Linking the NE Anatolian and Lesser Caucasus ophiolites: evidence for large-scale obduction of oceanic crust and implications for the formation of the Lesser Caucasus-Pontides Arc

In the Lesser Caucasus and NE Anatolia, three domains are distinguished from south to north: (1) Gondwanian-derived continental terranes represented by the South Armenian Block (SAB) and the Tauride–Anatolide Platform (TAP), (2) scattered outcrops of Mesozoic ophiolites, obducted during the Upper Cretaceous times, marking the northern Neotethys suture, and (3) the Eurasian plate, represented by the Eastern Pontides and the Somkheto-Karabagh Arc. At several locations along the northern Neotethyan suture, slivers of preserved unmetamorphozed relics of now-disappeared Northern Neotethys oceanic domain (ophiolite bodies) are obducted over the northern edge of the passive SAB and TAP margins to the south. There is evidence for thrusting of the suture zone ophiolites towards the north; however, we ascribe this to retro-thrusting and accretion onto the active Eurasian margin during the latter stages of obduction. Geodynamic reconstructions of the Lesser Caucasus feature two north dipping subduction zones: (1) one under the Eurasian margin and (2) farther south, an intra-oceanic subduction leading to ophiolite emplacement above the northern margin of SAB. We extend our model for the Lesser Caucasus to NE Anatolia by proposing that the ophiolites of these zones originate from the same oceanic domain, emplaced during a common obduction event. This would correspond to the obduction of non-metamorphic oceanic domain along a lateral distance of more than 500?km and overthrust up to 80?km of passive continental margin. We infer that the missing volcanic arc, formed above the intra-oceanic subduction, was dragged under the obducting ophiolite through scaling by faulting and tectonic erosion. In this scenario part of the blueschists of Stepanavan, the garnet amphibolites of Amasia and the metamorphic arc complex of Erzincan correspond to this missing volcanic arc. Distal outcrops of this exceptional object were preserved from latter collision, concentrated along the suture zones.     

龙门山冲断隆升及其走向差异的裂变径迹证据

大量的低温年代学研究用来讨论龙门山晚新生代的隆升,但很少涉及其走向差异和中生代隆升。本文分别沿龙门山北、中、南段3条剖面进行了锆石和磷灰石裂变径迹测试,结合已有的热年代学数据,以期揭示整个中-新生代期间龙门山隆升历史及其时空变化。中生代以来,龙门山主要有印支期(约200 Ma)、早白垩世末(约100 Ma)、早新生代(65～30 Ma)以及晚中新世(15～9 Ma)等或快或慢的冷却事件,总体上经历了中生代至早新生代的缓慢冷却和晚新生代快速冷却2个阶段,快速剥露开始于15～9 Ma,剥蚀速率由早期的0.1 mm/a增加到0.15～0.3 mm/a左右,局部可达0.9 mm/a左右。走向上,龙门山北段相对偏小的锆石裂变径迹年龄和相对偏大的磷灰石裂变径迹年龄反映其在中生代较中、南段隆升更快,而裂变径迹年龄总体上从北段向中、南段减小,表明中、南段在新生代发生了更快的隆升。倾向上,多种热年代学数据显示新生代期间在北川断裂和彭灌断裂两侧存在明显的差异剥露,这种差异在中、南段表现比北段更为突出。龙门山晚新生代快速隆升和剥露是青藏高原区域隆升背景上叠加的冲断活动所致,而非下地壳流动驱动。     

龙门山冲断隆升及其走向差异的裂变径迹证据

大量的低温年代学研究用来讨论龙门山晚新生代的隆升,但很少涉及其走向差异和中生代隆升。本文分别沿龙门山北、中、南段3条剖面进行了锆石和磷灰石裂变径迹测试,结合已有的热年代学数据,以期揭示整个中 新生代期间龙门山隆升历史及其时空变化。中生代以来,龙门山主要有印支期（约200 Ma）、早白垩世末（约100 Ma）、早新生代（65～30 Ma）以及晚中新世（15～9 Ma）等或快或慢的冷却事件,总体上经历了中生代至早新生代的缓慢冷却和晚新生代快速冷却2个阶段,快速剥露开始于15～9 Ma,剥蚀速率由早期的<0.1mm/a增加到0.15～0.3mm/a左右,局部可达0.9mm/a左右。走向上,龙门山北段相对偏小的锆石裂变径迹年龄和相对偏大的磷灰石裂变径迹年龄反映其在中生代较中、南段隆升更快,而裂变径迹年龄总体上从北段向中、南段减小,表明中、南段在新生代发生了更快的隆升。倾向上,多种热年代学数据显示新生代期间在北川断裂和彭灌断裂两侧存在明显的差异剥露,这种差异在中、南段表现比北段更为突出。龙门山晚新生代快速隆升和剥露是青藏高原区域隆升背景上叠加的冲断活动所致,而非下地壳流动驱动。     

Tectonic units of the Alpine collision zone between Eastern Alps and western Turkey

We present a map that correlates tectonic units between Alps and western Turkey accompanied by a text providing access to literature data, explaining the concepts used for defining the mapped tectonic units, and first-order paleogeographic inferences. Along-strike similarities and differences of the Alpine-Eastern Mediterranean orogenic system are discussed. The map allows (1) for superimposing additional information, such as e.g., post-tectonic sedimentary basins, manifestations of magmatic activity, onto a coherent tectonic framework and (2) for outlining the major features of the Alpine-Eastern Mediterranean orogen. Dinarides-Hellenides, Anatolides and Taurides are orogens of opposite subduction polarity and direction of major transport with respect to Alps and Carpathians, and polarity switches across the Mid-Hungarian fault zone. The Dinarides-Hellenides-Taurides (and Apennines) consist of nappes detached from the Greater Adriatic continental margin during Cretaceous and Cenozoic orogeny. Internal units form composite nappes that passively carry ophiolites obducted in the latest Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous or during the Late Cretaceous on top of the Greater Adriatic margin successions. The ophiolites on top of composite nappes do not represent oceanic sutures zones, but root in the suture zones of Neotethys that formed after obduction. Suturing between Greater Adria and the northern and eastern Neotethys margin occupied by the Tisza and Dacia mega-units and the Pontides occurred in the latest Cretaceous along the Sava-İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zones. The Rhodopian orogen is interpreted as a deep-crustal nappe stack formed in tandem with the Carpatho-Balkanides fold-thrust belt, now exposed in a giant core complex exhumed in late Eocene to Miocene times from below the Carpatho-Balkan orogen and the Circum-Rhodope unit. Its tectonic position is similar to that of the Sakarya unit of the Pontides. We infer that the Rhodope nappe stack formed due to north-directed thrusting. Both Rhodopes and Pontides are suspected to preserve the westernmost relics of the suture zone of Paleotethys.     

Burial and exhumation history of the Xigaze forearc basin,Yarlung suture zone. Tibet

The Cretaceous-Eocene Xigaze forearc basin is a crucial data archive for understanding the tectonic history of the Asian continental margin prior to and following collision with India during the early Cenozoic Era. This study reports apatite and zircon(U-Th)/He thermochronologic data from fourteen samples from Albian-Ypresian Xigaze forearc strata to determine the degree and timing of heating(burial) and subsequent cooling(exhumation) of two localities along the Yarlung suture zone(YSZ) near the towns of Saga and Lazi. Thirty-seven individual zircon He ages range from 31.5 ± 0.8 Ma to6.06 ± 0.18 Ma,with the majority of grains yielding ages between 30 Ma and 10 Ma. Twenty apatite He ages range from 12.7 ± 0.5 Ma to 3.9 ± 0.3 Ma,with the majority of grains yielding ages between 9 Ma and 4 Ma. These ages suggest that the Xigaze forearc basin was heated to 140-200 ℃ prior to cooling in Oligocene-Miocene time. Thermal modeling supports this interpretation and shows that the samples were buried to maximum temperatures of ～140-200 0 C by 35-21 Ma, immediately followed by the onset of exhumation. The zircon He and apatite He dataset and thermal modeling results indicate rapid exhumation from ～21 Ma to 15 Ma, and at ～4 Ma. The 21-15 Ma thermochronometric signal appears to be regionally extensive, affecting all the lithotectonic units of the YSZ, and coincides with movement along the north-vergent Great Counter Thrust system. Thrusting, coupled with enhanced erosion possibly related to the paleo-Yarlung River, likely drove Early Miocene cooling of the Xigaze forearc basin.In contrast, the younger phase of rapid exhumation at ～4 Ma was likely driven by enhanced rock uplift in the footwall of north-striking rifts that cross-cut the YSZ.     

印度陆块新生代两次仰冲事件及其构造驱动机制:论印度洋、特提斯和欧亚板块相互作用

印度陆块与欧亚大陆的碰撞是印度洋扩张和特提斯洋闭合综合作用的结果。本文通过综合分析和研究提出这3个板块的相互作用致使印度陆块发生过2次向北的仰冲:早期(古新世末-始新世初,~57Ma)仰冲受其超高速运动(140mm/yr)的驱动,与特提斯之间产生的速度差致使两者间的边界发生破裂,密度小的印度陆块沿印度洋东经90°海岭和马尔代夫岛链向北仰冲到特提斯洋壳之上,两者的叠加导致印度陆块北缘——特提斯喜马拉雅地壳增厚(~70km)并且沉积了一套造山磨拉石——柳曲砾岩;晚期(渐新世-中新世之交,~25Ma)仰冲发生在碰撞后,由于高喜马拉雅结晶岩系沿主中央冲断带和藏南拆离断裂发生的垂向挤出,位于上盘的特提斯喜马拉雅沉积盖层同时发生重力垮塌,沿大喜马拉雅反冲断裂仰冲到冈底斯岩浆岩带之上并且造成后者的隆升和前陆下陷,其北缘充填了一套造山磨拉石沉积——大竹卡砾岩。这两次构造事件均受印度陆块的快速运动驱动。此外,在印度陆块超高速运动的挤压下,特提斯洋可能在早白垩世之后就停止了扩张,而老的洋壳不是俯冲消减了就是被仰冲的印度陆块掩盖了,这解释了为什么雅鲁藏布江缝合带只存早白垩世蛇绿岩。印度洋内东经90°海岭和马尔代夫岛链构成印度陆块的南东和南西边界,前者呈右行走滑,后者呈左行走滑,两者勾画出印度陆块向北漂移的轨迹。     

No significant Alpine tectonic overprint on the Cimmerian Strandja Massif (SE Bulgaria and NW Turkey)

We provide the first comprehensive picture of the thermochronometric evolution of the Cimmerian Strandja metamorphic massif of SE Bulgaria and NW Turkey, concluding that the bulk of the massif has escaped significant Alpine-age deformation. Following Late Jurassic heating, the central part of the massif underwent a Kimmeridgian-Berriasian phase of relatively rapid cooling followed by very slow cooling in Cretaceous-to-Early Eocene times. These results are consistent with a Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Neocimmerian (palaeo-Alpine) phase of north-verging thrust imbrication and regional metamorphism, followed by slow cooling/exhumation driven by erosion. From a thermochronometric viewpoint, the bulk of the Cimmerian Strandja orogen was largely unaffected by the compressional stress related to the closure of the Vardar–?zmir–Ankara oceanic domain(s) to the south, contrary to the adjacent Rhodopes. Evidence of Alpine-age deformation is recorded only in the northern sector of the Strandja massif, where both basement and sedimentary rocks underwent cooling/exhumation associated with an important phase of shortening of the East Balkan fold-and-thrust belt starting in the Middle–Late Eocene. Such shortening focused in the former Srednogorie rift zone because this area had been rheologically weakened by Late Cretaceous extension.     

论雅鲁藏布大峡谷地区冈底斯岛弧花岗岩带

雅鲁藏布大峡谷北部的冈底斯岛弧花岗岩带可分为若干亚带,但岩浆活动大致可分为两大期次,分别与两次大规模造山活动有关。喜马拉雅造山作用在本区形成大量中新世花岗岩体,分布在离雅鲁藏布结合带较近部位;本区北部大量的早侏罗世至晚白垩世花岗岩,据其空间展布、岩浆活动时间、成因类型和岩石组合特征分析,应与怒江特提斯洋的闭合造山有关,同时说明本次造山作用可能是中生代的一次长期的构造-岩浆活动。     

哀牢山-红河剪切带渐新世的构造体制转换与剥露历史:来自哀牢山南段磷灰石裂变径迹的证据

哀牢山-红河剪切带是东南亚重要的构造边界,其记录了青藏高原东南缘新生代以来的陆内变形和地貌演化。本次研究对该剪切带哀牢山南段开展了基于LA-ICPMS法测试的磷灰石裂变径迹低温年代学分析。磷灰石裂变径迹年龄数据和热史反演模拟揭示哀牢山段存在晚始新世-早中新世（40~20Ma）的快速剥露事件,而早中新世（大约20Ma）之后处于稳定的慢速剥露过程。磷灰石裂变径迹年龄-海拔分布曲线特征暗示：快速剥露机制存在差异,早期阶段（40~26Ma）的剥露过程受控于伸展为主的左旋走滑体制影响;晚阶段（26~20Ma）的快速剥露归因于简单剪切为主的左旋走滑剪切体制,上述结果暗示哀牢山-红河构造带在晚渐新世发生了一次重要的构造体制转换,即从走滑伸展变形转换为简单剪切变形。哀牢山杂岩带北段、中段、南段冷却路径对比,表明北-中段可能存在两阶段快速冷却作用,而南段只发生单一快速冷却作用;结合青藏高原东南缘低温热年代学数据,暗示自中-晚中新世,青藏高原中、下地壳物质可能向东南缘扩展,并已到达哀牢山中段,同时诱发哀牢山杂岩带以北广大地区的抬升和快速冷却。

     

Overview of the Late Tertiary–Recent tectonic and palaeo-environmental development of the Mediterranean region

The Late Tertiary history of the Mediterranean region exemplifies processes of ocean basin closure and continental collision, as determined from integrated land and marine evidence. During the Mesozoic–Early Tertiary, tectonic settings were dominated by evolution of Neotethys. This ocean generally widened eastwards, with a number of oceanic strands in the Eastern Mediterranean area. Great diversity of tectonic settings and palaeo-environments developed during the Tertiary closure history of these oceanic basins. In the Eastern Mediterranean region, more northerly Neotethyan strands were closed by the Mid Tertiary, while oceanic crust remained in the south in the present Eastern Mediterranean Sea area. Northwards subduction of the remaining southerly Neotethyan strand was probably active by the Early Miocene. Different areas exhibit different stages of convergence and ocean basin closure. In the east, the amalgamated Eurasian plate had collided with the Arabian margin (Africa) by the Late Miocene, while oceanic crust still persisted further west. Steady-state subduction during the Late Tertiary gave rise to the Mediterranean ridge, as a substantial mud-dominated accretionary wedge. In the Aegean area, sufficient northward subduction took place to activate arc volcanism and pervasive back arc extension, short of marginal basin opening. In the easternmost Mediterranean, only limited subduction took place, associated with supra-subduction zone extension (e.g. in Cyprus). Today, steady state-subduction continues only locally, where vestiges of Neotethys remain (e.g. Herodotus abyssal plain). In the Western Mediterranean area, suturing of the African and Eurasian plates initially took place in the Betic region (Early–Mid Tertiary), where the Neotethys had existed only as a narrow connection with the Central North Atlantic. In the Central Mediterranean region, where the Western Neotethys was wider, northward subduction was active, apparently as early as the Late Cretaceous. In a widely accepted interpretation, an Andean-type magmatic arc developed along the southern margin of Europe and was then rifted off in the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene, to form the Corsica-Sardinia Block, opening the North Balearic marginal basin in its wake. The migrating subduction zone and microcontinent then collided diachronously with North Africa-related continental units (North Africa and Apulia) from Late Oligocene-Early Miocene, giving rise to collisional thrust belts in the Northern and Southern Apennines and along the North African continental margin (i.e. the Maghrebian chain) to the Betic-Rif area. From the Early Miocene onwards, a separate subduction system became active, related to removal of Neotethyan oceanic crust to the southeast (Ionian Sea), fueling suprasubduction zone extension and opening of the Tyrrhenian Sea. ‘Orogenic collapse’ is an alternative mechanism of such extension, and is widely believed to have caused divergent thrusting in the Betic and Rif regions of the westernmost Mediterranean, at the same time as crustal extension and subsidence of the Alboran Sea.     

Late Variscan exhumation histories of the southern Rhenohercynian Zone and western Mid-German Crystalline Rise: results from thermal modeling

Thermal modeling techniques constrained by published petrological and thermo-chronometric data were applied to examine late orogenic burial and exhumation at a Variscan suture zone in Central Europe. The suture separates the southern Rhenohercynian zone from the Mid-German Crystalline Rise and traces the former site of a small oceanic basin. Closure of this basin during Variscan subduction and subsequent collision of continental units were responsible for different tectono-metamorphic evolutions in the suture's footwall and hanging wall. Relative convergence rates between the southern Rhenohercynian zone and western Mid-German Crystalline Rise can be inferred from the pressure-temperature-time evolution of the Northern Phyllite Zone. During Late Viséan-Early Namurian times, horizontal thrusting velocities were at least 20 mm/a. Thermal modeling suggests that exhumation of the Mid-German Crystalline Rise occurred temporarily at rates of more than 3 mm/a. Such rapid exhumation cannot be produced by erosion only, but requires a substantial contribution of extensional strain. Exhumation by upper crustal extension occurred contemporaneously with convergence and is explained by continuous underplating of crustal slices and thrusting along faults with ramp-flat geometry. Finally, implications for the tectono-metamorphic history of the study area and the thermal state of the crust during late Variscan exhumation are discussed.     

Mapping of the post-collisional cooling history of the Eastern Alps

We present a database of geochronological data documenting the post-collisional cooling history of the Eastern Alps. This data is presented as (a) georeferenced isochrone maps based on Rb/Sr, K/Ar (biotite) and fission track (apatite, zircon) dating portraying cooling from upper greenschist/amphibolite facies metamorphism (500–600 °C) to 110 °C, and (b) as temperature maps documenting key times (25, 20, 15, 10 Ma) in the cooling history of the Eastern Alps. These cooling maps facilitate detecting of cooling patterns and cooling rates which give insight into the underlying processes governing rock exhumation and cooling on a regional scale.The compilation of available cooling-age data shows that the bulk of the Austroalpine units already cooled below 230 °C before the Paleocene. The onset of cooling of the Tauern Window (TW) was in the Oligocene-Early Miocene and was confined to the Penninic units, while in the Middle- to Late Miocene the surrounding Austroalpine units cooled together with the TW towards near surface conditions.High cooling rates (50 °C/Ma) within the TW are recorded for the temperature interval of 375–230 °C and occurred from Early Miocene in the east to Middle Miocene in the west. Fast cooling post-dates rapid, isothermal exhumation of the TW but was coeval with the climax of lateral extrusion tectonics. The cooling maps also portray the diachronous character of cooling within the TW (earlier in the east by ca. 5 Ma), which is recognized within all isotope systems considered in this study.Cooling in the western TW was controlled by activity along the Brenner normal fault as shown by gradually decreasing ages towards the Brenner Line. Cooling ages also decrease towards the E–W striking structural axis of the TW, indicating a thermal dome geometry. Both cooling trends and the timing of the highest cooling rates reveal a strong interplay between E–W extension and N–S orientated shortening during exhumation of the TW.     

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Thermochronological data from the Songpan-Ganze˛Fold Belt and Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt, on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in central China, reveal several phases of differential cooling across major listric thrust faults since Early Cretaceous times. Differential cooling, indicated by distinct breaks in age data across discrete compressional structures, was superimposed upon a regional cooling pattern following the Late Triassic Indosinian Orogeny. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from muscovite from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggest a phase of differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the Early Cretaceous. The zircon fission track data also indicate differential cooling across a zone of brittle re-activation on the eastern margin of the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the mid-Tertiary, between 38 and 10 Ma. Apatite fission track data from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal differential cooling across the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults during the Miocene. Forward modelling of apatite fission track data from the northern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggests relatively slow regional cooling through the Mesozoic and early Tertiary, followed by accelerated cooling during the Miocene, beginning at ca. 20 Ma, to present day.

Regional cooling is attributed to erosion during exhumation of the evolving Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt (LMTNB) following the Indosinian Orogeny. Differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone and the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults is attributed to exhumation of the hanging walls of active listric thrust faults. Thermochronological data from the Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal a greater amount of differential exhumation across thrust faults from north to south. This observation is in accord with the prevalence of Proterozoic and Sinian basement in the hanging walls of thrust faults in the central and southern Longmen Mountains. The two most recent phases of reactivation occurred following the initial collision of India with Eurasia, suggesting that lateral extrusion of crustal material in response to this collision was focused along discrete structures in the LMTNB.     

A new classification of the Turkish terranes and sutures and its implication for the paleotectonic history of the region

The Turkish part of the Tethyan realm is represented by a series of terranes juxtaposed through Alpine convergent movements and separated by complex suture zones. Different terranes can be defined and characterized by their dominant geological background. The Pontides domain represents a segment of the former active margin of Eurasia, where back-arc basins opened in the Triassic and separated the Sakarya terrane from neighbouring regions. Sakarya was re-accreted to Laurasia through the Balkanic mid-Cretaceous orogenic event that also affected the Rhodope and Strandja zones. The whole region from the Balkans to the Caucasus was then affected by a reversal of subduction and creation of a Late Cretaceous arc before collision with the Anatolian domain in the Eocene. If the Anatolian terrane underwent an evolution similar to Sakarya during the Late Paleozoic and Early Triassic times, both terranes had a diverging history during and after the Eo-Cimmerian collision. North of Sakarya, the Küre back-arc was closed during the Jurassic, whereas north of the Anatolian domain, the back-arc type oceans did not close before the Late Cretaceous. During the Cretaceous, both domains were affected by ophiolite obduction, but in very different ways: north directed diachronous Middle to Late Cretaceous mélange obduction on the Jurassic Sakarya passive margin; Senonian synchronous southward obduction on the Triassic passive margin of Anatolia. From this, it appears that the Izmir-Ankara suture, currently separating both terranes, is composite, and that the passive margin of Sakarya is not the conjugate margin of Anatolia. To the south, the Cimmerian Taurus domain together with the Beydağları domain (part of the larger Greater Apulian terrane), were detached from north Gondwana in the Permian during the opening of the Neotethys (East-Mediterranean basin). The drifting Cimmerian blocks entered into a soft collision with the Anatolian and related terranes in the Eo-Cimmerian orogenic phase (Late Triassic), thus suturing the Paleotethys. At that time, the Taurus plate developed foreland-type basins, filled with flysch-molasse deposits that locally overstepped the lower plate Taurus terrane and were deposited in the opening Neotethys to the south. These olistostromal deposits are characterized by pelagic Carboniferous and Permian material from the Paleotethys suture zone found in the Mersin mélange. The latter, as well as the Antalya and Mamonia domains are represented by a series of exotic units now found south of the main Taurus range. Part of the Mersin exotic material was clearly derived from the former north Anatolian passive margin (Huğlu-type series) and re-displaced during the Paleogene. This led us to propose a plate tectonic model where the Anatolian ophiolitic front is linked up with the Samail/Baër-Bassit obduction front found along the Arabian margin. The obduction front was indented by the Anatolian promontory whose eastern end was partially subducted. Continued slab roll-back of the Neotethys allowed Anatolian exotics to continue their course southwestward until their emplacement along the Taurus southern margin (Mersin) and up to the Beydağları promontory (Antaya-Mamonia) in the latest Cretaceous–Paleocene. The supra-subduction ocean opening at the back of the obduction front (Troodos-type Ocean) was finally closed by Eocene north–south shortening between Africa and Eurasia. This brought close to each other Cretaceous ophiolites derived from the north of Anatolia and those obducted on the Arabian promontory. The latter were sealed by a Maastrichtian platform, and locally never affected by Alpine tectonism, whereas those located on the eastern Anatolian plate are strongly deformed and metamorphosed, and affected by Eocene arc magmatism. These observations help to reconstruct the larger frame of the central Tethyan realm geodynamic evolution.     

North‐eastward subduction followed by slab detachment to explain ophiolite obduction and Early Miocene volcanism in Northland,New Zealand

Oligocene–Miocene models for northern New Zealand, involving south‐westward subduction to explain Early Miocene Northland volcanism, do not fit within the regional Southwest Pacific tectonic framework. A new model is proposed, which comprises a north‐east‐dipping South Loyalty basin slab that retreated south‐westward in the Eocene–earliest Miocene and was continuous with the north‐east‐dipping subduction zone of New Caledonia. In the latest Oligocene, the trench reached the Northland passive margin, which was pulled it into the mantle by the slab, resulting in obduction of the Northland allochthon. During and after obduction, the slab detached from the unsubductable continental lithosphere, inducing widespread calc‐alkaline volcanism in Northland. The new model further explains contemporaneous arc volcanism along the Northland Plateau Seamount Chain and sinking of the Northland basement, followed by uplift and extension in Northland.     

Provenance of the Bosnian Flysch

Sandwiched between the Adriatic Carbonate Platform and the Dinaride Ophiolite Zone, the Bosnian Flysch forms a c. 3000 m thick, intensely folded stack of Upper Jurassic to Cretaceous mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sediments in the Dinarides. New petrographic, heavy mineral, zircon U/Pb and fission-track data as well as biostratigraphic evidence allow us to reconstruct the palaeogeology of the source areas of the Bosnian Flysch basin in late Mesozoic times. Middle Jurassic intraoceanic subduction of the Neotethys was shortly followed by exhumation of the overriding oceanic plate. Trench sedimentation was controlled by a dual sediment supply from the sub-ophiolitic high-grade metamorphic soles and from the distal continental margin of the Adriatic plate. Following obduction onto Adria, from the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition onwards a vast clastic wedge (Vranduk Formation) was developed in front of the leading edge, fed by continental basement units of Adria that experienced Early Cretaceous synsedimentary cooling, by the overlying ophiolitic thrust sheets and by redeposited elements of coeval Urgonian facies reefs grown on the thrust wedge complex. Following mid-Cretaceous deformation and thermal overprint of the Vranduk Formation, the depozone migrated further towards SW and received increasing amounts of redeposited carbonate detritus released from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform margin (Ugar Formation). Subordinate siliciclastic source components indicate changing source rocks on the upper plate, with ophiolites becoming subordinate. The zone of the continental basement previously affected by the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous thermal imprint has been removed; instead, the basement mostly supplied detritus with a wide range of pre-Jurassic cooling ages. However, a c. 80 Ma, largely synsedimentary cooling event is also recorded by the Ugar Formation, that contrasts the predominantly Early Cretaceous cooling of the Adriatic basement and suggests, at least locally, a fast exhumation.     

Mesozoic exhumation history and palaeolandscape of the Iberian Massif in eastern Galicia from apatite fission-track and (U+Th)/He data

Apatite fission-track (AFT) and (U+Th)/He (AHe) data, combined with time–temperature inverse modelling, reveal the cooling and exhumation history of the Iberian Massif in eastern Galicia since the Mesozoic. The continuous cooling at various rates correlates with variation of tectonic boundary conditions in the adjacent continental margins. The data provide constraints on the 10⁷ timescale longevity of a relict paleolandscape. AFT ages range from 68 to 174 Ma with mean track lengths of 10.7 ± 2.6 to 12.6 ± 1.8 μm, and AHe ages range from 73 to 147 Ma. Fastest exhumation (≈0.25 km/Ma) occurred during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous main episode of rifting in the adjacent western and northern margins. Exhumation rates have decreased since then and have been approximately one order of magnitude lower. Across inland Galicia, the AFT data are consistent with Early Cretaceous movement on post-Variscan NE trending faults. This is coeval with an extensional episode offshore. The AHe data in this region indicate less than 1.7 km of denudation in the last 100 Ma. This low exhumation suggests the attainment of a mature landscape during Late Cretaceous post-rift tectonic stability, whose remains are still preserved. The low and steady rate of denudation prevailed across inland Galicia despite minor N–S shortening in the northern margin since ≈45 Ma ago. In north Galicia, rock uplift in response to NW strike-slip faulting since Early Oligocene to Early Miocene has caused insufficient exhumation (<3 km) to remove the Mesozoic cooling signal recorded by the AFT data.     

Post-collisional tectonics of the Turkish-Iranian plateau and a comparison with Tibet

The Turkish-Iranian Plateau (Fig. 1) is a high region with an average elevation of about 1.5 km. During the late Miocene the last piece of oceanic lithosphere between the Eurasian and Arabian continents was eliminated at the Bitlis/Zagros suture zone. Continued convergence across the collision site resulted in the shortening of the plateau across strike by thickening and by sideways motion of parts of it. Predominantly calcalkaline volcanism is present on the highest portions of the area, despite the absence of a descending slab of lithosphere. Surface geology and volcanism of the Turkish-Iranian Plateau resemble greatly those of the Tibetan Plateau, and both are underlain by a zone of seismic attenuation. From a comparison of these features and their tectonic setting we argue that the two plateaux are homologous structures, albeit at different stages of their evolution. Both areas appear to be tectonically alive and actively shortening. Available evidence lends little support to the hypothesis of large-scale underthrusting of continental lithosphere and of plastic-rigid indentation where such high plateaux, located directly in front of the “rigid indenter”, are considered to be tectonically “dead”. Their peculiar features are best explained in terms of shortening and thickening the continental crust whereby its lower levels are partially melted to give rise to calc-alkaline surface volcanism. Minor associated alkaline volcanism may be due to local longitudinal cracking of the crust to provide access to mantle.     

The Intra-Pontide ophiolites in Northern Turkey revisited:From birth to death of a Neotethyan oceanic domain

The Anatolian peninsula is a key location to study the central portion of the Neotethys Ocean(s)and to understand how its western and eastern branches were connected.One of the lesser known branches of the Mesozoic ocean(s)is preserved in the northern ophiolite suture zone exposed in Turkey,namely,the Intra-Pontide suture zone.It is located between the Sakarya terrane and the Eurasian margin(i.e.,Istanbul-Zonguldak terrane)and consists of several metamorphic and non-metamorphic units containing ophiolites produced in supra-subduction settings from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous.Ophiolites preserved in the metamorphic units recorded pervasive deformations and peak metamorphic conditions ranging from blueschist to eclogite facies.In the nonmetamorphic units,the complete oceanic crust sequence is preserved in tectonic units or as olistoliths in sedimentary melanges.Geochemical,structural,metamorphic and geochronological investigations performed on ophiolite-bearing units allowed the formulation of a new geodynamic model of the entire"life"of the IntraPontide oceanic basin(s).The reconstruction starts with the opening of the Intra-Pontide oceanic basins during the Late Triassic between the Sakarya and Istanbul-Zonguldak continental microplates and ends with its closure caused by two different subductions events that occurred during the upper Early Jurassic and Middle Jurassic.The continental collision between the Sakarya continental microplate and the Eurasian margin developed from the upper Early Cretaceous to the Palaeocene.The presented reconstruction is an alternative model to explain the complex and articulate geodynamic evolution that characterizes the southern margin of Eurasia during the Mesozoic era.     

Geochemical make-up of oceanic peridotites from NW Turkey and the multi-stage melting history of the Tethyan upper mantle

We present the whole-rock and the mineral chemical data for upper mantle peridotites from the Harmanc?k region in NW Turkey and discuss their petrogenetic–tectonic origin. These peridotites are part of a Tethyan ophiolite belt occurring along the ?zmir-Ankara-Ercincan suture zone in northern Turkey, and include depleted lherzolites and refractory harzburgites. The Al₂O₃ contents in orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene from the depleted lherzolite are high, and the Cr-number in the coexisting spinel is low falling within the abyssal field. However, the orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene in the harzburgites have lower Al₂O₃ contents for a given Cr-number of spinel, and plot within the lower end of the abyssal field. The whole-rock geochemical and the mineral chemistry data imply that the Harmanc?k peridotites formed by different degrees of partial melting (~%10–27) of the mantle. The depleted lherzolite samples have higher MREE and HREE abundances than the harzburgitic peridotites, showing convex-downward patterns. These peridotites represent up to ~16 % melting residue that formed during the initial seafloor spreading stage of the Northern Neotethys. On the other hand, the more refractory harzburgites represent residues after ~4–11 % hydrous partial melting of the previously depleted MOR mantle, which was metasomatized by slab-derived fluids during the early stages of subduction. The Harmanc?k peridotites, hence, represent the fragments of upper mantle rocks that formed during different stages of the tectonic evolution of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in Northern Neotethys. We infer that the multi-stage melting history of the Harmanc?k peridotites reflect the geochemically heterogeneous character of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere currently exposed along the ?zmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone.