中蒙边界早白垩世不对称花岗岩穹隆的伸展时限、剪切作用类型和区域构造意义

东北亚大陆于晚中生代时期发生了大规模地壳伸展,发育变质核杂岩和不对称花岗岩穹隆,其伸展剪切机制一直是构造研究的重要内容之一。中蒙边界东南段沿北东向展布了罕乌拉、纳兰和宝德尔等3个不对称花岗岩伸展穹隆,主体均为晚中生代花岗岩侵入体,岩体西北缘发育韧性剪切(糜棱岩)带,并被后期高角度正断层所围限,整体为穹隆状。根据罕乌拉穹隆韧性剪切带内强变形中粗粒钾长花岗岩(133±1 Ma)和弱变形细粒花岗岩(128±2 Ma)的构造关系及其锆石U-Pb年龄,推测该穹隆内岩体可能为同伸展岩体,韧性伸展时间在133 Ma之后并持续至128 Ma或更晚,与同区其他穹隆发育时限相同。笔者用R_f/ф方法测量了3个穹隆剪切带内糜棱岩中长石的有限应变轴率,利用Hsu图解获得其应变类型为平面压扁应变(k=0.5)。用长石极莫尔圆法、刚性颗粒网法和C轴石英组构法估算了韧性剪切的长期变形过程,得到糜棱岩的平均运动学涡度值为0.68～0.74,表明这些穹隆的韧性剪切作用主要是纯剪切和简单剪切分量几乎相等的一般剪切作用。石英斜向条带法测得的韧性变形后期的运动学涡度值为0.87～0.99,平均值为0.93...     

内蒙古呼和浩特变质核杂岩韧性拆离带40Ar-39Ar定年及其构造含义

晚中生代,内蒙古大青山依次经历晚侏罗世盘羊山逆冲推覆、早白垩世呼和浩特变质核杂岩伸展、早白垩世大青山逆冲推覆断层及早白垩世以来高角度正断层复杂构造演化。其中,呼和浩特变质核杂岩韧性剪切带的冷却时间和抬升机制的制约尚不明确。本文在野外考察和显微构造分析基础上,采用逐步加热40Ar-39Ar定年法对韧性剪切带内不同单矿物的冷却年龄进行了测定。角闪石、白云母、黑云母和钾长石单矿物40Ar-39Ar冷却年龄处于120~116Ma之间。结合已有年龄数据及单矿物封闭温度,构建了韧性剪切带的冷却曲线。结果表明,韧性剪切带在122~115Ma期间存在一个明显的快速冷却过程。这一阶段快速冷却是与变质核杂岩拆离断层相关核部杂岩拆离折返作为大青山逆冲推覆断层上盘抬升的结果。     

The Liaonan Metamorphic Core Complex： Constitution, Structure and Evolution

The Liaonan metamorphic core complex (mcc) has a three-layer structure and is constituted by five parts, i.e. a detachment fault zone, an allochthonous upper plate and an supradetachment basin above the fault zone, and highly metamorphosed rocks and intrusive rocks in the lower plate. The allochthonous upper plate is mainly of Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic rocks weakly deformed and metamorphosed in pre-Indosinan stage. Above these rocks is a small-scale supradetachment basin of Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The lower plate is dominated by Archean TTG gneisses with minor amount of supracrustal rocks. The Archean rocks are intruded by late Mesozoic synkinematic monzogranitic and granitic plutons. Different types of fault rocks, providing clues to the evolution of the detachment fault zone, are well-preserved in the fault zone, e.g. mylonitic gneiss, mylonites, brecciated mylonites, microbreccias and pseudotachylites. Lineations in lower plate granitic intrusions have consistent orientation that indicate uniform top-to-NW shearing along the main detachment fault zone. This also provides evidence for the synkinematic characteristics of the granitic plutons in the lower plate. Structural analysis of the different parts in the mcc and isotopic dating of plutonic rocks from the lower plate and mylonitic rocks from detachment fault zone suggest that exhumation of the mcc started with regional crustal extension due to crustal block rotation and tangential shearing. The extension triggered magma formation, upwelling and emplacement. This event ended with appearance of pseudotachylite and fault gauges formed at the uppermost crustal level. U-Pb dating of single zircon grains from granitic rocks in the lower plate gives an age of 130±5 Ma, and biotite grains from the mam detachment fault zone have 40Ar-39Ar ages of 108-119 Ma. Several aspects may provide constraints for the exhumation of the Liaonan mcc. These include regional extensional setting, cover/basement contact, temporal and spatial coupling of extension and magmatism, basin development and evolution of fault tectonites along detachment fault zone. We propose that the exhumation of the Liaonan mcc resulted from regional extension and thinning of crust or lithosphere in eastern North China, and accompanied with synkinematic intrusion of granitic plutons, formation of detachment fault zone, uplifting and exhumation of lower-plate rocks, and appearance of supradetachment basin.     

Crustal thinning during Mesozoic extensional detachment faulting in the Yiwulüshan region,eastern North China Craton

Two stages of extension affected the Yiwulüshan area, forming the Yiwulü High-Temperature Extensional Ductile Shear Zone (YHED) and the Waziyu Low-Temperature Extensional Ductile Shear Zone (WLED) during the Middle–Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, respectively. The YHED and WLED are characterized by elongation strain and plane strain, respectively. Kinematic vorticity values (W_k ), estimated from polar Mohr diagrams, suggest that pure shear-dominated and thinning-related shearing generated the YHED, whereas simple and pure shearing created the WLED during crustal thinning. From the thickness (H) and the thinning rate (μ) of the ductile shear zones, the reduced crustal thickness due to ductile shearing was estimated to be approximately 3.72 km. Based on structural analysis, contact relationships, and geochronological data, we propose that intense extensional detachment contributed to the stratigraphic gap along a Middle–Late Jurassic ductile detachment shear zone at the contact between Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks and the Archaean basement. Furthermore, this ductile detachment shear zone was reactivated in the Early Cretaceous and lasted for 7.48 million years. After correlating the stratigraphy of the Yiwulüshan area with regions adjacent to it, we conclude that a 1.46–1.69 km-thick section of Proterozoic and Archaean basement is missing along the ductile detachment shear zone. We estimate that the crustal thickness in the Yiwulüshan region has been reduced by more than 5.41 km because of extension-related shearing and this stratigraphic gap. In addition, numerous Mesozoic extensional structures occur throughout the northeastern North China Craton, and crustal thinning has been accommodated along all of them. Our findings highlight the importance of extensional detachments and crustal thinning to lithospheric thinning.     

鲁西青邑韧性剪切带运动学涡度及剪切作用类型

青邑韧性剪切带是晚太古代末期发育在鲁西前寒武纪基底花岗岩中一条规模较大的韧性剪切带。剪切带NW走向,面理直立,线理水平,剪切标志反映右行剪切。石英光轴法求得运动学涡度在0．96～0．99之间变化,极摩尔圆法求得糜棱岩化岩石运动学涡度为0．91,初糜棱岩运动学涡度为0．87,糜棱岩运动学涡度为0．81,超糜棱岩运动学涡度为0．60。运动学涡度表明,剪切带剪切作用类型为一般剪切,变形初期以单剪为主,随应变的增大,运动学涡度值逐渐减小,变形的纯剪分量不断增加,最后以纯剪为主。剪切作用类型及三维参照变形分析表明,青邑韧性剪切带属加长一变宽类型的一般剪切带并且在Y轴方向上有所增长。韧性剪切在太古代末期克拉通化过程中具有加厚陆壳的作用。     

庐山变质核杂岩东侧的伸展拆离及构造意义

庐山变质核杂岩东侧的星子牛屎墩地区出露与西侧拆离带相似的伸展拆离滑脱、韧性流变的构造现象, 岩层整体呈现上盘向南东滑脱的正断层性质, 推测庐山变质核杂岩东侧的拆离带就在此处, 而并非五里正断层。东侧拆离带内岩石以糜棱岩、糜棱状岩石及混合岩为主, 并发育大量的长英质脉体, 形成温压较高, 埋深较大, 其糜棱岩带、构造片岩带保留完好。运动学涡度分析得到涡度W_k>0.75, 表明该拆离系为以单剪为主的一般剪切带。根据糜棱岩中长石的变形特征估算东侧拆离带的形成温度为650 ℃~700 ℃, 与西侧拆离带近于一致。锆石U-Pb年龄测定得到东侧拆离带的伸展年龄为140~135 Ma, 也代表了庐山变质核杂岩的形成时间。     

Structural geometry and kinematics of the Ailao Shan shear zone: insights from integrated structural,microstructural, and fabric studies of the Yao Shan complex,Yunnan, Southwest China

ABSTRACT

The Yao Shan complex, a massif near the southern segment of the Ailao Shan–Red River (ASRR) shear zone, bears important information on the structural framework of the massif and the kinematics of ductile shearing along the ASRR shear zone. In this contribution, structural, microstructural, quartz c-axis fabric, magnetic fabric, and geochronologic data are used to determine the structural framework of the Yao Shan massif and its tectonic implications for the ASRR shear zone. The Yao Shan complex is characterized by an overall linear A-type antiform that contains a core of high-grade metamorphic rocks with Palaeoproterozoic to Mesozoic protoliths and a mantle of Permo-Triassic low-grade rocks. Both the high-grade metamorphic core and low-grade Permo-Triassic rocks have experienced progressive ductile shearing. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) results from 17 samples collected along the Xinjie–Pingbian section across the complex show that magnetic lineation (K_max) and foliation (K_max–K_int) are generally subparallel to the corresponding structural elements in the sheared rocks. The shape parameter E values of the magnetic ellipsoids are indicative of dominantly oblate and plane strain, but vary with protolith type and degree of strain among the various rock types. In agreement with the field and microstructural observations, the corrected degree of anisotropy (Pj) values reflect high shear strain in the core rocks and relatively low shear strain in the low-grade strata. A kinematic analysis based on structural and magnetic fabric data shows that both left- and right-lateral shear occurred during the deformation of the Yao Shan complex. Therefore, instead of being an element of the ASRR shear zone, the Yao Shan complex constitutes a crustal-scale inharmonic A-type fold with a fold axis parallel to the stretching lineation. Geochronologic data reveal that the folding occurred coevally with ductile shearing of the middle to lower crust between ca. 30 and 21 Ma.     

长春东南劝农山地区早二叠世范家屯组岩石变形组构及流变学特征

劝农山地区位于长春市东南部,处于佳-伊断裂和西拉木伦河缝合带交汇处.详细野外调查发现,该区曾遭受强烈韧性剪切变形,剪切带内岩石普遍糜棱岩化,主要由下二叠统范家屯组（P₁f）钙质糜棱岩与侵入其中的燕山期花岗质糜棱岩组成,变形程度处于初糜棱岩至糜棱岩之间,多具有糜棱结构.岩石应变类型主要为压扁型应变,偏一般压缩,为L=S型构造岩,指示其形成于挤压型剪切带的构造环境.多种宏微观韧性剪切变形标志,指示明显的左行剪切运动.电子探针方解石-白云石地质温度计、方解石和石英EBSD组构特征、方解石e双晶形态以及石英长石变形行为等均显示岩石具有低温塑性流变特点,变形环境不超过绿片岩相.剪切带内应变速率偏高,应变集中带应变速率最大,在10-6.95~10-8.89之间,远离强变形带应变速率在10-9.25~10-12.17之间,糜棱岩化作用过程中差异应力下限应大致为51.27~65.46 MPa,代表剪切带糜棱岩化作用为低温中等强度应变,在稍快的应变速率条件下形成.压溶扩散和双晶滑移为劝农山韧性剪切带变形初期的主要变形机制,随着递进变形,逐渐以双晶滑移和晶内滑移为主,递进变形晚期,局部强变形域内发生了粒间滑移.劝农山韧性剪切带形成与早白垩世中晚期伊泽纳崎板块NNW向高斜度斜向俯冲于欧亚大陆之下有关,是佳-伊断裂带左旋走滑事件的局部表现.      

Initiation of left-lateral deformation along the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone: new microstructural,textural, and geochronological constraints from the Diancang Shan metamorphic massif,SW Yunnan,China

The Diancang Shan metamorphic massif, the northwestern extension of the Ailao Shan Massif, is a typical metamorphic complex situated along the NW–SE-trending Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone. Diancang Shan granitic and amphibolitic mylonites collected from sheared high-grade metamorphic rocks were studied using petrographic and electron-backscatter diffraction techniques. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U–Pb dating of zircon grains from the granitic mylonites constrains the timing of shearing. Macro- and microstructural and textural analysis reveals intense plastic deformation of feldspar, quartz, and amphibole under amphibolite-facies conditions, all consistently document left-lateral shearing. Porphyritic monzogranitic mylonite within the shear zone possesses evidence supporting a sequential, progressive process from crystallization during magma emplacement, through submagmatic flow to solid-state plastic deformation. We suggest that the early-kinematic pluton subsequently underwent strong left-lateral strike–slip shearing. The development of complex textures of quartz, feldspar, and amphibole from the granitic and amphibolitic mylonites apparently records successive variation of conditions attending coherent, solid-state high-temperature ductile deformation during regional left-lateral shearing. All magmatic zircons from the mylonitized porphyritic monzogranite give U–Pb ages of 30.95 ± 0.61 million years for the crystallization of the granite. This age provides the timing of onset of left-lateral shearing along the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone in the Diancang Shan high-grade metamorphic massif.     

哀牢山-红河剪切带左行走滑作用起始时间约束

位于哀牢山-红河剪切带NW延伸方向上的点苍山变质杂岩体遭受强烈的左行走滑剪切变形、变质作用改造,岩石中保存了典型的高温矿物组合以及由它们构成的宏观和微观高温变形构造特征,其中糜棱岩中具有极其发育的长石矿物拉伸线理而形成典型的L与LS型构造岩是其一个明显的特征。本文对点苍山地区高温糜棱岩主要矿物开展了显微构造与矿物变形、变形机制及组构分析,并对于遭受高温糜棱岩化改造的一个花岗质岩体开展了SHRIMP锆石U-Pb定年分析。结果表明岩石中长石、角闪石、石英等主要矿物具有典型的达角闪岩相条件下的高温晶质塑性变形和动态生长特征,它们也为走滑剪切变形活动提供了充分的微观构造证据。对于点苍山高温糜棱岩化改造的眼球状或似斑状二长花岗岩的显微构造分析结果表明,这套花岗质岩石从走滑剪切前期岩浆的侵位之后经历了早期强烈的岩浆期后交代作用—亚岩浆流动—高温固态塑性剪切变形的递进演化过程。由此可见,岩浆的上升与就位受左行走滑剪切作用的制约,岩体又遭受了强烈剪切变形改造。同时对这套构造前期就位花岗质岩石中的锆石进行定年分析,获得33.88±0.32Ma的岩浆结晶年龄,为此,我们有充分的理由认为,在点苍山地区哀牢山-红河剪切带左行走滑剪切作用的起始时间至少应该为早渐新世30.88±0.32Ma。     

A Large Ductile Sinistral Strike-Slip Shear Zone and Its Movement Timing in the South Qilian Mountains, Western China

There is a large ductile shear zone, 2 km wide and more than 3SO km long, in the South Qilian Mountains, western China. It is composed of volcanic, granitic and calcareous mylonites. The microstructures of the ductile shear zone show nearly E-W extending subvertical foliation, horizontal and oblique stretching lineations, shearing sense from sinis-tral to oblique sinistral strike-slip from east to west, "A" type folds and abundant granitic veins. Measured lattice preferred orientations (LPOs) of the mylonitic and recrystallized quartz of the granitic mylonite in the west segment suggest a strong LPO characterized by the dominant slip systems {1010} formed at high temperature (>650℃). K-feldspar of the mylonite shows an 39Ar/40Ar high-temperature plateau age of 243.3±1.3 Ma, and biotite, 250.5±0.5 Ma, which represent the formation age of the ductile shear zone. The 39Ar/40Ar plateau ages of 169.7±0.3 Ma and 160.6±0.1 Ma and the 39Ar/40Ar isochron ages of 166.99±2.37 Ma and 160.6±0.1 Ma of biot     

Coexisting ultramylonite and pseudotachylyte from the eastern segment of the Mahanadi shear zone, Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt

Pseudotachylytes occur associated with mylonite and ultramylonite in the Mahanadi shear zone (MSZ) in the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB). The MSZ is about 200 km long curvilinear high strain zone trending WNW-ESE in its eastern part that splays out in the west. In Kantilo-Ganian segment of MSZ in northern EGMB, an interbanded sequence of granulite facies lithoassemblage has undergone ductile shearing. Kinematic studies of mylonite and ultramylonite indicate MSZ to be a NE-dipping, extensional type ductile shear zone. Non-coaxial metamorphic growth of garnet and presence of truncated sillimanite-fish in ultramylonite suggest high temperature regime during shearing. Pseudotachylytes in MSZ occur as millimetre thick layers to decimetre thick zones containing fragments of mylonite, ultramylonite and lithic clasts. Pseudotachylyte generation veins are mostly sub-parallel to C-planes and the injection veins cross-cut at high angle to these. The presence of an isotropic glassy matrix, injection features, corroded grains and dendritic microlites can be evidences for the existence of a melt phase. The composition of pseudotachylyte matrix (by EPMA) indicates silica deficiency with higher normative hypersthene, plagioclase and lower quartz compared with average whole rock composition for host. Absence of overprinting of mylonitic fabric on pseudotachylytes indicates their formation by brittle failure without passing through a plastic deformation and thus a two stage development for mylonite-ultramylonite and pseudotachylyte generation is suggested.     

雅拉香波穹隆韧性剪切带变形特征与剪切作用类型研究

雅拉香波变质核杂岩位于北喜马拉雅穹隆带东端，其拆离断层系的糜棱岩带构成了杂岩核部的外缘，带内主要变形岩石类型为石榴石千糜岩、糜棱状片麻岩和糜棱状花岗岩．糜棱状岩石中宏、微观韧性变形组构丰富，暗示区内存在多种显微变形机制：物质扩散迁移、晶内脆性破裂、粒内滑动及粒间滑动等，3种运动学涡度统计和计算结果表明：雅拉香波变质核杂岩拆离系的剪切作用类型是以简单剪切作为主的一般剪切；剪切带厚度变化为76％左右，属于减薄型：后期纯剪切应变速率比早期的有所增强，这可能与杂岩体核部岩浆岩后期上侵增强，穹隆进一步抬升和脆性垮塌下滑作用相关．     

Extensional shear band development on the outer margin of the Alpine mylonite zone,Tatare Stream,Southern Alps,New Zealand

Schistose mylonitic rocks in the central part of the Alpine Fault (AF) at Tatare Stream, New Zealand are cut by pervasive extensional (C′) shear bands in a well-understood and young, natural ductile shear zone. The C′ shears cross-cut the pre-existing (Mesozoic—aged) foliation, displacing it ductilely synthetic to late Cenozoic motion on the AF. Using a transect approach, we evaluated changes in geometrical properties of the mm–cm-spaced C′ shear bands across a conspicuous finite strain gradient that intensifies towards the AF. Precise C′ attitudes, C′-foliation dihedral angles, and C′–S intersections were calculated from multiple sectional observations at both outcrop and thin-section scales. Based on these data the direction of ductile shearing in the Alpine mylonite zone during shear band activity is inferred to have trended >20° clockwise (down-dip) of the coeval Pacific-Australia plate motion, indicating some partitioning of oblique-slip motion to yield an excess of “dip-slip” relative to plate motion azimuth, or some up-dip ductile extrusion of the shear zone as a result of transpression, or both. Constant attitude of the mylonitic foliation across the finite strain gradient indicates this planar fabric element was parallel to the shear zone boundary (SZB). Across all examined parts of the shear zone, the mean dihedral angle between the C′ shears and the mylonitic foliation (S) remains a constant 30 ± 1° (1σ). The aggregated slip accommodated on the C′ shear bands contributed only a small bulk shear strain across the shear zone (γ = 0.6–0.8). Uniformity of per-shear slip on C′ shears with progression into the mylonite zone across the strain gradient leads us to infer that these shears exhibited a strain-hardening rheology, such that they locked up at a finite shear strain (inside C′ bands) of 12–15. Shear band boudins and foliation boudins both record extension parallel to the SZB, as do the occurrence of extensional shear band sets that have conjugate senses of slip. We infer that shear bands nucleated on planes of maximum instantaneous shear strain rate in a shear zone with W_k < 0.8, and perhaps even as low as <0.5. The C′ shear bands near the AF formed in a thinning/stretching shear zone, which had monoclinic symmetry, where the direction of shear-zone stretching was parallel to the shearing direction.     

康古尔韧性剪切带变形特征及控矿作用

康古尔韧性剪切带具明显的遥感影像特征和区域重、磁异常变化特征。韧性剪切引起的变质作用表现为强应力下的岩石变质、变形，变质相序从绿片岩相到角闪岩相，变质岩石类型为千枚岩、片岩、变粒岩、糜棱岩及糜校岩化的岩石。韧性剪切变形和塑性流动形成的面理、线理、招皱、韧性断裂等构造形迹十分明显，构成一条东百长1000多千米，南北宽20～30km的狭长线形构造带（强应变带）；它经历了多期次、多种构造作用交替叠加的变化过程，按性质分类属大型平移断裂系统。康古尔韧性剪切带控制着重要的金矿、铜镍矿床及稀有金属等矿产，是新疆东部有重要找矿意义的成矿带。     

Kinematic vorticity technique for porphyroclasts in the metamorphic rocks: an example from the northern thrust in Wadi Mubarak belt, Eastern Desert, Egypt

New structural, metamorphic, finite strain, and kinematic vorticity data for mylonitic granitic rocks from northern thrust in Wadi Mubarak reveal a history of deformation reflecting different tectonic regimes. The vorticity analysis of porphyroclasts was determined in high temperature mylonites. The kinematic vorticity number for the mylonitic granitic samples in the northern thrust in Wadi Mubarak range from 0.66 to 0.90, and together with the strain data suggest deviations from simple shear. It is concluded that nappe stacking occurred early during the underthrusting event probably by brittle imbrication and that ductile strain was superimposed on the nappe structure during thrusting. The accumulation of ductile strain during thrusting was not by simple shear and involved a component of vertical shortening, which caused the subhorizontal foliation in the northern thrust in Wadi Mubarak and adjacent units.     

楼子店变质核杂岩韧性变形作用的40Ar/39Ar年代学约束

楼子店变质核杂岩以拆离系中韧性剪切与脆性拆离运动学不一致,有别于北美科迪勒拉变质核杂岩。构造分析表明,核杂岩两侧拆离系中韧性剪切具有统一的上盘向北东的剪切特征。采自核杂岩两侧韧性剪切带中的3个黑云母单矿物^40Ar／^39Ar年龄介于126～128Ma之间,西侧韧性剪切带中1个角闪石单矿物^40Ar／^39Ar年龄为134Ma,4个样品的坪年龄与对应的等时线年龄一致。角闪石和黑云母坪年龄记录的韧性剪切作用的时限为126～134Ma,并且显示出韧性伸展的特点。研究表明楼子店变质核杂岩两侧的韧性剪切带形成时间一致并具有相同的运动学,韧性剪切作用是核杂岩形成演化的一个重要阶段,这为核杂岩形成的韧性伸展阶段的约束提供了年代学证据。     

Thermomechanics of an extensional shear zone,Raft River metamorphic core complex,NW Utah

A detailed structural and microstructural analysis of the Miocene Raft River detachment shear zone (NW Utah) provides insight into the thermomechanical evolution of the continental crust during extension associated with the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes. Combined microstructural, electron backscattered diffraction, strain, and vorticity analysis of the very well exposed quartzite mylonite show an increase in intensity of the rock fabrics from west to east, along the transport direction, compatible with observed finite strain markers and a model of ``necking'' of the shear zone. Microstructural evidence (quartz microstructures and deformation lamellae) suggests that the detachment shear zone evolved at its peak strength, close to the dislocation creep/exponential creep transition, where meteoric fluids played an important role on strain hardening, embrittlement, and eventually seismic failure.Empirically calibrated paleopiezometers based on quartz recrystallized grain size and deformation lamellae spacing show very similar results, indicate that the shear zone developed under stress ranging from 40 MPa to 60 MPa. Using a quartzite dislocation creep flow law we further estimate that the detachment shear zone quartzite mylonite developed at a strain rates between 10⁻¹² and 10⁻¹⁴ s⁻¹. We suggest that a compressed geothermal gradient across this detachment, which was produced by a combination of ductile shearing, heat advection, and cooling by meteoric fluids, may have triggered mechanical instabilities and strongly influenced the rheology of the detachment shear zone.     

Very high strains recorded in mylonites along the Alpine Fault, New Zealand: implications for the deep structure of plate boundary faults

Oblique displacement on the Alpine Fault, which forms the principal structure along the Australian–Pacific plate boundary in South Island, New Zealand, has resulted in exhumation of a kilometre-wide mylonite zone in the hanging wall adjacent to the current brittle fault trace. The mylonites formed under amphibolite facies conditions at depths of ca. 25 km and have been uplifted during the past 5 Ma. A suite of 65–70 Ma pegmatite veins in the hanging wall Alpine schists has been progressively deformed within the mylonite zone and sheared out over a strike length of ca. 100 km. Measurements of the thickness distribution of the pegmatite veins within the non-mylonitised schists and at three localities within the progressively strained mylonites have been used to estimate strain values within the mylonites. The thicknesses approximate a log-normal distribution, with a mean value that is progressively reduced through the protomylonites, mylonites and ultramylonites. By assuming that the thickness distribution currently observed in the schists was the same for the pegmatites within the mylonites before strain, a model of deformation incorporating simple shear and simultaneous pure shear is used to strain the undeformed veins until a fit is obtained with the strained distributions. Shear strains calculated range from 12 to 22 for the protomylonites, 120 to 200 for the mylonites and 180 to 300 for the ultramylonites, corresponding to pure shear values of 1–3 in each case. These values are compatible with the strains predicted if most of the surface displacement on the fault over the past 5 Ma were accommodated within a 1–2-km-wide mylonite zone through the middle and lower crusts. The results suggest that processes such as erosional focussing of deformation and thermal weakening may cause intense strain localisation within the lower crust, with plate boundary deformation restricted to narrow zones rather than becoming increasingly distributed over a widening shear zone with depth.     

Microstructures of mylonites along the Karakoram Shear Zone,Tangste Valley,Pangong Mountains,Karakoram

The Karakoram Shear Zone is a northwest-southeast trending dextral ductile shear zone, which has affected the granitic and granodioritic bodies of the southern Asian Plate margin in three distinct episodes. The ductile shearing of the granitic bodies at Tangste and Darbuk has resulted in the development of mylonites with mylonitic foliation and stretching lineation. More intense deformation is noted in the Tangste granite grading up to orthomylonite, as compared to the Darbuk granite. Kinematic indicators include S-C foliation, synthetic C′ and C″ antithetic shear bands, Type A s-mantled porphyroclasts, oblique quartz foliation, micro-shears with bookshelf gliding, mineral fishes including Group 2 mica fishes, and Type 1 and 2a pull-apart microstructures, and exhibit strong dextral sense of ductile shearing towards southeast. The textural features of the minerals, especially that of quartz and feldspar, indicate temperature of mylonitisation ranging between 300 and 500°C in the upper greenschist facies, and appear to have been evolved during exhumation as a consequence of oblique strike-slip movements along the Karakoram shear zone.