Search results for " Tectonics"
showing 10 items of 136 documents
Deep structural setting of the North American-Caribbean plate boundary in eastern Guatemala
2009
Se presenta un modelo bidimensional de gravedad para determinar la estructura en profundidad del sistema de fallas lateral-izquierda de Motagua-Polochic, que son parte del límite de las placas América del Norte y del Caribe. Estos elementos tectónicos, sismicamente activos, atraviesan oeste-este la región de Guatemala y se sobreponen a una línea de sutura donde afloran cuerpos ophiolíticos. En las principales zonas de desplazamiento de las fallas se han desarrollado cuencas de pull-apart y regiones de restricción (push-up). El análisis estructural de algunas de estas fallas, situadas a lo largo del valle Izabal y del valle Motagua, en combinación con los datos obtenidos del satélite, ha per…
U-Pb dating of middle Eocene-middle Pleistocene multiple tectonic pulses in the Alpine foreland
2021
Foreland fold-and-thrust belts record long-lived tectonic-sedimentary activity, from passive margin sedimentation, flexuring, and further involvement into wedge accretion ahead of an advancing orogen. Therefore, dating fault activity is fundamental for plate movement reconstruction, resource exploration, or earthquake hazard assessment. Here, we report U-Pb ages of syntectonic calcite mineralizations from four thrusts and three tear faults sampled, at the regional scale, across the Jura fold-and-thrust belt in the northwestern Alpine foreland (eastern France). Four regional tectonic phases are recognized in the middle Eocene-middle Pleistocene interval: (1) pre-orogenic faulting at 44.7&thi…
Strong intracontinental lithospheric deformation in South China: Implications from seismic observations and geodynamic modeling
2014
Abstract Classical plate tectonics theory predicts concentrated deformation at plate boundaries and weak deformation within plates. Yet, the existence of intracontinental orogens shows that highly deformed regions can occur within continental plates, which is geodynamically incompletely understood. Shear wave splitting measurements in South China show belt-parallel (i.e. NE–SW) fast directions beneath the Wulingshan-Xuefengshan Belts, while no dominant fast direction is found in the cratonic Sichuan Basin. Tomographic studies in the mantle in the same area show that the thickness of lithosphere beneath the intracontinental orogen is larger than that beneath the cratonic Sichuan Basin. In or…
How to make a transverse triple junction—New evidence for the assemblage of Gondwana along the Kaoko-Damara belts, Namibia
2016
T-shaped orogenic triple junctions between mobile belts usually form in two unrelated stages by subsequent and oblique continental collisions separated by a significant time span. Besides these “oblique triple junctions”, another type, named “transverse triple junctions”, may exist. Such junctions are created by a more complex mechanism of partly contemporaneous convergence of three cratons in a restricted time frame, involving strike slip. The Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Kaoko-Damara junction between the Rio de la Plata, Congo, and Kalahari cratons in Namibia is an example of such a transverse orogenic triple junction, formed by at least four subsequent but partly related deformation events. I…
Slab-triggered wet upwellings produce large volumes of melt: Insights into the destruction of the North China Craton
2018
Abstract Cratons have remained stable for billions of years, despite of ongoing mantle convection and plate tectonics. The North China Craton (NCC), however, is abnormal, as it has experienced a destruction event during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic which was accompanied by extensive magmatism. Several lines of evidence suggest that the (Paleo-)Pacific plate played an important role in this event. Yet, the geodynamic link between subduction and craton destruction remains poorly understood, and it is unclear why there is no systematic spatial and temporal variation of magmatism related to subduction. Here, we perform 2-D petrological-thermomechanical simulations to investigate the influence of s…
Cretaceous tectonic evolution of the Sava-Klepa Massif, Republic of North Macedonia – Results from calcite twin based automated paleostress analysis
2019
Abstract The Sava-Klepa Massif represents an approximately 5 × 2 km sized fault-bounded block of dominantly basaltic rocks located within the Sava-Zone, an important suture zone between the Eurasian (Europe) and Gondwana (Adria) continental plates in the Balkans. Its nature and tectonic evolution is controversial: It is either interpreted as a remnant of the youngest Tethyan oceanic realm left behind after the main closure in the Late Jurassic or as the delimiter of a diffuse tectonic boundary between Adria and Europe, which had already collided in the Late Jurassic and was dominantly controlled by transtensional tectonics during Cretaceous times. In order to strengthen one or the other mod…
A free plate surface and weak oceanic crust produce single-sided subduction on Earth
2012
[1] Earth’s lithosphere is characterized by the relative movement of almost rigid plates as part of global mantle convection. Subduction zones on present-day Earth are strongly asymmetric features composed of an overriding plate above a subducting plate that sinks into the mantle. While global self-consistent numerical models of mantle convection have reproduced some aspects of plate tectonics, the assumptions behind these models do not allow for realistic single-sided subduction. Here we demonstrate that the asymmetry of subduction results from two major features of terrestrial plates: (1) the presence of a free deformable upper surface and (2) the presence of weak hydrated crust atop subd…
3D Numerical Modelling of Salt Tectonics
2017
Summary Many factors have been suggested to affect the development of salt structures, including sedimentation, brittle sediment deformation, multiple tectonic events and basement topography. To unravel the relative importance of these processes, we performed high resolution 2D and 3D thermo-mechanical simulations that take these factors into account, while incorporating nonlinear salt creep laws and visco-elasto-plastic rock properties. Simulations show that the sedimentation rate affects both the speed with which structures form, and the spacing between the salt structures, which is larger for higher rates. Consistent with earlier sandbox experiments, we find that there is a feedback betw…
Deep controls on foreland basin system evolution along the Sicilian fold and thrust belt
2015
Abstract Neogene-Quaternary wedge-top-basins arose during the Sicilian fold and thrust belt (FTB) build-up. The infilling sedimentary successions are: i) middle-upper Miocene silicoclastics succession, accommodated on top of the accreted Sicilide and Numidian flysch nappes; ii) upper Miocene-lower Pliocene deepening-upwards sediments unconformably overlying the inner Meso-Cenozoic deep-water, Imerese and Sicanian thrust units; iii) Upper Pliocene-Quaternary coastal-open shelf deposits unconformably covering (in the outer sector of the FTB) a tectonic stack (Gela thrust system). These successions are characterized by a basal unconformity on the deformed substrate believed to be the depositio…
Devonian to Permian plate tectonic cycle of the Paleo-Tethys Orogen in southwest China (I): Geochemistry of ophiolites, arc/back-arc assemblages and …
2009
Abstract The Paleo-Tethys Orogen in southwest China is an amalgamation of continental terranes (Sibumasu, Simao and Yangtze), which are bounded by ophiolite belts (Ailaoshan, Jinshajiang and Changning–Menglian) that represent former ocean basins. This study concentrates on ophiolites, arc/back-arc assemblages, and within-plate igneous rocks that occur in this complex orogen. Mainly based on geochemical fingerprinting of basalts, the Paleo-Tethys ophiolites are here classified as MORB and SSZ types. The Ailaoshan ophiolite (NMORB-type; ca. 387–374 Ma) is associated with a non-volcanic segment of the rifted western Yangtze margin. The Jinshajiang ophiolite (EMORB-type; 346–341 Ma), which has …