tertiary tectonics of the border ranges fault system chugach mountains alaska deformation and uplift in a forearc setting the border ranges fault system brfs locally separates supracrustal upper cretaceous tertiary rocks of the cook inlet matanuska valley forearc basin on the peninsular terrane from metamorphosed cretaceous subduction complex rocks of the chugach terrane to the south this 5 to 10 km wide zone of concentrated deformation along the inboard edge of southern alaska s accretionary prism has suffered a protracted history beginning with its inception as a megathrust by early cretaceous time and continuing into early tertiary time when it was transected by a system of steeply arcward dipping normal and dextral slip faults based on detailed geologic mapping structural analysis metamorphic mineral assemblage data and k ar and fission track geochronology the tertiary history of displacements along a central part of this forearc fault system has been divided into several phases of deformation these include a paleocene phase of regional uplift of the forearc basin together with block faulting along the brfs to rapidly uplift and subaerially expose low grade metamorphic rocks of the subduction complex upper cretaceous valdez group within 15 ma of their inferred underplating at deep structural levels of the accretionary prism continued normal separation faulting along the brfs in late paleocene early eocene time to further uplift the subduction complex was recorded by deposition of a syntectonic alluvial fan system chickaloon formation across the brfs and along the southern margin of the forearc basin a third mid eocene increment of normal separation faulting along the brfs juxtaposed greenschist facies fabrics of early eocene age in the subduction complex against the chickaloon formation this latter uplift event predated intrusion of early late eocene 43 48 ma zircon fission track minimum ages felsic dikes into the present terrane bounding fault and was accompanied by no more than a few tens of kilometers of dextral slip faulting along the brfs a conclusion that does not accord with recent suggestions for thousands of kilometers of displacement along that fault system in early middle tertiary time based on paleomagnetic data field observations in the study area indicate that the great oroclinal bend of southern alaska is postearly eocene and possibly prelate oligocene in age a final period of deformation in middle to late tertiary time was marked by periods of minor north south contraction of the forearc basin and by local reverse slip reactivation of earlier faults fission track age data on apatite indicate rapid cooling and probably uplift of both subduction complex and adjacent parts of the forearc basin in miocene time 17 24 ma episodic uplift of the subduction complex either locally by normal separation faulting along its backstop or by a more regional uplift also affecting the adjacent forearc basin overlapped in time or closely followed discrete pulses of large scale sediment underplating along the gulf of alaska subduction margin this coincidence suggests that major pulses of sediment underplating along southern alaska s convergent margin may have led to isostatic uplift of its critical taper accretionary prism an uplift that was in part accommodated by normal separation faulting along its mechanical backstop

extrusion of the altyn tagh wedge a kinematic model for the altyn tagh fault and palinspastic reconstruction of northern china comment and reply

structural and geochronologic data from the shin jinst area eastern gobi altai mongolia implications for phanerozoic intracontinental deformation in asia abstract the complex geology of central asia records significant phanerozoic growth and deformation of continental lithosphere yet many questions about the timing and mechanisms of these processes remain the gobi altai of southwestern mongolia preserves much of this history in exposed mountain ranges and sedimentary basins the shin jinst area near latitude 44 21 to 44 32 longitude 99 35 to 99 25 contains important evidence of paleozoic growth and accretion as well as subsequent mesozoic and cenozoic deformation detailed mapping and structural data including data sets on folds and cross cutting faults point to repeated episodes of deformation and add to recent work that documents triassic and jurassic compression as well as cenozoic tectonic activity in this region new 40ar 39ar data are interpreted to record permian to jurassic convergent margin processes in particular these data in combination with previous studies suggest that southern mongolia records protracted deformation throughout the jurassic that likely resulted from compression associated with the subduction zone at the southern margin of asia at that time

magnitude of post middle jurassic bajocian displacement on the central altyn tagh fault system northwest china the altyn tagh fault system a key structural feature in the tectonic collage of central asia is an active left lateral strike slip fault system however its age of initiation kinematic history and total magnitude of displacement are not well known middle jurassic nonmarine sedimentary rocks that crop out along the central segment of the altyn tagh fault were deposited in a contiguous tarim qaidam foreland style basin that was geodynamically linked to mesozoic contraction in the tian shan bei shan qilian shan and kunlun shan this study documents the best evidence of a piercing point to date consisting of an offset lacustrine shoreline demarcated by aalenian bajocian open lacustrine strata to the west and fluvial and alluvial strata of comparable age to the east detrital compositions palynology paleocurrents and lithostratigraphy support correlation of these sections restoration of this jurassic facies boundary indicates 400 60 km of post bajocian left lateral separation on the altyn tagh fault consistent with this result restoration of the jurassic shoreline aligns felsic plutons across the western segment of the altyn tagh fault system that may have been left laterally offset by 360 km these two pairs of offset features suggest that the current best estimate for net magnitude of post bajocian left lateral separation on the altyn tagh fault is about 360 km

stable isotope geochemistry of bentonites from the island of milos greece abstract smectites from bentonite deposits from the island of milos were analyzed for their oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios based on published isotopic fractionation data the results argue for a main meteoric water origin of the fluids responsible for the transformation of the pyroclastic rocks to bentonites alteration temperatures were estimated to be in the range from 30 to 90 c in addition 18o and 13c ratios were also measured on calcite separated from the bentonites dissolution of carbonates in the overlying marl and reprecipitation in the bentonite pyroclastic rocks is considered as the origin of most of the calcites in consequence of this polyphase history 13c values indicate a marine carbon source while 18o ratios suggest equilibrium of calcite with a fluid phase at elevated temperatures isotopic data of smectites and calcite point to similar conditions for the formation of both minerals it is proposed that an aquifer in the ne of milos was heated during volcanic activity in the early quaternary and that heated groundwater circulated through pyroclastic rocks with high hydraulic permeability to form extensive bentonite deposits

great jurassic thrust sheets in beishan north mountains gobi areas of china and southern mongolia abstract jurassic thrust sheets with minimum displacements of 120 180 km have been discovered within the hercynian indosinian orogenic belt of the beishan of china and south gobi area the thrusts strike e w extend over 1200 km in length and carried meso proterozoic massive dolomitic limestones over strata ranging from neoproterozoic cryogenian and terminal proterozoic to lower middle jurassic slip linear plots based on kinematic indicators such as slickenlines and groove lineations fiber lineations and drag folds adjacent to the fault surface vergence of folds and imbricated thrusts in the upper plate indicate northward movement in the beishan area to the west and southward movement in the south gobi area to the east the two major thrust faults the beishan thrust and south gobi thrust are presumably separated by a major tear fault the ruo shui fault the major thrust faults were later deformed into a series of e w antiforms and synforms and the sheets are separated due to erosion into a number of klippen mainly located on synforms of the major faults the yagan metamorphic core complex which is a result of an extensional event that postdates the thrust event yields an 40 ar 39 ar plateau age of 155 1 10 ma and rb sr isochron age of 153 6 2 ma the thrust sheets formed during the late middle jurassic long after the closure of any oceans in the study area previously reported for this region and are ascribed to a phase of intracontinental deformation the closing of the jurassic tethys or retroarc deformation behind an active continental margin at the southern edge of asia prior to the tethyan collision or and the closing of mongolo okhotsk oceans might be responsible for this event

major types characteristics and geodynamic mechanism of upper paleozoic copper deposits in northern xinjiang northwestern china abstract syn and post orogenic cu mineralization in the northern xinjiang paleozoic accretionary and collisional orogenic belt in northwestern china is of great economic interest about 40 cu bearing deposits have been discovered in the area making it one of the most important metallogenic belts in china according to their host rocks these deposits can be classified into four principal types 1 volcanic hosted massive sulfide cu pb zn deposits 2 porphyry cu mo au deposits 3 magmatic cu ni sulfide deposits and 4 cu mo au ag skarn deposits tectonically the development of these upper paleozoic deposits was closely associated with subduction and collision of the ancient asian ocean between the siberian block and the tarim craton an important metallogenic epoch involving formation of cu pb zn polymetallic deposits formed during southwestern rollback and associated slab detachment during devonian time 400 370 ma in southern altay southwestern direct rollback and associated slab detachment occurred during the devonian 400 370 ma in response to later collision at the accreted continetal margin xiao w j windley b f badarch g sun s li j l qin k z wang z h 2004 palaeozoic accretionary and convergent tectonics of the southern altaids implications for the lateral growth of central asia journal of the geological society of london 161 339 342 during which the ashele cu pb zn and keketale pb zn deposits formed subduction led to the accretion of the junggar ocean arc system in the middle devonian in the lower to middle carboniferous north dipping subduction beneath the dananhu arc triggered the emplacement of granitic porphyries in the tousuquan and dananhu island arc belt in the east tianshan leading to the formation of the tuwu and yandong porphyry cu mo au ag deposits in the upper carboniferous to lower permian large mafic ultramafic complexes were emplaced during closure of the ancient tianshan ocean resulting in the formation of several magmatic cu ni sulfide deposits including the kalatongke cu ni deposits in north junggar and cu ni sulfide deposits in the huangshan jing erquan area of east tianshan mountains also associated with this extensional event were emplacement of voluminous anatectic granitoids and eruption of volcanic rocks which led to formation of skarn cu mo suoerkuduk cu mo deposit and cu ag deposits weiquan cu ag deposit the tectonic settings geological features and temporal and spatial distribution of these different types of cu deposits reflect to a great extent the accretionary and collisional tectonics that occurred between the siberian block and tarim block

paleomagnetic constraints on the tectonic relationship between the alashan hexi corridor terrane and the north china block we report paleomagnetic results for early middle ordovician limestone rocks from the eastern part of the hexi corridor northwest china the characteristic high temperature component b isolated from 74 out of 114 samples exhibited dual polarity and passed the fold and reversal tests at the 95 confidence level the corresponding paleopole at 326 5 e 31 8 n with a95 9 5 is in agreement with the coeval poles from the stable north china block ncb it implies that the alashan hexi corridor ahc terrane was part of the ncb since the early middle ordovician which is consistent with geological evidence the silurian and devonian paleomagnetic results from the ahc terrane may therefore be used to discuss the middle paleozoic tectonic displacement and paleogeographic reconstruction of the ncb

end permian to mid triassic termination of the accretionary processes of the southern altaids implications for the geodynamic evolution phanerozoic continental growth and metallogeny of central asia the altaids is one of the largest accretionary orogenic collages in the world with the highest rate of phanerozoic continental growth and significant metallogenic importance it is widely accepted that subduction related orogenesis of the altaids started in the late precambrian and gradually migrated southward present coordinates however it is uncertain when and how the building of the altaids was finally completed based on structural geology geochemical geochronological and paleomagnetic data this paper presents late paleozoic to early mesozoic accretionary tectonics of two key areas north xinjiang in the west and inner mongolia in the east together with neighboring mongolia the late paleozoic tectonics of north xinjiang and adjacent areas were characterized by continuous southward accretion along the wide southern active margin of siberia and its final amalgamation with the passive margin of tarim which may have lasted to the end permian to early mid triassic in contrast in inner mongolia and adjacent areas two wide accretionary wedges developed along the southern active margin of siberia and the northern active margin of the north china craton which may have lasted to the mid triassic the final products of the long lived accretionary processes in the southern altaids include late paleozoic to permian arcs late paleozoic to mid triassic accretionary wedges composed of radiolarian cherts pillow lavas and ophiolitic fragments and high pressure ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks permian alaskan type zoned mafic ultramafic complexes intruded along some major faults of the tien shan we define a new tarim suture zone immediately north of the tarim craton that is probably now buried below the tien shan as a result of northward subduction of the tarim block in the cenozoic the docking of the tarim and north china cratons against the southern active margin of siberia in the end permian to mid triassic resulted in the final closure of the paleoasian ocean and terminated the accretionary orogenesis of the southern altaids in this part of central asia this complex geodynamic evolution led to formation of giant metal deposits in central asia and to substantial continental growth

a review of the western part of the altaids a key to understanding the architecture of accretionary orogens abstract the altaids is one of the largest accretionary collages in the world and the tectonic styles of the accretionary processes have been interpreted in several ways including as an amalgamation of multiple terranes as a result of oroclinal bending of a long single arc or as a caledonian continental collision based on recent tectonostratigraphic analyses together with paleomagnetic data the tectonic styles of the neoproterozoic to paleozoic accretionary processes of the altaids are discussed the western altaids is the main focus of the study which was mainly composed of several independent linear components such as arcs and microcontinents with proterozoic basement and cover rocks various kinds of arcs existed in the paleo asian ocean including a complicated type of arc alaskan type which is a combination of the japan and mariana type intra oceanic arcs and the cordillera type continental arcs these linear components rotated and collided with each other with multiple subduction polarities which could have been an important result of multiple linear element amalgamation and which has contributed greatly to the architecture of the eurasian continent the basic tectonic styles of the altaids can be summarized as arc arc collision oroclinal bending and large scale rotation and multiple subductions with a complicated archipelago paleogeography these basic features of accretionary orogens in general can be attributed to the amalgamation of complicated multiple linear elements some mesozoic to cenozoic accretionary orogens in the world are also characterized by processes of multiple linear element amalgamation more attention should be paid to the multiple linear element amalgamation of ancient accretionary orogens which will shed light on lateral and vertical continental growth

palaeozoic collisional tectonics and magmatism of the chinese tien shan central asia abstract the chinese tien shan range is a palaeozoic orogenic belt which contains two collision zones the older southern collision accreted a north facing passive continental margin on the north side of the tarim block to an active continental margin on the south side of an elongate continental tract the central tien shan collision occurred along the qinbulak qawabulak fault southern tien shan suture the time of the collision is poorly constrained but was probably in in the late devonian early carboniferous we propose this age because of a major disconformity at this time along the north side of the tarim block and because the youshugou ophiolite is imbricated with middle devonian sediments a younger probably late carboniferous early permian collision along the north tien shan fault northern tien shan suture accreted the northern side of the central tien shan to an island arc which lay to its north the north tien shan arc this collision is bracketed by the middle carboniferous termination of arc magmatism and the appearance of late carboniferous or early permian elastics in a foreland basin developed over the extinct arc thrust sheets generated by the collision are proposed as the tectonic load responsible for the subsidence of this basin post collisional but palaeozoic dextral shear occurred along the northern suture zone this was accompanied by the intrusion of basic and acidic magmas in the central tien shan late palaeozoic basic igneous rocks from all three lithospheric blocks represented in the tien shan possess chemical characteristics associated with generation in supra subduction zone environments even though many post date one or both collisions rocks from each block also possess distinctive trace element chemistries which supports the three fold structural division of the orogenic belt it is unclear whether the chemical differences represent different source characteristics or are due to different episodes of magmatism being juxtaposed by later dextral strike slip fault motions because the southern collision zone in the tien shan is the older of the two the tarim block sensu stricto collided not with the eurasian landmass but with a continental block which was itself separated from eurasia by at least one ocean the destruction of this ocean in late carboniferous early permian times represented the final elimination of all oceanic basins from this part of central asia

structure and petrology of the altan uul ophiolite new evidence for a late carboniferous suture in the gobi altai southern mongolia altan uul and nemegt uul are mountain ranges in southern mongolia containing polydeformed mid to late palaeozoic sedimentary volcanic and metamorphic rocks uplifted at a restraining bend along the gobi tien shan left lateral strike slip fault system altan and nemegt uul contain part of an intra oceanic island arc that was active during the carboniferous thrust bound sequences of highly fractured pillow basalt cumulate gabbro peridotite serpentinite and jasperoid occur directly north of the arc rocks in at least three discrete belts and are interpreted to be fragments of an ophiolite metamorphosed marine sediments that have undergone intense contractional strain lie north of and structurally below the ophiolitic rocks the gabbros within the ophiolitic sequences have undergone prograde metamorphic reactions consistent with an ocean floor environment and trace element analyses are similar to those from cumulate gabbros of the oman ophiolite combined field and petrological evidence suggests that there is an east west trending south dipping late carboniferous suture in altan and nemegt uul that may be regionally correlated in the southern gobi altai region this proposed suture represents a new and important tectonic boundary between tectonostratigraphic terranes in southern mongolia requiring modification of existing models of late palaeozoic terrane accretion in the central asian orogenic belt

palaeozoic accretionary and convergent tectonics of the southern altaids implications for the growth of central asia the southern altaids present a unidirectional section from mongolia to china through an accretionary orogen that youngs progressively from neoproterozoic in the north to permian in the south the orogen formed by forearc accretion of island arcs accretionary wedges ophiolites and precambrian microcontinents this regularity was upset by early growth within the ocean of arcs that later collided at the accreting continental margin by imbrication of old ophiolites with young arcs and by himalayan style thrust nappe tectonics when an arc collided into a microcontinent lateral growth of the southern altaids represents a massive addition of juvenile material to the palaeozoic crust

did the altyn tagh fault extend beyond the tibetan plateau abstract the pre miocene northeastern termination of altyn tagh fault is a critical outstanding problem for understanding the mechanics of cenozoic deformation resultant from the indo asian collision and mechanisms of tibetan plateau formation structures beyond the widely accepted ne end of the altyn tagh fault near the town of yumen are needed in order to accommodate strike slip deformation related to plate like lateral extrusion tectonics but structures with the necessary slip magnitudes and histories have not been identified we report on a series of newly recognized and documented e to ene striking faults within the alxa block ne of the tibetan plateau that are visible on remotely sensed images and confirmed by field studies these structures are demonstrably left lateral faults based on offset geology and kinematic indicators such as striae and s c fabrics in fault gouge the faults have post cretaceous offsets of at least tens to possibly 150 km but limited post miocene displacement constrained by offset sedimentary basins these characteristics suggest that strike slip faults of the alxa region have a similar structural history as the central eastern altyn tagh fault and can provide a mechanism for accommodating oligocene early miocene extrusion along the altyn tagh fault

cenozoic tectonic and geodynamic evolution of the kyrgyz tien shan mountains a review of geological thermochronological and geophysical data abstract the complex crustal structure of the tien shan has a strong impact on the distribution of strain induced by the india eurasia collision with intracontinental deformation in eurasia s interior as a distant effect the northward propagation of the india eurasia deformation front is suggested by the rejuvenation of mountain ranges and intermittent intramontane basins the tien shan basement is formed by the rigid heterogeneous precambrian blocks microcontinents of tarim issyk kul or central tien shan and aktyuz boordin surrounded by a soft matrix of paleozoic accretion collision belts the kyrgyz tien shan mountains are situated between the active structures of the tarim plate and the pamir indenter south and the stable kazakhstan shield north underplating by the tarim plate and thrusting by the pamirs are responsible for the building of the cenozoic tien shan the reactivation of its inherited structural fabric and the tectonic layering of the upper lithosphere underlying the area large earthquakes m 6 delineate the northern and southern margins of the issyk kul microcontinent indicating that crustal heterogeneity influenced the location of active structures in the northern kyrgyz tien shan

tertiary strike slip faulting in southeastern mongolia and implications for asian tectonics abstract geologic maps have long portrayed the late cretaceous recent geologic history of southeastern mongolia as tectonically quiescent we present new data based on outcrop observations that indicate the northeast trending east gobi fault zone egfz was reactivated in the cenozoic as a sinistral strike slip fault system inversions of cenozoic fault slip data imply that faulting was associated with north northwest subhorizontal shortening and east northeast subhorizontal extension we propose that faulting is tertiary in age based on published interpretations of seismic reflection data which reveal that the mid cretaceous 100 95 ma unconformity is deformed by strike slip faults and based on field observation of strike slip faults and fracture sets that cut upper cretaceous and cenozoic strata but lack evidence for neotectonic activity published seismicity maps also appear to argue against significant quaternary faulting within the egfz these new data may lend credence to published models proposing a middle miocene or older kinematic linkage between the egfz and the altyn tagh fault in china the recognition that the egfz has a history of left lateral displacement in both the early mesozoic and cenozoic means that currently available estimates of offset based on displaced paleozoic rocks constrain total offset only this reactivation history supports the notion that inherited lithospheric structures are important in controlling the location and thus modes of intracontinental deformation in asia as a function of collisional far field effects and evolving boundary conditions of the pacific margin

paleozoic multiple accretionary and collisional processes of the beishan orogenic collage in the paper by xiao and others american journal of science v 310 p 1553 1594 1 please substitute figure 16 reproduced here for figure 16 that appears between pages 1573 and 1574 the original figure 16 2 was printed at an improper size figure 3 1 lookup volpage 310

sedimentary evidence against large strike slip translation on the northern altyn tagh fault nw china abstract whether the oblique left reverse northern altyn tagh fault has large cumulative offset 120 km is one of the most controversial issues concerning the deformation mechanics for the northern tibetan plateau in order to obtain material constraints on its total displacement sedimentologic and bedrock provenance analysis of oligocene pleistocene strata on the northern side of the fault was conducted lithofacies analysis and 970 paleocurrent measurements show that these strata were products of fluvial systems originating from south of the fault making it possible to constrain the fault s slip history by establishing cross fault sediment source linkages identification of 5217 conglomerate clasts in the field indicates that major clast types are quartzite 30 50 schist gneiss increasing upsection from 10 to 40 50 and marble decreasing upsection from 20 30 to 30 km strike slip translation on the northern altyn tagh fault and support the model that strain induced by indian indentation has been partitioned into left slip on the altyn tagh fault and reverse dip slip on the northern altyn tagh fault

structural framework of a major intracontinental orogenic termination zone the easternmost tien shan china the barkol tagh and karlik tagh ranges of the easternmost tien shan are a natural laboratory for studying the fault architecture of an active termination zone of a major intracontinental mountain range barkol and karlik tagh and lesser ranges to the north are bounded by active thrust faults that locally deform quaternary sediments major thrusts in karlik tagh connect along strike to the east with the left lateral gobi tien shan fault system in sw mongolia from a mongolian perspective karlik tagh represents a large restraining bend for this regional strike slip fault system and the entire system of thrusts and strike slip faults in the karlik tagh region defines a horsetail splay fault geometry regionally there appears to be a kinematic transition from thrust dominated deformation in the central tien shan to left lateral transpressional deformation in the easternmost tien shan this transition correlates with a general eastward decrease in mountain belt width and average elevation and a change in the angular relationship between the nne directed maximum horizontal stress in the region and the pre existing basement structural grain which is northwesterly in the central tien shan orthogonal to sh max but more east west in the eastern tien shan acute angular relationship with sh max ar ar ages indicate that major range bounding thrusts in barkol and karlik tagh are latest permian triassic ductile thrust zones that underwent brittle reactivation in the late cenozoic it is estimated that the modern mountain ranges of the extreme easternmost tien shan could have been constructed by only 10 15 km of late cenozoic horizontal shortening

the south siberia central mongolia transect abstract studies of geological and geophysical data on the south siberia central mongolia geoscience transect which runs approximately along 100 e show that the asian continent was formed in the phanerozoic by accretion of terranes most of which were microcontinents with precambrian basement suture zones separating the terranes are deformed and deeply eroded magmatic arcs of different widths likewise classified as specific terranes in these sutures magmatic arc rocks are locally associated with fore and back arc basin series most of the oceanic crust has been subducted the observed ophiolite belts are as a rule attributed to the base of oceanic island arcs the fragment of the asian continent traversed by the transect was formed through early middle and late paleozoic stages of accretion

geometric and temporal evolution of an extensional detachment fault hohhot metamorphic core complex inner mongolia china the early cretaceous hohhot metamorphic core complex and its master hohhot detachment fault are 400 km west of beijing in the daqing shan mountains of inner mongolia the complex developed across the east trending yinshan fold and thrust belt within 4 m y following cessation of thrusting ca 125 ma see note added in proof in main text postcontractional extension was initiated within a mid crustal zone of mylonitic and ductile shear that was in part controlled by carboniferous strata sandwiched between its proterozoic and archean crystalline basement and an overlying thrust sheet of similar crystalline rocks the hohhot detachment fault appears to have rooted into deep kinematically active levels of the mid crustal shear zone higher inactive levels of the mylonitic section were transected by the fault and carried upward in its footwall geometries of the footwall mylonitic rocks indicate localized ramp flat geometries of the fault within and across them the crosscut top of the mylonitic sequence defines a mylonitic front that departs from the gently south dipping detachment fault and dips northward into its footwall early cretaceous extension was widespread elsewhere in northern china and was particularly pronounced in the yunmeng shan core complex north of beijing the gravitational collapse of orogenically thickened crust acting in concert with localized centers of deep seated plutonism appear to have led to the development of isolated metamorphic core complexes within a broad region of more distributed extensional deformation

formation of hp lt rocks and their tectonic implications in the western tianshan orogen nw china geochemical and age constraints the western tianshan high pressure low temperature metamorphic belt in northwestern china formed within a paleozoic accretionary wedge on the south side of the yili central tianshan plate it comprises various lithologies including mafic metavolcanic rocks metavolcaniclastic rocks metagreywacke marble and serpentinite the metavolcanics comprise eclogite omphacitite epidosite and blueschist the trace and rare earth element characteristics of these rocks indicate morb to oib affinities suggesting a seamount like setting for the protoliths of these rocks the end value of the eclogite 8 9 indicates that the protolith was derived from a long term depleted mantle i e an n morb source supporting the trace and rare earth element characteristics of these samples sm nd isochron dating of 343 44 ma omp gln grt wr and an age of 346 3 ma grt gln were determined using an eclogite boudin within blueschist a well defined 40ar 39ar plateau age of 344 1 ma was obtained for crossite from an omphacite phengite bearing blueschist and is concordant with the sm nd isochron age for the eclogite suggesting that neither argon loss nor excess argon affected the crossite a well defined 40ar 39ar plateau age of 331 2 ma was determined for phengite from the same sample the high pressure metamorphic rocks were formed by the b type subduction of a paleozoic south tianshan ocean about 344 ma ago they were however exhumed to higher crustal levels during the collision of the tarim and yili central tianshan plates about 331 ma ago similar to an alpine type tectonic regime

middle cambrian to permian subduction related accretionary orogenesis of northern xinjiang nw china implications for the tectonic evolution of central asia abstract middle cambrian to permian subduction related records are widely distributed in northern xinjiang which can be grouped into the chinese altay east junggar eastern tien shan west junggar yili and tarim domains by integrating paleogeographic and geological data we suppose that the chinese altay east junggar eastern tien shan domain was more closely located to siberia while the west junggar and yili domains occupied an intermediate position near the kazakhstan block in the early paleozoic paleoasian ocean distribution of andean type magmatic arcs island arcs accretionary wedges ophiolitic slices and or microcontinents shows an archipelago paleogeography forming a huge accretionary active margin sequences the tarim domain was on the opposite side of the early paleozoic paleoasian ocean remaining passive margin these tectonic units drifted northwards and approached the southern active margin of the siberian craton in the late paleozoic leading to termination of the paleoasian ocean and formation of a complicated orogenic collage between siberian craton and the tarim block between the end permian and triassic these multiple accretion processes significantly contributed to the lateral growth of central asia

p t path of high pressure low temperature rocks and tectonic implications in the western tianshan mountains nw china the chinese western tianshan high pressure low temperature hp lt metamorphic belt which extends for about 200 km along the south central tianshan suture zone is composed of mainly metabasic blueschists eclogites and greenschist facies rocks the metabasic blueschists occur as small discrete blocks lenses bands laminae or thick beds in meta sedimentary greenschist facies country rocks eclogites are intercalated within blueschist layers as lenses laminae thick beds or large massive blocks up to 2 km2 in plan view metabasic blueschists consist of mainly garnet sodic amphibole phengite paragonite clinozoisite epidote chlorite albite accessory titanite and ilmenite eclogites are predominantly composed of garnet omphacite sodic calcic amphibole clinozoisite phengite paragonite quartz with accessory minerals such as rutile titanite ilmenite calcite and apatite garnet in eclogite has a composition of 53 79 mol almandine 8 5 30 mol grossular 5 24 mol pyrope and 0 6 13 mol spessartine garnet in blueschists shows similar composition sodic amphiboles include glaucophane ferro glaucophane and crossite whereas the sodic calcic amphiboles mainly comprise barroisite and winchite the jadeite content of omphacite varies from 35 54 mol peak eclogite facies temperatures are estimated as 480 580 c for a pressure range of 14 21 kbar the conditions of pre peak epidote blueschist facies metamorphism are estimated to be 350 450 c and 8 12 kbar all rock types have experienced a clockwise p t path through pre peak lawsonite epidote blueschist to eclogite facies conditions the retrograde part of the p t path is represented by the transition of epidote blueschist to greenschist facies conditions the p t path indicates that the high pressure rocks formed in a b type subduction zone along the northern margin of the palaeozoic south tianshan ocean between the tarim and yili central tianshan plates

late orogenic large scale rotations in the tien shan and adjacent mobile belts in kyrgyzstan and kazakhstan abstract most of kazakhstan belongs to the central part of the eurasian paleozoic mobile belts for which previously proposed tectonic scenarios have been rather disparate of particular interest is the origin of strongly curved middle and late paleozoic volcanic belts of island arc and andean arc affinities that dominate the structure of kazakhstan we undertook a paleomagnetic study of carboniferous to upper permian volcanics and sediments from several localities in the ili river basin between the tien shan and the junggar alatau ranges in southeast kazakhstan our main goal was to investigate the permian kinematic evolution of these belts particularly in terms of rotations about vertical axes in the hope of deciphering the dynamics that played a role during the latest paleozoic deformation in this area this deformation in turn can then be related to the amalgamation of this area with baltica siberia and tarim in the expanding eurasian supercontinent thermal demagnetization revealed that most permian rocks retained a pretilting and likely primary component which is of reversed polarity at three localities and normal at the fourth in contrast most carboniferous rocks are dominated by postfolding reversed overprints of probably mid permian age whereas presumably primary components are isolated from a few sites at two localities mean inclinations of primary components generally agree with coeval reference values extrapolated from baltica whereas declinations from primary as well as secondary components are deflected counterclockwise ccw by up to 90 such ccw rotated directions have previously also been observed in other tien shan sampling areas and in the adjacent tarim block to the south however two other areas in kazakhstan show clockwise cw rotations of permian magnetization directions one area is located in the kendyktas block about 300 km to the west of the ili river valley and the other is found in the chingiz range to the north of lake balkhash and about 400 km to the north of the ili river valley the timing of the ccw as well as cw rotations is clearly later than the disappearance of any marine basins from northern tarim the tien shan and eastern kazakhstan so that the rotations cannot be attributed to island arc or andean margin plate settings instead we attribute the rotations to large scale east west present day coordinates sinistral wrenching in an intracontinental setting related to convergence between siberia and baltica as recently proposed by natal in and engor natal in b a and engor a m c 2005 late palaeozoic to triassic evolution of the turan and scythian platforms the pre history of the palaeo tethyan closure tectonophysics 404 175 202 our previous work in the chingiz and north tien shan areas on ordovician and silurian rocks suggested relative rotations of 180 whereas the permian declination differences are of the order of 90 between the two areas thus we assume that about 50 of the total post ordovician rotations are of pre late permian age with the other half of late permian earliest mesozoic age the pre late permian rotations are likely related to oroclinal bending during plate boundary evolution in a supra subduction setting given the calc alkaline character of nearly all of the pre late permian volcanics in the strongly curved belts

extrusion of the altyn tagh wedge a kinematic model for the altyn tagh fault and palinspastic reconstruction of northern china we propose that the altyn tagh uplift of northwest china is a southwest tapered structural wedge that has been extruded northeastward along the wedge bounding left slip ruoqiang xingxingxia fault and the net right slip altyn tagh fault currently active as a left slip fault this model posits that the leading edge of the altyn tagh wedge lies along the northern margin of a reactivated middle paleozoic orogenic belt the beishan which is the right laterally offset equivalent of the qilian shan orogen this internally consistent and testable model explains the partitioning of shortening in the tarim and qaidam blocks and adjacent areas the amount and sense of strike slip on the ruoqiang xingxingxia fault and altyn tagh fault and the location of the westward continuation of the truncated qilian shan orogen the wedge model also implies that the apparent present day continuity of precambrian basement from the tarim block through the altyn tagh wedge to the north china block actually reflects structural juxtaposition during wedge extrusion of two originally separate blocks

response of the northern north atlantic and arctic oceans to a sudden change of the north atlantic oscillation 1 the influence of a switch from a long time high north atlantic oscillation nao state to an enduring nao situation is investigated with a coupled sea ice ocean model we compare the response to a sustained shift to nao conditions with that to a short lived transition to nao and back to nao forcing observed changes in sea ice and oceanic variables between high and low nao states are well captured in the model response the ocean circulation adjustment includes a fast barotropic anomaly accompanied by an enhancement of the meridional overturning and the northward heat transport at 48 n the slow response contains a substantial decrease of the northward heat transport which is caused by a reduction of the transport of subpolar and subtropical gyres after a delay of around 2 years the oceanic heat transport reacts to counteract the meridional temperature gradient imposed by the surface forcing the propagation time of baroclinic rossby waves is irrelevant for the delay between the forcing and the oceanic response rather the strength of the subpolar gyres is determined by the rapid spin up of a topographic sverdrup circulation and the subsequent slower changes through the jebar joint effect of baroclinicity and relief in an experiment where only the wind stress is changed to nao conditions the adjustment is dampened strongly by the nao thermohaline forcing the gyres decrease slower than in the nao case comparison with an experiment where only the wind stress is changed to nao conditions indicates that the thermohaline forcing is most important the heat fluxes counteract the wind stress forcing such that the meridional overturning and the northward heat transport decrease only slightly compared to the control run

cretaceous accretionary complex related to okhotsk chukotka subduction omgon range western kamchatka russian far east abstract the omgon range of western kamchatka contains a mid to upper cretaceous sequence of flysch with tectonic inclusions of jurassic cretaceous oceanic rocks inferred to have been imbricated together in an accretionary prism these rocks were tectonically juxtaposed during the cretaceous in a melange that contains a number of elements but mainly includes 1 middle jurassic lower cretaceous volcanic rocks formed in an oceanic and or marginal sea environment and 2 albian campanian terrigenous turbidites made of quartz rich clastic sediments that accumulated near a continental margin the oceanic rocks are inferred to have been tectonically incorporated into the continental terrigenous unit by offscraping during subduction the accretionary prism resulted from subduction of the pacific paleo oceanic plate izanagi under the eurasian continental margin which ultimately caused volcanism in the inboard okhotsk chukotka volcanic belt internal imbrication was completed by the maastrichtian 70 ma as indicated by apatite fission track ages that record cooling and exhumation of this crustal block the omgon accretionary wedge originated in a similar geodynamic setting and same time as the yanranai northern korayk tonino aniva southeastern sakhalin hidaka northeastern japan and cretaceous part of the shimanto belt southwestern japan the similarities of ages lithology and tectonic setting suggest that the omgon accretionary wedge was part of a paleo subduction zone along the eurasian margin during the mid to late cretaceous

paleozoic accretionary and collisional tectonics of the eastern tianshan china implications for the continental growth of central asia this paper deals with the various tectonic units in the chinese eastern tianshan orogenic collage in the central asian orogenic belt and discusses the paleozoic geological history of the several periods of accretion and collision of archipelago systems lying between the tarim and southern angaran continental margins the late ordovician silurian to early devonian eastern tianshan archipelago was characterized by a the harlik dananhu subduction system with a s dipping polarity in the north b a southerly n dipping subduction system beneath the central tianshan arc in the middle and c the south tianshan ocean against tarim in the south during the devonian to early carboniferous n dipping subduction led to the harlik dananhu arc and the kanggurtag forearc basin accretionary complex in the early to mid carboniferous the magmatic front associated with the n dipping subduction beneath the dananhu harlik arc migrated southwards forming the yamansu arc constructed upon the kanggurtag accretionary forearc by the late carboniferous the dananhu harlik arc was attached northwards to the angaran margin resulting in lateral enlargement of the angaran continent in the latest carboniferous to early permian a multiple soft collision left wide suture zones in the south that include the ophiolite strewn aqikkuduk shaquanzi and kumishi accretion collision complexes which were stitched by early permian post collisional plutons by re defining and re interpreting the various tectonic terranes this paper presents a new improved model for the paleozoic evolution of this part of central asia

detection of aeromagnetic anomaly change associated with volcanic activity an application of the generalized mis tie control method repeat aeromagnetic surveys may assist in mapping and monitoring long term changes associated with volcanic activity however when dealing with repeat aeromagnetic survey data the problem of how to extract the real change of magnetic anomalies from a limited set of observations arises i e the problem of spatial aliasing recent development of the generalized mis tie control method for aeromagnetic surveys flown at variable elevations enables us to statistically extract the errors from ambiguous noise sources this technique can be applied to overcome the spatial alias effect when detecting magnetic anomaly changes between aeromagnetic surveys flown at different times we successfully apply this technique to asama volcano one of the active volcanoes in japan which erupted in 2004 following the volcanic activity in 2005 we conducted a helicopter borne aeromagnetic survey which we compare here to the result from a previous survey flown in 1992 to discuss small changes in magnetic anomalies induced by volcanic activity it is essential to estimate the accuracy of the reference and the repeat aeromagnetic measurements and the probable errors induced by data processing in our case the positioning inaccuracy of the 1992 reference survey was the most serious factor affecting the estimation of the magnetic anomaly change because gps was still in an early stage at that time however our analysis revealed that the magnetic anomaly change over the asama volcano area from 1992 to 2005 exceeded the estimated error at three locations one of which is interpreted as a loss of magnetization induced by volcanic activity in this study we suffered from the problem of positioning inaccuracy in the 1992 survey data and it was important to evaluate its effect when deriving the magnetic anomaly change

re deciphering the tectonic jigsaw puzzle of northern eurasia abstract northern eurasia consists of the east european siberian north china and alai tarim cratons fragments of the supercontinent rodinia and the orogens of the baikalides timanides uralides altaids and mongolides these can be collectively classified as the central asian supercollage the baikalides and timanides host meso and neoproterozoic magmatic arc terranes that were sutured with the adjacent east european and siberian cratons in the end of the neoproterozoic the paleozoic part of the supercollage consists of three almost synchronous and subparallel neoproterosoic to paleozoic magmatic arc and turbidite superterranes as well as overlap assemblages bent into the world s largest oroclines analysis of their structural pattern supported by paleontological lithological and paleomagnetic data indicates that these superterranes might have been produced via formation of arc backarc systems at the margin of combined north china east european and siberian cratons and then deformed during paleozoic westward directed strike slip translation between the clockwise rotating siberian and eastward moving north china cratons it is proposed that this development took place against the respective breakup of the above mentioned cratons from the northern and southern margins of eastern europe in the neoproterozoic initially as a group of cratons called nena which reassembled in late paleozoic to early mesozoic times into laurasia part of the new supercontinent pangea in mesozoic cenozoic times the subduction related continental growth of northern eurasia continued in the nipponide kamchatka and kolyma alaska orogenic collages of the northern circum pacific which consist of paleozoic to cenozoic turbidite to island arc superterranes and overlap assemblages generally younging towards the pacific oceanic plate and also severely oroclinally bent it is proposed that terranes of the kolyma alaska and kamchatka collages were translated westward dextrally relative to siberia whereas nipponides were translated northward relative to north china similarly to the better constrained mesozoic cenozoic reconstructions of southeastern asia the two groups of collages started to collide along the mongol okhotsk suture zone in the south of the siberian craton in the end of the mesozoic and then continued to collide along the presently active plate boundary at the island of sakhalin the proposed scenario suggests similarities in paleozoic evolution of the central asian and mesozoic cenozoic evolution of the northern circum pacific supercollages both possibly formed in response to westward subduction and related strike slip translation of the paleo pacific oceanic plates the individual superterranes might have been consequently translated for as much as 4000 6000 km and oroclinally bent during such translation or and rotation of the adjacent cratons

primary fluids entrapped at blueschist to eclogite transition evidence from the tianshan meta subduction complex in northwestern china the tianshan is the first locality worldwide where primary fluids at blueschist to eclogite transition have been documented veins containing high pressure minerals in massive host eclogites transitional to blueschists or eclogite boudins surrounded by blueschists indicate that a free fluid phase was present at the time of eclogitization the high pressure veins are predominantly composed of omphacite fibers with minor quartz or calcite the transition from blueschist to eclogite facies parageneses occurs as dehydration halos around these veins clinozoisite paragonite glaucophane and omphacite inclusions preserved in garnet porphyroblasts in wall eclogites document the transformation of blueschist to eclogite c axis parallel non planar populations of fluid inclusions were trapped during the growth of omphacite in high pressure veins and dehydrated wall rocks low salinity h2o nacl solid bearing inclusions are preserved in omphacite fibers in veins and matrix omphacite of wall rocks none of the isochores of these low salinity aqueous fluid inclusions intersect peak eclogite facies metamorphic conditions suggesting that although the textural evidence constrains the entrapment of fluid inclusions to peak metamorphic conditions their densities must have been modified during exhumation the fluids are interpreted to have been derived from the host blueschist as a result of dehydration reactions such as 13 gln 5 czo 9 prp 26 jd 12 di 19 qtz 15 h2o and gln pg prp 3 jd 2 otz 2 h2o the similarity of vein and wall rock mineral compositions fluid inclusion characteristics and o isotope data also favor an internal source for the fluids the major element composition of veins indicate that si na and ca rich aqueous fluids were released during dehydration at a depth of 50 10 km within a paleozoic subduction zone

40ar 39ar thermochronologic constraints on deformation metamorphism and cooling exhumation of a mesozoic accretionary wedge otago schist new zealand abstract structural thickening of the torlesse accretionary wedge via juxtaposition of arc derived greywackes caples terrane and quartzo feldspathic greywackes torlesse terrane at 120 ma formed a belt of schist otago schist with distinct mica fabrics defining i schistosity ii transposition layering and iii crenulation cleavage thirty five 40ar 39ar step heating experiments on these micas and whole rock micaceous fabrics from the otago schist have shown that the main metamorphism and deformation occurred between 160 and 140 ma recorded in the low grade flanks through 120 ma shear zone deformation this was followed either by very gradual cooling or no cooling until about 110 ma with some form of extensional tectonic exhumation and cooling of the high grade metamorphic core between 109 and 100 ma major shear zones separating the low grade and high grade parts of the schist define regions of separate and distinct apparent age groupings that underwent different thermo tectonic histories apparent ages on the low grade north flank hanging wall to the hyde macraes and rise and shine shear zones range from 145 to 159 ma n 8 whereas on the low grade south flank hanging wall to the remarkables shear zone or caples terrane range from 144 to 156 ma n 5 most of these samples show complex age spectra caused by mixing between radiogenic argon released from neocrystalline metamorphic mica and lesser detrital mica several of the hanging wall samples with ages of 144 147 ma show no evidence for detrital contamination in thin section or in the form of the age spectra apparent ages from the high grade metamorphic core garnet biotite albite zone range from 131 to 106 ma n 13 with a strong grouping 113 109 ma n 7 in the immediate footwall to the major remarkables shear zone most of the age spectra from within the core of the schist belt yield complex age spectra that we interpret to be the result of prolonged residence within the argon partial retention interval for white mica 430 330 c samples with apparent ages of about 110 109 ma tend to give concordant plateaux suggesting more rapid cooling the youngest and most disturbed age spectra come from within the alpine chlorite overprint zone where samples with strong development of crenulation cleavage gave ages 85 107 and 101 ma due to partial resetting during retrogression the bounding remarkables shear zone shows resetting effects due to dynamic recrystallization with apparent ages of 127 122 ma whereas overprinting shear zones within the core of the schist show apparent ages of 112 109 and 106 ma these data when linked with extensional exhumation of high grade rocks in other parts of new zealand indicate that the east gondwana margin underwent significant extension in the 110 90 ma period

paleozoic early mesozoic gold deposits of the xinjiang autonomous region northwestern china the late paleozoic early mesozoic tectonic evolution of xinjiang autonomous region northwestern china provided a favorable geological setting for the formation of lode gold deposits along the sutures between a number of the major eastern asia cratonic blocks these sutures are now represented by the altay shan tian shan and kunlun shan ranges with the former two separated by the junggar basin and the latter two by the immense tarim basin in northernmost xinjiang final growth of the altaid orogen southward from the angara craton is now recorded in the remote mid to late paleozoic altay shan accreted early to middle devonian oceanic rock sequences contain typically small precious metal bearing fe cu zn vms deposits e g ashele orogenic gold deposits are widespread along the major irtysh e g duyolanasayi saidi taerde kabenbulake akexike shaerbulake and tuergen hongshanzui e g hongshanzui fault systems as well as in structurally displaced terrane slivers of the western junggar e g hatu and eastern junggar areas geological and geochronological constraints indicate a generally late carboniferous to early permian episode of gold deposition which was coeval with the final stages of altaid magmatism and large scale right lateral translation along older terrane bounding faults the tian shan an exceptionally gold rich mountain range to the west in the central asian republics is only beginning to be recognized for its gold potential in xinjiang in this easternmost part to the range northerly and southerly directed subduction accretion of early to mid paleozoic and mid to late paleozoic oceanic terranes respectively to the precambrian yili block central tian shan was associated with 400 to 250 ma arc magmatism and carboniferous through early permian gold forming hydrothermal events the more significant resulting deposits in the terranes of the southern tian shan include the sawayaerdun orogenic deposit along the kyrgyzstan border and the epithermal and replacement deposits of the kanggurtag belt to the east in the chol tagh range gold deposits of approximately the same age in the yili block include the axi hot springs epithermal deposit near the kazakhstan border and a series of small orogenic gold deposits south of urumqi e g wangfeng gold rich porphyry copper deposits e g tuwu define important new exploration targets in the northern tian shan of xinjiang the northern foothills of the kunlun shan of southern xinjiang host scattered small placer gold deposits sources for the gold have not been identified but are hypothesized to be orogenic gold veins beneath the icefields to the south they are predicted to have formed in the tianshuihai terrane during its early mesozoic accretion to the amalgamated tarim qaidam kunlun cratonic block

primary carboniferous and permian paleomagnetic results from the yili block nw china and their implications on the geodynamic evolution of chinese tianshan belt in order to better understand the tectonic role of the yili block on the paleozoic evolution of the chinese tianshan belt we performed a primary paleomagnetic study on carboniferous and permian rocks from different areas in the yili block nw of china more than 320 sedimentary and volcanic samples were collected from 39 sites except for the ordovician samples showing a weak and unstable magnetic remanence the majority of this collection presents characteristic remanent magnetization carried by magnetite and hematite in the study area though positive fold test has been observed on the early carboniferous rocks a general remagnetization of these rocks has been identified and attributed to the late carboniferous magmatism moreover all early and late carboniferous samples from the interior of the yili block yield stable and coherent magnetic directions with exhaustively reverse magnetic polarity the late carboniferous c2 is considered as the magnetic remanence age since these rocks are covered or intruded by synchronous magmatic rocks of the yili arc which lasted until to 310 ma the c2 paleomagnetic pole is therefore calculated at 68 6 n 290 6 e with 95 6 4 and n 15 the late carboniferous rocks located close to a deformation zone present a consistentmagnetic inclination but significant different declination with respect to other areas and are suspected to have probably experienced a local rotation although no fold test can be performed due to the monoclinal bedding stable magnetic components are isolated from late permian p2 red beds in the interior of the yili block with also a solo reverse magnetic polarity the p2 paleomagnetic pole of the yili block has been therefore calculated from the characteristic remanent magnetization 79 7 n 172 0 e with 95 11 3 and n 5 keeping important uncertainties in mind comparisons of the c2 and p2 paleomagnetic poles of the yili block with available coeval poles of junggar tarim and siberia indicate 1 no significant relative motion between the yili and junggar blocks since the late carboniferous 2 no significant or weak latitudinal relative motion occurred since the late carboniferous among these blocks but 3 the 46 2 15 1 and the 31 6 15 1 counterclockwise rotations of the yili junggar blocks with respect to tarim and siberia took place during c2 to p2 these rotations are accommodated by the permian dextral strike slip faults along the northern and southern sides of tianshan belt and sinistral strike slip faulting along the erqishi fault of altay belt resulting in about 1000 km and 600 km lateral displacements in the tianshan and altay belts respectively

relict coesite exsolution in omphacite from western tianshan eclogites china exsolution rods of relict coesite together with quartz were identified in omphacite in eclogites from western tianshan china they are oriented along the c axis of the host clinopyroxenes and have grain size up to 30 m long and 2 3 m wide raman spectra of exsolved lamellae yield consistent but weak bands at 521 270 181 151 and 118 cm 1 typical for coesite in addition to those of quartz and the host omphacite such occurrences together with textured observations suggest a two stage evolution of sio 2 exsolution rods in omphacite lamellae of coesite were apparently exsolved from supersilicic omphacite at p 5 0 gpa and the transformation from coesite to quartz occurred during retrograde metamorphism

geochemistry and petrogenesis of 270 ma ni cu pge sulfide bearing mafic intrusions in the huangshan district eastern xinjiang northwest china implications for the tectonic evolution of the central asian orogenic belt abstract the central asian orogenic belt caob is composed of remnants of microcontinents island arcs and ophiolites the presence of voluminous phanerozoic a type granites suggest that continental growth occurred through addition of juvenile crust and the presence of mafic ultramafic intrusions provides direct evidence for a mantle contribution the origin of the mafic ultramafic intrusions in the huangshan area eastern xinjiang has been debated because of the lack of precise age data or trace element and isotopic analyses we have studied the geology petrology geochemistry and geochronology of two of the intrusions the huangshanxi and huangshandong intrusions both are typical layered mafic ultramafic intrusions composed of diorite troctolite norite gabbronorite gabbro wehrlite websterite and lherzolite with systematic geochemical variations that are consistent with the following crystallization sequence ol chr ol pyx chr cpx pl and hbl bt igneous zircons separated from a diorite in the huangshanxi intrusion yield a 269 2 ma shrimp u pb age the rocks are enriched in rb ba u k sr relative to th and lree depleted in nb ta relative to th and exhibit positive end values 6 7 to 9 3 ni cu pge sulfide mineralization occurs in the lower parts of the intrusions primarily strata bound within wehrlite or lherzolite and locally stratiform along the margins of the intrusions the parental magmas appear to have been derived from a mantle source that was previously contaminated by subduction of oceanic crust and to have been variably contaminated by upper continental crustal components the intrusions appear to have formed by plume related activity within a continental setting likely related to post orogenic extension following carboniferous amalgamation of arc related terranes in the caob this plume activity was most likely also responsible for providing heat sources to generate large amounts of a type granites across the caob

sedimentology and reservoir architecture of a synrift lacustrine delta southeastern mongolia abstract in the east gobi basin of southeastern mongolia non marine strata fill jurassic cretaceous intracontinental rift basins amphitheater style cliff exposures at har hotol on the northern margin of the unegt subbasin provide more than three kilometers of continuous outcrop displaying early synrift strata that thicken and coarsen upward from prodelta lacustrine deposits to channelized fluvial sandstone outcrop investigations include photopanorama mapping and correlating measured sections followed by interpretation of lithofacies units and architectural elements lithofacies distinctions are based on differences in grain size and bedding style including massive to planar bedded mudstone and lenticular sandstone bodies with erosional bases and common soft sediment deformation features architectural elements are categorized by first order sedimentary structures microscale

a tectonic pulse in the makran accretionary prism recorded in iranian coastal sediments many recent studies of syndeformational sediments in a wide range of tectonic environments have improved our understanding of the development of individual or regional deformation structures here we report studies of growth strata that imply an unexpected tectonic history within part of the makran accretionary prism currently the largest on earth we interpret the lithostratigraphy and ichnofacies of plio pleistocene marine deposits logged along part of the makran coast in terms of their palaeoenvironments lateral trends in thickness and depositional facies of rock units and erosional surfaces among them are correlated and then related to displacements along syndepositional faults that are distinguishable from changes in global sea level past studies of accretionary prisms have emphasized thrusting at the deformation front offshore however at the shoreline we find episodes of deposition during subsidence as a result of oblique slip normal faulting alternating with episodes of erosion during uplift driven by oblique slip thrusting the absolute timing of these displacements is not yet known however faults above a deep zone of subcretion or underplating well behind the surficial deformation front have clearly undergone episodic reversals in throw that imply alternations in lateral shortening and extension

evolution of the solonker suture zone constraints from zircon u pb ages hf isotopic ratios and whole rock nd sr isotope compositions of subduction and collision related magmas and forearc sediments abstract the solonker zone in northern inner mongolia china is considered as the suture between the north china craton and the south mongolian microcontinent two magmatic belts are recognized along the suture zone a subduction related magmatic belt represented by the baolidao arc rocks and a younger collision related granite belt represented by the halatu granites we use zircon u pb ages zircon in situ hf isotopic analyses and whole rock nd sr isotopic data of the two magmatic belts and related forearc sediments the xilinhot metamorphic complex to constrain timing of the suturing and to discuss the petrogenesis of the magmatic rocks a gabbroic diorite bld 1 of the baolidao arc was dated at 310 5 ma by shrimp this sample shows an e nd t value of 2 5 and i sr of 0 7052 hf isotopic analyses on 25 zircons from the same sample show e hf t 5 4 to 11 5 another diorite sample xh 2 of the same arc from south of xilinhot displays even more depleted isotopic compositions with e nd t 5 6 and i sr 0 7037 the main population of zircons from this sample have highly variable and depleted hf isotopic compositions e hf t 0 18 3 the large variation in hf isotopic composition of zircons with largely the same crystallization age from a single pluton is explained by a mixing process between depleted mantle derived magma and continental crust in an active continental arc setting the halatu granite hlt 2 was dated at 234 7 ma by shrimp zircons from the granite also show a large variation of e hf t values 9 1 to 26 despite most samples having whole rock e hf t 2 the large variation in e hf t values suggests that the granite formed probably by partial melting of two source regions a dominant juvenile crust and a subordinate old continental crust most zircons from the xilinhot metamorphic complex show ages comparable with those of the baolidao arc rocks suggesting that the protolith of the metamorphic complex was probably deposited during or after arc magmatism some zircons however show precambrian ages that fall into two groups one with ages of 780 900 ma resembling those from the south mongolian microcontinent and the other with ages of 1524 2900 ma similar to those of the north china craton thus the protolith of the metamorphic complex probably formed in a forearc basin during convergence of the two continents and metamorphosed subsequently during collision in the late paleozoic our zircon age data thus constrain timing of collision between the south mongolian microcontinent and the north china craton to have been between 296 and 234 ma

petrogenesis of syenite granite suites from the bryansky complex transbaikalia russia implications for the origin of a type granitoid magmas abstract two syenite granite suites metaluminous and peralkaline that form the bryansky complex in transbaikalia russia have been studied with the aim to constrain the existing models of a type granitoid magma generation the bryansky complex is a large intrusive body of about 1600 km2 emplaced in the central part of the mongolian transbaikalian granitoid belt which extends for more than 2000 km and is 200 300 km wide the belt comprises about 350 a type granitoid plutons and numerous volcanic fields u pb and rb sr isotope dating revealed that all the intrusive rocks of the complex and closely associated comendites were emplaced within a narrow time span 279 285 ma the isotope characteristics are rather similar for all main rock types the metaluminous suite has a 87sr 86sr t value of 0 7050 0 001 end t from 1 9 to 3 0 and the peralkaline suite has 87sr 86sr t 0 7053 0 0008 end t 2 1 and 2 4 comendites and trachyandesites have similar end t values from 2 2 to 3 5 but a slightly higher 87sr 86sr t value of 0 7062 0 0002 the systematic change in chemical and mineralogical composition from syenitic to granitic rocks in both suites and the similar isotopic ratios suggest that the granites were formed by fractional crystallization of the syenite magmas several lines of evidence suggest that metaluminous syenite is the parental magma for the whole bryansky complex study of melt inclusions in quartz phenocrysts from the peralkaline granite and in pyroxene from the nordmarkite indicates that fractional crystallization has resulted in significant f enrichment in the granitic magma up to 1 5 1 7 wt the syenite magmas crystallized at rather high temperature 940 c whereas the near liquidus temperature of the peralkaline granite was lower 760 790 c very high homogenization temperatures of the melt inclusions in quartz phenocrysts from comendites 1000 1100 c suggest that the alkali rich silicic magma formed at a depth of 50 60 km far exceeding the normal crust thickness the sr nd isotope data advocate the main role of mantle derived material in the source region from which the alkali rich syenitic and granitic magmas were produced

slowing extrusion tectonics lowered estimate of post early miocene slip rate for the altyn tagh fault abstract determination of long term slip rate for the altyn tagh fault is essential for testing whether asian tectonics is dominated by lateral extrusion or distributed crustal shortening previous slip history studies focused on either quaternary slip rate measurements or pre early miocene total offset estimates and do not allow a clear distinction between rates based on the two the magmatic and metamorphic history revealed by shrimp zircon dating of clasts from miocene conglomerate in the xorkol basin north of the altyn tagh fault strikingly matches that of basement in the southern qilian shan and northern qaidam regions south of the fault this match requires that the post early miocene long term slip rate along the altyn tagh fault cannot exceed 10 mm year supporting the hypothesis of distributed crustal thickening for post early miocene times this low long term slip rate and recently documented large pre early miocene cumulative offset across the fault support a two stage evolution wherein asian tectonics was dominated by lateral extrusion before the end of early miocene and since then has been dominated by distributed crustal thickening and rapid plateau uplift

plate tectonic characteristics during the early paleozoic in beishan near the sino mongolian border region china abstract the tectonic units during the early paleozoic in the beishan area comprise the northern margin of the eastern end of the tarim plate and the northern flank of the mingshui hanshan microplate these two paleoplates were separated by an ophiolitic melange belt all of them underwent the tectonic evolution typical of the continental margins of atlantic andean and west pacific ocean types the continental margin was an open continental shelf and a continental slope from the early cambrian to the early ordovician at the southern flank of the continental shelf an isolated shallow sea basin developed separated from the shelf by an upwarping zone its northern flank shibanjing xiaohuangshan is an ocean basin north of this ocean basin is the mingshui hanshan microcontinent or microplate this area is situated in a tensional tectonic environment it shows the characteristics of a passive atlantic type margin during the middle and late parts of the early ordovician the continental crust on the southern fringe of the shallow sea basin was pulled open and a narrow ocean rift formed in the mid ordovician this area underwent a period of considerable development in which extension and subduction existed simultaneously the southern fringe of the continental margin came to the end of the passive margin on its northern side a marginal volcanic zone with calc alkali volcanism formed in the late ordovician silurian the oceanic crust was folded and subducted southward and the hengluanshan xichanjing marginal basin developed into an interarc basin where the hongliuhe niujuazi backarc basin and the baiyunshan dongqiyishan volcanic arc had formed with associated granitic magma at the beginning of the devonian the tarim plate finally came into collision with the mingshui hanshan microplate and the ocean basin closed forming the mingshui shibanjing xiaohuangshan suture belt there were volcanic molasse basins on both sides of this orogenic zone from the late paleozoic the beishan area was incorporated into an intraplate mobile zone

oligocene miocene tectonics and sedimentation along the altyn tagh fault northern tibetan plateau analysis of the xorkol subei and aksay basins abstract tertiary basins adjacent to the northern edge of the tibetan plateau include both giant intracontinental sedimentary basins such as tarim and qaidam and smaller basins directly related to the evolution of the altyn tagh strike slip fault system and nearby fold thrust belts three examples of these smaller basins that formed during early evolution of the altyn tagh fault system are the xorkol aksay and subei basins the xorkol basin was the site of nonmarine siliciclastic sedimentation in alluvial fan playa and fluvial environments from at least the mid oligocene through the miocene sediment was delivered to the basin from source areas uplifted by basin bounding thrust faults and from the opposite side of the altyn tagh fault the age of the aksay basin is more poorly constrained but it also contains oligocene miocene nonmarine clastic strata that were derived from the southern side of the altyn tagh fault and adjacent thrust fault bounded uplifts the subei basin is characterized by s

geochemical characteristics and correlation of oil and nonmarine source rocks from mongolia new bulk and molecular organic geochemical analyses of source rock and oil samples from mongolia indicate the presence of lacustrine sourced petroleum systems in this frontier region samples of potential source rocks include carbonate coal and lacustrine mudstone lithologies that range from paleozoic to mesozoic in age and represent a variety of tectonic settings and depositional environments rock eval and total organic carbon data from these samples reflect generally high quality source rocks including both oil and gas prone kerogen types mainly in the early stages of generation bulk geochemical and biomarker data indicate that lower cretaceous lacustrine mudstone found in core from the zuunbayan field is the most likely source facies for the east gobi basin of southeastern mongolia oil and selected source rock samples from the zuunbayan and tsagan els fields both in the east gobi basin demonstrate geochemical characteristics consistent with nonmarine source environments and indicate strong evidence for algal input into fresh to brackish water source facies including elevated concentrations of unusual hexacyclic and heptacyclic polyprenoids despite similarities between zuunbayan and tsagan els oil samples biomarker parameters suggest higher algal input in facies sourcing zuunbayan oil compared to tsagan els oil tsagan els oil samples are also generated by distinctly more mature source rocks than oil from the zuunbayan field based on sterane and hopane isomerization ratios

sedimentary record and tectonic implications of mesozoic rifting in southeast mongolia the east gobi basin of mongolia is a poorly described late jurassic early cretaceous extensional province that holds great importance for reconstructions of mesozoic tectonics and paleogeography of eastern asia extension is especially well recorded in the structure and stratigraphy of the unegt and zuunbayan subbasins southwest of saynshand mongolia where outcrop and subsurface relationships permit recognition of prerift synrift and postrift mesozoic stratigraphic megasequences within the synrift megasequence three sequences developed in response to climatic and rift related structural controls on sedimentation where best exposed along the northern margin of the unegt subbasin each of the synrift sequences is bounded by unconformities and generally fines upward from basal alluvial and fluvial conglomerate to fluvial and lacustrine sandstone and mudstone resedimented ashes and basalt flows punctuate the synrift megasequence rifting began in the unegt subbasin prior to 155 ma with coarse alluvial filling of local fault depressions subsidence generally outstripped sediment supply and fresh to saline lacustrine environments expanding southward with time dominated the unegt zuunbayan landscape for much of latest jurassic early cretaceous time episodic faulting and volcanism characterized the basin system for the balance of the early cretaceous a brief period of compressional and or transpressional basin inversion occurred at the end of the early cretaceous prior to deposition of a widespread upper cretaceous overlap sequence the driver s of late jurassic early cretaceous extension remain uncertain because southeast mongolia occupied an intraplate position by the beginning of the cretaceous extension in the east gobi basin was coeval with collapse and extension of early mesozoic contractional orogenic belts along the northern and southern borders of mongolia and probably was a linked phenomenon strike slip faulting associated with collisions on the southern asian and mongol okhotsk margins likely also played a role in late mesozoic deformation of the east gobi region perhaps partitioning the gobi from apparently coeval large magnitude contractional deformation in the yinshan yanshan orogenic belt south of the study area in inner mongolia

a geochemical study of metabasalts from a subduction complex in eastern australia abstract east of the peel fault system in the new england fold belt of eastern australia a base faulted sequence of mafic igneous rocks conformably overlain by chert siltstone and minor sandstone occurs in repeated slices forming a stacked sequence tens of kilometres thick the mafic rocks show extensive mineralogical alteration but apart from the highly mobile alkali elements bulk whole rock compositions retain a strong igneous imprint two metabasalt groups are recognised group a shows a distinct tholeiitic fractionation trend with increasing feo tio 2 p 2 o 5 feo mgo zr and y relative to only a small increase in sio 2 the mean concentration of incompatible and immobile elements and the composition of relict endiopsidic and augitic pyroxenes is similar to mid ocean ridge tholeiites particularly the more evolved ferrobasalts group b metabasalts are alkalic in composition they tend to have higher al 2 o 3 mgo p 2 o 5 and zr and lower feo and sr than group a basalts relict pyroxenes have high ti and al concentrations and are salites these rocks were probably the product of oceanic within plate volcanism both groups represent fragments of oceanic crust incorporated into a subduction complex along the eastern margin of the australian continent

the association of mafic ultramafic intrusions and a type magmatism in the tian shan and altay orogens nw china implications for geodynamic evolution and potential for the discovery of new ore deposits abstract the nw china region is characterised by tectonic and lithostratigraphic domains such as the tian shan and altay orogens the tarim junggar and turpan basins the tian shan and altay orogens are part of the central asian orogenic belt the nw china region was affected by a series of thermal events that occurred between the silurian and the triassic which resulted in the emplacement of numerous granitic plutons and mafic ultramafic intrusions a number of these granitic plutons are of a type affiliation which on the basis of the positive end values are likely to have been derived from mantle sources in addition at least two large igneous provinces lips can be recognised in nw china namely the 345 325 ma tian shan lip and the ca 270 280 ma tarim lip age and field data suggest a spatial and temporal relationship between the mafic ultramafic intrusions and a type granites within the lips in this paper we discuss mafic ultramafic intrusions that host magmatic ni cu sulphide deposits kalatongke in the altay huangshan and poyi poshi in the eastern tian shan these intrusions are typically zoned characterised by an envelope of early gabbroic rocks that enclose later ultramafic units these zoned mafic ultramafic intrusions have some features that are comparable with alaskan type complexes taking into consideration the spatial temporal relationship of the mafic mafic ultramafic rocks and a type granites we suggest that these magmatic events occurred during an extensional regime possibly related to a mantle superplume event that affected much of central asia during the permian of which the siberian traps and the emeishan continental flood basalts of sw china are part if the a type felsic magmatism took place during a superplume event we also suggest that these rocks may be conducive to host iron oxide copper gold iocg style mineralisation we conclude with a model that attempts to explain the relationship between the zoned mafic ultramafic intrusions and mantle plume activity in nw china during the permian

geochronology and geochemistry of early permian mafic ultramafic complexes in the beishan area xinjiang nw china implications for late paleozoic tectonic evolution of the southern altaids abstract the hongshishan and pobei mafic ultramafic complexes outcrop in the beishan area in the southernmost altaids they consist of olivine gabbros dunites and pyroxenites zircons from olivine gabbros from the hongshishan complex yield a u pb age for emplacement of 281 8 2 6 ma the olivine gabbros have low sio 2 47 08 48 66 tio 2 0 14 0 29 mno 0 07 0 09 and k 2 o 0 06 0 09 but high mg values 81 t fe 2 o 3 4 93 6 29 the hongshishan and pobei mafic ultramafic complexes are characterized by negative anomalies in high field strength elements zr hf nb ta which we interpret as arc related signatures they also have spikes in large ion lithophile fluid mobile elements ba u pb sr and high mobile immobile element ratios i e primitive mantle normalized sr nd ba la 1 which are attributed to an aqueous fluid component in the source zircon hf isotopes indicate that the source magma was derived either from a depleted mantle with some crustal contamination or from an enriched mantle these data are interpreted to indicate that the hongshishan and pobei mafic ultramafic complexes were emplaced in the early permian subduction related environment which suggests that the paleo asian ocean in the southernmost part of altaids did not close until after early permian

palaeomagnetism of east siberian traps and kimberlites two new poles and palaeogeographic reconstructions at about 360 and 250 ma summary we studied basalt sills and dykes and kimberlite pipes from the eastern part of the siberian platform these are spread out over a few hundred kilometres and are divided into two age groups late permian early triassic mir aikhal and olenyek regions and late devonian early carboniferous viluy and markha basins aikhal region the palaeomagnetic poles determined for each sill or dyke are statistically different from each other but averaging all corresponding directions from these sills and dykes with those from kimberlites of different generations yields results with acceptable statistics this is probably due to the averaging out of secular variation and or changes in magnetic polarity the resulting palaeomagnetic poles allow one to reconstruct the palaeopositions of siberia during the two large flood basalt events at about 360 and 250 ma a significant rotation of the siberian platform during the devonian and carboniferous is suggested the new data are in general agreement with some earlier palaeomagnetic poles for the late permian early triassic traps of the tungusska basin and significantly reduce uncertainties for previous late devonian early carboniferous siberian poles which were very scattered together with geological and absolute age data the palaeomagnetic data support the hypothesis that kimberlite magmatism and trap intrusions were both rapid and relatively close in time the 360 ma event is emerging as a magmatic event with considerable extent over the russian and siberian platforms related to incipient continental break up and triple junction formation possibly at or near the time of the frasnian famennian mass extinction

paleozoic accretion and cenozoic redeformation of the chinese tien shan range central asia the tien shan range in central asia contains two late paleozoic sutures the older southern suture marks the collision of a passive margin at the north of the tarim block and an active continental margin subduction under the latter was to the north the younger northern suture separates a northern carboniferous island arc from an active continental margin developed over a south dipping subduction zone the subduction direction under the island arc is unknown mesozoic elastics were deposited over the doubly sutured orogen rate and energy of sedimentation waned until deposition of oligocene conglomerates above a regional unconformity interpreted as marking the onset of deformation induced by the india asia collision molasse deposition accelerated in pliocene and quaternary time and deposition continues today as active thrusts generate relief paleozoic structures control the gross divergence of cenozoic thrusts across the orogen

a type granites in northeastern china age and geochemical constraints on their petrogenesis abstract a type granites are widely distributed in northeastern china ne china they were emplaced during three major episodes the permian late triassic to early jurassic and early cretaceous and evolved in different tectonic regimes according to their mineralogical and geochemical characteristics two subgroups of a type granites aluminous and peralkaline can be recognized the peralkaline subgroup contains alkali mafic minerals such as riebeckite arfvedsonite and sodic pyroxene while the aluminous subgroup contains annite and fe rich calcic or sodic calcic amphibole with respect to the aluminous subgroup the peralkaline granites contain higher rb ga and total rare earth elements ree but lower mgo cao al 2 o 3 ba and sr based on the discrimination criteria of eby geology 20 1992 641 the permian and late triassic to early jurassic a type granites belong to the a 2 post orogenic type whereas the early cretaceous granites are of the a 1 anorogenic type nd isotopic compositions of these a type granites indicate their derivation from a dominantly juvenile crustal source their origin is thought to have involved partial melting of an underplated lower crustal source because the generation of a type granites requires high melting temperature we propose models involving slab break off lithospheric delamination and extension the permian a type granites have the same age range as those in eastern junggar southern mongolia and central inner mongolia they occur along a major suture and form a narrow belt between the north china and siberian cratons we suggest that their formation was associated with post collisional slab break off the late triassic to early jurassic a type granites are likely to be the product of lithospheric delamination after the final collision of the major crustal blocks in the late paleozoic to early triassic the early cretaceous a type granites have an anorogenic affinity and were possibly associated with rifting in eastern china at this time associated with the onset of paleo pacific subduction consequently we conclude that the a type granites in ne china were generated at three different times involving multiple processes operative in different tectonic environments

geological development and phanerozoic crustal accretion in the western segment of the southern tien shan kyrgyzstan uzbekistan and tajikistan abstract the tien shan form a high intracontinental mountain belt lying north of the main india asia collision mountains and consist of re activated paleozoic orogens the western segment of the southern tien shan lies northwest of the pamir and west of the talas fergana fault the stratigraphy lithology igneous and metamorphic petrology and geochemistry of this segment indicate that it was formed by the assembly of lower paleozoic arcs which developed into microcontinents with upper paleozoic mature shelf and slope clastic and carbonate sediments precambrian continental crust is confined to two small blocks along its southern margin the bulk of the southern tien shan consists of vendian to silurian oceanic and slope clastic rocks resting on oceanic lithosphere and overlain by thick passive margin devonian to mid carboniferous mature shelf clastics and carbonates these are unconformably overlain by syn and post orogenic immature clastic sediments derived from mountains on the north formed by closure of a carboniferus southern tajik and a northern vendian to carboniferous turkestan ocean with the southern tien shan microcontinent sandwiched between associated with these collisions are late carboniferous to permian intrusives which form three south to north though overlapping suites a southern calc alkaline granodiorite granite suite an intermediate gabbro monzodiorite granite suite and a northern alkaline monzodiorite granite alaskite suite the gabbro monzodiorite granite suite forms the earliest subduction related magmatism of the southern tien shan rare earth element patterns are consistent with derivation from a primitive or slightly enriched mantle the other suites show more crustal contamination rb and sr vary with depth and degree of partial melting and are consistent with progressive involvement of crustal material in partial melts during collision the gradual change in composition within each complex lasting in some cases from 295 to 250 ma the entire permian may be explained by a consecutive shift in the melting sedimentary cover of the subducting plate from oceanic crust through transitional crust to marginal continental crust like the central asian orogenic belt the main focus of igcp 420 the tien shan represent a net addition of continental crust during the phanerozoic very little of the belt has any precambrian precursor

the most ancient ophiolite of the central asian fold belt u pb and pb pb zircon ages for the dunzhugur complex eastern sayan siberia and geodynamic implications abstract ophiolitic rocks with a zircon age of 1020 ma occur in the dunzhugur complex of east sayan siberia and are part of a neoproterozoic to early palaeozoic segment of the central asian fold belt the most spectacular suite is exposed along the oka and bokson rivers where a complete ophiolite sequence with mantle tectonites a layered sequence composed of dunite wehrlite and pyroxenite a gabbro section a sheeted diabase dyke complex and basaltic pillow lavas are exposed petrologic and geochemical data suggest that all members of the ophiolite originally belonged to the same cogenetic mafic ultramafic crustal section and support a supra subduction zone setting in a fore arc rifting environment for its origin two multigrain zircon size fractions from a plagiogranite are both slightly discordant but yielded a combined mean 207pb 206pb age of 1020 10 ma evaporation of three additional fractions of three to four grains each from the same sample produced a mean 207pb 207pb age of 1019 9 0 7 ma that we consider to most closely reflect the time of igneous crystallization of the plagiogranite this is the oldest ophiolite so far dated from the central asian fold belt the southern margin of the siberian craton and the palaeo asian ocean were established at the end of the mesoproterozoic at least 1000 ma ago during the time interval 1000 570 ma one or several large ocean basins existed between baltica siberia kazakhstan tarim and northern china and these blocks are therefore unlikely to have been part of the supercontinent rodinia rifting initiation of subduction and marginal basin formation began prior to 1000 ma and continued through 570 ma the dunzhugur ophiolite of eastern sayan provides evidence for the early opening of the palaeo asian ocean not later than 1000 ma ago

palaeozoic late collisional strike slip deformations in tianshan and altay eastern xinjiang nw china in central asia thrusts and shear zones resulting from palaeozoic accretional events were reworked by e w trending ductile strike slip faults during late palaeozoic early mesozoic time in the tianshan range microstructures and quartz c axis fabrics show a main dextral shearing associated with sinistral localized shear zones the relationship between these conjugate structures indicates a nnw sse trending bulk shortening in the chinese altay mountains the existence of type microstructures in an important sinistral mylonitic zone infers high rates of deformation this shear zone is bordered by a late dextral ductile fault synchronous with a granite emplacement field evidence and datings from the literature provide chronological constraints in the late carboniferous the sinistral mylonitic deformation took place in the erqishi irtysh shear zone in the northeastern part of xinjiang and in kazakhstan during the early permian a regional dextral event occurred in the tianshan range and under the whole of northern xinjiang