Middle Stone Age starch acquisition in the Niassa Rift, Mozambique

The quest for direct lines of evidence for Paleolithic plant consumption during the African Middle Stone Age has led scientists to study residues and use-wear on flaked stone tools. Past work has established lithic function through multiple lines of evidence and the spatial breakdown of use-wear and microscopic traces on tool surfaces. This paper focuses on the quantitative analysis of starch assemblages and the botanical identification of grains from flake and core tools to learn about human ecology of carbohydrate use around the Niassa woodlands, in the Mozambican Rift. The processing of starchy plant parts is deduced from the occurrence of starch assemblages that presumably got attached to stone tool surfaces by actions associated with extractive or culinary activities. Specifically, we investigate starch grains from stone tools recently excavated in northern Mozambique at the site of Mikuyu; which presumably spans the middle to late Pleistocene and represents similar sites found along the Malawi/Niassa corridor that links East, Southern, and Central Africa. Starch was extracted and processed with a diverse tool kit consisting of scrapers, cores, points, flakes, and other kinds of tools. The microbotanical data suggests consumption of seeds, legumes, caryopses, piths, underground storage organs, nuts, and mesocarps from more than a dozen families. Our data suggest a great antiquity for starch use in Africa as well as an expanded diet and intensification.     

Sedimentary petrology and geochemistry of siliciclastic rocks from the upper Jurassic Tordillo Formation (Neuquén Basin, western Argentina): Implications for provenance and tectonic setting

The Upper Jurassic Tordillo Formation is exposed along the western edge of the Neuquén Basin (west central Argentina) and consists of fluvial strata deposited under arid/semiarid conditions. The pebble composition of conglomerates, mineralogical composition of sandstones and pelitic rocks, and major- and trace-element geochemistry of sandstones, mudstones, and primary pyroclastic deposits are evaluated to determine the provenance and tectonic setting of the sedimentary basin. Conglomerates and sandstones derived almost exclusively from volcanic sources. The stratigraphic sections to the south show a clast population of conglomerates dominated by silicic volcanic fragments and a predominance of feldspathic litharenites. This framework composition records erosion of Triassic–Jurassic synrift volcaniclastic rocks and basement rocks from the Huincul arch, which was exhumed as a result of Late Jurassic inversion. In the northwestern part of the study area, conglomerates show a large proportion of mafic and acidic volcanic rock fragments, and sandstones are characterised by a high content of mafic volcanic rock fragments and plagioclase. These data suggest that the source of the sandstones and conglomerates was primarily the Andean magmatic arc, located west of the Neuquén Basin. The clay mineral assemblage is interpreted as the result of a complex set of factors, including source rock, climate, transport, and diagenesis. Postdepositional processes produced significant variations in the original compositions, especially the fine-grained deposits. The Tordillo sediments are characterised by moderate SiO₂ contents, variable abundances of K₂O and Na₂O, and a relatively high proportion of ferromagnesian elements. The degree of chemical weathering in the source area, expressed as the chemical index of alteration, is low to moderate. The major element geochemistry and Th/Sc, K/Rb, Co/Th, La/Sc, and Cr/Th values point to a significant input of detrital volcanic material of calcalkaline felsic and intermediate composition. However, major element geochemistry is not useful for interpreting the tectonic setting. Discrimination plots based on immobile trace elements, such as Ti, Zr, La, Sc, and Th, show that most data lie in the active continental margin field. Geochemical information is not sufficiently sensitive to differentiate the two different source areas recognized by petrographic and modal analyses of conglomerates and sandstones.     

四川盆地白垩纪沙漠石英沙颗粒表面特征

石英具有较大的硬度和较高的化学稳定性，因而其颗粒表面特征能很好地反映沉积环境。而通过扫描电镜研究石英颗粒表面微细特征是分析沉积环境行之有效的方法。虽然多数人认为四川盆地白垩纪地层存在沙漠沉积(打儿凼组和夹关组)，但仍有人对沙漠沉积的存在持怀疑态度，并认为是河流成三角洲沉积。过去关于其沉积环境的判别主要是根据沉积结构和构造，并未对其石英沙颗粒表面特征进行过系统分析。笔者对采自四川盆地白垩系不同层位地层的样品进行了石英沙颗粒表面特征系统分析。结果表明，石英沙颗粒表面特征分析可以成功地将石英沙区分为风成和水成沉积。因此，本文从石英沙颗粒表面特征方面进一步肯定了四川盆地白垩纪古沙漠的存在。     

程海断裂带断层泥中石英碎砾表面SEM特征及断层活动状态的分析

根据断层泥中石英碎砾表面SEM特征的鉴定研究，可将程海断裂中、北段断层泥中石英碎砾表面SEM形貌特征分为6类，这表明该段断裂经历了长期多期次活动，强烈活动时间在中晚更新世；5件样品中均未见破裂类(Io)的石英颗粒，表明程海断裂全新世以来强烈活动的频度相对较低。石英碎砾表面机械作用特征的分类统计研究显示：程海断裂中、北段晚更新世以来，断层所经历的活动方式以粘滑活动为主。     

The Relationship between Tectono-metamorphic Evolution and Argon Isotope Records in White Mica: Constraints from in situ 40Ar-39Ar Laser Analysis of the Variscan Basement of Sardinia

The basement of Sardinia represents a nearly complete sectionof a segment of the Variscan belt that experienced a polyphasetectono-metamorphic evolution and Barrovian metamorphism. Thisbasement is well suited to investigate the relationship betweentectono-metamorphic evolution and argon isotope records in whitemica. Micaschists from the garnet zone (maximum T of up to 520–560°C)contain two texturally and chemically resolvable generationsof white mica: (1) deformed celadonite-rich flakes, defininga relict S₁ foliation preserved within the main S₂ foliationor enclosed in rotated albite porphyroblasts; (2) celadonite-poorwhite micas aligned along the main S₂ foliation. The S₁ foliationdeveloped earlier and at a deeper crustal level with respectto that at which the thermal peak was reached. From the staurolitezone (T of up to 590–625°C) to the sillimanite + K-feldsparzone, white mica is nearly uniform in composition (muscovite)and is predominantly aligned along the S₂ foliation or is oflater crystallization. In situ ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar laser analysesof white mica yielded ages of     

Fluorine and chlorine in apatites,micas, and amphiboles of layered trap intrusions of the Siberian Platform

Geochemistry of chlorine and fluorine in apatites, micas, and amphiboles in rocks from eight intrusive complexes of the Siberian Platform has been first studied on the basis of new factual and analytical data (more than 1000 analyses). The main attention is focused on minerals from layered intrusions. Most apatites show F > Cl; the maximum contents of halogens are specific to chlorapatite (6.97 wt.% Cl) and fluorapatite (6.04 wt.% F). The total f value (f = Fe/(Fe + Mg), at.%) of femic minerals varies from 2 to 98 at.% in micas and from 22 to 95 at.% in amphiboles. The Cl-f and F-f trends show an increase in the Cl content and a decrease in the F content in the minerals with increasing f. Chlorine clearly exhibits ferrophilic properties, and fluorine has magnesiophilic properties. The halogen-richest minerals are fluorophlogopite (F = 7.06 wt.%, f = 7 at.%), chlorannite (Cl = 6.30 wt.%, f = 89 at.%), and chloroferrihastingsite (Cl = 5.22 wt.%, f = 90 at.%). Coexisting micas and amphiboles in the rocks are close in f value, but the micas are richer in Cl than the amphiboles. We assume that the halogen-containing minerals crystallized at the high pressure of halogen-hydrocarbon fluids at the levels of the MW, IW, and QIF buffers. The reducing conditions of the magmatism process are also evidenced by the presence of graphite and native metals in the rocks. The similarity of the Cl-f and F-f trends of micas and amphiboles from different intrusive complexes indicates the same mechanisms of the melt differentiation and mineral crystallization.     

蒋家沟泥石流堆积物的时代及成因

据石英ESR和~14C测年结果,蒋家沟泥石流堆积可分为晚更新世形成的古泥石流堆积和近代泥石流堆积两类。古泥石流堆积再分为早、中、晚三期。扫描镜下观察蒋家沟古泥石流堆积中的石英砂表面机械结构特征和现代泥石流十分相同,例如两者的颗粒都呈尖锐棱角状,粒面上均发育很好的贝壳状断裂结构、解理面、凹坑、擦痕(或擦沟)等,这表明二者的形成环境是相同的。     

A white mica crystallinity study of the Berwyn Hills, North Wales

Abstract White mica crystallinity studies have been carried out on 90 samples of mudrocks, six of spotted slate, and five of accretionary lapilli tuff from the area around the Berwyn Hills, North Wales. Strain was measured for some of the spotted slate and tuff samples. The metamorphic grade increases from southeast to northwest, with values of the Kübler index varying from 0.64 to 0.20Δ2θ. Metamorphic zonal boundaries follow the strike of bedding and cleavage, but crystallinity values increase into stratigraphically younger rocks on the northwest side of the Berwyn Dome. This effect is attributed mainly to a rapid increase in the thickness of synmetamorphic overburden to the northwest, comprising exposed Silurian turbidites and inferred Lower Devonian non-marine sediments. Strain variations have a more local influence on crystallinity, and lateral variations in the contemporary geothermal gradient cannot be ruled out. However, only with unrealistically high gradients would the need for a thick Lower Devonian component to the overburden be removed. This reasoning implies that the metamorphic peak was coeval with the Acadian (late Caledonian) event, rather than with an early diastathermal event.