Anatomy of Mountain belts (4th year option) Mike Searle and Tony Watts

This course will cover long-term, geological processes involved in the creation of mountain belts, mainly along the Alpine - Himalayan chain. Continent - ocean (or island arc) collision zones as exemplified by the Oman Ophiolite, early continent - continent collision, as exemplified by the Zagros ranges, Iran, and later continental collision, as exemplified by the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau will be used as the main examples. Processes discussed will include: ophiolite origin and emplacement, mantle - crust processes in oceans and ophiolites, deep subduction of continental crust, crustal shortening and thickening processes, development of oil and gas traps in thrust belt forelands and flexural foreland basin development. The course will also cover deeper crustal processes during collision, including: inverted metamorphism, crustal melting and granite emplacement, thrust and normal faulting in compressional mountain belts, middle - lower crustal flow in the Himalaya and Eastern Tibet. Mechanisms of formation and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau will include discussions on the role of continental extrusion and large-scale strike-slip faulting (eg: Karakoram, Altyn Tagh, Red River faults), and the role of crustal thickening and timing of surface uplift. The course will consist of 8 weeks of lectures, practicals and a final seminar series in which students will present talks on a specific aspect of the course, or based on recent research papers. Course outline.
Week 1 Lecture 1: Introduction to the course: Comparative mountain belts. MPS Plate tectonic settings: passive continental margins, active continental margins, transform faulted margins. Oceanic crust. Continental crust. Island arcs and Subduction zones. Andeantype mountain belts, Alpine-Himalayan-type mountain belts. Ophiolites ( blueschist eclogite HP rocks) marking ancient suture zones. Lecture 2. Analysing the structure and tectonic evolution of mountain belts. MPS. Orogenic analysis. Constructing cross-sections. Brittle and ductile deformation. Palinspastic restoration. Balanced and restored cross sections. Thrust belts. Estimating amounts of shortening across mountain belts. Using Pressure-temperature data to estimate depth of burial and exhumation of metamorphic rocks. Dating metamorphism and magmatism (U-Pb isotopes). P-T-t paths. Tectonic models in 3D and 4D. Practical: ABW. Crustal structure, gravity anomalies, topography (Oman, Zagros, Himalaya). Week 2 Lecture 3. Ophiolites and oceanic crust: Oman Ophiolite case study: MPS. The ophiolite succession: Upper mantle peridotites, the oceanic Moho, ultramafic-mafic cumulates, Lower crust gabbroic magma chambers, Plagiogranites, Sheeted dykes, Pillow lavas, radiolarian cherts. Magmatism and metamorphism in ophiolites. Hydrothermal processes. Mineralisation in ophiolites. Tracing melt pathways, from mantle melting to midocean ridges. Take a walk along the oceanic Moho; mantle-crust transition zone. Magma chamber processes: cumulate settling and crystal fractionation. Plagiogranites and dating

ophiolites. Petrological geochemical distinctions: Mid-Ocean ridge, off-axis and suprasubduction basalts. Lecture 4. Ophiolite emplacement mechanisms . MPS. From deep subduction to shallow-level fold-thrust belts. Restoration of balanced crosssections. Models to explain inverted metamorphism in the high-temperature metamorphic sole. High-Pressure rocks deep beneath ophiolites: carpholite, blueschist and eclogite facies in the subducted continental crust. Practical: MPS. Restoration of the Oman Mountains. Reconstruction of the ophiolite emplacement using structural and metamorphic (Pressure- Depth- Temperature-Time) constraints and balanced cross-sections. Week 3 Lecture 5. Subduction processes in mountain belts . MPS. Oceanic subduction and island arcs; continental subduction and HP-UHP metamorphism. UHP Coesite and diamond-bearing eclogites; continental origin of eclogites; comparison with kimberlites; xenoliths- tapping the peridotitic upper mantle and eclogitic lower crust. Diamond-bearing kimberlites. P-T-t paths during subduction and exhumation processes. Case studies from selected UHP terrains: Kochetov massif, Kazakhstan; Western Norway; Dabie Shan Sulu, China; Western Himalaya (Kaghan, Tso Morari UHP eclogites). Deep seismic zones in the continents today: Hindu Kush Pamir seismic zone; Burma seismic zone. Lecture 6. Early stages of a continent continent collision zone. MPS. From Oman-type (ocean/arc continent collision) orogeny to Zagros type (2 continent collision) orogeny. Structural styles, thrusting and restoration of fold-thrust belts; salt dcollement and salt diapirism in the Zagros. Oil traps in the Arabian Gulf region. Week 4 Lecture 7-8. Isostacy and Flexure ABW. Topography and gravity. Bouguer gravity anamalies. Rheology, strength and Elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere. Earthquakes and the seismogenic layer. Stratigraphy of foreland basins; examples from Oman, Zagros, Himalaya. Subsidence curves; backstripping of shelf and margin. Peripheral bulge migration with thrust loading. Practical: ABW. Stratigraphy of foreland basins and flexure. Week 5 Lecture 9-10. Himalayan orogenic belt. MPS. Advanced stages of continent continent collision. Plate tectonic setting. Indian ocean palaeogeography: magnetic anomaly stripes and reconstructing Indian northward path from 150 Ma to today. Spreading centers, hotspots and volcanic island chains Indian plate passive margin evolution. Dating the continental collision; transition from marine to continental sedimentation, onset of collision-related folding and thrusting. Structural evolution crustal shortening mechanisms, folding, thrusting and restoration of the Himalaya. Week 6 Lecture 11-12. Himalaya (cont) MPS. Metamorphic and Magmatic evolution. Structural and thermal evolution from continent-continent collision to the present-day. (a) Early UHP coesite eclogites; (b) Oligocene kyanite grade metamorphism; (c) Miocene

sillimanite grade metamorphism, migmatisation and partial melting of the crust. (d) Quaternary high-temperature metamorphism (Nanga Parbat). Magmatism in the Himalaya: leucogranite genesis, source and protoliths, Sr, Nd isotopes used to infer provenance and source. U-Th-Pb dating of peak metamorphism and melting using zircons, monazites etc; PT-t paths; cooling rates, exhumation-uplift of rocks. Granite intrusion mechanisms: from migmatite melts to giant sill complexes. Everest granites. Main Central Thrust: strain distribution (pure shear simple shear) and inverted metamorphism. South Tibetan Detachment low-angle normal faulting in a compressional orogeny. Channel Flow processes. Practical. MPS. Everest profile. Channel Flow, does it work? Using surface structural data, strain data, P-T-time paths and U-Pb age data to constrain tectonic models. Week 7 Lecture 13. Tibetan plateau. MPS. Morphology, crustal thickness, earthquakes, gravity, structure and geology of the Tibetan plateau. Models of formation of double thickness crust: homogeneous shortening, wholescale underthusting, lateral continental extrusion; combinations of these end-members. Major strike-slip faults around the plateau: Karakoram, Altyn Tagh, Kun Lun, Jiale, Red River faults. Long-term, intermediate (and active) slip rates and how to measure them. Normal faults and East-West extension on the plateau. INDEPTH seismic profile across Tibet. Tibetan volcanics: tapping the upper mantle and lower crust beneath Tibet. Practical. MPS. Tibetan Plateau crust-mantle structure and evolution. Crme brule versus Jelly sandwich. INDEPTH seismic constraints and geological constraints on structure of the plateau. Lecture 14. Karakoram ranges MPS. Deeply eroded and exhumed Asian margin rocks (= to Tibetan lower crust?). Structural evolution. Thermal evolution: 60 million years of metamorphism and melting; from precollision Andean-type granites to post-collision HT-HP metamorphism. Crust and mantle melting: origin of lamprophyres, adakites and high-potassic volcanics. Mantle and crustal xenoliths indicate active HP granulite eclogite metamorphism today. Tibet-Karakoram today as analogue for some Precambrian shield areas? Practical. MPS. Karakoram fault practical: use structural mapping and strain data combined with P-T and U-Pb age data to determine relationship between ductile and brittle shearing, offsets, long-term slip rates and depth of strike-slip faulting.

Week 8 2 hours Seminar series: MPS & ABW. Short talks on specific topics by students; followed by discussion. Topics for presentations: 1. Origin and obduction of ophiolites onto continental margins. 2. Mechanism of crustal shortening and thickening in Oman and Zagros-type fold-thrust belts. 3. Flexural foreland basin development in the Zagros and Oman forelands. 4. Processes and mechanisms that explain inverted metamorphism beneath ophiolites and in Himalayan-type collision belts. 5. Thermal and mechanical models for Himalayan metamorphism. 6. Channel Flow evidence for and against lower-mid crustal flow.

7. Continental extrusion along giant strike-slip faults in Tibet: does the evidence support plate-like behavior or ductile distributed deformation? 8. Lithospheric models for formation of the Tibetan Plateau and Karakoram. ------MPS 7th January 2007.