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The geology of the Himalayas is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of the immense mountain range formed by plate tectonic forces and sculpted by weathering and erosion. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between the Namcha Barwa syntaxis at the eastern end of the mountain range and the Nanga Parbat syntaxis at the western end, are the result of an ongoing orogeny — the collision of the continental crust of two tectonic plates, namely, the Indian Plate thrusting into the Eurasian Plate. The Himalaya-Tibet region supplies fresh water for more than one-fifth of the world population, and accounts for a quarter of the global sedimentary budget. Topographically, the belt has many superlatives: the highest rate of uplift, the highest relief, among the highest erosion rates at 2–12 mm/yr, the source of some of the greatest rivers and the highest concentration of glaciers outside of the polar regions. This last feature earned the Himalaya its name, originating from the Sanskrit for "the abode of the snow".
In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains produced, and two continents sutured together. Continental collision is only known to occur on Earth.
A back-arc basin is a type of geologic basin, found at some convergent plate boundaries. Presently all back-arc basins are submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones, with many found in the western Pacific Ocean. Most of them result from tensional forces, caused by a process known as oceanic trench rollback, where a subduction zone moves towards the subducting plate. Back-arc basins were initially an unexpected phenomenon in plate tectonics, as convergent boundaries were expected to universally be zones of compression. However, in 1970, Dan Karig published a model of back-arc basins consistent with plate tectonics.
The North China Craton is a continental crustal block with one of Earth's most complete and complex records of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic processes. It is located in northeast China, Inner Mongolia, the Yellow Sea, and North Korea. The term craton designates this as a piece of continent that is stable, buoyant and rigid. Basic properties of the cratonic crust include being thick, relatively cold when compared to other regions, and low density. The North China Craton is an ancient craton, which experienced a long period of stability and fitted the definition of a craton well. However, the North China Craton later experienced destruction of some of its deeper parts (decratonization), which means that this piece of continent is no longer as stable.
Cimmeria was an ancient continent, or, rather, a string of microcontinents or terranes, that rifted from Gondwana in the Southern Hemisphere and was accreted to Eurasia in the Northern Hemisphere. It consisted of parts of present-day Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. Cimmeria rifted from the Gondwanan shores of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during the Early Permian and as the Neo-Tethys Ocean opened behind it, during the Permian, the Paleo-Tethys closed in front of it. Because the different chunks of Cimmeria drifted northward at different rates, a Meso-Tethys Ocean formed between the different fragments during the Cisuralian. Cimmeria rifted off Gondwana from east to west, from Australia to the eastern Mediterranean. It stretched across several latitudes and spanned a wide range of climatic zones.
In the geology of the Philippines, the Philippine Mobile Belt is a complex portion of the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, comprising most of the country of the Philippines. It includes two subduction zones, the Manila Trench to the west and the Philippine Trench to the east, as well as the Philippine Fault System. Within the Belt, a number of crustal blocks or microplates which have been shorn off the adjoining major plates are undergoing massive deformation.
The Philippine Fault System is a major inter-related system of geological faults throughout the whole of the Philippine Archipelago, primarily caused by tectonic forces compressing the Philippines into what geophysicists call the Philippine Mobile Belt. Some notable Philippine faults include the Guinayangan, Masbate and Leyte faults.
The geology of Russia, the world's largest country, which extends over much of northern Eurasia, consists of several stable cratons and sedimentary platforms bounded by orogenic (mountain) belts.
The Luzon Volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanoes in a north–south line across the Luzon Strait from Taiwan to Luzon. The name "Luzon Volcanic Arc" was first proposed by Carl Bowin et al. to describe a series of Miocene to recent volcanoes due to eastward subduction along the Manila Trench for approximately 1,200 km from the Coastal Range in Taiwan south to southern Mindoro in the Philippines. Islands that form part of the arc are the Eastern Coastal Range of Taiwan, Green Island, Taiwan, Orchid Island, Kaotai Rock, Mavudis or Y'ami Island, Mabudis, Siayan Island, Itbayat Island, Diogo Island, Batan Island, Unnamed volcano Ibuhos, Sabtang Island, Babuyan, Didicas, and Camiguin de Babuyanes. At the south end it terminates on Luzon. The geochemistry of a number of volcanoes along the arc have been measured. There are five distinct geochemical domains within the arc. The geochemistry of the segments verified that the volcanoes are all subduction related. Isotopes and trace elements show unique geochemical characteristics in the north. Geochemical variations northward were due to the subduction of sediments derived from the erosion of continental crust from China and Taiwan.
The South China Sea Basin is one of the largest marginal basins in Asia. South China Sea is located to the east of Vietnam, west of Philippines and the Luzon Strait, and north of Borneo. Tectonically, it is surrounded by the Indochina Block on the west, Philippine Sea Plate on the east, Yangtze Block to the north. A subduction boundary exists between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Asian Plate. The formation of the South China Sea Basin was closely related with the collision between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plates. The collision thickened the continental crust and changed the elevation of the topography from the Himalayan orogenic zone to the South China Sea, especially around the Tibetan Plateau. The location of the South China Sea makes it a product of several tectonic events. All the plates around the South China Sea Basin underwent clockwise rotation, subduction and experienced an extrusion process from the early Cenozoic to the Late Miocene.
The Kutai sedimentary basin extends from the central highlands of Borneo, across the eastern coast of the island and into the Makassar Strait. With an area of 60,000 km2, and depths up to 15 km, the Kutai is the largest and deepest Tertiary age basin in Indonesia. Plate tectonic evolution in the Indonesian region of SE Asia has produced a diverse array of basins in the Cenozoic. The Kutai is an extensional basin in a general foreland setting. Its geologic evolution begins in the mid Eocene and involves phases of extension and rifting, thermal sag, and isostatic subsidence. Rapid, high volume, sedimentation related to uplift and inversion began in the Early Miocene. The different stages of Kutai basin evolution can be roughly correlated to regional and local tectonic events. It is also likely that regional climate, namely the onset of the equatorial ever wet monsoon in early Miocene, has affected the geologic evolution of Borneo and the Kutai basin through the present day. Basin fill is ongoing in the lower Kutai basin, as the modern Mahakam River delta progrades east across the continental shelf of Borneo.
Patagonia comprises the southernmost region of South America, portions of which lie on either side of the Argentina-Chile border. It has traditionally been described as the region south of the Rio, Colorado, although the physiographic border has more recently been moved southward to the Huincul fault. The region's geologic border to the north is composed of the Rio de la Plata craton and several accreted terranes comprising the La Pampa province. The underlying basement rocks of the Patagonian region can be subdivided into two large massifs: the North Patagonian Massif and the Deseado Massif. These massifs are surrounded by sedimentary basins formed in the Mesozoic that underwent subsequent deformation during the Andean orogeny. Patagonia is known for its vast earthquakes and the damage they cause.
The Qinling orogenic belt is a tectonic feature that evolved throughout the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic eons due to a variety of tectonic activities. It is a part of the Central China Orogenic Belt, aligned in an east–west orientation across Central China, and spans portions of Shaanxi, Henan and Gansu provinces along the Qinling Mountains which are one of the greatest mountain ranges in China. The first materials involved in the Qinling orogenic belt formed around 2.5 billion years ago, whereas the main morphology of the belt now largely reflects the Triassic collision between the North China Plate and the South China Plate and Cenozoic extension across China. During these 2.5 billion years, various types of rocks have been formed here due to different tectonic processes and chemical reactions between rocks. Therefore, geologists are able to reconstruct the evolution of mountain belt based on evidence preserved in these rocks.
The Mindoro block is a microcontinental block located in the Philippine Mobile Belt and the east side of North Palawan Block. It has comprises a metamorphic basement of unknown but probably pre-late cretaceous age, overlain locally by upper cretaceous basalts, and more regionally succeeded by a probable upper eocene sequence of basinal clastic rocks, plus local basalt intercalations and carbonates. These rocks are exposed over a broad area of northern and west-central Mindoro as well as on the Lubang Islands in Verde Island Passage. The Mindoro block is bounded on the west by the Mindoro Suture Zone, and on the north by the Verde Passage Suture, which separates it from the Zambales Ophiolite terrane of Luzon. The eastern terrane boundary may be the East Mindoro Fault Zone, a probable transcurrent boundary that has not yet been studied, but which displays evidence of recent activity. Late Miocene and Pliocene basinal clastic strata lie east of this fault zone, but it is not known if subjacent rocks are related to rocks of the Mindoro block, or if they are part of a third terrane on Mindoro.
The South China Craton or South China Block is one of the Precambrian continental blocks in China. It is traditionally divided into the Yangtze Block in the NW and the Cathaysia Block in the SE. The Jiangshan–Shaoxing Fault represents the suture boundary between the two sub-blocks. Recent study suggests that the South China Block possibly has one more sub-block which is named the Tolo Terrane. The oldest rocks in the South China Block occur within the Kongling Complex, which yields zircon U–Pb ages of 3.3–2.9 Ga.
The subduction tectonics of the Philippines is the control of geology over the Philippine archipelago. The Philippine region is seismically active and has been progressively constructed by plates converging towards each other in multiple directions. The region is also known as the Philippine Mobile Belt due to its complex tectonic setting.
The East Luzon Trough is an oceanic trench north of the Philippine Trench and east of the island of Luzon. The trench is located near the Philippine orogeny and located in the southeastern region of the Philippine Sea Plate. The depth of the trough is 5,700 meters. The East Luzon Trough formed during the Eocene and Oligocene epoch, 40–24 million years ago.
The North Luzon Trough is a major geological feature located off the northern coast of Luzon Island between the Manila Trench and the Vigan-Agao Fault in the Philippines. It is a well-developed forearc basin formed in front of the Luzon Volcanic Arc, an island arc system. The trough is a result of the active subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate.
The Macolod Corridor is a northeast-trending zone of active volcanism situated at the junction of different tectonic elements in southwestern Luzon, Philippines. It is approximately 40 km wide and perpendicularly bisects the Luzon Volcanic Arc. The corridor is bounded by two major faults, the Philippine Fault to the west and the Sibuyan-Verde Passage Fault to the east.
The Zambales Ophiolite Complex is a large, well-preserved exposure of oceanic crust located in the western portion of Luzon Island, Philippines. It is considered one of the best-preserved and most studied ophiolites, offering valuable insights into the formation and evolution of oceanic crust and the processes involved in plate tectonics.
References
- ↑ Sarewitz, Daniel R.; Karig, Daniel E. (August 1986). "Processes of allochthonous terrane evolution, Mindoro Island, Philippines". Tectonics. 5 (4): 525–552. Bibcode:1986Tecto...5..525S. doi:10.1029/TC005i004p00525. ISSN 0278-7407.
- ↑ Concepcion, R. A. B.; Dimalanta, C. B.; Yumul, G. P.; Faustino-Eslava, D. V.; Queaño, K. L.; Tamayo, R. A.; Imai, A. (1 January 2012). "Petrography, geochemistry, and tectonics of a rifted fragment of Mainland Asia: evidence from the Lasala Formation, Mindoro Island, Philippines". International Journal of Earth Sciences. 101 (1): 273–290. Bibcode:2012IJEaS.101..273C. doi:10.1007/s00531-011-0643-5. ISSN 1437-3262. S2CID 55845288.
- ↑ Sarewitz, Daniel R.; Karig, Daniel E. (1986-01-01). "Geologic evolution of Western Mindoro Island and the Mindoro Suture Zone, Philippines". Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences. 1 (2): 117–141. doi: 10.1016/0743-9547(86)90026-7 . ISSN 0743-9547.
- ↑ Yumul, Graciano P.; Dimalanta, Carla B.; Marquez, Edanjarlo J.; Queaño, Karlo L. (2009-05-02). "Onland signatures of the Palawan microcontinental block and Philippine mobile belt collision and crustal growth process: A review". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 34 (5): 610–623. Bibcode:2009JAESc..34..610Y. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2008.10.002. ISSN 1367-9120.
- ↑ Zamoras, Lawrence (2004-01-01). "Accretion and postaccretion tectonics of the Calamian Islands, North Palawan block, Philippines". Island Arc. 13 (4): 506. Bibcode:2004IsArc..13..506Z. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.2004.00443.x. S2CID 128405751.
- 1 2 "Philippine Mobile Belt: Topics by Science.gov". www.science.gov. U.S. Department of Energy'. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
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