Metallogeny and tectonic development of the tasman fold belt system in tasmania

In western Tasmania, Precambrian sedimentary sequences form the basement for narrow trough accumulations of Eocambrian and younger sequences. The main trough, the meridional Dundas Trough, is flanked to the west by the Rocky Cape region of Precambrian rocks within which major, apparently stratiform, exhalative magnetite-pyrite deposits are intercalated with metabasaltic volcanics and ultramafic bodies.The Eocambrian-Cambrian troughs apparently developed during extension of Precambrian continental crust. Early shallow-water deposition includes thick dolomite units in some troughs. Deepening of the troughs was accompanied by turbidite sedimentation, with minor limestone, and submarine basaltic volcanism with associated minor disseminated native copper. Ultramafic and related igneous rocks were tectonically emplaced in some troughs during a mild compressional phase. They contain only minor platinoids, copper-nickel sulphides and asbestos, but are source rocks for Tertiary secondary deposits of platinoids, chromite and lateritic nickel.In the Dundas Trough, Eocambrian-Early Cambrian rocks are separated by an inferred erosional surface from structurally conformable overlying Middle to Late Cambrian fossiliferous turbidite sequences. The structural conformity continues through overlying Ordovician to Early Devonian terrestrial and shallow-marine stable shelf deposits.A considerable pile of probable Middle Cambrian felsic volcanics accumulated between the sedimentary deposits of the Dundas Trough and the Tyennan region of Precambrian rocks to the east. A lava-dominated belt within the volcanics hosts major volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, including those of the exhalative type, which in the south are enriched in copper, gold and silver, whereas in the north they are rich in zine, lead, copper, gold and silver. Cambrian movements along faults near the margin of the Tyennan region resulted in erosion of the mineralized volcanics, locally exposing sub-volcanic granitoids. Above the local unconformities occur unmineralized volcaniclastic sequences that pass conformably into Ordovician to Early Devonian shelf deposits. Ordovician limestone locally hosts stratabound disseminated and veined base metal sulphide deposits.Pre-Middle Devonian rocks of western Tasmania differ, for most part, from those in the northeast where deeper marine turbidite quartz-wacke sequences were deposited during the Ordovician and Early Devonian.The Eocambrian to Early Devonian rocks of Tasmania were extensively deformed in the mid-Devonian. The Precambrian regions of western Tasmania behaved as relatively competent blocks controlling early fold patterns. In northeastern Tasmania, folding is of similar age but resulted from movements inconsistent with those affecting rocks of equivalent age in western Tasmania.The final metallogenic event is associated with high-level granitoid masses emplaced throughout Tasmania during the Middle to Late Devonian. In northeastern Tasmania, extensive I-type granodiorite and S-type granite, with alkali-feldspar granites, are associated with mainly endogranitic stanniferous grelsens and wolframite ± cassiterite vein deposits. In contrast, scheelite-bearing skarns and cassiterite stannite pyrrhotite carbonate replacement deposits are dominant in western Tasmania, associated mainly with S-type granites. Several argentiferous lead-zinc vein deposits occur in haloes around tin-tungsten deposits. A number of gold deposits are apparently associated with I-type granodiorite, but some have uncertain genesis.The contrasting regions of western and northeastern Tasmania have probably been brought together by lateral movement along an inferred fracture. Flat-lying, Late Carboniferous and younger deposits rest on the older rocks, and the only known post-Devonian primary mineralization is gold associated with Creta ceous syenite.     

Proterozoic – Early Palaeozoic rocks and the Tyennan Orogeny in central Victoria: The Selwyn Block and its tectonic implications

Aeromagnetic and field data suggest that meta‐igneous rocks exposed on the south coast of central Victoria at Waratah Bay, Phillip Island, Barrabool Hills and inland near Licola, are continuous—beneath Bass Strait—with Proterozoic/Cambrian igneous rocks in King Island and Tasmania. This correlation is supported by a pre‐Early Ordovician unconformity above gabbro protomylonite at Waratah Bay, age equivalent to the Tasmanian Tyennan unconformity. Cambrian volcanics at Licola and unusual features of the Melbourne Zone sequence indicate that Tyennan continental crust extends north as basement to the central Victorian portion of the Lachlan Fold Belt. In contrast, adjacent parts of the Lachlan Fold Belt in Victoria contain conformable sea‐floor sequences that span the Early Cambrian to Late Ordovician, with no evidence of either Cambrian deformation or underlying continental basement. The block of Tyennan continental crust beneath central Victoria—the Selwyn Block—is fundamentally different, and has influenced temporal and spatial patterns of sedimentation, deformation, metamorphism and plutonism. Palaeogeographical reconstructions suggest that the block was a submarine plateau that lay outboard of the Australian craton, upon which a condensed Ordovician sequence was deposited. The sequence above the Selwyn Block unconformity at Waratah Bay is similar to widespread post‐Tyennan sediments in western Tasmania. During Late Ordovician and Early Silurian deformation, the Selwyn Block protected much of the overlying sedimentary sequence. Instead, shortening was focused into the Stawell and Bendigo Zones to the west. These zones were sandwiched between the Selwyn Block and the Australian craton in a ‘vice’ scenario reminiscent of some Appalachian orogenic events. The region above the Selwyn Block was downwarped adjacent to the overthrust Bendigo Zone as a foreland deep, into which a conformable clastic wedge of sediment was deposited in Late Ordovician to Devonian time, prior to final Middle Devonian deformation. The Selwyn Block includes the Cambrian calc‐alkaline Licola and Jamieson Volcanics that are correlated with the Tasmanian Mt Read Volcanics. In Victoria, these form a basement high controlling the unusual down‐cutting thrusts in the overlying Melbourne Zone and explaining the major structural vergence reversal between the Melbourne and Tabberabbera Zones. The Selwyn Block has exerted some control on the timing, chemistry and distribution of post‐orogenic granites, and on central Victorian gold mineralisation. Reactivated faults in the block influenced deposition, and continue to control the deformation of the portions of the Otway and Gippsland Basins that lie above it.     

Towards understanding the early Gondwanan margin in southeastern Australia

This review synthesizes the Proterozoic and early Paleozoic geology of Tasmania, Bass Strait and western and central Victoria. We examine the many different conflicting hypotheses that have been proposed to solve the paradoxical relationships between Tasmanian geology and that of mainland Australia, most notably the prevalence of Proterozoic basement of western and central Tasmania, while immediately across Bass Strait evidence of Proterozoic rocks is much more cryptic. We conclude that the Selwyn block model is the most satisfactory hypothesis to date, since it fits best with the obvious patterns in the magnetic and gravity data. This model proposes that the central Victorian Melbourne Zone is underlain by the northern extension of thin Tasmanian Proterozoic and Cambrian crust under Bass Strait, and that the Silurian to Middle Devonian Melbourne Zone was shortened along a décollement during the Tabberabberan Orogeny. The Ordovician rocks of eastern Tasmania correlate more closely with the Tabberabbera Zone than the Melbourne Zone in Victoria; however the Silurian and Devonian correlations are less certain. Major unresolved issues are the origins of the Proterozoic and Early Cambrian lithostratigraphic packages, tectonic models for their assembly during the Tyennan Orogeny, and how these models fit with those for mainland Australia.     

X. The Eucla Basin in South Australia

At some time prior to the Ptychagnostus gibbus Zone of the Middle Cambrian the area of deposition of Upper Precambrian (or Lower Cambrian) well‐sorted sands, silts and dolomite was affected by tectonic movements producing uplift of the Tyennan Geanticline and change in the shape of the depositional basin (Spry, Chapter I). Continued tectonic activity and more rapid sinking of the sea floor resulted in a change in sedimentary association from well‐sorted sediments of the orthoquartzite‐limestone suite to poorly sorted sediments of the greywacke suite. Initially siltstone was the main deposit in the Dundas, Huskisson River, Ulverstone, Deloraine and Beaconsfield areas and this has been likened to the initial euxinic phase of geosynclinical development elsewhere (Campana, 1961b).

Silt seems to have been the predominant normal deposit during the Middle and early Upper Cambrian, but siliceous oozes and some limestone were also formed. Carbonaceous, pyritic and calcareous silts were deposited. Inter‐bedded with the silts are poorly‐sorted greywackes and greywacke conglomerates with a disrupted framework and graded bedding. Banks and Jennings interpret these as mostly turbidity current deposits. The proportion of greywacke and conglomerate varies through the successions in a cyclic manner (Carey and Banks, 1954; Banks, 1956) such that a conglomerate‐rich section is followed by a greywacke‐rich section and this by a predominantly lutaceous section. These cycles may be interpreted as due to tectonic instability and variation in height of the source area. Faulting of Upper Middle Cambrian and Lower Dresbachian age has been demonstrated near Ulverstone. Campana and King state: “The proportion of coarse material increases upwards in the Dundas and Huskisson successions at least.”

Turbidity currents brought fragments of grey, red, black and banded cherts, banded slate, quartzite, basalt and golden mica (this last presumably from breakdown of Precambrian mica schist) to the Dundas area. In view of the known distribution of chert in western Tasmania a westerly or north‐westerly source is likely. Turbidity currents deposited fragments of chert, claystone, quartzite, slate, greywacke, quartz mica schist, chloritised basic lava and spilite in the Deloraine area indicating a source area with Precambrian rocks and earlier Cambrian sediments and lavas. Near Rocky Boat Harbour the source area contained dolomite, ultrabasic rocks, granite, and Precambrian quartzites and schists.

A difference between the fauna in the silts and in the greywackes is evident in the Hodge Slate at Dundas and the Kateena Formation near Ulverstone at least. The “dendroids” in the Hodge Slate are in the siltstone and the fragmentary trilobites and cystoids in the greywacke. This suggests that the fossils in the greywackes are thanatocoenotic as might be expected and introduces the possibility of remanié fossils and of shallow water fauna intercalated with deeper water fauna. The bathymetric conditions suggested by Hills and Thomas (1954) for the Cambrian of Victoria may thus not be applicable to Tasmania.

Deposition was also interrupted from time to time by lava flows, some of them, at least, submarine. The Mt. Read Volcanics may be Lower Cambrian but acid and basic lavas and pyroclastic rocks are interbedded with or overlie Middle and Upper Cambrian sediments at Zeehan, Dundas, Ulverstone, Smithton and Beaconsfield. Acid volcanic rocks are commoner near the Tyennan Geanticline and basic rocks further away. Possibly during the Dresbachian ultrabasic rocks were intruded as sheets and dykes into Precambrian and earlier Cambrian rocks and by Franconian time were exposed to erosion at Adamsfield.

Deposition may have commenced later at Smithton (Upper Middle Cambrian), Beaconsfield (Lower Dresbachian) and Adamsfield (Lower Franconian) than at Dundas (Lower Middle Cambrian).

Campana and King express the thoughts of Bradley (1957, pp. 114–115) and the author when they state: “The Dundas Group reflects a eugeosynclinical cyclic sedimentation under unstable tectonic conditions. The group is no doubt a synorogenic suite comparable with the Flysch as it was deposited in the narrow subsiding Dundas Trough which developed along the Mt. Read Volcanic Arc, and which is similar to the present deeps of archipelago areas. Such a comparison is enhanced by the succeeding Ordovician conglomerates and sandstones, comparable in some respects with the molassic deposits which displaced the Flysch sedimentation in the Pre‐Alpine troughs (Fig. 12).”

The Cambrian rocks were folded or tilted at least along the western and northern margin of the Tyennan Geanticline and near New River Lagoon, the Tyennan Geanticline was rejuvenated, the Asbestos Range Geanticline raised and the highland areas near Ulverstone and Zeehan uplifted late in the Cambrian or very early in the Ordovician.     

Dating of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian orogenies in Tasmania*

A coherent set of timing constraints is produced for Tasmania's Proterozoic and Cambrian geology when only mineral ages are considered and whole‐rock ages excluded. The oldest recognised event is the formation of sedimentary deposits which contain detrital zircons that indirectly indicate a depositional age younger than 1180 Ma. Partial melts of these sedimentary rocks were incorporated in Neoproterozoic, Devonian and probably Cambrian felsic magmas. Neoproterozoic granite on King Island has an age of 760 ± 12 Ma and is part of a high‐level intrusive episode that accompanied the Wickham Orogeny, an event with regionally varied strain that is represented in northwestern Tasmania by a low‐angle unconformity, by altered granitoid with a magmatic age of 777 ± 7 Ma, and by the thick turbidite pile of the Burnie and Oonah Formations with its syndepositional intrusions of Cooee Dolerite. The late Neoproterozoic was relatively quiet tectonically but by early in the Middle Cambrian a crustal collision which marked the early phase of the Tyennan Orogeny brought about high‐level emplacement of ultramafic‐bearing allochthons and deep‐seated metamorphism of quartzose sedimentary and basaltic rocks. The ultramafic allochthons carried tonalite that had crystallised only shortly before at 510 ± 6 Ma, while the deep‐seated metamorphism produced eclogite at 502 ± 8 Ma. By middle Middle Cambrian times the metamorphic rocks had been uplifted and they experienced repeated uplift during the period of Mt Read volcanism and onward to the close of the Tyennan Orogeny in the Early Ordovician, an overall period of some 20 million years from the early Middle Cambrian. Regionally varied strain was again a feature during the Tyennan Orogeny, with the Smithton area in northwestern Tasmania and King Island occupying relatively undeformed cratonic positions.     

Pyrite composition and ore genesis in the Prince Lyell copper deposit, Mt Lyell mineral field, western Tasmania, Australia

The Prince Lyell copper-gold-silver deposit occurs in the late Cambrian Mt Read Volcanics, at Queenstown, Tasmania. Steeply plunging, broadly conformable lenses of disseminated and stringer pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralisation occur in quartz-sericite-chlorite rocks derived from intense alteration of predominantly felsic lavas and volcaniclastic rocks. Middle Devonian deformation has substantially modified primary sulphide textures.Although extensively fractured, pyrite grains in the ore have retained their original pre-deformation internal structure and chemistry which are revealed by etching and electron microprobe analysis. Earliest sulphide mineralisation produced oscillatory zoned, cobalt-rich pyrite (Pyrite I), coeval with chalcopyrite mineralisation. Cobalt-rich pyrite is commonly associated with Cambrian volcanic rocks in western Tasmania and suggests a volcanogenic origin for the ore fluids at Prince Lyell. Pyrite I was corroded by later hydrothermal fluids and reprecipitated as unzoned, trace element-poor pyrite (Pyrite II), commonly as overgrowths on Pyrite I cores. Minor amounts of a second cobalt-rich pyrite (Pyrite III) occurs with Pyrite II in composite pyrite overgrowths. Sulphur isotope ratios from all pyrite generations fall within a small range (3 to 11‰). In situ isotopic analyses showed no consistent δ³⁴S variation between the various pyrite generations, suggesting recycling of sulphur derived from a single Cambrian volcanogenic source.Hematite alteration, derived from oxidised fluids possibly from the adjacent hematitic Owen Conglomerate, occurs in the structural footwall volcanics and the Great Lyell fault zone. Hematite inclusions in Pyrite II and III indicate that these pyrite generations occurred after or during deposition of the conglomerate. It is postulated that Pyrite II and III were deposited during waning volcanism, contemporaneous with Owen Conglomerate sedimentation in the late Cambrian or early Ordovician. The Great Lyell fault would have acted as a growth fault margin between a terrestrial basin, filling rapidly from the east, and the volcanic terrane to the west. The scenario raises the possibility that the concentration of mineral deposits and hematitic alteration along the Great Lyell fault resulted from the subsurface interaction of reduced volcanogenic fluids and oxidised basin waters along the growth fault contact.     

Pre‐Tabberabberan deformation in eastern Tasmania: A southern extension of the Benambran Orogeny

Recumbent folding in eastern Tasmania affected turbidites containing Lower to Middle Ordovician (Bendigonian Be1 to Darriwilian Da3) fossils, but not stratigraphically overlying turbidites containing Silurian (Ludlow) graptolites, and is of a timing consistent with Ordovician to Silurian Benambran orogenesis on the Australian mainland. Two subsequent phases of upright folding post‐date deposition of turbidites containing Devonian plant fossils but pre‐date intrusion of Middle Devonian granitoids, and are of Tabberabberan age. A closely spaced disjunctive cleavage (S₂), associated with the first phase of Tabberabberan folding, everywhere cuts a slaty cleavage (S₁) associated with the earlier formed recumbent folds. However, refolding associated with development of S₂ is not always clear in outcrop and it is proposed that coincident tectonic vergence between the two events has resulted in reactivation of recumbent D₁ structures during the D₂ event. The transition to rocks not affected by recumbent folding coincides with a marked change in sedimentology from shale‐ to sand‐dominated successions. This contact does not outcrop but, from seismic data, appears to dip moderately to the east, and can only be explained as an unconformity. The current grouping of all pre‐Middle Devonian turbidites in eastern Tasmania into the one Mathinna Group is misleading in that the turbidite sequence can be subdivided into two distinct sedimentary packages separated by an orogenic event. It is proposed that the Mathinna Group be given supergroup status and existing formations placed into two new groups: an older Early to Middle Ordovician Tippogoree Group and a younger Silurian to Devonian Panama Group.     

Isotopic age determinations on granitic rocks from Tasmania

Potassium‐argon and rubidium‐strontium isotopic age measurements show that emplacement of granitic rocks in Tasmania occurred during the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous and in pre‐Devonian times, possibly in the Cambrian. In addition, a Precambrian granite, dated at about 750 m.y., has been recognized on the west coast of King Island.

The granitic bodies of pre‐Devonian age include the Murchison River Granite, the Dove River Granite and its correlatives, and the adamellite on the southwest coast of Tasmania at Elliott Bay. These rocks were deformed during the Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny with the result that leakage of radiogenic daughter products has occurred from minerals. Hence the indicated ages are younger than the true ages. Possibly these granitic rocks were emplaced during the Jukesian Movement of the Tyennan Orogeny, in the Late Cambrian, although a Precambrian age cannot be excluded for some of the bodies.

As recognized by earlier workers the most important period of emplacement of granitic rocks in Tasmania was in the Middle Palaeozoic. The measured dates for this group of rocks range from 375 to 335 m.y., and indicate that intrusion occurred over an extended period from the Late Devonian to the Early or possibly Middle Carboniferous. There are distinct concentrations of measured ages at about 370 and 340 m.y. The granitic bodies of northeast Tasmania mainly yield the older age, whereas those of northwest Tasmania give the younger age. As the granites are post‐tectonic bodies the older age of about 375 m.y. provides a younger limit to the time of completion of the main folding in the Tabberabberan Orogeny, and this is consistent with the stratigraphic evidence.

The evidence suggests that generation of granitic magma was initiated during the main folding associated with the Tabberabberan Orogeny, but that emplacement of the granites into the upper crust continued over a long period subsequently to the main folding phase. Alternatively, the younger granitic bodies, dated at about 340 m.y., may indicate that these rocks are related to the Early Carboniferous Kanimblan Orogeny recognized in Victoria and New South Wales; however, there is no field evidence to support such a proposition.     

Silurian to mid-Devonian basin development of the Melbourne Zone, Lachlan Fold Belt, southeastern Australia

The Melbourne Zone comprises Early Ordovician to Early Devonian marine turbidites, which pass conformably upward into a mid-Devonian fluviatile succession. There are four pulses of Silurian to mid-Devonian deep-marine sandstone-dominated sedimentation: Early Silurian (late Llandovery), Late Silurian (Ludlow), earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) and late Early Devonian (Emsian). Two dispersal patterns have been defined using more than 1100 palaeocurrent measurements, mainly from sole marks and cross-laminations in graded beds, together with sandstone compositions. The older pattern, of Silurian to earliest Devonian age, contains the lowest three sandstone pulses. Palaeocurrents and provenance define a wedge of southwesterly derived sediment, of largely cratonic provenance, thinning eastward. This older dispersal pattern is part of an Early Ordovician to earliest Devonian east-facing passive continental margin succession. Palaeocurrents and provenance in the Emsian sandstone pulse comprise three patterns: (1) west- to southwesterly directed palaeocurrents associated with fine- to coarse-grained, locally conglomeratic, lithic sandstones containing a high proportion of volcanic detritus; (2) east- to northeasterly directed palaeocurrents associated with fine- to medium-grained quartz-lithic sandstones; (3) north- to northwesterly and south- to southeasterly directed palaeocurrents associated with fine- to medium-grained sandstones of variable lithic composition. The palaeocurrent and provenance pattern defines a NNW-elongate basin with a tectonically active eastern margin, and is similar to the coeval Mathinna basin of northeastern Tasmania. Both basins are part of the same system of wrench basins, which developed along the western side of the Wagga–Omeo Metamorphic Belt during the earliest Devonian to Middle Devonian. The change in tectonic setting in the earliest Devonian appears to have occurred during an interval of significant dextral translation of the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt towards the SSE along the Governor and associated fault zones.     

Palaeozoic suturing of eastern and western Tasmania in the west Tamar region: Implications for the tectonic evolution of southeast Australia

A new tectonic model for Tasmania incorporates subduction at the boundary between eastern and western Tasmania. This model integrates thin‐ and thick‐skinned tectonics, providing a mechanism for emplacement of allochthonous elements on to both eastern and western Tasmania as well as rapid burial, metamorphism and exhumation of high‐pressure metamorphic rocks. The west Tamar region in northern Tasmania lies at the boundary between eastern and western Tasmania. Here, rocks in the Port Sorell Formation were metamorphosed at high pressures (700–1400 MPa) and temperatures (400–500°C), indicating subduction to depths of up to 30 km. The eastern boundary of the Port Sorell Formation with mafic‐ultramafic rocks of the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex is hidden beneath allochthonous ?Mesoproterozoic turbidites of the Badger Head Group. At depth, this boundary coincides with the inferred boundary between eastern and western Tasmania, imaged in seismic data as a series of east‐dipping reflections. The Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex was previously thought of as allochthonous, based mainly on associations with other mafic‐ultramafic complexes in western Tasmania. However, the base of the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex is not exposed and, given its position east of the boundary with western Tasmania, it is equally likely that it represents the exposed western edge of autochthonous eastern Tasmanian basement. A thin sliver of faulted and metamorphosed rock, including amphibolites, partially separates the Badger Head Group from the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex. Mafic rocks in this package match geochemically mafic rocks in the Port Sorell Formation. This match is consistent with two structural events in the Badger Head Group showing tectonic transport of the group from the west during Cambrian Delamerian orogenesis. Rather than being subducted, emplacement of the Badger Head Group onto the Andersons Creek Ultramafic Complex indicates accretion of the Badger Head Group onto eastern Tasmania. Subsequent folding and thrusting in the west Tamar region also accompanied Devonian Tabberabberan orogenesis. Reversal from northeast to southwest tectonic vergence saw imbricate thrusting of Proterozoic and Palaeozoic strata, possibly coinciding with reactivation of the suture separating eastern and western Tasmania.     

Tectonics and geodynamics of Gorny Altai and adjacent structures of the Altai–Sayan folded area

Packages of Late Paleozoic tectonic nappes and associated major NE-trending strike-slip faults are widely developed in the Altai–Sayan folded area. Fragments of early deformational phases are preserved within the Late Paleozoic allochthons and autochthons. Caledonian fold-nappe and strike-slip structures, as well as accompanying metamorphism and granitization in the region, are typical of the EW-trending suture-shear zone separating the composite Kazakhstan–Baikal continent and Siberia. In the Gorny Altai region, the Late Paleozoic nappes envelop the autochthon, which contains a fragment of the Vendian–Cambrian Kuznetsk–Altai island arc with accretionary wedges of the Biya–Katun’ and Kurai zones. The fold-nappe deformations within the latter zones occurred during the Late Cambrian (Salairian) and can thus be considered Salairian orogenic phases. The Salairian fold-nappe structure is stratigraphically overlain by a thick (up to 15 km) well-stratified rock unit of the Anyui–Chuya zone, which is composed of Middle Cambrian–Early Ordovician fore-arc basin rocks unconformably overlain by Ordovician–Early Devonian carbonate-terrigenous passive-margin sequences. These rocks are crosscut by intrusions and overlain by a volcanosedimentary unit of the Devonian active margin. The top of the section is marked by Famennian–Visean molasse deposits onlapping onto Devonian rocks. The molasse deposits accumulated above a major unconformity reflects a major Late Paleozoic phase of folding, which is most pronounced in deformations at the edges of the autochthon, nearby the Kaim, Charysh–Terekta, and Teletskoe–Kurai fault nappe zones. Upper Carboniferous coal-bearing molasse deposits are preserved as tectonic wedges within the Charysh–Terekta and Teletskoe–Kurai fault nappe zones.Detrital zircon ages from Middle Cambrian–Early Ordovician rocks of the Anyui–Chuya fore-arc zone indicate that they were primarily derived from Upper Neoproterozoic–Cambrian igneous rocks of the Kuznetsk–Altai island arc or, to a lesser extent, from an Ordovician–Early Devonian passive margin. A minor age population is represented by Paleoproterozoic grains, which was probably sourced from the Siberian craton. Zircons from the Late Carboniferous molasse deposits have much wider age spectra, ranging from Middle Devonian–Early Carboniferous to Late Ordovician–Early Silurian, Cambrian–Early Ordovician, Mesoproterozoic, Early–Middle Proterozoic, and early Paleoproterozoic. These ages are consistent with the ages of igneous and metamorphic rocks of the composite Kazakhstan–Baikal continent, which includes the Tuva-Mongolian island arc with accreted Gondwanan blocks, and a Caledonian suture-shear zone in the north. Our results suggest that the Altai–Sayan region is represented by a complex aggregate of units of different geodynamic affinity. On the one hand, these are continental margin rocks of western Siberia, containing only remnants of oceanic crust embedded in accretionary structures. On the other hand, they are represented by the Kazakhstan–Baikal continent composed of fragments of Gondwanan continental blocks. In the Early–Middle Paleozoic, they were separated by the Ob’–Zaisan oceanic basin, whose fragments are preserved in the Caledonian suture-shear zone. The movements during the Late Paleozoic occurred along older, reactivated structures and produced the large intracontinental Central Asian orogen, which is interpreted to be a far-field effect of the colliding East European, Siberian, and Kazakhstan–Baikal continents.     

Controls on Devonian–Carboniferous magmatism in Tasmania,based on inherited zircon age patterns,Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes,and major and trace element geochemistry

Devonian–Carboniferous granites are widespread in Tasmania. In eastern Tasmania, Devonian granites intrude Ordovician–Early Devonian quartz-rich turbidites of the Mathinna Supergroup. The earliest (～400 Ma) I-type granodiorites may be arc-related. Following the Tabberabberan Orogeny (～389 Ma), more felsic and, finally, strongly fractionated I- and S-type granites were emplaced until ～373 Ma. In contrast, western Tasmania granites intrude a more diverse terrane of predominantly marine shelf successions, with depositional ages as old as Late Mesoproterozoic. They are mostly felsic and fractionated I- and S-types emplaced from ～374–351 Ma, possibly in response to post-collisional crustal extension following juxtaposition of the eastern and western Tasmanian terranes. Granites from the two terranes are readily distinguishable by the age spectra of their inherited zircon, which are noticeably similar to those of the detrital zircon from sedimentary successions in their respective terranes. Furthermore, within each terrane, both I and S-types yield similar inheritance patterns. This suggests a pivotal role for the sedimentary successions in the petrogenesis of both types. Western Tasmanian granites are also enriched in ～1600 Ma zircon, which is essentially unrepresented in the exposed supracrustal succession. Subtle differences between the inheritance and detrital age spectra in eastern Tasmania probably relate to unrepresentative sampling of the supracrustal rocks. Nd, Sr and Pb isotopic characteristics of the granites are consistent with their derivation by mixing of magmas derived from the mantle, possibly the lower crust, and from supracrustal rocks. Systematic isotopic trends in some eastern Tasmanian I-types, particularly in the Scottsdale Batholith, correlate well with major and trace element geochemistry and age. The isotopes are inconsistent with simple restite unmixing or crystal fractionation in a closed magma chamber, and indicate progressive contamination by the Mathinna Supergroup, or similar rocks. The isotopic characteristics of late, strongly fractionated granites, although sometimes obscured by hydrothermal alteration, are also consistent with concurrent assimilation-fractional crystallisation processes. Together with the close association of some strongly fractionated I- and S-types, this suggests that such granites were generated directly in the lower crust, and were not derived from unfractionated parental granite magmas.     

The structure and metamorphism of the Red Point Metamorphic Complex—A newly discovered high-pressure metamorphic complex from the south coast of Tasmania

This study presents new data on the deformational and metamorphic history of previously unstudied Cambrian high-pressure metamorphic rocks exposed on the remote south coast of Tasmania. The Red Point Metamorphic Complex consists of two blocks of high-pressure, medium-grade metamorphic rocks including pelitic schist and minor garnet-bearing amphibolite, which are faulted against a sequence of low-grade phyllite and quartzite. The Red Point Metamorphic Complex records five phases of deformation, all of which except the first are expressed at a mesoscopic scale in both the medium- and low-grade rocks. Peak metamorphic conditions in the high-pressure epidote–amphibolite facies is recorded by medium-grade schist and amphibolite and was synchronous with the second major deformation event, which produced a pervasive schistosity and mesoscale isoclinal folds. The juxtaposition of the low- and medium-grade rocks is interpreted to have first occurred prior to the development of upright, opening folding associated with the third deformation. However, the present contacts between the two contrasting metamorphic sequences formed during widespread faulting and ductile-shear zone development associated with the fourth and fifth deformation events. The new data from the Red Point Metamorphic Complex provide insights into the structural and metamorphic history experienced by the medium-grade rocks of Tasmania during the Cambrian Tyennan Orogeny. This study demonstrates that Cambrian medium-grade metamorphic rocks are more widespread throughout Tasmania than previously realised, which represents an important step towards understanding the large-scale architecture of the Tyennan Orogen.     

The Thomson Orogen of the Tasman Orogenic Zone

The Thomson Orogen forms the northwestern segment of the Tasman Orogenic Zone. It was a tectonically active area with several episodes of deposition, deformation and plutonism from Cambrian to Carboniferous time.Only the northeastern part of the orogen is exposed; the remainder is covered by gently folded Permian and Mesozoic sediments of the Galilee, Cooper and Great Artesian Basins. Information on the concealed Thomson Orogen is available from geophysical surveys and petroleum exploration wells which have penetrated the Permian and Mesozoic cover.The boundaries of the Thomson Orogen with other tectonic units are concealed, but discordant trends suggest that they are abrupt. To the west, the orogen is bordered by Proterozoic structural blocks which form basement west of the northeast-trending Diamantina River Lineament. The most appropriate boundary with the Lachlan and Kanmantoo Orogens to the south is an arcuate line marking a distinct change in the direction of gravity trends. The north-northwest orientation of the northern part of the New England Orogen to the east cuts strongly across the dominant northeast trend of the Thomson Orogen.The Thomson Orogen developed as a tectonic entity in latest Proterozoic or Early Cambrian time when the former northern extension of the Adelaide Orogen * was truncated along the Muloorinna Ridge. Early Palaeozoic deposition was dominated by finegrained, quartz-rich clastic sediments. Cambrian carbonates accumulated in the southwest and a Cambro-Ordovician island arc was active in the north. Along the western margin of the orogen, sediments were probably laid down on downfaulted blocks of deformed Proterozoic rocks, with oceanic crust further to the east.A mid- to Late Ordovician orogeny which affected the whole of the Thomson Orogen marked the climax of its precratonic (orogenic) stage. The northeast structural trend of the orogen (parallel to its western boundary with the Precambrian craton) was imposed at this time and has controlled the orientation of later folding and faulting. Up to three generations of folding have been recognized and fine-grained metasediments exhibit a prominent slaty cleavage. Metamorphism was to the greenschist and amphibolite facies, the highest grade rocks being associated with synorogenic granodiorite batholiths in the north. Following deposition of Late Ordovician marine sediments at the eastern margin, emplacement of post-tectonic Late Silurian or Early Devonian batholiths ended the precratonic history of the Thomson Orogen.The subsequent transitional tectonic regime was characterized by deposition of Devonian to Early Carboniferous shallow marine and continental sediments including widespread red-beds and andesitic volcanics. The maximum marine transgression occurred in the early Middle Devonian. Localized folding affected the easternmost part of the Thomson Orogen at the end of Middle Devonian time and was followed by intrusion of Devono-Carboniferous granitic plutons. However, the terminal orogeny which deformed all Devonian to Early Carboniferous rocks of the orogen was of mid-Carboniferous age. It produced northeast-trending open folds and normal and high-angle reverse faults which are considered to reflect basement structures. The cratonization of the Thomson Orogen was completed with the emplacement of Late Carboniferous granites and the eruption of comagmatic volcanics in the northeast, permian and Mesozoic sediments accumulated in broad, relatively shallow down warps which covered most of the former orogen.     

Formation of lode‐style gold mineralisation during Tabberabberan wrench faulting at Lefroy,eastern Tasmania

The Lefroy Goldfield in eastern Tasmania is anomalous in southeastern Australia because mineralised fault reefs (i.e. reefs that are also faults) strike in an easterly direction at a high angle to the predominantly northwest strike of bedding and folds. Gold mineralisation is of Early to Middle Devonian age, with reef formation coinciding with a third regionally compressive deformation event (D₃), and a second phase of Tabberabberan orogenesis. Mineralised reefs are hosted by Mathinna Supergroup turbidites of Cambrian to Ordovician age and extend for up to 2 km across the boundary between the sandstone‐dominated Stony Head Sandstone and the shale‐dominated Turquoise Bluff Slate. Ore shoots in the reefs plunge moderately west and, in the Volunteer Mine, coincide with the intersection of the reef and a D₁/D₂ thrust contact. The subvertical orientation and discordant relationship of the mineralised reefs to bedding, as well as the lack of gold mineralisation along bedding and pre‐D₃ structures, indicate that the reefs formed during a period of wrench faulting. In contrast to lode‐style deposits in Victoria, the far‐field minimum compressive stress at Lefroy during reef formation was not vertical but, rather, occupied a subhorizontal orientation.     

黑龙江省嫩江-黑河地区古、中生代洋陆转换的岩浆岩记录及相关的矿床类型

黑龙江省嫩江-黑河地区显生宙岩浆活动强烈,发育一系列大、中型矿床,为了了解研究区古、中生代的洋陆过程及其成矿背景,系统总结了研究区近年来岩浆岩和矿床学研究中取得的成果,梳理出洋内弧前弧岩石组合的埃达克质岩石、高镁岩石和TTG花岗岩等,并结合火山-沉积建造特征,探讨研究区的洋陆转换及相关的矿床类型代表的成矿事件.研究区古生代发育早寒武世、晚寒武世、中奥陶世、早志留世的高镁岩石和早奥陶世、中奥陶世、晚泥盆世的埃达克质岩石,一直处于嫩江-黑河洋的俯冲环境,在晚石炭世-二叠纪转为晚造山-后造山阶段,成矿作用以奥陶纪最为强烈,且与洋内弧前弧岩石组合的高镁岩石、埃达克质岩石密切相关,出现俯冲造弧阶段的斑岩与浅成低温热液成矿系统,需要进一步加强可能的VMS型矿床、造山型金矿等找矿勘查工作.研究区中生代发育与蒙古-鄂霍茨克大洋板片南向俯冲作用有关的中三叠世、早侏罗世埃达克质岩石和晚三叠世的镁质岩石及早-中侏罗世TTG花岗岩,而早白垩世晚期的弧火山岩和产出的一系列大、中型金矿床可能与古太平洋板块俯冲-后撤有关.      

Early growth fault activity: new evidence for extension in the upper Cambrian Owen Group,Proprietary Peak,western Tasmania,Australia

The coarse-grained, upper Cambrian Owen Group of western and northern Tasmania is a prominent feature of the Tasmanian landscape and regional map series. The group has previously been divided into four informal formations (Lower Owen Conglomerate, Middle Owen Sandstone, Middle Owen Conglomerate and Upper Owen Sandstone) that have been correlated across the state over tens to hundreds of kilometres. The deposition of these sediments is largely believed to have occurred during extensional tectonics, but some authors continue to argue a compressional tectonic regime. Detailed mapping and sedimentological work around Proprietary Peak on the Mount Jukes massif, 10 km south of Queenstown, Tasmania, has identified significant depositional variations controlled by early growth faulting and paleotopography. Discontinuity of stratigraphic units (L6–L13) across two growth faults on the north face of Proprietary Peak shows the strong effect on sediment deposition in the area. Paleotopography is also evident with most stratigraphic units (L8–L13 and U1) gradually onlapping basement during their deposition. Significant paleotopography has also been identified on East Jukes Peak, where lower Owen Group sedimentary units onlap basement volcanics, with no evidence for tectonically controlled deposition. Field evidence strongly supports the deposition of the Owen Group during extensional tectonics, after a period of prolonged erosion of the underlying Mount Read Volcanics. The distinct variation in vertical and lateral extent of stratigraphic units within the Owen Group in the Proprietary Peak area suggests that widespread lithostratigraphic correlation of older Owen Group sedimentary units across Tasmania may not be feasible.     

北祁连-河西走廊志留纪和泥盆纪古地理及其对同造山过程的沉积响应

北祁连-河西走廊志留系包括下志留统鹿角沟砾岩和肮脏沟组、中志留统泉脑沟山组和上志留统旱峡组，泥盆系包括中、下泥盆统老君山组和上泥盆统沙流水组。鹿角沟砾岩为水下冲积扇沉积，断续分布于北祁连西段。肮脏沟组在北祁连-河西走廊分布广泛，主要为半深海碎屑复理石沉积。泉脑沟山组和旱峡组分布于北祁连和河西走廊西段，前者以浅海相砂泥岩和泥灰岩为主，后者以滨海潮坪-浅海碎屑岩沉积为主。老君山组分布于古祁连山山前和山间盆地，为粗碎屑磨拉石沉积。沙流水组分布于河西走廊东段，为湖相沉积。区域古地理分析表明，北祁连-河西走廊志留纪-泥盆纪的古地理主要受北祁连加里东-早海西期不规则造山作用控制。鹿角沟砾岩标志着弧-陆碰撞最早发生于早志留世早期。早志留世北祁连-河西走廊由弧后残余盆地向前陆盆地转化。中、晚志留世北祁连东段剧烈造山并与阿拉善古陆的连接，前陆盆地限于北祁连-河西走廊西段。志留纪末期为北祁连的主造山期，泥盆纪形成高峻的古祁连山。早、中泥盆世形成山前和山间盆地的粗碎屑磨拉石沉积。晚泥盆世造山带西段造山作用剧烈，形成剥蚀区。东段造山作用微弱，山地被剥蚀，山前形成湖泊相的晚泥盆世沉积。     

Evolution of a Cambrian active continental margin: The Delamerian–Lachlan connection in southeastern Australia from a zircon perspective

The Early Palaeozoic Ross–Delamerian orogenic belt is considered to have formed as an active margin facing the palaeo-Pacific Ocean with some island arc collisions, as in Tasmania (Australia) and Northern Victoria Land (Antarctica), followed by terminal deformation and cessation of active convergence. On the Cambrian eastern margin of Australia adjacent to the Delamerian Fold Belt, island arc and backarc basin crust was formed and is now preserved in the Lachlan Fold Belt and is consistent with a spatial link between the Delamerian and Lachlan orogens. The Delamerian–Lachlan connection is tested with new zircon data. Metamorphic zircons from a basic eclogite sample from the Franklin Metamorphic Complex in the Tyennan region of central Tasmania have rare earth element signatures showing that eclogite metamorphism occurred at ~ 510 Ma, consistent with island arc–passive margin collision during the Delamerian(− Tyennan) Orogeny. U–Pb ages of detrital zircons have been determined from two samples of Ordovician sandstones in the Lachlan Fold Belt at Melville Point (south coast of New South Wales) and the Howqua River (western Tabberabbera Zone of eastern Victoria). These rocks were chosen because they are the first major clastic influx at the base of the Ordovician ‘Bengal-fan’ scale turbidite pile. The samples show the same prominent peaks as previously found elsewhere (600–500 Ma Pacific-Gondwana and the 1300–1000 Ma Grenville–Gondwana signatures) reflecting supercontinent formation. We highlight the presence of ~ 500 Ma non-rounded, simple zircons indicating clastic input most likely from igneous rocks formed during the Delamerian and Ross Orogenies. We consider that the most probable source of the Ordovician turbidites was in East Antarctica adjacent to the Ross Orogen rather than reflecting long distance transport from the Transgondwanan Supermountain (i.e. East African Orogen). Together with other provenance indicators such as detrital mica ages, this is a confirmation of the Delamerian–Lachlan connection.     

Recognition of the Cambrian Timan–Severnaya Zemlya orogen and timing of geological evolution of the North Kara sedimentary basin based on detrital zircon dating

New data on the ages of detrital zircons from folded basement rocks and cover sediments of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago and Izvestiy TSIK islands have been obtained. The basement age is defined as Cambrian (pre-Ordovician). The Ordovician and Silurian sandstones were mainly formed by erosion of the basement rocks. The Devonian sandstones were formed by debris sourced from the Caledonian orogen. The Carboniferous–Early Permian molasse was formed simultaneously with the erosion of the Carboniferous granitoids and weathering of the Ordovician volcanic arc rocks and the Cambrian basement. The North Kara basin was formed in the Ordovician as a back-arc basin. It experienced its main compression deformations at the boundary of the Devonian and Carboniferous and in the Carboniferous.