Crustal subduction and continental collision is the core of plate tectonics theory. Understanding the formation and evolution of continental collision orogens is a key to develop the theory of plate tectonics. Differe...Crustal subduction and continental collision is the core of plate tectonics theory. Understanding the formation and evolution of continental collision orogens is a key to develop the theory of plate tectonics. Different types of subduction zones have been categorized based on the nature of subducted crust. Two types of collisional orogens, i.e. arc-continent and continent-continent collisional orogens, have been recognized based on the nature of collisional blocks and the composition of derivative rocks. Arc-continent collisional orogens contain both ancient and juvenile crustal rocks, and reworking of those rocks at the post-collisional stage generates magmatic rocks with different geochemical compositions. If an orogen is built by collision between two relatively old continental blocks, post-collisional magmatic rocks are only derived from reworking of the old crustal rocks. Collisional orogens undergo reactivation and reworking at action of lithosphere extension, with inheritance not only in the tectonic regime but also in the geochemical compositions of reworked products(i.e., magmatic rocks). In order to unravel basic principles for the evolution of continental tectonics at the post-collisional stages, it is necessary to investigate the reworking of orogenic belts in the post-collisional regime, to recognize physicochemical differences in deep continental collision zones, and to understand petrogenetic links between the nature of subducted crust and post-collisional magmatic rocks. Afterwards we are in a position to build the systematics of continental tectonics and thus to develop the plate tectonics theory.展开更多
The Tongbai-Hong'an orogen is located in a key tectonic position linking the Qinling orogen to the west and the Dabie-Sulu orogen to the east. Because the orogen preserves a Paleozoic accretionary orogenic system ...The Tongbai-Hong'an orogen is located in a key tectonic position linking the Qinling orogen to the west and the Dabie-Sulu orogen to the east. Because the orogen preserves a Paleozoic accretionary orogenic system in the north and a latest PaleozoicMesozoic collisional orogenic system in the south, it may serve as an ideal place to study the tectonic evolution between the North and South China Blocks. The available literature data in the past 20 years indicate that the tectonic processes of the Tongbai-Hong'an orogen involved four stages during the Phanerozoic:(1) Early Paleozoic(490–420 Ma) oceanic subduction, arc magmatism and arc-continent collision created a new Andean-type active continental margin on the North China Block;(2) Late Paleozoic(340–310 Ma) oceanic subduction and accretion generated separated paired metamorphic belts: a medium P/T Wuguan-Guishan complex belt in the south of the Shandan-Songpa fault and a high P/T Xiongdian eclogite belt in the northern edge of the Mesozoic HP metamorphic terrane;(3) Latest Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic(255–200 Ma) continental subduction and collision formed the Tongbai HP terrane in the west and the Hong'an HP/UHP terrane in the east as a consequence of deep subduction towards the east and syn-subduction detachment/exhumation of the down-going slab;(4) Late Mesozoic(140–120 Ma) extension, voluminous magma intrusion and tectonic extrusion led to the final exhumation of the Tongbai-Hong'an-Dabie HP/UHP terrane and the wedge-shaped architecture of the terrane narrowing towards the west. However, many open questions still remain about the details of each evolutionary stage and earlier history of the orogen. Besides an extensive study directly on the Tongbai-Hong'an orogen in the future, integrated investigation on the "soft-collisional" Qinling orogen in the west and the "hard-collisional" Dabie-Sulu orogen in the east is required to establish a general tectonic model for the whole Qinling-TongbaiHong'an-Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt.展开更多
Continental subduction and collision normally follows oceanic subduction,with the remarkable event of formation and exhumation of high-to ultra-high-pressure(HP-UHP)metamorphic rocks.Based on the summary of numerical ...Continental subduction and collision normally follows oceanic subduction,with the remarkable event of formation and exhumation of high-to ultra-high-pressure(HP-UHP)metamorphic rocks.Based on the summary of numerical geodynamic models,six modes of continental convergence have been identified:pure shear thickening,folding and buckling,one-sided steep subduction,flat subduction,two-sided subduction,and subducting slab break-off.In addition,the exhumation of HP-UHP rocks can be formulated into eight modes:thrust fault exhumation,buckling exhumation,material circulation,overpressure model,exhumation of a coherent crustal slice,episodic ductile extrusion,slab break-off induced eduction,and exhumation through fractured overriding lithosphere.During the transition from subduction to exhumation,the weakening and detachment of subducted continental crust are prerequisites.However,the dominant weakening mechanisms and their roles in the subduction channel are poorly constrained.To a first degree approximation,the mechanism of continental subduction and exhumation can be treated as a subduction channel flow model,which incorporates the competing effects of downward Couette(subduction)flow and upward Poiseuille(exhumation)flow in the subduction channel.However,the(de-)hydration effect plays significant roles in the deformation of subduction channel and overriding lithosphere,which thereby result in very different modes from the simple subduction channel flow.Three-dimensionality is another important issue with highlighting the along-strike differential modes of continental subduction,collision and exhumation in the same continental convergence belt.展开更多
Numerous continents have rifted and drifted away from Gondwana to repeatedly open ocean basins over the past-500 millionyears.These Gondwana-derived continents drifted towards and collided with components of the Euras...Numerous continents have rifted and drifted away from Gondwana to repeatedly open ocean basins over the past-500 millionyears.These Gondwana-derived continents drifted towards and collided with components of the Eurasian continent to successively close the preexisting oceans between the two.Plate tectonics satisfactorily describes the continental drift from Gondwana to Eurasia but does not define the geodynamic mechanism of continuously rifting to collisions of continents in the Tethy an Realm.After reappraisal of geological records of the rift,collision and subduction initiation from the surface and various geophysical observations from depth,we propose that Eurasia-directed subducting oceanic slabs would have driven Tethyan system in the Phanerozoic.The Eurasia-directed subduction would have dragged the passive Gondwana margin to rift and drift northwards,giving birth to new oceans since the Paleozoic.The closure of preexisting oceans between the Gondwana-derived continents and Eurasia led to continental collisions,which would have induced the initiation of oceanic subduction in the Tethyan Realm.Multiple episodic switches between collision-subduction-rift repeatedly led to the separation of continental fragments from Gondwana and dragged them to drift towards Eurasia.The final disappearance of Neo-Tethy s would have induced collision of the Gondwana-derived continents with the Eurasian continent,giving rise to the Cenozoic Alpine-Zagros-Himalayan collisional system.Therefore,the Eurasia-directed oceanic subduction would have acted as a’one-way train’that successively transferred the ruptured Gondwana continental fragments in the south,into the terminal in the north.In this regard,the engine of this"Tethyan one-way train"is the negative buoyancy of subducting oceanic slabs.展开更多
基金supported by funds from the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2015CB856100)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41221062)
文摘Crustal subduction and continental collision is the core of plate tectonics theory. Understanding the formation and evolution of continental collision orogens is a key to develop the theory of plate tectonics. Different types of subduction zones have been categorized based on the nature of subducted crust. Two types of collisional orogens, i.e. arc-continent and continent-continent collisional orogens, have been recognized based on the nature of collisional blocks and the composition of derivative rocks. Arc-continent collisional orogens contain both ancient and juvenile crustal rocks, and reworking of those rocks at the post-collisional stage generates magmatic rocks with different geochemical compositions. If an orogen is built by collision between two relatively old continental blocks, post-collisional magmatic rocks are only derived from reworking of the old crustal rocks. Collisional orogens undergo reactivation and reworking at action of lithosphere extension, with inheritance not only in the tectonic regime but also in the geochemical compositions of reworked products(i.e., magmatic rocks). In order to unravel basic principles for the evolution of continental tectonics at the post-collisional stages, it is necessary to investigate the reworking of orogenic belts in the post-collisional regime, to recognize physicochemical differences in deep continental collision zones, and to understand petrogenetic links between the nature of subducted crust and post-collisional magmatic rocks. Afterwards we are in a position to build the systematics of continental tectonics and thus to develop the plate tectonics theory.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant Nos.2015CB856104,2009CB825006)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41472064,40672047)the Geological Investigation Project of China Geological Survey(Grant No.1212010711812)
文摘The Tongbai-Hong'an orogen is located in a key tectonic position linking the Qinling orogen to the west and the Dabie-Sulu orogen to the east. Because the orogen preserves a Paleozoic accretionary orogenic system in the north and a latest PaleozoicMesozoic collisional orogenic system in the south, it may serve as an ideal place to study the tectonic evolution between the North and South China Blocks. The available literature data in the past 20 years indicate that the tectonic processes of the Tongbai-Hong'an orogen involved four stages during the Phanerozoic:(1) Early Paleozoic(490–420 Ma) oceanic subduction, arc magmatism and arc-continent collision created a new Andean-type active continental margin on the North China Block;(2) Late Paleozoic(340–310 Ma) oceanic subduction and accretion generated separated paired metamorphic belts: a medium P/T Wuguan-Guishan complex belt in the south of the Shandan-Songpa fault and a high P/T Xiongdian eclogite belt in the northern edge of the Mesozoic HP metamorphic terrane;(3) Latest Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic(255–200 Ma) continental subduction and collision formed the Tongbai HP terrane in the west and the Hong'an HP/UHP terrane in the east as a consequence of deep subduction towards the east and syn-subduction detachment/exhumation of the down-going slab;(4) Late Mesozoic(140–120 Ma) extension, voluminous magma intrusion and tectonic extrusion led to the final exhumation of the Tongbai-Hong'an-Dabie HP/UHP terrane and the wedge-shaped architecture of the terrane narrowing towards the west. However, many open questions still remain about the details of each evolutionary stage and earlier history of the orogen. Besides an extensive study directly on the Tongbai-Hong'an orogen in the future, integrated investigation on the "soft-collisional" Qinling orogen in the west and the "hard-collisional" Dabie-Sulu orogen in the east is required to establish a general tectonic model for the whole Qinling-TongbaiHong'an-Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt.
基金supported by the Start-up Research Fund from Institute of Geology of CAGS(Grant No.J1219)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40921001)China Geological Survey Projects(Grant Nos.1212011121275,1212011120161)and Sinoprobe Project
文摘Continental subduction and collision normally follows oceanic subduction,with the remarkable event of formation and exhumation of high-to ultra-high-pressure(HP-UHP)metamorphic rocks.Based on the summary of numerical geodynamic models,six modes of continental convergence have been identified:pure shear thickening,folding and buckling,one-sided steep subduction,flat subduction,two-sided subduction,and subducting slab break-off.In addition,the exhumation of HP-UHP rocks can be formulated into eight modes:thrust fault exhumation,buckling exhumation,material circulation,overpressure model,exhumation of a coherent crustal slice,episodic ductile extrusion,slab break-off induced eduction,and exhumation through fractured overriding lithosphere.During the transition from subduction to exhumation,the weakening and detachment of subducted continental crust are prerequisites.However,the dominant weakening mechanisms and their roles in the subduction channel are poorly constrained.To a first degree approximation,the mechanism of continental subduction and exhumation can be treated as a subduction channel flow model,which incorporates the competing effects of downward Couette(subduction)flow and upward Poiseuille(exhumation)flow in the subduction channel.However,the(de-)hydration effect plays significant roles in the deformation of subduction channel and overriding lithosphere,which thereby result in very different modes from the simple subduction channel flow.Three-dimensionality is another important issue with highlighting the along-strike differential modes of continental subduction,collision and exhumation in the same continental convergence belt.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91855207, 41888101)the Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. 2013047, GJHZ1776)
文摘Numerous continents have rifted and drifted away from Gondwana to repeatedly open ocean basins over the past-500 millionyears.These Gondwana-derived continents drifted towards and collided with components of the Eurasian continent to successively close the preexisting oceans between the two.Plate tectonics satisfactorily describes the continental drift from Gondwana to Eurasia but does not define the geodynamic mechanism of continuously rifting to collisions of continents in the Tethy an Realm.After reappraisal of geological records of the rift,collision and subduction initiation from the surface and various geophysical observations from depth,we propose that Eurasia-directed subducting oceanic slabs would have driven Tethyan system in the Phanerozoic.The Eurasia-directed subduction would have dragged the passive Gondwana margin to rift and drift northwards,giving birth to new oceans since the Paleozoic.The closure of preexisting oceans between the Gondwana-derived continents and Eurasia led to continental collisions,which would have induced the initiation of oceanic subduction in the Tethyan Realm.Multiple episodic switches between collision-subduction-rift repeatedly led to the separation of continental fragments from Gondwana and dragged them to drift towards Eurasia.The final disappearance of Neo-Tethy s would have induced collision of the Gondwana-derived continents with the Eurasian continent,giving rise to the Cenozoic Alpine-Zagros-Himalayan collisional system.Therefore,the Eurasia-directed oceanic subduction would have acted as a’one-way train’that successively transferred the ruptured Gondwana continental fragments in the south,into the terminal in the north.In this regard,the engine of this"Tethyan one-way train"is the negative buoyancy of subducting oceanic slabs.
