岫岩陨石坑撞击角砾岩的岩相学和冲击变质特征SCIEI北大核心CSCD

撞击角砾岩是陨石撞击过程形成的特有岩石种类,是研究撞击成坑过程、陨石坑定年、矿物岩石冲击变质的理想对象。岫岩陨石坑是一个直径1800m的简单陨石坑,坑内有大量松散堆积的撞击角砾岩。本研究通过光学显微镜、费氏台、电子探针、X射线荧光光谱仪、电感耦合等离子质谱仪等分析测试手段,主要研究了岫岩陨石坑撞击角砾岩的岩相学和冲击变质特征,并在此基础上讨论了撞击角砾岩的形成过程和陨石坑的形貌特征。岫岩陨石坑内产出有三种撞击角砾岩,分别是来自上部的玄武质角砾岩和复成分岩屑角砾岩,以及底部的含熔体角砾岩。组成玄武质角砾岩和复成分岩屑角砾岩的碎屑受到的冲击程度较低,仅有少量石英发育面状变形页理,指示不超过20GPa的冲击压力。而组成含熔体角砾岩的碎屑受到了很强的冲击,发育了熔融硅酸盐玻璃、石英面状变形页理、柯石英、二氧化硅玻璃、击变长石玻璃、莱氏石等冲击变质特征,指示的峰值压力超过50GPa。本研究证实了含熔体角砾岩通常产出在简单陨石坑底部,由瞬间坑的坑缘和坑壁垮塌的岩石碎屑与坑底的冲击熔体混合形成。岫岩坑的真实深度是495m,真实深度与直径的比值为0.275,符合简单陨石坑的尺寸特征。陨石坑内的撞击角砾岩中心厚度为188m,与直径之比为0.104,略低于其它简单坑,可能是受丘陵地貌影响导致改造阶段垮塌到坑内的岩石角砾偏少。     

Yaxcopoil-1 and the Chicxulub impact

CSDP core Yaxcopoil-1 was drilled to a depth of 1,511 m within the Chicxulub crater. An organic-rich marly limestone near the base of the hole (1,495 to 1,452 m) was deposited in an open marine shelf environment during the latest Cenomanian (uppermost Rotalipora cushmani zone). The overlying sequence of limestones, dolomites and anhydrites (1,495 to 894 m) indicates deposition in various carbonate platform environments (e.g., sabkhas, lagoons). A 100-m-thick suevite breccia (894–794 m) identifies the Chicxulub impact event. Above the suevite breccia is a dolomitic limestone with planktic foraminiferal assemblages indicative of Plummerita hantkeninoides zone CF1, which spans the last 300 ky of the Maastrichtian. An erosional surface 50 cm above the breccia/dolomite contact marks the K/T boundary and a hiatus. Limestones above this contact contain the first Tertiary planktic foraminifera indicative of an upper P. eugubina zone P1a(2) age. Another hiatus 7 cm upsection separates zone P1a(2) and hemipelagic limestones of planktic foraminiferal Zone P1c. Planktic foraminiferal assemblages of Zone Plc to P3b age are present from a depth of 794.04 up to 775 m. The Cretaceous carbonate sequence appears to be autochthonous, with a stratigraphic sequence comparable to late Cretaceous sediments known from outside the Chicxulub crater in northern and southern Yucatan, including the late Cenomanian organic-rich marly limestone. There is no evidence that these sediments represent crater infill due to megablocks sliding into the crater, such as major disruption of sediments, chaotic changes in lithology, overturned or deep dipping megablocks, major mechanical fragmentation, shock or thermal alteration, or ductile deformation. Breccia units that are intercalated in the carbonate platform sequence are intraformational in origin (e.g., dissolution of evaporites) and dykes are rare. Major disturbances of strata by the impact therefore appear to have been confined to within less than 60 km from the proposed impact center. Yaxcopoil-1 may be located outside the collapsed transient crater cavity, either on the upper end of an elevated and tilted horst of the terrace zone, or even outside the annular crater cavity. The Chicxulub site thus records a large impact that predates the K/T boundary impact and mass extinction.     

The 1992 drill core from the Kalkkop impact crater, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: stratigraphy, petrography, geochemistry and age

New drill core data are provided which support earlier interpretations that the Kalkkop structure, a 600–630 m wide, near-circular feature south-southwest of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, is a meteorite impact crater. Shock metamorphosed clasts in suevitic crater fill and Re---Os isotope data of this breccia indicate the presence of a minor (0.05%) meteoritic component in the suevite. The new data come from a 1992 borehole, which transected the complete crater fill and extended from about 160 to 380 m depth into the sedimentary basement belonging to the Koonap Formation of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup). Dyke breccias were found in the otherwise coherent Beaufort Group sediments forming the floor to the Kalkkop Crater. Mostly narrow zones of different breccia types, including injections of lithic impact breccia, a possible pseudotachylite veinlet and cataclasite occur predominantly in an approximately 65 m wide zone below the crater floor, with a few other cataclasite occurrences found lower down in the basement. Stratigraphical crater constraints provide information for the depth-diameter scaling and breccia volumes associated with such small, bowl-shaped impact craters formed in sedimentary targets.U---Th series dating of limestone samples from near the top and the bottom of the crater sediment fill constraints the age of the Kalkkop impact event to about 250 ± 50 ka, similar to the age of the Pretoria Saltpan impact crater, also located in South Africa. The variety of different breccia types (polymict and monomict impact breccias; local formations of pseudotachylitic and cataclastic breccias) observed in the crater fill of the Kalkkop Crater indicates the need to carefully distinguish different breccia types in order to assess the respective importance of each formation.     

Impact ejecta and carbonate sequence in the eastern sector of the Chicxulub crater

The Chicxulub 200 km diameter crater located in the Yucatan platform of the Gulf of Mexico formed 65 Myr ago and has since been covered by Tertiary post-impact carbonates. The sediment cover and absence of significant volcanic and tectonic activity in the carbonate platform have protected the crater from erosion and deformation, making Chicxulub the only large multi-ring crater in which ejecta is well preserved. Ejecta deposits have been studied by drilling/coring in the southern crater sector and at outcrops in Belize, Quintana Roo and Campeche; little information is available from other sectors. Here, we report on the drilling/coring of a section of 34 m of carbonate breccias at 250 m depth in the Valladolid area (120 km away from crater center), which are interpreted as Chicxulub proximal ejecta deposits. The Valladolid breccias correlate with the carbonate breccias cored in the Peto and Tekax boreholes to the south and at similar radial distance. This constitutes the first report of breccias in the eastern sector close to the crater rim. Thickness of the Valladolid breccias is less than that at the other sites, which may indicate erosion of the ejecta deposits before reestablishment of carbonate deposition. The region east of the crater rim appears different from regions to the south and west, characterized by high density and scattered distribution of sinkholes.     

Imbrium provenance for the Apollo 16 Descartes terrain: Argon ages and geochemistry of lunar breccias 67016 and 67455

In order to improve our understanding of impact history and surface geology on the Moon, we obtained ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar incremental heating age data and major + trace element compositions of anorthositic and melt breccia clasts from Apollo 16 feldspathic fragmental breccias 67016 and 67455. These breccias represent the Descartes terrain, a regional unit often proposed to be ejecta from the nearby Nectaris basin. The goal of this work is to better constrain the emplacement age and provenance of the Descartes breccias.Four anorthositic clasts from 67016 yielded well-defined ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar plateau ages ranging from 3842 ± 19 to 3875 ± 20 Ma. Replicate analyses of these clasts all agree within measurement error, with only slight evidence for either inheritance or younger disturbance. In contrast, fragment-laden melt breccia clasts from 67016 yielded apparent plateau ages of 4.0-4.2 Ga with indications of even older material (to 4.5 Ga) in the high-T fractions. Argon release spectra of the 67455 clasts are more variable with evidence for reheating at 2.0-2.5 Ga. We obtained plateau ages of 3801 ± 29 to 4012 ± 21 Ma for three anorthositic clasts, and 3987 ± 21 Ma for one melt breccia clast. The anorthositic clasts from these breccias and fragments extracted from North Ray crater regolith (Maurer et al., 1978) define a combined age of 3866 ± 9 Ma, which we interpret as the assembly age of the feldspathic fragmental breccia unit sampled at North Ray crater. Systematic variations in diagnostic trace element ratios (Sr/Ba, Ti/Sm, Sc/Sm) with incompatible element abundances show that ferroan anorthositic rocks and KREEP-bearing lithologies contributed to the clast population.The Descartes breccias likely were deposited as a coherent lithologic unit in a single event. Their regional distribution suggests emplacement as basin ejecta. An assembly age of 3866 ± 9 Ma would be identical with the accepted age of the Imbrium basin, and trace element compositions are consistent with a provenance in the Procellarum-KREEP Terrane. The combination of age and provenance constraints points toward deposition of the Descartes breccias as ejecta from the Imbrium basin rather than Nectaris. Diffusion modeling shows that the older apparent plateau ages of the melt brecia clasts plausibly result from incomplete degassing of ancient crust during emplacement of the Descartes breccias. Heating steps in the melt breccia clasts that approach the primary crystallization ages of lunar anorthosites show that earlier impact events did not completely outgas the upper crust.     

Superimposed deformation in seconds: breccias from the impact structure at Kentland, Indiana (USA)

Breccias from the central uplift at the Kentland, Indiana impact structure have outcrop and microscopic characteristics that give insight into events that may occur in a carbonate-dominated sedimentary sequence in the moments following hypervelocity impact. Three distinct types of brecciated rock bodies — fault breccias, breccia lenses, and breccia dikes — suggest multiple mechanisms of fragmentation. The fault breccias occur along steeply dipping faults that coincide with compositional discontinuities in the stratigraphic succession. The breccia lenses and dikes are less localized in occurrence and show no systematic spatial distribution or orientation. The fault breccias and breccia lenses show no consistent cross-cutting relationships, but both are transected by the breccia dikes. Textural analysis reveals significant differences in particle size distributions for the different breccias. The fault breccias are typically monomict, coarsest and least uniform in grain size, and yield the highest power-law exponent (fractal dimension) in plots of particle size vs. frequency. The polymict dike filling is finest and most uniform in grain size, has the lowest power-law exponent, and is locally laminated and size-sorted. SEM images of the dike-filling breccia show that fragmentation occurred to the scale of microns. Material within the breccia lenses has textural characteristics intermediate between the other two types, but the irregular morphology of these bodies suggests a mechanism of formation different from that of either of the other breccia categories. The breccia lenses and dikes both have sub-mm-scale spheroidal vugs that may have been formed by carbon dioxide bubbles released during sudden devolatilization of the carbonate country rock. Collectively, these observations shed light on the processes that occur during the excavation and modification phases of crater formation in carbonate strata — heterogeneous, polyphase, multiscale deformation accomplished over a time interval of seconds.     

Characteristics of Breccias and C-O-Sr-S Isotope Geochemistry of the Duocaima Pb-Zn Deposit in Tuotuohe, Qinghai Province: Implications for the Ore-forming Process

The Duocaima carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn deposit is a newly found large deposit in the southern area of Qinghai Province.In this paper, the characteristics, genesis, significance to Pb-Zn mineralization of the widely developed breccias, and the ore-forming process have been carefully studied based on geological documentation of drilling holes, microscopic observations of petrography and microstructure and some stable isotope measurements.Based on the compositions of the clast and matrix, the breccias can be classified into three types: limestone clasts cemented by marl; limestone clasts with fine-grained calcareous materials; and limestone clasts cemented by hydrothermal calcite.The mineralization in the first type of breccia is weak, whereas it is strong in the latter two types of breccias.According to the locations of occurrence and structural characteristics of the breccias along with the relationship between the breccias and mineralization, part of the limestone clasts that are cemented by marl and outcrop in the contact zone between the Wudaoliang Formation(Nw) and the underlying Jiushidaoban Formation(Pj) are attributed to synsedimentary fault-genetic breccia, whereas the last of the limestone clasts that are cemented by marl and developed in the Jiushidaoban Formation(Pj) are attributed to the breccia generated by karst cave collapse; the limestone clasts with fine-grained calcareous materials and the limestone clasts cemented by hydrothermal calcite are attributed to breccia formed by hydrothermal dissolution.The breccia formed by karst collapse had consistently evolved for a long period of time, while the breccias with other origins were formed around the period of mineralization(i.e., about or slightly later than 20–16 Ma).The breccia generated by karst cave collapse and hydrothermal dissolution are somewhat related; the formation of the breccia from karst cave collapse provided open space for the later mineralization and reaction between hydrothermal fluids and host rocks, and the subsequent strong dissolution by hydrothermal fluids transformed some of the breccia formed earlier by karst cave collapse.Meanwhile, carbonate host rocks with breccias and brecciaed mineralization can be a potential sign of Mississippi Valley Type(MVT) deposits and important indicators for regional mineral exploration.The δ13CV-PDB, δ18OVSMOW, and 87Sr/86 Sr values of hydrothermal calcite in the Duocaima deposit range from 4.3‰ to 7.1‰, 14.9‰ to 20.1‰, and 0.707494 to 0.708185, respectively; the δ13CV-PDB, δ18OV-SMOW, and 87Sr/86 Sr values of the host limestones of the Jiushidaoban Formation range from 3.6‰ to 5.3‰, 18.0‰ to 20.5‰, and 0.707372 to 0.707945, respectively.The δ13CV-PDB and 87Sr/86 Sr values of hydrothermal calcite and limestone are similar, indicating single sources of C and Sr in this deposit, with the likely source being the limestone of the Jiushidaoban Formation.The minor scattering of the δ18OV-SMOW values suggests that different O isotope fluids underwent the isotope exchange reaction.The C-O-Sr isotope characteristics indicate that the host limestones experienced a dissolution and precipitation process during mineralization, which is beneficial to improving the porosity of host rocks and promoting the precipitation of metal sulfides.The δ34SV-CDT value of the breccia-type mineralization sulfides ranges from-30.4‰ to-0.3‰; that is, the δ34SV-CDT value is negative with considerable variation, illustrating that during the breccia-type mineralization process, the bacteriogenic reduction of sulfates provided the vast majority of sulfur, whereas the thermochemical reduction of sulfates was relatively unimportant.The brecciation that occurred as a result of karst cave collapse was mainly generated by the dissolution of groundwater; however, the brecciation related to hydrothermal dissolution and mineralization processes were caused by mixing of different fluids.     

Stratigraphy at Ground Zero: A Contemporary Evaluation of Well Data in the Chicxulub Impact Basin

Evidence of “Upper Cretaceous” sediments above the melt rock/breccia assemblage at Chicxulub has been used to dispute the link between this large impact crater and the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction horizon. We have evaluated core samples and well logs from the Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Yucatan No. 6 exploratory well located ～50 km from ground zero. Despite previous reports to the contrary, the sequence of crystalline rocks and breccias located at depths exceeding 1000 m below sea level are characteristic of the upper lithological sequence observed at other large impact basins such as the 220 km Sudbury structure. Furthermore, the “Upper Cretaceous” sediments overlying the melt rocks and impact brecias at Chicxulub contain abundant glass shards and shocked minerals, demonstrating conclusively that these are reworked debris involved in the impact event, and not normal marine sediments. Core samples straddling the KT boundary indicate that the impact event created a basin several hundred meters deep.     

Sphalerite-bearing detrital ‘sand’ bodies in Mississippi Valley-type zinc deposits Mascot-Jefferson City district,Tennessee

The Mississippi Valley-type sphalerite mineralization in the Mascot-Jefferson City zinc district of East Tennessee occurs as open-space fillings in breccia bodies within the upper part of the Knox Group (Lower Ordovician) which is truncated by a regional unconformity. A lower age limit of mineralization is constrained by the formation of solution-collapse breccia bodies, which are believed to be related to the post-Knox unconformity. The breccias contain irregularly distributed “sand” bodies that represent cavities filled with well-laminated and size-graded, sphalerite-bearing, detrital, internal sediments. The texture, composition, and fluid inclusion characteristics of the sphalerite, are consistent with its local derivation from the wallrocks as detrital grains. The conformability between the laminations in the sediments and the bedding planes of the host carbonate rocks suggests that the sand bodies formed prior to the regional deformation event (Alleghenian orogeny). The stylolitization of carbonate and sphalerite clasts in the internal sediments as well as the deformation of the sphalerite are also consistent with a pre-Alleghenian age for the emplacement of the main-stage sphalerite mineralization in the Mascot-Jefferson City district and, by analogy, in other Lower Ordovician-hosted Mississippi Valley-type districts of the southern Appalachians.     

金顶超大型铅锌矿床角砾岩分形研究及地质意义

前人研究提出金顶超大型铅锌矿床发育出了多种角砾岩,其成因与盐底辟作用有关。文章对这些角砾岩进行了分形分析,确定了不同角砾岩的角砾形态分维值D_r和粒径大小分维值D_s,来进一步探讨角砾岩的形成过程。其中,D_r表征形态复杂性,可指示角砾迁移距离长短或后化学作用改造情况,D_s表征角砾破碎情况,指示形成角砾的能量大小。研究表明,金顶矿床中一部分角砾岩为蒸发盐或膏砂近原位底辟、破碎灰岩围岩形成,它们具有较小的D_r和D_s值。与这些角砾岩空间过渡的层状砂质胶结灰岩砾角砾岩(或称层状含灰岩角砾砂岩),为蒸发盐而非水流体携带灰岩角砾流出地表,并进入含水沉积系统后形成,角砾未经历水流体搬运、磨圆,具有较小的D_r和较大的D_s值。另外一部分角砾岩为蒸发盐和砂泥质底辟破碎围岩,并共同迁移了一定距离而形成,但总体未发生长距离的迁移,随后进入地表沉积系统中。上述部分角砾岩还经历了形成后的流体交代溶蚀作用,导致D_r值变大。本研究显示,在盐底辟有关铅锌矿床内,赋矿围岩包含多种由不同底辟过程形成的角砾岩。     

Synsedimentary brecciation in the Eifelian (Middle Devonian) Baltic Basin: sudden catastrophe or diagenetic collapse?

The Eifelian sedimentary record in the epeiric Baltic Basin contains an extensive brecciated interval known as the Narva Breccia. During recent decades, the origin of this breccia has been attributed to (1) palaeoseismicity, (2) extraterrestrial impact event or (3) diagenetic collapse. Our studies show the presence of two different breccia types that form 11 stratigraphic horizons and contain several laterally and stratigraphically unrelated breccias. The occurrence of Type‐1 and Type‐2 breccias, together with carbonate sabkha and carbonate inter‐ to supratidal tidal flat deposits on the basin margins, indicates synsedimentary brecciation formed in a sabkha environment. Type‐2 breccia could also originate from wave‐cycling loading.     

Genesis of the Giant Late Miocene to Pliocene Copper Deposits of Central Chile in the Context of Andean Magmatic and Tectonic Evolution

Multiple large mineralized breccia pipes (Cu grades up to >10%; individual pipes with >10 × 10⁶ metric tons of Cu) are prominent, if not dominant, features in the three giant Andean Cu deposits of Los Pelambres, Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, and El Teniente of central Chile. At Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, over 90% of the >50^x 10⁶ metric tons of hypogene Cu occurs within the matrix of breccias and/or clasts and wall rock altered in association with the formation of these breccias, while at the other two deposits a lesser but still significant amount of Cu ore also is directly related to breccias. At both Los Pelambres and Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, high-grade (>0.5%) Cu occurs in zones of potassic alteration characterized by stockwork biotite veining and intense biotitization associated spatially, temporally, and genetically with biotite breccias. At Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, high-grade ore also occurs in younger tourmaline breccia pipes, emplaced both within and around the older central biotite breccia complex and potassic alteration zone after a period of uplift and erosion. Potassic alteration, sericitization, silicification, and mineralization of clasts in these tourmaline breccias occurred during their formation. At El Teniente, a significant amount of high-grade Cu ore also occurs in different tourmaline-rich breccias, including the marginal portion of the Braden breccia pipe and a related zone of quartz-sericite alteration that surrounds this pipe. Small, shallow, weakly mineralized or barren silicic porphyry intrusions occur in each of these three deposits, but their main role has been to redistribute rather than emplace mineralization.

The mineralized breccia pipes in each deposit were emplaced into early and middle Miocene volcanic and plutonic rocks during the late Miocene and Pliocene by the expansion of boiling aqueous fluids. Fluid-inclusion and stable-isotope data indicate that the high-temperature, saline, metalrich fluids that produced the brecciation, precipitated the Cu ore in the matrix of the breccias, and generated the associated alteration and mineralization in clasts and wall rock were magmatic in origin. These magmatic fluids were not derived from the early and middle Miocene host plutons, which already were solidified at the time of breccia emplacement. Sr- and Nd-isotopic compositions of breccia-matrix minerals indicate that breccia-forming fluids were exsolved from magmas that were isotopically transitional between older volcanic and plutonic host rocks and younger silicic porphyry stocks, dikes, and extrusives. The fact that the roots of the breccias have not yet been encountered implies that these magmas cooled at depths >3 km to form plutons not yet exposed at the surface.

The generation of the multiple mineralized breccias at each deposit occurred over a relatively short (but still significant) time period of 1 to 3 million years, during the final stages of existence of the long-lived (7gt;15 m.y.) Miocene magmatic belt in central Chile. The decline of magmatic activity in this belt was tectonically triggered, as subduction angle decreased in association with the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge. This caused a decrease in the sub-arc magma supply and subsequently eastward migration of the magmatic arc, as well as crustal thickening, uplift, and erosion, which led to the superposition of younger and shallower alteration and mineralization events on older and deeper events in each deposit.

The giant Cu deposits of central Chile cannot be explained by a static model in which their size is a function of the mass of a single pluton or the longevity of a single hydrothermal convection system. These deposits are giant because they were produced by multistage processes involving the formation, over a period of 1 to 3 million years, of multiple superimposed mineralized breccias and associated alteration zones resulting from the exsolution of metalrich magmatic fluids from independent magma batches cooling at depths >3 km. Neither an unusually large magma supply nor Andean magmas of unusually high Cu content is required to produce the sequence of multiple mineralization     

Subsidence breccias in kimberlite pipes—an application of fractal analysis

A particular variety of volcanogenic country rock breccia is described; a contact breccia that has been identified at Venetia, River Ranch and Wimbledon kimberlite pipes. The contact breccia is clast supported with no juvenile kimberlite component, has tightly packed, angular fragments (with occasional rounding of smaller particles), and has a shear-fabric dipping towards the center of each kimberlite pipe or volcanic event. Clasts have preferred orientations parallel to the fabric. Photographs of the breccia in the open pit face and measured data from drill core are analyzed specifically to quantify the clast size distributions and clast shapes by means of fractal analysis. The fractal dimension is one means of characterizing the breccia because the dimension can be specific to a fragmentation mechanism. Clast size distribution fractal dimensions in the coarser particles (greater than circa 3 cm) range from greater than 3 for nonsheared breccia, down to circa 2.3 for the sheared breccia. Breccia characterization based on this fractal analysis suggests that fragmentation occurred initially from confined high-energy explosions, followed by collapse and abrasion by subsequently gravity-induced rockmass subsidence. All studied contact breccias produced a distinctive fractal signature in the finer particles (<3 cm) of circa 1.6 that can be explained by a comminution fragmentation process in that particular particle size range. It is suggested that these subsidence breccias require a substantial volume deficit at depth within the volcanic pipe in order to explain their origin and size. The methodology used in this study could be used to characterize any other volcanic breccia and further model their origins.     

Sedimentology of middle ordovician carbonates in the Argentine precordillera: evidence of regional relative sea-level changes

The Las Aguaditas Formation in the Argentine Precordillera of San Juan is the only Ordovician carbonate sequence deposited on a slope. Spiculites, mudstones and calcisiltites represent the autochthonous sediments, characterized by a fine lamination, rare fossils and their dark colour. The pelagic fauna consists of rare radiolarians/calcispheres, trinucleid trilobites, graptolites and conodonts. The latter are typical of an open marine environment and proved a Llanvirn—Llandeilo age for the Las Aguaditas Formation.In the upper part of the succession there are several intercalations of megabreccias. Their thickness decreases from about 20 to 4 m towards the top of the formation, accompanied by an increasing amount of carbonate turbidites. The clasts of the breccias are derived from the slope as well as the platform. Each of the megabreccia horizons represents a system of channels, lobes and interchannel deposits, which together form a slope apron. On top of the lower breccia a small biostrome developed, where bryozoans and crinoids are preserved in an autochthonous position.Sedimentation of the Las Aguaditas Formation started with the drowning of the underlying carbonate platform (San Juan limestones). Near the Arenig-Llanvirn boundary, a rapid ecstatic sea-level rise led to the deposition of graptolitic black shales and mudstones. Upwards, allochthonous carbonates become increasingly abundant. The onset of megabreccia deposition coincides with a major relative sea-level fall, caused by block movements in connection with rifting. The subsequent transition from breccia formation towards turbiditic sedimentation corresponds to an environmental shift from the slope towards the toe of slope and basin and marks a renewed moderate sea-level rise. Correspondence to: M. Keller     

Structural controls and genesis of epithermal gold-bearing breccias at the Lebong Tandai mine, Western Sumatra, Indonesia

Lebong Tandai is a low-sulphidation, volcanic-hosted epithermal gold deposit of Neogene age, located within the foothills of the Barisan Mountains, Sumatra. To date, the mine has produced approximately 40 tonnes of gold and 400 tonnes of silver. The mineralisation is exclusively in the form of tabular quartz-cemented breccias bodies which are localised along faults. The breccias comprise angular to sub-rounded clasts of the wallrocks and earlier barren breccias cemented by banded or massive quartz, and in many instances, the clasts are supported within the quartz cement.The sulphide minerals occur as either a single cockade band around the clasts in the breccia, or as polymineralic aggregates disseminated throughout the breccia cement. The main precious-metal-bearing phase is electrum, with silver-sulphosalts and silver-tellurides also present. Highly variable concentrations of pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite are associated with the precious-metal phases.With the exception of two minor lodes, the mineralised breccias are localised along strike-slip faults which display changes in orientation indicative of D-, R- and P-shears and T-fractures, with individual segments ranging from a few metres to a few hundred metres in length. Two strike-slip fault systems are recognised, one sinistral, trending east-west and the other dextral, trending northwest, the latter of which is parallel to the Sumatran Fault System. The majority of gold and silver production is from breccias localised along faults formed during the sinistral tectonism. The breccias are believed to have been generated during compressional reactivation of the east-west sinistral strike-slip faults in response to the subduction of the Indian-Australian plate beneath Sumatra. Supralithostatic fluid pressures are a necessary pre-requisite for such reactivation, and the sudden drop in fluid pressure during reactivation is thought to have resulted in both the formation of the breccias by hydraulic fracturing, and the deposition of amorphous silica, precious metals and base metal sulphides. High rates of fluid flow subsequent to fracturing are thought to have led to fluidisation of the breccia clasts and abrasion to their current morphologies.Microthermometry of fluid inclusions in sphalerite indicates that the mineralising fluids were of low salinity, less than 3 wt% NaCl_equivalent, and that mineralisation took place at temperatures of 260–280°C. Variations of salinity and homogenisation temperature due to boiling are poorly developed, although if boiling occurred, the metalliferous minerals would have been deposited early in the boiling process before the fluid had cooled appreciably.     

Fluidization： An Important Process in the Formation of the Qiyugou Au-bearing Breccia Pipes in Central China

Fluidization processes based on experiments are reviewed to gain some useful insights and comparisons with those that occur in hydrothermal systems. Field and petrographic work, and microscope observation were carried out on samples from the Qiyugou Au-bearing breccia pipes from the East Qinling region, Henan Province. Evidence from macro- and micro-textures suggests that the style of breccias in the Qiyugou area can be grouped into three types： （1） jigsaw fit-stockwork texture, in which the interval between clasts is marked by fractures or filled with calcite or quartz veins; （2） larger breccias that are supported by smaller breccias, rock flour and alteration materials; in this type clasts moved over short distances, creating open spaces; （3） fluidized texture, where the clasts of different lithologies have rounded shapes. These observations are compared with those resulting from experiments on fluidization processes. The results of this comparison suggest that fluidization is an important geological process in the formation of the Qiyugou Au-bearing breccia pipes and gold mineralization. In addition, fluidization processes such as expansion, bubbling, slugging, channeling and spouting must have contributed to the formation of the pipes and were conducive to the development of gold mineralization. In the Qiyugou breccia pipes, gold mineralization occurs as disseminations, in stockwork veins, and open space infills. The ore zones form subparallel sheets that are nearly perpendicular to the walls of the pipes.     

山西省耿庄金银矿区隐爆角砾岩研究

晋东北地区出露一系列与燕山期富碱的酸性、中酸性浅成相-次火山相有成因联系的爆破角砾岩筒。耿庄金银矿区隐爆角砾岩筒是其中较典型且研究较详的实例之一。它位于两条断裂交叉处,平面上呈似椭圆状,纵剖面上呈不对称的漏斗状,岩筒中心直径约为150m,延深600m以上。该岩筒由四种成因类型包括七种不同成分的角砾岩组成,它们在水平上大致呈环状分布。角砾岩筒的隐蔽爆破作用至少发生过两次。主要的矿化作用产生在第二次爆破作用之后,形成了一个含Pb、Zn、Cu等的多金属金银矿床。     

Solution-collapse breccias of the Minkinfjellet and Wordiekammen Formations, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard: a large gypsum palaeokarst system

Large volumes of carbonate breccia occur in the late syn-rift and early post-rift deposits of the Billefjorden Trough, Central Spitsbergen. Breccias are developed throughout the Moscovian Minkinfjellet Formation and in basal parts of the Kazimovian Wordiekammen Formation. Breccias can be divided into two categories: (i) thick, cross-cutting breccia-bodies up to 200 m thick that are associated with breccia pipes and large V-structures, and (ii) horizontal stratabound breccia beds interbedded with undeformed carbonate and siliciclastic rocks. The thick breccias occur in the central part of the basin, whereas the stratabound breccia beds have a much wider areal extent towards the basin margins. The breccias were formed by gravitational collapse into cavities formed by dissolution of gypsum and anhydrite beds in the Minkinfjellet Formation. Several dissolution fronts have been discovered, demonstrating the genetic relationship between dissolution of gypsum and brecciation. Textures and structures typical of collapse breccias such as inverse grading, a sharp flat base, breccia pipes (collapse dolines) and V-structures (cave roof collapse) are also observed. The breccias are cemented by calcite cements of pre-compaction, shallow burial origin. Primary fluid inclusions in the calcite are dominantly single phase containing fresh water (final melting points are ca 0 °C), suggesting that breccia diagenesis occurred in meteoric waters. Cathodoluminescence (CL) zoning of the cements shows a consistent pattern of three cement stages, but the abundance of each stage varies stratigraphically and laterally. δ¹⁸O values of breccia cements are more negative relative to marine limestones and meteoric cements developed in unbrecciated Minkinfjellet limestones. There is a clear relationship between δ¹⁸O values and the abundance of the different cement generations detected by CL. Paragenetically, later cements have lower δ¹⁸O values recording increased temperatures during their precipitation. Carbon isotope values of the cements are primarily rock-buffered although a weak trend towards more negative values with increasing burial depth is observed. The timing of gypsum dissolution and brecciation was most likely related to major intervals of exposure of the carbonate platform during Gzhelian and/or Asselian/Sakmarian times. These intervals of exposure occurred shortly after deposition of the brecciated units and before deep burial of the sediments.     

The Cretaceous–Tertiary transition in Guatemala: limestone breccia deposits from the South Petén basin

Limestone breccia deposits in southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have recently been interpreted as proximal to distal ballistic fallout deposits, generated by a bolide impact that struck Yucatan at K/T boundary time. We review the age, lithology and the depositional environment of five K/T boundary sections in the South Petén area of Guatemala (Caribe, Aserradero, Chisec, Actela, Chemal) in order to evaluate the nature and origin of K/T limestone breccia deposition. The sections are located 500?km south of the proposed impact site at Chicxulub and trend in an east–west direction from the Guatemala/Mexico border to southern Belize. In four of the five sections examined, a breccia unit up to 50?m thick overlies reef-bearing shallow-water limestones of late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) age. Rhythmically bedded limestones, marls and siltstones of early Danian age overlie the breccia and were deposited under middle-to outer-neritic conditions. The breccia consists of differently coloured layers of shallow-water limestones. Clast size generally decreases upsection to thin layers of predominantly rounded clasts, and these fine-grained rudstones grade into grainstones at the top. In at least one section (EI Caribe) diagenetically altered glass spherules are present in the uppermost layers of the grainstone. These glass spherules are of stratigraphic position and chemical composition similar to black and yellow glass from Beloc, Haiti and Mimbral, Mexico, which some workers have chemically linked to melt glass within the breccia of the Chicxulub cores. We suggest that breccia deposition in Guatemala may have been multi-event, over an extended time period, and related to the collision of the Yucatan and Chortis plates as well as related to a major impact or volcanic event at the end of the Cretaceous.