Mesozoic-Cenozoic Multi-Stage Intraplate Deformation Events in the Langshan Region and their Tectonic Implications

In the Langshan region, northwestern China, marked multi-stage intraplate deformation events have occurred since the Mesozoic, including（1） northeast-striking ductile left-lateral strike slip during the Middle-Late Triassic, which is closely related to the collision between the North China and the Yangtze plates;（2） top-to-the-southeast thrust with northwest-southeast trending maximum compression during the Late Jurassic;（3） nearly eastward detachment during the Early Cretaceous;（4） top-to-the-northwest thrust with northwest-southeast trending maximum compression during the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic;（5） northeast-striking brittle left-lateral strike slip with nearly north-south trending maximum compression; and（6） northwest-southeast extension during the Middle-Late Cenozoic. All these deformation events belong to the intraplate deformation across the entire Central Asian region and respond to the tectonic events along the plate boundaries or deep tectonics. The structures developed in early events in the crust were the most important factors controlling the later deformation styles, and few new structures have later developed. Based on previous research and our results, the paleostress inversion in the Langshan region shows that the Mesozoic intraplate deformations in the study region mainly resulted from the tectonic events from the Paleo-Pacific region and have no or a weak relation to the Tethys region. During the Late Jurassic, the maximum compression from the Mongolia-Okhotsk region cannot be excluded. The Langshan region is the bridge between southern Mongolia and the western Ordos tectonic belt and is thus important to understand the nature and relationship between both regions.

Formation Mechanism of "Drag Depressions" and Irregular Boundaries in Intraplate Deformation

Almost all intraplate caprocks experienced strong deformation during the convergence of microplates, and then disintegrated into many secondary geologic units with the special characters, such as irregular boundaries and particular structural assemblages. In order to understand the formation mechanism of these special phenomena, a rheological experiment on the structural scenery of the Tongling area is carried out. The result shows that the primary regular and uniform boundaries of the Tongling area becomes irregular because of the enclosing and confinement of surrounding geological units in the process of 'compression-shearing-rotation-drag'; simultaneously, two specific 'drag depressions' developed at two opposite corners of the block. The former and the later phenomena can be regarded as a typical regional-scale rheological effect and necessary outcome of intraplate deformation respectively.

Intraplate Deformation of Asia Derived fromITRF2000 Velocity Field

The definition of an 'intraplate fixed' frame remains a significant error source for crustal motion studies at a few millimeters per year level. An appropriate implementation of such a frame is very important to avoid biased velocities and to confirm a valid geophysical interpretation. Here, we establish the newest global plate motion model of ITRF2000VEL and research the definition of an Asian-fixed frame in Asia using the ITRF2000 velocity field. By X2 and F ratio tests, we find a subset site in Asia that satisfies a rigid cap rotation with residual velocities <0. 95 mm/a and provide a stable Asia reference frame (SARF). In this reference frame, we find residual velocities at Asiatic ITRF2000 sites that are consistent with known active tectonic feature. An important result of this study is the identification of internal deformation of the order of 1-2 mm/a in an area usually interpreted as 'stable' Asia. These results should be further checked as newer, denser and more accurate space geodetic data sets with longer observation time span, which become available for Asia.

A review of geophysical studies on the Mongolian Plateau

The Mongolian Plateau in Central Asia is an intracontinental tectonic system far from active plate boundaries.Despite its distance from these boundaries,the plateau is characterized by intense crustal deformation accompanied by voluminous Cenozoic volcanism and active modern seismicity.However,the intraplate deformation mechanism has long been debated owing to the scarcity of observations and contradictions between different results.In recent years,growing geophysical studies have been conducted on the Mongolian Plateau,providing constraints on its lithospheric structure and dynamics.Here,we review the geophysical research on the Mongolian Plateau over the last decade,including seismological,geodetic,gravity,magnetotelluric,and geodynamic aspects.This review aims to(a)describe crustal and mantle structures based on multiscale seismic images;(b)describe deformation patterns based on seismic anisotropy,focal mechanisms,and global positioning system(GPS)observations;and(c)discuss the mechanisms behind intraplate deformation,volcanism,and seismic activity across the Mongolian Plateau.Seismic images show that the crustal structure of the plateau has significant east-west differences.Several blocks in the western Mongolian Plateau have thick crusts,including the Altai Mountains,Hovsgol Rift,and Hangay Dome.The lithospheric deformation across the Mongolian Plateau has strong lateral variation,with NE-SW shortening in the Altai Mountains and W-E or NW-SE shear deformation in the Hangay Dome region and the eastern part.The varied deformation may result from the superposition of multiple mechanisms,including far-field stress in the Altai Mountains,mantle upwelling,and mantle flow in the Hangay Dome region.However,it is difficult to identify the geodynamics of the formation of the entire Mongolian Plateau because the deformation is too complicated,and the present models are not sufficient and are always partial.Overall,this review encompasses recent advances in seismic observations of the Mongolian Plateau,illuminates the heterogeneities in the crust and mantle structure and deformation of the plateau,and discusses the mechanisms behind the deformation,magmatism,and seismicity.

Multistage Deformation in the Northeastern Segment of the Jiangshao Fault (Suture) Belt: Constraints for the Relationship between the Yangtze Plate and the Cathaysia Old Land

Multistage deformation events have occurred in the northeastern Jiangshao Fault （Suture） Belt. The earliest two are ductile deformation events. The first is the ca. 820 Ma top-to-the-northwest ductile thrusting, which directly resulted from the collision between the Cathaysia Old Land and the Chencai Arc （？） during the Late Neoproterozoic, and the Jiangnan Orogenic Belt that formed as the ocean closed between the Yangtze Plate and the jointed Cathaysia Old Land and the Chencai Arc due to continuous compression. The second is the ductile left-lateral strike-slipping that occurred in the latest Early Paleozoic. Since the Jinning period, all deformation events represent the reactivation or inversion of intraplate structures due to the collisions between the North China and Yangtze plates during the Triassic and between the Philippine Sea and Eurasian plates during the Cenozoic. In the Triassic, brittle right-lateral strike-slipping and subsequent top-to-the south thrusting occurred along the whole northeastern Jiangshao Fault Zone because of the collision between the North China and Yangtze plates. In the Late Mesozoic, regional extension took place across southeastern China. In the Cenozoic, the collision between the Philippine Sea and Eurasian plates resulted in brittle thrusts along the whole Jiangnan Old land in the Miocene. The Jiangshao Fault Belt is a weak zone in the crust with long history, and its reactivation is one of important characteristics of the deformation in South China; however, late-stage deformation events did not occur beyond the Jiangnan Old Land and most of them are parallel to the strike of the Old Land, which is similar to the Cenozoic deformation in Central Asia. In addition, the Jiangnan old Land is not a collisional boundary between the Yangtze Plate and Cathaysia Old Land in the Triassic.

Two-step exhumation of Caucasian intraplate rifts:A proxy of sequential plate-margin collisional orogenies

Intraplate structural deformation is diagnostic of tectonic stress regime changes linked to plate interactions and can result from superposed tectonic events whose single contributions are hardly distinguishable.In this paper,we present a set of integrated thermochronologic inverse models along a 140 km-long transect across the central Greater Caucasus and the adjacent Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt of Georgia,two intraplate orogens produced by structural inversion of parallel continental rift zones located on the Eurasian plate.Our dataset allows to distinguish discrete and superposed deformation episodes and quantify their respective contributions to orogenic exhumation.The integration of(U-Th)/He analysis on apatite and zircon,fission-track analysis on apatite,and peak-temperature determinations(clay mineralogy,organic matter petrography,Raman spectroscopy)shows that structural inversion was punctuated by two incremental steps starting respectively in the latest Cretaceous and the mid-Miocene.Latest Cretaceous partial inversion of the Greater Caucasus is documented here for the first time and placed in a geographically wider context of coeval deformation.The two episodes of intraplate structural inversion,exhumation,and sediment generation are chronologically and physically correlated with docking of(i)the Anatolide-Tauride-Armenian terrane(Late Cretaceous-Paleocene)and(ii)Arabia(Miocene hard collision)against the southern Eurasian plate margin.Intraplate deformation in the Caucasian domain was triggered by far-field propagation of plate-margin collisional stress which focused preferentially along rheologically weak rift zones.

Jurassic Tectonics of North China:A Synthetic View

This paper gives a synthetic view on the Jurassic tectonics of North China, with an attempt to propose a framework for the stepwise tectonic evolution history. Jurassic sedimentation, deformation and magmatism in North China have been divided into three stages. The earliest Jurassic is marked by a period of magmatism quiescence （in 205-190 Ma） and regional uplift, which are considered to be the continuation of the “Indosinian movement” characterized by continent-continent collision between the North and South China blocks. The Early to Middle Jurassic （in 190-170 Ma） was predominated by weak lithospheric extension expressed by mantle-derived plutonism and volcanism along the Yanshan belt and alongside the Tan-Lu fault zone, normal faulting and graben formation along the Yinshan- Yanshan tectonic belt, depression and resuming of coal-bearing sedimentation in vast regions of the North China block （NCB）. The Middle to Late Jurassic stage started at 165y.5 Ma and ended up before 136 Ma; it was dominated by intensive intraplate deformation resulting from multi-directional compressions. Two major deformation events have been identified. One is marked by stratigraphic unconformity beneath the thick Upper Jurassic molasic series in the foreland zones of the western Ordos thrust-fold belt and along the Yinshan-Yanshan belt; it was predated 160 Ma. The other one is indicated by stratigraphic unconformity at the base of the Lower Cretaceous and predated 135 Ma. During this last stage, two latitudinal tectonic belts, the Yinshan-Yanshan belt in the north and the Qinling-Dabie belt in the south, and the western margin of the Ordos basin were all activated by thrusting; the NCB itself was deformed by the NE to NNE-trending structural system involving thrusting, associated folding and sinistral strike-slip faulting, which were spatially partitioned. Foliated S-type granitic plutons aged 160-150 Ma were massively emplaced in the Jiao-Liao massif east of the Tan-Lu fault zone and indicate important crustal thickening in this part of the NCB. The Jurassic deformation patterns, different tectonic systems and multi-directional contractions in North China recorded far-field effects of synchronous convergences, toward the East Asian continent, of three different plates, the Siberian plate in the north, the paleo-Pacific oceanic plate in the east and the Lhasa block in the southwest. This Middle to Late Jurassic intraplate orogenesis and pervasive shortening deformation preceded lithospheric attenuation and thinning in East China, which most possibly started by the Early Cretaceous around 135 Ma.

地震反射剖面揭示阿尔泰山陆内逆冲造山机制

The Altai orogen is a typical intracontinental orogen in Central Asia that experienced far-field deformation associated with Indian-Eurasian plate convergence. This region is characterized by uplift comparable to that of the Tianshan Mountains but has a distinct strain rate. Half of the Indo-Asia strain is accommodated by the Tianshan Mountains, whereas the Altai Mountains accommodates only 10%. To elucidate how the Altai Mountains produced such a large amount of uplift with only one-fifth of the strain rate of the Tianshan Mountains, we constructed a detailed crustal image of the Altai Mountains based on a new 166.8-km deep seismic reflection profile. The prestack migration images reveal an antiform within the Erqis crust, an ~10 km Moho offset between the Altai arc and the East Junggar area, and a major south-dipping(30° dip) thrust in the lower crust beneath the Altai Mountains, which is connected to the Moho offset. The south-dipping thrust not only records the southward subduction of the Ob-Zaisan Ocean in the Paleozoic but also controlled the Altai deformation pattern in the Cenozoic with the Erqis antiform. The Erqis antiform prevented the extension of deformation to the Junggar crust. The southdipping thrust in the lower crust of the Altai area caused extrusion of the lower crust, generating uplift at the surface, thickening of the crust, and steep(~10 km) Moho deepening in the Altai Mountains. This process significantly widened the deformation zone of the Altai Mountains. These findings provide a new geodynamic model for describing how inherited crustal structure controls intraplate deformation without strong horizontal stress.

Determination of Euler parameters of Philippine Sea plate and the inferences

Euler vectors of 12 plates, including Philippine Sea plate (PH), relative to a randomly fixed Pacific plate(PA) were determined by inverting the 1122 data from NUVEL-1 global plate motion model, earthquake slip vectors along Philippine Sea plate boundary, and GPS observed velocities. Euler vectors of Philippine Sea plate relative to adjacent plates are also gained. Our results are well consistent with observed data and can satisfy the geological and geophysical constraints along the Caroline(CR)-PH and PA-CR boundaries. Deformation of Philippine Sea plate is also discussed by using the plate motion Euler parameters.