Proceedings of the Special Meeting of the Geological Society on the 3rd November, 1931. With a Half-tone Block of the Pictures of the Grabau Medal.

In opening the meeting, the chairman made the following address: "It is my agreable duty to announce and make the award of the Grabau Medal to two members of our Society, Drs. J. S. Lee and Davidson Black. "The Grabau Medal was founded in 1925 by Mr. C. Y. Wang. the then President of the Geological Society. It was so named in honor of Dr. Grabau     

The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Turonian Stage of the Cretaceous： Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.A.

Following the recommendation of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (16 votes Yes [94%], 1 abstention, 2 votes not received), the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Turonian Stage of the Cretaceous System is defined as the base of bed 86 of the Bridge Creek Limestone Member of the Greenhorn Limestone Formation at the western end of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad cut near the north boundary of the Pueblo Reservoir State Park Recreation Area, west of Pueblo, Colorado, USA. This GSSP horizon is also exposed and protected in the adjacent state recreation area. It coincides with the first occurrence of the ammonite Watinoceras devonense, is in the middle of a global positive excursion in Carbon-13 isotopes, and is bracketed by widespread bentonites that have yield edages of 93 to 93.5 Ma.     

Geological characteristics, tectonic setting and preliminary interpretations of the Jilau gold–quartz vein deposit, Tajikistan

The southern Tien Shan metallogenic province of Central Asia hosts a number of important gold resources including the Jilau gold–quartz vein system in western Tajikistan. These deposits were formed at the late stages of continent–continent collision in association with subduction-related magmatism, metamorphism and continental margin deformation attributed to the Central Asian Hercynian Orogeny. Jilau is hosted by a Hercynian syntectonic granitoid intrusive that was emplaced into bituminous dolomite country rocks. Economic mineralisation is associated with a dilational jog within a high-angle, oblique dextral-reverse slip shear zone that was undergoing brittle–ductile deformation. The orebody takes the form of shear-zone subparallel quartz veins and lenses that emanate from a steeply plunging ore shoot of veins and stringers within a silicified and sulphidised granodiorite core. It is thought to have formed by a dynamic process in which fluid flow was governed by a fault-valve mechanism. Numerous cycles of fluid pressure build-up, fault failure, jog dilation, fluid flow, phase separation of low salinity H₂O–CO₂–CH₄(–N₂) fluids, and sealing took place. Gold appears together with scheelite and bismuth minerals predominantly as inclusions in arsenopyrite in quartz veins and altered wall-rock, and is mainly associated with quartz containing fluid inclusions enriched in CH₄. The correlation between high gold grades and high CH₄ concentrations suggests that components of the mineralising fluids were derived from, or passed through, the reducing, carbonaceous rocks in the contact aureole of the intrusive. The occurrence of Au and W in an adjacent Hercynian skarn deposit and in the Jilau orebody, infers that the ore metals in both these systems were ultimately derived from a magmatic source. Received: 15 April 1999 / Accepted: 30 December 1999     

An international conference in honour of the centennial of the birth of Ya.B. Zeldovich, “Subatomic Particles,Nucleons, Atoms,the Universe: Processes and Structure”

An international conference in honour of the centennial of the birth of Ya.B. Zeldovich, “Subatomic Particles, Nucleons, Atoms, the Universe: Processes and Structure” was held in Minsk, Belarus on March 10–14, 2014. Scientific papers based on plenary presentations made at this conference are being published in Volumes 6 and 7, 2015 of “Astronomy Reports.”     

Hydrothermal fracture controlled vein type uranium mineralization in the Paleoproterozoic Bijawar Group of rocks,Sonrai basin,Lalitpur district,U.P. – Fresh findings from subsurface borehole data

Sonrai basin, located along the southwestern margin of Bundelkhand Granite-Gneiss Complex (BGC) is known for its base metal and phosphorite mineralization. Uranium mineralization of appreciable grade and thickness was reported in Pisnari block in the northern part of this basin during sub-surface exploration activity in 1976-97. This was in the form of uranium-bitumin association within fractures in the carbonate-terrigenous sediments of Gorakalan shale, Rohini carbonate and Bandai sandstone of Sonrai Formation of Bijawar Group. Similar mineralization was also noted within the lower chloritic shale member of Solda Formation of the same Group. During subsequent drilling activity at a later phase (2005-09), uranium rich zones within Rohini carbonate and chloritic shale members were corroborated by the interception of mineralized bands in two boreholes drilled near Pisnari. Petrographic study of radioactive core samples reveal that uranium mineralization is closely associated with globular carbonaceous matter and sulphides along the fractures. Uranium is either adsorbed in carbonaceous matter or occurs as ultrafine inclusions of coffinite within carbonaceous matter. An additional phase of secondary uranium mineral (uranophane) is also noted in one of the boreholes. The uranium minerals, in association with sulphides, fill up moderately dipping fractures (approximately 15o towards North) which are oblique to the core axis of the inclined borehole and thus, the mineralization is characterized as hydrothermal fracture-controlled vein type mineralisation. C-HN- S analysis of carbonaceous matter occurring in close association with the uranium minerals reveal heterogeneity in composition with respect to carbon and sulfur. The present paper aims at discussing the geological, petrological and radiometric aspects of this mineralization, so as to enhance the understanding of the same.     

Limits to the age of the Lapstone monocline,N.S.W.—a palaeomagnetic study

The age of formation of the Lapstone Monocline has been long considered to be late Pliocene/early Pleistocene (the Kosciusko Uplift) but it is now generally thought to be much older. Palaeomagnetic data from haematite‐rich beds within the Hawkesbury Sandstone on and about the monocline indicate that it formed before the oldest haematite was introduced to these beds. The age of this oldest haematite is 15 ± 7 Ma. On the basis of these data, the age of the monocline is unlikely to be less than 8 Ma, probably exceeds 15 Ma, and could be older than 22 Ma.     

A. V. Peyve — the founder of the concept of deep faults

The further development of Peyve’s concept of deep faults in the Earth’s crust and brittle part of the lithosphere is discussed. Three aspects are accentuated in this paper: (1) the modern definition of the term deep fault; (2) the parameters of deep faults as ruptures of the geological medium and three-dimensional, often boundary, geological bodies; and (3) reactivation of deep faults, including the development of this process in real time. Peyve’s idea of deep faults readily fitted into the concept of new global tectonics (plate tectonics). This was facilitated, first of all, by the extensive efforts made to elaborate Peyve’s ideas by a large group of researchers at the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GIN RAS) and other scientists. At present, the term deep fault has been extended and transformed to cover three-dimensional geological bodies; the geological and geophysical properties and parameters of these bodies, as well as their reactivation (recurrent activation) in real time, have been studied.     

Geochemical distribution and supergene behavior of indium at the Pingüino epithermal polymetallic vein system,Patagonia, Argentina

The Pingüino deposit, located in the low sulfidation epithermal metallogenic province of the Deseado Massif, Patagonia, Argentina, represents a distinct deposit type for this region. It evolved through two different mineralization events: an early In-bearing polymetallic event that introduced In, Zn, Pb, Ag, Cd, Au, As, Cu, Sn, W and Bi, represented by a complex sulfide assemblage, and late Ag–Au quartz-rich veining that crosscut and overprinted the early polymetallic mineralization. Three In-bearing mineralization stages were identified within the polymetallic event. Iron-rich sphalerite of the second stage is the major In carrier in the deposit. The spatial distribution of In within the veins shows its maximum mean values in the Marta Centro and Ivonne Norte veins, in a pattern similar to the Zn distribution, showing a close spatial relation with the unexposed Kasia intrusive complex. At the vein scale, and in the hypogene zone, the In distribution is associated with variations in the temperature of mineralizing fluids. The vertical distribution of In within the veins exhibits consistent values both below and above the oxidation level, resembling the behavior of Pb and Sn, and therefore suggesting that In behaves as an immobile element during vein weathering.     

Geology of the epithermal Ag–Au Huevos Verdes vein system and San José district, Deseado massif, Patagonia, Argentina

The San José district is located in the northwest part of the Deseado massif and hosts a number of epithermal Ag–Au quartz veins of intermediate sulfidation style, including the Huevos Verdes vein system. Veins are hosted by andesitic rocks of the Bajo Pobre Formation and locally by rhyodacitic pyroclastic rocks of the Chon Aike Formation. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar constraints on the age of host rocks and mineralization define Late Jurassic ages of 151.3 ± 0.7 Ma to 144.7 ± 0.1 Ma for volcanic rocks of the Bajo Pobre Formation and of 147.6 ± 1.1 Ma for the Chon Aike Formation. Illite ages of the Huevos Verdes vein system of 140.8 ± 0.2 and 140.5 ± 0.3 Ma are 4 m.y. younger than the volcanic host rock unit. These age dates are among the youngest reported for Jurassic volcanism in the Deseado massif and correlate well with the regional context of magmatic and hydrothermal activity. The Huevos Verdes vein system has a strike length of 2,000 m, with several ore shoots along strike. The vein consists of a pre-ore stage and three main ore stages. Early barren quartz and chalcedony are followed by a mottled quartz stage of coarse saccharoidal quartz with irregular streaks and discontinuous bands of sulfide-rich material. The banded quartz–sulfide stage consists of sulfide-rich bands alternating with bands of quartz and bands of chlorite ± illite. Late-stage sulfide-rich veinlets are associated with kaolinite gangue. Ore minerals are argentite and electrum, together with pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, minor bornite, covellite, and ruby silver. Wall rock alteration is characterized by narrow (< 3 m) halos of illite and illite/smectite next to veins, grading outward into propylitic alteration. Gangue minerals are dominantly massive quartz intergrown with minor to accessory adularia. Epidote, illite, illite/smectite, and, preferentially at deeper levels, Fe-chlorite gangue indicate near-neutral pH hydrothermal fluids at temperatures of >220°C. Kaolinite occurring with the late sulfide-rich veinlet stage indicates pH < 4 and a temperature of <200°C. The Huevos Verdes system has an overall strike of 325°, dipping on average 65° NE. The orientations of individual ore shoots are controlled by vein strike and intersecting north-northwest-striking faults. We propose a structural model for the time of mineralization of the San José district, consisting of a conjugate shear pair of sinistral north-northwest- and dextral west-northwest-striking faults that correspond to R and R′ in the Riedel shear model and that are related to master faults (M) of north-northeast-strike. Veins of 315° strike can be interpreted as nearly pure extensional fractures (T). Variations in vein strike predict an induced sinistral shear component for strike directions of >315°, whereas strike directions of <315° are predicted with an induced dextral strike–slip movement. The components of the structural model appear to be present on a regional scale and are not restricted to the San José district.     

Reservoir geochemistry of the Tazhong Oilfield in the Tarim Basin, China, Part II. Migration, accumulation and mixing of crude oils

Measurements of the absolute and relative concentrations of nitrogen-containing compounds in crude oils from different reservoir strata (Ordovician, Silurian and Carboniferous) in the Tazhong region of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China, showed that even though there are quite a number of factors affecting the distributional and compositional characteristics of neutral nitrogen-containing compounds in crude oils, the distributional and compositional characteristics of crude oils whose source conditions are approximate to one another are influenced mainly by the migration and fractionation effects in the process of formation of oil reservoirs. In addition, crude oils in the Tazhong region show obvious migration-fractionation effects in the vertical direction. Carboniferous crude oils are characterized by high migration parameters and low compound concentrations, just in contrast to Ordovician crude oils. This indicates that crude oils from shallow-level oil reservoirs were derived from those of deep-level oil reservoirs via faults, unconformable contact or carrier beds. Crude oils from the Tazhong region show some migration-fractionation effects in the lateral direction, but mixing of crude oils derived from different hydrocarbon source rocks in the process of formation of oil reservoirs made it more complicated the migration and accumulation of crude oils, as well as the formation of oil reservoirs.     

Revision of the stratigraphical position of the ‘Roches Argilo-Talqueuses’ (R.A.T.) in the neoproterozoic Katangan belt,south Congo

The outer sector of the Neoproterozoic Katangan Orogen of Central Africa is characterised by nappes thrust northwards, toward the foreland region, the major part of which occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The rocks called R.A.T. (‘Roches Argilo-Talqueuses’) are terrigenous clastics traditionally considered as the oldest stratigraphical interval of these allochthonous units. They are correlated with the terrigenous clastic sediments at the base of the autochthonous Katangan succession in Zambia to the south, which were deposited at the opening stage of the Katangan Rift Basin. The lower interval of the R.A.T. represents red beds, whereas the upper one was deposited in anoxic conditions. Therefore, they are called red and grey R.A.T., respectively. This paper presents stratigraphic, structural and geochemical arguments against the traditional stratigraphical view and demonstrates that the R.A.T. rocks are younger than previously considered. They are interpreted here as synorogenic sediments of the Katangan foreland basin.Olistostromes with R.A.T. olistoliths, which occur either interbedded within ‘normal’ R.A.T. sediments or overlie angular unconformities, testify to pronounced tectonic movements and palæotopography of the basin in which the R.A.T. sediments were deposited. The provenance of other olistoliths implies that, contrary to the previous views, the R.A.T. olistostromes are younger than the overlying rock complexes and the contact between the two is tectonic. Clastic dykes of the incompetent R.A.T. lithologies injected into the overlying competent units suggest that the former were partly unconsolidated sediments over-ridden by the Katangan nappes. Plots of the geochemical compositions point to two distinct tectonosedimentary cycles and two types of sources, each related to a different stage of orogen evolution. The terrigenous materials of the Katangan autochthonous strata (Roan and Kundelungu Groups) and correlative allochthonous units are derived from basement granitic and metamorphic rocks eroded during the opening of the Katagan rift basin. By contrast, the R.A.T. rocks are related to the closure of the basin. Their provenance is from the orogenic source-the Katangan nappes advancing towards the foreland region in the north.The autochthonous Roan Group rocks in Zambia and their allochthonous correlatives in DRC contain one of the richest Cu-Co deposits known. In accord with the previous correlation, the CuCo mineralisation in the grey R.A.T. rocks was considered of the same age as the Zambian deposits. However, the results presented in this paper imply that the grey R.A.T. deposits represent a second generation of mineralisation in the Katangan belt, younger than the Roan Group orebodies. The R.A.T. Cu-Co mineralisation is related to the anoxic stage of the foreland basin, and the advancing nappes containing Roan-correlative orebodies acted as the sources of the metals. In conclusion, points pertaining to the revision of stratigraphical classification of the Katangan Supergroup are proposed.