Supervisors
Research Affiliations
Degree Type/Name
Pre-requisites
Student Support
Prof Z.X. Li and Prof Peter Cawood
Tectonics Special Research Centre
Honours - Geology, Earth Science
Degree in Geology
The student undertaking this project is eligible for financial support provided by the Geological Society of Australia’s
Structural Geology and Tectonics Special Group, and field
Collaboration support from both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China
Geological Survey.
This project is through collaboration with China Geological
Survey’s Nanjing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources.
Skills
This research project provides the opportunities for research students to obtain skills and experience in structural analysis, Ar-Ar dating, and field mapping of intermediate-grade metamorphic rocks. The skills acquired and the international experience will prepare the students for a career either with multinational exploration companies or further research leading to an academic career.
Project Description
TThe Sibao orogen in South China is one of the poorest know Grenvillian orogenic belts through which the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia assembled. The orogen is exposed at a few places only, the Tianli Schists in central Jiangxi Province, eastern Sibao Orogen, being one of them. The Tianli Schists crop out in a ca. 6 km x 2.5 km area, consisting predominantly of bluish-coloured quartz mica schists, with minor quartzite and marble. These outcrops thus hold the key for understanding the timing and kinematics of the Sibao Orogeny.
Our recent UV laser in situ 40Ar/39Ar analyses revealed that the Tianli Schists underwent three main episodes of deformation: 1042 ± 7 Ma - 1015 ± 4 Ma metamorphism and deformation – the oldest known metamorphic event in the eastern Sibao orogen, and ca. 968
± 4 and 942 ± 8 Ma tectonic reactivations as recorded by recrystallised muscovite and biotite.
However, these three generations of deformation has yet to be differentiated at outcrop scale, and the kinematics of each episode are thus still unknown. In this project the student will try to identify the deformation episodes and obtain their ages. This information will be used to examine how and when the Cathaysia and Yangtze blocks came together to form the South
China Block, and implications to the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia.
(a) Relief map showing location of the field region; (b) Sketch basement map of South China, with #7 indicating position of field region and a photo insert showing a rare fresh outcrop of the Tianli Schists; (c) A reconstruction of central Rodinia with South China placed between
Australia and North America. (after Li et al., 2002, Geology v. 30, no. 2, 163-166)