西藏班公湖-怒江缝合带中段侏罗纪高镁安山质岩石对中特提斯洋演化的制约

班公湖-怒江缝合带中段地区南北向分布了三条分支蛇绿岩亚带,它们记录了该地区中特提斯洋复杂的构造演化过程。目前对于该地区洋盆俯冲消减动力学过程一直缺乏有效制约。为探讨这一问题,本文对班公湖-怒江缝合带中段新近厘定的安山岩和闪长岩开展了系统的野外、岩石地球化学和锆石U-Pb年代学研究。安山岩主要呈不整合覆盖于晚三叠世沉积地层之上,或与侏罗纪俯冲增生杂岩和橄榄岩以断层接触,闪长岩主要呈岩脉体侵入于橄榄岩中。锆石U-Pb定年表明,安山岩和闪长岩均形成于中晚侏罗世(165~161Ma)。安山岩和闪长岩地球化学组成类似,它们大都具有高的MgO含量和Mg#值,这与高镁安山岩相类似。稀土和微量元素组成显示出典型的岛弧岩浆岩特征,富集轻稀土(LREE)和Rb、Th、U、Pb等元素,亏损Ba和高场强元素(HFSE;Nb,Ta和Ti)。同时,样品还显示出较低的Ba/Th和较高的(La/Sm)N比值,以及负的锆石εHf(t)值和古老的锆石Hf模式年龄。这些特征表明这些高镁安山岩和闪长岩是大洋板片俯冲沉积物部分熔融的熔体交代地幔楔的产物。结合区域地质和前人研究,认为这些岩石可能形成于靠近海沟的大陆边缘环境,是班公湖-怒江中特提斯洋中段北拉-拉弄分支洋盆初始俯冲消减的产物,该初始俯冲作用可能与安多微陆块和南羌塘地块碰撞导致的俯冲南向跃迁有关。

Collision Tectonics between the Tarim Block(Basin)and the Northwestern Tibet Plateau:New Observations from a Multidisciplinary Geoscientific Investigation in the Western Kunlun Mountains

New results from deep seismic reflection profiling, wide-angle reflection-refraction profiling and broadband seismic experiments reveal that a series of south-dipping reflectors occur on the southern margin of the Tarim block (basin). However, it is these south-dipping structures that are intercepted by another series of north-dipping reflectors at depths from 30 to about 150 km beneath the foreland of the W Kunlun Mountains. No evidence from the above geophysical data as well as geochemical and surface geological data indicate the southward subduction of the Tarim block beneath the W Kunlun Mountains (NW Tibet plateau), forming the so-called “two-sided subduction” model for the Tibet plateau as proposed by previous studies. So the authors infer that the tectonic interaction between the Tarim block and the W Kunlun block was chiefly affected by a “horizontal compression in opposite directions”, which brought about “face-to-face contact” between these two lithospheric blocks and led to the thickening, shortening and densifying of the lithosphere. Hence a “delamination” was formed due to the gravitational instability created by the thickening and densifying; then alkaline basic volcanic rocks (mainly shoshonite series) was erupted along the northern margin of the Tibet plateau owing to the delamination. This inference for the formation of the alkaline basic volcanics has been confirmed by recent geochemical and petrological studies in Tibet, indicating that different contacts control different magmatic activities: the alkali basalts are always developed in the “horizontal shortening boundary (contact)” on the northern margin of the Tibet plateau, while the muscovite granite and two-mica granite (leucogranite) in the “subductional contact” on the southern margin of the Tibet plateau.

Distribution of the Permian Monodiexodina in Karakorum and Kunlun and its Geological Significance

The Permian fusulinoidean genus Monodiexodina is widely distributed in east Tethys. The genus might be an important indicator for the northern margin of Gondwana in northwestern China, but this is disputed. Monodiexodina-bearing areas can be restored as in either northern or southern middle latitudes with a symmetrical distribution between a high latitudinal, cool/cold water climatic realm and a paleotropical, warm water realm. Permian strata bearing Monodiexodina in Karakorum, Muztag Pear, and Buka Daban Pear of the east Kunlun Mountains can be correlated with each other. Faunal analyses and the stratigraphical position of Monodiexodina-bearing strata indicate that both Karakorum, east Kunlun, and the Pamirs were formed in a cool temperate sea area of the northern hemisphere in middle latitudes during the Permian, rather than at the Gondwana margin.

An Early Aged Ophiolite in the Western Kunlun Mts., NW Tibetan Plateau and Its Tectonic Implications

The early aged ophiolites have attracted attention of many geologists in recent decades, because the early aged ophiolites can provide the information about the ancient oceanic processes relevant to the evolution of plate tectonics in the early period of the earth, and also concern such problems as whether there existed a ＂Proto-Tethys＂ and the break-up and convergence of the Rodinian Supercontinent. This paper reveals a definite complete ophiolite of Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic, named Kuda ophiolite in the western Kunlun Mrs., NW Tibetan Plateau, and reports the recent reasonable SHRIMP zircon U-Pb ages of 510±4 Ma, and 502±13 Ma for the cumulates of the Kuda ophiolite, using the most powerful dating tool, the SHRIMP-Ⅱ. The geochemical and geochronology data integrating with the geological setting suggest that the Kuda ophiolite might have formed in an archipelago oceanic basin, not in a vast ocean, the so-called ＂Proto-Tethys＂, and was tectonically emplaced during the Early Paleozoic.

The Beila Ophiolite from the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone, Northern Tibetan Plateau

The Beila ophiolite is located in the middle part of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone,northern Tibetan plateau.It is a complete ophiolite suite,and plays a key role in understanding the evolution of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone,as well as the Meso-Tethys Ocean.The Beila ophiolite was composed of peridotite,serpentinite,gabbro,pillow basalt,and minor rodingite.Peridotites comprisemainlymedium–tocoarse–grained serpentinized harzburgites and minor plagioclase-bearing lherzolites and dunites.There are some felsic-ultramafic dykes within the peridotite and they are mainlypegmatoidal pyroxenites,coarse to fine-grained gabbros,and diabases.Gabbros included isotropic and cumulate gabbros,and they commonly contain minor pegmatoidal gabbros veins.Pillow basalts and basaltic andesites overlaid on the margin of the serpentinized peridotites.Rodingite occurs as lenses and/or dykes within the host serpentinized peridotites.Zircon SHRIMP U–Pb dating for two rodingite samples yielded the ages ranging from172 to 164 Ma.Whole-rock geochemical and zircon Hf isotopic data show that the Beila ophiolite shows SSZ-type ophiolite affinity.Finally,we suggest that the Beila ophiolite was generated in an initial subduction process at the middle Jurassic(164–172 Ma).

The Yadong-Golmud Geoscience Transect in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

On the basis of abundant geological and geophysical data. 6 terranes have been distinguished on theQinghai-Tibet Plateau. The plateau is a single integrated lithospheric unit although it is divided into blocks.With Amdo as a boundary. the crust may be divided into two parts with different crustal structures. The struc-ture in the southern part is complex, while that in the northern part is simple. The current study has revealedthat 8 factors such as slab subduction. overthrust and superimposition are responsible for crustal shorteningand thickening in the region. The uplift of this region is possibly due to northward compression of the Indianplate and southward compression of the Eurasian plate with the former predominating. The compression led tothe asthenospheric movements which were also influenced by thermal activity caused by doming at the bound-ary between the core and mantle.

Late Pleistocene(MIS 2) climate change on the Northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from pollen and geochemical records from Lake Gomo Co

Introduction A 405-cm sediment section GM02 from Gomo Co salt lake in the northern Tibetan Plateau was used to reconstruct climate changes during marine isotope stage(MIS)2,including the Last Glacial Maximum(LGM)and last

The Ren Co MOR-type Ophiolite in the North-central Tibetan Plateau: A Fast-spreading Ridge Segment of the Meso-Tethys Ocean?

The Meso-Tethys Ocean is generally considered to have opened in the late Early Permian as a result of the Cimmerian continental block drifting away from the Gondwana supercontinent. This ocean is also termed the north branch of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, and is now represented by the Bangong–Nujiang suture zone in the north-central Tibetan plateau. However, it is still unknown for the evolutionary history for as such a huge ancient ocean basin. Ophiolites are remnants of oceanic lithosphere and preserve key information in rebuilding the evolutionary history of ancient oceans. In this study, we undertook detailed geological mapping for the Ren Co ophiolite in the middle part of the Bangong–Nujiang suture zone, and a typical Penrose-type ophiolite sequences was newly documented in the Ren Co area. The Ren Co ophiolite comprises serpentinized peridotite, cumulate rock, gabbro/diabase, sheeted dike, massive and pillow lavas, and minor red chert. These rocks exhibit well-preserved mantle and crust rock suites, and show close similarities to oceanic lithospheres at modern fast-spreading ridges. Zircon U–Pb dating for gabbro and plagiogranite yielded ages of 169–147 Ma, which suggest that the Ren Co ophiolites were formed during the Middle to Late Jurassic. Harzburgite in the Ren Co area shows similar features to those of abyssal peridotite indicating the residues of the oceanic mantle. Mafic rocks(basalt, diabase and gabbro) of the Ren Co ophiolite show geochemical features similar to those of typical N-MORB. Moreover, all samples have positive whole-rock εNd(t), and zircon εHf(t) and mantle-like δ18O values. These features suggest that these rocks were derived from a depleted mantle source, thus the Ren Co ophiolite was typical MOR-type ophiolite. We suggest that the Ren Co ophiolite was formed in a fast-spreading mid-ocean-ridge(MOR) setting, and they most likely represented the ridge segment of the BangongNujiang Meso-Tethys Ocean. The Bangong–Nujiang MesoTethys Ocean was a wide paleo-ocean, and experienced continuous oceanic spreading, subduction, accretion before final Lhasa and South Qiangtang continental assembly.

Petrological, geochemical and chronological constraints for the tectonic setting of the Dongco ophiolite in Tibet

The Dongco ophiolite occurred in the middle-western segment of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone. The thickness of the ophiolite suite is more than 5 km, which is composed, from bottom to top, of the mantle peridotite, mafic-ultramafic cumulates, basic sills (dykes) and basic lava and tectoni- cally emplaced in Jurassic strata (Mugagongru Group). The Dongco cumulates consist of dunite- troctolite-olivine-gabbro, being a part of DTG series of mafic-ultramafic cumulates. The basic lavas are characterized by being rich in alkali (Na2O+ K2O), TiO2, P2O5 and a LREE-rich type pattern dip- ping right with [La/Yb]=6.94―16.6 as well as a trace elements spider-diagram with normal anomaly of Th, Nb, Ta, Hf. Therefore, the Dongco basic lavas belong to ocean-island basalt (OIB) and dis- tinctly differ from mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) and island-arc basalt (IAB) formed in the plate convergence margin. The basic lavas have higher 87Sr/86Sr (0.704363―0.705007), lower 143Nd/144Nd (0.512708―0.512887) and εNd(t ) from +2.7―+5.8, indicating that they derive from a two-components mixing mantle source of depleted mantle (DM) and enriched mantle (EMI). From above it is ready to see that the Dongco ophiolite forms in oceanic island (OIB) where the mantle source is replaced by a large amount of enriched material, therefore it distinctly differs from these ophiolites formed in island-arc and mid-oecan ridge. Newly obtained SHRIMP U-Pb dating for zircon of the cumulate troctolite is 132 ± 3 Ma and whole-rock dating of ^(39)Ar/^(40)Ar for the basalt is 173.4 ± 2.7 Ma and 140.9 ± 2.8 Ma, indicating that the Dongco ophiolite formed at Early Cretaceous and the middle-western segment of the Bangong-Nujiang oceanic basin was still in the developing and evolving period at Early Cretaceous.