Kinematics and Geochronology of Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic Ductile Deformation in the Alxa Block, NW China: New Constraints on the Evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Strike-slip faults are widely developed throughout the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), one of the largest Phanerozoic accretionary orogenic collages in the world, and may have played a key role in its evolution. Recent studies have shown that a large number of Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic ductile shear zones developed along the southern CAOB. This study reports the discovery of a NW–SE striking, approximately 500 km long and up to 2 km wide regional ductile shear zone in the southern Alxa Block, the Southern Alxa Ductile Shear Zone (SADSZ), which is located in the central part of the southern CAOB. The nearly vertical mylonitic foliation and subhorizontal stretching lineation indicate that the SADSZ is a ductile strike-slip shear zone, and various kinematic indicators indicate dextral shearing. The zircon U-Pb ages and the 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of the muscovite and biotite indicate that the dextral ductile shearing was active during Middle Permian to Middle Triassic (ca. 269–240 Ma). The least horizontal displacement of the SADSZ is constrained between ca. 40 and 50 km. The aeromagnetic data shows that the SADSZ is in structural continuity with the coeval shear zones in the central and northern Alxa Block, and these connected shear zones form a ductile strike-slip duplex in the central part of the southern CAOB. The ductile strike-slip duplex in the Alxa Block, including the SADSZ, connected the dextral ductile shear zones in the western and eastern parts of the southern CAOB to form a 3000 km long E-W trending dextral shear zone, which developed along the southern CAOB during Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic. This large-scale dextral shear zone was caused by the eastward migration of the orogenic collages and blocks of the CAOB and indicates a transition from convergence to transcurrent setting of the southern CAOB during Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic.

The Beni Bousera marbles, record of a Triassic-Early Jurassic hyperextended margin in the Alpujarrides-Sebtides units (Rif belt, Morocco)?

The timing and process of exhumation of the subcontinental peridotites of the Gibraltar Arc (Ronda, Beni Bousera) have been repeatedly discussed in the last decades. Here we report on high-grade marbles that crop out around the central and southeastern parts of the Beni Bousera antiform of northern Rif. Instead of being mere intercalations in the granulitic envelope (kinzigites) of the peridotites, as currently admitted, they are localized between the kinzigites and the gneisses of the overlying Filali Unit. The marbles occur in the form of minor, dismembered units in a ~30 to 300 m-thick Filali-Beni Bousera ductile shear zone (FBBSZ). They display silicate-rich dolomitic marbles, sandy-conglomeratic calcareous marbles and thinly bedded marble with interleaved phyllites, which demonstrates their sedimentary origin. A stratigraphic or tectonic unconformable contact onto the kinzigites can be locally observed. Pebbles or detrital grains include K-feldspar, quartz, and zircon. Prograde metamorphic minerals are forsterite, Mg-Al-spinel, geikielite, phlogopite, scapolite, diopside, and titanite, which characterize a peak HT-LP metamorphism close to 700-750°C, 4-7 kbar, comparable to that of the overlying Filali gneisses and of the late migmatitic stage of the kinzigites. Second-order structures within the FBBSZ are northwestward ductile thrusts, which determine kinzigite horses thrust over the marbles. Within the latter, NNE-trending folds are conspicuous. The mylonitic structures are crosscut by late, northward dipping normal faults. Varied correlations with comparable settings in the other West Mediterranean Alpine belts are discussed. We propose to correlate the Beni Bousera marbles with the Triassic carbonates deposited over the crustal units of the Alpujarrides-Sebtides. The Triassic protoliths may have been deposited onto the kinzigites or carried as allochthons over a detachment during the Early Jurassic in the frame of the hyper-extension of the Alboran Domain continental crust, as observed in the Adria and Europe inverted margins of the Western Alps. In either of these hypotheses, the currently prevailing paradigm of “hot” exhumation of the Rif–Betic peridotites during the Alpine orogeny would be reconsidered.

40Ar/ 39Ar laser dating of Zongwulong ductile shear zone in northeastern Tibetan Plateau ：Constrains on the closure time of the northmost Paleo-Tethys ocean

<p><strong><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gepj.67d6c7216eff55356050161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=5572aca4b392eef83f52919e1be673e9&ct=x&pn=gepj.elif&d=1" alt="">Abstract</strong>：The Zongwulong tectonic belt (ZTB) is located between the northern Qaidam tectonic belt and the south Qilian orogenic belt and contains Late Paleozoic and Early- Middle Triassic strata. Structural features and geochronology of Zongwulong ductile shear zone have key implications for the tectonic property of the ZTB. This study integrated field structure, microscopic structure and <sup>40</sup>Ar/<sup>39</sup>Ar laser probe analysis. The shear zone strikes ~NEE-SWW and dips at a high angle, with a NWW-SEE trending and WE stretching lineation, indicating the shear zone as a thrust- slip shear ductile shear. The asymmetric folds, rotating porphyroclast,structural lens and crenulation cleavage can be seen in the field. Mica fish, S − C fabrics, σ type quartz porphyroclastic and quartz wire drawing structure can also be observed under microscope, indicating that the strike- slip- related ductile deformation and mylonitization occurred under low- grade greenschist facies conditions at temperatures of <em>300° C − 400° C</em>.  The highly deformed<br>mylonite schist yielded <sup>40</sup>Ar/<sup>39</sup>Ar ages <em>(245.8±1.7)Ma </em>and <em>(238.5±2.6)</em>Ma for muscovite and biotite, respectively, indicating that the shear deformation occurred during the Early- Mid Triassic. Combined with comprehensive analysis of regional geology and petrology, the authors hold that the age of ductile shear deformation represents the time of Triassic orogeny in the ZTB. The oroginic activity was probably related to the oblique collision between the South Qilian block and the Oulongbuluke block after the closure of the northermost Paleo-Tethys ocean.</p>

Kinematics, non-coaxial flow and rheological constraints of the South Tibetan Detachment System in central Himalaya

<p>A challenge in tectonic studies concerns the attempt to relate deformation features at the microscale and the crystalline lattice scale of rock-forming minerals up to the regional scale. The South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS) in Himalaya is a natural laboratory for such correlations, being a prime example of regional-scale low-angle ductile extensional fault/shear zone systems within collisional settings, with a top-down-to-the-north sense of shear. The STDS shearing involves, with a thickness of c. 1-2 km, the uppermost part of the metamorphic core of the belt, the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS), and the basal part of the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS), developing a mylonitic foliation and a nearly constant strike. Recurrent ideas on the STDS architecture and rheological behavior come from the clearly and well exposed 3D outcrops around the Everest area (Eastern Nepal), where it mostly developed in quartz-bearing lithologies with a lower ductile shear zone and an upper brittle fault. Vice versa, the location of the exact shear zone boundaries and structural evolution of the STDS are still under controversial discussions in Central-Western Nepal, where few kinematic indicators occur in the carbonate-bearing lithologies of both GHS and THS.</p><p>In this contribution, we examine a suite of over 20 field-oriented marble samples affected by the STDS, comparing the deformation recorded by calcite in two different areas in central Himalaya, where essentially only the ductile shear zone has been clearly identified. Calcite microstructures (e.g., grain size and shape) and crystallographic preferred orientations (textures) of impure marbles from the Lower Dolpo region and pure marbles from the Manaslu area (Western Nepal), coupled with petrographic observations, allowed us to conclude on temperature, paleo stress, strain rates, and kinematic of the flow. Our results support the idea of a complex history of the STDS in regard to different thermal and lithospheric stress regimes during deformation. Decreasing temperatures from an early-stage of shearing (at HT-MT condition) to a late-stage of shearing (LT conditions) are coupled with increasing differential stress recorded at comparable strain rates and decreasing simple shear conditions. We propose a progressive exhumation of the STDS towards shallower structural levels, with a temporal (rather than spatial) lowering of kinematic vorticity (“decelerating strain path”), in which progressively more general shear replaced high-temperature simple shear flow during cooling, strain hardening, and narrowing of the shear zone. Microstructural and texture analysis of pure and impure marble proved to be a useful approach to characterize the STDS location and architecture, supporting that, when the upper-brittle fault is not well developed, the ductile shearing proceeded at high structural levels.</p>

Analysis of the Submicrostructural Deformation of Amphibole in a Ductile Shear Zone Based on the TEM Technique

Deformed amphibole in the plagioclase amphibolite mylonite of the Guandi Complex, Xishan, Beijing, is the research object in this study. The amphibole nanodeformation under the middle crust was analyzed using microstructural analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Microscope observations show that the amphibolite deformations in the plagioclase amphibolite mylonite are δ and σ type porphyroclasts, and the porphyroclast tail is composed of new long-columnar crystals. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM, and this acronyms would be defined only once), the authors observed the nanodeformation characteristics of the amphibole porphyroclast core and mantle. Dislocation tangles are dominant in the porphyroclast core, and inside the new crystal, there is little or no dislocation. Swelled new crystals surrounded by dislocation can be observed in the transition zone between the porphyroclasts and new crystals. The deformed amphibole microstructure and submicrostructure represent typical brittle–ductile transitional deformation. The deformation process can be divided into two stages: the disordered dislocation increment stage and the dislocation reduction and ordering stage. Crystalline plastic deformation occurs in the amphibole in the plagioclase amphibolite mylonite of the Xishan area, Beijing. The crystalline plastic deformation temperature in amphiboles is higher than that in plagioclase.