Orogenic Belts and Orogenic Sediment Provenance

Abstract

By selecting a limited number of variables (westward vs. eastward subduction polarity; oceanic vs. continental origin of downgoing and overriding plates), we identify eight end‐member scenarios of plate convergence and orogeny. These are characterized by five different types of composite orogenic prisms uplifted above subduction zones to become sources of terrigenous sediments (Indo‐Burman‐type subduction complexes, Apennine‐type thin‐skinned orogens, Oman‐type obduction orogens, Andean‐type cordilleras, and Alpine‐type collision orogens). Each type of composite orogen is envisaged here as the tectonic assembly of subparallel geological domains consisting of genetically associated rock complexes. Five types of such elongated orogenic domains are identified as the primary building blocks of composite orogens: magmatic arcs, obducted or accreted ophiolites, neometamorphic axial belts, accreted paleomargin remnants, and accreted orogenic clastic wedges. Detailed provenance studies on modern convergent‐margin settings from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean show that erosion of each single orogenic domain produces peculiar detrital modes, heavy‐mineral assemblages, and unroofing trends that can be predicted and modeled. Five corresponding primary types of sediment provenances (magmatic arc, ophiolite, axial belt, continental block, and clastic wedge provenances) are thus identified, which reproduce, redefine, or integrate provenance types and variants originally recognized by W. R. Dickinson and C. A. Suczek in 1979. These five primary provenances may be variously recombined in order to describe the full complexities of mixed detrital signatures produced by erosion of different types of composite orogenic prisms. Our provenance model represents a flexible and valuable conceptual tool to predict the evolutionary trends of detrital modes and heavy‐mineral assemblages produced by uplift and progressive erosional unroofing of various types of orogenic belts and to interpret petrofacies from arc‐related, foreland‐basin, foredeep, and remnant‐ocean clastic wedges.