Paleomagnetism of a Late Cretaceous island arc complex from South Sakhalin, East Asia: Convergent boundaries far away from the Asian continental margin?

Geodynamic implications of paleomagnetic data from Tertiary sediments in Sakhalin, Russia (NW Pacific)

“…This is the earliest indication of a possible right‐lateral strike‐slip tectonic regime [ Fournier et al , 1994]. It suggests that Pacific Plate subduction had probably ceased by the onset of this rotation, which is consistent with Eocene accretion of a Pacific Plate allochtonous terrane in southeast Sakhalin [ Bazhenov et al , 2001]. This terrane accreted against Sakhalin on the Tonino‐Aniva Peninsula (Figure 1b), approximately 400 km south of Dvoynoye River, which suggests that deformation associated with the docking of this relatively small (∼10 km scale) terrane is unlikely to have caused the observed rotation at Dvoynoye River.…”

“…A Mesozoic accretionary complex in east Sakhalin indicates that the early geological evolution of Sakhalin was linked with the Pacific Plate, at least until the Eocene after final emplacement of an allochthonous terrane in southeast Sakhalin [ Bazhenov et al , 2001]. Currently, the Okhotsk Sea separates Sakhalin from the subducting Pacific Plate (Figure 1).…”

“…If vertical axis rotations are regionally coherent in west Sakhalin (Figure 14c), the data seem to suggest a period of clockwise rotation of up to ∼40° from the mid‐Paleocene to the late Oligocene. It is most likely that westward directed subduction of the Pacific Plate under Sakhalin in the mid‐Paleocene to Eocene [ Bazhenov et al , 2001] controlled deformation in both east and west Sakhalin. A terrane docking and indentation event in southern Sakhalin in the Eocene [ Bazhenov et al , 2001] may have resulted in a clockwise rigid body rotation at Kitosiya River (mid‐Paleocene samples), where paleomagnetic results indicate significantly clockwise deflected declinations (Figure 14).…”

“…It is most likely that westward directed subduction of the Pacific Plate under Sakhalin in the mid‐Paleocene to Eocene [ Bazhenov et al , 2001] controlled deformation in both east and west Sakhalin. A terrane docking and indentation event in southern Sakhalin in the Eocene [ Bazhenov et al , 2001] may have resulted in a clockwise rigid body rotation at Kitosiya River (mid‐Paleocene samples), where paleomagnetic results indicate significantly clockwise deflected declinations (Figure 14). However, the observed vertical axis rotations may also be associated with strike‐slip fault deformation, which seems to have begun after the mid‐Eocene in east Sakhalin (Figure 14b).…”

Growth rate of the preserved continental crust: II. Constraints from Hf and O isotopes in detrital zircons from Greater Russian Rivers

“…The collision terminated at 150 Ma in the western part of the fold belt and continued to 120 Ma in the eastern part (Zonenshain et al, 1990;Litvinovsky et al, 1999). The Sikhote-Alin Sakhalin fold belt along the Eastern edge of Eurasia formed between 130 and 65 Ma (Zonenshain et al, 1990;Faure et al, 1995;Bazhenov et al, 2001). …”