Thermal evolution of the Tertiary Shimanto Belt, Muroto Peninsula, Shikoku, Japan

Abstract The Shimanto accretionary complex on the Muroto Peninsula of Shikoku comprises two major units of Tertiary strata: the Murotohanto Sub-belt (Eocene-Oligocene) and the Nabae Sub-belt (Oligocene-Miocene). Both sub-belts have been affected by thermal overprints following the peak of accretion-related deformation. Palaeotemperatures for the entire Tertiary section range from ～ 140 to 315°C, based upon mean vitrinite reflectance values of 0.9–5.0%R_m. Values of illite crystallinity index are consistent with conditions of advanced diagenesis and anchimetamorphism. Illite/mica b₀ lattice dimensions indicate that burial pressures were probably no greater than 2.5kbar. In general, levels of thermal maturity are higher for the Murotohanto Sub-belt than for the Nabae Sub-belt. The Eocene-Oligocene strata also display a spatial decrease in thermal maturity from south to north and this pattern probably was caused by regional-scale differential uplift following peak heating. Conversely, the palaeothermal structure within the Nabae Sub-belt is fairly uniform, except for the local effects of mafic intrusions at the tip of Cape Muroto. There is a paleotemperature difference of ～ 90°C across the boundary between the Murotohanto and Nabae Sub-belts (Shiina-Narashi fault), and this contrast is consistent with approximately 1200 m of post-metamorphic vertical offset. Subduction prior to Middle Miocene probably involved the Kula or fused Kula-Pacific plate and the background geothermal gradient during the Eocene-Oligocene phase of accretion was ～ 30–35°C/km. Rapid heating of the Shimanto Belt evidently occurred immediately after a Middle Miocene reorganization of the subduction boundary. Hot oceanic lithosphere from the Shikoku Basin first entered the subduction zone at ～ 15 Ma; this event also coincided with the opening of the Sea of Japan and the rapid clockwise rotation of southwest Japan. The background geothermal gradient at that time was ～ 70°C/km. Whether or not all portions of the inherited (Eocene-Oligocene) palaeothermal structure were overprinted during the Middle Miocene remains controversial.     

Thermal structure and paleo-heat flow in the Shimanto accretionary prism, Southwest Japan

Abstract Thermal structural analysis and paleo-heat flow estimation provide clues to understanding the thermal evolution of the accretionary complex. The thermal structure and heat flow in the Jurassic Chichibu and Cretaceous to Tertiary Shimanto accretionary complex, Southwest Japan, have been investigated by vitrinite reflectance measurement and fluid inclusion analysis. As a result, the local and multistage metamorphisms were recognized as follows. First, the Tertiary complex around the Miocene Ashizuri granite underwent exposure to extra-high temperatures. Second, the Okitsu Melange underwent exposure to higher temperatures than the surrounding strata and was formed concurrently with the Kula-Pacific ridge subduction beneath the Japanese Islands in the Eocene. Finally, the thermal structure of most of the Cretaceous and southern Jurassic complexes is independent of the geologic structure, indicating that these areas suffered thermal overprint. Regional radiometric dating studies show that most of the Cretaceous Shimanto complex was heated in the Eocene; the thermal overprint might have occurred as a result of ridge subduction. The heat flow during peak heating was estimated to be 95–120 mW/m² except for the Cretaceous Okitsu melange and the Cretaceous Nonokawa formation, north of the Okitsu Melange; a much higher value of heat flow of ~200 mW/m² was estimated in the Okitsu Melange. An estimation of heat flow failed for the non-okawa formation because thermal equilibrium between the fluid and rocks has not yet been reached. It is probable that the southern strata underwent a higher heat flow. Such a trenchward increase in heat flow resembles the present situation of the Nankai Trough, although the heat flow in the Eocene was much higher.     

Physical property anisotropy of foliated fault rocks: Study from the Nobeoka Thrust,Shimanto Belt,southwest Japan

To investigate the physical property anisotropies of foliated fault rocks in subduction zones, the hanging wall phyllites and footwall cataclasites exhumed along the Nobeoka Thrust, a fossilized out‐of‐sequence‐thrust in the Shimanto Belt, Japan, was focused. Discrete physical property (electric resistivity, P‐ and S‐wave velocities, and porosity) measurements were conducted employing geologic coordinates (depth‐parallel direction, strike direction, and maximum dip direction of foliation), using the core samples obtained from the Nobeoka Thrust Drilling Project and compared the data to borehole geophysical logs. A higher sample P‐wave velocity (Vp), lower S‐wave velocity (Vs), higher Vp/Vs, and lower sample porosity and resistivity compared to the logs, are inferred to have been caused by the larger sampling scale of the logs and lower fluid saturation of the borehole. The phyllites and cataclasites exhibited substantial vertical and horizontal anisotropy of Vp (0.4–17.3 % and 2.7–13.8 %, respectively), Vs (0.5–56 % and 7.7–43 %, respectively), and resistivity (0.9–119 % and 2.0–65.9 %, respectively). The physical property anisotropies are primarily affected by the dip angles of foliation. The fault rocks that have gentler dip angles exhibit a higher Vp in the strike and maximum dip direction and a lower Vp in the depth‐parallel direction. In contrast, the fault rocks that have steeply dipping structures show a higher Vp in the strike and depth‐parallel directions with a lower velocity in the maximum dip direction. Resistivity anisotropy show a trend opposite to that of the Vp in relation to the dip angles. Our results show lower Vp anisotropy than those obtained in previous studies, which measured wave speeds perpendicular or parallel to foliation under confining pressure. This study highlights the significance of dip angles on vertical properties in geophysical surveys across foliated fault rocks.     

Paleomagnetism and tectonics of Karaginsky Island, Bering Sea

Abstract Rocks from Karaginsky accretionary prism (Karaginsky Island, Bering Sea) yield both prefolding (close to original) and postfolding magnetic vectors. The prefolding vectors suggest that the Maastrichtian–Paleocene volcanic–terrigenous sequences of Karaginsky Island formed at approximately 40°N to 50°N ( n = 45, D _G = 325, I _G = 57, K _G = 6, α_95G = 8, F _G = 15.06, D _S = 332, I _S = 63, K _S = 20, α_95S = 4.5, F _S = 0.3297, F _cr = 2.64) and were not originally part of either Eurasia ( F = 19, Δ F = 6.5) or North America ( F = 17, Δ F = 4.4). The geologic blocks rotated insignificantly counterclockwise about the horizontal plane, suggesting that the structure of Karaginsky Island arose without major strike-slip motions. Analysis of secondary magnetizations (for example, n = 28, D _G = 311, I _G = − 50, K _G = 9, α_95G = 8.7, F _G = 2.44; D _S = 293, I _S = − 41, K _S = 5, α_95S = 11, F _S = 12.04, F _cr = 2.65) reveals that the development of this framework involved at least two stages of deformation. During the second stage the sequences must have been tilted to west-northwest and northwest directions at 45–65°. This agrees with the northwest vergence of the structure of Karaginsky Island.     

Evolution of an accretionary complex along the north arm of the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract Seismic reflections across the accretionary prism of the North Sulawesi provide excellent images of the various structural domains landward of the frontal thrust. The structural domain in the accretionary prism area of the North Sulawesi Trench can be divided into four zones: (i) trench area; (ii) Zone A; (iii) Zone B; and (iv) Zone C. Zone A is an active imbrication zone where a decollement is well imaged. Zone B is dominated by out‐of‐sequence thrusts and small slope basins. Zone C is structurally high in the forearc basin, overlain by a thick sedimentary sequence. The subducted and accreted sedimentary packages are separated by the decollement. Topography of the oceanic basement is rough, both in the basin and beneath the wedge. The accretionary prism along the North Sulawesi Trench grew because of the collision between eastern Sulawesi and the Bangai–Sula microcontinent along the Sorong Fault in the middle Miocene. This collision produced a large rotation of the north arm of Sulawesi Island. Rotation and northward movement of the north arm of Sulawesi may have resulted in southward subduction and development of the accretionary wedge along North Sulawesi. Lateral variations are wider in the western areas relative to the eastern areas. This is due to greater convergence rates in the western area: 5 km/My for the west and 1.5 km/My for the east. An accretionary prism model indicates that the initiation of growth of the accretionary prism in the North Sulawesi Trench occurred approximately 5 Ma. A comparison between the North Sulawesi accretionary prism and the Nankai accretionary prism of Japan reveals similar internal structures, suggesting similar mechanical processes and structural evolution.     

Lithological,structural, and chronological relationships between the Sanbagawa Metamorphic Complex and the Cretaceous Shimanto Accretionary Complex on the central Kii Peninsula,SW Japan

It is essential to clarify the lithological, structural, and chronological relationships between the Sanbagawa Metamorphic Complex (MC) and the Cretaceous Shimanto Accretionary Complex (AC) for understanding the tectonic evolution of SW Japan. To this end, we carried out a detailed field survey of the Sanbagawa MC and the Cretaceous Shimanto AC on the central Kii Peninsula, where they are in direct contact with each other. We also conducted U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from these complexes. The field survey showed that the boundary between the Iro Complex of the Sanbagawa MC and the Mugitani Complex of the Shimanto AC, Narai Fault, shows a sinistral sense of shear with a reverse dip‐slip component, and there are significant differences in the strain intensity and the degree of recrystallization between the two complexes across this fault. Detrital zircon U–Pb dating indicates that the Iro Complex in the hanging wall of the Narai Fault shows a significantly younger maximum depositional age than the Mugitani Complex in the footwall of the fault, and an apparently large gap in the MDA of ca. 35 Myr exists across this fault. This large age gap across the Narai Fault suggests that this fault is an essential tectonic boundary fault within the Cretaceous accretionary–metamorphic complexes on the Kii Peninsula, and is considered to be an out‐of‐sequence thrust. In addition, a similar shear direction and a large age gap have been identified across the Ui Thrust, which marks the boundary between the Kouyasan and Hidakagawa belts of the Cretaceous Shimanto AC. The Cretaceous accretionary–metamorphic complexes record the large‐scale tectonic juxtapositions of complexes, and these juxtaposed structures had been caused by sinistral–reverse movements on the tectonic boundary faults such as the Narai Fault and the Ui Thrust.     

Chert–clastic sequence in the Cretaceous Shimanto Accretionary Complex on the central Kii Peninsula,SW Japan

Ocean plate stratigraphy (OPS) within an ancient accretionary complex provides important information for understanding the history of an oceanic plate from its origin at a mid‐ocean ridge to its subduction at a trench. Here, we report a recently discovered chert–clastic sequence (CCS) that comprises a continuous succession from pelagic sediments to terrigenous clastics and which constitutes part of the OPS in the Akataki Complex within the Cretaceous Shimanto Accretionary Complex on the central Kii Peninsula, SW Japan. As well as describing this sequence, we present U–Pb ages of detrital zircons from terrigenous clastic rocks in the CCS, results for which show that the youngest single grain and youngest cluster ages belong to the Santonian–Campanian and are younger than the radiolarian age from the underlying pelagic sedimentary rock (late Albian–Cenomanian). Thus, the CCS records the movement history of the oceanic plate from pelagic sedimentation (until the late Albian–Cenomanian) to a terrigenous sediment supply (Santonian–Campanian).     

Geochemical contrast between the Sanbagawa psammitic schists (Oboke unit) and the Cretaceous Shimanto sandstones in Shikoku, Southwest Japan and its geologic significance

Abstract A systematic geochemical study of sandstones from the Cretaceous Shimanto Supergroup and psammitic schists from the Oboke unit in Shikoku has been carried out in order to clarify the depositional age of the protoliths of the Oboke psammitic schists. The geochemical data, together with chronological and geologic data, led to the following conclusions. (i) It is inferred that Oboke psammitic schists are metamorphically equivalent to sandstones in the Hiwasa Formation of the Shimanto accretionary complex, deposited in a trench area during the Campanian, in eastern Shikoku. (ii) The protolith attained to maximum metamorphic conditions within 20 million years after the deposition. (iii) The accumulation of a large amount of coarse-grained clastic sediments in the trench area induced offscraping and underplating of the sediments in the subduction zone, forming the Hiwasa Formation and Oboke unit, respectively.     

Strength and deformation behavior of the Shimanto accretionary complex across the Nobeoka thrust

A rapid reduction in sediment porosity from 60 to 70 % at seafloor to less than 10 % at several kilometers depth can play an important role in deformation and seismicity in the shallow portion of subduction zones. We conducted deformation experiments on rocks from an ancient accretionary complex, the Shimanto Belt, across the Nobeoka Thrust to understand the deformation behaviors of rocks along plate boundary faults at seismogenic depth. Our experimental results for phyllites in the hanging wall and shale‐tuff mélanges in the footwall of the Nobeoka Thrust indicate that the Shimanto Belt rocks fail brittlely accompanied by a stress drop at effective pressures < 80 MPa, whereas they exhibit strain hardening at higher effective pressures. The transition from brittle to ductile behavior in the shale–tuff mélanges lies on the same trend in effective stress–porosity space as that for clay‐rich and tuffaceous sediments subducting into the modern Nankai subduction zone. Both the absolute yield strength and the effective pressure at the brittle–ductile transition for the phyllosilicate‐rich materials are much lower than for sandstones. These results suggest that as the clay‐rich or tuffaceous sediments subduct and their porosities are reduced, their deformation behavior gradually transitions from ductile to brittle and their yield strength increases. Our results also suggest that samples of the ancient Shimanto accretionary prism can serve as an analog for underthrust rocks at seismogenic depth in the modern Nankai Trough.     

Deformation processes in the shallow levels of an accretionary prism: The Mesozoic Torlesse Terrane, South Island, New Zealand

Abstract The deformation style of the Torlesse Terrane along the southern Kaikoura coast, South Island, New Zealand, records shallow level deformation processes within an accretionary prism during the Early Cretaceous. The beds exhibit complicated structural features resulting from multistage deformations in a lithological unit, that were intimately related with the dewatering and lithification of terrigenous sediments. The earliest phase of deformation throughout the transect studied was the development of pinch-and-swell structures and boudinage fabrics due to layer-parallel extension while the beds were poorly consolidated. This was followed locally by mesoscopic tight to close recumbent folding. The beds are cut locally by two phases of mudstone intrusions. The earlier phase was initiated by 'in situ' fluidization of mudstone layers, whereas the later phase represented intrusion of siliceous claystone probably derived from an overpressured decollement. Minor faults at high-angles to bedding by layer-normal shortening then disrupted the beds throughout the transect. The deformation was followed by formation of meso- and macroscopic scale open to gentle folds by layer-parallel shortening. Kilometer-scale differential stratal rotations were produced during the final main tectonic phase that occurred in association with post-accretion Neogene regional disturbance.     

Thermal structure and uplift of the Cretaceous Shimanto Belt, Kii Peninsula, Southwest Japan: An illite crystallinity and Mite bo, lattice spacing study

Abstract Illite crystallinity (IC) and illite b, lattice spacing were measured across the Cretaceous Shimanto Belt, Kii Peninsula, Southwest Japan. For the IC survey, 103 samples of argillaceous rocks were analyzed from the central area and the western area of the belt. Values of IC (Kubler Index) vary between 0.28 and 0.71 Δ°2θ and indicate diagenetic and anchizone metamorphism respectively. The IC distribution reveals two contrasting patterns of thermal maturity. The Hanazono Formation, exposed in the northern area of the belt, generally dips north, but IC values increase systematically from 0.28 Δ°2θ in the north to 0.54 Δ°2θ in the south and indicate an inverted thermal structure. Values in other formations vary widely in the southern area of the belt ranging between 0.45 and 0.71 Δ°2θ, but the values do not show any systematic change from north to south and on average remain almost constant. Illite b_o, lattice spacing values for 56 samples vary between 9.006 and 9.041 Å corresponding to intermediate pressure conditions of the metamorphic facies. These values, combined with paleotemperatures estimated from IC, indicate paleogeothermal gradients of 22 and 31°C/km for the northern and southern areas of the belt, respectively. The inverted thermal structure of the Hanazono Formation, together with a lower paleogeothermal gradient, possibly is a result of the subduction of a relatively cold oceanic plate during the Late Cretaceous. The higher geothermal gradient could be a product of late thermal overprinting caused by the later subduction of a comparatively younger and hotter oceanic plate during the Eocene.     

Hydrothermal sediments associated with a relict back-arc spreading center in the Shikoku Basin, recovered from the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan

The hemipelagic mudrocks of the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan, contain hydrothermal deposits associated with a relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. Initial work on core samples from Ocean Drilling Program site 808 found several samples with elevated concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese, at depths of between 1060 and 1111 m below sea floor. However, the origin of these sediments was uncertain, due to a lack of data. There was no recorded evidence of whether these elevated concentrations were present throughout this interval of core, or if they were present as discrete layers with the background hemipelagic mudrocks in between. In the present study the core was resampled, and the sediments with anomalous chemical compositions were found to be present in discrete layers. This fact, along with a detailed interpretation of their geochemistry, has allowed them to be identified as hydrothermal sediments, associated with the relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. The lower (older) two layers display a chemical composition typical of umbers, while the upper (younger) two layers are metalliferous mudrocks typical of deposits found further from the spreading center.     

Rapid evolution of the Eocene accretionary complex (Hyuga Group) of the Shimanto terrane in southeastern Kyushu, southwestern Japan

Abstract   Detailed geologic examination of the Eocene accretionary complex (Hyuga Group) of the Shimanto terrane in southeastern Kyushu revealed that the oceanic plate was composed of Paleocene to Lower Eocene mudstone and siliceous mudstone, lower Middle Eocene red mudstone, and mid-Middle Eocene trench-fill turbidite with siltstone breccia, successively overlying the pre-Eocene oceanic plate. This oceanic plate sequence was overlain by Upper Eocene siltstone. Deposition of the lower Middle Eocene red mudstone was accompanied by basalt flows and it is interbedded with continental felsic tuff, which indicates that the basalt and red mudstone were deposited near the trench just before accretion. The Hyuga Group has very similar geological structure to that of the chert–clastic complexes found in the Jurassic accretionary complexes in Japan: that is, a decollement fault formed in the middle of an oceanic plate sequence, and an imbricate structure formed only in the upper part of the sequence. Thus, it appears that the Hyuga Group was formed by the same accretionary process as the Jurassic accretionary complexes. No accretion occurred before the Middle Eocene, and the rapid accretion of the Hyuga Group was commenced by the supply of coarse terrigenous sediments in the mid-Middle Eocene, when the direction of movement of the Pacific Plate changed. The pre-Eocene oceanic basement and lower Middle Eocene volcanic activity suggest that the oceanic plate partly preserved in the Hyuga Group was very similar to the northern part of the present West Philippine Sea Plate.     

Normal faults in an accretionary complex formed at trench-trench-ridge triple junction, as an indicator of angle between the trench and subducted ridge

Abstract Normal faults parallel to the trend of an active ridge are formed in the accretionary prism at trench-trench-ridge triple junction, due to continuous spreading of the subducted ridge. Normal faults are observed in the Nabae and Mugi sub-belts, accretionary zones formed by ridge subduction in the Shimanto Belt. Igneous and sedimentary dykes intrude through the previous normal faults. Using these fault and dyke data, intermediate principal axis of stress relating to the normal faulting is determined, and is fitted to the trend of the subducted ridge. Normal faults formed by ridge subduction are useful for plate reconstruction.     

Tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Cretaceous Shimanto accretionary complex, central Japan: Constraints from a fluid inclusion analysis of syn-tectonic veins

Abstract   Micro-thermometry of water-rich fluid inclusions from two syn-tectonic veins sets ( D1 and D2 veins) in the Otaki Group, part of the Cretaceous Shimanto accretionary complex of the Kanto Mountains, central Japan reveals the following tectono-metamorphic evolution. Combining the results of microthermometric analyses of fluid inclusions from D1 veins with an assumed geothermal gradient of 20–50°C/km indicates that the temperature and fluid pressure conditions during D1 were 270–300°C and 140–190 MPa, respectively. Peak metamorphic conditions during the development of D2 slaty cleavage involved temperatures in excess of 300°C and fluid pressures greater than 270 MPa, based on analyses of microthermometry of water-rich fluid inclusions from the D2 vein and illite crystallinity. The estimated fluid pressure increased by approximately 80 MPa from D1 accretionary processes to metamorphism and slaty cleavage development during D2 . Assuming that fluid pressure reached lithostatic pressure, the observed increase in fluid pressure can be accounted for by thrusting of the Jurassic Chichibu accretionary complex over the Cretaceous Shimanto accretionary complex. Following thrusting, both accretionary complexes were subjected to metamorphism during the latest Cretaceous.     

Tectonic accretion of a subducted intraoceanic remnant arc in Cretaceous Hokkaido, Japan, and implications for evolution of the Pacific northwest

Abstract   An accretionary complex, which contains fragments of a remnant island arc, was newly recognized in the Cretaceous accretionary terranes in Hokkaido, Japan. It consists of volcanics, volcanic conglomerate, intermediate to ultramafic intrusive rocks with island-arc affinity including boninitic rocks, accompanied by chert and deformed terrigenous turbidites. Compared with the results of modern oceanic surveys, the preserved sequence from island-arc volcanics to chert, via reworked volcanics, is indicative of intraoceanic remnant arc, because the sequence suggests an inactive arc isolated within a pelagic environment before its accretion. The age of a subducting oceanic crust can be discontinuous before and after a remnant-arc subduction, resulting in abrupt changes in accretion style and metamorphism, as seen in Cretaceous Hokkaido. Subduction of such an intraoceanic remnant arc suggests that the subducted oceanic plate in the Cretaceous was not an extensive oceanic plate like the Izanagi and/or Kula Plates as previously believed by many authors, but a marginal basin plate having an arc–back-arc system like the present-day Philippine Sea Plate.     

The Oka Belt (Southern Siberia and Northern Mongolia): A Neoproterozoic analog of the Japanese Shimanto Belt?

Abstract   The Oka Belt, composed of clastic rocks and greenschists, extends for approximately 600 km in the South-Siberian Sayan region and adjacent northern Mongolia. For a long time the Oka Belt's age and tectonic setting were the most controversial problem in the region. We argue that the belt was formed in Late Neoproterozoic as an accretionary prism. The Oka Belt shows imbricated thrust structure, which had originally seaward vergence and reflected the Neoproterozoic accretion process. The Early Paleozoic orogeny had minor effect on its structural style. The belt contains tectonic slivers of mid-ocean ridge basalts, some oceanic-island basalts and possible pelagic sediments. In several localities they are associated with gabbro and serpentinite. All these rocks represent the oceanic lithosphere subducting beneath the Oka prism and trapped within it. In the inner zone of the Oka Belt are the blueschists exhumed from the deeper prism level. The northern Oka Belt includes mafic intrusions geochemically similar to normal mid-oceanic ridge basalt and felsic volcaniclastic rocks. This segment of the belt is very similar to the Tertiary portion of northern Shimanto Belt, in Japan, and has also experienced the subduction of orthogonal oceanic ridge beneath the prism. This event dates back to 753 ± 16 Ma (the U-Pb zircon discordia). The Oka prism started accreting in Mid-Neoproterozoic after the subduction had initiated under the Japan-like South-Siberian continental terrain. The prism existed through the second half of Neoproterozoic and accumulated a huge volume of sialic material to enlarge the nearby continent. Currently, the Oka Belt remains poorly studied and is very promising for further investigation and discoveries.     

Episodic exhumation of accretionary complexes: Fission-track thermochronologic evidence from the Shimanto Belt and its vicinities, southwest Japan

Abstract Apatite and zircon fission-track (FT) analyses of the Shimanto accretionary complex and its vicinities, southwest Japan, unraveled the episodic material migration of the deep interiors of the accretionary complex. Apatite data with 100°C closure temperature (T_e) generally indicate ~10 Ma cooling throughout the Shimanto complex. In contrast, zircon data with 260°C T_e exhibit a wide range of apparent ages as a consequence of paleotemperature increase to the zircon partial annealing zone. In the Muroto and Kyushu regions, maximum temperatures tend to have been higher in the northern, older part of the complex, with indistinguishable temperature differences between coherent and melange units adjacent to each other. It thus suggests, along with vitrinite reflectance data, that older accretionary units occurring to the north sustain greater maximum burial during the accretion-burial-exhumation process. Zircon data suggest two cooling episodes: ~70 Ma cooling at widespread localities in the Cretaceous Shimanto Belt and Sambagawa Belt, and ~15 Ma cooling in the central Kii Peninsula. The former is consistent with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages from the Sambagawa Belt, whereas the latter slightly predates the widespread 10 Ma apatite cooling ages. These data imply that the extensive material migration and exhumation took place in and around the Shimanto complex in Late Cretaceous as well as in Middle Miocene. Considering tectonic factors to control evolution of accretionary complexes, the episodic migration is best explained by accelerated accretion of sediments due to increased sediment influx at the ancient Shimanto trench, probably derived from massive volcano-plutonic complexes contemporaneously placed inland. Available geo- and thermochronologic data suggest that extensive magmatism triggered regional exhumation twice in the past 100 Ma, shedding new light on the cordilleran orogeny and paired metamorphism concepts.     

Opening geometry of the Kurile Basin (Okhotsk Sea) as inferred from structural data

Abstract   The Kurile Basin in the Okhotsk Sea, northwestern Pacific, is a back-arc basin located behind the Kurile Island Arc. It is underlain by oceanic crust and its origin has been attributed to back-arc spreading. Two models for the opening of the Kurile Basin exist, for which the spreading axis is oriented northeast–southwest and northwest–southeast, respectively. New data are presented here on the morphostructure of the slope of the northern Kurile Basin and of the central Kurile Basin which support a strike of the spreading axis in the latter direction. Bathymetric as well as single-channel and multichannel seismic reflection data demonstrate the existence of dominant northwest-striking normal faults on the northern slope of the Kurile Basin. In the central Kurile Basin a basement rise striking north-northwest–south-southeast (here named the Sakura Rise) was mapped. The rise morphology has the distinct imprint of a rift structure with symmetrical volcanic edifices on the rise axis and faulted blocks that tilt in opposite directions on the flanks. These data suggest that the Kurile Basin opened in a northeast–southwest direction. In the generally accepted plate tectonic reconstructions, northwest–southeast spreading associated with dextral strike–slip along the north–south-striking shear zone of Sakhalin and Hokkaido islands has been assumed. In the present model, spreading in the Kurile Basin was presumably connected with dextral displacement along a northeast-striking shear zone on the southern segment of the Okhotsk Sea.     

Natural and experimental structural evolution of dispersed organic matter in mudstones: The Shimanto accretionary complex,southwest Japan

Structural changes induced by thermal maturation of dispersed organic matter (OM) in the Shimanto accretionary complex, southwest Japan, were investigated using micro‐Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy and micro‐Raman spectroscopy. Natural dispersed OM exhibits systematic structural changes inferred from D1‐ and G‐band FWHM values, Raman band separation (RBS), and intensity ratios of the D1‐ and G‐bands (I_D1/I_G ratio) from diagenetic zone to anchizone (IC values: 0.75–0.30). Infrared spectra indicate a loss of aliphatic CH _x, aromatic CH _x, and oxygen‐containing structures as temperature increases. These changes are consistent with discontinuities in thermal structures bounded by out‐of‐sequence thrusts. Kinetic pyrolysis experiments indicate that the I_D1/I_G ratio of synthesized OM has a power law relationship with heat treatment time. Kinetic models of temperature dependence were fitted using the I_D1/I_G ratio, and an effective activation energy of 106 ±17 kJ/mol was estimated using an Arrhenius equation. The activation energies estimated by power law rate and Avrami models have a least‐square correlation coefficient of 0.93, indicating the temperature dependence of carbonization. The estimated effective activation energy is consistent with that of coal, lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose during thermal degradation. On the other hand, RBS, and D1‐ and G‐band FWHM values of OM display more complex changes with increasing heating temperature and time, and it is difficult to constrain rate parameters during pyrolysis experiments. Our data indicate that the I_D1/I_G ratio is controlled by a simple thermally activated process, whereas RBS and D1‐ and G‐band FWHM values can be affected by lithostatic pressure, fluid activity, hydrogen index, and host lithology, as well as temperature. Structural evolution of dispersed OM in mudstones differs between natural and anhydrous closed experimental systems. Natural carbonization based on micro‐Raman spectroscopy should be applied for a limited indicator of thermal maturation, especially for dispersed OM in diagenetic zone.