The S reflector west of Galicia: the seismic signature of a detachment fault

The so-called S reflector is a group of bright, continuous reflections underlying the landward-tilted fault blocks of the west Galicia rifted margin, S has been interpreted as the brittle-ductile transition, the lop of an intrusion, a detachment fault, and the crust-mantle boundary. To constrain the internal structure of the reflector, we have carried out detailed analyses of these reflections. We compare the waveforms of the seafloor reflection and its first multiple, both to determine the amplitude of the seafloor reflection and to show (hat the seafloor is in effect a spike in the reflectivity series so that the seafloor reflection can be used as the far-field wavelet, including both source and receiver ghosts. We compare (he waveform of the seafloor and 5 and show that, within the resolution of our data, S is a reflection from a step increase in acoustic impedance. This result is confirmed through complex trace analysis, and in particular the determination of the apparent polarity of S, and the examination of the instantaneous frequency function: S is consistently positive polarity, and shows no significant frequency anomaly. Simple modelling shows that S is very unlikely to be a reflection from a thin layer. We thus conclude that S is probably a single steplike interface. From the varying frequency content of the data, we determine a value for the effective Q between S and the seafloor, and use this to assess the amplitude loss due to attenuation and scattering. We use a comparison between the seafloor and the S reflection to constrain the amplitude of S, and estimate a reflection coefficient for S of at least 0.2 in places, decreasing landwards. By analogy with structures developed in the highly extended regions of the western United States, we consider that the most likely interpretation of S is as a sharp west-dipping detachment fault separating a 'granitic' upper plate from a higher-velocity lower plate, locally probably serpentinized mantle.     

混合岩中斜长石的交代净边结构和倒转双晶研究——以大别罗田黄土岭长英片麻岩为例

湖北罗田黄土岭长英片麻岩是与紫苏石榴黑云片麻岩共生的浅色片麻岩，成分上近于Ａ型花岗岩．受到浅混合岩化，钾交代现象显著．在斜长石与钾长石新成体接触处有清楚的交代净边结构，背散射电子探针分析表明，净边成分为钠长石（Ａｂ８９～９７）．在净边结构上，发现叠加倒转双晶．净边结构产生于长英片麻岩部分熔融的高温条件下，与整个大别地体隆升过程和Ａ型花岗岩的生成有成因联系     

分离的大陆板块边缘镁铁－超镁铁岩系Th／Hf—Ta／Hf判别

本文在论述了Ｔｈ／Ｈｆ－Ｔａ／Ｈｆ关系判别岩浆岩源区大地构造环境机理的基础上，根据世界上典型大地构造环境区岩浆岩系的Ｔｈ、Ｔａ、Ｈｆ特征，提出了分离的大陆板块边缘镁铁－超镁铁岩的Ｔｈ／Ｈｆ—Ｔａ／Ｈｆ判别标志：Ｔｈ／Ｔａ＝１．８～４．０，Ｔａ／Ｈｆ＞０．１。     

青藏高原北缘新构造运动特征

ＮＥＥ向阿尔金主断裂带的新构造运动以左旋压扭性活动为特征，仅西端发育张性构造，并可划分出两期变形，新构造运动强度在时间上自上新世晚期开始至第四纪断裂活动强度增大，在空间上自ＳＷＷ向ＮＥＥ方向断裂活动强度逐渐减弱；柴达木北缘的新构造运动可划分为两期，其主要构造特征表现为向柴达木盆地逆冲的前进式叠瓦道冲带，柴达木盆地第四纪时的北界相对于第三纪时的北界向南迁移了数十公里；河西走廊盆地的新构造运动主要表现为盆地边缘断裂的逆冲兼走滑，盆地接受新生代沉积、盆地内第三系的轴面南倾的褶皱；ＮＥＥ向阿尔金主断裂带与其南侧的ＮＷＷ向断裂带是在统一构造应力场作用下相互协调、同时活动的两组关系紧密的构造带，两者的共同活动构成了断块运动。     

The transition from passive to active margin tectonics: a case study from the zone of Samedan (eastern Switzerland)

The Zone of Samedan is part of a fossil, early Mesozoic rift system originally situated in the distal, Lower Austro-Alpine domain of the Adriatic passive continental margin. An early Mesozoic configuration of asymmetrical rift basins bounded by relative structural highs compartmentalized Late Cretaceous active margin tectonics; Jurassic half-grabens were folded into arcuate synclines, whereas relative structural highs engendered thin, imbricated thrust sheets. West-directed thrusting and folding initiated at the surface and continued to depths favoring mylonitization under lower greenschist-facies conditions. At this time Liguria-Piemontese ophiolites were accreted to Lower Austro-Alpine units directly underlying the Zone of Samedan. Late Cretaceous orogenic collapse of the Adriatic active margin involved the reactivation of west-directed thrusts as low-angle, top-to-the-east, normal faults. These faults accommodated extensional uplift of Liguria-Piemontese ophiolites and Lower Austro-Alpine units beneath and within the Zone of Samedan. During Paleogene collision, some Late Cretaceous faults in the Zone of Samedan were reactivated under lower anchizonal conditions as north-directed thrusts. The latter stages of this early Tertiary thickening were transitional to brittle, high-angle normal faulting associated with top-to-the-east extension and spreading above the warm, uplifting Lepontine dome.     

Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous and lower tertiary strata in the Tethyan Himalayas of Tibet (Tingri area,China)

The 1500-m-thick marine strata of the Tethys Himalaya of the Zhepure Mountain (Tingri, Tibet) comprise the Upper Albian to Eocene and represent the sedimentary development of the passive northern continental margin of the Indian plate. Investigations of foraminifera have led to a detailed biozonation which is compared with the west Tethyan record. Five stratigraphic units can be distinguished: The Gamba group (Upper Albian - Lower Santonian) represents the development from a basin and slope to an outer-shelf environment. In the following Zhepure Shanbei formation (Lower Santonian - Middle Maastrichtian), outer-shelf deposits continue. Pebbles in the top layers point to beginning redeposition on a continental slope. Intensified redeposition continues within the Zhepure Shanpo formation (Middle Maastrichtian - Lower Paleocene). The series is capped by sandstones of the Jidula formation (Danian) deposited from a seaward prograding delta plain. The overall succession of these units represents a sea-level high at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary followed, from the Turonian to Danian, by an overall shallowing-upward megasequence. This is followed by a final transgression — regression cycle during the Paleocene and Eocene, documented in the Zhepure Shan formation (?Upper Danian - Lutetian) and by Upper Eocene continental deposits. The section represents the narrowing and closure of the Tethys as a result of the convergence between northward-drifting India and Eurasia. The plate collision started in the Lower Maastrichtian and caused rapid changes in sedimentation patterns affected by tectonic subsidence and uplift. Stronger subsidence and deposition took place from the Middle Maastrichtian to the Lower Paleocene. The final closure of remnant Tethys in the Tingri area took place in the Lutetian.     

Subduction,mega-shear systems and Late Palaeozoic basin development in the African segment of Gondwana

 Basins within the African sector of Gondwana contain a Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic Gondwana sequence unconformably overlying Precambrian basement in the interior and mid-Palaeozoic strata along the palaeo-Pacific margin. Small sea-board Pacific basins form an exception in having a Carboniferous to Early Permian fill overlying Devonian metasediments and intrusives. The Late Palaeozoic geographic and tectonic changes in the region followed four well-defined consecutive events which can also be traced outside the study area. During the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous period (up to 330 Ma) accretion of microplates along the Patagonian margin of Gondwana resulted in the evolution of the Pacific basins. Thermal uplift of the Gondwana crust and extensive erosion causing a break in the stratigraphic record characterised the period between 300 and 330 Ma. At the end of this period the Gondwana Ice Sheet was well established over the uplands. The period 260–300 Ma evidenced the release of the Gondwana heat and thermal subsidence caused widespread basin formation. Late Carboniferous transpressive strike-slip basins (e.g. Sierra Australes/Colorado, Karoo-Falklands, Ellsworth-Central Transantarctic Mountains) in which thick glacial deposits accumulated, formed inboard of the palaeo-Pacific margin. In the continental interior the formation of Zambesi-type rift and extensional strike-slip basins were controlled by large mega-shear systems, whereas rare intracratonic thermal subsidence basins formed locally. In the Late Permian the tectonic regime changed to compressional largely due to northwest-directed subduction along the palaeo-Pacific margin. The orogenic cycle between 240 and 260 Ma resulted in the formation of the Gondwana fold belt and overall north–south crustal shortening with strike-slip motions and regional uplift within the interior. The Gondwana fold belt developed along a probable weak crustal zone wedged in between the cratons and an overthickened marginal crustal belt subject to dextral transpressive motions. Associated with the orogenic cycle was the formation of mega-shear systems one of which (Falklands-East Africa-Tethys shear) split the supercontinent in the Permo-Triassic into a West and an East Gondwana. By a slight clockwise rotation of East Gondwana a supradetachment basin formed along the Tethyan margin and northward displacement of Madagascar, West Falkland and the Gondwana fold belt occurred relative to a southward motion of Africa. Received: 2 October 1995 / Accepted: 28 May 1996     

Paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands: Plate tectonic synthesis from 750 Ma to the present

Abstract A series of paleogeographic maps of the Japanese Islands, from their birth at ca 750–700 Ma to the present, is newly compiled from the viewpoint of plate tectonics. This series consists of 20 maps that cover all of the major events in the geotectonic evolution of Japan. These include the birth of Japan at the rifted continental margin of the Yangtze craton ( ca 750-700 Ma), the tectonic inversion of the continental margin from passive to active ( ca 500 Ma), the Paleozoic accretionary growth incorporating fragments from seamounts and oceanic plateaux ( ca 480-250 Ma), the collision between Sino-Korea and Yangtze (250–210 Ma), the Mesozoic to Cenozoic accretionary growth (210 Ma-present) including the formation of the Cretaceous paired metamorphic belts (90 Ma), and the Miocene back-arc opening of the Japan Sea that separated Japan as an island arc (25-15 Ma).     

扬子地台北缘裂谷系金与多金属成矿特征

扬子地台北缘大多数金矿床集中集中在裂谷系古陆隆起内外接触处，经历了复杂的地壳结构演化，形成新的金矿类型和矿化组合，具多源性，以深源为主，浅源次之，再次是陆源，控矿构造含同生构造与封闭聚矿盆地等多种成矿作用的叠加。     

The Present Space-Time Motion and Deformation Features of the Northeastern Margin of the Qinghai-Xizang（Tibet） Block and Its Adjacent Area

On the basis of Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA), and considering the moderate intrusion of specific block boundaries to different extents, the first-order block motion model is established for the northeastern margin of Qinghai-Xizang(Tibet) block and the kinematical model for depicting deformation of small regions as well by using GPS observations of three periods (1991, 1999 and 2001). By simulating, we obtained the motion features of the firstorder blocks between the large WWN faults on the sides of the studied region, the distribution features of the principal strain rate field and the inhomogeneous motion features with spacetime of the faults in the northern boundary of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) block.