Specific features of the latitudinal manifestation of different-age folding phases in the Earth’s tectonic history

Abstract

According to Avsyuk [1], the oscillatory evolution of tidal forces in the Sun‐Earth‐Moon system should produce temporal cycles in the Earth’s geodynamic processes and their latitudinal shifts in the geological time scale [1]. The Phanerozoic history of the Earth includes phenomena of acceleration of tectonic motions that are marked in rock sequences of the Earth’s crust by folding, angular unconformities, fault tectonics, emplacement of large and small intrusions, rock deformations, transgression‐regression phases, and so on. Irregularity in the Earth’s tectonic history is characterized by a cyclic pattern. In addition, periods of tectonic activation and intervals between tectonic cycles have different durations. An overview of cyclic manifestations in the Earth’s tectonic history given in [2] is devoted to analysis of the quasi-periodic tectonic activity (known as Wilson, Bertrand, and Stille cycles) with a significantly different duration. H. Stille considered the relatively short-term (~30 Ma) planetary orogenic phases and divided them into epochs of relative tectonic repose. M. Bertrand divided the Earth’s geological history into five cycles with a longer duration (Baikalian, Caledonian, Hercynian, Cimmerian, and Alpine). Wilson’s cycles are long-term ones. The cyclicity is attributed to diverse processes ranging from the predominant vertical movements, which produce geosynclinal orogenic structures, to tectonics of lithospheric plates (convection in the mantle and horizontal displacements of continents) and galactic processes (intersections of asteroids and comets by the solar system and the Earth). Our previous works devoted to the latitudinal shift of domains of continental sedimentation and magmatism in the Phanerozoic history of the Earth revealed significant correlations with the trend of tidal evolution of the Earth‐Moon‐Sun system [3, 4]. Continuing these investigations, we analyzed the areas (within the present-day continents) of the Caledonian (terminal Early‐initial Middle Paleozoic), Hercynian (terminal Devonian‐initial Triassic), Cimmerian (Mesozoic), and Alpine (terminal Mesozoic‐Cenozoic) terranes in separate latitudinal zones (with latitude intervals of 60 ° ‐40 ° , 40 ° ‐20 ° , and 20 ° ‐0 ° N and S) in order to assess the possible contribution of tidal forces to the Earth’s tectonic activity at the Phanerozoic stage of its evolution. Counting of areas based on the Tectonic Map of the World. Scale 1 : 25 000 000 [5] was carried out using an overlay grid (0.5 × 0.5 cm in size) with the subsequent adjustment to the map scale (table, Fig. 1). The graph shows that the Northern Hemisphere is characterized by a continuous expansion of areas occu