L'unité de la Boghen (Nouvelle-Calédonie, Pacifique SW): un complexe d'accrétion jurassique. Données radiochronologiques préliminaires U-Pb sur les zircons détritiques.

La datation des zircons détritiques de l'unité de la Boghen permet d'attribuer un âge post-liasique à cet ensemble, autrefois considéré comme le " socle anté-permien " de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Ce complexe est formé d'un ensemble volcanosédimentaire et terrigène à caractère distal, reposant directement sur une croûte océanique ou de bassin marginal incomplète. Compte tenu de ses caractères sédimentologiques, de l'existence d'un métamorphisme de haute pression d'âge Jurassique (environ 150 Ma) et de son association au complexe volcanosédimentaire d'arc de la Chaîne centrale, il est possible d'interpréter cette unité comme un prisme d'accrétion mis en place au Jurassique le long de la marge active Est-Gondwanienne. Le spectre d'âge des zircons détritiques permet d'assigner le système d'arcs permo-mésozoïques Sud-Est-Gondwanien et l'Antarctique comme sources principales de la fraction détritique. Abstract Radiochronological dating of detrital zircon extracted from the Boghen terrane metasediments allows a Jurassic age to be assigned. This terrane was formerly considered as the "pre-Permian basement" of New Caledonia. Its sedimentological features, its Late Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism (ca 150 Ma) and its association with the arc-related volcano-sedimentary complex of the Central Chain Terrane indicate that the Boghen terrane was an accretionary complex formed during the Jurassic period along the East-Gondwana active margin. The age spectrum of detrital zircons is consistent with a derivation from the Permian-Mesozoic Southeast-Gondwana arc system and the Antarctic continent

Early Middle Paleozoic Intraplate Orogeny in the Ogcheon Belt (South Korea): A new insight on the Paleozoic buildup of east Asia

Laurent Jolivet est Professeur à l'Université d'Orléans depuis le 1er septembre 2009.International audienceThe polycyclic Ogcheon belt of South Korea represents the boundary between two Precambrian blocks. Investigation on the timing and kinematics of the block agglomeration is of considerable bearing on the understanding of the constitution of the Asian continent. We report here structural evidence showing that the earlier tectonic event dates back to early middle Paleozoic (the "Ogcheon tectonism" or "orogeny"). The ductile piling up of nappes of the Ogcheon belt corresponds to an intracontinental orogeny involving the opening and the subsequent closure of an aborted rift and not of a wide oceanic area. The nappes contain unequivocal evidence for ductile shearing with a northwest over southeast sense of movement. Field evidence includes the presence of S1 and S1-2 foliations bearing an extensive stretching lineation perpendicular to the belt, associated with a strongly noncoaxial deformation regime. The F1 isoclinal folds are commonly "A type" and sheath folds whose axes are parallel to the stretching lineation, whereas the southeast facing F2 recumbent folds have subhorizontal axes parallel to the belt. All lines of evidence (unconformity, superposed deformations, age of the metamorphism, etc...) imply that the D1-2 "Ogcheon tectonism" is pre-middle Carboniferous (Late Silurian-Early Devonian). The subsequent Indosinian (Middle Triassic) F3 upright synfolial folds that trend NNE-SSW and later structures clearly overprint the middle Paleozoic ductile thrusts and isoclinal folds. The early Paleozoic Ogcheon Supergroup is formed of a thick volcanosedimentary pile deposited above an early platform sequence in a rift basin. On the basis of the geochemical characteristics of the metavolcanics, it appears that oceanization did not occur and Ogcheon rift aborted soon after it was formed. We suggest that middle Paleozoic ductile nappe structures have been formed by the structural inversion of the rift extensional features. During the ductile stacking episode, the early formed foliation and isoclinal folds have been folded in a continuum during the same tectonic event. Middle Carboniferous terrigenous formations have been deposited unconformably upon folded and thrust older rocks. A tentative correlation with early Paleozoic Imjingang, Qinling and Cathaysian belts within the Asian continent reveals that Ogcheon rift was emplaced within the South China plate and that Imjingang belt should represent the limit between North and South China blocks in the Korean peninsula

Geochemistry and tectonic setting of Matakaoa Volcanics (East Coast Allochthon, New Zealand); supra-subduction zone affinity, regional correlations and origin.

International audienceIn north-eastern New Zealand, the Late Cretaceous to Eocene submarine volcanic rocks of the East Coast Allochthon referred to as Matakaoa Volcanics formed a dominantly mafic melange with minor abyssal sediments during the subduction of "oceanic" crust. Accreted and melanged pillow lavas and dolerites display the geochemical and isotopic features of tholeiites with some diversity referred to as midocean ridge basalts, island-arc tholeiites and back-arc basin basalts. The association of supra-subduction tholeiitic magmas, abyssal sediments and polymetallic volcanogenic sulphide deposits is typical of many back-arc basins; therefore, a correlation with the alkaline and transitional basalts of the Hikurangi-Manihiki- Ontong Java Plateau may be ruled out. These petrological features and the fossil ages as well, are closely similar to those of the Tangihua Complex (Northland Allochthon) and allow Matakaoa and Tangihua mafic volcanic rocks, now separated by the modern Havre Trough, to be correlated within one single Late Cretaceous to Eocene 2 basin. The consideration of possible younger ages (Oligocene) is also discussed. The occurrence of Late Cretaceous-Eocene "oceanic" crust with supra-subduction zone affinities to the east of the Norfolk Ridge poses the problem of the intervening southwest-dipping subduction, the missing Late Cretaceous-Eocene arc and their relationship with Southeast Gondwana marginal break-up

Detrital zircon records of Late Cretaceous syn-rift sedimentary sequences of New Caledonia: an Australian provenance questioned

International audienceThe Late Cretaceous clastic coastal sediments of New Caledonia are contemporaneous with the latest stages of the eastern Australian marginal rifting. As such, they record the erosion of basement terranes located on uplifted and tilted blocks and a contemporaneous volcanic activity. Detrital zircon populations contain two major components, the younger of which is Early Cretaceous, and the older Early Paleozoic and Precambrian. Following recent advances in the knowledge of detrital zircon content of basement terranes, and at variance with previous interpretations, that hypothesised a possible direct Australian provenance for Precambrian zircons, the detrital zircon record of these syn-rift sediments allows a local recycled provenance to be established. In consequence, this new evidence confirms that New Caledonia was already isolated from Australia as early as Coniacian time (ca. 89-85 Ma) a fact consistent with the development of faunal and floral endemism at that period. The prominent abundance of Early Cretaceous detrital zircons also establishes the importance of a previously unrecorded Early Cretaceous magmatism in the area

The metamorphic sole of New Caledonia ophiolite: 40Ar/39Ar, U-Pb, and geochemical evidence for subduction inception at a spreading ridge

Amphibolite lenses that locally crop out below the serpentinite sole at the base of the ophiolite of New Caledonia (termed Peridotite Nappe) recrystallized in the high-temperature amphibolite facies and thus sharply contrast with blueschists and eclogites of the Eocene metamorphic complex. Amphibolites mostly display the geochemical features of MORB with a slight Nb depletion and thus are similar to theyoungest (Late Paleocene–Eocene) BABB components of the allochthonous Poya Terrane. Thermochronological data from hornblende (40Ar/39Ar), zircon, and sphene (U-Pb) suggest that these mafic rocks recrystallized at ~56 Ma. Using various geothermobarometers provides a rough estimate of peak recrystallization conditions of ~0.5 GPa at ~80–95°C. The thermal gradient inferred from the metamorphic assemblage (~60°C km-1), geometrical relationships, and geochemical similarity suggest that these mafic rocks belong to the oceanic crust of the lower plate of the subduction/obduction system and recrystallized when they subducted below young and hot oceanic lithosphere. They were detached from the down-going plate and finally thrust onto unmetamorphosed Poya Terrane basalts. This and the occurrence of slab melts at ~53 Ma suggest that subduction inception occurred at or near to the spreading ridge of the South Loyalty Basin at ~56 Ma

Geochemical constraints on carboniferous volcanic rocks of Yili Block (Xinjiang, NW China) ; implication for the tectonic evolution of western Tianshan.

The Yili Block is important for understanding the Late Paleozoic geodynamic evolution of Central Asia. It is bounded to the north by the Northern Tianshan Carboniferous flysch and ophiolitic mélange. The center of the Block is dominated by Carboniferous sedimentary rocks with intercalation of volcanic rocks. Petrological and geochemical features of these Carboniferous volcanic rocks show that: (1) they belong to the calc-alkaline series, (2) they display prominent Nb–Ta negative anomalies consistent with subduction-related magmas, and (3) HFSE-based discriminations place these volcanic rocks in the field of continental arcs. The depositional evolution of the sedimentary series shows evidence for Carboniferous sedimentation in a basin instead of rifting as previously proposed. All these evidences, together with the occurrence of contemporaneous turbidites and ophiolitic mélange along the northern boundary of the Yili Block, allow us to infer that the northern border of the Yili Block was a continental active margin during the Carboniferous. The Late Carboniferous southward subduction that finally closed the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous North Tianshan oceanic basin was followed by Permian–Mesozoic polyphase transcurrent faulting

Late Paleozoic tectonic and magmatic evolution of the Chinese West Tianshan

In Xinjiang Province of NW China, the Tianshan Belt belongs to the Late Paleozoic Variscan orogens that shaped up the Eurasian continent. Most of geologists drew to a conclusion that the Tianshan Belt was built during Paleozoic times through oceanic subduction, accretion and collision between the main Precambrian cratons such as Tarim, Junggar and Kazakhstan and some intervening microcontinents such as the Yili Block. However, there are still some controversies on the geodynamics of Paleozoic Tianshan, especially the West Tianshan (WTS), which was less studied than the East Tianshan. In particular, the tectonic significance in terms of heat transfer and crustal rheology of the huge magmatic rocks that develop in WTS is rarely taken into account in the lithosphere-scale evolution models

Tectonic evolution of the northern part of Western Tianshan (Xinjiang, NW China).

The Yili Block is important for understanding the Late Paleozoic geodynamic evolution of Central Asia. It is bounded to the north by the Northern Tianshan Carboniferous flysch and ophiolitic mélange. The center of the Block is dominated by Carboniferous sedimentary rocks with intercalation of volcanic rocks. Petrological and geochemical features of these Carboniferous volcanic rocks show that: (1) they belong to the calc-alkaline series, (2) they display prominent Nb-Ta negative anomalies consistent with subduction-related magmas, and (3) HFSE-based discriminations place these volcanic rocks in the field of continental arcs. The depositional evolution of the sedimentary series shows evidence for Carboniferous sedimentation in a basin instead of rifting as previously proposed. All these evidences, together with the occurrence of contemporaneous turbidites and ophiolitic mélange along the northern boundary of the Yili Block, allow us to infer that the northern border of the Yili Block was a continental active margin during the Carboniferous. The Late Carboniferous southward subduction that finally closed the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous North Tianshan oceanic basin was followed by Permian-Mesozoic polyphase transcurrent faulting

From oblique accretion to transpression in the evolution of the Altaid collage: New insights from West Junggar, northwestern China

International audienceAlong active margins, tectonic features that develop in response to plate convergence are strongly controlled by subduction zone geometry. In West Junggar, a segment of the giant Palaeozoic collage of Central Asia, the West Karamay Unit represents a Carboniferous accretionary complex composed of fore-arc sedimentary rocks and ophiolitic mélanges. The occurrence of quasi-synchronous upright folds and folds with vertical axes suggests that transpression plays a significant role in the tectonic evolution of the West Junggar. Latest Carboniferous (ca. 300 Ma) alkaline plutons postdate this early phase of folding, which was synchronous with accretion of the Carboniferous complex. The Permian Dalabute sinistral fault overprints Carboniferous ductile shearing and split the West Karamay Unit ca. 100 km apart. Oblique convergence may have been provoked by the buckling of the Kazakh orocline and relative rotations between its segments. Depending upon the shape of the convergence zone, either upright folds and fold with vertical axes, or alternatively, strike-slip brittle faults developed in response to strain partitioning. Sinistral brittle faulting may account for the lateral imbrication of units in the West Junggar accretionary complex

New constraints on the pre-Permian continental crust growth of Central Asia (West Junggar, China) by U-Pb and Hf isotopic data from detrital zircon.

International audienceIn-situ U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons from various Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks of West Junggar accretionary complexes (Central Asia) suggests two distinct episodes of arc magmatism, and an evolution in three steps: i) Ordovician-Silurian subduction generating juvenile arc crust; ii) Late Silurian subduction jamming, erosion and intraplate magmatism, iii) development of two new opposed Devonian-Carboniferous subductions recycling the Early Palaeozoic crust. Zircon Hf isotopes document three pre-Permian episodes of mantle-derived magmatic input into the crust: 1) Neoproterozoic (850-550 Ma), 2) Early Palaeozoic (530-450 Ma) and 3) Late Palaeozoic (380-320 Ma). Zircons also record the recycling of Neoproterozoic and Early Palaeozoic juvenile crusts during the Early and Late Palaeozoic. These data support a model of episodic continental crust growth in Central Asia