Tectonic Evolution of Mogok

Metamorphic Belt

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I.INTRODUCTION

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 The Mogok metamorphic belt (MMB) extends for

over 1500 km along the western margin of the Shan-

Thai block, from the Andaman Sea north to the eastern

Himalayan syntaxis.

East of the Sagaing fault, the Mogok metamorphic belt (MMB)

extends from Moulmein north to Mogok, then along an arcuate
belt that connects north directly to the eastern Himalayan
syntaxis

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•It is marked by two main features.
•The first one is the Sagaing fault, a major continental strike-slip
dextral fault, that runs for almost 1500 km along the eastern border of
the Central basin of Myanmar, from the Andaman sea to the eastern
Indian syntaxis.
• The second one is the Shan scarp, which marks the boundary
between the Central basin to the west and the Shan plateau, a
topographic high extending as far as Thailand to the east

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 II. Structural setting

❖ Between the Sagaing fault and the Shan scarp lies a belt of

metamorphic rocks that was described by Chhibber (1934) as the

Mogok Metamorphic Belt.

❖ This belt extends from the Putao area in the north to the gulf of

Moktama in the south.

❖ There, metamorphic rocks include micaschists, gneisses,

marbles, granulites and rare quartzites with grades ranging from

greenschisto granulite facies

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❖ The MMB forms sigmoidal ranges, with a N20øW general trend in the

Putao area, that bends clockwise, southward, to a N60E direction in the

Mogok area, to N00 in the Mandalay area and N20W in the Thaton area.

❖ The Sagaing fault appears as a very rectilinear structure cutting this belt in

the Mandalay area

❖ Neogene Sagaing fault, a 700 km long N-S aligned right lateral strike-slip

fault that connects south to the active spreading centers in the Andaman Sea

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 III. Age of Metamorphism
❑This metamorphism has been regarded as Precambrian to Paleozoic by many authors such as La
Touche, Fermor and Iyer (1913, 1931 and 1953 respectively, in Searle and Haq, 1964), Pascoe
(1950, in Bender, 1983) and Bender (1983).

❑More recently some authors have proposed that the metamorphic rocks could be the equivalent
of younger series such as the Silurian Mawchi Series (Searle and Haq, 1964),

❑ the Jurassic coal bearing series (Clegg, 1954, in Searle and Haq, 1964)

❑ the Cretaceous Orbitolina bearing limestone of Mogok (Heron, 1937, 1938, in Searl and Haq,
1964)

❑suggest ages as young as Cenozoic for the metamorphism

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 IV. Geochronology ( BERTRAND et al.' Cenozoic metamorphism along the Shan scarp )

❑New observations in the Shan scarp area, close to the Sagaing fault, from Thaton in the south to Mandalay in the north, allowed us to collect
samples of high grade metamorphic and intrusive rocks that have been analyzed by Ar/Ar step heating method.

❑The analysed 13 samples provide Oligocene to Lower Miocene ages for this metamorphism

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 selected plateau diagrams of samples from
❖ the Sagaing fault (2 upper diagrams),
❖ northern Shan scarp (4 middle diagrams), and
❖ southern Shan scarp (2 lower diagrams)

Three ages were obtained in this area, that all

belong to the Oligocene

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.Results of the Ar/'•Ar analysis conducted on high grade metamorphic and intrusive samples from the MMB.

the observed ages are Cenozoic, and

range from Lower Miocene to Oligocene

The Ar-Ar ages along the Shan scarp and in the

Mogok area are younger in the north than in the
south

Migrated northward from Oligocene to Middle Miocene

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V. Evidences (field and laboratory observation)
GIAC (1999)

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 Pencil like stretching lineation
Fan like stretching lineation on
folded schistosity

Stretching lineation along N160 Folding in foliation

ductile shear Drag fold

S/C parallel

Sheath fold

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 Oriented thin sections of metamorphic and
intrusive samples from the Shan scarp showing
extension criteria along the NNW-SSE direction

Such observations suggest that the metamorphism and

observation dated is the result of a NNW-SSE ductile extension
affecting the Shan scarp area

S/C
FABRICS
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VI .Discussion and
Conclusion

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❖ The N-S trending dextral Sagaing fault is one of the numerous
major Cenozoic faults that affect southeast Asia.
❖ Such large scale faults have been described by many authors.
❖ The Diancang Shan, Ailao Shan and Xue Long Shan shear zones,
in the Red River fault zone, for example, display long and narrow
metamorphic belts with steep schistosity parallel to the strike of
the belts and well developed subhorizontal stretching lineations
❖ Similar ductile shear criteria were discussed by Lacassin et
al.(1997) along the Wang-Chao and Three Pagodas fault zones
where metamorphic rocks are exposed along belts not wider than 5
to 8 km and 25 km respectively.
❖ It may be reasonable to propose that the Cenozoic metamorphic
ages observed along the Shan scarp are directly related to
shearing along the Sagaing fault system

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Tectonic regime has changed around 10Ma,with the opening of
the Andaman sea, while the strike –slip motion was accommodated
along the Sagaing fault and the other associated faults

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 This transition corresponds to a
shift from a rather transtensional
tectonic (NNW-SSE Extension )to
a rather Transpressional tectonics
(Shan Scarp and Sagaing fault)

GIAC (1999)

this transition from a dominant

transtensive to a transpressive stress
regime, occurred during Miocene,

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❑The Mogok metamorphism then appears as not restricted to the present trace of the Sagaing
fault, but as related to crustal thinning of the Shan plateau.
❑The observed diachronism in the ages along the Shan scarp (around 26 My in the south and 21
My in the north) is interpreted as the northward migration of this crustal thinning.
❑The Mogok metamorphic belt was a zone of ductile transtensional shear ,from Oligocene to
middle Miocene ,that recorded the northward migration of the eastern Indian syntaxis.
❑The Sagainf fault plays a minor role in the tectonic of the area
❑Mogok Metamorphic belt and the Sagaing fault str distinct tectonic features.
❑This has been verified on geometrical as well as chronological criteria.

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References

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