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1.
The northern part of the Tasman Fold Belt System in Queensland comprises three segments, the Thomson, Hodgkinson- Broken River, and New England Fold Belts. The evolution of each fold belt can be traced through pre-cratonic (orogenic), transitional, and cratonic stages. The different timing of these stages within each fold belt indicates differing tectonic histories, although connecting links can be recognised between them from Late Devonian time onward. In general, orogenesis became younger from west to east towards the present continental margin. The most recent folding, confined to the New England Fold Belt, was of Early to mid-Cretaceous age. It is considered that this eastward migration of orogenic activity may reflect progressive continental accretion, although the total amount of accretion since the inception of the Tasman Fold Belt System in Cambrian time is uncertain.The Thomson Fold Belt is largely concealed beneath late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic intracratonic basin sediments. In addition, the age of the more highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks exposed in the northeast is unknown, being either Precambrian or early Palaeozoic. Therefore, the tectonic evolution of this fold belt must remain very speculative. In its early stages (Precambrian or early Palaeozoic), the Thomson Fold Belt was probably a rifted continental margin adjacent to the Early to Middle Proterozoic craton to the west and north. The presence of calc-alkaline volcanics of Late Cambrian Early Ordovician and Early-Middle Devonian age suggests that the fold belt evolved to a convergent Pacific-type continental margin. The tectonic setting of the pre-cratonic (orogenic) stage of the Hodgkinson—Broken River Fold Belt is also uncertain. Most of this fold belt consists of strongly deformed, flysch-type sediments of Silurian-Devonian age. Forearc, back-arc and rifted margin settings have all been proposed for these deposits. The transitional stage of the Hodgkinson—Broken River Fold Belt was characterised by eruption of extensive silicic continental volcanics, mainly ignimbrites, and intrusion of comagmatic granitoids in Late Carboniferous Early Permian time. An Andean-type continental margin model, with calc-alkaline volcanics erupted above a west-dipping subduction zone, has been suggested for this period. The tectonic history of the New England Fold Belt is believed to be relatively well understood. It was the site of extensive and repeated eruption of calc-alkaline volcanics from Late Silurian to Early Cretaceous time. The oldest rocks may have formed in a volcanic island arc. From the Late Devonian, the fold belt was a convergent continental margin above a west-dipping subduction zone. For Late Devonian- Early Carboniferous time, parallel belts representing continental margin volcanic arc, forearc basin, and subduction complex can be recognised.A great variety of mineral deposits, ranging in age from Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician and possibly even Precambrian to Early Cretaceous, is present in the exposed rocks of the Tasman Fold Belt System in Queensland. Volcanogenic massive sulphides and slate belt-type gold-bearing quartz veins are the most important deposits formed in the pre-cratonic (orogenic) stage of all three fold belts. The voicanogenic massive sulphides include classic Kuroko-type orebodies associated with silicic volcanics, such as those at Thalanga (Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician. Thomson Fold Belt) and at Mount Chalmers (Early Permian New England Fold Belt), and Kieslager or Besshi-type deposits related to submarine mafic volcanics, such as Peak Downs (Precambrian or early Palaeozoic, Thomson Fold Belt) and Dianne. OK and Mount Molloy (Silurian—Devonian, Hodgkinson Broken River Fold Belt). The major gold—copper orebody at Mount Morgan (Middle Devonian, New England Fold Belt), is considered to be of volcanic or subvolcanic origin, but is not a typical volcanogenic massive sulphide.The most numerous ore deposits are associated with calc-alkaline volcanics and granitoid intrusives of the transitional tectonic stage of the three fold belts, particularly the Late Carboniferous Early Perman of the Hodgkinson—Broken River Fold Belt and the Late Permian—Middle Triassic of the southeast Queensland part of the New England Fold Belt. In general, these deposits are small but rich. They include tin, tungsten, molybdenum and bismuth in granites and adjacent metasediments, base metals in contact meta somatic skarns, gold in volcanic breccia pipes, gold-bearing quartz veins within granitoid intrusives and in volcanic contact rocks, and low-grade disseminated porphyry-type copper and molybdenum deposits. The porphyry-type deposits occur in distinct belts related to intrusives of different ages: Devonian (Thomson Fold Belt), Late Carboniferous—Early Permian (Hodgkinson—Broken River Fold Belt). Late Permian Middle Triassic (southeast Queensland part of the New England Fold Belt), and Early Cretaceous (northern New England Fold Belt). All are too low grade to be of economic importance at present.Tertiary deep weathering events were responsible for the formation of lateritic nickel deposits on ultramafics and surficial manganese concentrations from disseminated mineralisation in cherts and jaspers.  相似文献   

2.
The eastern part of the Tasman Orogenic Zone (or Fold Belt System) comprises the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen (or Fold Belt) in the north and the New England Orogen (or Fold Belt) in the centre and south. The two orogens are separated by the northern part of the Thomson Orogen.The Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen contains Ordovician to Early Carboniferous sequences of volcaniclastic flysch with subordinate shelf carbonate facies sediments. Two provinces are recognized, the Hodgkinson Province in the north and the Broken River Province in the south. Unlike the New England Orogen where no Precambrian is known, rocks of the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen were deposited immediately east of and in part on, Precambrian crust.The evolution of the New England Orogen spans the time range Silurian to Triassic. The orogen is orientated at an acute angle to the mainly older Thomson and Lachlan Orogens to the west, but the relationships between all three orogens are obscured by the Permian—Triassic Bowen and Sydney Basins and younger Mesozoic cover. Three provinces are recognized, the Yarrol Province in the north, the Gympie Province in the east and the New England Province in the south.Both the Yarrol and New England Provinces are divisible into two zones, western and eastern, that are now separated by major Alpine-type ultramafic belts. The western zones developed at least in part on early Palaeozoic continental crust. They comprise Late Silurian to Early Permian volcanic-arc deposits (both island-arc and terrestrial Andean types) and volcaniclastic sediments laid down on unstable continental shelves. The eastern zones probably developed on oceanic crust and comprise pelagic sediments, thick flysch sequences and ophiolite suite rocks of Silurian (or older?) to Early Permian age. The Gympie Province comprises Permian to Early Triassic volcanics and shallow marine and minor paralic sediments which are now separated from the Yarrol Province by a discontinuous serpentinite belt.In morphotectonic terms, a Pacific-type continental margin with a three-part arrangement of calcalkaline volcanic arc in the west, unstable volcaniclastic continental shelf in the centre and continental slope and oceanic basin in the east, appears to have existed in the New England Orogen and probably in the Hodgkinson—Broken River Orogen as well, through much of mid- to late Palaeozoic time. However, the easternmost part of the New England Orogen, the Gympie Province, does not fit this pattern since it lies east of deepwater flysch deposits of the Yarrol Province.  相似文献   

3.
In the Lachlan Fold Belt of southeastern Australia, major orogenic gold and porphyry gold–copper deposits formed simultaneously within distinct tectonic settings during a very short time interval at ca. 440 Ma. The driving mechanism that controlled the temporal coincidence of these deposits remains largely unexplained. A review of contemporaneous metallogenic, tectonic, magmatic and sedimentological events in central and eastern Australia reveals that a change in subduction dynamics along the Australian sector of the Early Palaeozoic circum–Gondwana mega-subduction system could have influenced lithospheric stress conditions far inboard of the subduction margin. The magnitude of ore formation and the spatial extent of related events are proposed in this paper to have been controlled by the interplay of mantle processes and lithospheric changes that followed slab break-off along a portion of the mega-subduction system surrounding Gondwana at that time. Slab break-off after subduction lock-up caused mantle upwelling that, in turn, provided an instantaneous heat supply for magmatic and hydrothermal events. Coincident reorganisation of lithospheric stress conditions far inboard of the proto-Pacific margin of Australia controlled reactivation of deep-lithospheric fault structures. These fault systems provided a pathway for fluids and heat fuelled by mantle upwelling into the upper lithosphere and caused the deposition of ~440 Ma gold deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt, as well as a range of metallogenic, tectonic and sedimentary changes elsewhere in central and eastern Australia.  相似文献   

4.
We report results of metallogenic, structural, petrological, and fluid-inclusion studies that characterise the nature of gold mineralisation in the Amanda Bel Goldfield, the most significant gold producer in the Palaeozoic Broken River Province of northeastern Queensland, Australia. Gold–antimony–arsenic and gold–arsenic deposits in the Amanda Bel Goldfield occur along distinctive northeastern trends, suggesting a strong structural control for their development during several phases of deformation in the Devonian to Carboniferous. Field evidence, as well as petrographic, scanning electron microscope and fluid-inclusion analysis of mineralised samples, indicate the presence of two main stages of gold genesis. These are distinguished by the coarse grained versus invisible nature of gold particles and their association with particular sulfide phases. A third stage of gold deposition is attributed to introduction of antimony±gold-rich ore fluids. Fluid-inclusion studies record minimum trapping temperatures between 140 and 380°C, and salinities of up to 6.5 wt% NaCl equivalent for the two main gold-forming stages. Our analyses further indicate that mineralising solutions for the earlier of the two main gold-forming stages were slightly more saline, and that the ore-hosting veins formed at higher temperatures. The style of gold mineralisation in the Amanda Bel Goldfield is compatible with orogenic gold deposits that form primarily during compressional and transpressional deformation along convergent plate margins in accretionary and collisional orogens. The increased understanding gained from our studies on the origin and nature of the deposits aids predictive mineral discovery elsewhere in the Broken River Province, and also in analogous terranes throughout the Tasman Fold Belt System of eastern Australia.  相似文献   

5.
New U–Pb zircon ages and Sr–Nd isotopic data for Triassic igneous and metamorphic rocks from northern New Guinea help constrain models of the evolution of Australia's northern and eastern margin. These data provide further evidence for an Early to Late Triassic volcanic arc in northern New Guinea, interpreted to have been part of a continuous magmatic belt along the Gondwana margin, through South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, the New England Fold Belt, New Guinea and into southeast Asia. The Early to Late Triassic volcanic arc in northern New Guinea intrudes high‐grade metamorphic rocks probably resulting from Late Permian to Early Triassic (ca 260–240 Ma) orogenesis, as recorded in the New England Fold Belt. Late Triassic magmatism in New Guinea (ca 220 Ma) is related to coeval extension and rifting as a precursor to Jurassic breakup of the Gondwana margin. In general, mantle‐like Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of mafic Palaeozoic to Tertiary granitoids appear to rule out the presence of a North Australian‐type Proterozoic basement under the New Guinea Mobile Belt. Parts of northern New Guinea may have a continental or transitional basement whereas adjacent areas are underlain by oceanic crust. It is proposed that the post‐breakup margin comprised promontories of extended Proterozoic‐Palaeozoic continental crust separated by embayments of oceanic crust, analogous to Australia's North West Shelf. Inferred movement to the south of an accretionary prism through the Triassic is consistent with subduction to the south‐southwest beneath northeast Australia generating arc‐related magmatism in New Guinea and the New England Fold Belt.  相似文献   

6.
The northwestern corner of New South Wales consists of the paratectonic Late Proterozoic to Early Cambrian Adelaide Fold Belt and older rocks, which represent basement inliers in this fold belt. The rest of the state is built by the composite Late Proterozoic to Triassic Tasman Fold Belt System or Tasmanides.In New South Wales the Tasman Fold Belt System includes three fold belts: (1) the Late Proterozoic to Early Palaeozoic Kanmantoo Fold Belt; (2) the Early to Middle Palaeozoic Lachlan Fold Belt; and (3) the Early Palaeozoic to Triassic New England Fold Belt. The Late Palaeozoic to Triassic Sydney—Bowen Basin represents the foredeep of the New England Fold Belt.The Tasmanides developed in an active plate margin setting through the interaction of East Gondwanaland with the Ur-(Precambrian) and Palaeo-Pacific plates. The Tasmanides are characterized by a polyphase terrane accretion history: during the Late Proterozoic to Triassic the Tasmanides experienced three major episodes of terrane dispersal (Late Proterozoic—Cambrian, Silurian—Devonian, and Late Carboniferous—Permian) and six terrane accretionary events (Cambrian—Ordovician, Late Ordovician—Early Silurian, Middle Devonian, Carboniferous, Middle-Late Permian, and Triassic). The individual fold belts resulted from one or more accretionary events.The Kanmantoo Fold Belt has a very restricted range of mineralization and is characterized by stratabound copper deposits, whereas the Lachlan and New England Fold Belts have a great variety of metallogenic environments associated with both accretionary and dispersive tectonic episodes.The earliest deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt are stratabound Cu and Mn deposits of Cambro-Ordovician age. In the Ordovician Cu deposits were formed in a volcanic are. In the Silurian porphyry Cu---Au deposits were formed during the late stages of development of the same volcanic are. Post-accretionary porphyry Cu---Au deposits were emplaced in the Early Devonian on the sites of the accreted volcanic arc. In the Middle to Late Silurian and Early Devonian a large number of base metal deposits originated as a result of rifting and felsic volcanism. In the Silurian and Early Devonian numerous Sn---W, Mo and base metal—Au granitoid related deposits were formed. A younger group of Mo---W and Sn deposits resulted from Early—Middle Carboniferous granitic plutonism in the eastern part of the Lachlan Fold Belt. In the Middle Devonian epithermal Au was associated with rifting and bimodal volcanism in the extreme eastern part of the Lachlan Fold Belt.In the New England Fold Belt pre-accretionary deposits comprise stratabound Cu and Mn deposits (pre-Early Devonian): stratabound Cu and Mn and ?exhalite Au deposits (Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous); and stratabound Cu, exhalite Au, and quartz—magnetite (?Late Carboniferous). S-type magmatism in the Late Carboniferous—Early Permian was responsible for vein Sn and possibly Au---As---Ag---Sb deposits. Volcanogenic base metals, when compared with the Lachlan Fold Belt, are only poorly represented, and were formed in the Early Permian. The metallogenesis of the New England Fold Belt is dominated by granitoid-related mineralization of Middle Permian to Triassic age, including Sn---W, Mo---W, and Au---Ag---As Sb deposits. Also in the Middle Permian epithermal Au---Ag mineralization was developed. During the above period of post-orogenic magmatism sizeable metahydrothermal Sb---Au(---W) and Au deposits were emplaced in major fracture and shear zones in central and eastern New England. The occurrence of antimony provides an additional distinguishing factor between the New England and Lachlan Fold Belts. In the New England Fold Belt antimony deposits are abundant whereas they are rare in the Lachlan Fold Belt. This may suggest fundamental crustal differences.  相似文献   

7.
40Ar/39Ar age data from the boundary between the Delamerian and Lachlan Fold Belts identify the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex as a Cambrian metamorphic belt in the western Stawell Zone of the Palaeozoic Tasmanide System of southeastern Australia. A reworked orogenic zone exists between the Lachlan and Delamerian Fold Belts that contains the eastern section of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt and the western limit of orogenesis associated with the formation of an Ordovician to Silurian accretionary wedge (Lachlan Fold Belt). Delamerian thrusting is craton-verging and occurred at the same time as the final consolidation of Gondwana. 40Ar/39Ar age data indicate rapid cooling of the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex at about 500 Ma at a rate of 20 – 30°C per million years, temporally associated with calc-alkaline volcanism followed by clastic sedimentation. Extension in the overriding plate of a subduction zone is interpreted to have exhumed the metamorphic rocks within the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex. The Delamerian system varies from a high geothermal gradient with syntectonic plutonism in the west to lower geothermal gradients in the east (no syntectonic plutonism). This metamorphic zonation is consistent with a west-dipping subduction zone. Contrary to some previous models involving a reversal in subduction polarity, the Ross and Delamerian systems of Antarctica and Australia are inferred to reflect deformation processes associated with a Cambrian subduction zone that dipped towards the Gondwana supercontinent. Western Lachlan Fold Belt orogenesis occurred about 40 million years after the Delamerian Orogeny and deformed older, colder, and denser oceanic crust, with metamorphism indicative of a low geothermal gradient. This orogenesis closed a marginal ocean basin by west-directed underthrusting of oceanic crust that produced an accretionary wedge with west-dipping faults that verge away from the major craton. The western Lachlan Fold Belt was not associated with arc-related volcanism and plutonism occurred 40 – 60 million years after initial deformation. The revised orogenic boundaries have implications for the location of world-class 440 Ma orogenic gold deposits. The structural complexity of the 440 Ma Stawell gold deposit reflects its location in a reworked part of the Cambrian Delamerian Fold Belt, while the structurally simpler 440 Ma Bendigo deposit is hosted by younger Ordovician turbidites solely deformed by Lachlan orogenesis.  相似文献   

8.
Contention surrounds the Ediacaran–Cambrian geodynamic evolution of the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana as it underwent a transition from passive to active margin tectonics. In Australia, disagreement stems from conflicting geodynamic models for the Delamerian Orogen, which differ in the polarity of subduction and the state of the subduction hinge (i.e., stationary or retreating). This study tests competing models of the Delamerian Orogen through reconstructing Ediacaran–Cambrian basin evolution in the Koonenberry Belt, Australia. This was done through characterising the mineral and U–Pb detrital zircon age provenance of sediments deposited during postulated passive and active margin stages. Based on these data, we present a new basin evolution model for the Koonenberry Belt, which also impacts palaeogeographic models of Australia and East Gondwana. Our basin evolution and palaeogeographic model is composed of four main stages, namely: (i) Ediacaran passive margin stage with sediments derived from the Musgrave Province; (ii) Middle Cambrian (517–500 Ma) convergent margin stage with sediments derived from collisional orogens in central Gondwana (i.e., the Maud Belt of East Antarctica) and deposited in a backarc setting; (iii) crustal shortening during the c. 500 Ma Delamerian Orogeny, and; (iv) Middle to Late Cambrian–Ordovician stage with sediments sourced from the local basement and 520–490 Ma igneous rocks and deposited into post-orogenic pull-apart basins. Based on this new basin evolution model we propose a new geodynamic model for the Cambrian evolution of the Koonenberry Belt where: (i) the initiation of a west-dipping subduction zone at c. 517 Ma was associated with incipient calc-alkaline magmatism (Mount Wright Volcanics) and deposition of the Teltawongee and Ponto groups; (ii) immediate east-directed retreat of the subduction zone positioned the Koonenberry Belt in a backarc basin setting (517 to 500 Ma), which became a depocentre for continued deposition of the Teltawongee and Ponto groups; (iii) inversion of the backarc basin during the c. 500 Delamerian Orogeny was driven by increased upper and low plate coupling caused by the arrival of a lower plate asperity to the subduction hinge, and; (iv) subduction of the asperity resulted in renewed rollback and upper plate extension, leading to the development of small, post-orogenic pull-apart basins that received locally derived detritus.  相似文献   

9.
The Nan Suture and the Sukhothai Fold Belt reflect the processes associated with the collision between the Shan-Thai and Indochina Terranes in southeast Asia. The Shan-Thai Terrane rifted from Gondwana in the Early Permian. As it drifted north a subduction complex developed along its northern margin. The Nan serpentinitic melange is a thrust slice within the Pha Som Metamorphic Complex and in total this unit is a Late Permian accretionary complex containing offscraped blocks from subducted oceanic crust of Carboniferous and Permian age. The deformational style within the Pha Som Metamorphic Complex supports a west-dipping subduction zone. The Late Permian to Late Triassic fore-arc basin sediments are preserved in the Sukhothai Fold Belt and include a near continuous sedimentary record, at least locally. The whole sequence was folded and complexly thrust in the Late Triassic as a result of the collision. Late syn- to post-kinematic granites place an upper limit of 200 Ma on the time of collision. Post-orogenic sediments prograded across the suture in the Jurassic.  相似文献   

10.
If reconstruction of major events in ancient orogenic belts is achieved in sufficient detail, the tectonic evolution of these belts can offer valuable information to widen our perspective of processes currently at work in modern orogens. Here, we illustrate this possibility taking the western European Cadomian–Avalonian belt as an example. This research is based mainly on the study and interpretation of U–Pb ages of more than 300 detrital zircons from Neoproterozoic and Early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks from Iberia and Brittany. Analyses have been performed using the laser ablation–ICP–MS technique. The U–Pb data record contrasting detrital zircon age spectra for various terranes of western Europe. The differences provide information on the processes involved in the genesis of the western European Precambrian terranes along the northern margin of Neoproterozoic Gondwana during arc construction and subduction, and their dispersal and re-amalgamation along the margin to form the Avalonia and Armorica microcontinents. The U–Pb ages reported here also support the alleged change from subduction to transform activity that led to the final break-up of the margin, the birth of the Rheic Ocean and the drift of Avalonia. We contend that the active northern margin of Gondwana evolved through several stages that match the different types of active margins recognised in modern settings.  相似文献   

11.
Critical assessment of Paleozoic paleomagnetic results from Australia shows that paleopoles from locations on the main craton and in the various terranes of the Tasman Fold Belt of eastern Australia follow the same path since 400 Ma for the Lachlan and Thomson superterranes, but not until 250 Ma or younger for the New England superterrane. Most of the paleopoles from the Tasman Fold Belt are derived from the Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane of the Thomson superterrane and the Molong-Monaro terrane of the Lachlan superterrane. Consideration of the paleomagnetic data and geological constraints suggests that these terranes were amalgamated with cratonic Australia by the late Early Devonian. The Lolworth-Ravenswood terrane is interpreted to have undergone a 90° clockwise rotation between 425 and 380 Ma. Although the Tamworth terrane of the western New England superterrane is thought to have amalgamated with the Lachlan superterrane by the Late Carboniferous, geological syntheses suggest that movements between these regions may have persisted until the Middle Triassic. This view is supported by the available paleomagnetic data. With these constraints, an apparent polar wander path for Gondwana during the Paleozoic has been constructed after review of the Gondwana paleomagnetic data. The drift history of Gondwana with respect to Laurentia and Baltica during the Paleozoic is shown in a series of paleogeographic maps.  相似文献   

12.
The stratigraphy, structure and tectonics of Australia's Phanerozoic sedimentary basins are described briefly in terms of three settings: younger internal basins, older internal basins and peripheral basins.The younger internal basins developed successively following part by part cratonization of the Palaeozoic Tasman Fold Belt System. Most of the older internal basins probably had late Proterozoic beginnings and all have Precambrian cratonic basements. The peripheral basins occur around the present continental margins and in New Guinea; the oldest of them may be Devonian.The peripheral basins are the simplest to explain in terms of plate tectonics: some can be related to Australia breaking away from Gondwanaland, others to plate convergence in the east and in New Guinea. An attempt is made to fit the internal basins into a platetectonic geological history.  相似文献   

13.
The Arthur River Complex is a suite of gabbroic to dioritic orthogneisses in northern Fiordland, New Zealand. The Arthur River Complex separates rocks of the Median Tectonic Zone, a Mesozoic island arc complex, from Palaeozoic rocks of the palaeo‐Pacific Gondwana margin, and is itself intruded by the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss. New SHRIMP U/Pb single zircon data are presented for magmatic, metamorphic and deformation events in the Arthur River Complex and adjacent rocks from northern Fiordland. The Arthur River Complex orthogneisses and dykes are dominated by magmatic zircon dated at 136–129 Ma. A dioritic orthogneiss that occurs along the eastern margin of the Complex is dated at 154.4 ± 3.6 Ma and predates adjacent plutons of the Median Tectonic Zone. Rims on zircon cores from this sample record a thermal event at c. 120 Ma, attributed to the emplacement of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss. Migmatitic Palaeozoic orthogneiss from the Arthur River Complex (346 ± 6 Ma) is interpreted as deformed wall rock. Very fine rims (5–20 µm) also indicate a metamorphic age of c. 120–110 Ma. A post‐tectonic pegmatite (81.8 ± 1.8 Ma) may be related to phases of crustal extension associated with the opening of the Tasman Sea. The Arthur River Complex is interpreted as a batholith, emplaced at mid‐crustal levels and then buried to deep crustal levels due to convergence of the Median Tectonic Zone arc and the continental margin.  相似文献   

14.
Neoproterozoic tectonics is dominated by the amalgamation of the supercontinent Rodinia at ca. 1.0 Ga, its breakup at ca. 0.75 Ga, and the collision between East and West Gondwana between 0.6 and 0.5 Ga. The principal stages in this evolution are recorded by terranes along the northern margin of West Gondwana (Amazonia and West Africa), which continuously faced open oceans during the Neoproterozoic. Two types of these so-called peri-Gondwanan terranes were distributed along this margin in the late Neoproterozoic: (1) Avalonian-type terranes (e.g. West Avalonia, East Avalonia, Carolina, Moravia-Silesia, Oaxaquia, Chortis block that originated from ca. 1.3 to 1.0 Ga juvenile crust within the Panthalassa-type ocean surrounding Rodinia and were accreted to the northern Gondwanan margin by 650 Ma, and (2) Cadomian-type terranes (North Armorica, Saxo-Thuringia, Moldanubia, and fringing terranes South Armorica, Ossa Morena and Tepla-Barrandian) formed along the West African margin by recycling ancient (2–3 Ga) West African crust. Subsequently detached from Gondwana, these terranes are now located within the Appalachian, Caledonide and Variscan orogens of North America and western Europe. Inferred relationships between these peri-Gondwanan terranes and the northern Gondwanan margin can be compared with paleomagnetically constrained movements interpreted for the Amazonian and West African cratons for the interval ca. 800–500 Ma. Since Amazonia is paleomagnetically unconstrained during this interval, in most tectonic syntheses its location is inferred from an interpreted connection with Laurentia. Hence, such an analysis has implications for Laurentia-Gondwana connections and for high latitude versus low latitude models for Laurentia in the interval ca. 615–570 Ma. In the high latitude model, Laurentia-Amazonia would have drifted rapidly south during this interval, and subduction along its leading edge would provide a geodynamic explanation for the voluminous magmatism evident in Neoproterozoic terranes, in a manner analogous to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic westward drift of North America and South America and subduction-related magmatism along the eastern margin of the Pacific ocean. On the other hand, if Laurentia-Amazonia remained at low latitudes during this interval, the most likely explanation for late Neoproterozoic peri-Gondwanan magmatism is the re-establishment of subduction zones following terrane accretion at ca. 650 Ma. Available paleomagnetic data for both West and East Avalonia show systematically lower paleolatitudes than predicted by these analyses, implying that more paleomagnetic data are required to document the movement histories of Laurentia, West Gondwana and the peri-Gondwanan terranes, and test the connections between them.  相似文献   

15.
The Neoproterozoic-Early Cambrian evolution of peri-Gondwanan terranes (e.g. Avalonia, Carolinia, Cadomia) along the northern (Amazonia, West Africa) margin of Gondwana provides insights into the amalgamation of West Gondwana. The main phase of tectonothermal activity occurred between ca. 640–540 Ma and produced voluminous arc-related igneous and sedimentary successions related to subduction beneath the northern Gondwana margin. Subduction was not terminated by continental collision so that these terranes continued to face an open ocean into the Cambrian. Prior to the main phase of tectonothermal activity, Sm-Nd isotopic studies suggest that the basement of Avalonia, Carolinia and part of Cadomia was juvenile lithosphere generated between 0.8 and 1.1 Ga within the peri-Rodinian (Mirovoi) ocean. Vestiges of primitive 760–670 Ma arcs developed upon this lithosphere are preserved. Juvenile lithosphere generated between 0.8 and 1.1 Ga also underlies arcs formed in the Brazilide Ocean between the converging Congo/São Francisco and West Africa/Amazonia cratons (e.g. the Tocantins province of Brazil). Together, these juvenile arc assemblages with similar isotopic characteristics may reflect subduction in the Mirovoi and Brazilide oceans as a compensation for the ongoing breakup of Rodinia and the generation of the Paleopacific. Unlike the peri-Gondwanan terranes, however, arc magmatism in the Brazilide Ocean was terminated by continent-continent collisions and the resulting orogens became located within the interior of an amalgamated West Gondwana. Accretion of juvenile peri-Gondwanan terranes to the northern Gondwanan margin occurred in a piecemeal fashion between 650 and 600 Ma, after which subduction stepped outboard to produce the relatively mature and voluminous main arc phase along the periphery of West Gondwana. This accretionary event may be a far-field response to the breakup of Rodinia. The geodynamic relationship between the closure of the Brazilide Ocean, the collision between the Congo/São Francisco and Amazonia/West Africa cratons, and the tectonic evolution of the peri-Gondwanan terranes may be broadly analogous to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic closure of the Tethys Ocean, the collision between India and Asia beginning at ca. 50 Ma, and the tectonic evolution of the western Pacific Ocean.  相似文献   

16.
New data on the stratigraphy, structure, isotopic age, geochemistry, and geodynamic characteristics of the lithotectonic complexes of the Baikal-Vitim Fold System are reported. In particular, it is shown that Middle and Upper Paleozoic rocks are widespread along with Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic sequences. The Baikal-Vitim Fold System is characterized by cyclic evolution and comprises four structural stages: Baikalian (Riphean-Vendian), Caledonian (Cambrian-Early Silurian), Variscan (Late Silurian-Early Carboniferous), and Hercynian (Middle Carboniferous-Permian). A specific set of lithotectonic complexes formed in certain geodynamic settings corresponds to each stage. According to the proposed model, the Variscan and Hercynian complexes developed under conditions of progressively changing geodynamic settings of passive (Late Silurian-Middle Devonian), Andean-type active (Middle Devonian-Early Carboniferous), and Californian-type (Middle Carboniferous-Permian) continental margins. The Middle and Late Paleozoic evolution of the Baikal-Vitim Fold System is correlated with that of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Belt (Aga paleooceanic basin).  相似文献   

17.
Modern Tethyan, Mediterranean, and Pacific analogues are considered for several Appalachian, Caledonian, and Variscan terranes (Carolina, West and East Avalonia, Oaxaquia, Chortis, Maya, Suwannee, and Cadomia) that originated along the northern margin of Neoproterozoic Gondwana. These terranes record a protracted geological history that includes: (1) 1 Ga (Carolina, Avalonia, Oaxaquia, Chortis, and Suwannee) or 2 Ga (Cadomia) basement; (2) 750–600 Ma arc magmatism that diachronously switched to rift magmatism between 590 and 540 Ma, accompanied by development of rift basins and core complexes, in the absence of collisional orogenesis; (3) latest Neoproterozoic–Cambrian separation of Avalonia and Carolina from Gondwana leading to faunal endemism and the development of bordering passive margins; (4) Ordovician transport of Avalonia and Carolina across Iapetus terminating in Late Ordovician–Early Silurian accretion to the eastern Laurentian margin followed by dispersion along this margin; (5) Siluro-Devonian transfer of Cadomia across the Rheic Ocean; and (6) Permo-Carboniferous transfer of Oaxaquia, Chortis, Maya, and Suwannee during the amalgamation of Pangea. Three potential models are provided by more recent tectonic analogues: (1) an “accordion” model based on the orthogonal opening and closing of Alpine Tethys and the Mediterranean; (2) a “bulldozer” model based on forward-modelling of Australia during which oceanic plateaus are dispersed along the Australian plate margin; and (3) a “Baja” model based on the Pacific margin of North America where the diachronous replacement of subduction by transform faulting as a result of ridge–trench collision has been followed by rifting and the transfer of Baja California to the Pacific Plate. Future transport and accretion along the western Laurentian margin may mimic that of Baja British Columbia. Present geological data for Avalonia and Carolina favour a transition from a “Baja” model to a “bulldozer” model. By analogy with the eastern Pacific, we name the oceanic plates off northern Gondwana: Merlin (≡Farallon), Morgana (≡Pacific), and Mordred (≡Kula). If Neoproterozoic subduction was towards Gondwana, application of this combined model requires a total rotation of East Avalonia and Carolina through 180° either during separation (using a western Transverse Ranges model), during accretion (using a Baja British Columbia “train wreck” model), or during dispersion (using an Australia “bulldozer” model). On the other hand, Siluro-Devonian orthogonal transfer (“accordion” model) from northern Africa to southern Laurussia followed by a Carboniferous “Baja” model appears to best fit the existing data for Cadomia. Finally, Oaxaquia, Chortis, Maya, and Suwannee appear to have been transported along the margin of Gondwana until it collided with southern Laurentia on whose margin they were stranded following the breakup of Pangea. Forward modeling of a closing Mediterranean followed by breakup on the African margin may provide a modern analogue. These actualistic models differ in their dictates on the initial distribution of the peri-Gondwanan terranes and can be tested by comparing features of the modern analogues with their ancient tectonic counterparts.  相似文献   

18.
Ordovician quartz turbidites of the Lachlan Fold Belt in southeastern Australia accumulated in a marginal sea and overlapped an adjoining island arc (Molong volcanic province) developed adjacent to eastern Gondwana. The turbidite succession in the Shoalhaven River Gorge, in the southern highlands of New South Wales, has abundant outcrop and graptolite sites. The succession consists of, from the base up, a unit of mainly thick‐bedded turbidites (undifferentiated Adaminaby Group), a unit with conspicuous bedded chert (Numeralla Chert), a unit with common thin‐bedded turbidites (Bumballa Formation (new name)) and a unit of black shale (Warbisco Shale). Coarse to very coarse sandstone in the Bumballa Formation is rich in quartz and similar to sandstone in the undifferentiated Adaminaby Group. Detrital zircons from sandstone in the Bumballa Formation, and from sandstone at a similar stratigraphic level from the upper Adaminaby Group of the Genoa River area in eastern Victoria, include grains as young as 453–473 Ma, slightly older than the stratigraphic ages.The dominant detrital ages are in the interval 500–700 Ma (Pacific Gondwana component) with a lessor concentration of Grenville ages (1000–1300 Ma). This pattern resembles other Ordovician sandstones from the Lachlan Fold Belt and also occurs in Triassic sandstones and Quaternary sands from eastern Australia. The Upper Ordovician succession is predominantly fine grained, which reflects reduced clastic inputs from the source in the Middle Cambrian to earliest Ordovician Ross‐Delamerian Fold Belts that developed along the eastern active margin of Gondwana. Development of subduction zones in the Late Ordovician marginal sea are considered to be mainly responsible for the diversion of sediment and the resulting reduction in the supply of terrigenous sand to the island arc and eastern part of the marginal sea.  相似文献   

19.
During Late Palaeozoic time a wide ocean, known as Palaeotethys, separated the future Eurasian and African continents. This ocean closed in Europe in the west during the Variscan orogeny, whereas in Asia further east it remained open and evolved into the Mesozoic Tethys, only finally closing during Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic.Three Upper Palaeozoic lithological assemblages, the Chios Melange (on the Aegean Greek island), the Karaburun Melange (westernmost Aegean Turkey) and the Teke Dere Unit (Lycian Nappes, SW Turkey) provide critical information concerning sedimentary and tectonic processes during closure of Palaeotethys. The Chios and Karaburun melanges in the west are mainly terrigenous turbidites with blocks and dismembered sheets of Silurian–Upper Carboniferous platform carbonate rocks (shallow-water and slope facies) and poorly dated volcanic rocks. The Teke Dere Unit to the southeast begins with alkaline, within-plate-type volcanics, depositionally overlain by Upper Carboniferous shallow-water carbonates. This intact succession is overlain by a tectonic slice complex comprising sandstone turbidites that are intersliced with shallow-water, slope and deep-sea sediments (locally dated as Early Carboniferous). Sandstone petrography and published detrital mineral dating imply derivation from units affected by the Panafrican (Cadomian) and Variscan orogenies.All three units are interpreted as parts of subduction complexes in which pervasive shear zones separate component parts. Silurian–Lower Carboniferous black cherts (lydites) and slope carbonates accreted in a subduction trench where sandstone turbidites accumulated. Some blocks retain primary depositional contacts, showing that gravitational processes contributed to formation of the melange. Detached blocks of Upper Palaeozoic shallow-water carbonates (e.g. Chios) are commonly mantled by conglomerates, which include water-worn clasts of black chert. The carbonate blocks are restored as one, or several, carbonate platforms that collided with an active margin, fragmenting into elongate blocks that slid into a subduction trench. This material was tectonically accreted at shallow levels within a subduction complex, resulting in layer-parallel extension, shearing and slicing. The accretion mainly took place during Late Carboniferous time.Alternative sedimentary-tectonic models are considered in which the timing and extent of closure of Palaeotethys differ, and in which subduction was either northwards towards Eurasia, or southwards towards Gondwana (or both). Terrane displacement is also an option. A similar (but metamorphosed) accretionary unit, the Konya Complex, occurs hundreds of kilometres further east. All of these units appear to have been assembled along the northern margin of Gondwana by Permian time, followed by deposition of overlying Tauride-type carbonate platforms. Northward subduction of Palaeotethys beneath Eurasia is commonly proposed. However, the accretionary units studied here are more easily explained by southward subduction towards Gondwana. Palaeotethys was possibly consumed by long-lived (Late Palaeozoic) northward subduction beneath Eurasia, coupled with more short-lived (Late Carboniferous) southward subduction near Gondwana, during or soon after closure of Palaeotethys in the Balkan region to the west.  相似文献   

20.
Increasing evidence of Permian volcanic activity along the South American portion of the Gondwana proto-Pacific margin has directed attention to its potential presence in the stratigraphic record of adjacent basins. In recent years, tuffaceous horizons have been identified in late Early Permian–through Middle Permian (280–260 Ma) sections of the Paraná Basin (Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Farther south and closer to the magmatic tract developed along the continental margin, in the San Rafael and Sauce Grande basins of Argentina, tuffs are present in the Early to Middle Permian section. This tuff-rich interval can be correlated with the appearance of widespread tuffs in the Karoo Basin. Although magmatic activity along the proto-Pacific plate margin was continuous during the Late Paleozoic, Choiyoi silicic volcanism along the Andean Cordillera and its equivalent in Patagonia peaked between the late Early Permian and Middle Permian, when extensive rhyolitic ignimbrites and consanguineous airborne tuffaceous material erupted in the northern Patagonian region. The San Rafael orogenic phase (SROP) interrupted sedimentation along the southwestern segment of the Gondwana margin (i.e., Frontal Cordillera, San Rafael Basin), induced cratonward thrusting (i.e., Ventana and Cape foldbelts), and triggered accelerated subsidence in the adjacent basins (Sauce Grande and Karoo) located inboard of the deformation front. This accelerated subsidence favored the preservation of tuffaceous horizons in the syntectonic successions. The age constraints and similarities in composition between the volcanics along the continental margin and the tuffaceous horizons in the San Rafael, Sauce Grande, Paraná, and Karoo basins strongly suggest a genetic linkage between the two episodes. Radiometric ages from tuffs in the San Rafael, Paraná, and Karoo basins indicate an intensely tuffaceous interval between 280 and 260 Ma.  相似文献   

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