Rapid tectonic exhumation, detachment faulting and orogenic collapse in the Caledonides of western Ireland

Collision of the oceanic Lough Nafooey Island Arc with the passive margin of Laurentia after 480 Ma in western Ireland resulted in the deformation, magmatism and metamorphism of the Grampian Orogeny, analogous to the modern Taiwan and Miocene New Guinea Orogens. After 470 Ma, the metamorphosed Laurentian margin sediments (Dalradian Supergroup) now exposed in Connemara and North Mayo were cooled rapidly (>35 °C/m.y.) and exhumed to the surface. We propose that this exhumation occurred mainly as a result of an oceanward collapse of the colliding arc southwards, probably aided by subduction rollback, into the new trench formed after subduction polarity reversal following collision. The Achill Beg Fault, in particular, along the southern edge of the North Mayo Dalradian Terrane, separates very low-grade sedimentary rocks of the South Mayo Trough (Lough Nafooey forearc) and accreted sedimentary rocks of the Clew Bay Complex from high-grade Dalradian meta-sedimentary rocks, suggesting that this was a major detachment structure. In northern Connemara, the unconformity between the Dalradian and the Silurian cover probably represents an eroded major detachment surface, with the Renvyle–Bofin Slide as a related but subordinate structure. Blocks of sheared mafic and ultramafic rocks in the Dalradian immediately below this unconformity surface probably represent arc lower crustal and mantle rocks or fragments of a high level ophiolite sheet entrained along the detachment during exhumation.Orogenic collapse was accompanied in the South Mayo Trough by coarse clastic sedimentation derived mostly from the exhuming Dalradian to the north and, to a lesser extent, from the Lough Nafooey Arc to the south. Sediment flow in the South Mayo Trough was dominantly axial, deepening toward the west. Volcanism associated with orogenic collapse (Rosroe and Mweelrea Formations) is variably enriched in high field strength elements, suggesting a heterogeneous enriched mantle wedge under the new post-collisional continental arc.     

Turbidites from the Clew Bay Complex,Ireland: provenance based on petrography,geochemistry and crustal residence values

The Clew Bay Complex in the Irish Caledonides represents a Caledonian element separating the Irish–Scottish Dalradian to the north from the South Mayo Ordovician arc basins to the south. The petrographic, geochemical and crustal residence characteristics of the Silurian sandstones within the complex are presented. Petrological analysis indicates that the sandstones were derived from a transitional continental provenance, possibly a passive continental margin or the cratonic flank of a foreland basin. Whole rock geochemistry confirms this provenance type and demonstrates the absence of any significant ophiolite detritus. Sm–Nd model ages indicate a possible derivation from Upper Dalradian or Torridonian rocks, although a mixed provenance may also be considered. These data indicate distinct differences between these turbidites and those of the nearby North Galway succession and suggest that the Clew Bay Complex could be regarded as a suspect terrane with respect to at least parts of the South Mayo arc zone. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Narooma Terrane offshore: a new model for the southeastern Lachlan Orogen using data from rocks dredged from the New South Wales continental slope

Eight dredges from the southern New South Wales continental slope sampled the offshore extension of the Lachlan Orogen. Two rock suites were recovered: (1) lower greenshist facies limestones, felsic volcanics, sandstones, mudstones and Moruya Suite granodiorite correlate with the onshore Silurian to mid-Devonian orogenic phase; and (2) a strongly deformed greenschist to lower amphibolite facies mafic volcanics, cherts, marbles, pelites and serpentinites correlate in part with the Cambro-Ordovician Wagonga Group of the Narooma Terrane. The mafic volcanic rocks have ocean island, tholeiitic and boninitic basalt affinities. The offshore distribution of ocean island basalt that correlates with medial Cambrian basalt breccias at Batemans Bay suggests a large seamount or seamount complex. The boninites, tholeiites and ultramafics could be part of a forearc-generated ophiolite. The Narooma Terrane basement is interpreted as the part of the bonititic arc postulated to have collided with Vandieland in late early Cambrian time. Mid-Cambrian rifting of the oceanward part of this arc remnant, generated the Albury–Bega Terrane oceanic basement exposed in the Howqua Valley in the west and Melville Point in the east. Overlying are upper–mid-Cambrian to lowermost Ordovician black shale and chert, Lower Ordovician to Gisbornian Adaminaby Group quartz turbidites and Gisbornian to lower Bolindian Bendoc Group black shales. Batemans Bay exposures are reinterpreted as a dismembered basin margin succession onlapping the west-facing attenuated flank of the Narooma Terrane. The Narooma Cambro-Ordovician cherts and mudstones were initially deposited outboard on the more elevated seamount flank elevated above the clastic-filled basin to the west. Benambran deformation commenced in latest Ordovician time uplifting the outer Narooma Terrane, shedding debris from the seamount and its flanks, culminating in allochthonous displacement of chert masses to the basin's eastern margin to Narooma, and emplacing them as a succession of thrust sheets. Contemporaneously, silt and mud of the Bogolo Formation, deposited from the west, were mixed with olistostomal basalt and chert debris from the east. Early Silurian westward tectonic transport of the Narooma Terrane ruptured the Albury-Bega basin floor at Batemans Bay, thrusting it and its sedimentary cover over its eastern margin as a series of thrusts each floored by melange (mapped Bogolo Formation), derived from the slope debris and its overpressured sedimentary cover. Offshore, the metamorphosed Benambran phase rocks are unconformably overlain by Tabberabberan cycle sediments and volcanics intruded by granodiorite. Our interpretation of the boundary between the Albury-Bega and Narooma terranes as a thrusted passive margin accumulation is incompatible with models of a Narooma Accretionary Complex formed by the subduction of the Paleopacific Plate.     

Tectonic history of the ophiolitic rocks of the highland border fracture zone, Scotland: Stable isotope evidence from rock-fluid interactions during obduction

The mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Highland Border Fracture Zone are ophiolitic remnants of a pre-Grampian marginal basin that opened either within, or to the north of, the Dalradian sedimentary pile. Closure of the basin was achieved through a combination of northerly-directed subduction, and obduction of ophiolitic thrust-slices onto the basin's southern margin. During the early stages of obduction, young hot peridotite slabs were thrust over the cold upper surfaces of lower thrust sheets, producing a dynamothermal metamorphic sole. Serpentinisation of these peridotites, whilst they were still cooling, occurred in a near-surface position through the interaction of meteoric waters. Subsequently, the ophiolitic thrust-sheets, which comprise lizardite serpentinites, spilitic pillow lavas, and aureole rocks, were thrust over the uppermost Dalradian nappes which were themselves being expelled southwards, thereby accommodating basement shortening. Grampian regional metamorphism of the nappe pile and overlying Highland Border Suite ophiolitic thrust sheets, produced greenschist metaspilites from the spilitic pillow lavas, induced minor retrogression in the aureole rocks, and caused the lizardite in the serpentinites to be recrystallised and replaced by antigorite. The Highland Border Suite greenschist facies metamorphic fluids were D-enriched compared with low-grade Dalradian metamorphic waters, and may have been mixtures of the latter and D-rich dehydration fluids released from the mafic rocks during dynamothermal metamorphism. Brittle fracturing and shearing in the serpentinites were responses to late deformation at different crustal levels during the final stages of emplacement, which involved gravity-sliding as well as downbending of the Dalradian nappes and ophiolitic thrust-sheets against the elevated Midland Valley block.     

Crustal structure of the Ordovician Macquarie Arc,Eastern Lachlan Orogen,based on seismic‐reflection profiling

In the Eastern Lachlan Orogen, the mineralised Molong and Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belts are two structural belts that once formed part of the Ordovician Macquarie Arc, but are now separated by younger Silurian‐Devonian strata as well as by Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites. Interpretation of deep seismic reflection and refraction data across and along these belts provides answers to some of the key questions in understanding the evolution of the Eastern Lachlan Orogen—the relationship between coeval Ordovician volcanics and quartz‐rich turbidites, and the relationship between separate belts of Ordovician volcanics and the intervening strata. In particular, the data provide evidence for major thrust juxtaposition of the arc rocks and Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites, with Wagga Belt rocks thrust eastward over the arc rocks of the Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belt, and the Adaminaby Group thrust north over arc rocks in the southern part of the Molong Volcanic Belt. The seismic data also provide evidence for regional contraction, especially for crustal‐scale deformation in the western part of the Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belt. The data further suggest that this belt and the Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites to the east (Kirribilli Formation) were together thrust over ?Cambrian‐Ordovician rocks of the Jindalee Group and associated rocks along west‐dipping inferred faults that belong to a set that characterises the middle crust of the Eastern Lachlan Orogen. The Macquarie Arc was subsequently rifted apart in the Silurian‐Devonian, with Ordovician volcanics preserved under the younger troughs and shelves (e.g. Hill End Trough). The Molong Volcanic Belt, in particular, was reworked by major down‐to‐the‐east normal faults that were thrust‐reactivated with younger‐on‐older geometries in the late Early ‐ Middle Devonian and again in the Carboniferous.     

The sedimentological evolution of a Lower Palaeozoic accretionary fore-arc in the Southern Uplands of Scotland

Thick turbidites accumulated along the northern margin of the Iapetus Ocean in Britain from mid-Ordovician to late Silurian times. Recent plate tectonic reconstructions hold that, during subduction, packets of these sediments, together with the underlying pelagic facies and thin portions of the uppermost ocean crust, were stripped from the descending plate and accreted to the inner trench wall on the Laurentian (North American) continental margin. The resulting accretionary prism is represented today by the Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the Southern Uplands of Scotland and the Longford-Down massif of Ireland. In these areas major reverse faults separate tracts of steeply dipping greywackes and mudstones with minor amounts of cherts and basalts. These tracts are up to several kilometres wide; their constituent beds face predominantly to the northwest, away from the site of the ancient ocean, while becoming progressively younger in each major fault slice towards the Iapetus suture in the southeast. From the stratigraphic sequences in these fault slices the sedimentary history of a portion of the Iapetus Ocean, and the British sector of its northern margin, can be reconstructed. In the Southern Uplands the earliest turbidites (mid- and late-Ordovician) are preserved in the northernmost fault slices. Regional facies trends, and vertical facies analysis, suggest that they accumulated in a trench dominated by a series of relatively small lower trench slope-derived fans. Pelagic sediments of the same age are found in the fault slices to the south, suggesting that the Ordovician turbidites were confined to the trench. During the lower and middle Llandovery, volcaniclastic trench turbidites were separated from quartz-rich ocean-floor turbidites (represented in the southern fault slices) by an elongate rise, on which pelagic deposits accumulated. This is interpreted as the outer trench high. In late Llandovery times the rise was overwhelmed, and thick laterally derived quartzose turbidites blanketed both the trench and the ocean floor. Sedimentation was strongly influenced by the evolution of the accretionary prism. By Llandovery times a trench slope break had emerged, supplying sediment both south to the trench and north to an upper slope basin in the Midland Valley of Scotland. In this basin early Silurian turbidites were followed by shallow-water and terrestrial sediments. Most of the sediment was derived from the emergent trench slope break: the volcanic arc and the Grampian orogenic belt to the north provided little or no detritus. Throughout the Ordovician and Silurian, sediment in the trench and on the ocean floor was derived from the volcanic arc, from the lower trench slope/trench slope break, from a degrading plutonic/metamorphic terrain (the Grampian Orogen), and locally by a minor amount of submarine sliding from carbonate-capped volcanic seamounts. Progressive elevation of the trench slope break in Silurian (and perhaps late Ordovician) times indicates that sediment from the arc-orogen hinterland must have bypassed the upper slope in the unexposed section of the margin to the northeast of the Southern Uplands, and travelled into the area axially along the trench floor.     

The Stratigraphy of the Ordovician rocks of Anglesey

Arenig sandstones, grits and conglomerates rest unconformably on pre-Cambrian rocks (the Mona Complex) and are of variable thickness and facies. Higher Arenig and Llanvirn shales, grits, conglomerates, shaly breccias and ironstones are related to contemporaneous fault movements, with abundant slump structures and rare turbidites. A pre-Caradoc break in sedimentation was followed by deposition of shales, cherty shales, sandstones, breccias and conglomerates on Llanvirn, Arenig and pre-Cambrian rocks. The Carmel Head Thrust acted as a major line controlling sedimentation, with upthrow to the north. Lower Silurian graptolitic shales at Parys Mountain rest on an acid volcanic group of Caradoc (?) age.     

Diagenetic and very low-grade metamorphic characteristics of the Paleozoic series of the Istanbul Terrane (NW Turkey)

The Istanbul Terrane along the Black Sea coast in NW Anatolia, is a Gondwana-derived continental microplate, comprising a well-developed Paleozoic succession. Petrographic and X-ray diffraction studies were performed on rock samples from measured sections throughout Ordovician?CCarboniferous sedimentary units. Diagenetic-very low-grade metamorphic clastic (shale/mudstone, siltstone, sandstone) and calcareous rocks (limestone, dolomite) mainly contain phyllosilicates, quartz, feldspar, calcite, dolomite, hematite and goethite minerals. Phyllosilicates are primarily represented by illite, chlorite, mixed-layered chlorite?Cvermiculite (C?CV), chlorite?Csmectite (C?CS) and illite?Cchlorite (I?CC). Feldspar is commonly present in the Ordovician and Carboniferous units, whereas calcite and dolomite are abundant in the Silurian and Devonian sediments. The most important phyllosilicate assemblage is illite?+?chlorite?+?I?CC?+?C?CV?+?C?CS. Illite and chlorite-bearing mixed layer clays are found in all units. The amounts of illites increase in the upper parts of the Silurian series and the lower parts of the Devonian series, whereas chlorite and chlorite-bearing mixed-layers are dominant in the Ordovician and Carboniferous units. Kübler index values of illites reflect high-grade anchimetamorphism for the Early Ordovician rocks, low-grade metamorphism to high-grade diagenesis for the Middle Ordovician?CEarly Silurian rocks and high-grade diagenesis for the Late Silurian?CDevonian units. The K-white micas b cell dimensions indicate intermediate pressure conditions in the Early Ordovician?CEarly Silurian units, but lower pressure conditions in the Middle Silurian?CDevonian units. Illites are composed of 2M ₁?±?1M _d polytypes in all units, except for Upper Ordovician?CLower Silurian units which involve 1M polytype in addition to 2M ₁ and 1M _d polytypes. The 2M ₁/(2M ₁?+?1Md) ratios rise from Devonian to Ordovician together with the increasing diagenetic-metamorphic grade. Chlorites have IIb polytype. In general, crystal-chemical data of clay minerals in the Istanbul Terrane show a gradual increase in the diagenetic/metamorphic grade together with increasing depth. The new data presented in this work indicate that the diagenetic/metamorphic grade of the Paleozoic of the Istanbul Terrane is higher than that of the neighboring Zonguldak Terrane and generated by a single metamorphic phase developed at the end of Carboniferous. This finding contrasts with the metamorphic history of the neighboring Zonguldak Terrane that displays a distinct Early Devonian unconformity and a thermal event.     

An overview of the stratigraphy and tectonics of the Nepal Himalaya

Nepal can be divided into the following five east–west trending major tectonic zones. (i) The Terai Tectonic Zone which consists of over one km of Recent alluvium concealing the Churia Group (Siwalik equivalents) and underlying rocks of northern Peninsular India. Recently active southward-propagating thrusts and folds beneath the Terai have affected both the underlying Churia and the younger sediments. (ii) The Churia Zone, which consists of Neogene to Quaternary foreland basin deposits and forms the Himalayan mountain front. The Churia Zone represents the most tectonically active part of the Himalaya. Recent sedimentologic, geochronologic and paleomagnetic studies have yielded a much better understanding of the provenance, paleoenvironment of deposition and the ages of these sediments. The Churia Group was deposited between ∼14 Ma and ∼1 Ma. Sedimentary rocks of the Churia Group form an archive of the final drama of Himalayan uplift. Involvement of the underlying northern Peninsular Indian rocks in the active tectonics of the Churia Zone has also been recognised. Unmetamorphosed Phanerozoic rocks of Peninsular India underlying the Churia Zone that are involved in the Himalayan orogeny may represent a transitional environment between the Peninsula and the Tethyan margin of the continent. (iii) The Lesser Himalayan Zone, in which mainly Precambrian rocks are involved, consists of sedimentary rocks that were deposited on the Indian continental margin and represent the southernmost facies of the Tethyan sea. Panafrican diastrophism interrupted the sedimentation in the Lesser Himalayan Zone during terminal Precambrian time causing a widespread unconformity. That unconformity separates over 12 km of unfossiliferous sedimentary rocks in the Lesser Himalaya from overlying fossiliferous rocks which are >3 km thick and range in age from Permo-Carboniferous to Lower to Middle Eocene. The deposition of the Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene fluvial Dumri Formation records the emergence of the Himalayan mountains from under the sea. The Dumri represents the earliest foreland basin deposit of the Himalayan orogen in Nepal. Lesser Himalayan rocks are less metamorphosed than the rocks of the overlying Bhimphedis nappes and the crystalline rocks of the Higher Himalayan Zone. A broad anticline in the north and a corresponding syncline in the south along the Mahabharat range, as well as a number of thrusts and faults are the major structures of the Lesser Himalayan Zone which is thrust over the Churia Group along the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT). (iv) The crystalline high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Higher Himalayan Zone form the backbone of the Himalaya and give rise to its formidable high ranges. The Main Central Thrust (MCT) marks the base of this zone. Understanding the origin, timing of movement and associated metamorphism along the MCT holds the key to many questions about the evolution of the Himalaya. For example: the question of whether there is only one or whether there are two MCTs has been a subject of prolonged discussion without any conclusion having been reached. The well-known inverted metamorphism of the Himalaya and the late orogenic magmatism are generally attributed to movement along the MCT that brought a hot slab of High Himalayan Zone rocks over the cold Lesser Himalayan sequence. Harrison and his co-workers, as described in a paper in this volume, have lately proposed a detailed model of how this process operated. The rocks of the Higher Himalayan Zone are generally considered to be Middle Cambrian to Late Proterozoic in age. (v) The Tibetan Tethys Zone is represented by Cambrian to Cretaceous-Eocene fossiliferous sedimentary rocks overlying the crystalline rocks of the Higher Himalaya along the Southern Tibetan Detachment Fault System (STDFS) which is a north dipping normal fault system. The fault has dragged down to the north a huge pile of the Tethyan sedimentary rocks forming some of the largest folds on the Earth. Those sediments are generally considered to have been deposited in a more distal part of the Tethys than were the Lesser Himalayan sediments.The present tectonic architecture of the Himalaya is dominated by three master thrusts: the Main Central Thrust (MCT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT). The age of initiation of these thrusts becomes younger from north to south, with the MCT as the oldest and the MFT as the youngest. All these thrusts are considered to come together at depth in a flat-lying decollement called the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT). The Mahabharat Thrust (MT), an intermediate thrust between the MCT and the MBT is interpreted as having brought the Bhimphedi Group out over the Lesser Himalayan rocks giving rise to Lesser Himalayan nappes containing crystalline rocks. The position of roots of these nappes is still debated. The Southern Tibetan Detachment Fault System (STDFS) has played an important role in unroofing the higher Himalayan crystalline rocks.     

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.     

Lateral and vertical changes of deformation style in the osen-røa thrust sheet,Oslo region

Changes in deformation style and amounts of shortening in the Osen-Røa thrust sheet of the Oslo Region occur vertically and laterally approaching the thrust front in the south. Deformation in the CambroMiddle Ordovician sequence passes laterally from closely spaced imbricates in the north (50–60% shortening), through triangle, pop-up and imbricate zones toward the south (20–37% shortening) to widely spaced zones of deformation (up to 20% shortening) approaching the thrust front. Changes in deformation style are attributed to changing boundary conditions across the Klekken thrust, declining end-of-orogenic forces and an increase in thickness of competent units in the Ordovician rocks to the south. Vertical changes in deformation style are attributed to the increasing percentage of competent units upward in the Cambro-Silurian sedimentary rocks. In the north, the accompanying decrease in shortening upwards requires a structurally necessary upper detachment horizon to separate folded late Middle Ordovician-Silurian sediments from imbricated early Cambro-Middle Ordovician sediments below; while southward in the Oslo area the upper detachment needs to be placed between Silurian and Cambro-Ordovician units. Finally, in Eiker, with less than 20% shortening, the whole CambroSilurian sequence appears to have deformed as a single unit. In the northern Oslo Region, the upper detachment probably has a backthrust sense of motion above an imbricate stack (passive roof duplex). Further south the upper detachment is probably directed toward the foreland.     

“构造杂岩”及其地质意义——以西准噶尔为例

构造杂岩是构造地层学的重要研究内容之一。以西准噶尔为例,三个不同时期形成的构造杂岩:科克沙依杂岩、玛依勒杂岩和达拉布特杂岩,代表了古生代不同时期洋盆与火山弧的残迹。现今西准噶尔的构造格局,可能是多个地体的拼合。     

Evolution of the southeastern Lachlan Fold Belt in Victoria

The Benambra Terrane of southeastern Australia is the eastern, allochthonous portion of the Lachlan Fold Belt with a distinctive Early Silurian to Early Devonian history. Its magmatic, metamorphic, structural, tectonic and stratigraphic histories are different from the adjacent, autochthonous Whitelaw Terrane and record prolonged orogen‐parallel dextral displacement. Unlike the Whitelaw Terrane, parts of the proto‐Benambra Terrane were affected by extensive Early Silurian plutonism associated with high T/low P metamorphism. The orogen‐parallel movement (north‐south) is in addition to a stronger component of east‐west contraction. Three main orogenic pulses deformed the Victorian portion of the terrane. The earliest, the Benambran Orogeny, was the major cratonisation event in the Lachlan Fold Belt and caused amalgamation of the components that comprise the Benambra Terrane. It produced faults, tight folding and strong cleavage with both east‐west and north‐south components of compression. The Bindian (= Bowning) Orogeny, not seen in the Whitelaw Terrane, was the main period of southward tectonic transport in the Benambra Terrane. It was characterised by the development of large strike‐slip faults that controlled the distribution of second‐generation cleavage, acted as conduits for syntectonic granites and controlled the deformation of Upper Silurian sequences. Strike‐slip and thrust faults form complex linked systems that show kinematic indicators consistent with overall southward tectonic transport. A large transform fault is inferred to have accommodated approximately 600 km of dextral strike‐slip displacement between the Whitelaw and Benambra Terranes. The Benambran and Bindian Orogenies were each followed by periods of extension during which small to large basins formed and were filled by thick sequences of volcanics and sediments, partly or wholly marine. Some of the extension appears to have occurred along pre‐existing fractures. Silurian basins were inverted during the Bindian Orogeny and Early Devonian basins by the Tabberabberan Orogeny. In the Melbourne Zone, just west of the Benambra Terrane, sedimentation patterns in this interval, in particular the complete absence of material derived from the deforming Benambra Terrane, indicate that the two terranes were not juxtaposed until just before the Tabberabberan Orogeny. This orogeny marked the end of orogen‐parallel movement and brought about the amalgamation of the Whitelaw and Benambra Terranes along the Governor Fault. Upper Devonian continental sediments and volcanics form a cover sequence to the terranes and their structural zones and show that no significant rejuvenation of older structures occurred after the Middle Devonian.     

Mesozoic–Cenozoic sedimentary rock records and applications for provenance of sediments and affiliation of the Simao Terrane,SW China

ABSTRACT

As the north part of Simao Terrane, Lanping Basin is located between the Sanjiang Tethys Orogen (STO) and Yangtze Block, also the junction zone between the Gondwanaland and Cathaysian old land (Pan Huaxia mainland), which includes Yangtze and Cathaysian Blocks. The aim of this study is to decipher the provenance of the sedimentary units in the Lanping Basin and affiliation of Simao Terrane by the U-Pb ages, Hf isotope of detrital zircons and whole-rock geochemistry. The whole-rock geochemistry and the mineral composition indicate that most of the Triassic–Paleocene sedimentary rocks are derived from the upper crust and exhibit recycled orogen features. The detrital zircon U-Pb ages from the North Simao Terrane are consistent with the magmatic events during Early Neoproterozoic and Permian in the Western Yangtze Block. And the detrital zircons ages from North Simao Terrane show same distribution features as the Permian–Triassic magmatic rocks, which are distributed in the Simao Terrane and along major sutures. These comparisons suggest that the clastic sediments in Lanping Basin (North Simao Terrane) are derived from Early Neoproterozoic and Permian magmatic rocks from Western Yangtze Block, Permian–Triassic magmatic rocks from Simao Terrane, along Jinshajiang, Garz-Litang and Ailaoshan Sutures. The comparison of the detrital zircon age distributions shows that Simao Terrane and Yangtze Block exhibited similarity tectonic setting in the evolution history, especially during Paleoproterozoic–Late Paleozoic. This suggests that the Simao Terrane is part of Cathaysian old land, although Simao Terrane was separated from Yangtze Block for short period during Early Paleozoic. Besides, the Hf mapping, stratigraphic succession, paleogeography and paleomagnetism in SW China support that Simao Terrane has a Cathaysian old land-affinity, rather than one involving Gondwanaland.     

大兴安岭北部新林地区倭勒根群大网子组锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb年龄及其地质意义

大兴安岭位于中亚造山带的东段,自北向南划分为额尔古纳地块、兴安地块和松嫩地块。倭勒根群主体分布于额尔古纳地块,前人将其归属为新元古代-早寒武世。对新林地区倭勒根群大网子组的上部变火山岩段和下部变沉积岩段进行了锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年。测试结果显示：上部变火山岩的形成年龄为（430.7±4.1）Ma,属早志留世;下部变沉积岩中碎屑锆石的最小峰值年龄为（480.1±2.9） Ma,指示其沉积时间不早于早奥陶世。综合文献资料确定：新林地区倭勒根群浅变质岩系是一套时间跨距从寒武纪到早志留世的岩石地层组合,而非新元古代-早寒武世;新林蛇绿岩的构造侵位时间不早于早奥陶世;新林地区的大网子组、兴隆沟地区的早奥陶世沉积与多宝山-伊尔施早奥陶世火山弧构成了大兴安岭北部地区的早奥陶世弧-盆体系。     

从弧后盆地到前陆盆地——北祁连造山带奥陶纪—泥盆纪的沉积盆地与构造演化

北祁连加里东期造山带是在新元古代Rodinia联合大陆(Pangea-850)基础上裂解,经由寒武纪裂谷盆地、奥陶纪初期成熟洋盆、奥陶纪中晚期北祁连活动大陆边缘、志留纪—早、中泥盆世碰撞造山而形成的。奥陶纪中、晚期,北祁连、走廊地区中、上奥陶统发育洋壳-岛弧-弧后火山岩,形成典型的沟-弧-盆体系的沉积。志留纪—早、中泥盆世是北祁连-走廊沉积盆地的转换时期。除天祝、古浪、景泰及肃南等局部地区发育下志留统钙碱性系列火山岩以外,全区志留系均以碎屑岩沉积为主。志留系底部多见一套砾岩层。下—中志留统为典型复理石相的浊流沉积。上志留统变为滨浅海相磨拉石沉积。早、中泥盆世雪山群为典型的陆相粗碎屑磨拉石沉积。从空间分布上看,志留系—泥盆系在走廊—北祁连地区也有自北向南厚度加大、粒度变粗的特征,古流以由南向北、来自造山带的古流为特征。北祁连-河西走廊奥陶纪弧后盆地火山岩—志留系复理石-海相磨拉石—中、下泥盆统陆相磨拉石的充填序列以及空间分布特点,反映为典型的弧后盆地向前陆盆地转化的沉积序列。     

秦岭造山带主要大地构造单元的新划分

根据近年来的地层、沉积、岩浆-火山和构造变形及岩石地球化学等方面研究新进展,结合前人的成果,按照大地构造相单元划分原则,将秦岭造山带分为13个主要构造单元: ①华北南缘陆坡带,包括第一层序的青白口系大庄组、震旦系罗圈组和寒武系,与之对应的豫西栾川群;第二层序的奥陶纪陶湾群;②北秦岭弧后杂岩带,以宽坪群和部分二郎坪群中的基性火山岩与碳酸盐岩的构造块体与变质的古生代深海碎屑岩混杂为特征;③秦岭岛弧杂岩带,由丹凤群不同的古洋隆块体、富水幔源岛弧基性岩浆杂岩、云架山群、斜峪关群和草滩沟群的岛弧钙碱性岩浆岩和火山岩及深海沉积物及秦岭群弧基底杂岩等构成,时间跨度为奥陶纪-石炭纪;④秦岭弧前盆地系,泥盆系及其它晚古生代地层是其主要充填物,同沉积断裂控制了一系列的次级盆地;⑤秦岭增生混杂带,由泥、砂岩组成的基质和基性、超基性岩、火山岩、灰岩、硅质岩等岩块构成,最终形成于二叠纪末-三叠纪初;⑥南秦岭岛弧杂岩带,碧口群的基性-中酸性火山岩和岩浆岩组成,称碧口弧;由三花石群的中基性火山岩以及西乡群的中酸性火山岩共同构成,称西乡弧;由耀岭河群和郧西群中基性熔岩和中酸性火山岩组成,称安康弧;⑦南秦岭弧前盆地系,碧口弧前盆地充填物是以碎屑岩为主的横丹群和关家沟群;西乡弧前沉积主要由三花岩群包括王家坝组砂岩以及由泥岩、砂岩和中酸性火山岩变质而成的片岩、片麻岩和石英岩组成.安康弧前盆地具有明显的深海扇沉积特征梅子垭群和大贵坪组;⑧南秦岭弧后盆地系,包括后龙门山的茂县群和上古生界及三叠系,大巴山的洞河群和部分耀岭河群的火山岩;⑨南秦岭弧后陆坡带,只保留大巴山弧后陆缘,是高川-毛坝以南的下古生界;⑩南秦岭前陆褶冲带,包括龙门山北段、米仓山和大巴山前陆褶冲带.三带形成于印支-燕山期,但构造线不同,且在出现的时间上,由西到东由早到晚;(11)三叠纪残余海盆;(12)中-新生代走滑拉分和断陷盆地;(13)基底断块.     

下扬子区加里东期构造古地理问题

一般将江绍断裂作为扬子地块和华夏地块在下扬子区的分界,但江绍断裂是晋宁期缝合带,二者在加里东期的关系需要解决。赣东北和皖南元古界变质岩构成复背斜核部,两翼的寒武-奥陶系由里向外由盆地-斜坡相转为台地相,相界线标志出扬子台缘位置在皖南石台-泾县一线,华夏台缘位置在浙西江山-开化-临安一线,中央的变质岩区应为当时江南海盆的一部分。奥陶纪末沉积格局有重大变化,显示这里的江南海盆转化为陆屑来源的楔形”江南隆起”。复背斜两翼寒武-奥陶系的构造变形则由外向里增强,直至同斜倒转的褶皱形态,表明江南隆起属加里东褶皱带。隆起两侧及东北方有很厚的志留系碎屑岩,沉积序列自下而上由浅海相转为滨海相和三角洲相以至陆相沉积。空间上往东北方江苏境内海相沉积更为发育,志留纪晚期仍有海相记录,与泥盆系之间为平行不整合接触,到印支期才发生构造变形。在下扬子区,扬子和华夏地块之间,加里东褶皱带和印支褶皱带并存。     

Narooma Terrane: Implications for the construction of the outboard part of the Lachlan Orogen

In its type area around Narooma, the Narooma Terrane in the Lachlan Orogen comprises the Wagonga Group, which consists of the Narooma Chert overlain by the argillaceous Bogolo Formation. Conodonts indicate that the lower, largely massive (ribbon chert) part of the Narooma Chert ranges in age from mid-Late Cambrian to Darriwilian-Gisbornian (late Middle to early Late Ordovician). The upper Narooma Chert consists of shale, containing Eastonian (Late Ordovician) graptolites, interbedded with chert. Where not deformed by later faulting, the boundary between the Narooma Chert and Bogolo Formation is gradational. At map scale, the Narooma Terrane consists of a stack of imbricate thrust slices caught between two thrust faults that juxtaposed the terrane against the coeval Adaminaby Superterrane in Early Silurian time. These slices are best defined where Narooma Chert is thrust over Bogolo Formation. The soles of such slices contain multiply foliated chert. Late extensional shear bands indicate a strike-slip component to the faulting. The Narooma Terrane, with chert overlain by muddy ooze, is interpreted to be an oceanic terrane that accumulated remote from land for ～50 million years. The upward increase in the terrigenous component at the top of the Wagonga Group (shale, argillite, siltstone and sandstone of the upper Narooma Chert and Bogolo Formation) records approach of the terrane to the Australian sector of the Gondwana margin. Blocks of chert, argillite and sandstone reflect extensional/strike-slip disruption of the terrane as it approached the transform trench along the Gondwana-proto-Pacific plate boundary. Blocks of basalt and basalt breccia represent detritus from a seamount that was also entering the trench. There is no evidence that the Narooma Terrane or the adjacent Adaminaby Group formed in an accretionary prism/ subduction complex.     

East Antarctic sources of extensive Lower–Middle Ordovician turbidites in the Lachlan Orogen,southern Tasmanides,eastern Australia

Lower to upper Middle Ordovician quartz-rich turbidites form the bedrock of the Lachlan Orogen in the southern Tasmanides of eastern Australia and occupy a present-day deformed volume of ～2–3 million km³. We have used U–Pb and Hf-isotope analyses of detrital zircons in biostratigraphically constrained turbiditic sandstones from three separate terranes of the Lachlan Orogen to investigate possible source regions and to compare similarities and differences in zircon populations. Comparison with shallow-water Lower Ordovician sandstones deposited on the subsiding margin of the Gondwana craton suggests different source regions, with Grenvillian zircons in shelf sandstones derived from the Musgrave Province in central Australia, and Panafrican sources in shelf sandstones possibly locally derived. All Ordovician turbiditic sandstone samples in the Lachlan Orogen are dominated by ca 490–620 Ma (late Panafrican) and ca 950–1120 Ma (late Grenvillian) zircons that are sourced mainly from East Antarctica. Subtle differences between samples point to different sources. In particular, the age consistency of late Panafrican zircon data from the most inboard of our terranes (Castlemaine Group, Bendigo Terrane) suggests they may have emanated directly from late Grenvillian East Antarctic belts, such as in Dronning Maud Land and subglacial extensions that were reworked in the late Panafrican. Changes in zircon data in the more outboard Hermidale and Albury-Bega terranes are more consistent with derivation from the youngest of four sedimentary sequences of the Ross Orogen of Antarctica (Cambrian–Ordovician upper Byrd Group, Liv Group and correlatives referred to here as sequence 4) and/or from the same mixture of sources that supplied that sequence. These sources include uncommon ca 650 Ma rift volcanics, late Panafrican Ross arc volcanics, now largely eroded, and some <545 Ma Granite Harbour Intrusives, representing the roots of the Ross Orogen continental-margin arc. Unlike farther north, Granite Harbour Intrusives between the Queen Maud and Pensacola mountains of the southern Ross Orogen contain late Grenvillian zircon xenocrysts (derived from underlying relatively juvenile basement), as well as late Panafrican magmatic zircons, and are thus able to supply sequence 4 and the Lachlan Ordovician turbidites with both these populations. Other zircons and detrital muscovites in the Lachlan Ordovician turbidites were derived from relatively juvenile inland Antarctic sources external to the orogen (e.g. Dronning Maud Land, Sør Rondane and a possible extension of the Pinjarra Orogen) either directly or recycled through older sedimentary sequences 2 (Beardmore and Skelton groups) and 3 (e.g. Hannah Ridge Formation) in the Ross Orogen. Shallow-water, forearc basin sequence 4 sediments (or their sources) fed turbidity currents into outboard, deeper-water parts of the forearc basin and led to deposition of the Ordovician turbidites ～2500–3400 km to the north in backarc-basin settings of the Lachlan Orogen.