Silicate‐oxide mineral chemistry of mafic–ultramafic rocks as an indicator of the roots of an island arc: The Chilas Complex,Kohistan (Pakistan)

The Chilas Complex is a major lower crustal component of the Cretaceous Kohistan island arc and one of the largest exposed slices of arc magma chamber in the world. Covering more than 8000 km², it reaches a current tectonic width of around 40 km. It was emplaced at 85 Ma during rifting of the arc soon after the collision of the arc with the Karakoram plate. Over 85% of the Complex comprises homogeneous, olivine‐free gabbronorite and subordinate orthopyroxene–quartz diorite association (MGNA), which contains bodies of up to 30 km² of ultramafic–mafic–anorthositic association (UMAA) rocks. Primary cumulate textures, igneous layering, and sedimentary structures are well preserved in layered parts of the UMAA in spite of pervasive granulite facies metamorphism. Mineral analyses show that the UMAA is characterized by more magnesian and more aluminous pyroxene and more calcic plagioclase than those in the MGNA. High modal abundances of orthopyroxene, magnetite and ilmenite (in MGNA), general Mg–Fe–Al spatial variations, and an MFA plot of whole‐rock analyses suggest a calc‐alkaline origin for the Complex. Projection of the pyroxene compositions on the Wo–En–Fs face is akin to those of pyroxenes from island arcs gabbros. The presence of highly calcic plagioclase and hornblende in UMAA is indicative of hydrous parental arc magma. The complex may be a product of two‐stage partial melting of a rising mantle diaper. The MGNA rocks represent the earlier phase melting, whereas the UMAA magma resulted from the melting of the same source depleted by the extraction of the earlier melt phase. Some of the massive peridotites in the UMAA may either be cumulates or represent metasomatized and remobilized upper mantle. The Chilas Complex shows similarities with many other (supra)subduction‐related mafic–ultramafic complexes worldwide.     

亚洲特提斯域岩相古地理与油气聚集地质特征

亚洲特提斯域油气在地理上主要分布于西亚段南带,其次为西亚段北带、东南亚段中带,再次为中亚段。对古、中、新特提斯域的岩相古地理特征作了分析研究,并编制了相关的岩相古地理图。认为油气分布在盆地类型上主要与前陆盆地、克拉通边缘盆地相关,盆地形态主要与台地、环形坳陷、线形坳陷等沉积—构造环境相关,其成烃物质的沉积-构造环境多位于古赤道与45°古纬度之间。提出盆地保存是盆地油气评价的先决条件。指出了亚洲特提斯域南带、中带和北带的油气勘探新领域。     

Late Triassic ammonoid Sirenites from the Sabudani Formation in Tokushima,Southwest Japan,and its biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic implications

Discovery of Sirenites senticosus (Dittmar) in the upper part of the Sabudani Formation of the Kurosegawa Belt, Kito area, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, establishes a late Early Carnian age for this part of the stratigraphic unit. Because S. senticosus was mainly distributed in the Tethyan region, its occurrence provides evidence that Late Triassic ammonoids of Japan had strong affinities with those of the Tethyan faunas. This finding clearly differs from the biogeographic distribution of contemporary bivalves in the region, which are referred to as the Kochigatani bivalve faunas, and show strong affinities to faunas of the Boreal region.     

新疆塔什库尔干斯如依迭尔铅锌矿区花岗闪长岩锆石U-Pb定年及其意义

对塔什库尔干斯如依迭尔铅锌矿点与成矿作用有关的花岗闪长岩开展了系统的年代学、岩石地球化学研究工作。LA-ICP MS 锆石U-Pb定年结果表明,花岗闪长岩成岩年龄为12.7±0.13Ma,与前人在塔什库尔干地区获得的苦子干和卡日巴生岩体(11Ma)年龄在误差范围内相一致,表明斯如依迭尔铅锌矿点成矿作用发生于喜山期;岩石地球化学分析结果表明,它们为弱过铝质,具富Al、K,属于高钾钙碱性-钾玄岩系列,相对富集Rb、Ba、Th、U等大离子亲石元素(LILE)、亏损Zr、Y、Ta、Nb等高场强元素(HFSE)和稀土总量相对较高,形成于造山后伸展构造体制。区内独特的成矿特征,是青藏高原西北缘构造 转换带对主碰撞带造山作用过程响应的记录;区内独特的成矿事件,是该区在喀喇昆仑走滑断裂系统早期挤压、晚期拉张影响下,是强烈的富碱岩浆活动和成矿作用的产物。区内主干断裂及其次级断裂常常控制富碱岩浆岩体及相关矿床定位和分布。     

Provenance of the Langjiexue Group to the south of the Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone in southeastern Tibet: Insights on the evolution of the Neo-Tethys Ocean in the Late Triassic

ABSTRACT

The Upper Triassic Langjiexue Group, which lies immediately south of the Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone in the Shannan area of southeastern Tibet, represents an important part of the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS). Its provenance and palaeogeography have been the subject of debate. We present new data on petrographic composition, whole-rock geochemistry, and detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology to constrain the provenance of the Langjiexue Group. The dominance of quartz grains and felsic volcanic lithic fragments suggests that the sandstones are litho-quartzose. The trace element geochemical signatures (V–Ni–Th*10, Co/Th–La/Sc, Eu/Eu*–Th/Sc) suggest derivation from felsic igneous sources. The detrital zircon age spectra display three major peaks: a Meso-to-Neoproterozoic peak (1200–900 Ma, 7–18%), a Neoproterozoic-to-Late Cambrian peak (750–500 Ma, 32–65%), and a Late Carboniferous-to-Late Triassic peak (300–200 Ma, 11–33%). The maximum depositional age of early Carnian (236–235 Ma) is obtained by calculating weighted average ages of the youngest zircons (≤250 Ma). The youngest age cluster (300–200 Ma) is incompatible with sources from neighbouring terranes, including the South Qiangtang terrane, Lhasa terrane, THS, and Higher Himalayan Crystalline. Correlations of the Permian–Triassic zircons with those of time-equivalent strata in northwest Australia, west Burma, and the Banda Arc unveil a potential connection to the Tasmanides along the convergent margin of eastern Australia. The New England Orogen (300–230 Ma) could have supplied the Langjiexue Group with magmatic materials via continent-scale drainage systems or a submarine fan complex. This scenario provides a new perspective into the transport of detritus from distal orogens to sedimentary basins thousands of kilometres away.     

青藏高原南部与东南部重要成矿带的大地构造定格与找矿前景

印度/亚洲汇聚-碰撞过程经历了新特提斯洋盆滋生、消减和俯冲、亚洲南缘增生造山以及印度/亚洲碰撞造山和青藏高原的隆升,在青藏高原南部和东南部造就了"冈底斯火山岩浆带"、"雅鲁藏布江缝合带"、"喜马拉雅碰撞造山带"和大量物质向南东逃逸的"三江侧向挤出地体群",以及相应形成具有重大找矿突破战略前景的"冈底斯成矿带"、"雅鲁藏布江成矿带"、"特提斯喜马拉雅成矿带"和"三江成矿带"。本文通过对四大成矿带的大地构造定格讨论了与资源前景相关的科学问题,提出"冈底斯成矿带"中的岛弧型斑岩铜金矿具有找矿的重大潜力、重视藏东—滇西地区的俯冲-碰撞型岩浆成矿专属性研究;提出扩大西藏罗布莎铬铁矿矿集区的开发规模,以及在西部阿里地区的大型超基性岩体中寻找新的铬铁矿远景地的思路;在三江多阶段成矿作用的叠合型矿床中,集中古特提斯和新特提斯成矿类型,关注与斜向碰撞有关的走滑剪切带对成矿作用的制约机制;需进一步确定特提斯喜马拉雅矿化带与藏南拆离系关系和重视始—中新世高Sr/Y花岗(斑)岩的成矿专属性及找矿前景。     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112000072

The Abor volcanics outcroping in the core of the Siang window in the Eastern Himalaya comprise voluminous mafic volcanics (47％-56％ w(SiO2)),with subordinate felsic volcanics (67％-75％ w(SiO2)).The felsi...     

Arc magmatism in eastern Kumaun Himalaya,India: A study based on geochemistry of granitoid rocks

Petrochemical studies of granitoid rocks from the eastern part of Kumaun region suggest that the leading edge of India represents an active arc during Late Paleoproterozoic times. It has been observed that melt generation for granodiorite rocks from the eastern Almora Nappe and Chhiplakot klippe along with the Askot klippe was caused through a subduction‐related process involving hydrous partial melting of a Paleoproterozoic amphibole‐ and/or garnet‐bearing mafic source with the involvement of sediments from the subduction zone. The medium‐ to high‐K basic rocks, common in subduction‐related magmatic arcs, can also explain the generation of the high‐K granodiorites of the Chhiplakot klippe. The augen gneisses from the eastern Almora nappe and Chhiplakot klippe along with the Askot klippe further show geochemical similarity with the associated granodiorites, suggesting there is a genetic linkage with one another.     

Instability structures, synsedimentary faults and turbidites, witnesses of a Liassic seismotectonic activity in the Dauphiné Zone (French Alps): A case example in the Lower Pliensbachian at Saint-Michel-en-Beaumont

Instability structures, synsedimentary faults and turbidites have been studied in the Lower Pliensbachian succession of Saint-Michel-en-Beaumont, belonging to the Taillefer block, an ancient half-graben emplaced during the Liassic Tethyan rifting. Geometrical and mechanical analyses demonstrate that the instability structures occurred thanks to movements along spineless synsedimentary normal faults, when the turbiditic and limestone layers were already case-hardened and partly fractured by tension gashes even when the mudstones were still unlithified. Both the tension gashes and the synsedimentary faults are homogeneous in strike with the major regional faults and are in good agreement with the regional direction of extension for this period. The characters of the turbiditic beds, with erosive base, graded bedding, and incomplete Bouma sequence, are in favour of a seismic origin. Instability structures, spineless synsedimentary faults and turbiditic inflows are thus considered as seismites and interpreted as the result of high seismicity periods including some events with M > 5 in the general extensive ambiance of the Liassic Tethyan rifting. The analysis of the geometrical relationships between all these sedimentary features allows to distinguish the successive stage of occurrence of an instability structure, from the sedimentation of alternating marls and limestones, and sudden turbiditic inflows, then early case-hardening of the turbidites, until the important seismotectonic event generating the spineless normal faults, themselves triggering the fall of indurated blocks and locally the forming of breccias. The Ornon Fault, which constitutes the border of the Taillefer block, 15 km eastward, played a major role during the Liassic sedimentation and may represent the major seismic fault related to the seismites occurrence in the Beaumont basin.     

Metamorphic history of the South Tibetan Detachment System,Mt. Everest region,revealed by RSCM thermometry and phase equilibria modelling

This study combines microstructural observations with Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM), phase equilibria modelling and U–Pb dating of titanite to delineate the metamorphic history of a well‐exposed section through the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS) in the Dzakaa Chu valley of Southern Tibet. In the hanging wall of the STDS, undeformed Tibetan Sedimentary Series rocks consistently record peak metamorphic temperatures of ～340 °C. Temperatures increase down‐section, reaching ～650 °C at the base of the shear zone, defining an apparent metamorphic field gradient of ～310 °C km^?1 across the entire structure. U–Th–Pb geochronological data indicate that metamorphism and deformation at high temperatures occurred over a protracted period from at least 20 to 13 Ma. Deformation within this 1‐km‐thick zone of distributed top‐down‐to‐the‐northeast ductile shear included a strong component of vertical shortening and was responsible for significant condensing of palaeo‐isotherms along the upper margin of the Greater Himalayan Series (GHS). We interpret the preservation of such a high metamorphic gradient to be the result of a progressive up‐section migration in the locus of deformation within the zone. This segment of the STDS provides a detailed thermal and kinematic record of the exhumation of footwall GHS rocks from beneath the southern margin of the Tibetan plateau.