Paleomagnetism of boundary oligocene-miocene deposits in the Kompasskii Bor tract on the Tym River (Western Siberia)

We present the results of a complex (paleomagnetic, geological-stratigraphic, and paleontological) study of reference sections of Oligocene-Miocene deposits in the Kompasskii Bor tract on the Tym River in the eastern part of the western Siberian plate. Three sections of the Kompasskii Bor tract are studied: Belyi Yar (200-m mark), Belyi Yar (300-m mark), and Dunaevskii Yar (200-m mark). A composite magnetostratigraphic section of deposits, including the Oligocene-Miocene boundary dated at 23.8 Ma, is compiled with allowance for the complex data. Two magnetozones (of normal and reversed polarities) are identified in this section. The scale of magnetic polarity of the Cenozoic of the western Siberian plate at the Oligocene-Miocene boundary is determined in greater detail. The time interval of the upper part of the Zhuravka series (Chattian) and the Lyamin layers of the Abrosimov series (Aquitanian) is 24.6-22.9 Ma.     

Late Paleozoic faults of the Altai region, Central Asia: tectonic pattern and model of formation

The present kinematic and dynamic analysis of large-scale strike-slip faults, which enabled the formation of a collage of Altai terranes as a result of two collisional events. The Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous collision of the Gondwana-derived Altai-Mongolian terrane and the Siberian continent resulted in the formation of the Charysh–Terekta system of dextral strike-slip faults and later the Kurai and Kuznetsk–Teletsk–Bashkauss sinistral strike-slip faults. The Late Carboniferous–Permian collision of the Siberian and Kazakhstan continents resulted in the formation of the Chara, Irtysh and North-East sinistral strike-slip zones. The age of deformation of both collisional events becomes younger toward the inner areas of the Siberian continent. In the same direction the amount of displacement of strike-slip faulting decreases from several thousand to several hundred kilometers. The width of the Late Paleozoic zone of deformation reaches 1500 km. These events deformed the accretion-collision continental margins and their primary paleogeographic pattern.     

Paleomagnetism and magnetostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous and Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary intervals,southern Kulunda basin (West Siberia)

The study presents new paleomagnetic data on the Upper Cretaceous and Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary intervals of the southern Kulunda basin (Alei area), which were obtained from core samples collected from a 305-m-thick section penetrated in two wells. The paleomagnetic sections of each well were compiled and correlated based on the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM). Paleomagnetic, geological, stratigraphic, and paleontological data were used to compile the Upper Cretaceous and Cretaceous-Paleogene magnetostratigraphic section of the southern Kulunda basin. The magnetostratigraphic section consists of five magnetozones, one normal polarity zone, and four reversed polarity zones spanning the Upper Cretaceous and Lower Paleogene. The lower part of the Gan’kino Horizon, showing normal polarity, forms a single normal polarity magnetozone N. The upper part of the Gan’kino Horizon comprises two reversed polarity magnetozones (R₁km and R₂mt). The Talitsa and Lyulinvor Formations of Lower Paleogene age correspond to two reversed polarity magnetozones (R₁zl and R₂i). The compiled Upper Cretaceous and Lower Paleogene magnetostratigraphic section was correlated with the geomagnetic polarity time scale. Two options were considered for correlating the lower normal polarity part of the section with geomagnetic polarity time scale of Gradstein.     

Paleomagnetic study of Cenozoic sediments from the Zaisan basin (SE Kazakhstan) and the Chuya depression (Siberian Altai): tectonic implications for central Asia

This paper presents new paleomagnetic results on Cenozoic rocks from northern central Asia. Eighteen sites were sampled in Pliocene to Miocene clays and sandy clays of the Zaisan basin (southeastern Kazakhstan) and 12 sites in the upper Oligocene to Pleistocene clays and sandstones of the Chuya depression (Siberian Altai).Thermal demagnetization of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) showed that hematite and magnetite are the main ferromagnetic minerals in the deposits of the Zaisan basin. Stepwise thermal demagnetization up to 640–660 °C isolated a characteristic (ChRM) component of either normal or reverse polarity at nine sites. At two other sites, the great circles convergence method yielded a definite direction. Measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility showed that the hematite-bearing sediments preserved their depositional fabric. These results suggest a primary origin of the ChRM and were substantiated by positive fold and reversal tests. The mean paleomagnetic direction for the Zaisan basin (D=9°, I=59°, k=19, α₉₅=11°) is close to the expected direction derived from the APW path of Eurasia [J. Geophys. Res. 96 (1991) 4029] and shows that the basin did not rotated relative to stable Asia during the Tertiary.In the upper Pliocene–Pleistocene sandstones of the Chuya depression, a very stable ChRM carried by hematite was found. Its mean direction (D=9°, I=46°, k=25, α₉₅=7°) is characterized by declination close to the one excepted for early Quaternary, whereas inclination is lower. In the middle Miocene to lower Pliocene clays and sandstones, a stable ChRM of both normal and reverse polarities carried by magnetite was isolated. Its mean direction (D=332°, I=63°, k=31, α₉₅=4°) is deviated with respect to the reference direction and implies a Neogene, 39±8° counterclockwise rotation of the Chuya depression relative to stable Asia. These results and those from the literature suggest that the different amount of rotation found in the two basins is related to a sharp variation in their tectonic style, predominantly compressive in the Zaisan basin and transpressive in the Siberian Altai. At a larger scale, the pattern of vertical axis rotations deduced from paleomagnetic data in northern central Asia is consistent with the hypothesis of a large left-lateral shear zone running from the Pamirs to the Baikal. Heterogeneous rotations, however, indicate changes in style of faulting along the shear zone and local effect for the domains with the largest rotations.     

Tectonics and geodynamics of Gorny Altai and adjacent structures of the Altai–Sayan folded area

Packages of Late Paleozoic tectonic nappes and associated major NE-trending strike-slip faults are widely developed in the Altai–Sayan folded area. Fragments of early deformational phases are preserved within the Late Paleozoic allochthons and autochthons. Caledonian fold-nappe and strike-slip structures, as well as accompanying metamorphism and granitization in the region, are typical of the EW-trending suture-shear zone separating the composite Kazakhstan–Baikal continent and Siberia. In the Gorny Altai region, the Late Paleozoic nappes envelop the autochthon, which contains a fragment of the Vendian–Cambrian Kuznetsk–Altai island arc with accretionary wedges of the Biya–Katun’ and Kurai zones. The fold-nappe deformations within the latter zones occurred during the Late Cambrian (Salairian) and can thus be considered Salairian orogenic phases. The Salairian fold-nappe structure is stratigraphically overlain by a thick (up to 15 km) well-stratified rock unit of the Anyui–Chuya zone, which is composed of Middle Cambrian–Early Ordovician fore-arc basin rocks unconformably overlain by Ordovician–Early Devonian carbonate-terrigenous passive-margin sequences. These rocks are crosscut by intrusions and overlain by a volcanosedimentary unit of the Devonian active margin. The top of the section is marked by Famennian–Visean molasse deposits onlapping onto Devonian rocks. The molasse deposits accumulated above a major unconformity reflects a major Late Paleozoic phase of folding, which is most pronounced in deformations at the edges of the autochthon, nearby the Kaim, Charysh–Terekta, and Teletskoe–Kurai fault nappe zones. Upper Carboniferous coal-bearing molasse deposits are preserved as tectonic wedges within the Charysh–Terekta and Teletskoe–Kurai fault nappe zones.Detrital zircon ages from Middle Cambrian–Early Ordovician rocks of the Anyui–Chuya fore-arc zone indicate that they were primarily derived from Upper Neoproterozoic–Cambrian igneous rocks of the Kuznetsk–Altai island arc or, to a lesser extent, from an Ordovician–Early Devonian passive margin. A minor age population is represented by Paleoproterozoic grains, which was probably sourced from the Siberian craton. Zircons from the Late Carboniferous molasse deposits have much wider age spectra, ranging from Middle Devonian–Early Carboniferous to Late Ordovician–Early Silurian, Cambrian–Early Ordovician, Mesoproterozoic, Early–Middle Proterozoic, and early Paleoproterozoic. These ages are consistent with the ages of igneous and metamorphic rocks of the composite Kazakhstan–Baikal continent, which includes the Tuva-Mongolian island arc with accreted Gondwanan blocks, and a Caledonian suture-shear zone in the north. Our results suggest that the Altai–Sayan region is represented by a complex aggregate of units of different geodynamic affinity. On the one hand, these are continental margin rocks of western Siberia, containing only remnants of oceanic crust embedded in accretionary structures. On the other hand, they are represented by the Kazakhstan–Baikal continent composed of fragments of Gondwanan continental blocks. In the Early–Middle Paleozoic, they were separated by the Ob’–Zaisan oceanic basin, whose fragments are preserved in the Caledonian suture-shear zone. The movements during the Late Paleozoic occurred along older, reactivated structures and produced the large intracontinental Central Asian orogen, which is interpreted to be a far-field effect of the colliding East European, Siberian, and Kazakhstan–Baikal continents.