Pacific-type orogeny revisited: Miyashiro-type orogeny proposed

Abstract The concept of Pacific-type orogeny is revised, based on an assessment of geologic data collected from the Japanese Islands during the past 25 years. The formation of a passive continental margin after the birth of the Pacific Ocean at 600 Ma was followed by the initiation of oceanic plate subduction at 450 Ma. Since then, four episodes of Pacific-type orogeny have occurred to create an orogenic belt 400 km wide that gradually grew both oceanward and downward. The orogenic belt consists mainly of an accretionary complex tectonically interlayered with thin (<2 km thick), subhorizontal, high-P/T regional metamorphic belts. Both the accretionary complex and the high-P/T rocks were intruded by granitoids ～100 million years after the formation of the accretionary complex. The intrusion of calc-alkaline (CA) plutons was synchronous with the exhumation of high-P/T schist belts. Ages from microfossils and K-Ar analysis suggest that the orogenic climax happened at a time of mid-oceanic ridge subduction. The orogenic climax was characterized by the formation of major subhorizontal orogenic structures, the exhumation of high-P/T schist belts by wedge extrusion and subsequent domed uplift, and the intrusion-extrusion of CA magma dominantly produced by slab melting. The orogenic climax ended soon after ridge subduction, and thereafter a new Pacific-type orogeny began. A single Pacific-type orogenic cycle may correspond to the interaction of the Asian continental margin with one major Pacific oceanic plate. Ophiolites in Japan occur as accreted material and are not of island-arc but of plume origin. They presumably formed after the birth of the southern Pacific superplume at 600 Ma, and did not modify the cordilleran-type orogeny in a major way. Microplates, fore-arc slivers, intra-oceanic arc collisions and the opening of back-arc basins clearly contributed to cordilleran orogenesis. However, they were of secondary importance and served only to modify pre-existing major orogenic components. The most important cause of cordilleran-type orogeny is the subduction of a mid-oceanic ridge, by which the volume of continental crust increases through the transfer of granitic melt from the subducting oceanic crust to an orogenic welt. Accretionary complexes are composed mainly of recycled granitic sediments with minor amounts of oceanic material, which indicate that the accretion of oceanic material, including huge oceanic plateaus, was not significant for orogenic growth. Instead, the formation and intrusion of granitoids are the keys to continental growth, which is the most important process in Pacific-type orogeny. Collision-type orogeny does not increase the volume of continental crust. The name ‘Miyashiro-type orogeny’ is proposed for this revised concept of Pacific-type or cordilleran-type orogeny, in order to commemorate Professor A. Miyashiro's many contributions to a better understanding of orogenesis.     

西昆仑造山带复式增生楔的构造特征与演化

通过对西昆仑古生代主剪切带和早中生代增生楔杂岩剖面中的组成与构造等特征，西昆仑早古生代和晚古生代一早中生代两次向南的增生造山作用及其增生楔的组成与构造演化进行系统研究，探讨增生楔杂岩在大陆造山带及其对大陆侧向增生的意义。     

Mid–Cretaceous Episodic Magmatism and Tin Mineralization in Khingan-Okhotsk Volcano–Plutonic Belt, Far East Russia

Abstract: Age of magmatism and tin mineralization in the Khingan‐Okhotsk volcano–plutonic belt, including the Khingan, Badzhal and Komsomolsk tin fields, were reviewed in terms of tectonic history of the continental margin of East Asia. This belt consists mainly of felsic volcanic rocks and granitoids of the reduced type, being free of remarkable geomagnetic anomaly, in contrast with the northern Sikhote‐Alin volcano–plutonic belt dominated by oxidized‐type rocks and gold mineralization. The northern end of the Khingan‐Okhotsk belt near the Sea of Okhotsk, accompanied by positive geomagnetic anomalies, may have been overprinted by magmatism of the Sikhote‐Alin belt. Tin–associated magmatism in the Khingan‐Okhotsk belt extending over 400 km occurred episodically in a short period (9510 Ma) in the middle Cretaceous time, which is coeval with the accretion of the Kiselevka‐Manoma complex, the youngest accretionary wedge in the eastern margin of the Khingan‐Okhotsk accretionary terranes. The episodic magmatism is in contrast with the Cretaceous‐Paleogene long–lasted magmatism in Sikhote–Alin, indicating the two belts are essentially different arcs, rather than juxtaposed arcs derived from a single arc. The tin‐associated magmatism may have been caused by the subduction of a young and hot back‐arc basin, which is inferred from oceanic plate stratigraphy of the coeval accre‐tionary complex and its heavy mineral assemblage of immature volcanic arc provenance. The subduction of the young basin may have resulted in dominance of the reduced‐type felsic magmas due to incorporation of carbonaceous sediments within the accretionary complex near the trench. Subsequently, the back‐arc basin may have been closed by the oblique collision of the accretionary terranes in Sikhote–Alin, which was subjected to the Late Cretaceous to Paleogene magmatism related to another younger subduction system. These processes could have proceeded under transpressional tectonic regime due to oblique subduction of the paleo‐Pacific plates under Eurasian continent.     

Deformable backstop as seaward end of coseismic slip in the Nankai Trough seismogenic zone

Wide-angle seismic surveys performed in the last decade have clarified the 3-D crustal structure along the Nankai Trough. The geometry and velocity structure of the southwestern Japan subduction zone are now well constrained. Comparing these observations with the rupture distribution of historic great thrust earthquakes, it appears that the coseismic rupture occurred along plate boundaries deeper than the wedge/backstop boundary (the boundary between the Neogene-Quaternary accretionary wedge and the crust forming the backstop). From the view of spatial relationship, both rupture distributions of the last two large events and the crust forming the backstop are considerably retreated from the trough axis in the west and east off the Kii Peninsula. In both areas, seamount or ridge subduction is apparent in seismic results, geomorphological data and geomagnetic data. The landward indentation of the deformable backstop, which corresponds to the crustal block of old accreted sediments, may be formed by seamount subduction according to published results of sandbox modeling. In particular, the subducted seamount may be a structural factor affecting the recession of the crustal block forming the backstop.     

Marginal accretion processes of Jiamusi Block in NE China: Evidences from detrital zircon U-Pb age and deformation of the Wandashan Terrane

The eastern segment of Central Asian Orogenic Belt underwent not only a long evolution history related to the Paleo-Asian Ocean during Paleozoic but also the tectonic overprinting by the westward subduction of Paleo-Pacific Ocean crust during Mesozoic. When the subduction of Paleo-Pacific Ocean crust started has been long debated issue for understanding the tectonic evolution of the eastern Asian continental margin. The eastern margin of the Jimusi Block (Wandashan Terrane) preserved complete records for the accretionary process of the westward subduction of Paleo-Pacific Ocean crust. Comprising the Yuejinshan Complex and Raohe Accretionary Complex (RAC), the Wandashan Terrane is located in the eastern margin of Jiamusi Block, NE China, and is considered to be an accretionary wedge of the westward subducting oceanic crust. To reconstruct the marginal accretion processes of the Jiamusi Block, the structural deformation of the Wandashan Terrane was investigated in the field and the geochronology of the Dalingqiao and Yongfuqiao formations were studied, which were formed syn-and-post RAC accretion respectively. The Yuejinshan and Raohe complexes were discontinuously accreted to the eastern margin of the Jiamusi Block. Contrary to the previous consideration of the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic, this study suggests that the Yuejianshan Complex in southwest Wandashan Terrane probably accreted from Late Carboniferous to Middle Permian, which was driven by unknown oceanic crust subduction existing to the east (present position) of the Jiamusi Block at that time. The siltstones of the Dalingqiao Fm. yield the youngest zircon U-Pb age of 142 ± 2 Ma, indicating the emplacement of the RAC not earlier than the Late Jurassic. Thus, the RAC might start to accrete from the Jurassic and emplace during 142–131 Ma, resulted from the Paleo-Pacific subduction which started from the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic.     

Siliceous-clayey rocks of the Jurassic accretionary prism, Khekhtsir Range, Sikhote Alin: Stratigraphy and genesis

Lithologic-stratigraphic aspects of siliceous-clayey rocks forming the Khabarovsk terrane of the Jurassic accretionary prism were studied in western spurs of the Bol’shoi Khekhtsir Range on the left side of the Ussuri River (Ussuri-Khekhtsir section). Two defined types of the examined section differ in the composition, age, and origin of their constituting rocks. The northern segment of the section is composed of middle Bajocian red-brown siliceous-tuffaceous silty and olive-gray silty mudstones that accumulated in the hemipelagic domain under the influence of continental provenance. Its southern segment is represented by lower Bathonian olive-gray siliceous mudstones, mudstones barren of any admixtures, and yellowish brown tuffaceous mudstones deposited far away from the continent in waters with abundant radiolarians. It is shown that these rocks are elements of two tectono-stratigraphic complexes that reflect different stages in the accretionary prism formation.     

What is Franciscan?: revisited

The Franciscan Complex of California is better understood now than in 1972, when Berkland et al. defined it as a complex and divided it into three geographic belts. A re-evaluation is needed. Belts first served as major architectural units, but they have been abandoned by some and renamed as and subdivided into tectonostratigraphic terranes by others. The Franciscan Complex – considered to be the archetypical accretionary complex by many – is the folded, faulted, and stratally disrupted rock mass comprising the supramantle basement of the California-Southern Oregon Coast Ranges exposed east of the Salinian Block and west of and structurally below principal exposures of the Coast Range Fault, Coast Range Ophiolite, Great Valley Group, and Klamath Mountains. The Complex is dominated by sandstones and mudrocks, but contains mafic oceanic crustal fragments with chert, limestone, and other rock types, and zeolite, prehnite-pumpellyite, blueschist, and rare amphibolite and eclogite facies metamorphic rocks. Review of historical precedence, new data, available large-scale maps, and fundamental definitions suggest now (1) that the Belt terminology as applied to the entire Franciscan Complex conflicts with current knowledge of Franciscan rocks and architecture; and (2) that most named Franciscan terranes and nappes are inconsistent with basic definitions of those unit types. The major architectural units into which the Franciscan Complex can be divided are accretionary units – mélanges and underthrust sheets. Underthrust sheets can be subdivided into smaller units, e.g. broken formations and olistostromal mélanges, mappable using traditional lithostratigraphic and structural mapping techniques. Unresolved controversies in reconstruction of the nature and history of the accretionary complex relate to specific mélange origins; megathrust versus subduction channel mélange models; chert conundrums; delineation of the ages, subdivisions, and regional architecture of Franciscan units; palinspastic reconstruction of the pre-Late Cenozoic architecture; and reconstruction of the complete histories of accretionary units.     

西藏班公湖-怒江缝合带北缘多龙矿集区晚三叠世—侏罗纪增生杂岩结构及其对成矿地质背景的约束

西藏班公湖-怒江缝合带北缘多龙斑岩铜金矿集区出露的晚三叠世—体罗纪增生杂岩属总体无序、局部有序的非史密斯地层,由基质和块体2个部分组成.基质为晚三叠世—侏罗纪砂泥质复理石建造,块体由大小不等的玄武岩、安山玄武岩、灰岩、砂岩、硅质岩、辉长岩、超基性岩等组成.增生杂岩系变形强烈,发育强烈的构造置换作用,块体与基质之间由透入性挤压面理、剪切面理或韧性剪切断层分隔,为典型造山带大陆增生边缘的增生杂岩.多龙斑岩铜矿的含矿斑岩体侵位于侏罗纪增生杂岩系或以侏罗纪增生杂岩系为基底的岛弧型火山岩系中,属增生楔基础上发育的具有超大型潜力的岛弧型斑岩铜金矿床,其外围的拿若、色拉、拿顿、地保那木岗、鹫山、铁格龙和尕尔勤等系列铜金铅锌矿床点,在空间上均赋存于早白垩世花岗闪长斑岩体内部及其与侏罗纪增生杂岩系的内外接触带中,受矿集区北东向走滑断裂的控制,呈北东向成群展布,二者具有相似的成矿环境与成矿条件,其深部可能存在统一的斑岩型铜金铅锌矿床,属于统一的斑岩浅成低温热液成矿系统.班公湖-怒江缝合带北缘多龙矿集区晚三叠世—侏罗纪增生杂岩的识别,为正确认识多龙超大型斑岩铜金矿床的成矿地质背景和缝合带的演化提供了新的线索.     

大陆边缘增生造山作用

文章评述了增生造山作用的研究历史和进展,认为增生造山作用贯穿地球历史,是大陆增生的重要方式。用大陆边缘多岛弧盆系构造理解造山带的形成演化,提出巨型造山系的形成与长期发育的大洋岩石圈俯冲制约的两侧或一侧的多岛弧盆系密切相关。在多岛弧盆系演化过程中的弧 弧和弧 陆碰撞,弧前和弧后洋盆的消减冲杂岩的增生,洋底高原、洋岛/海山、外来地块(体)拼贴等一系列碰撞和增生造山作用形成大陆边缘增生造山系。大洋岩石圈最终消亡形成对接消减带,大洋岩石圈两侧的多岛弧盆系转化的造山系对接形成造山系的联合体。拼接完成后往往要继续发生大陆之间的陆 陆碰撞造山作用、陆内汇聚(伸展)作用,后者叠加在增生造山系上,使造山过程更加复杂。对接消减带是认识造山系形成演化的关键。大洋两侧多岛弧盆系经历的各种造山过程可以从广义上理解为一个增生造山过程。多岛弧盆系研究对于划分造山带细结构非常重要,是理解造山系物质组成、结构和构造的基础,并制约了造山后陆内构造演化。大陆碰撞前大洋两侧多岛弧盆系及陆缘系统更完整地记录了威尔逊旋回,记录的信息更加丰富。根据多岛弧盆系的思路对特提斯大洋演化提出新的模式,认为西藏冈底斯带自石炭纪以来受到特提斯大洋俯冲制约,三叠纪发生向洋增生造山作用,特提斯大洋于早白垩世末最终消亡。