scholarly journals The problems of the post-Cenomanian tectonic evolution of the central parts of the Sredna Gora Zone. The wrench tectonics – how real is real?

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-58
Author(s):  
Alexandre Kounov ◽  
Ianko Gerdjikov

The Sredna Gora Zone holds a unique place in the tectonic subdivisions of the Balkanide orogen and its evolution is still a subject of debate. In the last twenty years, the idea of strike-slip-related evolution of the zone has been invoked. However, for the moment, the number of thorough studies where such a scenario is envisaged is limited, and substantial evidence based on detailed fieldwork is still missing. In this article, we discuss some of the major problems of the suggested wrench tectonic concept in the evolution of the central part of the Sredna Gora Zone. These are the character of some major shear zones in the area, to which strike-slip movements are attributed, and the transtension-transpression evolution scenario for the Chelopech and Panagyurishte basins. Despite refuting completely their wrench tectonic-related evolution, we confirm the presence of strike-slip and oblique slip structures cutting the sediments, whereas the time of their activity and role in the deformation of the basin fill are yet to be revealed. Finally, we present a model based on natural examples and analogue modeling, in which the long-lived dextral Maritsa shear zone represents a zone of localized strain partitioning, separating the opposite vergent thrust belts of the Rhodope to the south and the Sredna Gora and Balkan fold-thrust belt to the north, during oblique or possibly orthogonal convergence.

The Precambrian orogenic belts of Africa are often defined by ductile shear zones which developed in response to large displacements, and which mark orogenic ‘ fronts ’ between mobile and stable parts of the crust. They are thought to represent the major crustal reflectors seen by seismic reflection profiling in younger orogenic belts. These orogenic fronts are connected by shear zones that transfer displacement or accommodate different displacements, between orogenic segments. Smaller shears within an orogenic belt occur as a result of differential movements. These shear zones are seen to pass from flat-lying to steep structures and may have a thrust or strike-slip sense. They compare with the staircase trajectories characteristic of foreland thrust belts. In common with thrust belts, the geometry of the shear zones can be used to estimate displacement direction, as can regional extensional fabrics developed in the associated high-strain tectonites. Central Africa has been previously described as a complex network of late Proterozoic ‘mobile belts’. The recognition of similar displacements and time equivalence in these belts allows their reinterpretation in terms of a linked thrust and strike-slip shear-zone system. An example is the Damaran, Lufilian, Zambezi and Ukingan system. These orogenic belts share a similar displacement picture and broad time equivalence and were apparently linked in a lower crustal shear zone of continental dimensions. This shear zone system appears to have developed under a single tectonic framework


2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Celâl Şengör ◽  
Céline Grall ◽  
Caner İmren ◽  
Xavier Le Pichon ◽  
Naci Görür ◽  
...  

The North Anatolian Fault is a 1200 km long strike-slip fault system connecting the East Anatolian convergent area with the Hellenic subduction zone and, as such, represents an intracontinental transform fault. It began forming some 13–11 Ma ago within a keirogen, called the North Anatolian Shear Zone, which becomes wider from east to west. Its width is maximum at the latitude of the Sea of Marmara, where it is 100 km. The Marmara Basin is unique in containing part of an active strike-slip fault system in a submarine environment in which there has been active sedimentation in a Paratethyan context where stratigraphic resolution is higher than elsewhere in the Mediterranean. It is also surrounded by a long-civilised rim where historical records reach well into the second half of the first millennium BCE (before common era). In this study, we have used 210 multichannel seismic reflexion profiles, adding up to 6210 km profile length and high-resolution bathymetry and chirp profiles reported in the literature to map all the faults that are younger than the Oligocene. Within these faults, we have distinguished those that cut the surface and those that do not. Among the ones that do not cut the surface, we have further created a timetable of fault generation based on seismic sequence recognition. The results are surprising in that faults of all orientations contain subsets that are active and others that are inactive. This suggests that as the shear zone evolves, faults of all orientations become activated and deactivated in a manner that now seems almost haphazard, but a tendency is noticed to confine the overall movement to a zone that becomes narrower with time since the inception of the shear zone, i.e., the whole keirogen, at its full width. In basins, basin margins move outward with time, whereas highs maintain their faults free of sediment cover, making their dating difficult, but small perched basins on top of them in places make relative dating possible. In addition, these basins permit comparison of geological history of the highs with those of the neighbouring basins. The two westerly deeps within the Sea of Marmara seem inherited structures from the earlier Rhodope–Pontide fragment/Sakarya continent collision, but were much accentuated by the rise of the intervening highs during the shear evolution. When it is assumed that below 10 km depth the faults that now constitute the Marmara fault family might have widths approaching 4 km, the resulting picture resembles a large version of an amphibolite-grade shear zone fabric, an inference in agreement with the scale-independent structure of shear zones. We think that the North Anatolian Fault at depth has such a fabric not only on a meso, but also on a macro scale. Detection of such broad, vertical shear zones in Precambrian terrains may be one way to get a handle on relative plate motion directions during those remote times.


Author(s):  
P Papadimitriou ◽  
V Kapetanidis ◽  
A Karakonstantis ◽  
I Spingos ◽  
K Pavlou ◽  
...  

Summary The properties of the Mw = 6.7 earthquake that took place on 25 October 2018, 22:54:51 UTC, ∼50 km SW of the Zakynthos Island, Greece, are thoroughly examined. The main rupture occurred on a dextral strike-slip, low-angle, east-dipping fault at a depth of 12 km, as determined by teleseismic waveform modelling. Over 4000 aftershocks were manually analysed for a period of 158 days. The events were initially located with an optimal 1D velocity model and then relocated with the double-difference method to reveal details of their spatial distribution. The latter spreads in an area spanning 80 km NNW-SSE and ∼55 km WSW-ENE. Certain parts of the aftershock zone present strong spatial clustering, mainly to the north, close to Zakynthos Island, and at the southernmost edge of the sequence. Focal mechanisms were determined for 61 significant aftershocks using regional waveform modelling. The results revealed characteristics similar to the mainshock, with few aftershocks exhibiting strike-slip faulting at steeper dip angles, possibly related to splay faults on the accretionary prism. The slip vectors that correspond to the east-dipping planes are compatible with the long-term plate convergence and with the direction of coseismic displacement on the Zakynthos Island. Fault-plane solutions in the broader study area were inverted for the determination of the regional stress-field. The results revealed a nearly horizontal, SW-NE to E-W-trending S1 and a more variable S3 axis, favouring transpressional tectonics. Spatial clusters at the northern and southern ends of the aftershock zone coincide with the SW extension of sub-vertical along-dip faults of the segmented subducting slab. The mainshock occurred in an area where strike-slip tectonics, related to the Cephalonia Transform Fault and the NW Peloponnese region, gradually converts into reverse faulting at the western edge of the Hellenic subduction. Plausible scenarios for the 2018 Zakynthos earthquake sequence include a rupture on the subduction interface, provided the slab is tilted eastwards in that area, or the reactivation of an older east-dipping thrust as a low-angle strike-slip fault that contributes to strain partitioning.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanlin Hou ◽  
Hongyuan Zhang ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Yudong Wu

A previous study of the Dabie area has been supposed that a strong extensional event happened between the Yangtze and North China blocks. The entire extensional system is divided into the Northern Dabie metamorphic complex belt and the south extensional tectonic System according to geological and geochemical characteristics in our study. The Xiaotian-Mozitan shear zone in the north boundary of the north system is a thrust detachment, showing upper block sliding to the NNE, with a displacement of more than 56 km. However, in the south system, the shearing direction along the Shuihou-Wuhe and Taihu-Mamiao shear zones is tending towards SSE, whereas that along the Susong-Qingshuihe shear zone tending towards SW, with a displacement of about 12 km. Flinn index results of both the north and south extensional systems indicate that there is a shear mechanism transition from pure to simple, implying that the extensional event in the south tectonic system could be related to a magma intrusion in the Northern Dabie metamorphic complex belt. Two 40Ar-39Ar ages of mylonite rocks in the above mentioned shear zones yielded, separately, ~190 Ma and ~124 Ma, referring to a cooling age of ultrahigh-pressure rocks and an extensional era later.


2014 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 1101-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABRÍCIO A. CAXITO ◽  
ALEXANDRE UHLEIN ◽  
LUIZ F.G. MORALES ◽  
MARCOS EGYDIO-SILVA ◽  
JULIO C.D. SANGLARD ◽  
...  

The Rio Preto fold belt borders the northwestern São Francisco craton and shows an exquisite kilometric doubly-vergent asymmetric fan structure, of polyphasic structural evolution attributed exclusively to the Brasiliano Orogeny (∼600-540 Ma). The fold belt can be subdivided into three structural compartments: The Northern and Southern compartments showing a general NE-SW trend, separated by the Central Compartment which shows a roughly E-W trend. The change of dip of S2, a tight crenulation foliation which is the main structure of the fold belt, between the three compartments, characterizes the fan structure. The Central Compartment is characterized by sub-vertical mylonitic quartzites, which materialize a system of low-T strike slip shear zones (Malhadinha – Rio Preto Shear Zone) crosscutting the central portion of the fold belt. In comparison to published analog models, we consider that the unique structure of the Rio Preto fold belt was generated by the oblique, dextral-sense interaction between the Cristalândia do Piauí block to the north and the São Francisco craton to the south.


2010 ◽  
Vol 181 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Gasquet ◽  
Jean-Michel Bertrand ◽  
Jean-Louis Paquette ◽  
Jérémie Lehmann ◽  
Gueorgui Ratzov ◽  
...  

Abstract U-Pb and Th-Pb dating of monazite from hydrothermal quartz veins (“Alpine veins”) from the Lauzière massif (North Belledonne) together with Ar/Ar ages of adularias from the same veins constrain the age of the last tectono-metamorphic events that affected the External Crystalline Massifs (ECM). Ages obtained are surprisingly young. The study of the structural context of the veins combined with our chronological data, allow us to propose a tectonic scenario of the northern ECM for the 15-5 Ma period, which was poorly documented so far. The quartz veins are of two types: (i) the oldest are poorly mineralized (chlorite and epidote), flat-lying veins. The quartz fibres (= extension direction) are near vertical and seem to be associated with a subvertical dissolution schistosity superimposed upon an early Alpine deformation underlined by “mini-biotite”. They bear a sub-horizontal stretching lineation; (ii) the youngest veins are very rich in various minerals (anatase, rutile, phénacite, meneghinite, beryl, synchysite, ….). They are almost vertical. Their “en echelon” geometry as well as the horizontal attitude of their quartz fibres show a dextral strike-slip regime. Two groups of Th-Pb ages have been obtained: 11 to 10 Ma and 7 to 5 Ma. They were obtained from the most recent veins (vertical veins) sampled in different areas of the massif. The ca. 10 Ma ages are related to veins in the Lauzière granite and its metamorphic country-rocks at about 2 km from the eastern contact of the massif, while the ages of ca. 5 Ma correspond to veins occurring in mylonites along this contact. Adularias provided Ar/Ar ages at ca. 7 Ma. By contrast, a monazite from a vein of the Pelvoux massif (Plan du Lac) yielded a Th-Pb age of 17.6 Ma but in a different structural setting. Except fission track ages, there are very little ages of this range published in the recent literature on the Alps. The latter concern always gold mineralized veins (NE Mont Blanc and SW Lepontine dome). The last compressive tectonic regime dated between 15 and 12 Ma is coeval with (i) the late “Roselend thrust” event, which is recorded in the Mont Blanc by shear-zones with vertical lineation, (ii) the last movements in the basal mylonites of the Swiss Nappes, (iii) the horizontal Alpine veins from the Mont Blanc and Belledonne massifs (with vertical quartz fibres), which are similar to the early veins of the Lauzière. On the contrary, the vertical veins of the Lauzière, dated between 11 and 5 Ma, correspond to a dextral strike slip regime. This suggests that most of the strike-slip tectonics along the ECM took place during two stages (ca. 10 Ma and ca. 7-5 Ma) and not only at 18 Ma as had been proposed previously. Our ages are consistent with the late Miocene-Pliocene overlap of the Digne thrust to the South and to part of the normal movement along the Simplon fault to the North. Thus, all the external crystalline massifs were tectonically active during the late Miocene. This suggests that tectonic events in the external alpine belt may have contributed to some extent to the geodynamical causes of the Messinian crisis.


Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Barnes ◽  
Katarzyna Walczak ◽  
Emilie Janots ◽  
David Schneider ◽  
Jarosław Majka

The Vestgӧtabreen Complex exposed in the Southwestern Caledonian Basement Province of Svalbard comprises two Caledonian high-pressure units. In situ white mica 40Ar/39Ar and monazite Th-U-total Pb geochronology has resolved the timing of the tectonic evolution of the complex. Cooling of the Upper Unit during exhumation occurred at 476 ± 2 Ma, shortly after eclogite-facies metamorphism. The two units were juxtaposed at 454 ± 6 Ma. This was followed by subaerial exposure and deposition of Bullbreen Group sediments. A 430–400 Ma late Caledonian phase of thrusting associated with major sinistral shearing throughout Svalbard deformed both the complex and the overlying sediments. This phase of thrusting is prominently recorded in the Lower Unit, and is associated with a pervasive greenschist-facies metamorphic overprint of high-pressure lithologies. A c. 365–344 Ma geochronological record may represent an Ellesmerian tectonothermal overprint. Altogether, the geochronological evolution of the Vestgӧtabreen Complex, with previous petrological and structural studies, suggests that it may be a correlative to the high-pressure Tsäkkok Lens in the Scandinavian Caledonides. It is suggested that the Vestgӧtabreen Complex escaped to the periphery of the orogen along the sinistral strike-slip shear zones prior to, or during the initial stages of continental collision between Baltica and Laurentia.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahui Qian

<p>Ductile shear zones <span>usually record mineralogical and isotopic changes that are not apparent in the surrounding host rocks and thus may preserve a complete evolutionary record in a single locale from relatively undeformed to highly deformed rocks. </span>The Zhujiafang ductile shear zone is situated in the central Hengshan Complex, a key area for understanding the Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Trans-North China Orogen, North China Craton. Detailed metamorphic and geochronological analyses were carried out on metapelite and garnet amphibolite from the Zhujiafang ductile shear zone. The metapelite preserves two phases of mineral assemblages: early kyanite-rutile-bearing assemblage and late chlorite-staurolite-bearing assemblage in garnet–mica schist, and inclusion-type muscovite (high-Si) + kyanite assemblage and late sillimanite-bearing assemblage in sillimanite–mica gneiss. Garnet in the metapelite occasionally exhibits pronounced two-stage zoning characteristic of a diffusion core with irregular pyrope (X<sub>py</sub>) and grossular (X<sub>gr</sub>) contents and a growth rim with X<sub>py</sub> and X<sub>gr</sub> increasing outwards. The isopleths of the maximum X<sub>gr</sub> in garnet core and Si content in inclusion-type muscovite in the P–T pseudosections suggest that the early mineral assemblages underwent medium-high-pressure type metamorphism with pressures up to 12–14 kbar at 700–750 °C. The late assemblages and the growth zoning of garnet rim predict a late separated clockwise P–T path with peak conditions of 6.5 ± 0.2 kbar/620 ± 10 °C (medium-low-pressure type). The garnet amphibolite is mainly composed of garnet, hornblende, plagioclase, ilmenite and quartz, without overprinting of late mineral assemblages except for localized corona textures. Phase modeling suggests that the rock has experienced high-amphibolite facies metamorphism with peak conditions of 10.5 ± 0.8 kbar/770 ± 50 °C, which is broadly consistent with the early-phase metamorphism of metapelite. Zircon U–Pb dating on metapelite yields two metamorphic age groups of 1.96–1.92 Ga and 1.87–1.86 Ga which are interpreted to represent the timing of the two separated phases of metamorphism. Two separated orogenic events may have occurred respectively at ~1.95 Ga and ~1.85 Ga in the Hengshan–Wutai area. The older orogeny was resulted from continental collision and the younger one may be caused by within-plate deformation. The final exhumation of the high-grade rocks formed in the older (i.e. 1.95 Ga) orogeny should be related with the younger deformation/metamorphic event. For more details, please refer to <span>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2019.02.001.</span></p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Kedar ◽  
Clare Bond ◽  
David Muirhead

<p>Multi-layered stratigraphic sequences present ample opportunity for the study of strain localization and its complexities. By constraining mechanisms of crustal weakening, it is possible to gain a sounder understanding of the dynamic evolution of the Earth’s crust, especially when applied to realistic, field-based scenarios. One such mechanism is that of strain-related carbon ordering. This is the process whereby the amorphous nanostructure of fossilized organic matter contained within the rock is progressively organized towards a more sheet-like structure, similar to that of graphite. One common method of studying this process is through Raman spectroscopy. This is a non-destructive tool which makes use of the relative positions and intensities of two key spectral peaks, where one peak represents graphitic carbon and the other disordered (or amorphous) carbon. The intensity ratio between these two peaks suggests the degree to which the carbon has progressed from its original kerogen-like structure towards that of graphite. This progression can be due to increasing temperature or increasing strain, and until now, these two contributory factors have been difficult to separate, particularly in field examples.</p><p>Previous field-based studies have focused on carbon ordering on fault planes, while experimental studies have monitored the effects of strain-related ordering in organic carbon on both fault surfaces and more distributed shear zones. These studies confirmed the occurrence of strain-related ordering at seismic rates, particularly in the form of graphitization of carbon. However, these experiments showed the effects of strain-related ordering at aseismic rates to be limited when distributed shear zones were considered, in part due to the geological timescales required to emulate true conditions.</p><p>In this study, Raman spectroscopy is used to compare the relative nanostructural order of organic carbon within a recumbent isoclinal fold formed of interbedded limestones and marls. The central, overturned fold limb forms a 170m wide, 1km long aseismic shear zone, with evidence of increased strain recorded in calcite grains relative to the upper and lower limbs. Raman spectroscopy intensity ratios (I[d]/I[g]) are compared across the fold, showing a marked 23% decrease in the overturned limb. Such a decrease in I[d]/I[g] suggests increased carbon ordering within the overturned limb, which in combination with evidence for increased strain in calcite, suggests that the carbon ordering here is derived directly from strain-related ordering. This has important implications. We infer, from previous studies, that strain-related carbon ordering encourages further strain partitioning in carbonaceous material, and may enhance zones of weakness in the rock. This ordering in aseismic shear zones has so far been unreported in nature, and so our field-based results are significant in supporting previous experimental evidence for this phenomenon. Our results also have implications for understanding dynamic crustal evolution, and will play an important role in the development of Raman thermobarometry, especially since current methods do not distinguish between strain-related and temperature-related ordering.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 483-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márton Palotai ◽  
László Csontos

Strike-slip reactivation of a Paleogene to Miocene fold and thrust belt along the central part of the Mid-Hungarian Shear ZoneRecently shot 3D seismic data allowed for a detailed interpretation, aimed at the tectonic evolution of the central part of the Mid-Hungarian Shear Zone (MHZ). The MHZ acted as a NW vergent fold and thrust belt in the Late Oligocene. The intensity of shortening increased westwards, causing clockwise rotation of the western regions, relatively to the mildly deformed eastern areas. Blind thrusting and related folding in the MHZ continued in the Early Miocene. Thrusting and gentle folding in the MHZ partly continued in the earliest Pannonian, and was followed by sinistral movements in the whole MHZ, with maximal displacement along the Tóalmás zone. Late Pannonian inversion activated thrusts and generated transpressional movements along the Tóalmás zone.


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