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Granite genesis and the mechanics of convergent orogenic belts with application to the southern Adelaide Fold Belt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Mike Sandiford ,
John Foden ,
Shaohua Zhou  and
Simon Turner
Mike Sandiford
Affiliation:
Mike Sandiford, John Foden, Shaohua Zhou and Simon Turner, Department of Geology and Geophysics,University of Adelaide, G.P.O. Box 498, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia
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Abstract

Two models for the heating responsible for granite generation during convergent deformation may be distinguished on the basis of the length- and time-scales associated with the thermal perturbation, namely: (1) long-lived, lithospheric-scale heating as a conductive response to the deformation, and (2) transient, localised heating as a response to advective heat sources such as mantle-derived melts. The strong temperature dependence of lithospheric rheology implies that the heat advected within rising granites may affect the distribution and rates of deformation within the developing orogen in a way that reflects the thermal regime attendant on granite formation; this contention is supported by numerical models of lithospheric deformation based on the thin-sheet approximation. The model results are compared with geological and isotopic constraints on granite genesis in the southern Adelaide Fold Belt where intrusion spans a 25 Ma convergent deformation cycle, from about 516 to 490 Ma, resulting in crustal thickening to 50–55 km. High-T metamorphism in this belt is spatially restricted to an axis of magmatic activity where the intensity and complexity of deformation is significantly greater, and may have started earlier, than in adjacent low-grade areas. The implication is that granite generation and emplacement is a causative factor in localising deformation, and on the basis of the results of the mechanical models suggests that granite formation occurred in response to localised, transient crustal heating by mantle melts. This is consistent with the Nd- and Sr-isotopic composition of the granites which seems to reflect mixed sources with components derived both from the depleted contemporary mantle and the older crust.

Keywords

granitemechanicsdeformationmetamorphism
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 83 , Issue 1-2: Second Hutton Symposium: The Origin of Granites and Related Rocks , 1992 , pp. 83 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1992

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