Stratigraphic framework for the Leichhardt and Calvert Superbasins: Review and correlations of the pre‐ 1700 Ma successions between Mt Isa and McArthur River

New stratigraphic, geochemical and palaeomagnetic data from the Peters Creek Volcanics are used to revise the correlations of part of the Palaeoproterozoic of northern Australia. The revised geological history for these cover rocks of the Murphy Inlier is extrapolated into the 1800–1700 Ma successions of the McArthur Basin and Mt Isa regions. New stratigraphic subdivisions and relationships are contrasted with the established lithostratigraphic schemes and also with conflicting published tectono‐stratigraphic interpretations. For the first time, a plethora of stratigraphic units can be rationalised into two major superbasins, the Leichhardt and Calvert Superbasins, and into eight pseudo‐chronostratigraphic basin phases (Associations A‐H). There are few absolute age constraints, but lateral correlations of the units in these eight basin phases are proposed. Results from the overlying Isa Superbasin (<1670 Ma) suggest that these eight associations probably represent second‐order supersequences. Mixed non‐marine and marine coarse clastics, deposited between about 1790 and 1780 Ma dominate Associations A and B. In the Mt Isa region these were deposited in an initial rift then a thermal relaxation or sag phase. To the northwest, however, the succession is dominated by rift facies. Association C is a widespread flood basalt and immature clastic suite that was deposited in clearly defined, north‐trending half‐grabens in the Mt Isa region. Along the southern edge of the Murphy Inlier, however, geophysically defined half‐grabens, filled with magnetic rocks (basalt), trend orthogonal to those at Mt Isa. North of the inlier Association C is much thinner, and little can be deduced about its palaeogeography. Association D is only present in the Mt Isa region as the Myally Subgroup. Differing views on its tectonic setting and environments of deposition, as presented in recent papers, are reviewed. Association E, deposited around 1755 Ma, is a regional sag phase with mixed clastic‐carbonate, shallow‐marine lithofacies in all areas. There is a major gap in the rock record between about 1750 and 1735 Ma which is probably related to widespread basin inversion. The Mid‐Tawallah Compressional Event (McArthur River area) and the Wonga Extension Event (Eastern Succession, Mt Isa) are both about this age. The overlying Association F is a thin, laterally uniform, upward‐fining succession that commences with shallow‐marine clastics and evolves through deeper marine clastics and ends in evaporitic facies. There are broad similarities between Associations F and E so interpretation as a third regional sag is favoured. The absence of Association F at Mt Isa may indicate that basin inversion was longer lived in the southeast. The youngest associations, G and H, are complex interstratified mixtures of felsic‐mafic igneous rocks and immature clastics. U–;Pb zircon SHRIMP ages appear to cluster around 1725 Ma and 1710 Ma, but they may all be part of one thermal event. These eight associations may represent the tectono‐magmatic response of the lithosphere during and after the Strangways Orogeny (1780–1730 Ma).     

The Glyde Sub‐basin: A volcaniclastic‐bearing pull‐apart basin coeval with the McArthur River base‐metal deposit,Northern Territory

Sedimentological, geochemical and tectonic studies have been carried out on the Glyde Sub‐basin, a fault‐bounded depocentre adjacent to the margin of the Batten Trough, 80 km south of the HYC Pb‐Zn‐Ag ore deposit, in the mid‐Proterozoic McArthur Basin. Although it is unmineralized, the basin is, in some aspects, morphologically similar to the HYC Sub‐basin and provides an insight into processes which occurred coevally along strike from a giant shale‐hosted base‐metal deposit. The geometry of the sub‐basin supports an origin in a releasing bend of the Emu Fault during oblique right‐lateral extension of the Emu Fault Zone, resulting in the deposition of a very thick sequence of below wave‐base Barney Creek Formation carbonaceous siltstone. Prior to sub‐basin development the area was covered by hypersaline carbonate tidal flats of the Coxco Dolomite Member of the Teena Dolomite.

Internal syn‐sedimentary normal faulting fractured the sub‐basin into seven major blocks, establishing a basic geometry of northern and southern depressions, into which the W‐Fold and HYC Pyritic Shale Members were successively deposited, separated by a non‐depositional horst. During the subsequent deposition of undivided Barney Creek Formation the horst was submerged and greater water circulation was established. The horst continued to be an east‐west barrier to clastic and volcaniclastic gravity flows, evidenced by the confinement to the northern depocentre of prograding easterly‐derived carbonate‐dominated turbidites.

Rhyolitic volcanism in the Glyde Sub‐basin commenced in the W‐Fold Shale Member, and became common in the overlying Barney Creek Formation. The measurable volcanic component increases from 4.4 to 17.5% of the total sediment package southwards over 18 km, implying a southern rhyolitic source within 6–30 km. A geochemical comparison of these relatively unaltered tuffs with those intercalated in the HYC ore sequence identified a comagmatic relationship on the basis of immobile element contents, supporting a common volcanic source. This conclusion was only possible after a preliminary study found Ti, Zr, Y and Nb to be relatively immobile in the severely potassium‐altered tuff of the HYC hydrothermal ore environment. Low‐grade (as distinct from high temperature hydrothermal) potassium‐alteration of felsic tuff throughout the McArthur Basin may have resulted from diagenetic interaction with very evolved lacustrine saline brines, whereas brines in the diagenetic environment of the Glyde Sub‐basin, in which unaltered or sodically‐altered tuff predominates, were comparatively less evolved.     

Stratiform and stratabound tungsten mineralisation in the Broken Hill Block,N.S.W.

The Early‐Middle Proterozoic Broken Hill Block contains three types of W occurrences, which show close stratigraphic control. All three types occur within a relatively narrow stratigraphic interval (the ‘Mine Sequence’ Suite of Stevens et al., 1980) comprising a highly variable group of metamorphosed silicic and mafic volcanics, clastic sediments, and exhalative and chemical sediments containing base metals. The first type includes occurrences of W and base metals in bedded calc‐silicate rocks. In the second type, W occurs in layered to non‐layered calcsilicate rocks associated with amphibolite; these are intimately associated in a narrow stratigraphic interval containing abundant, small, Broken Hill type deposits. The third type comprises stratabound, W‐bearing pegmatites, which have been remobilised from quartz‐feldspar‐biotite gneiss and bedded quartz‐tourmaline rocks. Tungsten has been mined only from the third type and only in small quantities. The three types of tungsten deposits show a close spatial relationship with stratiform and stratabound Pb‐Zn mineralisation, including the Broken Hill type. The Pb‐Zn and W deposits are inferred to be genetically related.     

东海盆地西湖凹陷构造样式及其演化

西湖凹陷是经历多期构造作用的白垩—第三纪盆地。多期裂陷和反转构造作用的叠加导致了相对复杂的构造格架样式和盆地地质结构。凹陷总体上具有东西分带,南北分块的构造格局。裂陷期的同沉积断裂组成了多种复合的构造样式：西部斜坡带主要发育断阶、地堑和地垒构造;中央洼陷带则以复合“Y”字型、羽状和似花状断裂组合为主;东缘断阶带主要发育“Y”字型、梳状和羽状组合。坳陷反转期,早期的同沉积断裂发生了不同程度的逆冲反转,形成了多种复合的构造样式,例如反冲叠瓦扇构造、后断叠瓦式逆冲构造等叠合构造样式。从盆地的构造样式出发,探讨了盆地的形成演化和构造- 沉积充填过程对有利圈闭带发育分布的控制作用,对富生烃凹陷油气预测具有重要指导意义。     

Deep Structure and Dynamics of Passive Continental Margin from Shelf to Ocean of the Northern South China Sea

To study the deep dynamic mechanism leading to the difference in rifting pattern and basin structure from shelf to oceanic basin in passive continental margin,we constructed long geological sections across the shelf,slope and oceanic basin using new seismic data.Integrated gravity-magnetic inversion and interpretation of these sections were made with the advanced dissection method.Results show that the basement composition changes from intermediate-acid intrusive rocks in the sheff to intermediate-basic rocks in the slope.The Moho surface shoals gradually from 31 km in the sheff to 22.5 km in the uplift and then 19 km in the slope and finally to 13 km in the oceanic basin.The crust thickness also decreases gradually from 30 km in the northern fault belt to 9 km in the oceanic basin.The crustal stretching factor increases from the shelf toward the oceanic basin,with the strongest extension under the sags and the oceanic basin.The intensity of mantle upwelling controlled the style of basin structures from sheff to oceanic basin.In the Zhu 1 depression on the shelf,the crust is nearly normal,the brittle and cold upper crust mainly controlled the fault development;so the combinative grabens with single symmetric graben are characteristic.In the slope,the crust thinned with a large stretching factor,affected by the mantle upwelling.The ductile deformation controlled the faults,so there developed an asymmetric complex graben in the Baiyun (白云) sag.     

塔里木新元古代原型盆地与深层油气勘探意义

震旦系白云岩是当前塔里木深层油气勘探战略突破的潜在层系之一,但是受资料限制,对新元古代原型盆地和烃源岩分布仍存在较大争议.综合重磁电反演和地震解释,开展了塔里木新元古代地层分布、隆坳格局和原型盆地性质研究.地球物理位场异常和联合反演结果显示,塔西南、阿瓦提地区深层都有新元古界广泛分布.新元古代盆地呈隆-坳相间格局,塔北...     

Different modes of the Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary inversion in the North German and Polish basins

Several selected seismic lines are used to show and compare the modes of Late-Cretaceous–Early Tertiary inversion within the North German and Polish basins. These seismic data illustrate an important difference in the allocation of major zones of basement (thick-skinned) deformation and maximum uplift within both basins. The most important inversion-related uplift of the Polish Basin was localised in its axial part, the Mid-Polish Trough, whereas the basement in the axial part of the North German Basin remained virtually flat. The latter was uplifted along the SW and to a smaller degree the NE margins of the North German Basin, presently defined by the Elbe Fault System and the Grimmen High, respectively. The different location of the basement inversion and uplift within the North German and Polish basins is interpreted to reflect the position of major zones of crustal weakness represented by the WNW-ESE trending Elbe Fault System and by the NW-SE striking Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone, the latter underlying the Mid-Polish Trough. Therefore, the inversion of the Polish and North German basins demonstrates the significance of an inherited basement structure regardless of its relationship to the position of the basin axis. The inversion of the Mid-Polish Trough was connected with the reactivation of normal basement fault zones responsible for its Permo-Mesozoic subsidence. These faults zones, inverted as reverse faults, facilitated the uplift of the Mid-Polish Trough in the order of 1–3 km. In contrast, inversion of the North German Basin rarely re-used structures active during its subsidence. Basement inversion and uplift, in the range of 3–4 km, was focused at the Elbe Fault System which has remained quiescent in the Triassic and Jurassic but reproduced the direction of an earlier Variscan structural grain. In contrast, N-S oriented Mesozoic grabens and troughs in the central part of the North German Basin avoided significant inversion as they were oriented parallel to the direction of the inferred Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary compression. The comparison of the North German and Polish basins shows that inversion structures can follow an earlier subsidence pattern only under a favourable orientation of the stress field. A thick Zechstein salt layer in the central parts of the North German Basin and the Mid-Polish Trough caused mechanical decoupling between the sub-salt basement and the supra-salt sedimentary cover. Resultant thin-skinned inversion was manifested by the formation of various structures developed entirely in the supra-salt Mesozoic–Cenozoic succession. The Zechstein salt provided a mechanical buffer accommodating compressional stress and responding to the inversion through salt mobilisation and redistribution. Only in parts of the NGB and MPT characterised by either thin or missing Zechstein evaporites, thick-skinned inversion directly controlled inversion-related deformations of the sedimentary cover. Inversion of the Permo-Mesozoic fill within the Mid-Polish Trough was achieved by a regional elevation above uplifted basement blocks. Conversely, in the North German Basin, horizontal stress must have been transferred into the salt cover across the basin from its SW margin towards the basins centre. This must be the case since compressional deformations are concentrated mostly above the salt and no significant inversion-related basement faults are seismically detected apart from the basin margins. This strain decoupling in the interior of the North German Basin was enhanced by the presence of the Elbe Fault System which allowed strain localization in the basin floor due to its orientation perpendicular to the inferred Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary far-field compression.     

Initiation of arc magmatism in an embryonic continental rifting zone of the southernmost part of Okinawa Trough

The Okinawa Trough is a young, intracontinental backarc basin that has formed behind the Ryukyu arc–trench system since late Miocene time. In the Southernmost Part of the Okinawa Trough (SPOT), a cluster of active submarine volcanoes delineates a volcanic belt, which is located only ∼100 km above the Wadati–Benioff zone. We report herein new major and trace element data for the SPOT volcanic rocks. These rocks show a compositional range from medium-K andesite to rhyolite. Their geochemical characteristics are similar to those of pre-backarc rifting volcanic rocks from the central Ryukyu arc, and different from those of backarc basin lavas from the Middle Okinawa Trough and the post-backarc rifting Ryukyu arc volcanics. Therefore, despite being topographically contiguous with the rest of the Trough, the SPOT that developed in the Quaternary is not a simple backarc basin but instead an embryonic rift zone in which early arc volcanism occurs as a result of the Ryukyu subduction.     

承德地区土城子组沉积特征及其构造意义

承德地区土城子组的沉积地层,主要保存在两个地区,一处为承德向斜,另一处为古北口断层的南部紧邻断层地区,即分别命名的承德盆地和古北口盆地内。根据其沉积特征,可分两个阶段。土城子组沉积早期阶段,盆地充填自下而上表现为冲积扇、砾质辫状河到曲流河的沉积过程。晚期阶段,承德盆地南部以及古北口盆地内近断层处,皆表现为冲积扇沉积,沉积物较早期地层有明显不同,碳酸盐岩颗粒占据主要成分,并沿剖面向上增加;承德盆地南半部分和古北口盆地内古流向分别为自南向北和自北向南。区域构造和土城子组沉积特征表明,在土城子组沉积晚期阶段,该地区构造环境发生了由伸展到挤压的转变,同时可能使盆地发生了正反转。     

Geology and tectonics of the Ryukyu Islands

The Ryukyu Islands are divided morphologically and geologically into three island groups: north, central and south Ryukyus. North-central Ryukyu represents the geological continuation of the Outer Belt of southwest Japan, composed of Mesozoic-Eocene sedimentary sequences, whereas south Ryukyu is characterized by high-pressure metamorphic rocks, Eocene volcanics and limestone, and lower Miocene sediments. The geological and structural contrasts between north-central and south Ryukyus are conspicuous before the late Miocene transgression covered the whole area. The Ryukyu Islands have been established since then.The successive developments of the Goto-Tunghai-Senkaku basins since the Paleogene, of the Okinawa Trough since the Miocene, and of the grabens near the Island group since the Pliocene, signify a southeastward shift of the basins in relation to the activity in the granite diapir zones accompanied by volcanism.     

Basin architecture and evolution in the Mount Isa mineral province,northern Australia: Constraints from deep seismic reflection profiling and implications for ore genesis

Deep seismic reflection profiling confirms that the Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic Mount Isa mineral province comprises three vertically stacked and partially inverted sedimentary basins preserving a record of intracontinental rifting followed by passive margin formation. Passive margin conditions were established no later than 1655 Ma before being interrupted by plate convergence, crustal shortening and basin-wide inversion at 1640 Ma in both the 1730–1640 Ma Calvert and 1790–1740 Ma Leichhardt superbasins. Crustal extension and thinning resumed after 1640 Ma with formation of the 1635–1575 Ma Isa Superbasin and continued up to ca. 1615 Ma when extensional faulting ceased and a further episode of basin inversion commenced. The 1575 Ma Century Pb–Zn ore-body is hosted by syn-inversion sediments deposited during the initial stages of the Isan Orogeny with basin inversion accommodated on east- or northeast-dipping reactivated intrabasinal extensional faults and footwall shortcut thrusts. These structures extend to considerable depths and served as fluid conduits during basin inversion, tapping thick syn-rift sequences of immature siliciclastic sediments floored by bimodal volcanic sequences from which the bulk of metals and mineralising fluids are thought to have been sourced. Basin inversion and fluid expulsion at this stage were entirely submarine consistent with a syn-sedimentary to early diagenetic origin for Pb–Zn mineralisation at, or close to, the seafloor. Farther east, a change from platform carbonates to deeper water continental slope deposits (Kuridala and Soldiers Cap groups) marks the position of the original shelf break along which the north–south-striking Selwyn-Mount Dore structural corridor developed. This corridor served as a locus for strain partitioning, fluid flow and iron oxide–copper–gold mineralisation during and subsequent to the onset of basin inversion and peak metamorphism in the Isan Orogeny at 1585 Ma. An episode of post-orogenic strike-slip faulting and hydrothermal alteration associated with the subvertical Cloncurry Fault Zone overprints west- to southwest-dipping shear zones that extend beneath the Cannington Pb–Zn deposit and are antithetic to inverted extensional faults farther west in the same sub-basin. Successive episodes of basin inversion and mineralisation were driven by changes in the external stress field and related plate tectonic environment as evidenced by a corresponding match to bends in the polar wander path for northern Australia. An analogous passive margin setting has been described for Pb–Zn mineralisation in the Paleozoic Selwyn Basin of western Canada.     

Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the 1.55 Ma synchronous isolation of the Ryukyu Islands,Japan, and Taiwan and inflow of the Kuroshio warm current

In the Quaternary, the Ryukyu Islands evolved from a continental margin arc to an island arc by backarc spreading of the Okinawa Trough, accompanied by subsidence and isolation of the islands, a process that has continued to the present. Trough-parallel half grabens were filled with marine siltstone. Similar sediments filling orthogonal fault-controlled and west-draining non-tectonic valleys record island separation. New Quaternary nannofossil biostratigraphic data date the deposition of the marine siltstone at 1.552 ± 0.154 Ma. At that time, the entire 1000 km-long island chain comprising the Ryukyu Islands separated from the Asian continent by rifting extending from the Okinawa Trough to the Tsushima Strait. The Tokara, Kerama, and Yonaguni gaps, branched or transverse rifts of the Okinawa Trough, separate the island chain into subgroups of the Osumi, Amami, Okinawa, and Yaeyama islands, and Taiwan. The shallow Taiwan Strait separated Taiwan from the Chinese mainland. The Kuroshio warm current that previously ran offshore of the continental margin arc began to enter the opening backarc basin through the Yonaguni gap and to exit through the Tokara gap, flowing along the axis of the Okinawa Trough. Under influence of the warm current and because of entrapment of continentally sourced detrital sediments by the Okinawa Trough, coral reefs formed around each island. These reefs make up a unit called the Ryukyu limestone. Subsidence continued through the deposition of this limestone, resulting in further isolation of each island. Some islands did not separate from the mainland but emerged above sea level later as a result of volcanic edifice construction or forearc uplift. Following initial isolation, the Japanese islands and Taiwan may have been connected to the mainland by land bridges during some sea level low stands related to glacial periods, whereas the other islands remained isolated. Based on ages of isolation of each island, a Quaternary palaeogeographic map and ‘phylogenetic tree’ of the islands can be drawn showing the separation time of each island from the mainland and from each other. This information should be useful for phylogenetic molecular biologists studying evolution of Ryukyu endemic species and vicariant speciation and could facilitate analysis of the DNA substitution rate.     

The arenig in South Wales: Sedimentary and volcanic processes during the initiation of a marginal basin

Marine clastic sediments and volcanics of Arenig (Ordovician) age crop out in South Wales. These were deposited after presumed late Tremadoc erosion and subsequent arc volcanicity. Arenig sedimentation was transgressive, and followed significant erosion of the arc volcanics. Arenig conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones were deposited in deltaic and turbiditic systems. Storm and tidal processes influenced the shallow marine deposits. The minor rhyolitic volcanics extruded during the Arenig reflect the development of Ordovician marginal basin-type volcanics across Wales. Five sandstone petrofacies are defined and reflect differing proportions of these volcanics and of Cambrian and Precambrian basement material. Sedimentation patterns were controlled by intra-Arenig tectonism during an overall rise in sea level. Facies and petrofacies were ponded in small, interconnected, marine sub-basins. Earliest Arenig tectonism and sedimentation, also recognized in North Wales, reflects the initiation of a marginal basin in Wales.     

Petroleum Potential of the Amu Dar'ya Province,Western Uzbekistan and Eastern Turkmenistan

The Amu Dar'ya gas-oil province coincides with a Mesozoic and Cenozoic sag basin that developed on an intermontane depression filled largely by Permian-Triassic redbeds and volcanics. The stratigraphic section of the basin is divided into two parts by an extensive evaporite deposit of Kimmeridgian age. The section below the evaporite consists of Lower-Middle Jurassic clastic rocks overlain by reef-bearing carbonate rocks of Callovian and Oxfordian age. The upper Jurassic and Cretaceous-Paleogene section consists largely of clastic rocks. Structurally the province is a mosaic of highs and lows controlled by basement faults. The Kimmeridgian evaporite is a regional seal for numerous pools in the Callovian- Oxfordian carbonate rocks. In the border areas of the province where the evaporite is not present, the hydrocarbons have migrated farther upward to collect in Lower Cretaceous traps. Prospects for further discovery are excellent in most parts of the province, but are particularly favorable in carbonate reef buildups in the southeastern part of the province.     

Vertical Migration of Petroleum via Faults in Zhu Ⅲ Subbasin, Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＤｏｗ (1994)ｓｔａｔｅｄ ,“Ｉｆｗｅｋｎｅｗｗｈｅｒｅｔｈｅｏｉｌｓｃａｍｅｆｒｏｍａｎｄｈｏｗｔｈｅｙｍｉｇｒａｔｅｄ ,ｗｅｃｏｕｌｄｂｅｔｔｅｒｐｒｅｄｉｃｔｗｈｅｒｅｔｈｅｙｗｏｕｌｄｂｅｆｏｕｎｄｉｎｔｈｅｆｕｔｕｒｅ .”Ｔｈｉｓｓｔａｔｅｍｅｎｔｈｉｇｈｌｉｇｈｔｓｔｗｏｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔａｓｐｅｃｔｓ,ｔｈｅｓｏｕｒｃｅｏｆｏｉｌｓａｎｄｔｈｅｍｉｇｒａｔｉｏｎｏｆｏｉｌｓ.Ｓｅｃｏｎｄａｒｙｍｉｇｒａｔｉｏｎｉｓｔｈｅｍｏｖｅｍｅｎｔｏｆｐｅｔｒｏｌｅｕｍｂ…     

华北克拉通南部周口坳陷谭庄—沈丘凹陷早白垩世沉积、构造特征与原型盆地性质

谭庄—沈丘凹陷位于华北克拉通南部,大别山北缘与华北克拉通接壤部位的周口坳陷内。区内下白垩统地层厚度巨大,沉积和沉降中心偏于盆地南侧。沉积物以细粒陆源碎屑砂岩、粉砂岩和泥岩为主;岩石中富含火山碎屑,成分成熟度和结构成熟度中等;发育一系列牵引流成因的沉积构造,属于与河流三角洲——滨浅湖沉积体系及其沉积相的组合,早白垩世沉积物源供给主要来自南部。盆地的发育和演化及早白垩世沉积主要受南部边界的叶鲁断裂控制,属于张性正断层,后期该断层发生明显地向盆地方向的逆冲。依据下白垩统砂岩组分构造属性、砂岩岩屑组分、沉积物常量元素和稀土元素地球化学特征分析以及与南部大别山造山带火山岩发育年代的对比等综合分析认为,谭庄—沈丘凹陷形成于早白垩世伸展大地构造背景,是受大别山北缘山盆耦合作用影响形成的断陷型沉积盆地。     

End-signature of deep-marine basin-fill, as a structurally confined low-gradient clastic system: the Middle Eocene Guaso system, South-central Spanish Pyrenees

The ca 300 m thick Guaso system is the youngest part of the ca 4 km thick deep-marine fill of the Middle Eocene Ainsa basin, Spanish Pyrenees. It is overlain by 150 to 200 m of fine-grained slope, prodelta and deltaic sediments. The ca 25 discrete deep-marine sandbodies within the Ainsa basin accumulated over ca 10 Myr, making eustasy the most likely control for coarse sand deposition (probably the ca 400 kyr Milankovitch mode). The first-order control on basin-scale accommodation, however, was tectonically-driven subsidence. Previously, the Guaso sandbodies were interpreted as linked to deep erosional, canyon-like features, but here it is argued that they are laterally extensive sandbodies, built by lateral-switching of 3 to 10 m deep erosional channels, and confined only by basin structure during deposition. The Guaso system represents the end of deep-marine deposition in a structurally-confined, delta-fed, low-gradient clastic system. The critical end-signature of deep-marine deposition was a phase of differential tectonic uplift above the underlying (Boltaña) thrust creating a narrower and shallower basin morphology, thus allowing sedimentation to create a low-gradient clastic system. Then, the next eustatic sea-level fall was insufficient to permit the cutting of canyons or deeply-incised slope channels, as had been the case earlier when the topographic relief between shelf and basin was at least several hundred metres greater. Such low-gradient clastic systems may characterize the end-signature for the infill of other shallowing-up deep-marine basins where a tectonic driver on subsidence is removed and/or differential uplift/subsidence leads to reduced sea floor gradients, leaving eustasy and sediment flux as the principal control on sediment supply.     

Archaean basin development and crustal extension in the northeastern Yilgarn Block,western Australia

Supracrustal sequences in the northeastern Yilgarn Block, Western Australia, form two contrasting lithotectonic associations. Most sequences were deposited in subaqueous to subaerial environments in a basin 120 km in width. The preserved succession reaches a maximum of e. 10 km in thickness in the central part of the basin, although there is no record of the basement on which it was deposited. In the later stages of its development, the basin was intruded by calc-alkaline granitoids, that are in part comagmatic with calc-alkaline volcanic rocks in the upper part of the stratigraphic succession. Brittle fracture (normal strike-faults and conjugate cross-faults), open, upright folds and peak low-strain metamorphism were coincident with granitoid emplacement.The eastern and western margins of the basin were greatly modified during a period of increased crustal extension, marked initially by the generation of a mildly peralkaline volcanic-plutonic suite, the volcanic members of which were deposited in linear, faultbounded depressions. A major growth fault indicated by thin persistent units of oligomictic and polymictic conglomerate and localized intense metasomatism was probably contemporaneous with felsic volcanic activity. Subsequent sediments, derived largely from granitic source areas, were deposited in narrow grabens. The youngest felsic plutonic rocks in the area include small bodies of alkali feldspar syenite many of which are found near the margins of the late, sediment-filled grabens. Tectonism at the eastern basin margin extended into the Proterozoic. In contrast to sequences at the centre of the basin, those at its margin have undergone isoclinal folding, ductile deformation and high-strain metamorphism.The geological framework of the northeastern Yilgarn Block emphasizes the importance of crustal extension in the development of younger Archaean supracrustal sequences and provides valuable support for extension-dependent greenstone belt evolutionary models (e.g., Groves and Batt).     

Application of pyrite trace element chemistry to exploration for SEDEX style Zn-Pb deposits: McArthur Basin,Northern Territory,Australia

Sedimentary pyrites in black shales contain abundant trace elements that provide information on the chemistry of the seawater at the time of sedimentation. This study focuses on the Barney Creek Formation (~ 1640 Ma) in the McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory of Australia, which is host to one of the world's largest SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag deposits, and several smaller deposits. Fine-grained sedimentary pyrite has been sampled from three drill holes through the Barney Creek Formation at various distances from SEDEX mineralisation. Samples were selected through the stratigraphy of each hole and analysed by LA-ICPMS for a suite of 14 trace elements. The data show that sedimentary pyrite at the base of the Barney Creek Formation, closest (within 1 km) to SEDEX mineralisation, is strongly enriched in Zn and Tl by one to two orders of magnitude compared to the global average for sedimentary pyrite. In contrast sedimentary pyrite from the hole furthest from SEDEX mineralisation (~ 60 km) contains mean Zn and Tl values equal to, or less than, the global average. Based on the three drill hole pyrite data sets it is concluded that trace elements that are contributed to the basin during hydrothermal exhalation, and adsorbed into contemporaneous sedimentary pyrite, are principally Zn, Tl, Cu, Pb, Ag and As. In contrast, trace elements that are adsorbed into sedimentary pyrite from background seawater are principally Mo, Ni, Co, Se and As. These differences have enabled the development of a SEDEX fertility diagram for sedimentary basins, based on the composition of sedimentary pyrite, that distinguish high Zn, but barren shales, from high zinc SEDEX-related shales. In parallel with the increase in Zn and Tl in sedimentary pyrite approaching mineralisation there is a decrease in Ni, Co and Mo. This means that the ratios Zn/Ni and Tl/Co are particularly good pyrite vectors to SEDEX mineralisation in the McArthur Basin, varying over 4 to 6 orders of magnitude from barren shales to mineralised shales. It is speculated that the reason for the reverse relationship between Ni, Co and Zn, Tl may be caused by hydrothermal exhalations into the water column that effect the ion-exchange pyrite surface complexation processes that alter the uptake of these elements into sedimentary pyrite.Another important conclusion of this study is that hydrothermal exhalations into a sedimentary basin may affect the redox sensitive trace element chemistry of sedimentary pyrite and therefore the trace element chemistry of pyritic black shales. Nickel, Co and Mo all decrease in proximity to hydrothermal vents that form SEDEX deposits, whereas Zn, Tl and Pb increase. Selenium and bismuth are the only redox sensitive trace elements that appear to be unaffected by hydrothermal activity in the McArthur Basin. This has implications on how trace element concentrations of black shales and pyrite are used to reflect past global ocean chemistry.     

胶莱盆地在南黄海的延伸:来自OBS深地震探测的新证据

为了识别胶莱盆地海阳凹陷在南黄海地区的东部延伸边界,利用穿越南黄海的OBS2013-SYS深地震测线开展2D速度结构模拟,在测线NW方向位于千里岩隆起带的OBS（海底地震仪）站位均观察到了折合走时突然增加的现象。速度结构模型显示胶莱盆地东侧海阳凹陷附近海域存在明显的低速沉积层增厚现象,模型自OBS06站位向NW方向,沉积层厚度由小于1.0 km显著增厚至2.5 km左右,推测该处为胶莱盆地海阳凹陷的东部边界断裂。结合前人在海阳凹陷识别出的控盆断裂进行分析,厘定了海阳凹陷在海区大体的构造边界和沉积中心,认为胶莱盆地东部控盆断裂可能延伸至连云港-石岛断裂一线,与嘉山-响水-千里岩断裂构成千里岩隆起带南北边界断裂带的一部分。海阳凹陷沉降中心可能位于南黄海海区连云港-石岛断裂北侧海阳凹陷的NE方向,发育的厚层白垩系可能存在较好的油气前景。