Identification of an underfilled foreland basin system in the Upper Devonian of the Central Pyrenees: implications for the Hercynian orogeny

A foreland basin succession has been identified in the Frasnian of the Central Pyrenees. This succession comprises a carbonate-dominated transgressive system which recorded the cratonward migration of the foreland basin subsidence, and siliciclastic depocenters which recorded the progression of the thrust-fold deformation. The foreland basin system has always been maintained in deep-marine environments, i.e., at an underfilled depositional state. It was associated with a thrust wedge which descended toward a deep-marine hinterland, i.e., with a type of orogenic wedge usually related to subduction zones. The Frasnian foreland basin system differs from the one known in the Carboniferous which evolved to overfilled depositional state and was associated with a thrust wedge rising toward a mountainous hinterland. Consequently, the Hercynian orogeny in the Pyrenees seems to result first, from a Frasnian thrusting controlled by a subduction zone located north of the Pyrenees, and second, from a Carboniferous thrusting controlled by the surrection of a frontal thrust belt in the Pyrenees. The association of underfilled foreland basin systems and hinterland-dipping thrust wedges, as exemplified in the Frasnian of the Pyrenees, can be interpreted as illustrative of the initial stages of thrust-wedge growth in deep-marine settings.     

前陆背景下的两种正断裂现象及其相互作用模式

许多前陆盆地同时存在着下部的裂陷正断裂和上部的造山期的挠曲正断裂。作用在均质不分层和非均质分层板块中的挠曲正断裂具有不同的外观形态和形变的空间协调机制，前者断面陡直、贯穿深远；后者则呈坡坪式形态。裂陷正断裂和挠曲正断裂具有3种相互作用方式、差异甚殊的断裂总体形态和中性面分布位置不同的应力体制。Ⅰ类，挠曲正断裂局限在陆缘期或坳陷期层序中；Ⅱ类，裂陷期正断裂断至断陷期层序，且以裂陷正断裂为基础而存在，二者构成完整而独特的断裂组合；Ⅲ类，挠曲正断裂亦断穿至断陷期层序，但和裂陷正断裂并不存在直接关系。这三类关系对孔隙—裂缝网络体具有不同的影响，并和应力体制一道，对流体尤其是烃类的作用过程有差异很大的影响。地层在跨越同生正断裂和挠曲正断裂时所发生的厚度的变化，起因于二者在物源方向上的完全不同。     

台湾西部前陆盆地的构造格局和演化规律

基于对台湾岛、台湾海峡和周边海域(南海、东海)的盆山系统、相应动力学机制、构造单元以及其他诸多造山带和毗邻前陆盆地的研究,提出了台湾西部前陆盆地演化的4阶段模式,即:①增生楔发育-单向物源阶段;②挠曲响应-双向物源阶段;③前陆盆地系统形成阶段;④造山带坍塌-前陆衰退阶段。并对各阶段的构造特征、沉积特征和物源供给方式的差异给予了探讨,认为在增生楔发育-单向物源阶段,尽管增生楔业已推覆至陆缘层序之上,但盆地依然呈被动陆缘的外廓特征,以大陆方向为盆地的唯一物源;在挠曲响应-双向物源阶段,盆地开始明显出现挠曲响应,增生楔开始具备并逐步加大向盆地供应沉积物质的能力,但依然以大陆方向为主要物源方向;在前陆盆地系统形成阶段,前渊和前隆区逐步形成,在来自唯一物源、后陆方向造山带物质的快速充填下,前陆期层序快速向前隆方向超覆,形成典型的前陆楔形体;在造山带坍塌-前陆衰退阶段,伸展作用出现并快速扩展,前渊抬升,前陆层序遭受剥蚀,火山作用重新出现。并探讨了该模式是否具有周缘前陆盆地的普遍适用性。     

Late Paleozoic orogeny in Alaska's Farewell terrane

Evidence is presented for a previously unrecognized late Paleozoic orogeny in two parts of Alaska's Farewell terrane, an event that has not entered into published scenarios for the assembly of Alaska. The Farewell terrane was long regarded as a piece of the early Paleozoic passive margin of western Canada, but is now thought, instead, to have lain between the Siberian and Laurentian (North American) cratons during the early Paleozoic. Evidence for a late Paleozoic orogeny comes from two belts located 100–200 km apart. In the northern belt, metamorphic rocks dated at 284–285 Ma (three ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar white-mica plateau ages) provide the main evidence for orogeny. The metamorphic rocks are interpreted as part of the hinterland of a late Paleozoic mountain belt, which we name the Browns Fork orogen. In the southern belt, thick accumulations of Pennsylvanian-Permian conglomerate and sandstone provide the main evidence for orogeny. These strata are interpreted as the eroded and deformed remnants of a late Paleozoic foreland basin, which we name the Dall Basin. We suggest that the Browns Fork orogen and Dall Basin comprise a matched pair formed during collision between the Farewell terrane and rocks to the west. The colliding object is largely buried beneath Late Cretaceous flysch to the west of the Farewell terrane, but may have included parts of the so-called Innoko terrane. The late Paleozoic convergent plate boundary represented by the Browns Fork orogen likely connected with other zones of plate convergence now located in Russia, elsewhere in Alaska, and in western Canada.     

准噶尔盆地南缘山前带阿什里背斜精细构造建模

准噶尔盆地南缘山前冲断带经历了多期叠加构造活动,构造变形特征复杂,对研究陆内造山变形机制具有重要意义。阿什里背斜处于北天山后方前陆部位,构造样式为分层滑脱变形体系控制的复式叠加背斜,垂向上包括浅层薄皮推覆构造系统和中深层复合构造楔系统。钻井和地震反射信息揭示,阿什里地区主要滑脱层为基底滑脱层,石炭系、二叠系泥岩层,中下侏罗统八道湾组、西山窑组煤层。阿什里背斜侏罗系底部不整合面受基底发育的叠加构造楔(由2~3个冲断席构成)控制,反冲断层之上石炭系-三叠系构成不对称背斜。阿什里西南大型石炭系推覆体之下发育泥盆系-石炭系组成的冲断席,构成(楔端点向上方突破的)构造楔。阿什里背斜北侧以一向斜与喀拉扎背斜过渡,指示冲断位移沿浅部滑脱层向北继续传播。阿什里及邻区发育的石炭系与三叠系-中下侏罗统不整合、二叠系内部不整合、二叠系与三叠系削截不整合、三叠系与侏罗系不整合、新近系与第四系不整合揭示了中-晚二叠世以来多期构造活动。其中,阿1井核部二叠系梧桐沟组之下钻遇的凝灰岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb同位素分析结果显示其年龄为289.1±7Ma(95%置信度),指示了晚海西期的构造活动。根据阿什里地区地震剖面的精细构造几何学、运动学解析,结合关键不整合面,划分了5个关键构造演化期次:中二叠世阿什里西南逆冲推覆形成古隆起;晚二叠世-晚三叠世阿什里地区存在两期小规模冲断活动;侏罗纪整体稳定沉降或弱坳陷;白垩纪-古近纪多幕隆升构造活动使阿什里地区沿基底发育叠加构造楔;中新世北天山剧烈造山活动中阿什里基底构造楔向北突破形成阿克屯-喀拉扎背斜。     

Strike-slip systems as the main tectonic features in the Plio-Quaternary kinematics of the Calabrian Arc

The oblique and diachronous collision of the Apennine-Maghrebian Chain with the Apulian (in the north-east) and Pelagian (in the south) continental forelands, has determined the characteristic arcuate structure of this orogen. The effects of Plio-Pleistocene deformation of the Calabrian Arc have been analysed on the basis of available reflection seismic profiles and using local time-structural maps reconstructed along the main structures. During this period, internal sectors of the Tertiary chain migrated forward on the oceanic Ionian foreland, and were cut by important strike-slip systems. These last have an orientation approximately coincident with that of the migration of the front, allowing differential movement of the different sectors of the arc, towards the weakly buoyant Ionian oceanic domain. The dataset suggests a clear connection between the development of the strike-slip systems cutting the chain and the direction of tectonic transport, towards the East during Late Messinian/Early Pliocene time, to the ESE during Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene time, finally to the SSE during the Middle/Late Pleistocene to Present, showing a clockwise rotation in well defined stages during the kinematic evolution of the chain. The origin of the Strait of Messina during the different phases is also interpreted in the context of the analysed regional tectonic setting.     

造山带逆冲推覆构造研究的主要新进展

造山带逆冲推覆构造研究是造山带研究中最为重要的课题之一。造山带外带即前陆褶皱冲断带(主要发育盖层冲断推覆体,一般遵循薄皮构造变形规则)与造山带内带(主要是基底褶皱推覆体,呈现厚皮构造变形规律)结晶逆冲推覆构造的几何学、运动学特征存在较大差异,二者形成机制也不相同,但其间仍有紧密的联系。近20年来造山带逆冲推覆构造研究的主要新进展为:①前陆褶皱冲断带逆冲断层及其相关褶皱的几何学特征分析已趋定量化,对其组合类型与演化时序有了更全面的认识,且对前陆褶皱冲断带的发展演化模式取得了新的共识,即遵循临界库仑楔模式;②平衡剖面技术在前陆褶皱冲断带的应用已从二维平衡与复原演进到三维平衡与复原,且日渐计算机化;③对造山带内带结晶基底逆冲推覆构造的主要类型(C型与F型逆冲岩席)及其特征已有较深的理解;④对前陆褶皱冲断带与结晶基底逆冲构造的相互关系及其形成演化模式有了新认识。目前造山带逆冲推覆构造研究过程中存在的主要问题为:①造山带内带结晶逆冲推覆构造的研究比较薄弱;②造山带晚期走滑构造及伸展构造的叠加与改造使得造山带内结晶逆冲推覆构造更为复杂化,致使其研究难度加大;③全面、精细的造山带深部地球物理资料较缺乏;④造山带内结晶逆冲岩席变形变质历史与超高压变质岩的形成机制及折返过程之间的关系尚未揭示清楚。在今后研究过程中应加强对上述问题的深入研究。     

A 1.5D model of the steady-state thermal structure of detachment folds

We present a 1.5D steady-state model of thermal perturbations in the core of detachment anticlines. The model incorporates the effects of heat conduction, advection by folding, radiogenic sources, and conversion of work into heat by viscous dissipation. We work out analytical solutions of model's equations for heat flow and temperature field for the case of low amplitude detachment folds growing in a thick homogeneous stratigraphy.Our analytical solutions for the simplest case of no heat sources show that detachment folds develop a thermal boundary layer. Conduction of heat dominates inside the layer, whereas advection of heat by folding prevails outside the boundary layer. We also find that heat flow in a growing detachment fold decays exponentially with the square of the thickness of the detached stratigraphic section. When heat sources are included into the problem we find that radiogenic heat generates thermal anomalies at the crest of the anticlines whereas viscous dissipation produces thermal anomalies at the core of the detachment fold.We analyze three cases of geological interest: detachment folds growing in evaporitic sequences, marine carbonates, and shaley sediments. For a typical uplift rate of 2 mm/yr conduction dominates in the first class of rocks. Viscous dissipation dominates in folds growing in limestone due to its high viscosity. Advection and the generation of heat by radiogenic isotopes dominate the growth of detachment folds in shale. Additionally, the cooling histories of Lagrangian particles embedded in the fold for the last two cases are analyzed. The core of the fold is characterized by rapid cooling whereas the limbs cool at slower rates than the core. Thus, the development of detachment anticlines may either accelerate maturation of source rocks and expand the maturation window or halt it by removing source rocks from the generating window.     

Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Morichito piggyback basin, Eastern Venezuelan Basin

The Morichito piggyback basin (MPB) is a SW-NE-oriented depocenter in the Eastern Venezuelan Foreland Basin (EVFB). This piggyback basin formed by overlying the Pirital thrust during the middle to late Miocene as a result of oblique collision between the Caribbean and South-American Plates. The MPB covers an area encompassing approximately 1000 km² between the Serrania del Interior range and the Pirital high, which is a hanging wall uplift along the Pirital thrust that acts as a confining barrier on the southern boundary of the MPB. Previous studies have tried to address the tectonostratigraphic significance of the MPB, but new biostratigraphic information and recently acquired 3D seismic data have allowed us to expand the understanding of this basin. The MPB occupies a relatively small area of the EVFB; however, the MPB contains a valuable stratigraphic record that can be used to unveil the timing of the main deformational events that took place in the EVFB.This work presents the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the MPB by defining four tectonostratigraphic sequences (T1-T4). Each sequence was defined on the basis of integration of well logs, biostratigraphy, and seismic geomorphological interpretations. T1 (24-16 Ma) (late Oligocene to middle Miocene), which was deposited in shallow-marine environments, extends to the south of the Pirital high beyond the boundaries of the MPB. T1 is equivalent to the early foredeep stage of the EVFB, having been formed when structural deformation and uplifting were already occurring to the north on the proto-Serrania del Interior range (∼24-16 Ma) and the Pirital thrust was active (∼22 Ma). T2 (16-11 Ma) (middle to late Miocene) is composed of alluvial-fan deposits derived from the proto-Serrania del Interior range. The geometry and internal configuration of T2 indicate that during this time the basin was transitioning from an open-foreland basin to a confined piggyback basin. During deposition of T2, the Pirital fault was active as an out-of-sequence thrusting event (16-∼11 ma). T3 (late Miocene) and T4 (early Pliocene to Recent), composed of shallow-marine and fluvial deposits, were deposited in an already restricted piggyback basin. The Pirital high was already in place during deposition of T3 (∼11-9.3 ma). T3 and T4 represent the final phases of MPB infilling, when tectonic activity and subsidence were at their lowest rates. MPB sedimentary infilling dates the activity of thrusting events in the proto-Serrania del Interior (∼24-16 Ma), timing of maximum deformation associated with the Pirital out-of-sequence thrusting event (16-∼11 Ma), timing of final emplacement of the Pirital high (∼11-9.3 Ma), and the beginning of tectonic quiescence (<5.2 Ma).