浙江治岭头金银矿体的控矿构造

治岭头金银矿基底发育八都群变质系,盖层为晚侏罗世火山岩系,金银矿体赋存于变质岩系中,金银矿体受控于变质基底的韧性共轭剪切带。研究认为,NW方向的韧性剪切带具有右行平移性质,NE方向的韧性剪切带具有左行平移性质,EW方向剪切带未见剪切动向,主要为含变质岩角砾的石英脉。NE和NW两个方向的韧性剪切带具有共轭性质,EW方向剪切带位于共轭剪切带交汇部位,受到相向挤压造成的尖端钝化,SN向的脆性断裂对矿体起到破坏作用。     

Geometrical analysis of mesoscopic shear zones in the crystalline rocks of MCT zone of Garhwal Higher Himalaya

The crystalline rocks of the MCT Zone of Garhwal Higher Himalaya exhibit well-preserved mesoscopic shear zones. Majority of these shear zones are of ductile and brittle ductile type with both sinistral and dextral sense of movement. Detailed analysis of mesoscopic shear zones reveals that sinistral shear zones exhibit a strike variation from NNE to ENE and dextral shear zones exhibit variation from NNW to WNW directions thus forming a conjugate pair. The bisectors of statistically preferred orientations of the two sets of the shears indicate that they generated due to NNE–SSW horizontal compression. These dextral and sinistral shear zones exhibit strike–slip geometry developed during progressive ductile shearing.     

The role of strike-slip faulting in the history of the Hukawng Block and the Jade Mines Uplift,Myanmar

The Hukawng Basin is bounded on its east by splays of the still-active Sagaing Fault. Palinspastically restoring Myanmar's blocks to their positions before the widely-accepted c.400?km dextral strike-slip fault displacement, places the Hukawng Block alongside the Tengchong Block, suggesting they were formerly connected. Additionally the Cretaceous–Paleogene Medial-Myanmar Shear Zone then aligns with the NW-SE Jade Mines Belt. Jadeitite formed there under HP/LT conditions in a Mesozoic subduction zone. It was exhumed at the intersection of the dextral Medial-Myanmar Shear Zone with the subduction-zone at the continental margin of Sundaland. The later Sagaing Fault played no part in that exhumation.     

Deformation condition determination and strain analysis: Application of microstructural and microthermometry study of the Zamanabad Shear Zone (East of Iran)

Microstructural analysis and microthermometry are useful methods for determining the deformation evolution. To address this issue, rheological behavior of quartz, feldspar and calcite in veins and host rocks during deformation, are presented in the mylonite zone of the dextral reverse Zamanabad Shear Zone (ZSZ), in northern part of Sistan Suture Zone (SSZ), in east of Iran. Microstructure evidences revealed two evolution stages of high and low temperature deformation. Quartz microstructures in the ZSZ show abundant evidences for early high-temperature plastic deformation (e.g. Bulging recrystallization (BLG)) which are as microstructures with SW directed ductile shearing in the central parts of the ZSZ. This shear zone shows progressively decreasing strain away from the central of shear zone toward the wall. High-temperature microstructures are overprinted partly or completely during shearing by the later low-temperature deformation (e.g. Pressure solution, fractures, veinlets). Microstructural observations of veins (quartz and calcite) confirms the results of microstructures in the host rock, as quartz veins occurred from peak metamorphic conditions (<400°C) and then in lower P–T conditions have been formed calcite veins (~250°C). According to microthermometric studies, two primary fluid groups are observed in quartz veins: (1) fluids trapped during peak deformation conditions, with higher-salinity, They were initially trapped at ~300–400°C, (2) smaller fluids by trapping of low-salinity inclusions at ~240–180°C that related to subsequent phases of shear zone exhumation in lower deep. Microthermometry results and microstructural analysis indicate deformation under lower greenschist facies conditions for the ZSZ, and then exhumation of the early of high-temperature rocks within regime of ductile-brittle transition to brittle.     

Recording and analyzing geospatially accurate structural data through ‘digital mapping’ technique: A case study from the Canisp Shear Zone,NW Scotland

Spatial accuracy of structural data is an important factor for construction of a properly scaled model of crustal structures. Digital Geological Mapping methods can add the required spatial accuracy to the data, and also can improve the versatility of the geological/structural map in many ways, which are difficult to achieve through conventional mapping techniques. The present paper describes the methodology of digital mapping and discusses its applicability in structural analyses in the Canisp Shear Zone (CSZ) — a reactivated continental basement structure in the Precambrian Lewisian Gneiss complex of NW Scottish Highland. The CSZ is reinterpreted as a major dextral transpressional shear zone developed during Laxfordian deformation. It overprinted an earlier Inverian shear zone fabric, and was later reactivated and/or overprinted by brittle shearing of different phases and different scales. Spatial analyses within the ArcGISTM environment has helped bring out the geological relationships between different types of structural data in the shear zone, highlighting the partitioning of deformation into zones of high and low strain. A kinematic interpretation based on the geospatial data analysis, combined with conventional stereographic projection technique, is presented.     

Palaeozoic late collisional strike-slip deformations in Tianshan and Altay, Eastern Xinjiang, NW China

ABSTRACT In Central Asia, thrusts and shear zones resulting from Palaeozoic accretional events were reworked by E–W-trending ductile strike-slip faults during late Palaeozoic–early Mesozoic time. In the Tianshan range, microstructures and quartz C-axis fabrics show a main dextral shearing associated with sinistral localized shear zones. The relationship between these conjugate structures indicates a NNW–SSE-trending bulk shortening. In the Chinese Altay mountains, the existence of δ-type microstructures in an important sinistral mylonitic zone infers high rates of deformation. This shear zone is bordered by a late dextral ductile fault synchronous with a granite emplacement. Field evidence and datings from the literature provide chronological constraints. In the late Carboniferous, the sinistral mylonitic deformation took place in the Erqishi–Irtysh shear zone in the northeastern part of Xinjiang and in Kazakhstan. During the Early Permian, a regional dextral event occurred in the Tianshan range and under the whole of northern Xinjiang.     

Geophysical constraints of shear zones and geometry of the Hiltaba Suite granites in the western Gawler Craton,Australia

The emplacement of the ca 1590–1575 Ma Hiltaba Suite granites records a large magmatic event throughout the Gawler Craton, South Australia. The Hiltaba Suite granites intrude the highly deformed Archaean‐Palaeoproterozoic rocks throughout the craton nuclei. Geophysical interpretation of the poorly exposed central western Gawler Craton suggests that the region can be divided into several distinct domains that are bounded by major shear zones, exhibiting a sequence of overprinting relationships. The north‐trending Yarlbrinda Shear Zone merges into the east‐trending Yerda Shear Zone that, in turn, merges into the northeast‐trending Coorabie Shear Zone. Several poorly exposed Hiltaba Suite granite plutons occur within a wide zone of crustal shearing that is bounded to the north by the Yerda Shear Zone and to the south by the Oolabinnia Shear Zone. This wide zone of crustal shearing is interpreted as a major zone of synmagmatic dextral strike‐slip movement that facilitated the ascent of Hiltaba Suite granite intrusions to the upper crust. The aeromagnetic and gravity data reveal that the intrusions are ～15–25 km in diameter. Forward modelling of the geophysical data shows that the intrusions have a tabular geometry and are less than 6 km deep.     

西秦岭北缘武山-鸳鸯镇构造带磁组构特征

构造与磁组特征揭示出武山-鸳鸯镇构造带为一条复合性断裂带,变形样式表现为花状构造形态。野外及显微构造特征表明,先期韧性变形为右行剪切,发育于中、深构造层次;66个构造岩样品的磁化率椭球形态分析表明,其以平面和压扁应变为主,总体较高的磁化率各向异性度表现了构造带的强变形特征;磁化率椭球主轴方位显示NW和NEE走向两组磁面理的存在,暗示高应变剪切带在平面上可能以共轭或网格状形态出露,锐夹角分线近EW向;高角度磁面理及较为发育的低倾伏角磁线理暗示了沿构造带近EW向的走滑剪切,部分高倾伏角磁线理可能与构造带的挤压和(或)转换挤压相关,而相对集中的磁面理与相对分散的磁线理也表明了构造带的平面及压扁应变体制。强烈的右行转换挤压奠定了西秦岭北缘现今的反"S"型区域构造,表明碰撞造山过程中,西秦岭诸中、小块体一定程度的向西挤逸。中、新生代沿构造带继承性的发育以西秦岭北缘(渭河)断裂为中心的一系列正花状左行走滑构造,构成青藏高原东北边缘物质逃逸及应力释放与调整的重要边界。     

Microstructures of mylonites along the Karakoram Shear Zone,Tangste Valley,Pangong Mountains,Karakoram

The Karakoram Shear Zone is a northwest-southeast trending dextral ductile shear zone, which has affected the granitic and granodioritic bodies of the southern Asian Plate margin in three distinct episodes. The ductile shearing of the granitic bodies at Tangste and Darbuk has resulted in the development of mylonites with mylonitic foliation and stretching lineation. More intense deformation is noted in the Tangste granite grading up to orthomylonite, as compared to the Darbuk granite. Kinematic indicators include S-C foliation, synthetic C′ and C″ antithetic shear bands, Type A s-mantled porphyroclasts, oblique quartz foliation, micro-shears with bookshelf gliding, mineral fishes including Group 2 mica fishes, and Type 1 and 2a pull-apart microstructures, and exhibit strong dextral sense of ductile shearing towards southeast. The textural features of the minerals, especially that of quartz and feldspar, indicate temperature of mylonitisation ranging between 300 and 500°C in the upper greenschist facies, and appear to have been evolved during exhumation as a consequence of oblique strike-slip movements along the Karakoram shear zone.     

Structural evolution of the Irtysh Shear Zone (northwestern China) and implications for the amalgamation of arc systems in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

The NW–SE Irtysh Shear Zone is a major tectonic boundary in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), which supposedly records the amalgamation history between the peri-Siberian orogenic system and the Kazakhstan/south Mongolia orogenic system. However, the tectonic evolution of the Irtysh Shear Zone is not fully understood. Here we present new structural and geochronological data, which together with other constraints on the timing of deformation suggests that the Irtysh Shear Zone was subjected to three phases of deformation in the late Paleozoic. D₁ is locally recognized as folded foliations in low strain areas and as an internal fabric within garnet porphyroblasts. D₂ is represented by a shallowly dipping fabric and related ∼ NW–SE stretching lineations oriented sub-parallel to the strike of the orogen. D₂ foliations are folded by ∼ NW–SE folds (F₃) that are bounded by a series of mylonite zones with evidence for sinistral/reverse kinematics. These fold and shear structures are kinematically compatible, and thus interpreted to result from a transpressional deformation phase (D₃). Two samples of mica schists yielded youngest detrital zircon peaks at ∼322 Ma, placing a maximum constraint on the timing of D₁–D₃ deformation. A ∼ NE–SW granitic dyke swarm (∼252 Ma) crosscuts D₃ fold structures and mylonitic fabrics in the central part of the shear zone, but is displaced by a mylonite zone that represents the southern boundary of the Irtysh Shear Zone. This observation indicates that the major phase of D₃ transpressional deformation took place prior to ∼252 Ma, although later phases of reactivation in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are likely. The late Paleozoic deformation (D₁–D₃ at ∼322–252 Ma) overlaps in time with the collision between the Chinese Altai and the intra-oceanic arc system of the East Junggar. We therefore interpret that three episodes of late Paleozoic deformation represent orogenic thickening (D₁), collapse (D₂), and transpressional deformation (D₃) during the convergence between the Chinese Altai and the East Junggar. On a larger scale, late Paleozoic sinistral shearing (D₃), together with dextral shearing farther south, accommodated the eastward migration of internal segments of the western CAOB, possibly associated with the amalgamation of multiple arc systems and continental blocks during the late Paleozoic.     

High temperature fracturing and ductile deformation during cooling of a pluton: The Lake Edison granodiorite (Sierra Nevada batholith,California)

In the Bear Creek area of the Sierra Nevada batholith, California, the high temperature postmagmatic deformation structures of the Lake Edison granodiorite include steeply-dipping orthogneiss foliations, joints, and ductile shear zones that nucleated on joints and leucocratic dykes. Exploitation of segmented joints resulted in sharply bounded, thin shear zones and in large slip gradients near the shear zone tips causing the deformation of the host rock at contractional domains. The orthogneiss foliation intensifies towards the contact with the younger Mono Creek granite and locally defines the dextral Rosy Finch Shear Zone (RFSZ), a major kilometre-wide zone crosscutting the pluton contacts. Joints predominantly strike at N70–90°E over most of the Lake Edison pluton and are exploited as sinistral shear zones, both within and outside the RFSZ. In a narrow (∼250 m thick) zone at the contact with the younger Mono Creek granite, within the RFSZ, the Lake Edison granodiorite includes different sets of dextral and sinistral shear zones/joints (the latter corresponding to the set that dominates over the rest of the Lake Edison pluton). These shear zones/joints potentially fit with a composite Y–R–R′ shear fracture pattern associated with the RFSZ, or with a pattern consisting of Y–R-shear fractures and rotated T′ mode I extensional fractures. The mineral assemblage of shear zones, and the microstructure and texture of quartz mylonites indicate that ductile deformation occurred above 500 °C. Joints and ductile shearing alternated and developed coevally. The existing kinematic models do not fully capture the structural complexity of the area or the spatial distribution of the deformation and magmatic structures. Future models should account more completely for the character of ductile and brittle deformation as these plutons were emplaced and cooled.     

Transpression and juxtaposition of middle crust over upper crust forming a crustal scale flower structure: Insight from structural,fabric, and kinematic studies from the Rengali Province,eastern India

Deformational, metamorphic, monazite age and fabric data from Rengali Province, eastern India converge towards a multi-scale transpressional deformational episode at ca. 498–521 Ma which is linked with the latest phase of tectonic processes operative at proto-India-Antarctica join. Detailed sector wise study on mutual overprinting relationships of macro-to microstructural elements suggest that deformation was regionally partitioned into fold-thrust dominated shortening zones alternating with zones of dominant transcurrent deformation bounded between the thrust sense Barkot Shear Zone in the north and the dextral Kerajang Fault Zone in the south. The strain partitioned zones are further restricted between two regional transverse shear zones, the sinistral Riamol Shear Zone in the west and the dextral Akul Fault Zone in the east which are interpreted as synthetic R and antithetic R' Riedel shear plane, respectively. The overall structural disposition has been interpreted as a positive flower structure bounded between the longitudinal and transverse faults with vertical extrusion and symmetric juxtaposition of mid-crustal amphibolite grade basement gneisses over low-grade upper crustal rocks emanating from the central axis of the transpressional belt.     

Slip sense inversion on active strike-slip faults in southwest Japan and its implications for Cenozoic tectonic evolution

Analyses of deflected river channels, offset of basement rocks, and fault rock structures reveal that slip sense inversion occurred on major active strike-slip faults in southwest Japan such as the Yamasaki and Mitoke fault zones and the Median Tectonic Line (MTL). Along the Yamasaki and Mitoke fault zones, small-size rivers cutting shallowly mountain slopes and Quaternary terraces have been deflected sinistrally, whereas large-size rivers which deeply incised into the Mio-Pliocene elevated peneplains show no systematically sinistral offset or complicated hairpin-shaped deflection. When the sinistral offsets accumulated on the small-size rivers are restored, the large-size rivers show residual dextral deflections. This dextral offset sense is consistent with that recorded in the pre-Cenozoic basement rocks. S–C fabrics of fault gouge and breccia zone developed in the active fault zones show sinistral shear sense compatible with earthquake focal mechanisms, whereas those of the foliated cataclasite indicate a dextral shear sense. These observations show that the sinistral strike-slip shear fabrics were overprinted on dextral ones which formed during a previous deformation phase. Similar topographic and geologic features are observed along the MTL in the central-eastern part of the Kii Peninsula. Based on these geomorphological and geological data, we infer that the slip sense inversion occurred in the period between the late Tertiary and mid-Quaternary period. This strike-slip inversion might result from the plate rearrangement consequent to the mid-Miocene Japan Sea opening event. This multidisciplinary study gives insight into how active strike-slip fault might evolves with time.     

东亚原特提斯洋(Ⅲ):北秦岭韧性剪切带构造特征

北秦岭造山带位于华北陆块与南秦岭微陆块的衔接部位,是研究原特提斯洋构造演化的关键区域之一。北秦岭造山带内主要发育四条韧性剪切带,包括位于边界处的洛南-栾川剪切带和商丹剪切带,及其内部的官坡-乔端剪切带和朱阳关-夏馆剪切带。通过详细的野外构造解析、显微构造分析和石英EBSD组构分析,获得了四条主要剪切带的活动特征,认为(1)在早古生代华北陆块与北秦岭微陆块拼合后的折返过程中,洛南-栾川、官坡-乔端和朱阳关-夏馆剪切带开始了初始的剪切活动;(2)~380Ma之后,华北、华南陆块在向北漂移过程中逐渐由近东西向展布转换为近南北向展布,导致洛南-栾川和商丹剪切带表现为明显的右行剪切;(3)~320Ma时,华北陆块和南秦岭微陆块之间的剪刀式拼合导致洛南-栾川剪切带表现为右行剪切,商丹剪切带表现为左行剪切,而官坡-乔端和朱阳关-夏馆剪切带在陆块内部不同构造单元的协调作用下分别表现为左行剪切和右行剪切。     

Transpressive Structures in the Ghadir Shear Belt,Eastern Desert,Egypt: Evidence for Partitioning of Oblique Convergence in the Arabian‐Nubian Shield during Gondwana Agglutination

Transpressional deformation has played an important role in the late Neoproterozoic evolution of the ArabianNubian Shield including the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt. The Ghadir Shear Belt is a 35 km-long, NW-oriented brittleductile shear zone that underwent overall sinistral transpression during the Late Neoproterozoic. Within this shear belt, strain is highly partitioned into shortening, oblique, extensional and strike-slip structures at multiple scales. Moreover, strain partitioning is heterogeneous along-strike giving rise to three distinct structural domains. In the East Ghadir and Ambaut shear belts, the strain is pure-shear dominated whereas the narrow sectors parallel to the shear walls in the West Ghadir Shear Zone are simple-shear dominated. These domains are comparable to splay-dominated and thrust-dominated strike-slip shear zones. The kinematic transition along the Ghadir shear belt is consistent with separate strike-slip and thrustsense shear zones. The earlier fabric(S1), is locally recognized in low strain areas and SW-ward thrusts. S2 is associated with a shallowly plunging stretching lineation(L2), and defines ～NW-SE major upright macroscopic folds in the East Ghadir shear belt. F2 folds are superimposed by ～NNW–SSE tight-minor and major F3 folds that are kinematically compatible with sinistral transpressional deformation along the West Ghadir Shear Zone and may represent strain partitioning during deformation. F2 and F3 folds are superimposed by ENE–WSW gentle F4 folds in the Ambaut shear belt. The sub-parallelism of F3 and F4 fold axes with the shear zones may have resulted from strain partitioning associated with simple shear deformation along narrow mylonite zones and pure shear-dominant deformation in fold zones. Dextral ENEstriking shear zones were subsequently active at ca. 595 Ma, coeval with sinistral shearing along NW-to NNW-striking shear zones. The occurrence of upright folds and folds with vertical axes suggests that transpression plays a significant role in the tectonic evolution of the Ghadir shear belt. Oblique convergence may have been provoked by the buckling of the Hafafit gneiss-cored domes and relative rotations between its segments. Upright folds, fold with vertical axes and sinistral strike-slip shear zones developed in response to strain partitioning. The West Ghadir Shear Zone contains thrusts and strikeslip shear zones that resulted from lateral escape tectonics associated with lateral imbrication and transpression in response to oblique squeezing of the Arabian-Nubian Shield during agglutination of East and West Gondwana.     

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.     

铧厂沟金矿床区域韧性剪切带特征

首次对铧厂沟金矿床区域韧性剪切带进行了较为系统的研究。根据野外地质调查和室内显微构造分析 ,区内发育一条较大区域韧性剪切带 ,无论沿走向还是顺倾向均呈舒缓波状 ,强变形带和弱变形域呈镶嵌形式。区域韧性剪切带经历了右行—左行—右行多期 (次 )活动 ,剪切方位也多次变化 ;早期形成温度约 5 0 0℃ ,以右行剪切为主 ,古应力值大于 0 .0 75GPa。控矿韧脆性剪切带是区域韧性剪切带演化的产物 ,最终形成脆性断裂。区域韧性剪切作用控制矿床、矿带的分布 ,并使部分金从矿源层分溢出来 ,产生第一阶段金的富集。次级韧脆性剪切带 (控矿剪切带 )控制富矿体的分布。因此 ,铧厂沟金矿床可称为韧性剪切带型金矿床。另外 ,中 -下泥盆统三河口群第一岩段第一岩层 (D1 -2 SH1a)部分原岩有明显海底热水同沉积特征 ;在矿床之西万家山—张家山应注意寻找硅化石英粗糜棱岩型金矿石。     

长乐-南澳韧性剪切带走滑特征探讨

长乐-南澳韧性剪切带可能是在碰撞造山缝合带基础上发育的,其走滑特性严格受闽台微大陆与闽浙中生代火山弧碰撞过程中碰撞动力学的制约。岩石韧性组构和糜棱岩变形的微构造研究表明,碰撞前期走滑为左行。在早垩世晚期(100-120Ma)的主碰撞期和以伸展作用为主的碰撞后期,该带以右行为主,这种右行走滑一直持续至今。发育韧性剪切带的闽台微大陆(或称平潭-东山带)原始位置可能比现今更靠南,这是属于几百公里的漂移位移而不是剪切位移。     

Structure of Masuleh Shear Zone: Evidence for Early–Middle Jurassic Dextral Shear Along Paleo-Tethys Suture Zone in the Western Alborz,NW Iran

The Paleo-Tethys suture zone in northern Iran was formed when the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, (between Gonwana-derived Alborz Microcontinent and the Turan Plate), closed during the Eocimmerian orogeny and after they collided together in the Mid-Late Triassic. The NW-striking Boghrov-Dagh basement Fault Zone that lies in the vicinity of Masuleh village and the southern boundary of Gasht Metamorphic Complex is a part of the Eocimmerian suture zone in the Western Alborz. Along this part of the suture zone, tourmaline leucogranites intruded in metamorphic rocks. We recognize three distinct deformation stages (D1 to D3) in the study area especially in the Masuleh Shear Zone. D1 which was synchronous with formation of the main metamorphic minerals, such as sillimanite and staurolite under medium- to high-grade metamorphic conditions probably during the Hercynian event and a NE-directed shortening. The slaty cleavage in metamorphosed Upper Paleozoic rocks and crenulation cleavage and folds in the older rocks were produced due to D2 deformation during the Eocimmerian event under greenschist facies conditions. The Masuleh Shear Zone formed as a result of a ductile strike-slip shear during the Early-Middle Jurassic Mid-Cimmerian D3 event with a pure dextral to transtension shear sense at low to locally medium-grade conditions. All of the D3 structural features agree with a NNW-directed compression and an ENE-directed extension caused by overall dextral shear parallel to the Masuleh shear zone and the Boghrov-Dagh Fault Zone. Based on the available evidence, especially cross-cutting relationships between structural fabrics and rock units, emplacement of the Gasht-Masuleh leucogranites occurred after the D2 collisional event coeval to the possible slab break-off and before the D3 event, between Eocimmerian and Mid-Cimmerian movements.     

Neotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau: New Geological Evidence for the Change from Early Pleistocene Transpression to Late Pleistocene-Holocene Strike-slip Faulting

We present in this paper some new evidence for the change during the Quaternary in kinematics of faults cutting the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. It shows that significant shortening deformation occurred during the Early Pleistocene, evidenced by eastward thrusting of Mesozoic carbonates on the Pliocene lacustrine deposits along the Minjiang upstream fault zone and by development of the transpressional ridges of basement rocks along the Anninghe river valley. The Middle Pleistocene seems to be a relaxant stage with local development of the intra-mountain basins particularly prominent along the Minjiang Upstream and along the southern segment of the Anninghe River Valley. This relaxation may have been duo to a local collapse of the thickened crust attained during the late Neogene to early Pleistocene across this marginal zone. Fault kinematics has been changed since the late Pleistocene, and was predominated by reverse sinistral strike-slip along the Minshan Uplift, reverse dextral strike-slip on the Longmenshan fault zone and pure sinistral strike-slip on the Anninghe fault. This change in fault kinematics during the Quaternary allows a better understanding of the mechanism by which the marginal ranges of the plateau has been built through episodic activities.