2015–2020 Geological Survey Program of China Geological Survey Bureau

正On 1–5 September 2014,the China Geological Survey Bureau held a 2015–2020 Geology and Mineral Resources Investigation and Assessment Special Planning and Deployment Meeting to plan the next six years in order to invest nearly ten billion US dollars to implement 9 programs and 50 projects with the aim of developing geological survey work,and to play a leading role in ensuring sustained and stable development.1 The Land Energy and Mines Geological Survey Program     

Geological events of the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene in Western Kamchatka

The age ranges of Upper Cretaceous lithotectonic complexes of Western Kamchatka—terrigenous Kikhchik, volcanic Irunei, and terrigenous Omgon—are analyzed to reveal their almost simultaneous deposition. The pre-Cenozoic settings of these complexes are reconstructed. Based on analysis of the composition and structural features of Late Cretaceous lithotectonic complexes and on correlation of events, the Late Cretaceous paleogeography is reconstructed. It is found that the formation of the contemporary structure of the studied region would have required significant displacement of the volcanic Irunei complex from west to east and the terrigenous Omgon complex from north to south. It is concluded that the Western Kamchatka continental block (minor lithospheric plate) was independent in the Late Cretaceous.     

Three sessions of the International Geological Congress held in Russia and the USSR （1897,1937, 1984）

Editorial note--The International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences has undertaken to organize a series of short articles for Episodes on the history of the different Sessions of the International Geological Congress. These were held as follows:France (1878), Italy (1881), Germany (1885), UK (1888), USA(1891), Switzerland (1894), Russia (1897), France (1900), Austria(1903), Mexico (1906), Sweden (1910), Canada (1913), Belgium(1922), Spain (1926), South Africa (1929), USA (1933), USSR(1937), UK (1948), Algeria (1952), Mexico (1956), Denmark/Finland/Norway/Sweden/Iceland (1960), India (1964), Czechoslovakia(1968), Canada (1972), Australia (1976), France (1980), USSR(1984), USA (1989), Japan (1992), China (1996), Brazil (2000). Any authors wishing to offer contributions on the meetings in Mexico(1906), Canada (1913), Belgium, Denmark, India, Canada (1972),and Brazil are invited to contact the INHIGEO Secretary-General at: doldroyd@optushome.com.au. The papers will not appear inchronological order.     

Valunistoe Epithermal Au–Ag Deposit (East Chukotka,Russia): Geological Structure,Mineralogical–Geochemical Peculiarities and Mineralization Conditions

Geology of Ore Deposits - The Valunistoe Au–Ag deposit is the third largest among epithermal deposits in Chukotka after the Kupol and Dvoinoe. It is located at the western closing of the East...     

Status of China’s Geological Survey and Geological Environments in 2013

正With the approach of the 45th World Earth Day,China’s Ministry of Land and Resources issued the status of the Chinese geological survey and environments on 22nd April 2013.Regional geological survey in 2013 achieved new results—(why was oceanic in twice?)polar and oceanic expedition were fully completed,a national census of geography was begun,and     

Cu–Ag sulfides as indicators of pre-porphyritic epithermal Au–Ag deposits in Northeastern Russia

Au–Ag mineralization of the Olcha and Teploe epithermal deposits underwent thermal metamorphism due to porphyritic intrusions. The presence of Bi-bearing galena and matildite in the ores (Teploe), Cu–Te-bearing naumannite (Olcha), the occurrence of middle- and high-temperature facies of metasomatic rocks (epidote and actinolite), and temperature formation conditions are related, firstly, to the influence of granitoids on the ore process, which supplied not only Cu and Mo, but also Bi, Te, and, secondly, to the heating of host rocks containing pre-porphyritic epithermal Au–Ag mineralization. The abundance of Cu–Ag sulfides and Cu-acanthite resulted from the enrichment of later mineral phases in Cu and Ag under the substance redistribution with the formation of Ag-acanthite ores. The data considered in the paper are of practical importance for regional forecasting of metallogenic constructions, exploration, and evaluation of the epithermal Au–Ag deposits.     

Chronology and Geochemistry of the Berezitovoe Polymetallic Gold Deposit in Eastern Siberia, Russia and its Geological Significance

The Berezitovoe deposit is a large-sized Au-Ag-Zn-Pb deposit in the east of the SelengaStanovoi superterrane, Russia. Au-Ag orebodies are hosted by tourmaline-garnet-quartz-muscovite metasomatic rocks; Zn-Pb orebodies are hosted by granodiorites, porphyritic granites and tourmalinegarnet-quartz-muscovite metasomatic rocks. These orebodies are surrounded by wall rocks dominated by the Tukuringra Complex granodiorites, porphyritic granites, and gneissic granodiorites. The alteration includes silicification and garnet, sericitization chloritization, carbonatization and kaollinization. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon dating indicates that the gold mineralization can be divided into two stages in the Berezitovoe polymetallic gold deposit(at 363.5 ± 1.5 Ma, and133.4± 0.5).Hornblende-plagioclase gneisses of the Mogocha Group in the study area underwent Paleoproterozoic metamorphism(at 1870 ± 7.8 and 2400 ± 13 Ma), gneissic granodiorite of the Tukuringra Complex yields a late Paleozoic magmatic age(at 379.2 ± 1.1 Ma),and subalkaline porphyritic granitoid of the Amudzhikan Complex yield late Mesozoic magmatic ages(133-139 and 150-163 Ma). Granodiorites of the Tukuringra Complex in the study area have high concentrations of SiO_2(average of 60.9 wt%), are aluminum-oversaturated(average A/CNK of 1.49), are enriched in the large ion lithophile elements(e.g.,K, Rb, and Ba), U, Th, and Pb, are depleted in high field strength elements(e.g., Ta, Nb, and Ti), and have slightly negative Eu and no Ce anomalies in chondrite-normalized rare earth element diagrams.Fluid inclusions from quartz veins include three types: aqueous two-phase, CO_2-bearing three-phase,and pure CO_2. Aqueous two-phase inclusions homogenize at 167℃-249℃ and have salinities of 4.32%-9.47% NaCl equivalent, densities of 0.86-0.95 g/cm~3, and formed at depths of 0.52-0.94 km. In comparison, the C0_2-bearing three-phase inclusions have homogenization temperatures of 265℃-346℃,salinities of 7.14%-11.57% NaCl equivalent, and total densities of 0.62-0.67 g/cm~3. The geochemical and zircon U-Pb data and the regional tectonic evolution of the study area, show that the Berezitovoe polymetallic gold deposit formed in an island arc or active continental margin setting, most probably related to late Paleozoic subduction of Okhotsk Ocean crust beneath the Siberian Plate.     

Golʼtsovoe Ag–Pb–Zn Deposit (Northeastern Russia): Geological Setting,Mineralogy, Geochemistry,and Ore Formation Conditions

Geology of Ore Deposits - The Gol’tsovoe Ag–Pb–Zn-deposit (1600 t silver in ores with an average grade of 1025 g/t Ag) is located on the southeastern flank of the Dukat mining...     

Hydrogeochemical Precursors in Kamchatka (Russia) Related to the Strongest Earthquakes in 1988–1997

The Kamchatka peninsula, located in the far east of Russia, is a geologically active margin where the Pacific plate subducts beneath the North American and Eurasia plates. This area is characterised by frequent and strong seismic activity (magnitudes up to 8.5) and epicentres are generally distributed offshore along the eastern coast of the peninsula. For many years, hydrogeochemicals have been collected with a mean sampling frequency of three days in the form of the flow rate and the most common ions and gases in the groundwater of three deep wells in the southern area of the Kamchatka peninsula, where the capital city Petropavlovsk is located. Beginning in 1988, five earthquakes with M > 6.5 occurred in this area. These earthquakes were powerful enough to be considered as potential precursor sources in the sense that the stresses and strains building up before them might be expected to cause precursory activity. In order to reveal any possible precursors of these earthquakes, we analysed the hydrogeochemical data collected. We considered any signal having an amplitude three times the standard deviation to be an irregularity and we defined as an anomaly the existence of an irregularity occurring simultaneously in more than one parameter at each well. Then, on the basis of the worldwide past results and the time recurrence of the quoted earthquakes, we chose 158 days as the maximum temporal window between a possible anomaly and the subsequent earthquake. We identified some premonitory anomalies in hydrogeochemical parameters at different wells. On the basis of these results some earthquake forecasting criteria in southern Kamchatka may be tentatively formulated     

Theory of Geological Anomaly in Remote Sensing

Ｓｉｎｃｅｔｈｅ 1990ｓ,ｒｅｍｏｔｅｓｅｎｓｉｎｇ (ＲＳ) ,ｗｉｔｈｇｅｏｇｒａｐｈｉｃａｌｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｓｙｓｔｅｍ (ＧＩＳ)ａｎｄｇｌｏｂａｌｐｏｓｉｔｉｏｎｉｎｇｓｙｓｔｅｍ (ＧＰＳ)(ｓｏｃａｌｌｅｄａｓｔｈｅ 3Ｓｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ) ,ｈａｓｉｍｐｒｏｖｅｄａｔａｖｅｒｙｆａｓｔｓｐｅｅｄａｎｄｈａｓｂｅｅｎｗｉｄｅｌｙａｐｐｌｉｅｄｔｏｔｈｅｇｅｏｓｃｉｅｎｃｅｓｗｉｔｈｇｒｅａｔａｃｈｉｅｖｅｍｅｎｔｓ .Ｒｅｍｏｔｅ ｓｅｎｓｉｎｇｇｅｏｌｏｇｙｉｎｃｌｕｄｉｎｇｇｅｏｌｏｇｉｃ…     

The Role of Hydrocarbons in the Formation of Epithermal Gold–Silver Deposits in Kamchatka,Russia

Doklady Earth Sciences - Data on the mineralogical and geochemical features of three epithermal gold deposits in Kamchatka, as well as on the compositions and physicochemical parameters of...     

Diversity of palmately lobed leaves in the early–middle Albian of eastern Russia

Diversity of palmately lobed leaves of angiosperms of the early–middle Albian floras of the Kolyma River Basin, the Omsukchan Coal Basin, Khabarovsk and Primorye Regions was studied. Leaf fossils, previously compared with those of genera Aralia, Sassafras and Lindera, now reassigned to the fossil genus Araliaephyllum. Four new combinations and one new species are published: A. kolymense (Kryshtofovich) Golovneva, comb. nov., A. luciferum (Kryshtofovich) Golovneva, comb. nov., A. ussuriense (Krassilov) Golovneva, comb. nov., A. ievlevii (Samylina) Golovneva, comb. nov., and A. popovii Golovneva, sp. nov. The type material has been restudied in detail, and lectotypes have been selected to all newly typified species. These species share many lauralean morphological and venation features. They represent the most likely early members of this group. This relationship is based on detailed study of the leaf architecture and comparison with other fossils with studied epidermal features. This study expands our knowledge of radiation and biogeography patterns of early angiosperms in northeastern Asia.     

Y–REE Mineralization in Biotite–Arfvedsonite Granites of the Katugin Rare-Metal Deposit,Transbaikalia, Russia

Doklady Earth Sciences - This paper reports on the results of studies of the carbonate–fluoride isolations with extremely high Y and REE concentrations from biotite–arfvedsonite granite...     

Geological–Geophysical Model of the Nizhne-Koshelevskoe Vapor-Dominated Geothermal Deposit,the Largest in Kamchatka

Fundamentally new data on the structure of the Nizhne-Koshelevskoe vapor-dominated geothermal deposit (South Kamchatka) were obtained. An isometric area of intensely argillized rocks saturated with a vapor–gas mixture with the shape of an irregular cup occurring up to a depth of 250–300 m was distinguished in the central part of the deposit beneath the major zone of hydrotherm discharge. This area is controlled by a heat source through a subvertical channel of increased fracture–porous permeability for a vapor–gas fluid with a thickness of 300–350 m and a depth of >5 km. The elements of the paleohydrothermal system, such as relatively rock blocks composed of propylite and secondary quartzite with epithermal ore mineralization, were distinguished at the core of the deposit. The heat was transferred by the crustal flux of reduced hydrocarbon fluid.     

Geological sources of boron and fluoride anomalies in Silurian–Ordovician aquifer system,Estonia

The objective of this study was to examine the possible natural sources of fluorides and boron in Silurian–Ordovician (S–O) aquifer system, as the anomaly of these elements has been distinguished in groundwater of western Estonia. Water–rock interactions, such as dissolution and leaching of the host rock, are considered to be the main source of high fluoride and boron concentrations in groundwater. Altogether 91 rock samples were analysed to determine if high F⁻ and B levels in groundwater could be attributed to certain aquifer forming rock types. Fluorine and boron contents in limestones and dolomites vary from 100 to 500 mg/kg and 5 to 20 mg/kg, reaching up to 1,000 and 150 mg/kg in marlstones, respectively. K-bentonites, altered volcanic ash beds, are rich in fluorine (400–4,500 mg/kg) and boron (50–1,000 mg/kg). Thus, clay-rich sediments, providing ion-exchange and adsorption sites for F⁻ and B, are the probable sources of both elements in S–O aquifer system in western Estonia.     

Tokur gold ore–placer cluster in Amur Province: Geological–structural features and perspective of its development

The geological–structural features and gold-potential perspective of the Tokur ore–placer cluster in the Amur Province have been studied. This ore–placer cluster is a syncline composed of Paleozoic blackshale sequence, which is cut through by Late Paleozoic and Late Mesozoic intrusions. A granitoid massif is suggested at the depth on the basis of geophysical data. The cluster is distinguished by high productivity. Approximately 37 t gold from ore deposits, primarily from the Tokur deposit, and 60 t from placers have been mined out. The Tokur deposit is compared with the Natalka and Degdekan deposits from the Yana–Kolyma Province. Perspectives of the cluster area for large gold–quartz deposits and technogenic gold placers have been estimated.     

Engineering Geology of Limestone in Malaysia

This paper provides an overview of the engineering geology of limestone. Limestone is of rather wide occurrence in Malaysia. It is interesting in view of the unique landforms and karstic features that are encountered in limestone terrains, e.g. steep, subvertical limestone cliffs rising abruptly and majestically above the ground surface and highly variable and pinnacled subterranean limestone bedrock. The karstic features and associated engineering geological problems of both the limestone hills and the bedrock are discussed in the paper. Rockfalls, sinkholes, cavities, etc. are some of the common engineering geological problems associated with limestone terrains. Some local case studies are provided as illustrations. Finally the rock mechanical properties of limestone is discussed at the end of the paper.