Structural evolution of the Kopeh Dagh fold-and-thrust belt (NE Iran) and interactions with the South Caspian Sea Basin and Amu Darya Basin

We present a detailed stratigraphic and structural study of the Kopeh Dagh fold-and-thrust belt in NE Iran, which is an investigation of the complex polyphased tectonic history of this belt and its links with the adjacent South Caspian Sea and Amu Darya basins. Based on numerous field surveys, a large amount of 2D and 3D seismic data, borehole data and more than 150 new biostratigaphic datings, a new detailed biostratigraphic chart and 4 main regional cross-sections illustrate the importance of lateral facies variations and structural inheritance in the present-day structure of the belt.After the Cimmerian orogeny corresponding to the closure of the Paleotethys Ocean in Late Triassic/Early Jurassic times, a Middle Jurassic post-collisional rifting event was associated with the deposition of one of the main source rocks of the Kopeh Dagh and the Amu Darya Basin (Kashafrud Formation). Following this rifting event, over 7 km of sediments were accumulated until the Tertiary above a regional post-Triassic unconformity. The occurrence of local uplifts during the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene is interpreted as a consequence of regional-scale modification of plate-slab coupling in the Neotethys subduction zone. The main inversion of the Kopeh Dagh occurred at Late Eocene times, when the far-field deformation developed in Eurasia as a consequence of the locking of the Neo-Tethys subduction. This folding phase is sealed in the western part of the belt by a major Eocene-Oligocene unconformity at the base of the thick sedimentary series belonging to the South Caspian Sea Basin. The bulk of sedimentary infill in the South Caspian Sea Basin is Oligocene and younger, and it is probably related to syn-compressional downward flexure of the resistant basement basin at the onset of the Alpine phase. In the eastern part of the Kopeh Dagh, this deformation is characterized by Middle Jurassic graben inversion with evidence of forced folding, short-cuts and as well by larger scale basement uplifts. In contrast, the northwestern part of the belt shows thrust faults involving basement and fault-propagation folds within the sedimentary sequence. The Kopeh Dagh presents tectonic structures that are parallel to the Paleotethys suture zone, which emphasizes the importance of the structural inheritance and inversion processes during the structural evolution of the belt. Finally, a change from a mostly dip-slip to a mostly strike-slip tectonics occurred during the Pliocene within the Kopeh Dagh as a consequence of a major tectonic reorganization in North-East Iran.     

Strymon and Strymonikos Gulf basins (Northern Greece): Implications on their formation and evolution from faulting

In Central and Eastern Macedonia of Northern Greece large NW–SE trending basins filled up mainly with terrestrial sediments developed during the Neogene over the Alpine basement rocks. Among them, the Strymon basin was established along the NNW–SSE trending Strouma/Strymon Lineament which formed over the tectonic boundary of the Serbomacedonian and Rhodope massifs, both representing the hinterland of the Hellenic orogen. The present study suggests that the Strymon basin was not formed as a syn-detachment basin over the Strymon Valley Detachment Fault, considered to have caused exhumation of the Rhodope massif metamorphic complex. Instead, transpressional s.l. tectonics dominated the region in the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene and it progressively changed into a wrench tectonics under which the Strymon basin has been initiated in the Middle Miocene. The basin continued to develop further under a short-lived NW–SE extension in the Middle-Late Miocene. The whole deformation is attributed to the late-stage collisional processes between the Apulia and Eurasia plates. The prevalent NE–SW extension has been constrained later on in the Late Miocene and Pliocene times activating both low-angle and high-angle NW–SE trending faults and causing the regional tilting towards the SW of the mountain fault blocks (i.e., mountain chains). From Quaternary onwards, the Strymon basin has been separated from the Strymonikos Gulf basin due to an N–S extension that mainly activates E–W striking normal faults.     

被动裂陷盆地油气分布规律及主控因素分析——以塔木察格盆地塔南坳陷为例

塔南凹陷为典型的被动裂陷盆地,构造演化历经了4个阶段:即被动裂陷阶段、主动裂陷阶段、断一坳转化阶段和坳陷阶段,形成两套含油气系统:即被动裂陷含油气系统和主动裂陷含油气系统,油气主要富集在被动裂陷含油气系统中.油气分布的主控因素概括为3个方面:1)是区域性盖层和长期发育的断层控制油气聚集的层位,盆地发育南一段上部和大一段...     

基于B-P神经网络的工程场地的构造稳定性评价

为开展关于工程选址的可利用性评价,建立区域构造稳定性评价模型.从地质结构、断裂活动、地震条件和应力特征4个方面,建立指标体系,利用B-P神经网络模型,对甘谷地进行构造稳定性评价.评价值表明目标地构造较稳定,符合实际情况.     

Tectonomagmatic origin of some volcanic and sub-volcanic rocks from the Lower Benue rift, Nigeria

Petrological and geochemical studies on some volcanic and sub-volcanic rocks from the Lower Benue rift indicate that they are basalts, basaltic and doleritic sills, trachybasalt and trachyte which generally belong to the alkali basalt series. The alkaline affinity is clearly evident in both their normative and modal mineral compositions, as well as their chemical compositions. The generally high fractionation indices [(La/Yb)N] are 7.06 to 17.65 for the basaltic rocks and 23.59 to 135. 35 for the trachytic ...     

华北克拉通内部的拉分盆地:渤海湾盆地黄骅坳陷结构构造与演化

华北克拉通内部的拉分盆地有汾渭地堑、胶莱盆地和渤海湾盆地内部一些次级拉分构造单元等。黄骅坳陷就是这样一个拉分构造,位于渤海湾盆地中心地带,整体呈北北东走向,分割西侧北北东向的冀中坳陷和东侧北西西向的济阳坳陷,是发育在一个巨型走滑构造带中的新生代拉分盆地。黄骅坳陷的西界为沧东断裂系,东界为兰聊—盐山—羊二庄断裂系,最大负向构造单元在"大歧口凹陷",古近系最大沉积厚度达11km以上,是渤海湾地区地壳伸展最剧烈的地区。黄骅坳陷东、西边界相对较陡,受其控制,整个黄骅坳陷表现为拉分盆地;而"大歧口凹陷"为其主体,"大歧口凹陷"内部构造样式的控制性构造为东西向的断裂,而不是传统认为的沧东断裂等;所以,黄骅坳陷内部单个凹陷具有比较独特的下部为地堑式断陷、上部叠加北断南超的箕状结构。黄骅坳陷内部的凸起是沙一期才开始出现并起分割沉积空间的作用,沙一期以前,现今的歧口主凹、板桥次凹、歧北次凹、歧南次凹、北塘凹陷等都还是统一的一个湖盆。黄骅坳陷主要构造总体可划分为北北东向盆缘走滑断裂系、北东东向区域伸展断裂系、东西向盆内次级伸展构造和南北向变换构造,其中,最为显著的分割构造就是南北走向的沿岸变换带与孔店隆起。不同的伸展构造区受统一的基底拆离构造系统控制。"大歧口凹陷"的结构构造是华北克拉通破坏晚期阶段裂解过程的直接记录,是区域北北西向伸展背景下的产物。盆地构造经历了4个重要发展阶段:始新世孔店事件形成的拓展裂解阶段、渐新世初济阳运动事件形成的地堑式拉分断陷阶段、渐新世末东营运动形成的箕状断陷阶段、中—上新世热沉降期的碟状挠曲拗陷演化阶段。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000332

A huge triangle-shaped tectonic region in eastern Asia plays host to numerous major earthquakes. The three boundaries of this region, which contains plateaus, mountains, and intermountain basins, are roughly the Himalayan arc, the Tianshan-Baikal, and longitude line 105°E. Within this triangular region, tectonism is intense and major deformation occurs both between crustal blocks and within most of them. Outside of this region, rigid blocks move as a whole with relatively few major earthquakes and relatively weak Cenozoic deformation. On a large tectonic scale, the presence of this broad region of intraplate deformation results from dynamic interactions between the Indian, Philippine Sea-West Pacific, and Eurasian plates, as well as the influence of deep-level mantle flow. The Indian subcontinent, which continues to move northwards at 40 mm/a since its collision with Eurasia, has plunged beneath Tibet, resulting in various movements and deformations along the Himalayan arc that diffuse over a long distance into the hinterland of Asia. The northward crustal escape of Asia from the Himalayan collisional zone turns eastwards and southeastwards along 95°–100°E longitude and defines the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. At the western Himalayan syntaxis, the Pamirs continue to move into central Asia, leading to crustal deformation and earthquakes that are largely accommodated by old EW or NW trending faults in the bordering areas between China, Mongolia, and Russia, and are restricted by the stable landmass northwest of the Tianshan-Altai-Baikal region. The subduction of the Philippine and Pacific plates under the Eurasian continent has generated a very long and narrow seismic zone along trenches and island arcs in the marginal seas while imposing only slight horizontal compression on the Asian continent that does not impede the eastward motion of eastern Asia. In the third dimension, there may be southeastward deep mantle flow beneath most of Eurasia that reaches the marginal seas and may contribute to extension along the eastern margin of Eurasia.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000393

Wide-open V-shaped conjugate strike-slip faults in Asia are typically related to extrusion tectonics. However, the tectonic model based on the slip-line theory of plasticity has some critical problems associated with it. The conjugate sets of slip-lines in plane deformation, according to the theory of plasticity should be normal to each another but, in reality, the angles between the conjugate strike-slip faults, which are regarded as slip-lines in extrusion tectonics in the eastern Mediterranean, Tibet-middle Asia, China and the Indochina Peninsular regions, are always more than 90° (on average 110°) in the direction of contraction. Another problem is that the slip-line theory fails to explain how, in some cases, e.g., in the Anatolian area in the eastern Mediterranean, the extrusion rate is much higher than the indent rate. The two major problems are easy to solve in terms of the Maximum-Effective-Moment (MEM) Criterion that predicts that orientations of the shear zones are theoretically at an angle of 54.7° and practically at angles of 55°±10° with the σ1- or contractional direction. The orientations of the strike-slip faults that accommodate extrusion tectonics are, therefore, fundamentally controlled by the MEM Criterion. When extrusion is along the MEM-orientations, the extruding rate is normally higher than the indenting rate.     

The junction of the eastern Central Asian Fold Belt and the Siberian Platform: deep structure and Mesozoic tectonics and geodynamics

The tectonic structure of the junction of the eastern Central Asian Fold Belt and the Siberian Platform, along with the deep structure of the Earth's crust and lithosphere in this region, has been described on the basis of new geological and geophysical data (seismic, geoelectric, and space-structural studies as well as new-generation geological maps), combined with new interpretation techniques (processing of the previous data by special software). The data suggest the existence of oblique collision during the convergence of the tectonic plates and, correspondingly, tectonic units composing these plates, when the Mongol–Okhotsk paleobasin closed. Such a scenario within the Aldan–Stanovoi Shield is evidenced by areas of syn- and postcollisional magmatism, with their deep-level and geochemical characteristics, and by the presence of a Late Mesozoic fold–thrust zone. Deep “traces” of these tectonomagmatic events, detected in the course of geological and geophysical modeling, are manifested in inclined deep boundaries between the crustal and lithospheric blocks. On the Earth's surface, they correspond to large fault systems: the Dzheltulak, North and South Tukuringra, Gulyui, and Stanovoi. It has been found that the influence of collision decreases northward with distance from the junction of the eastern Central Asian Fold Belt and the Siberian Platform (Dzheltulak and North Tukuringra transcrustal faults).