Advances in Earth Science ›› 2004, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (5): 736-742. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2004.05.0736

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TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE LOW-GRADE METAMORPHIC ROCKS FOR THE SUBDUCTION OF A CPMTOMEMTAL PLATE IN THE DABIE-SULU OROGEN

ZHOU Jian-bo, CHENG Ri-Hui, LIU Peng-ju , LIU Jian-hui   

  1. School of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
  • Received:2003-05-19 Revised:2003-10-10 Online:2004-12-20 Published:2004-10-01

ZHOU Jian-bo, CHENG Ri-Hui, LIU Peng-ju , LIU Jian-hui. TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE LOW-GRADE METAMORPHIC ROCKS FOR THE SUBDUCTION OF A CPMTOMEMTAL PLATE IN THE DABIE-SULU OROGEN[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2004, 19(5): 736-742.

In the margin area of subduction of oceanic plate, a great deal of marine sediments and underlying rocks were scraped off from the subducting oceanic plate to accumulate as wedge-shaped mass. It is called the accretionary wedge and uniquely develops at the boundary of convergent plates. This tectonic unit frequently occurs in orogenic belts, which were formed by subduction of oceanic plate, but it is unclear whether it also occurs in orogenic belts due to subduction of continental plate. The Dabie-Sulu Orogen in East-central China is a typical continent-continent collision orogen due to subduction of the Yangtze craton beneath the Sino-Korean craton at Triassic. Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism has been recognized by occurrence of micro-diamond and coesite-bearing eclogites and gneisses within this orogen. There are a great deal of low-grade metasedimetary and metaigneous rocks to occur not only in the northern margin of the UHP metamorphic belt but also in its interior. They consist of two parts: (1) large masses in the northern margin of the belt which are composed of slates, schists, phyllites, metasandsones and marble as well as intrusions; (2) sparotic outcrops in the interior of the belt which are composed of metaclastics, phyllite, and marbles. All of the rocks suffered strong deformation and dynamic metamorphism mostly at greenschist facies. Palaeotological, petrologic and geochronological investigations show that the metasedimentary rocks were deposited in the northern passive continental margin of the Yangtze plate as a flysch facies prior to Triassic, and that the intrusions are of Neoproterozoic ages and thus the product of rift magmatism in the northern margin of the Yangtze craton at Late Precambrian. Both Middle Paleozoic and Triassic events were dated for the low-grade rocks, being concordant with tectonic events experienced by the ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogen. Apparently, the low-grade metamorphic rocks were scraped off from the subducting Yangtze plate at Triassic and thus correspond to a part of the accretionary complexes of the continental plate subduction. Within the framework of the accretionary wedge of continental plate subduction, the low-grade metamorphic rocks in the northern margin and the interior and of the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt can be unified as a whole in comparison with the UHP metamorphic rocks. Relationship in time and space between the low-grade and the UHP metamorphic rocks is studied in order to understand the geodynamics of the Yangtze plate subduction.

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