Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic Geological Evolution of Mongolia: Constraints on Modes of "Crustal Growth" in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt
Abstract
The Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) is widely considered the largest area of Phanerozoic juvenile crustal growth on Earth. However, the timing and nature of the orogenic events in the core of the CAOB in Mongolia has remained poorly constrained due to a dearth of detailed geological and geochronological studies. To bridge this gap and test models of crustal growth, here we refine the sequencing of geological events by focusing on the formation and destruction of Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic tectonic basins. Mongolia's basins record a complete Neoproterozoic to Cambrian Wilson cycle with rifting of the Mongolian continent at ca. 700 Ma, the development of a Cryogenian to Ediacaran thermally subsiding passive margin, an arc-continent collision at ca. 520 Ma, and a continent-arc-continent collision at ca. 500 Ma. During this collisional orogeny, that is the Cambrian Altaids, crustal growth occurred largely through the obduction of ophiolites. Rifting of the southern margin occurred during the Ordovician Period, with the development of a Silurian passive margin. Oblique northwest-dipping subduction was initiated during the Devonian and resulted in a transpressional accretionary orogen. The CAOB culminated with a continent-arc-continent collision and the accretion of the North China and Tarim Blocks in the latest Permian. The Devonian to early Permian accretionary orogen is associated not only with voluminous plutonism, but also, major translational structures oblique to the margin resulting in the appearance of many accreted terranes. These data are consistent with existing coarse Hf and Nd isotopic data, but also provide a framework for future detailed studies. Although our geological constraints suggest distinct periods of apparent crustal growth through either collisional or accretionary orogenies, net crustal growth after accounting for recycling is equivocal.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.T11B2573M
- Keywords:
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- 1031 GEOCHEMISTRY / Subduction zone processes;
- 1165 GEOCHRONOLOGY / Sedimentary geochronology