Dating Deep-Seated Tectonic Activities with Minerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2020) | Viewed by 8634

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Mineralogy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Interests: tectonophysics; structural geology; microscopy; metamorphic petrology; geochronology; fluid–rock interaction; geodynamics of the Alpine–Mediterranean belt

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Guest Editor
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Interests: isotope geochemisty; petrochronology; fluid–mineral–rock interactions; dating rock deformations; structural geology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to submit contributions on quantifying the timing of tectonic activity using radiometric methods. Translating the radiometric data of metamorphic and magmatic rocks into meaningful ages using geological dating processes has been a perpetual challenge. Solid-state diffusion has long been thought to represent the only mechanism of resetting isotope systems in minerals, giving rise to the “cooling age concept”. However, it has become increasingly obvious that dissolution and precipitation processes and connected fluid-associated mass-transfer (in chemically open systems) is a much faster process, effectively resetting the various isotope systems.

Dissolution precipitation reactions are sensitive to stress. As they are dependent on variations in the availability and composition of fluid, which determines the preservation or resetting of an isotope system, the rocks may contain a wide range of (potentially geologically meaningful) geochronological ages, at length scales of hundreds of metres down to micrometres. Thus, combining geochronology with petrology and structural geology opens up new vistas for dating deep-seated tectonic processes.

Structures and petrological data in metamorphic terrain—such as (U)HP-mineral assemblages, migmatitic gneiss domes, and shear-/detachment zones in granulites—demonstrate that the lithosphere was internally deformed over large scales, at all depths. Dating deformation-related structures in metamorphic rocks is important for the understanding of the pathways of lithospheric movements over time and the rheological properties of the crust. We welcome reviews and original papers dealing with all aspects of dating tectonic activities that occurred deep in the lithosphere, particularly (but not solely): (i) dealing with the role of deformation mechanisms (dislocation creep and dissolution precipitation creep) in the resetting of isotope systems; (ii) dating deformation structures in metamorphic rocks responsible for large-scale tectonic movements; (iii) dating episodes and the duration of deep-seated deformation processes; (iv) linking ductile deformation at depths recorded in metamorphic terrains to tectonic processes that shape the earth´s surface; (v) discussing the linkage between ore formation and fluid-assisted ductile deformation/detachment at depths; and (vi) presenting novel methods of the in-situ dating of deformation in metamorphosed rocks.

Dr. habil. Alexander Krohe
Dr. Nicole Wawrzenitz-Hoymann
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Radiometric dating
  • Fluids
  • Mineral chemistry
  • Microstructures
  • Deformation mechanisms
  • Structural geology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 9710 KiB  
Article
Tectonic History of the South Tannuol Fault Zone (Tuva Region of the Northern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, Russia): Constraints from Multi-Method Geochronology
by Evgeny Vetrov, Johan De Grave, Natalia Vetrova, Fedor Zhimulev, Simon Nachtergaele, Gerben Van Ranst and Polina Mikhailova
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10010056 - 9 Jan 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4227
Abstract
In this study, we present zircon U/Pb, plagioclase and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar and apatite fission track (AFT) data along the South Tannuol Fault Zone (STFZ). Integrating geochronology and multi-method thermochronology places constraints on the formation and subsequent reactivation of the STFZ. [...] Read more.
In this study, we present zircon U/Pb, plagioclase and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar and apatite fission track (AFT) data along the South Tannuol Fault Zone (STFZ). Integrating geochronology and multi-method thermochronology places constraints on the formation and subsequent reactivation of the STFZ. Cambrian (~510 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages obtained for felsic volcanic rocks date the final stage of STFZ basement formation. Ordovician (~460–450 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages were obtained for felsic rocks along the structure, dating their emplacement and marking post-formational local magmatic activity along the STFZ. 40Ar/39Ar stepwise heating plateau-ages (~410–400 Ma, ~365 and ~340 Ma) reveal Early Devonian and Late Devonian–Mississippian intrusion and/or post-magmatic cooling episodes of mafic rocks in the basement. Permian (~290 Ma) zircon U/Pb age of mafic rocks documents for the first time Permian magmatism in the study area creating prerequisites for revising the spread of Permian large igneous provinces of Central Asia. The AFT dating and Thermal history modeling based on the AFT data reveals two intracontinental tectonic reactivation episodes of the STFZ: (1) a period of Cretaceous–Eocene (~100–40 Ma) reactivation and (2) the late Neogene (from ~10 Ma onwards) impulse after a period of tectonic stability during the Eocene–Miocene (~40–10 Ma). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dating Deep-Seated Tectonic Activities with Minerals)
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23 pages, 7306 KiB  
Article
Dating Oceanic Subduction in the Jurassic Bangong–Nujiang Oceanic Arc: A Zircon U–Pb Age and Lu–Hf Isotopes and Al-in-Hornblende Barometry Study of the Lameila Pluton in Western Tibet, China
by De-Liang Liu, Min Shi and Shao-Yong Jiang
Minerals 2019, 9(12), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9120754 - 4 Dec 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3844
Abstract
The subduction and close of the Mesozoic Bangong–Nujiang Ocean (BNO) led to a collision of the Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks, which formed the backbone of the Tibetan Plateau (the largest and highest plateau on Earth). However, the detailed subduction processes (in particular, the [...] Read more.
The subduction and close of the Mesozoic Bangong–Nujiang Ocean (BNO) led to a collision of the Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks, which formed the backbone of the Tibetan Plateau (the largest and highest plateau on Earth). However, the detailed subduction processes (in particular, the oceanic subduction processes) within the BNO are still not clear. Here, we focus on the plutonic complex of the oceanic arc in the Bangong–Nujiang suture (BNS) and report field observations on zircon U–Pb ages, Lu–Hf isotopes, and the Al-in-hornblende barometry of quartz diorites from the Lameila pluton in western Tibet. Zircon from the quartz diorites yielded a LA-ICP-MS U–Pb age of 164 Ma. The zircon showed very positive εHf(t) values from 10.5 to 13.9, suggesting the Lameila pluton was likely sourced from the depleted-mantle wedge, which is in contrast with contemporary (164–161 Ma) volcanic rocks in the region that had negative εHf(t) values of −7.4 to −16.2 and a magma source from partial melting of subducted sediments. The Lameila pluton showed a temperature-corrected Al-in-hornblende pressure of 3.9 ± 0.8 kbar, corresponding to an emplacement depth of 13 ± 3 km. Therefore, the thickness of the Jurassic oceanic arc crust must have doubled since the initial growth of the oceanic arc on the BNO crust, with a crustal thickness of 6.5 km during the Middle Jurassic. In combination with previous works on volcanic rocks, this study further supports a two-subduction zone model in association with the BNO during the Middle Jurassic, namely, a north-dipping BNO–Qiangtang subduction zone and an oceanic subduction zone within the BNO. The latter oceanic subduction zone produced the depleted-mantle-derived Lameila pluton and the subducted sediment-derived volcanic rocks in the fore arc. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dating Deep-Seated Tectonic Activities with Minerals)
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