Socio-economic and Environmental Implications of the Hydroelectric Projects in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

This paper deals with detailed analysis of the fiasco created by the Tehri High Dam in Uttarakhand, India, particularly in terms of resettlement and rehabilitation of the local inhabitants. Aspects pertaining to the environmental issues are also discussed. Currently, the river valleys in Uttarakhand state of India are the targets of increasing hydroelectric projects. Virtually all rivers are being exploited for generating environmental friendly power. Having being learned the hard lesson from Tehri Dam, it has been decided to opt for such schemes in which comparatively little submergence and tempering with the fragile eco-systems is involved.However, our observations suggest that even in such schemes if due care is not taken they may turn out to be a failure.     

Extreme Rainfall Events and Associated Natural Hazards in Alaknanda Valley, Indian Himalayan Region

Introduction The Himalaya is considered to be the youngest mountains on the earth, and is tectonically very active, and hence inherently (geologically) vulnerable to hazards. Extreme rainfall events, landslides, debris flows, torrents and flash floods due…     

Growth of the Namche Barwa Syntaxis and associated evolution of the Tsangpo Gorge: Constraints from structural and thermochronological data

The eastern syntaxis of the Himalaya, Namche Barwa, is dominated by a north-plunging antiform which began to decompress/grow at approximately 4 Ma. New fission-track analyses on both apatite and zircon, combined with previous geochronological ages, indicate that the Namche Barwa Dome also extended laterally while growing vertically. Zircon fission-track ages range from 17.6 to 0.2 Ma and have a strong relationship to the main faults of the region, including the Tertiary Tsangpo Suture, with the younger ages inside the fault bounds towards the syntaxis core on the Indian Plate and the older ages away from the fault. Apatite ages reveal that the dome has grown laterally and now impinges over the older faulted margin onto the Asian Plate. The dome is traversed by the Tsangpo which has followed the trace of the Suture for over 1300 km from its source to the entrance of the dome near Dania. As the Tsangpo crosses the dome it departs from the Suture but rejoins it some 60 km northeastwards. We construe that the Suture has been displaced by the growing antiform and as a consequence, the antecedent river has been “dragged” in a left-lateral sense along the exhuming north-plunging dome. Restoring the Suture to its position prior to 4 Ma reveals a path of the Tsangpo eastwards across the present southwestern position of the Namche Barwa indentation. This geometric reconstrunction implies that the Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra were always one and the same river. In addition, the Tsangpo was tectonically forced into juxtaposition with a tributary of the Jiali-Parlung which it probably then captured. The capture was due to tectonic forcing, in the last 4 Ma, rather than headward retreat of the paleo-Brahmaputra as has been previously suggested.     

Crustal structure at the easternmost termination of the Variscan belt based on CELEBRATION 2000 and ALP 2002 data

The eastern margin of the Variscan belt in Europe comprises plate boundaries between continental blocks and terranes formed during different tectonic events. The crustal structure of that complicated area was studied using the data of the international refraction experiments CELEBRATION 2000 and ALP 2002. The seismic data were acquired along SW–NE oriented refraction and wide-angle reflection profiles CEL10 and ALP04 starting in the Eastern Alps, passing through the Moravo-Silesian zone of the Bohemian Massif and the Fore-Sudetic Monocline, and terminating in the TESZ in Poland. The data were interpreted by seismic tomographic inversion and by 2-D trial-and-error forward modelling of the P waves. Velocity models determine different types of the crust–mantle transition, reflecting variable crustal thickness and delimiting contacts of tectonic units in depth. In the Alpine area, few km thick LVZ with the Vp of 5.1 km s^− 1 dipping to the SW and outcropping at the surface represents the Molasse and Helvetic Flysch sediments overthrust by the Northern Calcareous Alps with higher velocities. In the Bohemian Massif, lower velocities in the range of 5.0–5.6 km s^− 1 down to a depth of 5 km might represent the SE termination of the Elbe Fault Zone. The Fore-Sudetic Monocline and the TESZ are covered by sediments with the velocities in the range of 3.6–5.5 km s^− 1 to the maximum depth of 15 km beneath the Mid-Polish Trough. The Moho in the Eastern Alps is dipping to the SW reaching the depth of 43–45 km. The lower crust at the eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif is characterized by elevated velocities and high Vp gradient, which seems to be a characteristic feature of the Moravo-Silesian. Slightly different properties in the Moravian and Silesian units might be attributed to varying distances of the profile from the Moldanubian Thrust front as well as a different type of contact of the Brunia with the Moldanubian and its northern root sector. The Moho beneath the Fore-Sudetic Monocline is the most pronounced and is interpreted as the first-order discontinuity at a depth of 30 km.     

U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronology and T–t–d history of the Kampa Dome, southern Tibet

Structural, petrographic and geochronologic studies of the Kampa Dome provide insights into the tectonothermal evolution of orogenic crust exposed in the North Himalayan gneiss domes of southern Tibet. U–Pb ion microprobe dating of zircons from granite gneiss exposed at the deepest levels within the dome yields concordia ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age populations of 506 ± 3 Ma and 527 ± 6 Ma, with no evidence of new zircon growth during Himalayan orogenesis. However, the granite contains penetrative deformation fabrics that are also preserved in the overlying Paleozoic strata, implying that the Kampa granite is a Cambrian pluton that was strongly deformed and metamorphosed during Himalayan orogenesis. Zircons from deformed leucogranite sills that cross-cut Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks yield concordant Cambrian ages from oscillatory zoned cores and discordant ages ranging from ca. 491–32 Ma in metamict grains. Since these leucogranites clearly post-date the metasedimentary rocks they intrude, the zircons are interpreted as xenocrysts that are probably derived from the Kampa granite. The Kampa Dome formed via a series of progressive orogenic events including regional ~ N–S contraction and related crustal thickening (D₁), predominately top-to-N ductile shearing and crustal extension (D₂), top-to-N brittle–ductile faulting and related folding on the north limb of the dome, localized top-to-S faulting on the southern limb of the dome, and crustal doming (D₃), and continued N–S contraction, E–W extension and doming (D₄). Structural and geochronologic variability amongst adjacent North Himalayan gneiss domes may reflect changes in the magnitude of crustal exhumation along the North Himalayan antiform, possibly relating to differences in the mid-crustal geometry of the exhuming fault systems.     

秦岭造山带的印支运动及印支期成矿作用

秦岭碰撞造山经历了长期的板块构造的俯冲-碰撞的构造演化,于印支期最终完成对接拼合,形成了统一的中国大陆,并由此转入陆内变形。众多Au、Mo多金属矿床的同位素年龄资料表明,印支期是秦岭的重要成矿期,其成矿作用明显受到构造演化的控制,反映特定的地球动力学背景和作用过程。秦岭印支期成矿作用不仅是中国东部中生代成矿作用的先导和开始,奠定了中国东部中生代成矿大爆发的基础,而且为碰撞期和碰撞期后构造体制快速转换的研究提供了依据。重视秦岭以及中国印支期成矿作用的研究,对正确认识秦岭成矿带的区域成矿规律、造山带演化的深部动力学过程,建立符合中国和东亚实际的印支期成矿理论体系具有重要科学意义。     

喜马拉雅山脉的地质地貌特征:来自SRTM数字高程模型和降水量数据的约束

利用GTOPO30和SRTM3数字高程(DEM)数据,提取了喜马拉雅山脉(造山带)的数字高程模型并对其进行了地质地貌的初步分析。从SRTM3数字高程数据提取出坡度数据,初步分析了喜马拉雅山脉坡度和高程的特征。数字高程和坡度图清楚地展现了喜马拉雅大型断裂带(构造边界)的空间分布特征。分析了中国气象局下属的西藏、青海、四川和云南4省区气象观测台站55年来的年平均降水量观测数据、喜马拉雅山脉南坡的年平均降水量数据、喜马拉雅DEM和裂变径迹数据,发现喜马拉雅山脉从东至西,年平均降水量逐渐减少,地形起伏逐渐变小,而高程渐次升高,与此同时剥蚀速率降低;从北至南,年平均降水量逐渐增加,地形起伏增大,高程快速降低,而剥蚀速率则急剧升高。这充分说明了喜马拉雅年平均降水量大的地区,地表剥蚀作用相对较强,年平均降水量小的地区,地表剥蚀作用则较弱,即:在喜马拉雅地区,长周期的地表剥蚀过程(可长达数个百万年时间尺度)和短周期(仅仅50年)的降水量观测是耦合的。     

北疆阿尔泰南缘泥盆系浅变质碎屑沉积岩地球化学特征及其形成环境

对于北疆阿尔泰地区泥盆纪所处的大地构造环境,目前仍旧存在不同观点。前人基于阿尔泰南缘泥盆纪火山岩地球化学研究,分别提出了活动大陆边缘和被动大陆边缘裂谷等不同构造观点。阿尔泰造山带南缘的泥盆纪浅变质碎屑沉积岩地球化学研究表明,该套浅变质碎屑沉积岩原岩主要为泥质或砂质沉积岩。尽管不同岩性样品主量元素含量不同,但其化学蚀变指数(CIA)小于75,成分变异指数(ICV)接近或小于1.0,斜长石蚀变指数(PIA)平均70,说明其源区物质比较新鲜,成熟度相对较低,化学风化作用较弱。同样,不同岩性样品微量元素含量差别较大,但表生过程中不活泼的微量元素比值却比较一致,轻稀土(LREE)中度富集(La_N/Yb_N=2.88～9.90),重稀土(HREE)比较平坦,并伴有明显的Eu负异常(Eu/Eu~*= 0.45～0.89)。绝大多数样品具有高的La/Sc(1～3)、La/Y(0.5～1)和Ti/Zr(10～35),以及较低的Sc/Cr(0.1～0.3)比值,类似于大陆岛弧相关环境碎屑沉积物。在La-Th-Sc和Th-Sc-Zr/10构造环境判别图解中,除一千枚岩样品外,其他所有样品均落入大陆岛弧区。以上地球化学特征明显不同于大洋岛弧和被动陆缘沉积物,说明该套浅变质碎屑沉积岩可能沉积于活动大陆边缘的大陆岛弧相关环境,为认识阿尔泰造山带泥盆纪岛弧增生构造演化过程提供了一个重要证据。     

河南省洛宁县寨凹钼矿床流体包裹体研究及矿床成因

寨凹钼矿床位于华北克拉通南缘的熊耳地体．矿床定位受马超营断裂带的次级断裂控制,矿体呈脉状贼存于太华超群石板沟组黑云角闪斜长片麻岩中。成矿过程包括3个阶段：石英-辉钼矿阶段（I）、石英-多金属硫化物阶段（Ⅱ）、石英-碳酸盐阶段（Ⅲ）,其中,I阶段为主成矿阶段。寨凹钼矿床可见2类流体包裹体,即水溶液型和含子晶包裹体;激光拉曼指示包裹体成分主要为H2O。从早到晚,流体包裹体均一温度从I阶段100～260℃,经Ⅱ阶段110～160℃．变化为Ⅲ阶段120—180℃．矿床总体属于低温热液矿床：流体包裹体盐度从I阶段的2～25wt％NaCl．eqv演化至Ⅱ阶段的6—30wt％NaCl．eqv．然后降为Ⅲ阶段的7～25wt％NaCl．eqv。I阶段均一温度范围宽广、流体包裹体盐度由双峰式演化为单峰式以及包裹体温度-盐度双变图的负相关性指示了流体混合是主要的成矿机制。寨凹钼矿流体包裹体以高密度、高盐度的低温低压流体为特征,是含CaCl,流体参与成矿的结果,热的岩浆流体与冷的含CaCl,的卤水的混合．导致了辉钼矿的沉淀。寨凹钼矿床地质和流体包裹体特征与侵入岩相关的成矿系统一致．指示其成因类型为与侵入岩有关的钼矿床．