Dr. Ulrich Knittel

 

Current projects

concern the evolution of the eastern margin of the Asian continent that is composed of numerous smaller and larger terranes, often disrupted by transcurrent faults. The reconstruction of the original relationships is the main theme of the projects.

Philippines
The Philippine archipelago consists of two major units. The western unit is a fragment of the Asian margin that was rifted from Asia by the opening of the South China Sea. The eastern unit is composed of ophiolites and island arc and collided with the western unit in the late Miocene.
Our studies are devoted largely to the metamorphics of the continental fragment, i.e. we have dated the metamorphics and established their nature (a late Palaeozoic accretionary wedge) (Knittel et al., 2010; Knittel, 2011, Walia et al., 2012; Walia and Knittel, 2018).

Japan
Japan consists largely of accretionary wedges that in time were added to the Asian margin. These include also metamorphic belt. The protoliths of the youngest of belt, the famous Sanbagawa Belt, were considered to have been deposited at about 110-120 Ma. Analysis of detrital zircon has shown that at least parts are about 30 m.y. younger. In order to reconcile the new data with the old concepts, the Sanbagawa Belt was subdivided into two units. Recent work, including our work (Knittel et al., 2014; Knittel et al., 2018; Knittel et al., 2019) has shown that there is only one belt and its protoliths were deposited at 80 – 90 Ma. Currently we study the origin of these sediments that are the protolliths of the belt.