Search results for "Orogeny"

Zircon ages of the Bayankhongor ophiolite mélange and associated rocks: Time constraints on Neoproterozoic to Cambrian accretionary and collisional o…

2010

Abstract Central Mongolia is geologically characterized by close juxtaposition of an accreted oceanic terrane with an arc-microcontinent collision zone. We present new U–Pb zircon ages and geochemical data for the Bayankhongor ophiolite melange from the oceanic terrane and for a syenite porphyry pluton from the arc-microcontinent zone, providing critical constraints on the regional evolution in late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times. An anorthosite (655 ± 4 Ma) associated with layered gabbro, a rodingite (metasomatized layered gabbro) (647 ± 6 Ma), and a high-level isotropic amphibole gabbro (647 ± 7 Ma) yielded the oldest zircon ages for the plutonic part of the ophiolite. A plagiogra…

Zircon dating of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian ophiolites in West Mongolia and implications for the timing of orogenic processes in the central part of…

2014

Abstract We present new isotopic and trace element data to review the geochronological/geochemical/geological evolution of the central part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and find a fundamental geological problem in West Mongolia, which has traditionally been subdivided into northwestern early Paleozoic (formerly Caledonian) and southerly late Paleozoic (formerly Hercynian) belts by the Main Mongolian Lineament (MML). We resolve this problem with SHRIMP zircon dating of ophiolites and re-evaluation of much published literature. In Northwest Mongolia the Dariv–Khantaishir ophiolite marks the boundary between the Lake arc in the west and the Dzabkhan–Baydrag microcontinent in the …

Early exhumation of high-pressure rocks in extrusion wedges: Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean, Greece, and Turkey

2007

Structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic work shows that the Ampelos/Dilek nappe of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean constitutes a wedge of high-pressure rocks extruded during early stages of orogeny. The extrusion wedge formed during the incipient collision of the Anatolian microcontinent with Eurasia when subduction and deep underthrusting ceased and the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was thrust southward over the greenschist-facies Menderes nappes along its lower tectonic contact, the Cycladic-Menderes thrust, effectively cutting out a ∼30- to 40-km-thick section of crust. The upper contact of the Ampelos/Dilek extrusion wedge is the top-to-the-NE Selcuk normal shear zone, alon…

How to resist subduction: evidence for large-scale out-of-sequence thrusting during Eocene collision in western Turkey

2001

Significant along-strike variations have locked large parts of the Alpine subduction complex in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Eocene, and defined the end of high-pressure accretion in western Turkey. Structural analysis reveals that the Anatolide belt in western Turkey formed under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions in the Eocene when a high-pressure metamorphic fragment of the Adriatic plate (the Cycladic blueschist unit) was thrust onto the imbricated mid-crustal units of the Anatolian microcontinent (the Menderes nappes). The contact between the Cycladic blueschist unit and the Menderes nappes, the Cyclades–Menderes thrust, represents an out-of-sequence ramp which cuts up-sect…

Horizontal contraction or horizontal extension? Heterogeneous Late Eocene and early Oligocene general shearing during blueschist and greenschist faci…

1995

Mylonitic structures related to two orogenic events are described from the upper and lower contacts of the Combin zone and the immediately overlying upper Austroalpine Dent Blanche nappe/Mont Mary klippe and the directly underlying lower Austroalpine Etirol-Levaz slice. The first event, Late Eocene in age, commenced during blueschist facies P-T conditions, but pre-dated the peak of subsequent greenschist facies overprint. The second event, Early Oligocene in age, took place during retrograde greenschist facies conditions. Most sense of shear indicators associated with the retrograde mylonites indicate top SE shearing, but subordinate top NW displacing shear sense indicators have also been m…

2021

Abstract. The dynamics of growing collisional orogens are mainly controlled by buoyancy and shear forces. However, the relative importance of these forces, their temporal evolution and their impact on the tectonic style of orogenic wedges remain elusive. Here, we quantify buoyancy and shear forces during collisional orogeny and investigate their impact on orogenic wedge formation and exhumation of crustal rocks. We leverage two-dimensional petrological–thermomechanical numerical simulations of a long-term (ca. 170 Myr) lithosphere deformation cycle involving subsequent hyperextension, cooling, convergence, subduction and collision. Hyperextension generates a basin with exhumed continental m…

Detrital and xenocrystic zircon ages from Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic arc terranes of Mongolia: Significance for the origin of crustal fragments in …

2011

Abstract The Central Asian Orogenic Belt contains many Precambrian crustal fragments whose origin is unknown, and previous speculations suggested these to be derived from either Siberia, Tarim or northern Gondwana. We present an age pattern for detrital and xenocrystic zircons from Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic arc and microcontinental terranes in Mongolia and compare this with patterns for Precambrian rocks in southern Siberia, the North China craton, the Tarim craton and northeastern Gondwana in order to define the most likely source region for the Mongolian zircons. Our data were obtained by SHRIMP II, LA-ICP-MS and single zircon evaporation and predominantly represent arc-related low-gra…

Parallel diversifications of Cremastosperma and Mosannona (Annonaceae), tropical rainforest trees tracking Neogene upheaval of the South American con…

2017

AbstractThis preprint has been reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology (http://dx.doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100033). Much of the immense present day biological diversity of Neotropical rainforests originated from the Miocene onwards, a period of geological and ecological upheaval in South America. We assess the impact of the Andean orogeny, drainage of lake Pebas, and closure of the Panama Isthmus on two clades of trees (Cremastosperma, c. 31 spp.; and Mosannona, c. 14 spp.; both Annonaceae) found in humid forest distributed across the transition zones between the Andes and Western (lowland) Amazonia and between Central and South America. We inferred phylogeni…

Continental collision and the dynamic and thermal evolution of the Variscan orogenic crustal root — numerical models

2001

Abstract Orogeny is modelled numerically by treating continental collision within full convection solutions, in order to better understand some aspects of the Variscan structures and processes. Three different approaches are taken: (1) collision where one ‘continental plate’ is ‘pushed’ against another across a zone of weakness; (2) gravitational instability of a lithospheric mantle root leading to delamination, slab break-off and crustal root reduction; (3) melting in the lower part of a crustal orogenic root. The first approach demonstrates that thick (but in the models: cool) roots can accumulate, in which upper crustal rocks are carried to great depth and mantle material may be carried …

Multistage Tectonism and Metamorphism During Gondwana Collision: Baladiyah Complex, Saudi Arabia

2014

Field evidence from the Baladiyah complex in the northern part of the Arabian^Nubian Shield of Saudi Arabia indicates several erosional unconformities separating different high- and medium-grade metasedimentary sequences. This suggests that the collision between East and West Gondwana involved several cycles of exhumation and burial, providing a unique opportunity to study the multiple stages of this orogeny. A mineral equilibria approach and thermodynamic modeling are used to place constraints on the formation conditions of each of these cycles. It is shown that the complex is characterized by three regional metamorphic events followed by a fourth metamorphic event related to shear heating…