Controls on the formation of stratabound dolostone bodies,Hammam Faraun Fault block,Gulf of Suez

Dolomitization is commonly associated with crustal‐scale faults, but tectonic rejuvenation, diagenetic overprinting and a fluid and Mg mass‐imbalance often makes it difficult to determine the dolomitization mechanism. This study considers differential dolomitization of the Eocene Thebes Formation on the Hammam Faraun Fault block, Gulf of Suez, which has undergone a simple history of burial and exhumation as a result of rifting. Stratabound dolostone bodies occur selectively within remobilized sediments (debrites and turbidites) in the lower Thebes Formation and extend into the footwall of, and for up to 2 km away from, the Hammam Faraun Fault. They are offset by the north–south trending Gebel fault, which was active during the earliest phases of rifting, suggesting that dolomitization occurred between rift initiation (26 Ma) and rift climax (15 Ma). Geochemical data suggest that dolomitization occurred from evaporated (ca 1·43 concentration) seawater at less than ca 80°C. Geothermal convection is interpreted to have occurred as seawater was drawn down surface‐breaching faults into the Nubian sandstone aquifer, convected and discharged into the lower Thebes Formation via the Hammam Faraun Fault. Assuming a ca 10 Myr window for dolomitization, a horizontal velocity of ca 0·7 m year⁻¹ into the Thebes Formation is calculated, with fluid flux and reactivity likely to have been facilitated by fracturing. Although fluids were at least marginally hydrothermal, stratabound dolostone bodies do not contain saddle dolomite and there is no evidence of hydrobrecciation. This highlights how misleading dolostone textures can be as a proxy for the genesis and spatial distribution of such bodies in the subsurface. Overall, this study provides an excellent example of how fluid flux may occur during the earliest phases of rifting, and the importance of crustal‐scale faults on fluid flow from the onset of their growth. Furthermore, this article presents a mechanism for dolomitization from seawater that has none of the inherent mass balance problems of classical, conceptual models of hydrothermal dolomitization.     

Exploitation de la fracturation d’un massif par la karstification : exemple du Causse de l’Hortus (Hérault,France)

Résumé

Le Causse de l’Hortus est un massif particulièrement adapté à l’étude de la fracturation et de ses interdépendances avec la karstification. La réalisation en cours d’une monographie hydrogéologique et spéléologique du massif ainsi que l’existence de plus de 20 km de galeries explorées appartenant aux réseaux actifs, permettent d’apporter des données nouvelles face aux précédentes études réalisées dans ce domaine. La confrontation des directions de fracturation visibles sur les photographies aériennes avec les directions réellement exploitées par les réseaux karstiques sur l’ensemble du Causse a permis de mettre en évidence le rôle des fractures majeures et l’influence du gradient hydraulique sur l’exploitation du spectre de fractures. En fin de compte, la mise en évidence des relations existant entre les failles décrochantes dextres et les émergences temporaires de type « boulidou » permet d’aboutir à des applications concrètes tant sur le plan spéléologique que sur le plan hydrogéologique. L’étude de ces « boulidous » apporte également de nouvelles informations sur la structuration verticale du karst. © Elsevier, Paris     

Evolution of the Large-scale Active Manisa Fault,Southwest Turkey: Implications on Fault Development and Regional Tectonics

This paper aims to illustrate and discuss mechanism(s) responsible for the growth and evolution of large-scale corrugated normal faults in southwest Turkey. We report spectacular exposures of normal fault surfaces as parts of the Manisa Fault - a ?50-km-long northeast-ward arched active fault that defines the northwestern edge of the Manisa graben, which is subsidiary to the Gediz Graben. The fault is a single through-going corrugated fault system with distinct along-strike bends. It follows NW direction for 15 km in the south, then bends into an approximately E-W direction in the northwest. The fault trace occurs at the base of topographic scarps and separates the Quaternary limestone scree and alluvium from the highly strained, massive bed-rock carbonates. The fault is exposed on continuous pristine slip surfaces, up to 60 m high. The observed surfaces are polished and ornamented by well-preserved various brittle structural features, such as slip-parallel striations, gutters and tool tracks, and numerous closely spaced extension fractures with straight or crescentic traces. The rocks both in the footwall and hanging-wall of the fault possess a well-developed fault rock stratigraphy made up, from structurally lowest to the top, of massive undeformed recrystallized limestone, a zone of cemented breccia sheets, corrugated polished slip planes, and first brecciated, then unbrecciated scree.

The observed slip surfaces of the Manisa Fault contain two sets of striations that suggest an early phase of sinistral strike-slip and a subsequent normal-slip movements. The first phase is attributed to: (i) approximately E-W-directed compression that commenced during either (?) Early-Middle Pliocene time or (ii) the current extensional tectonics and consequent modern graben formation in southwest Turkey that initiated during the Plio-Quaternary. During this period, the Manisa Fault was reactivated and it became a major segment. Stress inversion of fault slip data suggests that southwest Turkey has been experiencing multidirectional crustal extension, with components of approximately N-S, E-W, NE-SW and NW-SE extension. Following the reactivation, the inherited fault segments were connected to each other through interaction, linkage and amalgamation of previously discontinuous and overlapping smaller stepping adjacent faults. Linkage was via the formation of new connecting (breaching) fault(s) or by curved propagation of fault-tips. The result is a single through-going corrugated fault trace with distinct along-strike bends. The final geometry of the Manisa Fault is thus the combined result of reactivation and continuing interaction between previously discontinuous segmented fault traces.     

Ancient deep roots for Mesozoic world-class gold deposits in the north China craton:An integrated genetic perspective

The North China Craton(NCC)hosts some of the world-class gold deposits that formed more than 2 billion years after the major orogenic cycles and cratonization.The diverse models for the genesis of these deposits remain equivocal,and mostly focused on the craton margin examples,although synchronous deposits formed in the interior domains.Here we adopt an integrated geological and geophysical perspective to evaluate the possible factors that contributed to the formation of the major gold deposits in the NCC.In the Archean tectonic framework of the NCC,the locations of the major gold deposits fall within or adjacent to greenstone belts or the margins of micro-continents.In the Paleoproterozoic framework,they are markedly aligned along two major collisional sutures-the Trans North China Orogen and the Jiao-Liao-Ji Belt.Since the Mesozoic intrusions hosting these deposits do not carry adequate signals for the source of gold,we explore the deep roots based on available geophysical data.We show that the gold deposits are preferentially distributed above zones of uplifted MOHO and shallow LAB corresponding to thinned crust and eroded sub-lithospheric mantle,and that the mineralization is located above regions of high heat flow representing mantle upwelling.The NCC was at the center of a multi-convergent regime during the Mesozoic which intensely churned the mantle and significantly en riched it.The geophysical data on Moho and LAB upwarp from the centre towards east of the craton is more consistent with paleo-Pacific slab subduction from the east exerting the dominant control on lithospheric thinning.Based on these results,and together with an evaluation of the geochemical and isotopic features of the Mesozoic magmatic intrusions hosting the gold mineralization,we propose a genetic model that invokes reworking of ancient Au archives preserved in the lower crust and metasomatised upper mantle and which were generated through multiple subduction,underplating and cumulation events associated with cratonization of the NCC as well as the subduction-collision of Yangtze Craton with the NCC.The heat and material input along zones of heterogeneously thinned lithosphere from a rising turbulent mantle triggered by Mesozoic convergent margins surrounding the craton aided in reworking the deep roots of the ancient Au reservoirs,leading to the major gold metallogeny along craton margins as well as in the interior of the NCC.     

Two-dimensional Numerical Modeling Research on Continent Subduction Dynamics

Continent subduction is one of the hot research problems in geoscience. New models presented here have been set up and two-dimensional numerical modeling research on the possibility of continental subduction has been made with the finite element software, ANSYS, based on documentary evidence and reasonable assumptions that the subduction of oceanic crust has occurred, the subduction of continental crust can take place and the process can be simplified to a discontinuous plane strain theory model. The modeling results show that it is completely possible for continental crust to be subducted to a depth of 120 km under certain circumstances and conditions. At the same time, the simulations of continental subduction under a single dynamical factor have also been made, including the pull force of the subducted oceanic lithosphere, the drag force connected with mantle convection and the push force of the mid-ocean ridge. These experiments show that the drag force connected with mantle convection is critical fo     

Petrogenesis of mid-Carboniferous volcanics and granitic intrusions from western Junggar Basin boreholes: geodynamic implications for the Central Asian Orogenic Belt in Northwest China

The western Junggar Basin is located on the southeastern margin of the West Junggar terrane, Northwest China. Its sedimentary fill, magma petrogenesis, tectonic setting, and formation ages are important for understanding the Carboniferous tectonic evolution and continental growth of the Junggar terrane and the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. This paper documents a set of new zircon secondary ion mass spectrometry U–Pb geochronological and Hf isotopic data and whole-rock elemental and Sr–Nd isotopic analytical results for the Carboniferous strata and associated intrusions obtained from boreholes in the western Junggar Basin. The Carboniferous strata comprise basaltic andesite, andesite, and dacite with minor pyroclastic rocks, intruded by granitic intrusions with zircon secondary ion mass spectrometry U–Pb ages of 327–324 Ma. The volcanic rocks are calc-alkaline and show low high ε_Nd(t) values (5.3–5.6) and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.703561–0.703931), strong enrichment in LREEs, and some LILEs and depletion in Nb, Ta, and Ti. Furthermore, they also display high (La/Sm)_N (1.36–1.63), Zr/Nb, and La/Yb, variable Ba/La and Ba/Th and constant Th/Yb ratios. These geochemical data, together with low Sm/Yb (1.18–1.38) and La/Sm (2.11–2.53) ratios, suggest that these volcanic rocks were derived from a 5–8% partial melting of a mainly spinel Iherzolite-depleted mantle metasomatized by slab-derived fluids and melts of some sediments in an island-arc setting. In contrast, the granitic intrusions represent typical adakite geochemical features of high Sr and low Y and Yb contents, with no significant Eu anomalies, high Mg#, and depleted ε_Nd(t) (5.6–6.4) and ε_Hf(t) (13.7–16.2) isotopic compositions, suggesting their derivation from partial melting of hot subducted oceanic crust. In combination with the previous work, the West Junggar terrane and adjacent western Junggar Basin are interpreted as a Mariana-type arc system driven by northwestward subduction of the Junggar Ocean, possibly with a tectonic transition from normal to ridge subduction commencing ca. at 331–327 Ma.     

The Pindos Fold-and-thrust belt (Greece): inversion kinematics of a passive continental margin

Continuous exposure in the Pindos mountain chain (Greece) and the detailed stratigraphic measurements in the area enable us to construct eight balanced cross sections across the Pindos Fold-and-thrust belt (PFTB) and to approach quantitatively some parameters which controlled foreland evolution. The 160-km-wide passive continental margin of the Apulian continent in Greece was progressively shortened from east to west at rates of 6 mm/year between the Early Oligocene and Late Eocene. From the rear to the frontal part of the wedge, fault-bend folds, duplexes and imbricates were formed, while strain was partitioned into faulting (~34%), layer parallel shortening (~23%) and buckling (~9%). Foreland subsidence and internal deformation of the orogenic wedge are strongly affected by two parameters of equal importance: the thrust load of the overthrusted microcontinents and the rigidity of the underthrusted Apulian passive margin. Changes in the thickness of the pre-orogenic sediments and reactivated transform faults induced salients. During the Lower Miocene, the orogenic wedge in the Peloponnese suffered additional uplift and westward gravitational gliding induced by the intracontinental subduction of the Palaeozoic rift zone of the Phyllite-Quartzite Series, which was reactivated and returned to the earths surface during the Hellenic orogeny.     

Timing of deformation in the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Establishing relative and absolute time frameworks for the sedimentary, magmatic, tectonic and gold mineralisation events in the Norseman-Wiluna Belt of the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia, has long been the main aim of research efforts. Recently published constraints on the timing of sedimentation and absolute granite ages have emphasized the shortcomings of the established rationale used for interpreting the timing of deformation events. In this paper the assumptions underlying this rationale are scrutinized, and it is shown that they are the source of significant misinterpretations. A revised time chart for the deformation events of the belt is established. The first shortening phase to affect the belt, D₁, was preceded by an extensional event D_1e and accompanied by a change from volcanic-dominated to plutonic-dominated magmatism at approximately 2685–2675 Ma. Later extension (D_2e) controlled deposition of the ca 2655 Ma Kurrawang Sequence and was followed by D₂, a major shortening event, which folded this sequence. D₂ must therefore have started after 2655 Ma—at least 20 Ma later than previously thought and after the voluminous 2670–2655 Ma high-Ca granite intrusion. Younger transcurrent deformation, D₃–D₄, waned at around 2630 Ma, suggesting that the crustal shortening deformation cycle D₂–D₄ lasted approximately 20–30 Ma, contemporaneous with low-volume 2650–2630 Ma low-Ca granites and alkaline intrusions. Time constraints on gold deposits suggest a late mineralisation event between 2640–2630 Ma. Thus, D₂–D₄ deformation cycle and late felsic magmatism define a 20–30 Ma long tectonothermal event, which culminated with gold mineralisation. The finding that D₂ folding took place after voluminous high-Ca granite intrusion led to research into the role of competent bodies during folding by means of numerical models. Results suggest that buoyancy-driven doming of pre-tectonic competent bodies trigger growth of antiforms, whereas non-buoyant, competent granite bodies trigger growth of synforms. The conspicuous presence of pre-folding granites in the cores of anticlines may be a result from active buoyancy doming during folding.     

Paléoenvironnements et caractérisation des roches mères pétrolières des séries pré-salifères du bassin intérieur du Gabon

The Interior Basin of Gabon, created during the break-up between South America and Africa, displays thick Neoproterozoic to Aptian p.p. fluvio-lacustrine deposits overlain by Aptian to Albian marine facies. Rock–Eval analyses from outcrop and drillhole samples show high content in organic matter (up to 25%) related to types I and II. These intervals are encountered within Permian, Neocomian–Barremian as well as Aptian siliciclastic succession. They constitute fairly good to excellent potential petroleum source rocks, which are most probably at the origin of oil indices recognized both in drillholes and in surface.