Travel time of accreted igneous assemblages in western Pacific orogenic belts and their associated sedimentary rocks

Accreted igneous assemblages in orogenic belts maybe divided into three types depending on whether they derive from seamounts, ocean ridges or subduction-related ophiolites. Seamount type basalts are associated with shallow water sediments—mostly reefoidal limestones. Ocean ridge type basalts are generally overlain by pelagic cherts. Subduction-related ophiolitic eruptives, often underlain by gabbroic and ultramafic rocks, are associated with hemipelagic mudstones. The age of such diverse eruptive lithologic assemblages reflects the time taken for them to have traveled from their locus of generation to their place of accretion at a continental margin. This relationship has been established for each type of accretionary complex, examples being taken mostly from Japan and the western Pacific rim in order to represent evolutionary processes at a typical active plate margin. In general, the seamount types are older, ridge types are of intermediate age, and the ophiolitic types are by far the youngest, usually close to zero age. Seamount type basalts are accreted by shallower scraping of the seamount's sediment apron together with fragments of seamount basalt, ridge type, by peeling due to permeability contrast, and the ophiolitic types by deeper scraping as a consequence of an inflected temperature gradient. Accordingly, it is concluded that the ophiolitic rocks are generated close to the trench and may be accreted as a result of ridge subduction.     

The Misis–Andırın Complex: a Mid-Tertiary melange related to late-stage subduction of the Southern Neotethys in S Turkey

The Mid-Tertiary (Mid-Eocene to earliest Miocene) Misis–Andırın Complex documents tectonic-sedimentary processes affecting the northerly, active margin of the South Tethys (Neotethys) in the easternmost Mediterranean region. Each of three orogenic segments, Misis (in the SW), Andırın (central) and Engizek (in the NE) represent parts of an originally continuous active continental margin. A structurally lower Volcanic-Sedimentary Unit includes Late Cretaceous arc-related extrusives and their Lower Tertiary pelagic cover. This unit is interpreted as an Early Tertiary remnant of the Mesozoic South Tethys. The overlying melange unit is dominated by tectonically brecciated blocks (>100 m across) of Mesozoic neritic limestone that were derived from the Tauride carbonate platform to the north, together with accreted ophiolitic material. The melange matrix comprises polymict debris flows, high- to low-density turbidites and minor hemipelagic sediments.The Misis–Andırın Complex is interpreted as an accretionary prism related to the latest stages of northward subduction of the South Tethys and diachronous continental collision of the Tauride (Eurasian) and Arabian (African) plates during Mid-Eocene to earliest Miocene time. Slivers of Upper Cretaceous oceanic crust and its Early Tertiary pelagic cover were accreted, while blocks of Mesozoic platform carbonates slid from the overriding plate. Tectonic mixing and sedimentary recycling took place within a trench. Subduction culminated in large-scale collapse of the overriding (northern) margin and foundering of vast blocks of neritic carbonate into the trench. A possible cause was rapid roll back of dense downgoing Mesozoic oceanic crust, such that the accretionary wedge taper was extended leading to gravity collapse. Melange formation was terminated by underthrusting of the Arabian plate from the south during earliest Miocene time.Collision was diachronous. In the east (Engizek Range and SE Anatolia) collision generated a Lower Miocene flexural basin infilled with turbidites and a flexural bulge to the south. Miocene turbiditic sediments also covered the former accretionary prism. Further west (Misis Range) the easternmost Mediterranean remained in a pre-collisional setting with northward underthrusting (incipient subduction) along the Cyprus arc. The Lower Miocene basins to the north (Misis and Adana) indicate an extensional (to transtensional) setting. The NE–SW linking segment (Andırın) probably originated as a Mesozoic palaeogeographic offset of the Tauride margin. This was reactivated by strike-slip (and transtension) during Later Tertiary diachronous collision. Related to on-going plate convergence the former accretionary wedge (upper plate) was thrust over the Lower Miocene turbiditic basins in Mid–Late Miocene time. The Plio-Quaternary was dominated by left-lateral strike-slip along the East Anatolian transform fault and also along fault strands cutting the Misis–Andırın Complex.     

Magnetic fabric study of the SE Rhenohercynian Zone (Bohemian Massif): Implications for dynamics of the Paleozoic accretionary wedge

The progressive deformation recorded in the magnetic fabric of sedimentary rocks was studied in the SE Rhenohercynian Zone (RHZ), eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic. Almost 800 oriented samples of the Lower Carboniferous mudstones and graywackes were collected from the SSE part of the Czech RHZ, so-called the Drahany Upland. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is predominantly controlled by the preferred orientation of paramagnetic phyllosilicates, mainly iron-bearing chlorites. A regional distribution of the magnetic fabric within the Drahany Upland revealed an increasing deformation from the SSE to the NNW. In the SE, the magnetic fabric is bedding-parallel with magnetic lineation scattered in the bedding plane or trending N–S to NNE–SSW. Further to the NW, the magnetic foliation rotates from the bedding-parallel orientation to the orientation parallel to the evolving cleavage. This rotation is accompanied by a decrease of the anisotropy degree and the prolate nature of the anisotropy ellipsoids. The magnetic lineation is parallel to the strike of the bedding, bedding/cleavage intersection, pencil structure or the fold axes on a regional scale. In the NW part of the Drahany Upland, the magnetic foliation becomes parallel to the cleavage accompanied by an increase of the anisotropy degree and the oblate nature of the anisotropy ellipsoids. The increasing trend of deformation corresponds to the SSE–NNW increase in the degree of anchimetamorphism; both trends being oblique to the main lithostratigraphic formations as typically observed in the sedimentary rocks of the accretionary wedges. The SSE–NNW increase in deformation and anchimetamorphism continues to the Nízký Jeseník Mts., representing the northern part of the same accretionary wedge. The kinematics of deformation could not be unambiguously assessed. The observed magnetic fabric may reflect either lateral shortening or horizontal simple shear or a combination of both mechanisms. Regarding the subduction process, it seems that the sedimentary sequences of the Drahany Upland were subducted, partly offscraped and accreted frontally or partly underplated as opposed to the Nízký Jeseník Mts. where some return flow must have occurred.     

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and paleomagnetic studies in relation to the tectonic evolution of the Miocene–Pleistocene accretionary sequence in the Boso and Miura Peninsulas, central Japan

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and paleomagnetic methods have been applied on the middle Miocene–Pleistocene sedimentary sequence in the Boso and Miura Peninsulas of central Japan in order to identify the invisible regional deformation sense as well as the intensity of deformation of sediments. The southern sequences of the two peninsulas were subjected to syn-sedimentary deformation of folding and faulting generated in compressional tectonics. A previous result of the AMS experiment on the sequences shows a development of a strong magnetic lineation. Thus, it is conceivable that the lineation had to be generated during the process of deformation, and in a direction perpendicular to the shortening. However, the orientation of the magnetic lineations is inconsistent among the different tectonic domains in the southern sequence. The paleomagnetic declination in each domain reveals a clockwise rotation in various degrees. Reconstructed directions of the magnetic lineations show a consistent pattern in the east–west direction, suggesting that the sedimentary sequence was subjected to a north-southward compression. In contrast, the compressive direction of the sediment cover on the Pliocene–Pleistocene sequence reveals a northwest direction. Our results suggest that the Philippine Sea Plate had been subducting northward during the middle Miocene–Pliocene, and changed its direction during the Pliocene.     

Thermal structure of the Barbados accretionary complex

Finite element modeling of the thermal structure within the Barbados subduction complex is carried out. Kinematics of the sediments inside the complex are computed from a viscous model with inhomogeneous viscosity and the effect of gravity. The model yields an uplift rate compatible with observational data. Advective heat transfer affects the heat flow across the complex. Imbricated thrust faulting further reduces the heat flow across the slope. These mechanisms predict an arcward decrease of heat flow on the lower slope, followed by an increase of heat flow approaching the ridge, little change in heat flow at the forearc basin, and a significant increase of heat flow near the volcanic are, in agreement with the existing observations.     

Kamafugitic diatremes: facies characterisation and genesis—examples from the Goiás Alkaline Province, Brazil

This paper describes the internal organisation of two diatremes (Águas Emendadas and Neuzinha) and one small breccia-filled conduit (Tigre) in the central portion of the Late Cretaceous Goiás Alkaline Province (GAP), central Brazil, and explores the criteria for facies recognition. The GAP kamafugitic diatremes are emplaced into Carboniferous sandstones of the Aquidauana Formation, at the northern margin of the Paraná Basin. They are usually elliptical structures, not longer than 900 m, filled with breccia and partially covered by thin kamafugitic to basanitic lava flows. The breccias are dominated by juvenile pyroclasts, with subordinate amounts of cognate fragments and xenoliths. In addition to variations in ash and lapilli proportions, juvenile fragment types may be used to discriminate genetic processes and the corresponding pyroclastic deposits.

An extensive field, textural and compositional dataset was analysed by multivariate statistical techniques. Combined with field observations, this allowed us to define a set of facies for kamafugitic diatremes, and, more importantly, to understand the internal structure of the studied bodies and to cross-correlate them. Seven distinct facies were recognised. The Fluidised Conduit Facies (FCF) represents high-energy, strongly fluidised but only moderately fragmented systems. It occurs in a confined environment, and is typical of deeper parts of the conduit, before the actual diatreme level is reached by the ascending fluidised magma. Large amounts of spinning droplets are formed within this region. The Fluidised Conduit–Diatreme Facies (FCDF) is characteristic of intermediate depths in the conduit, where highly fluidised and highly fragmented systems produce large amounts of ash. Spinning droplets decrease in abundance, ordinary juvenile fragments become very common, and xenoliths from the country rock in the immediate vicinity of the diatreme are present. The Fluidised Fragmented Facies (FFF) and the Magmatic Fluidised Facies (MFF) produce very heterogeneous deposits that dominate the shallower part of the system, making up most of the diatreme-filling materials. The Fluidised Fragmented Facies can be distinguished by much higher degrees of fluidisation, fragmentation and system energy. It occupies the internal part of the diatreme and is characterised by the common presence of tuff pockets, tuff fragments, and accretionary and armoured lapilli. The Magmatic Fluidised Facies typically occupies the outer portion of the diatreme and can be distinguished from the Fluidised Fragmented Facies by the dominance of lapilli over ash and by the presence of abundant wrapped fragments. The Magmatic Facies (MF) and the Coherent Magmatic Facies (CMF) are volumetrically subordinate and represent late stages, when less fluidised and less fragmented material, or even coherent magma erupts relatively passively, in the aftermath of the main explosive stage that generated the diatreme. The Border Facies is defined by the increased abundance of material from the immediate country rock. At Águas Emendadas and Neuzinha this facies is marked by the presence of fragments of peperite-like rock, formed by the interaction of the fluidised magma with friable sandstone.     

Combining 2D-basin and structural modelling to constrain heat transport along the Muroto Transect,Nankai Trough,Japan

The Nankai Trough located southeast of Shikoku Island, Japan, exhibits a zone of exceptionally high heat flow. In the central part of the Nankai Trough the fossil spreading centre of the Shikoku Basin is subducted beneath the southwest Japan arc. We have modelled the temperature and maturation history along the Muroto Transect reaching from the tip of the thrust zone out into nearly undeformed Quaternary and Tertiary sediments seawards of Nankai Trough. We used two balanced cross-sections defining the sections before and after overthrusting as input for 2D-basin modelling. We can show that rapid burial and overthrusting during the Quaternary in combination with a heat flow history following the cooling curve of a 15 Ma old oceanic plate is not sufficient to explain the measured maturity of organic material in the sediments. Several heat flow scenarios derived from theoretical concepts [Yamano, M., Kinoshita, M., Goto, S., Matsubayashi, O., 2003. Extremely high heat flow anomaly in the middle part of the Nankai Trough. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 28, 487–497.] and previous modelling approaches [e.g. Brown, K.M., Saffer, D.M., Bekins, B.A., 2001. Smectite diagenesis, pore water freshening, and fluid flow at the toe of the Nankai wedge. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 194, 97–109; Spinelli, G.A., Underwood, M.B., 2005. Modeling thermal history of subducting crust in Nankai Trough: constraints from in situ sediment temperature and diagenetic reaction progress. Geophysical Research Letters 32(L09301): doi:10.1029/2005GL022793; Steurer, J., Underwood, M.B., 2003. Clay mineralogy of mudstones from the Nankai Trough reference sites 1173 and 1177 and frontal accretionary prism site 1174. In: H. Mikada et al. (Eds.), pp. 1–37. Available from: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/190196SR/VOLUME/CHAPTERS/211.PDF>] were tested. The best match between observed maturity levels, temperature and heat flow measurements is reached for a heat flow history which initially assumes the cooling of a 15 Ma old oceanic lithosphere but is reheated to 170–180 mW/m² during the phase of rapid burial in the Quaternary. This can be achieved either by assuming the onset of hydrothermal circulation in the cooling crust or by reheating caused by off-axis volcanism at about 6 Ma [Yamano, M., Kinoshita, M., Goto, S., Matsubayashi, O., 2003. Extremely high heat flow anomaly in the middle part of the Nankai Trough. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 28, 487–497.].     

Geology of the Gorny Altai subduction–accretion complex, southern Siberia: Tectonic evolution of an Ediacaran–Cambrian intra-oceanic arc-trench system

The Gorny Altai region in southern Siberia is one of the key areas in reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the western segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). This region features various orogenic elements of Late Neoproterozoic–Early Paleozoic age, such as an accretionary complex (AC), high-P/T metamorphic (HP) rocks, and ophiolite (OP), all formed by ancient subduction–accretion processes. This study investigated the detailed geology of the Upper Neoproterozoic to Lower Paleozoic rocks in a traverse between Gorno-Altaisk city and Lake Teletskoy in the northern part of the region, and in the Kurai to Chagan-Uzun area in the southern part. The tectonic units of the studied areas consist of (1) the Ediacaran (=Vendian)–Early Cambrian AC, (2) ca. 630 Ma HP complex, (3) the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian OP complex, (4) the Cryogenian–Cambrian island arc complex, and (5) the Middle Paleozoic fore-arc sedimentary rocks. The AC consists mostly of paleo-atoll limestone and underlying oceanic island basalt with minor amount of chert and serpentinite. The basaltic lavas show petrochemistry similar to modern oceanic plateau basalt. The 630 Ma HP complex records a maximum peak metamorphism at 660 °C and 2.0 GPa that corresponds to 60 km-deep burial in a subduction zone, and exhumation at ca. 570 Ma. The Cryogenian island arc complex includes boninitic rocks that suggest an incipient stage of arc development. The Upper Neoproterozoic–Lower Paleozoic complexes in the Gorno-Altaisk city to Lake Teletskoy and the Kurai to Chagan-Uzun areas are totally involved in a subhorizontal piled-nappe structure, and overprinted by Late Paleozoic strike-slip faulting. The HP complex occurs as a nappe tectonically sandwiched between the non- to weakly metamorphosed AC and the OP complex. These lithologic assemblages and geologic structure newly documented in the Gorny Altai region are essentially similar to those of the circum-Pacific (Miyashiro-type) orogenic belts, such as the Japan Islands in East Asia and the Cordillera in western North America. The Cryogenian boninite-bearing arc volcanism indicates that the initial stage of arc development occurred in a transient setting from a transform zone to an incipient subduction zone. The less abundant of terrigenous clastics from mature continental crust and thick deep-sea chert in the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian AC may suggest that the southern Gorny Altai region evolved in an intra-oceanic arc-trench setting like the modern Mariana arc, rather than along the continental arc of a major continental margin. Based on geological, petrochemical, and geochronological data, we synthesize the Late Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic tectonic history of the Gorny Altai region in the western CAOB.     

“Source to Sink”: A Review of Tectonics-Erosion-Sedimentation Interactions in the Analogue Experiments of Accretionary WedgeEI北大核心CSCD

It is believed that the tectonics-erosion-sedimentation interaction in the analogue experiments was essentially improved by the theory of “from source to sink”. In particular, the widespread uplift and exhumation in the western China occurred in Cenozoic can be considered to be a typical natural laboratory in the world. Here we review our current understanding from tectonic sandbox models of tectonics-erosion-sedimentation and their interactions, as well as from natural laboratory. As we known, there are widespread erosion occurred predominantly at hinterland of the accretionary wedge, in contrast to the sedimentation occurred widely at foreland of the wedge. Therefore, fold-and-thrust belts with low syntectonic sedimentation and erosion would evolve in a self-similar fashion to produce a narrow accretionary wedge, while high syntectonic sedimentation and erosion would produce accretionary wedge with very active hinterland thrusts, and a large width. Furthermore, the critically tapered wedge model suggests that the crust-scale thrust-and-fold belts under a horizontal compressive force would come into a self-similar growth of a forward-tapering wedge when it reaches a critical taper angle of the combined angles of the base dip and the wedge slope. Such a process has important influence on the tectonics-erosion- sedimentation and their interactions both in accretionary wedges and their analogue experiments. Although there is a significant similarity between the analogue experiments and natural accretionary wedges in the surface processes of tectonics- erosion-sedimentation and their interactions, it is difficult to get more universal parameters between them. It should be noted that sandbox models of the accretionary wedges in the natural laboratory would improve significantly our understanding of the theory of the tectonics-erosion-sedimentation interactions and “from source to sink”. © 2018, Science Press. All right reserved.     

Intrinsic versus extrinsic variability of analogue sand-box experiments – Insights from statistical analysis of repeated accretionary sand wedge experiments

Analogue models are not perfectly reproducible even under controlled boundary conditions which make their interpretation and application not always straight forward. As any scientific experiment they include some random component which can be influenced both by intrinsic (inherent processes) and extrinsic (boundary conditions, material properties) sources. In order to help in the assessment of analogue model results, we discriminate and quantify the intrinsic versus extrinsic variability of results from “sandbox” models of accretionary wedges that were repeated in a controlled environment. The extrinsic source of variability, i.e. the parameter varied is the nature of the décollement (material, friction and thickness). Experiment observables include geometric properties of the faults (lifetime, spacing, dip) as well as wedge geometry (height, slope, length).For each variable we calculated the coefficient of variance (CV) and quantified the variability as a symmetric distribution (Normal, Laplacian) or asymmetric distribution (Gamma) using a Chi squared test (χ²). Observables like fault dip/back thrust dip (CV = 0.6–0.7/0.2–0.6) are less variable and decrease in magnitude with decreasing basal friction. Variables that are time dependent like fault lifetime (CV = 0.19–0.56) and fault spacing (CV = 0.12 – 0.36) have a higher CV consequently affecting the variability of wedge slope (CV = 0.12–0.33). These observables also increase in magnitude with increasing basal friction. As the mechanical complexity of the evolving wedge increases over time so does the CV and asymmetry of the distribution. In addition, we confirm the repeatability of experiments using an ANOVA test. Through the statistical analysis of results from repeated experiments we present a tool to quantify variability and an alternative method to gaining better insights into the dynamic mechanics of deformation in analogue sand wedges.