scholarly journals THE CALLOVIAN UNCONFORMITY AND THE OPHIOLITE OBDUCTION ONTO THE PELAGONIAN CARBONATE PLATFORM OF THE INTERNAL HELLENIDES

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
R. Scherreiks ◽  
G. Meléndez ◽  
M. Bouldagher-Fadel ◽  
G. Fermeli ◽  
D. Bosence

The carbonate-platform-complex and the oceanic formations of the central Pelagonian zone of the Hellenides evolved in response to a sequence of plate tectonic episodes of ocean spreading, plate convergence and ophiolite obduction. The biostratigraphies of the carbonate platform and the oceanic successions, show that the Triassic-Early Jurassic platform was coeval with an ocean where pillow basalts and radiolarian cherts were being deposited. After convergence began during late Early- Jurassic - Middle Jurassic time, the oceanic leading edge of the Pelagonian plate was subducted beneath the leading edge of the oceanic, overriding plate. The platform subsided while a supra-subduction, volcanic-island-arc evolved. Biostratigraphic and geochemical evidence shows that the platform and the oceanic floor, temporarily became subaerially exposed during Callovian time. This “Callovian event” is suggested to have taken place as oceanic lithosphere first made compressional, tectonic contact with the carbonate platform, initiating a basal detachment fault, along which the platform was thrust upwards. The central Pelagonian zone became an extensive land area that was supplied with laterite from an ophiolite highland. A similar emergence of Vardar ophiolite most likely took place in the Guevgueli area. The Callovian emergence shows that the initial ophiolite obduction onto the platform took place about 25 million years before the final emplacement of the ophiolite during Valanginian time.

2021 ◽  

Mesozoic plate convergence in SE Sundaland has been a source of debate for decades. A determination of plate convergence boundaries and timing have been explained in many publications, but not all boundaries were associated with magmatism. Through integration of both plate configurations and magmatic deposits, the basement can be accurately characterized over time and areal extents. This paper will discuss Cretaceous subductions and magmatic arc trends in SE Sundaland area with additional evidence found in JS-1 Ridge. At least three subduction trends are captured during the Mesozoic in the study area: 1) Early Jurassic – Early Cretaceous trend of Meratus, 2) Early Cretaceous trend of Bantimala and 3) Late Cretaceous trend in the southernmost study area. The Early Jurassic – Early Cretaceous subduction occurred along the South and East boundary of Sundaland (SW Borneo terrane) and passes through the Meratus area. The Early Cretaceous subduction occurred along South and East boundary of Sundaland (SW Borneo and Paternoster terranes) and pass through the Bantimala area. The Late Cretaceous subduction occurred along South and East boundary of Sundaland (SW Borneo, Paternoster and SE Java – South Sulawesi terranes), but is slightly shifted to the South approaching the Oligocene – Recent subduction zone. Magmatic arc trends can also be generally grouped into three periods, with each period corresponds to the subduction processes at the time. The first magmatic arc (Early Jurassic – Early Cretaceous) is present in core of SW Borneo terrane and partly produces the Schwaner Magmatism. The second Cretaceous magmatic arc (Early Cretaceous) trend is present in the SW Borneo terrane but is slightly shifted southeastward It is responsible for magmatism in North Java offshore, northern JS-1 Ridge and Meratus areas. The third magmatic arc trend is formed by Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks in Luk Ulo, the southern JS-1 Ridge and the eastern Makassar Strait areas. These all occur during the same time within the Cretaceous magmatic arc. Though a mélange rock sample has not been found in JS-1 Ridge area, there is evidence of an accretionary prism in the area as evidenced by the geometry observed on a new 3D seismic dataset. Based on the structural trend of Meratus (NNE-SSW) coupled with the regional plate boundary understanding, this suggests that both Meratus & JS-1 Ridge are part of the same suture zone between SW Borneo and Paternoster terranes. The gradual age transition observed in the JS-1 Ridge area suggests a southward shift of the magmatic arc during Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous times.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolph Scherreiks ◽  
Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel

The Pelagonian stratigraphy of the Internal Hellenides consists of a Permo-Triassic basement and an Upper Triassic and Jurassic carbonate platform formation that has been overthrust by the Eohellenic ophiolite sheet during the Early Cretaceous. Intensive erosion, during the Cretaceous, removed most of the ophiolite and parts of the Jurassic formation. It is hypothesised that uplift and erosion of eastern Pelagonia was triggered by the break-off of the subducted oceanic leading edge of the Pelagonian plate. An investigation of the rocks that succeed the erosional unconformity shows that they constitute a shear-zone that is tectonically overlain by Cretaceous platform carbonates. Geochemical analyses of the shear-zone rocks substantiate that they are of mid-oceanic ridge and island arc provenience. Eastern Pelagonia collided with a Cretaceous carbonate platform, probably the Paikon forearc basin, as the Almopias ocean crust subducted beneath that island–arc complex. The Cretaceous platform, together with a substrate of sheared-off ocean floor mélange, overthrust eastern Pelagonia as subduction continued, and the substrate was dynamically metamorphosed into cataclastic rocks, mylonite, phyllonite and interpreted pseudotachylite. This complex of Cretaceous platform rocks and a brittle-ductile shear-zone-substrate constitute the here named Paikon–Palouki nappe, which was emplaced during Early Palaeocene. The Paikon–Palouki nappe did not reach Evvoia. Seismic tomographic models of the Aegean region apparently depict images of two broken-off ocean-plate-slabs, interpreted as Almopias-lithosphere-slabs. It is concluded that the western Almopias slab began to sink during the Early Cretaceous, while the eastern Almopias slab broke off and sank after the Paikon–Palouki nappe was emplaced in the Early Palaeocene.


Author(s):  
Yucel Yilmaz

The island of Cyprus constitutes a fragment of southern Anatolia separated from the mainland by left-oblique transtension in late Cenozoic time. However, a geological framework of offset features of the south-central Anatolia, for comparison of Cyprus with a source region within and west of the southeastern Anatolian suture zone, has not yet been developed. In this paper, I enumerate, describe, and compare a full suite of potentially correlative spatial and temporal elements exposed in both regions. Northern Cyprus and south-central Anatolia have identical tectonostratigraphic units. At the base of both belts, crop out ophiolitic mélange-accretionary complex generated during the northward subduction of the NeoTethyan Oceanic lithosphere from the Late Cretaceous until the end of middle Eocene. The nappes of the Taurus carbonate platform were thrust above this internally chaotic unit during late Eocene. They began to move as a coherent nappe pile from that time onward. An asymmetrical flysch basin was formed in front of this southward moving nappe pile during the early Miocene. The nappes were then thrust over the flysch basin fill and caused its tight folding. Cyprus separated from Anatolia in the Pleistocene-Holocene when, transtensional oblique faults with dip-slip components caused the development of the Adana and Iskenderun basins and the separation of Cyprus from Anatolia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Qayyum ◽  
Nalan Lom ◽  
Eldert L Advokaat ◽  
Wim Spakman ◽  
Douwe J.J van Hinsbergen

<p>Much of our understanding of the dynamics of slab break-off and its geological signatures rely on numerical models with a simplified set-up, in which slab break-off follows arrival of a continent in a mantle-stationary trench, the subsequent arrest of plate convergence, and after a delay time of 10 Ma or more, slab break off under the influence of slab pull. However, geological reconstructions show that plate tectonic reality deviates from this setup: post-collisional convergence is common, trenches are generally not stationary relative to mantle, neither before nor after collision, and there are many examples in which the mantle structure below collision zones is characterized by more, or fewer slabs than collisions.</p><p>A key example of the former is the India-Asia collision zone, where the mantle below India hosts two major, despite the common view of a single collision. Kinematic reconstructions reveal that post-collisional convergence amounted 1000s of kms, and was associated with ~1000 km of trench/collision zone advance. Collision between India-Asia collision zone may provide a good case study to determine the result of post-collisional convergence and absolute lower and upper plate motion on mantle structure, and to evaluate to what extent commonly assumed diagnostic geological phenomena of slab break-off apply.</p><p>In addition to the previously identified major India, Himalaya, and Burma slabs, we here map smaller slabs below Afghanistan and the Himalaya that reveal the latest phases of break-off. We show that west-dipping and east-dipping slabs west and east of India, respectively, are dragged northward parallel to the slab, slabs subducting north of India are overturned, and that the shallowest slab fragments are found in the location where the horizontally underthrust Indian lithosphere below Tibet is narrowest. Our results confirm that northward Indian absolute plate motion continued during two episodes of break-off of large (>1000 km wide) slabs, and decoupling of several smaller fragments. These slabs are currently found south of the present day trench locations. The slabs are located even farther south (>1000 km) of the leading edge of the Indian continental lithosphere, currently underthrust below Tibet, from which the slabs detached, signalling ongoing absolute Indian plate motion. We conclude that the multiple slab break-off events in this setting of ongoing plate convergence and trench advance is better explained by shearing off of slabs from the downgoing plate, possibly at a depth corresponding to the base of the Indian continental lithosphere, are not (necessarily) related to the timing of collision. A recently proposed, detailed diachronous record of deformation, uplift, and oroclinal bending in the Himalaya that was liked to slab break-off fits well with our kinematically reconstructed timing of the last slab shear-off, and may provide an important reference geological record for this process. We find that the commonly applied conceptual geological signatures of slab break-off do not apply to the India-Asia collision zone, or to similar settings and histories such as the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. Our study provides more realistic boundary conditions for future numerical models that aim to assess the dynamics of subduction termination and its geological signatures.</p>


Solid Earth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabel Causer ◽  
Lucía Pérez-Díaz ◽  
Jürgen Adam ◽  
Graeme Eagles

Abstract. Plate tectonic modellers often rely on the identification of “break-up” markers to reconstruct the early stages of continental separation. Along the Iberian-Newfoundland margin, so-called break-up markers include interpretations of old magnetic anomalies from the M series, as well as the “J anomaly”. These have been used as the basis for plate tectonic reconstructions are based on the concept that these anomalies pinpoint the location of first oceanic lithosphere. However, uncertainties in the location and interpretation of break-up markers, as well as the difficulty in dating them precisely, has led to plate models that differ in both the timing and relative palaeo-positions of Iberia and Newfoundland during separation. We use newly available seismic data from the Southern Newfoundland Basin (SNB) to assess the suitability of commonly used break-up markers along the Newfoundland margin for plate kinematic reconstructions. Our data show that basement associated with the younger M-series magnetic anomalies is comprised of exhumed mantle and magmatic additions and most likely represents transitional domains and not true oceanic lithosphere. Because rifting propagated northward, we argue that M-series anomaly identifications further north, although in a region not imaged by our seismic, are also unlikely to be diagnostic of true oceanic crust beneath the SNB. Similarly, our data also allow us to show that the high amplitude of the J Anomaly is associated with a zone of exhumed mantle punctuated by significant volcanic additions and at times characterized by interbedded volcanics and sediments. Magmatic activity in the SNB at a time coinciding with M4 (128 Ma) and the presence of SDR packages onlapping onto a basement fault suggest that, at this time, plate divergence was still being accommodated by tectonic faulting. We illustrate the differences in the relative positions of Iberia and Newfoundland across published plate reconstructions and discuss how these are a direct consequence of the uncertainties introduced into the modelling procedure by the use of extended continental margin data (dubious magnetic anomaly identifications, break-up unconformity interpretations). We conclude that a different approach is needed for constraining plate kinematics of the Iberian plate pre-M0 times.


2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Üner Çakir ◽  
Tijen Üner

Abstract The Ankara Mélange is a complex formed by imbricated slices of limestone block mélanges (Karakaya and Hisarlıkaya Formations), Neotethyan ophiolites (Eldivan, Ahlat and Edige ophiolites), post-ophiolitic cover units (Mart and Kavak formations) and Tectonic Mélange Unit (Hisarköy Formation or Dereköy Mélange). The Karakaya and Hisarlıkaya formations are roughly similar and consist mainly of limestone block mélange. Nevertheless, they represent some important geological differences indicating different geological evolution. Consequently, the Karakaya and Hisarlıkaya formations are interpreted as Eurasian and Gondwanian marginal units formed by fragmentation of the Gondwanian carbonate platform during the continental rifting of the Neotethys in the Middle Triassic time. During the latest Triassic, Neotethyan lithosphere began to subduct beneath the Eurasian continent and caused intense deformation of the marginal units. The Eldivan, Ahlat and Edige ophiolites represent different fragments of the Neotethyan oceanic lithosphere emplaced onto the Gondwanian margin during the Albian–Aptian, middle Turonian and middle Campanian, respectively. The Eldivan Ophiolite is a NE–SW trending and a nearly complete assemblage composed, from bottom to top, of a volcanic-sedimentary unit, a metamorphic unit, peridotite tectonites, cumulates and sheeted dykes. The Eldivan Ophiolite is unconformably covered by Cenomanian–Lower Turonian sedimentary unit. The Eldivan Ophiolite is overthrust by the Ahlat Ophiolite in the north and Edige Ophiolite in the west. The Ahlat ophiolite is an east–west oriented assemblage comprised of volcanic-sedimentary unit, metamorphic unit, peridotite tectonites and cumulates. The Edige Ophiolite consists of a volcanic-sedimentary unit, peridotite tectonites, dunite, wherlite, pyroxenite and gabbro cumulates. The Tectonic Mélange Unit is a chaotic formation of various blocks derived from ophiolites, from the Karakaya and Hisarlıkaya formations and from post-ophiolitic sedimentary units. It was formed during the collision between Anatolian Promontory and Eurasian Continent in the middle Campanian time.


1997 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN McCONNELL ◽  
JOHN MORRIS

The Dowery Hill Member of metamorphosed basalt, dolerite and siltstone is here recognized as the oldest exposed volcanic unit of the Lower Ordovician Ribband Group, with a minimum age of early Arenig. Peperites and resedimented hydroclastic breccia demonstrate a volcanic origin for the basalts. The igneous rocks are tholeiitic, with a trace element geochemistry indicative of a subduction-modified fertile mantle source, which we interpret as recording an early stage of volcanic arc evolution. The member is therefore the oldest known component of the volcanic arc generated by subduction of Iapetus oceanic lithosphere under southeastern Ireland. Subduction started earlier than predicted by current plate tectonic models, and these should be re-evaluated.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolph Scherreiks ◽  
Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel ◽  
Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel ◽  
Marcelle Boudagher-Fadel

The Pelagonian stratigraphy of the study area consists of a Permo-Triassic basement and an Upper Triassic and Jurassic carbonate platform formation that had been overthrust by the Eohellenic ophiolite sheet during the Early Cretaceous. Intensive erosion, during the Cretaceous, removed most of the ophiolite and partly the Jurassic formation. It is hypothesised that uplift and erosion of eastern Pelagonia had been triggered by the break-off of the subducted oceanic leading edge of the Pelagonian plate. An investigation of the rocks that succeed the erosional unconformity shows that they constitute a shear-zone-formation which is tectonically overlain by Cretaceous platform carbonates that characterise the Palouki series of Skopelos and Alonnisos. Geochemical analyses of the shear-zone rocks substantiate that they are of mid ocean ridge and island arc provenience. Eastern Pelagonia collided with a Cretaceous carbonate platform, probably the Paikon-Paeonian forearc basin, as the Almopias ocean subducted beneath that island-arc-complex. The Cretaceous platform, together with a substrate of sheared-off ocean floor mélange, overthrust eastern Pelagonia as subduction continued, and the substrate was dynamically metamorphosed to cataclastic rocks, mylonite, phyllonite and interpreted pseudotachylite. This complex of Cretaceous platform rocks and a brittle-ductile shear-zone-substrate constitute the here named Paikon-Palouki nappe which was emplaced during Early Palaeocene. The Paikon-Palouki nappe did not reach Evvoia. Seismic tomographic models of the Aegean region apparently depict images of two broken-off ocean-plate-slabs, interpreted as Almopias-lithosphere-slabs: the western Almopias slab began to sink during the Early Cretaceous, the eastern Almopias slab broke off and sank after the Paikon-Palouki nappe was emplaced in Early Palaeocene time.


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