Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Special Volumes and Special Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscribers
    • FAQ
    • Terms & Conditions for use of AJS Online
  • Instructions to Authors
    • Focus and paper options
    • Submit your manuscript
  • Site Features
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Usage Statistics
    • RSS
  • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • The Journal

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
American Journal of Science
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
American Journal of Science

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Special Volumes and Special Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscribers
    • FAQ
    • Terms & Conditions for use of AJS Online
  • Instructions to Authors
    • Focus and paper options
    • Submit your manuscript
  • Site Features
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Usage Statistics
    • RSS
  • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • The Journal
  • Follow ajs on Twitter
  • Visit ajs on Facebook
  • Follow ajs on Instagram
Research ArticleArticles

Intraplate orogenesis in response to Gondwana assembly: Kwangsian Orogeny, South China

Ya-Jun Xu, Peter A. Cawood and Yuan-Sheng Du
American Journal of Science April 2016, 316 (4) 329-362; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/04.2016.02
Ya-Jun Xu
* State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Center for Global Tectonics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
** State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: xuyajun19@163.com
Peter A. Cawood
*** Department of Earth Sciences, University of St. Andrews, North Street, St. Andrews KY16 9AL, United Kingdom
§ Centre for Exploration Targeting, School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley Western Australia, 6009, Australia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yuan-Sheng Du
* State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Center for Global Tectonics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
** State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

In intraplate orogens tectonothermal activity occurs at a site removed from a plate margin and is considered to result from localization of far-field plate-boundary stresses through a combination of pre-existing structural features and modification of lithospheric properties through fluid alteration, enhanced heat flow and potential thermal blanketing effects. The mid-Paleozoic Kwangsian Orogeny (460–400 Ma) in the South China Craton is geodynamically associated with the far-field response to convergence along the northern margin of east Gondwana. Deformation is focused adjacent to the site of both early Neoproterozoic suturing of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks and mid-Neoproterozoic rifting within the craton. Furthermore, this region is one of high crustal heat flow and of widespread fluid release and localized crustal melting during orogenesis. In the late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian, the South China Craton constituted part of the lithosphere of greater India and was separated from Australia by the Kuunga Ocean. The closure of the Kuunga Ocean during Cambrian-Ordovician time, resulting in final assembly of Gondwana, permitted the stresses sourced from the Terra Australis accretionary orogen in East Gondwana to propagate inboard across the supercontinent. These stresses localized along the site of the Neoproterozoic Nanhua Rift Basin of South China resulting in basin inversion and development of the intraplate Kwangsian Orogeny.

  • Intraplate
  • Kwangsian Orogeny
  • South China
  • Kuungan Orogeny
  • Assembly of Gondwana
View Full Text

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

American Journal of Science: 316 (4)
American Journal of Science
Vol. 316, Issue 4
1 Apr 2016
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Ed Board (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Journal of Science.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Intraplate orogenesis in response to Gondwana assembly: Kwangsian Orogeny, South China
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Journal of Science
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Journal of Science web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
13 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Intraplate orogenesis in response to Gondwana assembly: Kwangsian Orogeny, South China
Ya-Jun Xu, Peter A. Cawood, Yuan-Sheng Du
American Journal of Science Apr 2016, 316 (4) 329-362; DOI: 10.2475/04.2016.02

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Intraplate orogenesis in response to Gondwana assembly: Kwangsian Orogeny, South China
Ya-Jun Xu, Peter A. Cawood, Yuan-Sheng Du
American Journal of Science Apr 2016, 316 (4) 329-362; DOI: 10.2475/04.2016.02
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • GEOLOGICAL SETTING
    • CHARACTER AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE KWANGSIAN OROGENY
    • EARLY PALEOZOIC LITHOSPHERIC ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTH CHINA AND STRAIN LOCATION
    • GEODYNAMIC MODEL FOR THE INTRAPLATE KWANGSIAN OROGENY
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • Appendices
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • India in the Nuna to Gondwana supercontinent cycles: Clues from the north Indian and Marwar Blocks
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Timing and Nd-Hf isotopic mapping of early Mesozoic granitoids in the Qinling Orogen, central China: Implication for architecture, nature and processes of the orogen
  • India in the Nuna to Gondwana supercontinent cycles: Clues from the north Indian and Marwar Blocks
  • Unravelling the P-T-t history of three high-grade metamorphic events in the Epupa Complex, NW Namibia: Implications for the Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic evolution of the Congo Craton
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • Intraplate
  • Kwangsian Orogeny
  • South China
  • Kuungan Orogeny
  • Assembly of Gondwana

Navigate

  • Current Issue
  • Archive

More Information

  • RSS

Other Services

  • About Us

© 2023 American Journal of Science

Powered by HighWire