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Interpretative models of the Permian-Triassic evolution of western Laurentia and Gondwana margins. A: Idealized representation of the Pangea rotation from 260 to 230 Ma with respect to the Euler pole of rotation located in northernmost South America (Marcano et al., 1999; Golonka, 2007; Torsvik et al., 2012). The color brushes are identical to those of Fig. 1. B: Schematic cross-sections of the margins at different locations reported in A. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
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We present a new conceptual model to explain the first order Permian-Triassic evolution of the whole > 30 000 km long Pangea margin facing the Panthalassa ocean. Compilation of available geological, geochemical, geochronogical and paleomagnetic data all along this system allowed us to distinguish three part of the margin: western Laurentia, western...
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Context 1
... margin. Since the Permian-Triassic Euler Pole of Pangea was roughly located in the Equatorial plane in northernmost South America ( Marcano et al., 1999;Golonka, 2007;Torsvik et al., 2012), we expect synchronous and opposite changes in tectonic/magmatic settings north and south of the Euler pole, in the Laurentia and Gondwana margin, respectively (Fig. 5A). We also expect limited changes of the margin geodynamic setting near the Euler pole (Central America and Eastern Australia) (Fig. ...
Context 2
... et al., 1999;Golonka, 2007;Torsvik et al., 2012), we expect synchronous and opposite changes in tectonic/magmatic settings north and south of the Euler pole, in the Laurentia and Gondwana margin, respectively (Fig. 5A). We also expect limited changes of the margin geodynamic setting near the Euler pole (Central America and Eastern Australia) (Fig. ...
Context 3
... the eastern Gondwana, including eastern Australia and New-Guinea, was facing the Pan- thalassa ocean with a trench roughly striking NNW-SSE (Cawood et al., 2011). This implies that, with respect to the Permian- Triassic Euler pole rotation of Pangea, strike-slip movements controlled the tectonic regime of eastern Gondwana during Pangea rotation (Fig. 5a). However, because the trench orientation was roughly parallel to the drifting direction of the margin it is difficult to assess how the rotation of Pangea affected the convergence ve- locity and the stress-strain conditions in these areas. Nevertheless, the rapid changes in the strain regime from transtensive to trans- pressive at ...
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Citations
... In the case of SW Gondwana, a major shift in the tectonic regime occurred in the turn from the Paleozoic to the Mesozoic era. Absolute counterclockwise rotation of Pangea since the Middle Permian (Marcano et al., 1999) with a rotation pole in northern South America (Torsvik et al., 2012) caused a decrease in the convergence velocity at the SW Gondwana margin (inducing retroarc extension) and, on the contrary, compression along the Laurentian margin (Riel et al., 2018). The Mesozoic was an era of overall continental dispersion, with continuous subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate (Panthalassa) below SW Gondwana. ...
The opening of the South Atlantic Ocean in the Early Cretaceous was only the final stage of the complex rifting process of SW Gondwana. In this contribution we reassess the chronology of Mesozoic basin formation in southern South America and Africa and integrate it in the long-term rifting and breakup history of SW Gondwana. During the Triassic, after the Gondwanides orogeny, plate-scale instabilities produced intracontinental rifting in Africa, and retro-arc extension on the SW-margin of Gondwana. This process was followed and accentuated by the impingement of the Karoo plume in the Early Jurassic, which triggered rifting in East Africa and ultimately produced the breakup of Eastern from Western Gondwana in the Middle Jurassic.
Retroarc extension continued affecting the paleo-Pacific margin, with emplacement of the Chon Aike magmatic province in the Patagonian retro-arc during the Early-Middle Jurassic. By the Late Jurassic retroarc rifting reached a point of oceanic crust accretion, with the establishment of the Rocas Verdes back-arc basin in southern Patagonia, together with the formation of the Weddell Sea further south, between the South American plate and Antarctica. The core of the Late Paleozoic Gondwanides orogen, between southern South America and Africa, was subjected to oblique rifting at this time and produced the Outeniqua and Rawson/Valdés basins. This area was the locus of extension and oceanization in the Early Cretaceous associated with a rotation of the stress field from NE-SW to E-W extension.
The formation of the South Atlantic Ocean resulted from lithospheric extension and was accompanied by extensive intrusive magmatism and extrusive flood basalts identified as seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs), which were emplaced diachronically from south to north, along different segments along both conjugate margins. These volcanic rocks form the South Atlantic Large Igneous Province. The chronology of the South Atlantic opening and the magmatic sources and processes associated with SDR formation remain interpretative since they have only been studied on seismic data but are still undrilled, hence scientific drilling will be key to unravel many of these unknowns.
... Southwestern China is on the western margin of the South China Block that at the end of the Permian was located near the equator (Huang et al., 2018). Tectonically, the region was within the influence range of the Tethyan Realm (Riel et al., 2018) (Fig. 1a). During the middle and late Permian, the region was affected by the expansion of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean and the emplacement of the Emeishan large igneous province (Ali et al., 2005). ...
... The Mitu rift in Perú, northern SW Gondwana margin, is dated to the Middle-Late Triassic (Spikings et al., 2016;recalculated in Irmis et al., 2022), indicating extension possibly started in the south along Gondwanan margin with the Cuyana rift, followed by the Mitu rift in Bolivia-Perú and further north by the Palanda rift in Colombia (Fig. 1A) (Spikings et al., 2016). This is in agreement with the latest models proposed for extension in SW Gondwana, in which the diminution of convergence velocity was probably greater at the southern SW Gondwana margin (Riel et al., 2018;Lovecchio et al., 2020). ...
Triassic non-marine strata from Gondwana are dated almost exclusively by biostratigraphic means, given the rarity of precise radioisotopic and magnetostratigraphic datasets. A primary method for constraining the age of these sedimentary sequences is palynomorph biostratigraphy, which implicitly assumes that differences in the presence/absence of taxa between two or more assemblages reflect a difference in geological ages. But without biostratigraphically-independent age data, this assumption often remains untested. The Triassic El Peñasco Group of the Santa Clara sub-basin in the Cuyana Basin of central-west Argentina is an excellent study system to help test these assumptions, because the upper part of the sequence comprises a fluvio-deltaic-lacustrine succession that preserves volcaniclastic horizons and extensive palynomorph assemblages. Previous palynostratigraphic analyses had inferred a Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) age for the Santa Clara Abajo and overlying Santa Clara Arriba formations, but we present new precise U-Pb CA-TIMS zircon ages that suggest an upper Anisian (Middle Triassic) age for both formations. This makes it the only non-marine Anisian Gondwanan sequence, and one of only a handful globally, to be precisely dated geochronologically. These new ages also constrain the depo-sition of the >700 m-thick succession of the Santa Clara Abajo and Santa Clara Arriba formations to no more than 2.1 my of time, suggesting it represents a synrift phase of the sub-basin. Combining these and existing geochronologic data with a newly assembled comprehensive presence/absence dataset of palynomorphs from the Anisian-Norian of Gondwana, we demonstrate that paleogeography (paleolati-tude) has a significantly stronger correlation with taxonomic composition of assemblages than does geo-logic time. These results imply that geography is an important null hypothesis in explaining differences in early Mesozoic Gondwanan palynomorph assemblages, and that precise geochronologic age constraints are important for refining the accuracy of Triassic palynomorph biochronology.
... The emplacement of the SLIP has been the most widely hypothesized trigger of the terrestrial and marine EPME since the early 1990s due to their temporal coincidence (3,5). However, sediments related to felsic volcanism developed extensively along the convergent margins of southern Pangea and around the Tethyan Ocean during the Permian-Triassic transition (21,43,(75)(76)(77) (Fig. 1), introducing another possible stressor for the EPME. Mercury spikes during this interval have been reported globally and are thought to be derived from the SLIP (6), but they are not correlative between different sections based on the high-resolution geochronologic framework presented here, which could be generated from different stages of the SLIP or affected by local sedimentological processes (Fig. 5). ...
The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe ecological event during the Phanerozoic and has long been presumed contemporaneous across terrestrial and marine realms with global environmental deterioration triggered by the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province. We present high-precision zircon U-Pb geochronology by the chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry technique on tuffs from terrestrial to transitional coastal settings in Southwest China, which reveals a protracted collapse of the Cathaysian rainforest beginning after the onset of the end-Permian marine extinction. Integrated with high-resolution geochronology from coeval successions, our results suggest that the terrestrial extinction occurred diachronously with latitude, beginning at high latitudes during the late Changhsingian and progressing to the tropics by the early Induan, spanning a duration of nearly 1 million years. This latitudinal age gradient may have been related to variations in surface warming with more degraded environmental conditions at higher latitudes contributing to higher extinction rates.
... (C) East Gondwana and the location of the Perth Basin 252.10 Ma. (D) Global paleogeographic map for the time of the Permian-Triassic transition, showing the location of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province, the distribution of subduction zones (yellow lines), and felsic magmatism (volcano symbols) forming the Pangean 'ring of fire' (base maps adapted from Blakey, 2005, and illustration modified after Vajda et al., 2020. Information on individual volcanic provinces derive from Zhang et al., 2013;Amiruddin, 2009;Ye et al., 2014;Liao et al., 2016;Riel et al., 2018;Spalletti and Limarino, 2017;Jessop et al., 2019). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.) ...
... The period consisted of three epochs and seven stages, and its subdivision is highly disproportional because the Late Triassic was longer than the Early and Middle Triassic taken together, and the Norian Stage lasted more than two Triassic epochs ( Figure 1). The Triassic world was organized rather simply, with one supercontinent, namely Pangaea, surrounded by the Panthalassa Ocean; the Palaeo-and Neo-Tethys oceans intruded into the interiors of Pangaea and formed a giant "tongue" [48][49][50]. The climate was warm, with global average temperatures above 20 • C [33,34]. ...
Studying palaeotsunamis is important to the comprehensive understanding of these events and their role in the geological evolution of the coasts of oceans and seas. The present work aims at summarizing the published information on Triassic tsunamis to document their spatiotemporal distribution and the related knowledge gaps and biases. A bibliographical survey was undertaken to collect the literature sources, and their content was examined to extract the principal information about palaeotsunamis. The certainty of the literary evidence for particular localities and regions is addressed by checking the consistency of the published interpretations. It is found that tsunamis were discussed commonly in different parts of the world for the Permian–Triassic transition and the end-Triassic. However, the certainty of the literary evidence is questionable in both cases. Some interpretations of palaeotsunamis were disputed, and storm versus tsunami interpretations were offered in several cases. A few tsunamis were also reported from the Olenekian–Carnian interval but with the same quality of literary evidence. Taking into account the frequency of tsunamis in the historical times and the Holocene, as well as the presence of their possible triggers in the Triassic, it is proposed that the analyzed literary evidence is significantly incomplete, and, thus, our knowledge about Triassic tsunamis is imperfect. Further research should aim at studying them in a bigger number of localities, paying attention to the Olenekian–Norian interval and trying to relate them to different triggers.
... The latter involved stepping out into the plate boundary position in eastern Australia and Antarctica. In contrast, in South America, the plate boundary remained relatively fixed with younger units superimposed directly on pre-existing tectonic elements (Cawood, 2005) and changes like a drastic reduction in plate velocities and an almost complete pause in continental drift (Riel et al., 2018;Vilas & Valencio, 1978), producing heat accumulation and large volumes of magmas (e.g., Kay et al., 1989), as well as geographically extensive extension along with western South America (e.g., Charrier et al., 2007;Spikings et al., 2015Spikings et al., , 2016. ...
The occurrence of Permian magmatic rocks in the Colombian Andes is restricted to a few localities. Previous works have focused mainly on explaining its tectonic setting, whereas petrogenesis has received less attention. This study closes this gap by reporting whole‐rock geochemistry, zircon U–Pb geochronology, trace elements and Hf isotopes from massive and mylonitic granitoids along central Colombia to constrain their age, source and petrogenesis. Our results show that the granitoids have a calc‐alkaline character, are rich in light‐rare elements (LREEs) and large‐ion lithophile elements (LILEs), present negative Nb and Ti anomalies, crystallized between ca. 276–265 Ma and show variable εHf(i) values ranging from −1.5 to +1.7. Combining our results with published geochemical, geochronological and isotopic data from this region, we suggest that the Middle Permian granitoids from the Tolima region were formed in a continental magmatic arc installed at the western margin of Gondwana, where partial melting of the mantle wedge and further crustal assimilation of the magmas with an old radiogenic and heterogeneous crust were essential processes for the modification of the source of the magmas that generated the granitoids. The Middle Permian may have reached the peak magmatic conditions (ca. 280–270 Ma), according to the recurrence of ages in this time interval. This period of magmatic activity may have been interrupted by the Triassic extensional period related to the beginning of the Pangea breakup.
... 230 Ma), coinciding with the onset of the Pangea break-up (Spikings et al. 2015), the region experienced an orogenic collapse, continental rifting, and asthenospheric upwelling, resulting in various geological features across northern Andes of South America. These features include bi-modal magmatism linked to anatexis, the emplacement of mafic dykes, deformation of the oceanic crust (Vinasco et al. 2006;Cardona et al. 2010;Cochrane et al. 2014;Riel et al. 2018;Rodríguez-Jiménez et al. 2018;Spikings and Paul 2019;Gómez et al. 2021), ophiolite formation Ibáñez-Mejía et al. 2020;Villares et al. 2021), and deposition of carbonate sequences (Cediel et al. 1980;Cediel 2019). ...
... The middle Triassic (ca. 240-230 Ma) extensional phase related to the separation between western Gondwana and Laurasia (Spikings et al. 2015) occurred due to modifications in the Panthalassa-oceanic crust subduction (Riel et al. 2018) and was also characterized by the presence of transpressive to transtensive phases in the outboard margin of western Gondwana (Bustamante et al., 2012;Riel et al. 2018 Zartman and Doe (1981). (c) initial εHf vs. age (Ma). ...
... The middle Triassic (ca. 240-230 Ma) extensional phase related to the separation between western Gondwana and Laurasia (Spikings et al. 2015) occurred due to modifications in the Panthalassa-oceanic crust subduction (Riel et al. 2018) and was also characterized by the presence of transpressive to transtensive phases in the outboard margin of western Gondwana (Bustamante et al., 2012;Riel et al. 2018 Zartman and Doe (1981). (c) initial εHf vs. age (Ma). ...
The northern Andes are crucial for understanding the processes associated with the break-up of Pangea and its impact on the evolution of the Pacific margin of South America. Despite its importance, the origin and significance of mafic magmatism and its relationship with the Permian arc-related granitoids in the northern Andes remains controversial. To address this, we examined the Tierradentro gneisses and amphibolites, which comprise Permian-Triassic lithologies that may help resolve this controversy. Our study focuses on representative lithologies of the Central Cordillera of Colombia, including mylonitized granitoids, metabasites, metapelites, and serpentinites, to shed light on the history of the western margin of Gondwana during and after its break-up (~230 to 200 Ma). To investigate these lithologies, we conducted field observations, petrographic analyses, U-Pb dating of zircons, and whole-rock geochemical, Nd, Pb, and Hf isotopic analyses. Our results show that mylonitized mafic rocks with Triassic crystallization ages (ca. 236 Ma) intruded Permian granitoids. Furthermore, these mafic and felsic rocks were intruded by Jurassic calc-alkaline batholiths. The geochemical and isotopic signatures of these rocks indicate their subduction-related extension origin and further mylonitic deformation, possibly during the Jurassic strike-slip movement of the Farallón plate relative to western Gondwana. The Otú-Pericos fault bounds these rocks to the west, where Jurassic metabasic and metapelitic sequences with serpentinites interleaved and formed in a collisional setting. Our findings suggest that the Pacific margin of northern South America underwent subduction-related extension during the middle Triassic and evolved towards a more oblique convergence during the Jurassic.
... However, the tectonic evolution and geodynamics of the NeoTethys Ocean (in particular Iranian branch) and its initial rifting to opening, expansion, and final closure are still highly controversial. More recent data from rift-related A-type granitoids and related rocks indicate growing body of evidence in support of Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous NeoTethys initial rifting (onset of the Cimmeria detaching from Gondwana) (e.g., Alirezaei and Hassanzadeh, 2012;Shakerardakani et al., 2015;Abdulzahra et al., 2016;Honarmand et al., 2017;Shafaii Moghadam et al., 2017;Azizi et al., 2017;Mohammadi et al., 2019;Shabanian et al., 2020;Jamei et al., 2020Jamei et al., , 2021Nabatian et al., 2021) significantly earlier than previous researchers have proposed in the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian (Berberian and King, 1981;Alirezaei and Hassanzadeh, 2012;Fergusson et al., 2016), or in the Early Permian-Triassic onward (Alirezaei and Hassanzadeh, 2012;Ghasemi and Talbot, 2006;Hassanzadeh and Wernicke, 2016;Honarmand et al., 2017;Maghdour-Mashhour et al., 2021;Mohajjel et al., 2003;Muttoni et al., 2009a;Ricou, 1994;Riel et al., 2018;Sengor, 1984;Sepahi et al., 2018;Shafaii Moghadam et al., 2015a;Shakerardakani et al., 2015;Stampfli and Borel, 2002;Zanchi et al., 2009;Agard et al., 2005;Berra and Angiolini, 2014). There is almost a consensus that the major phase of crustal extension and subsidence leading to continental drifting and seafloor separation occurred in the Permian. ...
The issue about the Sabzevar Oceanic Basin (SOB) lifetime and its paleogeographic position, as a branch of the
NeoTethyan oceanic system in Northeast Iran, has long been debated. In the present work, we carried out a full
reconstruction of the evolutionary geologic history of the SOB using detailed geological evidence to build a
schematic descriptive model. The model describes the historical development of the SOB spanning from the Late
Triassic up to Neogene; including continental rifting leading to the opening and development of an oceanic basin,
magmatism and metamorphism resulting from subductional events, and finally collision to post-collisional
magmatic episodes. The evidence testifies that the SOB formed as an intra-continental independent basin over
the Central Iran Cadomian basement during Late Triassic-Early Jurassic times as a result of extensional movements
following the subduction initiation of the Iranian sector of the NeoTethys in the Zagros orogenic belt and
closed in the Paleocene after NeoTethyan early continental collision. Magmatic activity in the SOB represents a
progressive spatio-temporal evolution from south to north at various time intervals during different tectonic
processes with having distinct ranges of magma series including rift-related alkaline, subduction-related
tholeiitic to calc-alkaline arc magmas, and post-collisional high-K to shoshonitic magmas respectively. This review
indicates that the SOB experienced a classic Wilson Cycle, operating over a period of approximately 130
million years (185–55 Ma).
... While most authors agree that the Neo-Tethys ocean opened in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, with sea-floor spreading starting in the Late Early Permian (Stampfli and Borel, 2002;Angiolini et al., 2007;Golonka, 2007;Zanchi et al., 2009;Arefifard, 2017), there is ongoing debate about the exact timing of its opening. Some researchers suggest that the initial opening of the Neo-Tethys ocean occurred in the Early Permian (Angiolini et al., 2003;Muttoni et al., 2009;Zanchi et al., 2009;Berra and Angiolini, 2014;Hassanzadeh and Wernicke, 2016;Honarmand et al., 2017;Riel et al., 2018), while others argue that it opened in the Late Carboniferous to Late Early Permian (Arefifard, 2017;Stampfli, 2000;Stampfli and Borel, 2002). More recently, some scholars have proposed that the rifting event occurred in the Jurassic (Azizi et al., 2018;Azizi and Stern, 2019). ...
The evolution of the Neo-Tethys realm had a significant impact on the Phanerozoic paleogeography of the Iran Plateau. However, there remains significant debate regarding the timing of the opening and closure of the Neo-Tethys ocean, as well as the initial stages of subduction and the style of subduction. In this paper, we review the geological data relevant to the Zagros sector of the Neo-Tethys and the associated arc zones (SaSZ and UDMA) in order to update our understanding of the geodynamic history of this region, from early rifting to final closure. Our analysis of Late Devonian-Early Permian rift-related rocks and subsequent subsidence and shallow marine sedimentation through the Triassic period provides compelling evidence for the occurrence of rifting and the formation of a passive margin in the Late Paleozoic. The Late Triassic closure of the Paleo-Tethys ocean in northern Iran marks the inception of Neo-Tethys ocean subduction. Our revised perspective on the subduction style suggests that subduction of the Neo-Tethys oceanic slab began simultaneously across the entire zone in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, leading to the production of intraoceanic arc magmatic rocks. However, the variable rates of magma production and the change in the geochemical signature of magmatic rocks from oceanic to continental type observed in the northern domain during the Middle-Late Jurassic indicate a shift from intraoceanic arc to continental arc subduction. In the southern segment, intraoceanic subduction was still ongoing during this time period. While the early Cretaceous in the southern segment is characterized by the initial obduction of ophiolites, the Late Cretaceous in the entire zone is marked by the underthrusting of the Arabian passive margin, coinciding with the obduction of Cretaceous ophiolites on the overriding plate and the subsequent subduction of stretched and denser continental Arabian lithosphere with overlying ophiolites. Our tectonic reconstruction highlights the asynchronous nature of the final closure of the Neo-Tethys, which occurred first along the northern margin during the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene and then along the southern margin during the Miocene.
