New structural, geochronological, and petrological data highlight which crustal sections of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary in Guatemala and Honduras accommodated the large-scale sinistral offset. We develop the chronological and kinematic framework for these interactions and test for Palaeozoic to Recent geological correlations among the Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico and the northern Caribbean. Our principal findings relate to how the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary partitioned deformation; whereas the southern Maya Block and the southern Chortís Block record the Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic collision and eastward sinistral translation of the Greater Antilles arc, the northern Chortís Block preserves evidence for northward stepping of the plate boundary with the translation of this block to its present position since the Late Eocene. Collision and translation are recorded in the ophiolite and subduction–accretion complex (North El Tambor complex), the continental margin (Rabinal and Chuacús complexes), and the Laramide foreland fold–thrust belt of the Maya Block as well as the overriding Greater Antilles arc complex. The Las Ovejas complex of the northern Chortís Block contains a significant part of the history of the eastward migration of the Chortís Block; it constitutes the southern part of the arc that facilitated the breakaway of the Chortís Block from the Xolapa complex of southern Mexico. While the Late Cretaceous collision is spectacularly sinistral transpressional, the Eocene–Recent translation of the Chortís Block is by sinistral wrenching with transtensional and transpressional episodes. Our reconstruction of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary identified Proterozoic to Mesozoic connections among the southern Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico: (i) in the Early–Middle Palaeozoic, the Acatlán complex of the southern Mexican Mixteca terrane, the Rabinal complex of the southern Maya Block, the Chuacús complex, and the Chortís Block were part of the Taconic–Acadian orogen along the northern margin of South America; (ii) after final amalgamation of Pangaea, an arc developed along its western margin, causing magmatism and regional amphibolite–facies metamorphism in southern Mexico, the Maya Block (including Rabinal complex), the Chuacús complex and the Chortís Block. The separation of North and South America also rifted the Chortís Block from southern Mexico. Rifting ultimately resulted in the formation of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous oceanic crust of the South El Tambor complex; rifting and spreading terminated before the Hauterivian (c. 135 Ma). Remnants of the southwestern Mexican Guerrero complex, which also rifted from southern Mexico, remain in the Chortís Block (Sanarate complex); these complexes share Jurassic metamorphism. The South El Tambor subduction–accretion complex was emplaced onto the Chortís Block probably in the late Early Cretaceous and the Chortís Block collided with southern Mexico. Related arc magmatism and high-T/low-P metamorphism (Taxco–Viejo–Xolapa arc) of the Mixteca terrane spans all of southern Mexico. The Chortís Block shows continuous Early Cretaceous–Recent arc magmatism.
Abstract In the Katha Range of central Myanmar, lithologic tracers and pressure‐temperature‐deformation‐time data identify Cambro‐Ordovician, Indian‐affinity Tethyan Himalaya Series, located ∼700 km from their easternmost outcrop in S‐Tibet, and ∼450 km from Himalayan rocks in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. Metamorphism began at ∼65 Ma, peaked at ∼45 Ma (∼510°C, 0.93 GPa), and exhumation/cooling (∼25°C/Myr) occurred until ∼30 Ma in a subduction‐early collision tectonic setting. When the Burma microplate—part of the intra‐Tethyan Incertus arc—accreted to SE‐Asia, its eastern boundary, the southern continuation of the Indus‐Yarlung suture (IYS), was reactivated as the Sagaing fault (SF), which propagated northward into Indian rocks. In the Katha rocks, this strike‐slip stage is marked by ∼4°C/Myr exhumation/cooling. Restoring the SF system defines a continental collision‐oceanic subduction transition junction, where the IYS bifurcates into the SF at the eastern edge of the Burma microplate and the Jurassic ophiolite‐Jadeite belts that include the Incertus‐arc suture.
Geological and tectonic analysis of the Eastern Himalayan basins has given rise to a decade-long debate on the geodynamic evolution of the Burmese terrane and on the extent of reorganization of the main SE Asia drainage systems. However, the influence of the Himalayan belt on the Central Myanmar Basin (CMB) system remains poorly documented, although it is key to providing more accurate models for the evolution of the Himalayan-Burmese orogen. In this contribution, we present geochronological, isotopic and geochemical analysis from 2500 zircon, 1700 titanite, 700 rutile and 850 apatite detrital grains from fifteen Cenozoic siliciclastic samples and one Cretaceous igneous rock. The samples were collected within the fore- and back-arc basins of the Central Myanmar Basin domain (CMB) to constrain the provenance, maximum depositional ages, and depositional environments of the west Burma terrane. Nine key lithological units, the Sadwingyi, Ketpanda, Wabo Chaung, Gwegon, Minwun, Padaung, Okmintaung and Irrawaddy formations have detrital age spectra spanning from the Miocene to Paleoarchean. The entire data set has common age peaks at ca. 20, 40, 60, 90, 100 Ma, with about 80% of the U–Pb ages younger than ca. 140 Ma and only ca. 1% of the grains predating ca. 3.0 Ga. Our results shed light on the current ambiguities on the transport pathways of Himalayan detritus in the CMB. They show that the fore-arc basin was open to the trench and fed by the unroofing of both the Wuntho Popa volcanic arc to the east and possibly from the Burmese basement and/or from Himalayan-derived Bengal Fan detritus to the west during the Eocene, from at least ca. 44 Ma to before ca. 39 Ma. We show that the west Burma Terrane was partitioned into pull-apart basins such as the Minwun Basin, which during the Oligocene recorded the first evidence of a new source contribution into the CMB at ca. 27 Ma. This new source is characterized by detritus highly compatible with the SE Asia basement rocks, which we suggest corresponds to the initiation of the palaeo–Irrawaddy River. This geodynamic evolution does not require any Yarlung Tsangpo-Irrawaddy-Brahmaputra paleodrainage reorganization, since from the Oligocene to the Early Miocene, the Irrawaddy River fed an internally drained basin, and from the Late Miocene onwards, the Yarlung drained into the Brahmaputra in the Bengal Basin.
Abstract New structural, geochronological, and petrological data highlight which crustal sections of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary in Guatemala and Honduras accommodated the large-scale sinistral offset. We develop the chronological and kinematic framework for these interactions and test for Palaeozoic to Recent geological correlations among the Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico and the northern Caribbean. Our principal findings relate to how the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary partitioned deformation; whereas the southern Maya Block and the southern Chortís Block record the Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic collision and eastward sinistral translation of the Greater Antilles arc, the northern Chortís Block preserves evidence for northward stepping of the plate boundary with the translation of this block to its present position since the Late Eocene. Collision and translation are recorded in the ophiolite and subduction–accretion complex (North El Tambor complex), the continental margin (Rabinal and Chuacús complexes), and the Laramide foreland fold–thrust belt of the Maya Block as well as the overriding Greater Antilles arc complex. The Las Ovejas complex of the northern Chortís Block contains a significant part of the history of the eastward migration of the Chortís Block; it constitutes the southern part of the arc that facilitated the breakaway of the Chortís Block from the Xolapa complex of southern Mexico. While the Late Cretaceous collision is spectacularly sinistral transpressional, the Eocene–Recent translation of the Chortís Block is by sinistral wrenching with transtensional and transpressional episodes. Our reconstruction of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary identified Proterozoic to Mesozoic connections among the southern Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico: (i) in the Early–Middle Palaeozoic, the Acatlán complex of the southern Mexican Mixteca terrane, the Rabinal complex of the southern Maya Block, the Chuacús complex, and the Chortís Block were part of the Taconic–Acadian orogen along the northern margin of South America; (ii) after final amalgamation of Pangaea, an arc developed along its western margin, causing magmatism and regional amphibolite–facies metamorphism in southern Mexico, the Maya Block (including Rabinal complex), the Chuacús complex and the Chortís Block. The separation of North and South America also rifted the Chortís Block from southern Mexico. Rifting ultimately resulted in the formation of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous oceanic crust of the South El Tambor complex; rifting and spreading terminated before the Hauterivian ( c . 135 Ma). Remnants of the southwestern Mexican Guerrero complex, which also rifted from southern Mexico, remain in the Chortís Block (Sanarate complex); these complexes share Jurassic metamorphism. The South El Tambor subduction–accretion complex was emplaced onto the Chortís Block probably in the late Early Cretaceous and the Chortís Block collided with southern Mexico. Related arc magmatism and high- T /low- P metamorphism (Taxco–Viejo–Xolapa arc) of the Mixteca terrane spans all of southern Mexico. The Chortís Block shows continuous Early Cretaceous–Recent arc magmatism.
Earth and Space Science Open Archive This preprint has been submitted to and is under consideration at Geophysical Research Letters. ESSOAr is a venue for early communication or feedback before peer review. Data may be preliminary.Learn more about preprints preprintOpen AccessYou are viewing the latest version by default [v1]The evolution of the Eastern Himalayan syntaxis revealed by India (Tethyan Himalaya Series) in central MyanmarAuthorsLotharRatschbacheriDMyoMiniDLeanderFranzBradley R.HackerEvaEnkelmannEko YoanTorenoRaymondJonckheereiDBirkHärtelBernd DieterSchurriDMarionTichomirowaJörg A.PfänderSee all authors Lothar RatschbacheriDCorresponding Author• Submitting AuthorGeologie, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, GermanyiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9960-2084view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressMyo MiniDUniversity of MandalayiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1612-9728view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressLeander FranzUniversität Baselview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressBradley R. HackerUniversity of California, Santa Barbaraview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressEva EnkelmannUniversity of Calgaryview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressEko Yoan TorenoTU Bergakademie Freibergview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressRaymond JonckheereiDTU Bergakademie FreibergiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0710-6265view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressBirk HärtelTU Bergakademie Freibergview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressBernd Dieter SchurriDDeutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3746-9166view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressMarion TichomirowaTU Bergakademie Freibergview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressJörg A. PfänderTU Bergakademie Freibergview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email address
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