CHARACTERIZATION OF DEFORMATION AND X-RAY PETROFABRICS IN THE MIDDLE PART OF THE WAHONGSHAN FAULT ZONE, QINGHAI PROVINCE,NORTHWESTERN CHINA

摘要

The Wahongshan fault zone in Qinghai province is one of the most important faults in western China. In this paper, deformation and X-ray petrofabrics have been studied in the middle segment of the fault. The results show that the formation of the fault zones can be divided into two major stages: ductile shear deformation stage and brittle deformation stage. The early stage ductile shearing leads to the formation of the NW-NNW trending mylonite zones along the fault, which is intensely cut by the late-formed brittle faults. X-ray petrofabrics of rocks near the faults indicate that the minerals in the tectonites show a great degree of orientation in the alignment. The quartz, which is a very important mineral in the tectonites, is deformed by basal face gliding or near basal face gliding, and sometimes by prismatic face sliding, which indicates that the rocks are deformed in epithermal to mesothermal or mesothermal environment, and the dynamic recrystallization also plays an important role in the formation of the quartz alignment. The results also demonstrate that plutons formed in the Hercynian and Indosinian stages show no great ductile deformation as can be seen from the X-ray petrofabrics, so it is concluded that these rocks are formed after the formation of the ductile shear zones. Results of Structural deformation analysis and isotope geochronologic analysis of syntectonic muscovite indicate that Wahongshan ductile shear zones are formed in the late Silurian Period during the late Caledonian stage.