The age of the Hikami Granites in the Kitakami Massif had been assigned to the Late Permian or to the Triassic, because it was believed that the granites intruded the rocks older than the Permian in age. While, some authors emphasized the movements ranging from the Devonian to the Early Carboniferous pertaining to the plutonism and metamorphism, supported by the radiometric dating of the Hikami Granites (354 m. y.). The writer and his co-workers (MURATA et al., 1974, 1975; OKAMI & MURATA, 1975) pointed out that the Hikami Granites, at least a part of it, constitute one of the basement rocks of the Silurian System in the Kitakami Massif, on the basis of the basal arkose sandstone of the Silurian Kawauchi Formation that lies on the Hikami Granites, and to the development of a slumping bed of granite breccia in the Lower Devonian Ono Formation. Three important problems still remain with regard to the Hikami Granites as the pre-Silurian basement rocks, namely, the relationship between two types of granite in the Hikami Granites, the result of radiometric dating of the Hikami Granites (354 m. y.), granite breccia in the Lower Devonian Ono Formation (295 m. y.) and of the basal sandstone of the Silurian Kawauchi Formation (264 m. y.), and the horizon of the slate hornfels which is intruded by the Hikami Granites at the vicinity of Tsukizawa, Rikuzen-Takada City, Iwate Prefec feature. The slate hornfels of the third problem may be referred to the Tsubonosawa Metamorphics, just the same as the metamorphic rocks exposed at the north of Setamai, Sumita-cho, Kesen-gun, Iwate Prefeture. The existence of the pre-Silurian basement complex of granite takes a new look on the tectonic history of the sedimentary basin in the Kitakami Massif. Many unconformities have been pointed out from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sequences in the Kitakami Massif. Among them, the lowest horizon of the basal conglomerate which yields the pebbles of granitic rocks is the base of the Permian Sakamotozawa and the Tochu formations, except for the Silurian Kawauchi Formation. Many pebbles of granitic roks are contained within the tuff breccia and slumping beds in the. Devonian formations. However, no distinct basal conglomerate is known from the unconformities of the Devonian and Carboniferous sequences. The crustal movemennts are represented by the several unconformities recognized at the base of the Permian formations to the Jurassic System, and it can be considered that the blocks of the basement rocks which are arranged along the western margin of the southern part of the Kitakami Massif and the Tono - Takada - Kinkazan Tectonic Zone, were uplifted technically.
View full abstract