Magnetic anomalies in the canary basin and the Mesozoic evolution of the central North Atlantic

The data from a recent magnetic compilation by Verhoefet al. (1991) off west Africa were used in combination with data in the western Atlantic to review the Mesozoic plate kinematic evolution of the central North Atlantic. The magnetic profile data were analyzed to identify the M-series sea floor spreading anomalies on the African plate. Oceanic fracture zones were identified from magnetic anomalies and seismic and gravity measurements. The identified sea floor spreading anomalies on the African plate were combined with those on the North American plate to calculate reconstruction poles for this part of the central Atlantic. The total separation poles derived in this paper describe a smooth curve, suggesting that the motion of the pole through time was continuous. Although the new sea floor spreading history differs only slightly from the one presented by Klitgord and Schouten (1986), it predicts smoother flowlines. On the other hand, the sea floor spreading history as depicted by the flowlines for the eastern central Atlantic deviates substantially from that of Sundvik and Larson (1988). A revised spreading history is also presented for the Cretaceous Magnetic Quiet Zone, where large changes in spreading direction occurred, that can not be resolved when fitting magnetic isochrons only, but which are evident from fracture zone traces and directions of sea floor spreading topography.Deceased 11 November 1991     

Mesozoic transtensional basin history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes: Inferences from tectonic models

Backstripping analysis and forward modeling of 162 stratigraphic columns and wells of the Eastern Cordillera (EC), Llanos, and Magdalena Valley shows the Mesozoic Colombian Basin is marked by five lithosphere stretching pulses. Three stretching events are suggested during the Triassic–Jurassic, but additional biostratigraphical data are needed to identify them precisely. The spatial distribution of lithosphere stretching values suggests that small, narrow (<150 km), asymmetric graben basins were located on opposite sides of the paleo-Magdalena–La Salina fault system, which probably was active as a master transtensional or strike-slip fault system. Paleomagnetic data suggesting a significant (at least 10°) northward translation of terranes west of the Bucaramanga fault during the Early Jurassic, and the similarity between the early Mesozoic stratigraphy and tectonic setting of the Payandé terrane with the Late Permian transtensional rift of the Eastern Cordillera of Peru and Bolivia indicate that the areas were adjacent in early Mesozoic times. New geochronological, petrological, stratigraphic, and structural research is necessary to test this hypothesis, including additional paleomagnetic investigations to determine the paleolatitudinal position of the Central Cordillera and adjacent tectonic terranes during the Triassic–Jurassic. Two stretching events are suggested for the Cretaceous: Berriasian–Hauterivian (144–127 Ma) and Aptian–Albian (121–102 Ma). During the Early Cretaceous, marine facies accumulated on an extensional basin system. Shallow-marine sedimentation ended at the end of the Cretaceous due to the accretion of oceanic terranes of the Western Cordillera. In Berriasian–Hauterivian subsidence curves, isopach maps and paleomagnetic data imply a (>180 km) wide, asymmetrical, transtensional half-rift basin existed, divided by the Santander Floresta horst or high. The location of small mafic intrusions coincides with areas of thin crust (crustal stretching factors >1.4) and maximum stretching of the subcrustal lithosphere. During the Aptian–early Albian, the basin extended toward the south in the Upper Magdalena Valley. Differences between crustal and subcrustal stretching values suggest some lowermost crustal decoupling between the crust and subcrustal lithosphere or that increased thermal thinning affected the mantle lithosphere. Late Cretaceous subsidence was mainly driven by lithospheric cooling, water loading, and horizontal compressional stresses generated by collision of oceanic terranes in western Colombia. Triassic transtensional basins were narrow and increased in width during the Triassic and Jurassic. Cretaceous transtensional basins were wider than Triassic–Jurassic basins. During the Mesozoic, the strike-slip component gradually decreased at the expense of the increase of the extensional component, as suggested by paleomagnetic data and lithosphere stretching values. During the Berriasian–Hauterivian, the eastern side of the extensional basin may have developed by reactivation of an older Paleozoic rift system associated with the Guaicáramo fault system. The western side probably developed through reactivation of an earlier normal fault system developed during Triassic–Jurassic transtension. Alternatively, the eastern and western margins of the graben may have developed along older strike-slip faults, which were the boundaries of the accretion of terranes west of the Guaicáramo fault during the Late Triassic and Jurassic. The increasing width of the graben system likely was the result of progressive tensional reactivation of preexisting upper crustal weakness zones. Lateral changes in Mesozoic sediment thickness suggest the reverse or thrust faults that now define the eastern and western borders of the EC were originally normal faults with a strike-slip component that inverted during the Cenozoic Andean orogeny. Thus, the Guaicáramo, La Salina, Bitúima, Magdalena, and Boyacá originally were transtensional faults. Their oblique orientation relative to the Mesozoic magmatic arc of the Central Cordillera may be the result of oblique slip extension during the Cretaceous or inherited from the pre-Mesozoic structural grains. However, not all Mesozoic transtensional faults were inverted.     

Ecologic and taxonomic diversification in the Mesozoic brackish-water bivalve faunas in Japan, with emphasis on infaunalization of heterodonts

Mesozoic brackish-water bivalve faunas in Japan diversified in three steps: at the beginning of the Early Jurassic, Early and Late Cretaceous. The Hettangian Niranohama Fauna in northeastern Honshu represents the establishment of a heterodont-dominated brackish-water fauna that persisted until the early Late Cretaceous. No similar composition is known from the Triassic. The infauna consists mostly of non-siphonate and some short-siphonate heterodonts, while the epifauna is represented by diverse pteriomorphian families. In the Early Cretaceous Tetori Group in central Honshu, the long-siphonate heterodonts Tetoria (Corbiculidae) and the semi-infaunal soft-bottom oyster Crassostrea appeared. The evolutionary diversification of the latter, known as the most important element of modern brackish-water faunas, may thus originate at that time. In the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Goshoura and Mifune Groups in west Kyushu, several euryhaline deep-burrowing heterodont families, such as Veneridae and Tellinidae, further diversified in the brackish and marine environments. The Late Cretaceous is characterized by massive shell biolithic beds in which large Crassostrea species are common, a feature common for Cenozoic brackish-water faunas. The long-term changes in the composition of the brackish-water faunas in Japan represents thus an evolutionary record, irrespective of the severe physiological and environmental conditions imposed on the highly conservative nature of the fauna.     

Important Geological Factors Controlling the Formation of Gold Deposits in East China

The major gold deposits in east China are characterized by their occurrence in pre-Cambrian host metamorphic rocks,restriction in some specific stratigraphic-structural terranes,tendentious localization in ductile or ductile-brittle shear zones,association with the syntexis type granitoids,and significant remobilization,superimposition and enrichment by the later stage Mesozoic tectono-magmatic activities.     

Typical basin-fill sequences and basin migration in Yanshan, North China--Response to Mesozoic tectonic transition

Basin-fill sequences of Mesozoic typical basins in the Yanshan area, North China may be divided into four phases, reflecting lithosphere tectonic evolution from flexure (T3), flexure with weak rifting (J1+2), tectonic transition (J3), and rifting (K). Except the first phase, the other three phases all start with lava and volcaniclastic rocks, and end with thick coarse clastic rocks and/or conglomerates, showing cyclic basin development rather than simple cyclic rift mechanism and disciplinary basin-stress change from extension to compression in each phase. Prototype basin analysis, based on basin-fill sequences, paleocurrent distribution and depositional systems, shows that single basin-strike and structural-line direction controlling basin development had evidently changed from east-west to northeast in Late Jurassic in the Yanshan area, although basin group still occurred in east-west zonal distribution. Till Early Cretaceous, main structural-line strike controlling basins just turned to northeast by north in the studied area.     

青海西秦岭地区晚中生代基性火山岩地球化学特征及构造意义

对青海省同仁县多禾茂地区火山岩进行系统的元素同位素地球化学研究表明:该地区白垩纪地层中发育的中基性火山岩,属于碱性火山岩系,岩石类型主要为玄武岩,该套玄武岩具有低且变化较小的Si O2质量分数(44.98%~48.20%),低MgO的质量分数高,变化较大(8.15%~10.98%),具有较高的Cr(208×10-6~418×10-6)和Ni(166×10-6~231×10-6)质量分数。所有样品都表现出轻稀土富集的右倾平滑分布模式,轻重稀土分异中等,(La/Yb)CN=10.09~27.2,重稀土弱分异,(Gd/Yb)CN=2.92~4.67,Eu异常不明显,Eu*/Eu=0.99~1.04。Ba,Nb-Ta和Th-U不亏损,Rb,K相对亏损,Sr正异常。该区火山岩具有亏损的Sr-Nd同位素组成,Sr-Nd同位素组成变化范围不大[87Sr/86Sr(t)=0.7033~0.7039,εNd(t)=6.13~8.03,t=110 Ma],与Hawaii-OIB的Sr-Nd同位素组成相似。其所有地球化学特征表明该火山岩具有类似OIB的特征,可能是含石榴子石橄榄岩低度部分熔融的产物。结合对西秦岭地质构造背景和演化历史的分析,暗示该地区晚中生代岩浆源区来源于软流圈,其起源可能与岩石圈拆沉作用,软流圈地幔上涌和岩石圈伸展减薄有关,可为秦岭大别造山带中生代岩石圈演化提供了有利的直接证据。     

辽东中生代晚期和古近纪玄武岩及深源捕虏晶--对岩石圈地幔性质的制约

辽东地区玄武岩的K-Ar定年结果表明,曲家屯玄武岩形成于晚白垩世,K-Ar年龄为81．58±2．46Ma;乱石山子玄武岩形成于古近纪,K-Ar年龄为58．36±1．64Ma。本区玄武岩含有丰富的橄榄石、单斜辉石和角闪石捕虏晶。乱石山子玄武岩中橄榄石捕虏晶的Mg^#值（79．5-88．5之间,平均值为84）较曲家屯玄武岩中橄榄石捕虏晶Mg^#值（77．0～79．8之间,平均值为78．4）偏高;单斜辉石捕虏晶为透辉石,其从核部到边部的Mg^#等变化趋势与橄榄石类似;斜方辉石捕虏晶为占铜辉石,其Mg^#值介于85．2-87．6之间,平均值为86．4。捕虏晶发育的环状裂隙、扭折带、矿物成分环带以及捕虏晶与主岩Mg^#值之间的不平衡均暗示它们为玄武质岩浆上升捕获的早期岩浆晶出矿物的堆晶体。玄武岩的岩石地球化学分析结果表明：（1）它们属于碱性系列,为碱性玄武岩,曲家屯玄武岩较乱石山子玄武岩贫硅、镁,富钙、铝,它们均具有原始岩浆的特征;（2）二者具有相似的稀土元素配分模式,但曲家屯玄武岩轻稀土元素总量更高,且轻重稀土元素分离程度高;（3）二者具有相似的Sr-Nd同位素组成,Isr和εNd（t）值分别介于0．7039～0．7045和＋1．60～＋3．69,反映了亏损的岩石圈地幔特征。     

新疆北部古地磁研究

通过和布克赛尔、克拉玛依、玛纳斯—乌鲁木齐地区泥盆纪到白垩纪古地磁研究,主要取得以下结果:(1)首次建立了准噶尔西北缘及南缘石炭纪—白垩纪古地磁极移曲线,由石炭纪到二叠纪的古地磁极位置基本在同一区间,说明该时期这些地区为一个统一的构造单元,而其古地磁极明显与塔里木、哈萨克斯坦、西伯利亚地块存在着差异。(2)该地区侏罗纪及白垩纪古地磁结果与塔里木地块结果一致,侏罗纪乌鲁木齐与和布克赛尔磁偏角相差30°左右,说明和布克赛尔地区相对乌鲁木齐地区逆时针旋转了30°左右,晚古生代以后曾发生过南向移动,而侏罗、白垩纪以来均向北发生了相当规模的北向运动,并发生了相对旋转,目前东、西准噶尔的构造格局可能就是由于局部相对旋转造成的。(3)中国大陆在早二叠世还不是一个联合的整体,而是以相互分离的独立块体分布于45°N—15°S的古特提斯洋中。(4)该地区二叠纪的磁偏角为165°—168°,而塔里木为218°,哈萨克斯坦为229°,说明存在35°—55°的逆时针旋转,这个旋转可能是由于西部推覆构造造成的。如果将西准噶尔超基性岩带顺时针旋转35°—55°后,东准噶尔超基性岩带、西准噶尔超基性岩带和斋桑泊—鲁布佐夫斯克超基性岩带应在同一构造带上。(5)该地区晚古生代古纬度变化不明显,位于30°—45     

江汉盆地东部早中生代沉积地层碎屑云母成分:对大别高压-超高压岩石暴露作用的约束

碎屑白云母是碎屑岩中常见的、来自源区的稳定成分,可以用来指示源区性质,多硅白云母是碰撞造山高压-超高压变质岩石的特征矿物。对大别造山带同造山期沉积而成的江汉盆地东部上三叠统-中侏罗统砂岩碎屑白云母化学成分研究表明:上三叠统该区地层砂岩中碎屑白云母多以低硅白云母(Si<3.2)为特征,暗示此时大别造山带高压-超高压岩石很可能没有出露地表;自下侏罗统开始,砂岩中碎屑白云母中多硅白云母(Si>3.3)大量出现,中侏罗统砂岩多硅和低硅白云母发育,表明大别高压-超高压岩石在早侏罗世即已出露地表并经剥蚀搬运至盆地。这一结果从沉积学角度为约束高压-超高压岩石的折返时序和大别造山带演化提供了新的资料。