Soldiers Cap Group iron‐formations,Mt Isa Inlier,Australia, as windows into the hydrothermal evolution of a base‐metal‐bearing Proterozoic rift basin

The Proterozoic Soldiers Cap Group, a product of two major magmatic rift phases separated by clastic sediment deposition, hosts mineralised (e.g. Pegmont Broken Hill‐type deposit) and barren iron oxide‐rich units at three main stratigraphic levels. Evaluation of detailed geological and geochemical features was carried out for one lens of an apatite‐garnet‐rich, laterally extensive (1.9 km) example, the Weatherly Creek iron‐formation, and it was placed in the context of reconnaissance studies of other similar units in the area. Chemical similarities with iron‐formations associated with Broken Hill‐type Pb–Zn deposit iron‐formations are demonstrated here. Concordant contact relationships, mineralogy, geochemical patterns and pre‐deformational alteration all indicate that the Soldiers Cap Group iron‐formations are mainly hydrothermal chemical sediments. Chondrite normalised REE patterns display positive Eu and negative Ce anomalisms, are consistent with components of both high‐temperature, reduced, hydrothermal fluid (≥250°C) and cool oxidised seawater. Major element data suggest a largely mafic provenance for montmorillonitic clays and other detritus during chemical sedimentation, consistent with westward erosion of Cover Sequence 2 volcanic rocks, rather than local mafic sources. Ni enrichment is most consistent with hydrogenous uptake by Mn‐oxides or carbonates. Temperatures inferred from REE data indicate that although they are not strongly enriched, base metals such as Pb and Zn are likely to have been transported and deposited prior to or following iron‐formation deposition. Most chemical sedimentation pre‐dated emplacement of the major mafic igneous sill complexes present in the upper part of the basin. Heating of deep basinal brines in a regional‐scale aquifer by deep‐seated mafic magma chambers is inferred to have driven development of hydrothermal fluids. Three major episodes of extension exhausted this aquifer, but were succeeded by a final climactic extensional phase, which produced widespread voluminous mafic volcanism. The lateral extent of the iron‐formations requires a depositional setting such as a sea‐floor metalliferous sediment blanket or series of brine pools, with iron‐formation deposition likely confined to much smaller fault‐fed areas surrounded by Fe–Mn–P–anomalous sediments. These relationships indicate that in such settings, major sulfide deposits and their associated chemical sediment marker horizons need not overlie major igneous sequences. Rather, the timing of expulsion of hydrothermal fluid reflects the interplay between deep‐seated heating, extension and magmatism.     

Age of overthrust-type granites in the accretionary‒collisional system of the early Caledonides (western Baikal region)

The western Baikal region (Ol’khon region, Nutgei zone, Kharikta area) is characterized by the development of packets of thrust-type folds and synkinematic granites corresponding to the stage of thrust deformations (overthrust-type granites). Two stages in the formation of thrust-type folds separated by episodes of granite emplacement are definable. The data obtained make it possible to estimate both the time of transition from thrust to strike-slip deformations and the duration of accretionary?collisional events that resulted in regional strike-slip deformations, which terminated in the western Baikal region 460?455 Ma ago.     

The Mercedario rift system in the principal Cordillera of Argentina and Chile (32° SL)

Recent studies carried out in the High Andes of central-western Argentina in the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza have established its stratigraphic and structural evolution. This paper presents new data on the Triassic–Early Jurassic rift system, the depositional sequences, and a synthesis of the tectonic evolution of the region, along with a correlation with the Chilean continental margin.The paleogeographic evolution of the Cordillera Principal at these latitudes is controlled by the development of the Mercedario rift system. This rift began with the sedimentation of synrift deposits of the Rancho de Lata Formation, during the Rhetian (about 190 Ma). Subsidence was driven by normal faults, locally preserved in spite of the severe tectonic inversion of the Andes during the Cenozoic. Different authors have emphasized that an important extension dominated the transition between the Triassic and Jurassic periods along the magmatic arc in the Coastal Cordillera of Chile on the western side of the Andes. Extension was related to the bimodal magmatism that characterized the evolution of this segment (30°–33° SL). The granitic plutonism and the associated mafic volcanism indicate that they were controlled by extension during 220–200 Ma. The first subduction related granitoids at these latitudes are 170 Ma old (Bathonian).The geometry of the Mercedario rift system may be reconstructed by the pattern of the normal faults. Rifting was followed by a thermal subsidence that expanded the original area of sedimentation and controlled the paleogeography of the Los Patillos Formation during Pliensbachian to early Callovian times. This period of cooling and thermal subsidence is correlated with magmatic quiescence in the continental margin. The evolution of the basin closely matches the magmatic history of the Chilean continental margin. Subduction at the continental margin began in the Bathonian, together with deposition of the upper section of Los Patillos Formation.Arc magmatism shifted to the Cordillera Principal during the Kimmeridgian, where it is represented by the volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits of Tordillo Formation.Early Mesozoic evolution of the Andean system at these latitudes is, thus, reconstructed by a comparative analysis of these two adjacent regions, driven by a common tectonic regime, but through different geological processes.     

Gas–oil fluids in the formation of travertines in the Baikal rift zone

Active participation of gas–oil fluids in the processes of mineral formation and petrogenesis in travertines of the Arshan and Garga hot springs is substantiated. The parageneses of the products of pyrolytic decomposition and oxidation of the gas–oil components of hydrothermal fluids (amorphous bitumen, graphite-like CM, and graphite) with different genetic groups of minerals crystallized in a wide range of P–T conditions were established. Travertines of the Baikal rift zone were formed from multicomponent hydrous–gas–oil fluids by the following basic mechanisms of mineral formation: chemogenic, biogenic, cavitation, fluid pyrometamorphism, and pyrolysis.     

Palaeozoic structures in the Xayacatlán area,Acatlán Complex,southern Mexico: transtensional rift‐ and subduction‐related deformation along the margin of Oaxaquia

The Xayacatlán area (eastern Mixteca terrane, southern Mexico) was previously inferred to preserve the Ordovician‐Silurian thrust contact between vestiges of the Iapetus Ocean and the para‐autochthon bordering Oaxaquia. Detailed remapping indicates that the rocks occur in four vertically‐bounded, NS fault blocks. The latter record the following tectonothermal events that post‐date Iapetus and occurred along the margins of the Rheic (1) and Pacific (2 and 3) oceans: (1) dextral transtension accompanying intrusion of an NS, tholeiitic dike swarm at ～442 Ma; (2) penetrative, greenschist‐facies deformation during the Mississippian related to extrusion of high‐pressure rocks; and (3) subgreenschist‐facies dextral transtension on NS faults during the generation of Middle Permian fabrics.     

The Chara–Sina dyke swarm in the structure of the Middle Paleozoic Vilyui rift system (Siberian Craton)

The formation of the Vilyui rift system in the eastern Siberian Craton was finished with breakdown of the continent and formation of its eastern margin. A characteristic feature of this rift system is the radial distribution of dyke swarms of basic rocks. This peculiarity allows us to relate it to the breaking processes above the mantle plume, the center of which was located in the region overlain in the modern structure by the foreland of the Verkhoyan folded–thrust belt. The Chara–Sina dyke swarm is the southern part of a large area of Middle Paleozoic basaltic magmatism in the eastern Siberian Craton. The OIB-like geochemical characteristics of dolerite allow us to suggest that the melting substrate for Middle Paleozoic basaltic magmatism was represented by a relatively homogeneous, mid-depleted mantle of the plume with geochemical parameters similar to those of OIB.     

The lower boundary of the Adelaide system and older basement relationships in south Australia∗

The stratigraphical problem of defining the lower boundary of the Adelaide System is discussed in relation to the geology of several critical areas in the Adelaide Geosyncline and adjacent shelf‐platform.

The Precambrian stratigraphical succession and geological history is outlined with the aid of Rb/Sr age‐determinations made by Dr W. Compston of the Australian National University.

It is concluded that the lower boundary of the Adelaide System is related to the collapse of older basement positive areas on which a regional erosional surface had developed. This surface is defined by the Callanna Beds, the oldest deposits of Willouran age. Willouran sedimentation began some time between 1,340 m.y. and 1,490 m.y. ago. Erosion of the basement rocks probably occupied a major early part of this time interval.     

Numerical investigations of fault-induced seawater circulation in the Seferihisar-Bal?ova Geothermal system, western Turkey

The Seferihisar-Bal?ova Geothermal system (SBG), Turkey, is characterized by temperature and hydrochemical anomalies along the faults: thermal waters in northern Bal?ova are heated meteoric freshwater, whereas the hot springs of the southern Seferihisar region have a strong seawater contribution. Previous numerical simulations of fluid flow and heat transport indicated that focused upsurge of hot water in faults induces a convective-like flow motion in surrounding units. Salt transport is fully coupled to thermally driven flow to study whether fault-induced convection cells could be responsible for seawater encroachment in the SBG. Isotope data are presented to support the numerical findings. The results show that fault-induced convection cells generate seawater plumes that extend from the seafloor toward the faults. At fault intersections, seawater mixes with rising hot thermal waters. The resulting saline fluids ascend to the surface along the fault, driven by buoyant forces. In Bal?ova, thick alluvium, minor faults and regional flow prevent ascending salty water from spreading at the surface, whereas the weak recharge flow in the thin alluvium of the southern SBG is not sufficient to flush the ascending hot salty waters. These mechanisms could develop in any faulted geothermal system, with implications for minerals and energy migration in sedimentary basins.     

Uplift along the western margin of the Deccan Basalt Province: Is there any geomorphometric evidence?

In line with the passive margin landscape evolutionary model in vogue, sustained erosion and long-distance retreat of the Western Ghat escarpment are widely considered to be the results of erosionally-driven isostatic uplift since Tertiary by many workers. Others have postulated or adduced evidence for strong neotectonic activity in the Ghat region. An obvious question in this regard is whether there is any geomorphometric evidence in support of this widespread view? In order to test the hypothesis of ongoing post-rift fexural uplift or neotectonic activity in the western Deccan Basalt Province (DBP), geomorphometric analysis was carried out and commonly used geomorphic indices of active tectonics (GAT) were derived for 30 selected river basins on both sides of the Western Ghat. SRTM-DEM data and ArcGIS were used to derive the indices. Tectonic geomorphic analysis based on five proxy indicators suggests that the differences in GAT indices, both along strike and across the Western Ghat, are statistically insignificant. The index values are nowhere close to the GAT values typically associated with drainage basins affected by active tectonics and deformation. Mapping of the indices reveals lack of discernable trends. The adduced results indicate that the western DBP belongs to the class of relatively low tectonic activity.     

Sediment dispersal system in the Taiwan–South China Sea collision zone along a convergent margin: A comparison with the Papua New Guinea collision zone of the western Solomon Sea

Through a large-scale examination of the morpho-sedimentary features on sea floors in the Taiwan–Luzon convergent margin, we determined the main sediment dispersal system which stretches from 23°N to 20°N and displays as an aligned linear sediment pathway, consisting of the Penghu Canyon, the deep-sea Penghu Channel and northern Manila Trench. The seafloor of South China Sea north of 21°N are underlain by a triangle-shaped collision marine basin, resulting from oblique collision between the Luzon Arc and Chinese margin, and are mainly occupied by two juxtaposed slopes, the South China Sea and Kaoping Slopes, and a southward tilting basin axis located along the Penghu Canyon. Two major tributary canyons of the Formosa and Kaoping and small channels and gullies on both slopes join into the axial Penghu Canyon and form a dendritic canyon drainage system in this collision marine basin. The canyon drainage system is characteristic of lateral sediment supply from flank slopes and axial sediment transport down-canyon following the tilting basin axis. The significance of the collision marine basin in term of source to sink is that sediments derived from nearby orogen and continental margins are transported to and accumulated in the collision basin, serving as a temporary sediment sink and major marine transport route along the basin axis. The comparison of the Taiwan–South China Sea collision zone with the Papua New Guinea collision zone of the western Solomon Sea reveals remarkable similarities in tectonic settings and sedimentary processes that have resulted in similar sediment dispersal systems consisting of (1) a canyon drainage network mainly in the collision basin and (2) a longitudinal sediment transport system comprising a linear connection of submarine canyon, deep-sea channel and oceanic trench beyond the collision marine basin.     

Discussion and Reply Lithostratigraphic revision and correlation of the Oligo‐Miocene Murray Supergroup,western Murray Basin,South Australia

Sequence‐stratigraphic interpretations of the 4200 m‐thick Palaeoproterozoic (1700–1650 Ma) Mt Isa Group and underlying Surprise Creek Formation identify three unconformity‐bounded packages termed the Prize, Gun and Loretta Supersequences. Siliciclastic rocks of the Surprise Creek Formation and Warrina Park Quartzite comprise the Prize Supersequence. Rapid facies changes from proximal, conglomeratic fluvial packages to distal, fine‐grained and deep‐water, rhythmites characterise this supersequence. Conglomeratic intervals in the Mt Isa area reflect syndepositional movement along basin‐margin faults during the period of supersequence initiation. A major unconformity, which extends over a period of about 25 million years, separates the Gun and Prize Supersequences. In the Leichhardt River Fault Trough uplift and incision of Prize sedimentary rocks coincided with emplacement of the Sybella Granite (1671±8 Ma) and Carters Bore Rhyolite (1678±2 Ma) and the removal of an unknown thickness of Prize Supersequence section. Deep‐water, turbiditic rhythmites of the Mt Isa Group dominated the Gun and Loretta Supersequences. Tempestites are present over discrete intervals and represent times of relative shallowing. High accommodation and sedimentation rates at the base of the Gun Supersequence resulted in the deposition of transgressive nearshore facies (uppermost Warrina Park Quartzite) overlain by a thick interval of deep‐water, siltstone‐mudstone rhythmites of the Moondarra Siltstone and Breakaway Shale. With declining rates of siliciclastic sedimentation and shallowing of the succession, calcareous sediments of the Native Bee Siltstone prograded over the deeper water deposits. Two third‐order sequences, Gun 1 and 2, characterise these lower parts of the Gun Supersequence. An increase in accommodation rates near the top of the Native Bee Siltstone in Gun 3 time, resulted in a return to deep‐water sedimentation with deposition of dolomitic rhythmites of the Urquhart Shale and Spear Siltstone. The Pb–Zn–Ag ore‐hosting interval of the Urquhart Shale is interpreted to occur in progradational highstand deposits of the Gun 3 Sequence. In the Leichhardt River Fault Trough the Loretta Supersequence boundary forms a correlative conformity. Coarser grained and thicker bedded sediments of the Kennedy Siltstone comprise lowstand deposits at the base of this cycle. These sediments fine up into the transgressive, deep‐water, siliciclastic facies of the Magazine Shale, which in turn are truncated against the Mt Isa Fault.     

The history of Cenozoic magmatism and collision in NW New Guinea – New insights into the tectonic evolution of the northernmost margin of the Australian Plate

Evidence of Cenozoic magmatism is found along the length of New Guinea. However, the petrogenetic and tectonic setting for this magmatism is poorly understood. This study presents new field, petrographic, U–Pb zircon, and geochemical data from NW New Guinea. These data have been used to identify six units of Cenozoic igneous rocks which record episodes of magmatism during the Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene. These episodes occurred in response to the ongoing interaction between the Australian and Philippine Sea plates. During the Eocene, the Australian Plate began to obliquely subduct beneath the Philippine Sea Plate forming the Philippine–Caroline Arc. Magmatism in this arc is recorded in the Dore, Mandi, and Arfak volcanics of NW New Guinea where calc-alkaline and tholeiitic rocks formed within subduction-related fore-arc and extension-related back-arc settings from 32 to 27 Ma. Collision along this plate boundary in the Oligocene–Miocene jammed the subduction zone and caused a reversal in subduction polarity from north-dipping to south-dipping. Following this, subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the Australian Plate produced magmatism throughout western New Guinea. In NW New Guinea this is recorded by the middle Miocene (18–12 Ma) Moon Volcanics, which include an early period of high-K to shoshonitic igneous activity. These earlier magmatic rocks are associated with the subduction zone polarity reversal and an initially steeply dipping slab. The magmatic products later changed to more calc-alkaline compositions and were emplaced as volcanic rocks in the fore-arc section of a primitive continental arc. Finally, following terminal arc–continent collision in the late Miocene–Pliocene, mantle derived magmas (including the Berangan Andesite) migrated up large strike-slip faults becoming crustally contaminated prior to their eruption during the Plio–Pleistocene. This study of the Cenozoic magmatic history of NW New Guinea provides new data and insights into the tectonic evolution of the northern margin of the Australian Plate.     

Geology and petrology of the Austroalpine Châtillon slice,Aosta valley,western Alps

Slices of continental crust pertinent to the lower Austroalpine domain of the western Alps, crop out within the ophiolitic Piemonte Zone. Among them, the Châtillon slice was studied in detail. The slice consists of orthogneiss with subordinate metabasics and very minor paraschist. The garnet-phengite-epidote-albite orthogneiss is characterised by polyphase garnet porphyroclasts. Metabasics consist of prasinite lenses and eclogite relics. Phengite-clinozoisite eclogite is characterised by small garnet idioblasts with prograde zoning; jadeite content in omphacite increases towards the rim; Si content in phengite decreases towards the rim. Garnet-glaucophane-phengiteparagonite micaschist is characterised by polymetamorphic garnet porphyroclasts, and small Alpine garnet idioblasts. A pre-Alpine amphibolite-facies metamorphism is inferred for the polymetamorphic rocks of the Châtillon slice. Paragneiss and micaschist probably derive from pre-Alpine “kinzigites”; the orthogneiss protolith was a late-Variscan porphyritic granitoid. Thermobarometry in the eclogite constrains the metamorphic peak at T ≤ 560 °C and P = 16 kbar. The HP minerals were partly retrogressed to greenschist-facies assemblages during the late Alpine tectono-metamorphic recrystallisation. The inferred Alpine P-T conditions are consistent with those for other Penninic and Austro-Alpine nappes of the northwestern internal Alps. The Châtillon slice is very similar to the Eclogitic Micaschists Complex of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone and to the other eclogite-facies Austroalpine slices of the Dent Blanche Nappe, but it could also represent a portion of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone basement, which experienced a somewhat different subduction depth. The tectonic position of the Châtillon slice within the Piemonte Zone is essential to reconstruct the geometric relationships in the Austroalpine-Piemonte nappe stack of the northwestern internal Alps.     

Petrography and origin of granulite‐facies rocks in the Western Musgrave Block,Central Australia

The granulite‐facies rocks in the Tomkinson Ranges of central Australia are dominated by layered felsic (quartzofeldspathic) gneisses with minor interbanded mafic, calcareous, ferruginous, and quartzitic granulites. They are regarded as representing a middle Proterozoic metasedimentary and/or metavolcanic sequence which has undergone anhydrous granulite‐facies metamorphism approximately 1200 m.y. ago. Conditions of metamorphism have been derived from a petrogenetic grid based on several experimentally determined reactions and give estimates of 10–11 kb pressure and 950–1000°C. Such metamorphism could take place close to the base of the crust with a moderate geothermal gradient of 25–30°C/km.     

Seismic structure of the Helan–Liupan–Ordos western margin tectonic belt in North-Central China and its geodynamic implications

We study high-resolution three-dimensional P-wave velocity (Vp) tomography and anisotropic structure of the crust and uppermost mantle under the Helan–Liupan–Ordos western margin tectonic belt in North-Central China using 13,506 high-quality P-wave arrival times from 2666 local earthquakes recorded by 87 seismic stations during 1980–2008. Our results show that prominent low-velocity (low-V) anomalies exist widely in the lower crust beneath the study region and the low-V zones extend to the uppermost mantle in some local areas, suggesting that the lower crust contains higher-temperature materials and fluids. The major fault zones, especially the large boundary faults of major tectonic units, are located at the edge portion of the low-V anomalies or transition zones between the low-V and high-V anomalies in the upper crust, whereas low-V anomalies are revealed in the lower crust under most of the faults. Most of large historical earthquakes are located in the boundary zones where P-wave velocity changes drastically in a short distance. Beneath the source zones of most of the large historical earthquakes, prominent low-V anomalies are visible in the lower crust. Significant P-wave azimuthal anisotropy is revealed in the study region, and the pattern of anisotropy in the upper crust is consistent with the surface geologic features. In the lower crust and uppermost mantle, the predominant fast velocity direction (FVD) is NNE–SSW under the Yinchuan Graben and NWW–SEE or NW–SE beneath the Corridor transitional zone, Qilian Orogenic Belt and Western Qinling Orogenic Belt, and the FVD is NE–SW under the eastern Qilian Orogenic Belt. The anisotropy in the lower crust may be caused by the lattice-preferred orientation of minerals, which may reflect the lower-crustal ductile flow with varied directions. The present results shed new light on the seismotectonics and geodynamic processes of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and its northeastern margin.     

The tectono-sedimentary evolution of a hyper-extended rift basin: the example of the Arzacq–Mauléon rift system (Western Pyrenees,SW France)

In this paper, we present a sedimentary and structural analysis that together with maps, sections and new Ar/Ar data enable to describe the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Mauléon hyper-extended rift basin exposed in the W-Pyrenees. Hyper-extension processes that ultimately resulted in exhuming mantle rocks are the result of the subsequent development of two diachronous detachment systems related to two evolutional stages of rifting. An initial Late Aptian Early Albian crustal thinning phase is first recorded by the development of a crustal necking zone controlled by the north-vergent Southern Mauléon Detachment system. During a subsequent exhumation phase, active faulting migrates to the north with the emplacement of the Northern Mauléon detachment system that exhumed north section thinned continental crust and mantle rocks. This diachronous crustal thinning and exhumation processes are also recorded by the diachronous deposition of syn-tectonic sedimentary tracts above the two supra-detachment sub-basins. Syn-tectonic sedimentary tracts record the progressive exhumation of footwall rocks along detachment systems. Tectonic migration from the southern to the northern Mauléon Detachment system is recorded by the coeval deposition of “sag” deposits above the necking zone basin and of syn-tectonic tracts above exhumed rocks north section. Located on a hanging-wall situation related to the Mauléon hyper-extension structures, the Arzacq Basin also records a major crustal thinning phase as shown by its subsidence evolution so as by deep seismic images. The absence of major top-basement structures and its overall sag morphology suggest that crustal thinning processes occurred by decoupled extension of lower crustal levels contrasting with the Southern Mauléon Detachment system. Reconciling observations from the Mauléon and Arzacq Basins, we finally propose in this paper that they were the result of one and the same asymmetric crustal thinning and exhumation processes, where extension is accommodated into the upper crust in the Mauléon Basin (lower plate basin) and relayed in ductile lower crust below the Arzacq Basin (upper plate basin).     

Radiometric dating demonstrates that Permian spore‐pollen zones of Australia and South Africa are diachronous

The well-refined Permian palynozonation of Western and eastern Australia is the current standard biostratigraphic scheme for the Southern Hemisphere, but intra-Gondwanan floristic provincialism means that several stratigraphically useful palynomorph taxa are rare or absent elsewhere in Gondwana. Radio-isotopic ages for both Australia and the main Karoo Basin of South Africa demonstrate that key marker taxa appear diachronously in the two countries, or they are absent in one of the countries. The establishment of new plant taxa in the Gondwanan Permian realm was strongly tied to palaeolatitude, with floral distributions primarily affected by temperature, precipitation, and seasonality. This spatio-temporal variation of floras hinders global biostratigraphic correlations. Both South Africa and Australia have excellent long-ranging Permo-Triassic terrestrial sedimentary successions, and although vertebrate biostratigraphy has been the focus of much research endeavour in the South African Karoo, palynological studies have lagged. Accordingly, a new South African palynozonation should be established that is based on the first appearances of key index taxa in the main Karoo Basin, rather than elsewhere in Gondwana. In the interim, the diachronous ranges of palynomorphs must be considered when correlating South African rocks to other global sections by means of the Australian spore‐pollen zonation.