Evolution of the central Alpine-Himalayan belt in the Late Cenozoic

The Late Cenozoic geodynamics of the Alpine-Himalayan belt comprised the collision between continental-lithosphere plates and blocks and the effect of the Neo-Tethyan active residual asthenosphere, which reached the northern margin of the belt after the ocean had closed. From the late Eocene to the early Pliocene, strong deformation, lateral migrations of flaked plates, metamorphism, and magmatism (they all consolidated the crust) took place in the lithosphere with the participation of mobile asthenospheric components. In the Pliocene–Quaternary, the asthenosphere beneath the consolidated crust partly replaced the dense mantle lithosphere with remaining paleoocean mafic rocks, which subducted into the mantle. Phase transformations and deformations in the subducting metamafic slabs caused mantle earthquakes. The less compact metamafic rocks experienced metamorphic weakening under the effect of the asthenosphere and incorporated into the Earth’s crust. The upper-mantle and lower-crust weakening led to a drastic intensification of uplifting and the formation of mountain ranges. Recent volcanism is also attributed to the activity of the Neo-Tethyan asthenosphere.     

龙门山晚新生代均衡反弹隆升的定量研究

龙门山位于青藏高原东缘与四川盆地的交接部位,是青藏高原周边山脉中地形梯度变化最大的山脉,其隆升过程和机制一直是国际地学界关注的焦点。晚新生代经过大量的滑坡、泥石流等快速剥蚀作用,龙门山的高程却不断升高。讨论了龙门山构造隆升的3种地球动力学机制,即下地壳通道流机制、地壳挤压缩短变形机制、地壳均衡反弹机制。晚新生代龙门山的隆升与剥蚀引起的均衡反弹作用相关,剥蚀作用使得地壳岩石逐步被移去,剥蚀区重力损失,岩石圈或地壳卸载作用导致山脉顶峰的隆升。结合数字高程模型数据研究表明,巨大地震的长期同震构造变形以及滑坡、泥石流等引起的快速剥蚀所导致的地壳均衡反弹,可能是龙门山晚新生代构造隆升的地球动力学新机制。龙门山地区现今高程受构造作用与剥蚀引起的均衡反弹作用的共同影响,其中剥蚀引起的均衡反弹作用对龙门山隆升的影响贡献率约占30%。     

中国东部中新生代盆地形成演化与深部过程的耦合关系

软流圈隆升是板块相互作用的深部调整过程,同时也是地壳表层—地幔进行重力均衡调整的过程。中国东部中新生代沉积盆地充填形态大多与盆地深部软流圈的隆升呈镜像对应关系,这一关系暗示了岩石圈和软流圈相互作用的耦合关系,也指示了伸展型盆地深部软流圈隆升幕的阶段性与盆地充填演化阶段之间的成因联系。     

Transcurrent continental tectonics model for the Ossa-Morena Zone Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic evolution,SW Iberian Massif,Portugal

The Ossa-Morena Zone (SW Iberian Massif) was affected by continuous orogen-parallel transcurrent continental tectonics from the Neoproterozoic to the Carboniferous times, involving transtension (TT) and transpression (TP) processes that co-existed together, occurred separately in neighbouring regions by the means of strain partitioning or even worked diachronically. A first stage of transpression TP1 took place during the Late Neoproterozoic–Lower Cambrian as a result of Cadomian arc-continent collisional processes. Structures generated by transtension TT1 from Cambrian to Lower Devonian were related to strong lithosphere stretching responsible for the development of basins controlled by major detachments, tilting, rifting and important tectono–thermal diachronic processes. Denudation phenomena and inhibition of sedimentation related with thermal uplift (asthenosphere upwelling) and consequent subsidence caused by isostatic equilibrium, involving generalized transgressions, were processes responsible for major unconformities. The Variscan TP2-TT2 episodes that followed diachronically TP1-TT1, by maintaining the orogen-parallel transport direction, were concomitant with syntectonic deposition of continental basins in the OMZ and foreland basins in the SPZ. TT2 local transtension and tectonic exhumation of deep crustal rocks along major shear zones, favoured the opening of tectonic troughs filled up by sediments and volcanism. TP2 shortening have generated fold axes parallel to the orogen-strike and composite dissymmetric flower structures.     

Morphologic expression of Quaternary deformation in the northwestern foothills of the Ysyk-Köl basin,Tien Shan

The Tien Shan is one of the most active intracontinental mountain belts exhibiting numerous examples of Quaternary fault-related folding. To provide insight into the deformation of the Quaternary intermontane basins, the territory of the northwestern Ysyk-Köl region, where the growing Ak-Teke Anticline divided the piedmont apron of alluvial fans, is studied. It is shown that the Ak-Teke Hills are a sharply asymmetric anticline, which formed as a result of tectonic uplift and erosion related to motions along the South Ak-Teke Thrust Fault. The tectonic uplift gave rise to the local deviation of the drainage network in front of the northern limb of the fold. Optical (luminescent) dating suggests that the tectonic uplifting of the young anticline and the antecedent downcutting started 157 ka ago. The last upthrow of the high floodplain of the Toru-Aygyr River took place 1300 years ago. The structure of the South Ak-Teke Fault is examined by means of seismologic trenching and shallow seismic profiling across the fault. A laser tachymeter is applied to determine the vertical deformation of alluvial terraces in the Toru-Aygyr River valley at its intersection with the South Ak-Teke Fault. The rates of vertical deformation and an inferred number of strong earthquakes, which resulted in the upthrow of Quaternary river terraces of different ages, are calculated. The study territory is an example of changes in fluvial systems on growing folds in piedmont regions. As a result of shortening of the Earth’s crust in the mountainous belt owing to thrusting, new territories of previous sedimentation are involved in emergence. The tectonic activity migrates with time from the framing ridges toward the axial parts of intramontane basins.     

青藏高原整体隆升与地壳短缩增厚的物理－力学机制研究（上）

本文综合研究了青藏高原大地构造格局、地壳与地幔结构、地球物理场特征,对青藏高原整体隆升的物理一力学机制,进行了总结,并提出了隆升、地壳短缩和增厚的动力学模式。论文对以下五个问题进行了研究和讨论：第一,青藏高原巨厚的地壳、薄的岩石图结构、不同产状深大断裂以及推覆、切割和碰撞造山带的基本模式;第二,地震活动、断层面解与区域应力场;第三,板块运移与地体拼贴和大陆增生;第四,青藏高原隆升的物理一力学机制分析;第五,青藏高原隆升的地球动力学模式。研究结果表明,南部印度板块向北运移并与欧亚大陆板块碰撞,北部则受古亚洲板块阻隔并向南推移。在长期的碰撞与挤压作用下,造成了高原地区异常的地震活动和应力场,Ｌｇ波能量向南快速衰减和Ｑ值向南递增,水热活动强烈和地壳“南热”、“北冷”及岩石围中“壳热”、“慢冷”的格局。喜马拉雅南、北麓重力未达均衡,高山仍在上升,沿雅鲁藏布江由深部上涌的蛇绿岩套长达１７００ｋｍ,一系列走滑断层的形成和强烈的形变,形成了南界恒河平原北缘、北抵雅鲁藏布江的宽约３００～５００ｋｍ的碰撞挤压过渡带。基于此,青藏高原的隆升和地壳短缩增厚的物理一力学机制为软流圈的拖曳作用,促使印度板块与欧亚板块的碰撞和长期的挤     

CHARACTERIZATION AND FORMATION MECHANISM OF THE CENTRAL UPLIFT OF THE QIANGTANG BASIN

The Qiangtang basin is located between Kekexili-Jingshajiang suture belt and Bangong-Lujiang suture belt, and is divided into the north part and south part by the central uplift that has no crop out of Mesozoic strata. When the Jinshajiang Ocean was closed, the subducting plate was subducted southward. In the central part of the Qiangtang basin, the cushioning effect of the asthenosphere resulted in the thermal doming of the mantle and subsequent large-scale anatexis. Mantle source materials and antectic materials were upwelled and extruded into the middle crust, leading to the thickening of the middle crust and the heating and weakening of the middle to upper crust, and resulting in the rapid deformation (detachment) and tectonic erosion, and in the isostatic uplifting and the formation of metamorphic core complex. The upwelling of anatectic materials would further enhance the buoyant repercussion, which would combine with the side stress due from extrusion in resulting in the formation of an extension     

阿尔金构造带及其对塔里木和柴达木盆地的影响

文章阐述阿尔金构造带特征、构成成分、性质以及隆起时间,并从阿尔金构造带的不均衡隆起和左行扭动,论证了其对塔里木盆地和柴达木盆地所产生的影响,对两大含油气盆地的对比研究是十分有益的。     

塔里木盆地腹地玛扎塔格地区新近纪砂岩组分和重矿物组合特征及物源分析

发育于塔里木盆地腹地——玛扎塔格地区的新近纪沉积地层出露良好,保存了其物源区造山带的隆升剥蚀信息。利用古水流、砂岩碎屑组构和重矿物组合特征等研究方法,结合研究区的区域构造演化,探讨玛扎塔格地区晚新生代以来古地貌格局及沉积物源区隆升剥蚀的沉积响应关系。结果表明该研究区的古地貌总体格局为西高东低,沉积物源在上新世早期之前主要来自于西昆仑造山带和帕米尔造山带,而到了上新世以来其沉积物源主要来自于帕米尔造山带,并且在上新世早期,物源区发生明显的构造隆升运动,更新世期间物源区出现快速隆升剥蚀构造事件。     

中国东部晚第四纪海侵的新构造背景

中国东部沉降海岸及近海钻孔研究表明,第四纪大部分时间里,福建－岭南隆起带基本阻挡了海水大规模进入东海－黄海盆地,约在１６０ｋａ ＢＰ已有低海相性的海侵出现,但是自末次间冰期以来才开始发生大规模海侵,而此时青藏高原正以空前的速率隆升。     

The Southern Urals. Decoupled evolution of the thrust belt and its foreland: a consequence of metamorphism and lithospheric weakening

An analysis is presented of the mechanisms of tectonic evolution of the southern part of the Urals between 48N and 60N in the Carboniferous–Triassic. A low tectonic activity was typical of the area in the Early Carboniferous — after closure of the Uralian ocean in the Late Devonian. A nappe, ≥10–15 km thick, overrode a shallow-water shelf on the margin of the East European platform in the early Late Carboniferous. It is commonly supposed that strong shortening and thickening of continental crust result in mountain building. However, no high mountains were formed, and the nappe surface reached the altitude of only ≤0.5 km. No high topography was formed after another collisional events at the end of the Late Carboniferous, in the second half of the Early Permian, and at the start of the Middle Triassic. A low magnitude of the crustal uplift in the regions of collision indicates a synchronous density increase from rapid metamorphism in mafic rocks in the lower crust. This required infiltration of volatiles from the asthenosphere as a catalyst. A layer of dense mafic rocks, 20 km thick, still exists at the base of the Uralian crust. It maintains the crust, up to 60 km thick, at a mean altitude 0.5 km. The mountains, 1.5 km high, were formed in the Late Permian and Early Triassic when there was no collision. Their moderate height precluded asthenospheric upwelling to the base of the crust, which at that time was 65–70 km thick. The mountains could be formed due to delamination of the lower part of mantle root with blocks of dense eclogite and/or retrogression in a presence of fluids of eclogites in the lower crust into less dense facies.

The formation of foreland basins is commonly attributed to deflection of the elastic lithosphere under surface and subsurface loads in thrust belts. Most of tectonic subsidence on the Uralian foreland occurred in a form of short impulses, a few million years long each. They took place at the beginning and at the end of the Late Carboniferous, and in the Late Permian. Rapid crustal subsidence occurred when there was no collision in the Urals. Furthermore, the basin deepened away from thrust belt. These features preclude deflection of the elastic lithosphere as a subsidence mechanism. To ensure the subsidence, a rapid density increase was necessary. It took place due to metamorphism in the lower crust under infiltration of volatiles.

The absence of flexural reaction on the Uralian foreland on collision in thrust belt together with narrow-wavelength basement deformations under the nappe indicate a high degree of weakening of the lithosphere. Such deformations took also place on the Uralian foreland at the epochs of rapid subsidences when there was no collision in thrust belt. Weakening of the lithosphere can be explained by infiltration of volatiles into this layer from the asthenosphere and rapid metamorphism in the mafic lower crust. Lithospheric weakening allowed the formation of the Uralian thrust belt under convergent motions of the plates which were separated by weak areas.     

Pliocene and Quaternary regional uplift in western Turkey: the Gediz River terrace staircase and the volcanism at Kula

Along the upper reaches of the Gediz River in western Turkey, in the eastern part of the Aegean extensional province, the land surface has uplifted by 400 m since the Middle Pliocene. This uplift is revealed by progressive gorge incision, and its rate can be established because river terraces are capped by basalt flows that have been K–Ar and Ar–Ar dated. At present, the local uplift rate is 0.2 mm a⁻¹. Uplift at this rate began around the start of the Middle Pleistocene, following a span of time when the uplift was much slower. This was itself preceded by an earlier uplift phase, apparently in the late Late Pliocene and early Early Pleistocene, when the uplift rate was comparable to the present. The resulting regional uplift history resembles what is observed in other regions and is analogously interpreted as the isostatic response to changing rates of surface processes linked to global environmental change. We suggest that this present phase of surface uplift, amounting so far to 150 m, is being caused by the nonsteady-state thermal and isostatic response of the crust to erosion, following an increase in erosion rates in the late Early Pleistocene, most likely as a result of the first large northern-hemisphere glaciation during oxygen isotope stage 22 at 870 ka. We suggest that the earlier uplift phase, responsible for the initial 250 m of uplift, resulted from a similar increase in erosion rates caused by the deterioration in local climate at 3.1 Ma. This uplift thus has no direct relationship to the crustal extension occurring in western Turkey, the rate and sense of which are thought not to have changed significantly on this time scale. Our results thus suggest that the present, often deeply incised, landscape of western Turkey has largely developed from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, for reasons not directly related to the active normal faulting that is also occurring. The local isostatic consequences of this active faulting are instead superimposed onto this “background” of regional surface uplift. Modelling of this surface uplift indicates that the effective viscosity of the lower continental crust beneath this part of Turkey is of the order of 10¹⁹ Pa s, similar to a recent estimate for beneath central Greece. The lower uplift rates observed in western Turkey, compared with central Greece, result from the longer typical distances of fluvial sediment transport, which cause weaker coupling by lower-crustal flow between offshore depocentres and eroding onshore regions that provide the sediment source.     

中、低压变质作用与大陆造山——兼论四川丹巴的变质带

巴罗型中压变质带与巴肯型低压高温变质带的成因与大陆板块边缘的碰撞造山及陆内造山作用之间有着紧密的联系。根据变质带的空间时间配置关系、压力类型、变质作用pTt轨迹、伴生的岩浆岩等等,可以区分出3种类型的大陆造山模式:弧-陆拼贴型、陆-陆碰撞型(可进一步分为中高压型碰撞造山带和双变质型山带型(paired metamorphic mountain belt)陆-陆碰撞带)、陆内造山地壳加厚-伸展型。巴罗型中压变质带普遍出现于地壳加厚-热弛豫的构造环境,但巴肯型低压变质带形成的构造背景及物理化学条件在不同的造山带有不同的表现形式,其热源至少有:壳内岩浆侵入或岩浆板底垫托、沉降盆地放射性同位素的衰变热、构造热穹隆、变质核杂岩、地下热流体传热等。大陆边缘造山带中巴罗型变质带的倒转以及板内造山带中变质带问断等现象与造山动力学过程密切相关,记录了造山过程中的重要的地质事件,也是探讨造山历史的理想场所。由于四川丹巴地区松潘—甘孜造山带形成于很独特的3个板块双极性构造环境,表现出与世界上典型造山带诸多相似的地方,如巴罗型中压变质带、巴肯型低压高温带同时在一系列变质穹隆中发育,但又有其特殊性和复杂性,如通常只发育在大陆边缘的倒转的巴罗带和陆内造山过程中的变质相间断同时出现,显然这与本?     

青藏高原碰撞、固结的过程及隆升机理

青藏高原的地质构造十分复杂，自南而北不同块体曾经历过裂解、漂移、拼合、碰撞、固结的过程。本文仅探讨拼合后碰镜、固结期间青藏高原地质、地球物理特征及其成因机制。 就亚东—格尔木GGT地学断面研究的范围而言，现可分为4个构造带，4个构造带又分别处于不同的构造发育阶段：高喜马拉雅带处于碰撞早期阶段，以逆冲、叠覆作用为主，促使地壳加厚；北喜马拉雅带处在碰撞中期阶段，地壳在持续挤压应力作用下，褶皱缩短并加厚；冈底斯带处在碰撞晚期阶段，以走向滑动和物质侧向流动为特征；羌塘—巴颜喀拉带进入碰撞期后的稳定阶段，地壳活动趋于稳定，以地表剥蚀为主，高原逐渐夷平。     

青藏高原南部晚新生代板内造山与动力成矿

青藏高原晚新生代构造隆升是板块碰撞成因还是板内造山过程 ,关系到高原形成机制、演化过程以及岩石圈动力学与大陆动力学的关系等一系列重大科学问题。近年来在冈底斯发现多个以斑岩铜矿为主的大型和超大型矿床 ,其成矿时代为 2 0～ 12Ma ,与青藏高原构造隆升时代一致 ,也与笔者10年前以大陆动力学和成矿动力学为理论指导的预测结果吻合。青藏高原南部晚新生代大量的地质、地球物理、矿床等方面的证据根本不支持碰撞造山理论 ,如青藏高原内部伸展边缘逆冲、碰撞与隆升之间时差明显 ,壳内低速层和低阻层发育 ,造山与成盆关系密切 ,板内隆升环境下发生大规模构造变形、岩浆活动和动力成矿等。青藏高原南部晚新生代构造隆升作用是在新特提斯开合转换、碰撞造陆之后 ,在下地壳层流作用的驱动下 ,发生板内造山、地壳增厚、热隆伸展和改造成矿的构造成矿过程 ,大规模的板内金属成矿在 3～ 4Ma以来的均衡隆升、成山过程中进一步改造。     

揭示青藏高原的隆升——青藏高原亚东—格尔木地学断面

沿着亚东－格尔木地学断面，由地质，地球物理和地球化学综合数据，给出岩石圈演经的一般图像，青藏高原系由６个地体组成的；高原在垂向与横向是不均匀的，各地体间的组构是不同的；高原地壳的缩短与隆升是因素的，包括其中向北运动的印度板块的挤压作用及柴达木盆地阻力，地幔热活动比预期要差；喜马拉雅山带不同于安第斯山和阿尔卑斯山，有其自己的特征。     

Plio-Quaternary megasequence geometry and its tectonic controls within the Maghrebian thrust belt of south-central Sicily

Sequence stratigraphy in marine foredeep and thrust-top basins is controlled by the conventional variations in eustatic sea-level and sedimentation rate together with tectonics. Vertical motions reflect combinations of subsidence due to regional flexure and uplift on local thrust anticlines which act to modify the volume and shape of accommodation space together with syn-depositional slopes. Plio-Pleistocene successions on Sicily were deposited in thrust-top and foredeep basins, above and ahead of evolving structures of the Maghrebian fold and thrust belt. Collectively the sediments represent a single megasequence defined at its base by a maximum flooding surface of earliest Pliocene age following reconnection with global sea-level at the end of the Messinian. The internal stratigraphy of this megasequence consists of Trubi chalks, blue marls and a coastal calcarenite package with subordinate silciclastic sand. Plankton biostratigraphy allows these facies to be placed in a chronostratigraphic framework. Regionally the upper assemblage progrades away from the orogenic hinterland, recording a tectonically forced regression in response to regional uplift from late Pliocene times. This uplift may be associated with isostatic unloading in the orogenic hinterland due to tectonic collapse of the more internal thrust sheets. Prior to this, flexure from orogenic loading is inferred to have been sufficient for regional subsidence locally to outstrip uplift associated with the growth of some thrust structures. For shallow-water facies the competition between thrust-related uplift and flexural subsidence can be investigated from the stacking patterns of parasequence sets. For structures developed at greater palaeobathymetries receiving fine-grained pelagic sediment, active tectonics may be recognized from depositional hiatuses.     

造山带与相邻盆地间物质的横向迁移

本文以太行山隆起与相邻华北断陷盆地为例，论述了在大陆岩石圈中造山带与相邻断陷盆地在地球动力学机制上是相辅相成的对立统一体系。当软流圈受力产生波状起伏变形时，在软流圈和上地幔隆起上方，地壳发生减薄并裂陷；软流圈和上地幔拗陷上方，地壳变厚，由脉隆升。造山带遭受物理（化学）风化作用的产物被搬运至相邻断陷盆地，并以逆冲推覆岩片、拆离滑脱构造体系向盆地扩展。断陷盆地的中下地壳物质，则在地幔上隆形成的地幔位势差、密度差和盆地扩张力的共同驱动下，沿向造山带缓倾的拆离滑脱变形带，向山根蠕动流动，以补充因地幔拗陷和山脉隆升造成的重力亏损，从而达到岩石圈四维空间物质的动态调整。     

On Deep Structures of the Xikang-Yunnan Axis

Through recent study, the author considers that the north-south-trending Kangding-Honghe tectonic belt is not a marginal uplift zone of the Yangtze Platform but a Tethyan-type collisional tectonic belt of which the crust-upper mantle can be structurally divided into three layers. The upper layer is the brittle upper crust, dominated by overthrusting and imbrication; the middle layer is the plastic lower crust and part of the upper mantle, represented by compression and shortening; and the lower layer is the upper mantle, probably belonging to the Yangtze Platform in light of the thickness of the lithosphere.     

The isostatic state of the southern Urals crust

The Uralide orogen, in Central Russia, is the focus of intense geoscientific investigations during recent years. The international research is motivated by some unusual lithospheric features compared with other collisional belts including the preservation of (a) a collisional architecture with an orogenic root and a crustal thickness of 55–58 km, and (b) large volumes of very low-grade and non-metamorphic oceanic crust and island arc rocks in the upper crust of a low–relief mountain belt. The latter cause anomalous gravity highs along the thickened crust and the isostatic equilibrium inside the Uralides lithosphere as well as the overthrust high-metamorphic rocks. The integrated URSEIS '95 seismic experiment provides fundamentally new data revealing the lithospheric architecture of an intact Paleozoic collisional orogen that allows the construction of density models. In the Urals' lithosphere different velocity structures resolved by wide-angle seismic experiments along both the URSEIS '95- and the Troitsk profile. They can be used to constrain lithospheric density models: a first model consists of a deep subducted continental lower crust which has been highly eclogitized at depths of 60–90 km to a density of 3550 kg/m³. The second model shows a slightly eclogitized lower crust underlying the Uralide orogen with a crustal thickness of 60 km. The eclogitized lower crust causes a too-small impedance contrast to the lithospheric mantle resulting in a lack of reflectors in the area of the largest crustal thickness. Both models fit the measured gravity field. Analyzing the isostatic state of the southern Urals' lithosphere, both density models are in isostatic equilibrium.