Japan Sea: a Pull-Apart Basin?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 76 (1985/86) 375-389 375 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands 151 Japan Sea: a pull-apart basin? Serge Lallemand 1 and Laurent Jolivet 2 s Laboratoire de Gbodynamique, Dbpartement des Sciences de la Terre, Universitb d'Orlbans, ERA CNRS 601, 45046 Orlbans Cedex (France) 2 Laboratoire de Gbologie, Ecole Normale Sup~rieure, LA CNRS 215, 46 Rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris (France) Received May 1, 1985; revised version accepted October 30, 1985 Recent field work in the Hokkaido Central Belt and marine geology studies along the eastern margin of Japan Sea in addition to previously published data lead us to propose a new model of opening of the Japan Sea. The synthesis of both on-land and offshore structural data gives new constraints about the structural evolution of the system. The rhombohedral shape of the Japan Basin and the particular tectonic behaviour of the margins on both east and west sides can be explained by an early Eo-Oligocene rifting of a pull-apart basin accommodated along two large right-lateral shear zones, east of Korea and west of northeast Japan and Sakhalin. It is followed, during Upper Oligocene/Lower Miocene, by the main opening of the Japan Basin as a mega pull-apart. Then a back-arc spreading probably related to the subduction process, induced the creation of the Yamato and Tsushima Basins at the end of Lower Miocene and in Middle Miocene. Clockwise rotation of southwest Japan larger than 20 ° or major bending of Honshu mainland deduced from paleomagnetic studies is unlikely at this time. Since 1 or 2 My B.P. to Present, compression prevails along the eastern margin of the Japan Sea. The generation of marginal basins as pull-apart basins along intracontinental strike-slip faults is a mechanism which has been proposed by other authors concerning the South China Sea, the question then is whether the fragmentation of the Asiatic continent is an intracontinental deformation related process as proposed here or a subduction related one. 1. Introduction years later, Kobayashi and Isezaki [13] presented an evolutionary model of northwest Pacific with The Japanese archipelago is located at the junc- the southward drift of the Japanese islands from tion of four plates: the Amurian, Okhotsk, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates [1,2] (Fig. 1) and its complex evolution is governed by the relative mo- tion of these plates. The basement of the Japan Sea is, at least partly, oceanic [3-7]. In spite of Plate rather poor magnetic lineations [8], five small axes of symmetry roughly ENE-WSW in the Japan Plate Basin (Fig. 2) and NE-SW in the Yamato Basin have been recognized [9]. It is consequently highly probable that several spreading centers were in- volved in the creation of the deep basins (e.g. [10]). .,.,. Until now many models have been proposed to explain its formation by drifting of the islands, Almost all of these models deal with the southern part of the Japan Sea: the tectonic meaning of Tartary Strait and the drift of northeast Japan (north of Honshu and Hokkaido) are usually not Fig. 1. Localisation of plates in East Asia adapted from considered, even the reconstruction took Sakhalin Zonenshain and Savostin [1]. The western boundary of the into account (e.g. [111). Murauchi et al. [12] pro- microplate of Seno [2] is represented in dotted lines, PhP posed a schematic pre-drift reconstruction. Ten Philippine Sea plate. 0012-821X/86/$03.50 © 1986 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. 376 the Asiatic continent, Sakhalin and the central model, adding a clockwise rotation of southwest part of Hokkaido during Eo-Oligo-Miocene. Re- Japan and great displacements along left-lateral cently, Kobayashi [14] reviewed their previous strike-slip faults in northeast Honshu but keeping OKH 135 ° AMU Okhotsk Sea 0 500 km I , . , i ! o LSrnt 126 ° .40°--~ / i]I Yellow Sea / t , PAC 126 ° V i I , I 1.o / l East Oina Sea / ~ik~u Basin 4/ i /' PHS ', Fig. 2. Structural context and physiography of Japan Sea and the Japanese islands. Plates: AMU = Amurian, OKH = Okhotsk, PAC = Pacific, PH.S = Philippine Sea. Tectonic features: MTL = Median Tectonic Line, KaTL = Kanto T.L., ISTL = Itoigawa- Shizuoka T.L., HSZ = Hidaka Shear Zone, KTL = Kamishiyubetsu T.L., ATL = Abashiri T.L., FIF = Fudzino Iman Fault, CSAF = Central Sihkote Alin F., YF=Yangsan F., TF= Tsushima F. Hypothetical faults: EKF= East Korean Fault, OF= Old F., TF ~ Toyama F., OTF = Oga-Tartary F., SF = Sado F. Islands: G.Is = Goto is., T.Is = Tsushima is., O.Is = Old is., U.Do = Ullung Do is., S.Is = Sado is., Ok.Is. = Okushiri is. Seamounts: S.Smt = Siberia smt., B.Smt = Bogorov smt., V.Smt = Vityaz smt. Ridges: K.Y.Rd. = Kita-Yamato Ridge, O.Rd = Old Ridge, S.Rd = Sado Ridge. Banks: O.Bk = Old Bank, M.Bk = Musashi Bank. Plateaus: K.P1 = Korean Plateau, O.PI = Oshima Plateau. Troughs: G.Tr = Genzan Trough, O.Tr = Old Trough, T.Tr = Toyama Trough. Straits: T.Str = Tsushima Strait, Tg.Str = Tsugaru Strait, S.Str = Soya Strait. Peninsulas: N.Pen = Noto Peninsula, O.Pen = Oga Peninsula, S.Pen = Shakotan Peninsula. 377 the same blocks as before. On the basis of the the Japan Basin and the structure of its margins strike-slip faults activity in the circum Japan Sea allow us to propose the idea of a pull-apart basin region from Cretaceous to Paleogene, Otsuki and opened between two right-lateral faults during the Ehiro [15] have also reconstructed the drift history Oligocene/Lower Miocene. of Japan. But these models do not fit with recent on-land 2. Morphological evidence for a pull-apart basin structural data. The main point is to reconcile the opening of Japan Sea and the contemporaneous Except for the Tartary Gulf, the coast lines of right-lateral movement along the Hidaka Shear Japan sea have a rhombohedral shape striking Zone [16,17] (Fig. 2) and the Yangsan Fault as will roughly N-S and WSW-ENE (Fig. 2). This is even be discussed later in this paper. Besides clearer for the outline of the Japan Basin. Its paleomagnetic studies have led to the proposal of topography is rather flat (3000-3700 m), except a clockwise rotation of southwest Japan around a for the presence of local highs like those of Bogorov pole located near the Tsushima Strait [18] and of and Siberia seamounts (1500 m deep). Three less the bending of Honshu [19]. These should give rise important basins or troughs, shallower than 2500 to considerable deformation contemporaneous m, extend the Japan basin northward (the Tartary with the rotations, especially in central Honshu, Gulf) and southward (the Yamato and Tsushima which have not been observed in the field, this Basins). All of them are elongated along a NE-SW conflict will also be discussed. direction. The main feature is the Yamato Ridge A new set of tectonic data brings new con- which overhangs the Japan Basin by 2500 m; it straints on the tectonic pattern of the eastern can be divided into two subridges trending NE- margin of the Japan Sea on-land and offshore SW: the Kita-Yamato and the Yamato Banks [16,20-23]. In addition, some Japanese data were separated by a narrow graben 2000 m deep. reinterpreted in light of the new hypothesis about Whereas the Siberian and the northernmost incipient subduction and obduction along this Korean margin of the Japan Sea is continuous and margin [24]. The present paper is an attempt to narrow, all the other margins are very complex. interpret these data in the framework of a new West of the Japan Sea lies the Korean Plateau model of the Japan Sea formation. (Korean Continental borderland of Mogi [25]) with In summary, the Japan Sea consists of several ridges and throughs striking NE-SW and N-S. deep basins with oceanic basement separated by This mosaic of peaks and depressions ends abruptly ridges of continental crust. The structure is very northward and southward against a N-S escarp- simple in the basins and complex on most of the ment corresponding to the continental slope (Fig. margins. The eastern and western margins both 2). show a particular structure: numerous N-S and The Japan sea ends to the south in the Tsushima NNE-SSW trending ridges bounding very narrow Strait between Korea and Kyushu. A NE-SW and rapidly subsiding basins filled with thick accu- channel limited by scarps runs on the plateau [5]. mulations of Cenozoic sediments. The ridge and The linearity of the margins is interrupted by the basin structure can be followed along more than N-S Oki Bank and the extension of the Noto 1000 km along the eastern margin in the Tartary Peninsula. Their eastern flanks are respectively Gulf strongly suggesting that both margins are bounded by an escarpment and by a trough. We controlled by strike-slip faults. Considering the name these features the Oki Fault and the Toyama "en 6chelon" pattern of several troughs around the Fault (Fig. 2) based on the description given by Sado island or in the Tartary Gulf, the movement Ludwig et al. [4], Chihara [26] and others. Two could be right-lateral. This system is subparallel to other NE-SW trending blocks separate the Yamato the right-lateral Hidaka Shear Zone [16] which can Basin from the Oki Trough (the Oki Ridge) and be followed northward in Sakhalin. It is likely that from the Tsushima Basin creating a high between the two systems belong to the same wide right- the Oki Bank and the Yamato Ridge.