Continent Collision (continent + collision)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Pre-Variscan metagabbro from NW Sardinia, Italy: evidence of an enriched asthenospheric mantle source for continental alkali basalts

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003
Marcello Franceschelli
Abstract Small metagabbro bodies are enclosed in the metasedimentary sequence of NW Sardinia. The metagabbros represent the last magmatic episode before the continent,continent collision that built up the Variscan chain of north Sardinia. The metagabbros are composed of variable proportions of plagioclase and pyroxene igneous relics and metamorphic minerals. Major and trace element data, specifically high TiO2 and P2O5 and low K and Rb contents, as well as light rare-earth elements, Nb and Ta enrichment, suggest an alkaline affinity for the gabbro and emplacement in a within-plate tectonic setting. The gabbro was derived from an ocean island alkali basalt-like asthenospheric mantle source enriched with incompatible elements and uncontaminated by crustal or subducted materials. Non-modal modelling indicates a 5,7% partial melting of the asthenospheric mantle. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Moho undulations beneath Tibet from GRACE-integrated gravity data

GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2007
Young Hong Shin
SUMMARY Knowledge of the variation of crustal thickness is essential in many applications, such as forward dynamic modelling, numerical heat flow calculations, seismologic applications and geohistory reconstructions. We present a 3-D model of the Moho undulations over the entire Tibetan plateau derived from gravity inversion. The gravity field has been obtained by using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) potential field development which has been integrated with terrestrial data, and is presently the best available in the studied area. For the effective use of the global geopotential model that has no height information of observation stations, upward continuation is applied. The Moho model is characterized by a sequence of troughs and ridges with a semi-regular pattern, which could reflect the continent,continent collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The three deep Moho belts (troughs) and shallow Moho belts (ridges) between them are clearly found to have an E,W directional trend parallel to the border of the plateau and tectonic lines, while variation of the directionality is observed in central to southeast Tibet. To describe the distinctive shape of the Moho troughs beneath Tibet, we introduce the term, ,Moho ranges'. The most interesting aspects of the Moho ranges are (1) that they run in parallel with the border and tectonic sutures of the plateau, (2) that the distances between ranges are found at regular distances of about 330 km except in northeast Tibet and (3) that the splitting of the ranges into two branches is found as the distance between them is increasing. From our study, we conclude that the distinctive undulations of the Tibetan Moho have been formed by buckling in a compressional environment, superimposed on the regional increase in crustal thickness. According to our analysis, the GRACE satellite-only data turns out to have good enough resolution for being used to determine the very deep Moho beneath Tibet. Our Moho model is the first one that covers the entire plateau. [source]


Sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks from NW Anatolia, Turkey

JOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2000
Önen
The metamorphic rocks from near Kütahya in north-west Anatolia record different stages in the history of closure of the Neo-Tethyan ,zmir,Ankara,Erzincan ocean. Sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks within the Tav,anl, zone are a tectonically composite sequence of quartz,mica schists, amphibole schists, amphibolites and garnet amphibolites. They show increasing metamorphic grade towards the base of the ophiolite. A first metamorphic event, typical of sub-ophiolite metamorphic sole rocks, was characterized by high-grade assemblages, and followed by retrograde metamorphism. A second event was marked by a medium-to high-pressure overprint of the first-stage metamorphic assemblages with assemblages indicating a transition between the blueschist and greenschist facies. The chemistry of the sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks indicates an ocean island basalt origin, and Ar,Ar dating indicates a high temperature metamorphic event at 93±2 Ma. Counter-clockwise P,T,t paths recorded by the sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks are interpreted to result from intra-oceanic thrusting during the closure of the ,zmir, Ankara,Erzincan ocean, initiating subduction, which formed the high-temperature assemblages. Further subduction then produced the widespread blueschists of the Tav,anl, zone during the Late Cretaceous. Later cold thrusting obducted the ophiolite (with the metamorphic sole welded to its base), ophiolitic melanges and blueschists onto the Anatolide passive margin in the latest Cretaceous. All these events pre-date the final Anatolide,Pontide continent,continent collision. [source]


Pliocene onset of rapid exhumation in Taiwan during arc,continent collision: new insights from detrital thermochronometry

BASIN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010
L. A. Kirstein
ABSTRACT The Coastal Range in eastern Taiwan contains the remnants of the Pliocene,Pleistocene retro-foredeep basin of the ongoing Penglai orogeny. These sedimentary successions record the earliest exhumation of the Central Range, Taiwan. We dated detrital Plio-Pleistocene sediments in the Coastal Range using multiple thermochronometers [fission-track, zircon (U,Th)/He and U/Pb dating] to document changes in exhumation rate through time. Fission-track grain ages in 2,4-Myr-old sediments were not reset by the Penglai orogeny and reflect the early stage removal of the sedimentary cover. This early stage, when exhumation rates were low, could encompass both the accretionary wedge phase of the orogen and the early arc,continent collision. Sediments younger than 2-Myr-old yield Pliocene zircon fission-track grain ages and suggest that exhumation, transport and deposition occurred within 0.4,1.5 Myr. The recorded onset of rapid exhumation in the Pliocene is contemporaneous with other major tectonic changes in the region, including an increase in subsidence rate in both the pro- and retro-foredeep basins and a change in the wedge kinematics from internal shortening to underplating. [source]