Abstract
The relative importance of collisional vs noncollisional orogenesis at continental-margin orogens is an unresolved problem in tectonics. The fundamental problem is that contraction of continental lithosphere in a subduction hanging wall could be due to subcontinental subduction (noncollisional orogenesis) or to arccontinent collision preceding subcontinental subduction initiated by subduction flip (collisional orogenesis). A secondary problem arises in proving that sutures representing ocean-basin closure and arc collision exist in the complex oceanic terranes that typically constitute the internal parts of continental-margin orogens. This problem exists in part because “tectonic flaking” results in replacing the pre-collision subduction-zone fault with a new fault during collision. Tectonic flaking and subsequent thrust imbrication, folding, normal faulting, and strike-slip faulting make arc-continent sutures in collisional orogens difficult to distinguish from deformed marginal arcs in noncollisional orogens. Phanerozoic continental-margin orogens contain evidence for early orogenic arc accretion, and the Mesozoic cordilleran orogen of the western United States, a classic example of a noncollisional, “Andean-style” orogen, fits a collisional model in detail. Tectonic models for contractional deformation in Archean and Proterozoic continental-margin orogens should consider both collisional and noncollisional processes.
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Edelman, S.H. (1992). Problems concerning collisional vs noncollisional deformation at continental-margin orogens, with an example from the Mesozoic Cordilleran orogen. In: Bartholomew, M.J., Hyndman, D.W., Mogk, D.W., Mason, R. (eds) Basement Tectonics 8. Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1614-5_13
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