Indochina orogenic belt and related geodynamics
摘要
The traditional (narrow sense) Indosinian orogeny or “Indosinian Movement” refers to the Song Chay belt in northeastern Vietnam. As research has advanced, the Indosinian orogeny has been related to the closure of the Paleo-Tethys and is considered a typical orogeny formed by the amalgamation of multiple microcontinental blocks. The Indochina orogenic belt consists of the Ailaoshan, Song Ma, and Song Chay (tectonic) belts, which extend across northern Vietnam and the Yunnan-Guangxi region of China. Based on structural and isotopic geochronological analyses, these three belts exhibit a high degree of consistency in tectonic frame, geometry, kinematics, and metamorphic facies. The ages of the ophiolites are also well correlated; even the time of deformation, which could be interpreted as the initial stage of the collision, is mostly concentrated between 246 and 240 Ma. Excluding the modification of the Cenozoic Red River and Dien Bien Phu strike-slip Faults, the three suture zones were connected during the Early Mesozoic with a unified southwestward subduction polarity, resulting in complete subduction and collisional orogeny. Based on this work, we propose an overall tectonic model for the Indochina orogenic belt and discuss the evolution and geodynamics of the middle branch of the Paleo-Tethys. This resulted in the evolution of the Tethyan tectonic domain and aggregation and rifting of the supercontinents.