The transition from passive to active margin tectonics: a case study from the zone of Samedan (eastern Switzerland)

The Zone of Samedan is part of a fossil, early Mesozoic rift system originally situated in the distal, Lower Austro-Alpine domain of the Adriatic passive continental margin. An early Mesozoic configuration of asymmetrical rift basins bounded by relative structural highs compartmentalized Late Cretaceous active margin tectonics; Jurassic half-grabens were folded into arcuate synclines, whereas relative structural highs engendered thin, imbricated thrust sheets. West-directed thrusting and folding initiated at the surface and continued to depths favoring mylonitization under lower greenschist-facies conditions. At this time Liguria-Piemontese ophiolites were accreted to Lower Austro-Alpine units directly underlying the Zone of Samedan. Late Cretaceous orogenic collapse of the Adriatic active margin involved the reactivation of west-directed thrusts as low-angle, top-to-the-east, normal faults. These faults accommodated extensional uplift of Liguria-Piemontese ophiolites and Lower Austro-Alpine units beneath and within the Zone of Samedan. During Paleogene collision, some Late Cretaceous faults in the Zone of Samedan were reactivated under lower anchizonal conditions as north-directed thrusts. The latter stages of this early Tertiary thickening were transitional to brittle, high-angle normal faulting associated with top-to-the-east extension and spreading above the warm, uplifting Lepontine dome.     

Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous and lower tertiary strata in the Tethyan Himalayas of Tibet (Tingri area,China)

The 1500-m-thick marine strata of the Tethys Himalaya of the Zhepure Mountain (Tingri, Tibet) comprise the Upper Albian to Eocene and represent the sedimentary development of the passive northern continental margin of the Indian plate. Investigations of foraminifera have led to a detailed biozonation which is compared with the west Tethyan record. Five stratigraphic units can be distinguished: The Gamba group (Upper Albian - Lower Santonian) represents the development from a basin and slope to an outer-shelf environment. In the following Zhepure Shanbei formation (Lower Santonian - Middle Maastrichtian), outer-shelf deposits continue. Pebbles in the top layers point to beginning redeposition on a continental slope. Intensified redeposition continues within the Zhepure Shanpo formation (Middle Maastrichtian - Lower Paleocene). The series is capped by sandstones of the Jidula formation (Danian) deposited from a seaward prograding delta plain. The overall succession of these units represents a sea-level high at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary followed, from the Turonian to Danian, by an overall shallowing-upward megasequence. This is followed by a final transgression — regression cycle during the Paleocene and Eocene, documented in the Zhepure Shan formation (?Upper Danian - Lutetian) and by Upper Eocene continental deposits. The section represents the narrowing and closure of the Tethys as a result of the convergence between northward-drifting India and Eurasia. The plate collision started in the Lower Maastrichtian and caused rapid changes in sedimentation patterns affected by tectonic subsidence and uplift. Stronger subsidence and deposition took place from the Middle Maastrichtian to the Lower Paleocene. The final closure of remnant Tethys in the Tingri area took place in the Lutetian.     

Subduction,mega-shear systems and Late Palaeozoic basin development in the African segment of Gondwana

 Basins within the African sector of Gondwana contain a Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic Gondwana sequence unconformably overlying Precambrian basement in the interior and mid-Palaeozoic strata along the palaeo-Pacific margin. Small sea-board Pacific basins form an exception in having a Carboniferous to Early Permian fill overlying Devonian metasediments and intrusives. The Late Palaeozoic geographic and tectonic changes in the region followed four well-defined consecutive events which can also be traced outside the study area. During the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous period (up to 330 Ma) accretion of microplates along the Patagonian margin of Gondwana resulted in the evolution of the Pacific basins. Thermal uplift of the Gondwana crust and extensive erosion causing a break in the stratigraphic record characterised the period between 300 and 330 Ma. At the end of this period the Gondwana Ice Sheet was well established over the uplands. The period 260–300 Ma evidenced the release of the Gondwana heat and thermal subsidence caused widespread basin formation. Late Carboniferous transpressive strike-slip basins (e.g. Sierra Australes/Colorado, Karoo-Falklands, Ellsworth-Central Transantarctic Mountains) in which thick glacial deposits accumulated, formed inboard of the palaeo-Pacific margin. In the continental interior the formation of Zambesi-type rift and extensional strike-slip basins were controlled by large mega-shear systems, whereas rare intracratonic thermal subsidence basins formed locally. In the Late Permian the tectonic regime changed to compressional largely due to northwest-directed subduction along the palaeo-Pacific margin. The orogenic cycle between 240 and 260 Ma resulted in the formation of the Gondwana fold belt and overall north–south crustal shortening with strike-slip motions and regional uplift within the interior. The Gondwana fold belt developed along a probable weak crustal zone wedged in between the cratons and an overthickened marginal crustal belt subject to dextral transpressive motions. Associated with the orogenic cycle was the formation of mega-shear systems one of which (Falklands-East Africa-Tethys shear) split the supercontinent in the Permo-Triassic into a West and an East Gondwana. By a slight clockwise rotation of East Gondwana a supradetachment basin formed along the Tethyan margin and northward displacement of Madagascar, West Falkland and the Gondwana fold belt occurred relative to a southward motion of Africa. Received: 2 October 1995 / Accepted: 28 May 1996     

东亚陆缘扩张带──一条离散式大陆边缘成因的探讨

亚洲东部大陆边缘，介于大陆与大洋之间，存在着一条巨型的“沟弧盆”地带。该构造带的出现是亚洲大陆岩石圈演化－运动史上的重大事件之一，它的成因问题流行假说颇多，本文侧重从亚洲东部壳体演化运动历史背景的分析入手，探讨该构造带形成时期的历史动力环境，地壳结构及性质、壳体演化过程的特点，以及壳体增生扩展过程等，阐明了它是由于东亚陆缘扩张所成。并探讨了该陆线扩张带的形成与壳体演化运动的关系及其扩张机因。研究表明：亚洲陆缘扩张带的形成机理，并非“洋壳俯冲、弧后引张”所致。它们主要是陆缘壳体上的大陆类型活动区（华夏地洼型造山带），在其发展的余动期，由于陆缘扩张及陆壳薄化所致。作者认为，从壳体大地构造学这一新思路入手，对该陆缘扩张带成因的深入研究，有助于正确认识该大陆架上广泛分布的有色、稀有金属内生矿床，以及泥炭、褐煤、油气田的构造类型、特点、分布规律及其经济价值。     

Paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands: Plate tectonic synthesis from 750 Ma to the present

Abstract A series of paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands, from their birth at ca 750–700 Ma to the present, is newly compiled from the viewpoint of plate tectonics. This series consists of 20 maps that cover all of the major events in the geotectonic evolution of Japan. These include the birth of Japan at the rifted continental margin of the Yangtze craton ( ca 750-700 Ma), the tectonic inversion of the continental margin from passive to active ( ca 500 Ma), the Paleozoic accretionary growth incorporating fragments from seamounts and oceanic plateaux ( ca 480-250 Ma), the collision between Sino-Korea and Yangtze (250–210 Ma), the Mesozoic to Cenozoic accretionary growth (210 Ma-present) including the formation of the Cretaceous paired metamorphic belts (90 Ma), and the Miocene back-arc opening of the Japan Sea that separated Japan as an island arc (25-15 Ma).     

龙门山平驿铺组沉积体系及旋回层序研究

本文首次从龙门山区下泥盆统平驿铺组中，划分出河口湾、三角洲、滨岸和陆棚四个沉积体系和三个Ⅲ级Ｔ－Ｒ旋回层序。平面上，四个沉积体系组成了扬子板块西侧的古大陆边缘由过渡相区和滨岸相区相间分布的古地理格局；垂向上，两相区中的三个Ⅲ级Ｔ—Ｒ旋回层序也由不同的沉积体系组成，旋回层序的演化虽然受构造差异沉降影响，但仍以Ⅲ级海平面升降变化为主要控制因素，并具同步演化规律，可分别代表古大陆边缘活动型和相对稳定型的两种Ⅲ级Ｔ—Ｒ旋回层序模式。     

华北地台北缘拴马桩煤系

狼山—色尔腾山和大青山的拴马桩煤系曾被认为是分布于华北地台北缘“内蒙地轴”上的晚古生代纯陆相山间盆地沉积。新的研究证明，上述两地的拴马桩煤系的时代并不完全等同，也不是纯陆相地层，更不是同一盆地的含煤沉积     

扬子地台北缘裂谷系金与多金属成矿特征

扬子地台北缘大多数金矿床集中集中在裂谷系古陆隆起内外接触处，经历了复杂的地壳结构演化，形成新的金矿类型和矿化组合，具多源性，以深源为主，浅源次之，再次是陆源，控矿构造含同生构造与封闭聚矿盆地等多种成矿作用的叠加。     

塔里木盆地北缘库车盆地白垩系风成砂岩研究--以库车河剖面为例

库车盆地的早白垩世地层为一套干旱气候条件下的红层沉积，包括洪积扇砾岩、间歇性河流砂砾岩、风成细砂岩和粉砂岩、沙漠湖相紫红色泥岩等类型的沉积，组成一个较为典型的沙漠沉积体系。在库车河剖面，下白垩统红层中发育一些厚层至块状的“高能细砂岩和高能粉砂岩”，多为岩屑长石石英砂岩和长石岩屑石英砂岩。它们以良好的分选性和较高的结构成熟度、较细的粒度、较低的成分成熟度和大型交错层理的发育为特征，显示出较为明显的风成沉积特点。     

The Present Space-Time Motion and Deformation Features of the Northeastern Margin of the Qinghai-Xizang（Tibet） Block and Its Adjacent Area

On the basis of Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA), and considering the moderate intrusion of specific block boundaries to different extents, the first-order block motion model is established for the northeastern margin of Qinghai-Xizang(Tibet) block and the kinematical model for depicting deformation of small regions as well by using GPS observations of three periods (1991, 1999 and 2001). By simulating, we obtained the motion features of the firstorder blocks between the large WWN faults on the sides of the studied region, the distribution features of the principal strain rate field and the inhomogeneous motion features with spacetime of the faults in the northern boundary of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) block.