A PRELIMINARY APPROACH TO THE GEOTECTONIC EVOLUTION HISTORY AND MINERLIZATION IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

According to the available data and field research, based on the diwa theory, the authors have studied the geotectonic evolution history and the associated minerlization in the Victoria area. It has been shown that this area is in fact a part of the Lachlan diwa region. The Victoria area can be divided into geodome fault fold zone and subsidence zone. The former can be subdivided into three zones, from west to east, which are western uplift zone, central depression zone and eastern uplift zone. The evolution history of the Victoria area can be divided into four stages——Pregeosyncline, geosyncline, plateform and diwa. Each stage has distinct sedimentary, magmatic and structural features. Of the four stages, diwa stage is the most important for minerlization. Diwa stage started in the Devonian. During the development of diwa, a number of granites, which are characterized by high SiO 2 and Na 2O+K 2O, were formed. The granites were abundance with mineral forming material. On the other hand, diwa geotectonism reformed and enriched the geosynclinal or platform ore deposits. Therefore, most of the ore deposits that occurred in the Victoria area are, more or less, related with diwa tectonism.

Ridge subduction, magmatism, and metallogenesis

Modern oceans contain large bathymetric highs(spreading oceanic ridges,aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus and inactive arc ridges)that,in total,constitute more than 20–30%of the total area of the world’s ocean floor.These bathymetric highs may be subducted,and such processes are commonly referred to as ridge subduction.Such ridge subduction events are not only very common and important geodynamic processes in modern oceanic plate tectonics,they also play an important role in the generation of arc magmatism,material recycling,the growth and evolution of continental crust,the deformation and modification of the overlying plates,and metallogenesis at convergent plate boundaries.Therefore,these events have attracted widespread attention.The perpendicular or high-angle subduction of mid-ocean spreading ridges is commonly characterized by the occurrence of a slab window,and the formation of a distinctive adakite–high-Mg andesite–Nb-enriched basalt-oceanic island basalt(OIB)or a mid-oceanic ridge basalt(MORB)-type rock suite,and is closely associated with Au mineralization.Aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus are traditionally considered to be difficult to subduct,to typically collide with arcs or continents or to induce flat subduction(low angle of less than 10°)due to the thickness of their underlying normal oceanic crust(>6–7 km)and high topography.However,the subduction of aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus occurred on both the western and eastern sides of the Pacific Ocean during the Cenozoic.On the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean,aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus are being subducted flatly or at low angles beneath South and Central American continents,which may cause a magmatic gap.But slab melting can occur and adakites,or an adakite–high-Mg andesite–adakitic andesite–Nb-enriched basalt suite may be formed during the slab rollback or tearing.Cu-Au mineralization is commonly associated with such flat subduction events.On the western side of the Pacific Ocean,however,aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus are subducted at relatively high angles(>30°).These subduction processes can generate large scale eruptions of basalts,basaltic andesites and andesites,which may be derived from fractional crystallization of magmas originating from the subduction zone fluid-metasomatized mantle wedge.In addition,some inactive arc ridges are subducted beneath Southwest Japan,and these subduction processes are commonly associated with the production of basalts,high-Mg andesites and adakites and Au mineralization.Besides magmatism and Cu-Au mineralization,ridge subduction may also trigger subduction erosion in subduction zones.Future frontiers of research will include characterizing the spatial and temporal patterns of ridge subduction events,clarifying the associated geodynamic mechanisms,quantifying subduction zone material recycling,establishing the associated deep crustal and mantle events that generate or influence magmatism and Cu-Au mineralization,establishing criteria to recognize pre-Cenozoic ridge subduction,the onset of modernstyle plate tectonics and the growth mechanisms for Archean continental crust.