Russian Journal of Earth Sciences
Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2003
Mesozoic-Cenozoic metallogenic provinces, Wilson cycle, and plume
tectonics
Yu. G. Gatinskii and D. V. Rundkvist
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss the association of
the major Mesozoic and Cenozoic provinces (metallogenic belts
and oil-gas basins) with the Pangea breakup and mantle plumes.
Assuming that the large plumes did not change substantially
their positions, their modern projections to the Earth surface
can be applied to the whole of this period of time. From the end
of the Paleozoic through the early half of the Mesozoic (early
stages of the cycle) the Indian-African Superplume controlled
the formation of rift systems along the lines of the future
breakup of the supercontinent. This activity was accompanied by
trap lava flows, the emplacement of layered basic intrusions and
granites of high alkalinity with the formation of Cu-Ni and Pt
mineralization, and the formation of rare-metal and rare-earth
ore deposits. The belts of low-temperature and telethermal ore
deposits, as well as large oil and gas pools, were formed along
the peripheries of this and other superplumes. During the end of
the Jurassic and the beginning of the Cretaceous (middle phases
of the cycle) young oceans began to open with the divergence of
the continental blocks. Simultaneously, rifting activity
continued above the hot plumes along with the associated
magmatism and mineralization. Active continental margins with
rare metal and copper pyrite mineralization developed beyond the
plume projections in the northern part of Tethys and at both
sides of the Pacific Ocean. At the end of the Mesozoic and
during the Cenozoic the breakup and divergence of the last
fragments of Pangea took place in Africa and Arabia and in
Antarctica and Australia, although generally the leading role
belonged to the processes of the convergence of continental
blocks around Eurasia, the formation of subduction zones, and
collision with the formation of the provinces of copper sulfide
and rare metal mineralization. This trend characterized the
closing phases of the Wilson cycle and resulted in the
predominance of downward mantle flows over the upward ones, this
mechanism causing the utmost reconstruction of the geodynamic
and metallogenic characteristics over the larger portion of the
Earth's lithosphere. Our analysis confirms that the metallogenic
provinces had been formed as a function of the changes in the
geodynamic conditions and as a function of their positions
relative to the large plume projections. The items of open and
closed plume systems and the zonal distribution pattern of the
main metallogenic provinces above the hot plumes remain to be
the matters of debate.