Au-Cu-Ag mineralization in rodingites and nephritoids of the Agardag ultramafic massif (southern Tuva,Russia)

Gold-bearing albite-amphibole-pyroxene rodingites of the Agardag ultramafic massif (southern Tuva, Russia) are confined to the E-W striking serpentinite crush zone. A zone of gold-bearing nephritoids is localized at the contact of rodingites with serpentinites. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, and fluorescent, chemical, ICP MS, and X-ray phase analyses were applied to study Au-Cu-Ag mineralization in the serpentinites, rodingites, and nephritoids. Copper sulfides, chalcocite and digenite, are present in the serpentinites, whereas gold and silver minerals are absent. Copper impurity is found in antigorite, Cr-spinel, and magnetite (up to 0.1-0.3 wt.%) as well as parkerite (up to 1.2 wt.%) and millerite (up to 7.9 wt.%). A wide variety of native gold and copper minerals has been identified in the rodingites: (1) cuproauride and tetra-auricupride free of or containing silver impurities (0.1 to 1.2 wt.%); (2) electrum of composition Ag0.50_-0.49Au0.50_-0.5₁ (650-660%c) intergrown with AuCu, sometimes as exsolution structures; (3) electrum of composition Ag₀._70-0.6₄Au₀._30-0.₃6 (440-510%c), with inclusions of AuCu and copper sulfides (geerite and yarrowite); (4) high-fineness gold (750-990%c) as veinlets in electrum; and (5) native copper. The composition of copper sulfides varies from chalcocite to covellite. Submicron inclusions of hessite Ag2Te were found in chalcocite. The amount of copper, gold, and silver minerals in the nephritoids is much less than that in the rodingites. The nephritoids contain chalcocite, electrum of composition Ag0.6_4-0.63Au0.36_-0.3₇ (530-540%c), cuproauride, and tetra-auricupride. The detected hypergene minerals are auricuzite, apachite, brochantite, high-fineness gold, native copper, and cuprite. The sequence of mineral formation in the Agardag ore occurrence has been established on the basis of mineral structures and mineral relations in the rodingites and nephritoids. It is proved that Au-Cu-Ag mineralization formed with the participation of Au- and Ag-bearing chloride-free low-sulfur carbon dioxide alkaline fluids in reducing conditions.     

Formation of methane concentration and electromagnetic-field anomalies in southwestern Peter the Great Gulf (Sea of Japan)

We report methane concentrations in the bottom water layer and the upper layer of bottom sediments and the results of acoustic explorations of methane seeps on the shelf bordering the continental slope of the Sea of Japan region, in which electromagnetic Schumann’s resonance oscillations were earlier recorded at continental-slope water depths of 500, 1000, and 2000 m. The occurrence of Schumann’s resonances at such great depths is explained by an increase (a factor of more than 25) in the electrical resistivity of a ~ 2000 m thick sediment layer with the pore space largely filled with free methane. A new method is proposed for determining the depth of the sources of anomalous concentrations of methane in bottom sediments or in the bottom water layer on a deep shelf. The method is based on recording Schumann’s resonances during measurements of the natural electric field at a series of increasing depths in areas bordering the continental slope.     

Permo-Triassic stage of alkaline magmatism in the Vitim plateau (western Transbaikalia)

We present results of geochronological (⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar, U-Pb SHRIMP-II, and LA-ICP-MS) and geochemical studies of alkaline rocks of the Amalat, Sirikta, Tsipa, Pravyi Uligli, and Verkhnii Uligli massifs in the Vitim plateau (western Transbaikalia). The formation of the alkaline rocks and the accompanying albitization are dated at 261-242 Ma. The isotope inhomogeneity (?_Nd(T) = + 8.4 to -1.7) of the alkaline rocks indicates the heterogeneous composition of the source of their material, having a depleted component, an enriched juvenile metasomatic fluid, and a crustal substrate.     

Geochemical evolution of the early Paleozoic collisional magmatism from autochthonous migmatites and granitoids to multiphase granite intrusions (Sharanur and Aya complexes,Baikal Region)

Overall petrologic and geochemical data indicate that the early Paleozoic magmatism in the Olkhon area of the Baikal Region exhibits diverse types of granitoids, whose time of formation is estimated at a narrow age interval of 500-465 Ma. This magmatism was responsible for the formation of both autochthonous gneiss-migmatite-granitoid suites (Sharanur complex) and multiphase intrusions (Aya complex) emplaced into the upper horizons of the continental crust. In major-element chemistry, K₂O/Na₂O values, and rare-element composition the migmatite-plagiogranites and calc-alkaline and subalkaline granitoids of the Sharanur complex are similar to the host gneisses and schists, as they were likely derived from melting of the ancient metamorphic substratum of the Olkhon series. In new isotope-geochemical characteristics (ICP MS method) the Sharanur granitoids are close to the first-phase biotite granites of the Aya massif, whose further geochemical evolution was governed mainly by intrachamber magmatic differentiation leading to the production of second-phase leucogranites enriched in HREE and HFSE (in particular, Ta and Nb) and depleted in Sr, Ba, Eu, Li, and LREE. The origin of the autochthonous and intrusive granitoids is related to early Paleozoic collision events within the Olkhon metamorphic terrane, while the formation of syncollisional granitoids is best explained by both melting of the crust protolith (Sharanur complex) and magmatic differentiation (multiphase Aya intrusion). All mineralogical and geochemical characteristics indicate that these granitoids are distinguished from rare-metal pegmatoid granites and Li-F and Rb-Be-Nb pegmatites, whose vein bodies crosscut the granitoids, and are regarded as middle Paleozoic rocks, which mark the transition to within-plate magmatism in the Baikal Region.     

The Late Paleozoic fold-thrust structure of the Tunka bald mountains, East Sayan (southern framing of the Siberian Platform)

According to the new geological, geochronological, and structural data, the Tunka bald mountains (East Sayan) have a nappe structure, which formed in the Late Carboniferous–Early Permian. The deformations have been dated by the ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar method on the basis of syntectonic micas and amphiboles, whose structural and spatial positions have been determined in oriented thin sections. The geometrical analysis of macro- and microstructures has revealed three development stages of the structures, which followed one another in progressive deformation. The first (thrust-fault) stage (316–310 Ma) comprised a group of N-verging thrust sheets. In the second (fold deformation) stage (305–303 Ma), they were folded. The third (strike-slip fault) stage (286 Ma) comprised high-angle shears, along which V-shaped blocks were squeezed westward from the most compressed areas. All the structures developed under near-N–S-trending compression. The thrusting in the Tunka bald mountains was coeval with the major shear structures in the eastern Central Asian Fold Belt (Main Sayan Fault, Kurai, Northeastern, and Irtysh crumpled zones, etc.). Also, it was simultaneous with the formation of continental-margin calc-alkalic and shoshonite series (305–278 Ma) as well as that of the alkali and alkali-feldspar syenites and granites (281–278 Ma) of the Tarim mantle plume in the Angara–Vitim pluton, located near and east of the studied region. Thus, the simultaneous development of the Late Paleozoic structures, active-margin structures, and plume magmatism in southern Siberia might have resulted from the global geodynamic events caused by the interaction between the tectonic plates which formed the Central Asian Fold Belt.     

松辽盆地营城组中基性火山岩成岩作用:矿物晶出序列、杏仁体充填和储层效应

利用露头和钻井资料,通过显微镜观测、化学分析和电子探针分析,研究营城组中基性火山岩的矿物晶出系列和杏仁体充填及其储层效应。本区中基性火山岩包括玄武岩、安山岩、玄武安山岩、粗面玄武岩、玄武粗安岩和粗安岩。斑晶矿物的晶出顺序为:橄榄石最早并几乎全部蚀变为蛇纹石、伊丁石和磁铁矿,仅保留橄榄石假象;辉石被斜长石包含或与之交生,说明辉石晶出有的略早于斜长石、有的与之同时。基质呈间隐间粒结构,为比斑晶偏酸性/碱性的板条状微晶长石堆积搭成格架、内充填玻璃质及微晶粒状矿物(橄榄石、辉石和磁铁矿)。基质结晶晚于斑晶,晶出序列为微晶粒状矿物→微晶长石→玻璃质。有单成分和复成分两种杏仁体。单成分者主要见硅质和钙质,具结晶世代性,为后生流体沉淀充填形成,可作为储层变差或非储层的标志。复成分杏仁体是原生火山玻璃固态下水合与蚀变作用的结果:包括蛇纹石/绿泥石-火山玻璃、石英-方解石-皂石/方解石和石英-绿泥石-方解石等组合类型,通常可作为储层改善或有效性增加的标志。中基性火山玻璃蚀变分为四个阶段:新鲜火山玻璃(折光率1.57)→水合火山玻璃(折光率降至1.53)→橙玄玻璃(铁镁质微晶矿物集合体)→新生矿物(石英、方解石、蛇纹石、绿泥石、皂石);由火山玻璃变为新生矿物的体积减小或孔隙增加效应为7%～10%。     

Source-area controls on the composition of beach and fluvial sands on the southern side of the Gibraltar Strait and Western Alboran Sea (Flysch Basin, Internal and External, Domains, Northern Rif Chain)

The southern side of Gibraltar and the Western Alboran Sea of the northern Rif coasts and rivers provide a natural field laboratory for sampling modern sand at different scales: small catchment basins (first order) and rivers draining mountain belts (second order). The Rifian chain represents a deformed and uplifted thrust-belt and related forelands composed of Palaeozoic nappes, metamorphic and plutonic basement, and their sedimentary Mesozoic and Cenozoic siliciclastic and carbonate cover, respectively. The present physiography of the Rif Chain is shaped by a rugged mountainous relief drained by different scale catchment basins that supply the nearby coastal and marine deep-sea environments. The analysis of the composition of modern fluvial and beach sands is useful for the interpretation of transported sediments by surface processes from the continent toward coasts and later to deep-water environments.Modern beach and fluvial sands of the southern side of Gibraltar and the Western Alboran Sea display three distinct petrologic littoral provinces, from the east to the west and from the north to the south, respectively, designated as: (i) the Tangier–Bel Younech Littoral Province with 90% of sand derived from erosion of Flysch Nappes (Flysch Basin Domain); (ii) the Bel Younech–Sebta Littoral Province with 64% of sand fed mainly by the metamorphic Units of Upper Sebtides and (iii) the Sebta–Ras Mazari Littoral Province with 74% of sand supplied from the epimetamorphic Palaeozoic Ghomaride Nappes and Alpine cover rather than Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary successions of the “Dorsale Calcaire” Units. Comparison of detrital modes of fluvial and coastal marine environments highlights their dispersal pathways and drainage patterns of actualistic sand petrofacies.