A strong temperature effect on U/Ca in planktonic foraminiferal carbonates

Three planktonic foraminiferal species Globigerina bulloides, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (d), and Globorotalia inflata collected from core-tops spanning 35° to 65°N in the North Atlantic were used for U/Ca and Mg/Ca and foraminiferal shell weight analyses. Except for U/Ca in G. bulloides calcified under warm conditions (>∼13 °C), U/Ca ratios in all three studied species increase with decreasing latitude and show strong positive correlations with Mg/Ca ratios. A dissolution effect on planktonic U/Ca is suggested by decreased shell weight and U/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios for shells from very deep water depth (>4.4 km) along the latitudinal transect. G. bulloides from down core samples in the North Atlantic show low U/Ca ratios during the last glacial and high ratios during the Holocene, similar to the Mg/Ca evolution trend. In general, our data indicate that the U incorporation into planktonic foraminiferal carbonates is strongly influenced by calcification temperature, although U/Ca in G. bulloides may be affected by seawater carbonate ion concentration under warm conditions and/or other factors.     

The posthumous tectonics and mechanism of exhumation of granitic plutons: The case of the Transbaikal region and the Tien Shan

The study of granitic plutons of the Baikal Highland and the Tien Shan has made it possible to establish new features of their posthumous (after incorporation into the consolidated Earth’s crust) structural reworking and to understand the implications of the cataclastic flow for the exhumation of the crystalline basement in the studied regions. It is shown that granitic plutons undergo appreciable structural transformation at the stages of tectonic reactivation that is significantly separated in time from the moment of formation of plutons as geological bodies. The 3D cataclastic deformation is the main mode of structural reworking of granitic plutons, while the cataclastic flow is the main form of their mobility. Newly recognized slice structures characterize the volumetric deformation of granites.     

Synchronism in compression of the lithosphere in the central Atlantic and Western Tethys at the Tortonian-Messinian transition

The structure of anomalously uplifted areas in transverse ridges of the Vema, S o Paulo, and Romanche fracture zones is considered. It is concluded that their formation and eventual development in the present-day structure of the central Atlantic bottom proceeded during two stages. The first stage that corresponds to a short period at the Tortonian-Messinian transition (10 Ma ago) was marked by transportation of deep-seated rocks into the upper part of the lithosphere along thrust faults with mass motion in the meridional direction along the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The second stage was characterized by contrasting highamplitude vertical movements from 10 to 3 Ma ago. It is suggested that near-meridional compression in the domains surrounding the Western Tethys in the Tortonian-Messinian resulted in deformation of the upper lithosphere within large transform fracture zones of the central Atlantic. The deformation that occurred 10 Ma ago was a manifestation of the global neotectonic epoch of the Earth.     

Sorption of Ni on Na-rectorite studied by batch and spectroscopy methods

Sorption of Ni²⁺ on Na-rectorite as a function of contact time, temperature, pH and fulvic acid (FA)/humic acid (HA) was studied under ambient conditions. A pseudo-second-order rate equation was used to simulate the kinetic sorption. The removal of Ni²⁺ increased with increasing pH. The presence of FA/HA enhanced the sorption of Ni²⁺ at low pH values, whereas no drastic effect of FA/HA on Ni²⁺ uptake to rectorite was found at high pH values. The diffuse layer model (DLM) fitted the experimental data of Ni²⁺ sorption in the absence and presence of FA/HA very well with the aid of FITEQL 3.2. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) models were used to simulate the sorption isotherms of Ni²⁺ at different temperatures. The thermodynamic data (ΔH⁰, ΔS⁰, ΔG⁰) were calculated from the temperature dependent sorption isotherms and the results suggested that the sorption process of Ni²⁺ on rectorite was spontaneous and endothermic. The sorption and species of Ni²⁺ on rectorite in the presence and absence of FA/HA was also investigated and characterized by XPS. The spectroscopic analysis indicated no drastic structural changes of Na-rectorite and the sorption of Ni²⁺ mainly occurred on the surface and at the edge position of Na-rectorite.     

The Ruiga intrusion: A typical example of a shallow-facies paleoproterozoic peridotite-gabbro-komatiite-basaltic association of the Vetreny Belt,Southeastern Fennoscandia

The Ruiga differentiated mafic-ultramafic intrusion in the northwestern part of the Vetreny Belt paleorift was described for the first time based on geological, petrological, geochronological, and geochemical data. The massif (20 km² in exposed area) is a typical example of shallow-facies peridotite-gabbro-komatiite-basalt associations and consists of three zones up to 810 m in total thickness (from bottom to top): melanogab-bronorite, peridotite, and gabbro. In spite of pervasive greenschist metamorphism, the rocks contain locally preserved primary minerals: olivine (Fo _75–86), bronzite, augite of variable composition, labradorite, and Cr-spinels. A mineral Sm-Nd isochron on olivine melanogabbronorite from the Ruiga Massif defines an age of 2.39 ± 0.05 Ga, while komatiitic basalts of the Vetreny Belt Formation were dated at 2.40–2.41 Ga (Puchtel et al., 1997). The rocks of the Ruiga intrusion and lava flows of Mt. Golets have similar major, rare-earth, and trace element composition, which suggests their derivation from a single deep-seated source. Their parent magma was presumably a high-Mg komatiitic basalt. In transitional crustal chambers, its composition was modified by olivine-controlled fractionation and crustal contamination, with the most contaminated first portions of the ejected melt. In terms of geology and geochemistry, the considered magmatic rocks of the Vetreny Belt are comparable with the Raglan Ni-PGE komatiite gabbro-peridotite complex in Canada (Naldrett, 2003).     

Zr/Hf ratio as an indicator of fractionation of rare-metal granites by the example of the Kukulbei complex,eastern Transbaikalia

The concept of granitic melt fractionation as the main process in the concentration of rare elements in granites calls for the development of a reliable method to determine the evolutionary sequences of granite series. We propose to use for this purpose a zirconium-hafnium indicator, the Zr/Hf weight ratio in granitic rocks (Zaraisky et al., 1999, 2000). By the example of three classic regions of rare-metal deposits, eastern Transbaikalia, central Kazakhstan, and Erzgebirge (Czech Republic and Germany), it was empirically shown that the Zr/Hf ratio of granites decreases during the fractional crystallization of granite magmas in the sequence granodiorite → biotite granite → leucogranite → lithium-fluorine granite. The reason is the higher affinity of Hf compared with Zr to a granite melt. This implies that the crystallization and settling of accessory zircon will cause the progressive enrichment of Hf relative to Zr in the residual melt. As a result, the Zr/Hf ratio decreases regularly in the series of sequential phases of granite intrusion related to a single magma chamber from granodiorite to biotite granite, leucogranite, and Li-F granite (from 45-30 to 10-2). Our experimental investigations supported the preferential enrichment of haplogranite melt in Hf and zircon crystals in equilibrium with melt in Zr (T= 800°C and P = 1 kbar). The Zr/Hf indicator was tested by the example of the wellknown Kukulbei rare-metal granite complex of eastern Transbaikalia (J3), which is unique in the degree of fractionation of initial granite melt with the formation of three phases of granite emplacement and vein derivatives. An important feature of the complex is its “short” differentiation trend. It was supposed that the granite magma of the first phase is parental, and the later phases forming small intrusive bodies in large massifs of biotite granites of the first phase are sequential products of its crystallization differentiation in a magma chamber. The biotite granites of the first phase are barren. The leucocratic granites of the second phase are accompanied by tin-tungsten greisen deposits (e.g., Spokoininskoe), and the upper part of cupola-like stocks of Li-F amazonite granites of the third phase host apogranite-type tantalum deposits (Orlovka, Etyka, and Achikan). In addition to three granite phases, the Kukulbei complex includes dikes of ongonites, elvans, amazonite granites, and chamber miarolitic pegmatites. All of the granitic rocks of the complex have similar isotopic ages of 142± 0.6 Ma. The Zr/Hf ratio decreases systematically from phase 1 (40–25), to phase 2 (20–10), and phase 3 (10–2). The ongonites, elvans, and pegmatites have similar Zr/Hf ratios (15-5), falling between the ranges of leucocratic muscovite granites and Li-F granites. Compared with other granite series, the granitic rocks of the Kukulbei complex show specific petrographic and geochemical features: they are strongly enriched in Rb, Li, Cs, Be, Sn, W, Mo, Ta, Nb, Bi, and F but depleted in Mg, Ca, Fe, Ti, P, Sr, Ba, V, Co, Ni, Cr, Zr, REE, and Y. From the early to late intrusion phases, the degree of enrichment and depletion in these element groups increases regularly. This is accompanied by a significant decrease (from 40 to 2) in Zr/Hf, which can be used as a reliable indicator of genetic relations, degree of fractionation, and rare-metal potential of granites. Granites with Zr/Hf values lower than 25 are promising for prospecting for Sn, W, Mo, and Be greisen deposits, whereas the formation of Ta deposits requires Zr/Hf values lower than 10.     

Opacitization conditions of hornblende in Bezymyannyi volcano andesites (March 30, 1956 eruption)

The paper is devoted to the conditions under which opacite rims developed around hornblende grains in andesite of the catastrophic eruption (March 30, 1956) of Bezymyannyi volcano, Kamchatka. The opacite rims were produced by a bimetasomatic reaction between hornblende and melt with the development of the following zoning: hornblende → Px + Pl + Ti-Mag → Px + Pl → Px → melt. Biometasomatic reaction was accompanied by the active removal of CaO from the rim, addition of SiO₂, and more complicated behavior of other components. The hornblende also shows reactions of its volumetric decomposition under near-isochemical conditions. The opacite rims developed under isobaric conditions, at a pressure of approximately 6 kbar. The main reason for the instability of the hornblende was the heating of the magma chamber from 890 to 1005°C due to new hot magma portion injection. The time interval between the injection and the start of eruption was estimated from the thickness of the opacite rims and did not exceed 37 days. Hence, the March 30, 1956, eruption was not related to the volcanic activity in November of 1955 but to the injection of a fresh magma portion in February–March of 1956.     

中国滑坡预测预报研究综述

滑坡预测预报是有效预防滑坡灾害的重要途径之一,这方面的研究不仅受到广泛重视,且硕果累累。将中国滑坡预测预报的研究历史划分为四个阶段：① 经验判断——被动防灾避灾阶段;② 定性——半定量分析预测预报阶段;③ 理论方法探索——检验预测预报阶段;④ 理论方法深化——综合应用预测预报阶段。从监测（观测）方法、预测预报方法,以及研究特点等方面进行简要回顾,总结已有监测方法（手段）、预测预报理论、方法的研究现状,认为尚存在：① 监测方法（手段）,包括仪器、设备的精度不足;② 预测预报方法综合性、实用性不强;③ 预测预报专门理论尚待完善等问题。在分析的基础上,提出自己的观点,并进行了发展趋势展望。     

Biogeochemical characteristics of the Hetai goldfield, Guangdong Province, China

In the Hetai goldfield, Guangdong Province, China, samples including rocks, soils and leaves of four plants (Pinus massoniana, Rhodomyrms tomenlosa, D. linearis var. dichotoma and Embelia laeta) collected from the gold mineralization zone and the background area were analyzed for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, As and physiological parameters. The objective of this investigation is to study the geochemical and biogeochemical characteristics of studied plants, aiming at biogeochemical methods in Au exploration. The goldfield region shows geochemical and biogeochemical anomalies. Abundances of Au in rocks, soils, plants and the leaf pigments in the mineralized area are much higher than those in the surrounding region. The plants display unhealthy physiological and ecological characteristics in the Hetai goldfield area. The cell structures of the goldfield plants were anomalous and aberrant, and there were many nano-metal particles diffused in mitochondria and chloroplasts. Macro- and microscopic evidences of the vegetation in the goldfield areas are distinctly different from the background regions. The strongly anomalies in responses to Au are profound in further geochemical and botanic exploration studies.     

松辽盆地三肇凹陷葡萄花油层成藏模式初探

运用源控含油气系统理论与综合分析技术,按成藏“层次分析”方法,通过对生、储、盖、圈(闭)静态要素及其内生、排、运、聚、散(失)动态过程的综合研究,对松辽盆地中央坳陷的三肇凹陷葡萄花油层成藏条件进行探讨,提出了以次级凹陷为中心、不同类型的油气聚集带紧邻并围绕次级凹陷最低部位呈环带状分布的大型凹陷内成藏模式,并进一步提出永乐次级凹陷中心及其三级聚油环带及徐家围子次级凹陷以西为"网式"运聚特征;在凹陷级成藏模式的指导下,通过对大面积密井网开发区综合解剖,提出三级构造带中单个的局部构造圈闭(群)、单个的(局部构造——)岩性圈闭(群)控油和成藏规律,为认识本区基本控油单元、油水分布规律、油气勘探及扩大新探区提供重要的理论依据。