Paleomagnetism of Metamorphosed Sudbury Dykes, Canada: Relevance to a Theory of Crustal Shortening across the Grenville Collisional Orogen

The 1.235 Ga ESE-trending Sudbury dyke swarm cuts Paleoproterozoic to Archean rocks,but at its SE end becomes deformed and metamorphosed by the;Ga Grenville orogen,a result of collision between Laurentia

Balanced Cross-Section and Crustal Shortening Analysis in the Tanggula-Tuotuohe Area,Northern Tibet

The Tanggula （唐古拉） thrust system and the Tuotuohe （沱沱河） foreland basin, which represent major Cenozoic tectonic units of the central Tibetan plateau, have been recently studied. Field investigation, analyses of deformation and construction of two restored balanced structural sections suggest 75-100 km （51%-64%） of N-S shortening in the Tanggula thrust system and 55-114 km （42%-47%） of N-S shortening in the Tuotuohe basin. The shortening ratios indicate that the Tanggula- Tuotuohe area has undergone intensive deformation and crustal shortening during the Early Tertiary, resulting not only in crustal thickening, but also in large scale volcanism and in rapid uplift of the Tanggula Mountains.

Two-dimensional finite element modeling on the crustal shortening and the surface erosion-sedimentation process across northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains

The Tianshan Mountains,located in the northwestern China,are bounded by the Tarim Basin to south and the Junggar Basin to north.In the north piedmont of this mountain range,ongoing thrusting and folding forms a set of roughly parallel anticlines.Geological observations predicted that averaged over last^1 Ma time scale,the shortening rates of these anticlines are about2.1–5.5 mm/a;However by averaged over about 10±2 kyr,their shortening rates reduce to merely about 1.25±0.5 mm/a.The slow shortening of the anticlines in the last^10±2 kyr is coarsely concurrent in time with the last global deglaciation.Here,we use a two-dimensional finite element model to explore crustal deformation across north piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains under various erosion-sedimentation conditions that are assumed to represent the climate-controlled surface process.Numerical experiments show that with a relatively weak erosion-sedimentation strength,the crustal shortening is accommodated mainly by north piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains,similar to the high shortening rate of anticlines averaged over the last^1Ma.By increasing erosion-sedimentation strength,the resultant crustal shortening is transformed gradually toward the Tianshan Mountains,resulting in the shortening rate in its north piedmont being decelerated to what is observed as averaged over the last^10±2 kyr.This result suggests that erosion and sedimentation could play an important role mechanically on strain localization across an intra-continent active tectonic belt.Hence,if the climate change around the last global deglaciation could be simply representative to the enhancement of surface erosion and sedimentation across the pre-existed Tianshan Mountains and its foreland,our models indicate that the observed shortening-rate variations averaged over^1 Ma and^10±2kyr time scales around north piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains should be resulted from climate changes.

Early Miocene Paleoaltitude of the Tuotuohe Basin,Central-Northern Tibetan Plateau and its Tectonic Implications

Reconstruction of the paleoaltitude history of the Tibetan Plateau is critical for understanding the linkage between tectonics and its effect on regional and global climate change.Presently,most of the paleoaltitude studies are concentrated on the southern and southeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau,and few studies have been conducted in the central-northern part.In this paper we focused on the Wudaoliang Formation in the Tuotuohe Basin,central to northern Tibetan Plateau,to reconstruct paleoaltitude based on carbonate oxygen isotopes.The carbonate samples are primary or have experienced an early stage of digenesis.Based on the thermodynamic and empirical model results,the paleoaltitude of the Wudaoliang Formation is found to be around 2700–3260 m(average of 2980±280 m)in the early Miocene(~24 Ma).Integrating paleoaltitude results from Wudaoliang Basin and our results,we conclude that crustal shortening and tectonic activity were strong during the late Eocene to late Oligocene-early Miocene and relatively weak during the early Miocene in the central-northern Tibetan Plateau.

Tectonic Mechanism of the Suining(Ms5.0) Earthquake,Center of Sichuan Basin,China

On Jan.31 of 2010,the Suining earthquake occurred at Suining City whch is located the center of Sichuan Basin.It is unusual for the strong earthquake to occur at the center of Sichuan Basin with a stable geotectonic environment and a low-level historical seismicity.The macro-epicenter of the earthquake is located at Moxi town of Suining city,Sichuan province,China.The earthquake intensity of the epicenter area is degree VII,and the long axis of the isoseismal line trends in NE orientation.The Suining earthquake caused the collapse or destruction of 460 family houses.The earthquake focal mechanism solution and records of the near-field seismographic stations showed the earthquake occurred at the reverse fault at a depth 34 km.Based on the waveform and focal mechanism,we consider the Suning earthquake is triggered by the reverse fault and not by the gravitational collapse or man-made explosive sources.Basing on seismic refraction profile and borehole,we consider that the earthquake is triggered by the backthrust fault of Moxi anticline rooted in detachments at a depth 3-4 km.Furthermore,we infer that tectonic mechanism of the Suining(Ms5.0) Earthquake is driven by the horizontal crustal shortening and stress adjustment on a shallow detachment after the Wenchuan(Ms 8.0) earthquake.

Late Quaternary Tectonic Activity and Slip Rates of Active Faults in the Western Hexi Corridor,NW China

The Yinwashan and Xinminpu faults are located in the Jiuxi Basin in the western end of the Hexi Corridor. The determination of their activity and slip rates is of great significance for understanding the eastward extension of the Altyn Tagh fault. Based on geological and geomorphologic field survey, trench excavation, optically stimulated luminescence dating, we define the fault geometry and kinematic properties of the two faults. Based on fault scarps measurement using differential GPS and 10 Be surface exposure dating, we determined vertical slip rate of 0.09±0.01 mm/yr for the Yinwashan fault and 0.1±0.02 mm/yr for the Xinminpu fault. Using the dips observed in trenches and natural sections, we estimated horizontal shortening rates of 0.05±0.03 and 0.23±0.06 mm/yr, respectively. No significant strike slip motion is observed on these two faults, and we infer that this region was dominated by horizontal shortening in the Late Quaternary. Although the shortening rate is quite low on each individual fault, together with other faults in this area, these two faults have an essential role in transferring slip from the eastern end of the Altyn Tagh fault and in accommodating the northeastward growth of Tibetan Plateau.