Gondwana dispersion and Asian accretion: Tectonic and palaeogeographic evolution of eastern Tethys

Late Jurassic–Cenozoic reconstructions of the Indonesian region and the Indian Ocean

. Tectonic reconstructions of Southeast Asia have given rise to numerous controversies that include the accretionary history of Sundaland and the enigmatic tectonic origin of the proto-South China Sea. We assimilate a diversity of geological and geophysical observations into a new regional plate model, coupled to a global model, to address these debates. Our approach takes into account terrane suturing and accretion histories, the location of subducted slabs imaged in mantle tomography in order to constrain the evolution of regional subduction zones, as well as plausible absolute and relative plate velocities and tectonic driving mechanisms. We propose a scenario of rifting from northern Gondwana in the latest Jurassic, driven by northward slab pull from north-dipping subduction of Tethyan crust beneath Eurasia, to detach East Java, Mangkalihat, southeast Borneo and West Sulawesi blocks that collided with a Tethyan intra-oceanic subduction zone in the mid-Cretaceous and subsequently accreted to the Sunda margin (i.e., southwest Borneo core) in the Late Cretaceous. In accounting for the evolution of plate boundaries, we propose that the Philippine Sea plate originated on the periphery of Tethyan crust forming this northward conveyor. We implement a revised model for the Tethyan intra-oceanic subduction zones to reconcile convergence rates, changes in volcanism and the obduction of ophiolites. In our model the northward margin of Greater India collides with the Kohistan–Ladakh intra-oceanic arc at ∼53 Ma, followed by continent–continent collision closing the Shyok and Indus–Tsangpo suture zones between ∼42 and 34 Ma. We also account for the back-arc opening of the proto-South China Sea from ∼65 Ma, consistent with extension along east Asia and the formation of supra-subduction zone ophiolites presently found on the island of Mindoro. The related rifting likely detached the Semitau continental fragment from South China, which accreted to northern Borneo in the mid-Eocene, to account for the Sarawak Orogeny. Rifting then re-initiated along southeast China by 37 Ma to open the South China Sea, resulting in the complete consumption of proto-South China Sea by ∼17 Ma when the collision of the Dangerous Grounds and northern Palawan blocks with northern Borneo choked the subduction zone to result in the Sabah Orogeny and the obduction of ophiolites in Palawan and Mindoro. We conclude that the counterclockwise rotation of Borneo was accommodated by oroclinal bending consistent with paleomagnetic constraints, the curved lithospheric lineaments observed in gravity anomalies of the Java Sea and the curvature of the Cretaceous Natuna paleo-subduction zone. We complete our model by constructing a time-dependent network of topological plate boundaries and gridded paleo-ages of oceanic basins, allowing us to compare our plate model evolution to seismic tomography. In particular, slabs observed at depths shallower than ∼1000 km beneath northern Borneo and the South China Sea are likely to be remnants of the proto-South China Sea basin.

/pdf/the-cretaceous-and-cenozoic-tectonic-evolution-of-southeast-1s4e2pcmqh.pdf

The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia

Sundaland, the continental core of SE Asia, is a heterogeneous collage of continental blocks and volcanic arcs bounded by narrow suture zones that represent the remnants of ancient ocean basins. All the continental blocks of Sundaland were derived directly or indirectly from the Arabia-India–Australia margin of eastern Gondwana by the opening and closure of three successive ocean basins, the Palaeo-Tethys (Devonian-Triassic), Meso-Tethys (Permian-Cretaceous) and Ceno-Tethys (Jurassic-Cretaceous), and assembled by the closure of these ocean basins. Core Sundaland comprises a western Sibumasu block and an eastern Indochina–East Malaya block with an island arc terrane, the Sukhothai Island Arc, sandwiched between. The Palaeo-Tethys is represented by the Changning–Menglian, Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai, Chanthaburi and Bentong–Raub Suture Zones that form the boundary between Sibumasu and the Sukhothai Arc. The Indochina block was derived from Gondwana in the Devonian when the Palaeo-Tethys opened. The Sukhothai Arc formed on the margin of Indochina in the Carboniferous, and then separated by back-arc spreading in the Permian. The Jinghong, Nan–Uttaradit and Sra Kaeo Sutures represent this closed back-arc basin. The Sibumasu Terrane separated from Gondwana in the late Early Permian when the Meso-Tethys opened and collided with the Sukhothai Arc and Indochina in the Middle-Late Triassic. The Cathaysian West Sumatra block possibly represents a part of the Sukhothai Arc and was emplaced by strike-slip tectonics outboard of Sibumasu in the Triassic. The West Burma Block was already attached to Sundaland before the Late Triassic and is likely a disrupted part of Sibumasu. East Java-West Sulawesi and South West Borneo are tentatively identified as the missing “Argoland” and “Banda” blocks which must have separated from NW Australia in the Jurassic and subsequently accreted to SE Sundaland in the Cretaceous.

/pdf/tectonic-evolution-of-sundaland-5gr6g2lc14.pdf

Tectonic Evolution of Sundaland

It is now generally accepted that the core of Southeast (SE) Asia was assembled from continental blocks that separated from Gondwana in the Paleozoic and amalgamated with Asian blocks in the Triassic. Fragments of these Gondwana/Cathaysia blocks rifted and separated from Asia and later re-amalgamated with the SE Asian continental core. Mesozoic rifting of fragments from the Australian margins followed by Cretaceous collisions, and Cenozoic collision of Australia with the SE Asian margin added more continental crust. There can be no doubt that there is Australian crust in SE Asia, including Indonesia, but where this crust came from, and when it arrived, continues to promote discussion. Argoland has been variously identified in Tibet, West Burma, and Borneo. Other fragments supposed to have rifted from Australia are claimed to be in Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and Sumba. The Banda region is the site of even more controversy because pieces of Australian crust are found in Sulawesi, the North Moluccas, the Banda ...

/pdf/australian-crust-in-indonesia-2g09lhmbre.pdf

Australian crust in Indonesia

Nature and genesis of Kalimantan diamonds

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Nature and genesis of Kalimantan diamonds