Extensional Structures in the Ophiolites from Cuba and China: New Constraints to Slowly‐Spreading Ancient Oceanic Lithosphere

A group of low‐angle normal faults developed in banded gabbro of Moa Ophiolite, Cuba. The dark gabbro was cut into puddings by several normal faults, while light gabbro was just swelling in layer thickness. In Hongliuhe ophiolite at eastern segment of South Tien Shan Suture Zone in China, the extensional deformation concentrates on fine cumulus gabbro which is typically mylonitized. Abundant structural features were discovered in HLH ophiolite such as S‐C foliation, C’ foliation, extensional crenulation cleavage, small toughness normal fault, low‐angle normal faults and high‐angle normal faults. According to the above tectonic phenomenon from the ophiolite belts in Cuba and China, we will get the conclusion: the maximum principal compressive stress (b1) is vertical to cumulus bedding, and the maximum tensile stress (b3) is paralleling to cumulus bedding. Considering of the above evidence, the extensional tectonic event should developed at mid‐ocean ridge. Due to seafloor spreading, the maximum tensile stress is paralleling to cumulus layer, and extensional tectonic is kept in cumulus gabbro. In this way, normal faults developed in dark gabbro, while brittle‐ductile extensional developed in light gabbro. A large number of domes, folds paralleling to ocean ridge and detachment faults represented by low angle normal fault were discovered near ocean ridge in Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. In this way, materials from deep oceanic lithosphere (e.g. gabbro, mantle peridotite) outcrop at the crust surface of ocean basin. The above evidences from China and Cuba are consistent with extensional tectonic and metamorphic core complex from slowly and super‐slowly spreading Indian Ocean and Atlantic Oceanic lithosphere based on ODP. Therefore, extensional deformation in the ophiolite belt is of significant meaning for clarifying the formation process and mechanism of ancient oceanic basin.     

Paleogeography and paleobathymetry of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic North Atlantic Ocean

The history of the North Atlantic Ocean has been traced quantitatively back in time using age and subsidence of the oceanic crust in an attempt to reconstruct the vertical and horizontal elements of its physiographic evolution. Special emphasis has been paid to the history of the Iceland-Faeroe Ridge and of the epicontinental seas around this young basin. The implications of this evolution for changes in the hydrographic regime and for temporal as well as spatial contraints of the surface and bottom water circulation of the North Atlantic are enormous. During its early history this part of the world ocean was connected to the circum-equatorial Tethys Ocean (Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous). However, the formation of a deep water pathway to the South Atlantic towards the end of the Mesozoic and the opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Seas during the Early Cenozoic caused the North Atlantic to become part a longitudinal basin allowing an exchange between the Artic and Antarctic polar water masses.Dedicated to Professor Dr. E. Seibold, President of the German Research Society, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

The information content of gravity and magnetic data for a survey of the structure and evolution of the tectonosphere of the South Atlantic region

The evolution of the American-Antarctic spreading system is a part of the common evolution of the South Atlantic. Structural analysis that was performed by the authors across the South Atlantic region shows that not only valuable information about the tectonosphere structure but useful complementary information can be obtained on its basis. This information improves the reliability of the interpretation of the physical, tectonic, and geological processes that are taking place within the evolution of the tectonic provinces and regions according to the reconstruction model. The results of the structural analysis, together with reconstructions of the South Atlantic, allowed us to connect them with the evolution of the region and define the place of the American-Antarctic ridge spreading system in the evolution of the South Atlantic Ocean, as well as its interaction with adjacent tectonic structures.     

The problem of vortical movements in the solid earth and their role in geotectonics

Crustal structural features having a vortical or spiral shape were discovered in the first third of the 20th century. Since then, such features of various ranks, but similar appearance, have been revealed in different geotectonic settings; however, an adequate tectonic interpretation has not been offered. With allowance for the specific character of vortical movement, the evolution of the structural geometry of the North Atlantic basins and different segments of the global system of mid-ocean ridges is considered in this paper. It is shown that vortical movements do take place in the solid Earth during ocean formation and create scale-invariant rifting and spreading systems, where the spreading axis tends to undergo whirling. The size of these systems differs by more than two orders of magnitude. Many geotectonic phenomena that accompany the formation of oceans, including segmentation of the ocean floor and passive continental margins, folding of the sedimentary cover at these margins, and tectonic delamination of the oceanic lithosphere, may be explained by vortical movements of different ranks. In addition, the vortical structures on continents are variable in size and related to lithotectonic complexes of different ages. The vortical structural units of the Mediterranean Belt are considered as an example. Being driven by the same physical mechanism, the vortical movements depend on the dynamics of different geospheres. These movements are realized only in a nonlinear, nonequilibrium medium. Hence, only nonlinear and nonequilibrium thermodynamics will serve as a theoretical basis for a new concept, which is coming currently to take the place of plate tectonics.     

Cretaceous Oceanic Red Beds: Distribution, Lithostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments

Cretaceous oceanic red beds (CORBs) represented by red shales and marls, were deposited during the Cretaceous and early Paleocene, predominantly in the Tethyan realm, in lower slope and abyssal basin environments. Detailed studies of CORBs are rare; therefore, we compiled CORBs data from deep sea ocean drilling cores and outcrops of Cretaceous rocks subaerially exposed in southern Europe, northwestern Germany, Asia and New Zealand. In the Tethyan realm, CORBs mainly consist of reddish or pink shales, limestones and marlstones. By contrast, marlstones and chalks are rare in deep-ocean drilling cores. Upper Cretaceous marine sediments in cores from the Atlantic Ocean are predominantly various shades of brown, reddish brown, yellowish brown and pale brown in color. A few red, pink, yellow and orange Cretaceous sediments are also present. The commonest age of CORBs is early Campanian to Maastrichtian, with the onset mostly of oxic deposition often after Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs), during the early Aptian, late Albian-early Turonian and Campanian. This suggests an indicated and previously not recognized relationship between OAEs, black shales deposition and CORBs. CORBs even though globally distributed, are most common in the North Atlantic and Tethyan realms, in low to mid latitudes of the northern hemisphere; in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean in the mid to high latitudes of the southern hemisphere; and are less frequent in the central Pacific Ocean. Their widespread occurrence during the late Cretaceous might have been the result of establishing a connection for deep oceanic current circulation between the Pacific and the evolving connection between South and North Atlantic and changes in oceanic basins ventilation.     

中国石炭纪构造—地层区划与地层格架

中国石炭纪构造活跃,在华北地块、扬子地块、塔里木地块等稳定块体间存在着大量造山带,尤其存在着北天山洋、南天山洋、布青山—勉略洋、金沙江洋、甘孜—理塘洋等多个洋盆中的洋板块地层,大地构造分区极为复杂。传统的地层区划主要考虑稳定的地块区,按目前的地理格局来进行地层区划划分。本文通过大地构造单元与构造演化阶段相结合,借鉴目前国内经典的大地构造划分方案,对中国石炭纪构造-地层进行区划,共划分出阿尔泰—兴蒙地层大区、北准噶尔—西拉木伦地层大区、天山—北山地层大区、塔里木—阿拉善地层大区、华北地层大区、秦祁昆地层大区、扬子地层大区、华夏地层大区、北羌塘—三江地层大区、班公湖—怒江地层大区、印度地层大区等11个地层大区及若干地层区。其中阿尔泰—兴蒙地层大区位置相当于阿尔泰—兴蒙多岛弧盆系,发育洋板块地层及大量岛弧火山岩,分为阿尔泰地层区和兴安地层区;北准噶尔—西拉木伦地层大区位置相当于额尔齐斯—西拉木伦大洋盆,包括大量岛弧带地层及洋板块地层,分为北准噶尔地层区及西拉木伦地层区;天山—北山地层大区位置相当于天山—北山造山系,发育大量火山岩,分为南准噶尔地层区、北天山地层区、南天山地层区、伊犁地层区及额济纳—北山地层区;塔里木—阿拉善地层大区位置相当于塔里木陆块、塔东南—敦煌隆起及阿拉善地块,为稳定的滨浅海沉积,局部为海陆交互相沉积,分为塔里木地层区和阿拉善地层区;华北地层大区位置相当于华北陆块及贺兰山陆缘裂陷盆地,主要为稳定的海陆交互相地层,分为贺兰山地层区、华北地层区及华北地块北缘地层区,其中华北地层区缺乏密西西比亚纪地层;秦祁昆地层大区位置相当于秦祁昆造山系,分为祁连地层区、东昆仑—柴达木地层区、西昆仑地层区、秦岭地层区、南秦岭—苏鲁地层区;扬子地层大区位置相当于扬子陆块,分为盐源—丽江地层区、中上扬子地层区、下扬子地层区、湘浙赣地层区及滇黔桂地层区,主要为稳定的碳酸盐沉积,仅湘浙赣地层区见现有较多的海陆交互相沉积;华夏地层大区位置相当于武夷—云开造山系,分为粤闽地层区、粤南地层区、钦防地层区、琼北地层区、琼中南地层区及华夏地层区,除钦防地层区为一套深海—半深海硅泥质沉积外,其他地层区主要为滨浅海沉积及少量海陆交互相沉积;北羌塘—三江地层大区位置相当于北羌塘—三江多岛弧盆系,包括多个稳定的小型地块及其间的蛇绿混杂岩带,洋板块地层发育,分为可可西里—巴颜喀拉—勉略地层区、金沙江—哀牢山地层区、中甸—昌都—思茅地层区、鲜水河—甘孜—理塘地层区、北羌塘地层区及甜水海地层区;班公湖—怒江地层大区位置相当于班公湖—双湖—怒江—孟连大洋盆,主要为洋板块地层;印度地层大区位置相当于印度大陆北部被动大陆边缘,以发育冈瓦纳大陆特有的古生物化石组合及冰成岩为特征,分为冈底斯地层区、北喜马拉雅地层区及保山地层区。简单介绍了各地层大区、地层区及部分地层分区内的岩石组合、古生物组合及地层序列。结合实例提出了中国石炭纪地层格架建立的原则,对各地层区系石炭系进行了系统的地层对比,建立了其地层对比关系。     

热点作用背景下的洋中脊跃迁和扩展作用:印度洋盆地张开过程探讨

在《印度洋底大地构造图》的基础上,分析了印度洋盆构造格局和洋盆演化重大事件序列,并从印度洋盆初始裂解机制、扩张中心跃迁与热点作用、洋中脊扩展作用等方面讨论了印度洋盆的张开过程,提出以下几点认识:(1)现今印度洋洋中脊可分为两个系统:东南印度洋中脊-中印度洋中脊-卡斯伯格洋脊系统(东支)和西南印度洋中脊系统(西支),前者是太平洋洋中脊扩展作用的产物,后者是太平洋-东南印度洋中脊与大西洋中脊之间构造调节的产物;(2)印度洋盆最初裂解受地幔柱垂向挤压-水平伸展作用控制,沿前寒武造山带等地壳薄弱带发育;(3)印度洋盆经历两次扩张中心的跃迁,其趋向性跃迁方向与热点相对板块的运动方向具有一致性,显示两者存在内在联系。(4)大西洋和太平洋洋中脊在印度洋交汇,于古近纪连通,末端伴随陆块持续发生碎裂化、裂解化,可称为鱼尾构造模式,表明印度洋盆衔接和调节了三大洋盆的发育和演化过程,具有全球洋盆枢纽的关键意义。     

Atlantic ocean heat piracy and the bipolar climate see‐saw during Heinrich and Dansgaard–Oeschger events

The millennial‐scale asynchrony of Antarctic and Greenland climate records during the last glacial period implies that the global climate system acts as a bipolar see‐saw driven by either high‐latitudinal and/or near‐equatorial sea‐surface perturbations. Based on the results of recent modelling of generic Heinrich and Dansgaard–Oeschger scenarios, we discuss the possibility that oscillations of the deep‐ocean conveyor may have been sufficient to cause this bipolar see‐saw. The bipolar climate asynchrony in our scenarios is caused by the toggle between North Atlantic heat piracy and South Atlantic counter heat piracy. Ocean circulation has an enhanced sensitivity to the northern deep‐water source as the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) cannot enter the Southern Ocean at depths shallower than the bottom of the Drake Passage. Any shoaling of the NADW can, therefore, increase the northward incursion of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), and trigger an interhemispheric climate oscillation. As hundreds of years are required to warm the respective high latitudes, the observed climate lead and lags between the two hemispheres can be explained entirely by the variability of the meridional overturning and by the corresponding change in the oceanic heat transport. Accordingly, it is entirely feasible for the global climate to work like a pendulum, which theoretically could be controlled by pushing at either of the deep‐water sources. Our model scenarios suggest that it is entirely feasible for the bipolar climate see‐saw to be controlled solely by variations in NADW formation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural geometry of subvolcanic ring complexes as related to pre-Cenozoic motions of continental plates

Applications of plate tectonic concepts to problems of continental geology are hampered by the lack of direct evidence from the sea floor of pre-Cretaceous plate motions, since oceanic crust is continually destroyed by subduction in trenches. Studies on the structural geometry of Jurassic ring-dike provinces in Africa and North America, however, reveal patterns closely correlated with predicted plate motions. These ring complexes are commonly discordant to major crustal structures and show many features indicative of deep-seated origin. Ring-dike provinces probably form when continents drift over fixed plumes (hot-spots) in the asthenosphere and thereby provide unique tracks of pre-Cenozoic continental plate motions.     

洋岛-海山研究进展及其对于重建洋板块的意义

在中国区域大地构造研究中,对洋岛-海山/洋底高原的识别尚未引起足够重视.为深入研究中国大陆洋板块构造,系统回顾了洋岛-海山/洋底高原的基本概念、基本特征和增生造山过程.洋岛-海山/洋底高原是在海底扩张、大洋壳演化过程中由于地幔热点/柱作用形成的有异常厚度洋壳的区域,是大洋岩石圈的重要组成部分.洋岛-海山/洋底高原在垂向上具有典型的二元结构,下部以镁铁质、超镁铁质岩石为主,上部以碳酸盐岩建造为主.现今大洋盆地中大面积分布着正在演化中和正在俯冲的洋岛-海山,根据比较大地构造学原理,古洋岛-海山的存在指示古大洋盆地的存在,是研究造山带的重要载体.认为地史时期大洋盆地中有相当数量的洋岛、海山,在俯冲增生碰撞造山过程中保留下来的古洋岛-海山残块以构造岩片（块）形式夹持在俯冲增生杂岩中,随大洋盆地关闭;其作为缝合带的重要组成部分,是识别对接带的重要判别依据之一.      

天山东段“北天山洋”构造涵义及演化模式再认识

准噶尔-吐哈地块与伊犁-中天山地块之间分布着多条时代和类型各不相同的古生代蛇绿混杂岩带,前人一般将这些蛇绿混杂岩统一视为北天山洋盆的纪录,并由此推断该洋盆的时代跨度至少始自寒武纪并一直持续到晚石炭世甚至二叠纪。本文基于近几年在东天山地区地质调查工作的新成果,通过新界定的以康古尔塔格-大草滩蛇绿混杂岩带为代表的北天山洋两侧志留纪—泥盆纪活动大陆边缘物源性质和生物古地理对比,对北天山洋的构造属性和演化过程进行了重新厘定。研究揭示,志留纪—早泥盆世,北天山洋两侧的准噶尔-吐哈地块和伊犁-中天山地块分属于不同的物源体系和生物古地理区系,指示该洋盆具有显著的构造古地理分隔意义。至中泥盆世,北天山洋两侧隶属同一生物大区的珊瑚动物群指示该洋盆已演化至残余洋盆阶段;晚泥盆世晚期—早石炭世,天山地区广泛分布的陆相磨拉石-火山岩建造与下伏岩系之间的区域性角度不整合关系以及南北两侧物源的相互贯通说明东天山段的北天山洋已完全闭合,南北陆块的碰撞缝合应发生在此前的晚泥盆世早期(~370 Ma)。 石炭纪—早二叠世,可能受南部南天山洋北向俯冲及板片后撤作用影响,在前期已经碰撞拼合形成的统一准噶尔- 吐哈-中天山地块之上,沿康古尔-雅山一带重新裂解出具不成熟洋壳的康古尔弧后有限洋盆。该有限洋盆存续至 早二叠世早期(~290 Ma)最终闭合,其与北天山洋盆是两个不同阶段不同性质的洋盆体系。     

南大西洋中段被动陆缘盆地下白垩统盐构造成因模式

随着巴西和西非海上巨型油气田的不断发现,盐相关勘探技术进步和数据资料快速积累,深入开展南大西洋被动陆缘盆地下白垩统盐岩成因环境及盐构造变形机理的研究,对于基础地质理论发展及海洋油气勘探开发具有重要的现实意义.南大西洋两岸被动陆缘盆地下白垩统阿普特阶盐岩构造具有明显的分带性特征,显示了从伸展构造到挤压构造连续过渡特点.巴...     

内蒙古温都尔庙和巴彦敖包-交其尔蛇绿岩的元素与同位素地球化学：对古亚洲洋东部地幔域特征的限制

内蒙古中部发育的三条蛇绿岩带是华北板块和西伯利亚板块之间的缝合带。本文系统研究了其中的温都尔庙和巴彦敖包-交其尔两个蛇绿岩带中变质玄武岩的元素和 Sr、Nd、Pb 同位素地球化学。苏右旗温都尔庙碱性玄武岩为轻稀土富集型;岩石具有板内和大陆裂谷区玄武岩的特征,可能代表了600Ma 左右,温都尔庙地区开始发育的新洋盆。采自苏左旗的巴彦敖包-交其尔玄武岩分为两类,一类呈现轻稀土富集型,呈洋岛玄武岩特征;另一类具有明显的 Nb、Ta 负异常,显示大洋岛弧玄武岩特征,洋岛玄武岩的存在表明古亚洲洋曾经发育洋盆,大洋岛弧玄武岩的存在表明古亚洲洋内部有大洋岩石圈之间的俯冲。将本文的古亚洲洋洋岛玄武岩与中国西南地区的特提斯洋岛玄武岩进行系统的元素和同位素地球化学特征对比表明,古亚洲洋的洋岛玄武岩显示高 U/Pb(HU)和北大西洋和太平洋省的特征,而特提斯洋岛玄武岩属于印度洋省。这些说明古亚洲洋地幔域与特提斯地幔域是两个独立的构造域,它们代表了长期演化的两个不同的地幔地球化学域。     

Blueprints for Medieval hydroclimate

According to tree ring and other records, a series of severe droughts that lasted for decades afflicted western North America during the Medieval period resulting in a more arid climate than in subsequent centuries. A review of proxy evidence from around the world indicates that North American megadroughts were part of a global pattern of Medieval hydroclimate that was distinct from that of today. In particular, the Medieval hydroclimate was wet in northern South America, dry in mid-latitude South America, dry in eastern Africa but with strong Nile River floods and a strong Indian monsoon. This pattern is similar to that accompanying persistent North American droughts in the instrumental era. This pattern is compared to that associated with familiar climate phenomena. The best fit comes from a persistently La Niña-like tropical Pacific and the warm phase of the so-called Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. A positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) also helps to explain the Medieval hydroclimate pattern. Limited sea surface temperature reconstructions support the contention that the tropical Pacific was cold and the subtropical North Atlantic was warm, ideal conditions for North American drought. Tentative modeling results indicate that a multi-century La Niña-like state could have arisen as a coupled atmosphere–ocean response to high irradiance and weak volcanism during the Medieval period and that this could in turn have induced a persistently positive NAO state. A La Niña-like state could also induce a strengthening of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and hence warming of the North Atlantic Ocean, by (i) the ocean response to the positive NAO and by shifting the southern mid-latitude westerlies poleward which (ii) will increase the salt flux from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic and (iii) drive stronger Southern Ocean upwelling.     

The last interglacial ocean

The final effort of the CLIMAP project was a study of the last interglaciation, a time of minimum ice volume some 122,000 yr ago coincident with the Substage 5e oxygen isotopic minimum. Based on detailed oxygen isotope analyses and biotic census counts in 52 cores across the world ocean, last interglacial sea-surface temperatures (SST) were compared with those today. There are small SST departures in the mid-latitude North Atlantic (warmer) and the Gulf of Mexico (cooler). The eastern boundary currents of the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans are marked by large SST anomalies in individual cores, but their interpretations are precluded by no-analog problems and by discordancies among estimates from different biotic groups. In general, the last interglacial ocean was not significantly different from the modern ocean. The relative sequencing of ice decay versus oceanic warming on the Stage 6/5 oxygen isotopic transition and of ice growth versus oceanic cooling on the Stage 5e/5d transition was also studied. In most of the Southern Hemisphere, the oceanic response marked by the biotic census counts preceded (led) the global ice-volume response marked by the oxygen-isotope signal by several thousand years. The reverse pattern is evident in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, where the oceanic response lagged that of global ice volume by several thousand years. As a result, the very warm temperatures associated with the last interglaciation were regionally diachronous by several thousand years. These regional lead-lag relationships agree with those observed on other transitions and in long-term phase relationships; they cannot be explained simply as artifacts of bioturbational translations of the original signals.     

Oceanic evidence for the mechanism of rapid northern hemisphere glaciation

The oxygen isotopic stage 5/4 boundary in deep-sea sediments marks a prominent interval of northern hemisphere ice-sheet growth that lasted about 10,000 yr. During much of this rapid ice growth, the North Atlantic Ocean from at least 40°N to 60°N maintained warm sea-surface temperatures, within 1° to 2°C of today's subpolar ocean. This oceanic warmth provided a local source of moisture for ice-sheet accretion on the adjacent continents. The unusually strong thermal gradient off the east coast of North America (an “interglacial” ocean alongside a “glacial” land mass) also should have directed low-pressure storms from warm southern latitudes north-ward toward the Laurentide Ice Sheet. In addition, minimal calving of ice into the North Atlantic occurred during most of the stage 5/4 transition, indicative of ice retention within the continents. Diminished summer and autumn insolation, a warm subpolar ocean, and minimal calving of ice are conducive to rapid and extensive episodes of northern hemisphere ice-sheet growth.     

Suturing of the Proto- and Paleo-Tethys oceans in the western Kunlun (Xinjiang, China)

The Proto-Tethys Ocean between the North and South Kunlun began to form during the Sinian. Remnants of this ocean are preserved at the Oytag-Kudi suture. The presence of Paleozoic arc batholiths in the northern South Kunlun and their absence in the North Kunlun indicates southward subduction of the Proto-Tethys Ocean beneath the South Kunlun. Opposite subduction polarity can be demonstrated for the Late Paleozoic to mid-Mesozoic when the southerly located Paleo-Tethys Ocean was consumed beneath the South Kunlun and generated a Late Carboniferous to mid-Jurassic magmatic arc in the southern South Kunlun. Arc magmatism affected the southern South Kunlun and the large Kara-Kunlun accretionary prism (a suture sensu lato) which formed as a result of Paleo-Tethys’ consumption. The dextral shear sense of ductile faults which are located at the margins of the arc batholiths, and which parallel the South Kunlun/Kara-Kunlun boundary, suggests oblique plate convergence with a dextral component. Different lines of evidence encourage us to interpret the Proto-Tethys ophiolites of the Oytag-Kudi zone as at least partly derived from an oceanic back-arc basin. In contrast, we assume that Paleo-Tethys was a large ocean basin which was eliminated directly at the southern margin of the South Kunlun where no oceanic back-arc region existed.     

Tectonic types of oceanic abyssal basins and related potentially economic fields of ferromanganese nodules

Tectonic typification of the abyssal basins of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans is proposed. Six types of basins are recognized: perispreading, pericontinental, central thalassogenic, intermontane abyssal, interfault, and thalassosyneclise. The tectonic diversity of the basins and their systems reflects significant regional tectono-geodynamic features of the oceanic lithosphere. Basins of the first type are inherent to the Atlantic Ocean; of the second and third types, to the Indian Ocean; and of the fourth to sixth types, to the Pacific. In the Atlantic Ocean, the basins are spatially and paragenetically conjugated with the mid-oceanic ridge. Beyond the Atlantic, a similar situation is characteristic of the southern Indian Ocean only. Hence, differentiated energetic models of deep geospheres are required. The relations of potentially economic fields of ferromanganese nodules to tectonic types of abyssal basins are discussed. The largest fields with respect to both dimensions and reserves are confined to interfault and intermontane abyssal basins. The fields localized in central thalassogenic basins are second in importance. The perispreading and pericontinental basins are the least promising in this respect. Along with other criteria, tectonic analysis should be taken into consideration in the future development of these valuable mineral resources.