Cretaceous–Tertiary convergence and continental collision,Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone,western Iran

The Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone contains the metamorphic core of the Zagros continental collision zone in western Iran. The zone has been subdivided into the following from southwest to northeast: an outer belt of imbricate thrust slices (radiolarite, Bisotun, ophiolite and marginal sub-zones, which consist of Mesozoic deep-marine sediments, shallow-marine carbonates, oceanic crust and volcanic arc, respectively) and an inner complexly deformed sub-zone (late Palaeozoic–Mesozoic passive margin succession). Rifting and sea-floor spreading of Tethys occurred in the Permian to Triassic but in the Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone extension-related successions are mainly of Late Triassic age. Subduction of Tethyan sea floor in the Late Jurassic to Cretaceous produced deformation, metamorphism and unconformities in the marginal and complexly deformed sub-zones. Deformation climaxed in the Late Cretaceous when a major southwest-vergent fold belt formed associated with greenschist facies metamorphism and post-dated by abundant Palaeogene granitic plutons. In the southwest of the zone a Late Cretaceous island arc—passive margin collision occurred with ophiolite emplacement onto the northern Arabian margin similar to that in Oman. Final closure of Tethys was not completed until the Miocene when Central Iran collided with the northeast Arabian margin.     

Oblique oceanic opening and passive margin irregularity,as inherited in the Zagros fold‐and‐thrust belt

The Zagros fold‐and‐thrust belt of SW Iran represents deformation of the former Arabian passive margin since Permian–Triassic opening of the Neo‐Tethys ocean. The Zagros belt is characterized by a present‐day structural salient‐recess setting inherited from past marginal embayment‐promontory geometry, which was involved in discontinuous ophiolite obduction and diachronous continental collision. We examine outcrop‐scale Mesozoic extensional brittle tectonics, preserved as syn‐depositional normal faults within the folded strata, in terms of stress tensor inversion. The result is then integrated with belt‐scale isopach, seismic and topographical data to delineate the geometry of a major irregularity along the passive margin originating from oblique oceanic opening. The implication of this configuration within the tectonic framework of oceanic closure is discussed.     

The eastern part of the Tasman Orogenic Zone

The eastern part of the Tasman Orogenic Zone (or Fold Belt System) comprises the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen (or Fold Belt) in the north and the New England Orogen (or Fold Belt) in the centre and south. The two orogens are separated by the northern part of the Thomson Orogen.The Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen contains Ordovician to Early Carboniferous sequences of volcaniclastic flysch with subordinate shelf carbonate facies sediments. Two provinces are recognized, the Hodgkinson Province in the north and the Broken River Province in the south. Unlike the New England Orogen where no Precambrian is known, rocks of the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen were deposited immediately east of and in part on, Precambrian crust.The evolution of the New England Orogen spans the time range Silurian to Triassic. The orogen is orientated at an acute angle to the mainly older Thomson and Lachlan Orogens to the west, but the relationships between all three orogens are obscured by the Permian—Triassic Bowen and Sydney Basins and younger Mesozoic cover. Three provinces are recognized, the Yarrol Province in the north, the Gympie Province in the east and the New England Province in the south.Both the Yarrol and New England Provinces are divisible into two zones, western and eastern, that are now separated by major Alpine-type ultramafic belts. The western zones developed at least in part on early Palaeozoic continental crust. They comprise Late Silurian to Early Permian volcanic-arc deposits (both island-arc and terrestrial Andean types) and volcaniclastic sediments laid down on unstable continental shelves. The eastern zones probably developed on oceanic crust and comprise pelagic sediments, thick flysch sequences and ophiolite suite rocks of Silurian (or older?) to Early Permian age. The Gympie Province comprises Permian to Early Triassic volcanics and shallow marine and minor paralic sediments which are now separated from the Yarrol Province by a discontinuous serpentinite belt.In morphotectonic terms, a Pacific-type continental margin with a three-part arrangement of calcalkaline volcanic arc in the west, unstable volcaniclastic continental shelf in the centre and continental slope and oceanic basin in the east, appears to have existed in the New England Orogen and probably in the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen as well, through much of mid- to late Palaeozoic time. However, the easternmost part of the New England Orogen, the Gympie Province, does not fit this pattern since it lies east of deepwater flysch deposits of the Yarrol Province.     

The upper Hawasina nappes in the central Oman Mountains: stratigraphy,palinspastics and sequence of nappe emplacement

Abstract

In the Oman mountains, a succession of sedimentary decollement nappes, the Hawasina nappes, is sandwiched between the Samail ophiolite nappe and its underlying melange and the “autochthonous” sequences of the Arabian platform. The sediments of the Hawasina nappes document the Mesozoic evolution of the northeastern Arabian continental margin and the adjacent Tethys Ocean. In earlier paleogeographic reconstructions, based on simple telescoping of the tectonic units, the upper Hawasina nappes represent the distal part and the lower nappes the proximal part of the margin. New stratigraphic data suggest a revision of the paleogeography and a more complex model for nappe emplacement in the central Oman mountains. The lower Hawasina nappes with their Jurassic and Cretaceous base of slope and basin sediments (Hamrat Duru, Wahrah) form the original cover of part of the upper Hawasina nappes. In the latter (Al Ayn, Haliw), Triassic pelagic sediments, locally overlain by massive sandstone successions are preserved. Complete Mesozoic sequences with pelagic Cenomanian sediments as youngest dated elements are found in the highest Hawasina units (Al Aridh and Oman Exotics). The stratigraphic data indicate polyphase thrusting in the central Oman mountains. Downward propagation of thrusting in front of the Samail is responsible for cutting the original stratigraphie sequence into a number of thrust-sheets, involving successively older and more external formations. This kind of thrust propagation eventually leads to the observed superposition of originally lower stratigraphie units onto their original cover. Regional deformation of the nappe contacts in post-nappe culminations (J. Akhdar, Saih Hatat) is related to ramp-flat-systems in the Arabian foreland.     

Adria,the African promontory,in mesozoic Mediterranean palaeogeography

The orogenic belts encircling the present-day Adriatic Sea are the deformed Mesozoic continental margin of an area known as Adria, the outline of which began to take shape during Middle Triassic continental rifting. Early Jurassic oceanic rifting was usually close to, but not coincident with, sites of earlier continental rifting. The Triassic rifted zones were usually incorporated into the continental margin of Adria, profoundly influencing its subsequent development. The Mesozoic platform/basin morphology of this margin can be correlated along the length of the belt.Palaeomagnetic data from autochthonous outcrops of the foreland of Adria do not indicate relative rotation and moreover suggest that this foreland has moved in coordination with Africa since the Early Mesozoic. Seismic soundings indicate that thick Mesozoic sedimentary sequences which can be correlated with sections on the African platform are continuous beneath the eastern Mediterranean seas. The concept of Adria as having behaved as a promontory of the African plate is tested by correlation of the main tectonic events in the belt with the spreading history of the Atlantic. The simplest model which adequately accounts for available data comprises a continuous Mesozoic continental margin from the Magrebids of Tunisia, through the Apennines, Alps, Dinarides and Hellenides to the alpine belt of Turkey. This margin was the southern margin of the Mesozoic Tethys and its foreland was more or less continuous with the African platform. Some structural and geochemical features of the double ophiolitic belt on the eastern side of Adria may be explained in terms of more external oceanic branches giving a more diversified continental margin of Adria. The present undulations of the Periadriatic belt are mainly a product of Late Cretaceous to recent deformation, which severely modified the shape of this margin by continental collision and by subsequent development of back-arc features.     

Upper Cretaceous Muti Formation: transition of a Mesozoic nate platform to a foreland basin in the Oman Mountains

The Upper Cretaceous (Turonian-Campanian) Muti Formation (Sayja Member) documents the transition from a passive continental margin to a foreland basin, related to overthrusting of continental margin and ophiolitic nappes derived from the Tethys ocean. Upper Cretaceous northeastward subduction culminated in collision of a trench with the Arabian margin. As the trench docked with the margin the lithosphere was flexed, forming a peripheral bulge that migrated cratonward with time. The platform edge was initially uplifted (Turonian) and deeply eroded, creating the ‘Wasia-Aruma break’. After passage of the peripheral bulge subsidence began, with accumulation first of ferruginous crusts on hardgrounds. Lime-muds were then deposited on a deepening unstable sea-floor, along with phosphatic nodules and crusts (Turonian-Coniacian). Passage of the overthrust load over the Arabian continental-margin edge downflexed the lithosphere (Santonian-Campanian), resulting in drastic foundering of the old shelf edge to form a foredeep. Upper platform horizons collapsed as slump-sheets and debris-flows. Limestone blocks and lithoclastic debris-flows were shed by mass-wasting of the already deeply eroded old platform edge. Mud and silt were derived from the uplifted Arabian continent and deposited by mainly gravitational processes in a foredeep below the C.C.D. Subsidence of the Arabian platform edge allowed the Semail ophiolite nappe finally to override the Muti basin (late Campanian) with little internal deformation. Submarine emplacement is suggested by the absence of ophiolitic detritus in the Muti Formation. The stratigraphic evolution of the Muti Formation is in good general agreement with a model of the transition of an old, thermally mature, passive continental margin to a foreland basin, where the emplaced load is submerged.     

Tectonics of the Caucasus and adjoining regions: implications for the evolution of the Tethys ocean

The evolution of Tethys is analysed on the basis of ophiolitic geology, reconstruction of continental margins, and plate kinematics. The North Anatolian-Minor Caucasian-South Caspian ophiolitic belt is considered to be the major suture of Palaeozoic Tethys, dividing its southern carbonate shelf from the Pontian-Caucasian-Turanian active margin. The Caucasian part of the latter comprises the Transcaucasian island arc, the Great Caucasian small ocean basin, the Great Caucasian island arc and the Precaucasian marginal sea, each characterised by its own magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary facies association typical of that tectonic environments. The North Anatolian branch of Tethys persisted throughout the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, whereas eastwards the major oceanic tract shifted south into the Zagros zone.The Northern frame of Mesotethys comprises the Pontain-Caucasian and Nakhichevan-Iranian island arc systems, divided by the Minor Caucasian basin, a relict of Palaeotethys reduced to a narrow northern branch of the Mesozoic ocean. In the late Cretacaous-Palaeogene, the youngest southwestern branch of Tethys separated Taurus-Anatolia from the Arabian shelf. Its ‘old’ northern branches were closed in the Palaeogene. Northward subduction in the South Anatolia-Zagros intracontinental basin triggered Neogene calc-alkaline volcanism in the Pontides, Antolia, Caucasus and Iran.     

滇西泥盆纪——三叠纪盆—山转换过程与特提斯构造演化

滇西地区以昌宁－连缝合带为古特提斯主洋闭合的位置。晚古生代－中生代时期古特提斯经历了一次盆转山和山控盆演变序列的全过程，可大致划分为4个发展阶段：（1）洋盆扩张阶段（D－C2）。古特提斯洋西侧的保山地块属冈瓦纳古陆的东缘，为非火山型被动大陆边缘；东侧的思茅地块属扬子地块的西缘部分，为火山型被动大陆边缘。（2）洋－陆汇阶段（C3－P2）。昌宁－孟连洋向东俯冲消减，思茅地区转化为弧后扩张盆地；墨江一带形成弧后扩张洋盆，思茅地块从扬子西缘分离。（3）弧－陆碰撞阶段（T1－T3），古特提斯主洋及分支洋盆相继关闭，全区发生大规模的造山升隆，前期的盆转山过程转入山控盆阶段，在哀牢山两侧分别形成了受造山作用控制的兰坪－思茅弧后前陆盆地和楚雄周缘前陆盆地。（4）陆－陆碰撞阶段（J1－K），滇西前陆盆地向陆内拗陷盆地转变，造山带的控盆作用结束。     

西藏羌塘盆地的构造沉积特征及演化

西藏羌塘盆地是特提斯构造域内晚古生代—中生代海相复合盆地。经历了晚古生代板块构造演化阶段、中生代板块构造演化阶段和新生代抬升剥蚀阶段 ,形成了晚古生代大陆边缘盆地、中生代南羌塘被动大陆边缘和北羌塘弧后盆地以及晚侏罗世之后的构造地貌盆地。受多期构造运动作用 ,盆地从北向南形成了北缘冲褶带、北羌塘变形带、中央碰撞隆起带、南羌塘变形带和南缘冲断带五个构造单元。变形由坳陷边缘到中心逐渐减弱 ,侏罗山式褶皱样式 ,反映出盖层浅层滑脱的变形特征     

Tectonics of the Longmen Shan and Adjacent Regions,Central China

The Longmen Shan region includes, from west to east, the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, the Sichuan Basin, and the eastern part of the eastern Sichuan fold-and-thrust belt. In the northeast, it merges with the Micang Shan, a part of the Qinling Mountains. The Longmen Shan region can be divided into two major tectonic elements: (1) an autochthon/parautochthon, which underlies the easternmost part of the Tibetan Plateau, the Sichuan Basin, and the eastern Sichuan fold-and-thrust belt; and (2) a complex allochthon, which underlies the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The allochthon was emplaced toward the southeast during Late Triassic time, and it and the western part of the autochthon/parautochthon were modified by Cenozoic deformation.

The autochthon/parautochthon was formed from the western part of the Yangtze platform and consists of a Proterozoic basement covered by a thin, incomplete succession of Late Proterozoic to Middle Triassic shallow-marine and nonmarine sedimentary rocks interrupted by Permian extension and basic magmatism in the southwest. The platform is bounded by continental margins that formed in Silurian time to the west and in Late Proterozoic time to the north. Within the southwestern part of the platform is the narrow N-trending Kungdian high, a paleogeographic unit that was positive during part of Paleozoic time and whose crest is characterized by nonmarine Upper Triassic rocks unconformably overlying Proterozoic basement.

In the western part of the Longmen Shan region, the allochthon is composed mainly of a very thick succession of strongly folded Middle and Upper Triassic Songpan Ganzi flysch. Along the eastern side and at the base of the allochthon, pre-Upper Triassic rocks crop out, forming the only exposures of the western margin of the Yangtze platform. Here, Upper Proterozoic to Ordovician, mainly shallow-marine rocks unconformably overlie Yangtze-type Proterozic basement rocks, but in Silurian time a thick section of fine-grained clastic and carbonate rocks were deposited, marking the initial subsidence of the western Yangtze platform and formation of a continental margin. Similar deep-water rocks were deposited throughout Devonian to Middle Triassic time, when Songpan Ganzi flysch deposition began. Permian conglomerate and basic volcanic rocks in the southeastern part of the allochthon indicate a second period of extension along the continental margin. Evidence suggests that the deep-water region along and west of the Yangtze continental margin was underlain mostly by thin continental crust, but its westernmost part may have contained areas underlain by oceanic crust. In the northern part of the Longmen Shan allochthon, thick Devonian to Upper Triassic shallow-water deposits of the Xue Shan platform are flanked by deep-marine rocks and the platform is interpreted to be a fragment of the Qinling continental margin transported westward during early Mesozoic transpressive tectonism.

In the Longmen Shan region, the allochthon, carrying the western part of the Yangtze continental margin and Songpan Ganzi flysch, was emplaced to the southeast above rocks of the Yangtze platform autochthon. The eastern margin of the allochthon in the northern Longmen Shan is unconformably overlapped by both Lower and Middle Jurassic strata that are continuous with rocks of the autochthon. Folded rocks of the allochthon are unconformably overlapped by Lower and Middle Jurassic rocks in rare outcrops in the northern part of the region. They also are extensively intruded by a poorly dated, generally undeformed belt, of plutons whose ages (mostly K/Ar ages) range from Late Triassic to early Cenozoic, but most of the reliable ages are early Mesozoic. All evidence indicates that the major deformation within the allochthon is Late Triassic/Early Jurassic in age (Indosinian). The eastern front of the allochthon trends southwest across the present mountain front, so it lies along the mountain front in the northeast, but is located well to the west of the present mountain front on the south.

The Late Triassic deformation is characterized by upright to overturned folded and refolded Triassic flysch, with generally NW-trending axial traces in the western part of the region. Folds and thrust faults curve to the north when traced to the east, so that along the eastern front of the allochthon structures trend northeast, involve pre-Triassic rocks, and parallel the eastern boundary of the allochthon. The curvature of structural trends is interpreted as forming part of a left-lateral transpressive boundary developed during emplacement of the allochthon. Regionally, the Longmen Shan lies along a NE-trending transpressive margin of the Yangtze platform within a broad zone of generally N-S shortening. North of the Longmen Shan region, northward subduction led to collision of the South and North China continental fragments along the Qinling Mountains, but northwest of the Longmen Shan region, subduction led to shortening within the Songpan Ganzi flysch basin, forming a detached fold-and-thrust belt. South of the Longmen Shan region, the flysch basin is bounded by the Shaluli Shan/Chola Shan arc—an originally Sfacing arc that reversed polarity in Late Triassic time, leading to shortening along the southern margin of the Songpan Ganzi flysch belt. Shortening within the flysch belt was oblique to the Yangtze continental margin such that the allochthon in the Longmen Shan region was emplaced within a left-lateral transpressive environment. Possible clockwise rotation of the Yangtze platform (part of the South China continental fragment) also may have contributed to left-lateral transpression with SE-directed shortening. During left-lateral transpression, the Xue Shan platform was displaced southwestward from the Qinling orogen and incorporated into the Longmen Shan allochthon. Westward movement of the platform caused complex refolding in the northern part of the Longmen Shan region.

Emplacement of the allochthon flexurally loaded the western part of the Yangtze platform autochthon, forming a Late Triassic foredeep. Foredeep deposition, often involving thick conglomerate units derived from the west, continued from Middle Jurassic into Cretaceous time, although evidence for deformation of this age in the allochthon is generally lacking.

Folding in the eastern Sichuan fold-and-thrust belt along the eastern side of the Sichuan Basin can be dated as Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous in age, but only in areas 100 km east of the westernmost folds. Folding and thrusting was related to convergent activity far to the east along the eastern margin of South China. The westernmost folds trend southwest and merge to the south with folds and locally form refolded folds that involve Upper Cretaceous and lower Cenozoic rocks. The boundary between Cenozoic and late Mesozoic folding on the eastern and southern margins of the Sichuan Basin remains poorly determined.

The present mountainous eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in the Longmen Shan region is a consequence of Cenozoic deformation. It rises within 100 km from 500–600 m in the Sichuan Basin to peaks in the west reaching 5500 m and 7500 m in the north and south, respectively. West of these high peaks is the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, an area of low relief at an elevations of about 4000 m.

Cenozoic deformation can be demonstrated in the autochthon of the southern Longmen Shan, where the stratigraphic sequence is without an angular unconformity from Paleozoic to Eocene or Oligocene time. During Cenozoic deformation, the western part of the Yangtze platform (part of the autochthon for Late Triassic deformation) was deformed into a N- to NE-trending foldandthrust belt. In its eastern part the fold-thrust belt is detached near the base of the platform succession and affects rocks within and along the western and southern margin of the Sichuan Basin, but to the west and south the detachment is within Proterozoic basement rocks. The westernmost structures of the fold-thrust belt form a belt of exposed basement massifs. During the middle and later part of the Cenozoic deformation, strike-slip faulting became important; the fold-thrust belt became partly right-lateral transpressive in the central and northeastern Longmen Shan. The southern part of the fold-thrust belt has a more complex evolution. Early Nto NE-trending folds and thrust faults are deformed by NW-trending basementinvolved folds and thrust faults that intersect with the NE-trending right-lateral strike-slip faults. Youngest structures in this southern area are dominated by left-lateral transpression related to movement on the Xianshuihe fault system.

The extent of Cenozoic deformation within the area underlain by the early Mesozoic allochthon remains unknown, because of the absence of rocks of the appropriate age to date Cenozoic deformation. Klippen of the allochthon were emplaced above the Cenozoic fold-andthrust belt in the central part of the eastern Longmen Shan, indicating that the allochthon was at least partly reactivated during Cenozoic time. Only in the Min Shan in the northern part of the allochthon is Cenozoic deformation demonstrated along two active zones of E-W shortening and associated left-slip. These structures trend obliquely across early Mesozoic structures and are probably related to shortening transferred from a major zone of active left-slip faulting that trends through the western Qinling Mountains. Active deformation is along the left-slip transpressive NW-trending Xianshuihe fault zone in the south, right-slip transpression along several major NE-trending faults in the central and northeastern Longmen Shan, and E-W shortening with minor left-slip movement along the Min Jiang and Huya fault zones in the north.

Our estimates of Cenozoic shortening along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau appear to be inadequate to account for the thick crust and high elevation of the plateau. We suggest here that the thick crust and high elevation is caused by lateral flow of the middle and lower crust eastward from the central part of the plateau and only minor crustal shortening in the upper crust. Upper crustal structure is largely controlled in the Longmen Shan region by older crustal anisotropics; thus shortening and eastward movement of upper crustal material is characterized by irregular deformation localized along older structural boundaries.     

The Middle Jurassic radiolarites and pelagic limestones of the Nieves unit (Rondaide Complex, Betic Cordillera): basin starvation in a rifted marginal slope of the western Tethys

Middle Jurassic radiolarites and associated pelagic limestones occur in the Rondaide Nieves unit of the Betic Cordillera, southern Spain. The Rondaide Mesozoic includes: (a) a thick succession of Triassic platform carbonates, comparable to the Alpine Hauptdolomit and Kössen facies; (b) Lower Jurassic pelagic limestones comparable to the Alpine Hierlatz and Adnet facies; (c) the Middle Jurassic Parauta Radiolarite Formation, described herein; and (d) a thin Upper Jurassic-Cretaceous condensed limestone succession. The Parauta Radiolarite Formation and associated limestones were studied with respect to stratigraphy, petrography, micropalaeontology (radiolarians, calcareous nanno- and microfossils) and facies. Radiolarite sedimentation occurred in the Middle Bathonian in a restricted and dysoxic deep Nieves basin, perched in the distal zone of a continental margin fringing the Tethyan ocean. This margin was adjacent to a young narrow oceanic basin between the South-Iberian margin and a continental block called Mesomediterranean Terrane. The Nieves basin was part of a marine corridor between the Proto-Atlantic and Piedmont-Ligurian basins of the Alpine Tethys. The regional tectonic position, the stratigraphical evolution since the Triassic, the age and the nature of the Mesozoic facies and the palaeogeographic relations to adjacent domains show striking analogies between the Betic Rondaide margin and coeval units of the Alps.     

The Triassic of the Thakkhola (Nepal). II: Paleolatitudes and comparison with other Eastern Tethyan Margins of Gondwana

During the Triassic, the Thakkhola region of the Nepal Himalaya was part of the broad continental shelf of Gondwana facing a wide Eastern Tethys ocean. This margin was continuous from Arabia to Northwest Australia and spanned tropical and temperate latitudes.A compilation of Permian, Triassic and early Jurassic paleomagnetic data from the reconstructed Gondwana blocks indicates that the margin was progressively shifting northward into more tropical latitudes. The Thakkhola region was approximately 55° S during Late Permian, 40° S during Early Triassic, 30° S during Middle Triassic and 25° S during Late Triassic. This paleolatitude change produced a general increase in the relative importance of carbonate deposition through the Triassic on the Himalaya and Australian margins. Regional tectonics were important in governing local subsidence rates and influx of terrigenous clastics to these Gondwana margins; but eustatic sea-level changes provide a regional and global correlation of major marine transgressions, prograding margin deposits and shallowing-upward successions. A general mega-cycle characterizes the Triassic beginning with a major transgression at the base of the Triassic, followed by a general shallowing-upward of facies during Middle and Late Triassic, and climaxing with a regression in the latest Triassic.     

Comparative analysis of the geological structure,sedimentation conditions,and petroleum potential of the Mesopotamian and Terek-Caspian Foredeeps

The formation of foredeeps in the Alpine Orogenic Belt was related to convergence of the Eurasian and African-Arabian continental blocks. The Arabian Plate existed in the Mesozoic as the southern passive margin of the Tethys Ocean. In contrast, the Scythian Plate with the Terek-Caspian Foredeep in the southern part was situated in the rear zone of a complex transitional zone that included marginal volcanic arcs and marginal seas. Although the composition of Mesozoic-Cenozoic rocks in both regions is significantly different (carbonate-terrigenous composition in the Terek-Caspian Foredeep and evaporite-carbonate composition in the Mesopotamian one), they demonstrate obvious similar features. Diapirism is typical of both foredeeps: deformation of salts in the Persian Gulf area; deformation of clays and, possibly, salts in the Terek Depression; and presence of the principal oil pools in fractured and porous-fractured carbonate reservoirs. The significantly higher oil/gas-bearing (hereafter, petroleum) potential of the Mesopotamian Foredeep is related to the presence of evaporites, as regional screens for fluids at several levels of the section.     

Bilelyeri Group, Antalya Complex: deposition on a Mesozoic passive continental margin, south-west Turkey

The Bilelyeri Group comprises complexly deformed Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of continental-margin affinities (Kumluca Zone). These are structurally intercalated between a coeval carbonate platform to the west (Bey Daǧlari Zone) and late Triassic ophiolitic rocks and sediments, interpreted as emplaced marginal oceanic crust, to the east (Gödene Zone). Four formations erected in the Bilelyeri Group record the later stages of continental rifting and the progressive development of part of a Mesozoic passive continental margin. The two late Triassic formations, the Telekta? Tepe and the Hatipalani Formations, are dominated by terrigenous clastic and calcareous clastic sediments, including large detached blocks of reef limestone. These rocks were laid down by mostly mass-flow and turbidity-flow into steep-sided rift depressions. Organic reefs were constructed in bordering shallow seas while terrigenous clastic sediment was shed from exposed basement horsts. Thick sequences of mafic lavas were extruded (Norian) in axial parts of the rift zones, followed by a regional change to deposition of pelagic Halobia-bearing limestone. This culminated in a major hiatus involving large-scale sliding of shallow-water limestones into deeper water. The Jurassic to early Cretaceous Dereköy Formation mostly consists of siltstones, radiolarian cherts and mudstones, intercalated with redeposited limestones and black shales. During this time parts of the margin were bordered by major offshore carbonate complexes constructed partly on basement fragments previously rifted off the parent continental areas. Black shales and reduced hemipelagic sediments were deposited in an elongate trough between the main platform and an offshore complex to the east. Some degree of margin reactivation in the early Cretaceous is indicated by renewed deposition of turbiditic sandstone and chloritic clays in some distal sequences. Strong relative enrichment of manganese in some horizons is attributed to offshore volcanic exhalations. Subsequent regional subsidence in the mid-to late Cretaceous is suggested by a switch to predominantly calcareous, pelagic sedimentation on the adjacent platform and the offshore massifs as well as on the Bilelyeri margin. Tectonic disruption of the platform edge during the late Cretaceous is implied by major redeposition of shallow-water shelf limestones in proximal Bilelyeri sequences. The Bilelyeri margin and the adjacent Gödene Zone were tectonically deformed in latest Cretaceous to early Tertiary time and were thrust over the adjacent Bey Daǧlari platform in the early Miocene. Viewed in an East Mediterranean perspective, the Bilelyeri sequences were part of a locally north-south trending segment of a regionally east-west margin to a substantial oceanic area further south. This segment apparently suffered significant strike-slip deformation both during its construction and its later emplacement. Instructive comparisons can be made with other areas of the East Mediterranean, especially south-west Cyprus.     

Tectonic Setting and Nature of the Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks in Lanping Mesozoic- Cenozoic Basin： Evidence from Geochemistry of Sandstones

The geochemical composition of sandstones in the sedimentary basin is controlled mainly by the tectonic setting of the provenance, and it is therefore possible to reveal the tectonic setting of the provenance and the nature of source rocks in terms of the geochemical composition of sandstones. The major elements, rare-earth dements and trace elements of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic sandstones in the Lanping Basin are studied in this paper, revealing that the tectonic settings of the provenance for Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary rocks in the Lanping Basin belong to a passive continental margin and a continental island arc. Combined with the data on sedimentary facies and palaeogeography, it is referred that the eastern part of the basin is located mainly at the tectonic setting of the passive continental margin before Mesozoic, whereas the western part may be represented by a continental island arc. This is compatible with the regional geology data. The protoliths of sedimentary rocks should be derived from the upper continental crust, and are composed mainly of felsic rocks, mixed with some andesitic rocks and old sediment components. Therefore, the Lanping Mesozoic-Cenozoic Basin is a typical continental-type basin. This provides strong geochemical evidence for the evolution of the paleo-Tethys and theb asin-range transition.     

Passive and active margin history of the northern Tatricum (Western Carpathians,Slovakia)

The Tatricum, an upper crustal thrust sheet of the Central Western Carpathians, comprises pre-Alpine crystalline basement and a Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary cover. The sedimentary record indicates gradual subsidence during the Triassic, Early Jurassic initial rifting, a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous extensional tectonic regime with episodic rifting events and thermal subsidence periods, and Middle Cretaceous overall flexural subsidence in front of the orogenic wedge prograding from the hinterland. Passive rifting led to the separation of the Central Carpathian realm from the North European Platform. A passive margin, rimmed by peripheral half-graben, was formed along the northern Tatric edge, facing the Vahic (South Penninic) oceanic domain. The passive versus active margin inversion occurred during the Senonian, when the Vahic ocean began to be consumed southwards below the Tatricum. It is argued that passive to active margin conversion is an integral part of the general shortening polarity of the Western Carpathians during the Mesozoic that lacks features of an independent Wilson cycle. An attempt is presented to explain all the crustal deformation by one principal driving force - the south-eastward slab pull generated by the subduction of the Meliatic (Triassic-Jurassic Tethys) oceanic lithosphere followed by the subcrustal subduction of the continental mantle lithosphere.     

An explosion seismology investigation of the continental margin west of the Hebrides, Scotland, at 58°N

During summer 1975, a line of large shots was fired across the continental margin between the Rockall Trough and the Hebridean shelf along 58°N. Arrivals were observed at temporary seismic stations set up across Scotland and in northwestern Ireland. A clear P₂ phase was observed to cross the margin and a converted phase P₁ also seen on the records is interpreted as travelling in the sub-sedimentary oceanic crust of Rockall Trough and in the upper continental crust beneath the shelf.The continental crust beneath the Hebridean shelf is estimated to be 27 ± 2 km thick, with P_g = 6.22 ± 0.03 km/s and P_n = 8.01 ± 0.04 km/s as determined by time-term analysis. P_g delays on the outer shelf are interpreted in terms of a seaward thickening wedge of Mesozoic sediments which pre-date the split. P_n beneath the Rockall Trough was poorly determined at 8.20 ± 0.17 km/s and the Moho is estimated to be 18 ± 2 km deep at 58°N. This and other seismic and gravity work indicates a northward thickening of the crust along the Rockall Trough, accounting for the northward decrease in the height of the slope.Our results, and those of gravity interpretations, indicate a relatively abrupt transition between continental and oceanic crust, possibly correlating with the lack of major shelf subsidence. This is attributed to a relatively cool origin for this margin. The main thinning of the continental crust beneath the slope is attributed to outslip of continental crustal material into and beneath the newly forming oceanic crust during the first few million years after the split, possibly enhanced by pre-split stretching.     

兰坪中新生代盆地沉积岩源区构造背景和物源属性研究--砂岩地球化学证据

沉积盆地中砂岩的地球化学成分主要受物源区控制。因此，通过分析砂岩的化学成分可以揭示盆地沉积岩的源区构造背景和物源属性。对兰坪盆地中新生界砂岩的常量成分、稀土和微量元素进行的分析，揭示盆地沉积岩的源区构造背景属被动大陆边缘和大陆岛弧，结合岩相古地理资料认为在中生代以前，盆地东侧可能主要处于被动大陆边缘环境。而西侧则可能以大陆岛弧环境为主，这与区域地质资料相吻合。沉积物源岩的原始物质应来自上地壳，以长英质岩石为主，并有少量安山质岩石和古老沉积物的混入，故兰坪中新生代盆地属典型的大陆型盆地。从而为正确认识古特提斯洋的演化和盆山转换过程提供了强有力的地球化学证据。     

Rhodope and Vardar: the metamorphic and the olistostromic paired belts related to the Cretaceous subduction under Europe

Abstract

The Rhodope massif of Bulgaria and Greece is a complex of Mesozoic synmetamorphic nappes stacked in an Alpine active margin environment. A new analysis of the Triassic to Eocene history of the Vardar suture zone m Greece discloses its Cretaceous setting as a subduction trench. We present a geological traverse that takes into account these new observatons and runs from the Hellenides to the Balkans, i.e. from he African to the Eurasian sides of the Tethys ocean, respectively. The present review first defines the revisited limits of the Rhodope metamorphic complex. In particular, the lower part of the Serbo- Macedonian massif is an extension of the Rhodope units west of the Struma river. Its upper part is separated as the Frolosh greenschist unit, which underlies tectonic slivers of Carpathc-Balkanic type. Several greenschist units which locally yield Mesozoic fossils, follow the outer limits of the Rhodope. Their former attribution to a stratigraphic cover of the Rhodope has been proven false. They are divided into roof greenschists, which partly represent an extension of the Strandza Jurassic black shales basin, and western greenschists, which mostly derive from the Vardar Cretaceous olistostromic assemblage. The Rhodope complex of synmetamorphic nappes includes Continental Units and Mixed Units. The Continental Units comprise quartzo-feld-spathic gneisses in addition to thick marble layers. The Mixed Units comprise meta-ophiolites as large bodies or small knockers. They are imbricated, forming an open dome whose lower, Continental Unit constitutes the Drama window. The uppermost Mixed Unit is overlain by remnants of the European plate. The present-day structure results from combined large-scale thrust and exhumation tectonics. Regional inversions of synmetamorphic sense-of-shear indicate that intermediate parts of the wedge moved upward and forward with respect to both the lower and upper plates. A kinematic model is based on buoyancy-driven decoupling at depth between subducted continental crust and the subducting lithosphere. Continuing convergence allows coeval underthrusting of continental crust at the footwall, decoupling at depth, and upward-forward expulsion of a low-density metamorphic wedge above. The continental crust input and its upward return may have lasted for at least the whole of the Early Cretaceous, as indicated by isotopic ages and the deformation history of the upper plate. A Late Eocene marine transgression divides the ensuing structural and thermal evolution into a follow-up uplift stage and a renewed uplift stage. Revision of the limits of the Vardar belt in Greece first resulted in separating the Paikon mountain as a tectonic window below the Vardar nappes. It belongs to the western, Hellenic foreland into which a system of thrust developed downward between 60 and 40 Ma. The eastern limit is a dextral strike-slip fault zone that developed greenschist facies foliations locally dated at 50–40 Ma. Revision of the lithological components discloses the preponderance of Cretaceous volcano-detritic and olistostromic sequences that include metamorphite blocks of Rhodope origin. Rock units that belong to the Vardar proper (ophiolites, Triassic and Jurassic radiolarites, remnants of an eastern Triassic passive margin) attest for a purely oceanic basin. The Guevgueli arc documents the Jurassic change of the eastern Triassic passive margin into an active one. This arc magmatic activity ended in the Late Jurassic and plate convergence was transferred farther northeast to the subduction boundary along which the Rhodope metamorphic complex formed. We interpret the Rhodope and the Vardar as paired elements of a Cretaceous accretionary wedge. They document the tectonic process that exhumed metamorphic material from under the upper plate, and the tectonic-sedimentary process that fed the trench on the lower plate. The history of the Rhodope-Vardar pair is placed in the light of the history of the Tethys ocean between Africa and Europe. The Cretaceous subduction then appears as the forerunner of the present Hellenic subduction, accounting for several shifts at the expense of the lower plate. The Late Eocene shift, at the closure of the Pindos basin, is coeval with the initiation of new uplift and magmatism in the Rhodope, which probably document the final release of the low-density, continental root of the Rhodope from subduction drag.     

The Misis–Andırın Complex: a Mid-Tertiary melange related to late-stage subduction of the Southern Neotethys in S Turkey

The Mid-Tertiary (Mid-Eocene to earliest Miocene) Misis–Andırın Complex documents tectonic-sedimentary processes affecting the northerly, active margin of the South Tethys (Neotethys) in the easternmost Mediterranean region. Each of three orogenic segments, Misis (in the SW), Andırın (central) and Engizek (in the NE) represent parts of an originally continuous active continental margin. A structurally lower Volcanic-Sedimentary Unit includes Late Cretaceous arc-related extrusives and their Lower Tertiary pelagic cover. This unit is interpreted as an Early Tertiary remnant of the Mesozoic South Tethys. The overlying melange unit is dominated by tectonically brecciated blocks (>100 m across) of Mesozoic neritic limestone that were derived from the Tauride carbonate platform to the north, together with accreted ophiolitic material. The melange matrix comprises polymict debris flows, high- to low-density turbidites and minor hemipelagic sediments.The Misis–Andırın Complex is interpreted as an accretionary prism related to the latest stages of northward subduction of the South Tethys and diachronous continental collision of the Tauride (Eurasian) and Arabian (African) plates during Mid-Eocene to earliest Miocene time. Slivers of Upper Cretaceous oceanic crust and its Early Tertiary pelagic cover were accreted, while blocks of Mesozoic platform carbonates slid from the overriding plate. Tectonic mixing and sedimentary recycling took place within a trench. Subduction culminated in large-scale collapse of the overriding (northern) margin and foundering of vast blocks of neritic carbonate into the trench. A possible cause was rapid roll back of dense downgoing Mesozoic oceanic crust, such that the accretionary wedge taper was extended leading to gravity collapse. Melange formation was terminated by underthrusting of the Arabian plate from the south during earliest Miocene time.Collision was diachronous. In the east (Engizek Range and SE Anatolia) collision generated a Lower Miocene flexural basin infilled with turbidites and a flexural bulge to the south. Miocene turbiditic sediments also covered the former accretionary prism. Further west (Misis Range) the easternmost Mediterranean remained in a pre-collisional setting with northward underthrusting (incipient subduction) along the Cyprus arc. The Lower Miocene basins to the north (Misis and Adana) indicate an extensional (to transtensional) setting. The NE–SW linking segment (Andırın) probably originated as a Mesozoic palaeogeographic offset of the Tauride margin. This was reactivated by strike-slip (and transtension) during Later Tertiary diachronous collision. Related to on-going plate convergence the former accretionary wedge (upper plate) was thrust over the Lower Miocene turbiditic basins in Mid–Late Miocene time. The Plio-Quaternary was dominated by left-lateral strike-slip along the East Anatolian transform fault and also along fault strands cutting the Misis–Andırın Complex.