Search results for "subduction"
showing 10 items of 166 documents
A trace element perspective on Archean crust formation and on the presence or absence of Archean subduction
2008
Fifty-five-million-year history of oceanic subduction and exhumation at the northern edge of the Caribbean plate (Sierra del Convento mélange, Cuba)
2009
Petrological and geochronological data of six representative samples of exotic blocks of amphibolite and associated tonalite-trondhjemite from the serpentinitic melange of the Sierra del Convento (eastern Cuba) indicate counterclockwise P-T paths typical of material subducted in hot and young subduction zones. Peak conditions attained were 750 � C and 15 kbar, consistent with the generation of tonalitic partial melts observed in amphibolite. A tonalite boulder provides a U-Pb zircon crystallization age of 112.8 ± 1.1 Ma, and Ar ⁄ Ar amphibole dating yielded two groups of cooling ages of 106-97 Ma (interpreted as cooling of metamorphic ⁄ magmatic pargasite) and 87-83 Ma (interpreted as growt…
Characteristics of lower crustal granulite xenoliths from the east Qinling orogenic belt and their tectonic significance
1994
The Tongbai granulites are present mainly as xenoliths in granodioritic gneisses. The xenoliths with a zircon age of 470Ma are older than the host rocks of granodioritic gneisses which yield a zircon age of 435Ma. It is suggested that the granulites were transported from the lower crust to the upper level along with granodioritic magma. Geothermometrical and geobarometrical studies based on the coexisting minerals (Opx-Cpx and Opx-Gar) show that the granulites were crystallized at 818 –840 °C and 9.5−9.8 × 108 Pa corresponding to the lower crust. Tectonically, the Shangdan suture zone constitutes the boundary between the North China and Yangtze plates. The zone is char acterized by the occu…
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…
Thermobarometric constraints on pressure variations across the Plattengneiss shear zone of the Eastern Alps: implications for exhumation models durin…
2014
Forward and inverse mineral equilibria modelling of metapelitic rocks in the hangingwall and footwall of the Plattengneiss, a major shear zone in the Eastern Alps, is used to constrain their tectonometamorphic evolution and assess models for their exhumation. Forward (pseudosection) modelling of two metapelitic rocks suggests a steep clockwise P–T path with a near-isothermal decompression segment from a pressure peak at ~18–19 kbar and 670 °C to the metamorphic peak at 680–720 °C and 11–13 kbar. A subsequent decrease to 600–645 °C and 8–9 kbar is inferred from the late growth of staurolite in some samples. Conventional thermobarometric calculations (inverse modelling) on 18 samples with the…
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…
Sicily’s fold–thrust belt and slab roll-back: the SI.RI.PRO. seismic crustal transect
2016
Sicily is a thick orogenic wedge formed by (1) the foreland (African) and its Sicilian orogen and (2) the thick-skinned, Calabrian–Peloritani wedge. The crust under central Sicily, from the Tyrrhenian margin to the coastline of the Sicily Channel, has been investigated by the multidisciplinary (SI.RI.PRO.) research project. The project dealt with the nature and thickness of the crust and depth and geometry of the Moho, which is essential in formulating subduction models and improving the knowledge of African and Tyrrhenian–European lithospheres. The results resolve features such as (1) the main orogenic wedge, (2) the very steep, NW–SE-trending regional monocline suggesting inflection of th…
The weak and superfast Cretan detachment, Greece: exhumation at subduction rates in extruding wedges
2002
Low-angle normal faults (detachments) are only efficient agents for bringing rocks from 40–>100 km depth back to the Earth’s surface if they operate with extreme slip rates exceeding 20 km Ma −1 . Here we propose a slip rate of ≧20–30 km Ma −1 for the Cretan detachment in the Aegean, Greece. The Cretan detachment and the subjacent subduction thrust bounded an extruding wedge above the Miocene Hellenic subduction zone. During exhumation the high-pressure rocks in the wedge were not significantly deformed. Very low shear coupling at the bounding faults (which are therefore weak) is needed to prevent significant deformation in the extruding wedge. The proposed slip rate of ≧20–30 km Ma −1 is s…
Late Cenozoic brittle deformation in the Southern Patagonian Andes: Record of plate coupling/decoupling during variable subduction?
2018
The Andes of southern Patagonia experienced a Miocene shift towards faster and higher angle subduction followed by the approach and collision of the Chile oceanic ridge. We present a kinematic study characterizing palaeostress fields computed from brittle tectonics to better constrain upper crustal deformation during this complex scenario. Although previous studies already suggested variable kinematics, it is striking that in a long-lasting subduction environment, the computed palaeostress tensors are mostly strike-slip (55%), while 35% are extensional, and only 10% compressive which are concentrated along a main frontal thrust. Cross-cutting relationships and synsedimentary deformation ind…