Zagros orogeny: a subduction-dominated process

Active continental subduction and crustal exhumation: the Taiwan orogeny

It is generally accepted that continental subduction and crustal exhumation play an important role in the evolution of many orogenic belts. A variety of geological evidence suggests that continental crust is occasionally subducted to depths of tens to perhaps 150 km (e.g. Chopin, 1984; Dewey et al., 1993; Matte et al., 1997). Recently, a series of simulations (Chemenda, 1993; Chemenda et al., 1...

Initiation of the Andean orogeny by lower mantle subduction

The role of the Zagros orogeny in slowing down Arabia-Eurasia convergence since ~5 Ma

[1] Large topographic belts along convergent margins have been recognized with the ability to slowdown the kinematics of subduction over geologically short time periods (i.e., few Myr), because their associated gravitational spreading provides significant resistive force within the framework of plate tectonics. The record of past and present-day plate kinematics provides important constraints o...

New geodynamical model for the regional Tertiary extension during the Zagros orogeny: A transtensional arc?

The Zagros orogeny in Iran is associated with two successive geodynamic events during the Tertiary period, a Paleogene NE-directed regional crustal extension followed by a Miocene NW-directed regional crustal extension and a magmatic flare-up. The current study was undertaken to reanalyze previous structural work developed on the extensional Chapedony metamorphic core complex in Central Iran ex...

Thermal modelling of the Laramide orogeny: testing the £at-slab subduction hypothesis

The Laramide orogeny is the Late Cretaceous to Palaeocene (80^55 Ma) orogenic event that gave rise to the Rocky Mountain fold and thrust belt in Canada, the Laramide block uplifts in the USA, and the Sierra Madre Oriental fold and thrust belt in Mexico. The leading model for driving Laramide orogenesis in the USA is flat-slab subduction, whereby stress coupling of a subhorizontal oceanic slab t...