Petrogenesis and implications for tectonic setting of Cambrian suprasubduction-zone ophiolitic rocks in the central Beishan orogenic collage, Northwest China

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 369-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Cleven ◽  
Shoufa Lin ◽  
Carl Guilmette ◽  
Wenjiao Xiao ◽  
Bill Davis
2013 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
GI YOUNG JEONG ◽  
CHANG-SIK CHEONG ◽  
KEEWOOK YI ◽  
JEONGMIN KIM ◽  
NAMHOON KIM ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Phanerozoic subduction system of the Korean peninsula is considered to have been activated by at least Middle Permian time. The geochemically arc-like Andong ultramafic complex (AUC) occurring along the border between the Precambrian Yeongnam massif and the Cretaceous Gyeongsang back-arc basin provides a rare opportunity for direct study of the pre-Cretaceous mantle wedge lying above the subduction zone. The tightly constrained SHRIMP U–Pb age of zircons extracted from orthopyroxenite specimens (222.1±1.0 Ma) is indistinguishable from the Ar/Ar age of coexisting phlogopite (220±6 Ma). These ages represent the timing of suprasubduction zone magmatism likely in response to the sinking of cold and dense oceanic lithosphere and the resultant extensional strain regime in a nascent arc environment. The nearly coeval occurrence of a syenite-gabbro-monzonite suite in the SW Yeongnam massif also suggests an extensional tectonic setting along the continental margin side during Late Triassic time. The relatively enriched ɛHf range of dated zircons (+6.2 to −0.6 at 222 Ma) is in contrast to previously reported primitive Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic features of Cenozoic mantle xenoliths from Korea and eastern China. This enrichment is not ascribed to contamination by the hypothetical Palaeozoic crust beneath SE Korea, but is instead attributable to metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle during the earlier subduction of the palaeo-Pacific plate. Most AUC zircons show a restricted core-to-rim spread of ɛHf values, but some grains testify to the operation of open-system processes during magmatic differentiation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Zagorevski ◽  
C R van Staal ◽  
J H Bédard ◽  
A Bogatu ◽  
D Canil ◽  
...  

Ophiolite complexes are an important component of oceanic terranes in the northern Cordillera and constitute a significant amount of juvenile crust added to the Mesozoic Laurentian continental margin during Cordilleran orogenesis. Despite their tectonic importance, few systematic studies of these complexes have been conducted. Detailed studies of the pseudostratigraphy, age, geochemistry, and structural setting of ophiolitic rocks in the northern Cordillera indicate that ophiolites formed in Permian to Middle Triassic suprasubduction zone settings and were obducted onto passive margin sequences. Re-evaluation of ophiolite complexes highlights fundamental gaps in the understanding of the tectonic framework of the northern Cordillera. The previous inclusion of ophiolite complexes into generic 'oceanic' terranes resulted in significant challenges for stratigraphic nomenclature, led to incorrect terrane definitions, and resulted in flawed tectonic reconstructions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. T525-T545
Author(s):  
Yaxiong Sun ◽  
Wenlong Ding ◽  
Yang Gu ◽  
Gang Zhao ◽  
Siyu Shi ◽  
...  

Redbeds with a large thickness in the lower Cretaceous record abundant geologic information in the Minle Basin. We have conducted the paleoweathering conditions, provenance, and tectonic settings based on mineralogy and geochemistry. Our results indicate that mudstone samples are characterized by abundant illite with negligible amounts of K-feldspars and analcime. The lower part of the lower Cretaceous is rich in quartz, whereas the upper part is dominated by dolomite and analcime. We suggest that this is caused by the decreasing input of the clastic influx during the middle-late early Cretaceous. High index of compositional variation values (average 1.33) indicate first-cycle sediment supply, suggesting an overall compositional immaturity and short-distance transportation. These characteristics are consistent with an active regional extension tectonic setting. The [Formula: see text] system ([Formula: see text];[Formula: see text];[Formula: see text]) and Th/U versus Th consistently reveal that the lower Cretaceous experienced a positive gradient in chemical weathering from young to old formations. Although the patterns of trace elements in three formations of the lower Cretaceous are different, those of the rare earth elements (REEs) tend to be consistent. The significant enrichment of light REEs, heavy REEs fractionation, and distinctive negative Eu anomalies suggest derivation from an old, upper continental crust composed of predominantly felsic sediments. This interpretation is supported by several discrimination diagrams such as titanium dioxide-nickel ([Formula: see text]), which shows the characteristics of immature recycled sediments. A few sensitive elements, ratios, and normalized REE patterns indicate a provenance of an active continental margin and a continental island arc (CIA). The La-Th-Sc, Th-Co-Zr/10, and Th-Sc-Zr/10 discrimination plots further confirm the CIA signature. Thus, we conclude that the early Cretaceous redbeds in the Minle Basin, Hexi Corridor, were deposited in a dustpan-shaped half-graben basin in a CIA setting when northwest China was influenced by intense regional extension.


2005 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Bağci ◽  
O. Parlak ◽  
V. Höck

AbstractThe late Cretaceous Kızıldağ ophiolite forms one of the best exposures of oceanic lithospheric remnants of southern Neotethys to the north of the Arabian promontory in Turkey. The ultramafic to mafic cumulate rocks, displaying variable thickness (ranging from 165 to 700 m), are ductiley deformed, possibly in response to syn-magmatic extension during sea-floor spreading and characterized by wehrlite, olivine gabbro, olivine gabbronorite and gabbro. The gabbroic cumulates have an intrusive contact with the wehrlitic cumulates in some places. The crystallization order of the cumulus and intercumulus phases is olivine (Fo86–77)± chromian spinel, clinopyroxene (Mg#92–76), plagio-clase(An95–83), orthopyroxene(Mg#87–79). The olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and plagioclase in ultramafic and mafic cumulate rocks seem to have similar compositional range. This suggests that these rocks cannot represent a simple crystal line of descent. Instead the overlapping ranges in mineral compositions in different rock types suggest multiple magma generation during crustal accretion for the Kızıldağ ophiolite. The presence of high Mg# of olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and the absence of Ca-rich plagioclase as an early fractionating phase co-precipitating with forsteritic olivine, suggest that the Kızıldağ plutonic suite is not likely to have originated in a mid-ocean ridge environment. Instead the whole-rock and mineral chemistry of the cumulates indicates their derivation from an island arc tholeiitic (IAT) magma. All the evidence indicates that the Kızıldağ ophiolite formed along a slow-spreading centre in a fore-arc region of a suprasubduction zone tectonic setting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2011-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osman Parlak ◽  
István Dunkl ◽  
Fatih Karaoğlan ◽  
Timothy M. Kusky ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes, including Mesozoic carbonate platform rocks, deep-sea sediments, and ophiolite-related units, crop out extensively on the western limb of the Isparta Angle in the Central Taurides, Turkey. The ophiolite-related rocks are represented by variably serpentinized harzburgitic mantle tectonites, tectonically underlain by a subophiolitic metamorphic sole and mélange. The harzburgitic mantle tectonites and metamorphic sole are intruded by undeformed isolated dikes. Protoliths of the metamorphic sole are similar to within-plate alkali basalts and associated sediments. The isolated dikes were geochemically derived mainly from tholeiitic magma and, to a lesser extent, from alkaline magma. Five isolated dike samples yielded U-Pb ages ranging from 90.8 ± 1.6 Ma to 87.6 ± 2.1 Ma (zircon) and from 102.3 ± 7.4 Ma to 87.5 ± 7.9 Ma (titanite). Seven amphibolite samples yielded U-Pb age ranges of 91.1 ± 2.1–88.85 ± 1.0 Ma (zircon) and 94.0 ± 4.8–90.0 ± 9.4 Ma (titanite) and a 40Ar-39Ar age range of 93.7 ± 0.3–91.4 ± 0.4 Ma (hornblende). U-Pb and 40Ar-39Ar ages of mineral phases with different closure temperatures (∼900–500 °C) from the isolated dikes and metamorphic sole rocks are almost identical and overlapping within 1σ, suggesting that both the magmatic growth of oceanic crust and formation of metamorphic sole were contemporaneous and cooled very rapidly. Hence, all the data should be interpreted as the crystallization ages of the ophiolite and metamorphic sole pair. Genesis of suprasubduction zone–type oceanic crust, genesis and exhumation of the metamorphic sole, and postmetamorphic dike emplacement within the Inner Tauride Ocean can be best explained by subduction initiation and rollback processes during the Late Cretaceous based on petrological and geochronological data obtained from the ophiolitic rocks of the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W.D. Lodge ◽  
Harold L. Gibson ◽  
Greg M. Stott ◽  
James M. Franklin ◽  
George J. Hudak

The greenstone belts along the northern margin of the Wawa subprovince of the Superior Province (Vermilion, Shebandowan, Winston Lake, Manitouwadge) formed at ca. 2720 Ma and have been interpreted to be representative of a rifted-arc to back-arc tectonic setting. Despite a common inferred tectonic setting and broad similarities, these greenstone belts have a significantly different metallogeny as evidenced by different endowments in volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS), magmatic sulphide, and orogenic gold deposits. In this paper, we examine differences in geodynamic setting and crustal architecture as they pertain to the metallogeny of each greenstone belt by characterizing the regional-scale trace-element and isotopic (Nd and Pb) geochemistry of each belt. The trace-element geochemistry of the Vermilion greenstone belt (VGB) shows evidence for a transition from arc-like to back-arc mafic rocks in the Soudan belt to plume-driven rifted arcs in the ultramafic-bearing Newton belt. The Shebandowan greenstone belt (SGB) has a significant proportion of calc-alkalic, arc-like basalts, intermediate lithofacies, and high-Mg andesites, which are characteristic of low-angle, “hot” subduction. Extensional settings within the SGB are plume-driven and associated with komatiitic ultramafic and mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-like basalts. The Winston Lake greenstone belt (WGB) is characterized by a transition from calc-alkalic, arc-like basalts to back-arc basalts upward in the strata and is capped by alkalic ocean-island basalt (OIB)-like basalts. This association is consistent with plume-driven rifting of a mature arc setting. Each of the VGB, SGB, and WGB show some isotopic evidence for the interaction with a juvenile or slightly older differentiated crust. The Manitouwadge greenstone belt (MGB) is characterized by isotopically juvenile, bimodal, tholeiitic to transitional volcanic lithofacies in a back-arc setting. The MGB is the most isotopically juvenile belt and is also the most productive in terms of VMS mineralization. The Zn-rich VMS mineralization within the WGB suggests a relatively lower-temperature hydrothermal system, possibly within a relatively shallow-water environment. The Zn-dominated and locally Au-enriched VMS mineralization, as well as mafic lithofacies and alteration assemblages, are characteristic of relatively shallower-water deposition in the VGB and SGB, and indicate that the ideal VMS-forming tectonic condition may have been compromised by a shallower-water depositional setting. However, the thickened arc crust and compressional tectonics of the SGB suprasubduction zone during hot subduction may have provided a crustal setting more favourable for the magmatic Ni–Cu sulphide and relative gold endowment of this belt.


2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan C. Johnson ◽  
Leslie R. Fyffe ◽  
Malcolm J. McLeod ◽  
Gregory R. Dunning

The Penobscot arc system of the northeastern Appalachians is an Early Cambrian to early Tremadocian (ca. 514–485 Ma) ensialic to ensimatic arc–back-arc complex that developed along the margin of the peri-Gondwanan microcontinent Ganderia. Remnants of this Paleozoic arc system are best preserved in the Exploits Subzone of central Newfoundland. Correlative rocks in southern New Brunswick are thought to occur in the ca. 514 Ma Mosquito Lake Road Formation of the Ellsworth Group and ca. 497–493 Ma Annidale Group; however in the past, the work that has been conducted on the latter has been of a preliminary nature. New data bearing on the age and tectonic setting of the Annidale Group provides more conclusive evidence for this correlation. The Annidale Group contains subalkaline, tholeiitic to transitional, basalts to basaltic andesites, picritic tuffs and calc-alkaline to tholeiitic felsic dome complexes that have geochemical signatures consistent with suprasubduction zone magmatism that was likely generated in a back-arc basin. New U–Pb ages establish that the Late Cambrian to Early Tremadocian Annidale Group and adjacent ca. 541 Ma volcanic rocks of the Belleisle Bay Group in the New River belt were affected by a period of younger magmatism ranging in age from ca. 479–467 Ma. This provides important constraints on the timing of tectonism in the area. A ca. 479 Ma age for the Stewarton Gabbro that stitches the faulted contact between the Annidale and Belleisle Bay groups, demonstrates that structural interleaving and juxtaposition occurred during early Tremadocian time, which closely coincides with the timing of obduction of Penobscottian back-arc ophiolites onto the Ganderian margin in Newfoundland.


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