Tectonic control on fluvial styles: the Balfour Formation of the Karoo Basin, South Africa

The Balfour Formation represents a fully fluvial succession of late Late Permian–earliest Triassic age which accumulated in the foredeep of the Karoo Basin during the overfilled phase of the foreland system. The lack of a coeval marine environment within the limits of the preserved Karoo Basin provides an opportunity to study the stratigraphic cyclicity developed during a time when accommodation was solely controlled by tectonics. The Balfour stratigraphy is composed of a succession of six third-order fluvial depositional sequences separated by subaerial unconformities. They formed in isolation from eustatic influences, with a timing controlled by orogenic cycles of loading and unloading. Sediment accumulation took place during stages of flexural subsidence, whereas the bounding surfaces are related to stages of isostatic uplift. The vertical profile of all sequences displays an overall fining-upward trend related to the gradual decrease in topographic slope during orogenic loading. At the same time, an upward change in fluvial styles can be observed within each sequence, from initial higher to final lower energy systems. The actual fluvial styles in each location depend on paleoslope gradients and the position of the stratigraphic section relative to the orogenic front. Proximal sequences show transitions from braided to meandering systems, whereas more distal sequences show changes from sand-bed to fine-grained meandering systems. The average duration of the Balfour stratigraphic cycles was 0.66 My, i.e. six cycles during 4 My. No climatic fluctuations are recorded during this time, with the long-term climatic background represented by temperate to humid conditions.     

库车前陆盆地前渊带层序地层分析--以白垩系卡普沙良群为例

库车前陆盆地的白垩系由卡普沙良群(自下而上包括亚格列木组、舒善河组、巴西盖组)和巴什基奇克组组成.盆地北部克孜勒努尔沟的白垩系亚格列木组和巴什基奇克组底部均发育一大套泥石流沉积,表明白垩系卡普沙良群为一期构造活动幕的产物,为一个完整的二级层序,根据沉积演化特征可将其细分为7个三级层序.亚格列木组与舒善河组之间,扇三角洲平原相突变为滨浅湖相沉积,且舒善河组滨岸沙坝微相持续稳定发育,反映前陆盆地楔顶带的发育抑制了构造活动期源于造山带的粗碎屑的供给,使前渊带的沉积物供给速率趋于稳定.此外,克孜勒努尔沟卡普沙良群地层厚度远大于前缘隆起带,与上、下地层呈整合或平行不整合接触.研究表明,克孜勒努尔沟卡普沙良群为一套临近造山带的前渊带沉积.     

渤海湾盆地黄骅坳陷中北区新生代幕式沉降过程

黄骅坳陷中北区是位于渤海湾盆地中部的一个重要新生代构造单元.构造层序界面分析、同生断裂活动和盆地沉降史回剥分析表明该区经历了幕式沉降过程,沉降中心显示出规律性的迁移演化特征.馆陶组底界面为区域性裂后不整合界面,将研究区的演化划分为裂陷期和裂后期.在裂陷期的充填序列中,沙一段底界面为整个研究区都可以识别的显著的角度不整合界面,以此界面为界,盆地的裂陷期进一步划分为裂陷Ⅰ幕和裂陷Ⅱ幕.裂陷Ⅰ幕发育了Es₃-Es₂地层,断裂几何学和断裂的性质表明该幕构造活动为北西南东向伸展作用所致,而裂陷Ⅱ幕发育了Es₁-Ed地层,为近南北向拉伸作用的结果.裂后期,从早到晚则表现为由稳定热沉降到加速沉降的过程.分析认为上述盆地的幕式沉降过程与区域应力场的转变密切相关,受控于周缘板块的动力学事件,尤其是晚始新世之后,太平洋板块对欧亚大陆向西的加速俯冲,促使了郯庐断裂右旋活动向南延伸和穿过黄骅坳陷的兰聊断裂北段的活化,形成了位于渤海海域的南北向伸展叠加区,从根本上改变了黄骅坳陷中北区应力场的分布,由此导致了盆地同裂陷阶段的幕式演化.      

Contrasting morphodynamics in alluvial fans and fan deltas: effect of the downstream boundary

Alluvial fans and fan deltas can, in principle, have exactly the same upstream conditions, but fan deltas by definition have ponding water at their downstream boundary. This ponding creates effects on the autogenic behaviour of fan deltas, such as backwater adaptation, mouth bars and backward sedimentation, whereas alluvial fans may lack these effects. Hence the present authors hypothesize that morphodynamics on alluvial fans are determined primarily by upstream boundary conditions, whereas morphodynamics on fan deltas are determined by both the upstream and the downstream boundary condition and changes therein. To isolate the effects of the upstream and downstream boundaries, five new alluvial fan experiments are compared with the details of three fan deltas published earlier that were formed under very similar and simple conditions. Similar to the fan deltas, the alluvial fans build up by sheet flow, whilst quasi‐regular periods of incision cause temporary channelized flow. Incision is followed by channel backfilling, after which the fan returns to sheet flow. The channelization and backfilling in alluvial fans is markedly less pronounced and more prone to autogenic disturbance than in fan deltas. The difference is caused by morphodynamics at the downstream boundary. In a fan delta, the flow expansion of the channel causes deposition of all the sediment, which forms a mouth bar and causes strong backfilling. In an alluvial fan, on the other hand, the slope break at the fan perimeter causes some deposition, but transport is not reduced to zero. Consequently, the backfilling in alluvial fans is less pronounced than in fan deltas. Other published experiments support this trend: removal of the mouth bar by a river leads to permanent channelization, whilst pronounced mouth‐bar formation in highly channelized deltas promotes backward sedimentation. The experimental results for this study predict that, when alluvial fans prograde into lakes or deep rivers, they transition to fan deltas with increasingly deeper channels and thicker backfill deposits.     

Temporal and spatial variations in tectonic subsidence in the Iberian Basin (eastern Spain): inferences from automated forward modelling of high-resolution stratigraphy (Permian–Mesozoic)

By subsidence analysis on eighteen surface sections and 6 wells, which cover large part of the Iberian Basin (E Spain) and which are marked by high-resolution stratigraphy of the Permian, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, we quantify the complex Permian and Mesozoic tectonic subsidence history of the basin. Backstripping analysis of the available high resolution and high surface density of the database allows to quantify spatial and temporal patterns of tectonically driven subsidence to a much higher degree than previous studies. The sections and wells have also been forward modelled with a new ‘automated' modelling technique, with unlimited number of stretching phases, in order to quantify variations in timing and magnitude of rifting. It is demonstrated that the tectonic subsidence history in the Iberian Basin is characterized by pulsating periods of stretching intermitted by periods of relative tectonic quiescence and thermal subsidence. The number of stretching phases appears to be much larger than found by earlier studies, showing a close match with stretching phases found in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula and allowing a clear correlation with discrete phases in the opening of the Tethys and Atlantic.     

Tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Lower Pliocene Periadriatic foredeep in Central Italy

The Periadriatic foredeep (Italy) was generated by Neogene downbending of the Adria Plate under the Apennine Chain. The basin is filled with Plio-Pleistocene siliciclastic turbidites. Its substratum consists of the carbonate succession of the southwestern Adria Plate margin. The influence of the basin’s morphology on sedimentation and subsequent tectonic evolution is investigated in the Abruzzo sector of the foredeep (Cellino Basin). The substratum is composed of Messinian evaporites that dip towards the Apennines (W). A NNW component along the depocentral axis is divided into four blocks with different depths. The substratum was also affected by a Messinian extensional fault system, not involving the overlying Pliocene sequence. This morphology controlled the distribution of the turbidites in the lower part of the Cellino Basin. The Plio-Pleistocene compressional deformation of the foredeep produced an inner complex structure (Internal Structure), involving the foredeep substratum and an outer imbricate thrust system (Coastal Structure), detached over the faulted Messinian evaporites. This thrust system is parallel to the extensional faults, suggesting a strong influence of the substratum morphology on the development of the compressional structures. The overall structural setting was validated with a balanced cross-section. Out-of-sequence thrusting and non-coeval deformation within each thrust sheet characterize the local tectonic history.     

Aseismic controls on in situ soft-sediment deformation processes and products in submarine slope deposits of the Karoo Basin, South Africa

Intervals of soft‐sediment deformation features, including vertical fluid escape and load structures, are common and well‐exposed in Permian lower slope deposits of the Tanqua Depocentre, Karoo Basin. The structures mainly comprise elongated flames and load structures associated with ruptured sandstones and structureless siltstones, observed over a range of scales. The presence of an upper structureless siltstone layer linked to the flames, interpreted as a product of the debouching of fine‐grained material transported through the flame onto the palaeo‐seabed, together with the drag and upward folding of lower sandstone layers is evidence that the flames were formed in situ by upward movement of sediment‐rich fluids. Flames are oriented parallel to the deep‐water palaeoslope in lateral splay deposits between two major slope channel complexes. Statistical correlation and regression analyses of 180 flame structures from seven stratigraphic intervals suggest a common mechanism for the deformation and indicate the importance of fluidization as a deformation mechanism. Importantly, deformation occurred in an instantaneous and synchronous manner. Liquefaction and fluidization were triggered by incremental movement of sediment over steeper local gradients that were generated by deposition of a lateral splay on an inherited local north‐west‐facing slope. Seismic activity is not invoked as a trigger mechanism because of the restricted spatial occurrence of these features and the lack of indications of earthquakes during the time of deposition of the deep‐water succession. The driving mechanisms that resulted in the final configuration of the soft‐sediment deformation structures involved a combination of vertical shear stress caused by fluidization, development of an inverse density gradient and a downslope component of force associated with the local slope. Ground‐penetrating radar profiles confirm the overall north‐east orientation of the flame structures and provide a basis for recognition of potential larger‐scale examples of flames in seismic reflection data sets.     

The Permo-Carboniferous Saar-Nahe Basin,south-west Germany and north-east France: basin formation and deformation in a strike-slip regime

The Permo-Carboniferous Saar-Nahe Basin in south-west Germany and north-east France formed at the boundary between the Rhenohercynian and Saxothuringian zones within the Variscan orogen, where non-marine sediments were deposited in a narrow, structurally controlled basin. The basin has an asymmetrical geometry perpendicular to the South Hunsruck Fault. However, there is a lack of growth of the sediment pile into the fault, and isopach maps show the depocentre always located adjacent to the South Hunsrück Fault, but migrating towards the north-east with time. This pattern is typical of a strike-slip basin, indicating that the South Hunsruck Fault was a dextral strike-slip fault during sedimentation. Tectonic subsidence curves indicate that, during the Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous, the basin subsided due to thermal relaxation of the lithosphere. A change to very rapid subsidence at the start of the Westphalian continued until late in the Autunian. This was due to mechanical subsidence associated with strike-slip movement on the South Hunsruck Fault. Towards the end of subsidence in the Saar-Nahe Basin, the Grenzlager volcanics introduced a thermal pulse into the crust, leading to thermal cooling and relaxation of the lithosphere.     

燕山西段及北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造格局及其地质意义

燕山西段及北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造集中分布于三个NE向带状区域中,三个带状区域的间隔约为60km,延伸长度自东向西依次减小,呈现出明显的逆冲构造发育的三角形区域。三角形区域的北界为“内蒙地轴”南缘断裂西段,南西界与中元古代早期古盆地构造边界一致,东南部边界则与华北克拉通基底新太古代-古元古代中部碰撞造山带的东部边界大致吻合。逆冲构造具有基底卷入的厚皮构造与盖层内部的薄皮构造共存的构造属性,上盘运动方向总体指向NW,逆冲构造变形主要发生在140~130Ma。逆冲后伸展构造变形以发育在主要逆冲构造后侧为主,并利用先存构造薄弱带。先存构造薄弱带在有利区域构造应力和其他影响因素的作用下导致的构造活化,可能是燕山板内构造变形的重要机制之一。主要逆冲变形前后均有大规模岩浆活动的构造-岩浆时空组合表明,收缩构造造成地壳加厚及由此引发的深部地壳重熔,难以作为统一的机制对这些特征进行合理阐释,需要有其他方式的深部热物质与能量的参与。北京西山霞云岭—长操、教军场—大安山以及马兰—胡林等逆冲断层,是一个统一的大规模的逆冲构造的不同组成部分,具典型、连续的断坪-断坡结构,它形成于髫髻山组(148~146Ma)之后、南窖闪长岩(128Ma)侵入之前,而不是“印支期(或更早)”,它与南大寨—八宝山逆冲构造构成北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造格局。区域性的NW-SE向收缩构造作用及南大寨—八宝山逆冲构造上覆岩席的构造加载,可能是北京西山的蓝晶石带和硬绿泥石带为代表的高压动力变质作用的基本构造原因。     

Origin and terminal architecture of a submarine slide: a case study from the Permian Vischkuil Formation,Karoo Basin,South Africa

Submarine mass movement deposits exposed in the Vischkuil Formation, Laingsburg Karoo Basin, South Africa, provide a rare opportunity to analyse and interpret their emplacement history and deformation processes at a scale comparable to seismic examples. An up to 80 m thick slide deposit, continuously exposed in two 2 km long sub‐parallel sections, passes from extensionally deformed material (clastic dykes and down‐dip facing low‐angle shear surfaces) down‐dip into a compressional toe zone with large (tens of metres amplitude) folds dissected by steep, up‐dip facing thrust planes. The compressional shear planes sole out onto a highly sheared décollement and cross‐cutting relationships indicate an up‐depositional dip younging in the timing of fold dissection. Lithofacies characteristics and detailed correlation of volcanic ash and other marker beds over more than 500 km² in the bounding undeformed stratigraphy indicate a low‐gradient (<0·1°) basin floor setting. The slide is abruptly overlain by an up to 50 m thick debrite with sandy clasts supported by an argillaceous matrix. Shear loading of the debris flow is interpreted to have driven large‐scale deformation of the substrate through the generation of high shear stresses at a rheological interface due to: (i) the abrupt contact between the slide and the debrite; (ii) the coincident thickness distributions of the debrite and slide; (iii) the distribution of the most intense folding and thrusting under the thickest parts of the debrite; (iv) the preservation of fold crests with only minor erosion along fold limbs; (v) the presence of the debrite under overturned folds; (vi) the presence of laterally extensive marker beds directly above deformation units indicating minimal depositional topography; and (vii) the demonstrably local derivation of the slide as individual folded beds are mapped into undeformed strata outside the areas of deformation. The debrite is directly overlain by fine‐grained turbidite sandstone beds that show widespread vertical foundering into the debrite. This case study demonstrates that intensely deformed strata can be generated by negligible amounts of down‐dip movement in a low‐gradient, fine‐grained basin floor setting with the driver for movement and deformation being the mass imbalance resulting from emplacement of episodic debris flows. Simple interpretation of an unstable slope setting based on the presence of such deformed strata should be treated with caution.     

Duplex architecture and late‐orogenic backthrusting in Foredeep Units of the Northern Apennines (Italy)

The Northern Apennines of Italy is a fold and thrust belt that resulted from the NE‐ward progressive overthrusting of a Mesoalpine stacking (the ocean‐derived Ligurian Units) onto the detached sedimentary cover of the Adria plate continental margin (Foredeep Units). The Futa Pass area represents a key sector for the reconstruction of the deformation history of two Foredeep Units (Acquerino and Carigiola Units). The tectonic evolution of this sector is characterized by the superposition of three main deformation stages, with a constant NNE–SSW compression direction. The oldest structure is represented by the NNE‐verging Acquerino Unit duplex structure, the roof thrust of which is represented by the Ligurian stacking basal thrust. The interpretation of this structure as a large‐scale duplex is supported by the presence in the outer sectors of the Northern Apennines belt of Ligurian Units directly overthrust on younger Foredeep Units. In the second deformation stage the NNE‐verging Tavaiano Thrust developed. This regionally significant tectonic surface juxtaposes the Acquerino Unit (already developed as a duplex) and the overlying Ligurian Units, onto the Carigiola Unit. During this stage the fault pattern of the Carigiola Unit was also developed, characterized by two conjugate fault systems, coherent with a NNE–SSW maximum compression direction. During the last deformation stage, a backthrusting with a top‐to‐the SSW sense of movement (the Marcoiano Backthrust) brings the Carigiola Unit and its tectonic cover over the Acquerino and Ligurian Units, with the development of a large footwall syncline. The deformation history presented here differs from previous studies, and so provides a contribution to the debate on Northern Apennines tectonic evolution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

龙门山前陆盆地底部不整合面: 被动大陆边缘到前陆盆地的转换

晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地是在扬子板块西缘被动大陆边缘的基础上由印支造山运动而形成的,盆地中地层充填厚度巨大,包括晚三叠世卡尼期至瑞提期的马鞍塘组、小塘子组和须家河组,持续时间达20Myr,显示为1个以不整合面为界的构造层序。位于晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地构造层序与下伏古生代-中三叠世被动大陆边缘构造层序之间的不整合面属于龙门山前陆盆地的底部不整合面,标志了扬子板块西缘从被动大陆边缘盆地到前陆盆地的转换。该底部不整合面位于晚三叠世马鞍塘组与中三叠世雷口坡组之间,显示为平行不整合面或角度不整合面,在接触面上发育冲蚀坑、古喀斯特溶沟、溶洞、溶岩角砾、古风化壳的褐铁矿、黏土层及石英、燧石细砾岩等底砾岩。该不整合面向南东方向不断地切削下伏地层,且均发育岩溶风化面,上覆的晚三叠世地层沿不整合面向南东超覆,显示了从整合面到不整合面的变化过程,并随着逆冲楔的推进向南东方向迁移,其超覆线、侵蚀带和相带的走向线与龙门山冲断带的走向大致平行。底部不整合面显示为典型的前陆挠曲不整合面,标志着龙门山前陆盆地的形成和扬子板块西缘挠曲下降和淹没过程,底部为古喀斯特作用面,下部为碳酸盐缓坡和海绵礁建造,上部为进积过程中形成的三角洲沉积物,具有向上变粗的垂向结构,表明底部不整合面和前缘隆起的抬升是扬子板块西缘构造负载的挠曲变形的产物,显示了在卡尼期松潘-甘孜残留洋盆的迅速闭合和逆冲构造负载向扬子板块的推进过程。本次在对晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地底部不整合面的风化壳、残留厚度、地层缺失、剥蚀厚度、地层超覆等研究的基础上,计算了底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起迁移速率、地层上超速率和前缘隆起的剥蚀速率,并与逆冲楔推进速率进行了对比,结果表明,底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起的迁移速率、地层上超速率均介于3~18mm·a^-1之间,其与逆冲楔推进速率(5~15mm·a^-1)相似,因此,可用底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起的迁移速率和地层上超速率代表逆冲楔推进速率。但是前缘隆起的剥蚀速率很小,介于0.02~0.08mm·a^-1之间,仅为逆冲楔推进速率的1/100。     

华北地块中部活动构造特征及汾渭地堑成因探讨

研究区位处华北克拉通中部,受太平洋构造域和特提斯构造域的影响,新生代开始裂解,先后形成了渤海湾盆地和汾渭地堑。第四纪以来,华北地块中部活动日趋活跃,不同走向的断裂和盆地也表现出不同的活动性。NW向和近EW向断裂主要表现为左旋走滑性质,而NE向断裂则主要表现为正断性质。NNE向断裂虽也表现出正断性质,但右旋走滑性质正逐渐占主导地位。汾渭地堑中,NE向盆地与NNE向的盆地也因此表现出一定的活动差异。盆地形成初期,两种走向的盆地沉降速率差别不大,但第四纪以来,NE向盆地的沉降速率已大大超过NNE盆地。对于第四纪以来这种构造运动的表现,同时结合GPS观测数据及青藏高原的大规模隆升与华北地块中部山地相对隆升和盆地沉降事件在时间上的高度一致性,推测华北地块中部中新世以来的构造活动主要受印度与欧亚板块碰撞的挤出作用影响,在NWW和NE向剪切应力的作用下,华北地块中部自南北两端受NWWSEE向拉张的合力作用下开始裂解。随着青藏高原隆升速度的加快,两种剪切应力也随之增强,其合力的影响范围逐渐向中心向东不断扩展,形成了一系列的NNE和NEE向盆地。同时,NE向剪切应力增幅明显强于NWW向剪切,导致其合力由NW向拉张逐渐转变为NNW向拉张,引起不同走向断层活动性的差异与不同走向盆地沉降速率的相应改变。     

The Grenvillian Songshugou ophiolite in the Qinling Mountains, Central China: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the Qinling orogenic belt

The Qinling Mountains in Central China mark a gigantic composite orogenic belt with a complex tectonic evolution involving multiple phases of rifting and convergence. This belt separates the North China and South China Blocks and consists of the South and North Qinling terranes separated by the Shangdan suture. The suture is marked by the Grenvillian Songshugou ophiolite along the southern margin of the North Qinling terrane, which is key to understanding the Proterozoic tectonic evolution of the belt. The ophiolite consists of highly metamorphosed ultramafic and mafic rocks. Three groups of meta-basalts are present: group 1 rocks are LREE depleted and have a MORB compositional affinity. Their low Ta/Yb ratios (<0.1) are consistent with high degrees of partial melting of a depleted asthenospheric mantle. Rocks of group 2 have higher TiO₂ (1.63–2.08 wt%) and Ta/Yb ratios (>0.12), and display slight enrichment of LREE, suggesting that the original magmas were derived from a depleted mantle source mixed with some enriched material. Samples from group 3 are enriched in LREE and other incompatible elements (Ti, Zr, Ta, Nb), suggesting derivation from an enriched mantle source, possibly a plume. All the basalts have high εNd(t) (+4.2 to +6.9), variable εSr(t) and high ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios for given ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios. These characteristics are compatible with formation at a mid-ocean ridge system above an anomalous Dupal mantle region. The mafic rocks have a Sm–Nd whole-rock isochron age of 1030 ± 46 Ma.The Songshugou ophiolite was emplaced onto the southern margin of the North Qinling terrane, an active continental margin from the Meso-Proterozoic to Neo-Proterozoic.     

柴达木盆地西部地区新生代沉积与构造演化

［摘要］新生代柴西地区南北变形具有很好的对称性,盆地边缘发育高角度逆冲断层,古近纪时期库木库里和苏干湖盆地与柴达木盆地相连,据此认为柴西地区是地壳纵弯褶皱的机制下形成的新生代向斜沉降区。其构造演化经历了古新世~渐新世早期纵弯褶皱形成、晚渐新世~中新世纵弯褶皱发展和晚期盆内断褶构造强烈活动三个阶段,控制了相应时期的沉积边界和沉积相分布。古近纪时期库木库里盆地和苏干湖盆地是柴达木盆地的一部分,新近纪以来,由于盆缘逆冲断层的活动,库木库里和苏干湖盆地逐步与柴达木盆地分割开来。据此认为盆地中部一里坪地区和盆地边缘的油气勘探有较大潜力。     

Forebulge dynamics and environmental control in Western Amazonia: The case study of the Arch of Iquitos (Peru)

The Iquitos Arch corresponds to a broad topographic high in the Western Amazonia. Morphostructural and geophysical data and flexural modeling show that the Iquitos Arch is the present-day forebulge of the Northwestern Amazonian foreland basin. A detailed tectono-sedimentary study of the Neogene and Quaternary deposits of the Iquitos area has been carried out in order to circumscribe the timing of the forebulge uplift and its environmental consequences. The Neogene and Quaternary sedimentary succession of the Iquitos Arch consists of six formations that evolved from tidal to fluvial environments. The first three formations exhibit Late Miocene gliding features and synsedimentary normal faults. Such soft-sediment deformations bear witness to tectonic activity ascribed to the growth of the forebulge. Regional erosive surfaces that separate the Neogene and Quaternary formations recorded the progressive forebulge emersion and the evolution of Amazonian drainage system. This uplift is related to an increase in tectonic activity within the Andes, which has provoked the eastern propagation of the orogenic wedge and caused an orogenic loading stage in the Amazonian foreland basin system. The emersion of the forebulge induced the retreat of the Pebas “marine megalake” nearby the Iquitos area and consequently caused important environmental changes in the Amazonian basin. From the end of the Late Miocene to the Pliocene, the forebulge acted as a barrier inducing the deposition of fluvial deposits in the forebulge depozone and the deposition of the “White Sand” deposits in the backbulge depozone. Since about 6 Ma, the forebulge is incised and crossed over by the modern Amazon River. The Iquitos forebulge is still growing as shown by the faulted Holocene terrace deposits.     

Sedimentary geochemistry of chert from the Middle-Upper Ordovician in Shihuigou area, North Qilian orogenic belt and its tectonic implication

The North Qilian orogenic belt is an elongate tectonic unit that lies between the North China plate to the north and the Middle Qilian microplate to the south, and is formed by a collision of the two plates in the Caledonian. The Shihuigou Section from Yongdeng County, Gansu Province, is in the eastern sector of the North Qilian Mountains, spanning the Ordovician island-arc zones. The Zhongpu Group is distributed in the Shihuigou area and composed of medium-basic volcanic rocks and volcanic clastic rocks interspersed with cherts, limestones, slates, and metamorphic sandstones. The geochemistry of chert from the Zhongpu Group reveals that all cherts coexisting with island-arc volcanic rocks formed in a continental margin basin environment. Research results of the rare earth elements reveal that these cherts formed in a relatively deep-water basin with no significant terrestrial interference. Therefore, it is inferred that the North Qilian orogenic belt was previously an archipelagic ocean in the Ordovician. Translated from Geological Review, 2006, 52(2): 184–189 [译自: 地质论评]     

Evolution of a reworked orogenic zone: The boundary between the delamerian and lachlan fold belts,southeastern Australia *

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data from the boundary between the Delamerian and Lachlan Fold Belts identify the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex as a Cambrian metamorphic belt in the western Stawell Zone of the Palaeozoic Tasmanide System of southeastern Australia. A reworked orogenic zone exists between the Lachlan and Delamerian Fold Belts that contains the eastern section of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt and the western limit of orogenesis associated with the formation of an Ordovician to Silurian accretionary wedge (Lachlan Fold Belt). Delamerian thrusting is craton-verging and occurred at the same time as the final consolidation of Gondwana. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data indicate rapid cooling of the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex at about 500 Ma at a rate of 20 – 30°C per million years, temporally associated with calc-alkaline volcanism followed by clastic sedimentation. Extension in the overriding plate of a subduction zone is interpreted to have exhumed the metamorphic rocks within the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex. The Delamerian system varies from a high geothermal gradient with syntectonic plutonism in the west to lower geothermal gradients in the east (no syntectonic plutonism). This metamorphic zonation is consistent with a west-dipping subduction zone. Contrary to some previous models involving a reversal in subduction polarity, the Ross and Delamerian systems of Antarctica and Australia are inferred to reflect deformation processes associated with a Cambrian subduction zone that dipped towards the Gondwana supercontinent. Western Lachlan Fold Belt orogenesis occurred about 40 million years after the Delamerian Orogeny and deformed older, colder, and denser oceanic crust, with metamorphism indicative of a low geothermal gradient. This orogenesis closed a marginal ocean basin by west-directed underthrusting of oceanic crust that produced an accretionary wedge with west-dipping faults that verge away from the major craton. The western Lachlan Fold Belt was not associated with arc-related volcanism and plutonism occurred 40 – 60 million years after initial deformation. The revised orogenic boundaries have implications for the location of world-class 440 Ma orogenic gold deposits. The structural complexity of the 440 Ma Stawell gold deposit reflects its location in a reworked part of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt, while the structurally simpler 440 Ma Bendigo deposit is hosted by younger Ordovician turbidites solely deformed by Lachlan orogenesis.     

Late orogenic collapse and thermal doming in the northern Gondwana margin incorporated in the Variscan Chain: A case study from the Ozieri Metamorphic Complex, northern Sardinia, Italy

A branch of the South European Variscan chain is noticeably exposed in Sardinia. The early stage of collision between the Northern Gondwana margin and the Armorica Terrane Assemblage (ATA) generated syn-metamorphic folding and thrusting. The evidences of such deformation are well preserved in the nappe zone, a structural domain characterized by stacking of different tectonic units under metamorphism of Barrovian greenschist facies. A late, post-nappe, shortening, under retrograde metamorphic conditions, gave rise to wide, upright, N120–N160 trending antiforms that control the trend of the chain. The structural analysis of the Ozieri Metamorphic Complex (OMC) shows evidence of an important phase of late-Variscan extensional tectonics. Deformation results in, the formation of oppositely dipping, normal shear zones, which developed at upper and middle structural level along the limbs of major regional antiforms causing fabric reactivation, crustal thinning, and exhumation of the OMC core. Within the OMC, the activity of the shear zones was coeval with HT-LP metamorphism as suggests the occurrence of syn-kinematic cordierite + andalusite ± sillimanite + biotite. Whereas syntectonic dykes and a tonalite body in the deeper part of the OMC indicate that early emplacement of melt along shear zones and/or in the antiform hinges possibly supplied the heat for the anomalous thermal gradient and triggered the exhumation of a core complex-like structure.