喀喇昆仑岔路口地区二叠系哑地层中发现化石

20 0 3年的 1∶2 5万地质填图和实测剖面工作中 ,在新疆喀喇昆仑山地区岔路口一带原划二叠纪加温达坂组哑地层中首次采到了大量孢粉化石 ,鉴定为晚二叠世早期。同时 ,对该套地层进行了重新厘定 ,划定为上二叠统早期神仙湾组 ,并对其沉积环境进行了探讨。     

The latest vertebrates are the earliest

The teeth, or elements, ofconodonts are among the most important Palaeozoic microfossils. Despite this, the biological relationships of conodonts have long remained enigmatic. Recent evidence of their soft anatomy, and of the ultrastructure of the elements, has finally revealed that they are vertebrates. These discoveries push vertebrate origins firmly back into the Cambrian and add a large cohort of specialists to the ranks of the vertebrate palaeontologists.     

Mineralized biota from the neoproterozoic Uluntui Formation

First finds of microfossils from the silicified microphytolitic carbonates of the Uluntui Formation in the southwestern Baikal region are described. They are represented by remains of the cyanobacterial community that formed microphytolites. These microfossils are accompanied by acritarchs probably belonging to green algae. The silicified microfossils are sufficiently well preserved despite complete and repeated recrystallization of host primary carbonate rocks. Main phases of secondary mineralization are related to hydrothermal-metasomatic processes, which were likely provoked by collisional events on the southern flank of the Siberian Craton in the Silurian.     

中国古生代鱼类微体化石研究二十年

回顾二十年来我国古生代鱼类微体化石的研究工作,该项研究由起步而后成为我国古生代鱼类研究工作的一个重要组成部分,填补了鱼类大化石涉足不到的许多研究领域、也填补了我国古生代微体化石研究中脊椎动物微体化石(主要指无颌类和鱼类,也简称为鱼类)这一重要的空白。我国已发现的古生代鱼类微体化石产自属于不同相区的54个岩组中,包括无颌类和鱼类共7个亚纲的化石。对这些鱼类微体化石进行了形态学、古组织学、生物矿物学、分类学和系统发育学的研究;在此基础上进行了生物年代学、生物地层学和界线层型的研究,特别是建立了志留纪、泥盆纪和石炭纪鱼类微体化石组合序列,个别成熟的岩段建立了生物带;研究了泥盆系-石炭系界线和二叠系-三叠系界线上下的鱼类微体化石;长兴煤山二叠纪末鱼类的集群绝灭发生的很晚,持续的时间很短,规模很大,绝灭率高达93%;华南早三叠世鱼类的复苏和辐射相当快,从绝灭期到辐射期仅用了1.3Myr到4Myr;塔里木盆地中古生代红色岩系应属于一种滨海环境、塔塔埃尔塔格组和依木干他乌组含软骨鱼群地层的时代为早志留世特里奇期(Telychian);利用贵州和塔里木盆地存在相近的软骨鱼群成功地进行了海相—非海相对比研究,从而判定软骨鱼群中至少存在一部分广盐性鲨类,两地具相近的软骨鱼群和塔里木盆地含有华南中古生代普遍存在的盔甲鱼类进一步表明华南板块与塔里木板块在中古生代应属于同一个古动物地理区。在综述所取得的成果的同时对今后的研究工作进行了展望。     

Marine mammals from the Miocene of Panama

Panama has produced an abundance of Neogene marine fossils both invertebrate (mollusks, corals, microfossils etc.) and vertebrate (fish, land mammals etc.), but marine mammals have not been previously reported. Here we describe a cetacean thoracic vertebra from the late Miocene Tobabe Formation, a partial cetacean rib from the late Miocene Gatun Formation, and a sirenian caudal vertebra and rib fragments from the early Miocene Culebra Formation. These finds suggest that Central America may yet provide additional fossil marine mammal specimens that will help us to understand the evolution, and particularly the biogeography of these groups.     

Carbonaceous filaments from North Pole,Western Australia: Are they fossil bacteria in Archaean stromatolites?

A sample of chert from North Pole in the Archaean Pilbara block of Western Australia contains carbonaceous filaments that resemble microfossils. These occur in alternating light and dark laminae that look stromatolitic. However, the filaments are too simple in form for their origin to be determined, so they should be regarded as dubiofossils, perhaps biogenic, perhaps inorganic. Their host laminae were inorganically precipitated in a concordant fissure and thus cannot be stromatolitic. This fissure is younger than the surrounding silicified sediments of the ca. 3500 Ma old Warrawoona Group and possibly formed towards the end of the uplift and associated fracturing of the North Pole Dome, perhaps ca. 2750 Ma ago. The filaments are therefore contaminants in secondary chert.The filament-bearing rock was collected less than a metre from one of the localities (B) from which Awramik et al. reported early Archaean microfossils and possible microfossils. Their filaments from this locality were almost identical to those described here and were found in similar laminae. This suggests that their locality B filaments may also be contaminants in secondary chert. Other filaments found by Awramik et al. at North Pole come from an imprecisely located sample site (locality A) where the rock relationships are unknown. Since the host laminae of these filaments are not demonstrably primary and as cryptic concordant fissures filled with secondary minerals are common in locality A rocks, the filaments from this sample site could be contaminants too. Those that were assigned to Archaeotrichion should be treated as dubiofossils. Thus, the filaments described by Awramik et al. may not be fossil bacteria in ca. 3500 Ma old stromatolites, as they proposed, and are not necessarily the oldest known fossil organisms, as has been claimed.     

Coccoid microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation (late Sinian) of South China

Eight categories of organic-walled coccoid microfossils in the c. 700-Ma-old Doushantuo Formation are described and named. Of these, one genus and species (Paratetraphycus giganteus) is new. Most of the microfossils are interpreted as being the remains of the Chroococcaceae and are morphologically comparable to those of the 650-Ma-old Yudoma microbiota and the 850-Ma-old Bitter Springs microbiota. These microfossils occur in non-stromatolitic cherts, adding preservational information to the study of Precambrian life.     

Upper gondwana succession of the Rewa Basin,India: Understanding the interrelationship of lithologic and stratigraphic variables

The current work attempts to address a century old problem regarding the stratigraphic disposition of the Upper Gondwana succession of the Rewa basin based on geological mapping and litholog preparation along well exposed transects. The proposed Upper Gondwana stratigraphy of the Rewa basin comprises a continuous and thick package of Triassic sediments unconformably overlain by the Jurassic Parsora Formation. The Triassic succession consists of a basal Pali Formation, an intermediate and newly designated Karki Formation and the overlying mud-dominant Tiki Formation. These formations are well defined based on physical attributes such as lithology, textures and sedimentary structures, and are easily distinguishable in the field. Based on stratigraphic correlation and fossil content, a Lower-Middle Triassic age has been assigned for the Pali and Karki formations, while the Tiki Formation is Upper Triassic (Carnian) in age. Preliminary observations based on lithological characteristics, sand body geometry and sand: mud ratios suggest that within a fluvial setting there were considerable changes in environments of deposition through time, especially during Triassic to Jurassic transition.     

Possible effects of iron oxide coating in the recovery of particulate gold from stream sediments

The influence of iron hydroxide/oxide coatings on the recovery of gold was studied using 13 stream sediment samples collected from an area of known gold mineralisation. Magnetic products collected from a Frantz isodynamic separator showed higher gold values than did non-magnetic fractions. An acid-treated magnetic product when run through the isodynamic separator yielded a significant amount of non-magnetic component which, when viewed by binocular microscope, showed the presence of gold grains in both bulk sample and in bromoform-separated heavy mineral concentrate. It is suggested that concentrates are treated with 10% HCl prior to magnetic separation where iron oxide coatings are conspicuous.     

Evolution of permeability and microstructure of experimentally-created shear zones in Neogene siliceous mudstones from Horonobe,Japan

We report experimental measurements of bulk permeability changes due to a shear zone that is induced in siliceous mudstones collected from the Koetoi and Wakkanai Formations, northern Hokkaido, which are known to show different relationships between fault/fracture distribution and groundwater flow. We evaluate distributions of volumetric deformation in the induced shear zones by using micro-focus X-ray computed tomography. Measured permeability evolution while achieving the peak axial stress for specimens differed for the samples of the two formations. Permeability did not change obviously during shear for the Koetoi Fm. specimens, but in the Wakkanai Fm. specimens, the bulk permeability increased by a factor of 2.5 after reaching the peak stress. The difference in permeability change in these experiments can explain the differences in relationships between in situ groundwater flow and fracture distribution for the two formations. Analyses of the X-ray images reveal that this difference should reflect the differences of the volumetric deformation in the induced shear zones. Pore collapse occurred in the shear zone in the Koetoi Fm. specimen, which leads to porosity reduction, whereas fracture damages developed in the Wakkanai Fm. specimen, increasing porosity. These differences in the microstructure may reflect differences in yielding criteria for these host rocks.     

Microfossils from cap dolomites of the Lower Vendian Churochnaya Formation in the Polyudov Range (North Urals): Paleoecological approach to interpretation of Late Proterozoic glaciations

Microfossils from silicified varieties of cap dolomites crowning the section of the tillite-bearing Lower Vendian (Ediacaran) Churochnaya Formation in the Polyudov Range (North Urals) are characterized. These microfossils are the first to be found from Vendian sections of the region and from all the terminal post-glacial sediments, one of the most significant global glaciation Marinoan of the African Glacial Era, when glaciers reached the equator. They are represented by remains of hormogonian and chrococcacean cyanobacteria as well as possible green filamentous algae. This microbiotic assemblage is of relatively low diversity, being composed of taxa with wide stratigraphic ranges characteristic of Proterozoic conservative microbiotas developed in shallow-water siliceous-carbonate facies. The lack of phytoplanktonic microfossils in this biota including Pertatataka-type acanthomorphic acritarchs or Ediacaran Complex Acanthomorph Palynoflora (ECAP) is also consistent with the conclusion on shallow-water deposition of the Churochnaya Formation. Moreover, most cyanobacteria representatives occurring in the latter are characteristic of shallow-water arid environments that confirm a theory of significant temperature increase during accumulation of the cap dolomites after termination of the above-mentioned glaciation. In addition to these microfossils, the cap dolomite member of the Churochnaya Formation contains filamentous and coccoidal pseudofossils formed under influence of post-sedimentary fluids. In their morphometric parameters, they resemble structures described from Archean sections as microfossil remains, which may be a key to interpreting their nature.     

土壤和沉积物中22种有机氯农药和8种多氯联苯的气相色谱分析

近年来地下水、土壤和沉积物等介质中有机氯农药和多氯联苯分析方法的改善主要集中在样品前处理和分析测试条件等方面,而探讨布点、采样等方面的整套方法较少。本文建立了一套适用性较广的气相色谱法同时测定土壤和沉积物中22种有机氯农药和8种多氯联苯,方法检出限为0.09~0.48 ng/g,平均空白回收率为58.7%~133.7%。针对布点、采样、运输、保存、提取、净化、浓缩、仪器测试、数据处理和提交报告整个过程阐述了方法的有效性和实用性;并对提取、净化、测试等多个环节提供了两种或更多的选择,使方法具有更大的灵活性。本文提出,布点前应根据踏勘样品和前人资料考虑采集不同深度的样品;样品的布点、采集和制备均需选择样品,它们共同决定了样品的代表性;分析方法要灵活运用,对于很少检出的目标化合物可采用允许共峰但分析快速的方法,如果有检出再采用针对性的方法分别测定;样品的测定序列不应为了节约分析成本而过于简单。     

华北克拉通南缘古元古代晚期汝阳群微体化石及其古环境意义:来自微细构造和生物标志化合物的证据

华北克拉通南缘古元古代晚期汝阳群白草坪组页岩中产出大量的具刺和细网状纹饰的球形疑源类,其中以Shuiyousphaeridium macroreticulatum与Dictyosphaera macroreticulata化石标本最具代表性.利用扫描电子显微镜结合光学生物显微镜对其膜壳微细构造进行观察,结果显示:膜壳表面的刺饰形态具有多样性分叉;其膜壳壁可能是由多边形网脊及膜层构成,而不是由多角形板片及膜层构成.同时通过对比研究,认为两种最具代表性的特征分子可能是同一生物不同阶段的产物.此外,通过对赋存微体化石页岩进行生物标志化合物分析,检测到的姥鲛烷/植烷比(Pr/Ph)大于1、伽马蜡烷丰度中等及生物标志化合物(C₃₀藿烷、C₂₇甾烷和三环萜烷),结合前人关于汝阳群沉积环境的研究,不仅指示了汝阳群微体化石群沉积古环境应为正常的海洋环境——滨海-浅海相,也指示了元古代真核生物已经存在,为重建微体化石群和探讨早期生命演化提供了重要的理论依据.      

广州市黄埔港区土壤中汞的形态分析及分布特征

采用化学浸提技术对广州市黄埔港区土壤中的汞进行形态分析,通过实验确定了可交换态汞(包括水溶性汞)、盐酸溶汞、元素汞、腐殖酸结合态汞、有机质结合态汞、硫化汞、残渣态汞的浸提条件,探讨了各种形态汞在表层及总量在垂直方向上的分布特征。分析结果表明,广州市黄埔港区土壤中汞以比较稳定的形态存在,活动态约占6%。总汞含量随深度增加而降低,总汞在垂直方向中的含量差异在一定程度上反映出汞受人为污染的影响情况。     

Geotechnical characterization of marine sediments in the Ulleung Basin,East Sea

The geotechnical characteristics of Ulleung Basin sediments are explored using depressurized samples obtained at 2100 m water depth and 110 m below the sea floor. Geotechnical index tests, X-ray diffraction, and SEM images were obtained to identify the governing sediment parameters, chemical composition and mineralogy. We use an instrumented multi-sensor oedometer cell to determine the small-strain stiffness, zero-lateral strain compressibility and electromagnetic properties, and a triaxial device to measure shear strength. SEM images show a sediment structure dominated by microfossils, with some clay minerals that include kaolinite, illite, and chlorite. The preponderant presence of microfossils determines the high porosity of these sediments, defines their microstructure, and governs all macroscale properties. The shear wave velocity increases as the vertical effective stress increases; on the other hand, porosity, permittivity, electrical conductivity, and hydraulic conductivity decrease with increasing confinement. All these parameters exhibit a bi-linear response with effective vertical stress due to the crushable nature of microfossils. Well-established empirical correlations used to evaluate engineering parameters do not apply for these diatomaceous sediments which exhibit higher compressibility than anticipated based on correlations with index properties. Settlements will be particularly important if gas production is attempted using depressurization because this approach will cause both hydrate dissociation and increase in effective stress.     

Paleomagnetic and palynologic analyses of Albian to Santonian strata at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant, and Khuren Dukh, eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Cretaceous terrestrial sediments deposited in a series of intracratonic basins across the Gobi Desert region of southern Mongolia and northern China contain a unique and diverse vertebrate fauna. In 1996 an expedition jointly sponsored by the Mongolian Paleontological Center and the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences revisited a number of famous vertebrate fossil localities in the eastern Gobi region of Mongolia and, as part of a broad geological and paleontological study, collected a series of paleomagnetic samples from measured sections at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant and Khuren Dukh, as well as from an unmeasured locality adjacent to Khuren Dukh. Expedition members also collected palynologic samples from Khuren Dukh and the adjacent locality. Paleomagnetic analysis shows that all the sites from which samples were collected display detrital remnant magnetization that is consistently normal in polarity. The measured Cretaceous magnetic directions are oriented to the east or northeast of the present day expected direction (declination 356.2°, inclination 65.2°), and they are wholly concordant with that expected for a mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere sampling locality, and with the directions for this period reported by other workers. These results, when considered in tandem with the known biostratigraphy, strongly suggest that the sedimentary deposits at all four localities in the eastern Gobi correlate to the normal polarity chron 34 (the Cretaceous Long Normal), which ranges in age from approximately 121 to 83.5 million years. Previous vertebrate, invertebrate and palynological data from Khuren Dukh suggest that the lower and middle parts of the stratigraphic interval exposed there (which have been assigned to the Shinekhudag Formation) are ‘Khukhtekian’ in age and correspond to the Aptian–Albian interval that can be broadly correlated to the older, Early Cretaceous part of the Cretaceous Long Normal, C34n. New palynologic data presented here indicate that these strata are no older than middle to late Albian. The rocks at Bayn Shireh (the Bayn Shireh Formation) have been assigned a ‘Baynshirenian’ biostratigraphic age that may range from Cenomanian to early Campanian. The magnetostratigraphy results presented here indicate that the strata at both the Bayn Shireh and Burkhant localities do not cross the Santonian/Campanian Stage boundary, however, as this is believed to lie at, or very near, the C34n/C33r reversal boundary. Thus, the Bayn Shireh Formation was most likely deposited near the end of the Cretaceous Long Normal Interval, no later than the latest Santonian.     

Tube fossils from gossanites of the Urals VHMS deposits,Russia: Authigenic mineral assemblages and trace element distributions

The occurrence, types, morphology, and mineralogical characteristics of tube microfossils were studied in gossanites from twelve VHMS deposits of the Urals. Several types of tube microfossils were recognized, including siboglinids, polychaetes and calcerous serpulids, replaced by a variety of minerals (e.g. hematite–quartz, hematite–chlorite, carbonate–hematite) depending on the nature of the substrate prior to the formation of the gossanites. Colonial hematite tube microfossils (~ 150 μm across,1–2 mm long) are composed of hematitic outer and inner walls, and may exhibit a cellular structure within their cavities. Spherical forms are saturated with Fe-oxidizing bacteria inside the tubes – probably analogues of trophosomes. Colloform stromatolitic outer wall surfaces are characterized by the presence of numerous interlaced filaments of hematite (2–3 μm diameter, up to 1–2 mm long). Between tube microfossils, the hematitized cement contains bundles of hematitized filaments with structures similar to the hyphae of fungi. Hematite–chlorite tube microfossils are scattered in gossanites, mostly as biological debris. They are typically 30 to 300 μm in diameter and 1 to 5 mm long. The layered structure of their tube walls is characterized by hematite–quartz and chlorite layers. Abundant filamentous bacteria coated by glycocalix and chlorite stromatolite are associated with hematite–chlorite tubes. The carbonate–hematite tube microfossils (up to 300 μm across, 2–3 mm long) occur in carbonate-rich gossanites. The tubes are characterized by fine (~ 10 μm thick) walls of hematite and cavities dominated by relatively dark carbonate or hematite. Carbonates may be present both in walls and cavities. Stromatolite-like leucoxene or hematite–carbonate aggregates were also found in association with tubes. Randomly oriented filaments are composed of ankerite. Single filaments are composed of individual cells, typically smaller than 100 nm across, similar to that of magnetotactic bacteria.Three dimensional tomographic images of all types of tube microfossils demonstrate a clear wavy microlayering from outer and inner walls, which may reflect segmentation of the tube worms. The traces of burrowing or fragments of glycocalix with relict spheres are typical of tube microfossils from gossanites.The carbon isotopic composition of carbonates associated with tube microfossils from hematite–quartz, hematite–carbonate, and hematite–chlorite gossanites average − 7.2, − 6.8, –22.8‰, PDB, respectively. These values are indicative of a biogenic origin for the carbonates. The oxygen isotopic composition of these carbonates is similar in all three gossanite types averaging + 13.5, + 14.2, + 13.0‰ (relative to SMOW), and indicative of active sulfate reduction during the diagenetic (and anadiagenetic) stages of the sediments evolution. The trace element characteristics of hematite from tube microfossils are characterized by high contents of following trace elements (average, ppm): Mn (1529), As (714), V (540), W (537), Mo (35), and U (5). Such high contents are most likely the result of metal and metalloid sorption by fine particles of precursor iron hydroxides during the oxidation of sulfides and decomposition of hyaloclasts via microbially-mediated reactions.     

Photodegradation of estuarine dissolved organic matter: a multi-method assessment of DOM transformation

A multi-method approach was applied to study changes in dissolved organic matter (DOM) at three estuarine sites with varying salinity, as well as changes resulting from experimental photodegradation. Following measurement of ultraviolet and visible absorption spectra of bulk samples, DOM was isolated using C₁₈ solid phase extraction. The extract was characterized using high performance size exclusion chromatography (HP-SEC) and molecular level characterization was conducted via direct temperature-resolved mass spectrometry (DT-MS) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The molecular weight distribution of DOM as determined from HP-SEC and ESI-MS varied between techniques, but generally decreased down estuary and with photodegradation for both approaches. Relative differences in molecular weight were significantly correlated with the ratio of absorption coefficients at 254/365 nm. Additionally, photobleaching was significantly correlated with mass spectral characteristics from both DT-MS and ESI-MS. Principal component analysis of DT-MS spectra showed that photoexposure removed different mass spectral characteristics depending on sampling site; however, upon photodegradation, the mass spectral characteristics of both marine DOM and terrestrially dominated DOM approached a common spectrum. We interpret this spectrum, characterized by fragments from aromatic and carbohydrate-like precursors, as photochemically refractory DOM. Our results show that multiple approaches that characterize different aspects of DOM can provide complementary information about its sources and transformation. More specifically, photobleaching results in decreased light absorbance, decreased molecular weight and shifts in the relative abundance of classes of compounds (and broad shifts in m/z values); moreover, these transformations result in photodegraded samples from a low-salinity site which are compositionally similar to samples collected from a mid-salinity site further downstream.     

Ostracoda as an aid in identifying 2004 tsunami sediments: a report from SE coast of India

Four short core samples were collected from the creek, estuarine regions of southeast (SE) coast of India affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami. The study is aimed to signify the importance of ostracoda species in identifying major natural events (e.g. Tsunamis) in the coastal regions. The presence of many marine ostracoda species in the beach areas and the comparative studies with earlier reports from SE coast indicate that these species were brought by the high-energy tsunami waves. The depositional feature of ostracoda species in the beach and estuarine region also infers on the nature and force of tsunami waves in a particular region. The results clearly support that microfossils can be used to identify the major natural events close to coastal regions.     

Granulite xenoliths from western Saudi Arabia: the lower crust of the late Precambrian Arbian-Nubian Shield

Mafic and intermediate granulite xenoliths, collected from Cenozoic alkali basalts, provide samples of the lower crust in western Saudi Arabia. The xenoliths are metaigneous two-pyroxene and garnet granulites. Mineral and whole rock compositions are inconsistent with origin from Red Sea rift-related basalts, and are compatible with origin from island arc calc-alkaline and low-potassium tholeiitic basalts. Most of the samples are either cumulates from mafic magmas or are restites remaining after partial melting of intermediate rocks and extraction of a felsic liquid. Initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios are less than 0.7032, except for two samples at 0.7049. The Sm-Nd data yield T_DM model ages of 0.64 to 1.02 Ga, similar to typical Arabian-Nubian Shield upper continental crust. The isotopic data indicate that the granulites formed from mantle-derived magmas with little or no contamination by older continent crust. Calculated temperatures and pressures of last reequilibration of the xenoliths show that they are derived from the lower crust. Calculated depths of origin and calculated seismic velocities for the xenoliths are in excellent agreement with the crustal structure model of Gettings et al. (1986) based on geophysical data from western Saudi Arabia. Estimation of mean lower crustal composition, using the granulite xenoliths and the Gettings et al. (1986) crustal model, suggests a remarkably homogeneous mafic lower crust, and an andesite or basaltic andesite bulk composition for Pan-African juvenile continental crust.