Mechanism of continental crust subsidence in the Alpine Belt

Formation of deep basins on continental crust in fold belts is often explained by stretching. This mechanism inevitably produces large deformations in the upper crust. No deformations typical of significant stretching were revealed in the predominant part of deep basins on continental crust in the Alpine Belt. This means that these basins were not produced by stretching. Most basins were formed during a short period of time of a few million years. The short duration of the subsidences eliminates thermal relaxation as the mechanism. The space and time relationships between the subsidence and orogeny and the profile of the basin floor exclude thrust loading as a cause of formation for practically all large basins. Gabbro to eclogite transformation is suggested as a mechanism of rapid subsidence. This occurs under the upwelling of hydrous asthenosphere at moderate temperature to the base of the crust. Eclogite sinking into the mantle results in a strong attenuation of the crust and lithosphere, which permits intense subsequent folding. The major part of deep basins in continental crust that formed by rapid subsidence was intensely shortened in the Alpine Belt. Significant crustal shortening did not spread over the cratonic lithosphere.     

The Role of Deep Fluids in Crustal Subsidence of the Cratonic Interior: The Moscow Sedimentary Basin during the Late Devonian

Doklady Earth Sciences - Slow crustal subsidence nonuniform in time and space occurred in the sedimentary basin of the Moscow Syneclise during 20 Ma in the Late Devonian. On the cool Precambrian...     

Neotectonic Crustal Uplift on the Continents and its Possible Mechanisms. The Case of Southern Africa

According to a large volume of data an intensive crustal uplift began in the Oligocene over most of the continental areas after a long period of relative tectonic stability. This Neotectonic uplift formed most of the present positive topographic features on the continents, and its strong acceleration took place during the last several million years. In many regions the uplift was associated with magmatism. The main methods of studying the Neotectonic uplift are considered together with the data on the uplift of Southern Africa. In this area the uplift took place in the Early Miocene (up to 300 m) and in the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene (up to 900 m). It occurred without stretching or shortening of the crust. Rapid erosion of the lower part of mantle lithosphere by a plume material is proposed as a mechanism of the uplift. This material ascended from below and rapidly spread along the base of the lithosphere. Its spreading for 1000 km during a few million years is possible only under a low viscosity of normal asthenosphere (1019 Pa s) and a much lower viscosity of a plume material (2 × 1016 Pa s). As in Southern Africa, in most of the regions the Neotectonic uplift was associated with insignificant shortening or stretching of the crust. This indicates that in some regions a plume material ascended from below and rapidly spread along the base of the lithosphere and eroded the mantle lithosphere in vast areas beneath the continents. In regions with a hot asthenosphere a strong weakening of the mantle lithosphere which allows its erosion can be associated with a high temperature of the plume material. In regions where the asthenosphere is at moderate temperature weakening of the mantle lithosphere can result from infiltration of volatiles from the plume material.     

The Southern Urals. Decoupled evolution of the thrust belt and its foreland: a consequence of metamorphism and lithospheric weakening

An analysis is presented of the mechanisms of tectonic evolution of the southern part of the Urals between 48N and 60N in the Carboniferous–Triassic. A low tectonic activity was typical of the area in the Early Carboniferous — after closure of the Uralian ocean in the Late Devonian. A nappe, ≥10–15 km thick, overrode a shallow-water shelf on the margin of the East European platform in the early Late Carboniferous. It is commonly supposed that strong shortening and thickening of continental crust result in mountain building. However, no high mountains were formed, and the nappe surface reached the altitude of only ≤0.5 km. No high topography was formed after another collisional events at the end of the Late Carboniferous, in the second half of the Early Permian, and at the start of the Middle Triassic. A low magnitude of the crustal uplift in the regions of collision indicates a synchronous density increase from rapid metamorphism in mafic rocks in the lower crust. This required infiltration of volatiles from the asthenosphere as a catalyst. A layer of dense mafic rocks, 20 km thick, still exists at the base of the Uralian crust. It maintains the crust, up to 60 km thick, at a mean altitude 0.5 km. The mountains, 1.5 km high, were formed in the Late Permian and Early Triassic when there was no collision. Their moderate height precluded asthenospheric upwelling to the base of the crust, which at that time was 65–70 km thick. The mountains could be formed due to delamination of the lower part of mantle root with blocks of dense eclogite and/or retrogression in a presence of fluids of eclogites in the lower crust into less dense facies.

The formation of foreland basins is commonly attributed to deflection of the elastic lithosphere under surface and subsurface loads in thrust belts. Most of tectonic subsidence on the Uralian foreland occurred in a form of short impulses, a few million years long each. They took place at the beginning and at the end of the Late Carboniferous, and in the Late Permian. Rapid crustal subsidence occurred when there was no collision in the Urals. Furthermore, the basin deepened away from thrust belt. These features preclude deflection of the elastic lithosphere as a subsidence mechanism. To ensure the subsidence, a rapid density increase was necessary. It took place due to metamorphism in the lower crust under infiltration of volatiles.

The absence of flexural reaction on the Uralian foreland on collision in thrust belt together with narrow-wavelength basement deformations under the nappe indicate a high degree of weakening of the lithosphere. Such deformations took also place on the Uralian foreland at the epochs of rapid subsidences when there was no collision in thrust belt. Weakening of the lithosphere can be explained by infiltration of volatiles into this layer from the asthenosphere and rapid metamorphism in the mafic lower crust. Lithospheric weakening allowed the formation of the Uralian thrust belt under convergent motions of the plates which were separated by weak areas.     

On the origin of the seismic anisotropy of the lithosphere

Summary. It is known that flow in the mantle can produce preferred orientation in olivine crystals with seismic anisotropy as a consequence. Flow in the subcrustal lithosphere is unlikely because of the high viscosity. Lenses of high temperature and low-viscosity ( anomalous mantle ) are located under the crust in many tectonically active regions, and viscous flow can easily arise in such material resulting in seismic anisotropy. After cooling, such anomalous mantle acquires high viscosity and becomes incorporated into the lithospheric layer preserving the anisotropy produced by the flows which existed previously. The interaction of the stresses with cracks in the upper crust can be one of the causes of anisotropy in this layer.