lineation in the footwall mylonites, indicating that the extensional kinematic history remained unchanged as the rocks were uplifted into the elastico-frictional regime. (2) After ∼17 Ma, extension may have continued entirely within elastic-frictional regime via cataclastic flow. (3) This latest deformation phase may have been accommodated by a single, continuous event. (3) Faults within NSRD boudins indicate that deformation within the detachment zone was non-coaxial during the latest phase of extension.     

辽西医巫闾山地区瓦子峪变质核杂岩的厘定

以前未被发现的辽西医巫闾山地区瓦子峪变质核杂岩主要由一条向西倾的低角度正断层———瓦子峪拆离断层组成 ,它将由早白垩世沉积岩和火山岩组成的上盘与糜棱岩化和未变形的下盘分开。瓦子峪拆离断层 (以前称之为孙家湾—稍户营子断裂 )位于变质核杂岩的西侧 ,倾角 10～ 4 0°,构造标志指示向北西方向 (约 2 90°)剪切。与早白垩世地壳伸展相伴生的下盘糜棱岩剪切方向也是北西向 ,这与瓦子峪拆离断层运动相关。已经发表的和未发表的锆石U Pb年龄、40 Ar/3 9Ar热年代学和上盘阜新盆地中生物地层的时代研究表明 ,地壳伸展和变质核杂岩形成时代为早白垩世 (约 12 7～ 116Ma)。我们未发现以前文献报道的医巫闾山是一对称的变质核杂岩的任何证据。瓦子峪变质核杂岩以及WNW侧的拆离断层的厘定会加深我们对华北克拉通早白垩世伸展作用的理解和认识 ,下一步的研究重点包括野外构造研究以确定拆离断层和下盘糜棱岩的空间展布 ,进一步采集样品以研究变质核杂岩的地质 /热年代学和变质核杂岩范围内的岩体成因。我们认为瓦子峪变质核杂岩的形成是太平洋板块边界重组、早白垩世岩浆作用致使地壳升温 ,从而导致经造山作用而加厚的地壳垮塌的结果。