The Middle Jurassic Kirkpatrick flood basalts and comagmatic Ferrar intrusions in the Transantarctic Mountains represent
a major pulse of tholeiitic magmatism related to early stages in the breakup of Gondwana. A record of the volcano-tectonic
events leading to formation of this continental flood-basalt province is provided by strata underlying and only slightly predating
the Kirkpatrick lavas. In the central Transantarctic Mountains, the lavas rest on widespread (≥7500 km2) tholeiitic pyroclastic deposits of the Prebble Formation. The Prebble Formation is dominated by lahar deposits and is an
unusual example of a regionally developed basaltic lahar field. Related, partly fault-controlled pyroclastic intrusions cut
underlying strata, and vents are represented by the preserved flanks of two small tephra cones associated with a volcanic
neck. Lahar and air-fall deposits typically contain 50–60% accidental lithic fragments and sand grains derived from underlying
Triassic – Lower Jurassic strata in the upper part of the Beacon Supergroup. Juvenile basaltic ash and fine lapilli consist
of nonvesicular to scoriaceous tachylite, sideromelane, and palagonite, and have characteristics indicating derivation from
hydrovolcanic eruptions. The abundance of accidental debris from underlying Beacon strata points to explosive phreatomagmatic
interaction of basaltic magma with wet sediment and groundwater, which appears to have occurred in particular where rising
magma intersected upper Beacon sand aquifers. Composite clasts in the lahar deposits exhibit complex peperitic textures formed
during fine-scale intermixing of basaltic magma with wet sand and record steps in subsurface fuel-coolant interactions leading
to explosive eruption.
The widespread, sustained phreatomagmatic activity is inferred to have occurred in a groundwater-rich topographic basin linked
to an evolving Jurassic rift zone in the Transantarctic Mountains. Coeval basaltic phreatomagmatic deposits of the Mawson
and Exposure Hill Formations, which underlie exposures of the Kirkpatrick Basalt up to 1500 km to the north along strike in
Victoria Land, appear to represent other parts of a regional, extension-related Middle Jurassic phreatomagmatic province which
developed immediately prior to rapid outpouring of the flood basalts. This is consistent with models which assign an important
role to lithospheric stretching in the generation of flood-basalt provinces.
Received: 28 August 1995 / Accepted: 18 April 1996 相似文献
The regionally extensive, coarse-grained Bakhtiyari Formation represents the youngest synorogenic fill in the Zagros foreland basin of Iran. The Bakhtiyari is present throughout the Zagros fold-thrust belt and consists of conglomerate with subordinate sandstone and marl. The formation is up to 3000 m thick and was deposited in foredeep and wedge-top depocenters flanked by fold-thrust structures. Although the Bakhtiyari concordantly overlies Miocene deposits in foreland regions, an angular unconformity above tilted Paleozoic to Miocene rocks is expressed in the hinterland (High Zagros).
The Bakhtiyari Formation has been widely considered to be a regional sheet of Pliocene–Pleistocene conglomerate deposited during and after major late Miocene–Pliocene shortening. It is further believed that rapid fold growth and Bakhtiyari deposition commenced simultaneously across the fold-thrust belt, with limited migration from hinterland (NE) to foreland (SW). Thus, the Bakhtiyari is generally interpreted as an unmistakable time indicator for shortening and surface uplift across the Zagros. However, new structural and stratigraphic data show that the most-proximal Bakhtiyari exposures, in the High Zagros south of Shahr-kord, were deposited during the early Miocene and probably Oligocene. In this locality, a coarse-grained Bakhtiyari succession several hundred meters thick contains gray marl, limestone, and sandstone with diagnostic marine pelecypod, gastropod, coral, and coralline algae fossils. Foraminiferal and palynological species indicate deposition during early Miocene time. However, the lower Miocene marine interval lies in angular unconformity above ~ 150 m of Bakhtiyari conglomerate that, in turn, unconformably caps an Oligocene marine sequence. These relationships attest to syndepositional deformation and suggest that the oldest Bakhtiyari conglomerate could be Oligocene in age.
The new age information constrains the timing of initial foreland-basin development and proximal Bakhtiyari deposition in the Zagros hinterland. These findings reveal that structural evolution of the High Zagros was underway by early Miocene and probably Oligocene time, earlier than commonly envisioned. The age of the Bakhtiyari Formation in the High Zagros contrasts significantly with the Pliocene–Quaternary Bakhtiyari deposits near the modern deformation front, suggesting a long-term (> 20 Myr) advance of deformation toward the foreland. 相似文献
Ion-microprobe U–Pb analyses of 589 detrital zircon grains from 14 sandstones of the Alborz mountains, Zagros mountains, and central Iranian plateau provide an initial framework for understanding the Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic provenance history of Iran. The results place improved chronological constraints on the age of earliest sediment accumulation during Neoproterozoic–Cambrian time, the timing of the Mesozoic Iran–Eurasia collision and Cenozoic Arabia–Eurasia collision, and the contribution of various sediment sources of Gondwanan and Eurasian affinity during opening and closure of the Paleotethys and Neotethys oceans. The zircon age populations suggest that deposition of the extensive ~ 1 km-thick clastic sequence at the base of the cover succession commenced in latest Neoproterozoic and terminated by Middle Cambrian time. Comparison of the geochronological data with detrital zircon ages for northern Gondwana reveals that sediment principally derived from the East African orogen covered a vast region encompassing northern Africa and the Middle East. Although most previous studies propose a simple passive-margin setting for Paleozoic Iran, detrital zircon age spectra indicate Late Devonian–Early Permian and Cambrian–Ordovician magmatism. These data suggest that Iran was affiliated with Eurasian magmatic arcs or that rift-related magmatic activity during opening of Paleotethys and Neotethys was more pronounced than thought along the northern Gondwanan passive-margin. For a Triassic–Jurassic clastic overlap assemblage (Shemshak Formation) in the Alborz mountains, U–Pb zircon ages provide chronostratigraphic age control requiring collision of Iran with Eurasia by late Carnian–early Norian time (220–210 Ma). Finally, Cenozoic strata yield abundant zircons of Eocene age, consistent with derivation from arc magmatic rocks related to late-stage subduction and/or breakoff of the Neotethys slab. Together with the timing of foreland basin sedimentation in the Zagros, these detrital zircon ages help bracket the onset of the Arabia–Eurasia collision in Iran between middle Eocene and late Oligocene time. 相似文献
The Hong’an area (western Dabie Mountains) is the westernmost terrane in the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu orogen that preserves UHP
eclogites. The ages of the UHP metamorphism have not been well constrained, and thus hinder our understanding of the tectonic
evolution of this area. LA-ICPMS U–Pb age, trace element and Hf isotope compositions of zircons of a granitic gneiss and an
eclogite from the Xinxian UHP unit in the Hong’an area were analyzed to constrain the age of the UHP metamorphism. Most zircons
are unzoned or show sector zoning. They have low trace element concentrations, without significant negative Eu anomalies.
These metamorphic zircons can be further subdivided into two groups according to their U–Pb ages, and trace element and Lu–Hf
isotope compositions. One group with an average age of 239 ± 2 Ma show relatively high and variable HREE contents (527 ≥ LuN ≥ 14) and 176Lu/177Hf ratios (0.00008–0.000931), indicating their growth prior to a great deal of garnet growth in the late stage of continental
subduction. The other group yields an average age of 227 ± 2 Ma, and shows consistent low HREE contents and 176Lu/177Hf ratios, suggesting their growth with concurrent garnet crystallization and/or recrystallization. These two groups of age
are taken as recording the time of prograde HP to UHP and retrograde UHP–HP stages, respectively. A few cores have high Th/U
ratios, high trace element contents, and a clear negative Eu anomaly. These features support a magmatic origin of these zircon
cores. The upper intercept ages of 771 ± 86 and 752 ± 70 Ma for the granitic gneiss and eclogite, respectively, indicate that
their protoliths probably formed as a bimodal suite in rifting zones in the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. Young Hf
model ages (TDM1) of magmatic cores indicate juvenile (mantle-derived) materials were involved in their protolith formation.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
Water management and engineering in the karstic High Atlas of Morocco are difficult tasks under the prevailing geological, hydrogeological, geomorphological, vegetational and climatic conditions. It is important to be able to understand and predict the characteristics and availability of water for future water planning in the region under changing climatic and agricultural conditions. An interdisciplinary analysis of problems and adequate hydrological modelling tools developed by geologists, hydrologists and biologists are necessary. The karst areas of the High Atlas Mountains are characterised by impermeable triassic basalt underlying substantial subsurface reservoirs with high potential discharge rates. The karst groundwater aquifers are extensive but largely unknown in dimension, probably with a hierarchical network of groundwater flow paths. It is estimated that approximately 70% of the surface water is directly lost to groundwater. Steep landslide- and debris flow prone slopes exist next to coarse-grained, highly porous river beds. Infrequent, high intensity rainfall or snowmelt causes a particularly high flood risk to these karst areas. In addition, agriculture and land use changes have degraded the karst areas. The most important driving forces for degradation include permanent overgrazing even during droughts and the use of firewood by a continually growing population. Large scale degradation of vegetation has occurred in the oro-mediterranean (mountainous Mediterranean) zone, between 2600 and 3400 m which coincides with the most important zone for karstic groundwater creation. The combination of high amounts of groundwater flow and rapid surface flow due to sparse vegetation has increased the problems of flood flow. 相似文献