Search results for "back-arc basin"

Late palaeozoic magmatism in the basement rocks Southwest of Mt. Olympos, Central Pelagonian zone, Greece: Remnants of a permo-carboniferous magmatic…

2001

We dated basement rocks from several localities southwest of Mt. Olympos, as well as from a locality near the top of the mountain using the single zircon Pb/Pb evaporation technique. For the samples southwest of the mountain, the ages obtained range from ca. 280 to 290 Ma, with only a few zircon grains being around 300 Ma. By contrast, the sample from near the top of the mountain appears to be slightly younger, with ca. 270 Ma. These ages imply that the granitoids crystallized during Late Carboniferous - Early Permian times, and are therefore younger than the basement gneisses of other regions of the Pelagonian zone, which yielded zircon ages of around 300 Ma (e.g. Yarwood & Aftalion 19…

Zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopic study of gneissic rocks from the Chinese Altai: Progressive accretionary history in the early to middle Palaeozoic

2008

Abstract Gneissic rocks in the Chinese Altai Mountains have been interpreted as either Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks or Precambrian basement. This study reports geochemical and geochronological data for banded paragneisses and associated gneissic granitoids collected along a NE–SW traverse in the northwestern Chinese Altai. Petrological and geochemical data suggest that the protoliths of the banded gneisses were possibly immature sediments with significant volcanic input and that the gneissic granitoids were derived from I-type granites formed in a subduction environment. Three types of morphological features can be recognized in zircons from the banded gneisses and are interpreted to cor…

Tectono-stratigraphic modelling of the North Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea).

2004

A two-dimensional numerical modelling that simulate the kinematic and thermal response of the lithosphere to thinning was used for the quantitative reconstruction of the late Neogene to Recent times tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the North Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea). The numerical study of the evolution of the North Sicily margin builds on the crustal image and kinematic interpretation of the margin obtained by Pepe et al. [Tectonics 19 (2000) 241] on the basis of seismic data and gravity modelling. Tectonic modeling indicate that different segments of the margin were undergoing different vertical movements, which are mainly expression of the rifting and th…

Hyper-extended rifted margin in the Tyrrhenian Sea, upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone

2011

The Tyrrhenian Sea is a Miocene to Present back-arc basin developed in the upper plate of the Ionian subduction zone. Refraction seismic data indicate that the central sector of the Marsili Basin is a zone of thin crust ∼7 km thick compatible with its oceanic origin (Steinmetz et al., 1983). Conventional models rather define a Continent-Ocean Transition (COT) with normal oceanic crust (i.e. Finetti et al., 2005). This does not seem to be the case for the whole Tyrrhenian Basin. Serpentinized peridotites, emplaced during Pliocene, have been drilled at ODP Site 651 (Sartori et al. 2004). The W Calabria segment of the Tyrrhenian continental margin is peculiar as seismic data has excluded the p…

SISTER 99: a seismic campaign to investigate the kinematics of South Tyrrhenian extensional region

1999

Time scale of an early to mid-Paleozoic orogenic cycle of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt, Inner Mongolia of China: Implications for conti…

2008

Abstract We present a detailed, new time scale for an orogenic cycle (oceanic accretion–subduction–collision) that provides significant insights into Paleozoic continental growth processes in the southeastern segment of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The most prominent tectonic feature in Inner Mongolia is the association of paired orogens. A southern orogen forms a typical arc-trench complex, in which a supra-subduction zone ophiolite records successive phases during its life cycle: birth (ca. 497–477 Ma), when the ocean floor of the ophiolite was formed; (2) youth (ca. 473–470 Ma), characterized by mantle wedge magmatism; (3) shortly after maturity (ca. 461–450 Ma), hi…

Age and origin of the Böllsteiner Odenwald

2001

The granitoid protoliths of the gneisses of the Bollsteiner Odenwald, a part of the Mid German Crystalline Rise, intruded at 405 ± 3 Ma. This age was obtained by single zircon 207Pb/206Pb evaporation measurements. It is supported by an upper discordia intercept age of 410 ± 11 Ma from single zircon U/Pb data. These granitoids were derived from hybrid magmas according to their geochemical characteristics. Inherited zircon grains with apparent ages of 882 and 1138 Ma further constrain the source heterogeneity. The isotope data with Nd model ages for the granitoid gneisses between 1.3 and 1.7 Ga also underline the involvement of Proterozoic material into the magma sources. Since the geochemica…

Tethyan vs. Cordilleran ophiolites: a reappraisal of distintctive tectono-magmatic features of supra-subduction complexes in relation to the subducti…

2004

Abstract Supra-subduction zone (SSZ) ophiolites deserve special attention because they represent fundamental markers of intraoceanic convergence and generation of new lithosphere above subduction zones. Moreover, owing to their structural characteristics and location in the overriding plate, these complexes are far better represented and preserved than Mid-Ocean-Ridge-Basalt (MORB) ophiolites in orogenic belts. In terms of their structure, tectonics, and magmatic features, SSZ ophiolites may be classified in two main types: (1) “Tethyan complexes” (such as those of the Albanide-Hellenide belt), which mostly consist of complete and extensive volcanic, dyke, plutonic, and mantle sections with…

Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic Peri-Pacific Accretionary Evolution of the Mongolian Collage System: Insights From Geochemical and U-Pb Zircon Data Fr…

2017

Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic accretionary processes of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt have been evaluated so far mainly using the geology of ophiolites and/or magmatic arcs. Thus, the knowledge of the nature and evolution of associated sedimentary prisms remains fragmentary. We carried out an integrated geological, geochemical and zircon U–Pb geochronological study on a giant Ordovician metasedimentary succession of the Mongolian Altai Mts. This succession is characterized by dominant terrigenous components mixed with volcanogenic material. It is chemically immature, compositionally analogous to graywacke and marked by significant input of felsic to intermediate arc components, pointi…

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…