Structural, petrological and thermal evolution of a Tertiary ductile strike-slip shear zone, Diancang Shan, Yunnan

 

Leloup, P. H., T. M. Harrison, F. J. Ryerson, W. Chen, Q. Li, P. Tapponnier, et R. Lacassin

 

Journal of Geophysical Research, vol 98, n°B4, p 6715-6743, 1993.


Abstract
The Diancang Shan, a horst bounded massif within the Red River fault zone in Yunnan, P.R.C., preserves a structural, petrological and thermal record of two distinct phases of tectonic activity; a left-lateral ductile shear that terminated between 20 and 17 Ma, and a ductile-to-brittle phase of normal faulting which began at 4.7 Ma and remains active. Mylonitic rocks in the core of the range contain an early, steep, high temperature (HT), schistosity and a horizontal stretching lineation that are both parallel to the trend of the belt. Kinematics indicators indicate that shear was left-lateral. The complex shape of the high temperature schistosity at the southern termination of the massif likely corresponds to a large scale, oblique, left-lateral shear plane that dismembered the shear zone and separated the Ailao Shan and the Diancang Shan at the end of the left-lateral deformation. Thermochronological and thermobarometric results suggest that the gneisses were partially unroofed during this event. Along the eastern edge of the Diancang Shan, the high temperature fabrics were overprinted by low temperature structures during activation of east-dipping normal faults. Cooling associated with this normal/right-lateral faulting along the Diancang Shan (and perhaps, activation of the right-lateral/normal movement on the Range Front fault further south along the Ailao Shan) began at 4.7+-0.1 Ma. These results tend to support the view that extrusion of Indochina occurred along the left-lateral Red River shear zone between about 32 and 19-17 Ma. Initiation of right-lateral/normal slip during the late Miocene may relate to eastward extensional collapse of the thickened Tibetan crust, or more probably to initiation of a second phase of extrusion .

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Déformation de la lithosphère continentale. Exemple de l'Asie du SE au Tertiaire

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How does the continental lithosphere deform ?
Insigths from Tertiary deformation of SE Asia.