Tectonic control on third‐order sequences in a siliciclastic ramp‐style basin: An example from the Roper Superbasin (Mesoproterozoic), northern Australia

TThe Roper Group is a cyclic, predominantly marine, siliciclastic succession of Calymmian (Early Mesoproterozoic) age. It has a distribution of at least 145 000 km² and a maximum known thickness of ～5000 m. In the Roper River district the middle part of the Roper Group (～1300 m thick) is characterised by the cyclical alternation of mudstone and sandstone units, and can be divided into six third‐order depositional sequences. A typical sequence is broadly progradational in aspect, and comprises a lower, mudstone‐rich, storm‐dominated shelf succession (up to 330 m thick), and a sequence‐capping unit dominated by tidal‐platform cross‐bedded sandstone (up to 80 m thick); both are interpreted as highstand systems tracts. Transgressive strata are poorly represented but where present are characterised by paralic to fluvial redbed assemblages that include ooidal ironstone. Roper Group sequences lack a distinct condensed section and sequence boundaries are mostly conformable. Erosional contacts separate mud‐rich shelf facies from sequence‐capping sandstones. We infer that these erosion surfaces were generated by episodic flexural tectonism, which also generated the accommodation and sediment supply for Roper sequences.     

Exhumation during oblique transpression: The Feiran–Solaf region, Egypt

The Feiran–Solaf metamorphic complex of Sinai, Egypt, is one of the highest grade metamorphic complexes of a series of basement domes that crop out throughout the Arabian-Nubian Shield. In the Eastern Desert of Egypt these basement domes have been interpreted as metamorphic core complexes exhumed in extensional settings. For the Feiran–Solaf complex an interpretation of the exhumation mechanism is difficult to obtain with structural arguments as all of its margins are obliterated by post-tectonic granites. Here, metamorphic methods are used to investigate its tectonic history and show that the complex was characterized by a single metamorphic cycle experiencing peak metamorphism at ∼700–750 °C and 7–8 kbar and subsequent isothermal decompression to ∼4–5 kbar, followed by near isobaric cooling to 450 °C. Correlation of this metamorphic evolution with the deformation history shows that peak metamorphism occurred prior to the compressive deformation phase D ₂, while the compressive D ₂ and D ₃ deformation occurred during the near isothermal decompression phase of the P–T loop. We interpret the concurrence of decompression of the P–T path and compression by structural shortening as evidence for the Najd fault system exhuming the complex in an oblique transpressive regime. However, final exhumation from ∼15 km depth must have occurred due to an unrelated mechanism.     

Age, Origin and Cooling History of the Coronel Joao Sa Pluton, Bahia, Brazil

In north-east Brazil, Archean and Paleoproterozoic cratonicblocks are enclosed within a network of Brasiliano-age (0·7–0·55Ga) metasedimentary foldbelts. The unfoliated Coronel JoãoSá granodiorite pluton, which contains magmatic epidoteand strongly resorbed clinopyroxene, intrudes the SergipanoFoldbelt. Zircons yield a concordant U–Pb crystallizationage of 625 ± 2 Ma; titanite ages are approximately 621Ma. Discordant zircons suggest inheritance from at least twomagma sources of ages <1·8 and >2·2 Ga.Model calculations based on diffusion parameters and Rb–Srisotope data from separated minerals indicate that the plutoncooled at a rate of 36°C/Myr. Whole-rock element compositionsand initial Sr–Nd isotopic compositions that are heterogeneouson all length scales suggest magma mixing. Trace-element concentrationsand Nd isotope data argue against a contribution from a contemporaneousmantle-derived magma. Values of magmatic _Nd (at 625 Ma) resemblecontemporary _Nd for local supracrustal rocks and basement, compatiblewith anatexis of a crustal source. In north-east Brazil, cratonicblocks could have amalgamated with foldbelts that originatedas: (1) a mosaic of island arcs and arc basins (traditionalallochthonous model), or as (2) extensional continental sedimentarybasins (but not oceanic crust) later involved in collision (autochthonousmodel). The Coronel João Sá isotopic and chemicaldata support an autochthonous origin. KEY WORDS: Brasiliano Orogeny; granodiorite pluton; Rb–Sr isotopes, Sm–Nd isotopes; U–Pb isotopes, magma cooling rate     

Geochemistry and provenance of the Turquoise Bluff Slate,northeastern Tasmania: tectonic significance

The Ordovician Turquoise Bluff Slate in northeastern Tasmania is a 2?km-thick sequence of deep-marine siliceous black slates. It is dominated by meta-siltstones with bimodal grainsize distributions typical of turbidite T_E-1 and T_E-2 facies. The slates have high SiO₂ indicating they are hemipelagites. The high Ba and V indicate they were deposited in an anoxic environment associated with high oceanic productivity. All these features are common in muddy turbidites. U–Th–Pb dating of detrital monazite and authigenic xenotime in the slates supports previous evidence that the dominant cleavage, in this unit, formed during the Benambran Orogeny. The whole-rock composition of the slates is similar to black slates in the Adaminaby Group, NSW. A review of Paleozoic whole-rock compositions from the Lachlan Orogen confirms they all have trace element contents similar to average Australian shale. However, there are subtle differences in composition. The Turquoise Bluff Slate and other Mathinna Supergroup rocks from the Eastern Tasmania Terrane have higher average Cr content than similar age turbidites from Victoria and NSW. This probably reflects a small contribution from Tasmania Cambrian ultramafic rocks in the provenance. If this were correct, northeastern Tasmania was closer to western Tasmania in the Paleozoic than other provinces of the Lachlan Orogen, southeastern Australia. Other subtle features of the whole-rock composition of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks from the Lachlan Orogen indicate it may be possible to recognise provincial variations in composition that will provide new constraints on tectonic models of southeastern Australia.     

The Montecristo monzogranite (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea,Italy): a collisional pluton in an extensional setting

The Montecristo monzogranite (MM) is a near-circular peraluminous monzogranite pluton occupying the entire 10 km² of Montecristo Island. Outcrops of country rock are scarce, and are mainly roof pendants of metagabbros and calcsilicate hornfels of the Apenninic ophiolite sequence. Emplacement of the pluton (Rb–Sr age=7·1±0·2 Ma), following the early Miocene onset of continental collision, occurred during an extensional phase which migrated eastward via a combined process of subduction–delamination. The MM rocks are strongly porphyritic, the assemblage being composed of alkali-feldspar, quartz, plagioclase (all occurring as mega- or phenocrysts), biotite and minor cordierite. Accessory minerals include tourmaline, apatite, zircon, ilmenite, allanite, monazite, rutile and hellandite. Reconstructed crystallization histories for the mineral phases reveal a polybaric crystallization starting at about 5 kb. Textural variations of MM occur in sharp contact with each other; darker types often form globular masses containing fewer megacrysts and more abundant mafic microgranular enclaves. Geochemical, isotopic and petrographic data indicate that the MM magma was produced by anatectic melting of an intermediate to deep pelitic crustal source. On the basis of the geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of the enclaves, modification of their parent magma occurred by crystal fractionation coupled with mixing and mingling of components from the MM magma. The limited geochemical variation in MM is interpreted as due to crystal fractionation processes during the magma's ascent. Younger porphyritic dykes with more potassic and alkaline affinities cut the pluton; these dykes are concentrated in a major fracture zone and are associated with contemporaneous pseudotachylites. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

天山-准噶尔地区地震层析成像与壳幔结构

通过对东西天山两条天然地震剖面的远震P波与近震P波走时资料以及2001-2007年新疆地方台网的近震走时资料分析,获得了天山-准噶尔地区的三维地震层析图像.层析反演使用的台站数140个,地震事件1132个,P波走时数24904条.检测板试验结果指出,东西天山剖面、天山轴部和东准噶尔地区P波速度扰动恢复能力相对高.纵波波...     

南岭寨背和陂头花岗岩基属印支期侵位的岩浆动力学证据及构造意义

文章通过对南岭东段寨背和陂头岩基地质-岩石地球化学特征研究,判明它们的侵位深度(7.5 km)、围岩温度(250℃)及岩浆初始温度(950℃),建立起寨背-陂头岩基的数学计算模型,并计算得出:寨背和陂头花岗岩熔体侵位后,其初始温度降低至结晶温度所需的时间(Δtcol)分别为4.04 Ma(寨背岩基)和3.97 Ma(陂...     

On the geology of the Indoburman ranges

The mountains of western and northwestern Burma consist chiefly of colossal accumulations of Palaeocene to Eocene (Arakan and Chin Hills) or Senonian to Eocene (Naga Hills) Flysch of varying, including “exotic”, facies.

The main frontal thrust zone of the Alpino‐Himalayan Tectogene lies along and within the easternmost ranges of this Indoburman system, not along the western margin (Shan Scarp) of the Sinoburman Highlands. Some of the highest mountains in the Naga Hills are “Klippen” of metamorphics lying on Flysch.

The Flysch ranges arose during the Oligocene but along the Arakan Coast there is ample evidence of an equally important earlier orogenic phase (latest Cretaceous) now almost totally buried beneath the western half of the Indoburman system and the post‐Oligocene “Argille Scagliose” and “Macigno” on‐lapping eastwards from the Bengal‐Assam embayment.

The lowlands of Central and Lower Burma do not represent a foreland feature, but an intramontane Molasse‐filled basin to which the sea retained access because of a general southerly plunge of the Alpine Tectogene. Geotec‐tonically, it is analogous to the Tibetan Plateau, not the Indo‐Gangetic lowlands.     

The Cambrian metamorphic history of Tasmania: The Metapelites

The metamorphic complexes of Tasmania formed during the Cambrian (ca 510 Ma) as a result of rapid compression in a subduction zone setting followed by rapid exhumation, which brought various fault-bounded metamorphic complexes back to the surface in less than 5 Ma. The two highest grade complexes, the Franklin Metamorphic Complex, and the Port Davey Metamorphic Complex, experienced initial growth of metamorphic garnets at ～560°C, ～0.56 GPa. However, their subsequent metamorphic histories diverge, with the FMC displaying a marked increase in pressure (to 1.4 GPa at peak P/T), while the PDMC shows only a slight increase in pressure (to ～0.7 GPa). Both complexes show only a minor increase in temperature (～100°C) between initial garnet growth and peak metamorphic conditions. Rapid exhumation of these complexes can be accounted for by a slab-breakoff model. However, the difference in peak pressure between these complexes requires either continued subduction of the FMC while the PDMC had already begun its return towards the surface or that the subduction zone geometry resulted in significantly different pressures occurring contemporaneously within portions of the channel, which are not far removed from one another.     

Structure and metamorphism of the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage: Implications for middle to Late Devonian orogeny in the northern New England Fold Belt

The Late Silurian to Middle Devonian Calliope Volcanic Assemblage in the Rockhampton region is deformed into a set of northwest‐trending gently plunging folds with steep axial plane cleavage. Folds become tighter and cleavage intensifies towards the bounding Yarrol Fault to the east. These folds and associated cleavage also deformed Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the age of this deformation is Middle to Late Permian (Hunter‐Bowen Orogeny). In the Stanage Bay area, both the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage and younger strata generally have one cleavage, although here it strikes north to northeast. This cleavage is also considered to be of Hunter‐Bowen age. Metamorphic grade in the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage ranges from prehnite‐pumpellyite to greenschist facies, with higher grades in the more strongly cleaved rocks. In the Rockhampton region the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage is part of a west‐vergent fold and thrust belt, the Yarrol Fault representing a major thrust within this system.

A Late Devonian unconformity followed minor folding of the Calliope Volcanic Assemblage, but no cleavage was formed. The unconformity does not represent a collision between an exotic island arc and continental Australia as previously suggested.