Paleomagnetic dating of Alleghanian orogenesis and mineralisation in the Mascot–Jefferson City zinc district of East Tennessee, USA

The Mascot–Jefferson City (M-JC) Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits are in the Valley and Ridge province of the Appalachian orogen in East Tennessee. They have been a major source of zinc for the USA but their age is uncertain and thus their genesis controversial. About 10 specimens from each of 37 sites have been analysed paleomagnetically using alternating field and thermal step demagnetisation methods and saturation isothermal remanence methods. The sites sample limestones, dolostones, breccia clasts and sphalerite–dolomite MVT mineralisation from mines in the Lower Ordovician Kingsport and Mascot formations of the Knox Group. The characteristic remanent magnetisation (ChRM) is carried by magnetite in the limestones, by both magnetite and pyrrhotite in the dolostones and by pyrrhotite preferentially to magnetite in the mineralisation. Mineralized sites have a more intense ChRM than non-mineralised, indicating that the mineralising and magnetisation event are coeval. Paleomagnetic breccia tests on clasts at the three sites are negative, indicating that their ChRM is post-depositional remagnetisation, and a paleomagnetic fold test is negative, indicating that the ChRM is a remagnetisation, and a post-dates peak Alleghanian deformation. The unit mean ChRM direction for the: (a) limestones gives a paleopole at 129°E, 12°N (d_p=18°, d_m=26°, N=3), indicating diagenesis formed a secondary chemical remanent magnetisation during the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian; (b) dolomitic limestones and dolostone host rocks gives a paleopole at 125.3°E, 31.9°N (d_p=5.3°, d_m=9.4°, N=7), recording regional dolomitisation at 334±14 Ma (1σ); and (c) MVT mineralisation gives a paleopole at 128.7°E, 34.0°N (d_p=2.4°, d_m=4.4°, N=25), showing that it acquired its primary chemical remanence at 316±8 Ma (1σ). The mineralisation is interpreted to have formed from hydrothermal fluid flow, either gravity or tectonically driven, after peak Alleghanian deformation in eastern Tennessee with regional dolomitisation of the host rocks occurring as part of a continuum during the 20 Ma prior to and during peak deformation.     

Premier pôle paléomagnétique,d'âge Moscovien contraint par un test du pli,obtenu dans le bassin d'Illizi (Craton saharien,Algérie)First palaeomagnetic pole,of Moscovian age constrained by a fold test,in the Illizi Basin (Saharan Craton,Algeria)

Palaeomagnetic study, carried out in the Moscovian (～305 Ma) formation in the Edjeleh anticline, shows the existence of three magnetisation components. Two of them are probably Cenozoic and Permian remagnetisations. The third component determined by both well defined ChRMs and remagnetisation circles analysis passes the fold test. Because the folding started before or during the Stephano-Autunian, this third component is the primary magnetisation. Its palaeomagnetic pole (28.3°S, 58.9°E), close to other poles from the Saharan platform obtained from neighbouring periods but without palaeomagnetic tests, confirms the age of these last data. To cite this article: B. Bayou et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 81–87.     

Models of passive margin inversion: implications for the Rhenohercynian fold-and-thrust belt, Belgium and Germany

Positive tectonic inversion is related to the transmission of compressional stresses along a décollement into the foreland of an orogenic zone. This stress and strain concentration in regions remote from the main orogenic front is commonly related to the presence of pre-existing rheological heterogeneities such as normal syn-depositional faults. During inversion, these pre-existing normal faults are reactivated as reverse faults. Tectonic inversion in the Rhenohercynian fold-and-thrust belt during the Variscan Orogeny shows that inversion is likely synchronous with the onset of collision in the hinterland. Here, we present the results of a simplified thermo-mechanical model (STM) which allows one to study strain partitioning between two orogenic zones. We show that, if the two orogenic zones have the same mechanical properties, the viscosity of the décollement, which links them, controls the initial strain partitioning. During subsequent finite shortening, erosional processes determine the partitioning of strain rate. The presence of a weak structure in the inverted zone and of a low-viscosity décollement leads to initial strain concentration in the inverted track rather than in the collision zone and a progressive decrease in strain partitioning between the two orogenic zones. The STM results are in good agreement with results of a 2D finite-element model. We conclude that, in the western part of the Rhenohercynian Massif, simultaneous uplift and deformation within the Mid-German Crystalline Rise (the main collision zone) and the Ardenne Anticlinorium (the inverted zone) lead to interpreting this orogenic event as a case of vice tectonic rather than the propagation of a ‘wave of folding’ towards the Variscan front, as suggested by previous authors.     

中国东部苏鲁榴辉岩超基性岩褶皱带的演化及其与大别(中国)和柯切塔夫(哈萨克斯坦)杂岩的对比(英文)

苏鲁褶皱带形成于元古宙 (2 2 33～ 185 5Ma)典型优地槽构造环境 ,主要由石榴橄榄岩、石榴辉石岩、榴辉岩等侵入岩 (柯石英深度相地幔岩浆房中形成 )和它们的火山沉积建造围岩一起经褶皱、变质而形成。变质作用经历了先蓝片岩相 (前花岗岩 )后片麻岩混合岩相过程。由于变质作用的不规律性 ,苏鲁褶皱带可分为 2个构造带 :(1)东部构造带 (蓝片岩 )和 (2 )西部构造带 (片麻岩混合岩 )。根据A·都城秋穗所识别的变质带系统 ,可将其作为一个双变质带。东部构造带以出现许多块状、条带状榴辉岩辉石岩橄榄岩组合的残余岩块为特征 ,其中还残留着高压的矿物 (石榴石、绿辉石、柯石英 ) ,而且有被混合岩和各种交代岩替代的显著标志。在中生代 ,苏鲁元古褶皱带受造山作用的影响活化 ,导致许多花岗岩体的侵入 ,使交代岩广泛发育。     

Flexural subsidence by 29 Ma on the NE edge of Tibet from the magnetostratigraphy of Linxia Basin, China

This study provides a detailed magnetostratigraphic record of subsidence in the Linxia Basin, documenting a 27 Myr long sedimentary record from the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Deposition in the Linxia Basin began at 29 Ma and continued nearly uninterruptedly until 1.7 Ma. Increasing rates of subsidence between 29 and 6 Ma in the Linxia Basin suggest deposition in the foredeep portion of a flexural basin and constrain the timing of shortening in the northeastern margin of the plateau to Late Oligocene–Late Miocene time. By Late Miocene–Early Pliocene time, a decrease in subsidence rates in the Linxia Basin associated with thrust faulting and a 10° clockwise rotation in the basin indicates that the deformation front of the Tibetan plateau had propagated into the currently deforming region northeast of the plateau.     

赣东北前震旦纪陆内叠加褶皱

江南古陆与华夏古陆拼接带北西侧前震旦纪地层中存在着近东西向褶皱叠加在早期近南北向褶皱上的现象,这是怀玉地块向西拼贴、华夏古陆向北西碰撞拼接过程中构造应力向陆内传递时形成的构造变形系统。叠加褶皱与拼接带具有成生联系,且各自代表了不同构造部位的变形特点。这一构造系统形成于前震旦纪,可能与格林威尔(Grenville)造山运动相当。     

岳西菖蒲地区超高压变质带内的构造地层序列与叠加褶皱型式

以大别造山带南部菖蒲地区为解剖区,结合区域地质调查分析,建立了包括浅变质岩层、超高压变质岩片在内的构造地层序列—岩片组合。对其组成特征、界面性质、形成时代、变形序列等,进行了较系统阐明,并对叠加褶皱型式及形成机制进行了讨论。