Understanding the relative impacts of natural processes and human activities on the hydrology of the Central Rift Valley lakes,East Africa

Significant changes have been observed in the hydrology of Central Rift Valley (CRV) lakes in Ethiopia, East Africa as a result of both natural processes and human activities during the past three decades. This study applied an integrated approach (remote sensing, hydrologic modelling, and statistical analysis) to understand the relative effects of natural processes and human activities over a sparsely gauged CRV basin. Lake storage estimates were calculated from a hydrologic model constructed without inputs from human impacts such as water abstraction and compared with satellite‐based (observed) lake storage measurements to characterize the magnitude of human‐induced impacts. A non‐parametric Mann–Kendall test was used to detect the presence of climatic trends (e.g. a decreasing or increasing trends in precipitation), while the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) analysis was used to assess the long‐term, inter‐annual climate variability within the basin. Results indicate human activities (e.g. abstraction) significantly contributed to the changes in the hydrology of the lakes, while no statistically significant climatic trend was seen in the basin, however inter‐annual natural climate variability, extreme dryness, and prolonged drought has negatively affected the lakes. The relative contributions of natural and human‐induced impacts on the lakes were quantified and evaluated by comparing hydrographs of the CRV lakes. Lake Abiyata has lost ~6.5 m in total lake height between 1985 and 2006, 70% (~4.5 m) of the loss has been attributed to human‐induced causes, whereas the remaining 30% is related to natural climate variability. The relative impact analysis utilized in this study could potentially be used to better plan and create effective water‐management practices in the basin and demonstrates the utility of this integrated methodology for similar studies assessing the relative natural and human‐induced impacts on lakes in data sparse areas. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内蒙古东乌旗早二叠世超镁铁岩的发现及其构造意义

为研究东乌旗晚古生代地幔性质和造山演化特征,对在东乌旗西部首次发现的超镁铁岩—辉闪橄榄岩进行系统的岩相学和元素地球化学研究。东乌旗辉闪橄榄岩主要由橄榄石、角闪石、斜方辉石及少量斜长石、单斜辉石组成,SiO_2含量介于42.84%~43.96%、MgO(24.10%~26.10%)、Na_2O+K_2O(1.52%~2.32%,小于3.5%),低m/f(3.03~3.54)比值和高FeO~T(12.67%~14.33%)的含量、高Mg~#(76.42~79.20),属铁质超镁铁岩和拉斑玄武岩系列。岩石稀土总量较高(∑REE=39.57×10~(-6)~83.32×10~(-6)),轻稀土(LREE)相对于重稀土(HREE)明显富集[(La/Yb)_N=4.04~7.66],Eu异常不明显(δEu=0.90~0.95),稀土元素球粒陨石标准化配分模式表现为轻稀土相对富集的右倾型。岩石富集大离子亲石元素(LILE)Cs、Rb、Ba、Sr、K等,相对亏损高场强元素(HFSE)Nb、Ta,具明显的Nb、Ta、Ti负异常,而又有别于强烈Nb、Ta亏损的岛弧岩浆岩;相容元素Cr(769×10~(-6)~2480×10~(-6))、Ni(454×10~(-6)~901×10~(-6))含量较高;低Th/U(2.54~3.03)、Nb/U(3.40~12.85)比值和高La/Nb(2.60~3.63)、Ba/Nb(43.11~72.52)、Zr/Y(5.45~7.83)比值。综上,结合区域最新研究成果,我们认为辉闪橄榄岩来源于受俯冲流体交代的尖晶石相地幔橄榄岩部分熔融,上升过程中受地壳物质不同程度的混染,形成于早二叠世板内伸展构造体制,与古亚洲洋闭合之后板内非造山作用有关。这一认识填补了早二叠世幔源岩浆事件和非造山阶段超镁铁质岩石记录的空白。     

The variation of crustal stretching and different modes of rifting along the Australian southern continental margin

The southern margin of Australia is a passive continental margin, formed during a Late Jurassic–Cretaceous rifting phase. The development of this passive margin is mainly associated with extensional processes that caused crustal thinning. In this work, we have measured the amount of extension and the stretching factor (β factor) across seven transect profiles approximately evenly distributed across the margin. The obtained results show that the amount of extension and the β factor along the margin vary from west to east. The lowest amount of extension, low–intermediate β factors and a very narrow margin are observed in the western part with 80 km of extension and is underlain mostly by the Archean Yilgarn Craton and the Albany–Fraser Orogen. The Gawler Craton in the centre of the south Australian margin is another region of low extension and low–intermediate β factor. The largest amount of extension (384 km) and the largest β factor (β = 1.88) are found in the eastern part of the passive margin in an area underlain by Phanerozoic Tasman Orogen units. Our results imply that there is a strong control of the age and thickness of the continental lithosphere on the style of rifting along the Australian passive margin. Rifting of old and cold lithosphere results in a narrow passive margin, with the formation of relatively few faults with relatively wide spacing, while rifting of younger, warmer lithosphere leads to wide rifting that is accommodated by a large number of faults with small spacing.     

新疆若羌县坡一超镁铁岩浆岩型铜镍矿床特征及远景展望

新疆北山裂谷带中出露有数量众多的镁铁-超镁铁岩,坡一铜镍矿位于北山裂谷金铜镍成矿带西部、坡北镁铁-超镁铁岩带西南部。经1989~2014年的持续勘查,坡北岩带中的坡一铜镍矿规模达到100万吨以上。笔者在前人工作的基础上,结合裂谷环境下成岩机制,分析了坡一铜镍矿成矿环境及成矿作用演化特征,树立了独特的多期岩浆成矿模式,建立了找矿标志,为成矿带镁铁-超镁铁岩浆硫化物型铜镍矿床建立了成矿模型,且对成矿远景做了探讨。     

祁连山新元古代中—晚期至早古生代火山作用与构造演化

祁连山地区的新元古代中—晚期至早古生代火山作用显示系统地时、空变化,其乃是祁连山构造演化的火山响应。随着祁连山构造演化从Rodinia超大陆裂谷化—裂解,经早古生代大洋打开、扩张、洋壳俯冲和弧后伸展,直至洋盆闭合、弧-陆碰撞和陆-陆碰撞,火山作用也逐渐从裂谷和大陆溢流玄武质喷发,经大洋中脊型、岛弧和弧后盆地火山活动,转变为碰撞后裂谷式喷发。850~604 Ma的大陆裂谷和大陆溢流熔岩主要分布于祁连和柴达木陆块。从大约550 Ma至446 Ma,在北祁连和南祁连洋-沟-弧-盆系中广泛发育大洋中脊型、岛弧和弧后盆地型熔岩。与此同时,在祁连陆块中部,发育约522~442 Ma的陆内裂谷火山作用。早古生代洋盆于奥陶纪末(约446 Ma)闭合。随后,从约445 Ma至约428 Ma,于祁连陆块北缘发育碰撞后火山活动。此种时-空变异对形成祁连山的深部地球动力学过程提供了重要约束。该过程包括:(1)地幔柱或超级地幔柱上涌,导致Rodinia超大陆发生裂谷化、裂解、早古生代大洋打开、扩张、俯冲,并伴随岛弧形成;(2)俯冲的大洋板片回转,致使弧后伸展,进而形成弧后盆地;(3)洋盆闭合、板片断离,继而发生软流圈上涌,诱发碰撞后火山活动。晚志留世至早泥盆世(420~400 Ma),先期俯冲的地壳物质折返,发生强烈的造山活动。400 Ma后,山体垮塌、岩石圈伸展,相应发生碰撞后花岗质侵入活动。     

Implications of structural inheritance in oblique rift zones for basin compartmentalization: Nkhata Basin,Malawi Rift (EARS)

The Cenozoic East African Rift System (EARS) is an exceptional example of active continental extension, providing opportunities for furthering our understanding of hydrocarbon plays within rifts. It is divided into structurally distinct western and eastern branches. The western branch comprises deep rift basins separated by transfer zones, commonly localised onto pre-existing structures, offering good regional scale hydrocarbon traps. At a basin-scale, local discrete inherited structures might also play an important role on fault localisation and hydrocarbon distribution. Here, we consider the evolution of the Central basin of the Malawi Rift, in particular the influence of pre-existing structural fabrics.Integrating basin-scale multichannel 2D, and high resolution seismic datasets we constrain the border, Mlowe-Nkhata, fault system (MNF) to the west of the basin and smaller Mbamba fault (MF) to the east and document their evolution. Intra basin structures define a series of horsts, which initiated as convergent transfers, along the basin axis. The horsts are offset along a NE–SW striking transfer fault parallel to and along strike of the onshore Karoo (Permo-Triassic) Ruhuhu graben. Discrete pre-existing structures probably determined its location and, oriented obliquely to the extension orientation it accommodated predominantly strike-slip deformation, with more slowly accrued dip-slip.To the north of this transfer fault, the overall basin architecture is asymmetric, thickening to the west throughout; while to the south, an initially symmetric graben architecture became increasingly asymmetric in sediment distribution as strain localised onto the western MNF. The presence of the axial horst increasingly focussed sediment supply to the west. As the transfer fault increased its displacement, so this axial supply was interrupted, effectively starving the south-east while ponding sediments between the western horst margin and the transfer fault. This asymmetric bathymetry and partitioned sedimentation continues to the present-day, overprinting the early basin symmetry and configuration. Sediments deposited earlier become increasingly dissected and fault juxtapositions changed at a small (10–100 m) scale. The observed influence of basin-scale transfer faults on sediment dispersal and fault compartmentalization due to pre-existing structures oblique to the extension orientation is relevant to analogous exploration settings.     

中亚陆间区南带上古生界构造和油气远景(代序)

安加拉-阿尔丹和华北-塔里木两大克拉通之间地壳相对活动性的地区,地质界多称为中亚陆间区,其南带大部分在中国境内。近年来,中国开始把其上古生界作为油气新区、新领域。多数人认为,其在晚古生代已形成过渡型地壳区,其中有许多地块已逐步拼合,在其上发育裂谷型沉积地质体,未受到区域变质,若干实体变形微弱并被上覆层掩盖而得到保存。源于上古生界的油气既可赋存在其内,也可运聚于中生界或基岩内,在其西段已发现了大中型油气田群。但其整体地质研究程度偏低,仍有许多重大区域地质、油气地质问题存在歧见。针对其近年来的进展、存在的问题和油气远景评价作了概括性的评论。     

Early Cretaceous trachybasalt-trachyte-trachyrhyolitic volcanism in the Nyalga basin (Central Mongolia): sources and evolution of continental rift magmas

As shown by geological, mineralogical, and isotope geochemical data, trachybasaltic-trachytic-trachyrhyolitic (TTT) rocks from the Nyalga basin in Central Mongolia result from several eruptions of fractionated magmas within a short time span at about 120 Ma. Their parental basaltic melts formed by partial melting of mantle peridotite which was metasomatized and hydrated during previous subduction events. Basaltic trachyandesites have high TiO₂ and K₂O, relatively high P₂O₅, and low MgO contents, medium ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr(₀) ratios (0.70526-0.70567), and almost zero or slightly negative ε_Nd(T) values. The isotope geochemical signatures of TTT rocks are typical of Late Mesozoic basaltic rocks from rift zones of Mongolia and Transbaikalia. The sources of basaltic magma at volcanic centers of Northern and Central Asia apparently moved from a shallower and more hydrous region to deeper and less hydrated lithospheric mantle (from spinel to garnet-bearing peridotite) between the Late Paleozoic and the latest Mesozoic. The geochemistry and mineralogy of TTT rocks fit the best models implying fractional crystallization of basaltic trachyandesitic, trachytic, and trachyrhyodacitic magmas. Mass balance calculations indicate that trachytic and trachydacitic magmas formed after crystallization of labradorite-andesine, Ti-augite, Sr-apatite, Ti-magnetite, and ilmenite from basaltic trachyandesitic melts. The melts evolved from trachytic to trachyrhyodacitic and trachyrhyolitic compositions as a result of prevalent crystallization of K-Na feldspar, with zircon, chevkinite-Ce, and LREE-enriched apatite involved in fractionation. Trachytic, trachyrhyodacitic, and trachyrhyolitic residual melts were produced by the evolution of compositionally different parental melts (basaltic trachyandesitic, trachytic, and trachyrhyodacitic, respectively), which moved to shallower continental crust and accumulated in isolated chambers. Judging by their isotopic signatures, the melts assimilated some crustal material, according to the assimilation and fractional crystallization (AFC) model.     

Controls on the formation of stratabound dolostone bodies,Hammam Faraun Fault block,Gulf of Suez

Dolomitization is commonly associated with crustal‐scale faults, but tectonic rejuvenation, diagenetic overprinting and a fluid and Mg mass‐imbalance often makes it difficult to determine the dolomitization mechanism. This study considers differential dolomitization of the Eocene Thebes Formation on the Hammam Faraun Fault block, Gulf of Suez, which has undergone a simple history of burial and exhumation as a result of rifting. Stratabound dolostone bodies occur selectively within remobilized sediments (debrites and turbidites) in the lower Thebes Formation and extend into the footwall of, and for up to 2 km away from, the Hammam Faraun Fault. They are offset by the north–south trending Gebel fault, which was active during the earliest phases of rifting, suggesting that dolomitization occurred between rift initiation (26 Ma) and rift climax (15 Ma). Geochemical data suggest that dolomitization occurred from evaporated (ca 1·43 concentration) seawater at less than ca 80°C. Geothermal convection is interpreted to have occurred as seawater was drawn down surface‐breaching faults into the Nubian sandstone aquifer, convected and discharged into the lower Thebes Formation via the Hammam Faraun Fault. Assuming a ca 10 Myr window for dolomitization, a horizontal velocity of ca 0·7 m year⁻¹ into the Thebes Formation is calculated, with fluid flux and reactivity likely to have been facilitated by fracturing. Although fluids were at least marginally hydrothermal, stratabound dolostone bodies do not contain saddle dolomite and there is no evidence of hydrobrecciation. This highlights how misleading dolostone textures can be as a proxy for the genesis and spatial distribution of such bodies in the subsurface. Overall, this study provides an excellent example of how fluid flux may occur during the earliest phases of rifting, and the importance of crustal‐scale faults on fluid flow from the onset of their growth. Furthermore, this article presents a mechanism for dolomitization from seawater that has none of the inherent mass balance problems of classical, conceptual models of hydrothermal dolomitization.