Two–stage Cretaceous Exhumation of Hengshan Complex in Hunan Province,SE China: Constraints Arising from ~(40)Ar–~(39)Ar Geochronology and Cretaceous Tectonic Implications

The Hengshan complex is located in the central part of SE China, which underwent rapid tectonic uplift in the Cretaceous just like many other complexes on the continent. (40)~Ar–(39)~Ar geochronological data from the Hengshan complex suggest that two episodes of crustal cooling/extension took place in this part of the continent during the Cretaceous time. The first stage of exhumation was active during ca. 136–125 Ma, with a cooling rate of 10 °C/Ma. The second stage of exhumation happened at ca. 98–93 Ma, with a cooling rate of 10 °C/Ma. Considering the folding in the Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and the regional unconformity underneath the Upper Cretaceous red beds, it is believed that the Cretaceous crustal extension in SE China was interrupted by a compressional event. The reversion to extension, shortly after this middle Cretaceous compression, led to the rapid cooling/exhumation of the Hengshan complex at ca. 98–93 Ma. The Cretaceous tectonic processes in the hinterland of SE China could be controlled by interactions between the continental margin and the Paleo–pacific plate.     

Early Cretaceous spinicaudatans (“conchostracans”) from lacustrine strata of the Sidi Aïch Formation in the northern Chotts range,southern Tunisia: Taxonomy,biostratigraphy and stratigraphic implication

The fossil clam shrimp genus Cratostracus was first described from the Turonian–Coniacian (Upper Cretaceous) Qingshankou Formation in the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces of China, and it has been found to range down into the Aptian Guantou Formation in Zhejiang Province of southeastern China. Recently, species tentatively attributable to it (Cratostracus? cheni) has been recorded in the well-known Jehol Biota bearing Barremian–lower Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) Yixian Formation in western Liaoning Province of northeastern China. The species described in this paper as Cratostracus? tunisiaensis sp. nov. was recovered from the Sidi Aïch Formation in the Chotts area of southern Tunisia. Although only tentatively attributed to Cratostracus, its occurrence is consistent with a Barremian (Early Cretaceous) age for the formation. This first direct dating of the Sidi Aïch Formation gives a valuable insight for the stratigraphy of the region and will make it possible to more precisely correlate the different outcrops of the Sidi Aïch Formation. Moreover, the new fossil discovery allows a reconstruction of the paralic ecosystem that characterized the study area during the Barremian.     

Comment on “Timing and nature of the Xinlin–Xiguitu Ocean: constraints from ophiolitic gabbros in the northern Great Xing’an Range,eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt” by Feng et al. (2016)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - We disagree the transitional supra-subduction zone model of Feng et al. (Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 105:491–505, 2016) for the tectonic setting...