Shear zones within the Bloody Bluff fault zone: Analysis and tectonic implications

The Bloody Bluff fault zone, which divides the New England Avalon zone and Nashoba zone, contains at least two shear zones that are within Avalonian rocks. The Rice Road shear zone (sinistral, strike-slip) affects the Westboro Formation and is intruded by the 630 Ma Dedham Granite. The Rice Road shear zone, and equivalent pre-granite mylonites appearing in drill cores, parallel the terrane boundary, and may have controlled the later mylonitization. The Nobscot shear zone (dextral, strike-slip) is a prograde shear zone cutting a granite assumed to be related to the surrounding 630 Ma plutons. Similar shear zones have been seen cutting Late Proterozoic plutons in the New England Avalon zone, and represent a series of en echelon strike-slip shears. The Burlington mylonite zone (shear sense equivocal) is part of the terrane boundary. This is a retrograde shear zone that forms the southeastern border of the Wolfpen lens, a lenticular body of sheared and altered metamorphic and intrusive rock that has been assumed to be part of the New England Avalon zone. Microstructural characteristics indicate that the Burlington mylonite zone was active after the Nobscot shear zone. In particular, quartz in the Nobscot shear zone was dynamically recrystallized by a combination of grain boundary migration and rotation recrystallization processes, thought to occur during shearing at upper-greenschist conditions. In contrast, quartz in the Burlington mylonite zone was recrystallized predominantly by rotation recrystallization, indicating lower-greenschist, retrograde, deformation. The two shear zones are too close for these differences to be a result of a simple thermal field gradient.While mineral assemblages in most of the study area indicate no metamorphic grade higher than upper-greenschist temperatures, the Wolfpen lens contains amphibolites with assemblages formed at temperatures above the oligoclase isograd, indicating mid-amphibolite facies metamorphism. As metamorphic contrast is one of the key features differentiating the Nashoba zone from the New England Avalon zone, the Wolfpen lens cannot be assumed to be part of Avalon. It may be a small block of rocks of intermediate grade between the two terranes.     

Geophysical modeling of the northern Appalachian Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes under the New Jersey Coastal Plain

A regional terrane map of the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement was constructed using seismic, drilling, gravity and magnetic data. The Brompton-Cameron and Central Maine terranes were coalesced as one volcanic island arc terrane before obducting onto Laurentian, Grenville age, continental crust in the Taconian orogeny [Rankin, D.W., 1994. Continental margin of the eastern United States: past and present. In: Speed, R.C., (Ed.), Phanerozoic Evolution of North American Continent-Ocean Transitions. DNAG Continent-Ocean Transect Volume. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 129–218]. Volcanic island-arc rocks of the Avalon terrane are in contact with Central Maine terrane rocks in southern Connecticut where the latter are overthrust onto the Brompton-Cameron terrane, which is thrust over Laurentian basement. Similarities of these allochthonous island arc terranes (Brompton-Cameron, Central Maine, Avalon) in lithology, fauna and age suggest that they are faulted segments of the margin of one major late Precambrian to early Paleozoic, high latitude peri-Gondwana island arc designated as “Avalonia”, which collided with Laurentia in the early to middle Paleozoic. The Brompton Cameron, Central Maine, and Avalon terranes are projected as the basement under the eastern New Jersey Coastal Plain based on drill core samples of metamorphic rocks of active margin/magmatic arc origin. A seismic reflection profile across the New York Bight traces the gentle dipping (approximately 20 degrees) Cameron's Line Taconian suture southeast beneath allochthonous Avalon and other terranes to a 4 sec TWTT depth (approximately 9 km) where the Avalonian rocks are over Laurentian crust. Gentle up-plunge (approximately 5 degrees) projections to the southwest bring the Laurentian Grenville age basement and the drift-stage early Paleozoic cover rocks to windows in Burlington Co. at approximately 1 km depth and Cape May Co. at approximately 2 km depths. The antiformal Shellburne Falls and Chester domes and Chain Lakes-Pelham dome-Bronson Hill structural trends, and the synformal Connecticut Valley-Gaspe structural trend can be traced southwest into the New Jersey Coastal Plain basement. A Mesozoic rift basin, the “Sandy Hook basin”, and associated eastern boundary fault is identified, based upon gravity modeling, in the vicinity of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The thickness of the rift-basin sedimentary rocks contained within the “Sandy Hook basin” is approximately 4.7 km, with the basin extending offshore to the east of the New Jersey coast. Gravity modeling indicates a deep rift basin and the magnetic data indicates a shallow magnetic basement caused by magnetic diabase sills and/or basalt flows contained within the rift-basin sedimentary rocks. The igneous sills and/or flows may be the eastward continuation of the Watchung and Palisades bodies.     

Zircon Senstive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) study of granitoid intrusions in Zhaoye Gold Belt of Shandong Province and its implication

The zircon Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) results show that granitoid intrusions in Zhaoye Gold Belt were emplaced at two periods of Mesozoic: Linglong and Luanjiahe types of granitic intrusions were emplaced between 160 Ma and 150 Ma (late Jurassic); Guojialing type of granodioritic intrusions, 130 Ma and 126 Ma (early Cretaceous). All the three types contain at least two major generations of inherited zircons with Precambrian (>650 Ma) and early Mesozoic ages (200–250 Ma), respectively. The former suggests that these plutonic rocks are of crustal origin and that Precambrian basement with component of sialic crust up to 3.4 Ga old (Middle Archean) exists in the region. The presence of abundant inherited zircons with early Mesozoic age indicates that the Precambrian basement was affected by a major tectono-thermal event, that is the collision of the North and South China blocks, at 250 Ma to 200 Ma. SHRIMP results also indicate that the gold mineralization in the region took place between 126 Ma and 120 Ma. Project supported by the Sino-Australian Economic and Technical Fund.     

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages of the Hida metamorphic and plutonic rocks,Japan: Implications for late Paleozoic to Mesozoic tectonics around the Korean Peninsula

A new U–Pb zircon geochronological study for the Hida metamorphic and plutonic rocks from the Tateyama area in the Hida Mountains of north central Japan is presented. The U–Pb ages of metamorphic zircon grains with inherited/detrital cores in paragneisses suggest that a metamorphic event took place at around 235–250 Ma; the cores yield ages around 275 Ma, 300 Ma, 330 Ma, 1 850 Ma, and 2 650 Ma. New age data, together with geochronological and geological context of the Hida Belt, indicate that a sedimentary protolith of the paragneisses is younger than 275 Ma and was crystallized at around 235–250 Ma. Detrital ages support a model that the Hida Belt was located in the eastern margin of the North China Craton, which provided zircon grains from Paleoproterozoic to Paleozoic rocks and also from Archean and rare Neoproterozoic rocks. Triassic regional metamorphism possibly reflects collision between the North and South China Cratons.     

Assembly and dispersal of supercontinents: The view from Avalon

Recent models for the post-750 Ma Rodinian supercontinent dispersal (e.g. Hoffman, 1991) envision that cratons margined by Grenvillian belts, were reorganized before ca 540 Ma to form the Gondwanan supercontinent. Laurentia and Baltica distanced themselves from Gondwana by moving out of the Rodinian cratonal cluster. West Gondwana, of which Avalon was a part during the late Proterozoic to Cambrian cratonal assembly, consisted mainly of Africa and South America.The main geological evidence is presented for: (1) a transition from continental platform conditions to those of a subduction-related volcanic arc regime in Late Proterozoic time during the dispersal of the Rodinian supercontinent, and the resulting assembly of the Gondwanan supercontinent; and (2) a second transition that marked a reversal from the volcanic arc regime to marine platformal environments by early Cambrian time.Evidence for progressive instability of the continental shelf margining the Rodinian supercontinent is contained in late Proterozoic olistostromes, mylonite zones, calc-alkaline magmatism, and arc-derived clastic rocks, some being glacigenic, during three phases of the Avalonian orogeny.By early Cambrian time the reversal from a tectonically unstable volcanic arc regime to more stable platformal conditions took place as Avalon, Armorica and related microcontinental blocks rifted from Gondwana. These Gondwanan fragments sequentially come into collision, first with each other and Baltica, and then with Laurentia in Mid to Late Paleozoic time as Pangaea was being assembled.     

Lithic fragments in the Bandelier Tuff, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

Lithic fragments are a highly varied but significant component of the Bandelier Tuff, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. Lithic material occurs in concentrations from trace amounts to 30 wt.%, and within the Otowi Member of the tuff has a total volume of 10 km³. Approximately 90% of the fragments are Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Jemez volcanic field, 10% are Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and only trace amounts are Precambrian basement. The large volume of lithic material and predominance of shallowly derived fragments requires substantial flaring of the vent near the surface. The cooling effect of ≥ 10 wt.% lithic fragments was sufficient to inhibit welding of the tuff.Many of the basement fragments appear to have been derived from a contact metamorphic zone surrounding the magma chamber. This zone is characterized by shearing and recrystallization, by development of veins of actinolite, augite, and epidote, and by alteration of hornblende to F-rich biotite. Water and fluorine involved in the alteration may have come from the magma chamber.     

Avalonian (Pan-African) mylonitic deformation west of Boston, U.S.A.

West of Boston, Mass., Castle and others (1976) recognized an up to 5km wide, possibly folded, NE-SW trending Burlington Mylonite Zone. We have extended mapping south into Natick and Framington quadrangles, and supplemented it by fixing local directions of tectonic motion, which are more variable than reported by Goldstein (1989). In Natick the mylonite zone is partly migmatized and converted into blastomylonites, forming the lithodemic Rice Gneiss and is intersected by the Dedham Granite dated ca 630 Ma. The granite also invades deformed, folded, and commonly mylonitized Westboro Quartzite. Thus mylonitization, folding, and formation of migmatitic blastomylonites are all earlier than ca 630 Ma, and can collectively be attributed to the main phase of the Avalonian orogeny that in Africa is referred to as the Pan-African I. The sense of movements in the Rice Gneiss is generally sinistral strike-slip with a NE-SW trend of foliation. Other local mylonites have more variable directions of motion.A narrower E-W zone of mylonitization has been recognized by Grimes (M.S. thesis 1993, Boston College) and named the Nobscot Shear Zone. It affects the Milford Granite, also about 630 Ma in age, while similar but narrow shear zones affect other local granites including the Dedham. These zones, dipping steeply north and including the Nobscot, are less intensely mylonitized and are not associated with migmatites. Their age is not known, but since they affect only Precambrian rocks, they are assumed to be late Proterozoic. We attribute these zones to the second stage of the Avalonian or the Pan-African II.The older rocks west of Boston are widely affected by numerous brittle faults. These are all of unknown age, but probably Phanerozoic. The most significant brittle fault in the Burlington area is the mid to late Paleozoic Bloody Bluff Fault. We do not associate large scale mylonitization with that fault, because the mylonites are commonly cut by undeformed or little deformed Siluro-Devonian gabbro-diorites.     

渤海湾盆地济阳坳陷滑脱构造研究

通过地震剖面、钻井资料和油田开发资料对渤海湾盆地济阳坳陷地层、构造变形和岩石物性进行研究.结果表明,渤海湾盆地济阳坳陷南缘和东北部存在滑脱构造,滑脱构造主要沿古生界／太古宇不整合面、石炭系／奥陶系假整合面发育,在古生界内部和新生界也有显示.滑脱构造面是一个断层破碎带,发育碎裂岩和褶皱.构造破碎带附近古生界（石炭系）底部和太古宇（奥陶系）顶部出现破碎带,表现为高孔隙度、高渗透率带.视滑动构造强度的不同古生界底部地层可能出现缺失或重复,后者在地震剖面中表现为反射时间明显增大,相应发育滑脱褶皱、堆垛背斜.由于与油气形成的时间相匹配,滑脱构造为潜山油气的储集和运移提供了有效的储集空间和运移通道,是潜山性油气藏形成的重要条件.     

Nd-isotope systematics of ∼2.7 Ga adakites, magnesian andesites, and arc basalts, Superior Province: evidence for shallow crustal recycling at Archean subduction zones

An association of adakite, magnesian andesite (MA), and Nb-enriched basalt (NEB) volcanic flows, which erupted within ‘normal’ intra-oceanic arc tholeiitic to calc-alkaline basalts, has recently been documented in ∼2.7 Ga Wawa greenstone belts. Large, positive initial ?_Nd values (+1.95 to +2.45) of the adakites signify that their basaltic precursors, with a short crustal residence, were derived from a long-term depleted mantle source. It is likely that the adakites represent the melts of subducted late Archean oceanic crust. Initial ?_Nd values in the MA (+0.14 to +1.68), Nb-enriched basalts and andesites (NEBA) (+1.11 to +2.05), and ‘normal’ intra-oceanic arc tholeiitic to calc-alkaline basalts and andesites (+1.44 to +2.44) overlap with, but extend to lower values than, the adakites. Large, tightly clustered ?_Nd values of the adakites, together with Th/Ce and Ce/Yb systematics of the arc basalts that rule out sediment melting, place the enriched source in the sub-arc mantle. Accordingly, isotopic data for the MA, NEBA, and ‘normal’ arc basalts can be explained by melting of an isotopically heterogeneous sub-arc mantle that had been variably enriched by recycling of continental material into the shallow mantle in late Archean subduction zones up to 200 Ma prior to the 2.7 Ga arc. If the late Archean Wawa adakites, MA, and basalts were generated by similar geodynamic processes as their counterparts in Cenozoic arcs, involving subduction of young and/or hot ocean lithosphere, then it is likely that late Archean oceanic crust, and arc crust, were also created and destroyed by modern plate tectonic-like geodynamic processes. This study suggests that crustal recycling through subduction zone processes played an important role for the generation of heterogeneity in the Archean upper mantle. In addition, the results of this study indicate that the Nd-isotope compositions of Archean arc- and plume-derived volcanic rocks are not very distinct, whereas Phanerozoic plumes and intra-oceanic arcs tend to have different Nd-isotopic compositions.     

Timescales and the role of inheritance in long-term landscape evolution,northern New England,Australia

Landscape evolution in northern New England is characterized by the persistence of landforms over long time periods. The topography in the study area was initiated by Paleozoic diapiric intrusion of granitic rocks as highs within metasedimentary and volcanic rocks. This framework was probably reinforced by differences in the resistance of the massive igneous and the fractured metasedimentary rocks to erosion. As a result, both the Tertiary and present-day relief of the area consists of uplands developed on granitic rocks partly overlain by Paleozoic volcanic rocks, and lowlands developed on Paleozoic metasediments. Extensive volcanism in the Tertiary had only a minimal effect on this relationship. A significant impact of Tertiary volcanism, however, was the diversion of major streams across topographic highs. Despite 19-35 Ma of incision, these streams are still far from establishing equilibrium profiles and dissecting the highs. The persistence of topography for a timescale of the same order of magnitude as that conventionally thought to be required for planation is due to reduced denudation rates in a passive tectonic setting and the presence of erosion-resistant Paleozoic igneous units. The latter influence is indicated by knickpoint persistence for 19-35 Ma on streams diverted across these rocks. Since it is generally considered that such disequilibria are short-lived features formed by Quaternary or ongoing deformation, this knickpoint persistence has important implications for landscape analyses that use disequilibria to assess recent tectonism in a landscape.     

Paleomagnetism of Lower Devonian volcanics and Devonian dykes from northcentral New Brunswick,Canada

Some 50 oriented samples (120 specimens) have been collected on eight sites of volcanic rocks from the Lower Devonian Dalhousie Group of northern New Brunswick and Devonian andesitic to basic dykes from central New Brunswick. Univectorial and occasional multivectorial components were extracted from the various samples. Results after AF and thermal demagnetization compare relatively well. In the volcanics and tuffs, two components of magnetization have been isolated: A (D = 33°, I = ?58°, α₉₅ = 7.3°, K = 236) for four sites and B (D = 66°, I = +53°) for three sites. The grouping of component A is improved after tilt correction but the fold test is not significantly positive at the 95% confidence level. Component A is interpreted as being primary while component B is unresolved and appears to be the resultant magnetization of a Late Paleozoic and a recent component. The pole position obtained for tilt corrected component A is 268°E, 1°S, d_p = 6.5°, d_m = 8.8°. The paleolatitude calculated for component A is 39°S. The paleopole of in situ component A is located close to those of the Early-Middle Devonian formations from Quebec, New Brunswick and New England states while the paleopole of tilt-corrected component A is similar to Lower Devonian poles of rock units from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. If component A is primary (as we believe it to be), then the western half of the northern Appalachians had already docked onto the North American Craton by Early Devonian time. Alternatively, if component A is secondary the same conclusion applies but the juxtaposition took place in Middle Devonian time.     

Kinematics and dynamics of the Mesozoic orogeny and late-orogenic extensional collapse in the Sino-Mongolian border areas

Extensional tectonic models with the major features of metamorphic core complexes were established in the Cordilleran region of western North America dur- ing the late 1970s to early 1980s of last century[1—4].Since there were previous thrust events, some re- searchers attributed the extension to crust-thickening of Mesozoic orogen[5—8], i.e. the crust thickening dur- ing orogeny led to the fact that the materials at depthswere heated and partially melted, and the heated and low-density mat…     

Evidence of a microplate in the Southern Andes?

Paleomagnetic poles for Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic rocks exposed in stable and possible mobile zones of Western Argentina are reported. They suggest two interpretations.One of the interpretations suggests that a mobile zone situated at about 32.1°South 69.3°West, in the Central Andes, rotated about 60° clockwise after Late Paleozoic time.The other interpretation suggests that at least the Andean zone between 32.1° and 31.7° South is allochthonous and was situated in the Pacific, at tropical latitudes, in the Late Paleozoic. On this interpretation the accretion of this microplate to South America ocurred in Permo-Triassic times.     

Tectonostratigraphic relationships and coalification trends in the Narragansett and Norfolk Basins, New England

Carboniferous basins in southeastern New England provide insight into, and constraints on, models for Alleghanian orogenesis. In particular, the Narragansett and Norfolk basins represent Devonian- to Pennsylvanian-aged, non-marine basins in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island that were variably deformed and metamorphosed during the Alleghanian orogeny, and intruded by Permian granites generated by crustal thickening. As such these basins provide an unusually complete documentation of the Alleghanian orogeny. We summarize their sedimentologic, structural and metamorphic features, with emphasis placed on the Narragansett basin, and provide a comprehensive bibliography of recent work. The Narragansett basin also contains complexly deformed and variably metamorphosed coals that are unlike coal describe from other orogenic terrains. Thus we describe these unusual, high rank coal deposits and their response to orogenesis.     

SHRIMP zircon and EPMA monazite dating of granitic rocks from the Maizuru terrane, southwest Japan: Correlation with East Asian Paleozoic terranes and geological implications

Abstract The Maizuru terrane, distributed in the Inner Zone of southwest Japan, is divided into three subzones (Northern, Central and Southern), each with distinct lithological associations. In clear contrast with the Southern zone consisting of the Yakuno ophiolite, the Northern zone is subdivided into the western and eastern bodies by a high-angle fault, recognized mainly by the presence of deformed granitic rocks and pelitic gneiss. This association suggests an affinity with a mature continental block; this is supported by the mode of occurrence, and petrological and isotopic data. Newly obtained sensitive high mass-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) zircon U–Pb ages reveal the intrusion ages of 424 ± 16 and 405 ± 18 Ma (Siluro–Devonian) for the granites from the western body, and 249 ± 10 and 243 ± 19 Ma (Permo–Triassic) for the granodiorites from the eastern body. The granites in the western body also show inherited zircon ages of around 580 and 765 Ma. In addition, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) monazite U–Th–total Pb dating gives around 475–460 Ma. The age of intrusion, inherited ages, mode of occurrence, and geological setting of the Siluro–Devonian granites of the Northern zone all show similarities with those of the Khanka Massif, southern Primoye, Russia, and the Hikami granitic rocks of the South Kitakami terrane, Northeast Japan. We propose that both the Siluro–Devonian and Permo–Triassic granitic rocks of the Northern zone are likely to have been juxtaposed through the Triassic–Late Jurassic dextral strike-slip movement, and to have originated from the Khanka Massif and the Hida terrane, respectively. This study strongly supports the importance of the strike-slip movement as a mechanism causing the structural rearrangement of the Paleozoic–Mesozoic terranes in the Japanese Islands, as well as in East Asia.     

Pyrite paragenesis and multiple sulfur isotope distribution in late Archean and early Paleoproterozoic Hamersley Basin sediments

The sulfur isotope record in late Archean and early Paleoproterozoic rocks is of considerable importance because it provides evidence for changes in early Earth atmospheric oxygen levels and potentially constrains the origin and relative impact of various microbial metabolisms during the transition from an anoxic to oxic atmosphere. Mass independently fractionated (MIF) sulfur isotopes reveal late Archean and early Paleoproterozoic sulfur sources in different pyrite morphologies in Western Australia's Hamersley Basin. Multiple sulfur isotope values in late Archean pyrite vary according to morphology. Fine grained pyrite has positive sulfur MIF, indicating a reduced elemental sulfur source, whereas pyrite nodules have negative sulfur MIF, potentially derived from soluble sulfate via microbial sulfate reduction. The Hamersley Basin δ³⁴S–Δ³³S record suggests that the extent of oxygenation of the surface ocean fluctuated through the Late Archean from at least 2.6 Ga, more than 150 million yr before the Great Oxidation Event. In the early Paleoproterozoic, there is less distinction between pyrite morphologies with respect to sulfur isotope fractionation, and pyrite from the Brockman Iron Formation trends toward modern sulfur isotope values. An important exception to this is the strong negative MIF recorded in layer parallel pyrite in Paleoproterozoic carbonate facies iron formation. This may suggest that deeper water hydrothermal environments remained anoxic while shallower water environments became more oxidised by the early Paleoproterozoic. The results of the current study indicate that sulfide paragenesis is highly significant when investigating Archean and early Paleoproterozoic multiple sulfur isotope compositions and sulfur sources.     

Geochemistry and zircon SHRIMP U-Pb dating of granitoids from the west segment of the North Qaidam

Granitoid intrusives such as Saishitenshan, Tuanyushan, Aolaohe and Sanchagou occur widely in the western segment of North Qaidam. All these bodies trend NW, roughly parallel to the regional structure. Zircon SHRIMP dating for these granites show that they range in age from Ordovician to Permian; 465.4±3.5 Ma for Saishitenshan, 469.7±4.6 Ma and 443.5±3.6 Ma for Tuanyushan, 372.1±2.6 Ma for Aolaohe, and 271.2±1.5 Ma and 259.9±1.2 Ma for Sanchagou. Both the Tuanyshan and Aolaohe plutons record two distinct intrusive events. Geochemically, the early Paleozoic granites have an island arc or active continental margin affinity, and their protolith may have been Mesoproterozoic oceanic crust derived from depleted mantle. The protolith of the late Paleozoic granites may have been Mesoproterozoic lower crust from the root of an island arc with the magmas reflecting a mixture of mantle and crustal material.     

The Lhasa Terrane: Record of a microcontinent and its histories of drift and growth

The Lhasa Terrane in southern Tibet has long been accepted as the last geological block accreted to Eurasia before its collision with the northward drifting Indian continent in the Cenozoic, but its lithospheric architecture, drift and growth histories and the nature of its northern suture with Eurasia via the Qiangtang Terrane remain enigmatic. Using zircon in situ U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic and bulk-rock geochemical data of Mesozoic–Early Tertiary magmatic rocks sampled along four north–south traverses across the Lhasa Terrane, we show that the Lhasa Terrane has ancient basement rocks of Proterozoic and Archean ages (up to 2870 Ma) in its centre with younger and juvenile crust (Phanerozoic) accreted towards its both northern and southern edges. This finding proves that the central Lhasa subterrane was once a microcontinent. This continent has survived from its long journey across the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean basins and has grown at the edges through magmatism resulting from oceanic lithosphere subduction towards beneath it during its journey and subsequent collisions with the Qiangtang Terrane to the north and with the Indian continent to the south. Zircon Hf isotope data indicate significant mantle source contributions to the generation of these granitoid rocks (e.g., ~ 50–90%, 0–70%, and 30–100% to the Mesozoic magmatism in the southern, central, and northern Lhasa subterranes, respectively). We suggest that much of the Mesozoic magmatism in the Lhasa Terrane may be associated with the southward Bangong–Nujiang Tethyan seafloor subduction beneath the Lhasa Terrane, which likely began in the Middle Permian (or earlier) and ceased in the late Early Cretaceous, and that the significant changes of zircon ε_Hf(t) at ~ 113 and ~ 52 Ma record tectonomagmatic activities as a result of slab break-off and related mantle melting events following the Qiangtang–Lhasa amalgamation and India–Lhasa amalgamation, respectively. These results manifest the efficacy of zircons as a chronometer (U–Pb dating) and a geochemical tracer (Hf isotopes) in understanding the origin and histories of lithospheric plates and in revealing the tectonic evolution of old orogenies in the context of plate tectonics.     

Geology of the platanares geothermal area, Departamento de Copán, Honduras

The Platanares geothermal area, Departamento de Copán, Honduras, is located within a graben that is complexly faulted. The graben is bounded on the north by a highland composed of Paleozoic (?) metamorphic rocks in contact with Cretaceous - Tertiary redbeds of unknown thickness. These are unconformably overlain by Tertiary andesitic lavas, rhyolitic ignimbrites, and associated sedimentary rocks. The volcanic rocks are mostly older than 14 Ma, and thus are too old to represent the surface expression of an active crustal magma body. Thermal fluids that discharge in the area are heated during deep circulation of meteoric water along faults in a region of somewhat elevated heat flow. Geothermometry based upon the chemical composition of thermal fluids from hot springs and from geothermal gradient coreholes suggests that the reservoir equilibrated at temperatures as high as 225 to 240°C, within the Cretaceous redbed sequence. Three continuously cored geothermal gradient holes have been drilled; fluids of about 165°C have been produced from two drilled along a NW-trending fault zone, from depths of 250 to 680 m. A conductive thermal gradient of 139°C/km, at a depth of 400 m, was determined from the third well, drilled 0.6 km west of that fault zone. These data indicate that the Platanares geothermal area holds considerable promise for electrical generation by moderate- to hightemperature geothermal fluids.     

Thickness and thermal history of continental crust and root zones

The survival to the present of the Archean nuclei of Precambrian shields requires special explanation if, as seems likely, the rate of heat flow out of the earth was two or three times greater in the late Archean (2.5 b.y. ago) than at present, since such a high heat flux would have melted the base of the Archean crust. It is proposed that there must have existed beneath stable continental crust a root zone (or lithosphere, or tectosphere) at least 200 km thick which has acted as a thermal buffer between the crust and the convecting mantle; this is virtually the same model as has been proposed to explain the present distribution of heat flow between continents and oceans. The strong temperature dependence of silicate rheology insures that the mantle temperature at the base of the root zone was no more than about 150°C higher in the late Archean than at present; the greater Archean heat flux would have been removed mainly through faster sea-floor spreading. To have survived, the root zone must be mechanically and chemically distinct from the rest of the mantle, and its formation was probably intimately related to the differentiation and stabilization of the continental crust.