Thermal evolution of the Tertiary Shimanto Belt, Muroto Peninsula, Shikoku, Japan |
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| Authors: | Michael B Underwood Matthew M Laughland Tim Byrne J P Hibbard Lee DiTullio |
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| Institution: | Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA;Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06268, USA;MEAS, Box 8208, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;Department of Geology, Kochi University, Kochi 780 japan |
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| Abstract: | Abstract The Shimanto accretionary complex on the Muroto Peninsula of Shikoku comprises two major units of Tertiary strata: the Murotohanto Sub-belt (Eocene-Oligocene) and the Nabae Sub-belt (Oligocene-Miocene). Both sub-belts have been affected by thermal overprints following the peak of accretion-related deformation. Palaeotemperatures for the entire Tertiary section range from ～ 140 to 315°C, based upon mean vitrinite reflectance values of 0.9–5.0%Rm. Values of illite crystallinity index are consistent with conditions of advanced diagenesis and anchimetamorphism. Illite/mica b0 lattice dimensions indicate that burial pressures were probably no greater than 2.5kbar. In general, levels of thermal maturity are higher for the Murotohanto Sub-belt than for the Nabae Sub-belt. The Eocene-Oligocene strata also display a spatial decrease in thermal maturity from south to north and this pattern probably was caused by regional-scale differential uplift following peak heating. Conversely, the palaeothermal structure within the Nabae Sub-belt is fairly uniform, except for the local effects of mafic intrusions at the tip of Cape Muroto. There is a paleotemperature difference of ～ 90°C across the boundary between the Murotohanto and Nabae Sub-belts (Shiina-Narashi fault), and this contrast is consistent with approximately 1200 m of post-metamorphic vertical offset. Subduction prior to Middle Miocene probably involved the Kula or fused Kula-Pacific plate and the background geothermal gradient during the Eocene-Oligocene phase of accretion was ～ 30–35°C/km. Rapid heating of the Shimanto Belt evidently occurred immediately after a Middle Miocene reorganization of the subduction boundary. Hot oceanic lithosphere from the Shikoku Basin first entered the subduction zone at ～ 15 Ma; this event also coincided with the opening of the Sea of Japan and the rapid clockwise rotation of southwest Japan. The background geothermal gradient at that time was ～ 70°C/km. Whether or not all portions of the inherited (Eocene-Oligocene) palaeothermal structure were overprinted during the Middle Miocene remains controversial. |
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| Keywords: | accretionary prism illite crystallinity palaeotemperature thermal structure vitrinite reflectance |
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