Formation of the Olyutorsky–Kamchatka foldbelt: a kinematic model

The Olyutorsky–Kamchatka foldbelt formed as a result of two successive collisions of the Achaivayam–Valaginsky and Kronotsky–Commander island arcs with the Eurasian margin where the two terranes docked after a long NW transport. We model their motion history from the Middle Campanian to Present and illustrate the respective plate margin evolution with ten reconstructions. In this modeling the arcs are assumed to travel on the periphery of the large plates of Eurasia, North America, Pacific, and Kula, for which the velocities and directions of motion are known from published data. The model predicts that the Achaivayam–Valaginsky arc was the leading edge of the Kula plate from the Middle Campanian to the Middle Paleocene and then moved slowly with the Pacific plate as long as the Middle Eocene when it accreted to Eurasia. The Kronotsky arc initiated in the Middle Campanian on the margin of North America and was its part till the latest Paleocene when the terrane changed polarity to move northwestward with the Pacific plate and eventually to collide with Eurasia in the Late Miocene. The predicted paleolatitudes of the Achaivayam–Valaginsky and Kronotsky–Commander island arcs for the latest Cretaceous and Paleogene are consistent with nine (out of eleven) reliable paleomagnetic determinations for samples from the two arcs. Additional changes imposed on the initial model parameters (kinematics of the large plates, relative position of the Kula–Pacific Ridge and the Emperor seamount chain, or time of active volcanism within the arcs) worsen the fit of the final reconstructions to available geological and paleomagnetic data. Therefore, the suggested model appears to be the most consistent one at this stage of knowledge.     

试解台湾构造之谜

台湾是西太平洋弧沟系统中一个独特的地区,至今存在着许多难解的构造之谜。本文试以吕宋弧与台湾的分裂—碰撞—滑离这一模式,给台湾构造演化以统一的新解释。文章强调了次生分裂对岛弧回返的意义。     

Univariate data analysis system: deciphering mean compositions of island and continental arc magmas,and influence of the underlying crust

Our aim is to determine the mean compositions of modern island and continental arcs, along with dispersion estimates, and use them to evaluate their similarities and differences in such subduction settings. First, following the conventional approach, the statistical parameters of mean, median, and standard deviation were simply calculated from the available combined data from all island or continental arcs. However, it is mandatory to ascertain from significance tests that all island or continental arcs used for these estimates are statistically similar in their compositions before combining the data from different arcs and calculating the mean values and their uncertainties for the chemical parameters of interest. A new computer program, Univariate Data Analysis System (UDASYS), was developed for this purpose because the available programs are not efficient for applying the significance test of analysis of variance (ANOVA) to large numbers of sample groups, as in the present work. Compositional data for 16 island and 12 continental arcs around the world were compiled and processed in UDASYS. The best compositional estimates for all three types of magmas (basic, intermediate, and acid) from island and continental arcs were statistically evaluated to document, for the first time, significant differences for 64–94% of the geochemical parameters under study. These differences in large-ion lithophile elements, light rare earth elements, high-field strength elements, and numerous log-ratios are likely caused by different types of underlying crust beneath island and continental arcs. More specifically, the examination of two nearby arcs, Izu-Bonin (island) arc and Japan (continental) arc, confirmed that about 65–77% of the parameters showed significant differences, which may be related to the different types of crusts beneath these spatially close areas. The differences between the log-ratios of island and continental arc basic magmas further indicate that new multi-dimensional discrimination diagrams can certainly be proposed in future to discriminate such basic magmas from these two very similar tectonic settings, which at present is possible only from diagrams for intermediate and acid magmas.     

Plate tectonic interpretation of deep earthquakes between the Tonga-Lau and New Hebrides subduction zones

The existence of deep earthquakes between the Tonga and New Hebrides island arcs is explained as a result of activation of two buried remnants of paleosubduction zones beneath the Fiji Plateau. The activation is produced by deep collisions of lithospheric plates, with the active Tonga subduction as primary cause. The paleosubduction zones are tentatively coordinated with the extinct Pacific-Phoenix and Tasman Sea spreading centres.     

Strontium isotope variations in lower tertiary-quaternary volcanic rocks from the Kurile island arc

Average ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios for lavas from Quaternary and Pleistocene volcanoes of the Kurile island arc, NW Pacific, decrease from 0.7035 in the south to 0.7032 in the north. The northern Kuriles are characterised by K₂Oricher volcanics and by an older crust. Varying ratios show no simple relation to crustal thickness or geochemical indicators of crustal contamination. This is thought to reflect the immature character of the crust — its simatic composition, low Rb/Sr ratios and youthfulness. Older lavas from the Kuriles (Lower Tertiary, Miocene) have similar or slightly higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios; some have suffered slight alteration and possibly crustal contamination. Quaternary volcanics from the Kurile and Aleutian arcs have the lowest ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of all circum-Pacific arcs and this may be ascribed to (a) the isotopic individuality of the landward North American plate and/or (b) the high degree of mechanical coupling between the Pacific and North American plates reducing the amount of subducted ⁸⁷Sr-rich sediments and seawater. An isotopic boundary between island arcs is located in central Hokkaido. The primary basaltic magmas of the Kuriles were derived from mantle recently contaminated by radiogenic Sr. Subsequent fractionation to andesites and dacites occurred by closed-system fractional crystallization.     

西昆仑麻扎构造混杂岩带中－下侏罗统叶尔羌群源区构造背景分析

本文在收集和总结前人研究成果的基础上,通过对西昆仑麻扎地区中-下侏罗统叶尔羌群碎屑组分和砂岩地球化学特征分析,讨论了叶尔羌群沉积源区大地构造背景.在莎里塔什组沉积时期,物源区的构造背景主要为大陆岛弧、大洋岛弧的性质;杨叶组沉积时期,源区的大地构造背景为大陆岛弧,兼有活动大陆边缘性质;塔尔尕组沉积时期,源区构造背景复杂:既显示活动大陆边缘和岛弧(大洋岛弧、大陆岛弧)的性质,同时还显示出被动陆缘环境,其可能与晚三叠世造山开始时克拉通地块边缘的卷入有关.     

Ocean, continents and orogens

In this paper, the processes related to subduction and mountain building are discussed, and some new models and notions are proposed.At all known epochs, the Earth's surface comprised essentially migrating plates and large belts (of the order of 10,000 × 2000 km) where the lithosphere is mobilised, so that subductions and crustal resorption occur in complex structural patterns. Through time, these orogens start as island arcs and evolve into folded ranges.The formation and location of island-arc belts is shown to be related to the obliquity between rifts and continental margins i.e. to lateral relative movements of plates: torsion couples are developed bringing arcs to bulge through the inducted arc mechanism. This accounts for tensions prevailing in the back-arc basin while compressive stresses accumulate as vertical deformations in the arc-trench or uplift—subsidence couple. When the rupture limit is reached, a tangential tectonic phase occurs.It is suggested that the energy output (heat flow) varies with the pressure exerted by the top (elastic) lithosphere upon the underlying mantle. A compensation tends to be established between the inner flow and tectonic stress, as the latter brings about pressure variations through uplift-subsidence couples. These may therefore be related to the generation of paired metamorphic belts.The evolution from island arcs to completed folded ranges is briefly described, with special attention being paid to ophiolitic and crystalline basement nappes, as well as to strike-slip faults, which are the final expression of lateral relative movements.     

Tertiary plate tectonics and high-pressure metamorphism in New Caledonia

The sialic basement of New Caledonia is a Permian-Jurassic greywacke sequence which was folded and metamorphosed to prehnite-pumpellyite or low-grade greenschist facies by the Late Jurassic. Succeeding Cretaceous-Eocene sediments unconformably overlie this basement and extend outwards onto oceanic crust. Tertiary tectonism occurred in three distinct phases.

1. (1) During the Late Eocene a nappe of peridotite was obducted onto southern New Caledonia from northeast to southwest, but without causing significant metamorphism in the underlying sialic rocks.

2. (2) Oligocene compressive thrust tectonics in the northern part of the island accompanied a major east-west subduction zone, at least 30 km wide, which is identified by an imbricate system of tectonically intruded melanges and by development of lawsonite-bearing assemblages in adjacent country rocks; this high-pressure mineralogy constituted a primary metamorphism for the Cretaceous-Eocene sedimentary pile, but was overprinted on the Mesozoic prehnite-pumpellyite metagreywackes.

3. (3) Post-Oligocene transcurrent faulting along a northwest-southeast line (the sillon) parallel to the west coast caused at least 150 km of dextral offset of the southwest frontal margin of the Eocene ultramafic nappe.

At the present time, the tectonics of the southwest Pacific are related to a series of opposite facing subduction (Benioff) zones connected by transform faults extending from New Britain-Solomon Islands south through the New Hebrides to New Zealand and marking the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates. Available geologic data from this region suggest that a similar geometry existed during the Tertiary and that the microcontinents of New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand all lay along the former plate boundary which has since migrated north and east by a complex process of sea-floor spreading behind the active island arcs.     

西太平洋岛弧造山带形成机制的模拟实验

西太平洋一侧的岛弧都被一边缘海将其与大陆隔开,这些边缘海是因弧后扩张形成的。本文的目的在于根据弧后扩张的重力驱动机制,研究岛弧造山带的起源。作者按照相似性理论设计和进行了模型实验,观察到了在海洋岩石层消减和弧后扩张的过程中,原来的大陆边缘被分裂,分裂出来的大陆板片出现隆起、褶皱以致断裂,并且其向海洋一侧的边缘在平面图上呈现出凸向大洋的弧形。这些模型运动现象可用来解释岛弧地区的许多观测事实,因而可作为岛弧造山带成因的一种模式来提出,以供讨论。     

滇西北云岭陆缘弧大地构造单元的划分与特征

为进一步查明滇西北云岭陆缘弧的地质构造特征,经实地调研与资料收集整理,将该区划分为6个四级大地构造单元.即：雪龙山岩群（Pt₁Xl）、德钦断块（Pz₁）、攀天阁酸性火山岩浆弧（T₂）、工农弧间盆地（T₂）、崔依比中基性火山岩浆弧（T_1-2）、鲁甸火山弧-同碰撞花岗岩（T）.前2个单元属岛弧基底,后4个单元属岛弧主体.各单元的岩石组合、变形变质特征有明显差异.岛弧主体形成于早三叠世-晚三叠世早期,是金沙江洋盆向西俯冲消减、碰撞造山的产物.岛弧主体之上被上三叠统角度不整合覆盖.     

Different levels of ensimatic island-arc accretion

The possible scenarios of accretion of ancient ensimatic island arcs in the eastern and western frameworks of the Pacific Ocean are discussed. It is concluded that the accretion of ensimatic island arcs can occur at both the lithospheric and crustal (upper crustal) levels. In the case of lithospheric accretion, the subduction zone is jammed and the island-arc edifice is attached to the continent. During crustal-level accretion, the subduction of the lithosphere that underlies the island arc can develop further, thereby leading to the formation of a suprasubduction volcanic-plutonic belt at the continental margin.     

西北太平洋岛弧系列成因的探讨

西北太平洋岛弧系列中的各岛弧(除马里亚纳岛弧为洋壳型弧外)均由陆壳型弧和洋壳型弧组成,并且左端与大陆相连,右端被后形成的岛弧所截。整个岛弧系列,从中生代末期开始发育至今,由北向南依次发展,规律明显。     

Australian island arcs through time: Geodynamic implications for the Archean and Proterozoic

The operation and extent of modern-style plate tectonics in the Archean and Paleoproterozoic are controversial, although subduction and terrane accretion models have been proposed for most Archean cratons in the world, including both the Yilgarn and Pilbara Cratons of Western Australia. The recognition of ancient island arcs can be used to infer convergent plate margin processes, and in this paper we present evidence for the existence of several intraoceanic island arcs now preserved in Australia. Beginning in the Archean, Australia evolved to its present configuration through the accretion and assembly of several continental blocks, by convergent plate margin processes. In Australia, possibly the best example of an Archean island arc (or primitive continental arc) is preserved within the Mesoarchean (ca. 3130–3112 Ma) Whundo Group in the Sholl Terrane of the West Pilbara Superterrane. Two younger, Neoarchean, island arc terranes, and associated accretion, have also been proposed for the Yilgarn Craton: the Saddleback island arc (ca. 2714–2665 Ma) in the southwest Yilgarn Craton and the Kurnalpi island arc (ca. 2719–2672 Ma) in the eastern Yilgarn Craton. In the early Proterozoic, in the Central Zone of the Halls Creek Orogen, northern Western Australia, the Tickalara Metamorphics (ca. 1865–1850 Ma) have been interpreted to represent an island arc. In the southwest Gawler Craton in South Australia, the St Peter Suite (ca. 1631–1608 Ma), of juvenile I-type calcalkaline tonalite to granodiorite, possibly represents an island arc. In the Musgrave Province in central Australia, age and geochemical constraints are poor due to later overprinting tectonic events, but felsic orthogneisses (ca. 1607–1565 Ma) possibly represent juvenile felsic crust which was emplaced though subduction-related processes into an oceanic island arc. The arcs are volumetrically insignificant, but important, in that they separate much larger tracts of, usually older, continental crust, often of different composition and geological history. The arcs were sutured to continental crust during arc–continent collisional events, which eventually resulted in the assembly of much of present-day Australia. The arcs, thus, indicate lost oceanic crust. The recognition of island arcs in the ancient rock record indicates that subduction processes, similar in many ways to modern day processes at convergent plate margins, were operating on Earth by at least 3100 Ma ago.     

Thermal field and geothermal models of the lithosphere in the continent-ocean transition zone of northeastern Eurasia

The region under study is located in the active “transition zone” from the Eurasian continent to the Pacific Ocean. The zone occupies not only the continent-ocean border area (continental coastline, marginal seas, island arcs, and deep-sea trenches) but also the margins of intracontinental regions of the Eurasian continent with different structures and regimes of development. The transition zone is a natural buffering and damping regulator of the interaction between the Eurasian and Pacific plates and is characterized by intense orogenesis, contemporary volcanism, active seismicity, diverse geothermal regime, and highly nonuniform measured heat-flow values. Available geothermal data for the region are not sufficiently generalized. After the latest maps compiled in the 1990s, new data have been obtained and new geoinformation technologies have been developed. In the study presented in this paper, available geothermal information has been generalized and a detailed heat flow distribution map has been compiled and used to calculate Moho temperatures, to determine the thickness of the “geothermal” lithosphere, and to construct distribution maps of these parameters.     

Foreword

The Qinghai-Tibet plateau is a fast uplifting area that constitutes the world's highest and thickest, and newest piece of continental plate which has unusual geometric configurations and landscapes. The Qinghai-Tibet plateau consists of multiple terranes, with a complex geological history, including the evolution of the Tethys Ocean basin, the convergence of terranes and island arcs, multiple subductions, multiple collisions and multiple orogens, over a long period of action of continental dynamic processes. Before the Indian and the Asian plates collided, during the Early Paleozoic, it was already a large orogen and terrane collision complex.     

LATE CENOZOIC GOLD VEINS AND VOLCANIC COLLAPSE TECTONICS IN THE ISLAND ARC JUNCTIONS OF THE JAPANESE ISLANDS

0 Introduction The Japanese Islands consist of five volcanic arcs (Fig.1).The North-East and SouthWest Japan arcs together form the Honshu arc,to which the Kurile arc joins at Hokkaido,whereas the Izu-Mariana arc joins at Izu-Fossa Magna,and the Ryukyu arc joins at Kyushu.These regions where volcanic arcs converge,are termed "island arc junctions".     

Petrology and geochemistry of the island of Sarigan in the Mariana arc; calc-alkaline volcanism in an oceanic setting

Isotopic studies of rocks from oceanic island arcs such as the Marianas indicate that little, if any, recycling of continental material (e.g. oceanic sediments) occurs in these arcs. Because oceanic arcs are on the average more mafic than the dominantly andesitic continental arcs, an important question is whether the andesites of continental arcs are produced by a fundamentally different (more complex?) mechanism than the lavas of oceanic arcs. An excellent opportunity for study of this question is provided by the island of Sarigan, in the Mariana active arc, on which calc-alkaline andesites (including hornblende-bearing types) are exposed along with more mafic lavas. Available isotope data suggest the Sarigan lavas (including the andesites) were derived from mantle material with little or no involvement of continental components. Ratios of incompatible elements suggest that most of the Sarigan lavas were derived from similar source materials. Absolute abundances of incompatible elements vary irregularly within the eruptive sequence and indicate at least 5 distinct magma batches are represented on Sarigan. Major element data obtained on the lavas and mineral phases in them, combined with modal mineral abundances, suggest that the calc-alkaline nature of the volcanic rocks on Sarigan results from the fractional crystallization of titanomagnetite in combination with other anhydrous phases. Amphibole, although present in some samples, is mainly a late-crystallizing phase and did not produce the calc-alkline characteristics of these lavas. Gabbroic samples found in the volcanic sequence have mineralogc and geochemical characteristics that would be expected of residual solids produced during fractional crystallization of the Sarigan lavas. When combined, data on the lavas and the gabbros suggest the following crystallization sequence: olivine — plagioclase — clinopyroxene — titanomagnetite — orthopyroxene±hornblende, biotite and accessory phases. These results lead to the conclusion that calc-alkaline magmas can be generated directly from mantle sources.     

内蒙古中西部多岛海构造演化

内蒙古中西部大陆由一个微大陆、三条弧后盆地和三条火山岛弧,即华北微大陆、白云鄂 傅弧后盆地、白乃庙火山岛弧、温都尔庙弧后盆地、苏尼特左－锡林浩特火山岛弧、贺根山弧后盆 地和二连浩特－锡林郭勒火山岛弧组成。经过了长期而复杂的微大陆和火山弧的裂解、弧后盆地 的消减衰亡及弧－陆和弧－弧碰拉等构造演化,才最终形成今天所见到的这种构造样式。     

The Amirante ridge/trough complex: response to rotational transform rift/drift between Seychelles and Madagascar

The Amirante ridge/trough complex developed along the Late Cretaceous transform boundary that separated the Seychelles/India and Madagascar/Somali Basin plates. Motion between these plates was complex, comprising sinistral N-S strike-slip movement coupled and coeval with counter-clockwise rotation induced when seafloor spreading developed in only the southern portion of the transform. The overall morphology of the complex comprises a series of arcuate ridge and trough segments. These segments were successively produced by tectonic and volcanic activity within the zone of migrating plate contact adjacent to the rotational pivot where compression was replaced by extension along the transform boundary. In the extensional regime to the south of this contact zone the Mascarene oceanic basin developed, whilst in the compressional zone further north island arcs developed and the ophiolites of Baluchistan were obducted from the Somali Basin onto the leading edge of the Seychelles/India plate.