A multidisciplinary study on the emplacement mechanism of the Qingyang–Jiuhua Massif in Southeast China and its tectonic bearings. Part I: Structural geology,AMS and paleomagnetism

During the Cretaceous, the South China Block (SCB) experienced a widely distributed extensional event including numerous plutons emplacement and basin opening. Investigations on the tectonic regime coeval with pluton emplacement, and emplacement mechanism of the pluton remain relatively rare in the SCB. In order to address these questions, a multidisciplinary approach, including field structural and petrographic observations, anisotropy magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and paleomagnetic analyses, was carried out on the Qingyang–Jiuhua granitic massif which intrudes into the Lower Yangtze fold belt in the northeastern part of the SCB. The Qingyang–Jiuhua massif is composed of the granodioritic Qingyang and monzogranitic Jiuhua plutons dated by zircon U–Pb method at ca. 142 Ma, and ca. 131 Ma, respectively. Our structural observations show that the intrusion of the Qingyang–Jiuhua massif does not modify the fold strike. A weak ductile deformation of the country rocks and granitoid can be only observed in the boundary zone with limited contact metamorphism. In the contact aureole of the massif, the foliation follows the pluton contour, and the mineral lineation is rare. When present, it exhibits a down-dip attitude. Field and microstructural observations indicate isotropic magmatic textures in most parts of the massif. The AMS analysis of 93 sites reveals weak values for the anisotropy degree (P_J < 1.2) and oblate magnetic fabric dominance (T > 0) for most of the measured samples. Two principal foliation patterns are identified: horizontal foliations in the center of the plutons, and vertical foliations on the boundaries. Magnetic lineation strike is largely scattered, and weakly inclined at the scale of the entire massif. The paleomagnetic investigations indicate that (a) the younger Jiuhua pluton did not produce a remagnetization in the older Qingyang pluton, (b) no relative movement can be observed between these two plutons, (c) the entire massif did not experience any important relative movement with respect to South China, considering the paleomagnetic uncertainties. Integrating the newly obtained results with previous observations, our study favors a permissive emplacement mechanism for the two plutons, i.e. vertical magma intrusion into an opening space controlled by the NW–SE brittle stretching of the upper crust, which is in agreement with a weak extensional regional tectonic framework of the SCB.     

A late Cenozoic Earth's crust and climate dynamics record from Lake Baikal

The sedimentary record from Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) has been an important source of information about paleoclimatic variability in the northern hemisphere and dynamics of continental rift development. A lack of reliable chronology has, however, been a major obstacle to fully utilizing the Baikal archive for time scales beyond about 4-5 Myr. In this paper we use the distribution of ¹⁰Be to establish a new chronology for the longest core drilled in Lake Baikal so far. The ¹⁰Be-based chronology spans the last 8 Myr and provides better constraints on sedimentation rates and consequently on an east-west tectonic extension in the lake, which has been apparently coeval with other rifts in Asia that are related to the Tibetan plateau uplift. Our data also show higher ¹⁰Be flux in the sediment section older then 5 Myr compared with the younger period. This can be explained partly by warm and humid climatic conditions of the Miocene and partly by a high cosmic ray flux to the Earth resulting from possible low geomagnetic field intensity during that time.     

郯庐断裂带东侧华南地块部分逆时针转动——古地磁新证据

本文对郯庐断裂带东西两侧的莱阳、六安、庐枞和怀宁等中新生代盆地内的中三叠世至早白垩世沉积构造变形进行了古地磁研究。采样区大多数特征磁化方向通过了褶皱检验或反极性检验,从上述地区共获得了10个可靠的中三叠世-早白垩世的古地磁极。该结果与华南地块的视极移曲线对比,可以看出,从中侏罗世以来,郯庐断裂带东西两侧不存在大规模地水平相对位移。但是,断裂带东边的华南地块部分存在15°-25°的逆时针转动。这种转动主要应发生在晚侏罗世,主要与华南、华北地块的碰撞以及太平洋板块的挤压有关。      

西藏和云南三江地区特提斯洋盆演化历史的古地磁分析

通过对华南、思茅、保山、缅泰、印支、羌塘、拉萨和喜马拉雅地块进行了古纬度和纬度运移量的对比分析,以确定西藏和云南西部三江地区主要地块的碰撞拼合历史,以及相应的特提斯洋盆演化时限。结果表明:①分隔保山和思茅地块的古特提斯洋可能于早志留世张开;②保山与思茅地块于晚二叠世碰撞,然后继续和华南地块、缅泰地块一起向北漂移,直到晚三叠世;③古特提斯洋年龄范围在早志留世至晚二叠世之间;④中特提斯洋年龄范围在早二叠世至早白垩世之间,在晚三叠世达到其最大纬度宽度,约42°;⑤雅鲁藏布江缝合带所代表的新特提斯洋于晚三叠世张开。     

华南早三叠世的古地磁学与大地构造

从华南几个具代表性地点的下三叠统灰岩中,获得了有意义的古地磁学初步结果。这些结果支持华南存在分离板块的设想。根据新近获得的地质与古地磁学证据,推断华南存在4个岩石图板块。它们是扬子(D=232.4°,I=-11.8°,K=28.2,α₉₅=5.5°),湘桂(D=198.0°,I=32.2°,α₉₅=12.9°),华夏(D=88.0°,I=13.0°,K=20.1,α₉₅=9.1°)和海南(上二叠统D=338.2°,I=15.9°,K=10.2,α₉₅=14.3°)板块。4个板块的古地磁极位分散,纬度差明显,并存在碰撞后的局部与区域性的旋转作用,尤其是顺时针旋转。华南早中生代的大地构造可理解为4个来自古特提斯和冈瓦纳的岩石圈碎块与欧亚大陆聚合作用的产物。     

胶东半岛黄崖剖面早白垩世火山岩古地磁结果及其构造意义

对采自于胶东半岛黄崖剖面火山岩样品进行了系统的岩石磁学和古地磁学研究,结果表明HY1和HY2熔岩流样品的载磁矿物主要为磁铁矿和赤铁矿的混合,HY3熔岩流的样品主要为磁铁矿。系统热退磁实验从40块样品中分离出了稳定的特征剩磁方向,获得古地磁偏角/倾角平均方向为12.8°/62.4°(α95=4.8°),对应的平均虚地磁极位置为76.7°N/162.6°E(A95=6.2°)。40Ar/39Ar同位素定年结果显示,HY3火山岩的喷出年龄约为115.3±1.3 Ma~115.6±1.6 Ma(2σ)。比较结果显示,未发现研究区相对于华北块体在早白垩世有较大幅度的旋转或位移。对比山东、辽宁地区以及朝鲜半岛南部已有的晚中生代古地磁数据,发现侏罗-白垩纪期间古地磁的偏角随时间变化规律具有相似性,说明块体的旋转运动具有较一致规律性,指示东亚东缘构造运动可能受到古太平洋俯冲运动方向调整的影响。     

钻孔岩心重定向的古地磁学新方法及其在华南铀矿床岩心定向中的初步应用

基于岩石剩余磁化强度的矢量特性,使用古地磁学方法对钻孔岩心进行重新定向,对于解译地下构造、分析应力特征、判定成矿方向等问题具有重要意义.针对华南地区复杂构造下的倾斜钻孔岩心,本文构建了古地磁学岩心定向新方法理论,结合多次坐标转换和磁场一致性扫描,实现了基于黏滞剩磁的岩心重定向;设计了定向所需的成套古地磁学岩心定向、测量、取样装置,并将该方法和装置应用于华南铀矿钻孔的重定向,恢复后的岩心特征剩磁计算获得的早白垩世古地磁极位置与同期华南地块的极位置一致.该方法对地球物理深部探矿技术的改进有一定意义.此外,所设计的研究装置在古地磁学研究对象的拓展中也具有应用前景.     

Late Triassic initial closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean in the western segment: Constraints from sedimentological,detrital zircon ages and paleomagnetic evidence

The Mesozoic evolution of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean (MOO) has significantly affected the configuration of the modern Asian continent. Although a scissor-like closure of the MOO has long been proposed, when and how the MOO closed are still hotly debated, especially the timing of initial closure of the MOO in its western segment, hindering our understanding of both the evolution of the MOO and tectonics of the northern Asian continent. In order to uncover the timing of initial closure of the MOO, we performed a multidisciplinary study in sedimentology, detrital zircon U-Pb dating and paleomagnetic on the Late Triassic clastic strata from the Tarvagatay Block and the Amuria Block (AMB) on the both sides of the Mongol-Okhotsk Suture. The upper Triassic strata on both sides of the suture were dominated by plant fossil-bearing alluvial-fluvial facies sediments, which unconformably overlain pre-Triassic geological units, indicating a terrestrial setting after the closure of the MOO. Detrital zircon U-Pb dating results revealed consistent age distribution patterns for samples from both sides of the suture with a predominant peak at ∼253–251 Ma and a secondary peak at ∼359–357 Ma, representing two main arc magmatic events during the bidirectional subduction of the MOO in the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous and Late Permian-Early Triassic. Coeval Late Triassic paleomagnetic poles were obtained from the northern AMB and Tarvagatay Block, revealing a comparable paleolatitude of the AMB (∼31–33°) and Tarvagatay Block (∼32–34°) in the Late Triassic, arguing for that the western segment of the MOO should have closed at the Late Triassic. The compilation of sedimentology, detrital zircon U-Pb dating, magmatic and paleomagnetic evidence provides integrated constraints on the Late Triassic initial closure of the MOO in its western segment.     

Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Gwalior Sills,Bundelkhand craton,Northern India Block: New constraints on Greater India assembly

We present an updated paleomagnetic pole from the Gwalior Sills in the Bundelkhand craton within the Northern India Block (NIB). Geochronological results from baddeleyite grains from one of the sills yielded an age of 1719 ± 7 Ma which together with a previously published age indicates the emplacement of sills between 1712 and 1756 Ma (∼1730 Ma). The paleomagnetic pole calculated from additional sites in this study, combined with previous studies, falls at 13.5°N, 173.7°E (A95 = 3.6°, K = 98) indicating near equatorial latitudes for northern India. Limestone sampled a few meters above the contact with the sill exhibits similar directions consistent with having been baked by the sill. The pole does not resemble any younger poles from Peninsular India and receives a reliability score of R = 5. Dykes in the Singhbhum craton are slightly older (1765 Ma) and indicate low paleolatitudes for the Southern Indian Block (SIB). Although the Gwalior and Singhbhum poles data indicate low latitudes for both the NIB and SIB, they are statistically different and indicate that a rotation of at least 65° is required to bring the poles into accord. We propose that the NIB and SIB were in proximity but were separated by an ocean basin. We propose the name Gotosindhu (‘Ancient Sea’) for the body of water separating the NIB and SIB. We also review previous models for the assembly of the Columbia supercontinent during this time and critically examine the position of the NIB/SIB in those reconstructions.