Workshop on

Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan

. Time: Friday, March 26, 2010 9:00 - 17:00 Venue: Institute of Earth Sciences Academia Sinica Conveners: Bor-ming Jahn & Tzen-Fu Yui jahn@earth.sinica.edu.tw tfyui@earth.sinica.edu.tw

Agenda:
1. Review of existing models 2. Geophysical constraints 3. Petrological, geochemical and age constraints 4. New results from marine and land studies 5. Perspectives 6. Cooperation opportunities 7. Summary

Program and Abstracts

Workshop on Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan 26 March, 2010 Institute of Earth Sciences Academia Sinica

09:00-09:15 09:15-09:30 09:30-10:00 10:00-10:30 10:30-11:00 11:00-11:30 11:30-12:00 12:00-12:30 12:30-14:00 14:00-14:30 14:30-15:00 15:00-15:30 15:30-16:00 16:00-17:00

Registration Welcome Louis S. Teng - Deformation and Exhumation of the Taiwan Orogenic Wedge: A View from the East John Suppe - Deep and Shallow Structure of the Taiwan Arc-Continent Collision Char-Shine Liu - Seismic Imaging of the Tectonic Features Offshore Taiwan: An Overview Coffee Break Cheng-Horng Lin - Continental Subduction and Active Crustal Exhumation in Central Taiwan Francis T. Wu - Recent Results of Geophysical Imaging of Taiwan and Implications Lunch Chia-Yu Lu - The Paradox of an Ocean-dipping Benioff Zone - Example from Taiwan J. Bruce H. Shyu - A Tale of Two Sutures: An Alternative Point of View on the Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan Borming Jahn - The Crustal Development of Taiwan in the Late-Paleozoic to Early Cenozoic: Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan Coffee Break Discussion

The Crustal Development of Taiwan in the Late-Paleozoic to Early Cenozoic: Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan Bor-ming Jahn Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan The purpose of this communication is to address the problem of crustal and tectonic evolution of Taiwan, particularly the earliest crustal development of Taiwan in the Permo-Triassic time. The oldest rocks of Taiwan occur in the Tananao Metamorphic Complex, and are composed of a thick marble sequence and associated metasedimentary rocks including greenschist, blackschist, metachert, and metasandstone. The still older basement rocks underlying the oldest rocks are not exposed but they could be hypothesized to have Proterozoic ages as inferred from the geology of SE China. It is important to agree for further discussion that the crustal development of Taiwan began with the deposition of the oldest rocks occurring in the Tananao Complex. The time of the oldest geologic event of Taiwan has been established by Sr-Pb isotopic dating of carbonate rocks from (1) Tailuko of the Tananao Complex in eastern Taiwan, and (2) Chia-Li Well No. 1 of Peikang High in western Taiwan. Sr isotope analyses of marbles from both localities yielded a nearly identical range of 87 Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7069 to 0.7078), and the lower limit of the ratios (0.7069) was taken to determine an age of about 250 Ma for the time of carbonate deposition (Jahn et al., 1984, 1992). In fact, the Sr isotope age data is consistent with the inferred late Permian age by Yen et al. (1951) based on the fusulinid fauna of the Cathaysina affinity. This period coincided with the most spectacular mass extinction and volcanic eruption (Siberian Trap and Emeishan Basalt LIPs) On the other hand, Pb isotope analyses on the Chia-Li marbles gave a Pb-Pb isochron age of 242 22 (2) Ma, with 1 = 8.33 (Jahn et al., 1992); and on the Tailuko marbles an age of 193 15 Ma (2) Ma with 1 = 8.29, updaded with additional data from the earlier published age data of 166 33 Ma (Jahn, 1988). The Pb-Pb isochron ages of recrystallized carbonates constrain the times of the early Mesozoic thermal (metamorphic) events at 240 and 190 Ma. In fact, the 190 Ma event has been identified by a zircon dating of a granite stock occurring in the southern part of the Tailuko Belt of the Tananao Complex (Yui et al., 2009). The Chia-Li marbles from western Taiwan and the Tailuko marbles from eastern Taiwan share the same geochemical and Sr-Pb-C-O isotopic characteristics. Consequently, it is reasonable to suggest that the two carbonate sequences were formed coevally in late Permian, in the same depositional environment, and

underwent similar processes of C-O re-equilibrium and U-Th fractionation. This, in turn, suggests a widespread carbonate deposition in a vast epeiric platform, and in a warm climatic condition. It is well documented that the lithofacies of late Permian to early Triassic (Changxing Stage) in SE China is dominated by carbonate rocks (Wang, 1985, 1986). Consequently, it is highly probable that the carbonate deposits of Taiwan were a part of the vast expanse of the Permo-Triassic carbonate formations in SE China. The oldest rocks of Taiwan were intruded by Cretaceous granitoid plutons at about 90 Ma. The granitoids were emplaced in the same period as the numerous granitic plutons occurring in the coastal areas of SE China. Besides, in terms of chemical and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions, the granitic rocks (granitic gneisses included) of Taiwan are indistinguishable from that of the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong. Such similarity in age and composition is not expected for the granitoid suites separated by 350 km (perpendicular to the subduction axis) if they were generated in the same subduction system. The occurrences of late Permian carbonates and Cretaceous granitoids in Taiwan could be best interpreted in a tectonic framework in which the proto-Taiwan was initially formed as the southern extension of the South China Craton. The Tailuko Belt could be correlated with the Gunanhai Melange, as suggested by Hs et al. (1990), in coastal Fujian, where metamorphosed oceanic crust (= amphibolite, greenschists) and pelagic sediments (= black schists) also occur. A crustal segment (proto-Taiwan), composed of a carbonate sequence, mlange deposits and granitic intrusions, was then translated northeastward to the present position by a sinistral strike-slip fault. The process must have taken place after the emplacement of the Cretaceous granites, and more likely after the generation of andesitic rocks in Huayu (Penghu Islands) in early Cenozoic or Paleocene (65 60 Ma; Chen et al., 2007). The tectonic scenario has been supported by two recent works. First, based on the extensive measurement of monazite Th-Pb ages (ca. 5000; by EPMA) for Tertiary and Quaternary sandstones in Taiwan and Recent sands from six drainage basins in eastern China and South Korea, Yokoyama et al. (2007) concluded that the sediments of the Hsueshan Range (Eocene) were derived from the drainage basin of Zhujiang (Guangdong). Second, the zircon dating (by LA-ICP-MS) of andesites from Huayu yielded a magmatic event at 65-60 Ma. Chen et al. (2007) interpreted these rocks as the surface exposure of a magmatic belt reflected by the high magnetic anomalies. These ages support the idea that this magmatic belt was a continuation of the SCMB (Southeast Coast Magmatic Belt) in origin, but offset or split apart by a left-lateral fault. The proposed tectonic evolution of Mesozoic Taiwan (Jahn et al., 1992; this work)

could be better appreciated if it is to be compared with that of the Japanese Islands (Maruyama et al., 1977; Sengor and Natalin, 1996). The late Paleozoic to Mesozoic accretionary complexes of Japan are composed, in significant proportion, of recycled ancient (Proterozoic) continental crust, probably of the Yantse craton. The bulk composition of Japan, as inferred from Sr-Nd isotopic data, is quite similar to that of Taiwan and of the crustal segments in SE China, but is vastly different from that of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (= the Altaids) or the Arabian-Nubian Shield. In conclusion, the crustal history of Taiwan began in the late Permian. The proto-Taiwan was initially formed as the southern extension of SE China. It underwent at least two periods of thermal events at ca. 190 Ma and ca. 90 Ma. Metamorphic recrystallization and associated crustal deformation would have occurred prior to the large-scale strike-slip faulting. In this scenario, the metamorphism and deformation of the Tananao Complex was unrelated to the late Cenozoic arc-continent collision as incorrectly envisaged by many existing tectonic models. However, the collision event is expected to accentuate the deformation and uplift of the Central Range.

Continental Subduction and Active Crustal Exhumation in Central Taiwan Cheng-Horng Lin Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract The island of Taiwan is located at one part of the convergence zones between the Eurasian Plate (EUP) and the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP). To the northeast of Taiwan, the PSP subducts beneath the EUP while the EUP underthrusts the PSP to the south. However, the strong convergence behavior between the two plates in central Taiwan has long remained unclear due to the absence of reliable deep structures image in the past. Recently, several different seismic observations show that the EUP has been subducted beneath Central Taiwan (Chen et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2006; Lin, 2009). Although there is no earthquake to show the Wadati-Benioff zone in the Central Taiwan between the Latitudes of 23oN and 24oN, the eastward subduction of velocity anomalies has been consistently imaged from seismological data. Such a result provides an important evidence to examine all of the proposed models in the past. Among them, the tectonic model of Continental Subduction and Active Crustal Exhumation proposed by Lin et al., (1998) and Lin (2002) might be one of the suitable models to explain the tectonic mechanism for Taiwan Orogeny.

Seismic Imaging of the Tectonic Features Offshore Taiwan: An Overview

Char-Shine Liu Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Situated at the juncture of two flipped subduction systems, morpho-structural features observed on land and offshore Taiwan shed lights on the tectonic processes of an arc-continent collision (the Luzon subduction system) off southern Taiwan and the Ryukyu subduction-collision system off eastern Taiwan. Multichannel seismic reflection profiles have revealed structural and sedimentary characters of the upper crust in the past two decades, deep seismic reflection profiles collected during the 1995 TAICRUST and 2009 TAIGER surveys help to image the structures of the deep crust. This paper presents an overview of the morpho-tectonic features offshore southern and eastern Taiwan as imaged by seismic reflection profiles. The area offshore southern Taiwan is the place where the Luzon subduction complex transforms into an incipient arc-continent collision complex near Taiwan. Morphologically, the subduction complex shows a classic trench (Manila Trench) accretionary wedge (Hengchun Ridge) - forearc basin (North Luzon Trough) volcanic arc (Luzon Arc) system north of the Luzon Island. The accretionary wedge expanded toward north, the forearc basin was closed north of 21.5oN offshore SE Taiwan while the frontal portion of the accretionary wedge encroached on the passive China continental margin off SW Taiwan. A prominent out-of-sequence thrust was developed that divides the accretionary wedge into an upper slope domain and a lower slope domain. The closure of the forearc basin near Taiwan has been attributed to the development of a back thrust system along the rare side of the accretionary wedge. However, strike-slip faulting and block rotation due to oblique arc-continent collision also played significant roles in creating the present morphology off SE Taiwan. At the frontal portion of the accretionary wedge, folds and thrusts are the prominent structural features in the lower slope domain. The distances between the fault-bend-folds increase north of 21.5oN, the sediment thickness also increases northward, from about 1000 m thick at 20.5oN to about 4000 m thick at 21.5oN. The upper slope domain consists of highly deformed accretionary wedge material that was uplifted probably due to under-plating processes. The deep seismic images from the TAIGER survey have shown that there are some west-dipping deep reflections,

interpreted as Moho reflections, lie underneath the thick accretionary wedge material offshore SW Taiwan, suggesting thickening of the crust toward China continental margin. The Ryukyu forearc region offshore eastern Taiwan is the area where the Ryukyu subduction zone terminates against the Taiwan island. Extremely active seismicity with frequently occurred large earthquakes (M > 6.5) makes this area a potential earthquake hazard zone. Morphotectonic features of this trench-accretionary wedge-forearc region have been studied quite extensively, but deep structures of the seismogenic zone are still unclear. Based on the different structural styles, the southernmost section of the Ryukyu arc-trench system can be divided into three zones. The first zone lies to the east of 123oE. It presents structures of a typical oblique subduction zone with frontal accretion of trench sediments, imbricated thrusts and folds in the accretionary wedge (the Yaeyama Ridge), and slightly folded forearc basin strata. A prominent right-lateral strike-slip fault has developed at the rear of the accretionary wedge which accounts for, at least particially, the lateral component of the oblique plate convergence. The second zone lies between 123oE and 122o10E. The active frontal accretion may have ceased, and strong shearing is observed in the accretionary wedge. The forearc basin here (the Nanao Basin) undergoes trench-parallel tension, as demonstrated by series of normal faults that cut through very thick (up to 4 s twt) basin strata. Between zone 1 and zone 2 at 123oE, a subducted asperity, the Gagua Ridge, has uplifted the basement of the forearc basin, and created a prominent reentrant at the frontal portion of the accretionary wedge. The third zone lies to the west of 122o10E where the Ryukyu subduction system is terminated by the Luzon volcanic arc and the Taiwan mountain belt. Series of NW-SE trending shear faults cut through the thrusted and folded ridges in the accretionary wedge. A NW-SE trending forearc basin (the Hoping Basin) lies between the accretionary wedge and the Ryukyu arc. Seismic reflection profiles show that underneath the young Hoping Basin strata, there is a thick (up to 3 s twt) old sedimentary layer (the Suao basin strata) lies above the Ryukyu arc basement. This Suao basin strata are tilted but otherwise little deformed in the northern Hoping Basin, however, in the southern Hoping Basin, they are highly folded and probably thrusted in a SW direction. The Hoping Basin strata display mainly submarine depositional and erosional structures, such as channel cut and fill and slumping deposits. The structures in the studied forearc region are mainly controlled by the high obliquity of convergence between the Philippine Sea and Eurasia plates, and by the collision of the Luzon arc with the Eurasia continental margin that terminates the Ryukyu subduction system to the west. Furthermore, the subduction of asperities and active submarine sedimentary processes have also played important roles in shaping the structures of

the accretionary wedge and forearc basins here.

The Paradox of an Ocean-dipping Benioff Zone - Example from Taiwan Chia-Yu Lu Institute of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan In Taiwan, the Paleozoic/ Mesozoic basement is regarded as a rifted continental margin by back-arc spreading from the southeastern coast of the China mainland. The Backbone Range Slate Belt is interpreted as a part of the Miocene accretionary wedge. The Lishan Fault is referred to as the suture between the Philippine Sea plate and the Eurasia. Following the concept of tectonic facies in an archipelago model of intraplate orogenesis, a back-arc basin collapse orogenesis model is proposed to interpret the ocean-dipping Benioff zone of Taiwan. The back-arc basin collapse orogenesis model explains the mechanism, which transforms continental-dipping into oceanic-dipping Benioff zone as well as oceanic subduction into continental subduction.

A Tale of Two Sutures: An Alternative Point of View on the Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan J. Bruce H. Shyu Institute of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Taiwans numerous active faults and folds demarcate distinct eastern and western neotectonic belts. The western belt results from the attachment and subsequent detachment of a sliver of continental lithosphere to the Eurasian continental margin. The eastern belt is the product of the same continental sliver docking with and then separating from the Luzon volcanic arc. Thus, the active Taiwan orogen can be viewed as a tandem suturing and tandem disengagement of a volcanic arc and a continental sliver to and from the Eurasian continental margin. This progressive suturing and separation is a superb, living demonstration of the fundamental weakness of lithospheric sutures.

Deep and Shallow Structure of the Taiwan Arc-Continent Collision John Suppe1, Yih-Min Wu1, Sara Carena2 and Kamil Ustaszewski3 1 Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University. Taipei, Taiwan 2 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, Luisenstr. 37, 80333 Mnchen, Germany 3 Lithospheric Dynamics 3.1, GFZ Helmholtz Zentrum, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany The on-going oblique arc-continent collision in Taiwan between the Luzon arc and the Eurasian continental margin provides a classic spatial view of the temporal evolution of the collision. In addition Taiwan is a well-known site of critical-taper wedge mechanics and erosional forcing of deformation, leading to a mountain belt that is approximately in topographic steady state, with erosion balancing the compressive flux. This classic picture, based largely on surface and upper-crustal data, is now being illuminated at lower crustal and upper mantle levels with high-resolution local seismic tomography and earthquake locations. These new data document in 3D that the deep structure is remarkably independent of the shallow thinned-skinned mountain belt. Here we show that the lower crust and upper mantle of the Eurasian plate undergoes a transition from normal subduction and accretionary-wedge tectonics south of Taiwan to a strongly localized progressively bent geometry with a vertical to overturned plate interface. The lower crust and Moho of the Eurasian plate is vertical to overturned to depths of 70-80 km under central and northern Taiwan. In this region the deep plate shortening is accomplished by folding of both the Eurasian and Philippine-Sea lower lithospheres without a classic active subduction zone, whereas the crust of both plates above the main detachment is mechanically and kinematically separated from this deep shortening.

Deformation and Exhumation of the Taiwan Orogenic Wedge: A View from the East Louis S. Teng1 and En-Chao Yeh2 1 Institute of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 2 Department of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan The eastern Taiwan orogenic wedge comprises the Tananao Metamorphic Complex (TMC) and overlying slate formations that represent the deepest-buried rock suites ever exhumed during the late Cenozoic collisional orogeny. These rocks exhibit a whole gamut of petrological and structural features that help unraveling the deformation and exhumation history of the Taiwan mountain belt. Before the collision took place in late Miocene, TMC was part of the pre-Cenozoic basement of the outer China continental margin and the slate formations were the sedimentary cover. During the collision, these rocks were first pulled into the deep subduction zone, underplated into the orogenic wedge, stacked up by continued underplating, and then exhumed and exposed by erosion. Compilation of petrological data of TMC shows a clockwise P-T path with a maximum metamorphism of low- to medium-greenschist facies. Field mapping and shear sense analyses indicate that TMC and overlying slate formations have undergone an early-stage west-vergent, left-lateral transpressional deformation followed by a late-stage east-vergent backfolding and thrusting with minor normal faulting. Coupled with available geochronological data, the metamorphic history of the eastern Taiwan orogenic wedge can be interpreted to reflect an early-stage wedge thickening and heating followed by rapid uplift and exhumation around 3 Ma. The orogenic history interpreted above can be further substantiated by the sedimentary records of the northern Coastal Range where a complete Luzon forearc basin sequence is exposed. The dominance of arc-derived andesitic fragments in the Miocene lower forearc sequence shows that the thickening orogenic wedge had remained submerged and was not uplifted as a hilly terrane until 5 Ma. Afterwards the wedge rapidly grew to a high mountain chain that supplied an increasing amount of sediment to the forearc basin, as shown by the coarse-grained orogenic detritus in the Plio-Pleistocene upper forearc sequence. The successive appearances of slate and schist fragments in the forearc sequence indicate that the slate formations and TMC were consecutively exhumed to the surface at 3 and 0.4 Ma.

Recent Results of Geophysical Imaging of Taiwan and Implications Francis T. Wu1, Kuo-Chen, Hao1 and Taiwan TAIGER teams 1 SUNY Binghamton, US Based on recently derived subsurface structures we can distinguish clearly the collision/subduction characteristics between northern (north of ~23.7ON), central (between ~23ON and ~23.7ON) and southern (south of ~23ON). In central Taiwan full collision is taking place, with distinctive lower crust and upper mantle structures suggesting arrested subduction. Northern Taiwan is subjected to collision of a subducting indenter, with diminishing collision toward the north as subduction deepens. In the south, active subduction is taking place. Do all these subsurface processes have corresponding identifiable surface structures? Certainly the northern Taiwan bight (bend) has long been associated with the geometry of the subduction zone. Simple elastic models indicate that the recent deformation of northern Taiwan agree with that of subducting indenter. However, one of the most puzzling features is the boundary around 23ON, between the well-defined subduction and the collision zone; although the subsurface feature is clear, in terms of deep seismicity, the overall plate tectonic environment, GPS measurements etc., a geological boundary has not been identified. One of the properties that the Taiwan orogen clearly shares with mountain ranges of the world is the pattern of S-wave splitting. As is true with South Island, New Zealand, Tibet, Tienshan etc., the fast direction of the S waves are parallel to the structural trend the delay times between the fast and slow S-waves are around 2 seconds. The source of these splits is usually ascribed to be anisotropy owing to the lattice-preferred-orientation of minerals. LPO can occur as a result of shearing or of flow. Although, the metamorphic rocks in the eastern Central Range is highly foliated and isotropic the measured crustal delay time has a maximum of about 0.3 seconds., so the source for S-splitting must reside in the upper mantle, down to 200-300 kilometers. No precise way is currently available to invert the S-splitting measurements for 3-D anisotropy. We do have limited information in Taiwan of how extensive the anisotropic zone is perpendicular to strike by using scant broadband OBS data to the east and using pattern of S-split delays across Taiwan for data from the eastern and western back-azimuths, it is mainly limited to Taiwan. Intriguing magnetotelluric profiles across Taiwan obtained recently show a feature that could perhaps be explored in terms of dehydration in metamorphism, strength of foliated rocks etc. Both profiles in Central Taiwan (~24ON) and southern Taiwan (Southern Cross-Island highway) show a remarkable (vertical) high resistivity zone

(>500 -m). It is bordered by a low resistivity zone to the west, generally under the Lishan fault. The Eastern Central Range is undergoing the most rapid uplift (Ching et al., 2010, personal communication; Hu et al., 2010, personal communication). The expectation is that water would be needed to facilitate deformation. But high resistivity implies that, 1) water may be present in significant quantity but they are not connected, then the effective pressure effect would not operate, or 2) the water has been expelled during metamorphism (Ferry, 1994) and the foliated rocks are weak. Understanding the metamorphism, deformation and erosion in the Central Range will advance the knowledge of Taiwan orogeny. Orogeny involves complex processes. Taiwan orogen, being compact and variable, remains to be one of the best locations for further data acquisition, modeling and testing for the basic processes of mountain building.