Dating emplacement and evolution of the orogenic magmatism in the internal Western Alps: 2. The Biella Volcanic Suite

The high-pressure metamorphic rocks of the Sesia?CLanzo zone are partly covered by a volcano-sedimentary unit, the Biella Volcanic Suite. Calc-alkaline and shoshonitic lavas extruded sub-aerially on the Oligocene surface. Uranium?CLead zircon dating yields 32.44?C32.89?Ma for the eruption of the calc-alkaline lavas and therefore fixes a minimum age for the paleosurface. The Biella Volcanic Suite consists mainly of epiclastic rocks deposited in a high-energy fluvial environment and minor lava flows. The rocks of the suite display widespread post-eruption transformations. Illite and chlorite thermometry as well as fission track dating suggest a thermal overprint related to burial of the Biella Volcanic Suite. An upper crustal rigid block tilting in the area causes this burial. Hydrothermal tourmaline and ankerite veins related to the intrusion of the nearby Valle del Cervo Pluton crosscut the already tilted Biella Volcanic Suite. The intrusion age of Valle del Cervo Pluton at 30.39?±?0.50?Ma sets therefore the lower time limit for tectonic processes responsible for the tilting and burial. After the burial, the Biella Volcanic Suite remained for around 20?million years between the zircon and the apatite partial annealing zone. The apatite fission track ages spread between 16 and 20?Ma gives the time frame for the second exhumation of these units. The Biella Volcanic Suite and the adjacent rocks of the Sesia?CLanzo zone were the second time exhumed to the surface in Messinian times, after a long residence time within the apatite partial annealing zone.     

Accretionary history of the Rhenodanubian flysch zone in the Eastern Alps – evidence from apatite fission-track geochronology

The thermotectonic evolution of the East Alpine Rhenodanubian flysch zone (RDFZ) and the collisional history along the orogenic front is reconstructed using apatite fission-track (FT) thermochronology. The apatite FT data provides evidence for a burial depth of at least 6 km for the samples, which were totally reset. Burial was not deeper than 11 km, since the zircon fission-track system was not reset. The RDFZ represents an accretionary wedge with a complex burial and cooling history due to successive and differential accretion and exhumation. The sedimentary sequences were deposited along a convergent margin, where accretion started before Maastrichtian and lasted until Miocene. Accretion propagated from a central area (Salzburg-Ybbsitz) both to the west and to the east. In the west, accretion lasted from Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene, reflecting underplating of the RDFZ by the European continental margin sediments. In the east, where three nappes (Greifenstein, Kahlenberg and Laab nappes) can be distinguished, the exhumation started between Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. The Kahlenberg and Laab nappes show total resetting of the apatite FT ages, while in the Greifenstein nappe there is only partial resetting. According to a new paleogeographic reconstruction, the Kahlenberg and Laab nappes were placed on top of the Greifenstein nappe by an out-of-sequence thrust.     

Late Miocene increasing exhumation rates in the eastern part of the Alps – implications from low temperature thermochronology

A new set of apatite fission‐track and apatite (U–Th)/He data reveals a hitherto undated late Miocene exhumation pulse in the eastern part of the Eastern Alps. While distinct parts of the study area, including the Seckauer Tauern, have been at near surface conditions (<100 °C) since the Eocene, the neighbouring Niedere Tauern experienced enhanced cooling and exhumation in the middle Miocene and again at the late Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Middle Miocene exhumation is interpreted as a result of tectonic escape and convergence that operated simultaneously during lateral extrusion of the Eastern Alps. As the higher late Miocene/Pliocene exhumation rates are restricted to a single tectonic block, namely the Niedere Tauern, we infer a tectonic trigger that is probably related to a change in the external stress field that affected the Alps during this time.     

Long-term landscape evolution of the northeastern margin of the Bohemian Massif: apatite fission-track data from the Erzgebirge (Germany)

To study the relative and absolute timing of post-Variscan cooling and denudation processes in the Erzgebirge of the Mid-European Variscides, eight samples for apatite fission-track (AFT) analysis were collected from a ~1,300 m drill-core. The fission-track data reveal two stages of accelerated cooling through the apatite partial annealing zone (APAZ; i.e., 110±10–60 °C) in the Late Jurassic-Late Cretaceous and in the late Cenozoic, respectively. Late Jurassic-Late Cretaceous cooling corresponding to denudation of 1.5–5.9 km has been related to wrench tectonics along the Elbe Zone during Triassic-Jurassic Pangea breakup. Late Cenozoic exhumation of 2.1–5.6 km, and the increase of the geothermal gradient from 17±5 °C km^–1 (Oligocene/Miocene) to 25–27 °C km^–1 (recent) is likely connected to the formation of the Eger Graben starting from the Oligocene, as a result of the late Alpine orogenic phases.     

Post-collisional tectonics in the Northern Cottian Alps (Italian Western Alps)

Field mapping and structural analysis have allowed us to characterise the fault geometry and the post-metamorphic tectonics of an area located in the Northern Cottian Alps (inner Western Alps). Two main faulting stages were distinguished here. The first (Oligocene?-Early Miocene) is related to the development of an E–W-striking left-normal shear zone. This shear zone is interpreted as an antithetical of two regional, N–S right-lateral structures: the Col del Lis-Trana Deformation Zone (LTZ) and the Colle delle Finestre Deformation Zone (CFZ). The second faulting stage (post-Early Miocene) is related mainly to the development of N–S normal faults, coeval with the extensional reactivation of the LTZ and the CFZ. We discuss this kinematic evolution in the framework of the geodynamic evolution of the Western Alps.     

郯庐断裂带对鲁西隆升过程的影响:磷灰石裂变径迹证据

郯庐断裂带(TLFZ)是一条贯穿华北的NNE向巨型断裂带。新生代以来,在郯庐断裂带的两侧及其内部发生了显著的伸展构造变形,形成了泰安-莱芜-蒙阴NW向断陷盆地群,并使鲁西块体发生了急剧的陆内伸展隆升。本文在前人研究的基础上,分别在鲁西沂山、徂徕山和蒙山三处进行了大量的样品采集,总计完成了25个样品的测试,获得了一系列新的磷灰石裂变径迹(AFT)年代学结果。结合前人已发表的裂变径迹结果,对鲁西地区新生代与伸展变形有关的剥露-隆升作用的时空分布特征、隆升剥露模式及隆升幅度进行分析,并揭示郯庐断裂带在鲁西新生代热隆升过程中的影响。主要认识有:1)新生代以来,鲁西主要经历了始新世-早渐新世和新近纪以来两期快速剥露-隆升阶段。2)始新世-早渐新世主要表现为幕式差异性快速剥露-隆升,鲁西南受NW向断层控制形成向北、向东的掀斜抬升作用,鲁西北受NE向断裂控制,形成向北、向西的掀斜抬升作用。新近纪以来,进入相对低速区域性剥露-隆升阶段。3)AFT模拟显示,与始新世-早渐新世的幕式快速剥露-隆升相比,中新世以来,鲁西剥露-隆升速率相对减小,但剥蚀量剥露-抬升量较大。故鲁西整体抬升于中新世以来。4)结合前人研究成果,新生代以来,鲁西宏观上受郯庐断裂带伸展活动影响,越靠近郯庐断裂带剥蚀量越大,局部受NW或NE向断裂控制。     

Apatite fission track geochronology of the Southern Hunan province across the Shi-Hang Belt: insights into the Cenozoic dynamic topography of South China

The Shi-Hang Belt is a Mesozoic tectonic zone and has always been regarded as the boundary between the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. It occupies a key tectonic location and attracts considerable attention due to its dynamic formation mechanism. However, its Cenozoic dynamic process is poorly constrained. The Cenozoic activation of the Shi-Hang Belt, as well as its cooling and exhumation, aids in dating the onset time of the formation of the mountain ranges and reveals the deformation process of the South China Block. To uncover the history of its Cenozoic cooling and denudation, apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronology was applied to batholiths and strata spread across the Shi-Hang Belt in the Hunan Province. Twenty-three samples are dated with ages ranging from 23.6 ± 1.5 to 45.8 ± 3.0 Ma. Except for two older ages (42.1 ± 2.6 and 45.8 ± 3.0 Ma), the other ages range from 23 to 36 Ma with less variation on both sides of the Chenzhou–Linwu fault. The thermochronological modelling of 15 measured samples demonstrates that rocks rapidly passed through the AFT partial annealing zone to the near surface at different onset times from 36 to 23 Ma. The regional AFT cooling pattern is unrelated to the internal structures of the Shi-Hang Belt characterized by a Mesozoic fold-thrust feature. We attribute the Cenozoic exhumation of the Shi-Hang Belt to the dynamic topography of the South China Block, which is related to mantle downwellings and upwellings due to several episodes of quick subduction of the Pacific Plate underneath Eurasia during the Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic and the Oligocene–early Miocene. The far-field effect of the India–Tibet collision may have contributed to the exhumation of the Shi-Hang Belt.     

Dating emplacement and evolution of the orogenic magmatism in the internal Western Alps: 1. The Miagliano Pluton

The Canavese Line in the Western Alps represents the position in the Alpine chain, where alkaline and calc-alkaline magmatism occur in close spatial and temporal association. In addition to available data on the alkaline Valle del Cervo Pluton, we present petrological and geochemical data on the Miagliano tonalite. The latter is of special interest, because it is located in the south-eastern side of the Canavese Line, in contrast to most Periadriatic Plutons. The dioritic to tonalitic rocks of the Miagliano Pluton represent an intermediate stage of a calc-alkaline differentiation, demonstrated by relics of two different pyroxenes as well as the texture of allanite. Hornblende barometry indicates pressures of ~0.46?GPa consistent with the presence of magmatic epidote. Field relationships between the two Plutons, the volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Biella Volcanic Suite and numerous dykes cross-cutting the different units, allow reconstruction of a more refined chronology of the calc-alkaline and alkaline magmatic series. High precision zircon geochronology yields an age of 33.00?±?0.04?Ma for the central tonalitic part of the Miagliano Pluton and 30.39?±?0.50?Ma for the granitic core of the Valle del Cervo Pluton. The difference in age combined with cooling data and intrusion depth indicates dissimilar tectonic transport east and west of the Canavese Line. The earlier emplaced Miagliano Pluton has to be exhumed from an intrusion depth of ~12?C15?km, whereas the neighbouring and younger Valle del Cervo Pluton is exhumed from a depth of 5?C7?km. This tectonic scenario is related to upper crustal rigid block rotation responsible for the burial of the lowermost Rupelian paleosurface of the Sesia?CLanzo Zone. Thus, the new ages constrain the paroxysm of the orogenic magmatism in the internal Western Alps to an extremely short lapse of time in the first half of the Rupelian.     

Late Mesozoic‐Cenozoic exhumation history of the Lesser Hinggan Mountains,NE China,revealed by fission track thermochronology

This study uses zircon and apatite fission‐track (FT) analyses to reveal the exhumation history of the granitoid samples collected from the Lesser Hinggan Mountains, northeast China. A southeast to northwest transect across the Lesser Hinggan Mountains yielded zircon FT ages between 89.8 ± 5.7 and 100.4 ± 8.6 Ma, and apatite FT ages between 50.6 ± 13.8 and 74.3 ± 4.5 Ma with mean track lengths between 11.7 ± 2.0 and 12.8 ± 1.7 µm. FT results and modelling identify three stages in sample cooling history spanning the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Stage one records rapid cooling from the closure temperature of zircon FT to the high temperature part of the apatite FT partial annealing zone (∼210–110 °C) during ca. 95 to 65 Ma. Stage two records a period of relative slow cooling (∼110–60 °C) taking place between ca. 65 and 20 Ma, suggesting that the granitoids had been exhumed to the depth of ∼1−2 km. Final stage cooling (60–20 °C) occurred since the Miocene at an accelerated rate bringing the sampled rocks to the Earth's surface. The maximum exhumation is more than 5 km under a steady‐state geothermal gradient of 35 °C/km. Integrated with the tectonic setting, this exhumation is possibly led by the Pacific Plate subduction combined with intracontinental orogeny associated with asthenospheric upwelling. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exhumation and relief history of the Southern Carpathians (Romania) as evaluated from apatite fission track chronology in crystalline basement and intramontane sedimentary rocks

The combination of apatite fission track (FT) thermochronology from basement units and the FT age distributions of apatites in the Miocene intramontane sedimentary rocks allows describing the exhumation history of the central segment of the Southern Carpathians, Romania. Exhumation and cooling from the total track annealing temperature (>120°C) of the Cozia and Cibin massifs occurred in the Palaeocene–Early Eocene. Between the Eocene and Middle Miocene, there was a stagnation period concerning vertical displacement; the presently exposed part of the basement was buried in shallow depth. The present crests of the Cozia and Cibin Mountains were at temperatures around 80°C and 50°C, respectively. The second exhumation period occurred in Middle Miocene times. The magnitude of the Miocene vertical displacement is on the order of the present-day relief. The vertical apatite FT age distribution in the basement and the age clusters in the sedimentary rocks prove that the levels of the crests were already close to the surface in Palaeogene times. Therefore, the post-Palaeocene erosional removal from the crest zones is very limited.     

Paleomagnetic evidence for large en-bloc rotations in the Eastern Alps during Neogene orogeny

We present new paleomagnetic data from the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Central Alps of Austria. All new data are overprint magnetizations and can be subdivided into two groups: In rocks older than earliest Rupelian, two remagnetizations reflecting both clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation were detected. In rocks of late Rupelian and younger ages, only a counter-clockwise rotated remagnetization was found. Our results together with results from previous paleomagnetic studies from the Eastern and Southern Alps suggest two main phases of vertical axis rotation. The first, clockwise rotation affecting the Northern Calcareous Alps was active between earliest to Late Rupelian. We propose a model where the Northern Calcareous Alps are segmented into individual blocks. Within a dextral shear corridor these blocks rotated clockwise due to the counter-clockwise rotation of the Southern Alps and Central Alps. The second, counter-clockwise rotation occurred in the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, affecting Eastern and Southern Alps. In this stage of orogeny, the internal massifs of the Western Alps were already accreted to the upper plate and therefore included in counter-clockwise rotation. This rotation is contemporaneous with counter-clockwise rotation in the Apennines and opening of the Balearic basin, and a genetic relationship is suggested. A second step of counter-clockwise rotation, reconstructed from published data, is observed in the sedimentary basins at the southeastern margin of the Eastern Alps, where counter-clockwise rotated Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary rocks are present. This rotation is seen in connection to a young counter-clockwise rotation of the Adriatic plate.     

Thermochronological evidence for Mio‐Pliocene late orogenic extension in the north‐eastern Albanides (Albania)

New apatite and zircon (U–Th)/He and apatite fission‐track (FT) data allow constraining the timing of Miocene–Pliocene extensional exhumation that affected the central part of the Dinarides‐Albanides‐Hellenides orogen. Apatite (U–Th)/He ages in the northern and western Internal Albanides range from 57 to 17 Ma, contrasting to younger ages of 5.2–9.3 Ma in the eastern Internal Albanides. Eastward younging is also reflected in zircon (U–Th)/He ages varying from 101 Ma in the north‐western Internal Albanides to 19–50 Ma in the east, as well as in recently published apatite FT ages. Thermal history predictions with the new data point to a phase of rapid exhumation of the eastern Internal Albanides around 6–4 Ma, while the western Internal Albanides record slower continuous exhumation since the Eocene. This asymmetric exhumation pattern is most likely linked to extensional reactivation of NE–SW‐trending thrusts east of the Mirdita zone and within the Korabi zone of the eastern Internal Albanides.     

Apatite fission-track dating and low-temperature history of the Bavarian Forest (southern Bohemian Massif)

Apatite fission-track (AFT) dating applied to uplifted Variscan basement blocks of the Bavarian Forest is employed to unravel the low-temperature history of this segment of the Bohemian Massif. Twenty samples were dated and confined track lengths of four samples were measured. Most samples define Cretaceous APT ages between 110 and 82 Ma (Albian to Campanian) and three samples give older ~148–140 Ma (Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary) ages. No discernible regional age variations exist between the areas north-east and south-west of the Pfahl shear zone, but >500 m post-Jurassic and post-Cretaceous vertical offsets along this and other faults can be inferred from elevation profile analyses. The AFT ages clearly postdate the Variscan exhumation history of the Bavarian Forest. Thermal modeling reveals that the ages are best explained by a slight reheating of the basement rocks to temperatures within the apatite partial annealing zone during the middle and late Jurassic and/or by late Cretaceous marine transgression causing burial heating, which affected marginal low-lying areas of the Bohemian Massif and the Bavarian Forest. Late Jurassic period was followed by enhanced cooling through the 120–60 °C temperature interval during the subsequent exhumation phase for which denudation rates of ~100 m myr^?1 were calculated. On a regional scale, Jurassic–Cretaceous AFT ages are ubiquitous in marginal structural blocks of the Bohemian Massif and seem to reflect the exhumation of these zones more distinctly compared to central parts.     

哀牢山-红河剪切带渐新世的构造体制转换与剥露历史:来自哀牢山南段磷灰石裂变径迹的证据

哀牢山-红河剪切带是东南亚重要的构造边界,其记录了青藏高原东南缘新生代以来的陆内变形和地貌演化。本次研究对该剪切带哀牢山南段开展了基于LA-ICPMS法测试的磷灰石裂变径迹低温年代学分析。磷灰石裂变径迹年龄数据和热史反演模拟揭示哀牢山段存在晚始新世-早中新世(40～20Ma)的快速剥露事件,而早中新世(大约20Ma)之后处于稳定的慢速剥露过程。磷灰石裂变径迹年龄-海拔分布曲线特征暗示:快速剥露机制存在差异,早期阶段(40～26Ma)的剥露过程受控于伸展为主的左旋走滑体制影响;晚阶段(26～20Ma)的快速剥露归因于简单剪切为主的左旋走滑剪切体制,上述结果暗示哀牢山-红河构造带在晚渐新世发生了一次重要的构造体制转换,即从走滑伸展变形转换为简单剪切变形。哀牢山杂岩带北段、中段、南段冷却路径对比,表明北-中段可能存在两阶段快速冷却作用,而南段只发生单一快速冷却作用;结合青藏高原东南缘低温热年代学数据,暗示自中-晚中新世,青藏高原中、下地壳物质可能向东南缘扩展,并已到达哀牢山中段,同时诱发哀牢山杂岩带以北广大地区的抬升和快速冷却。     

Progressive development of quartz fabrics in a shear zone from Monte Mucrone,Sesia-Lanzo Zone,Italian Alps

Quartz c-axis fabrics are described from a shear zone in a jadeite — garnet bearing meta-granite from Monte Mucrone, in the Sesia-Lanzo Zone of the western Italian Alps. Quartz blebs in the meta-granitoid are progressively deformed into cigar shaped lenses, and are recrystallized. Fabrics measured from individual blebs show considerable variation resulting from an initial orientation effect, and are not very enlightening. A synoptic diagram, however, has a pole-free area which can be correlated with the extension direction, and an asymmetry which is consistent with the known sense of shear operating in the zone.Although the technique of preparing synoptic diagrams is rather painstaking, its use is advocated for complex fabric situations, as it may allow partial removal of problems associated with non-random initial orientation distributions.     

The Monte Orfano Conglomerate revisited: stratigraphic constraints on Cenozoic tectonic uplift of the Southern Alps (Lombardy, northern Italy)

The Monte Orfano Conglomerate (MOC), exposed in the foothills of the Southern Alps (northern Italy), is one of the few outcrops of sediments documenting the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Alpine retrowedge. Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy allowed us to constrain the upper part of the MOC, formerly attributed to the Early-Middle Miocene in the type-locality, to the earliest Miocene (Neogene part of the NN1 nannofossil zone). A likely latest Oligocene age is therefore suggested for the bulk of the underlying conglomerates, whose base is not exposed. Deposition of the MOC can be placed within the post-collisional tectonic uplift of the Alps, documented in the Lake Como area by the Como Conglomerate (CC) at the base of the Gonfolite Lombarda Group, and supports the correlation with Upper Oligocene clastic sediments cropping out further to the East, in the Lake Garda and in the Veneto-Friuli areas (“molassa”). The remarkable difference in petrographic composition between the western (CC) and eastern (MOC) clastics deposited in the Alpine retro-foreland basin highlights the synchronous tectonic activity of two structural domains involving different crustal levels. Whilst the bulk of the CC, that straddles the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, records largely the tectonic exhumation of the Alpine axial chain crystalline complexes, the coeval MOC consists of detritus derived from the superficial crustal section (Triassic to Paleogene sedimentary rocks) of the Alpine retrowedge and constrains the onset of the post-collisional deformation phase of the Southern Alps as not younger than the Late Oligocene.     

The denudation history of the Argentera Alpine External Crystalline Massif (Western Alps,France-Italy): an overview from the analysis of fission tracks in apatites and zircons

Apatite/zircon fission track (FT) records of the Argentera external crystalline massif (Western Alps) show three tectonic pulses, respectively at 22 Ma (zircons), 6 and 3.5 Ma (apatites). The first pulse is consistent with the basement exhumation and initiation of the major deformation recorded in the foreland of the belt from Middle to early Upper Miocene. The two others might be respectively local expressions of the syncollisional extension mainly controlled by a westward sedimentary cover detachment and a Plio-Quaternary uplift acceleration. Zircon ages of 50-80 Ma in a limited NW area and evidence of an uplift elsewhere show that in a large fraction of the massif, temperatures in post-Variscan times never reached 320°C. Finally, FT data show that the Argentera massif did not behave as a single block during its denudation. First, in the NW of the massif, a small fault-limited block was already separated since the Cretaceous and later on recorded the 6 Ma denudation event, the 22 Ma pulse being recorded only in the remaining part of the massif. Second, less than 3.5 Ma ago, the northeastern part of the massif overthrust the southwestern block along the Bersézio-Veillos fault zone.     

Polyphase movement on the Lavanttal Fault Zone (Eastern Alps): reconciling the evidence from different geochronological indicators

The Lavanttal Fault Zone (LFZ) is generally considered to be related to Miocene orogen-parallel escape tectonics in the Eastern Alps. By applying thermochronological methods with retention temperatures ranging from ~450 to ~40°C we have investigated the thermochronological evolution of the LFZ and the adjacent Koralm Complex (Eastern Alps). ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on white mica and zircon fission track (ZFT) thermochronology were carried out on host rocks (HRs) and fault-related rocks (cataclasites and fault gouges) directly adjacent to the unfaulted protolith. These data are interpreted together with recently published apatite fission track (AFT) and apatite (U-Th)/He ages. Sample material was taken from three drill cores transecting the LFZ. Ar release spectra in cataclastic shear zones partly show strongly rejuvenated incremental ages, indicating lattice distortion during cataclastic shearing or hydrothermal alteration. Integrated plateau ages from fault rocks (~76 Ma) are in parts slightly younger than plateau ages from HRs (>80 Ma). Incremental ages from fault rock samples are in part highly reduced (~43 Ma). ZFT ages within fault gouges (~65 Ma) are slightly reduced compared to the ages from HRs, and fission tracks show reduced lengths. Combining these results with AFT and apatite (U-Th)/He ages from fault rocks of the same fault zone allows the recognition of distinct faulting events along the LFZ from Miocene to Pliocene times. Contemporaneous with this faulting, the Koralm Complex experienced accelerated cooling in Late Miocene times. Late-Cretaceous to Palaeogene movement on the LFZ cannot be clearly proven. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar muscovite and ZFT ages were probably partly thermally affected along the LFZ during Miocene times.     

Ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism in the Achankovil Zone: Implications for the correlation of crustal blocks in southern India

The Achankovil Zone of southern India, a NW–SE trending lineament of 8–10 km in width and > 100 km length, is a kinematically debated crustal feature, considered to mark the boundary between the Madurai Granulite Block in the north and the Trivandrum Granulite Block in the south. Both these crustal blocks show evidence for ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism during the Pan-African orogeny, although the exhumation styles are markedly different. The Achankovil Zone is characterized by discontinuous strands of cordierite-bearing gneiss with an assemblage of cordierite + garnet + quartz + plagioclase + spinel + ilmenite + magnetite ± orthopyroxene ± biotite ± K-feldspar ± sillimanite. The lithology preserves several peak and post-peak metamorphic assemblages including: (1) orthopyroxene + garnet, (2) perthite and/or anti-perthite, (3) cordierite ± orthopyroxene corona around garnet, and (4) cordierite + quartz symplectite after garnet. We estimate the peak metamorphic conditions of these rocks using orthopyroxene-bearing geothermobarometers and feldspar solvus which yield 8.5–9.5 kbar and 940–1040 °C, the highest P–T conditions so far recorded from the Achankovil Zone. The retrograde conditions were obtained from cordierite-bearing geothermobarometers at 3.5–4.5 kbar and 720 ± 60 °C. From orthopyroxene chemistry, we record a multistage exhumation history for these rocks, which is closely comparable with those reported in recent studies from the Madurai Granulite Block, but different from those documented from the Trivandrum Granulite Block. An evaluation of the petrologic and geochronologic data, together with the nature of exhumation paths leads us to propose that the Achankovil Zone is probably the southern flank of the Madurai Granulite Block, and not a unit of the Trivandrum Granulite Block as presently believed. Post-tectonic alkali granites that form an array of “suturing plutons” along the margin of the Madurai Granulite Block and within the Achankovil Zone, but are absent in the Trivandrum Granulite Block, suggest that the boundary between the Madurai Granulite Block and the Trivandrum Granulite Block might lie along the Tenmalai shear zone at the southern extremity of the Achankovil Zone.     

Integration of zircon color and zircon fission-track zonation patterns in orogenic belts: application to the Southern Alps, New Zealand

An exhumed crustal section of the Mesozoic Torlesse terrane underlies the Southern Alps collision zone in New Zealand. Since the Late Miocene, oblique horizontal shortening has formed the northeastern–southwestern trending orogen and exhumed the crustal section within it. On the eastern side, rocks are zeolite- to prehnite–pumpellyite-grade greywacke; on the western side rocks, they have the same protolith, but are greenschist to amphibolite facies of the Alpine Schist. Zircon crystals from sediments in east-flowing rivers (hinterland) have pre-orogenic fission-track ages (>80 Ma) and are dominated by pink, radiation-damaged grains (up to 60%). These zircons are derived from the upper 10 km crustal section (unreset FT color zone) that includes the Late Cenozoic zircon partial annealing zone; both fission tracks and color remain intact and unaffected by orogenesis. Many zircon crystals from sediments in west-flowing rivers (foreland) have synorogenic FT ages, and about 80% are colorless due to thermal annealing. They have been derived from rocks that originally lay in the reset FT color zone and the underlying reset FT colorless zone. The reset FT color zone occurs between 250 and 400 °C. In this zone, zircon crystals have color but reset FT ages that reflect the timing of orogenesis.