The emplacement of giant ophiolite nappes I. Mesozoic—cenozoic examples

The occurrence of ophiolite nappes has been considered evidence for the siting of ancient subduction zones. A study of the detailed stratigraphy and plate motions associated with Upper Mesozoic to Pliocene ophiolite nappes of the Pacific, Indian and Mediterranean shows that transcurrent faulting during changes in relative plate motions is the major cause of initial ophiolite nappe emplacement. Giant ophiolite nappes are not related to subduction zones or island arcs.     

TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE GARZE—LITANG PLATE JUNCTION, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE GOLD DEPOSITS

TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE GARZE—LITANG PLATE JUNCTION, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE GOLD DEPOSITS     

甘孜－理塘板块缝合带研究的新进展

本文首次将甘孜－理塘板块缝合带划分为韧性剪切带及断层构造系统、古生代构造推覆体、蛇绿岩构造组合体。被动陆缘复理石建造、活动陆缘弧前沉积建造、与板块俯冲碰撞有关的花岗岩体、断陷沉积盆地和第三纪推覆构造带等边界地质体。它们形成演化与甘孜－理塘洋壳的俯冲、弧－陆碰撞、陆内会聚、断陷和平移走滑等构造活动密切相关。     

扬子板块与华南板块对接带萍乡区段构造特征

扬子板块与华南板块对接带由江西中部通过,其中萍乡地区自燕山运动末期以来,在北部以逆冲推覆作用为主,形成了大规模的逆冲推覆构造,南部在重力滑脱作用下,形成变质-岩浆热穹隆和一系列滑褶构造带及滑块构造,中部则形成相互叠覆的南、北构造对接带。在这些推、滑覆体之下多处掩覆了含煤岩系,这为寻找隐伏煤田开辟了一个新天地,同时,南、北构造对接带也是钴多金属矿有利的成矿区段。      

Anatomy of a subduction complex: architecture of the Franciscan Complex,California, at multiple length and time scales

The Franciscan Complex of California records over 150 million years of continuous E-dipping subduction that terminated with conversion to a dextral transform plate boundary. The Franciscan comprises mélange and coherent units forming a stack of thrust nappes, with significant along-strike variability, and downward-decreasing metamorphic grade and accretion ages. The Franciscan records progressive subduction, accretion, metamorphism, and exhumation, spanning the extended period of subduction, rather than events superimposed on pre-existing stratigraphy. High-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks lack a thermal overprint, indicating continuity of subduction from subduction initiation at ca. 165 Ma to termination at ca. 25 Ma. Accretionary periods may have alternated with episodes of subduction erosion that removed some previously accreted material, but the complex collectively reflects a net addition of material to the upper plate. Mélanges (serpentinite and siliciclastic matrix) with exotic blocks have sedimentary origins as submarine mass transport deposits, whereas mélanges formed by tectonism comprise disrupted ocean plate stratigraphy and lack exotic blocks. The former are interbedded with and grade into coherent siliciclastic units. Palaeomegathrust horizons, separating nappes accreted at different times, appear restricted to narrow zones of <100 m thickness. Exhumation of Franciscan units, both coherent and mélange, was accommodated by significant extension of the hanging wall and cross-sectional extrusion. The amount of total exhumation, as well as exhumation since subduction termination, needs to be considered when comparing Franciscan architecture to modern and ancient subduction complexes. Equal dextral separation of folded Franciscan nappes and late Cenozoic (post-subduction) units across strands of the (post-subduction) San Andreas fault system shows that the folding of nappes took place prior to subduction termination. Dextral separation of similar clastic sedimentary suites in the Franciscan and the coeval Great Valley Group forearc basin is approximately that of the San Andreas fault system, precluding major syn-subduction strike-slip displacement within the Franciscan.     

Fold-axis parallel extension in an arcuate fold- and thrust belt: the case of the Helvetic nappes

The Helvetic nappes of western Switzerland are discussed as an example of an arcuate foreland fold- and thrust belt in which active fold-axis parallel stretching occurred. Fold-axis parallel extension is recorded by:

1. (1) Incremental strain data from pressure shadow fibres. The significance of pressure shadow fibres for the determination of the deformation history of a region is discussed. Pressure shadows are used to quantify the amount of, and to describe the distribution of fold-axis parallel extension occurring in the Helvetic nappes.

2. (2) The extension directions of conjugate systems of en échelon veins. It is shown that an analysis of the geometry of conjugate vein systems can reveal a regional deformation pattern. The relative age of the conjugate en échelon vein systems in the Helvetic deformation history can be assessed, the geometry of the conjugate sets relative to the local anisotropy plane is described, and the significance of the preferred orientation of their extension directions is discussed.

3. (3) Fold-axis parallel sections. A comparison of the regional distribution of the fold-axis parallel strain with the shape of the Helvetic nappes in fold-axis parallel sections shows that the fold-axis parallel strain cannot be related to the footwall topography of the nappes.

It is concluded that the fold-axis parallel extension in the Helvetic nappes was induced by a change of direction of overthrust shear. This change occurred late in the deformation history and was superposed on the already formed nappes. The changing direction of overthrust shear is the expression of an overall anticlockwise rotation going on in the overthrusting Alpine nappe pile, relative to the European plate, a rotation which lead to the arcuate shape of the Western Alps.     

The nappe pile of eastern Crete

In eastern Crete four allochthonous units with different styles of deformation are piled up above the autochthonous Cherty Limestone (“Plattenkalk”). The emplacement of the nappes is discussed. Diapiric uplift of the Cycladic area was accompanied by large-scale gravity sliding in the direction towards the Aegean arc. There is no evidence from geophysical data for the existence of a subduction zone. Therefore, the transport of the eastern Cretan nappes may be better explained by gravity tectonics than by the model of plate tectonics.     

On the tectonics of the Ligurian Apennines (northern Italy)

Four nappes have been recognized in the Ligurian Apennines. In the Lavagna Nappe very low-grade metamorphism is combined with very large, originally W-facing isoclinal folds. In the other nappes, no evidence for metamorphism is found and all eutectonic folding was originally E- to NE-facing. Tectonic transport along the major nappe contacts was in an E- to NE-direction. A tectonic model is presented, which explains the generation of the large, originally W-facing folds as a result of originally E-inclined subduction within a young oceanic basin. Young oceanic lithosphere (maximum age approximately 25 Ma) subducted beneath oceanic lithosphere with a maximum age of approximately 40 Ma, under the influence of horizontally oriented compressional forces. Within the tectonic wedge, associated with the subduction, originally W-facing isoclinal folding and metamorphism occurred. Decrease and/or termination of compression resulted in the cessation of the subduction movements, followed by uplift of the region above the subducted plate by means of buoyancy. This uplift formed a slope from which sequences slid in an E- to NE-direction, causing E- to NE-facing folds. Ultimately, detachment and thrusting of gravitational nappes took place, by which process rock sequences of oceanic origin have been externally transported to attain ensialic (continental) domains. The Triassic-Early Oligocene tectonic events recognized in the Ligurian Apennines correlate quite well with the events that preceded the collision phase of the Alps.     

Alpine polyphase tectono-metamorphic evolution of the South Carpathians: A new overview

The main terrains involved in the Cretaceous–Tertiary tectonism in the South Carpathians segment of the European Alpine orogen are the Getic–Supragetic and Danubian continental crust fragments separated by the Severin oceanic crust-floored basin. During the Early–Middle Cretaceous times the Danubian microplate acted initially as a foreland unit strongly involved in the South Carpathians nappe stacking. Multistage folding/thrusting events, uplift/erosion and extensional stages and the development of associated sedimentary basins characterize the South Carpathians during Cretaceous to Tertiary convergence and collision events. The main Cretaceous tectogenetic events responsible for contraction and crustal thickening processes in the South Carpathians are Mid-Cretaceous (“Austrian phase”) and Latest Cretaceous (“Laramide” or “Getic phase”) in age. The architecture of the South Carpathians suggests polyphase tectonic evolution and mountain building and includes from top to bottom: the Getic–Supragetic basement/cover nappes, the Severin and Arjana cover nappes, and Danubian basement/cover nappes, all tectonically overriding the Moesian Platform. The Severin nappe complex (including Obarsia and Severin nappes) with Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous ophiolites and turbidites is squeezed between the Danubian and Getic–Supragetic basement nappes as a result of successive thrusting of dismembered units during the inferred Mid- to Late Cretaceous subduction/collision followed by tectonic inversion processes.

Early Cretaceous thick-skinned tectonics was replaced by thin-skinned tectonics in Late Cretaceous. Thus, the former Middle Cretaceous “Austrian” nappe stack and its Albian–Lower Senonian cover got incorporated in the intra-Senonian “Laramide/Getic” stacking of the Getic–Supragetic/Severin/Arjana nappes onto the Danubian nappe duplex. The two contraction events are separated by an extensional tectonic phase in the upper plate recorded by the intrusion of the “Banatitic” magmas (84–73 Ma). The overthrusting of the entire South Carpathian Cretaceous nappe stack onto the fold/thrust foredeep units and to the Moesian Platform took place in the Late Miocene (intra-Sarmatian) times and was followed by extensional events and sedimentary basin formation.     

雪峰山大地构造的基本特征初探

雪峰山具有碰撞型造山带的特征。造山作用发生在中生代。根据碰撞造山带的薄壳板块构造模式,可以划分出俯冲壳楔,仰冲壳楔与构造混杂岩三个基本单元。作为俯冲壳楔的杨子板块由前陆盆地与前陆褶冲带所表征,而作为仰冲壳楔的华南板块则以刚性基底推覆体与盖层推覆体所标示,以往称之为板溪群的岩石似应根据其构造特征划分为刚性基底推覆体(具 Smith 地层学意义)和陆壳碰撞作用形成的构造混杂带。     

Rift-related inheritance in orogens: a case study from the Austroalpine nappes in Central Alps (SE-Switzerland and N-Italy)

The Austroalpine nappe systems in SE-Switzerland and N-Italy preserve remnants of the Adriatic rifted margin. Based on new maps and cross-sections, we suggest that the complex structure of the Campo, Grosina/Languard, and Bernina nappes is inherited largely from Jurassic rifting. We propose a classification of the Austroalpine domain into Upper, Middle and Lower Austroalpine nappes that is new because it is based primarily on the rift-related Jurassic structure and paleogeography of these nappes. Based on the Alpine structures and pre-Alpine, rift-related geometry of the Lower (Bernina) and Middle (Campo, Grosina/Languard) Austroalpine nappes, we restore these nappes to their original positions along the former margin, as a means of understanding the formation and emplacement of the nappes during initial reactivation of the Alpine Tethyan margin. The Campo and Grosina/Languard nappes can be interpreted as remnants of a former necking zone that comprised pre-rift upper and middle crust. These nappes were juxtaposed with the Mesozoic cover of the Bernina nappe during Jurassic rifting. We find evidence for low-angle detachment faults and extensional allochthons in the Bernina nappe similar to those previously described in the Err nappe and explain their role during subsequent reactivation. Our observations reveal a strong control of rift-related structures during the subsequent Alpine reactivation on all scales of the former distal margin. Two zones of intense deformation, referred to as the Albula-Zebru and Lunghin-Mortirolo movement zones, have been reactivated during Alpine deformation and cannot be described as simple monophase faults or shear zones. We propose a tectonic model for the Austroalpine nappe systems that link inherited, rift-related structures with present-day Alpine structures. In conclusion, we believe that apart from the direct regional implications, the results of this paper are of general interest in understanding the control of rift structures during reactivation of distal-rifted margins.     

龙门山中段清平飞来峰的构造变形特征及形成机制

在野外考察、室内分析的基础上对清平飞来峰的构造特征、形成机制进行了研究。其结果表明清平飞来峰具有明显的叠覆式特征,共分5层。各层峰体特征、成因各具特色,下部两层为推覆体,上部三层为滑覆体。推覆体与滑覆体共同构成同一飞来峰,为龙门山飞来峰中所少见。从而证实了龙门山飞来峰先发育推覆体,后发育滑覆体的地质景观确实存在。     

Geological outline of the Alps

The Alps were developed from the Cretaceous onwards by subduction of a Mesozoic ocean and collision between the Adriatic (Austroalpine-Southalpine) and European (Penninic-Helvetic) continental margins.The Austroalpine-Penninic wedge is the core of the collisional belt, a fossil subduction complex which floats on the European lower plate. It consists of continental and minor oceanic nappes and is marked by a blueschist-to-eclogite-facies imprint of Cretaceous-Eocene age, followed by a Barrovian overprint. The collisional wedge was later accreted by the Helvetic basement and cover units and indented by the Southalpine lithosphere, which in turn was deformed as an antithetic fold-and-thrust belt.     

The upper Hawasina nappes in the central Oman Mountains: stratigraphy,palinspastics and sequence of nappe emplacement

Abstract

In the Oman mountains, a succession of sedimentary decollement nappes, the Hawasina nappes, is sandwiched between the Samail ophiolite nappe and its underlying melange and the “autochthonous” sequences of the Arabian platform. The sediments of the Hawasina nappes document the Mesozoic evolution of the northeastern Arabian continental margin and the adjacent Tethys Ocean. In earlier paleogeographic reconstructions, based on simple telescoping of the tectonic units, the upper Hawasina nappes represent the distal part and the lower nappes the proximal part of the margin. New stratigraphic data suggest a revision of the paleogeography and a more complex model for nappe emplacement in the central Oman mountains. The lower Hawasina nappes with their Jurassic and Cretaceous base of slope and basin sediments (Hamrat Duru, Wahrah) form the original cover of part of the upper Hawasina nappes. In the latter (Al Ayn, Haliw), Triassic pelagic sediments, locally overlain by massive sandstone successions are preserved. Complete Mesozoic sequences with pelagic Cenomanian sediments as youngest dated elements are found in the highest Hawasina units (Al Aridh and Oman Exotics). The stratigraphic data indicate polyphase thrusting in the central Oman mountains. Downward propagation of thrusting in front of the Samail is responsible for cutting the original stratigraphie sequence into a number of thrust-sheets, involving successively older and more external formations. This kind of thrust propagation eventually leads to the observed superposition of originally lower stratigraphie units onto their original cover. Regional deformation of the nappe contacts in post-nappe culminations (J. Akhdar, Saih Hatat) is related to ramp-flat-systems in the Arabian foreland.     

Late Paleozoic–Mesozoic tectonic evolution of SW Japan: A review – Reappraisal of the accretionary orogeny and revalidation of the collisional model

This paper makes a review of the interpretations of the tectonic evolution of SW Japan during the last three decades. In the late 1970s, the dominant model was the so-called “Pacific-type orogeny”, emphasizing the purported absence of nappes and the contrast with the alpine chains, and interpreting the evolution as due to a steady oceanic subduction since the Paleozoic time. In the 80s, the discovery of the actual structure made of a pile of large thrust sheets led authors to propose collisional models, involving the intermittent underthrusting of buoyant blocks like micro-continents. At the same time, the use of high-resolution biostratigraphy allowed several authors to recognize ancient accretionary wedges, with a reconstructed ocean plate stratigraphy of individual accreted units, especially in the Tanba and Shimanto zones. Also, precise radiometric dating permitted the distinction of metamorphosed units, especially in Sanbagawa and Shimanto belts. As a result of these new data, since the 1990s, the plate tectonic interpretation of the history of the Japanese Islands was revised by Japanese scientists and presented again in terms of accretionary processes linked to a steadily oceanic subduction, with an episodic ridge subduction: the so-called “Miyashiro-type orogeny”. The review of different data leads to the following conclusions. The structure of SW Japan is made of a pile of sub-horizontal nappes, polydeformed, with a geometry similar to the one encountered in collisional orogens. The geodynamic mechanisms advocated for the tectonic building within the accretionary orogeny concept (Miyashiro-type orogeny) are inappropriate. A permanent oceanic subduction with the intermittent “collision” (actually subduction) of an active ridge or seamount chain is unable to build such structures, as this process induces in fact an acceleration of the tectonic erosion and collapse of the upper plate; the underthrusting of a micro-continent or mature arc is likely needed. The exhumation story of Sanbagawa HP schists suggests the setting of a continental subduction. The petrological and new geochemical data from the literature strongly support the existence, beneath the nappes of accretionary complexes, of continental bodies showing affinities with South China, from which they were once separated. The episodic collision, underthrusting, of such blocks was responsible for the tectonic piling. Tectonic erosion plaid likely a major role in removing material during the intervening subduction stages. A revised geodynamic model, implying the collision of the Honshu, South Kitakami–Kurosegawa, and Shimanto Blocks, is proposed for explaining the three orogenic crises which took place respectively at around 240, 130, and 80–60 Ma ago in SW Japan. The paleogeographic position and affinity of the Hida block with surrounding units, in the hinterland, are still unclear. More work is needed to solve this question.     

Patterns of stretch trajectories and strain rates within spreading-gliding nappes

Stretch trajectories in vertical flow planes through superficial nappes are thought to be specific for some classical mechanical models, so that their recognition in the field is of particular interest. In order to find a pattern of stretch trajectories related to a gravitational process, a strain factorization is attempted from experimental scale models of nappes where spreading and gliding are combined. The strain within this type of nappes is schematically considered as the simultaneous combination of two components: a simple shearing (γ) component and a pure shearing (α) component. Spatial and time distribution of these two components is computed from both time and spatial evolution of the strain pattern within the scale models. A better understanding of stretch trajectories in spreading-gliding nappes is consequently provided. Strain rates are also computed from scale models and the sudden increase of strain rate from top to bottom is explained. Finally, a mechanical model of spreading-gliding nappe is briefly discussed.     

Complex structural pattern of the Alpine–Dinaridic–Pannonian triple junction

Due to the political boundaries between the Central European countries, on one hand, and the thick Tertiary cover in the Pannonian Basin, on the other, the eastward continuation of the Alpine and Dinaridic units has been ambiguous and poorly documented. Based on comparative analyses, the aim of the present paper is to define the pre-Tertiary structural units in the junction area of the Alpine, Dinaridic, and Pannonian regions, in the SW part of the Pannonian Basin, and to draw conclusions on the continuation of the Alpine and Dinaridic units. According to diagnostic characteristics of the Periadriatic Lineament system, the Balaton Lineament system may be considered as its direct eastern continuation. North of the Periadriatic–Balaton Lineament system, the Transdanubian Range Unit, due to its pre-Tertiary paleogeographic setting, shows mainly South Alpine facies relations; however, its present structural position is identical to that of the Upper Austroalpine nappes. Between the Periadriatic–Balaton and Zagreb–Zemplin Lineament systems heterogeneous structural units are juxtaposed, forming the Sava Composite Unit. In the northern part of this composite unit non-metamorphosed nappes occur which can be considered the eastern continuation of the South Alpine units. These nappes are overthrust onto Internal Dinaridic units in the Tertiary. The Zagreb–Zemplin (Mid-Hungarian) Lineament separates the Sava Unit from the Tisza Unit showing close affinity to the Tethyan margin of the Eurasian plate during the early stage of the Alpine evolution. Received: 1 June 1999 / Accepted: 14 March 2000     

Rhodope and Vardar: the metamorphic and the olistostromic paired belts related to the Cretaceous subduction under Europe

Abstract

The Rhodope massif of Bulgaria and Greece is a complex of Mesozoic synmetamorphic nappes stacked in an Alpine active margin environment. A new analysis of the Triassic to Eocene history of the Vardar suture zone m Greece discloses its Cretaceous setting as a subduction trench. We present a geological traverse that takes into account these new observatons and runs from the Hellenides to the Balkans, i.e. from he African to the Eurasian sides of the Tethys ocean, respectively. The present review first defines the revisited limits of the Rhodope metamorphic complex. In particular, the lower part of the Serbo- Macedonian massif is an extension of the Rhodope units west of the Struma river. Its upper part is separated as the Frolosh greenschist unit, which underlies tectonic slivers of Carpathc-Balkanic type. Several greenschist units which locally yield Mesozoic fossils, follow the outer limits of the Rhodope. Their former attribution to a stratigraphic cover of the Rhodope has been proven false. They are divided into roof greenschists, which partly represent an extension of the Strandza Jurassic black shales basin, and western greenschists, which mostly derive from the Vardar Cretaceous olistostromic assemblage. The Rhodope complex of synmetamorphic nappes includes Continental Units and Mixed Units. The Continental Units comprise quartzo-feld-spathic gneisses in addition to thick marble layers. The Mixed Units comprise meta-ophiolites as large bodies or small knockers. They are imbricated, forming an open dome whose lower, Continental Unit constitutes the Drama window. The uppermost Mixed Unit is overlain by remnants of the European plate. The present-day structure results from combined large-scale thrust and exhumation tectonics. Regional inversions of synmetamorphic sense-of-shear indicate that intermediate parts of the wedge moved upward and forward with respect to both the lower and upper plates. A kinematic model is based on buoyancy-driven decoupling at depth between subducted continental crust and the subducting lithosphere. Continuing convergence allows coeval underthrusting of continental crust at the footwall, decoupling at depth, and upward-forward expulsion of a low-density metamorphic wedge above. The continental crust input and its upward return may have lasted for at least the whole of the Early Cretaceous, as indicated by isotopic ages and the deformation history of the upper plate. A Late Eocene marine transgression divides the ensuing structural and thermal evolution into a follow-up uplift stage and a renewed uplift stage. Revision of the limits of the Vardar belt in Greece first resulted in separating the Paikon mountain as a tectonic window below the Vardar nappes. It belongs to the western, Hellenic foreland into which a system of thrust developed downward between 60 and 40 Ma. The eastern limit is a dextral strike-slip fault zone that developed greenschist facies foliations locally dated at 50–40 Ma. Revision of the lithological components discloses the preponderance of Cretaceous volcano-detritic and olistostromic sequences that include metamorphite blocks of Rhodope origin. Rock units that belong to the Vardar proper (ophiolites, Triassic and Jurassic radiolarites, remnants of an eastern Triassic passive margin) attest for a purely oceanic basin. The Guevgueli arc documents the Jurassic change of the eastern Triassic passive margin into an active one. This arc magmatic activity ended in the Late Jurassic and plate convergence was transferred farther northeast to the subduction boundary along which the Rhodope metamorphic complex formed. We interpret the Rhodope and the Vardar as paired elements of a Cretaceous accretionary wedge. They document the tectonic process that exhumed metamorphic material from under the upper plate, and the tectonic-sedimentary process that fed the trench on the lower plate. The history of the Rhodope-Vardar pair is placed in the light of the history of the Tethys ocean between Africa and Europe. The Cretaceous subduction then appears as the forerunner of the present Hellenic subduction, accounting for several shifts at the expense of the lower plate. The Late Eocene shift, at the closure of the Pindos basin, is coeval with the initiation of new uplift and magmatism in the Rhodope, which probably document the final release of the low-density, continental root of the Rhodope from subduction drag.     

略论华北地块北缘显生宙三类不同的造山作用

华北地块北缘显生宙发育3种不同类型的造山作用。古生代,华北地块北缘处于古亚洲洋构造域,造山作用属陆缘俯冲-碰撞型,形成以EW向至NEE向为主的褶皱、逆冲推覆构造及韧性剪切带等构造类型。造山机制与古亚洲洋板块向南俯冲-碰撞导致近SN向构造动力的挤压作用密切相关。中生代,华北地块北缘处于西滨太平洋构造域,造山作用以陆内挤压型为主,形成以NE-NNE向与近EW向为主的多期不同方向的褶皱、逆冲断裂、推覆构造、韧性剪切带及局部地区的固态塑性流变构造等构造类型;造山动力以古太平洋(或Izanagi)板块西向俯冲导致NW-NWW向强烈挤压力为主。新生代,华北地块北缘虽仍属西滨太平洋构造域,但造山作用以陆内伸展型为主,裂谷作用与陆内伸展构造居主导地位,褶皱变形微弱,张性-张扭性断裂活动显著,形成现今盆-山构造地貌格局;造山动力以NW-NWW向主张应力为主。造山类型的两次重大转换分别发生于早、中三叠世与晚白垩世。      

Sense of overthrust shear in the Alpine nappes of Calabria (Southern Italy)

Southern Italy consists tectonically of ophiolite and basement nappes thrust over the Apenninic sedimentary nappes. Whilst all more recent authors agree that the sediments of the Apenninic nappes were deposited on Apulian basement (i.e. on African continental crust), and that the ophiolites were associated with the oceanic basement of the Mesozoic Tethys, the provenance of the basement nappes is still debated.New data based on microstructural criteria have shown that the main shear sense of the ophiolite nappes and of the overlying basement nappes in Northern Calabria is from west to east, in today's co-ordinate system. The basement nappes might not therefore be of Austroalpine (African) provenance, but could be of European origin.