Cenozoic extensional tectonics in China

Ma, Xiaoguang; Wu, Daning

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(87)90268-x

Cited by 154 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Basin formation has been linked to volcanic activity, which is tholeiitic and basaltic during the Paleocene-Eocene in northern China, but became more intense in eastern China in the middle to late Miocene when the volcanism switched to alkaline and peralkaline compositions (17). The Yangtze gravel sediments are predominantly sands of fluvial facies and have widely been interpreted as Pleistocene deposits (18), although scattered fossil wood fragments of Miocene age have also been discovered (19).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Miocene birth of the Yangtze River

Zheng

Clift

Wang

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

258

208

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The development of fluvial systems in East Asia is closely linked to the evolving topography following India-Eurasia collision. Despite this, the age of the Yangtze River system has been strongly debated, with estimates ranging from 40 to 45 Ma, to a more recent initiation around 2 Ma. Here, we present 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from basalts interbedded with fluvial sediments from the lower reaches of the Yangtze together with detrital zircon U-Pb ages from sand grains within these sediments. We show that a river containing sediments indistinguishable from the modern river was established before ∼23 Ma. We argue that the connection through the Three Gorges must postdate 36.5 Ma because of evaporite and lacustrine sedimentation in the Jianghan Basin before that time. We propose that the present Yangtze River system formed in response to regional extension throughout eastern China, synchronous with the start of strike-slip tectonism and surface uplift in eastern Tibet and fed by strengthened rains caused by the newly intensified summer monsoon.Asian monsoon | drainage capture | provenance | Subei Basin | Yangtze gravel

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Miocene birth of the Yangtze River

Zheng

Clift

Wang

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

258

208

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“…Many examples are found in the literature: the North Atlantic rift in eastern North America (e.g., Wilson, 1966) and in Morocco (Piqué and Laville, 1996), the Rio Grande rift (Olsen et al, 1987), the Northeast China rift (e.g., Ma and Wu, 1987), the Baikal rift (e.g., Delvaux et al, 1995), the East African rift (Ring, 1994;Theunissen et al, 1996), the West African rift (e.g., Fairhead and Binks, 1991), the Cape Graben (Burke, 1976), and the Eastern Brazilian rift (Chang et al, 1992). Recent shear wave splitting surveys in the Kenya and the Baikal rifts (Gao et al, 1997) show that at the rift margin, where large-scale modification of the lithospheric mantle by upwelling asthenospheric mantle is unlikely, fast shear waves are polarized parallel to the trend of the Mozambique and Mongolian orogenic belts respectively (Fig.…”

Section: Geological Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheological heterogeneity, mechanical anisotropy and deformation of the continental lithosphere

1998

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This paper aims to present an overview on the influence of rheological heterogeneity and mechanical anisotropy on the deformation of continents. After briefly recapping the concept of rheological stratification of the lithosphere, we discuss two specific issues: (1) as supported by a growing body of geophysical and geological observations, crust=mantle mechanical coupling is usually efficient, especially beneath major transcurrent faults which probably crosscut the lithosphere and root within the sublithospheric mantle; and (2) in most geodynamic environments, mechanical properties of the mantle govern the tectonic behaviour of the lithosphere. Lateral rheological heterogeneity of the continental lithosphere may result from various sources, with variations in geothermal gradient being the principal one. The oldest domains of continents, the cratonic nuclei, are characterized by a relatively cold, thick, and consequently stiff lithosphere. On the other hand, rifting may also modify the thermal structure of the lithosphere. Depending on the relative stretching of the crust and upper mantle, a stiff or a weak heterogeneity may develop. Observations from rift domains suggest that rifting usually results in a larger thinning of the lithospheric mantle than of the crust, and therefore tends to generate a weak heterogeneity. Numerical models show that during continental collision, the presence of both stiff and weak rheological heterogeneities significantly influences the large-scale deformation of the continental lithosphere. They especially favour the development of lithospheric-scale strike-slip faults, which allow strain to be transferred between the heterogeneities. An heterogeneous strain partition occurs: cratons largely escape deformation, and strain tends to localize within or at the boundary of the rift basins provided compressional deformation starts before the thermal heterogeneity induced by rifting are compensated. Seismic and electrical conductivity anisotropies consistently point towards the existence of a coherent fabric in the lithospheric mantle beneath continental domains. Analysis of naturally deformed peridotites, experimental deformations and numerical simulations suggest that this fabric is developed during orogenic events and subsequently frozen in the lithospheric mantle. Because the mechanical properties of single-crystal olivine are anisotropic, i.e. dependent on the orientation of the applied forces relative to the dominant slip systems, a pervasive fabric frozen in the mantle may induce a significant mechanical anisotropy of the whole lithospheric mantle. It is suggested that this mechanical anisotropy is the source of the so-called tectonic inheritance, i.e. the systematic reactivation of ancient tectonic directions; it may especially explain preferential rift propagation and continental break-up along pre-existing orogenic belts. Thus, the deformation of continents during orogenic events results from a trade-off between tectonic forces applied at plate boundaries, plate geometry,...

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“…The Helan Mountain is located in the northern part of the China North-South tectonic belt, a major tectonic boundary between the east and west China with an abrupt geophysical field, as well as strong and frequent seismic activities. The Cenozoic deformation of the Helan Mountain is characterized by intracontinental extensional strike-slip deformation similar to that of North China [3][4][5]. Recently, many researchers have studied the structure, faulting, sedimentation, and seismicity of this region, with valuable results [1,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, many researchers have studied the structure, faulting, sedimentation, and seismicity of this region, with valuable results [1,4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, controversy remains on the mechanisms and dynamics of Cenozoic extensional deformation in the Helan Mountain-Yinchuan Basin area [3,5,7,[13][14][15][16]. This controversy stems from a lack of understanding on the timing, history, and style of Cenozoic uplift and exhumation of the Helan Mountain, which lies in a unique geotectonic location near the northeastern boundary of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%