Deformation path in high-strain zones,with reference to slip partitioning in transpressional plate-boundary regions

The current status of the kinematics and strain geometry of high-strain zone studies is briefly summarized. A general high-strain zone has a triclinic deformation path, and monoclinic shear zones are special end member cases. Fabrics observed in natural shear zones and theoretical considerations based on continuum mechanics are compatible with this conclusion. Non-steady deformation paths remain difficult to deal with, and may ultimately rely on a realistic mechanical treatment of high-strain zones which may be possible when our knowledge of the mechanical behavior of rocks under natural deformation conditions is improved. An examination of the phenomenon of slip partitioning in transpressional plate boundary regions shows that the bulk deformation path in the forearc area (trench-parallel high-strain zone) is generally triclinic. The Alpine Fault in the South Island of New Zealand provides an example of a currently active triclinic shear zone. The Southern Knee Lake shear zone of Manitoba, Canada, provides an Archean example of a triclinic shear zone.     

Quantitative finite strain and kinematic flow analyses along the Zagros transpression zone, Iran

The Ghouri area in southwest Iran exposes a cross section through the Zagros orogenic belt. The area provides an opportunity to investigate quantitative finite strain (Rs), kinematic vorticity number (W_k), proportions of pure shear and simple shear components, sense of shear indicators, steeply plunging lineations, and other moderate to steeply plunging stretching lineations in a transpressional zone. Based on a classical strain analysis of deformed microfossils with oblate strain ellipsoid shape, the Zagros orogenic belt is classified as a pure-shear dominated zone of transpression, but asymmetry of shear-sense indicators suggests that a significant component of simple shear was involved along the deformation zone boundaries. The long axes of the microfossils and stretched pebbles of a deformed conglomerate were used to indicate the stretching direction in this zone. The stretching lineations have a steep to moderate plunge but a constant strain magnitude. Characteristics of dextral inclined transpressional kinematics in the Zagros continental collision zone were quantified and indicate an estimated k-value < 1, an angle between the maximum horizontal axis of the instantaneous strain ellipsoid and the zone boundary (θ = 32°), asymmetrical dextral shear-sense indicators, and an angle of relative plate motion (α = 25°).     

北大别造山后穹隆构造的形成过程与变形模拟

北大别穹隆是在早白垩世造山后伸展活动中形成的。其北界为北西西走向、倾向北北东、正左行平移的晓天-磨子潭韧性剪切带,南界为北西走向、倾向南东、右行“逆冲”的五河-水吼韧性剪切带。通过对这两条剪切带的构造观测、运动学分析、石英C轴组构测量、变形温度分析及变形模拟,表明剪切带原先为中地壳同一近水平的韧性拆离剪切带。该拆离剪切带在原始近水平状态时的活动为上盘向280°方位的伸展运动。随后在大规模岩浆活动与北大别穹隆的隆升中,这一剪切带被动地抬升与剥露,而出露于现今的穹隆边界上。变形模拟显示,北大别穹隆构造现今为近EW轴向的背形,其上隆幅度西强东弱。北大别穹隆的形成过程表明为典型的造山带变质核杂岩。     

Crustal lineaments and shear zones in Africa: Their relationship to plate movements

Many of the major lineaments in southern Africa are major ductile shear zones with large displacement, occurring within, though often bounding orogenic belts. An example is the boundary to the Limpopo belt in Botswana and Zimbabwe. However, some of these shear zones only record slight displacement when considered on a crustal scale; they are merely planes recording differential movement on much larger, flat to gently dipping, shear zones where the boundary to the orogenic belt is a low-angle thrust zone. These different types of shear zones are clearly shown in the Pan-African belt of Zambia where large ENE-trending lineaments have been recorded. Recent work has shown the northern group of shears to be large lateral ramps; for example, the rocks of the copper belt are part of an ENE-verging thrust package, the southern boundary of which is a major, oblique to lateral ramp. In southern Zambia shears are more analogous to major transform faults; they form as tear faults separating zones of different thrust vergence. A possible plate tectonic model is given for this part of Africa, showing the different relative plate movement vectors estimated from the geometry of the Pan-African shear zones.     

大陆碰撞造山样式与过程：来自特提斯碰撞造山带的实例

本文选取特提斯域内比利牛斯、阿尔卑斯、扎格罗斯、喜马拉雅-青藏高原四个地球上最年轻的陆-陆碰撞造山带,对其造山带结构、类型、物质组成、构造岩浆过程等方面进行详细介绍,进而讨论各个造山带的差异性及其缘由,分析碰撞造山普遍性规律。资料分析表明,四个碰撞造山带具有不同的结构和组成。根据板块汇聚方向与造山带边界间的夹角可将造山带分为正向和斜向两种;根据造山带结构可将碰撞带分为对称式和不对称式两种。由此本文将碰撞造山带划分为四种基本式样:正向对称式、正向不对称式、斜向对称式、斜向不对称式,分别以比利牛斯、青藏高原、阿尔卑斯和扎格罗斯碰撞带为代表。综合分析四个造山带碰撞以来的岩浆构造活动,本文发现完整的碰撞过程可以划分为三个阶段,第一阶段主要发生挤压缩短、地壳加厚,高压变质和钙碱性火山岩浆活动;第二阶段以大规模走滑系统发育和高钾钙碱性或钾质火山岩浆作用为特征;第三个阶段挤压应力向碰撞带两侧扩展,同时伴有大型伸展构造系统的发育。在这三阶段演化历程中,比利牛斯只进行到第一阶段,成为幼年夭折的碰撞带;扎格罗斯进行到第二阶段,出现调节挤压应变的走滑系统和钾质超钾质岩浆活动;青藏高原和阿尔卑斯进行到第三个阶段,以发育大型伸展构造和钾质、超钾质岩浆活动为特征,但后者在造山带物质组成和汇聚速率方面显示出比前者更成熟的造山演化程度。因此认为岩石圈组成是碰撞造山带结构的主要控制因素,如果上覆板块具有相对不稳定的岩石圈,会使得碰撞带后陆发育宽广的构造岩浆带,造成造山带呈不对称式结构。     

Localization of deformation and kinematic shift during the hot emplacement of the Ronda peridotites (Betic Cordilleras,southern Spain)

The Ronda peridotites form the largest mass of subcontinental mantle outcropping on land. Unlike other orogenic lherzolite massifs, the two main bodies of Ronda (the Sierra Bermeja and Sierra Alpujata massifs) are unique cases where ductile shear zones linked to the hot thrusting of mantle over continental crustal rocks are well exposed. We present a new insight into the deformation localization in these shear zones based on structural, fabric and petrological data. The Ronda peridotites show increasing deformation towards the continental footwall rocks, from porphyroclastic rocks to ultramylonites. Garnet-pyroxenites from the basal shear zone of the Alpujata massif yield ca. 1100 °C and 1.4 GPa for the mylonitization. Such conditions promoted partial melting and the formation of felsic dynamothermal aureoles from the underlying crustal rocks. Subsequent deformation is mainly localized in the dynamothermal aureoles, since they are weaker than the peridotites. Both aureoles show marked strain gradients towards the contact but record different kinematics. In Sierra Alpujata, kinematic criteria indicate a top-to-the ENE shear sense, whereas in Sierra Bermeja the felsic mylonites provide a top-to-the NNW motion. A transpressional setting is proposed to explain such kinematic shift.     

Shear structures in the Serra do Azeite shear zone,southeastern Brazil: Transtensional deformation during regional transpression in the central Mantiqueira province (Ribeira belt)

The Serra do Azeite shear zone (SASZ) is a northeast-trending regional structure in southeastern Brazil. Kinematic analysis carried out in the SASZ suggests a ductile sinistral transtensional regime in amphibolite facies conditions. Constrictional, flattened, and simple-shear strain domains occur in mylonites with stretching lineation plunging to the east–southeast. Kinematic indicators suggest oblique top–down-to-the-east–southeast and sinistral strike-slip components along variably oriented shear planes. Results of the simple geometrical construction applied to the shear-zone pattern, coupled with field data and kinematic analysis, suggest that sinistral transtensional shearing resulted from east–northeast-directed crustal extension and sinistral strike-slip displacement, accompanied by north–northeast/south–southwest contraction and vertical thinning. The K/Ar and Ar/Ar cooling ages match the proposed interval for crustal extension in the central Mantiqueira province (0.6–0.58/0.57 Ga) based on ages of alkaline granitoids and volcanic rocks. These data indicate types-I and -S granite magmatism, as well as metamorphism and dextral transpressional deformation along the Ribeira belt. Therefore, we interpret the transtensional regime as a result of southwest-directed lateral extrusion and uplift crustal slices (overall oblique extrusion) during an orogenic-scale partitioned transpressional regime. Our results suggest this regime was coeval with a phase of regional stretching subparallel to the Ribeira belt, which would explain the coexistence of extensional and compressional structures during overall plate convergence.     

Structural evolution of the Irtysh Shear Zone (northwestern China) and implications for the amalgamation of arc systems in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

The NW–SE Irtysh Shear Zone is a major tectonic boundary in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), which supposedly records the amalgamation history between the peri-Siberian orogenic system and the Kazakhstan/south Mongolia orogenic system. However, the tectonic evolution of the Irtysh Shear Zone is not fully understood. Here we present new structural and geochronological data, which together with other constraints on the timing of deformation suggests that the Irtysh Shear Zone was subjected to three phases of deformation in the late Paleozoic. D₁ is locally recognized as folded foliations in low strain areas and as an internal fabric within garnet porphyroblasts. D₂ is represented by a shallowly dipping fabric and related ∼ NW–SE stretching lineations oriented sub-parallel to the strike of the orogen. D₂ foliations are folded by ∼ NW–SE folds (F₃) that are bounded by a series of mylonite zones with evidence for sinistral/reverse kinematics. These fold and shear structures are kinematically compatible, and thus interpreted to result from a transpressional deformation phase (D₃). Two samples of mica schists yielded youngest detrital zircon peaks at ∼322 Ma, placing a maximum constraint on the timing of D₁–D₃ deformation. A ∼ NE–SW granitic dyke swarm (∼252 Ma) crosscuts D₃ fold structures and mylonitic fabrics in the central part of the shear zone, but is displaced by a mylonite zone that represents the southern boundary of the Irtysh Shear Zone. This observation indicates that the major phase of D₃ transpressional deformation took place prior to ∼252 Ma, although later phases of reactivation in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are likely. The late Paleozoic deformation (D₁–D₃ at ∼322–252 Ma) overlaps in time with the collision between the Chinese Altai and the intra-oceanic arc system of the East Junggar. We therefore interpret that three episodes of late Paleozoic deformation represent orogenic thickening (D₁), collapse (D₂), and transpressional deformation (D₃) during the convergence between the Chinese Altai and the East Junggar. On a larger scale, late Paleozoic sinistral shearing (D₃), together with dextral shearing farther south, accommodated the eastward migration of internal segments of the western CAOB, possibly associated with the amalgamation of multiple arc systems and continental blocks during the late Paleozoic.     

Seafloor spreading, obduction and triple junction tectonics of the Mineoka Ophiolite, Central Japan

The Tertiary Mineoka ophiolite occurs in a fault zone at the intersection of the Honshu and Izu forearcs in central Japan and displays structural evidence for three major phases of deformation: normal and oblique-slip faults and hydrothermal veins formed during the seafloor spreading evolution of the ophiolite at a ridge-transform fault intersection. These structures may represent repeated changes in differential stress and pore-fluid pressures during their formation. The second series of deformation is characterized by oblique thrust faults with Riedel shears and no significant mineral veining, and is interpreted to have resulted from transpressional dextral faulting during the obduction of the ophiolite through oblique convergence and tectonic accretion. This deformation occurred at the NW corner of a TTT-type (trench–trench–trench) triple junction in the NW Pacific rim before the middle Miocene. The third series of deformation of the ophiolite is marked by contractional and oblique shear zones, Riedel shears, and thrust faults that crosscut and offset earlier structures, and that give the Mineoka fault zone its lenticular (phacoidal) fabric at all scales. This deformation phase was associated with the establishment and the southward migration of the TTT Boso triple junction and with the kinematics of oblique subduction and forearc sliver fault development. The composite Mineoka ophiolite hence displays rocks and structures that evolved during its complex geodynamic history involving seafloor spreading, tectonic accretion, and triple junction evolution in the NW Pacific Rim.     

中国东南大陆岩石圈演化研究中的有关问题刍议

本文依据大地构造理论和最新研究资料对中国东南大陆岩石圈演化研究中的有关问题作了探讨,认为地体理论和大地构造相模式理论是相辅相成的;建议扬弃华夏古、特提斯构造域和太平洋构造域等可能束缚研究思路的概念;将板片构造、斜向碰撞与走滑纳入中国东南部碰撞造山带的研究内容。     

Structural geometry of orogenic gold deposits: Implications for exploration of world-class and giant deposits

With very few exceptions, orogenic gold deposits formed in subduction-related tectonic settings in accretionary to collisional orogenic belts from Archean to Tertiary times. Their genesis, including metal and fluid source, fluid pathways, depositional mechanisms, and timing relative to regional structural and metamorphic events, continues to be controversial. However, there is now general agreement that these deposits formed from metamorphic fluids, either from metamorphism of intra-basinal rock sequences or de-volatilization of a subducted sediment wedge, during a change from a compressional to transpressional, less commonly transtensional, stress regime, prior to orogenic collapse. In the case of Archean and Paleoproterozoic deposits, the formation of orogenic gold deposits was one of the last events prior to cratonization. The late timing of orogenic gold deposits within the structural evolution of the host orogen implies that any earlier structures may be mineralized and that the current structural geometry of the gold deposits is equivalent to that at the time of their formation provided that there has been no significant post-gold orogenic overprint. Within the host volcano-sedimentary sequences at the province scale, world-class orogenic gold deposits are most commonly located in second-order structures adjacent to crustal scale faults and shear zones, representing the first-order ore-forming fluid pathways, and whose deep lithospheric connection is marked by lamprophyre intrusions which, however, have no direct genetic association with gold deposition. More specifically, the gold deposits are located adjacent to ～10°-25° district-scale jogs in these crustal-scale faults. These jogs are commonly the site of arrays of ～70° cross faults that accommodate the bending of the more rigid components, for example volcanic rocks and intrusive sills, of the host belts. Rotation of blocks between these accommodation faults causes failure of more competent units and/or reactivation and dilation of pre-existing structures, leading to deposit-scale focussing of ore-fluid and gold deposition.Anticlinal or antiformal fold hinges, particularly those of 'locked-up' folds with ～30° apical angles and overturned back limbs, represent sites of brittle-ductile rock failure and provide one of the more robust parameters for location of orogenic gold deposits.In orogenic belts with abundant pre-gold granitic intrusions, particularly Precambrian granitegreenstone terranes, the boundaries between the rigid granitic bodies and more ductile greenstone sequences are commonly sites of heterogeneous stress and inhomogeneous strain. Thus, contacts between granitic intrusions and volcano-sedimentary sequences are common sites of ore-fluid infiltration and gold deposition. For orogenic gold deposits at deeper crustal levels, ore-forming fluids are commonly focused along strain gradients between more compressional zones where volcano-sedimentary sequences are thinned and relatively more extensional zones where they are thickened. World-class orogenic gold deposits are commonly located in the deformed volcano-sedimentary sequences in such strain gradients adjacent to triple-point junctions defined by the granitic intrusions, or along the zones of assembly of micro-blocks on a regional scale. These repetitive province to district-scale geometrical patterns of structures within the orogenic belts are clearly critical parameters in geology-based exploration targeting for orogenic gold deposits.     

Late Cenozoic transpressional ductile deformation north of the Nazca–South America–Antarctica triple junction

The southern Andes plate boundary zone records a protracted history of bulk transpressional deformation during the Cenozoic, which has been causally related to either oblique subduction or ridge collision. However, few structural and chronological studies of regional deformation are available to support one hypothesis or the other. We address along- and across-strike variations in the nature and timing of plate boundary deformation to better understand the Cenozoic tectonics of the southern Andes.Two east–west structural transects were mapped at Puyuhuapi and Aysén, immediately north of the Nazca–South America–Antarctica triple junction. At Puyuhuapi (44°S), north–south striking, high-angle contractional and strike-slip ductile shear zones developed from plutons coexist with moderately dipping dextral-oblique shear zones in the wallrocks. In Aysén (45–46°), top to the southwest, oblique thrusting predominates to the west of the Cenozoic magmatic arc, whereas dextral strike-slip shear zones develop within it.New ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar data from mylonites and undeformed rocks from the two transects suggest that dextral strike-slip, oblique-slip and contractional deformation occurred at nearly the same time but within different structural domains along and across the orogen. Similar ages were obtained on both high strain pelitic schists with dextral strike-slip kinematics (4.4±0.3 Ma, laser on muscovite–biotite aggregates, Aysén transect, 45°S) and on mylonitic plutonic rocks with contractional deformation (3.8±0.2 to 4.2±0.2 Ma, fine-grained, recrystallized biotite, Puyuhuapi transect). Oblique-slip, dextral reverse kinematics of uncertain age is documented at the Canal Costa shear zone (45°S) and at the Queulat shear zone at 44°S. Published dates for the undeformed protholiths suggest both shear zones are likely Late Miocene or Pliocene, coeval with contractional and strike-slip shear zones farther north. Coeval strike-slip, oblique-slip and contractional deformation on ductile shear zones of the southern Andes suggest different degrees of along- and across-strike deformation partitioning of bulk transpressional deformation.The long-term dextral transpressional regime appears to be driven by oblique subduction. The short-term deformation is in turn controlled by ridge collision from 6 Ma to present day. This is indicated by most deformation ages and by a southward increase in the contractional component of deformation. Oblique-slip to contractional shear zones at both western and eastern margins of the Miocene belt of the Patagonian batholith define a large-scale pop-up structure by which deeper levels of the crust have been differentially exhumed since the Pliocene at a rate in excess of 1.7 mm/year.     

Transtensional folding

Strain modeling shows that folds can form in transtension, particularly in simple shear-dominated transtension. Folds that develop in transtension do not rotate toward the shear zone boundary, as they do in transpression; instead they rotate toward the divergence vector, a useful feature for determining past relative plate motions. Transtension folds can only accumulate a fixed amount of horizontal shortening and tightness that are prescribed by the angle of oblique divergence, regardless of finite strain. Hinge-parallel stretching of transtensional folds always exceeds hinge-perpendicular shortening, causing constrictional fabrics and hinge-parallel boudinage to develop.These theoretical results are applied to structures that developed during oblique continental rifting in the upper crust (seismic/brittle) and the ductile crust. Examples include (1) oblique opening of the Gulf of California, where folds and normal faults developed simultaneously in syn-divergence basins; (2) incipient continental break-up in the Eastern California-Walker Lane shear zone, where earthquake focal mechanisms reflect bulk constrictional strain; and (3) exhumation of the ultrahigh-pressure terrain in SW Norway in which transtensional folds and large magnitude stretching developed in the footwall of detachment shear zones, consistent with constrictional strain. More generally, folds may be misinterpreted as indicating convergence when they can form readily in oblique divergence.     

中国东南大陆岩石圈演化研究中的有关问题雏议

本文依据大地构造理论和最新研究资料对中国东南大陆岩石圈演化研究中的有关问题作了探讨，认为地体理论和大地构造相模式理论是相辅相成的；建议扬弃华夏古陆、特提斯构造域和太平洋构造域等可能束缚研究思路的概念；将板片构造、斜向碰撞与走滑纳入中国东南部碰撞造山带的研究内容     

Sand-box modelling of basement-controlled transfer zones in extensional domains

The interaction modalities of transfer zones connecting rift segments may be influenced by several factors. Amongst these, the location and architecture of transfer zones in narrow rifts has been repeatedly associated with the presence of inherited basement anisotropies. Sand-box models were made to investigate how the orientation, geometry and kinematics of transfer zones depend upon pre-existing basement anisotropies. Analogue models reproduced offset rift segments linked by transfer zones bordered by arcuate normal faults. Strike-slip faults are present inside the transfer zone, provided that angle α (between the extension direction and the axis of the transfer zone) is less than 50°. Narrower transfer zones, striking oblique to the extension direction, occur for angle φ (between the direction perpendicular to the extension direction and the direction of the basement anisotropy) less than 90°; wider transfer zones, subparallel to the extensional direction, occur for φ > 90°. Increasing the overstep induces narrower transfer zones striking subparallel to the extension direction. Similar geometrical and kinematical patterns have been found at transfer zones in narrow rifts. The comparison between experimental and natural data shows how the geometry, kinematics and orientation of natural transfer zones depends upon the trend of inherited anisotropies: transfer zones along inherited basement structures set at lower angles to the extension direction, and display lower aspect ratios, than transfer zones where inherited anisotropies are absent.     

板内扭压造山机制

据中国大陆板块内部构造特征提出两种扭压造山机制：（１） 扭压滑脱褶皱造山作用;（２） 扭压斜滑断裂岩浆造山作用。前者以扬子板块内的武陵山台褶带为例,后者以华北板块内的太行山断裂岩浆带为例。扭压滑脱褶皱造山作用表现为沉积盖层呈隔档式及隔槽式褶皱;结晶基底呈大型隆起和拗折,莫霍面下降,从而使地壳增厚,构成造山带。值得注意的是,这类滑脱褶皱带的整体形状呈Ｓ状展布,其中的次级褶皱呈雁行状斜列,表明这类造山带的形成除受水平挤压作用外,还伴有左行剪切作用。扭压斜滑断裂岩浆造山作用表现为沿断裂带有一系列花岗质深成岩体展布。这些断裂不仅深切地幔,而且导致下地壳局部融熔形成花岗岩浆,驱动岩浆斜向上升,并控制岩体侵位。与此同时地壳在平面上缩短,垂向上增厚,构成造山带。上述两种造山作用一致表明,东亚大陆在中生代时曾相对太平洋板块向南滑移     

东昆仑造山带东段昆中构造混杂岩带左旋斜冲韧性变形特征

东昆中构造混杂岩带是经历了晚元古代、加里东末和晚海西期三次碰撞事件而形成的多旋回复合碰撞缝合带，通过对东昆中构造混杂岩带晚加里东期左旋斜冲韧性剪切变形的几何学、运动学及流变学特征的研究，探讨了其形成的构造背景，指出该期构造变形是东昆中加里东末碰撞事件的产物。     

滇西澜沧江构造带及邻区几何学、运动学和构造年代学分析

滇西澜沧江构造带自北向南沿碧螺雪山和崇山连续延伸; 按照构造几何学特点和运动学特征我们把该构造带分为3段：北段、中段和南段; 本文对各段的构造、组构、运动学及构造年代学进行了翔实研究,得到以下认识：构造带呈双变质岩带,核部为强变形高级变质岩带,两侧为强变形低级变质岩带,部分剖面几何形态似“花状”构造; 宏观和微观组构特征均指示构造带北段和中?南段存在明显的运动学差异,北段为右旋走滑剪切,中、南段为左旋走滑剪切; 同构造浅色花岗质糜棱岩中分选出白云母(北段)和黑云母(中段),进行单颗粒矿物的激光熔化40Ar?39Ar定年,结果显示,糜棱岩化造成了花岗质岩石同位素时钟的重置和部分重置; 表面年龄指示了该构造带中新世的构造变形事件; 其中,北段右旋韧性剪切作用年龄为17.8～13.4 Ma或更早,至少持续到13.4 Ma,构造带中段记录了17.9～13.1 Ma的左行韧性剪切事件; 构造变形时代表现出同时代和同期次特点。综合分析认为,位于印度与欧亚大陆斜向汇聚带东缘的澜沧江构造带,是调节印支块体陆内变形的重要变形区域,为典型的新生代剪压应变区; 与区内哀牢山-红河构造带新生代左旋走滑相对应; 剪压应变和应变分解过程中,构造带东-西向减薄作用通过韧性物质垂向挤出和沿剪切方向的挤出平衡,垂向挤出导致地壳增厚和高应变体的抬升,形成现今的地貌高位,统一的陡立面理和亚水平拉伸线理是韧性物质沿剪切方向挤出的流变学响应; 构造带南段和北段运动学差异是澜沧江构造带新生代左旋剪压应变分解的必然产物和运动学要求。     

印度-亚洲碰撞大地构造

印度-亚洲碰撞是新生代地球上最为壮观的重大地质事件.碰撞及碰撞以来,青藏高原的广大地域发生了与碰撞前截然不同的变形,地貌、环境及其深部结构都发生了深刻地变化.根据青藏高原形成、周缘造山带崛起以及大量物质侧向逃逸的基本格局,作者从大陆动力学视角出发,将"印度-亚洲碰撞大地构造" 与"前碰撞大地构造"区别开来进行研究,将印...     

Finite strain analysis of the Zhangbaling metamorphic belt,SE China – Crustal thinning in transpression

Finite strain analysis of pebbles in the metatillite and phyllite shows that the deformation of the metatillite/phyllite zone is flattening to plane-strain dominated. Results of SPO analysis of the rigid plagioclase porphyroclasts in three perpendicular planes indicate monoclinic strain symmetry of the Zhangbaling schist and oblate geometry of the clast. Forward strain modeling of rigid clasts is performed based on the shape fabric of the clast population. Integrated results of finite strain modeling and finite strain analysis indicate that this midcrustal section experienced at least ∼18–36% thinning in the oblique convergence between North and South China blocks.