THE SOUTH SIBERIA CENTRAL MONGOLIA TRANSECT

Studies of geological and geophysical data on the South Siberia- Central Mongolia geoscience transect which runs approximately along 100 degrees E, show that the Asian continent was formed in the Phanerozoic by accretion of terranes most of which were microcontinents with Precambrian basement. Suture zones separating the terranes are deformed and deeply eroded magmatic arcs of different widths likewise classified as specific terranes. In these sutures, magmatic-arc rocks are locally associated with fore- and back-arc basin series. Most of the oceanic crust has been subducted. The observed ophiolite belts are as a rule attributed to the base of oceanic island arcs. The fragment of the Asian continent traversed by the transect was formed through early, middle and late Paleozoic stages of accretion.