Melanges through time: Life cycle of the world's largest Archean melange compared with Mesozoic and Paleozoic subduction-accretion-collision melanges

Kusky T., Wang J., Wang L., Huang B., Ning W., Fu D., ...More

EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS, vol.209, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 209
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103303
  • Journal Name: EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Aerospace Database, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Artic & Antarctic Regions, CAB Abstracts, Communication Abstracts, Environment Index, Geobase, INSPEC, Metadex, Veterinary Science Database, DIALNET, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Keywords: Subduction-accretion melanges, accretionary orogen, Alaska, Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Belt, North China Craton, Qilian Shan, Archean, NORTH CHINA CRATON, EASTERN HEBEI PROVINCE, CENTRAL OROGENIC BELT, ARC-CONTINENT COLLISION, RANGES FAULT SYSTEM, U-PB GEOCHRONOLOGY, RESURRECTION PENINSULA OPHIOLITE, OCEAN PLATE STRATIGRAPHY, SANTA ELENA PENINSULA, INYONI SHEAR ZONE
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Melanges represent a significant component of collisional and accretionary orogenic belts. We present a comparison of subduction-accretion melanges of different ages to test how melange-forming processes at convergent margins changed through time. We describe the Mesozoic McHugh melange in Alaska, and the Paleozoic Proto-Tethyan Laohushan melange of the Qilian Orogenic Belt of the Alpine-Himalayan chain, together with documentation of a Neoarchean melange that marks the suture between the Eastern Block and Central Orogenic Belt of the North China Craton (NCC). The McHugh is a classic accretionary melange that has not yet experienced a collision, and the Laohushan is an accretionary/collisional melange with structures related to both stages of its evolution. We compare the characteristics of these melanges with the world's largest Archean melange, the newly-documented circa 2.5 Ga 1600 km long Jianping-Zunhua-Zanhuang-Dengfeng (JZZD) melange of the North China Craton.