Original Sedimentary Pattern of an Inverted Basin: A Case Study from the Bozhong Depression, Offshore Bohai Bay Basin

The third member of Shahejie Formation(Sha-3 member; 42–38Ma of Eocene) in the Bozhong Depression,offshore Bohai Bay Basin was subject to multiple post-depositional modifications. The present structural framework of the Bozhong Depression,which is characterized by sags alternating with uplifts,does not reflect its original sedimentary pattern. Previous studies have not discussed the post-depositional modification of this succession,including the sedimentary pattern variations and the depositional geodynamic setting. This work determined the characteristics of the post-depositional modification and original sedimentary pattern of the Bozhong Depression through analysis of seismic data,well-log data and fission-track ages. The results demonstrate that the Shijiutuo rise,a major structural feature of the current basin,did not exist during the major depositional stage of the Sha-3 member,when the Qinnan sag was largely connected to the Bozhong sag to form a single contiguous deposition area within the basin. By contrast,the Shaleitian and Chengbei rises,located in the western part of the Bozhong Depression,have existed before the depositional period of the Eocene Sha-3 member; these features were manifested as syn-depositional tilted fault blocks,the uplifted footwall blocks of which provided sediments for the neighboring Shanan and Chengbei sags. The western part of the Bonan low rise,located in the southern part of the Bozhong Depression,did not experience uplifting during the depositional phase of the Eocene Sha-3 member. The Huanghekou sag was connected with the Bozhong sag in the western part of the Bozhong Depression. The original sedimentary boundary of the southern Miaoxi sag possibly extended eastward about 10 km and connected with the Bozhong sag at its northern part. The present-day Bodong low rise,which is bounded by the Tan–Lu fault zone,also formed after the depositional period of Eocene Sha-3 member. It is thus concluded that the Bozhong Depression formed a connected large-scale sub-basin during the depositional stage of the Eocene Sha-3 member. Several neighboring sags that are now separated by rises,including the Qinnan,Shanan,Chengbei,Huanghekou,Miaoxi and Bodong sags,formed a single contiguous depositional area during the Eocene. The significant differences between the present and original basin patter and framework provide valuable information for better understanding the history of basin inversion and its impact on related hydrocarbon-system evolution.     

The impacts of climate change on river flood risk at the global scale

This paper presents an assessment of the implications of climate change for global river flood risk. It is based on the estimation of flood frequency relationships at a grid resolution of 0.5?×?0.5°, using a global hydrological model with climate scenarios derived from 21 climate models, together with projections of future population. Four indicators of the flood hazard are calculated; change in the magnitude and return period of flood peaks, flood-prone population and cropland exposed to substantial change in flood frequency, and a generalised measure of regional flood risk based on combining frequency curves with generic flood damage functions. Under one climate model, emissions and socioeconomic scenario (HadCM3 and SRES A1b), in 2050 the current 100-year flood would occur at least twice as frequently across 40 % of the globe, approximately 450 million flood-prone people and 430 thousand km² of flood-prone cropland would be exposed to a doubling of flood frequency, and global flood risk would increase by approximately 187 % over the risk in 2050 in the absence of climate change. There is strong regional variability (most adverse impacts would be in Asia), and considerable variability between climate models. In 2050, the range in increased exposure across 21 climate models under SRES A1b is 31–450 million people and 59 to 430 thousand km² of cropland, and the change in risk varies between ?9 and +376 %. The paper presents impacts by region, and also presents relationships between change in global mean surface temperature and impacts on the global flood hazard. There are a number of caveats with the analysis; it is based on one global hydrological model only, the climate scenarios are constructed using pattern-scaling, and the precise impacts are sensitive to some of the assumptions in the definition and application.     

Geochemistry and Fluid Inclusions Analysis of Vein Quartz in the Multiple Hydrothermal Systems of Mankayan Mineral District,Philippines

Several high‐sulfidation epithermal gold orebodies in the Mankayan Mineral District were formed in an environment that has been already affected by earlier porphyry‐type mineralization. This study reports the geologic and geochemical characteristics of the Carmen and Florence epithermal orebodies, which are located in the south of the Lepanto main enargite–gold orebody. The gold‐bearing epithermal quartz veins in the Carmen and Florence areas are of two types: (i) the enargite‐rich veins and (ii) the quartz–pyrite–gold (QPG) veins. The two types of veins are mainly hosted by the Cretaceous Lepanto Metavolcanics basement rocks, with minor veins cutting the Pleistocene Imbanguila Dacite Pyroclastics. The mineral assemblages and homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions indicate that the Carmen and Florence orebodies were deposited by fluids varying from high to very high sulfidation state. The enargite and QPG epithermal veins of Carmen and Florence cut porphyry‐type quartz veinlet stockworks and veins that host polyphase hypersaline fluid inclusions that did not homogenize at or below 400°C. These high‐temperature quartz exhibits distinctly different mineral chemistry from the quartz of the QPG and enargite‐rich epithermal veins. In particular, the Ti content of quartz of the porphyry‐type veinlet stockwork is elevated (>100 ppm), whereas the Ti concentration of the epithermal vein quartz crystals are below detection limits. The Fe concentration of quartz is high in epithermal vein quartz (>300 ppm), whereas nearly undetected in the porphyry‐type stockwork veinlet quartz. Multiple generations of quartz with different mineral chemistry, fluid inclusions morphology, temperature, salinity and bulk gas compositions, and stable isotopic ratios indicate the variable hydrothermal conditions throughout the mineralization history of the Mankayan District. The temperature, pH, sulfidation state, oxidation state, and fluid composition vary among the orebodies in Carmen and Florence areas. Furthermore, the characteristics of earlier alteration affected the apparent characteristics of subsequent mineralization.     

The baseflow and storm flow hydrology of a precambrian shield headwater peatland

A hydrological investigation was conducted in a small headwater peatland located in the Experimental Lakes Area, north-western Ontario, Canada, to determine the subsurface and surface flow paths within the peatland, and between the peatland and an adjacent forested upland during baseflow and storm flow conditions. Distinct zones of groundwater recharge and discharge were observed within the peatland. These zones are similar to those found in much larger flow systems even though the peatland was only influenced by local groundwater flow. Groundwater emerging in seeps and flowing beneath the peatland sustained the surface wetness of the peatland and maintained a constant baseflow. The response of the peatland stream to summer rain events was controlled by peatland water table position when the basin was dry and antecedent moisture storage on the uplands when the basin was wet. The magnitude and timing of peak runoff during wet conditions were controlled by the degree of hydrological connectivity between the surrounding upland terrain and the peatland. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Epipalaeolithic occupations in Nahal Neqarot Rockshelter,Negev, Israel: Radiocarbon dating and identification of charred wood remains

Recent excavations at Nahal Neqarot Rockshelter in the Central Negev, Israel, revealed 60 cm of in situ sediments. The associated lithic industry is mostly attributable to the Middle Epipalaeolithic Ramonian industry, though there is also evidence for sporadic earlier and later Epipalaeolithic use of the site. This is confirmed by three accelerator ¹⁴C dates, which contribute to a better understanding of the chronological framework for the Epipalaeolithic in the region. Microscopic examination of charred wood remains uncovered with the lithics, revealed the dominance of juniper, which is presently extinct in the nearby contemporaneous vegetation, otherwise composed of still extant taxa. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Accommodation and sediment-supply controls on clastic parasequences: A meta-analysis

This study combines data from many published case studies to undertake a quantitative characterization of clastic parasequences, with the aim to determine how accommodation, sediment supply and autogenic sediment-storage dynamics are recorded in their sedimentary architecture and stacking patterns. Results of this study are used to critically evaluate the validity of paradigms and models that are routinely used to explain and predict trends in the anatomy and arrangement of parasequences. Data on 957 parasequences from 62 case studies of clastic, shallow-water successions were coded in a relational database, which includes outcrop and subsurface datasets of ancient and Quaternary examples. These units cover the preserved records of both river-dominated deltas and wave-dominated coasts, representing shoreline transits over a breadth of timescales, likely of both local and regional extent. The role of extant accommodation, rates of creation of accommodation and rates of sediment supply in determining parasequence architecture is assessed through analysis of relationships between: (i) proxies of these variables at different scales (rates of aggradation and progradation, facies-belt shoreline trajectories, systems-tract type, parasequence-set stacking patterns, parasequence progradation angle and stratigraphic rise, size of feeder rivers); and (ii) parameters that describe the geometry and stacking style of parasequences, and associated shallow-water sand bodies. Statistical analyses of database outputs indicate which proxies of accommodation, sediment supply and accommodation/sediment-supply ratio are significant as predictors of parasequence architecture, and allow for interpretations of the importance of allogenic and autogenic factors. The principal results of this study reveal the following: (i) parasequence thickness varies as a function of water depth, accommodation generation and erosional truncation, and these variations are also reflected across types of systems tracts and parasequence sets; (ii) the dip length of parasequence sand bodies demonstrates scaling with measures of accommodation/sediment-supply ratio at multiple scales, partly in relation to the possible effect of sediment supply on progradation rates; (iii) in systems tracts, stratigraphic trends in parasequence stacking due to autogenic mechanisms or to acceleration or deceleration in relative sea-level fluctuations are not revealed quantitatively; (iv) some association is seen between the abundance of deltaic or river-dominated parasequences and progradational stacking; (v) positive but modest correlation is observed between measures of river-system size and the dip length of shallow-marine parasequence sand bodies. The resulting insights can be applied to guide sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the rock record and the characterization of sub-seismic stratigraphic architectures of subsurface successions.     

Thresholds and Response to Climate Change Forcing: The Water Sector

This paper explores the nature of critical thresholds in the natural and managed water environment, and examines the effect of thresholds on the shape of system response to change. The hydrological system is characterized by the presence of many critical thresholds, where processes change, and climate change will alter the frequency with which these thresholds are passed. The snow/rain threshold is particularly important, and examples in the paper show how the presence of this threshold can lead to very non-linear responses to incremental climate change. The water management system is also characterized by critical thresholds, but in most cases these are expressed in risk terms (a design standard typically has an associated risk of failure). In this context, climate change will alter the risk that design standards are exceeded, and the management threshold relates to the tolerable change in risk. In practice, this will be difficult to define, as changes in risk are difficult to determine because risk estimates are very uncertain. The paper concludes by outlining a risk-based procedure, using multiple scenarios, for estimating the risk of a threshold being crossed, and also indicates how defined critical thresholds can be used to implement an impact-oriented approach to climate change assessment. This approach focuses on the likelihood of encountering challenging circumstances.