Structural evolution and geodynamic position of the Gonzha Block, Upper Amur region

As follows from the results of a structural study and available geochronological constraints, the Gonzha Block located in the northeastern Argun-Idermeg Superterrane of the Central Asian Foldbelt is similar to Late Mesozoic (133?119 Ma) Cordilleran-type metamorphic cores of western Transbaikalia. Exhumation of metamorphic rocks of the Gonzha Block resulted from a collapse of the Late Mesozoic orogen after accrecionary and collisional events related to closure of the Mongolia-Okhotsk paleooceanic basin. The structural elements that determine the main geological features of this block formed over the course of at least three deformation stages. By the onset of the third stage responsible for exhumation of metamorphic rocks pertaining to the Gonzha Group, they had already undergone complex structural transformation and metamorphism related to growth of the Amur microcontinent and its subsequent collision with the Dzhugzur-Stanovoi and Selenga-Stanovoi supperterranes of the Central Asian Foldbelt. This distinguishes the Gonzha Block from complexes of metamorphic cores in western Transbaikalia, whose structural transformation and metamorphism are directly related to their origin.