| Session Details | |
| Section | SE - Solid Earth Sciences |
| Session Title | Suture Zones and Geodynamic Processes |
| Main Convener | Dr. Ramakrishnaiah Chetty Talari (National Geophysical Research Institute {CSIR}, India) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. T. Tsunogae (University of Tsukuba, Japan) Prof. M. Santosh (Kochi University, Japan) |
| Session Description | Suture zones are intensely deformed belts and represent the sites of former ocean basins and the collisional mountain belts. These belts provide the only record we have of deep oceanic crust and of ancient sea floor processes for the first more than 90% of the earth’ history. The study of suture zones provides a means to understand the end-product of plate collision tectonic processes in time and space. The suture zones have received major attention since late 1960s particularly after the advent of concept of plate tectonics in terms of geology, geophysics, geochemistry and other branches of earth sciences. There has been a quantum leap in our knowledge regarding the suture zones in general and its associated processes beginning with rifting followed by development of a complex sequence of passive margins, consuming margins, collisions, ophiolite emplacements and large-scale lateral moments extending to the present time. The ophiolitic rocks, the characteristic features of suture zones, preserve record of evidence for tectonic and magmatic processes from rift-drift through accretionary and collisional stages of continental margin evolution in various tectonic settings. The study of ophiolites is multi-disciplinary involving structural, petrological, geochemical and geochronological aspects, which would provide essential information on mantle flow field effects including plume activities, collisional induced asthenospheric extrusion, crustal growth, via magmatism and tectonic accretion. Several parts of the globe Phanerozoic to Precambrian, have been revisited, reworked and are being appropriately reinterpreted. The international scientific community, in recent years, has gathered a wealth of new data from old and young suture zones around the world. This session in AOGS, being held during July 5-9, 2010, at Hyderabad, India, would provide the best opportunity for the international community of earth scientists to meet, present their most recent data, observations and ideas on different aspects of suture zones, which would help in better understanding of earth’s history. This would also aid in formulating multi-disciplinary international collaborative programs on this important hot topic of the day. |