Structural elements in southeastern Quebec,northwestern Appalachians,Canada

An attempt is made to correlate and separate in terms of style and time two contrasting sets of structural elements in the northwestern part of the Appalachian Uplands in the Province of Quebec, Canada. There is sufficient evidence to indicate that a fold system with north-south trending axes is superimposed on a fold system with east-west axes. It is suggested that the two sets of structures represent pulses of one long-continued deformation accompanied by corresponding early and late phases of metamorphism.

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Zusammenfassung Es wurde versucht, in den Appalachen des südöstlichen Teiles der Provinz Quebec, Kanada, zwei ungleichzeitige tektonische Systeme verschiedenen Baustils zu trennen. Die komplexen Kleinstrukturen zeigen, da\ Ost-West streichende Faltenachsen von einer jüngeren Nord-Süd-Faltung überprägt worden sind. Der Autor ist der Meinung, da\ die zwei tektonischen Systeme, die von einer frühen und späten Phase der Metamorphose begleitet werden, den zeitlich getrennten Verformungsstadien einer Orogenese entsprechen.

     

Synthesis of Palaeozoic deformational events and terrane accretion in the Canadian Appalachians

Plate tectonic theory predicts that most deformation is associated with subduction and terrane accretion, with some deformation associated with transform/transcurrent movements. Deformation associated with subduction varies between two end members: (1) where the tectonic regime is dominated by subduction of oceanic lithosphere containing small terranes, a narrow surface zone of accretionary deformation along the subduction zone starts diachronously on the subducting plate at the trench as material is transferred from the subducting plate to the over-riding plate; and (2) where continent-continent collision is occurring, a wide surface zone of accretionary deformation starts synchronously or with limited diachronism. Palaeozoic deformational events in the Canadian Appalachians correspond to narrow diachronous events in the Ordovician and Silurian, whereas Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian deformational events are widespread and broadly synchronous. Along the western side of the Canadian Appalachians, the Taconian deformational event starts diachronously throughout the Ordovician and corresponds to the north-north-west accretion of the Notre Dame, Ascot-Weedon, St Victor and various ophiolitic massifs (volcanic arc and peri-arc terranes) over cratonic North America. Within the eastern half of the Central Mobile Belt, the Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician Penobscotian deformational event corresponds to the ?south-easterly accretion of the Exploits subzone (various volcanic are and peri-arc terranes) over the Gander Zone (?continental rise). In the centre of the orogen, the Late Ordovician-Silurian Beothukan deformational event corresponds to the south-easterly accretion of the Notre Dame over the Exploits-Gander subzones. Along the south-eastern side of the Central Mobile Belt, the Silurian Ganderian deformational event corresponds to the north-north-east, sinistral transcurrent accretion of the Avalon Composite Terrane (microcontinent) over the Gander-Exploits zones. Along the south-eastern half of the orogen, the Late Silurian-Middle Devonian Acadian deformation event corresponds to the westerly accretion of the Meguma terrane (intradeep or continental rise) over the Avalon Composite Terrane. Affecting the entire orogen, the Late Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian, Acadian-Alleghanian deformational events correspond to the east-west convergence between Laurentia and Gondwana (continent-continent collision).     

Regional deformation of late Quaternary fluvial sediments in the Apennines foreland basin (Emilia,Italy)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Our research is aimed at estimating the vertical deformation affecting late Quaternary units accumulated into the foreland basin of the Northern Apennines...     

鄂尔多斯盆地东南部古生界天然气勘探前景

目前,鄂尔多斯盆地中北部已发现多个天然气田,为寻找新的勘探接替区域,从储集条件、烃源岩条件、封盖条件、圈闭类型、天然气运聚成藏过程和保存条件等方面入手,对鄂尔多斯盆地东南部古生界天然气的富集与成藏条件进行了全面分析,探讨了其天然气勘探前景,指出了有利勘探目标,并提出了具体的勘探部署意见。结果表明:研究区紧邻上古生界生烃中心,发育优质煤系烃源岩,生烃潜力大,气源充足,具备形成大型天然气藏的物质基础;区内奥陶系马家沟组发育有蒸发潮坪相沉积,位于北部古潜台的向南延伸带上,是下古生界天然气的有利勘探目标;南部山西组和下石盒子组发育三角洲沉积体系砂体,是有利的上古生界天然气富集区;研究区古生界发育各种隐蔽性非构造型圈闭,天然气运聚成藏过程非常有利,封盖和保存条件也很好。因此,研究区古生界具有广阔的天然气勘探前景。     

Ages of regional metamorphism and ductile deformation in the central and southern Appalachians

A summary of available geochronology of deformational fabrics formed at greenschist and higher grades in the central and southern Appalachians is presented as a map showing the ages of regional metamorphism and ductile deformation. The ca. 480-435 Ma Taconic event affected most of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge provinces. The ca. 380-340 Ma Acadian event was milder and was centered in the west central Piedmont and eastern Blue Ridge. The 330-230 Ma Alleghanian event exhibits an abrupt ductile deformation front in the eastern Piedmont and extends an unknown distance eastward below the Atlantic Coastal Plain.     

桂西北晚古生代地层中的毗连不整合研究

桂西北右江地区广泛发育碳酸盐岩孤立台地,台地边缘发育大量沉积岩脉、角砾岩体、台地边缘同沉积正断层、及局部地层缺失造成的特殊界面,各要素之间的成因关系一直有争论。毗连不整合是指因同沉积断层作用使平坦地形变成强烈起伏的陡坡地形,粗碎屑物质快速沉积于地形凹处,新沉积的地层与早先坡下的较老基岩横向相接,因此造成新老地层之间的不整合,多形成于构造不稳定地区。国外地质学家最初将其识别为普通的角度不整合、陆架边缘不整合或者台地边缘不整合等等,国内地质学家也注意到了这类特殊界面,但在一些野外露头上观察其为断层面,而在另一些露头上观察其为侵蚀间断（不整合）面,由此产生争论：这类特殊界面是断层还是不整合？并产生很多名称：同构造沉积不整合、碳酸盐岩台地边缘围限断裂带、角度不整合接触带、陡崖式假不整合、事件沉积不整合、超覆不整合、构造窗和飞来峰等等,迄今为止没有统一。笔者等在研究广西晚古生代孤立碳酸盐岩台地边缘沉积岩脉和角砾岩体的过程中,发现特殊界面与沉积岩脉和角砾岩体关系密切,并发现如果将这些特殊界面归类于传统不整合面,均有与地质事实相矛盾的地方,因而认为其应重新归类。随着研究的深入：笔者等在凤山剖面的同一露头上观察到关键地质现象：特殊界面下部具断层特征,上部具溶蚀间断特征,因此认为其是遭受溶蚀的同沉积断层面。其成因是：同沉积构造十分活跃,使同沉积断层面上部来不及被新沉积物掩埋而遭受水下溶蚀,从而形成巨大地形起伏,造成新老地层横向相接,与Davis毗连不整合概念吻合,据此将这类特殊界面统一命名为毗连不整合。随即发现桂西北晚古生代地层内部广泛发育毗连不整合,并且发现晚古生代地层与下伏寒武系、及上覆三叠系之间也是毗连不整合接触,这是桂西北晚古生代地层及相关寒武系和三叠系的基本特色,由于毗连不整合代表区域地质构造活动强烈,表明桂西北地质构造从古生代到中生代一直处于活动状态,地层—构造活动记录与古特提斯域特征相似,属古特提斯洋的东沿部分。从而结束特殊界面是断层还是不整合的争论,为桂西北地层与构造的深入研究及其大地构造归属提供了新证据。     

Depositional environments of Lower Pennsylvanian coal-bearing siliciclastics of southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama, U.S.A.

In the Cumberland Plateaus of southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, and northeast Alabama, Pennsylvanian strata are siliciclastics containing discontinuous coal seams. Above some of these coal seams, the shale deposits contain fossils of marine or brackish fauna. The entire sequence was deposited in an asymmetric foreland basin and is thickest in the southeast. Within this general trend there are locally thick deposits of lowermost Pennsylvanian Gizzard Group sequences that mark subbasins. Conglomeratic sandstone members of the Gizzard Group are discontinuous and tend to be thicker in the subbasins. In contrast, conglomeratic to sandy units are more laterally continuous in the overlying Crab Orchard Mountains Group. The Pennsylvanian sequence overlies paleosols with subjacent freshwater-neomorphosed shallow marine carbonates, or siliciclastics of the uppermost Mississippian Pennington Formation.A provenance discrimination diagram indicates that Pennsylvanian siliciclastics were derived from an orogenic source. Profile analysis of thick quartzose sandstone sequences indicates facies, architectural elements and bounding surfaces characteristic of braided stream deposits. A dominant southwest paleoflow direction is inferred from paleocurrent indicators in sandy braided and meandering stream deposits.     

Basement massifs in the Appalachians: their role in deformation during the Appalachian Orogenies

Basement is constituted of rocks which belong to a previous orogenic cycle which have been reactivated and incorporated into a younger cycle. Basement massifs may be classified according to their relative position in an orogen as external or internal massifs. They may also be categorized according to their role in deformation, as thrust-related, fold-related and composite massifs. All Appalachian external massifs were transported following their removal from the overridden edge of the ancient North American continental margin. Most of the internal massifs are also probably transported, but several (Pine Mountain and Sauratown Mountains) may be present as windows exposing parautochthonous basement beneath the main thrust sheet. The latter reside immediately west of the low (west) to high (east) gravity gradient which probably outlines the old edge of Grenvillian crust. Reactivated crustal material generated during early Palaeozoic orogeny plays the same mechanical role in reactivation as basement from the previous Grenville cycle. The domes of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium cored with Ordovician or older gneisses illustrate this behaviour. Basement (Grenville) massifs are distributed throughout the Appalachians as a belt of external massifs (Blue Ridge, Reading Prong, Hudson and Berkshire Highlands, Green Mountains, and Long Range Mountains) along the western edge of the crystalline metamorphic core. Additionally, internal massifs are also present (Pine Mountain belt, Tallulah Falls and Toxaway domes, Sauratown Mountains anticlinorium, State Farm gneiss dome, Baltimore Gneiss domes, Mine Ridge anticline, and Chain Lakes massif). Basement internal massifs probably served to localize thrusts by causing them to ramp over and around the massifs. Their antiformal shape may in part be as much related to thrust mechanics as to folding.     

GPS-derived deformation rates in northwestern Himalaya and Ladakh

Deformation rates derived from GPS measurements made at two continuously operating stations at Leh (34.1°N, 77.6°E) and Hanle (32.7°N, 78.9°E), and eight campaign sites in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh spanning 11 years (1997–2008), provide a clear picture of the kinematics of this region as well as the convergence rate across northwestern Himalaya. All the Ladakh sites move 32–34 mm/year NE in the ITRF2005 reference frame, and their relative velocities are 13–16 mm/year SW in the Indian reference frame and ~19 mm/year W with reference to the Lhasa IGS station in southeastern Tibet. The results indicate that there is no statistically significant deformation in the 200-km stretch between the continuous sites Leh and Hanle as well as between Leh and Nubra valley sites along the Karakoram fault, whereas the sites in and around the splayed Karakoram fault region indicate surface deformation of 2.5 mm/year. Campaign sites along the Karakoram fault zone indicate a fault parallel surface motion of 1.4–2.5 mm/year in the Tangste and western Panamik segment of the Karakoram fault, which quantifies the best possible GPS-derived dextral slip rate of 3 mm/year along this fault during this 11-year period. Baselines of Ladakh sites show convergence rates of 15–18 mm/year with respect to south India and 12–15 mm/year with respect to Delhi in north India and Almora in the Himalaya ~400 km north-northeast of Delhi. These constitute an arc normal convergence of 12–15 mm/year across the western Himalaya, which is consistent with arc normal convergence all along the Himalayan arc from west to east. Baseline extension rates of 14–16 mm/year between Lhasa and Ladakh sites are consistent with the east–west extension rate of Tibetan Plateau.     

准噶尔盆地乌夏前陆冲断带沉降史与沉积响应研究

针对前陆冲断带的特殊构造位置及沉积特征的复杂性,本文在地层剥蚀厚度恢复和层序划分的基础上,通过对准噶尔盆地西缘乌夏前陆冲断带沉降史分析,在海西运动晚期准噶尔地块与西伯利亚板块发生碰撞挤压,形成一系列冲断推覆构造,前缘岩石圈挠曲下陷发育周缘前陆盆地,并夹杂大规模的短暂伸展火山喷发活动,接受了巨厚的二叠系沉积层序;随着板块俯冲在二叠纪末的逐渐消亡,三叠纪进入印支期陆内坳陷继承性挤压活动阶段,周边受南北向挤压和左旋构造应力场影响,前陆冲断带古断裂再次逆冲,哈拉阿拉特山急剧抬升,后缘和什托洛盖盆地形成;进入侏罗纪—白垩纪(燕山运动早中期),为陆内坳陷的填充消亡阶段,但有继承性活动,构造活动强度较二叠纪大为减弱,在燕山运动Ⅲ幕晚期最终被覆盖定型。整个过程受地体碰撞和板内挤压影响,冲断带发生幕式构造活动,从而导致盆地沉降也发生幕式变化,而且冲断带每次挤压逆冲均导致相应的沉降和沉积物充填,并直接控制前陆盆地和陆内坳陷的沉积充填特征。     

准噶尔西北缘前陆冲断带三叠纪-侏罗纪逆冲断裂活动的沉积响应

笔者从冲断活动的产物———各种成因扇体(冲积扇、水下扇、扇三角洲)出发,由160口单井剖面、15条联井剖面、8个层位平面渐次展开了准噶尔西北缘前陆冲断带三叠—侏罗纪逆冲断裂活动的沉积响应研究。三叠纪扇体在乌尔禾—夏子街地区发育叠置程度最好,T1b到T3b,其由盆内向盆缘老山方向退缩迁移明显,并具T1b到T2k1由盆缘向盆内、T2k2到T3b由盆内向盆缘迁移的2个进退波动变化。侏罗纪扇体在八道湾组最为发育,总体叠置关系较差,J1b到J2t,均呈由盆内向盆缘老山退缩沉积的退覆式迁移特征。三叠纪到侏罗纪,总体为由强到弱的退覆式冲断活动及扇体迁移模式,即随主要同生控扇断裂分布由盆缘向老山方向退缩迁移,冲断活动强度由盆缘向盆地方向逐渐减弱直至停息;相应地,各期扇体平面上分布规模渐小,总体呈由盆内向盆缘老山退缩迁移的沉积响应,两者耦合性良好。各类扇体的沉积分布受不同时期同生断裂活动的严格控制,其时空叠置及迁移规律的差异是红山嘴—车排子、克拉玛依—百口泉及乌尔禾—夏子街各构造带冲断作用地域性及作用强度差异性的沉积响应。进而引入“活动性指数”的概念与方法,对前陆冲断带同生断裂的冲断活动强度进行了定量化统计分析,并根据冲断推覆事件的地层、沉积标识划分出T1b-T3b、J1b-J2x、J2t三套构造层序,识别出三叠—侏罗纪的3个逆冲推覆幕、6次逆冲推覆事件。     

Evolution of central eastern Australia during the late Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic

Palaeogeographic reconstructions and structural analysis of the Late Carboniferous to Triassic of central eastern Australia indicate that sedimentation and deformation were responses to the prolonged application of a dextral rotational force couple to the craton margin and to eustatic sea‐level changes. The force couple distorted the craton margins and adjacent Yarrol‐New England geosyncline and orogen into an incipient coupled orocline. The influence of the couple commenced in the Late Devonian and continued with varying effect until the Late Triassic, when it reversed to a sinistral system, part of a completely different stress regime that controlled sedimentation and structure during the Early Jurassic. Within the craton, deformation mainly took the form of a series of en echelon depressions, such as the Drummond Basin, Koburra, Denison and Taroom Troughs. A lineament between Longreach and Roma marks the southern boundary of this type of strain, although crust beyond its limit was not so rigid as to be unaffected by the force couple. The Yarrol‐New England region during the Devonian and the Early Carboniferous was the site of geosynclinal deposition where a thick and typically volcanogenic wedge lay along the eastern border of the craton. During the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian comparable wedges were formed farther to the east, in effect building outwards into the geosyncline. The same tensional regime that created the geosyncline is seen as the means for thinning crust below the sediment wedge and thus provided thermal instability, and for the igneous diapirism expressed as both intrusion and extrusion that characterizes the orogen from the Late Carboniferous onwards. The dextral force couple was responsible for most of the deformation and for controlling final emplacement of plutons. Sea‐level rises were marked in the late Early Permian and again in the early Late Permian.     

Uplift and late orogenic deformation of the Central European Variscan belt as revealed by sediment provenance and structural record in the Carboniferous foreland basin of western Poland

The Carboniferous foreland basin of western Poland contains a coherent succession of late Viséan through Westphalian turbidites derived from a uniform group of sources located within a continental magmatic arc. Detrital zircon geochronology indicates that two main crustal components were present in the source area of Namurian A sediments. They represent Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous ages, respectively. The detritus from Westphalian D beds is much more diversified and contains admixture of Late Carboniferous zircons suggesting rapid unroofing of Variscan igneous intrusions in the hinterland between Namurian A and Westphalian D times. Tectonic repetitions of tens of metres thick fault-bounded stratigraphic intervals, recorded in several wells, provide evidence for compressional regime that occurred in the SW part of the Carboniferous basin not earlier than during the Westphalian C and produced NW–SE trending folds, concordant with the structural grain of the adjacent, NE part of the Bohemian Massif.     

Multiple slump scars in the Tortonian type area (Piedmont Basin, northwestern Italy)

Multiple intraformational discordances, recognized in the Tortonian (Upper Miocene) type area, occur at the top of a shelf sequence, directly overlain by slope sediments. The discordances display smooth, concave upward lower surfaces and are covered by sediments identical to the surrounding strata. Inferred lateral extent of single discordances is 500–700 m. Thickness of sediments overlying the discordances ranges from 5 to 25 m. The intraformational discordances are interpreted as scars formed by downslope sliding of whole packets of strata. The slumps may have been triggered by tectonic oversteepening of shelf sediments due to tilting of the sea floor. The slump scars appear comparable in position and size to some small scale modern examples recorded on margins near the shelf-break.     

阿尔泰诺尔特地区晚古生代的沉积环境和古地理分析

诺尔特地区位于新疆阿尔泰东北部,地理位置属富蕴县.该地区主体构造为北东向,出露地层为前震旦系富蕴群、震旦系哈巴河群、泥盆系忙代恰组和石炭系红山嘴组,其中后两者占主导地位.泥盆系为一套类复理石建造,主要岩性有粉砂岩、细砂岩、钙质粉砂岩和少量火山岩;石炭系红山嘴组可以分为三个段,一段为粉砂岩、粉砂质泥岩、细砂岩与粉砂岩交替的韵律沉积岩、岩屑砂岩等,二段为粉砂质泥岩、粉砂岩、钙质粉砂岩和生物屑灰岩,三段火山物质大量出现,下部为火山碎屑和陆源碎屑的混合沉积,上部以凝灰岩为主,顶部出现火山角砾岩.根据岩性特征和沉积构造分析,泥盆系的沉积环境为浅海-半深海,以大陆斜坡为主;石炭系的沉积环境为浅海陆棚、滨岸和开阔台地,其中又包括一些小环境.通过沉积环境的分析,可以得出三种沉积相模式.     

Eurasian ice-sheet interaction in northwestern Russia throughout the late Quaternary

Sediment successions from the Kanin Peninsula and Chyoshskaya Bay in northwestern Russia contain information on the marginal behaviour of all major ice sheets centred in Scandinavia, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea during the Eemian-Weichselian. Extensive luminescence dating of regional lithostratigraphical units, supported by biostratigraphical evidence, identifies four major ice advances at 100-90, 70-65, 55-45 and 20-18 kyr ago interbedded with lacustrine, glaciolacustrine and marine sediments. The widespread occurrence of marine tidal sediments deposited c. 65-60 kyr ago allows a stratigraphical division of the Middle Weichselian Barents Sea and Kara Sea ice sheets into two shelf-based glaciations separated by almost complete deglaciation. The first ice dispersal centre was in the Barents Sea and thereafter in the Kara Sea. It is possible to extract both flow patterns from ice marginal landforms inside the southward termination. Accordingly, it is proposed that the Markhida line and its western continuation are asynchronous and originate from two separate glaciations before and after the marine transgression. The marine sedimentation occurred during a eustatic sea-level rise of up to 20 m/1000 yr, i.e. the Mezen Transgression. We speculate that the rapid eustatic sea-level rise triggered a collapse of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet at the MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 4 to 3 transition. This is motivated by lack of an early marine highstand, the timing of events, and the marginal position of Arkhangelsk relative to open marine conditions.     

1:25万色达县幅、阿坝县幅地质调查成果与进展

着重调查了以阿坝盆地为代表的青藏高原东缘新生代盆地的形成演化及其环境变化,新建立了若干生物组合;对第四纪冰川堆积物进行了比较细致的研究,初步建立了气候地层单位;首次于壤塘县曼迪乡上三叠统侏倭组的滑塌堆积层中,采获异地埋葬珊瑚群化石,建立三叠纪双壳类两个生物带;调查了侏倭组、新都桥组、如年各组3个岩石地层单元基本层序、剖面韵律结构及沉积构造;获得若末柯火山岩和小石头山花岗岩Rb-Sr等时线年龄。     

1∶25万色达县幅、阿坝县幅地质调查成果与进展

着重调查了以阿坝盆地为代表的青藏高原东缘新生代盆地的形成演化及其环境变化,新建立了若干生物组合;对第四纪冰川堆积物进行了比较细致的研究,初步建立了气候地层单位;首次于壤塘县曼迪乡上三叠统侏倭组的滑塌堆积层中,采获异地埋葬珊瑚群化石,建立三叠纪双壳类两个生物带;调查了侏倭组、新都桥组、如年各组3个岩石地层单元基本层序、剖面韵律结构及沉积构造;获得若末柯火山岩和小石头山花岗岩Rb-Sr等时线年龄.