Late Proterozoic to Early Palaeozoic supracrustal succession of Sierra Leone: an aulacogen at the western margin of the West African Craton

Three parallel zones of Upper Proterozoic to Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary-volcanic cover rocks have been recognized in western Sierra Leone. The Kasila Group m the SW ist metamorphosed to the granulite facies and grades into the Marampa Schist Group, and this in turn grades into the unmetamorphosed Rokel River Group in the NE. Prior to this investigation, these rocks were thought to belong to different ages; the most highly metamorphosed was thought to be the oldest and the unmetamorphosed, the youngest. This view is unrealistic since field mapping has failed to reveal any sharp contacts between them and all available age data indicate their involvement in the Pan-African (ca. 550 Ma) Orogeny A model is proposed involving an intracontinental graben (aulacogen) extending from western Sierra Leone into the adjacent territories developed about 1000 Ma ago. During the Pan-African Orogeny a portion of the aulacogen fill overlying the remobilized basement was subjected to a regional metamorphism and deformation. The grade of metamorphism and the degree of deformation decreased steadily from the centre of the Pan-African domain to the contact with the West African craton. The unmetamorphosed and mildly deformed to undeformed equivalent rests on the craton.

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Zusammenfassung Aus Sierra Leone werden drei Untereinheiten von oberproterozoischen bis unterpaläozoischen vulkano-sedimentären Schichten beschrieben, die nebeneinander liegen und ineinander übergehen.Die Kasila-Gruppe im SW, die bis zur Granulitfazies metamorphisiert ist, geht in die Marampa-Schiefer-Gruppe über, die wiederum in die unmetamorphisierte Rokel-River-Gruppe im NE überleitet. Vor dieser Untersuchung wurden diesen Gesteinen unterschiedliche Alter zugeordnet; die am stärksten metamorphisierten wurden als älteste, die unmetamorphisierten als jüngste Gesteine angesehen. Diese Betrachtung ist unrealistisch, da Geländekartierungen keine scharfen Kontakte erkennen lassen und alle erhältlichen Altersdaten die Einbeziehung in die Panafrikanische Orogenese (ca. 550 Ma) anzeigen. Es wird daher angenommen, da\ sich vor ungefähr 1000 Ma ein intrakontinentaler Graben (Aulakogen) entwickelte, der vom westlichen Sierra Leone bis in die benachbarten Territorien reichte. Während der Panafrikanischen Orogenese wurde ein Teil der dem remobilisierten Basement auflagernden Aulakogenfüllung einer Regionalmetamorphose und Deformation unterworfen. Die Stärke der Metamorphose und der Grad der Deformation nimmt vom Zentrum der panafrikanischen Region bis zum Kontakt mit dem westafrikanischen Kraton hin gleichmä\ig ab. Auf dem Kraton selbst liegen die nicht metamorphisierten, schwach- bis undeformierten Schichten (Rokel-River Gruppe).

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Résumé On a reconnu, en Sierra Leone occidentale, trois zones parallèles de roches volcano-sédimentaires, d'âge protérozoÏque supérieur à paléozoÏque inférieur. Le groupe de Kasila, dans la région sud-ouest, est métamorphisé dans le faciès des granulites; il passe progressivement au groupe des Schistes de Marampa, qui passe lui-mÊme au groupe non métamorphique de Rokel River, dans la région nord-est. Jusqu'ici, ces roches ont été considérées comme d'âges différents, les plus métamorphiques étant les plus vieilles, et les non-métamorphiques les plus jeunes. Ce point de vue s'est avéré incorrect; en effet, la cartographie n'a pas révélé de contacts nets entre ces roches et, par ailleurs, les données disponibles relatives à leur age relient leur évolution à l'oro genèse pan-africaine (ca 550 Ma). Le modèle proposé fait appel à un graben intra-continental (aulacogène) qui s'étend de la Sierra Leone occidentale aux territoires contigus et s'est développé, il y a 1000 Ma environ; lors de l'orogenèse pan-africaine, la partie du remplissage de l'aulacogène qui recouvre le socle remobilisé a été soumise à une déformation et à un métamorphisme régionaux. Le degré du métamorphisme ainsi que l'intensité de la déformation décroissent régulièrement du centre du domaine pan-africain jusqu'au contact avec le craton ouest-africain. Sur le craton lui-mÊme reposent les couches équivalentes non métamorphiques, peu ou pas déformées, du groupe de Rokel-River.

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The gravity field of the U.S. Atlantic continental margin

Approximately 39,000 km of marine gravity data collected during 1975 and 1976 have been integrated with U.S. Navy and other available data over the U.S. Atlantic continental margin between Florida and Maine to obtain a 10 mgal contour free-air gravity anomaly map. A maximum typically ranging from 0 to +70 mgal occurs along the edge of the shelf and Blake Plateau, while a minimum typically ranging from −20 to −80 mgal occurs along the base of the continental slope, except for a −140 mgal minimum at the base of the Blake Escarpment. Although the maximum and minimum free-air gravity values are strongly influenced by continental slope topography and by the abrupt change in crustal thickness across the margin, the peaks and troughs in the anomalies terminate abruptly at discrete transverse zones along the margin. These zones appear to mark major NW—SE fractures in the subsided continental margin and adjacent deep ocean basin, which separate the margin into a series of segmented basins and platforms. Rapid differential subsidence of crustal blocks on either side of these fractures during the early stages after separation of North America and Africa (Jurassic and Early Cretaceous) is inferred to be the cause of most of the gravity transitions along the length of margin. The major transverse zones are southeast of Charleston, east of Cape Hatteras, near Norfolk Canyon, off Delaware Bay, just south of Hudson Canyon and south of Cape Cod.Local Airy isostatic anomaly profiles (two-dimensional, without sediment corrections) were computed along eight multichannel seismic profiles. The isostatic anomaly values over major basins beneath the shelf and rise are generally between −10 and −30 mgal while those over the platform areas are typically 0 to +20 mgal. While a few isostatic anomaly profiles show local 10–20 mgal increases seaward of the East Coast Magnetic Anomaly (ECMA: inferred to mark the ocean-continent boundary), the lack of a consistent correlation indicates that the relationship of isostatic gravity anomalies to the magnetic anomalies and the ocean—continent transition is variable.Two-dimensional gravity models have been computed for two profiles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cape May, New Jersey, where excellent reflection, refraction and magnetic control appear to define 10 and 12 km deep sedimentary basins beneath the shelf, respectively and 10 km deep basins beneath the rise. The basins are separated by a 6–8 km deep basement ridge which underlies the ECMA and appears to mark the landward edge of oceanic crust. The gravity models suggest that the oceanic crust is between 11 and 18 km thick beneath the ECMA, but decreases to a thickness of less than 8 km within the first 20–90 km to the southeast. In both profiles, the derived crustal thickness variations support the interpretation that the ECMA occurs over the ocean-continent boundary. The crust underlying the sedimentary cover appears to be 12 to 15 km thick on the landward side of the ECMA and gradually thickens to normal continental values of greater than 25 km within the first 60 to 110 km to the northwest. Multichannel seismic profiles across platform areas, such as Cape Hatteras and Cape Cod, indicate the ocean-continent transition zones there are much narrower than profiles across major sedimentary basins, such as the one off New Jersey.     

川西坳陷新场气田储集岩的地质特征

四川盆地西部德阳市境内的新场气田,其纵向上分布有8个气藏,平面上相互叠置,是目前国内在致密砂岩中所发现的最大气田。笔者通过对新场气田砂岩储集岩的地质特征、成岩作用和储集条件的研究,气田的主要储集空间为次生的残余粒间孔和粒间溶孔,大部分砂岩的孔喉都能使天然气通过。天然气主要聚集在储集岩与围岩在物性上或孔隙结构上有较大差异的部位。因此,在勘探上,应该从单纯寻找高孔渗带转移到寻找物性差异带上来。     

The record of the Late Palaeozoic active margin of the Palaeotethys in NE Iran: Constraints on the Cimmerian orogeny

The Cimmerian orogen resulted from the collision and accretion of several Perigondwanan blocks to the southern margin of Eurasia between the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, following the closure of the Palaeotethys ocean. Remnants of this orogen discontinuously crop out in N (Alborz range) and NE Iran (Mashhad–Fariman area) below the syn- to post-collisional clastic successions of the Shemshak Group (Upper Triassic–Middle Jurassic) and the Kashaf Rud Formation (Bajocian). In NE Iran rock associations exposed in the Binalood Mountains, Fariman and Darreh Anjir areas include mafic–ultramafic intrusive rocks, basalts, silicoclastic turbidites and minor limestones, which have been interpreted in the past as ophiolitic remnants of the Palaeotethys ocean. Original stratigraphic, structural, geochemical and geochronological data, described in this paper, suggest a different interpretation. The volcano-sedimentary units of Fariman and Darreh Anjir complexes where deposited during Permian in a subsiding basin were siliciclastic turbidites, derived from the erosion of a magmatic arc and its basement, interfinger with carbonates and basaltic lava flows with both transitional and calc-alkaline affinity. The coexistence of magmatic rocks with different geochemical signature and the sedimentary evolution of the basin can be related to a supra-subduction setting, possibly represented by a fault-controlled intra-arc basin. The Fariman and the Darreh Anjir complexes are thus interpreted as remnants of a magmatic arc and related basins developed at the southern Eurasia margin, on top of the north-directed Palaeotethys subduction zone long before the collision of Iran with Eurasia. They were later involved in the Cimmerian collision during the Triassic. New radiometric ages obtained on I-type post-collisional granitoids postdating the collision-related deformational structures suggest that the suture zone closed before mid-Norian times. Deformation propagated later northward into the Turan domain involving the Triassic successions of the Aghdarband region.     

晚古生代右江盆地古岩溶作用研究

钻井、露头和区域构造资料的分析结果表明,晚古生代的右江盆地存在多期次的岩溶作用,通常具有1~3个岩溶旋回。这些古岩溶作用主要存在于上二叠统顶部、中二叠统茅口组顶部和石炭系顶部,其次是泥盆系的顶部。古岩溶作用的发生与黔桂运动、紫云运动、东吴运动等所形成的层序界面和低位体系域密切。研究区存在包括风化、区域性大气淡水溶蚀、区域性白云岩化、区域性古岩溶、区域性去白云岩化和区域性淡水胶结充填等6种岩溶作用的层序成因类型。     

晚古生代右江盆地古岩溶作用研究

钻井、露头和区域构造资料的分析结果表明,晚古生代的右江盆地存在多期次的岩溶作用,通常具有1～3个岩溶旋回。这些古岩溶作用主要存在于上二叠统顶部、中二叠统茅口组顶部和石炭系顶部,其次是泥盆系的顶部。古岩溶作用的发生与黔桂运动、紫云运动、东吴运动等所形成的层序界面和低位体系域密切。研究区存在包括风化、区域性大气淡水溶蚀、区域性白云岩化、区域性古岩溶、区域性去白云岩化和区域性淡水胶结充填等6种岩溶作用的层序成因类型。     

晚古生代右江盆地古岩溶作用研究

钻井、露头和区域构造资料的分析结果表明,晚古生代的右江盆地存在多期次的岩溶作用,通常具有1～3个岩溶旋回。这些古岩溶作用主要存在于上二叠统顶部、中二叠统茅口组顶部和石炭系顶部,其次是泥盆系的顶部。古岩溶作用的发生与黔桂运动、紫云运动、东吴运动等所形成的层序界面和低位体系域密切。研究区存在包括风化、区域性大气淡水溶蚀、区域性白云岩化、区域性古岩溶、区域性去白云岩化和区域性淡水胶结充填等6种岩溶作用的层序成因类型。     

Late Neogene low-angle thrusting on the northwestern margin of the South Carpathians (Poiana Rusca, West Romania)

Mineral exploration drillholes and geoelectric prospecting provide for the first time evidence for thrusting of the South Carpathian Paleozoic basement over northerly adjacent Middle Miocene sediments. Investigations were carried out in two locations, 30 km apart, along the northern margin of the Poiana Rusca Mountains, Romania, southwestern Carpathians. Drill holes in both locations encountered weakly consolidated Middle Miocene clay, sand, and fine gravel below Paleozoic low-grade metamorphic rocks. Intersections from various drill holes demonstrate the presence of low-angle thrusting. Kinematic indicators are so far lacking, but with a thrust direction oriented roughly normal to strike of the Poiana Rusca Mountains, minimum displacement is 1–1.4 km in northwestern or northern direction, respectively. Thrusting occurred most likely during the Late Miocene–Pliocene, whereafter Quaternary regional uplift dissected the thrust plane. In the tectonic framework of Neogene dextral translation of the Tisza–Dacia Block against the southerly adjacent Moesian Platform, transtension appears responsible for Middle Miocene basin formation along the northern margin of the Poiana Rusca region. Proceeding collision of the Tisza–Dacia Block with the East European Craton introduced stronger impingement of the Tisza–Dacia Block against the Moesian Platform, leading to a Late Miocene–Pliocene transpressional regime, in which the northern Poiana Rusca basement was thrust over its adjacent Middle Miocene sediments.     

塔东古生界储层中流体包裹体特征

塔东地区不同构造带上代表性钻井下古生界储层的流体包裹体拉曼光谱成分表明,大量液态烃、气液两相烃、含烃盐水及沥青存在于下古生界储层中,表明英吉苏凹陷曾经有过油气的生成,古城鼻隆和塔东低凸起曾经有过油气的充注。米兰1井与古城4井含烃流体包裹体拉曼成分的不同,说明它们可能具有不同的油气来源。古城4井寒武系与奥陶系储层中流体包裹体成分的明显差异,表明二者间存在流体封隔层。     

Metamorphism of an Early Palaeozoic continental margin, western Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland

Metamorphic mineral assemblages and textures from Early Palaeozoic continental margin rocks in north-western Newfoundland indicate that different structural levels have contrasting metamorphic histories. Rocks of the East Pond Metamorphic Suite, which represent the older, structurally lower level of the margin, experienced an early high-pressure–low-temperature stage of metamorphism (10–12 kbar minimum, 450–500°C) which produced eclogite in mafic dykes and phengite–garnet assemblages in pelites. This was overprinted by higher temperature–lower pressure amphibolite facies metamorphism (700–750°C, 7–9 kbar minimum) which produced complex symplectic textures in rocks of all compositions. Rocks of the Fleur de Lys Supergroup, which were deposited in the stratigraphically higher levels of the rifted margin, reached pressures of 7–8.5 kbar at about 450°C during the early stages of metamorphism, overprinted by assemblages which indicate maximum temperatures of 550–600°C at about 6.5 kbar. The metamorphic history of both units is interpreted to be the result of thermal relaxation following initial burial of a continental margin by overriding thrust sheets. Since there is no evidence that maximum pressures or temperatures within the Fleur de Lys Supergroup were ever as high as those reached in the East Pond Metamorphic Suite, these rocks may have followed parallel, 'nested' P–T–t paths, with the more deeply buried East Pond Metamorphic Suite subjected to greater thermal relaxation effects. Quantitative modelling of P–T–t paths is not possible with the present data, owing to both large uncertainties in P–T estimates, and in the time of metamorphism.     

Geochemical assessment of hydrocarbon migration phenomena: Case studies from the south-western margin of the Dead Sea Basin

Calcite veins with fluid and solid bitumen inclusions have been discovered in the south-western shoulder of the Dead Sea rift within the Masada-Zohar block, where hydrocarbons exist in small commercial gas fields and non-commercial fields of heavy and light oils. The gas–liquid inclusions in calcite are dominated either by methane or CO₂, and aqueous inclusions sometimes bear minor dissolved hydrocarbons. The enclosed flake-like solid bitumen matter is a residue of degraded oil, which may be interpreted as “dead carbon”. About 2/3 of this matter is soot-like amorphous carbon and 1/3 consists of n-C₈C₁₈ carboxylic acids and traces of n-alkanes, light dicarboxylic acids, and higher molecular weight (>C₂₀) branched and/or cyclic carboxylic acids. Both bitumen and the host calcites show genetic relationship with mature Maastrichtian chalky source rocks (MCSRs) evident in isotopic compositions (δ¹³C, δ³⁴S, and δ¹⁸O) and in REE + Y patterns. The bitumen precursor may have been heavy sulfur-rich oil which was generated during the burial compaction of the MCSR strata within the subsided blocks of the Dead Sea graben. The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values and REE + Y signatures in calcites indicate mixing of deep buried fluids equilibrated with post-mature sediments and meteoric waters. The temperatures of fluid generation according to Mg–Li-geothermometer data range from 55 °С to 90 °С corresponding to the 2.5–4.0 km depths, and largely overlap with the oil window range (60–90 °С) in the Dead Sea rift (Hunt, 1996; Gvirtzman and Stanislavsky, 2000; Buryakovsky et al., 2005). The bitumen-rich vein calcites originated in the course of Late Cenozoic rifting and related deformation, when tectonic stress triggers damaged small hydrocarbon reservoirs in the area, produced pathways, and caused hydrocarbon-bearing fluids to rise to the subsurface; the fluids filled open fractures and crystallized to calcite with entrapped bitumen. The reported results are in good agreement with the existing views of maturation, migration, and accumulation of hydrocarbons, as well as basin fluid transport processes in the Dead Sea area.     

Dating of detrital zircon grains and fossils from Late Palaeozoic sediments of the Baruo area,Tibet: constraints on the Late Palaeozoic evolution of the Lhasa terrane

ABSTRACT

To determine the Late Palaeozoic evolution of the Lhasa terrane, we report the results of field mapping, petrological and fossil investigations, and U–Pb dating of detrital zircon grains (n = 474) from lower-greenschist-facies clastic rocks of the Lagar Formation in the Baruo area, Tibet. Our results indicate that the Lagar Formation was deposited during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian in a shallow-marine environment on the northern margin of Gondwana. Glacial marine diamictites are common within the Lagar Formation and record glaciation of Gondwana during the Late Palaeozoic. Moreover, the detrital materials of the Lagar formation originated mostly from the collision orogenic belt. The ages of detrital zircon grains from the Lagar Formation make up five main groups with ages of 410–540 Ma, 550–650 Ma, 800–1100 Ma, 1600–1800 Ma, and 2300–2500 Ma, which display three characteristic age peaks at ~1150, 2390 and 2648 Ma. We tentatively suggest that the Lhasa terrane was a shallow-marine basin under the influence of the Gondwanan glaciation during the Late Carboniferous–Early Permian.     

构造应力场、流体势场对柴达木盆地西部油气运聚的控制作用

运用多孔介质渗流理论和构造应力场驱动油气运移的流固耦合分析方法对柴达木盆地西部的构造应力场及流体运移势进行了数值模拟,揭示盆地西部油气运聚的规律是:①区域主要构造格架或构造体系控制了构造压力低值区的展布,二级构造压力低值区的边界为近南北和北北东向;②由浅层向深层,构造压力低值区的范围有逐渐扩大的趋势;③盆地西南部油区棋盘格式构造的结点为构造压力低值区;④不同构造层油气流矢量聚集区往往都是构造压力的低值区和油气聚集的有利部位。     

构造应力场、流体势场对柴达木盆地西部油气运聚的控制作用

运用多孔介质渗流理论和构造应力场驱动油气运移的流固耦合分析方法对柴达木盆地西部的构造应力场及流体运移势进行了数值模拟,揭示盆地西部油气运聚的规律是:①区域主要构造格架或构造体系控制了构造压力低值区的展布,二级构造压力低值区的边界为近南北和北北东向;②由浅层向深层,构造压力低值区的范围有逐渐扩大的趋势;③盆地西南部油区棋盘格式构造的结点为构造压力低值区;④不同构造层油气流矢量聚集区往往都是构造压力的低值区和油气聚集的有利部位.     

Structure of the Late Palaeozoic Coffs Harbour Beds,northeastern New South Wales

F₁ macroscopic folds in the Late Palaeozoic Coffs Harbour Beds in the SE portion of the New England Fold Belt are commonly transected by cleavage. These macroscopic folds are tight to isoclinal structures, with a consistent vergence to the NE. Axial surfaces are either steeply dipping to the SW or vertical, and are typically faulted. Anomalous bedding‐cleavage relations occur where the steeply dipping cleavage intersects overturned limbs of F₁ macroscopic and some F₁ mesoscopic folds. Elsewhere F₁ mesoscopic folds have a well developed, axial‐surface cleavage and are rarely downward facing. Cleavage is commonly strike‐divergent from axial surfaces of F₁ macroscopic folds, except adjacent to the Demon Fault System, where they are parallel. These anomalous cleavage‐folds relations possibly developed during the one deformation. D₁ structures are refolded by kink‐like folds that are steeply plunging. The structural style of the D₁ deformation indicates that it possibly resulted from accretionary processes at a consuming plate margin.     

A 1.2 Ma record of glaciation and fluvial discharge from the West European Atlantic margin

The correlation of continental sedimentary records with the marine isotope stratigraphy is a challenge of central importance in Quaternary stratigraphy, particularly in Western Europe where long records of glaciation on land areas are particularly rare. Here we demonstrate for the first time the interrelationship of events during the last 1.2 Ma in an ocean-sediment core from the Bay of Biscay (NE Atlantic), SW of the Channel. The identification of discharge variations from tributary river systems to the ‘Fleuve Manche’ palaeoriver during glacio-eustatic sea-level lowstands demonstrates the correlation of the marine sediment stratigraphy to the expansion and recession of the European ice-sheets. The amplitude and chronology of European ice-sheet oscillations since the late Early Pleistocene is discussed and our results demonstrate that the first coalescence of the Fennoscandian and British ice-sheets in the North Sea basin ca 450 ka ago caused a profound change in lowstand European drainage alignment. This change caused a rerouting of Fennoscandian and eastern British ice-sheets-derived meltwaters from northwards into the Nordic Seas to southwards into the eastern North Atlantic thereafter. Besides allowing a thorough synchronisation of the European ice-sheet palaeogeography with the well-dated records of palaeoceanographical changes, our results improve the stratigraphy of the English Channel palaeovalleys and will provide important constraints on paleoclimatic scenarios considering the impact that such rerouting and meltwater surges might have on the stability of the oceanic conveyor belt.     

转换型被动陆缘盆地地质特征与深水油气聚集规律:以赤道大西洋西非边缘盆地群为例

基于前人成果及油气勘探新发现资料,系统分析了赤道西非受转换断层强烈控制的转换型被动陆缘盆地群地质与深水油气聚集特征。构造解析与地层剖析表明,该地区盆地形态、基底断裂、变形序列和区域应力均受转换断层控制;经历了前转换陆内沉积期、陆内剪切裂谷期、陆洋转换压扭期及被动陆缘热沉降期4个演化阶段;形成4套区域性不整合,从东往西具有迁移性;充填了陆内剪切期河湖相碎屑岩、陆洋转换期陆相及滨浅海相碎屑岩为主和被动陆缘期海相碎屑岩为主的3套地层巨层序。地质结构显示,盆缘窄陆架、陡陆坡,断裂呈高角度张剪性,易发育转换脊或台地。深水沉积特点为小物源短距离近岸快速堆积,形成富砂的纵向叠置横向裙边状小型扇或扇复合体。深水油气勘探以陆洋转换-被动陆缘早期阶段岩性-地层和背斜构造圈闭为重点。