Overview of tectonic settings related to the rifting and opening of Mesozoic ocean basins in the Eastern Tethys: Oman, Himalayas and Eastern Mediterranean regions

Abstract

A combination of geophysical studies and deep-sea drilling have in the past suggested that orthogonally rifted margins fall into two end-members: volcanic-rifted margins (e.g. eastern Greenland) and non-volcanic rifted margins (e.g. Iberia–Newfoundland conjugate). This paper explores the rifted margins of the Eastern Tethys stretching from the Eastern Mediterranean, through Oman to the Himalayas. Rifting in these area was typically pulsed, extending over more than 50 Ma. The timing of final continental breakup ranged from Late Permian in the east, in Oman and the Himalayas, to latest Triassic–earliest Jurassic in many parts of the Eastern Mediterranean (e.g. Antalya in SW Turkey; Pindos in Greece). Rifting in the Himalayas and Oman gave rise to a proximal to a distal ramp geometry with scatted seamounts (continental fragments and atolls) located adjacent to the rifted margin. The Eastern Mediterranean was palaeogeographically varied, and was characterized by a number of mainly elongate continental fragments (tens to several hundreds of kilometres long by tens of kilometres wide). These microcontinents subdivided the Eastern Tethys in the Eastern Mediterranean region into several small ocean basins, which rifted at more or less the same time in latest Triassic–earliest Jurassic time.All of the rifted margins of the Eastern Tethys are associated with rift-related volcanic rocks. However, with the exception of the Permian Panjal Traps in the Himalayas, the volumes of magma and corresponding thermal doming were less than for the ideal Volcanic-rifted margin (i.e. eastern Greenland). None of the Eastern Tethyan rifted margins show evidence of features characteristic of Non-volcanic rifted margins (e.g. sea-floor serpentinite exhumation), in contrast to the Iberia–Newfoundland conjugate or the Alps. Most of the Eastern Tethyan rifted margins appear to correspond to an ‘intermediate’ type, characterized by pulsed rifting, limited rift volcanism and a narrow continent–ocean transition zone. Such ‘intermediate-type’ rifted margins may remain to be explored in the modern oceans by deep-sea drilling.There is little evidence to support previous suggestions that the Eastern Tethyan rifts can be considered as back-arc basins above either northward- or southward-dipping subduction zones.Here it is suggested that the Eastern Tethys documents a fundamentally different type of rifting from either the ‘Volcanic-related’ or ‘Non-volcanic’ intracontinental rifts known from the Alps or the North Atlantic region.The dominant controls of rifting are seen as the traction of rising asthenosphere on the base of the lithosphere, related deviatoric tensional stresses, inherited and thermally induced weaknesses in the crust, and slab-pull. Specifically, in the Eastern Tethyan region continental breakup was probably triggered by a combination of long-term asthenosphere flow, slab-pull related to subduction beneath Eurasia and melt-induced crustal weakening associated with pulsed rifting or plume effects. Final continental breakup corresponds to a major (‘Cimmerian’) convergent phase along the opposing Eurasia margin, which further supports the role of plate boundary forces in Eastern Tethyan rifting.The early Mesozoic oceanic basins opened, probably associated with northwestward propagation of a spreading centre through the already weakened periphery of Gondwana, adjacent to less deformable Palaeotethyan oceanic crust.After a lengthy period of passive margin subsidence, locally punctuated by crustal extension and related volcanism, or plume effects, the rifted margins were finally tectonically emplaced during mid-Mesozoic, late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic time in different areas.

Geodynamic evolution of Upper Cretaceous Zagros ophiolites: formation of oceanic lithosphere above a nascent subduction zone

“…Glennie, 2000;Golonka, 2004;Agard et al 2005Agard et al , 2006. However, Robertson (2007) observed that the rocks of the SSZ cannot be correlated with Arabian rocks.…”

“…London, 1982) reported Triassic OIB-type lavas from Kermanshah and Neyriz ophiolites. Therefore, it may be that these E-MORB/OIB-type lavas correlate with the alkaline lavas of the Oman (Robertson, 2007) and that they formed during the rifting/early oceanization phase of north Gondwana. However, the Balvard-Baft and HajiAbad E-MORB/OIB-type pillow lavas are associated with Upper Cretaceous pelagic limestones and are not likely to be Triassic; and (2) the Haji-Abad and Balvard-Baft E-MORB/OIB-type lavas are in fact the first lavas to erupt when the Tethyan oceanic plate began to sink beneath the Eurasian plate as subduction began in Late Cretaceous time.…”

“…Stampfli & Borel, 2002;Agard et al 2006;Shafaii Moghadam et al 2009) with a number of microcontinents. However, there is no agreement as to how such microcontinents and ocean basins should be reconstructed in space and time, or in the rift processes (Robertson, 2007). Why did the Nain-Baft (IB) oceanic branch open?…”

“…A back-arc basin model is also proposed for ophiolites on the northern margin of the Tauride microcontinent (Stampfli & Borel, 2002). In this model, the SSZ was also considered similar to the Tauride block of Robertson (2007). As for the SSZ, both flanks of the Tauride block are marked by ophiolites, the trace of the North Tethyan Ocean to the north and that of the South Tethyan Ocean to the south, although there is evidence of Triassic rifting and continental breakup along the northern margin of the Tauride-Anatolide platform (see Yilmaz et al 1997 andRobertson, 2007 for more information).…”

Provenance of Pleistocene Rhine River Middle Terrace sands between the Swiss–German border and Cologne based on U–Pb detrital zircon ages

“…At the end of the Neoproterozoic and during the Early Cambrian, periGondwanan terranes drifted toward the north, either as separate entities or as parts of Africa (Robardet 2003;Tait et al 1997;Linnemann et al 2004Linnemann et al , 2007 and were reassembled during the Caledonian and Variscan orogenies (e.g., Kroner et al 2007;Krawczyk et al 2008;Nance et al 2010;Zeh and Gerdes 2010). In the Early Middle Jurassic, major rifting phases led to the formation of continental rift zones and the opening of the Alpine Tethys and the North Sea (Ziegler and Dèzes 2006;Robertson 2007). The development of the Alps is a result of closure of the Tethys between Africa and Europe (Pfiffner 1992;Schmid et al 2008;Stampfli and Hochard 2009).…”