Timing of left-lateral shearing along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone: constraints from zircon U–Pb ages from granitic rocks in the shear zone along the Ailao Shan Range, Western Yunnan, China

As the boundary between the Indochina and the South China blocks, the Ailao Shan-Red River (ASRR) shear zone underwent a sinistral strike-slip shearing which is characterized by ductile deformation structures along the Ailao Shan range. The timing issue of left-lateral shearing along the ASRR shear zone is of first-order importance in constraining the nature and regional significance of the shear zone. It has been, therefore, focused on by many previous studies, but debates still exist on the age of initiation and termination of shearing along the shear zone. In this paper, we dated 5 samples of granitic plutons (dykes) along the Ailao Shan shear zone. Zircon U–Pb ages of four sheared or partly sheared granitic rocks give ages of 30.9 ± 0.7, 36.6 ± 0.1, 25.9 ± 1.0 and 27.2 ± 0.2 Ma, respectively. An undeformed granitic dyke intruding mylonitic foliation gives crystallization age of 21.8 ± 1 Ma. The Th/U ratios of zircon grains from these rocks fall into two populations (0.17–1.01 and 0.07–0.08), reflecting magmatic and metamorphic origins of the zircons. Detailed structural and microstructural analysis reveals that the granitic intrusions are ascribed to pre-, syn- and post-shearing magmatisms. The zircon U–Pb ages of these granites provide constraints on timing of the initiation (later than 31 Ma from pre-shearing granitic plutons, but earlier than 27 Ma from syn-shearing granitic dykes) and termination (ca. 21 Ma from the post-shearing granitic dykes) of strong ductile left-lateral shearing, which is consistent with previous results on the Diancang Shan and Day Nui Con Voi massifs in the literature. We also conclude that the left-lateral shearing along the ASRR shear zone is the result of southeastward extrusion of the Indochina block during the Indian–Eurasian plate collision. Furthermore, the left-lateral shearing was accompanied by the ridge jump, postdating the opening, of the South China Sea.     

How does shear zone nucleate? An example from the Suretta nappe (Swiss Eastern Alps)

In order to address the question of the processes involved during shear zone nucleation, we present a petro-structural analysis of millimetre-scale shear zones within the Roffna rhyolite (Suretta nappe, Eastern central Alps). Field and microscopic evidences show that ductile deformation is localized along discrete fractures that represent the initial stage of shear zone nucleation. During incipient brittle deformation, a syn-kinematic metamorphic assemblage of white mica + biotite + epidote + quartz precipitated at ca. 8.5 ± 1 kbar and 480 ± 50 °C that represent the metamorphic peak conditions of the nappe stacking in the continental accretionary wedge during Tertiary Alpine subduction. The brittle to ductile transition is characterized by the formation of two types of small quartz grains. The Qtz-IIa type is produced by sub-grain rotation. The Qtz-IIb type has a distinct CPO such that the orientation of c-axis is perpendicular to the shear fracture and basal and rhombhoedric slip systems are activated. These Qtz-IIb grains can either be formed by recrystallization of Qtz-IIa or by precipitation from a fluid phase. The shear zone widening stage is characterized by a switch to diffusion creep and grain boundary sliding deformation mechanisms. During the progressive evolution from brittle nucleation to ductile widening of the shear zone, fluid–rock interactions play a critical role, through chemical mass-transfer, metasomatic reactions and switch in deformation mechanisms.     

The Malpica–Lamego Line: a major crustal-scale shear zone in the Variscan belt of Iberia

The Malpica–Lamego Line (MLL) is a deformation zone in the Variscan belt of NW Iberia (NW Spain and N Portugal) that runs parallel to the chain for at least 275 km, bearing I-type granodiorite plutons along most of its length. The MLL affects previous structures by which high pressure and ophiolitic rocks were exhumed and emplaced on the Iberian plate during earlier deformation phases. Correlation and reconstruction of the stratigraphy of these sheets or tectonic units at both sides of the shear zone allows a preliminary estimate of the accumulated vertical and horizontal offsets after the tectonic activity of the fault. The value of the separations, of crustal-scale proportions, reaches a maximum 15 km of vertical offset that decreases gradually to the south. The structural record found in the rocks indicates a strike-slip regime that, in general, does not fit the geometry of the offsets. We suggest that the MLL went through two different stages during the same orogenic cycle: a first dip-slip episode, a reverse faulting event, overprinted by a later strike-slip reactivation.     

Kinematics and significance of a poly-deformed crustal-scale shear zone in central to south-eastern Madagascar: the Itremo–Ikalamavony thrust

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Across the crystalline basement of Madagascar, late Archaean rocks of the Antananarivo Block are tectonically overlain by Proterozoic, predominantly...     

Kinematic and geochronological constraints on shear deformation in the Ferriere-Mollières shear zone (Argentera-Mercantour Massif,Western Alps): implications for the evolution of the Southern European Variscan Belt

International Journal of Earth Sciences - In the Western Alps, a steeply dipping km-scale shear zone (the Ferriere-Mollières shear zone) cross-cuts Variscan migmatites in the...     

Tectonic origin of the shape of the Broken Hill lodes supported by their structural setting in a high‐grade shear zone

Recent studies have claimed structural support for a syngenetic model of ore formation at Broken Hill. The structural features of the Line of Lode—foliation, lineation, boudinage, folding and shearing—are re‐evaluated and new data presented from several locations in and around the Line of Lode, including the Kintore Opencut and Readymix Quarries. Although deformation partitioning preserves areas of low strain, especially in the hangingwall, that exhibit primary features, the deformation history described shows a history of high‐strain on the Line of Lode. Gneisses in the wall rocks of the orebody show extreme extension in places, with destruction of primary layering and imposition of transposed tectonic fabrics. Sulfide bodies would have been softer than the wall rocks during deformation and any layering in the lodes is likely to be a result of tectonic processes rather than preserved bedding. The geometry of the orebody is described and its setting is revealed as a low‐strain site, a minor fold pair, that developed early in a major high‐grade shear zone. The orebody probably acquired its linear shape first as a result of mass transport of sulfides to this structural site and then by extension within the shear zone, an epigenetic process. Previous fold models for the Line of Lode are rejected, along with the application of regional stratigraphic units to the orebody footwall. Deformation of the Line of Lode before peak metamorphism is obscured by recrystallisation. Subsequent minor deformation occurred at both high metamorphic grade and under retrograde conditions to produce the range of features previously quoted in support of syngenesis. Sulfides were remobilised during both the post‐peak metamorphic high‐grade, and later low‐grade, deformation events.     

Geochemistry of magmatic rocks and time constraints on deformational phases and shear zone slip in the Méiganga area,central Cameroon

The Méiganga area is situated in the Adamawa–Yadé domain (AYD) of the Pan-African fold belt in Cameroon. The AYD is characterized by abundant plutonic rocks that intruded Palaeoproterozoic gneisses. It is cut by the transcurrent Central Cameroonian Shear Zone (CCSZ). The studied area is made up of metadiorite (MD), pyroxene-bearing granite (PGr) and biotite-muscovite granite (BMGr), hosted in a metasedimentary sequence of amphibole-biotite gneisses. The granitoids are metaluminous to slightly peraluminous, and mainly of I-type (ASI ≤ 1.1), representing a high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic suite. They were derived from crustal protoliths (BMGr), from rocks of mantle origin (MD, PGr), and/or from the remelting of metabasalt or metatonalite (MD, PGr). Four successive deformational phases (D1, D2, D3, and D4) are present in the Méiganga area. The S1 foliation is formed by tectonic transposition of the S0 primitive surface represented by contacts between the gneiss and intercalated amphibolites. The synmigmatitic D2 deformational phase is characterized by S2 banded schistosity, S2/C2 sinistral shear planes, and F2 folds with axes parallel to a L2 stretching lineation. Imprints of the D2 and subsequent deformational phases are similar in the metadiorite and host rocks, implying syn-D2 emplacement and crystallization of the metadiorite; therefore 614–619 Ma ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb zircon evaporation ages obtained for this rock type date the syn-D2 magmagenesis. Similarly, the D3 phase of the PGr is 601 ± 1 Ma, dated by the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb evaporation method. D4 is a late-stage brittle deformational phase. Sinistral movement of the CCSZ is associated with D2, whereas its latest activity, characterized by dextral slip, cannot be older than emplacement of the 558 ± 2 Ma BMGr (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb zircon evaporation age).     

U–Pb zircon data of Variscan meta-igneous and igneous acidic rocks from an Alpine shear zone in Calabria (southern Italy)

The paper deals with the U–Pb data of zircon separated from three samples representative of mylonitic leucogranites, trondhjemites and pegmatites occurring along the Alpine tectonic zone between the Castagna and Sila Units in northern Calabria. These mylonites are associated to Variscan granitic-granodioritic biotite-rich augen gneisses derived from Neo-Proterozoic-Early Cambrian protoliths. Apparent ages ranging from Early Cambrian to post-Variscan have been obtained. Th, U and rare earth elements have been determined in two zircon domains of mylonitic leucogranite and trondhjemite giving different ages in order to get information relative to their geological significance. The pegmatite preserves intrusive contact with the augen gneisses and with the other mylonites; it turns out to be emplaced at 290–300 Ma, like the Variscan plutonites of the Castagna Unit. The deformation masks the original contacts of the mylonitic leucogranite and trondhjemite with the biotite-rich augen gneisses. The age-group averaging 540 Ma is interpreted as indicative of the emplacement of the protoliths and it coincides with the age previously determined for the emplacement of the protoliths of the biotite-rich augen gneisses. Zircon from the mylonitic pegmatite includes domains showing concordant and discordant ages younger than 290 Ma, thus reflecting various degrees of partial resetting and Pb-loss caused by post-Variscan events. Zircon from the mylonitic leucogranite and trondhjemite includes apparent ages between 300 and 280 Ma as well as ages younger than 250 Ma. Perturbation of U–Pb system by Alpine shearing appears evident; however, possibile effects caused by thermal input and hydrothermal fluid infiltration from the Variscan plutonites cannot be excluded.     

Study on the plastic deformation and dynamic condition of Hatugou-Qingshuiquan-Gouli ductile shear zone in the eastern section of East KunlunEI北大核心CSCD

The Hatugou-Qingshuiquan-Gouli ductile shear zone recorded multiple cycles of orogeny in the eastern section of East Kunlun. The quartz c-axis fabric and microstructure of samples from the ductile shear zone were analyzed. We discussed the formation mechanism of subducted and crust extension-thinning of continental blocks in the eastern section of East Kunlun. Analysis results show that the deformation temperature of the ductile shear zone was between 380℃ and 650℃, which can be analogue with metamorphisms of middle-high greenschist facies to lower amphibolite facies. The differential stress and strain rate of the ductile shear zone are estimated at 173-509 MPa, 6.93×10-14-1.43×10-8 s-1, respectively, which suggest a possible origin of rapid subduction. Moreover, the deformation temperature, differential stress and strain increase toward the middle of East Kunlun fault zone, which is consistent with the fact that the middle part of the East Kunlun experienced the most intensive ductile shear deformation. The calculations of the kinematic vorticity values of the ductile shear belt show that the early transient kinematic vorticity (0.56-1.00) of ductile shear zone corresponds to the initial stage of the northward subducted southern parts of East Kunlun. In the middle to later stage, the kinematic vorticity (0.25-0.91) should correspond to the collision between southern and northern parts of East Kunlun. The latest C' instantaneous kinematic vorticity (0.19-0.51) corresponds to extensional stage in the post-orogenic setting. The quartz c-axis fabric and the structural characteristics show that the middle part of East Kunlun tectonic belt experienced at least 3 stages of tectonic movements, including the late Caledonian thrusting and left lateral strike slip shearing, the late Hercynian Indosinian thrusting and dextral strike slip shearing and the brittle ductile brittle-left lateral strike slip shearing in the early and later Yanshanian. ©, 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.     

How do lineations reflect the strain history of transpressive shear zones? The example of the active Alpine Fault zone,New Zealand

Lineations within mylonites exhumed in the hanging wall of New Zealand's active Alpine Fault zone have a complicated relationship to contemporary plate kinematics. The shear zone is triclinic and macroscopic object lineations are not usually parallel to the simple shear direction, despite high total simple shear strains (γ ≥ 150). This is mostly because the lineations are inherited from pre-mylonitic fabrics, and have not been rotated into parallelism with the mylonitic stretching direction (which pitches c. 44° in the fault plane). Furthermore, some lineations have been variably rotated depending on whether they are present in shear bands or microlithons, which accommodated bulk strains with different vorticities. Total strains required to obtain parallelism between the finite maximum principal stretching direction calculated from transpression models and these mylonitic lineations, are pure shear stretch, S₁ ∼ 3.5; simple shear 11.7 < γ < 150. The observations and numerical models also show that linear features are not rotated much during simple shear because they initially lie within the shear plane, and that inherited fabric components may not be destroyed until very high simple shear strains have been attained.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of a dyke–host rock association and implications for the formation of the Bavarian Pfahl shear zone, Bohemian Massif

To place constraints on the formation and deformation history of the major Variscan shear zone in the Bavarian Forest, Bavarian Pfahl zone, SW Bohemian Massif, granitic dykes and their feldspar-phyric massive host rock (so-called palite), zircons were dated by the U–Pb isotope dilution and Pb-evaporation methods. The dated samples comprise two host rocks and four dykes from a K-rich calc-alkaline complex adjoining the SW part of the Bavarian Pfahl shear zone. The palites, which appear to be the oldest magmatic rocks emplaced in the shear zone, yield ages of 334±3, 334.5±1.1 Ma (average ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb-evaporation zircon ages) and 327–342 Ma (range of U/Pb zircon ages) suggesting a Lower Carboniferous age for the initiation of the Pfahl zone. Absence of inherited older cores in all investigated zircons indicates that incorporation of crustal zircon material has played virtually no role or that the melting temperature was very high. Determination of the dyke emplacement age is complicated by partial Pb-loss in most of the fractions analysed. This Pb-loss can be ascribed to higher U content of the dyke zircons compared to those from host rock. Upper discordia intercept ages of the different dykes range from 322±5 to 331±9 Ma. The dykes are pre- to synkinematic with respect to penetrative regional mylonitisation along the Pfahl zone, and the upper intercept ages provide a maximum age for this tectonic event.     

Progressive shortening axis rotation recorded by Variscan synkinematic granites : example of the South Armorican shear zone in the Vendée (France)

The Variscan continental collision is expressed by large shear zones in Western Europe. The synthesis of granite ages, related to different deformation fields in the Vendée area, suggests a geodynamic model for the tectonic evolution of this part of the Variscan belt between 370 Ma – 320 Ma. After the first step of the continental collision, leading to high temperature and anatexis at 375-360 Ma, the south-eastern part of the Armorican massif underwent large dextral shearing along N110-N125 trending shear zones, related to a bulk NNW-SSE shortening direction, up to early Visean time. Large-scale displacements progressively decreased at around 345-340Ma. During middle Visean time, the shortening axis direction rotated towards a NNE-SSW position implying changes in the regional deformation field. The occurrence of N70-N100 sinistral and N110-N130 dextral conjugate shear zones within leucogranites are related to that epoch. Finally, a new dextral shear zone system, trending N130-N150 along the Parthenay shear zone, occurs during late Visean time. This progressive middle Visean change of shortening direction probably corresponds to a major change in the Iberian plate motion and indentation during the Mississipian collision.     

Peculiar Mg–Ca–Si metasomatism along a shear zone within the mantle wedge: inference from fine-grained xenoliths from Avacha volcano,Kamchatka

We found extremely high-Mg# (=Mg/(Mg + total Fe) atomic ratio) ultramafic rocks in Avacha peridotite suite. All the high-Mg# rocks have higher modal amounts of clinopyroxene than ordinary Avacha peridotite xenoliths, and their lithology is characteristically heterogeneous, varying from clinopyroxenite through olivine websterite to pyroxene-bearing dunite. The Mg# of minerals is up to 0.99, 0.98 and 0.97 in clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and olivine, respectively, decreasing progressively toward contact with dunitic part, if any. The petrographical feature of pyroxenes in the high-Mg# pyroxenite indicates their metasomatic origin, and high LREE/HREE ratio of the metasomatic clinopyroxene implies that the pyroxenites are the products of reaction between dunitic peridotites and high-Ca, silicate-rich fluids. The lithological variation of the Avacha high-Mg# pyroxenites from clinopyroxenite to olivine websterite resulted from various degrees of fluid-rock reaction coupled with fractional crystallization of the high-Ca fluids, which started by precipitation of high-Mg# clinopyroxene. Such fluids were possibly generated originally at a highly reduced serpentinized peridotite layer above the subducting slab. The fluids can reach the uppermost mantle along a shear zone as a conduit composed of fine-grained peridotite that developed after continent-ward asthenospheric retreats from the mantle wedge beneath the volcanic front. The fluids are incorporated in mantle partial melts when the magmatism is activated by expansion of asthenosphere to mantle wedge beneath the volcanic front.     

A Middle Paleozoic shear zone in the Sierra de Valle Fértil,Argentina: Records of a continent-arc collision in the Famatinian margin of Gondwana

Geological, petrological and structural observations were obtained along a 30-km-long traverse across a segment of the Valle Fértil shear zone, central-western Argentina. On a regional scale, the shear zone appears as numerous discontinues belts over 25 km in width and is approximately 140 km in length, extended on the western section of the Sierras Valle Fértil – La Huerta mountain range. The steeply dipping shear zone with a vertical mylonitic lineation is composed of amphibolite facies ribbon mylonites and amphibolite to greenschist facies ultramylonites derived from Early Ordovician plutonic and metasedimentary parent rocks. Locally, syn-kinematic retrogression of mylonites formed greenschist facies phyllonites. During the later stages of deformation, unstrained parent rocks, mylonites, ultramylonites and phyllonites were affected by pervasive cataclasis under low greenschist facies conditions associated with localized faulting. One new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age on biotite and published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on amphibole in the shear zone yield an average cooling rate of 6.2 °C/Ma for a time period that crosses the Silurian–Devonian boundary. Since in metasedimentary rocks the youngest zircon's rims dated at 465 Ma marks the beginning of cooling, nearly continuous uplift of rocks within the shear zone occurred over a minimum time span of 55 Ma. During the period of active deformation, dip-slip movement can explain uplift of several kilometers of the Early Ordovician arc crust. The Valle Fértil shear zone, which was formed near above the inferred suture zone between the Famatinian arc and Cuyania microcontinent, is a major structural boundary nucleated within the Early Ordovician crust. The simplest geodynamic model to explain the evolution of the Valle Fértil shear zone involves the collision of the composite Cuyania/Precodillera microcontinent against the Famatinian arc.     

Structural relations and PbPb zircon ages for the Makuti gneisses: evidence for a crustal-scale Pan-African shear zone in the Zambezi Belt,northwest Zimbabwe

The Makuti Group of northwest Zimbabwe is composed of mafic and intermediate biotite-rich gneisses interlayered with quartzofeldspathic gneisses of granitic composition, and minor sedimentary units. The gneisses have experienced a multi-staged metamorphic history, including an early high temperature-high pressure event and subsequent reworking at upper- to mid-amphibolite-facies conditions. They are positioned along the strongly deformed, southern margin of the east-west trending Zambezi Belt, and have been correlated with supracrustal gneiss units along the northern margin of the Zimbabwe Craton.The Makuti Group is characterised by an intensely developed gneissic layering and complex disharmonic folds that resulted from non-coaxial deformation involving repeated stages of transposition. The basal contact of the g roup coincides with a decrease in strain intensity, but not with a directional change of characteristic structural elements (e.g. lineations, fold axes), nor with a clear change in rock types. Pink quartzofeldspathic gneisses of granitic composition are typical for the Makuti Group, but locally intrude basement gneiss as well. The quartzofeldspathic gneisses occur as porphyritic and non-porphyritic varieties that are, invariably, intensely sheared.The age and nature of the basal contact of the Makuti Group and its relationship to the quartzofeldspathic gneisses has been investigated. Samples for single zircon PbPb dating were collected from a felsic biotite gneiss just below (2704 ± 0.3 Ma) and above (2510 ± 0.4 Ma) the lower contact of the Makuti Group at an ‘unconformity’ 2 km northwest of Vuti. Further samples were collected from pink quartzofeldspathic units at the base (737 ± 0.9 Ma), central part (764 ± 0.9 Ma; 797 ± 0.9 Ma) and top (794 ± 0.5 Ma; 854 ± 0.8 Ma) of the Makuti Group. Two samples of Kariba orthogneiss (1920 ± 0.4 and 1963 ± 0.4 Ma) underlying the Makuti Group in the northwest were also collected. In all samples, long-prismatic, colourless to brown, igneous zircon grains were selected. Dates were obtained using a stepwise single-grain evaporation technique. Although this technique only allows minimum age estimates, the dates are highly reproducible, indicating that they approximate emplacement ages. The ages conform with the field observations that the basement has been reworked in the Makuti Group and that the quartzofeldspathic units may have been emplaced as granites.It is proposed that the Makuti Group represents a crustal scale shear zone that partly reworked basement gneisses and acted as a conduit for granite emplacement. Shearing took place in an extensional setting around 800 Ma ago, and may have resulted in the exhumation of lower crustal rocks.     

Geochemistry of the Drahotín and Mutěnín intrusions, West Bohemian shear zone, Bohemian massif: contrasting evolution of mantle-derived melts

In western Bohemia, the Drahotín (gabbro-diorite) and Mutěnín (gabbronorite-diorite-syenite) intrusions show different origins and patterns of geochemical evolution. Parental magmas of the Drahotín intrusion were derived predominantly from enriched mantle sources, and the melts have undergone a significant degree of assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) during their ascent and/or emplacement into the crust. In contrast, the compositional variation of the complex Mutěnín intrusion cannot be explained by simple AFC processes, but more likely reflects the involvement of several parental magmas. The gabbronorite was derived from a depleted mantle source, whereas the diorite/syenite stem from a mixed mantle-crust reservoir. The contrasting evolution of the Drahotín and Mutěnín intrusions may be due to their melt derivation and magma emplacement under different tectonothermal regimes at different times.     

Interaction of flexural shear,S–C fabrics,and oblique shear during folding of micaceous quartzite

This paper investigates the geometry, microstructure, and c-axis fabrics of an outcrop scale, micaceous quartzite fold produced under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions in the Moeda quartzite, Quadrilátero Ferrı́fero granite–greenstone terrain, southeastern Brazil. The fold limbs show development of opposed S–C fabrics and asymmetric quartz c-axis fabrics compatible with flexural slip along the fold surface. Towards the fold hinge, there is an increasing presence of oblique shear bands (here named S-bands) which gradually change to crenulations within the hinge zone. The oblique S-bands are interpreted to have formed through connection of several S-planes, increasing accommodation of antithetical shear along these S-planes and offset of the initial C-planes at intermediate stages of folding. This mechanism represents a kinematic inversion in the role played by the two sets of foliations in S–C structures. Our observations support flexural slip for early stages of folding. However, with progressive closure of the fold, the flexural slip mechanism involves increasing contributions from oblique shear on the S-bands, thus approximating an intermediate situation between flexural slip and passive folding (shear parallel to the axial plane).