Publication Date:
2013-08-10
Description:
Fifty per cent of orogens have a thick-skin character, and have evolved from passive margin and intra-cratonic rift systems. One group of thick-skin provinces can be found at both pro- and retro-wedges of orogens associated with advancing subduction zones, that is, orogenic wedges whose advance vectors oppose the mantle flow. A second group can be found at pro-wedges of orogens associated with retreating subduction zones, that is, orogens whose advance vectors have the same direction as mantle flow. A third group is formed in intra-plate settings where mechanical strengthening is produced by internal shortening. Thick-skin province development is controlled by driving factors such as individual plate movement rates, overall convergence rates, orogen movement sense with respect to mantle flow, and pro-wedge v. retro-wedge location. These driving factors are themselves constrained by numerous internal and external factors. This introductory chapter focusses primarily on least-deformed case areas in order to understand the role of different factors in controlling the evolution of thick-skin tectonic provinces from the initial inversion stage to full accretion stage.
Print ISSN:
0305-8719
Electronic ISSN:
2041-4927
Topics:
Geosciences
