Closure of the Bangong–Nujiang Tethyan Ocean in the central Tibet: Results from the provenance of the Duoni Formation

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 1039-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhicai Zhu ◽  
Qingguo Zhai ◽  
Peiyuan Hu ◽  
Sunlin Chung ◽  
Yue Tang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The closure of the Bangong–Nujiang Tethyan Ocean (BNTO) and consequent Lhasa–Qiangtang collision is vital to reasonably understanding the early tectonic history of the Tibetan Plateau before the India-Eurasia collision. The timing of the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision was mainly constrained by the ophiolite and magmatic rocks in previous studies, with only limited constraints from the sedimentary rocks within and adjacent to the Bangong–Nujiang suture zone. In the middle segment of the Bangong–Nujiang suture zone, the Duoni Formation, consisting of a fluvial delta sequence with minor andesite interlayers, was originally defined as the Late Cretaceous Jingzhushan Formation and interpreted as the products of the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision during the Late Cretaceous. Our new zircon U-Pb data from two samples of andesite interlayers demonstrate that it was deposited during the latest Early Cretaceous (ca. 113 Ma) rather than Late Cretaceous. Systemic studies on the sandstone detrital model, heavy-mineral assemblage, and clasts of conglomerate demonstrate a mixed source of both Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes and ophiolite complex. Clasts of conglomerate contain abundant angular peridotite, gabbro, basalt, chert, andesite, and granite, and minor quartzite and gneiss clasts also exist. Sandstones of the Duoni Formation are dominated by feldspathic–lithic graywacke (Qt25F14L61 and Qm13F14L73), indicative of a mixture of continental-arc and recycled-orogen source origin. Detrital minerals of chromite, clinopyroxene, epidote, and hornblende in sandstone also indicate an origin of ultramafic and mafic rocks, while garnets indicate a metamorphosed source. Paleocurrent data demonstrate bidirectional (southward and northward) source origins. Thus, we suggest that the deposition of the Duoni Formation took place in the processes of the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision during the latest Early Cretaceous (∼ 113 Ma), and the BNTO had been closed by this time.

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C. Lowry ◽  
I.M. Longley

The tectonic history of the northern flank of the offshore Gippsland Basin can be divided into three phases:an Early Cretaceous rift phase (120-98 Ma) with deposition of the Strzelecki Group and extension in a northeast-southwest direction.a mid-Cretaceous phase (98-80 Ma) with deposition of the Golden Beach Group and extension in a northwest- southeast direction anda Late Cretaceous to Tertiary sag phase with intermittent compression or wrenching.Previous workers have described the first and third phases. This paper argues for a distinctive second phase with extension at right angles to the first phase. The complex Cretaceous structure in the Kipper-Hammerhead area is interpreted in terms of a model in which transfer faults of the first phase became domino faults of the second phase.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Yue Sun ◽  
Barry P. Kohn ◽  
Samuel C. Boone ◽  
Dongsheng Wang ◽  
Kaixing Wang

The Zhuguangshan complex hosts the main uranium production area in South China. We report (U-Th)/He and fission track thermochronological data from Triassic–Jurassic mineralized and non-mineralized granites and overlying Cambrian and Cretaceous sandstone units from the Lujing uranium ore field (LUOF) to constrain the upper crustal tectono-thermal evolution of the central Zhuguangshan complex. Two Cambrian sandstones yield reproducible zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages of 133–106 Ma and low effective uranium (eU) content (270–776 ppm). One Upper Cretaceous sandstone and seven Mesozoic granites are characterized by significant variability in ZHe ages (154–83 Ma and 167–36 Ma, respectively), which show a negative relationship with eU content (244–1098 ppm and 402–4615 ppm), suggesting that the observed age dispersion can be attributed to the effect of radiation damage accumulation on 4He diffusion. Correspondence between ZHe ages from sandstones and granites indicates that surrounding sedimentary rocks and igneous intrusions supplied sediment to the Cretaceous–Paleogene Fengzhou Basin lying adjacent to the LUOF. The concordance of apatite fission track (AFT) central ages (61–54 Ma) and unimodal distributions of confined track lengths of five samples from different rock units suggest that both sandstone and granite samples experienced a similar cooling history throughout the entire apatite partial annealing zone (~110–60 °C). Apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages from six non-mineralized samples range from 67 to 19 Ma, with no apparent correlation to eU content (2–78 ppm). Thermal history modeling of data suggests that the LUOF experienced relatively rapid Early Cretaceous cooling. In most samples, this was followed by the latest Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous reheating and subsequent latest Late Cretaceous–Recent cooling to surface temperatures. This history is considered as a response to the transmission of far-field stresses, involving alternating periods of regional compression and extension, related to paleo-Pacific plate subduction and subsequent rollback followed by Late Paleogene–Recent India–Asia collision and associated uplift and eastward extrusion of the Tibetan Plateau. Thermal history models are consistent with the Fengzhou Basin having been significantly more extensive in the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene, covering much of the LUOF. Uranium ore bodies which may have formed prior to the Late Cretaceous may have been eroded by as much as ~1.2 to 4.8 km during the latest Late Cretaceous–Recent denudation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin P. Furlong ◽  
Eric Kirby

The utilization of thermal-chronological data to constrain mountain building processes exploits the links among rock uplift, exhumation, and cooling during orogenesis. Conceptually, periods of rapid uplift and associated denudation will lead to cooling of rocks as they approach Earth’s surface. The linkage between uplift and exhumation can be complex, but in practice exhumation is often assumed to directly track uplift. The reconstruction of temperature-time histories via thermochronologic systems provides a proxy method to relate the cooling of rock as it is exhumed toward the surface to orogenesis. For the rapid exhumation rates that can occur in active orogenic systems the thermal history will be complex as a result of heat advection, rates of propagation of thermal perturbations, and other processes that affect the cooling behavior. These effects become amplified as exhumation rates increase, and in regions experiencing exhumation rates greater than ∼0.2–0.3 mm/yr (0.2–0.3 km/Ma) simple assumptions of cooling through a constant geotherm will bias the subsequent interpretation. Here we explore, through a suite of generalized models, the impact of exhumation rate and duration on the resulting thermal history and apparent age results. We then apply lessons from these simple exhumation systems to data sets from the high-relief ranges along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau to determine exhumation histories constrained by those data. The resulting exhumation histories provide constraints on the onset of Cenozoic exhumation, the subsequent pace of exhumation, and on the tectonic history of one of the major fault systems in the central Longmen Shan.


2011 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUAIYU HE ◽  
JIMIN SUN ◽  
QIULI LI ◽  
RIXIANG ZHU

AbstractKnowing when the Tibetan Plateau reached its present elevation is important for understanding the uplift history of Tibet. Recently, Rowley & Currie (2006) suggested that central Tibet exceeded 4000 m from 35 Ma to the Pliocene using the oxygen-isotope composition of calcareous minerals in Lunpola basin sediments. However, they adopted a poor age assignment for the Dingqing Formation in the Lunpola basin based on previous microfossil studies. In this study, we present SIMS U–Pb zircon dates from a bentonite layer intercalated within the middle to lower Dingqing Formation. Twenty-six measurements yield a highly reliable U–Pb age of 23.5 ± 0.2 Ma (2σ, MSWD = 1.1), suggesting that the deposition age of the Dingqing Formation is late Oligocene to early Miocene, much older than the Miocene–Pliocene age used by Rowley & Currie (2006). This age robustly constrains the age of Cenozoic sedimentary strata in central Tibet, and hence provides an important basis for estimating the palaeoelevation in the high Tibet during the geological past.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiwei Xue ◽  
Yani Najman ◽  
Xiumian Hu ◽  
Cristina Persano ◽  
Finlay M. Stuart ◽  
...  

<p>Knowledge of the geological history of the Tibetan plateau is critical to understanding crustal deformation process, and the plateau’s influence on climate. However, the timing of Tibetan plateau development remains controversial. The Nima Basin along the Jurassic-Cretaceous Bangong Suture in central Tibet provides well-dated records of exhumation in this area. Here, we present detrital zircon U-Pb, apatite U-Th/He (AHe) and apatite fission track data (AFT) from upper Cretaceous and Oligocene red sandstones and conglomerates in the Nima Basin, as well as from the Xiabie granite in the hanging wall of the basin-bounding Muggar Thrust. 4 granite conglomerate clasts from the above yield zircon U-Pb ages ranging between 114-122 Ma, which likely come from the Xiabie granite. 7 granitoid/sandstone conglomerate clasts yield AHe ages ranging from 21-58 Ma, while AFT ages range from 34-83 Ma. Thermal history inversion modelling for five of the above samples show a consistent rapid cooling from 100 ℃ to 30 ℃ between 50-40 Ma, the cooling rate decreased significantly after 40 Ma. Implications of these data, integrated in the context of previously published data for the wider region (e.g. Rohrmann et al. 2012; Haider et al., 2013; Li et al., 2019) will be discussed.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Reference</strong></p><p>Rohrmann, A et al., 2012, Thermochronologic evidence for plateau formation in central Tibet by 45 Ma: Geology, v. 40, p. 187-190.</p><p>Haider, V. L et al., 2013, Cretaceous to Cenozoic evolution of the northern Lhasa Terrane and the Early Paleogene development of peneplains at Nam Co, Tibetan Plateau: Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 70-71, p. 79-98.</p><p>Li, H. A et al., 2019, The formation and expansion of the eastern Proto-Tibetan Plateau: Insights from low-temperature thermochronology: Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 183, 103975.</p>


GeoArabia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Fournier ◽  
Claude Lepvrier ◽  
Philippe Razin ◽  
Laurent Jolivet

ABSTRACT After the obduction of the Semail ophiolitic nappe onto the Arabian Platform in the Late Cretaceous, north Oman underwent several phases of extension before being affected by compression in the framework of the Arabia-Eurasia convergence. A tectonic survey, based on structural analysis of fault-slip data in the post-nappe units of the Oman Mountains, allowed us to identify major events of the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic history of northern Oman. An early ENE-WSW extensional phase is indicated by synsedimentary normal faults in the Upper Cretaceous to lower Eocene formations. This extensional phase, which immediately followed ductile extension and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Saih Hatat region of the Oman Mountains, is associated with large-scale normal faulting in the northeast Oman margin and the development of the Abat Basin. A second extensional phase, recorded in lower Oligocene formations and only documented by minor structures, is characterized by NNE (N20°E) and NW (N150°E) oriented extensions. It is interpreted as the far-field effect of the Oligocene-Miocene rifting in the Gulf of Aden. A late E-W to NE-SW directed compressional phase started in the late Oligocene or early Miocene, shortly after the collision in the Zagros Mountains. It is attested by folding, and strike-slip and reverse faulting in the Cenozoic series. The direction of compression changed from ENE-WSW in the Early Miocene to almost N-S in the Pliocene.


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