Tectonic evolution of Northeastern Siberia and adjacent regions

Previous models for the tectonic evolution of northeastern Siberia have proposed the existence of a Kolyma plate composed of the Kolyma and Omolon massifs of presumed Precambrian age. Lithologic similarities between the Siberian platform and the Cherskiy Mountains and the presence of oceanic and island arc type deposits in the Kolyma-Indigirka interfluve suggest that no such plate exists. The eastern margin of the Siberian plate is suggested to lie along a line between the Ulakhan Sis Range, the Alazeya uplift and the Arga Tas Range; the Cherskiy Mountains and the Verkhoyansk fold belt are parts of the Siberian plate. The Paleozoic deposits of the Omolon massif are unlike those found in the Cherskiys or Siberia. Paleomagnetic data from the Omolon massif are discordant from data from Siberia. It is suggested that the Omolon massif represents a microplate which accreted onto Siberia in the Jurassic. Ophiolites in central Chukotka are of the same emplacement age as in the western Brooks Range and may have been emplaced at the initiation of the rotation of Arctic Alaska. Geometric and limited stratigraphic data suggest that the East Siberian Sea may be floored by oceanic crust left by an incomplete closure between Arctic Alaska, Siberia and Omolon. The tectonic position of the Prikolymsk massif remains ambiguous.     

俄罗斯东部地区油气资源远景分析

俄罗斯东部地区油气资源十分丰富,而且远景储量巨大。其石油储量远景区主要圈定在东西伯利亚地区晚元古代-早古生代陆源碎屑岩-碳酸盐岩含油气盆地,远东地区中-新生代大陆架硅质岩含油气盆地和远东滨海坳陷中古新世-始新世杂砂岩含油气建造等。而且,远东地区含油气盆地的形成时代自西向东逐渐变年轻,具体由侏罗纪、白垩纪过渡为新生代。俄罗斯东部地区中-新生代煤层气盆地广布,其中最主要的煤层气盆地为勒拿河流域盆地和南雅库特盆地。煤层气的成因及分布特征主要受控于盆地的基本地质特征,即上覆、下伏地层层系和褶皱断裂构造、变质作用等。俄罗斯远东地区萨哈林大陆架、鄂霍茨克海以及白令海阿列乌特深水海盆中蕴藏大量的天然气水合物资源。天然气水合物中的甲烷一般被认为来自深部油气层,但也有专家认为它可能来自大陆架以外的深海海域。     

Strike-slip fault system in the Earth’s crust of the Bering Sea: A relic of boundary between the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates

A study based on computation of D-function anomalies (method of joint gravity and magnetic data analysis) along profiles in the Bering Sea has been performed in both the Aleutian Basin with oceanic crust and the Bering continental shelf. This study revealed extended faults that affect not only the Earth’s crust but also the upper mantle. This is supported by seismic profiling. The calculated palinspastic reconstructions of the position of North America relative to “immobile” Eurasia 80, 52–50, 50–47, and 15–20 Ma ago allowed us to show that the revealed strike-slip faults are probable relics of an echeloned transform boundary between the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates. The formation of this boundary beginning from the Late Cretaceous was apparently related to opening of the North Atalantic, which determined the large rate of displacement of North America relative to Eurasia.     

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.     

Accretion tectonics and crustal structure in Alaska

The entire width of the North American Cordillera in Alaska is made up of “suspect terranes”. Pre-Late Cretaceous paleogeography is poorly constrained and the ultimate origins of the many fragments which make up the state are unclear. The Prince William and Chugach terranes accreted since Late Cretaceous time and represent the collapse of much of the northeast Pacific Ocean swept into what today is southern Alaska. Greater Wrangellia, a composite terrane now dispersed into fragments scattered from Idaho to southern Alaska, apparently accreted into Alaska in Late Cretaceous time crushing an enormous deep-marine flysch basin on its inboard side. Most of interior eastern Alaska is the Yukon Tanana terrane, a very large entirely fault-bounded metamorphic-plutonic assemblage covering thousands of square kilometers in Canada as well as Alaska. The original stratigraphy and relationship to North America of the Yukon-Tanana terrane are both obscure. A collapsed Mesozoic flysch basin, similar to the one inboard of Wrangellia, lies along the northern margin. Much of Arctic Alaska was apparently a vast expanse of upper Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic deep marine sediments and mafic volcanic and plutonic rocks now scattered widely as large telescoped sheets and Klippen thrust over the Ruby geanticline and the Brooks Range, and probably underlying the Yukon-Koyukuk basin and the Yukon flats. The Brooks Range itself is a stack of north vergent nappes, the telescoping of which began in Early Cretaceous time. Despite compelling evidence for thousands of kilometers of relative displacement between the accreted terranes, and large amounts of telescoping, translation, and rotation since accretion, the resulting new continental crust added to North America in Alaska carries few obvious signatures that allow application of currently popular simple plate tectonic models. Intraplate telescoping and strike-slip translations, delamination at mid-crustal levels, and large-scale lithospheric wedging were important processes in northern Cordilleran tectonic evolution.     

中国东北地块群及其构造演化

东北地块群主要有额尔古纳、兴华、松嫩、佳木斯和兴凯等地块,它们都不是从西伯利亚克拉通分裂出来的,而都具有独立的演化史.额尔古纳、兴华地块参与到西伯利亚板块东南大陆边缘古亚洲洋弧盆体系中,组成岛弧-山弧或弧后盆地的一部分;松嫩、佳木斯和兴凯地块分别为泛古洋和古太平洋作用区内亲西伯利亚和亲华北的地块,具有前白垩纪较复杂的演化史.在较详细讨论了东北地块群的构造演化的基础上,认为东北大地构造格架,除可以划分出西伯利亚板块和华北板块外,还应划分出滨太平洋松嫩-佳木斯联合地块、环太平洋兴凯地块、胶辽地块和那丹哈达地体.     

Copper in surface waters of the Bering Sea

Copper concentrations have been measured in surface <75 m waters of the central Bering Sea. Concentrations of 2–4 nmole kg^?1 were measured in the Zhemchung Canyon region where water depths are greater than 1000 m. Concentrations are higher 2–25 nmole kg^?1 on the shallow <100 m continental shelf, inshore of a hydrographic front at the 100 m isobath. Copper-depth profiles on the continental shelf water mass are dominated by Cu concentrations increasing toward the sediments. These trends may be maintained by a flux of Cu from surficial sediments. A frontal system over the 100 m isobath acts to control the flux of Cu, a significant part of which apparently emanates from the sediments, between the continental shelf and the central Bering Sea basin. The benthic shelf Cu flux was constrained to be less than 3 nmole cm^?2 yr^?1.     

柴达木盆地东缘早古生代弯山构造

位于中国中央造山带内部的柴达木盆地周缘出露有代表原特提斯洋盆的蛇绿岩带、指示大洋俯冲与大陆深俯冲的高压-超高压变质带以及不同性质的早古生代花岗岩带。根据这些构造单元的空间展布形态及其综合地质年龄分布,表现为一条环绕柴达木盆地东缘的连续而弯曲的加里东期造山带。造山带内发育一系列右行走滑断裂和韧性剪切带,与古地磁资料所揭示的柴达木地块在早古生代的相对逆时针旋转息息相关。本文提出,柴达木盆地周缘造山带为一弯山构造。它是在原特提斯洋向南斜向俯冲闭合过程中,诱发的大型走滑断裂和柴达木地块逆时针旋转牵引造山带发生弯曲所致。     

Field report: Exploring the Doonerak fenster of the central Brooks Range,Alaska, USA

Arctic Alaska is a ‘suspect’ terrane that encompasses approximately 20% of Alaska, stretching from the southern Brooks Range all the way to the continental shelves of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Although the origin and subsequent travels of this large crustal fragment are debated among geologists, most researchers agree upon its composite nature and exotic origin. To constrain the early geological history of this terrane, we describe a recent expedition to the Doonerak fenster of the central Brooks Range. This area has long been regarded as a key locality for understanding the structural evolution of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Brooks Range orogen; however, our target was different: a unique sequence of volcanic and siliciclastic rocks (Apoon assemblage) exposed beneath a profound pre-Mississippian unconformity, which we argue is of key importance to understanding the early Paleozoic tectonic history of northern Alaska and the greater Arctic.     

Plate kinematics of the Rocas Verdes Basin and Patagonian orocline

The processes of orocline formation are a topic of debate in geosciences. The Patagonian orocline has been a case in point for over a century. Large anomalous paleomagnetic pole rotations show that the orocline started to form at the same time as mid-Cretaceous closure of the Rocas Verdes Basin, today known from ophiolitic and basin fill remnants in the Patagonian and Fuegian Andes. Some studies therefore present bending of the Andes and closure of the basin as shared consequences of rotation of a small plate that was driven by subduction-related forces at the Pacific margin of Gondwana. An alternative view of the orocline is as a product of Cretaceous to Paleogene-aged sinistral oblique convergence at the plate-boundary scale. Geological data from Tierra del Fuego have been interpreted in support of both views. Here, I test these suggestions by comparing the Rocas Verdes Basin's tectonostratigraphy to predictions of a plate kinematic model for fragmentation of the western interior of Gondwana. The model is sufficient to explain the known history of basin opening to a width of ~ 100–300 km during the period 152–141 Ma and later closure in oblique plate convergence. As this convergence occurred by motion around a distant Euler pole, it could not have produced the Patagonian orocline by rotation of a lithospheric plate on its Pacific flank. The large anomalous paleomagnetic rotations of Tierra del Fuego, instead, are likely to have occurred within the crust by rotation and deformation of regional strike-slip faults and the intervening rocks to accommodate oblique convergence of the South American and Antarctic plates between Albian and Paleocene times.     

Palaeomagnetic and structural constraints on 90° anticlockwise rotation in SW Mongolia during the Permo–Triassic: Implications for Altaid oroclinal bending. Preliminary palaeomagnetic results

New and published paleomagnetic measurements from Trans Altai and South Gobi zones in south Mongolia document large tectonic motions in between Late Carboniferous and Triassic. Magnetic inclinations confirm equatorial position of south Mongolian terranes in Late Carboniferous–Permian times. The evolution of magnetic declinations indicates 90° anticlockwise rotation in between latest Carboniferous and Early Triassic of all studied tectonic units around the Eulerian pole located close to axis of Mongolian orocline. The anticlockwise rotation continues in Triassic being accompanied by a major drift to the north. The structural and published geochronological data suggest Carboniferous E–W shortening of the whole region resulting in N–S trend of all continental and oceanic geological units followed by orthogonal N–S shortening during Late Permian to Early Jurassic. Both paleomagnetic and geological data converge in a tectonic model of oroclinal bending of Mongolian ribbon continent, westerly back arc oceanic domain and Mongol–Okhotsk subduction zone to the east. The oroclinal bending model is consistent with the coincidence of the Eulerian pole of rotation with the structural axis of Mongolian orocline. In addition, the Mesozoic collisional tectonics is reflected by late remagnetizations due to formation of wide deformation fronts and hydrothermal activity.     

The Eocene Southern Vancouver Island Orocline — a response to seamount accretion and the cause of fold-and-thrust belt and extensional basin formation

A deflection of the fault controlled southwestern coastline of Vancouver Island suggests the presence of a minor orocline, with a Southern Crustal Block (south of Barkley Sound–Alberni Inlet) rotated 20° counterclockwise relative to a Northern Fixed Crustal Block about a pole of rotation located northeast of Port Alberni. In this paper two models of orocline development, one of pure block rotation and one of pure bending, are proposed. The predictions of these models are tested against available geological maps, structural orientation data, identified regions of extension and contraction, and paleomagnetic data. Structural orientation and paleomagnetic data are consistent with 18° of post-Late Cretaceous counter clockwise rotation of the Southern Crustal Block relative to the Northern Fixed Crustal Block. A southward increase in the magnitude of rotation evident in the structural orientation data argues for a model of bending. Both bending and block rotation models predict the development of a zone of contraction along the northeast margin of the Southern Crustal Block, coincident with the location of the Eocene Cowichan fold-and-thrust belt, that diminishes northward toward the pole of rotation. As predicted, the fold-and-thrust belt is characterized by a northerly decrease in the amount of shortening, from >30% at the south end of the thrust belt, to 0% shortening north of Port Alberni. The northerly decrease in shortening is complemented by a north to south change in structural style from cylindrical to conical folds, and finally to planar, undeformed strata. The model of block rotation predicts the presence of a zone of extension extending southwest from the zone of rotation, coincident with the location of Eocene extensional structures within Barkley Sound and with horst and graben structures in the offshore Eocene to Miocene Tofino basin. Extension is less than predicted by a model of pure block rotation and suggests that much of the oroclinal rotation was accommodated by bending. Timing constraints indicate that orocline development was coeval with, and resulted from, the Eocene accretion of seamounts of the Crescent terrane. These findings demonstrate that oroclinal orogeny, the buckling of a linear crustal beam about vertical axes of rotation, can significantly impact the geometry, structure and character of an orogenic belt, even where the buckles are minor (<20° of rotation).     

初论环准噶尔斑岩铜矿带的地质构造背景与形成机制

准噶尔地区构造-岩浆-成矿带具环准噶尔地块分布的特征,这一格局是准噶尔地区古生代大地构造演化的结果。哈萨克斯坦-准噶尔板块在北侧古亚洲洋与南侧南天山洋的俯冲下不断侧向增生,并形成与岩浆作用伴生的火山岩型铜铁多金属矿带、斑岩铜钼金矿带与浅成低温金矿带。哈萨克斯坦-准噶尔板块与西伯利亚板块和塔里木板块碰撞发生了强烈挤压-剪切变形,并导致准噶尔地块发生逆时针旋转,从而造成构造-岩浆-成矿带发生位移、呈环状分布于准噶尔地块周边。环准噶尔斑岩铜矿形成于俯冲成因的大陆岛弧、大洋岛弧与弧后盆地及后碰撞阶段板内4种构造背景,晚古生代是成矿的高峰时期。     

南海北部长昌—鹤山凹陷渐新世陆架边缘三角洲—深水扇地震响应及形成条件*

位于现今大陆斜坡之上的长昌—鹤山凹陷是继中国南海北部白云和荔湾深水区油气勘探突破之后的又一个深水战略性勘探区块。根据地震反射上超、下超和顶超等典型反射终止关系、地震相组合以及旋回特征,将渐新统珠海组自下向上划分为ZHSQ1—ZHSQ6共6套三级层序,并在层序格架中,识别出陆架弱—中振幅高连续席状、陆架斜坡变振幅中连续S型—斜交前积楔形、盆地斜坡变振幅中连续丘形双向上超等6种地震相类型,其中大型斜交S型前积和陆坡丘形双向超覆地震反射分别代表陆架边缘三角洲和深水扇沉积。研究表明,随着构造活动、海平面等地质条件的变化,陆架边缘三角洲及深水扇发育特征发生了相应变化。在珠海组ZHSQ1和ZHSQ2沉积时期,断层继承性活动,陆架坡折类型为断控型,沉积体系以局限浅海和近源的三角洲沉积组合为特征。在珠海组ZHSQ3—ZHSQ6沉积时期,盆地进入拗陷阶段,陆架坡折类型为沉积型坡折;在古珠江稳定充裕的供源作用下,陆架坡折带不断向海迁移且范围逐渐变大;伴随着相对海平面下降,大套的前积体不断向前推进,最大前积距离近20,km,且前积角度不断增大;同期深水扇自下而上出现频率增高,且位置更靠近陆架边缘三角洲,规模变大。     

秦岭石炭纪古海洋特征及古地理再造

华北、扬子陆块间的秦岭石炭系经沉积、古生物、地球化学等方面研究表明，石炭纪古海洋由北缘浅海陆棚、中央裂陷盆地及南缘浅海陆棚３个部分组成，中央的中秦岭裂陷盆地受两期重大裂陷构造事件控制，盆地内以块体重力流－低密度流沉积为主，具贫氧、低沉积速率特点，反映了半深海略封闭的海盆沉积环境，很可能是扬子陆块北缘的陆缘盆地。     

Late pleistocene sedimentation history of the Shirshov Ridge, Bering Sea

The analysis of the lithology, grain-size distribution, clay minerals, and geochemistry of Upper Pleistocene sediments from the submarine Shirshov Ridge (Bering Sea) showed that the main source area was the Yukon-Tanana terrane of Central Alaska. The sedimentary materials were transported by the Yukon River through Beringia up to the shelf break, where they were entrained by a strong northwestward-flowing sea current. The lithological data revealed several pulses of ice-rafted debris deposition, roughly synchronous with Heinrich events, and periods of weaker bottom-current intensity. Based on the geochemical results, we distinguished intervals of an increase in paleoproductivity and extension of the oxygen minimum zone. The results suggest that there were three stages of deposition driven by glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations and glacial cycles in Alaska.     

Features,provenance, and tectonic significance of Carboniferous–Permian glacial marine diamictites in the Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan block,Tibetan Plateau

In this study, we conducted profile measurements, gravel composition analyses, and U–Pb dating on detrital zircons from a representative glacial marine diamictite in the Gangmaco–Dabure area of the Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan block, Tibetan Plateau. We conclude that the diamictite was formed in a glacial marine environment from the outer edge of the continental shelf to the continental slope and deep sea, in what is now the Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan block. Four distinct glacial–interglacial cycles were identified in the diamictite, which record a minimum of four stages of Gondwana glaciation in the area of the Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan block. Combined with regional geological information, we also conclude that during the Carboniferous–Permian, sediments containing the glacial marine diamictite derived from Gondwana, in the region extending from India to the Tethys Himalaya area, and Lhasa and Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan blocks, recorded the transition from continental, neritic to abyssal environments. Gravel assemblages and U–Pb dating of detrital zircons in the glacial marine diamictite indicate that the provenance of the diamictite was Indian Gondwana. We infer that during the Late Paleozoic, the northern margin of the Indian Gondwana continued to be influenced by the Early Palaeozoic tectonic set-up, when Indian Gondwana was under an erosional regime, and the Tethys Himalaya area, and Lhasa and Southern Qiangtang–Baoshan blocks were deposited on a passive continental margin.     

Tectonics of the Aegean block: Rotation, side arc collision and crustal extension

A new tectonic model for the Aegean block is outlined in an effort to explain the widespread extension observed in this region. A key element in this model is the concept of “side arc collision” This term is used to describe the interaction of subducted oceanic lithosphere with continental lithosphere in a subduction arc in which oblique subduction occurs. In the Hellenic arc side arc collision is proposed for the northeast corner near Rhodes. The collision involves subducted African lithosphere, moving to the northeast almost parallel to the arc, with the continental mass of southwest Turkey. It affects the motion of the Anatolian-Aegean plate complex, but is not similar to continental collision since it occurs mostly at depth and involves only little, if any, of the shallow and rigid part of the continental lithosphere. The model assumes that Anatolia and the Aegean are part of one plate complex which undergoes counterclockwise rotation; if it were not for the side arc collision near Rhodes, the two blocks would exhibit similar deformation and might, in effect, be indistinguishable. At present, however, free and undisturbed rotation is possible only for the Anatolian block (excluding western Anatolia) where the motion is accommodated by subduction along the Cyprean arc. Further west the side arc collision inhibits this rotation along the subduction front. Still further west, undisturbed subduction along the central and western parts of the Hellenic arc is again possible and is well documented. On the other side of the Anatolian-Aegean plate complex, relatively free motion occurs along the North Anatolian fault zone including in the Aegean Sea. The combination of this motion in the north with the local obstruction of the rotation near Rhodes, must create a torque and a new pattern of rotation for the western part of the plate complex, thus creating a separate Aegean block. Since, however, the two blocks are not separated by a plate boundary, the Aegean block cannot move freely according to the new torque. Effective motion of the Aegean block relative to Europe and Anatolia, particularly in the north, is achieved through extension of the crust (lithosphere?). Thus the greatest amount of deformation (extension) is observed along the suture zone between the two blocks and, in particular, in the northeastern part of the Aegean block where motion relative to Anatolia must be greatest.     

软碰撞、叠覆造山和多旋回缝合作用

软碰撞是指陆块间,主要是微陆块间的弱碰撞。软碰撞后,陆块间尚未焊合,处于"联而不合"的状态。在新的构造阶段,这些陆块间又可再一次挤压和地壳缩短,发生大陆壳的消减造山作用,使一个大陆的大陆壳叠覆在另一个大陆的大陆壳之上,这就是陆一陆叠覆造山作用。东亚诸陆块在古生代软碰撞后,曾长期处于"联而不合"的状态,只有再经过华为西、印支、燕山多旋回的陆-陆叠覆和走滑-挤压造山作用之后,它们才在动力学上最终焊合为一体,即经历了多旋回的缝合作用才合为一体。     

中国大陆现今构造作用的地块运动和连续变形耦合模型

板块构造基本理论（特别是其刚性块体假设）能否应用于大陆，是大陆动力学研究所面临的主要问题之一，不同的理论模型给出不同的回答。缺乏完整、可靠的构造变形运动学图像使得无法对不同的理论模型给予约束和检验，以至于无法回答上述基本问题。本文以中国大陆及其周边近年来的1350个GPS观测资料为主，结合活动断裂和地震活动性资料，研究中国大陆现今构造变形的运动学特征。中国大陆的现今构造变形既有刚性地块的运动，如塔里木、鄂尔多斯、华南等地块；又有非刚性的连续变形，如青藏高原和天山。在大陆构造变形过程中，由于岩石圈性质的不同而造成变形的分区差异和上部脆性地壳的分块运动，不仅有整体性好的刚性地块运动，也有刚性很差的连续变形。以粘塑性流变为特征的下地壳和上地幔在周边板块作用下发生连续流动，从底部驱动着上覆脆性地块的运动，而不同活动地块本身的性质决定着地块的整体性和变形方式，中国大陆的现今构造变形可以用耦合的地块运动和连续变形模式来描述。