Extensional Shear Zones Research Articles

Structural Inheritance and Rapid Rift‐Length Establishment in a Multiphase Rift: The East Greenland Rift System and its Caledonian Orogenic Ancestry

AbstractWe investigate (i) margin‐scale structural inheritance in rifts and (ii) the time scales of rift propagation and rift length establishment, using the East Greenland rift system (EGR) as an example. To investigate the controls of the underlying Caledonian structural grain on the development of the EGR, we juxtapose new age constraints on rift faulting with existing geochronological and structural evidence. Results from K‐Ar illite fault dating and syn‐rift growth strata in hangingwall basins suggest initial faulting in Mississippian times and episodes of fault activity in Middle‐Late Pennsylvanian, Middle Permian, and Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times. Several lines of evidence indicate a close relationship between low‐angle late‐to‐post‐Caledonian extensional shear zones (CESZs) and younger rift structure: (i) reorientation of rift fault strike to conform with CESZs, (ii) spatial coincidence of rift‐scale transfer zones with CESZs, and (iii) close temporal coincidence between the latest activity (late Devonian) on the preexisting network of CESZs and the earliest rift faulting (latest Devonian to earliest Carboniferous). Late‐ to post‐Caledonian extensional detachments therefore likely acted as a template for the establishment of the EGR. We also conclude that the EGR established its near‐full length rapidly, i.e., within 4–20% of rift life. The “constant‐length model” for normal fault growth may therefore be applicable at rift scale, but tip propagation, relay breaching, and linkage may dominate border fault systems during rapid lengthening.

Deformation at low and high stress-loading rates

In an extensional shear zone in the Talea Ori, Crete, quartz veins occur in high-pressure low-temperature metamorphic sediments at sites of dilation along shear band boundaries, kink band boundaries and boudin necks. Bent elongate grains grown epitactically from the host rock with abundant fluid inclusion trails parallel to the vein wall indicate vein formation by crack-seal increments during dissolution-precipitation creep of the host rock. The presence of sutured high-angle grain boundaries and subgrains shows that temperatures were sufficiently high for recovery and strain-induced grain boundary migration, i.e. higher than 300–350 °C, close to peak metamorphic conditions. The generally low amount of strain accumulated by dislocation creep in quartz of the host rock and most veins indicates low bulk stress conditions of a few tens of MPa on a long term. The time scale of stress-loading to cause cyclic cracking and sealing is assumed to be lower than the Maxwell relaxation time of the metasediments undergoing dissolution-precipitation creep at high strain rates (10−10 s−1 to 10−9 s−1), which is on the order of hundred years. In contrast, some veins discordant or concordant to the foliation show heterogeneous quartz microstructures with micro-shear zones, sub-basal deformation lamellae, short-wavelength undulatory extinction and recrystallized grains restricted to high strain zones. These microstructures indicate dislocation glide-controlled crystal-plastic deformation (low-temperature plasticity) at transient high stresses of a few hundred MPa with subsequent recovery and strain-induced grain boundary migration at relaxing stresses and temperatures of at least 300–350 °C. High differential stresses in rocks at greenschist-facies conditions that relieve stress by creep on the long term, requires fast stress-loading rates, presumably by seismic activity in the overlying upper crust. The time scale for stress loading is controlled by the duration of the slip event along a fault, i.e. a few seconds to minutes. This study demonstrates that microstructures can distinguish between deformation at internal low stress-loading rates (to tens of MPa on a time scale of hundred years) and high (coseismic) stress-loading rates to a few hundred MPa on a time scale of minutes.

Multiple Paleozoic magmatic-orogenic events in the Central Extremadura batholith (Iberian Variscan belt, Spain)

The Central Extremadura batholith located in the southeast part of the Central Iberian Zone (e.g. Iberian Autochthonous domain of the Iberian Variscan belt) was originally thought to have been generated entirely during Carboniferous igneous activity. However, some recent geochronological work has shown the existence of Ordovician plutonic rocks. The aim of this study is to re-examine the age of granitic rocks in the Central Extremadura batholith and complement this information with new field and geochemical data. This data set is used: to constrain the relative timing of plutons emplacement, as well as deformation and metamorphism preserved in the host rocks; to track deep crustal rocks and granitic magma sources; and to discuss prevailing tectonic evolutionary models for the Paleozoic evolution of the Iberian Variscan belt. We use geochemical and SHRIMP U-Pb zircon geochronology data of three granitic plutons (Ruanes, Plasenzuela and Albala) from the Central Extremadura batholith to track magmatic sources and provide a better understanding of temporal and spatial relationships between deformation and magmatism in the Iberian Variscan belt. Ruanes tonalite dated at 464 ± 2 Ma is peraluminous, magnesian and calc-alkaline, as typical of a magmatic arc setting. We report, for the first time, the occurrence of a Middle Ordovician intrusion spatially and temporally related to host deformed rocks of the Central Iberian Zone (e.g. the Iberian Autochthonous domain), which reached high-grade metamorphic conditions. Plasenzuela two-mica leucogranite is strongly peraluminous and of anatectic origin and includes a Neoproterozoic and Ordovician population of inherited zircon grains. This granite possibly derived from the partial melting of a crustal source composed of Neoproterozoic metapelites and metagreywackes (Schist-Greywacke Complex) and/or Lower Ordovician gneisses (Ollo de Sapo Formation), both including greywackes of volcano-sedimentary origin and peraluminous composition. The crystallization age of 330 ± 7 Ma obtained for the syn-kinematic Plasenzuela two-mica leucogranite constrains the functioning of D2 dextral strike-slip shear zones within the Iberian Autochthonous domain. The age of 309 ± 2 Ma obtained for the Albala cordierite-bearing monzogranite matches the age interval of the calc-alkaline magmatic suite post-dating the main Variscan D1–D3 structures in the Iberian Autochthonous domain. The new data presented in this study make it possible to recognize multiple Paleozoic magmatic-orogenic events (e.g. Caledonian, Variscan and Cimmerian) in the Central Extremadura batholith. During the Ordovician, the emplacement of intermediate magmas at shallow depths gave rise to extensive metamorphism due to heat transfer to the host rocks. The onset of this Ordovician plutonic–metamorphic complex in the Iberian Autochthonous domain is contemporaneous with the development of an active continental margin probably related to the subduction of the Iapetus–Tornquist Ocean (i.e. the Caledonian orogeny). During the Lower Carboniferous, these D2 strike-slip domains acted as lateral margins of large-scale gravitational collapses associated with the SE-direct transport of low-angle extensional shear zones (i.e. the Variscan cycle). The emplacement of Upper Carboniferous arc type granitic rocks is interpreted in the context of the amalgamation of Pangaea and the spatial proximity of Iberia relative to the Eurasian active margin in the course of Paleotethys subduction (i.e. the Cimmerian orogeny).

Extensional deformation along the Footwall Fault below the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone, Otago Schist, New Zealand

ABSTRACTWe describe ductile-to-brittle structures across the Footwall Fault directly below the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone in the Otago Schist. These indicate that pervasive deformation along the Footwall Fault was due to northeast–southwest crustal extension. Structures below the Footwall Fault are ductile top-to-the-northeast extensional shear bands that formed in a penetrative lower greenschist facies foliation. With progressive deformation, shear bands formed at higher angles to the foliation, culminating in the shear bands being cut by low- and high-angle normal faults. In the hanging wall, extensional structures are much less pervasive and comprise a few high-angle normal faults. This sharp contrast in structural evolution of footwall and hanging wall resembles the tectonic evolution of major extensional shear zones worldwide. We propose that mid Cretaceous normal movement on the low-angle Footwall Fault accompanied the formation of the steeper Waihemo Fault further north. On a regional scale, much of the boundary between the Otago Schist core and its northern flank is cut by mid Cretaceous normal faults. Zircon fission-track ages from the footwall range from 79 ± 13.7 to 46.1 ± 6.2 Ma (2σ uncertainties) and young in the direction of hanging wall transport. One sample from the hanging wall yielded a zircon fission-track age of 76 ± 12.9 Ma. The fission-track ages are hard to interpret as zircon across the fault zone was affected by partial or full annealing. In part, the ages confirm mid Cretaceous movement but may also be interpreted to suggest additional reactivation of the Footwall Fault at slow inferred slip rates.

Magnetotelluric Imaging of the Lithosphere Across the Variscan Orogen (Iberian Autochthonous Domain, NW Iberia)

AbstractA new magnetotelluric (MT) survey comprising 17 MT soundings throughout a 30 km long N30°W transect in the Iberian autochthons domain of NW Iberia (Central Iberian Zone) is presented. The 2‐D inversion model shows the resistivity structure of the continental crust up to 10 km depth, heretofore unavailable for this region of the Variscan Orogen. The MT model reveals a wavy structure separating a conductive upper layer underlain by a resistive layer, thus picturing the two main tectonic blocks of a large‐scale D2 extensional shear zone (i.e., Pinhel shear zone). The upper layer represents a lower grade metamorphic domain that includes graphite‐rich rocks. The lower layer consists of high‐grade metamorphic rocks that experienced partial melting and are associated with granites (more resistive) emplaced during crustal thinning. The wavy structure is the result of superimposed crustal shortening responsible for the development of large‐scale D3 folds (e.g., Marofa synform), later deflected and refolded by a D4 strike‐slip shear zone (i.e., Juzbado‐Penalva do Castelo shear zone). The later contribution to the final structure of the crust is marked by the intrusion of postkinematic granitic rocks and the propagation of steeply dipping brittle fault zones. Our study demonstrates that MT imaging is a powerful tool to understand complex crustal structures of ancient orogens in order to design future prospecting surveys for mineral deposits of economic interest.

Evaluating the importance of metamorphism in the foundering of continental crust

The metamorphic conditions and mechanisms required to induce foundering in deep arc crust are assessed using an example of representative lower crust in SW New Zealand. Composite plutons of Cretaceous monzodiorite and gabbro were emplaced at ~1.2 and 1.8 GPa are parts of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO); examples of the plutons are tectonically juxtaposed along a structure that excised ~25 km of crust. The 1.8 GPa Breaksea Orthogneiss includes suitably dense minor components (e.g. eclogite) capable of foundering at peak conditions. As the eclogite facies boundary has a positive dP/dT, cooling from supra-solidus conditions (T > 950 ºC) at high-P should be accompanied by omphacite and garnet growth. However, a high monzodioritic proportion and inefficient metamorphism in the Breaksea Orthogneiss resulted in its positive buoyancy and preservation. Metamorphic inefficiency and compositional relationships in the 1.2 GPa Malaspina Pluton meant it was never likely to have developed densities sufficiently high to founder. These relationships suggest that the deep arc crust must have primarily involved significant igneous accumulation of garnet–clinopyroxene (in proportions >75%). Crustal dismemberment with or without the development of extensional shear zones is proposed to have induced foundering of excised cumulate material at P > 1.2 GPa.

S-type granite generation and emplacement during a regional switch from extensional to contractional deformation (Central Iberian Zone, Iberian autochthonous domain, Variscan Orogeny)

Zircon grains extracted from S-type granites of the Meda-Escalhao-Penedono Massif (Central Iberian Zone, Variscan Orogen) constrain the timing of emplacement and provide information about potential magma sources. Simple and composite zircon grains from three samples of S-type granite were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS. New U–Pb data indicate that granites crystallized in the Bashkirian (318.7 ± 4.8 Ma) overlapping the proposed age range of ca. 321–317 Ma of the nearby S-type granitic rocks of the Carrazeda de Anciaes, Lamego and Ucanha-Vilar massifs. The timing of emplacement of such S-type granites seems to coincide with the waning stages of activity of a D2 extensional shear zone (i.e. Pinhel shear zone) developed in metamorphic conditions that reached partial melting and anatexis (ca. 321–317 Ma). Dykes of two-mica granites (resembling diatexite migmatite) are concordant and discordant to the compositional layering and S2 (main) foliation of the high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Pinhel shear zone. Much of the planar fabric in these dykes was formed during magmatic crystallization and subsequent solid-state deformation. Field relationships suggest contemporaneity between the ca. 319–317 Ma old magmatism of the study area and the switch from late D2 extensional deformation to early D3 contractional deformation. Inherited zircon cores are well preserved in these late D2-early D3 S-type granite plutons. U–Pb ages of inherited zircon cores range from ca. 2576 to ca. 421 Ma. The spectra of inherited cores overlap closely the range of detrital and magmatic zircon grains displayed by the Ediacaran to Silurian metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks of the Iberian autochthonous and parautochthonous domains. This is evidence of a genetic relationship between S-type granites and the host metamorphic rocks. There is no substantial evidence for the addition of mantle-derived material in the genesis of these late D2–early D3 S-type granitic rocks. The eNd arrays of heterogeneous crustal anatectic melts may be just inherited from the source, probably reflecting mixing of a range of crustal materials with different ages and primary isotopic signatures. The generation of the Bashkirian S-type granites has been dominated by continental crust recycling, rather than the addition of new material from mantle sources.

Fast switch from extensional exhumation to thrusting of the Ronda Peridotites (South Spain)

AbstractThe Alboran Domain, situated at the western end of the Mediterranean subduction system, is characterized by the Ronda Peridotites, one of the world's largest exposures of sub‐continental mantle. Using U–Pb (LA‐ICP‐MS) and Ar–Ar dating, we precisely dated two tectonic events associated with the Tertiary exhumation of the Ronda Peridotites. First, shearing along the Crust–Mantle Extensional Shear Zone caused, at ca. 22.5 Ma, mantle exhumation, local partial melting in the deep crust and coeval cooling in the upper crust. Second, the Ronda Peridotites Thrust triggered the final emplacement of the peridotites onto the continental crust at c. 21 Ma, as testified by granitic intrusions in the thrust hangingwall. The tectonic evolution of the western Alboran Domain is therefore characterized by a fast switch from continental lithospheric extension in a backarc setting, with sub‐continental mantle exhumation, to a rift inversion by thrusting driven by shortening of the upper plate.

Late extensional shear zones and associated recumbent folds in the Alpujarride subduction complex, Betic Cordillera, southern Spain

The existence in the Alpujarride Complex (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain) of a relatively continuous extensional event (following crustal thickening) is based on detailed structural studies and is consistent with the P-T paths and geochronological data established for the Alpujarride rocks. According to our research, the Alpujarride Complex contains two large-scale shear zones accommodating early Miocene extension. The shear zones contain km-scale recumbent folds, some with sheath fold geometry, and megaboudinage structures, and are closely associated with detachment faults. Large-scale folds and boudins cause dome-like undulations in the detachments, which are inferred to overlap in time with the deformation in the shear zones. One shear zone in the eastern part of the orogen is top-N; the other, in the western part, is top-E. The change in the shear direction may represent a temporal evolution in the direction of shear, possibly related to a change in the subduction direction in space and time.

Vertical-axis rotations accommodated along the Mid-Cycladic lineament on Paros Island in the extensional heart of the Aegean orocline (Greece)

The Aegean–west Anatolian orocline formed due to Neogene opposite rotations of its western and eastern limbs during opening of the Aegean back-arc basin. Stretching lineations in exhumed metamorphic complexes in this basin mimic the regional vertical-axis rotation patterns and suggest that the oppositely rotating domains are sharply bounded along a Mid-Cycladic lineament, the tectonic nature of which is enigmatic. Some have proposed this lineament to be an extensional fault accommodating orogen-parallel extension, while others have considered it to be a transform fault. The island of Paros hosts the only exposure of the E- to NE-trending lineations characterizing the NW Cyclades and the N-trending lineations of the SE Cyclades. Here, we show new paleomagnetic results from isotropic, ca. 16 Ma granitoids that intruded both domains and demonstrate that the trend difference resulted from post–16 Ma ∼90° clockwise and 10° counterclockwise rotation of the NW and SE blocks, respectively. We interpret the semiductile to brittle, low-angle, SE-dipping Elitas shear zone that accommodated this rotation difference to reflect the Mid-Cycladic lineament. We conclude a two-stage exhumation history for Paros that is consistent with regional Aegean reconstructions. Between ca. 23 and 16 Ma, the metamorphic rocks of Paros were exhumed from amphibolite-facies to greenschist-facies conditions along a top-to-the-N detachment. The Elitas shear zone then started to exhume the northwestern, clockwise-rotating domain from below the southeastern, counterclockwise rotating domain since 16 Ma. From this, we infer that the Mid-Cycladic lineament is an extensional shear zone, consistent with geometric predictions that Aegean oroclinal bending was accommodated by orogen-normal and orogen-parallel extension.

Extensional orogenic collapse captured by strike-slip tectonics: Constraints from structural geology and U[sbnd]Pb geochronology of the Pinhel shear zone (Variscan orogen, Iberian Massif)

The late Paleozoic collision between Gondwana and Laurussia resulted in the polyphase deformation and magmatism that characterizes the Iberian Massif of the Variscan orogen. In the Central Iberian Zone, initial continental thickening (D1; folding and thrusting) was followed by extensional orogenic collapse (D2) responsible for the exhumation of high-grade rocks coeval to the emplacement of granitoids.This study presents a tectonometamorphic analysis of the Trancoso-Pinhel region (Central Iberian Zone) to explain the processes in place during the transition from an extension-dominated state (D2) to a compression-dominated one (D3). We reveal the existence of low-dipping D2 extensional structures later affected by several pulses of subhorizontal shortening, each of them typified by upright folds and strike-slip shearing (D3, D4 and D5, as identified by superimposition of structures). The D2 Pinhel extensional shear zone separates a low-grade domain from an underlying high-grade domain, and it contributed to the thermal reequilibration of the orogen by facilitating heat advection from lower parts of the crust, crustal thinning, decompression melting, and magma intrusion. Progressive lessening of the gravitational disequilibrium carried out by this D2 shear zone led to a switch from subhorizontal extension to compression and the eventual cessation and capture of the Pinhel shear zone by strike-slip tectonics during renewed crustal shortening. High-grade domains of the Pinhel shear zone were folded together with low-grade domains to define the current upright folded structure of the Trancoso-Pinhel region, the D3 Tamames-Marofa-Sátão synform. New dating of syn-orogenic granitoids (SHRIMP UPb zircon dating) intruding the Pinhel shear zone, together with the already published ages of early extensional fabrics constrain the functioning of this shear zone to ca. 331–311Ma, with maximum tectonomagmatic activity at ca. 321–317Ma. The capture and apparent cessation of movement of the Pinhel shear zone occurred at ca. 317–311Ma.

Slip preference analysis of faulting driven by strike-slip Andersonian stress regimes: an alternative explanation of the Rhodope metamorphic core complex (northern Greece)

Slip preference analysis (SPA) is accomplished by examining fault activation driven by different Andersonian strike-slip stress regimes. Strike-slip regimes favour the activation of strike-slip faults striking as high as 45° from the trend of the σ 1 axis, thus favouring the predominance of R shears over P shears in a strike-slip shear zone. Reverse and normal faults cannot be activated simultaneously by a common strike-slip stress regime, and their activations depend on the stress ratio. The SPA provides new constraints on stress inversion methods that take into account only the misfit angle minimization criteria. Insights from the SPA give rise to an alternative explanation of the origin of the Tertiary Rhodope metamorphic core complex exposed in the inner part of the Hellenic orogen, which attributes the activation of the associated extensional shear zones and detachments to an Andersonian, transpression–strike-slip (TRP–SS) to strike-slip (SS) stress regime, and not to an extensional one as widely assumed. The variation from TRP–SS to SS is critical for the activation of the extensional structures and is attributed to the local and at-depth increase of the vertical crustal stresses owing to the ascent and emplacement of large plutonic bodies.

경기육괴 남서 연변부 홍성지역에 발달하는 편마암 돔에 대한 보고

본 연구는 경기육괴 남서 연변부 홍성지역에 발달하는 편마암 내 돔 구조를 보고한다. 서해안 제1봉 오서산 주변으로 발달하여 오서산 돔으로 명명된 이 편마암 돔은 주로 신원생대-고생대의 정편마암 및 준편마암, 변성염기성화산암, 변성조립현무암으로 주로 구성된다. 이들 암석들은 혼성암화작용을 경험하였으며, 내부에는 부분용융에 의해 형성된 우백질(화강암질) 물질이 엽리면을 절단하거나 이에 평행한 패치 혹은 광맥의 형태로 빈번하게 관입되어있다. 오서산 돔은 전체적으로 동심 구조 및 외부를 향하는 내부 엽리를 보이나, 일부 영역에 발달하는 엽리는 복잡한 방향 변화를 보이거나 내부를 향하는 형태를 보이기도 한다. 그간 오서산 돔 내부에서 보고된 암석학적, 연대학적 정보들을 종합해보면, 오서산 돔은 후기 트라이아스기에 빠르게 상부지각으로 융기하였으며 이와 유사한 시기에 일부 부분용융작용 및 화강암의 관입을 경험하였다. 더불어 주변으로는 후기 트라이아스기의 운동동시성 화강암에 의해 관입되어 있는 확장성 전단대 및 퇴적분지 발달이 보고된 바 있다. 이러한 양상은 오서산 돔이 후기 트라이아스기 확장성 운동 및 이에 수반된 다이어퍼 상승흐름과 연관되어 형성되었을 가능성을 지시할 수 있다. 또 다른 시각에서 편마암 내 돔 구조의 발달이 후기 트라이아스기~중기 쥬라기 퇴적분지의 구조역전 과정에서 1) 충상단층 내지는 역단층에 수반되었거나, 2) 독립적인 습곡들의 상호 간섭에 의해 야기되었을 가능성 역시 배재할 수는 없다. 하지만 돔의 북측 날개부가 후기 트라이아스기 화강암에 의해 절단되어 있는 양상이나 남측 날개부가 압축변형 과정에서 재활성된 단층에 의해 절단되어 있는 양상을 미루어 보았을 때, 편마암 내 돔 구조의 발달 시기는 후기 트라이아스기 혹은 그 이전일 가능성이 높다. This study reports a gneiss dome in the Hongseong area, southwestern margin of the Gyeonggi massif. This gneiss dome, named here as 'Oseosan dome' because it is located around the Oseosan, the highest peak along the western coastal area, is composed mainly of the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic ortho- and paragneiss, mafic metavolcanic rock, and metadolerite. Migmatization affected these rock units, in which leucocratic(granitic) materials derived from anatexis frequently occur as patch and vein parallel to or cutting through internal foliation. The Oseosan dome shows overall concentric geometry and outward-dipping internal foliation, but also partly complicatedly changeable or inward-dipping foliation. Taking available petrological and geochronological data into account, the Oseosan dome is interpreted to be exhumed quickly into the upper crustal level during the Late Triassic, accompanied in part with anatexis and granite intrusion. In addition, extensional shear zone intruded by the Late Triassic synkinematic granite and sedimentary basin have been reported around the Oseosan dome. These evidences possibly suggest that the Oseosan dome formed in closely associated with the Late Triassic extensional movement and diapiric flow. Alternatively, 1) thrust- or reverse fault-related doming or 2) interference between independent folds during structural inversion of the Late Traissic to Middle Jurassic sedimentary basin can be also considered as dome-forming process. However, considering the northern limb of the Oseosan dome, cutting by the Late Traissic granite, and the southern limb, cutting by contractional fault reactivated after the Middle Jurassic, it is likely that the domal structure formed during or prior to the Late Triassic.

Thermobarometry of metamorphosed pseudotachylyte and associated mylonite: Constraints on dynamic Co-seismic rupture depth attending Caledonian extension, North Norway

The exhumed post-Caledonian Eidsfjord and Fiskfjord extensional shear zones of northern Norway exhibit evidence of coseismic rupture propagating into the ductile crust as evidenced by the presence of mylonitic and metamorphosed pseudotachylyte. Geothermobarometric calculations on garnet-bearing mineral assemblages in mylonitic gneisses associated with mylonitic pseudotachylyte and in metamorphosed pseudotachylyte permit determination of the depth and ambient temperature of seismogenic low-angle ductile extension. Average pressures from Eidsfjord (570±115MPa at ca. 650°C) and Fiskfjord (1120±220MPa at ca. 650°C) correspond to faulting depths of 21±4km and 41±9km, respectively. The Fiskfjord results agree with previous thermobarometric calculations on mylonitic Cpx+Grt-bearing pseudotachylyte at Fiskfjord. The calculated depths are 5–25km below the depth of the standard seismogenic zone. These results demonstrate that low angle normal faults may cut through a large portion of continental crust. This occurrence of mylonitic pseudotachylyte in an extensional crustal setting is most easily explained by dynamic downward rupture into the ductile regime and/or unusually high shear stresses to account for coseismic rupture at such depths, implying a direct connection with a seismogenic normal fault in the upper crust.

Tectonic setting and petrological evidence for the emplacement of mylonitic granites within the middle part of Sanandaj-Sirjan shear zone from East and South East of Chadegan, Iran

The metabasites and mylonitic granites of the East and South East of Chadegan in the Isfahan province are a part of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone. This region is a large-scale ductile shear zone which has experienced different phases of deformation and dynamothermal metamorphism. There are at least three phases of deformation in this area. During the first phase which was related to the subduction of the Neotethys oceanic lithosphere under the Iranian microcontinent, the study rocks have experienced regional metamorphism. The second deformational phase was concurrent with the collision between the Arabian plate and the Iranian plate in the Late Cretaceous and caused mylonitization of the metamorphic rocks. The NW–SE trending fold and thrust faults have formed in this stage. The mylonitization have been formed along the dextral transpressional faults. During the third stage of deformation and exhumation of the metamorphic complex, the mylonitic zones have been uplifted to the surface. In this the deformation phase, developed the current morphology of the rocks. The granites have been injected along the extensional shear zones related to the dextral transpressional displacements. These granites are related to the continental collision granites type and have been formed synchronous to the collision between the Arabian and the Iranian plate. Enrichment in LREEs comparison to HREEs and the negative Eu anomaly in the primitive mantle-normalized spidergram and Chondrite-normalized REE patterns support an intra-crustal origin for these granites. Upper continental crust-normalized REE patterns show that in terms of LREEs, are similar to Upper continental crust.

Seismic interpretation of crustal-scale extension in the Intermontane Belt of the northern Canadian Cordillera

The crustal thickness of the Canadian Cordillera, which may have reached 50–65 km during the Cretaceous, is now only 32–38 km along its length. In the south, postorogenic extension during the Eocene resulted in the formation of core complexes and crustal-scale extensional shear zones, whereas in the north evidence for postorogenic extension is either limited to relatively minor basin formation in a transtensional environment or has not been recognized. Using new images of Lithoprobe seismic reflection line 2a in northern British Columbia, which has been previously interpreted in terms of terrane accretion, I make an alternative interpretation of crustal-scale postaccretion extension in the middle and upper crust. As early as the late Permian to Early Triassic, the Quesnellia and Stikinia arc terranes were accreted to ancestral North America along a crustal ramp, which is imaged in the lower crust. An extensional shear zone, which extends from close to the surface to 20 km depth, is identified from the geometry of reflections in the overlying structural basin and a lateral change in seismic velocity. The oceanic Cache Creek terrane, which is <4 km thick in the vicinity of line 2a, was preserved, because it was imbricated with its overlap assemblage and dropped into the 10-km-deep structural half-graben, which may correspond approximately to the combined extent of the Whitehorse trough and the Cache Creek terrane in southern Yukon and northern British Columbia.

Deformation mechanisms in a continental rift up to mantle exhumation. Field evidence from the western Betics, Spain

The identification of the structures and deformation patterns in magma-poor continental rifted margins is essential to characterize the processes of continental lithosphere necking. Brittle faults, often termed mantle detachments, are believed to play an essential role in the rifting processes that lead to mantle exhumation. However, ductile shear zones in the deep crust and mantle are rarely identified and their mechanical role remains to be established. The western Betics (Southern Spain) provide an exceptional exposure of a strongly thinned continental lithosphere, formed in a supra-subduction setting during Oligocene-Lower Miocene. A full section of the entire crust and the upper part of the mantle is investigated. Variations in crustal thickness are used to quantify crustal stretching that may reach values larger than 2000% where the ductile crust almost disappears, defining a stage of hyper-stretching. Opposite senses of shear top-to-W and top-to-E are observed in two extensional shear zones located close to the crust-mantle boundary and along the brittle-ductile transition in the crust, respectively. Where the ductile crust almost disappears, concordant top-to-E-NE senses of shear are observed in both upper crust and serpentinized mantle. Late high-angle normal faults with ages of ca. 21 Ma or older (40Ar/39Ar on white mica) crosscut the previously hyper-stretched domain, involving both crust and mantle in tilted blocks. The western Betics exemplify, probably better than any previous field example, the changes in deformation processes that accommodate the progressive necking of a continental lithosphere. Three successive steps can be identified: i/a mid-crustal shear zone and a crust-mantle shear zone, acting synchronously but with opposite senses of shear, accommodate ductile crust thinning and ascent of subcontinental mantle; ii/hyper-stretching localizes in the neck, leading to an almost disappearance of the ductile crust and bringing the upper crust in contact with the subcontinental mantle, each of them with their already acquired opposite senses of shear; and iii/high-angle normal faulting, cutting through the Moho, with related block tilting, ends the full exhumation of the mantle in the zone of localized stretching. The presence of a high strength sub-Moho mantle is responsible for the change in sense of shear with depth. Whereas mantle exhumation in the western Betics occurred in a backarc setting, this deformation pattern controlled by a high-strength layer at the top of the lithosphere mantle makes it directly comparable to most passive margins whose formation lead to mantle exhumation. This unique field analogue has therefore a strong potential for the seismic interpretation of the so-called “hyper-extended margins”.

Thermochronology of extensional orogenic collapse in the deep crust of Zealandia

The exhumed Fiordland sector of Zealandia offers a deep-crustal view into the life cycle of a Cordilleran-type orogen from final magmatic construction to extensional orogenic collapse. We integrate U-Pb thermochronologic data from metamorphic zircon and titanite with structural observations from >2000 km 2 of central Fiordland to document the tempo and thermal evolution of the lower crust during the tectonic transition from arc construction and crustal thickening to crustal thinning and extensional collapse. Data reveal that garnet granulite facies metamorphism and partial melting in the lower crust partially overlapped with crustal thickening and batholith construction during emplacement of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO) from 118 to 115 Ma. Metamorphic zircons in metasedimentary rocks yield 206 Pb/ 238 U (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe–reverse geometry) dates of 116.3–112.0 Ma. Titanite laser ablation split stream inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry chronology from the same rocks yielded complex results, with relict Paleozoic 206 Pb/ 238 U dates preserved at the margins of the WFO. Within extensional shear zones that developed in the thermal aureole of the WFO, titanite dates range from 116.2 to 107.6 Ma and have zirconium-in-titanite temperatures of ∼900–750 °C. A minor population of metamorphic zircon rims and titanites in the Doubtful Sound region yield younger dates of 105.6–102.3 Ma with corresponding temperatures of 740–730 °C. Many samples record Cretaceous overdispersed dates with 5–10 m.y. ranges. Core-rim traverses and grain maps show complex chemical and temporal variations that cannot easily be attributed to thermally activated volume diffusion or simple core-rim crystallization. We interpret these Cretaceous titanites not as cooling ages, but rather as recording protracted growth and/or crystallization or recrystallization in response to fluid flow, deformation, and/or metamorphic reactions during the transition from garnet granulite to upper amphibolite facies metamorphism. We propose a thermotectonic model that integrates our results with structural observations. Our data reveal a clear tectonic break at 108–106 Ma that marks a change in processes deep within the arc. Prior to this break, arc construction processes dominated and involved (1) emplacement of mafic to intermediate magmas of the Malaspina and Misty plutons from 118 to 115 Ma, (2) contractional deformation at the roof of the Misty pluton in the Caswell Sound fold-thrust belt from 117 to 113 Ma, and (3) eclogite to garnet granulite facies metamorphism and partial melting over >8 m.y. from 116 to 108 Ma. These processes were accompanied by complex patterns of lower crustal flow involving both horizontal and vertical displacements. After this interval, extensional orogenic collapse initiated along upper amphibolite facies shear zones in the Doubtful Sound shear zone at 108–106 Ma. Zircon and titanite growth and/or crystallization or recrystallization at this time clearly link upper amphibolite facies metamorphism to mylonitic fabrics in shear zones. Our observations are significant in that they reveal the persistence of a hot and weak lower crust for ≥15 m.y. following arc magmatism in central Fiordland. We propose that the existence of a thermally weakened lower crust within the Median Batholith was a key factor in controlling the transition from crustal thickening to crustal thinning and extensional orogenic collapse of the Zealandia Cordillera.

Grain-size effects on the closure temperature of white mica in a crustal-scale extensional shear zone — Implications of in-situ 40Ar/39Ar laser-ablation of white mica for dating shearing and cooling (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps)

In-situ 40Ar/39Ar laser ablation dating of white-mica grains was performed on samples from the footwall of a crustal-scale extensional fault (Katschberg Normal Fault; KNF) that accommodated eastward orogen-parallel displacement of Alpine orogenic crust in the eastern part of the Tauern Window. This dating yields predominantly cooling ages ranging from 31 to 13Myr, with most ages clustering between 21 and 17Myr. Folded white micas that predate the main Katschberg foliation yield, within error, the same ages as white-mica grains that overgrow this foliation. However, the absolute ages of both generations are older at the base (20Myr) where their grain size is larger (300–500μm), than at the top and adjacent to the hangingwall (17Myr) of this shear zone where grain size is smaller (<100–300μm). This fining-upward trend of white-mica grain size within the KNF is associated with a reduction of the closure temperature from the base (~445°C) to the top (<400°C) and explains the counter-intuitive trend of downward-increasing age of cooling in the footwall. The new data show that rapid cooling within the KNF of the eastern Tauern Window started sometime before 21Myr according to the 40Ar/39Ar white-mica cooling ages and between 25–21Myr according to the new Rb/Sr white-mica ages, i.e., shortly after the attainment of the thermal peak in the Tauern Window at ~25Myr ago. These new data, combined with literature data, support earlier cooling in the eastern part of then Tauern Window than in the western part by some 3–5Myr.

Post-Caledonian extension in the West Norway–northern North Sea region: the role of structural inheritance

Abstract The northern North Sea region has experienced repeated phases of post-Caledonian extension, starting with extensional reactivation of the low-angle basal Caledonian thrust zone, then the formation of Devonian extensional shear zones with 10–100 km-scale displacements, followed by brittle reactivation and the creation of a plethora of extensional faults. The North Sea Rift-related approximately east–west extension created a new set of rift-parallel faults that cut across less favourably orientated pre-rift structures. Nevertheless, fault rock dating shows that onshore faults and shear zones of different orientations were active throughout the history of rifting. Several of the reactivated major Devonian extensional structures can be extrapolated offshore into the rift, where they appear as bands of dipping reflectors. They coincide with large-scale boundaries separating 50–100 km-wide rift domains of internally uniform fault patterns. Major north–south-trending rift faults, such as the Øygarden Fault System, bend or terminate against these boundaries, clearly influenced by their presence during rifting. Hence, the North Sea is one of several examples where pre-rift basement structures oblique to the rift extension direction can significantly influence rift architecture, even if most of the rift faults are newly-formed structures.