Mechanism of terrane

accretion
BY-Abhishek Prakash
Anshul Sharma
Pranjal Singh

Introduction

The accretion and dispersal of terranes

involves processes that are similar to those
that occur in modern orogens.

Regimes of active arc continent collision in

the southwest pacific offer excellent
analogues for how a variety of tectonic and
sedimentary terranes originate and are
emplaced onto continental margins.

How does the process of

accretion begin?

Subduction of oceanic lithosphere takes

place

Continental, oceanic and island arc material

comes in contact with the trench.

Collision begins, the forearc and

accretionary wedge are obducted onto the
continental margins by thrust faults.

New trench develops, accretion begins.

Exotic terranes

Most originate during rifting events, related

with the formation and break up of the
super continents.

Most topographic highs brought to a trench,

positive buoyancy inhibits their subduction.

This allows them to be accreted as exotic

terranes.

MechanismObduction of ophiolites-presence of ophiolitic assemblages in orogens

provides an important marker of accretionary
tectonic processes.
-mechanism also may occur at larger scales, where it
can result in the formation of a marginal sea(eastern
Caribbean and Bering Sea) by the entrapment of
oceanic crust.

Continental growth by magmatism, sedimentation

and formation and destruction of backarc, intraarc
and forearc basins.

Wakabayashi and dilek

model

Variable model-due to, diversity of environment in

which they form; They way in which they are
uplifted and emplaced in the upper crust.

Describes how ophiolitic material in a backarc

environment might become entrapped in a
forearc setting prior to its obduction.

Wakabayashi and dilek

model

a) Coast Range ophiolite forms behind a

Mesozoic island arc.

Wakabayashi and dilek

model

Island arc collides with the continent and a new

east-dipping subduction zone initiates, capturing
the ophiolite in forearc.

Wakabayashi and dilek

model

Ophiolite obduction occurs in a forearc

setting.

Terrane Accretion

Significant continental growth may occur by

magma addition and sedimentation.
An example of this type of accretion is the
Middle Paleozoic Lachlan orogen of
southeastern Australia.
This orogen lacks many features that
characterize major collosional orogens.
Exotic terranes, the development of high
topography and exposure of high metamorphic
rocks is absent.

Geological Map of Lachlan orogen

Lachlan orogen
Lachlan orogen is dominated by a huge
volume of:
1. Granitoid rocks
2. Volcanic Sequences
3. Extensive low-grade quartz-rich
turbidites.
This orogen records a history of oceancontinent convergence that lasted some
200Mya, it involved many cycles of
extension and contraction.

 Large extensional basin floored by

basalt gabbro were created behind one
or more island arcs that eventually
accreted on to the continental margin.
Between the volcanic rocks are the
accreted parts of a huge submarine
sediments.
This sediment dispersal system was
developed along Gondwana margin
during the early Paleozoic.

 The pulses of contractional and strike slip

deformation followed each extensional
cycle.
These relationships suggest that orogenesis
and crustal growth in the Lachlan orogen
were dominated by magmatism.
The recycling of continental detritus
during cycles of extension and
contraction that lasted from Late
Ordovician through early Carboniferous
times.

 Mechanism of terrane accretion also

includes destruction of backarc, intraarc
and forearc basins.
Cycles of backarc and intra-arc
extension, such as those that occurred in
the Lachlan orogen, generate thin, hot
lithosphere that may localize
deformation during phases of
contraction, collision, and orogeny.

This setting is analogous to the present

day Taupo volcanic zone of the North
Island, New Zealand.

As the arc splits apart and migrates away from the trench, a
backarc basin and remnant arc form leading to subsidence
and crustal thinning. Decompression melting in the upper
mantle wedge beneath the backarc region generates
basaltic crust as mafic magma underplates and intrudes the
thinned crust.

The subduction zone flattens and the upper

plate of the orogen is thrown into
compression, possibly as a result of the arrival
of an oceanic plateau or island arc at the
subduction zone.

Once the oceanic plateau has subducted,

extension is re-established and a new arc
backarc system forms along the margin.

THANK YOU