Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P.R. China.
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th Street, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 1;7(1):7058. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07849-7.
We present compiled geochemical data of young (mostly Pliocene-present) intermediate magmatic rocks from continental collisional belts and correlations between their whole-rock Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios and modern crustal thickness. These correlations, which are similar to those obtained from subduction-related magmatic arcs, confirm that geochemistry can be used to track changes of crustal thickness changes in ancient collisional belts. Using these results, we investigate temporal variations of crustal thickness in the Qinling Orogenic Belt in mainland China. Our results suggest that crustal thickness remained constant in the North Qinling Belt (~45-55 km) during the Triassic to Jurassic but fluctuates in the South Qinling Belt, corresponding to independently determined tectonic changes. In the South Qinling Belt, crustal thickening began at ~240 Ma and culminated with 60-70-km-thick crust at ~215 Ma. Then crustal thickness decreased to ~45 km at ~200 Ma and remained the same to the present. We propose that coupled use of Sr/Y and La/Yb is a feasible method for reconstructing crustal thickness through time in continental collisional belts. The combination of the empirical relationship in this study with that from subduction-related arcs can provide the crustal thickness evolution of an orogen from oceanic subduction to continental collision.
我们呈现了来自大陆碰撞带的年轻(主要是上新世至今)中岩浆岩的综合地球化学数据,以及其全岩 Sr/Y 和 La/Yb 比值与现代地壳厚度之间的相关性。这些相关性与俯冲相关岩浆弧中获得的相关性相似,证实了地球化学可用于追踪古碰撞带中地壳厚度变化。利用这些结果,我们研究了中国大陆秦岭造山带的地壳厚度随时间的变化。我们的结果表明,北秦岭带(45-55km)在三叠纪至侏罗纪期间地壳厚度保持不变,但在南秦岭带则发生波动,与独立确定的构造变化相对应。在南秦岭带,地壳增厚始于240Ma,并在215Ma 时达到 60-70km 厚的峰值。然后,地壳厚度在200Ma 时降至~45km,并保持至今。我们提出,Sr/Y 和 La/Yb 的联合使用是在大陆碰撞带中重建随时间变化的地壳厚度的可行方法。本研究中的经验关系与俯冲相关弧中的关系相结合,可以提供一个造山带从大洋俯冲至大陆碰撞的地壳厚度演化情况。