Growing Gondwana and Rethinking Rodinia: A Paleomagnetic Perspective

The formation of Gondwana during the late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times (550-530 Ma) was traditionally viewed as the welding of two, more or less contiguous, Proterozoic continental masses called East and West Gondwana. The notion of a united West Gondwana is no longer tenable as a wealth of geochronologic and structural data indicate major orogenesis amongst its constituent cratons during the final stages of greater Gondwana assembly. The idea that East Gondwana may also have formed through the amalgamation of a collage of cratonic nuclei during the Cambrian is controversial. Recent paleomagnetic, geochronologic and structural data from elements of East Gondwana indicate that its formation may have extended well into Cambrian time. Thus, the terms ‘East’ and ‘West’ Gondwana may be relegated to convenient geographical terms rather than any connotation of tectonic coherence during the Proterozoic. In addition, the paleomagnetic data also challenge the conventional views of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia and the SWEAT fit. Alternative variants including Protopangea and AUSWUS are not supported by paleomagnetic data during the interval 800–700 Ma.     

Neoproterozoic to Early Ordovician Evolution of the Paleo-Asian Ocean: Implications to the Break-up of Rodinia

The paper reviews and integrates the recent geological and geochronological data, which allow us to recognize three stages of the evolution of the Paleo-Asian Ocean.The opening of the Paleo-Asian Ocean at 970-850 Ma is dated by the Nersin Complex in the Aldan shield, plagiogranites of the Sunuekit massif, enderbites of the Sludinsk Lake area, and passive margin sediments of the Patoma or Baikal series. The initial subduction (850-700 Ma) is marked by volcanic rocks, trondjemite and gabbro of the Sarkhoy island arc series. Collisions of microcontinents with Siberia at 660 to 620 Ma are evidenced by the exhumation of Muya eclogites (650 Ma), formation of migmatites and amphibolites of the Njurundukan belt (635 and 590 Ma), metamorphic units of the Near-Yenisei belt (640-600 Ma), and orogenic molasse (640-620 Ma). The Paleo-Asian Ocean maximally opened at 620-550 Ma, because at that time a long island arc composed of boninite volcanic rocks was formed. Primitive island arcs of that age have been reconstructed in Kazakhstan, Gorny Altai, West and East Sayan, and North Mongolia. HP and UHP rocks formed in two stages at 550-520 and 520-490 Ma. At 550-490 Ma oceanic islands and Gondwana-derived microcontinents (Kokchetav, Tuva-Mongolian, Central Mongolian and others) collided with the Cambrian-early Ordovician island arc of the Siberian continent. As a result, the island-arc system was extensively modified. Collision occurred twice at 550-520 and 520-490 Ma during which many HP and UHP rocks formed. At that time, the new oceans - the Junggar, Kazakhstan and Uralian - with an Ordovician island arc were formed.     

The Break-up of a Long-term Relationship: the Cretaceous Separation of New Zealand from Gondwana

After a prolonged period of convergent margin tectonics in the Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic, resulting in terrane accretion, uplift and erosion of the New Zealand segment of Gondwana, the region saw a rapid change to extensional tectonics in mid-Cretaceous times. The change in regime is commonly marked by a major angular unconformity that separates the older, often strongly-deformed subduction-related ‘basement’ rocks from the younger, less-deformed ‘cover’ strata. The youngest ‘basement’ strata locally contain Albian fossils, and the youngest associated zircons have been radiometrically dated at ca. 100 Ma. In general the oldest strata overlying the unconformity contain fossils of similar Albian age, and the oldest radiometric dates also give similar dates of ca. 100 Ma, indicating a very rapid transition between the two tectonic regimes.The onset of extension resulted in the widespread development of grabens and half grabens, associated in the northwest of the South Island with a metamorphic core complex. In the west and south, on the thicker and more buoyant crust of most of the South Island, the new basins were infilled with mainly non-marine deposits. Non-marine graben infill consists of locally-derived breccia deposited as talus or debris flows on alluvial fans, passing directly as fan deltas or via fluvial deposits into lacustrine deposits. Active faulting continued in some areas until the initiation of sea floor spreading in Santonian times. Post-subduction strata on the thinner continental crust of the northeastern South Island and eastern North Island (East Coast Basin) were mainly marine. Initial sedimentary deposits in the west of the basin, reflecting extensional tectonism, consist of coarse-grained debris-flow deposits or olistostromes, generally fining upwards as tectonic activity waned: those in the east, including allochthonous sediments derived from the northeast, are dominated by turbidites. Early Cenomanian (ca. 96–98 Ma) injection of intraplate alkaline igneous rocks in central New Zealand caused updoming, resulting in shallowing and local uplift of the basin floor above sea level. A long (ca. 10 Ma) period of slow subsidence and transgressive marine sedimentation interrupted by episodic relative sea level changes followed.This pattern changed in the Late Coniacian (ca. 87–86 Ma), with a sudden influx of coarse, transgressive sands in eastern New Zealand. This was immediately preceded in parts of the region by uplift and erosion, probably driven by convective upwelling of the mantle just prior to sea-floor spreading, resulting in a ‘break-up’ unconformity. In the Late Santonian (ca. 85–84 Ma), development of a new, diachronous, widespread low-relief erosion surface, overlain by fine-grained deposits accompanying a rapid rise in relative sea level, coincided with the beginning of sea-floor spreading, rapid passive margin subsidence, and final separation of New Zealand from Gondwana.     

Contemporaneous assembly of Western Gondwana and final Rodinia break-up: Implications for the supercontinent cycle

Geological, geochronological and isotopic data are integrated in order to present a revised model for the Neoproterozoic evolution of Western Gondwana. Although the classical geodynamic scenario assumed for the period 800–700 Ma is related to Rodinia break-up and the consequent opening of major oceanic basins, a significantly different tectonic evolution can be inferred for most Western Gondwana cratons. These cratons occupied a marginal position in the southern hemisphere with respect to Rodinia and recorded subduction with back-arc extension, island arc development and limited formation of oceanic crust in internal oceans. This period was thus characterized by increased crustal growth in Western Gondwana, resulting from addition of juvenile continental crust along convergent margins. In contrast, crustal reworking and metacratonization were dominant during the subsequent assembly of Gondwana. The Río de la Plata, Congo-São Francisco, West African and Amazonian cratons collided at ca. 630–600 Ma along the West Gondwana Orogen. These events overlap in time with the onset of the opening of the Iapetus Ocean at ca. 610–600 Ma, which gave rise to the separation of Baltica, Laurentia and Amazonia and resulted from the final Rodinia break-up. The East African/Antarctic Orogen recorded the subsequent amalgamation of Western and Eastern Gondwana after ca. 580 Ma, contemporaneously with the beginning of subduction in the Terra Australis Orogen along the southern Gondwana margin. However, the Kalahari Craton was lately incorporated during the Late Ediacaran–Early Cambrian. The proposed Gondwana evolution rules out the existence of Pannotia, as the final Gondwana amalgamation postdates latest connections between Laurentia and Amazonia. Additionally, a combination of introversion and extroversion is proposed for the assembly of Gondwana. The contemporaneous record of final Rodinia break-up and Gondwana assembly has major implications for the supercontinent cycle, as supercontinent amalgamation and break-up do not necessarily represent alternating episodic processes but overlap in time.     

华南新元古代中期裂谷火山岩系：Rodinia超大陆裂谷化-裂解的地质纪录

华南新元古代中期（746-827Ma）双峰式（玄武岩-流纹岩）火山岩喷发于大陆板内裂谷环境。它们极有可能与导致Rodinia超大陆裂谷化-裂解的地幔柱（或超级地幔柱）活动有关。根据岩石地球化学数据,华南新元古代中期裂谷基性熔岩可以划分为高Ti／Y（HT,Ti／Y〉500）和低Ti／Y（LT,Ti／Y〈500）两个岩浆类型。HT熔岩又可进一步划分为HT1和HT2等两个亚类。HT1熔岩主要分部于华南中-西部裂谷盆地之中,总体上属于碱性玄武质岩浆系列;HT2和LT熔岩主要分布于华南中-东部裂谷盆地之中,总体上属于拉斑玄武质岩浆系列。元素和同位素数据表明,华南新元古代中期裂谷基性熔岩的化学变化不是由一个共同的母岩浆结晶分异作用所产生。华南中-西部地区裂谷基性熔岩的母岩浆经受了辉长岩质结晶分离作用,而华南中-东部地区裂谷基性熔岩的化学演化则是受控于单斜辉石（cpx）士橄榄石（01）结晶分离作用。各个双峰式火山岩系中,基性和酸性熔岩间为分异结晶关系。华南新元古代中期裂谷火山岩系极有可能是源于共同的地幔柱,该地幔柱组分的成分为：eNd（f）≈＋6,Mg#≈0．7,La／Nb≈0．7。华南新元古代中期裂谷基性熔岩存在空间上的地球化学变化：华南中一西部HT1熔岩的母岩浆,没有受到明显的大陆岩石圈混染,保存了鲜明的地幔柱信号;而大陆地壳或大陆岩石圈混染作用对于华南中-东部LT和HT2熔岩的形成则有着重要贡献。研究揭示,华南新元古代中期裂谷基性熔岩的母岩浆总体上产生于上涌地幔柱较深层位的石榴子石稳定区（深度：100～130km）。中-西部裂谷基性熔岩的母岩浆（碱性玄武质）产生于深度较大（～130km）、部分熔融程度较低（〈10％）的条件下,中-东部裂谷基性熔岩的母岩浆（拉斑玄武质）产生于深度稍浅（～100km）?