We present a detailed, new time scale for an orogenic cycle (oceanic accretion–subduction–collision) that provides significant insights into Paleozoic continental growth processes in the southeastern segment of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The most prominent tectonic feature in Inner Mongolia is the association of paired orogens. A southern orogen forms a typical arc-trench complex, in which a supra-subduction zone ophiolite records successive phases during its life cycle: birth (ca. 497–477 Ma), when the ocean floor of the ophiolite was formed; (2) youth (ca. 473–470 Ma), characterized by mantle wedge magmatism; (3) shortly after maturity (ca. 461–450 Ma), high-Mg adakite and adakite were produced by slab melting and subsequent interaction of the melt with the mantle wedge; (4) death, caused by subduction of a ridge crest (ca. 451–434 Ma) and by ridge collision with the ophiolite (ca. 428–423 Ma). The evolution of the magmatic arc exhibits three major coherent phases: arc volcanism (ca. 488–444 Ma); adakite plutonism (ca. 448–438 Ma) and collision (ca. 419–415 Ma) of the arc with a passive continental margin. The northern orogen, a product of ridge-trench interaction, evolved progressively from coeval generation of near-trench plutons (ca. 498–461 Ma) and juvenile arc crust (ca. 484–469 Ma), to ridge subduction (ca. 440–434 Ma), microcontinent accretion (ca. 430–420 Ma), and finally to forearc formation. The paired orogens followed a consistent progression from ocean floor subduction/arc formation (ca. 500–438 Ma), ridge subduction (ca. 451–434 Ma) to microcontinent accretion/collision (ca. 430–415 Ma); ridge subduction records the turning point that transformed oceanic lithosphere into continental crust. The recognition of this orogenic cycle followed by Permian–early Triassic terminal collision of the CAOB provides compelling evidence for episodic continental growth. 相似文献
The regionally extensive, coarse-grained Bakhtiyari Formation represents the youngest synorogenic fill in the Zagros foreland basin of Iran. The Bakhtiyari is present throughout the Zagros fold-thrust belt and consists of conglomerate with subordinate sandstone and marl. The formation is up to 3000 m thick and was deposited in foredeep and wedge-top depocenters flanked by fold-thrust structures. Although the Bakhtiyari concordantly overlies Miocene deposits in foreland regions, an angular unconformity above tilted Paleozoic to Miocene rocks is expressed in the hinterland (High Zagros).
The Bakhtiyari Formation has been widely considered to be a regional sheet of Pliocene–Pleistocene conglomerate deposited during and after major late Miocene–Pliocene shortening. It is further believed that rapid fold growth and Bakhtiyari deposition commenced simultaneously across the fold-thrust belt, with limited migration from hinterland (NE) to foreland (SW). Thus, the Bakhtiyari is generally interpreted as an unmistakable time indicator for shortening and surface uplift across the Zagros. However, new structural and stratigraphic data show that the most-proximal Bakhtiyari exposures, in the High Zagros south of Shahr-kord, were deposited during the early Miocene and probably Oligocene. In this locality, a coarse-grained Bakhtiyari succession several hundred meters thick contains gray marl, limestone, and sandstone with diagnostic marine pelecypod, gastropod, coral, and coralline algae fossils. Foraminiferal and palynological species indicate deposition during early Miocene time. However, the lower Miocene marine interval lies in angular unconformity above ~ 150 m of Bakhtiyari conglomerate that, in turn, unconformably caps an Oligocene marine sequence. These relationships attest to syndepositional deformation and suggest that the oldest Bakhtiyari conglomerate could be Oligocene in age.
The new age information constrains the timing of initial foreland-basin development and proximal Bakhtiyari deposition in the Zagros hinterland. These findings reveal that structural evolution of the High Zagros was underway by early Miocene and probably Oligocene time, earlier than commonly envisioned. The age of the Bakhtiyari Formation in the High Zagros contrasts significantly with the Pliocene–Quaternary Bakhtiyari deposits near the modern deformation front, suggesting a long-term (> 20 Myr) advance of deformation toward the foreland. 相似文献
Ion-microprobe U–Pb analyses of 589 detrital zircon grains from 14 sandstones of the Alborz mountains, Zagros mountains, and central Iranian plateau provide an initial framework for understanding the Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic provenance history of Iran. The results place improved chronological constraints on the age of earliest sediment accumulation during Neoproterozoic–Cambrian time, the timing of the Mesozoic Iran–Eurasia collision and Cenozoic Arabia–Eurasia collision, and the contribution of various sediment sources of Gondwanan and Eurasian affinity during opening and closure of the Paleotethys and Neotethys oceans. The zircon age populations suggest that deposition of the extensive ~ 1 km-thick clastic sequence at the base of the cover succession commenced in latest Neoproterozoic and terminated by Middle Cambrian time. Comparison of the geochronological data with detrital zircon ages for northern Gondwana reveals that sediment principally derived from the East African orogen covered a vast region encompassing northern Africa and the Middle East. Although most previous studies propose a simple passive-margin setting for Paleozoic Iran, detrital zircon age spectra indicate Late Devonian–Early Permian and Cambrian–Ordovician magmatism. These data suggest that Iran was affiliated with Eurasian magmatic arcs or that rift-related magmatic activity during opening of Paleotethys and Neotethys was more pronounced than thought along the northern Gondwanan passive-margin. For a Triassic–Jurassic clastic overlap assemblage (Shemshak Formation) in the Alborz mountains, U–Pb zircon ages provide chronostratigraphic age control requiring collision of Iran with Eurasia by late Carnian–early Norian time (220–210 Ma). Finally, Cenozoic strata yield abundant zircons of Eocene age, consistent with derivation from arc magmatic rocks related to late-stage subduction and/or breakoff of the Neotethys slab. Together with the timing of foreland basin sedimentation in the Zagros, these detrital zircon ages help bracket the onset of the Arabia–Eurasia collision in Iran between middle Eocene and late Oligocene time. 相似文献
This is a critical assessment of the paper by Oszczypko et al. (2004: Cretaceous Research 25, 89–113), in which they tried to prove a mid-Cretaceous age for the Szlachtowa (“black flysch”) and Opaleniec Formations, in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, West Carpathians, both of which had previously been shown to be of Jurassic age. We argue that the mid-Cretaceous age assignment is a misinterpretation, primarily resulting from their field samples having been collected from some Cretaceous lithostratigraphic units, tectonically associated with the Jurassic formations, and/or from tectonic contact-breccias involving Jurassic and Cretaceous strata. In addition, we suggest that they have overlooked a number of significant palaeontological papers, published since 1962, which record the presence of in situ ammonites, aptychi, belemnites, thin-shelled bivalves (Bositra), gryphaeids, foraminifera, and ostracod assemblages, all indicating a Jurassic (mainly Aalenian), and not a Cretaceous, age for the Szlachtowa Formation, and also the in situ Jurassic (Bajocian) ammonites and thin-shelled bivalves (Bositra), Bositra-microfacies, and age-diagnostic foraminiferal assemblages of the Opaleniec Formation.Our presentation here of recently published dinocyst data from well-preserved assemblages further supports the Jurassic ages for the Szlachtowa (“black flysch”) and Opaleniec Formations. 相似文献
Agricultural soils of the Riotinto mining area (Iberian Pyrite Belt) have been studied to assess the degree of pollution by
trace elements as a consequence of the extraction and treatment of sulphides. Fifteen soil samples were collected and analysed
by ICP-OES and INAA for 51 elements. Chemical analyses showed an As–Cu–Pb–Zn association related with the mineralisation of
the Iberian Pyrite Belt. Concentrations were 19–994 mg kg−1 for As, 41–4,890 mg kg−1 for Pb, 95–897 mg kg−1 for Zn and of 27–1,160 mg kg−1 for Cu. Most of the samples displayed concentrations of these elements higher than the 90th percentile of the corresponding
geological dominium, which suggests an anthropogenic input besides the bedrock influence. Samples collected from sediments
were more contaminated than leptosols because they were polluted by leachates or by mining spills coming from the waste rock
piles. The weathering of the bedrock is responsible for high concentrations in Co, Cr and Ni, but an anthropogenic input,
such as wind-blown dust, seems to be indicative of the high content of As, Cu, Pb and Zn in leptosols. The metal partitioning
patterns show that most trace elements are associated with Fe amorphous oxy-hydroxides, or take part of the residual fraction.
According to the results obtained, the following mobility sequence is proposed for major and minor elements: Mn, Pb, Cd, > Zn,
Cu > Ni > As > Fe > Cr. The high mobility of Pb, Cu and Zn involve an environmental risk in this area, even in soils where
the concentrations are not so high. 相似文献
Agriculture in the southern Great Plains of Canada has been particularly vulnerable to prolonged episodes of drought. Using
climate data and a precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration index, the extent of the region’s exposure to drought
is examined. Between 1914 and 1917, the Dry Belt was particularly vulnerable to drought, whereas after 1928, a much larger
region known as the Palliser Triangle covering most of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was much more exposed to drought.
These droughts provoked major institutional adaptation, in particular the establishment of the Special Areas Board by the
Government of Alberta, and the creation of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration by the Government of Canada. Both
organizations have proved to be relatively permanent public adaptations to the natural hazard of drought in the region. Moreover,
these earlier experiences with prolonged drought as well as institution-building may be of value in helping the residents
of the Palliser Triangle adapt to predicted climate changes in the future as well as anticipate some of the barriers to effective
institutional adaptation. 相似文献
Continental collision between Iranian and Arabian plates resulted in the formation of the Zagros fold–thrust belt and its associated foreland basin. During convergence, pre-existing faults in the basement were reactivated and the sedimentary cover was shortened above two different types of basal decollement (viscous/frictional). This led to heterogeneous deformation which segmented not only the Zagros fold–thrust belt but also its foreland basin into different compartments resulting in variation in facies, thickness and age of the sediment infill.Based on this concept, a new tectono-sedimentary model is proposed for one of the most important syn-tectonic sedimentary unit, the Gachsaran salt in the Zagros foreland basin. In this proposed model, it is argued that differential propagation of the deformation front above decollements with different mechanical properties (viscous versus frictional) results in along-strike irregularity of the Zagros deformation front whereas movement along pre-existing basement faults leads to development of barriers across the Zagros basin. The irregularity of the deformation front and the cross-basin barriers divided the Zagros foreland basin into six almost alternating sub-basins where Gachsaran salt and its non-salt equivalents are deposited. In the salt sub-basins, two different processes were responsible for the deposition of Gachsaran salt: (1) evaporation, and (2) dissolution of extruding Hormuz salt and its re-precipitation as Gachsaran salt. Re-precipitation was probably the most significant process responsible for the huge deposit of Gachsaran salt in the extreme south-east part of the Zagros foreland basin. 相似文献