Brittle reactivation of mylonitic fabric and the origin of the Cenozoic Rio Santana Graben,southeastern Brazil

In the Ribeira belt, southeastern Brazil, the Precambrian mylonitic fabric mainly formed during the Brasiliano/Pan-African orogeny (640–480 Ma) and was reactivated as fault zones in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. The reactivation process led to the development of the System of Continental Rifts of southeastern Brazil, from the Paleogene to the Quaternary. We investigated the brittle reactivation of a mylonitic zone, which is part of a major mylonitic belt, Arcádia-Areal. We used geological and geomorphological mapping, resistivity survey, controlled source audiomagnetotelluric survey, and luminescence dating. Our results indicate that this shear zone was reactivated and formed a 15 km long and 2 km wide sedimentary-filled trough, the Rio Santana Graben. It is located on the northwest border of a major structure, the Guanabara Graben, in the State of Rio de Janeiro. The Rio Santana Graben forms an almost entirely fault-bounded, NE-elongated depression that was accommodated entirely within the Arcádia-Areal shear zone. The graben consists of two main depocenters separated by a relay ramp. The graben formed by means of multistage activity of several faults during at least two main periods. The first period formed silicified fault breccia and occurred during alkaline magmatism in the Paleogene. The second formed fault breccia and gouge in shallow conditions and occurred at least until the Quaternary. The NE-trending and NW-dipping Precambrian fabric was reactivated as dip-slip and strike-slip faults. These faults triggered clastic-sediment deposition at least 300 m thick. The upper part of the graben consists of Quaternary alluvial and colluvial sediment fill, which yielded maximum luminescence deposition ages from 49 to 13 ka in the center of the trough. An organic layer at the top of the Quaternary alluvial deposits yielded ¹⁴C ages at ～6000 years BP. The lower part of the graben may be composed of Paleogene to Neogene sedimentary deposits, which occur in other basins of the System of Continental Rifts of southeastern Brazil. We conclude that the Rio Santana Graben is an example of the direct control of a preexisting continental-scale rheological boundary on the geometry and location of fault systems and sediment deposition. Quaternary fault reactivation of the preexisting fabrics represents only the latest movement of a major structure.     

The generation and evolution of the Archean continental crust: The granitoid story in southeastern Brazil

The Archean Eon was a time of geodynamic changes. Direct evidence of these transitions come from igneous/metaigneous rocks, which dominate cratonic segments worldwide. New data for granitoids from an Archean basement inlier related to the Southern São Francisco Craton (SSFC), are integrated with geochronological, isotopic and geochemical data on Archean granitoids from the SSFC. The rocks are divided into three main geochemical groups with different ages: (1) TTG (3.02–2.77 Ga); (2) medium- to high-K granitoids (2.85–2.72 Ga); and (3) A-type granites (2.7–2.6 Ga). The juvenile to chondritic (Hf-Nd isotopes) TTG were divided into two sub-groups, TTG 1 (low-HREE) and 2 (high-HREE), derived from partial melting of metamafic rocks similar to those from adjacent greenstone belts. The compositional diversity within the TTG is attributed to different pressures during partial melting, supported by a positive correlation of Dy/Yb and Sr/Zr, and batch melting calculations. The proposed TTG sources are geochemically similar to basaltic rocks from modern island-arcs, indicating the presence of subduction processes concomitant with TTG emplacement. From ～2.85 Ga to 2.70 Ga, the dominant rocks were K-rich granitoids. These are modeled as crustal melts of TTG, during regional metamorphism indicative of crustal thickening. Their compositional diversity is linked to: (i) differences in source composition; (ii) distinct melt fractions during partial melting; and (iii) different residual mineralogies reflecting varying P–T conditions. Post-collisional (～2.7–2.6 Ga) A-type granites reflect rifting in that they were closely followed by extension-related dyke swarms, and they are interpreted as differentiation or partial melting products of magmas derived from subduction-modified mantle. The sequence of granitoid emplacement indicates subduction-related magmatism was followed by crustal thickening, regional metamorphism and crustal melting, and post-collisional extension, similar to that seen in younger Wilson Cycles. It is compelling evidence that plate tectonics was active in this segment of Brazil from ～3 Ga.     

The tectonic evolution of Cenozoic extensional basins,northeast Brazil: Geochronological constraints from continental basalt 40Ar/39Ar ages

The Boa Vista and Cubati Basins, Paraíba, Brazil, are NW–SE extension-related intracratonic basins that resulted from tectonic stresses after the opening of the South Atlantic. These basins contain lacustrine fossiliferous sediments, bentonite beds, and basalt flows that preserve Cenozoic continental records. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages for six whole-rocks from two distinct basaltic flows underlying the sediments in the Boa Vista basin are 27.3 ± 0.8 and 25.4 ± 1.3 Ma, while three grains from a basaltic flow overlying the sediments yield 22.0 ± 0.2 Ma. The sediments at the nearby Cubati Basin are overlain by a basalt flow with ages of ∼25.4 Ma. Three whole-rocks from an NE–SW-trending trachytic dyke cross cutting the sediments at the Boa Vista Basin yield ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of ∼12.45 ± 0.06, 12.59 ± 0.07, and 12.58 ± 0.07 Ma. Three whole-rocks from a nearby volcanic plug (Chupador) yield an age of 23.4 ± 0.1 Ma. The geochronological results combined with stratigraphic correlations between the two basins allow bracketing the age of the main sedimentary and bentonic units within the Boa Vista and Cubati Basins between 25.5 ± 1.3 and 24.9 ± 0.1 Ma. The ages, combined with field observations reveal that the formation of the Boa Vista and Cubati basins is associated with mantle-derived magmas channelled through reactivated Precambrian shear zones. Our geochronological results suggest that a temporal link with the Fernando de Noronha and Saint Helena hot spots can be excluded as possible sources of the Boa Vista and Cubati magmas. Rather, the extensional tectonics in the 30–20 Ma interval, long after Gondwana break-up, may be associated with the re-activation of continental-scale shear zones that channelled small batches of mantle-derived magmas.     

Continental margin basins in East Asia: tectonic implications of the Meso‐Cenozoic East China Sea pull‐apart basins

The East China Sea basins, located in the West Pacific Continental Margin (WPCM) since the late Mesozoic, mainly include the East China Sea Shelf Basin (ECSSB) and the Okinawa Trough (OT). The WPCM and its adjacent seas can be tectonically divided into five units from west to east, including the Min‐Zhe Uplift, ECSSB, the Taiwan–Sinzi Belt, OT, and the Ryukyu Island Arc, which record regional tectonic evolution and geodynamics. Among those tectonic units, the ECSSB and the OT are important composite sedimentary pull‐apart basins, which experienced two stages of strike‐slip pull‐apart processes. In seismic profiles, the ECSSB and the OT show a double‐layer architecture with an upper half‐graben overlapping on a lower graben. In planar view, the ECSSB and the OT are characterized by faulted blocks from south to north in the early Cenozoic and by a zonation from west to east in the late Cenozoic. The faulted blocks with planar zonation and two‐layer vertical architecture entirely jumped eastward from the Min‐Zhe Uplift to the OT during the late Cenozoic. In addition, the whole palaeogeomorphology of the ECSSB changed notably, from pre‐Cenozoic highland or mountain into a Late Eocene continental margin with east‐tilting topography caused by the eastward tectonic jumping. The OT opened to develop into a back‐arc basin until the Miocene. Synthetic surface geological studies in the China mainland reveal that the Mesozoic tectonic setting of the WPCM is an Andean‐type continental margin developing many sinistral strike‐slip faults and pull‐apart basins and the Cenozoic tectonic setting of the WPCM is a Japanese‐type continental margin developing dextral strike‐slip faults and pull‐apart basins. Thus, the WPCM underwent a transition from Andean‐type to Japanese‐type continental margins at about 80 Ma (Late Cretaceous) and a transition in topography from a Mesozoic highland to a Cenozoic lowland, and then to below sea‐level basins. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Episodic Late Palaeozoic to Cenozoic denudation of the southeastern highlands of Australia: Evidence from the Bogong High Plains,Victoria

The Bogong High Plains of eastern Victoria occur as plateau remnants in a highly dissected region of the Australian Alps. Results from apatite fission track analyses indicate that the Bogong region experienced multiple episodes of rapid low‐temperature cooling, most of which can be tentatively linked to a tectonic cause. Early episodes of cooling occurred during the Middle to Late Devonian (ca 400–370 Ma) and Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (ca 310–290 Ma), presumably during different stages of deformation associated with the development of the Lachlan Fold Belt and glacial erosion. Rapid cooling occurred during the Late Permian to Early Triassic (ca 260–240 Ma), presumably in response to the Hunter‐Bowen orogenic event along the eastern Australian continental margin. Since the Triassic, two major episodes of fault reactivation have further displaced fission track ages between sample groups on different structural blocks. The first episode occurred during the middle Cretaceous at ca 110–90 Ma, probably in response to initial extension and denudation along the eastern Australian passive margin prior to breakup. Subsequently during the Early to mid‐Tertiary at ca 65–45 Ma, large‐scale fault reactivation occurred along the Kiewa Fault, possibly in response to changes in intraplate stresses which occurred during the middle Tertiary.     

Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas,Morocco: insight from apatite fission‐track thermochronology

In North Africa, the High Atlas belt culminates at more than 4000 m. In Morocco, recent work shows that a lithospheric thinning explains about 1000 m of the mean topography, the remaining topography being related to crustal shortening. We combine regional geology with new apatite fission‐track (AFT) ages to constrain the timing of these events in the Marrakech High Atlas (MHA). In the inner belt, 10 AFT ages are comprised between 9 ± 1 and 27 ± 3 Ma. These Neogene ages indicate that the MHA underwent significant denudation during that time. In the southern foreland domain of the belt, three samples give scattered AFT ages between 27 ± 2 and 87 ±5 Ma. Geological evidences allow us to constrain the age of a major denudation event during Middle Miocene age. We propose that it is linked to the thermal doming highlighted in the whole Moroccan Atlas domain.     

Multi‐genetic origin of the continental Moho: insights from Lithoprobe

This paper reviews four hypotheses for the origin of the continental crust–mantle boundary and discusses seismic parameters with which these hypotheses might be tested. The relict Moho hypothesis posits that the oceanic Moho is preserved during continental assembly; the magmatic underplating hypothesis posits formation of a new Moho by episodic emplacement of sill‐like intrusive bodies; the metamorphic (or metasomatic) front hypothesis posits that the Moho is overprinted by a phase transformation; and the regional décollement hypothesis posits that the Moho behaves as a structural detachment. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and examples from the Canadian Lithoprobe program suggest that all four may be applicable in different regions of North America. Comparison of seismic images from a fossil subduction zone with modern subduction at Cascadia suggests that serpentinization of the forearc mantle, a previously unrecognized mechanism for overprinting and erasing the reflection Moho, may have occurred in the Proterozoic.     

Reworking of the Gangdese magmatic arc,southeastern Tibet: post‐collisional metamorphism and anatexis

The Gangdese magmatic arc, southeastern Tibet, was built by mantle‐derived magma accretion and juvenile crustal growth during the Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic northward subduction of the Neo‐Tethyan oceanic slab beneath the Eurasian continent. The petrological and geochronological data reveal that the lower crust of the southeastern Gangdese arc experienced Oligocene reworking by metamorphism, anatexis and magmatism after the India and Asia collision. The post‐collisional metamorphic and migmatitic rocks formed at 34–26 Ma and 28–26 Ma respectively. Meta‐granitoids have protolith ages of 65–38 Ma. Inherited detrital zircon from metasedimentary rocks has highly variable ages ranging from 2708 to 37 Ma. These rocks underwent post‐collisional amphibolite facies metamorphism and coeval anatexis under P–T conditions of ~710–760 °C and ~12 kbar with geothermal gradients of 18–20 °C km ^{? 1}, indicating a distinct crustal thickening process. Crustal shortening, thickening and possible subduction erosion due to the continental collision and ongoing convergence resulted in high‐P metamorphic and anatectic reworking of the magmatic and sedimentary rocks of the deep Gangdese arc. This study provides a typical example of the reworking of juvenile and ancient continental crust during active collisional orogeny.     

The continental record of Ediacaran volcano‐sedimentary successions in southern Brazil and their global implications

The Ediacaran is one of the most important periods on Earth evolution, including the first appearance of soft‐bodied macrofossils, major climatic changes and a supposed rise in free oxygen. In southernmost Brazil, this period is represented by Camaquã Supergroup, including the Bom Jardim Group and the Acampamento Velho Formation, both of which record continental palaeoenvironmental changes in a more than 5000 m thick stratigraphic succession. Age constraints are given by seven Ar‐Ar and U‐Pb determinations on volcanic rocks, which bracket these units between c. 605 and 574 Ma, revealing the best dated and most continuous documented Ediacaran continental succession to date. Depositional systems evolution supports a Phanerozoic‐type glacial context during the last Neoproterozoic glacial event and presents the Picada das Graças Formation (580 ± 3.6 Ma) as the first dated non‐glacial unit coeval to the Gaskiers Formation.     

The initiation of pull‐apart basins and transform continental margins: results from numerical experiments of kinematic partitioning in divergent settings

We present a set of numerical models to investigate how transform faults initiate in pull‐apart basins or transform continental margins. The model represents an elastic plate with three aligned weak spots. Applying strain on the edge of the model firstly propagates extensional cracks from the pre‐existing damaged spots. The subsequent evolution depends on the angle (obliquity) between the applied strain and the alignment of the damaged spots. For obliquity <50°, transform faults form to connect en‐échelon divergent cracks; for obliquity >60°, transtensional transfer zones connect the divergent cracks and no transform fault forms. These experiments suggest that pull‐apart basins do not form as previously assumed by connection of overlapping transform faults, but that transform faults form as connections of extensional areas.     

Pressure–temperature evolution of the late Hercynian Calabria continental crust: compatibility with post‐collisional extensional tectonics

The late Hercynian tectonic evolution of the Calabria crust is characterized by peak metamorphic conditions up to 800 °C and 1000 MPa, and coeval mid‐crustal granitoid emplacement at 304–300 Ma. To check if a post‐collisional extensional framework, similar to that of other Hercynian massifs, can explain petrologic data, we model the pressure–temperature evolution of the crust during extension following granitoid emplacement. Model parameters are constrained by petrologic, geochemical and structural data. Computed P–T paths are characterized by nearly isothermal decompression followed by isobaric cooling, which show a good fit to petrologic P–T paths for duration of extension between 5 and 10 Ma. The model results, therefore, support an interpretation of the magmatic and metamorphic evolution of the Calabria crust in terms of the late Hercynian extension. In this framework, slab break‐off is a reasonable explanation for the common evolution of the southern European Hercynian massifs.     

The Benagerie Shear Zone: 1100 Myr of reactivation history and control over continental lithospheric deformation

A newly identified northwest–southeast oriented, deeply-rooted, steep to vertical, large-scale structural system within the Proterozoic Curnamona Province, Australia, which we term the “Benagerie Shear Zone”, is imaged in regional magnetic and gravity datasets. In this study, we use a combination of field analysis and quantitative geophysical methods, to establish a 1100 Myr history of activity along the Benagerie Shear Zone during which the location of younger geological structures are influenced by the pre-existing shear zone. This deformational system is interpreted to have 1) aided ascent and emplacement of the ca. 1600 Ma Ninnerie (magmatic) Supersuite; 2) controlled the loci of nucleation of normal faults during rifting and continental breakup at ca. 800 Ma; and 3) influenced the development of fold structures as well as acting as a plane co-linear to the rotation axis of pre-existing normal faults such that they were steepened and reactivated as strike slip structures during the ca. 500 Ma Delamerian Orogeny. We interpret that the Benagerie Shear Zone has not undergone uni-directional propagation during its evolution but rather through reactivation was a primary influence on controlling the nucleation of Neoproterozoic rift faults, thereby playing a major role in accommodating strain over a significant period of the evolution of the Curnamona Province. This study demonstrates that crustal-scale shear zones can evolve over hundreds of millions of years, have strike-lengths of hundreds to thousands of kilometers, and have vastly different surface expressions along strike.     

First report of eclogites from central Tibet,China: evidence for ultradeep continental subduction prior to the Cenozoic India‐Asian collision

Eclogites characterized by a garnet + clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene + sanidine + rutile assemblage are reported for the first time in the eastern Bangong suture, central Tibet (China). Garnet and sanidine are exsolved from clinopyroxene. Al‐exchange barometer for orthopyroxene and garnet and K concentrations in clinopyroxene indicate a peak pressure of ～4 GPa. The occurrence of these ultrahigh‐pressure rocks implies the subduction of continental crust to a depth of >130 km along the eastern Bangong suture zone during the Early Jurassic. The denudation of these ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic rocks could have provided a significant source for the Jurassic turbidites in the western Bangong ocean basin.     

沉积盆地物质来源综合研究——以南堡老第三纪亚断陷盆地为例

重矿物分析对于判断沉积盆地的物源方向和物源区的母岩性质是有效的,但具有局限性:①对无重矿物或者仅能提供极少量重矿物的母岩判别力较差;②它不能准确判断物源区沉积物的主要运移通道。因此,进行盆地物源分析还需要重视综合研究,即①通过重矿物的矿物学、重矿物组合研究,判断物源区的母岩类型,推测母岩岩性演化;②通过沉积岩矿物成分与结构研究,判别物源区是否存在重矿物无法辨认的母岩类型和沉积物的搬运距离;③通过沉积体系分析,尤其是砂分散体系的编图,能有效地判断物源区的方位和圈定各物源的具体影响范围;④利用古构造图判别物源区的主要沉积物运移通道及其方位;⑤编制沉积盆地一物源区古环境图,以此来弥补重矿物分析物源所带来的缺陷。     

Detrital zircon U–Pb provenance and palaeogeography of Triassic rift basins in the Marrakech High Atlas

The Marrakech High Atlas contains some of the best exposures of the Triassic early‐rift strata related to Atlantic opening in NW Africa. We present the first detrital zircon U–Pb data of five Triassic redbed samples from the Tizi n'Test basin to quantify sediment provenance, transport and dispersal patterns during early rifting. These U–Pb ages document dominant sediment sourcing from the south, the Anti‐Atlas domain, with very limited to absent input from the Variscan Meseta domain to the north. This combined with stratigraphic and thermochronologic information points to a highly asymmetric palaeogeography during Triassic rifting. Furthermore, the occurrence of Archaean detrital zircon grains in Triassic sandstone, likely recycled from the Reguibat shield, suggests the presence of a fully developed regional drainage system with rivers and catchments reaching hundreds of kilometres into the hinterland of the rift flank.     

Petroliferous basins at continental margins of paleozoic paleoseas: Communication 2. Petroliferous basins at continental margins in the Rheic, Uralian, and Central Asian paleoseas

The continental block of the Earth’s crust was separated in the Paleozoic into two unequal parts: (i) huge supercontinent Gondwana located at high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and (ii) several small continents (Laurentia, Baltica, Siberia, Kazakhstan, South Chinese block, and North Chinese blocks) located at low latitudes south and north of the equator. Morphology of the Paleozoic seas between these blocks was subjected to changes (expansion and contraction) with time. Their closure was provoked by several orogenic (Taconian, Caledonian, Acadian, and Hercynian) phases. At present, relicts of these ancient orogenic structures extend as belts along the boundaries of many petroliferous basins and record the position of past seas. One of the oldest oil-and-gas deposition belts, which appeared in southern Iapetus in the Precambrian/Phanerozoic, was confined to a passive margin of Gondwana. In the Early Paleozoic, small blocks of the continental crust (Avalonia, Armorica, Perunica, Iberica, and others) were successively detached from the passive margin. This process was accompanied by the opening of a new deep basin (Rheic Sea or Paleotethys). The Uralian and Central Asian paleoseas were formed approximately at the same time. Many petroliferous basins existing now were located in the Paleozoic at the margins of these paleoseas.     

腾冲—冈底斯新生代造山带的垮塌及陆间裂谷的形成

腾冲新生代中酸性火山岩以往研究较为薄弱,通过中酸性火山岩岩石地球化学研究,将腾冲新生代中酸性火山岩划分为高Sr、低Yb的埃达克型英安岩和低Sr、中Yb的浙闽型英安岩,其时限分别为上新世(2.78~4.04Ma)和早更新世(0.73~1.19Ma),为腾冲冈底斯带造山隆升后,由稳定至垮塌过程中形成的中酸性火山岩。中新世,腾冲冈底斯高原应力由东西向挤压为主转变为南北向走滑,造山带开始裂解。受潞西—保山地块阻挡,走滑方向偏转,在转折端轴向断片间滑脱形成裂谷盆地。裂谷形成初期,地幔减压上侵,下地壳高压部分熔融形成埃达克型花岗质岩浆;至早更新世,随着裂谷加剧,地壳厚度进一步减薄,在低压条件下下地壳部分熔融形成浙闽型花岗质岩浆。     

Sediment geochemistry and tectonic setting: Application of discrimination diagrams to early stages of intracontinental rift evolution,with examples from the Okavango and Southern Tanganyika rift basins

In this article, we have applied discriminant diagrams and bivariate plots for tectonic setting to Quaternary sediments from the East African Rift System (EARS). Sediment samples used in this study represent two different phases in early stage intracontinental rift evolution: the alluvial fan of the nascent Okavango system and a lacustrine basin within the relatively more mature Tanganyika system. The diagrams for tectonic setting for major elements place the majority of these EARS sediments within the passive margin (PM) setting. Passive margin sandstones are generally enriched in SiO₂ and depleted in Na₂O, CaO and TiO₂ reflecting their highly recycled nature. Based on major element discriminant diagrams, we propose two new fields for early stage intracontinental rift evolution (alluvial fan and lacustrine basin), within the previously defined passive margin field. The rare earth element (REE) patterns from both Okavango and Tanganyika sediments exhibit patterns similar to PAAS, with ash layers from the Rungwe volcanics in the Tanganyika samples exhibiting an enrichment in REE relative to the bulk sediment.