Neotectonic Control on the Geomorphic Evolution of the Gangotri Glacier Valley, Garhwal Himalaya

The paper records evidences of neotectonic activities in the Gangotri glacier valley that are found to be responsible for the present-day geomorphic set-up of the area since the last phase of major glaciation. Geomorphological features indicate the presence of a large glacier in the valley in the geological past. Prominent planar structures present in the rocks were later on modified into sets of normal faults in the present-day Himalayan tectonic set-up giving rise to graben structures. The block nearest the snout is traversed by the NW-SE trending Gaumukh fault. A number of terraces mark the entrenchment of Bhagirathi River in this part. The contrasting drainage morphometric parameters of two sides of the valley and asymmetric recessional patterns of the tributary glaciers further document movement along the fault. The distribution and orientation of debris fans also seem to be controlled by neotectonic activity. The neotectonic activity that followed the process of deglaciation has brought the glacially carved, wide U- shaped valley in contact with the present-day fluvially incised narrow and relatively deep valley. The wider segments have become sites of active deposition of glacially eroded debris. The low gradient and excessive filling has resulted in the river attaining a braided nature in these segments.     

Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the Nepal Himalaya: A Manageable Hazard?

Within the past fifteen years, glacial lake outburst floods have become an activetopic of discussion within the development community focused on Nepal. Suchfloods endanger thousands of people, hundreds of villages, and basic infrastructuresuch as trails and bridges. The flood risk is also a major impediment to hydroelectricdevelopment in several river basins. Unlike most other mountain hazards in Nepal,reducing the possibility of outburst floods is technically feasible. The first attemptwithin Nepal to reduce the hazard of one lake by artificially lowering its water levelwas partially completed in June 2000. Completing this task and beginning work onother hazardous lakes will require difficult decisions about risk by downstream residentsand substantial investment from the international aid community.     

Multicomponent magnetization in western Dolpo (Tethyan Himalaya, Nepal): tectonic implications

A palaeomagnetic study has been carried out in the Tethyan Himalaya (TH; the northern margin of Greater India). Twenty-six palaeomagnetic sites have been sampled in Triassic low-grade metasediments of western Dolpo. Two remanent components have been identified. A pyrrhotite component, characterized by unblocking temperatures of 270–335 °C, yields an in situ mean direction of D=191.7°, I=−30.9° (k=29.5, α₉₅=5.7°, N=23 sites). The component fails the fold test at the 99% confidence level (k_{in situ}/k_bed=6.9) and is therefore of postfolding origin. For reason of the low metamorphic grade, this pyrrhotite magnetization is believed to be of thermo-chemical origin. Geochronological data and inclination matching indicate an acquisition age around 35 Ma. The second remanence component has higher unblocking temperatures (>400 °C and up to 500–580 °C range) and resides in magnetite. A positive fold test and comparison with expected Triassic palaeomagnetic directions suggest a primary origin.The postfolding character of the pyrrhotite component, and its interpreted age of remanence acquisition, implies that the main Himalayan folding is older than 35 Ma in the western Dolpo area. This study also suggests that the second metamorphic event (Neo-Himalayan) was more significant in the Dolpo area than the first (Eo-Himalayan) one.A clockwise rotation of 10–15° is inferred from the pyrrhotite component, which is compatible with oroclinal bending and/or rotational underthrusting models. This rotation is also supported by the magnetite component, indicating that no rotation of the Tethyan Himalaya relative to India took place before 35 Ma.     

Rivers, chemical weathering and Earth's climate

We detail the results of recent studies describing and quantifying the large-scale chemical weathering of the main types of continental silicate rocks: granites and basalts. These studies aim at establishing chemical weathering laws for these two lithologies, describing the dependence of chemical weathering on environmental parameters, such as climate and mechanical erosion. As shown within this contribution, such mathematical laws are of primary importance for numerical models calculating the evolution of the partial pressure of atmospheric CO₂ and the Earth climate at geological timescales. The major results can be summarized as follow: (1) weathering of continental basaltic lithologies accounts for about 30% of the total consumption of atmospheric CO₂ through weathering of continental silicate rocks. This is related to their high weatherability (about eight times greater than the granite weatherability); (2) a simple weathering law has been established for basaltic lithologies, giving the consumption of atmospheric CO₂ as a function of regional continental runoff, and mean annual regional temperature; (3) no such simple weathering law can be proposed for granitic lithologies, since the effect of temperature can only be identified for regions displaying high continental runoff; (4) a general law relating mechanical erosion and chemical weathering has been validated on small and large catchments. The consequences of these major advances on the climatic evolution of the Earth are discussed. Particularly, the impacts of the onset of the Deccan trapps and the Himalayan orogeny on the global carbon cycle are reinvestigated. To cite this article: B. Dupré et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

西藏聂拉木高喜马拉雅结晶岩系的伸展变形

西藏聂拉木高喜马拉雅结晶岩系在区域上以单一的叶理和单一的拉伸线理占主要地位，其变形带的组构主要反映了透入性的伸展变形；根据显微构造分析表明早期由北往南推覆，晚期由南向北伸展，且晚期表现非常明显。     

VIETNAMESE AMERICAN PLACE MAKING IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA*

ABSTRACT. Vietnamese Americans have made places for themselves in Northern Virginia by reconfiguring the geography of the suburban places they inherited, including former high-order central-place nodes. Vietnamese American residences, churches, cemetery plots, and other distinctive ethnic markers are by and large dispersed and rarely noticeable. Their retail districts, however, serve them in multiple material and symbolic ways, not unlike suburban Chinatowns.     

南天山北缘麻粒岩残迹与辉石相韧性变形研究

对新疆北部南天山北缘蛇绿混杂岩带中麻粒岩的岩石学、矿物学、岩石化学、矿物化学、稀土元素地球化学特征及辉石相韧性变形构造的研究表明,榆树沟麻粒岩的共生矿物组合为透辉石-次透辉石-紫苏辉石-石榴石-斜长石,属基性岩类暗色麻粒岩,以低硅高钙为特征,稀土总量低,轻稀土与铕弱亏损,反映高温高压熔融环境和岩浆分异差的特点。麻粒岩及超镁铁岩中的辉石经历了强烈的韧性剪切变形作用,不对称辉石残斑系、动态重结晶辉石亚颗粒集合体、辉石变形双晶纹、鱼尾构造、核幔构造等显微韧变构造广泛发育。宏观和微观运动学分析揭示了一期从南向北的推覆构造。麻粒岩的形成与早古生代大陆地壳拉伸作用有关,辉石相韧性变形则与早古生代末南天山边缘海的挤压关闭和推覆逆冲有关。     

塔里木盆地北部天然气成因类型特征

塔里木盆地北部的天然气按成因类型主可划分为腐泥型，腐殖型和腐泥－腐殖混合型的气三种。其地球化学特征表现在烃类的组成，Ｃ６－Ｃ７的轻烃组成及 位素组成等有着明显的不同。主体为主成熟的腐泥型气，与海相原油密切共生；正常腐殖气与陆相原油密切相关混合型气与不同母质来源气的混合程度有关。     

大营子蚀变岩型金矿床地质特征及控矿因素的研究

大营子蚀变岩型金矿主档是冀北地区新发现的一种金矿类型。矿体赋存于太古代角闪角变质岩系，特别是变质闪长岩体周边及内侧，受ＮＥ、ＮＮＥ向剪切破碎带控制，常在其傍侧断裂形成羽状矿脉。     

Evidence for the thrust emplacement of the ‘Lesser Himalaya’ Chur granite,Himachal Pradesh

Numerous peraluminous and porphyritic granitic bodies and augen gneisses of granitic compositions occur in the nappe sequences of the Lower Himalaya. They are Proterozoic-to-lower Paleozoic in age and have been grouped into the ‘Lesser Himalaya granite belt’. The mode of emplacement and tectonic significance of these granites are as yet uncertain but they are generally considered to be sheet-like intrusions into the surrounding rocks. The small and isolated granite body (the Chur granite) that crops out around the Chur peak in the Himachal Himalaya is one of the more famous of these granites. Several lines of evidence have been adduced to show that the Chur granite has a thrust (the Chur thrust) contact with the underlying metasedimentary sequence (locally called the Jutogh Group). The Chur granite with restricted occurrence at the highest topographic and structural levels represents an erosional remnant of a much larger sub-horizontal thrust sheet. The contact relations between the country rocks and many of the other granite and granitic augen gneisses in the Lesser Himalaya belt are apparently similar to that of the Chur granite suggesting that at least some of them may also represent thrust sheets.