Structures associated with inversion of the Donbas Foldbelt (Ukraine and Russia)

The Donbas Foldbelt is part of the Prypiat–Dnieper–Donets intracratonic rift basin (Belarus–Ukraine–southern Russia) that developed in Late Devonian times and was reactivated in Early Carboniferous. To the southeast, the Donbas Foldbelt joins the contiguous, deformed Karpinsky Swell. Basin “inversions” led first to the uplift of the Palaeozoic series (mainly Carboniferous but also syn-rift Devonian strata in the southwesternmost part of the Donbas Foldbelt, which are deeply buried in the other parts of the rift system), and later to the formation of the fold-and-thrust belt. The general structural trend of the Donbas Foldbelt, formed mainly during rifting, is WNW–ESE. This is the strike of the main rift-related fault zones and also of the close to tight “Main Anticline” of the Donbas Foldbelt that developed along the previous rift axis. The Main Anticline is structurally unique in the Donbas Foldbelt and its formation was initiated in Permian times, during a period of (trans) tensional reactivation, during which active salt movements occurred. A relief inversion of the basin also took place at this time with a pronounced uplift of the southern margin of the basin and the adjacent Ukrainian Shield. Subsequently, Cimmerian and Alpine phases of tectonic inversion of the Donbas Foldbelt led to the development of flat and shallow thrusts commonly associated with folds into the basin. A fan-shaped deformation pattern is recognised in the field, with south-to southeast-vergent compressive structures, south of the Main Anticline, and north- to northwest-vergent ones, north of it. These compressive structures are clearly superimposed onto the WNW–ESE structural grain of the initial rift basin. Shortening structures that characterise the tectonic inversion of the basin are (regionally) orientated NW–SE and N–S. Because of the obliquity of the compressive trends relative to the WNW–ESE strike of inherited structures (major preexisting normal faults and the Main Anticline), in addition to reverse displacements, right lateral movements occurred along the main boundary fault zones and along the faulted hinge of the Main Anticline. The existence of preexisting structures is also thought to be responsible for local deviations in contractional trends (that are E–W in the southwesternmost part of the basin).     

Structure of the lithosphere below the southern margin of the East European Craton (Ukraine and Russia) from gravity and seismic data

The present study was undertaken with the objective of deriving constraints from available geological and geophysical data for understanding the tectonic setting and processes controlling the evolution of the southern margin of the East European Craton (EEC). The study area includes the inverted southernmost part of the intracratonic Dnieper-Donets Basin (DDB)–Donbas Foldbelt (DF), its southeastern prolongation along the margin of the EEC–the sedimentary succession of the Karpinsky Swell (KS), the southwestern part of the Peri-Caspian Basin (PCB), and the Scythian Plate (SP). These structures are adjacent to a zone, along which the crust was reworked and/or accreted to the EEC since the late Palaeozoic. In the Bouguer gravity field, the southern margin of the EEC is marked by an arc of gravity highs, correlating with uplifted Palaeozoic rocks covered by thin Mesozoic and younger sediments. A three-dimensional (3D) gravity analysis has been carried out to investigate further the crustal structure of this area. The sedimentary succession has been modelled as two heterogeneous layers—Mesozoic–Cenozoic and Palaeozoic—in the analysis. The base of the sedimentary succession (top of the crystalline Precambrian basement) lies at a depth up to 22 km in the PCB and DF–KS areas. The residual gravity field, obtained by subtracting the gravitational effect of the sedimentary succession from the observed gravity field, reveals a distinct elongate zone of positive anomalies along the axis of the DF–KS with amplitudes of 100–140 mGal and an anomaly of 180 mGal in the PCB. These anomalies are interpreted to reflect a heterogeneous lithosphere structure below the supracrustal, sedimentary layers: i.e., Moho topography and/or the existence of high-density material in the crystalline crust and uppermost mantle. Previously published data support the existence of a high-density body in the crystalline crust along the DDB axis, including the DF, caused by an intrusion of mafic and ultramafic rocks during Late Palaeozoic rifting. A reinterpretation of existing Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) data on a profile crossing the central KS suggests that the nature of a high-velocity/density layer in the lower crust (crust–mantle transition zone) is not the same as that of below the DF. Rather than being a prolongation of the DDB–DF intracratonic rift zone, the present analysis suggests that the KS comprises, at least in part, an accretionary zone between the EEC and the SP formed after the Palaeozoic.     

Neotectonics and geodynamics of the Scythian Plate

Based on the results of structural-geomorphological analysis and tectonophysical modeling we identified an active geodynamic area in the basement of the Scythian Plate, which includes the Rostov salient, the northern part of the Stavropol uplift, Kuma-Tyulenev swell, and the eastern part of the Karpinskii swell and Astrakhan salient. This area is also characterized by maximal lineament densities, high heat flow, seismicity and the occurrence of hydrocarbon accumulations. It has been shown that the orientation of deformations within the Scythian Plate and Greater Caucasus orogen exhibits good correlation with those documented in the modern structural geometry of the Schythian Plate.     

Crystalline basement and fold complex of the Volga-Ural, Pericaspian, and Fore-Caucasus petroliferous basins

3D models of apparent magnetization and density of rocks allow us to provide insights into the deep structure of the Volga-Ural, Pericaspian, and Fore-Caucasus petroliferous basins. In the Volga-Ural Basin, some Riphean rifts reveal close spatial relations to Paleoproterozoic linear zones, presumably of the rift nature as well. The structure of the Paleoproterozoic Toropets-Serdobsk Belt is interpreted in detail. Rocks with petrophysical properties inherent to basic volcanics are established in the pre-Paleozoic basement of the marginal zone of the Pericaspian Basin. These rocks locally spread beyond the boundary escarpment and may be regarded as a part of the Riphean plume-related basaltic province. It is shown that the Pericaspian Basin was formed on the place of a triple junction of Riphean rifts: the Sarpa and Central Pericaspian oceanic branches and the continental branch of the Pachelma Aulacogen. The drastically different petrophysical properties of the basement beneath Baltica and the Astrakhan Arch indicate that this arch is an element of the large terrane that was attached to Baltica in the Vendian. The suture along which the Astrachan Terrane is conjugated with the basement of the central and southern segments of the Karpinsky Ridge is traced beneath the Paleozoic complex. A system of northwest-verging thrust faults formed during the collision between Scythia and Eurasia is mapped in the basement of the junction zone between the Karpinsky Ridge and Scythian Platform (Terrane). According to geological data, this event took place in the Early Paleozoic.     

Composition of sediment provenances and patterns in geological history of the Late Vendian Mezen Basin

Formation conditions of sedimentary successions in the Mezen Basin are considered on the basis of Cr, Th, Sc, Ni, Hf, and REE distribution and model Nd age of the Upper Vendian fine-grained terrigenous rocks. Geochemistry of mudstones and shales of the Lyamitsa, Verkhovka, Zimnie Gory, and Erga formations in the Belomorian-Kuloi Plateau, as well as the Ust-Pinega and Mezen formations in the Vychegda Trough, does not allow us to consider these stratigraphic units as erosion products of the primitive Archean basement of the Baltic Shield or the central segment of the East European Craton (EEC) basement. Taking into account sedimentological data on the direction of paleoflows in the basin and the model Nd age of the fine-grained terrigenous rocks, we suggest that the Mezen Basin was filled in the Late Vendian mainly with erosion products of the Riphean igneous and metasedimentary complexes of the Timan-Pechora region. These conclusions are consistent with the sequence-stratigraphic architecture of sediments in the basin. According to the new model proposed, the Late Vendian Mezen Basin was a foredeep formed as a result of subsidence of the northeastern margin of the EEC under the load of overthrusted rock masses of the Timan-Pechora Foldbelt. The clastic material was derived from the emerging orogen.     

Cretaceous volcanic belts and the evolution of the Black Sea Basin

Deposits in southwestern Crimea that contain Late Albian, Middle Senomanian, and Middle Campanian volcanic material are described and dated. Supposedly volcanic edifices are identified in the Black Sea (the Shatsky Swell) based on seismic data. The Albian, Senomanian, and Campanian volcanic belts are reconstructed for the entire Black Sea Region. The suggestion is made that the Black Sea Basin formed as a back-arc basin that started from rifting in the Albian and finished with spreading of the oceanic crust in the Senomanian-Early Santonian.     

Recent dynamics and probable origin of the Tulva Upland in the Perm Foreurals

The Tulva Upland is a meridional neotectonic swell that complicates the eastern Russian Plate in its recent manifestation. The intense recent uplift is expressed in the rise and splitting of terraces of the Kama River and anomalously increasing lateral ruggedness of topography. Having a steep western and a gentle eastern limb, the swell is sharply asymmetric in cross section and additionally is complicated by a chain of local NE-trending uplifts. Several morphostructural indications testify to the substantial role of NW-trending strike-slip faulting in the structure of the swell, which was formed under conditions of latitudinal compression and conjugated meridional extension. Such a stress-strain field is confirmed by the study of mesotectonic structural elements in the western steep limb of the swell regarded as a flexure above a suggested reverse fault. Like many other zones of within-plate dislocations in the Russian Plate, the recent Tulva Swell was formed as a result of folding of sedimentary fill and inversion of long-lived platform trough. In our case, this trough inherited the Riphean Kaltasy Aulacogen. Together with the unilateral, probably, reverse-fault-line (?) Ufa Horst, the Tulva Swell is situated opposite to the area of maximum near-latitudinal compression of the recent Urals (the socalled Ufa amphitheater, or Central Ural pinch) and along with other within-plate arches similar in structure—Bugul’ma-Belebei and Obschii Syrt—marks a zone of neotectonic reactivation of the Russian Plate near the Urals.     

The Ordovician Sierras Pampeanas–Puna basin connection: Basement thinning and basin formation in the Proto-Andean back-arc

The Ordovician Sierras Pampeanas, located in a continental back-arc position at the Proto-Andean margin of southwest Gondwana, experienced substantial mantle heat transfer during the Ordovician Famatina orogeny, converting Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian metasediments to migmatites and granites. The high-grade metamorphic basement underwent intense extensional shearing during the Early and Middle Ordovician. Contemporaneously, up to 7000 m marine sediments were deposited in extensional back-arc basins covering the pre-Ordovician basement. Extensional Ordovician tectonics were more effective in mid- and lower crustal migmatites than in higher levels of the crust. At a depth of about 13 km the separating boundary between low-strain solid upper and high-strain lower migmatitic crust evolved to an intra-crustal detachment. The detachment zone varies in thickness but does not exceed about 500 m. The formation of anatectic melt at the metamorphic peak, and the resulting drop in shear strength, initiated extensional tectonics which continued along localized ductile shear zones until the migmatitic crust cooled to amphibolite facies P–T conditions. P–T–d–t data in combination with field evidence suggest significant (ca. 52%) crustal thinning below the detachment corresponding to a thinning factor of 2.1. Ductile thinning of the upper crust is estimated to be less than that of the lower crust and might range between 25% and 44%, constituting total crustal thinning factors of 1.7–2.0. While the migmatites experienced retrograde decompression during the Ordovician, rocks along and above the detachment show isobaric cooling. This suggests that the magnitude of upper crustal extension controls the amount of space created for sediments deposited at the surface. Upper crustal extension and thinning is compensated by newly deposited sediments, maintaining constant pressure at detachment level. Thinning of the migmatitic lower crust is compensated by elevation of the crust–mantle boundary. The degree of mechanical coupling between migmatitic lower and solid upper crust across the detachment zone is the main factor controlling upper crustal extension, basin formation, and sediment thickness in the back-arc basin. The initiation of crustal extension in the back-arc, however, crucially depends on the presence of anatectic melt in the middle and lower crust. Consumption of melt and cooling of the lower crust correlate with decreasing deposition rates in the sedimentary basins and decreasing rates of crustal extension.     

Tectonic evolution of the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Back-arc Basin,SE Korea: Transition from sinistral transtension to strike-slip kinematics

The Gyeongsang Basin, the largest Cretaceous nonmarine sedimentary basin in Korea, formed as a continental back-arc basin related to NNW-directed subduction of the (proto-) Pacific Plate underneath the Eurasia Plate. The basin can be divided into an earlier-formed western back-arc depression and a later-formed eastern volcanic arc platform. We investigated the basin evolution and the associated tectonic settings, largely based on an analysis of structures individuated in the field in the back-arc region. From 127 Ma, the basin initiated as a NNE-trending narrow depression bordered by NNE-striking sinistral faults, and then progressively expanded under a transtensional kinematics induced by progressive trench roll-back. Sinistral shearing of inherited NNE-striking structures played an important role in basin subsidence, and secondary WNW- to NW-striking transverse faults acted as normal faults. The NNE-striking principal displacement zone in the west of the basin runs along the western marginal area of the Jinju and Daegu domains and passes through the Uiseong domain from south to north, but most of this zone is now preserved as deep structures. Volcanic activity starting at ca. 115 Ma was characterized mainly by episodic basaltic eruptions occurring contemporaneously with back-arc deposition of a sedimentary sequence. After ca. 90 Ma, a transtensional kinematics changed to a strike-slip one, and the basin expansion and sedimentation in the back-arc region terminated. During the strike-slip event, rhyolitic-dacitic volcanism increased in intensity as a large NE-trending volcanic arc developed close to subduction zone and its loading caused the stratal flexure in the back-arc region, and the orientations of the shortening and stretching axes remained NW–SE and NE–SW, respectively. Additionally, continuing sinistral shear generated local depressions along the faults located in the west of the back-arc region and within the volcanic arc.     

北祁连山奥陶纪弧后盆地火山岩浆成因

本文对北祁连山早古生代弧后盆地熔岩的岩石地球化学研究结果加以报道。样品的分布将南部弧后盆地拉伸最早阶段发育的岛弧裂谷化区和北部的弧后海底扩张区联系起来。熔岩的岩相学和地球化学特点反映了拉伸方式的改变,北部是典型的弧后盆地基性熔岩,向南则逐渐向岛弧熔岩过渡。海底扩张区以玻质(现已脱玻化)、少斑基性熔岩为特征,长英质熔岩和斑状基性熔岩产于南部岛弧裂谷化区。成熟岛弧部分(Y<20×10-6,TiO2<0.60%,Th/Yb>0.60)和弧后扩张区(Y>20×10-6,TiO2>1.0%,Th/Yb<0.60)在地球化学上相互有别。从由海底扩张形成的弧后盆地基性熔岩,向南经过逐渐与岛弧岩石相似的熔岩,直至裂谷区最南部的岛弧熔岩,它们的地球化学成分显示逐渐的变化。这种变化反映了弧后盆地形成过程中弧后盆地之下地幔对流方式和熔体产生作用的改变:从初始岛弧裂谷之下由消减板片俯冲引起的地幔下沉,转变为弧后海底扩张带之下的地幔上隆。早期岛弧裂谷阶段,裂谷轴捕获了岛弧岩浆流,从而使得喷出的熔岩在成分上与岛弧熔岩无法区分;随着弧后拉张继续,弧后盆地变宽,岛弧岩浆流逐渐离开裂谷轴,最终产生一个似洋中脊的减压熔融系统———弧后盆地岩浆系统。     

菲律宾海四国海盆地壳结构重力反演及其形成演化过程分析

四国海盆是位于菲律宾海板块内由岛弧张裂形成的弧后盆地,其深部地壳结构对认识伊豆小笠原岛弧的裂解和弧后盆地的扩张过程有重要的意义.在反射多道地震剖面和深部海底地震（OBS）探测剖面的约束下,结合磁异常条带数据,利用两条横穿四国海盆的重力测线数据对海盆的地壳物性结构反演,对比重力反演剖面与深部探测剖面地壳厚度和密度特征,得到更加精细的四国海盆地壳结构.研究结果显示,四国海盆洋壳厚度自西向东逐渐增厚,在残留扩张脊处莫霍面深度迅速增加.根据地壳密度和厚度将四国海盆分为:洋壳减薄区、洋壳增厚区、后扩张洋壳增生区,分别对应初始慢速张裂、单翼快速扩张、对称慢速扩张3期扩张活动.南北测线不同构造分区得到的扩张速率与由磁异常条带得到扩张速率相同;洋壳减薄区下地壳均有高密度体,与OBS剖面中下地壳高速体相对应,可能是由于洋壳慢速扩张过程中强烈拆离作用,地幔蛇纹石化导致.      

Crustal Structure of the Crimean Mountains along the Sevastopol–Kerch Profile from the Results of DSS and Local Seismic Tomography

The paper discusses the velocity structure of the crust beneath the Crimean Mountains from the results of active and passive seismic experiments. Based on a new interpretation of seismic data from the old Sevastopol–Kerch DSS profile by modern full-wave seismic modeling methods, a velocity model of the crust beneath the Crimean Mountains has been constructed for the first time. This model shows the significant differences in the structure of two crustal blocks: (1) one characterized by higher velocities and located in the western and central Crimean Mountains, and (2) the other characterized by lower velocities and located in the east, in the Feodosiya–Kerch zone, which are subdivided by a basement uplift (Starokrymskoe Uplift). The former block is characterized by a more complex structure, with the Moho traced at depths of 43 and 55 km, forming two Moho discontinuities: the upper one corresponds to the platform stage, and the lower one, formed presumably at the Alpine stage of tectogenesis as a result of underthrusting of the East Black Sea microplate beneath the southern margin of the Scythian Plate in Crimea. At depths of 7–11 km, velocity inversion zone has been identified, indicating horizontal layering of the crust. Local seismic tomography using the data on weak earthquakes (m_b ≤ 3) recorded by the Crimean seismological network allowed us to obtain data on the crustal structure beneath the Crimean Mountains at depths of 10–30 km. The crustal structure at these depths is characterized by the presence of several high-velocity crustal bodies in the vicinity of cities Yalta, Alushta, and Sudak, with earthquake hypocenters clustered within these bodies. Comparison of this velocity model of the Crimean Mountains with the seismicity distribution and with the results from reconstruction of paleo- and present-day stress fields from field tectonophysical study and earthquake focal mechanisms allowed the conclusion that the Crimean Mountains were formed as a result of on mature crust at the southern margin of the East European Platform and Scythian Plate, resulting from processes during various phases of Cimmerian and Alpine tectogenesis in the compressional and transpressional geodynamic settings. The collisional process is ongoing at the present-day stage, as supported by high seismicity and uplift of the Crimean Mountains.     

Island arc–back-arc basin evolution: implications for Late Riphean–Early Paleozoic geodynamic history of the Sayan–Baikal folded area

We suggest a more rigorous approach to paleogeodynamic reconstructions of the Sayan-Baikal folded area proceeding from update views of the origin and evolution of island arcs and back-arc basins. Modern island arcs and attendant back-arc basins form mainly by trench rollback caused by progressive subduction of negatively buoyant thick and cold oceanic slabs. Slab stagnation upsets the dynamic equilibrium in the subduction system, which accelerates the rollback. As a result, a continental volcanic arc transforms into an island arc, with oceanic crust production in the back-arc basin behind it. As subduction progresses, the island arc and the back-arc basin may deform, and fold-thrust structures, with the involved back-arc basin and island arc complexes, may accrete to the continent (accretion and collision) without participation of large colliding blocks. When applied to the Sayan–Baikal area, the model predicts that the Riphean and Vendian–Early Paleozoic back-arc basins were more active agents in the regional geologic history than it was thought before. They were deposition areas of sedimentary and volcanosedimentary complexes and then became the scene of collision and accretion events, including folding, metamorphism, and plutonism.     

Burial and thermal history of the West Bashkirian sedimentary basins

The GALO system is applied to the numerical reconstruction of burial and thermal histories of the West Bashkirian lithosphere from the Riphean to the present. An analysis of the variation in tectonic subsidence of the basin during its development is utilized to estimate approximately the mantle heat flow variations. Our variant of basin evolution suggests that after cooling in the Early Riphean, the rather weak thermal reactivations have not led to considerable heating of the lithosphere in the study region. Surface heat flow decreased from relatively high values in the Early Riphean (60–70 mW/m² in the eastern area and 40–50 mW/m² in the western part) to present-day values of 32–40 mW/m². In spite of the relatively low temperature regime of the basin as a whole, a syn-rifting deposition of more than 10 km of limestone, shale and sandstone in the Riphean resulted in rather high temperatures (180–190 °C) at the base of present-day sedimentary blanket in the eastern area. In agreement with the observed data, computed present-day heat flow through the sediment surface increases slightly from 32 to 34 mW/m² near the west boundary of the region to 42 mW/m² near the boundary of the Ural Foldbelt, whereas the heat flow through the basement surface decreases slightly from 28–32 to 24–26 mW/m² in the same direction. The mantle heat flow is only 11.3–12.7 mW/m², which is considerable lower than mean heat flow of the Russian Platform (16–18 mW/m²) and comparable with the low heat flow of Precambrian shields.     

松辽盆地长岭断陷构造演化及其动力学背景

通过大量高精度二维地震剖面的构造解析与平衡地质剖面构造演化史定量恢复,探讨了松辽盆地长岭断陷的构造演化及其地球动力学背景。长岭断陷发育NNE、NNW、SN等多个方向的低角度铲式正断层,它们可能是在晚侏罗世一早白垩世郯庐断裂系左行走滑派生的次级破裂的基础上受断陷期强烈地壳伸展拆离作用形成的。断陷期可分为早晚两个脉冲式伸展事件,每个伸展脉冲均由一个快速伸展期和其后的缓慢伸展期组成,前者与火山活动高峰期相对应,后者则是构造转换期。早期伸展是以热穹窿式多向拉伸为标志,可能是侏罗纪岩石圈加厚后根部发生拆沉作用导致地壳弹性回调和岩浆底侵的结果。而晚期伸展则以NWW-SEE向区域伸展为标志,是对中国东部广泛的地壳伸展拆离和岩石圈减薄事件的响应,可能是伊则纳崎板块俯冲产生的弧后扩张效应。     

Puna (Argentina) and northern Chile Ordovician basic magmatism: A contribution to the tectonic setting

Geochemical characteristics of Ordovician basic volcanic rocks help to define the evolving tectonic setting of the Argentine Puna and northern Chile. Four spatially distinct magmatic groups are defined on geological, petrographical, geochemical and isotopic bases, each associated with particular geodynamic environments.The Tremadoc western group of subalkaline low K tholeiites with arc and modified MORB like signatures represent early stages of a back-arc basin, where spreading was incipient.The Arenig western group, medium K calc-alkaline basalts to andesites have volcanic arc in transition to back-arc signatures.The Tremadoc subalkaline basalts of the eastern group have REE patterns similar to E-MORB and at the same time weak subduction characteristics suggesting a rather mature supra-subduction zone (SSZ) basin. In contrast, the Late Tremadocian-Arenig basalts of the same group have intra-plate signatures, interpreted as magmas that ascended along pull apart regions associated with a transtensional regime.The geochemical patterns were applied to correlate basic sequences of doubtful geological setting. So, basalts from Chile were related to the Tremadocian western group, where they represent a slightly more mature stage of spreading of the basin. Basic rocks from Pocitos and part of Calalaste represent pre-Ordovician records of a back-arc system similar to that of the Tremadoc western group. Clearly similar arc patterns to those of the Arenig western group allow extending the arc environment to the southern Puna. The Tremadocian basalts from the eastern group were related to metabasites from the southern Puna, as part of a back-arc environment at that time.     

Fold-thrust dislocations in sedimentary cover of the Sea of Azov

As follows from geological and geophysical data, tectonic deformations formed under lateral compression are widespread in the sedimentary cover at the bottom of the Sea of Azov. Fold-thrust dislocations are established in the North Azov Trough on the southern slope of the Ukrainian Shield, in the Azov Swell of the young Scythian Plate, and in the Indol-Kuban Foredeep. The transregional Main Azov Thrust Fault and smaller thrust faults of listric morphology tens of kilometers in extent are known. Asymmetric anticlines are related to their fronts. In plan view, the crests of these anticlines are displaced down the dip of the controlling faults. Folds and thrusts developed in pulsatory manner in the regime of periodically acting tangential compression are recorded in the thickness of the plate complex and stratigraphic and angular unconformities. Some of these dislocations are active and accompanied by anomalously high formation pressure, temperature and hydrochemical anomalies, tectonic brecciation, and mud volcanoes.     

The modern topography of the Scythian Plate as evidence for deformations in the crystalline basement

This work presents the results of tectonophysical modeling of tectonic deformations in the crystalline basement of the Scythian Plate, including estimated deformation values and stress-field orientations. The morphostructural parameters of the Earth’s surface, which were calculated using the LESSA program, were compared. In addition, some parameters of modern geodynamic processes that occur in the Scythian Plate, such as the level of seismicity and heat flow value, were calculated. The similarity between ancient and modern geodynamic processes allows us to propose that deformational processes in the crystalline basement of the Scythian Plate play a significant role in the formation of the modern topography and makes it possible to use morphostructural parameters of the relief for studying the deep structure of platform covers.     

Formation and evolution of the South China Sea since the Late Mesozoic: A review

The existing genetic models of the South China Sea (SCS) include an extrusion model of the Indochina Peninsula, a back-arc extension model, and a subduction and dragging model of the Proto-South China Sea (PSCS). However, none of these models has been universally accepted because they do not fully match a large number of geological phenomena and facts. By examining the regional tectonics and integrating them with measured data for the SCS, in this study, a back-arc spreading-sinistral shear model is proposed. It is suggested that the SCS is a back-arc basin formed by northward subduction of the PSCS and its formation was triggered by left-lateral strike-slip motion due to the northward drift of the Philippine Sea Plate. The left-lateral strike-slip fault on the western margin caused by the Indo-Eurasian collision changed the direction of the Southwest Sub-basin’s spreading axis from nearly E–W to NE–SW, and subduction retreat caused the spreading ridge to jump southward. This study summarizes the evolution of the SCS and adjacent regions since the Late Mesozoic.©2023 China Geology Editorial Office.     

伊朗Kashan地区古近系库姆组层序地层及盆地演化特征

库姆组沉积时期伊朗Kashan地区为中伊朗盆地库姆盆地东南方向的弧后边缘海盆地,以浅海相的碳酸盐岩和碎屑岩沉积为主.受构造运动与全球海平面旋回变化控制,大部分地区的库姆组形成了5个三级层序S1～S5,上覆上红组底部蒸发岩层,在这5个三级层序之下,盆地沉降中心位置还可见S0a和S0b层序.对格架中层序地层特征的动态演化分析后认为,Kashan地区在库姆组及其上、下地层沉积时期经历了7次重要的地层演化阶段:低水位充填期、初次海侵期、沉降充填期、孤立泻湖期、再次海侵期、构造抬升期、完全孤立期.