Microstructures documenting Cenozoic extension processes in the northern continental margin of the South China Sea

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate the thinning process of the northern continental margin of the South China Sea, petrographic and microstructural analysis were carried out on 20 greenschistfacies mylonite samples, which were obtained from Site U1504 of IODP Expedition 367/368 in the Outer Margin High of the region. The mineral assemblage of the greenschist-facies mylonite is chlorite + epidotite + albite (Ab = 94.7–99.9) + quartz, which contains 10-30% gravel components. Microstructural analysis indicates that the greenschist-facies mylonite experienced two episodes of deformation：early ductile deformation followed by a later stage of brittle deformatio. Both episodes of deformation suggest an extensional environment. The extensive development of bulging recrystallization (BLG) of quartz, microscopic fractures and fine granulation of albite suggest that the temperature of ductile deformation is about 300-400°C, compatiable with a ductile shearing at shallow crust levels (~5-10 km). Petrographic features suggest that the greenschist-facies mylonite might originate from volcanic sedimentary rocks or sedimentary rocks affected by the intrusion of mafic magma. Combined with seismic interpretation, we propose that the greenschist-facies mylonite might be formed by crustal exhumation after thick Mesozoic sediments were denuded by a major extension.     

Geochronological and mineralogical constraints on mineralization of the Hetai goldfield in Guangdong Province,South China

The Hetai goldfield, located in the southern segment of the Qinzhou Bay-Hangzhou Bay Juncture Orogenic Belt (QHJB), is the largest concentration of gold deposits in Guangdong Province, South China. The gold mineralization is hosted within the late Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic Yunkai Group and strictly confined to mylonite (ductile shear) zones. The nature of the structural control of mineralization, in particular the role of ductile versus brittle deformation and their ages, which remain unclear despite numerous previous studies, are examined in this paper through an integrated study of geochronology and mineralogy.Lamellar and filament structures shown by pyrite and pyrrhotite in the ores suggest that sulfidation took place during ductile deformation and syntectonic metamorphism, but the majority of the ores are associated with brittle deformation features. In combination with macroscopic and microscopy observations on shear fabrics, LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating on zircons of hydrothermal origin from mylonites suggests that the Hetai goldfield was subjected to two shearing events: an early sinistral ductile shearing at ca. 240 Ma, and a late dextral ductile-brittle shearing at ca. 204 Ma (Indosinian). These ages are ca. 90–30 Ma older than the previously published gold mineralizing ages of ca. 175–152 Ma (Yanshanian), suggesting that the main gold mineralization and related brittle deformation significantly postdate the ductile deformation. This inference is supported by the mineralization temperatures estimated from geothermometers of arsenopyrite (ca. 350–290 °C), chlorite (ca. 260–230 °C), and sphalerite (ca. 230–170 °C) intergrown with native gold, which are considerably lower than that for the ductile deformation (500–300 °C or higher). Based on these data, we propose that the gold mineralization in the Hetai goldfield predominantly occurred during the Yanshanian event, and only minor gold mineralization and associated sulfidation took place during the earlier Indosinian ductile deformation.     

Modes of orogen-parallel stretching and extensional exhumation in response to microplate indentation and roll-back subduction (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps)

The Tauern Window exposes a Paleogene nappe stack consisting of highly metamorphosed oceanic (Alpine Tethys) and continental (distal European margin) thrust sheets. In the eastern part of this window, this nappe stack (Eastern Tauern Subdome, ETD) is bounded by a Neogene system of shear (the Katschberg Shear Zone System, KSZS) that accommodated orogen-parallel stretching, orogen-normal shortening, and exhumation with respect to the structurally overlying Austroalpine units (Adriatic margin). The KSZS comprises a ≤5-km-thick belt of retrograde mylonite, the central segment of which is a southeast-dipping, low-angle extensional shear zone with a brittle overprint (Katschberg Normal Fault, KNF). At the northern and southern ends of this central segment, the KSZS loses its brittle overprint and swings around both corners of the ETD to become subvertical, dextral, and sinistral strike-slip faults. The latter represent stretching faults whose displacements decrease westward to near zero. The kinematic continuity of top-east to top-southeast ductile shearing along the central, low-angle extensional part of the KSZS with strike-slip shearing along its steep ends, combined with maximum tectonic omission of nappes of the ETD in the footwall of the KNF, indicates that north–south shortening, orogen-parallel stretching, and normal faulting were coeval. Stratigraphic and radiometric ages constrain exhumation of the folded nappe complex in the footwall of the KSZS to have begun at 23–21 Ma, leading to rapid cooling between 21 and 16 Ma. This exhumation involved a combination of tectonic unroofing by extensional shearing, upright folding, and erosional denudation. The contribution of tectonic unroofing is greatest along the central segment of the KSZS and decreases westward to the central part of the Tauern Window. The KSZS formed in response to the indentation of wedge-shaped blocks of semi-rigid Austroalpine basement located in front of the South-Alpine indenter that was part of the Adriatic microplate. Northward motion of this indenter along the sinistral Giudicarie Belt offsets the Periadriatic Fault and triggered rapid exhumation of orogenic crust within the entire Tauern Window. Exhumation involved strike-slip and normal faulting that accommodated about 100 km of orogen-parallel extension and was contemporaneous with about 30 km of orogen-perpendicular, north–south shortening of the ETD. Extension of the Pannonian Basin related to roll-back subduction in the Carpathians began at 20 Ma, but did not affect the Eastern Alps before about 17 Ma. The effect of this extension was to reduce the lateral resistance to eastward crustal flow away from the zone of greatest thickening in the Tauern Window area. Therefore, we propose that roll-back subduction temporarily enhanced rather than triggered exhumation and orogen-parallel motion in the Eastern Alps. Lateral extrusion and orogen-parallel extension in the Eastern Alps have continued from 12 to 10 Ma to the present and are driven by northward push of Adria.     

Horizontal contraction or horizontal extension? Heterogeneous Late Eocene and early Oligocene general shearing during blueschist and greenschist facies metamorphism at the Pennine-Austroalpine boundary zone in the Western Alps

Mylonitic structures related to two orogenic events are described from the upper and lower contacts of the Combin zone and the immediately overlying upper Austroalpine Dent Blanche nappe/Mont Mary klippe and the directly underlying lower Austroalpine Etirol-Levaz slice. The first event, Late Eocene in age, commenced during blueschist facies P-T conditions, but pre-dated the peak of subsequent greenschist facies overprint. The second event, Early Oligocene in age, took place during retrograde greenschist facies conditions. Most sense of shear indicators associated with the retrograde mylonites indicate top SE shearing, but subordinate top NW displacing shear sense indicators have also been mapped. Mylonitic top SE shearing appears to be restricted to the Combin zone and its upper and lower contacts. Within the Dent Blanche nappe and Mont Mary klippe and at the base of the Etirol-Levaz slice, structures were observed which developed during blueschist/greenschist facies conditions and are, in conjunction with the P-T-t history of these rocks, inferred to be older. Associated kinematic data indicate a top NW shear sense. Comparable blueschist/greenschist facies shear sense indicators have not been observed in the Combin zone. Nonetheless, the foliation in the Combin zone shows a progressive evolution from blueschist facies to greenschist facies to retrograde greenschist facies conditions. This indicates that the Combin zone and the immediately over- and underlying Austroalpine units shared a common tectono-metamorphic evolution since the Late Eocene. Finite strain data reveal oblate strain fabrics, which are thought to result from a true flattening strain geometry. Flow path modelling reveals a general non-coaxial deformation régime and corroborates significant departures from a simple shear deformation. In the study area, mylonitic top SE shearing in the Combin zone is attributed to Early Oligocene backfolding and backthrusting of the Mischabel phase. Temperature-time curves suggest slight reheating in the Monte Rosa nappe underneath and cooling in the Dent Blanche nappe above the Combin zone, hence confirming a thrust interpretation for this event. The top NW displacing structures are thought to result from Late Eocene emplacement of the Dent Blanche nappe and the Combin zone onto the Middle Pennine Barrhorn series along the Combin fault. As related structures initiated during mildly blueschist facies conditions in the Dent Blanche nappe and the underlying Combin zone and both were emplaced together onto the greenschist facial Barrhorn series, it is concluded that the structures developed as the nappes moved upward relative to the earth's surface. Thus the Combin fault is regarded as a thrust. The geometry of this structure indicates that the Combin fault is an out of sequence thrust that locally cut down section. Hence, top NW out of sequence thrusting caused local thinning of the metamorphic/structural section in association with horizontal shortening. Out of sequence thrusts cutting down section, and back-thrusts, offer the possibility of explaining the pronounced break in the grade of metamorphism across the Combin fault, i.e. the contact between the eclogite facial Zermatt-Saas zone and the overlying lower grade Combin zone, by contractional deformation.     

Eoalpine tectonics of the Eastern Alps: implications from the evolution of monometamorphic Austroalpine units (Schneeberg and Radenthein Complex)

Monometamorphic metasediments of Paleozoic or Mesozoic age constituting Schneeberg and Radenthein Complex experienced coherent deformation and metamorphism during Late Cretaceous times. Both complexes are part of the Eoalpine high-pressure wedge that formed an intracontinental suture and occur between the polymetamorphosed Ötztal–Bundschuh nappe system on top and the Texel–Millstatt Complex below. During Eoalpine orogeny Schneeberg and Radenthein Complexes were south-dipping and they experienced a common tectonometamorphic history from ca. 115 Ma onwards until unroofing of the Tauern Window in Miocene times. This evolution is subdivided into four distinct tectonometamorphic phases. Deformation stage D1 is characterized by WNW-directed shearing at high temperature conditions (550–600°C) and related to the initial exhumation of the high-pressure wedge. D2 and D3 are largely coaxial and evolved during high- to medium-temperature conditions (ca. 450 to ≥550°C). These stages are related to advanced exhumation and associated with large-scale folding of the high-pressure wedge including the Ötztal-Bundschuh nappe system above and the Texel–Millstatt Complex below. For the area west of the Tauern Window, F2/F3 fold interference results in the formation of large-scale sheath-folds in the frontal part of the nappe stack (formerly called “Schlingentektonik” by previous authors). Earlier thrusts were reactivated during Late Cretaceous normal faulting at the base of the Ötztal–Bundschuh nappe system and its cover. Deformation stage D4 is of Oligo-Miocene age and accounted for tilting of individual basement blocks along large-scale strike-slip shear zones. This tilting phase resulted from indentation of the Southern Alps accompanied by the formation of the Tauern Window.     

The northwest-directed “Bretonian phase” in the French Variscan Belt (Massif Central and Massif Armoricain): A consequence of the Early Carboniferous Gondwana–Laurussia collision

In the Variscan French Massif Central and Armorican Massif, the tectonic significance of a widespread NW–SE-trending stretching lineation, coeval with medium pressure–medium temperature metamorphism, is an open question. Based on a structural analysis in the southern part of the Massif Central, we show that this top-to-the-NW shearing is a deformation event, referred to as D2, which followed a D1 top-to-the-south shearing Devonian phase, and was itself re-deformed by a Late D3 Visean–Serpukhovian southward-thrusting event. We date the D2 phase at 360 Ma (Famennian–Tournaisian boundary). In the Armorican Massif, D2 is the “Bretonian phase” recorded in the metamorphic series and sedimentary basins. Geodynamically, D2 is related to a general northwestward shearing during the Laurussia–Gondwana collision, which occurred after the closure of the Rheic Ocean, as indicated by the emplacement of the Lizard ophiolitic nappe in Britain. The left-lateral Nort-sur-Erdre fault accommodated the absence of ductile shearing in Central Armorica.     

鄂西北竹山银洞沟银金矿床构造控矿特征

银洞沟银金矿床位于扬子地台北缘武当推覆体西部,产于武当群变火山岩组与变沉积岩组间的顺层型韧性剪切带中,与构造变形密切相关。晋宁期的伸展作用产生了顺层型韧性剪切带,韧性变形变质作用促使原岩中银金等贵金属、多金属元素活化迁移,随剪切变形变质热液在强应变带中沉淀,形成初始矿源层。印支期的陆陆碰撞作用,促成不同层次面型剪切带岩石褶皱、韧脆性推覆,成矿元素从初始矿源层中再次活化、运移,随着沿褶皱轴面劈理发育的烟灰色糜棱岩化石英脉的形成,沉淀富集于石英脉中,形成银金矿床。脆性变形的叠加,使含矿石英脉产生扭动,促使成矿元素的局部富集,形成透镜状或板状矿体。成矿元素的垂直分带是由构造环境的变化导致成矿元素的叠生作用而形成的。多硅白云母及白云母年龄的测定表明该矿床的成矿期为印支期。     

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.     

Evidence for a Caledonian amphibolite to eclogite facies pressure gradient in the Middle Allochthon Lindås Nappe,SW-Norway

The Proterozoic anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite complex dominating the Lindås Nappe in the Scandinavian Caledonides was locally eclogitized in the southwestern part of the nappe during the Caledonian orogeny, whereas only amphibolite facies assemblages are recorded in the rest of the nappe. Sveconorwegian granulites of anorthositic to jotunitic composition in the northernmost eclogite-free exposures of the nappe exhibit large garnet phenoblasts (ca. 900°C) that are fractured and partly replaced by a Caledonian symplectitic amphibolite facies assemblage (ca. 515°C). Metamorphic zircon attributed to this garnet breakdown is dated by ID-TIMS U–Pb at 430 ± 3 Ma, suggesting that the amphibolite facies overprint was coeval with the formation of eclogite 30 km further south, probably implying that the section across the nappe represents a Caledonian pressure gradient. The rocks also preserve a complex Sveconorwegian history including an age of 969 ± 6 Ma, which we interpret as dating magmatic emplacement of jotunitic–anorthositic portions of the complex, 936 ± 12 Ma reflecting the granulite facies metamorphism, and 908 ± 16 Ma, representing a late generation of zircon best explained as having formed by metasomatic processes. Caledonian shearing severely deformed zircon grains in an amphibolite facies shear zone, resetting their U–Pb systems, and forming new ones, hereby also demonstrating a case of resetting and recrystallization of low-U zircon. Our data, gained from diverse lithologies, illustrate several processes involved in making and resetting zircon as well as indicate the contemporaneous evolution and similar origin of the Lindås Nappe and the Jotun Nappe Complex.     

Tectonics of the Lepontine Alps: ductile thrusting and folding in the deepest tectonic levels of the Central Alps

The Lepontine dome represents a unique region in the arc of the Central and Western Alps, where complex fold structures of upper amphibolite facies grade of the deepest stage of the orogenic belt are exposed in a tectonic half-window. The NW-verging Mont Blanc, Aar und Gotthard basement folds and the Lower Penninic gneiss nappes of the Central Alps were formed by ductile detachment of the upper European crust during its Late Eocene–Early Oligocene SE-directed underthrust below the upper Penninic and Austroalpine thrusts and the Adriatic plate. Four underthrust zones are distinguished in the NW-verging stack of Alpine fold nappes and thrusts: the Canavese, Piemont, Valais and Adula zones. Up to three schistosities S1–S3, folds F1–F3 and a stretching lineation XI with top-to-NW shear indicators were developed in the F1–F3 fold nappes. Spectacular F4 transverse folds, the SW-verging Verzasca, Maggia, Ziccher, Alpe Bosa and Wandfluhhorn anticlines and synclines overprint the Alpine nappe stack. Their formation under amphibolite facies grade was related to late ductile folding of the southern nappe roots during dextral displacement of the Adriatic indenter. The transverse folding F4 was followed since 30 Ma by the pull-apart exhumation and erosion of the Lepontine dome. This occurred coevally with the formation of the dextral ductile Simplon shear zone, the S-verging backfolding F5 and the formation of the southern steep belt. Exhumation continued after 18 Ma with movement on the brittle Rhone-Simplon detachment, accompanied by the N-, NW- and W-directed Helvetic and Dauphiné thrusts. The dextral shear is dated by the 29–25 Ma crustal-derived aplite and pegmatite intrusions in the southern steep belt. The cooling by uplift and erosion of the Tertiary migmatites of the Bellinzona region occurred between 22 and 18 Ma followed by the exhumation of the Toce dome on the brittle Rhone–Simplon fault since 18 Ma.     

东秦岭松树沟蛇绿岩构造变形及其演化

东秦岭松树沟蛇绿岩是沿西沟早期韧性剪切带和界岭韧性剪切带构造侵位于早元古代秦岭群变质杂岩南缘之上的蛇绿岩推覆体，主要遭受了４期构造变形，反映蛇绿岩演化过程中四期主要的构造运动，分别为：１０亿年左右上地幔部分熔融残余体──蛇绿橄榄岩块底辟侵位于上覆玄武岩、晋宁期蛇绿岩构造侵位、加里东─早华力西期由南向北的过冲及晚华力西─印支期的左行走滑运动。     

“彭灌杂岩”推覆体的构造变形特征

位于龙门山中段的“彭灌杂岩”推覆体，主要由中晚元古代的二长花岗岩、英云间长岩、钾长花岗岩、辉长岩等组成，用颗粒锆石法测其年龄值为６９９—８５９Ｍａ。该推覆体的推覆面（映秀断裂）为脆－韧性变形，且以脆性变形为主的逆冲推覆断裂，并且有走滑性质。推覆体内部早期为韧性变形，叠加晚期脆性改造，其断裂呈叠瓦状排列，中后部以韧脆性变形为主，至前部脆性变形增强，总体为一个由众多岩片叠置而成的韧脆性冲断推覆体。     

京北云蒙山地区四合堂韧性逆冲型剪切带的变形特征及早期变形时限约束

云蒙山杂岩是华北克拉通内记载了晚中生代构造演化的重要构造单元之一。云蒙山地区区域构造格架主要由四合堂背斜推覆体、四合堂逆冲型韧性剪切带、云蒙山背形、河防口正断层及水峪伸展型韧性剪切带等组成。对于四合堂逆冲型剪切带的活动时限及其与水峪剪切带之间的关系,是长期争论的课题之一。在四合堂韧性剪切带中广泛发育有剪切演化各个阶段就位的花岗质岩脉。本文研究云蒙山四合堂地区剪切变形特征及广泛发育的岩脉与构造变形之间关系,将岩脉厘定为构造期前(剪切前)岩脉、同构造期(同剪切)岩脉和构造期后(剪切后)岩脉等6期。不同类型的同构造岩脉锆石U-Pb定年获得了岩脉结晶年龄为170~150Ma。从构造-岩浆关系分析角度考虑,本文认为四合堂剪切带韧性逆冲作用早期的活动始于约170Ma,并持续到约150Ma。     

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.     

Permian magmatism and metamorphism in the Dent Blanche nappe: constraints from field observations and geochronology

In the Dent Blanche Tectonic System, the Mont Morion biotite-bearing granite is a km-scale intrusion preserved in a low-strain volume. Zircon saturation thermometry suggests that it crystallised from a melt that reached about 800 °C. U–Pb zircon and allanite geochronology indicates crystallization of the magma in the Permian (290 ± 3 Ma; 280 ± 8 Ma, respectively). Migmatitic biotite-gneiss and amphibolite are found as xenoliths within the Mont Morion granite and constitute its country-rocks. In two samples of migmatitic biotite-gneiss zircon has metamorphic overgrowths that yield U–Pb ages of 285 ± 3 Ma and 281 ± 4 Ma, and are thus contemporaneous with the intrusion of the granite. The Mont Morion granite with its country-rocks of migmatitic biotite-bearing gneiss and amphibolite was thus emplaced at middle crustal levels while amphibolite facies metamorphism affected its country rocks. The magmatic and metamorphic record in the Mont Morion area reflects the high-temperature regime and lithospheric thinning of the Adriatic continental margin during Permian.     

Extensional deformation along the southern boundary of the Gyeonggi Massif,South Korea: structural characteristics,age constraints,and tectonic implications

The Permo–Triassic collision of the North and South China blocks caused the development of the Dabie–Sulu Orogen in China and Songrim Orogen in the Korean Peninsula. Extension after this collision is known from the Dabie–Sulu Orogen, but post-orogenic extension is not well defined in the Korean Peninsula. Extensional deformation along the southern boundary of the Gyeonggi Massif in Korea is characterized by top–down-to-the-south ductile shearing and subsequent brittle normal faulting, and was predated by regional metamorphism and north-vergent contractional deformation. Extension occurred between ~220 and 185 Ma based on the ages of pre-extensional regional metamorphism and post-extensional pluton emplacement. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of syn-extensional muscovite in quartz–mica mylonite yields an age of 187.8 ± 5.6 (2σ) Ma, in agreement with constraints from structural relationships. Together with the extensional deformation identified along the northern boundary of the Gyeonggi Massif (~226 Ma), the extension along the southern boundary is probably related to the exhumation of the massif during late-orogenic or post-orogenic extension associated with the Songrim Orogeny of the Korean Peninsula and forms an important event in the Phanerozoic crustal evolution of East Asia.     

Structure and geochronology of the Tongbai complex and their implications for the evolution of the Tongbai orogenic belt,central China

The Tongbai orogenic belt has an overall antiformal geometry and the hinge of the antiform is sub-horizontal and trends NW–SE. The Tongbai complex (TBC) in the core of the antiform is bounded by the S-dipping Yindian–Malong shear zone in the south, the sub-horizontal Taibaiding shear zone at the top and the N-dipping Hongyihe–Tongbai shear zone in the north. The three shear zones have dextral, top-to-NW and sinistral movement, respectively. They are parts of a single shear zone, termed the Tongbai shear zone, that has a uniform top-to-NW sense of shear. Three samples of deformed granitoid (mylonite or protomylonite) from the shear zone have U–Pb zircon ages of 145 ± 6 Ma, 142 ± 2 Ma and 131 ± 6 Ma, respectively. An L-tectonite in the TBC yielded a metamorphic age of 137 ± 8 Ma and a migmatite an age of 137 ± 1 Ma. The Tongbai shear zone is intruded by undeformed Early Cretaceous granite and dykes and deformation in the shear zone is constrained to ca. 140–135 Ma, synchronous with metamorphism and migmatization in the TBC. Early Cretaceous magma emplacement and the associated uplift modified the TBC into a gentle antiform and the uplift may have continued to ca. 102–85 Ma. Similar geometry and kinematics have been documented in the Dabie orogenic belt to the east, which suggests that the Central Orogenic Belt in China probably experienced a uniform orogen-parallel extension and top-to-NW shearing in the ductile lithosphere in the Early Cretaceous.     

Thrusting and transpressional shearing in the Pan-African nappe southwest El-Sibai core complex,Central Eastern Desert,Egypt

The Wadi El-Shush area in the Central Eastern Desert (CED) of Egypt is occupied by the Sibai core complex and its surrounding Pan-African nappe complex. The sequence of metamorphic and structural events in the Sibai core complex and the enveloping Pan-African nappe can be summarized as follows: (1) high temperature metamorphism associated with partial melting of amphibolites and development of gneissic and migmatitic rocks, (2) between 740 and 660 Ma, oblique island arc accretion resulted in Pan-African nappe emplacement and the intrusion of syn-tectonic gneissic tonalite at about 680 ± 10 Ma. The NNW–SSE shortening associated with oblique island arc accretion produced low angle NNW-directed thrusts and open folds in volcaniclastic metasediments, schists and isolated serpentinite masses (Pan-African nappe) and created NNE-trending recumbent folds in syn-tectonic granites. The NNW–SSE shortening has produced imbricate structures and thrust duplexes in the Pan-African nappe, (3) NE-ward thrusting which deformed the Pan-African nappe into SW-dipping imbricate slices. The ENE–WSW compression event has created NE-directed thrusts, folded the NNW-directed thrusts and produced NW-trending major and minor folds in the Pan-African nappe. Prograde metamorphism (480–525 °C at 2–4.5 kbar) was synchronous with thrusting events, (4) retrograde metamorphism during sinistral shearing along NNW- to NW-striking strike-slip shear zones (660–580 Ma), marking the external boundaries of the Sibai core complex and related to the Najd Fault System. Sinistral shearing has produced steeply dipping mylonitic foliation and open plunging folds in the NNW- and NE-ward thrust planes. Presence of retrograde metamorphism supports the slow exhumation of Sibai core complex under brittle–ductile low temperature conditions. Arc-accretion caused thrusting, imbrication and crustal thickening, whereas gravitational collapse of a compressed and thickened lithosphere initiated the sinistral movement along transcurrent shear zones and low angle normal ductile shear zones and consequently, development and exhumation of Sibai core complex.