From oblique subduction to intra-continental transpression: Structures of the southern Kermadec-Hikurangi margin from multibeam bathymetry,side-scan sonar and seismic reflection

The southern Kermadec-Hikurangi convergent margin, east of New Zealand, accommodates the oblique subduction of the oceanic Hikurangi Plateau at rates of 4–5 cm/yr. Swath bathymetry and sidescan data, together with seismic reflection and geopotential data obtained during the GEODYNZ-SUD cruise, showed major changes in tectonic style along the margin. The changes reflect the size and abundance of seamounts on the subducting plateau, the presence and thickness of trench-fill turbidites, and the change to increasing obliquity and intracontinental transpression towards the south. In this paper, we provide evidence that faulting with a significant strike-slip component is widespread along the entire 1000 km margin. Subduction of the northeastern scrap of the Hikurangi Plateau is marked by an offset in the Kermadec Trench and adjacent margin, and by a major NW-trending tear fault in the scarp. To the south, the southern Kermadec Trench is devoid of turbidite fill and the adjacent margin is characterized by an up to 1200 m high scarp that locally separates apparent clockwise rotated blocks on the upper slope from strike-slip faults and mass wasting on the lower slope. The northern Hikurangi Trough has at least 1 km of trench-fill but its adjacent margin is characterized by tectonic erosion. The toe of the margin is indented by 10–25 km for more than 200 km, and this is inferred to be the result of repeated impacts of the large seamounts that are abundant on the northern Hikurangi Plateau. The two most recent impacts have left major indentations in the margin. The central Hikurangi margin is characterized by development of a wide accretionary wedge on the lower slope, and by transpression of presubduction passive margin sediments on the upper slope. Shortening across the wedge together with a component of strike-slip motion on the upper slope supports an interpretation of some strain partitioning. The southern Hikurangi margin is a narrow, mainly compressive belt along a very oblique, apparently locked subduction zone.     

台湾西部前陆盆地和帝汶海前陆盆地的比较学研究

台湾西部前陆盆地和帝汶海前陆盆地均是新生代环太平洋巨型沟-弧-盆体系的一部分。Huang et al.(2000)认为,帝汶海前陆盆地目前相当于台湾南部陆海域所处的弧-陆碰撞的初始阶段。我们认为,该研究中存在着一种潜在的逻辑上的矛盾。在研究单个前陆盆地时,造山过程和板块的挠曲特性均会成为关注的焦点;而一旦进行盆地之间的对比研究,则往往会倾向于关注造山过程、机制以及构造现象的异同等,并由此得出相应结论,却忽视了在现象异同的背后所隐藏着的板块挠曲特性所起的控制性作用。事实上,帝汶海前陆盆地和台湾西部前陆盆地的根本差异并不在其造山作用和过程,而在于其板块挠曲特性的巨大差异。正是这种差异决定了二者具有完全不同的演化特性,构造、层序上的异同只是这种差异的外在体现。忽视这种差异,仅根据构造上的异同以推断前陆的演化过程会导致认识的偏差。     

北喜马拉雅及藏南伸展构造综述

印度与欧亚大陆碰撞发生于65Ma左右,造山作用则开始于中新世初期,该造山运动形成南喜马拉雅的逆冲推覆体系,导致喜马拉雅山脉的隆起。然而,与造山作用的同时,北喜马拉雅及藏南地区却经历了广泛的伸展作用,所形成的伸展构造包括:①北喜马拉雅地区,开始于24Ma左右的藏南拆离系(STDS);②北喜马拉雅及藏南地区,开始于14Ma左右的南北向裂谷;③北喜马拉雅穹隆带,形成时间大致与南北向裂谷相同;④广布于青藏高原、开始于中新世末期、随机分布的高角度正断层。上述不同阶段的伸展构造形成于不同机制,并在喜马拉雅造山带的发展过程中起着不同的地质作用。其中,北喜马拉雅穹隆是一种特殊的伸展构造,并可能形成于多种机制。     

焉耆盆地活动断层的晚第四纪右行走滑

本研究对天山东南侧山间盆地——焉耆盆地的晚第四纪右行走滑活动断层的位移和滑动速率进行了测量.详细的卫星图像分析和野外调查表明活动断层(开都河断层带)主要分布在盆地的南缘,具典型的走滑断层特征.发育在晚更新世—全新世冲积扇中的水系记录了3～250 m的右行错断和位移的累积.冲积扇中的断层陡坎高1 m到25 m,沿断层带走向左行雁列状断层崖呈现,向NE和SW倾.基于河道的错断,14C数据和断层岩组构的分析可以得出:①活动断层的平均右行走滑速率为8 mm/a,垂直分量的速率为1 mm/a,(②典型的单次地震断裂事件产生的错断量为3～7 m,③大地震事件(Ms>7)的平均重复间隔约为500年,④开都河断层带最新的地震断裂事件发生在过去2 500 a间.与印度—欧亚板块碰撞相关联的天山是一个逆冲构造占主导地位的造山带,而山间盆地中晚第四纪的走滑断层表明了这种造山机制中具有水平滑动.     

Mapping upper mantle anisotropy beneath SE France by SKS splitting indicates Neogene asthenospheric flow induced by Apenninic slab roll-back and deflected by the deep Alpine roots

The presence of two regional seismic networks in southeastern France provides us high-quality data to investigate upper mantle flow by measuring the splitting of teleseismic shear waves induced by seismic anisotropy. The 10 three-component and broadband stations installed in Corsica, Provence, and western Alps efficiently complete the geographic coverage of anisotropy measurements performed in southern France using temporary experiments deployed on geodynamic targets such as the Pyrenees and the Massif Central. Teleseismic shear waves (mainly SKS and SKKS) are used to determine the splitting parameters: the fast polarization direction and the delay time. Delay times ranging between 1.0 and 1.5 s have been observed at most sites, but some larger delay times, above 2.0 s, have been observed at some stations, such as in northern Alps or Corsica, suggesting the presence of high strain zones in the upper mantle. The azimuths of the fast split shear waves define a simple and smooth pattern, trending homogeneously WNW–ESE in the Nice area and progressively rotating to NW–SE and to NS for stations located further North in the Alps. This pattern is in continuity with the measurements performed in the southern Massif Central and could be related to a large asthenospheric flow induced by the rotation of the Corsica–Sardinia lithospheric block and the retreat of the Apenninic slab. We show that seismic anisotropy nicely maps the route of the slab from the initial rifting phase along the Gulf of Lion (30–22 Ma) to the drifting of the Corsica–Sardinia lithospheric block accompanied by the creation of new oceanic lithosphere in the Liguro–Provençal basin (22–17 Ma). In the external and internal Alps, the pattern of the azimuth of the fast split waves follows the bend of the alpine arc. We propose that the mantle flow beneath this area could be influenced or perhaps controlled by the Alpine deep penetrative structures and that the Alpine lithospheric roots may have deflected part of the horizontal asthenospheric flow around its southernmost tip.     

Kanfenggou UHP Metamorphic Fragment in Eastern Qinling Orogen and Its Relationship to Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP Metamorphic Belts, Central China

In the Central Orogenic Belt, China, two UHP metamorphic belts are discriminated mainly based on a detailed structural analysis of the Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment exposed in the eastern Qinling orogen, and together with previous regional structural, petrological and geochronological data at the scale of the orogenic domain. The first one corresponds to the South Altun-North QaidamNorth Qinling UHP metarnorphic belt. The other is the Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts. The two UHP metamorphic belts are separated by a series of tectonic slices composed by the Qiniing rock group, Danfeng rock group and Liuling or Foziling rock group etc. respectively, and are different in age of the peak UHP metamorphism and geodynamic implications for continental deep subduction and collision. Regional field and petrological relationships suggest that the Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment that contains a large volume of the coesite- and microdiamond-bearing eclogite lenses is compatible with the structures recognized in the South Altun and North Qaidam UHP metamorphic fragments exposed in the western part of China, thereby forming a large UHP metamorphic belt up to 1000 km long along the orogen strike. This UHP metamorphic belt represents an intercontinental deep subduction and collision belt between the Yangtze and Sino-Korean cratons, occurred during the Paleozoic. On the other hand, the well-constrained Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts occurred mainly during Triassic time (250-220 Ma), and were produced by the intracontinental deep subduction and collision within the Yangtze craton. The Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment does not appear to link with the DabieSulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts along the orogen. There is no reason to assume the two UHP metamorphic belts as a single giant deep subduction and collision zone in the Central Orogenic Belt situated between the Yangtze and Sino-Korean cratons. Therefore, any dynamic model for the orogen must ac-count for the development of UHP metarnorphic rocks belonging to the separate two tectonic belts of different age and tectono-metamorphic history.     

From continental margin extension to collision orogen: structural development and tectonic rotation of the Hengchun peninsula, southern Taiwan

As a result of oblique collision, the Taiwan orogen propagates southward. The Hengchun peninsula in the southern tip of the Taiwan Central Range, preserving the youngest, the least deformed and the most complete accretionary prism sequences, allows therefore better understanding of the tectonic evolution of Taiwan orogen. On the Hengchun peninsula, four main stages of paleostress can be recognized by the analysis of brittle tectonics. After recording the first two stages of paleostress, rocks of the Hengchun peninsula (the Hengchun block) have undergone both tilting and counterclockwise rotation of about 90°. The structural boundaries of this rotated Hengchun block are: the Kenting Mélange zone in the southwest, the Fongkang Fault in the north, and a submarine backthrust in the east. The angle of this rotation is principally calculated by the paleomagnetic analysis data and a physical model experiment. Through a systematic back-tilting and back-rotating restoration, the original orientations of the four paleostress stages of Hengchun peninsula are recognized. They are, from the ancient to the recent, a NW–SE extension, a combination of NW–SE transtension and NE–SW transpression, a NE–SW compression, and finally a combination of NE–SW transtension and NW–SE transpression. This result can be explained by a phenomenon of stress axes permutation, instead of a complex polyphase tectonism. This stress axes permutation is caused by the horizontal compression increase accompanying the propagation of the accretionary prism. Combining the tectonic and paleomagnetic data with paleocurrent and stratigraphic data enables us to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of the Hengchun peninsula. This reconstruction corresponds to the deformation history of a continental margin basin, from its opening to its intense deformation in the accretionary prism.