IX. The St. Vincent Basin

Late Palaeozoic glaciation in Australia, discovered over a century ago, is now known to have covered a large part of the continent. In South Australia, tillite and outwash debris lie upon clearly striated pavements within glacial valleys, and show that ice sheets with valley tongues moved northward from sources now occupied by deep ocean south of the continent. These glaciers reached into the Cooper, Arckaringa, and Pedirka Basins at the end of the Carboniferous and laid down patches of till in the Early Permian, now preserved largely in the subsurface. In Tasmania, an ice sheet waxed in the latest Carboniferous from sources to the west of the island, and deposited till and “drop‐stones” into fossiliferous marine strata until well into the Late Permian. In Victoria, the ice cap laid down till on a striated floor, and here and there sequences of outwash, including boulder pavements. In New South Wales, continental glaciation expanded eastward to the sea early in the Permian, and left a record intercalated with volcanics and coal beds into the Late Permian. Bordering the Tamworth Trough of northern New South Wales, and occurring also in the highlands of New England, alpine glaciers left a record in the form of striated stones and dropstones, in very thick sequences of fluviatile, lacustrine, and marine clastic sediments. The mountains existed in Middle and early Late Carboniferous times, and were largely worn down to gentle relief when continental glaciers expanded northward in the Early Permian. A non‐glacial interval at the end of the Carboniferous therefore probably occurred in New South Wales. In Queensland, alpine glaciers occupied mountains at the western rim of the Bowen Basin at the end of the Carboniferous. Large blocks carried by icebergs from glaciers of unknown locations were dropped into Lower and Upper Permian strata of the Bowen Basin as well. In Western Australia Early Permian ice centres were located on the Yilgarn Block, east of the Perth Basin, on the Pilbara Block southwest of the Canning Basin, and on the Kimberley Block. Evidence for this glaciation consists mostly of ice‐rafted debris and fluvial‐glacial and glacial‐marine strata that reached as far north as the Bonaparte Gulf Basin.

The rapid growth northward of continental glaciers in Australia near the end of the Carboniferous corresponds with a rapid shift of palaeolatitude as judged from Irving's palaeomagnetic studies. The ice sheet grew quickly upon upland areas when Gondwanaland moved to a near polar position and the unfrozen Palaeo‐Pacific lay near at hand to provide an abundant source of moisture.     

Hierarchy of tectonic control on stratigraphic signatures: Base-level changes during the Early Permian in the Paraná Basin,southernmost Brazil

The Lower Permian sedimentary succession of the Paraná Basin in southernmost Brazil has an overall transgressive sedimentation regime, recorded by a clear retrogradation of the facies belt. However, important depositional strike-orientated variations and regional inversions occur in the sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline (i.e., along-strike) of the basin. At the regional scale, a huge source area was uplifted by the end of the Artinskian in the north and caused regression; the southern part of the study area increasingly was transgressed by the epicontinental sea (= regional inversion). This important tectonic overprint on the stratigraphic signature of the basin’s infill has a tectonic origin. The variable sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline is controlled by the structural framework of the basement, which is formed by several crustal blocks with different responses to tectonic strain induced by terrain accretion on the occidental margin of Gondwana during the Permian. Stratigraphic data indicate that during the Early Permian, there were at least two differential subsidence and uplift events, one by the end of the Sakmarian–Artinskian and another during the Late Artinskian–Kungurian.     

Hierarchy of tectonic control on stratigraphic signatures: Base-level changes during the Early Permian in the Paraná Basin, southernmost Brazil

The Lower Permian sedimentary succession of the Paraná Basin in southernmost Brazil has an overall transgressive sedimentation regime, recorded by a clear retrogradation of the facies belt. However, important depositional strike-orientated variations and regional inversions occur in the sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline (i.e., along-strike) of the basin. At the regional scale, a huge source area was uplifted by the end of the Artinskian in the north and caused regression; the southern part of the study area increasingly was transgressed by the epicontinental sea (= regional inversion). This important tectonic overprint on the stratigraphic signature of the basin’s infill has a tectonic origin. The variable sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline is controlled by the structural framework of the basement, which is formed by several crustal blocks with different responses to tectonic strain induced by terrain accretion on the occidental margin of Gondwana during the Permian. Stratigraphic data indicate that during the Early Permian, there were at least two differential subsidence and uplift events, one by the end of the Sakmarian–Artinskian and another during the Late Artinskian–Kungurian.     

Detrital zircon age and provenance constraints on late Paleozoic ice-sheet growth and dynamics in Western and Central Australia

U–Pb dating and Hf-isotope provenance analysis of detrital zircons from the glaciogenic lower Permian Grant Group of the Canning Basin indicate sources principally from basement terranes in central Australia, with subordinate components from terranes to the south and north. Integrating these data with field outcrop and subsurface evidence for ice sheets, including glacial valleys and striated pavements along the southern and northern margins of the basin, suggests that continental ice sheets extended over several Precambrian upland areas of western and central Australia during the late Paleozoic ice age (LPIA). The youngest zircons constrain the maximum age for contemporaneous ice sheet development to the late Carboniferous (Kasimovian), whereas palynology provides a minimum age of early Permian (Asselian–Sakmarian). Considering the palynological age of the Grant Group within the context of regional and global climate proxies, the main phase of continental ice sheet growth was possibly in the Ghzelian–Asselian. The presence of ice sheets older than Kasimovian in western and central Australia remains difficult to prove given a regional gap in deposition possibly covering the mid-Bashkirian to early Ghzelian within the main depocentres and even larger along basin margins, and the poor evidence for older Carboniferous glacial facies. There is also no evidence for extensive glacial facies younger than mid-Sakmarian in this region as opposed to eastern Australia where the youngest regional glacial phase was Guadalupian.     

昆仑造山带二叠纪岩相古地理特征及盆山转换探讨

昆仑造山带基本构造-地层格架主要奠基于古生代,是早古生代和晚古生代多次洋陆转换、碰撞造山的结果。早中二叠世是晚古生代昆仑多岛洋盆(昆南洋)伸展裂陷最为强烈期,海相沉积广布,昆北为活动边缘裂谷,大部分区域为滨浅海相沉积,局部为火山盆地相沉积;昆中洋岛大部分为海水淹没,发育滨浅海相沉积;康西瓦—木孜塔格—阿尼玛卿一线及其以北昆南区为深海-半深海相沉积。早中二叠世总体表现为南深北浅的多岛小洋盆构造-古地理格局。中二叠世晚期昆仑地区发生了一次显著的汇聚作用(华力西运动),洋盆和活动大陆边缘裂谷闭合,隆升遭受剥蚀,完成了一次盆山转换。晚二叠世早期,大部分地区仍为剥蚀区,局部地区形成陆相红色碎屑岩建造,其后东昆仑东部海水从东南进入,西昆仑东部海水从西北进入,在较局限的区域内沉积了滨浅海相碎屑岩和碳酸盐岩沉积,进入了另一个盆山发展时期。笔者通过多年的野外观察、分析测试和综合研究,结合覆盖全区的1∶25万区域地质调查资料及其他前人研究成果,选择昆仑造山带晚古生代盆山转换关键时期——二叠纪,对其地层、岩相特征及构造古地理环境进行研究,并探讨了其构造演化,以期对提高昆仑造山带的研究水平和指导找矿工作有所禆益。     

滨里海盆地的岩相古地理特征及其演化

滨里海盆地内充填了巨厚的古生代、中生代和新生代沉积物。在剖面上可分为三套地层组合，即盐下层系、含盐层系和盐上层系。盐下层系为下古生界-下二叠统，包括巨厚的碎屑岩和碳酸盐岩沉积，在泥盆纪-早二叠世，滨里海盆地周缘广大地区普遍发育碳酸盐岩，在许多古隆起上还发育生物礁体，说明这一时期盆地的滨、浅海地带具有浅、清、暖的沉积环境，盆外陆源碎屑供应较少。含盐层系为下二叠统上部孔谷阶。早二叠世中-后期由于持续构造抬升，盆地气候变得干旱，海水变浅，潮上带蒸发环境发育，以致这一时期广泛发育盐类沉积，形成含盐层系，主要由盐岩和硬石膏层构成，并形成许多大小不等的盐丘构造。盐上层系为上二叠统-第四系。晚二叠世-三叠纪盆地又经历了一次大的海侵，为浅海陆棚环境，局部为海陆过渡三角洲相。侏罗纪-白垩纪在总的浅海陆棚环境下，盆地不同地区也形成了湖泊和瀉湖环境。晚二叠世以后形成的盐上层系沉积，主要为碎屑岩，在局部地区有碳酸盐岩。     

鄂尔多斯盆地中部石炭-二叠系沉积相带与砂体展布

鄂尔多斯盆地石炭-二叠系广泛发育潮坪、三角洲、湖泊沉积。中上石炭统本溪组和太原组以潮坪相为主,下二叠统山西组沉积初期以全盆地范围广布三角洲平原沉积为特征,山西组沉积后期到下石盒子组沉积期,南北差异特征明显,北部发育三角洲平原,南部发育三角洲前缘。上二叠统石盒子组和石千峰组发育湖泊沉积。三角洲平原分流河道和三角洲前缘水下分流河道砂体在盆地内最为发育,是该区的主体储集砂体。潮坪砂坝和三角洲前缘指状砂坝也是较有利的储集体。其纵向发育和横向展布是今后气田勘探的一个重要研究课题。     

Geological evidence for neotectonic activity during deglaciation of the southern Sperrin Mountains,Northern Ireland

In the southern Sperrin Mountains, Northern Ireland, stacked glacigenic sequences that accumulated during deglaciation (ca. 17000–13000 yr BP) overlie a basement of jointed and mascerated bedrock. The glacigenic sequences comprise interbedded glaciotectonic shears, diamictic breccias and rock rafts. At one site a normal fault with a metre‐scale vertical displacement cuts through part of the sequence and is overlain by a glacial diamict. Sediments at an adjacent site show that faulting and associated hydrothermal activity was related to neotectonic reactivation of pre‐existing Caledonian lineaments caused by ice unloading. From stratigraphical and directional evidence, fault reactivation occurred early in the deglaciation after north central Ireland ice had retreated southwards into lowland areas, but before Sperrin Mountain ice readvanced from the north. This relationship provides evidence for the relative timing of neotectonic activity in Northern Ireland, and demonstrates the effects of glacio‐isostatic unloading near ice‐sheet centres. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Proterozoic‐Cambrian detrital zircon and monazite ages from the Anakie Inlier,central Queensland: Grenville and Pacific‐Gondwana signatures

The Anakie Metamorphic Group is a complexly deformed, dominantly metasedimentary succession in central Queensland. Metamorphic cooling is constrained to ca 500 Ma by previously published K–Ar ages. Detrital‐zircon SHRIMP U–Pb ages from three samples of greenschist facies quartz‐rich psammites (Bathampton Metamorphics), west of Clermont, are predominantly in the age range 1300–1000 Ma (65–75%). They show that a Grenville‐aged orogenic belt must have existed in northeastern Australia, which is consistent with the discovery of a potential Grenville source farther north. The youngest detrital zircons in these samples are ca 580 Ma, indicating that deposition may have been as old as latest Neoproterozoic. Two samples have been analysed from amphibolite facies pelitic schist from the western part of the inlier (Wynyard Metamorphics). One sample contains detrital monazite with two age components of ca 580–570 Ma and ca 540 Ma. The other sample only has detrital zircons with the youngest component between 510 Ma and 700 Ma (Pacific‐Gondwana component), which is consistent with a Middle Cambrian age for these rocks. These zircons were probably derived from igneous activity associated with rifting events along the Gondwanan passive margin. These constraints confirm correlation of the Anakie Metamorphic Group with latest Neoproterozoic ‐ Cambrian units in the Adelaide Fold Belt of South Australia and the Wonominta Block of western New South Wales.     

Lithostratigraphy and structure of the old red sandstone of the Northern Dingle Peninsula,Co. Kerry,Southwest Ireland

The lower part of the Old Red Sandstone in the Dingle Penisula has been previously assigned to one lithostratigraphic group (Dingle Group) despite marked variations in sedimentary facies. However the apparently oldest non-marine sequence in the northwest of the peninsula has sedimentary and lithological attributes that contrast strongly with those of the late Silurian-early Devonian Dingle Group to the south. This northern sequence, here renamed the Smerwick Group, evolved independently of the Dingle Group in a separate basin of deposition. Field relationships between the two groups in the north of the peninsula are interpreted as indicating that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, a normal Dingle Group succession. Similarly, it is argued that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, the Dingle Group in the northwest of the peninsula, but there the Dingle Group is attenuated, represented only by a conglomerate unit some 10 m thick. In the absence of biostratigraphic evidence the age of the Smerwick Group is poorly constrained. Nevertheless, we propose a tectonic model that suggests that the Smerwick Group evolved within a small extensional half-graben on the northern margin of the Munster Basin. This model accounts for the stratigraphic and structural relationships observed, and implies that the Smerwick Group is of Late Devonian age.     

Carbon isotope chemostratigraphy and implications of palaeoclimatic changes during the Cisuralian (Early Permian) in the southern Urals,Russia

In order to meet the requirements for potential GSSPs in the Cisuralian Series (Early Permian), isotopic chemostratigraphy from the Carboniferous/Permian boundary to middle Artinskian using bulk carbonates was investigated under high-resolution biostratigraphical and new geochronologic constrains from three GSSP candidate sections at Usolka, Kondurovsky and Dal'ny Tulkas in the southern Urals, Russia. A gradually increasing trend in carbonate carbon isotope (δ¹³C) has been observed in the interval from the base of Asselian to early Sakmarian, which is generally consistent in timing with the increasing development of Glacial III or P1 from the latest Carboniferous to early Sakmarian (Early Permian) which prevailed in southern Gondwana. An excursion with double negative shifts in δ¹³C value is present around the Asselian/Sakmarian boundary in both the Usolka and Kondurovsky sections, which may have great potential to serve as chemostratigraphical marks for intercontinental correlation. The following highly positive excursion of δ¹³C in early Sakmarian indicates the maximium expansion of Glacial III or P1. The negative δ¹³C shift in the middle Sakmarian is possibly related to the quick collapse of Glacial III or P1 on the Gondwanaland. This negative shift is largely correlative with those documented in other areas of Russia, the North American Craton and South China, but further precise biostratigraphical and geochronologic constrains are neccessary to confirm this global signal. The late Sakmarian is characterized by a strong oscillation stage of δ¹³C, which probably indicates a complex climate transition marked by smaller alternating glacial–interglacial transitions during Glacial P2 superimposed on an overall warming trend. The sharp negative δ¹³C shift around the Sakmarian/Artinskian boundary at the Dal'ny Tulkus section is difficult to interpret. This is followed by long-term low values (<?10‰) during the most part of Artinskian Stage. We suggest that the deeply depleted δ¹³C values in the Artinskian at the Dal'ny Tulkas section might result regionally from the enhanced input of organic carbon after the melt-out of ice sheets and the subsequent degradation and isotopic refractionation of the microbial chemosynthetic processes on the buried organic matter.     

History of the Ordovician continental platform shelf margin of Australia

Much of South Australia, western New South Wales, and Tasmania was affected by the Late Cambrian‐Early Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny. Areas of the former shelf margin exhibit molasse‐type conglomerates overlying a major late Middle to Late Cambrian unconformity (Jukesian Movement in Tasmania or Mootwingee Movement in western N.S.W.). In continental platform areas to the north the effects of the orogeny were less intense with, in the Georgina Basin for instance, only dis‐conformable relationships, and the overlying deposits consisting of fine elastics and carbonates. Regression accompanied this first phase of tectonic upheaval and was followed by a period of ‘late Tremadoc’ transgression of the sea into several embayment areas of the continental platform. This short‐lived transgression was succeeded by ‘early Arenig’ regression which appears to be related to a second, less intense Delamerian orogenic phase. Expression of this phase ranges from unconformity in west Tasmania (Haulage and Lynchford Movements) to disconformity in the Georgina Basin (Kelly Creek Movement).

A second, more extensive and long‐lived transgression of the sea from the ‘middle Arenig’ to about the end of the ‘Llanvirn’ resulted in the development of the epicontinental Larapintine Sea, permitting interchange of warmer and cooler waters from either ends of the seaway. Combined fossil, lithological and palaeomagnetic evidence suggests that, of the fragments of Gondwanaland, Australia alone straddled the Ordovician equator, with its present west coast approximately along the line of Lat. 30°S. Influxes of sand from the areas of mild‐high relief to the south appear to have been deflected in an anticlockwise direction along the open, ocean‐facing Gnalta Shelf of western N.S.W. towards the eastern end of the Larapintine Sea perhaps as a result of a major westward‐flowing equatorial current. The influxes progressively constricted and finally blocked off the eastern end of the seaway by the end of ‘Llanvirn’ time. The closure, and final regression of the sea from all continental platform areas, seems to have been accompanied by a phase of local uplift and erosion (Dullingari Movement of northeastern South Australia). In cratonic areas of central and northern Australia a period of Late Ordovician or Early Silurian uplift and erosion (Rodingan Movement) followed. Dullingari and Rodingan Movements may be correlated with phases of the Benambran Orogeny of the Tas‐man Geosyncline.

Late Ordovician cratonic sedimentation was restricted to the shelf margin. On the Tasmanian Shelf carbonates accumulated during a long period of relative tectonic quiescence and gentle subsidence. First signs of onset of the Benambrian Orogeny are shown by the appearance of clastics in the topmost beds of the Tasmanian Ordovician sequence.     

Permian and Triassic Sequence Stratigraphy and Sea Level Changes of Eastern Yangtze Platform

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Ice-distal Upper Miocene marine strata from inland Antarctica

ABSTRACT Glacimarine strata of the Battye Glacier Formation (≈ 130 m thick), Pagodroma Group, exposed in the Amery Oasis of East Antarctica, provide a record of Late Miocene palaeoenvironmental conditions in an ice‐distal setting. The formation overlies the Amery Erosion Surface (≈ 300 m to ≈ 270 m above sea level) that formed during an advance of the Lambert Glacier into Prydz Bay (ODP Site 739), at least 750 km further north than today. Two lithological members: a grey and muddier Lower Member and a brown, sand‐rich Upper Member, reflect variation in proximity to the terminus of the Lambert Glacier. Ice‐distal, glacimarine, diatom‐bearing mud (up to 12% biogenic silica) and in situ articulated molluscs occur in the Lower Member. The Battye Glacier Formation is significant because of its inland location, which indicates that ice‐distal marine conditions existed 250 km inland from the current Amery Ice Shelf edge. Similar Neogene strata are known on land only from the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation in the Vestfold Hills, near the Antarctic coast. Three stratigraphic intervals of diatom‐bearing mud are recognized from glacially reworked clasts and from in situ strata informally referred to as the McLeod Beds and ‘Bed A’. The diatom‐bearing mud also contains sponge spicules and minor silicoflagellates and ebridians. Marine diatom biostratigraphy constrains the age of the beds to between 10·7 and 9·0 Ma (late Miocene). Abundant benthic diatoms suggest deposition within shallow euphotic waters. The high abundance of intercalary valves of Eucampia antarctica from an interval of the McLeod Beds suggests that there was less winter sea‐ice than in Prydz Bay today. It is unlikely that sea‐ice was perennial because the presence of Thalassionema spp. and Stellarima stellaris (Roper) Hasle et Sims suggests that summer sea‐surface temperatures were too warm (> 0°C and > 3°C respectively). The palaeoclimate at the time of deposition appears to have been analogous to that in modern fjords of East Greenland (e.g. Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord), which is consistent with the depositional model proposed previously for the Pagodroma Group. The three diatom‐bearing mud intervals were deposited in the Amery Oasis, ≈ 250 km inland of the current Amery Ice Shelf edge, when the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was reduced in size relative to today.     

Stratigraphic architecture and depositional setting of the coarse‐grained Upper Cambrian Owen Conglomerate,West Coast Range,western Tasmania

The Upper Cambrian Owen Conglomerate of the West Coast Range, western Tasmania, comprises two upward‐fining successions of coarse‐grained siliciclastic rocks that exhibit a characteristic wedge‐shaped fill controlled by the basin‐margin fault system. Stratigraphy is defined by the informally named basal lower conglomerate member, middle sandstone member, middle conglomerate member and upper sandstone member. The lower conglomerate member has a gradational basal contact with underlying volcaniclastics of the Tyndall Group,while the upper sandstone member is largely conformable with overlying Gordon Group marine clastics and carbonates. The lower conglomerate member predominantly comprises high flow regime, coarse‐grained, alluvial‐slope channel successions, with prolonged channel bedload transport exhibited by the association of channel‐scour structures with upward‐fining packages of pebble, cobble and boulder conglomerate and sandstone, with abundant large‐scale cross‐beds derived from accretion in low‐sinuosity, multiply active braided‐channel complexes. While the dipslope of the basin is predominantly drained by west‐directed palaeoflow, intrabasinal faulting in the southern region of the basin led to stream capture and the subsequent development of axial through drainage patterns in the lower conglomerate member. The middle sandstone member is characterised by continued sandy alluvial slope deposition in the southern half of the basin, with pronounced west‐directed and local axial through drainage palaeoflow networks operating at the time. The middle sandstone member basin deepens considerably towards the north, where coarse‐grained alluvial‐slope deposits are replaced by coarse‐grained turbidites of thick submarine‐fan complexes. The middle conglomerate member comprises thickly bedded, coarse‐grained pebble and cobble conglomerate, deposited by a high flow regime fluvial system that focused deposition into a northern basin depocentre. An influx of volcanic detritus entered the middle conglomerate member basin via spatially restricted footwall‐derived fans on the western basin margin. Fluvial systems continued to operate during deposition of the upper sandstone member in the north of the basin, facilitated by multiply active, high flow regime channels, comprising thick, vertically stacked and upward‐fining, coarse‐grained conglomerate and sandstone deposits. The upper sandstone member in the south of the basin is characterised by extensive braid‐delta and fine‐grained nearshore deposits, with abundant bioturbation and pronounced bimodal palaeocurrent trends associated with tidal and nearshore reworking. An increase in base‐level in the Middle Ordovician culminated in marine transgression and subsequent deposition of Gordon Group clastics and carbonates.     

Stratigraphy of the Upper Permian Kennedy Group of the onshore Carnarvon Basin (Merlinleigh Sub‐basin), Western Australia

Upper Permian strata contain many examples of cyclic deposition, despite the prevailing view that greenhouse conditions existed at the time. The shallow marine Upper Permian Kennedy Group, onshore Carnarvon Basin, has been studied in detail in the Kennedy Range 150 km east of the town of Carnarvon, Western Australia. The Kennedy Group exhibits cyclicity on a scale of 3–10 m, and also some larger scale changes in sedimentation. In this study, the Kennedy Group is divided into twelve informal units, designated with letters from A to L. The small‐scale cyclicity consists of stacked regressive cycles that comprise only thin highstand systems tracts and regressive systems tracts. Transgressive systems tracts are only sometimes represented by highly bioturbated green sandstone layers at cycle boundaries. Cycle tops are planar and often have extensive vertical trace fossil development down from them, as well as surface traces on them. The twelve informal units can be interpreted as being caused by changes in relative sea‐level.     

Fusulinid biostratigraphy of the Lower Permian Zweikofel Formation (Rattendorf Group; Carnic Alps,Austria) and Lower Permian Tethyan chronostratigraphy

The Zweikofel Formation of the Rattendorf Group in the Carnic Alps (Austria) is 95–102 m thick and consists of a cyclic succession of thin‐ to thick‐bedded fossiliferous limestone and intercalated thin intervals of siliciclastic sediment. The siliciclastic intervals were deposited in a shallow marine nearshore environment. The variety of carbonate facies indicates deposition in a shallow neritic, normal‐saline, low‐ to high‐energy environment. The Zweikofel Formation is characterized by a paracyclic vertical arrangement of facies and represents sedimentary sequences that are not well understood elsewhere in the Tethys. Fusulinids and conodonts from the upper Grenzland and Zweikofel formations in the Carnic Alps clearly suggest that what has been called ‘Sakmarian’ in the Tethys includes both the Sakmarian and Artinskian stages of the Global Time scale. Fusulinids from the lower part of the Zweikofel Formation at Zweikofel closely resemble those of the Grenzland Formation and approximately correlate with the upper part of the Sakmarian and lower part of the Artinskian of the Global Time scale. The upper part of the Zweikofel Formation correlates approximately with the lower‐middle (?) parts of the Artinskian Stage of the Global Time scale. A new regional Hermagorian Stage of the Tethyan scale is proposed between the Asselian and Yakhtashian. The lower boundary of the Hermagorian Stage is proposed to be located at the base of bed 81 in the 1015 section of Darvaz (Tadzhikistan). The boundary between the Hermagorian and Yakhtashian stages is placed at the base of bed 73 in the Zweikofel section at Zweikofel, Carnic Alps. In the Darvaz region, Tadzhikistan, the type area for the Yakhtashian Stage, this boundary has never been precisely defined. The entire fusulinid assemblage of the upper part of the Grenzland and Zweikofel formations reported herein includes 62 species of 18 genera, of which one subgenus and 12 species and subspecies are new. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

黔北—渝南地区中二叠世早期梁山组的岩相古地理特征和铝土矿成矿效应

研究区位于扬子陆块上扬子区,中二叠世早期地层梁山组产有丰富的沉积矿产,其中铝土矿具有良好的勘探开发前景。为了揭示区内中二叠世早期铝土矿的形成、分布与岩相古地理的关系,对区内梁山组的沉积特征、展布规律和含矿性进行了研究,编制了中二叠世早期梁山组岩相古地理图,提出了区内铝土矿障壁后泻湖成矿的模式。结果表明,区内古地理格局具有北高南低、南海北陆的特点,鲁甸—威宁—贵阳—都匀一线为障壁沉积体系,北部为障壁后泻湖沉积体系,南部为正常浅海沉积体系,大致可划分为隆起、滨湖、浅湖、半深湖—深湖、障壁砂坝、内陆棚和外陆棚7个沉积亚相,铝土矿矿床全部分布于北部泻湖半深湖—深湖相区内,岩相古地理控矿作用明显。     

湖北省晚二叠世龙潭组沉积期岩相古地理格局与成煤环境

晚二叠世龙潭组沉积期是湖北省境内一次重要的成煤时期,由于煤层的不稳定性,其煤层层数、厚度、煤质等存在明显差异。通过岩性、煤层及古生物研究对比,查明龙潭组由下向上共出现5个煤层,煤层的形成与沉积特征明显受岩相古地理条件所制约。在龙潭组沉积期,湖北省境内总体为"两陆夹一盆"的基本格局,形成潮坪-泻湖-障壁岛沉积体系,该沉积体系是华南海北部沉积区的一个组成部分,由秦淮古陆、海湾泻湖及江南古陆组成,沉积区主要为泻湖相和潮坪相单元,其中沼泽亚相为煤层的最佳沉积环境。