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Ribbon tectonics: Ordovician and Silurian evolution of North Queensland

Journal article published in 2012 by Peter Betts, Ian Withnall, Robin Armit ORCID, Ian Whitnall, Paul Donchak, Laurie Hutton
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

Models of the evolution of the eastern margin of Gondwana have largely been developed along the Lachlan Fold Belt and the southern New England Fold Belt. There is a convergence of models towards western Pacific style tectonics (Glen et al., 2010); although in detail there remains considerable debate about the details of the evolution and architecture. North Queensland also preserves an Ordovician to Silurian geological record of the eastern margin of Gondwana. However, despite existing along the same plate margin there have been difficulties in reconciling the geology and tectonics of North Queensland with the Lachlan Fold Belt to the south. This is in part attributed to the architecture of the Thomson Fold Belt, which is very different to that of the Lachlan Fold Belt, and the telescoping of geological terranes into relatively narrow tectonic belts. Andean-style subduction models have been favoured for North Queensland during the Ordovician and Silurian because of the presence of arc rocks and tectonic melanges proximal to stable continental crust (e.g., Henderson et al., 2010). Recent seismic surveys across North Queensland (Korsch et al., 2012) have shown that much of the basement to the east of the arc terranes is continental in origin, suggesting that a simple Andean-type subduction model needs to be readdressed.