Considerations about the plate tectonic model, volcanism and continental crust in the southern part of the Central Andes

Mesozoic and Cenozoic volcanism in the Central Andes occurs near the boundary of convergent oceanic and continental lithospheric plates. The rocks show a chemical and temporal zonation with respect to the present Chile-Peru trench. It is inferred that the geometry of the subduction zone has not changed in the last 190 m.y.; the continental crust during Jurassic time in northern Chile may have been between 15 and 27 km thick.     

西北太平洋岛弧系列成因的探讨

西北太平洋岛弧系列中的各岛弧(除马里亚纳岛弧为洋壳型弧外)均由陆壳型弧和洋壳型弧组成,并且左端与大陆相连,右端被后形成的岛弧所截。整个岛弧系列,从中生代末期开始发育至今,由北向南依次发展,规律明显。     

安第斯埃达克岩 :三种成因模式

在安第斯埃达克岩是常见的。由这种岩石的痕量元素特征揭示的高压组成矿物 ,表明其有三种可能的成因。这三种成因按相对重要性依次为 :安第斯地壳的构造加厚 ;弧前壳的俯冲 -侵蚀 ;年轻洋壳的俯冲。在过去 30 Ma,每种成因模式的埃达克岩在智利 -阿根廷安第斯地区均有喷发。它们的产状与智利 -阿根廷边缘快速变化的构造背景中特定构造条件和事件相吻合。埃达克岩在过去安第斯边缘的产状可望成为矿化的优异构造标志 ,也可用于指导找矿     

Geochemical discrimination of tectonic setting for Devonian basalts of the Yarrol Province of the New England Orogen,central coastal Queensland: An empirical approach *

Fault blocks and inliers of uppermost Silurian to Middle Devonian strata in the Yarrol Province of central coastal Queensland have been interpreted either as island-arc deposits or as a continental-margin sequence. They can be grouped into four assemblages with different age ranges, stratigraphic successions, geophysical signatures, basalt geochemistry, and coral faunas. Basalt compositions from the Middle Devonian Capella Creek Group at Mt Morgan are remarkably similar to analyses from the modern Kermadec Arc, and are most consistent with an intra-oceanic arc associated with a backarc basin. They cannot be matched with basalts from any modern continental arc, including those with a thin crust (Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes) or those built on recently accreted juvenile oceanic terranes (Eastern Volcanic Front of Kamchatka). Analyses from the other assemblages also suggest island-arc settings, although some backarc basin basalt compositions could be present. Arguments for a continental-margin setting based on structure, provenance, and palaeogeography are not conclusive, and none excludes an oceanic setting for the uppermost Silurian to Middle Devonian rocks. The Mt Morgan gold–copper orebody is associated with a felsic volcanic centre like those of the modern Izu–Bonin Arc, and may have formed within a submarine caldera. The data are most consistent with formation of the Capella Creek Group as an intra-oceanic arc related to an east-dipping subduction zone, with outboard assemblages to the east representing remnant arc or backarc basin sequences. Collision of these exotic terranes with the continent probably coincided with the Middle–Upper Devonian unconformity at Mt Morgan. An Upper Devonian overlap sequence indicates that all four assemblages had reached essentially their present relative positions early in Late Devonian time. Apart from a small number of samples with compositions typical of spreading backarc basins, Upper Devonian basalts and basaltic andesites of the Lochenbar and Mt Hoopbound Formations and the Three Moon Conglomerate are most like tholeiitic or transitional suites from evolved oceanic arcs such as the Lesser Antilles, Marianas, Vanuatu, and the Aleutians. However, they also match some samples from the Eastern Volcanic Front of Kamchatka. Their rare-earth and high field strength element patterns are also remarkably similar to Upper Devonian island arc tholeiites in the ophiolitic Marlborough terrane, supporting a subduction-related origin and a lack of involvement of continental crust in their genesis. Modern basalts from rifted backarc basins do not match the Yarrol Province rocks as well as those from evolved oceanic arcs, and commonly have consistently higher MgO contents at equivalent levels of rare-earth and high field strength elements. One of the most significant points for any tectonic model is that the Upper Devonian basalts become more arc-like from east to west, with all samples that can be matched most readily with backarc basin basalts located along the eastern edge of the outcrop belt. It is difficult to account for all geochemical variations in the Upper Devonian basalts of the Yarrol Province by any simplistic tectonic model using either a west-dipping or an east-dipping subduction zone. On a regional scale, the Upper Devonian rocks represent a transitional phase in the change from an intra-oceanic setting, epitomised by the Middle Devonian Capella Creek Group, to a continental margin setting in the northern New England Orogen in the Carboniferous, but the tectonic evolution must have been more complex than any of the models published to date. Certainly there are many similarities to the southern New England Orogen, where basalt geochemistry indicates rifting of an intra-oceanic arc in Middle to Late Devonian time.     

Oligocene to Recent tectonic history of the Central Solomon intra-arc basin as determined from marine seismic reflection data and compilation of onland geology

Systematic analysis of a grid of 3450 km of multichannel seismic reflection lines from the Solomon Islands constrains the late Tertiary sedimentary and tectonic history of the Solomon Island arc and its convergent interaction with the Cretaceous Ontong Java oceanic plateau (OJP). The OJP, the largest oceanic plateau on Earth, subducted beneath the northern edge of the Solomon arc in the late Neogene, but the timing and consequences of this obliquely convergent event and its role in the subduction polarity reversal process remain poorly constrained. The Central Solomon intra-arc basin (CSB), which developed in Oligocene to Recent time above the Solomon arc, provides a valuable record of the tectonic environment prior to and accompanying the OJP convergent event and the subsequent arc polarity reversal. Recognition of regionally extensive stratigraphic sequences—whose ages can be inferred from marine sedimentary sections exposed onland in the Solomon Islands—indicate four distinct tectonic phases affecting the Solomon Island arc. Phase 1: Late Oligocene–Late Miocene rifting of the northeast-facing Solomon Island arc produced basal, normal-fault-controlled, asymmetrical sequences of the CSB; the proto-North Solomon trench was probably much closer to the CSB and is inferred to coincide with the trace of the present-day Kia-Kaipito-Korigole (KKK) fault zone; this protracted period of intra-arc extension shows no evidence for interruption by an early Miocene period of convergent “soft docking” of the Ontong Java Plateau as proposed by previous workers. Phase 2: Late Miocene–Pliocene oblique convergence of the Ontong Java Plateau at the proto-North Solomon trench (KKK fault zone) and folding of the CSB and formation of the Malaita accretionary prism (MAP); the highly oblique and diachronous convergence between the Ontong Java plateau and the Solomon arc terminates intra-arc extension first in the southeast (Russell subbasin of the CSB) during the Late Miocene and later during the Pliocene in the northwest (Shortland subbasin of the CSB); folds in the CSB form by inversion of normal faults formed during Phase 1; Phinney et al. [Sequence stratigraphy, structural style, and age of deformation of the Malaita accretionary prism (Solomon arc-Ontong Java Plateau convergent zone)] show a coeval pattern of southeast to northwest younging in folding and faulting of the MAP. Phase 3: Late Pliocene–early Pleistocene arc polarity reversal and subduction initiation at the San Cristobal trench. Effects of this event in the CSB include the formation of a chain of volcanoes above the subducting Australia plate at the San Cristobal trench, the formation of the broad synclinal structure of the CSB with evidence for truncation at the uplifted flanks, and widespread occurrence of slides and “seismites” (deposits formed by seismic shaking). Phase 4: Pleistocene to Recent continued shortening and synclinal subsidence of the CSB. Continued Australia-Pacific oblique plate convergence has led to deepening of the submarine, elongate basin axis of the synclinal CSB and uplift of the dual chain of the islands on its flanks.     

Distinct continental margins and associated stratigraphic architecture patterns during the seafloor spreading of South China Sea

In this paper we compare four types of stratigraphic architectures around the continental margins in the South China Sea (SCS) based on a plentiful of seismic profiles. The results indicate that stratigraphic patterns are not only related closely to structure regimes of peripheral of the SCS, but also are restrained by crust structure from continental crust to oceanic crust. In the extensional setting, depositional centres during the syn‐spreading stage are located in the strong extensional area. A wedge‐decrease continental crust represented by the Pearl River Mouth type is characterized by high deposition and subsidence rate during the syn‐rifting and syn‐spreading stages in the distal zone. And in the Zhongjiannan type with a continental ribbon, high deposition and subsidence rate during the syn‐rifting and syn‐spreading stages are present in the proximal zone. However, in the southern and eastern margins with compressional setting, the Liyue and Zengmu microcontinent blocks are separated from the South China with the seafloor spreading of SCS, in which a confined or relative thin syn‐spreading deposits are presence. High deposition and subsidence rate is closely related to the collision or subduction condition during the post‐spreading stage in the Liyue bank type and the Zengmu type, a huge progradational clinoforms are present along the subduction and collision margin. Therefore, this study shows distinct stratigraphic architecture in different continental rifted margins, distinct depositional and subsidence characteristics formed during the process of lithospheric rupture can provide an effective method for the study on the continental marginal sea in the western Pacific.     

中国的混杂地质体

<正> 随着板块构造学说的问世和发展,混杂地质体愈来愈引起构造地质学者的浓厚兴趣,因为它是古俯冲带或缝合带的主要标志之一。最早研究混杂地质体的当推Griesbash、Diener 和Middlemiss(1883),Kaufmann(1886)在描述阿尔卑斯复理石中的杂乱堆积物时,启用了“野复理石”(Wildflysch),Greenly(1919)首次将“melange”一词引入混杂地质体的研究中,Flores(1955)提出了滑混堆积(Olistostrome)的概念。板块构造学说问世以后,许靖华(1     

花东海盆综合地震探测及其重要的构造意义

花东海盆位于欧亚板块与菲律宾海板块交汇处,是现今西太平洋俯冲体系中唯一遗留的早白垩纪洋盆,是研究西太平洋俯冲构造演化与动力学机制的一个关键区域.前期研究发现,关于花东海盆的基础科学问题迫切需要解决:花东海盆的性质、年龄及形成演化历史如何?南北走向的加瓜海脊是花东海盆的东部边界吗?其隆升机制和构造属性如何?花东海盆的西部...     

No flat Wadati–Benioff Zone in the central and southern central Andes

The Wadati–Benioff Zone (WBZ) is an approximate plane defined by earthquakes hypocentres observed in convergent plate boundaries and that usually dips at angles greater than 30°. In some areas of the Andes, where there are gaps in volcanic activity, and where heat flow is abnormally low, this plane in most studies has nearly horizontal dip at a depth of about 75–100 km, and it has been associated to flat subduction of the oceanic lithosphere. This situation has been taken as the present-day analogue of the Laramide orogeny of western North America for which a ‘flat-slab’ episode has been proposed in the past years. In this work, the observed low heat flow in areas of the Andes is assumed to be due to low radiogenic heat generation in geologically old and allochthonous terranes constituting large regions of western South America. On the basis of geotherms obtained for areas of Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina, and of rheological results describing the partition between brittle and ductile regimes, the seismic activity observed both in the lower crust and at depths of about 75–100 km is thoroughly explained. At these depths, earthquakes occur within the subcontinental upper mantle, and then there is no flat WBZ associated to subduction of the oceanic lithosphere. There is evidence from recent seismological observations that the real WBZ lies not horizontally and deeper in the tectonosphere.     

洋板块地质研究进展

中国存在多个时代、多种类型的造山带,发育了多种多样的俯冲增生杂岩带,经历了复杂多变的洋陆转换过程,如何揭示包括洋内演化和洋陆转换等的造山过程一直是一个难题。为此,中国区域地质志项目组提出了洋板块地质研究,试图通过对造山系俯冲增生杂岩带、蛇绿岩带等洋岩石圈地质建造、结构构造进行系统研究,再造洋岩石圈从洋中脊形成到海沟俯冲消亡、转换成陆的地质作用全过程。本文介绍了洋板块地质提出到现今主要的研究进展,包括四个方面。一是,初步建立了洋板块地质格架,洋板块地质的研究包括俯冲增生杂岩的物质组成、蛇绿岩类型及其形成的构造环境、洋板块沉积组合和洋板块地层、岛弧火成岩组合、洋陆转换的过程和机制、洋-陆转换过程与成矿作用等重要内容。二是,识别出北山牛圈子—马鬃山、嘉荫—依兰、陈蔡、东昆仑布青山—阿尼玛卿、鹰扬关、大洪山、甘孜—理塘、新余神山—新干神政桥等中国陆域62条主要的俯冲增生杂岩带/增生杂岩带。俯冲增生杂岩带是认识、理解造山系时空结构、组成和演化的关键。三是,在祁连地区识别出较为完整的洋内弧岩石组合。洋盆演化形成大陆过程中的洋内俯冲带是大陆的诞生地,洋内俯冲作用形成的洋内弧是洋盆演化形成大陆的初始弧。洋内弧火成岩组合序列的发现为研究洋陆转换过程提供了岩石学依据。祁连造山带是洋板块地质研究的经典地区之一。研究显示,当金山出露完整的洋内弧岩石组合,这些岩石记录了洋内弧从初始俯冲到发育成熟的全过程,为探讨祁连造山带原特提斯洋构造演化提供了新的依据。四是,制定了洋板块地质构造图编图方案,编图内容主要包括俯冲增生杂岩带、岩浆弧、高压-超高压带、俯冲期和碰撞期构造形变要素和构造演化等。编图单元分为三级:一级为俯冲增生杂岩带;二级为岩片;三级包括基质和岩块。编图过程中需要明确岩浆弧的性质和归属,明确图面上某一岩浆弧与哪个蛇绿混杂岩或大洋配套。图面上对于构造要素的表达重点是区分俯冲和碰撞阶段。通过构造变形的时态、相态、位态研究,识别俯冲期和碰撞期的构造变形形迹。这是洋板块地质初步的研究成果,以俯冲增生杂岩带的研究为基础,探讨特提斯洋等大洋的演化、中国东部古太平洋/太平洋转换与中新生代成矿关系等重大基础地质问题是洋板块地质研究下一步的工作方向。目前,洋板块地质的研究还处于试点阶段,洋板块地质与成矿的成因联系等重大地质问题尚需今后更深入地研究。     

West Pacific and North Indian Ocean Seafloor and Their Ocean-Continent Connection Zones: Evolution and Debates

The Indian Ocean and the West Pacific Ocean and their ocean-continent connection zones are the core area of "the Belt and Road". Scientific and in-depth recognition to the natural environment, disaster distribution, resources, energy potential of “the Belt and Road” development, is the cut-in point of the current Earth science community to serve urgent national needs. This paper mainly discusses the following key tectonic problems in the West Pacific and North Indian oceans and their ocean-continent connection zones (OCCZs): 1. modern marine geodynamic problems related to the two oceans. Based on the research and development needs to the two oceans and the ocean-continent transition zones, this item includes the following questions. (1) Plate origin, growth, death and evolution in the two oceans, for example, 1) The initial origin and process of the triangle Pacific Plate including causes and difference of the Galapagos and West Shatsky microplates; 2) spatial and temporal process, present status and trends of the plates within the Paleo- or Present-day Pacific Ocean to the evolution of the East Asian Continental Domain; 3) origin and evolution of the Indian Ocean and assembly and dispersal of supercontinents. (2) Latest research progress and problems of mid-oceanic ridges: 1) the ridge-hot spot interaction and ridge accretion, how to think about the relationship between vertical accretion behavior of thousands years or tens of thousands years and lateral spreading of millions years at 0 Ma mid-oceanic ridges; 2) the difference of formation mechanisms between the back-arc basin extension and the normal mid-oceanic ridge spreading; 3) the differentials between ultra-slow dian Ocean and the rapid Pacific spreading, whether there are active and passive spreading, and a push force in the mid-oceanic ridge; 4) mid-oceanic ridge jumping and termination: causes of the intra-oceanic plate reorganization, termination, and spatial jumps; 5) interaction of mantle plume and mid-oceanic ridge. (3) On the intra-oceanic subduction and tectonics: 1) the origin of intra-oceanic arc and subduction, ridge subduction and slab window on continental margins, transform faults and transform-type continental margin; 2) causes of the large igneous provinces, oceanic plateaus and seamount chains. (4) The oceanic core complex and rheology of oceanic crust in the Indian Ocean. (5) Advances on the driving force within oceanic plates, including mantle convection, negative buoyancy, trench suction and mid-oceanic ridge push, is reviewed and discussed. 2. The ocean-continent connection zones near the two oceans, including: (1) Property of continental margin basement: the crusts of the Okinawa Trough, the Okhotsk Sea, and east of New Zealand are the continental crusts or oceanic crusts, and origin of micro-continent within the oceans; (2) the ocean-continent transition and coupling process, revealing from the comparison of the major events between the West Pacific Ocean seamount chains and the continental margins, mantle exhumation and the ocean-continent transition zones, causes of transform fault within back-arc basin, formation and subduction of transform-type continental margin; (3) strike-slip faulting between the West Pacific Ocean and the East Asian Continent and its temporal and spatial range and scale; (4) connection between deep and surface processes within the two ocean and their connection zones, namely the assembly among the Eurasian, Pacific and India-Australia plates and the related effect from the deep mantle, lithosphere, to crust and surface Earth system, and some related issues within the connection zones of the two oceans under the super-convergent background. 3. On the relationship, especially their present relations and evolutionary trends, between the Paleo- or Present-day Pacific plates and the Tethyan Belt, the Eurasian Plate or the plates within the Indian Ocean. At last, this paper makes a perspective of the related marine geology, ocean-continent connection zone and in-depth geology for the two oceans and one zone.     

大别山低级变质岩的构造背景

大别山南北两侧的浅变质岩是碰撞造山以前洋壳俯冲造山阶段的重要组成部分。木兰山片岩或张八岭群是俯冲的洋壳;苏家河群、信阳群和佛子岭群是由洋壳俯冲形成的海沟沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而形成增生楔;杨山煤系和梅山群是石炭纪弧前盆地沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而被增生楔逆掩。宿松群是扬子大陆被动边缘沉积,不是俯冲造山带的成员。因洋壳俯冲形成的弧和弧后盆地可能已被新生界沉积物掩盖。高压-超高压变质带是碰撞造山后期从深部折返的外来体。高压-超高压变质带正好处于洋壳和增生楔之间,破坏了早期洋壳俯冲造山带的完整性,使得洋壳俯冲造山阶段的特征被破坏,因而不易辨别。俯冲造山阶段应为奥陶纪到泥盆纪,碰撞造山阶段应从二叠纪开始。     

大别山低级变质岩的构造背景

大别山南北两侧的浅变质岩是碰撞造山以前洋壳俯冲造山阶段的重要组成部分。木兰山片岩或张八岭群是俯冲的洋壳;苏家河群、信阳群和佛子岭群是由洋壳俯冲形成的海沟沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而形成增生楔;杨山煤系和梅山群是石炭纪弧前盆地沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而被增生楔逆掩。宿松群是扬子大陆被动边缘沉积,不是俯冲造山带的成员。因洋壳俯冲形成的弧和弧后盆地可能已被新生界沉积物掩盖。高压—超高压变质带是碰撞造山后期从深部折返的外来体。高压—超高压变质带正好处于洋壳和增生楔之间,破坏了早期洋壳俯冲造山带的完整性,使得洋壳俯冲造山阶段的特征被破坏,因而不易辨别。俯冲造山阶段应为奥陶纪到泥盆纪,碰撞造山阶段应从二叠纪开始。     

Asia: a frontier for a future supercontinent Amasia

Asia is the world’s largest but youngest continent, in which Pacific-type (P-type) and collision-type (C-type) orogenic belts coexist with numerous amalgamated continental blocks. P-type orogens represent major sites of continental growth through tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite type (TTG-type) juvenile granitoid magmatism and accretion of oceanic crust and intra-oceanic arcs. The Asian continent includes several P-type orogenic belts, of which the largest are the Central Asian and Western Pacific. The Central Asian Orogenic Belt is dominated by P-type fossil orogens arranged with a regular northward subduction polarity. The Western Pacific is characterized by ongoing P-type orogeny related to the westward subduction of the Pacific plate. Asia has a multi-cratonic structure and its post-Palaeozoic history has witnessed amalgamation of the Laurasia composite continent and Pangaea supercontinent. Nowadays, Asia is surrounded by double-sided subduction zones, which generate new TTG-type crust and supply oceanic crust and microcontinents to its active margins. The TTG-crust can be tectonically eroded and subducted down to the mantle transition zone to form a ‘second’ continent, which may generate mantle upwelling, plumes, and extensive intra-plate volcanism. Moreover, recent plate movements around Asia are dominated by northward directions, which resulted in the India–Eurasia and Arabia–Eurasia collisions beginning at 50–45 and 23–20 Ma, respectively, and will result in Africa–Eurasia collision in the near future. Therefore, Asia is the best candidate to serve as the nucleus for a future supercontinent ‘Amasia’, likely to form 200–250 Ma in the future. In this paper we unravel a puzzle of continental growth in Asia through P-type orogeny by discussing its tectonic history and geological structure, subduction polarity in P-type orogens, tectonic erosion of TTG-type crust and arc subduction at convergent margins, generation of mantle plumes, and prospects of Asia growth and overgrowth.     

Sequence stratigraphy, structural style, and age of deformation of the Malaita accretionary prism (Solomon arc–Ontong Java Plateau convergent zone)

Possibilities for the fate of oceanic plateaus at subduction zones range from complete subduction of the plateau beneath the arc to complete plateau–arc accretion and resulting collisional orogenesis. Deep penetration, multi-channel seismic reflection (MCS) data from the northern flank of the Solomon Islands reveal the sequence stratigraphy, structural style, and age of deformation of an accretionary prism formed during late Neogene (5–0 Ma) convergence between the 33-km-thick crust of the Ontong Java oceanic plateau and the 15-km-thick Solomon island arc. Correlation of MCS data with the satellite-derived, free-air gravity field defines the tectonic boundaries and internal structure of the 800-km-long, 140-km-wide accretionary prism. We name this prism the “Malaita accretionary prism” or “MAP” after Malaita, the largest and best-studied island exposure of the accretionary prism in the Solomon Islands. MCS data, gravity data, and stratigraphic correlations to islands and ODP sites on the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) reveal that the offshore MAP is composed of folded and thrust faulted sedimentary rocks and upper crystalline crust offscraped from the Solomon the subducting Ontong Java Plateau (Pacific plate) and transferred to the Solomon arc. With the exception of an upper, sequence of Quaternary? island-derived terrigenous sediments, the deformed stratigraphy of the MAP is identical to that of the incoming Ontong Java Plateau in the North Solomon trench.We divide the MAP into four distinct, folded and thrust fault-bounded structural domains interpreted to have formed by diachronous, southeast-to-northwest, and highly oblique entry of the Ontong Java Plateau into a former trench now marked by the Kia–Kaipito–Korigole (KKK) left-lateral strike-slip fault zone along the suture between the Solomon arc and the MAP. The structural style within each of the four structural domains consists of a parallel series of three to four fault propagation folds formed by the seaward propagation of thrust faults roughly parallel to sub-horizontal layering in the upper crystalline part of the OJP. Thrust fault offsets, spacing between thrusts, and the amplitude of related fault propagation folds progressively decrease to the west in the youngest zone of active MAP accretion (Choiseul structural domain). Surficial faulting and folding in the most recently deformed, northwestern domain show active accretion of greater than 1 km of sedimentary rock and 6 km, or about 20%, of the upper crystalline part of the OJP. The eastern MAP (Malaita and Ulawa domains) underwent an earlier, similar style of partial plateau accretion. A pre-late Pliocene age of accretion (3.4 Ma) is constrained by an onshore and offshore major angular unconformity separating Pliocene reefal limestone and conglomerate from folded and faulted pelagic limestone of Cretaceous to Miocene age. The lower 80% of the Ontong Java Plateau crust beneath the MAP thrust decollement appears unfaulted and unfolded and is continuous with a southwestward-dipping subducted slab of presumably denser plateau material beneath most of the MAP, and is traceable to depths >200 km in the mantle beneath the Solomon Islands.     

The Andes as a peripheral orogen of the breaking-up Pangea

Formation conditions of the peripheral orogen are expressed most fully in the Central Andes, a mountain system almost not yielding in height to the Himalayan-Tibetan system but formed at the margin of ocean without any relations to intercontinental collision. The marine transgression and rejuvenation of subduction in the Early Jurassic during the origination of foldbelt at the margin of Pangea marked the transition to a new supercontinental cycle, and the overall further evolution began and continues now in the frame of the first half of this cycle. The marginal position of this belt above the subduction zone, the rate and orientation of convergence of the lithospheric plates, the age of “absolute” movement of the continental plate, variation in slab velocity, and subduction of heterogeneities of the oceanic crust were the crucial factors that controlled the evolution of the marginal foldbelt. At the stage of initial subsidence (Jurassic-Mid-Cretaceous), during extension of the crust having a moderate thickness (30–35 km), the Andean continental margin comprises the full structural elements of an ensialic island arc that resembled the present-day Sunda system. These conditions changed with the separation and onset of the western drift of the South American continent. Being anchored in the mantle and relatively young, the slab of the Andean subduction zone served as a stop that brought about compression that controlled the subsequent evolution. Due to the contribution of deep magma sources along with marine sediments and products of tectonic erosion removed to a depth, the growth of crust above the subduction zone was favorable for heating of the crust. By the middle Eocene, when compression enhanced owing to the acceleration of subduction, the thermal evolution of the crust had already prepared the transition to the orogenic stage of evolution, i.e., to the progressive viscoplastic shortening and swelling of the mechanically weakened lower crust and the concomitant reverse faulting and thrusting of the upper crust. The general compression of the Central Andes by more than 250 km relative to the stop created by the oceanic slab accommodated up to 40% of the western continental drift over this time and increased the thickness of the crust up to 65–75 km. It is suggested that the onset of fast uplift and growth of the mountain edifice 12–10 Ma ago was predetermined by the approach of the submarine Juan Fernandez Ridge in the south and the Nazca Ridge in the north toward the continental margin and their involvement in subduction. As a result, the Central Andes were transformed into a region of advanced shortening and vigorous orogeny.     

Tectonics and geology of spreading ridge subduction at the Chile Triple Junction: a synthesis of results from Leg 141 of the Ocean Drilling Program

An active oceanic spreading ridge is being subducted beneath the South American continent at the Chile Triple Junction. This process has played a major part in the evolution of most of the continental margins that border the Pacific Ocean basin. A combination of high resolution swath bathymetric maps, seismic reflection profiles and drillhole and core data from five sites drilled during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 141 provide important data that define the tectonic, structural and stratigraphic effects of this modern example of spreading ridge subduction.A change from subduction accretion to subduction erosion occurs along-strike of the South American forearc. This change is prominently expressed by normal faulting, forearc subsidence, oversteepening of topographic slopes and intensive sedimentary mass wasting, overprinted on older signatures of sediment accretion, overthrusting and uplift processes in the forearc. Data from drill sites north of the triple junction (Sites 859–861) show that after an important phase of forearc building in the early to late Pliocene, subduction accretion had ceased in the late Pliocene. Since that time sediment on the downgoing oceanic Nazca plate has been subducted. Site 863 was drilled into the forearc in the immediate vicinity of the triple junction above the subducted spreading ridge axis. Here, thick and intensely folded and faulted trench slope sediments of Pleistocene age are currently involved in the frontal deformation of the forearc. Early faults with thrust and reverse kinematics are overprinted by later normal faults.The Chile Triple Junction is also the site of apparent ophiolite emplacement into the South American forearc. Drilling at Site 862 on the Taitao Ridge revealed an offshore volcanic sequence of Plio-Pleistocene age associated with the Taitao Fracture Zone, adjacent to exposures of the Pliocene-aged Taitao ophiolite onshore. Despite the large-scale loss of material from the forearc at the triple junction, ophiolite emplacement produces a large topographic promontory in the forearc immediately after ridge subduction, and represents the first stage of forearc rebuilding.     

Global tectonic significance of the Solomon Islands and Ontong Java Plateau convergent zone

Oceanic plateaus, areas of anomalously thick oceanic crust, cover about 3% of the Earth's seafloor and are thought to mark the surface location of mantle plume “heads”. Hotspot tracks represent continuing magmatism associated with the remaining plume conduit or “tail”. It is presently controversial whether voluminous and mafic oceanic plateau lithosphere is eventually accreted at subduction zones, and, therefore: (1) influences the eventual composition of continental crust and; (2) is responsible for significantly higher rates of continental growth than growth only by accretion of island arcs. The Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) of the southwestern Pacific Ocean is the largest and thickest oceanic plateau on Earth and the largest plateau currently converging on an island arc (Solomon Islands). For this reason, this convergent zone is a key area for understanding the fate of large and thick plateaus on reaching subduction zones.This volume consists of a series of four papers that summarize the results of joint US–Japan marine geophysical studies in 1995 and 1998 of the Solomon Islands–Ontong Java Plateau convergent zone. Marine geophysical data include single and multi-channel seismic reflection, ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) refraction, gravity, magnetic, sidescan sonar, and earthquake studies. Objectives of this introductory paper include: (1) review of the significance of oceanic plateaus as potential contributors to continental crust; (2) review of the current theories on the fate of oceanic plateaus at subduction zones; (3) establish the present-day and Neogene tectonic setting of the Solomon Islands–Ontong Java Plateau convergent zone; (4) discuss the controversial sequence and timing of tectonic events surrounding Ontong Java Plateau–Solomon arc convergence; (5) present a series of tectonic reconstructions for the period 20 Ma (early Miocene) to the present-day in support of our proposed timing of major tectonic events affecting the Ontong Java Plateau–Solomon Islands convergent zone; and (6) compare the structural and deformational pattern observed in the Solomon Islands to ancient oceanic plateaus preserved in Precambrian and Phanerozoic orogenic belts. Our main conclusion of this study is that 80% of the crustal thickness of the Ontong Java Plateau is subducted beneath the Solomon island arc; only the uppermost basaltic and sedimentary part of the crust (7 km) is preserved on the overriding plate by subduction–accretion processes. This observation is consistent with the observed imbricate structural style of plateaus and seamount chains preserved in both Precambrian and Phanerozoic orogenic belts.     

蛇纹石脱水与大洋俯冲带中源地震(70~300km)的关系

蛇纹石脱水致裂作用是诱发大洋俯冲带中源地震(70~300km)的一种重要成因机制,它与中等深度双地震带的形成有很密切的关系。双地震带在冷俯冲带中是一种常见现象,它由上下相距20~40km的两个平行地震层组成。上地震层位于俯冲洋壳中,可能是洋壳蓝片岩脱水形成榴辉岩的系列脱水反应诱发了地震;下地震层位于大洋俯冲地幔中,可能是部分交代的地幔橄榄岩脱水控制着中源地震的分布。蛇纹岩在高温高压条件下的变形实验证实蛇纹石在脱水过程中引起岩石弱化和脆性破裂,这已经得到了对蛇纹石脱水过程中岩石物理性质和变形后样品的显微构造等理论研究上的支持。在蛇纹石脱水过程中,产生的流体与固体残留物分离,形成了大量的I型(张性)微裂隙,最终导致岩石破裂和形成断层。根据叶蛇纹石脱水反应相图,理论上在大洋俯冲带中蛇纹石脱水位置会出现双层结构,但只有平行于俯冲板块顶层等温线的一支才可能脱水诱发地震,并对应于双地震带的下地震层。下地震层所处的位置具有低的vp/vs值,暗示岩石圈大洋地幔顶层发生了部分交代。但它的交代机制尚不清楚,可能是海水通过洋底转换断层和/或沿着在外海沟隆起中形成的断层渗入大洋地幔顶层,并发生了洋壳和大洋地幔交代。双地震带在120~200km深度合一以后,冷俯冲带中所发生的中源地震可能与蛇纹石脱水有关,在热俯冲带中更可能与“湿”榴辉岩脱水有关。     

The transition from an active to a passive margin (SW end of the South Shetland Trench, Antarctic Peninsula)

The lateral ending of the South Shetland Trench is analysed on the basis of swath bathymetry and multichannel seismic profiles in order to establish the tectonic and stratigraphic features of the transition from an northeastward active to a southwestward passive margin style. This trench is associated with a lithospheric-scale thrust accommodating the internal deformation in the Antarctic Plate and its lateral end represents the tip-line of this thrust. The evolutionary model deduced from the structures and the stratigraphic record includes a first stage with a compressional deformation, predating the end of the subduction in the southwestern part of the study area that produced reverse faults in the oceanic crust during the Tortonian. The second stage occurred during the Messinian and includes distributed compressional deformation around the tip-line of the basal detachment, originating a high at the base of the slope and the collapse of the now inactive accretionary prism of the passive margin. The initial subduction of the high at the base of the slope induced the deformation of the accretionary prism and the formation of another high in the shelf—the Shelf Transition High. The third stage, from the Early Pliocene to the present-day, includes the active compressional deformation of the shelf and the base-of-slope around the tip-line of the basal detachment, while extensional deformations are active in the outer swell of the trench.