Metamorphic convergence of the upper and lower plates of the Vincent thrust, San Gabriel Mountains, southern California, USA

The Vincent thrust of the San Gabriel Mountains, southern California, separates eugeoclinal Pelona Schist from overlying Precambrian to Mesozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks of North American continental affinity. The thrust is generally considered to be synmetamorphic because of similarity in structural orientations and mineral assemblages between the Pelona Schist and mylonites at the base of the upper plate. In this study, compositions of calcic amphibole and plagioclase in the upper plate and structurally high Pelona Schist were compared to further test this interpretation. Amphibole in the schist is mostly actinolite to actinolitic hornblende with high Na/Al ratio, indicating relatively high-P/low-T metamorphism. Individual grains are zoned, with concentrations of both Na and Al decreasing from cores to rims. Premylonitic amphibole in the upper plate is hornblende, tschermakite and pargasite with compositions indicative of low- or medium-P metamorphism. During mylonitization, this amphibole was replaced by actinolite to actinolitic hornblende with a similar range of Na and Al as amphibole rims in the Pelona Schist, but with slightly lower Na/Al ratio. This is consistent with the decrease of Na/Al up-section previously noted within the Pelona Schist of this area, and is considered to be the result of an inverted thermal gradient during thrusting. Convergence of composition between schist and upper plate also occurs for K and Ti contents of amphibole and An content of plagioclase. These features provide strong evidence that mylonitization of the upper plate is closely related in space and time to metamorphism of the Pelona Schist and therefore that the Vincent thrust is a remnant of the primary fault along which the Pelona Schist and correlative units were subducted beneath North America. Nonetheless, very fine-scale differences in amphibole composition between the schist and upper plate may indicate that metamorphic re-equilibration could not quite keep pace with movement on the fault.     

Qualitative thermobarometry of inverted metamorphism in the Pelona and Rand Schists, southern California, using calciferous amphibole in mafic schist

Abstract The Rand and Pelona Schists consist of eugeoclinal rock types overlain by continental basement along the Vincent-Chocolate Mountains (VCM) faults. Both schists display inverted metamorphic zonation, defined in part by a systematic variation in composition of calcic to sodic-calcic amphibole in mafic schist structurally upward. The compositional progressions include increase of total A1, A1^IV and Ti, but decrease in the ratios of Na/(Na + Ca) to A1/(A1 + Si), and Na^M4 to (A1^VI+ Fe³⁺+ Ti). These variations imply that structurally high rocks belong to a lower-pressure metamorphic fades series than those at depth. This result is consistent with previous views that the inverted metamorphic zonations represent intact structural sequences.
Amphibole composition is dependent not only on structural position (i.e. P-T ), but also upon bulk-rock composition. The important controls are whole-rock Mg/(Mg + Fe²⁺+ Mn) and Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺. The greatest impact of these factors, however, is on the absolute values of Na and Al, rather than their ratio. Thus, interpretation of facies series is not seriously hindered by compositional variability.
Sodic amphibole in epidote blueschists from the Rand Schist is extensively replaced by sodic-calcic amphibole. Sodic-calcic amphibole in the Rand Schist and Pelona Schist is, itself, rimmed by actinolitic amphibole. Similar blueschist to greenschist transitions in other metamorphic terranes are typically attributed to exhumation. In the Rand and Pelona Schists, the sequence probably formed during burial.     

A two-stage fluid history for the Orocopia Schist and associated rocks related to flat subduction and exhumation,southeastern California

ABSTRACT

Stable isotopes combined with pre-existing ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology at the Gavilan Hills and Orocopia Mountains in southeastern California record two stages of fluid–rock interaction: (1) Stage 1 is related to prograde metamorphism as Orocopia Schist was accreted to the base of the crust during late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic Laramide flat subduction. (2) Stage 2 affected the Orocopia Schist and is related to middle Cenozoic exhumation along detachment faults. There is no local evidence that schist-derived fluids infiltrated structurally overlying continental rocks. Mineral δ¹⁸O values from Orocopia Schist in the lower plate of the Chocolate Mountains fault and Gatuna normal fault in the Gavilan Hills are in equilibrium at 490–580°C with metamorphic water (δ¹⁸O = 7–11‰). Phengite and biotite δD values from the Orocopia Schist and upper plate suggest metamorphic fluids (δD ~ –40‰). In contrast, final exhumation of the schist along the Orocopia Mountains detachment fault (OMDF) in the Orocopia Mountains was associated with alteration of prograde biotite and amphibole to chlorite (T ~ 350–400°C) and the influx of meteoric-hydrothermal fluids at 24–20 Ma. Phengites from a thin mylonite zone at the top of the Orocopia Schist and alteration chlorites have the lowest fluid δD values, suggesting that these faults were an enhanced zone of meteoric fluid (δD < –70‰) circulation. Variable δD values in Orocopia Schist from structurally lower chlorite and biotite zones indicate a lesser degree of interaction with meteoric-hydrothermal fluids. High fluid δ¹⁸O values (6–12‰) indicate low water–rock ratios for the OMDF. A steep thermal gradient developed across the OMDF at the onset of middle Cenozoic slip likely drove a more vigorous hydrothermal system within the Orocopia Mountains relative to the equivalent age Gatuna fault in the Gavilan Hills.     

Petrological evidence for the development of refolded folds during a single deformational event

The Pelona Schist, which forms the lower plate of the Vincent thrust in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California, has undergone a complex history of folding. The youngest folds in the schist (style 2 folds) range in shape from open to tight and fold both compositional layering and schistosity. These are superposed upon isoclinal folds with axial-plane schistosity (style 1 folds) that, in turn, overprint older isoclinal folds (also called style 1 folds). Samples from the hinges of style 2 folds contain two generations of muscovite. Muscovites of the older generation are parallel to the folded (style 1) schistosity. The newer muscovites recrystallized during and/or after style 2 folding. Microprobe analysis indicates that the two generations of muscovite are very similar in composition, although the new muscovites tend to have slightly higher paragonite and celadonite contents than the old muscovites. From the gross similarity of the two groups of muscovite, it is concluded that the style 1 and style 2 folds were produced during a single progressive deformation. The slightly higher paragonite and celadonite contents of the new muscovites are thought to indicate that both pressure and temperature were increasing during the deformation. This is consistent with the deformation being due to underthrusting of the Pelona Schist beneath the upper plate of the Vincent thrust.     

Origin and deposition of a graphitic schist-hosted metamorphogenic Au-W deposit,Macraes, East Otago,New Zealand

The Macraes gold-tungsten deposit occurs in a low-angle thrust system in biotite grade Otago Schist. Native gold, scheelite, pyrite and arsenopyrite are found in and adjacent to quartz veins and silicified schist of lenticular reef zones, where the thrust system cuts through graphitic pelitic schist. Mineralization is confined to a shear zone, up to 80 m thick, which is closely sub-parallel to the regional schistosity. Chemical alteration is dominated by silicification, with some addition of Cr and depletion of Sr and Ba. Alteration extends only about 5 m from major veins. Oxygen becomes isotopically heavier away from veins due to temperature decrease as hot fluids penetrated into cooler (250°C?) rock. Graphite within the shear zone rocks has reflectance of 6–7% (in oil), similar to graphite in medium-high grade Otago Schist, and is presumed to be metamorphic in origin. This graphite has acted as a reducing agent to cause precipitation of gold where the thrust system, acting as a conduit for metamorphic fluids, intersects the graphitic schist. The metals were derived from the underlying schist pile which may include an over-thrust oceanic assemblage containing metal-enriched horizons.     

Metamorphic evolution,partial melting and rapid exhumation above an ancient flat slab: insights from the San Emigdio Schist,southern California

The San Emigdio and related Pelona, Orocopia, Rand and Sierra de Salinas schists of southern California were underplated beneath the southern Sierra Nevada batholith and adjacent southern California batholith along a shallow segment of the subducting Farallon plate in Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary time. These subduction accretion assemblages represent a regional, deeply exhumed, shallowly dipping domain from an ancient slab segmentation system and record the complete life cycle of the segmentation process from initial flattening and compression to final extensional collapse. An important unresolved question regarding shallow subduction zones concerns how the thermal structure evolves during the slab flattening process. New field relationships, thermobarometry, thermodynamic modelling and garnet diffusion modelling are presented that speak to this issue and elucidate the tectonics of underplating and exhumation of the San Emigdio Schist. We document an upsection increase in peak temperature (i.e. inverted metamorphism), from 590 to 700 °C, peak pressures ranging from 8.5 to 11.1 kbar, limited partial melting, microstructural evidence for large seismic events, rapid cooling (825–380 °C Myr^?1) from peak conditions and an ‘out and back’P–T path. While inverted metamorphism is a characteristic feature of southern California schists, the presence of partial melt and high temperatures (>650 °C) are restricted to exposures with maximum depositional ages between 80 and 90 Ma. Progressive cooling and tectonic underplating beneath an initially hot upper plate following the onset of shallow subduction provide a working hypothesis explaining high temperatures and partial melting in San Emigdio and Sierra de Salinas schists, inverted metamorphism in the schist as a whole, and the observed P–T trajectory calculated from the San Emigdio body. Lower temperatures in Pelona, Orocopia and Rand schists are likewise explained in the context of this overarching model. These results are consistent with an inferred tectonic evolution from shallow subduction beneath the then recently active Late Cretaceous arc to exhumation by rapid trench‐directed channelized extrusion in the subducted schist.     

胶北粉子山群石榴云母片岩的三叠纪独居石年龄及其地质意义

胶北地块粉子山群石榴云母片岩中石榴石变斑晶内包裹物迹线明显,保留了岩石形成过程中的多期变质变形信息。电子探针成分面扫描图显示石榴石成分环带明显,可分为核部、幔部和边部。石榴石中MgO、FeO、MnO和CaO含量变化特征表明其核部到边部温度先升高后降低,对应进变质及退变质过程。根据原位独居石Y元素成分面扫描图显示,部分独居石颗粒由核部到边部Y含量呈现逐渐降低趋势,说明测得的232.6±1.1Ma~229.5±3.7Ma的独居石U-Pb年龄,对应石榴石的进变质生长过程。结合1869±72Ma的锆石U-Pb年龄数据,可推断粉子山群石榴云母片岩至少经历了古元古代及三叠纪两期变质事件的改造。粉子山群石榴云母片岩卷入了苏鲁超高压变质带的俯冲碰撞造山事件。电子探针成分分析结果表明粉子山群石榴云母片岩中的石榴石属于铁铝榴石,反映出经受中级区域变质作用的特征。说明粉子山群石榴云母片岩虽然参与了三叠纪苏鲁超高压变质带的俯冲碰撞造山过程,但俯冲深度较浅。这可用大陆俯冲过程中上盘的俯冲剥蚀来解释,并可为陆-陆碰撞俯冲剥蚀模式提出的扬子板片在240~220Ma的深俯冲作用过程中拽动胶北地块向下俯冲又折返的运动过程提供佐证,但胶北地块是否经历了深俯冲超高压变质作用,还需要进一步验证。     

Amphibole compositions and metamorphic history of the Rand Schist and the greenschist unit of the Catalina Schist,Southern California

The Catalina Schist and Rand Schist are two high P/T terranes in southern California. The Catalina Schist is correlated with the Franciscan Complex and occurs in the continental borderland. It consists of a blueschist-facies melange tectonically overlain by a greenschist unit, which, in turn, is overthrust by an amphibolite unit. The greenschist unit itself is inversely zoned from epidote-amphibolite fades at the top through greenschist facies in the center to transitional blueschist-greenschist facies at the base. The Rand Schist is part of the eugeoclinal Pelona-Orocopia Schist terrane, which lies interior to the present continental margin, structurally beneath Precambrian to Mesozoic sialic basement. The Rand Schist is inversely zoned from epidote-amphibolite facies to transitional blueschist-greenschist facies, similar to the greenschist unit of the Catalina Schist.Two trends in amphibole composition, one from actinolite to hornblende in greenschists and epidote amphibolites (calcic series) and the other from actinolite through winchite to crossite in glaucophanic greenschists (sodic-calcic series), are present in both the Rand Schist and the greenschist unit of the Catalina Schist. The transition from actinolite to hornblende in the calcic series is defined by increases in tschermakite, edenite, and glaucophane substitution. Amphiboles of the sodic-calcic series differ mainly in the degree of glaucophanic substitution. The similarity of amphibole trends in the two terranes indicates that they were metamorphosed at approximately the same pressures and temperatures, and is evidence that the Rand Schist originated in a subduction zone, despite its present intracontinental setting.Most glaucophanic greenschists in the Rand and Catalina Schists contain both a sodic and a calcic member of the sodic-calcic series. Textural relations indicate that calcic members generally developed after the sodic ones. This implies that sodic amphibole formerly may have been present in many of the structurally higher greenschists and epidote amphibolites. Preservation of the inverted zonations, as well as microstructural evidence for the syntectonic development of calcic and sodic-calcic amphiboles, suggest that glaucophanic greenschists, greenschists, and epidote amphibolites all formed during underthrusting (subduction). This contrasts with many orogenic belts, where replacement of blueschists by greenschists to amphibolites is attributed to thermal reequilibration during erosional unroofing.     

Structural controls on orogenic gold mineralisation in the Klondike goldfield,Canada

The Klondike Schist that forms the basement rocks for the famous Klondike placer goldfield was emplaced as km-scale thrust slices in Early Jurassic time, along with some thin (10 to 30 m-scale) slices of greenstone and ultramafic rocks. Permian metamorphic fabrics in the schists were deformed during thrust emplacement by structures formed as the rocks passed through the brittle–ductile transition. Early-formed thrust-related structures were almost-pervasive recumbent folds that affected both the schist and greenstone/ultramafic slices and imposed a spaced cleavage with minor recrystallisation of micas. These structures gave way to shallow-dipping phacoidal cleavage near (within <100 m of) thrust structures. Thrust-related structures have been overprinted locally by well-defined steeply dipping reverse fault-fold zones, and associated upright folding on regional (km) to mesoscopic (m) scales. The fold-fault zones occur as two orthogonal sets of structures oriented NW to N and NE to E. Some of these steeply dipping fault zones have been reactivated by Late Cretaceous normal faulting. Orogenic (mesothermal) gold-bearing veins were emplaced in local sites of extension during or after formation of the compressional fault-fold zones and before normal fault reactivation. Over 400 veins (m to cm-scale) observed in this study imply a general NW strike for mineralised structures (W to N), but with a broad scatter of orientations. Vein emplacement was controlled principally by fold axial surfaces of kink folds of the fault-fold generation. However, some other local extension sites have opened along preexisting structures to host veins locally, including metamorphic foliation and spaced cleavage planes. In addition, irregular extensional fractures with no obvious structural control host some veins. The Klondike mineralised veins formed as swarms with broad regional structural control, but represent relatively diffuse mineralised zones, with numerous scattered small veins, compared to most orogenic vein systems. These diffuse vein swarms appear to be sufficient sources for the rich and geographically localised placer gold deposits that formed in overlying gravels during erosion of the Klondike Schist basement.     

Thermobarometric constraints on the thermal history of the Main Central Thrust Zone and Tibetan Slab, eastern Nepal Himalaya

ABSTRACT The Main Central Thrust (MCT) south of Mt Everest in eastern Nepal is a 3 to 5km thick shear zone separating chlorite-bearing schist in the lower plate from sillimanite-bearing migmatitic gneiss in the overlying Tibetan Slab. The metamorphic grade increases through the MCT zone toward structurally higher levels. Previous workers have suggested that either post- or synmetamorphic thrust movement has caused this inversion of metamorphic isograds. In an effort to quantify the increase in grade and to constrain proposed structural relations between metamorphism and slip on the fault, four well-calibrated thermobarometers were applied to pelitic samples collected along two cross-strike transects through the MCT zone and Tibetan Slab. Results show an increase in apparent temperature up-section in the MCT zone from 778 K to 990 K and a decrease in temperature to ∼850 K in the lower Tibetan Slab, which is consistent with synmetamorphic thrust movement. A trend in calculated pressures across this section is less well-defined but, on average, decreases up-section with a gradient of ∼28MPa/km, resembling a lithostatic gradient. Pressure-temperature paths for zoned garnets from samples within the MCT zone, modelled using the Gibbs' Method, show a significant decrease in temperature and a slight decrease in pressure from core to rim, which might be expected for upper plate rocks during synmetamorphic thrust movement. Samples from the uppermost Tibetan Slab yield higher temperatures and pressures than those from the lower Tibetan Slab, which may be evidence for later‘resetting’ of thermobarometers by intrusion of the large amounts of leucogranite at that structural level.     

福建岱前山辉长岩体的地球化学特征与成因探讨

岱前山辉长岩体沿福建长乐一南澳大断裂带分布，侵位于沿海的绿片岩相和角闪岩相的变质岩中及内陆的中生代火山岩中，对其成因存在较多分歧。该岩体表现为与俯冲有关的岛弧地球化学特点，但在时间上又与古太平洋板块低角度歪斜俯冲、晚中生代的变质事件、平潭一东山变质带抬升和长乐一南澳剪切带运动在时间上基本一致。对于其成因不能简单的用拉张或碰撞加以解释，是受俯冲流体交代的上地幔，经部分熔融沿长乐一南澳断裂．应力转换带侵入。它与中国东南部出露的其它基性岩同源，但并未受到地壳的混染作用。计算结果表明，岱前山岩体经7％的部分熔融形成，其Sm、Nd含量高于原始地幔。     

大别山低级变质岩的构造背景

大别山南北两侧的浅变质岩是碰撞造山以前洋壳俯冲造山阶段的重要组成部分。木兰山片岩或张八岭群是俯冲的洋壳;苏家河群、信阳群和佛子岭群是由洋壳俯冲形成的海沟沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而形成增生楔;杨山煤系和梅山群是石炭纪弧前盆地沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而被增生楔逆掩。宿松群是扬子大陆被动边缘沉积,不是俯冲造山带的成员。因洋壳俯冲形成的弧和弧后盆地可能已被新生界沉积物掩盖。高压-超高压变质带是碰撞造山后期从深部折返的外来体。高压-超高压变质带正好处于洋壳和增生楔之间,破坏了早期洋壳俯冲造山带的完整性,使得洋壳俯冲造山阶段的特征被破坏,因而不易辨别。俯冲造山阶段应为奥陶纪到泥盆纪,碰撞造山阶段应从二叠纪开始。     

Numerical modelling of mechanical controls on coeval steep and shallow dipping auriferous quartz vein formation in a thrust zone,Macraes mine,New Zealand

The Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone (HMSZ) is a regionally continuous, low-angle, NE dipping (~15°) late-metamorphic thrust zone in the Mesozoic Otago Schist. The shear zone, which is host to large volumes of mineralised schist, consists of foliated fissile schist with some massive schist pods. Two sets of quartz veins are found within the HMSZ: thrust-related, shallowly dipping veins that were emplaced parallel or sub-parallel to the shears and swarms of steeply dipping extensional veins, which cut across the metamorphic foliation. The latter are restricted to the massive schist pods. Mutual cross-cutting relationships occur between steep extensional veins and shallow-dipping veins, suggesting that they formed contemporaneously. The co-existence of these two vein types locally implies local rotation of the principal stress axes to produce extensional veins within a regional thrust setting. The steep extensional veins are spatially related to lateral and oblique ramps within the HMSZ. Three-dimensional mechanical models show that these lateral or oblique ramps can produce favourable conditions for extensional vein formation when combined with a high fluid pressure and oblique convergence. Mechanical requirements include a reduced differential stress, a positive volumetric strain and an increase in the horizontal shear stress. Our models show that under certain conditions, it is possible for extension-related structures to form during shortening because of local changes in the stress state without the need for a regional scale switch in the imposed stress field. The convergence direction across the HMSZ during formation of the steep extensional veins was ~WNW.     

大别山低级变质岩的构造背景

大别山南北两侧的浅变质岩是碰撞造山以前洋壳俯冲造山阶段的重要组成部分。木兰山片岩或张八岭群是俯冲的洋壳;苏家河群、信阳群和佛子岭群是由洋壳俯冲形成的海沟沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而形成增生楔;杨山煤系和梅山群是石炭纪弧前盆地沉积,并因俯冲过程中的前进变形而被增生楔逆掩。宿松群是扬子大陆被动边缘沉积,不是俯冲造山带的成员。因洋壳俯冲形成的弧和弧后盆地可能已被新生界沉积物掩盖。高压—超高压变质带是碰撞造山后期从深部折返的外来体。高压—超高压变质带正好处于洋壳和增生楔之间,破坏了早期洋壳俯冲造山带的完整性,使得洋壳俯冲造山阶段的特征被破坏,因而不易辨别。俯冲造山阶段应为奥陶纪到泥盆纪,碰撞造山阶段应从二叠纪开始。     

陕西小秦岭华阳川韧性剪切带的特征及其区域构造意义

陕西小秦岭华阳川韧性剪切带发育在新太古界太华群之中,野外调研和显微构造观察结果表明,该韧性剪切带是由构造片岩、眼球状片麻岩组成的深层次韧性剪切带,具有逆冲兼左行走滑的斜冲特征。对韧性剪切带构造片岩黑云母进行^40Ar／^39Ar同位素定年,获得坪年龄为419M±0．6Ma,反等时线年龄为417Ma±0．8Ma。认为华阳川韧性剪切带及其相应的小秦岭区域主导构造变形是发生于419Ma左右的秦岭加里东事件的结果。     

陕西小秦岭华阳川韧性剪切带的特征 及其区域构造意义

陕西小秦岭华阳川韧性剪切带发育在新太古界太华群之中,野外调研和显微构造观察结果表明,该韧性剪切带是由构造片岩、眼球状片麻岩组成的深层次韧性剪切带,具有逆冲兼左行走滑的斜冲特征。对韧性剪切带构造片岩黑云母进行^40Ar／^39Ar同位素定年,获得坪年龄为419M&#177;0．6Ma,反等时线年龄为417Ma&#177;0．8Ma。认为华阳川韧性剪切带及其相应的小秦岭区域主导构造变形是发生于419Ma左右的秦岭加里东事件的结果。     

Late Cretaceous-Paleocene Extensional Collapse and Disaggregation of the Southernmost Sierra Nevada Batholith

Geobarometric studies have documented that most of the metasedimentary wall rocks and plutons presently exposed in the southernmost Sierra Nevada batholith south of the Lake Isabella area were metamorphosed and emplaced at crustal levels significantly deeper (～15 to 30 km) than the batholithic rocks exposed to the north (depths of ～3 to 15 km). Field and geophysical studies have suggested that much of the southernmost part of the batholith is underlain along low-angle faults by the Rand Schist. The schist is composed mostly of metagraywacke that has been metamorphosed at relatively high pressures and moderate temperatures. NNW-trending compositional, age, and isotopic boundaries in the plutonic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada appear to be deflected westward in the southernmost part of the batholith. Based on these observations, in conjunction with the implicit assumption that the Sierra Nevada batholith formerly continued unbroken south of the Garlock fault, previous studies have inferred that the batholith was tectonically disrupted following its emplacement during the Cretaceous. Hypotheses to account for this disruption include intraplate oroctinal bending, W-vergent overthrusting, and gravitational collapse of overthickened crust. In this paper, new geologic data from the eastern Tehachapi Mountains, located adjacent to and north of the Garlock fault in the southernmost Sierra Nevada, are integrated with data from previous geologic studies in the region into a new view of the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene tectonic evolution of the region. The thesis of this paper is that part of the southernmost Sierra Nevada batholith was unroofed by extensional faulting in Late Cretaceous-Paleocene time. Unroofing occurred along a regional system of low-angle detachment faults. Remnants of the upper-plate rocks today are scattered across the southern Sierra Nevada region, from the Rand Mountains west to the San Emigdio Mountains, and across the San Andreas fault to the northern Salinian block.

Batholithic rocks in the upper plates of the Blackburn Canyon fault of the eastern Tehachapi Mountains, low-angle faults in the Rand Mountains and southeastern Sierra Nevada, and the Pastoria fault of the western Tehachapi Mountains are inferred to have been removed from a position structurally above rocks exposed in the southeastern Sierra Nevada and transported to their present locations along low-angle detachment faults. Some of the granitic and metamorphic rocks in the northern part of the Salinian block are suggested to have originated from a position structurally above deep-level rocks of the southwestern Sierra Nevada. The Paleocene-lower Eocene Goler Formation of the El Paso Mountains and the post-Late Cretaceous to pre-lower Miocene Witnet Formation in the southernmost Sierra Nevada are hypothesized to have been deposited in supradetachment basins that formed adjacent to some of the detachment faults.

Regional age constraints for this inferred tectonic unroofing and disaggregation of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith suggest that it occurred between ～90 to 85 Ma and ～55 to 50 Ma. Upper-plate rocks of the detachment system appear to have been rotated clockwise by as much as 90° based on differences in the orientation of foliation and contacts between inferred correlative hanging-wall and footwall rocks. Transport of the upper-plate rocks is proposed to have occurred in two stages. First, the upper crust in the southern Sierra Nevada extended in a south to southeast direction, and second, the allochthonous rocks were carried westward at the latitude of the Mojave Desert by a mechanism that may include W-vergent faulting and/or oroclinal bending. The Late Cretaceous NNW extension of the upper crust in the southernmost Sierra Nevada postulated in this study is similar to Late Cretaceous, generally NW-directed, crustal extension that has been recognized to the northeast in the Funeral, Panamint, and Inyo mountains by others. Extensional collapse of the upper crust in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith may be closely linked to the emplacement of Rand Schist beneath the batholith during Late Cretaceous time, as has been suggested in previous studies.     

延边地区明南洞岩体的成因及构造背景：岩石地球化学、锆石U-Pb年龄的制约

通过野外观测、锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb同位素测定及岩石地球化学等手段,详细地对延边地区明南洞岩体进行了研究。研究表明,延边地区明南洞岩体的成岩年龄为(180.5±0.7)Ma,为早侏罗世岩浆事件的产物。明南洞岩体中SiO_2含量为60.71%~67.72%,Al_2O_3含量为15.60%~17.44%,全碱(Na_2O+K_2O)值为6.79%~7.63%,K_2O/Na_2O值为0.61~1.01,A/CNK=0.94~1.01,属高钾钙碱性I型花岗岩,并具有富集轻稀土元素和大离子亲石元素,亏损重稀土元素和高场强元素的特征。以上特征表明,明南洞岩体具有显著的活动大陆边缘及火山弧花岗岩的特点。延边—太平岭地区的陆缘钙碱性、高钾钙碱性花岗岩到张广才岭—小兴安岭地区的双峰式火山岩组合,构成了平行洋壳俯冲方向的成分分带,指示了俯冲的方向,反映了早侏罗世古太平洋板块的俯冲作用。     

锆石U-Pb定年对大兴安岭东北部“兴华渡口群”形成时代和组成的约束

兴华渡口群等大兴安岭北部前寒武纪变质岩系的组成和演化对于确定额尔古纳和兴安地块的构造属性具有重要意义,是近年大兴安岭北部基础地质研究的热点之一。本次工作通过对黑河北部石灰窑—明智山一带的兴华渡口群二云石英片岩和"混合岩"进行锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年发现该变质岩系并非前寒武纪变质岩,而是由早古生代碎屑沉积岩(或变质岩)和晚古生代岩浆岩经后期构造岩浆作用改造而形成的构造杂岩。其中二云石英片岩中具有岩浆成因特征的碎屑锆石核部年龄主要存在401~427 Ma、442~448 Ma、473~517 Ma、639~714 Ma、757~818Ma、896~933 Ma和1704~1751 Ma 7个年龄组,其中473~517 Ma段碎屑锆石的峰最明显,与早古生代多宝山组岛弧火山岩等早古生代岩浆作用形成时间相一致,其他年龄组亦在区域上其他地区有报道,这表明该变质岩的原岩物源来源较广泛,不仅有元古宙岩浆岩和变质岩系,还有大量的早古生代岩浆岩,因此其原岩形成时代不应是前寒武纪,而是早古生代。根据碎屑锆石最小峰值年龄,本次工作推断该二云石英片岩原岩的最大沉积年龄应不早于416Ma,另外大量的元古宙碎屑锆石表明区域上可能存在前寒武纪变质基底。对所谓混合岩的调查发现其应为发生动力变质的糜棱岩化二长花岗岩,其中岩浆锆石(304.5±3.1)Ma的206Pb/238U加权平均年龄反映花岗岩形成于晚石炭世晚期,该期花岗岩为晚古生代兴安地块东缘花岗岩带的一部分。     

Dating thin zircon rims by NanoSIMS: the Fengtien nephrite (Taiwan) is the youngest jade on Earth

Nephrite in the Fengtien area of the eastern part of the Central Mountain Range, Taiwan, is associated with antigorite-serpentinite within the Yuli belt, a late Cenozoic subduction–accretionary complex related to the eastward subduction of the South China Sea plate forming the Luzon arc. Diopsidite and clinozoisite rock are two other metasomatic components accompanying nephrite between serpentinites and the greenschist-facies country rock (carbonaceous material-)quartz-mica schist. Detrital zircons were separated from one clinozoisite rock sample, formed through metasomatic replacement after mica-quartz schist at temperatures of 320–420°C or slightly lower, which is lower than the metamorphic temperature conditions of the Yuli belt. Most of the detrital zircons have thin zircon rims less than 15–20 μm wide. These zircon rims, considered as newly formed during metasomatism leading to nephrite/diopsidite/clinozoisite rock formation, were dated by a high lateral resolution secondary ion mass spectrometer (CAMECA NanoSIMS NS50). The resulting ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb-²⁰⁴Pb/²⁰⁶Pb inverse isochron gave an age of 3.3 ± 1.7 Ma. The collision of the Eurasian continental margin with the Luzon arc has been suggested to have begun at ca. 6.5 Ma in the Taiwan area. The nephrite formation processes therefore clearly post-dated South China Sea plate subduction. The present date, substantiated by the metamorphic and metasomatic temperature information, demonstrates that the fluid–rock interaction forming Fengtien nephrite would have taken place during a Barrovian-type metamorphic overprint resulting from arc-continent collision, leading to the exhumation of the Yuli belt. This conclusion on nephrite formation with regard to regional tectonics can serve as a working model for future studies on other nephrite deposits with similar occurrences, mostly embedded within Mesozoic or older subduction-accretionary complexes. The Fengtien nephrite deposit is therefore the youngest one of its kind exposed on Earth’s surface.