Anatomy of a subduction complex: architecture of the Franciscan Complex, California, at multiple length and time scales

Wakabayashi, John

doi:10.1080/00206814.2014.998728

Cited by 209 publications

(295 citation statements)

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“…1). The application of criteria adopted to identify mélange rock units (e.g., by Raymond, 1984;Cowan, 1985;Orange, 1990;Bettelli and Panini, 1989;Pini, 1999;Festa et al, 2010Festa et al, , 2012Wakabayashi, 2015) allowed us to determine that the chaotic rock unit resulted from synextensional intraoceanic mass transport processes, the evidence of which is exceptionally well preserved in the deeply subducted ZSO. Stratigraphic and structural analyses further allow us to highlight that the chaotic rock unit is sealed by postextensional metasediments, and that, despite the polyphase Alpine deformation and metamorphism, a paleounconformity is, uncommonly, still recognizable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MTDs therefore represent fundamental markers of most of the tectonic events, and the documentation and understanding of their overall architecture, internal fabric, composition, and mechanisms of their downslope deformation and emplacement are relevant for better understanding the characteristics of depositional basins and the evolution of orogenic belts. However, in most orogenic belts and exhumed subduction-accretion complexes, a strong similitude of fabric exists between MTDs with a block-in-matrix fabric (i.e., olistostrome sensu Flores, 1955; sedimentary mélanges, e.g., see Raymond, 1984) and tectonic mélanges (e.g., Hsü, 1974;Raymond, 1984;Cowan, 1985;Bettelli and Panini, 1989;Pini, 1999;Festa et al, 2010Festa et al, , 2013Dilek et al, 2012;Alonso et al, 2015;Balestro et al, 2015b;Platt, 2015;Wakabayashi, 2015). This similitude is the basis of a longlasting debate on the processes of formation of chaotic rock units (i.e., tectonic versus gravitational), and is strongly amplified in metamorphic belts, where polyphase deformation and metamorphic recrystallization to eclogitic conditions commonly rework and obscure the primary internal structure of chaotic rock units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Record of Jurassic mass transport processes through the orogenic cycle: Understanding chaotic rock units in the high-pressure Zermatt-Saas ophiolite (Western Alps)

et al. 2017

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The eclogite facies Zermatt-Saas ophiolite in the Western Alps includes a composite chaotic unit exposed in the Lake Miserin area, in the southern Aosta Valley region. The chaotic unit is characterized by a block-in-matrix texture consisting of ultramafic clasts and blocks embedded within a carbonate matrix. This unit overlies massive serpentinite and ophicarbonate rocks and is unconformably overlain by layered calcschist. Despite the effects of subduction and collision-related deformation and metamorphism, the internal stratigraphy and architecture of the chaotic unit are recognizable and are attributed to different types of mass transport processes in the Jurassic Ligurian-Piedmont Ocean. This finding represents an exceptional record of the preorogenic history of the Alpine ophiolites, marked by different pulses of extensional tectonics responsible for the rough seafloor topography characterized by structural highs exposed to submarine erosion. The Jurassic tectonostratigraphic setting envisioned is comparable to that observed in present-day magma-poor slow-and ultraslow-spreading ridges, characterized by mantle exposure along fault scarps that trigger mass transport deposits and turbiditic sedimentation. Our preorogenic reconstruction is significant in an eclogitized collisional orogenic belt in which chaotic rock units may be confused with the exclusive product of subduction-related tectonics, thus obscuring the record of an important preorogenic history. LITHOSPHERE

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Record of Jurassic mass transport processes through the orogenic cycle: Understanding chaotic rock units in the high-pressure Zermatt-Saas ophiolite (Western Alps)

et al. 2017

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“…Our study was largely motivated by the geological record from Western and Central Turkey, but as mentioned, similar along-strike tempera-5 ture variations have been recovered from other geological settings such as the Fanciscan complex (see review by Wakabayashi, 2015Wakabayashi, , 2017, the Sulawesi mélange (Parkinson, 1996), or the peri-Caribbean mélanges (Garcia-Casco et al, 2007). In all settings along-strike metamorphic grade variation were recorded at similar times within the same subduction system.…”

Section: Comparison With the Geological Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of obliquity on temperature in subduction zones: insights from 3D numerical modeling

Plunder¹,

Thieulot²,

Hinsbergen³

2018

Preprint

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Abstract. In subduction zones the geotherm is thought to vary as a function of the subduction rate and the age of the subducting lithosphere. Along a single subduction zone the rate of subduction can strongly vary due to changes in the angle between the trench and the plate convergence vector, namely the subduction obliquity. We currently observe such a configuration all around the Pacific (e.g. Marianna, Chile, Aleutians). Subduction obliquity is also supposed in the geological record of Western and Central Turkey. In order to investigate this effect, we designed and computed simple thermo-kinematic finite element 3D 5 numerical models. We prescribe the trench geometry by means of a simple mathematical function and compute the mantle flow in the mantle wedge only by solving the equation of mass and momentum conservation. We then solve the energy conservation equation until steady-state is reached. We analyse the results (i) in terms of mantle wedge flow with emphasis on the trenchparallel component and (ii) in terms of temperature along the plate interface by means of maps and depths-temperature path at the interface. We show that the effect of the trench curvature on the geotherm is substantial. A small obliquity yields a small but 10 not negligible trench parallel mantle flow leading to differences of 50• C along strike of the model. With increasing obliquity, the trench parallel component of the velocity consequently increases and the temperature variation can be as important as 200• C along strike. This can even be larger with varying plate velocity. Finally, we discuss the implication of our simulations for the ubiquitous oblique systems that are observed on Earth, the limitation of our modeling approach and the significance for the geological record with an emphasis on the case study of Western and Central Turkey.

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“…Many studies have documented an overall increase in plate convergence rate and plate motion parallel to the arc (obliquity) occurring 100-90 Ma (Page and Engebretson, 1984;Engebretson et al, 1985;Liu et al, 2008). Others suggest that these plate motion changes led to induced deformation in the eastern Sierran arc, resulting in increased rates of magmatism (Glazner, 1991;Tikoff and Teyssier, 1992;McNulty, 1995;Greene and Schweickert, 1995;Tikoff and Greene, 1997;Tobisch et al, 2000;Memeti et al, 2014;Paterson and Ducea, 2015), as well as accelerated phases of accretion in the prism (Wakabayashi, 2015). Studies of forearc basin stratigraphy have also recognized various sedimentary Greene and Surpless | Facies architecture and provenance of a boulder-conglomerate, Panoche Formation GEOSPHERE | Volume 13 | Number 3 responses at ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1; Hamilton, 1969;Dickinson, 1970Dickinson, , 1976Ernst, 1970;Hsü, 1971;Maxwell, 1974;Schweickert and Cowan, 1975). Numerous studies of each tectonic element have helped resolve the details of the margin that involves changes in magmatism, accretionary tectonics, and basin subsidence (Ingersoll, 1978(Ingersoll, , 1979(Ingersoll, , 1982Dickinson and Seely, 1979;Ingersoll and Dickinson, 1981;Moxon and Graham, 1987;DeGraaff-Surpless et al, 2002;Williams and Graham, 2013;Surpless, 2014;Sharman et al, 2015;Wakabayashi, 2015;and many others).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facies architecture and provenance of a boulder-conglomerate submarine channel system, Panoche Formation, Great Valley Group: A forearc basin response to middle Cretaceous tectonism in the California convergent margin

Greene¹,

Surpless²

2017

Geosphere

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Tectonic reorganization induced by a rapid increase in plate motion obliquity and rate beginning at ca. 100 Ma affected California's Andean-style convergent margin, with concomitant changes in the accretionary prism of the Franciscan Complex, the Great Valley forearc basin, and the Sierran continental arc. Using facies analysis and a combined provenance approach, we suggest that this ca. 100 Ma tectonic signal is preserved in a Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) boulder-conglomerate outcrop along the San Luis Reservoir (SLR) in the southern Great Valley, which represents the thickest and coarsest deep-water deposit ever described in the Great Valley Group (GVG). We document a 1.8-km-thick by 4-km-long depositional-dip profile of an interpreted SE-directed (axial) submarine channel system that is part of a conglomeratic package that stretches 20 km along the east-central Diablo Range. Our facies analysis of the SLR area documents five facies associations within four aggradational channel complex sets, followed by regional abandonment.Sandstone petrography and mudrock geochemical data suggest a dissected continental Sierra Nevadan arc source. Conglomerate clast counts show abundant ophiolitic-type clasts that may be derived from the Coast Range Ophiolite and/or the Western Sierra Nevada Metamorphic Belt. Detrital-zircon geochronology data also indicate western and central Sierra Nevadan sources; however, we interpret an anomalous (relative to other Cenomanian localities) 105-95 Ma zircon population to indicate the initial erosional products from the volcanic carapace associated with the Late Cretaceous magmatic flare-up within the eastern Sierran arc. This flare-up has been linked to an increase in arc-parallel plate motion that induced deformation along shear zones in the eastern Sierra Nevada, allowing for widespread plutonism. Our provenance interpretation makes the SLR area the earliest Upper Cretaceous GVG locality to receive significant detritus from the flare-up, effectively linking tectonic plate motion changes and coarse-grained, deep-water forearc sedimentation.

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Anatomy of a subduction complex: architecture of the Franciscan Complex, California, at multiple length and time scales

Cited by 209 publications

References 251 publications

Record of Jurassic mass transport processes through the orogenic cycle: Understanding chaotic rock units in the high-pressure Zermatt-Saas ophiolite (Western Alps)

Record of Jurassic mass transport processes through the orogenic cycle: Understanding chaotic rock units in the high-pressure Zermatt-Saas ophiolite (Western Alps)

The effect of obliquity on temperature in subduction zones: insights from 3D numerical modeling

Facies architecture and provenance of a boulder-conglomerate submarine channel system, Panoche Formation, Great Valley Group: A forearc basin response to middle Cretaceous tectonism in the California convergent margin

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