Evolution of a reworked orogenic zone: The boundary between the delamerian and lachlan fold belts,southeastern Australia *

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data from the boundary between the Delamerian and Lachlan Fold Belts identify the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex as a Cambrian metamorphic belt in the western Stawell Zone of the Palaeozoic Tasmanide System of southeastern Australia. A reworked orogenic zone exists between the Lachlan and Delamerian Fold Belts that contains the eastern section of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt and the western limit of orogenesis associated with the formation of an Ordovician to Silurian accretionary wedge (Lachlan Fold Belt). Delamerian thrusting is craton-verging and occurred at the same time as the final consolidation of Gondwana. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data indicate rapid cooling of the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex at about 500 Ma at a rate of 20 – 30°C per million years, temporally associated with calc-alkaline volcanism followed by clastic sedimentation. Extension in the overriding plate of a subduction zone is interpreted to have exhumed the metamorphic rocks within the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex. The Delamerian system varies from a high geothermal gradient with syntectonic plutonism in the west to lower geothermal gradients in the east (no syntectonic plutonism). This metamorphic zonation is consistent with a west-dipping subduction zone. Contrary to some previous models involving a reversal in subduction polarity, the Ross and Delamerian systems of Antarctica and Australia are inferred to reflect deformation processes associated with a Cambrian subduction zone that dipped towards the Gondwana supercontinent. Western Lachlan Fold Belt orogenesis occurred about 40 million years after the Delamerian Orogeny and deformed older, colder, and denser oceanic crust, with metamorphism indicative of a low geothermal gradient. This orogenesis closed a marginal ocean basin by west-directed underthrusting of oceanic crust that produced an accretionary wedge with west-dipping faults that verge away from the major craton. The western Lachlan Fold Belt was not associated with arc-related volcanism and plutonism occurred 40 – 60 million years after initial deformation. The revised orogenic boundaries have implications for the location of world-class 440 Ma orogenic gold deposits. The structural complexity of the 440 Ma Stawell gold deposit reflects its location in a reworked part of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt, while the structurally simpler 440 Ma Bendigo deposit is hosted by younger Ordovician turbidites solely deformed by Lachlan orogenesis.     

40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar age constraints on the timing of regional deformation,south coast of New South Wales,Lachlan Fold Belt: Problems and implications

Four slate samples from subduction complex rocks exposed on the south coast of New South Wales, south of Batemans Bay, were analysed by K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step‐heating methods. One sample contains relatively abundant detrital muscovite flakes that are locally oblique to the regional cleavage in the rock, whereas the remaining samples appear to contain sparse detrital muscovite. Separates of detrital muscovite yielded plateau ages of 505 ± 3 Ma and 513 ± 3 Ma indicating that inheritance has not been eliminated by metamorphism and recrystallisation. Step‐heating analyses of whole‐rock chips from all four slate samples produced discordant apparent age spectra with ‘saddle shapes’ following young apparent ages at the lowest temperature increments. Elevated apparent ages associated with the highest temperature steps are attributed to the presence of variable quantities of detrital muscovite (<1–5%). Two whole‐rock slate samples yielded similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar integrated ages of ca 455 Ma, which are some 15–30 million years older than K–Ar ages for the same samples. These discrepancies suggest that the slates have also been affected by recoil loss/redistribution of ³⁹Ar, leading to anomalously old ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages. Two other samples, from slaty tectonic mélange and intensely cleaved slate, yielded average ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar integrated ages of ca 424 Ma, which are closer to associated mean K–Ar ages of 423 ± 4 Ma and 409 ± 16 Ma, respectively. Taking into account the potential influences of recoil loss/redistribution of ³⁹Ar and inheritance, the results from the latter samples suggest a maximum age of ca 440 Ma for deformation/metamorphism. The current results indicate that recoil and inheritance problems may also have affected whole‐rock ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data reported from other regions of the Lachlan Fold Belt. Therefore, until these effects are adequately quantified, models for the evolution of the Lachlan Fold Belt, that are based on such whole‐rock ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data, should be treated with caution.     

A geochronological framework for orogenic gold mineralisation in central Victoria, Australia

New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological data support, and significantly expand upon, preliminary age data that were interpreted to suggest an episodic and diachronous emplacement of gold across the western Lachlan fold belt, Australia. These geochronological data indicate that mineralisation in the central Victorian gold province occurred in response to episodic, eastward progressing deformation, metamorphism and exhumation associated with the formation of the western Lachlan fold belt. Initial gold formation throughout the Stawell and the Bendigo structural zones can be constrained to a broad interval of time between 455 and 435 Ma, with remobilisation of metals into new structures and/or new pulses of mineralisation occurring between 420 and 400 Ma, and again between 380 and 370 Ma, linked to episodic variations in the regional stress-field and during intrusion of felsic dykes and plutons. This separation of ages is incompatible with the view that gold emplacement in the western Lachlan fold belt was the result of a single, orogen-wide event during the Devonian. A distinct phase of gold mineralisation, characterised by elevated Cu, Mo, Sb or W, is associated with both Late Silurian to Early Devonian (~420 to 400 Ma) and Middle to Late Devonian (~380 to 370 Ma) magmatism, when crustal thickening and shortening during the ongoing consolidation of the western Lachlan Fold Belt led to extensive melt development in the lower crust and resulted in widespread magmatism throughout central Victoria. These ~420 to 400 Ma and ~380 to 370 Ma occurrences, best exemplified by the Wonga deposit in the Stawell structural zone and many of the Woods Point deposits in the Melbourne structural zone, but also evidenced by occurrences at Fosterville and Maldon in the Bendigo structural zone, clearly formed synchronous with, or post-date, the emplacement of plutons and dykes, and thus are spatially (if not genetically) related to melt generation at depth. This later, magmatic-associated and polymetallic type of gold mineralisation is economically subordinate to the earlier, metamorphic-associated type of gold deposition in the Stawell and Bendigo structural zones, but tends to be the dominant style in the Melbourne Zone. These new geochronological constraints, together with zircon U-Pb data from felsic intrusive rocks of known relationship to gold mineralisation, demonstrate that initial hydrothermal alteration associated with gold emplacement in the western Lachlan fold belt was metamorphic-related, predating the emplacement of granite plutons by as much as 80 million years. This timing differs from other important orogenic gold districts where gold deposition is closely associated spatially with felsic magmatism. The early introduction of metamorphically derived fluids well before magmatism may reflect variations in the timing of peak metamorphic conditions at different crustal levels in an accretionary prism undergoing simultaneous deformation and erosion. Consequently, no genetic link exists between the main phase(s) of gold mineralisation and magmatism in the central Victorian gold province. With the exception of formation of a minor magmatism-related and geochemically-distinct mineralisation style at about 420 to 400 Ma, and again at about 380 to 370 Ma, the apparent spatial relationship between gold mineralisation and felsic intrusions is merely the result of melts and fluids being channelised along the same structures.     

Pb isotope fingerprinting of mesothermal gold deposits from central Victoria, Australia: implications for ore genesis

New Pb isotope data from three major mesothermal lode gold deposits (Ballarat West, Tarnagulla, Maldon) in central Victoria support a model whereby the metals derived from a large reservoir with a long residence time in the crust below the Palaeozoic Lachlan Fold Belt. The Pb isotopic ratios of least radiogenic samples from these deposits are in close agreement with published Pb signatures for turbidite-hosted gold deposits, and for Devonian granites, elsewhere in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Despite their spatial distribution and variations in the geological setting, the Pb signatures point to the extraction and transport of metals from a crustal source area by long-lasting, large-scale hydrothermal systems, resulting in the prominent homogenisation of Pb isotopic ratios. The enduring interaction between large hydrothermal systems and an extensive crustal source reservoir were a vital pre-requisite in the formation of the Victorian gold province. In this regard, the prospectivity of Victoria is analogous to world-class ore provinces elsewhere, such as the Archaean Yilgarn Block in Western Australia. Received: 10 February 1998 / Accepted: 28 April 1998     

40Ar/39Ar evidence for the timing of Paleoproterozoic gold mineralisation at the Sandpiper Deposit,Tanami region,northern Australia

At the Sandpiper gold deposit in the Tanami region of northern Australia sericite is intimately intergrown with arsenopyrite in gold-bearing quartz veins and breccias, suggesting sericite crystallisation synchronous with gold-bearing fluid flow. This ore-stage sericite yields a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 1785 ± 32 Ma (2σ including both analytical and systematic uncertainties). Recalculation using revised and more precise values for the ⁴⁰K decay constants and the age of the Fish Canyon Sanidine standard shifts the age to 1794 ±12 Ma (2σ including all known uncertainties). Given the possibility of post-mineralisation isotopic resetting this age can be conservatively interpreted as a minimum constraint on the timing of gold deposition although, given local geological relationships and estimates for the argon retentivity of white mica, we consider complete isotopic resetting to be unlikely. The preferred interpretation is, therefore, that the sericite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age indicates the timing of gold mineralisation. Thesericite age accords with a limited dataset of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb xenotime ages of ca 1800 Ma from other gold deposits in the Tanami region, interpreted as mineralisation ages. The agreement between independently derived ages from several gold deposits lends support for a widespread gold-mineralising event at ca 1800 Ma in the Tanami region.     

Episodic gold mineralisation correlated with discrete structural events at Ballarat East,southeast Australia

New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological data suggest orogenic gold mineralisation at the Ballarat East deposit, southeast Australia, occurred in three main episodes at ca. 445–435 Ma, ca. 420–415 Ma and ca. 380–370 Ma. The gold mineralisation is localised in muscovite-bearing quartz and quartz-carbonate veins hosted in the steep faults (70–90°), on limbs of tight and isoclinal folds in an Ordovician turbidite sequence, and within west-dipping (≤45°) faults, historically known as leather jacket lodes. Initiation of the ≤45° faults that are confined to fold culminations, begins at ca. 445 Ma, with peak metamorphic conditions at 440 Ma. The earliest vein sets (V₁), were emplaced on limb thrusts at ca. 445–435 Ma and are characterised by arsenopyrite-dominated quartz veins. These V₁ veins parallel arsenopyrite-rich shale units, historically referred to as ‘indicator beds’. Both the steep and ≤45° faults were reactivated during fold amplification with deposition of the V₂ auriferous veins at ca. 420–415 Ma. A later set of auriferous veins (V₃–V₄) with ages of 380–370 Ma, dominated by pyrite-sphalerite-galena-white-mica quartz-(V₃) or carbonate-rich (V₄) veins are predominantly associated with reactivation of the ≤45° west-dipping faults. This new geochronological data constrains the local kinematic history of the Ballarat East deposit and has regional implications. The V₁–V₂ vein development appears to be synchronous across the entire western section of the Lachlan Orogen, where previous studies have suggested that initial gold mineralisation was linked to orogenesis at ∼440 Ma, as a result of metamorphic devolatilisation reactions in the lower crust. In contrast, a close spatial and temporal relationship exists between the felsic dykes and the mineralisation recognised in the V₃–V₄ veins. The deformation that accompanies V₃–V₄ vein development is attributed to small, localised events during east-west shortening, utilising pre-existing fold and fault structures. The origin of the fluids producing the V₃–V₄ veins may be metamorphic devolatilisation associated with widespread felsic magmatism that occurred at this time across central Victoria.     

Zinc-lead skarn deposits at Leadville, New South Wales, Australia, and their distinction from volcanic-hosted massive sulphides

Exploration of Zn-rich sulphide deposits at Leadville, northern Lachlan Fold Belt, New South Wales, for over two decades has been largely on the premise that the mineralisation represents felsic volcanic-hosted massive sulphides (VHMS). Deposits are hosted by ?Silurian felsic metavolcanic, psammopelitic and calcareous metasedimentary rocks which have been intruded by the late Carboniferous I-type Gulgong Granite. Evidence for an epigenetic replacement (skarn) origin of the deposits, rather than representing metamorphosed volcanogenic massive sulphides, includes the proximity of evolved granitic intrusives and reactive carbonate rocks, a skarn mineral assemblage (with characteristic prograde and retrograde stages), lack of textural or lithological indications of an exhalative origin, and gossan and sulphide compositions consistent with Zn-Pb skarns and atypical of Lachlan Fold Belt VHMS deposits. Furthermore, sulphide lead isotope ratios are significantly more radiogenic than signatures for VHMS deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Carbonate δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O and sulphide δ³⁴S values are consistent with the interaction of magmatic hydrothermal fluids with Palaeozoic carbonate rocks and a largely magmatic source of sulphur. It is concluded that the Leadville deposits are of skarn type, genetically related to the Gulgong Granite.     

Timing of orogenic gold mineralisation in northeastern Tasmania: implications for the tectonic and metallogenetic evolution of Palaeozoic SE Australia

New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from sedimentary rock-hosted orogenic gold deposits in northeastern Tasmania constrain most ore formation to between 395 Ma and 385 Ma. These 385–395 Ma ages for the formation of orogenic gold agree well with an inferred Early to Middle Devonian timing for peak deformation and folding across much of northeastern Tasmania. Data from micas within alteration halos in some deposits give dates of ~420–430 Ma; these dates confirm the occurrence of an earlier Silurian phase of deformation and suggest that at least some of the mineralisation was possibly generated during this event. Gold mineralisation hosted by Middle Devonian post-tectonic granites may be genetically related to magmatism following orogeny, but these deposits formed virtually synchronously with peak deformation-related systems. Early to Middle Devonian deformation in northeastern Tasmania also reactivated older structures in western Tasmania, and the formation of quartz vein-hosted gold mineralisation there. Based on geological, structural, tectonic and metallogenetic similarities, northeastern Tasmania is interpreted as a lateral equivalent of the turbidite-dominated fold-thrust belt of the western Lachlan Orogen. However, unlike Victoria, where the sedimentary rock sequence developed on oceanic crust, northeastern Tasmania was probably underlain by thinned Proterozoic crust, either as part of a promontory along the Gondwana margin or as a microcontinental fragment. This may have protected the Palaeozoic succession from large-scale, pre-Devonian orogeny, with collision not beginning until the Middle Devonian. These variations in the structural and tectonic evolution, and the timing of deformation and ore formation can explain the difference in contained gold, and the distribution and number of major orogenic gold deposits within the Palaeozoic of northeastern Tasmania.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Provenance of Cape Supergroup sediments and timing of Cape Fold Belt orogenesis: Constraints from high-precision 40Ar/39Ar dating of muscovite

The Permian Cape Fold Belt (CFB) of South Africa forms part of a major orogenic belt that originally extended from Argentina, across southern Africa and into Antarctica. The CFB is dominated by complexly folded and faulted rocks of the siliciclastic Cape Supergroup that were deposited in the Cape Basin. The provenance of the Cape Supergroup, timing of deformation and tectonic setting are poorly constrained. U-Pb detrital zircon provenance studies suggest that the Cape Basin received sedimentary detritus from the African Mesoproterozoic Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Belt, Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Pan-African Belts and the Brasiliano orogenic belts of South America, Africa and Antarctica. However, as zircon is able to survive multiple orogenic and sedimentary transport cycles, complementary provenance tools are required to confirm Cape Supergroup provenance. Previous studies have suggested both uni-modal and multi-modal models for the timing of CFB orogenesis. In the current study, structurally controlled, muscovite-bearing samples were collected along several north-south traverses across the CFB. Detailed textural and mineral chemistry analyses identified multiple muscovite populations, commonly with complex intergrowth features. High precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses reveal a dominant 490–465 Ma detrital muscovite population, lending support to a largely South American provenance for the Cape Supergroup. Lesser detrital muscovite populations in the range 650–500 Ma and >730 Ma, corroborate previous zircon provenance studies suggesting Pan-African/Brasiliano terranes and the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Belt as significant sediment sources, respectively. Detailed ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of multiple neo-crystallised muscovite samples are consistent with a single major phase of CFB deformation occurring between 253.4 and 249.6 Ma. This age is interpreted to represent either the peak or final dominant phase of CFB deformation.     

桂西北地区石英斑岩脉白云母40Ar/39Ar 年龄及其地质意义

华南西部右江褶皱带内部燕山晚期岩浆岩主要为成群分布的基性- 超基性岩墙群和超酸性岩脉带。本文对桂西北巴
马-凤山-凌云一带的石英斑岩脉进行了斑晶白云母40Ar/39Ar 法测年,获得凤山弄黄北东向岩脉的40Ar/39Ar 坪年龄为（95.59
±0.68）Ma,相应的等时线年龄为（95.0±1.0）Ma;巴马北西向岩脉的坪年龄为（96.54±0.70）Ma,相应的等时线年龄为
（95.91±1.1）Ma。上述年龄代表了岩脉的侵位年龄。这些年龄数据进一步证明右江褶皱带及其周缘燕山期岩浆活动集中于
80~100 Ma 之间,暗示该区晚白垩世发生了大规模的岩石圈伸展减薄事件。华南西部晚白垩世花岗质岩浆活动与大规模的
锡多金属成矿有关,因此桂西北地区石英斑岩集中出露的地方是否具有寻找深部锡多金属矿的前景值得关注。同时,该期
岩浆活动是否与以卡林型金矿为代表的低温热液矿床有成因上的联系尚需更多矿床地质和年代学资料的证实。     

New constraints on fluid sources in orogenic gold deposits,Victoria, Australia

Fluid inclusion microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy and noble gas plus halogen geochemistry, complemented by published stable isotope data, have been used to assess the origin of gold-rich fluids in the Lachlan Fold Belt of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Victorian gold deposits vary from large turbidite-hosted ‘orogenic’ lode and disseminated-stockwork gold-only deposits, formed close to the metamorphic peak, to smaller polymetallic gold deposits, temporally associated with later post-orogenic granite intrusions. Despite the differences in relative timing, metal association and the size of these deposits, fluid inclusion microthermometry indicates that all deposits are genetically associated with similar low-salinity aqueous, CO₂-bearing fluids. The majority of these fluid inclusions also have similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values of less than 1500 and ³⁶Ar concentrations of 2.6–58 ppb (by mass) that are equal to or much greater than air-saturation levels (1.3–2.7 ppb). Limited amounts of nitrogen-rich fluids are present at a local scale and have the highest measured ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values of up to 5,700, suggesting an external or distinct source compared to the aqueous fluids. The predominance of low-salinity aqueous–carbonic fluids with low ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values, in both ‘orogenic’ and ‘intrusion-related’ gold deposits, is attributed to fluid production from common basement volcano-sedimentary sequences and fluid interaction with sedimentary cover rocks (turbidites). Aqueous fluid inclusions in the Stawell–Magdala deposit of western Victoria (including those associated with N₂) preserve mantle-like Br/Cl and I/Cl values. In contrast, fluid inclusions in deposits in the eastern structural zones, which contain more abundant shales, have elevated molar I/Cl ratios with maximum values of 5,170 × 10⁻⁶ in the Melbourne Zone. Br/I ratios in this zone range from 0.5 to 3.0 that are characteristic of fluid interaction with organic-rich sediments. The maximum I/Cl and characteristic Br/I ratios provide evidence for organic Br and I released during metamorphism of the shales. Therefore, the regional data provide strong evidence for the involvement of sedimentary components in gold mineralisation, but are consistent with deeper metamorphic fluid sources from basement volcano-sedimentary rocks. The overlying sediments are probably involved in gold mineralisation via fluid–rock interaction.     

Syngenetic gold in western Victoria: occurrence,age and dimensions

In western Victoria, a widespread stratiform style of gold enrichment in Palaeozoic black mudstone and chert—clearly different from the classic mesothermal quartz vein deposits of the Victorian goldfields—has been confirmed by whole-rock geochemistry and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). This enrichment pre-dates compaction, deformation and low-grade metamorphism of the sedimentary host-rocks, and therefore possibly developed diagenetically during slow deposition of the thin carbonaceous black mudstone beds and the thinner layers of chert. These paired strata have been documented at many locations in three regional outcrop areas of chevron-folded Cambrian and Lower Ordovician metasediments in the Stawell and Bendigo Zones, where they are interbedded with quartz-rich turbidites. The layers were named ‘indicators’ by the early miners, who found locally rich nuggety gold deposits at intersections between these layers and mesothermal quartz veins. Gold is present in euhedral pyrite crystals in both black shale and chert. LA-ICPMS analysis of individual pyrite crystals in the indicator beds shows that pyrite is enriched in Au, As, Sb, Se, Te and Bi. The Au content of pyrite varies from 0.03 to 2.69 ppm with a mean of 0.58 ppm and shows a positive correlation with As, which varies from 1000 to 6000 ppm. Many pyrite crystals show enrichment of gold in their cores and depletion in their rims, confirming the likely syngenetic or syndiagenetic accumulation of gold during pyrite formation in the sediments. Prior to regional metamorphism, folding and faulting, the many indicator strata in the outcrop areas were parts of an extensive marine sequence of Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician age. The former primary source of this mineralisation is considered to have been one or more contemporaneously exhalative submarine hydrothermal systems. Thus, the older Palaeozoic sediments of the western Lachlan Fold Belt were significantly enriched in syngenetic gold in the Early Palaeozoic, at least 40 million years before emplacement of the quartz – gold vein deposits of the goldfields.     

Ar/Ar geochronology of gold mineralization in Brasiliano strike-slip shear zones in the Borborema province, NE Brazil

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of muscovite and biotite grains genetically related to gold and Be–Ta–Li pegmatites from the Seridó Belt (Borborema province, NE Brazil) yield well-defined, reliable plateau ages. This information, combined with data about paragenetic and field relationships, reveals Cambro-Ordovician mineralization ages (520 and 500–506 Ma) for the orogenic gold deposits in the Seridó Belt. Biotite ages of 525±2 Ma, which represent the mean weighted results of the incremental heating analysis of six biotite single crystals, record the time of pegmatite emplacement and reactivation of Brasiliano/Pan-African strike-slip shear zones. These results, along with previous structural evolution studies, suggest that shear zones formed during the Brasiliano/Pan-African event were reactivated in the Upper Cambrian–Lower Ordovician. Mineralization occurs late in the history of the orogen.     

The Berridale Wrench fault: A major structure in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales

One of the most significant, but poorly understood, tectonic events in the east Lachlan Fold Belt is that which caused the shift from mafic, mantle‐derived calc‐alkaline/shoshonitic volcanism in the Late Ordovician to silicic (S‐type) plutonism and volcanism in the late Early Silurian. We suggest that this chemical/isotopic shift required major changes in crustal architecture, but not tectonic setting, and simply involved ongoing subduction‐related magmatism following burial of the pre‐existing, active intraoceanic arc by overthrusting Ordovician sediments during Late Ordovician — Early Silurian (pre‐Benambran) deformation, associated with regional northeast‐southwest shortening. A review of ‘type’ Benambran deformation from the type area (central Lachlan Fold Belt) shows that it is constrained to a north‐northwest‐trending belt at ca 430 Ma (late Early Silurian), associated with high‐grade metamorphism and S‐type granite generation. Similar features were associated with ca 430 Ma deformation in east Lachlan Fold Belt, highlighted by the Cooma Complex, and formed within a separate north‐trending belt that included the S‐type Kosciuszko, Murrumbidgee, Young and Wyangala Batholiths. As Ordovician turbidites were partially melted at ca 430 Ma, they must have been buried already to ～20 km before the ‘type’ Benambran deformation. We suggest that this burial occurred during earlier northeast‐southwest shortening associated with regional oblique folds and thrusts, loosely referred to previously as latitudinal or east‐west structures. This event also caused the earliest Silurian uplift in the central Lachlan Fold Belt (Benambran highlands), which pre‐dated the ‘type’ Benambran deformation and is constrained as latest Ordovician — earliest Silurian (ca 450–440 Ma) in age. The south‐ to southwest‐verging, earliest Silurian folds and thrusts in the Tabberabbera Zone are considered to be associated with these early oblique structures, although similar deformation in that zone probably continued into the Devonian. We term these ‘pre’‐ and ‘type’‐Benambran events as ‘early’ and ‘late’ for historical reasons, although we do not consider that they are necessarily related. Heat‐flow modelling suggests that burial of ‘average’ Ordovician turbidites during early Benambran deformation at 450–440 Ma, to form a 30 km‐thick crustal pile, cannot provide sufficient heat to induce mid‐crustal melting at ca 430 Ma by internal heat generation alone. An external, mantle heat source is required, best illustrated by the mafic ca 430 Ma, Micalong Swamp Igneous Complex in the S‐type Young Batholith. Modern heat‐flow constraints also indicate that the lower crust cannot be felsic and, along with petrological evidence, appears to preclude older continental ‘basement terranes’ as sources for the S‐type granites. Restriction of the S‐type batholiths into two discrete, oblique, linear belts in the central and east Lachlan Fold Belt supports a model of separate magmatic arc/subduction zone complexes, consistent with the existence of adjacent, structurally imbricated turbidite zones with opposite tectonic vergence, inferred by other workers to be independent accretionary prisms. Arc magmas associated with this ‘double convergent’ subduction system in the east Lachlan Fold Belt were heavily contaminated by Ordovician sediment, recently buried during the early Benambran deformation, causing the shift from mafic to silicic (S‐type) magmatism. In contrast, the central Lachlan Fold Belt magmatic arc, represented by the Wagga‐Omeo Zone, only began in the Early Silurian in response to subduction associated with the early Benambran northeast‐southwest shortening. The model requires that the S‐type and subsequent I‐type (Late Silurian — Devonian) granites of the Lachlan Fold Belt were associated with ongoing, subduction‐related tectonic activity.     

Paleozoic terranes of eastern Australia and the drift history of Gondwana

Critical assessment of Paleozoic paleomagnetic results from Australia shows that paleopoles from locations on the main craton and in the various terranes of the Tasman Fold Belt of eastern Australia follow the same path since 400 Ma for the Lachlan and Thomson superterranes, but not until 250 Ma or younger for the New England superterrane. Most of the paleopoles from the Tasman Fold Belt are derived from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane of the Thomson superterrane and the Molong-Monaro terrane of the Lachlan superterrane. Consideration of the paleomagnetic data and geological constraints suggests that these terranes were amalgamated with cratonic Australia by the late Early Devonian. The Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane is interpreted to have undergone a 90° clockwise rotation between 425 and 380 Ma. Although the Tamworth terrane of the western New England superterrane is thought to have amalgamated with the Lachlan superterrane by the Late Carboniferous, geological syntheses suggest that movements between these regions may have persisted until the Middle Triassic. This view is supported by the available paleomagnetic data. With these constraints, an apparent polar wander path for Gondwana during the Paleozoic has been constructed after review of the Gondwana paleomagnetic data. The drift history of Gondwana with respect to Laurentia and Baltica during the Paleozoic is shown in a series of paleogeographic maps.     

Evolution of a Cambrian active continental margin: The Delamerian–Lachlan connection in southeastern Australia from a zircon perspective

The Early Palaeozoic Ross–Delamerian orogenic belt is considered to have formed as an active margin facing the palaeo-Pacific Ocean with some island arc collisions, as in Tasmania (Australia) and Northern Victoria Land (Antarctica), followed by terminal deformation and cessation of active convergence. On the Cambrian eastern margin of Australia adjacent to the Delamerian Fold Belt, island arc and backarc basin crust was formed and is now preserved in the Lachlan Fold Belt and is consistent with a spatial link between the Delamerian and Lachlan orogens. The Delamerian–Lachlan connection is tested with new zircon data. Metamorphic zircons from a basic eclogite sample from the Franklin Metamorphic Complex in the Tyennan region of central Tasmania have rare earth element signatures showing that eclogite metamorphism occurred at ~ 510 Ma, consistent with island arc–passive margin collision during the Delamerian(− Tyennan) Orogeny. U–Pb ages of detrital zircons have been determined from two samples of Ordovician sandstones in the Lachlan Fold Belt at Melville Point (south coast of New South Wales) and the Howqua River (western Tabberabbera Zone of eastern Victoria). These rocks were chosen because they are the first major clastic influx at the base of the Ordovician ‘Bengal-fan’ scale turbidite pile. The samples show the same prominent peaks as previously found elsewhere (600–500 Ma Pacific-Gondwana and the 1300–1000 Ma Grenville–Gondwana signatures) reflecting supercontinent formation. We highlight the presence of ~ 500 Ma non-rounded, simple zircons indicating clastic input most likely from igneous rocks formed during the Delamerian and Ross Orogenies. We consider that the most probable source of the Ordovician turbidites was in East Antarctica adjacent to the Ross Orogen rather than reflecting long distance transport from the Transgondwanan Supermountain (i.e. East African Orogen). Together with other provenance indicators such as detrital mica ages, this is a confirmation of the Delamerian–Lachlan connection.     

桂中都安钾镁煌斑岩金云母~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar年龄及其构造意义

右江褶皱带地处扬子陆块和华夏陆块的结合部位,区内广泛发育以基性-超基性岩墙群和超酸性岩脉为主的燕山晚期双峰式岩浆活动。对桂中都安地区的金云钾镁煌斑岩脉进行了金云母~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar法测年,斑晶和基质金云母样品均给出了较一致的坪年龄,分别为93.6±0.6Ma和92.9±0.6Ma,相应的等时线年龄分别为93.4±0.9Ma和92.7±0.8Ma,上述年龄代表了岩脉的侵位年龄。结合区内报道的同期年代学资料,进一步证明右江褶皱带及其周缘晚白垩世双峰式岩浆活动响应了华南地区燕山晚期的构造转换事件及随后大规模的岩石圈伸展减薄。     

Fold dating: A new Ar/Ar illite dating application to constrain the age of deformation in shallow crustal rocks

We propose a deformation dating method that combines XRD quantification and Ar chronology of submicroscopic illite to determine the absolute ages of folds that contain clay-bearing layers. Two folds in the frontal segment of the Mexican Fold-Thrust Belt (MFTB), which was deformed from Late Cretaceous to Eocene, are used to illustrate the method and its future potential.Variations in mineral composition, illite-polytype, crystallite-size (CS) and Ar total gas ages were analyzed in the limbs and hinge of two mesoscopic folds. This analysis examines potential effects of strain variation on illitization and the Ar isotopic system along folded layers, versus possible regional thermal overprints. The Ar total-gas ages for 9 samples in Fold 1 vary between 48.4 and 43.9 Ma. The % of 2M₁ (detrital) illite vs. Ar total-gas ages tightly constrains the age of folding at 43.5 ± 0.3 Ma. Nine ages from three samples in Fold 2 range from 76.2 to 62.7 Ma, which results in a folding age of 63.9 ± 2.2 Ma. Both ages are in excellent agreement with more broadly constrained stratigraphic timing. The method offers a novel approach to radiometric dating of clay-bearing folds formed at very low-grade metamorphic conditions, and has the potential to constrain dates and rates of regional and local deformation along and across foreland orogenic belts.     

Physical modelling of deformation in the Tasman Orogenic Zone

Structural vergence within the Western Subprovince of the Lachlan Fold Belt is towards the hinterland rather than the foreland, in contrast to many well-known orogenic belts. High angle-reverse faults and upright folds verge eastwards, away from the Australian craton, towards the inferred centre of orogenic and magmatic activity. We designed a series of analogue models to test the anomalous vergence in the western Lachlan Fold Belt, particularly the interaction of a stable Australian craton with Tasman Line geometry, interacting with weaker oceanic or transitional lithospheric material. We found consistently that vergence direction in the models was towards the hinterland, not the foreland, as in the western Lachlan Fold Belt, irrespective of the way the model was deformed. Strength gradients between the oceanic and cratonic lithosphere control the deformation patterns. An important result of the models is that they demonstrate that fold belts with different vergences can be generated without the requirement of subducting oceanic lithosphere.     

40Ar/39Ar Dating of Xuebaoding Granite in the Songpan-Garzê Orogenic Belt, Southwest China, and its Geological Significance

<正>Thus far,our understanding of the emplacement of Xuebaoding granite and the occurrence and evolution of the Songpan-Garze Orogenic Belt has been complicated by differing age spectra results.Therefore,in this study,the ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar and sensitive high resolution ion micro-probe(SHRIMP) U-Pb dating methods were both used and the results compared,particularly with respect to dating data for Pankou and Pukouling granites from Xuebaoding,to establish ages that are close to the real emplacements.The results of SHRIMP U-Pb dating for zircon showed a high amount of U,but a very low value for Th/U.The high U amount,coupled with characteristics of inclusions in zircons,indicates that Xuebaoding granites are not suitable for U-Pb dating.Therefore,muscovite in the same granite samples was selected for ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar dating.The ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar age spectrum obtained on bulk muscovite from Pukouling granite in the Xuebaoding,gave a plateau age of 200.1±1.2 Ma and an inverse isochron age of 200.6±1.2 Ma.The ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar age spectrum obtained on bulk muscovite from Pankou granite in the Xuebaoding gave another plateau age of 193.4±1.1 Ma and an inverse isochron age of 193.7±1.1 Ma. The ~(40)Ar/~(36)Ar intercept of 277.0±23.4(2σ) was very close to the air ratio,indicating that no apparent excess argon contamination was present.These age dating spectra indicate that both granites were emplaced at 200.6±1.3 Ma and 193.7±1.1 Ma,respectively.Through comparison of both dating methods and their results,we can conclude that it is feasible that the muscovite in the granite bearing high U could be used for ~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar dating without extra Ar.Based on this evidence,as well as the geological characteristics of the Xuebaoding W-Sn-Be deposit and petrology of granites,it can be concluded that the material origin of the Xuebaoding W-Sn-Be deposit might partially originate from the Xuebaoding granite group emplacement at about 200 Ma.Moreover,compared with other granites and deposits distributed in various positions in the Songpan-Garze Orogenic Belt,the Xuebaoding emplacement ages further show that the main rare metal deposits and granites in peripheral regions occurred earlier than those in the inner Songpan-Garze.Therefore,~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar dating of Xuebaoding granite will lay a solid foundation for studying the occurrence and evolution of granite and rare earth element deposits in the Songpan-Garze Orogenic Belt.