http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001053

Massif anorthosites form when basaltic magma differentiates in crustal magma chambers to form low-density plagioclase and a residual liquid whose density was greater than that of enclosing crustal rocks. The plagioclase and minor pyroxene crystallized in-situ on the floor of the magma chamber to produce the anorthosite complex, and the residual liquid migrated downwards, eventually to solidify as dense Fe-rich cumulates some of which were removed to the mantle. These movements were facilitated by high temperatures in Proterozoic continental crust, thus explaining the restriction of large anorthosite massifs to this period in Earth history.     

Environmental upheavals of the Ediacaran period and the Cambrian “explosion” of animal life

The second half of the Ediacaran period began with a large impact e the Acraman impact in South Australia, which was accompanied by a negative d13Ccarb anomaly and an extinction-radiation event involvi...     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112000059

A lirst report on tuff beds from the Owk Shale in the Proterozoic Kurnool sub-basin in southern India is presented.The rhvolitic lo ihodacitic tuffs,overlying shclfal limestones formed at depths below storm wave base,have rheomorphic features indicative of viscoplaslic flow.and geochemical signatures of rhvolitic to rhyodacitic unwekled to welded tuffs,similar to those described from other Proterozoic intracratonie basins like Vindhvan and Chhattisgarh basins in India.Fragmentary naiure of altered glass with perlitic cracks and local admixture with intrabasinal sediments suggest phreatomagmatic reactions.The widespread and repealed occurrences of felsic luffs in these basins.possibly derived from low degree melting of continental crust.suggest intermittent(ectonothermal instability which likely intluenced hasinal topography and cyclic development of the carbonate platforms.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000644

正1.Introduction This special issue of Geoscience Frontiers is a tribute volume honoring the life and career of Jacques Touret.A set of research papers has been assembled,which broadly reflect his research interests over his 50 plus year career.These papers focus on the role that fluids play during the formation and evolution of the Earth's crust.Below I provide a brief summary of the life of Jacques Touret,along with a select bibliography of his more important papers.This is then followed by a brief introduction to the papers assembled for this special issue.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112000679

Quasi-integrity of continental crust between Mid-Archaean and Ediacaran times is demonstrated by conformity of palaeomagnetic poles to near-static positions between～2.7-2.2 Ca,～1.5-1.2 Ga and～0.75-0.6 Ga.Intervening data accord to coherent APW loops turning at "hairpins" focused near a continental-centric location.Although peripheral adjustments occurred during Early Proterozoic （～2.2 Ga） and Grenville（～1.1 Ga） times,the crust retained a low order symmetrical crescent-shaped form constrained to a single global hemisphere until break-up in Ediacaran times.Conformity of palaeomagnetic data to specific Eulerian parameters enables definition of a master Precambrian APW path used to estimate the root mean square velocity(v_RMS) of continental crust between 2.8 and 0.6 Ga.A long interval of little polar movement between～2.7 and 2.2 Ga correlates with global magmatic shutdown between～2.45 and 2.2 Ga,whilst this interval and later slowdown at～0.75-0.6 Ga to velocities of <2 cm/year correlate with episodes of widespread glaciation implying that these prolonged climatic anomalies had an internal origin;the reduced input of volcanically-derived atmospheric greenhouse gases is inferred to have permitted freeze-over conditions with active ice sheets extending into equatorial latitudes as established by low magnetic inclinations in glaciogenic deposits.v_RMS variations through Precambrian times correspond to the distribution of U-Pb ages in orogenic granitoids and detrital zircons and demonstrate that mobility of continental crust has been closely related to crustal tectonism and incrementation.Both periods of near-stillstand were followed by rapid v_RMS recording massive heat release from beneath the continental lid at～2.2 and 0.6 Ga.The first coincided with the Lomagundi-Jatuli isotopic event and led to prolonged orogenesis accompanied by continental flooding and reconfiguration of the crust on the Earth’s surface;the second led to continental break-up and instigated the comprehensive Plate Tectonics that has characterised Phanerozoic times.The Mesoproterozoic interval characterised by anorogenic magmatism correlates with low v_RMS between～1.5 and 1.1 Ga.Insulation of the sub-continental mantle evidently permitted high temperature melting and weakening of the crustal lid to enable buoyant emplacement of large plutons at high crustal levels during this magmatic event unique to Mesoproterozoic and early Neoproterozoic times.     

A review of the ～1600 Ma sedimentation, volcanism, and tectono-thermal events in the Singhbhum craton, Eastern India

The Palaeoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic transition (～1600 Ma) is a significant event in the Earth history as a global thermal perturbation affected the pre-1600 Ma landmasses. Like other cratonic blocks of the world, lithospheric thinning, sedimentation, magmatism, metamorphism and crustal melting/anatexis are associated with this significant geological event in the Singhbhum cratonic province of India. This paper is a review of sedimentological, magmatic and tectono-thermal events in the Singhbhum craton at ～1600 Ma. The Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic sedimentation and volcanism in the Singhbhum craton took place in a terrestrial intracontinental rift setting. The available geochronological data are indicative of late Palaeoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic tectono-thermal events in the Chhotanagpur Granite Gneissic Complex (CGGC), an east–west trending arcuate belt of granite gneisses, migmatites and metasedimentary rocks. A detailed multidisciplinary geo-scientific investigation of the Dalma volcanic belt and the area to its north (Chandil Formation) and further north in CGGC will enable us to constrain the extant surface processes and crust-mantle interactions, the collision events between the North and South Indian cratonic blocks, and the position of India in the Columbia supercontinent.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111000545

By applying the ’theory of synchronization’ from the science of complexity to studying the regional regularity of ore formation within the Nanling region of southern China,a characteristic target-pattern regional ore zonality has been discovered.During the early and late Yanshanian epoch(corresponding respectively to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods),two centers of ore formation emerged successively in the Nanling region;the former is mainly for rare metals(W,Sn,Mo,Bi,Nb) and one rare-earth element (La) and was generated in the Jurassic period;whereas the latter is mainly for base metals(Cu,Pb,Zn,Sb, Hg),noble metals(Au,Ag),and one radioactive element(U) and was generated in the Cretaceous period. Centers of ore formation were brought about by interface dynamics respectively at the Qitianling and Jiuyishan districts in southern Hunan Province.The characteristic giant nonlinear target-pattern regional ore zonality was generated by spatio-temporal synchronization process of the Nanling complex metallo-genic system.It induced the collective dynamics and cooperative behavior of the system and displayed the configuration of the regional ore zonality.Then dynamical clustering transformed the configuration into rudimentary ordered coherent structures.Phase dynamics eventually defined the spatio-temporal structures of the target-pattern regional ore zonality and determined their localization and distribution.A new methodology for revealing regional ore zonality is developed,which will encourage further investigation of the formation of deep-seated ore resources and the onset of large-scale mineralization.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000267

Habitable Trinity is a newly proposed concept of a habitable environment.This concept indicates that the coexistence of an atmosphere(consisting largely of C and N),an ocean(H and O).and a landmass(supplier of nutrients) accompanying continuous material circulation between these three components driven by the Sun is one of the minimum requirements for life to emerge and evolve.The life body consists of C,0,H,N and other various nutrients,and therefore,the presence of water,only,is not a sufficient condition.Habitable Trinity environment must be maintained to supply necessary components for life body.Our Habitable Trinity concept can also be applied to other planets and moons such as Mars,Europa,Titan,and even exoplanets as a useful index in the quest for life-containing planetary bodies.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000565

During granulite-facies metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks by the infiltration of carbonic fluids, the disappearance of hydrated minerals leads to the liberation of aqueous fluids. These fluids are strongly enriched in F and C1, and a series of Large-lon-Lithophile （LIL） elements and rare metals, resulting in their depletion in granulites. To sum up the fate of these elements, we focus on three domains representing different crustal levels and showing distinct behaviours with respect to these elements. The Lapland metasedimentary granulites illustrate the behaviour of the LILE and rare metals during lower crustal metamorphism. There is no change in Ba, moderate loss in Rb, and extreme depletion in Cs, Li, and Sn. F and CI contents are also very low compared to the protoliths or average upper continental crust. Biotite and amphibole breakdown leads to the incorporation of their partitioning into a fluid or a melt. The Tranomaro metasomatized marbles recrystallizing under granulite-facies conditions represent a demonstrative example of fluid transfer from granulite-facies supracrustals to traps represented by regional scale skarns. Such fluids may be at the origin of the incompatible element enrichment detected in leucosomes of migmatites from St Malo in Brittany （France） and Black Hills in South Dakota, The northern French Massif Central provides us with an example of a potential association between incompatible element enrichment of granitic melts and granulite-facies metamorphism. U- and F- enriched fine-grained granites are emplaced along a crustal scale shear zone active during the emplacement within the St Sylvestre peraluminous leucogranitic complex, We propose that during granulite-facies metamorphism dominated by carbonic waves in a deep segment of the continental crust, these shear zones control： （i） the percolation of F-, LILE-, rare metal-rich fluids liberated primarily by the breakdown of biotite; （ii） the enhancement of partial melting by F-rich fluids at intermediate crustal lev     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001569

The southeastern Anatolia comprises numbers of tectono-magmatic/stratigraphic units such as the metamorphic massifs,the ophiolites,the volcanic arc units and the granitoid rocks.All of them play important role for the late Cretaceous evolution of the southern Neotethys.The spatial and temporal relations of these units suggest the progressive development of coeval magmatism and thrusting during the late Cretaceous northward subduction/accretion.Our new U-Pb zircon data from the rhyolitic rocks of the wide-spread volcanic arc unit show ages of(83.1±2.2)-(74.6±4.4) Ma. Comparison of the ophiolites,the volcanic arc units and the granitoids suggest following late Cretaceous geological evolution.The ophiolites formed in a suprasubduction zone(SSZ) setting as a result of northward intra-oceanic subduction.A wide-spread island-arc tholeiitic volcanic unit developed on the top of the SSZ-type crust during 83-75 Ma.Related to regional plate convergence, northward under-thrusting of SSZ-type ophiolites and volcanic arc units was initiated beneath the Tauride platform(Malatya-Keban) and followed by the intrusion of l-type calc-alkaline volcanic arc granitoids during 84-82 Ma.New U-Pb ages from the arc-related volcanic-sedimentary unit and granitoids indicate that under-thrusting of ophiolites together with the arc-related units beneath the Malatya-Keban platform took place soon after the initiation of the volcanic arc on the top of the SSZtype crust.Then the arc-related volcanic-sedimentary unit continued its development and lasted at～75 Ma until the deposition of the late Campanian—Maastrichtian shallow marine limestone.The subduction trench eventually collided with the Bitlis-Ptrge massif giving rise to HP-IT metamorphism of the Bitlis massif.Although the development of the volcanic arc units and the granitoids were coeval at the initial stage of the subduction/accretion both tectono-magmatic units were genetically different from each other.     

Biostratigraphy of a Paleocene–Eocene Foreland Basin boundary in southern Tibet

This study of the Paleocene–Eocene boundary within a foreland basin of southern Tibet, which was dominated by a carbonate ramp depositional environment, documents more complex environmental conditions than can be derived from studies of the deep oceanic environment. Extinction rates for larger foraminiferal species in the Zongpu-1 Section apply to up to 46% of the larger foraminiferal taxa. The extinction rate in southern Tibet is similar to rates elsewhere in the world, but it shows that the Paleocene fauna disappeared stepwise through the Late Paleocene, with Eocene taxa appearing abruptly above the boundary. A foraminifera turnover was identified between Members 3 and 4 of the Zongpu Formation—from the Miscellanea–Daviesina assemblage to an Orbitolites–Alveolina assemblage. The Paleocene and Eocene boundary is between the SBZ 4 and SBZ 5, where it is marked by the extinction of Miscellanea miscella and the first appearance of Alveolina ellipsodalis and a large number of Orbitolites. Chemostratigraphically, the δ13C values from both the Zongpu-1 and Zongpu-2 Sections show three negative excursions in the transitional strata, one in Late Paleocene, one at the boundary, and one in the early Eocene. The second negative excursion of δ13C, which is located at the P–E boundary, coincides with larger foraminifera overturn. These faunal changes and the observed δ13C negative excursions provide new evidence on environmental changes across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in Tibet.     

Did natural fission of 235U in the earth lead to formation of the supercontinent Columbia?

Steady decline in the percentage of 235U in terrestrial uranium made natural fission impossible after about 1.8 Ga.Fission before 1.8 Ga disturbed the lead isotope system at various places worldwide,su...     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000036

The paper evaluates sensitivity of various spaceborne digital elevation models （DEMs）, viz., Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer （ASTER）, Shuttle Radar Topography Mapping Mission （SRTM） and Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 （GMTED）, in comparison with the DEM （TOPO） derived from contour data of 20 m interval of Survey of India topographic sheets of 1 ： 50,000 scale. Several topographic attributes, such as elevation （above mean sea level）, relative relief, slope, aspect, curvature, slope-length and -steepness （LS） factor, terrain ruggedness index （TRI）, topo- graphic wetness index （TWI）, hypsometric integral （lhyp） and drainage network attributes （stream number and stream length） of two tropical mountain river basins, viz. Muthirapuzha River Basin and Pambar River Basin are compared to evaluate the variations. Though the basins are comparable in extent, they differ in respect of terrain characteristics and climate. The result.,; suggest that ASTER and SRTM provide equally reliable representation of topography portrayed by TOP（） and the topographic attributes extracted from the spaceborne DEMs are in agreement with those derived from TOPO. Despite the coarser resolution, SRTM shows relatively higher vertical accuracy （RMSE -- 23 and 20 m respectively in MRB and PRB） compared to ASTER （RMSE - 33 and 24 m） and GMTED （RMSE - 59 and 48 m）. Vertical accuracy of all the spaceborne DEMs is influenced by relief of the terrain as well as type of vegetation. Further, GMTED shows significant deviation for most of the attributes, indicating its inability for mountain-river-basin-scale studies.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000034

<正>We synthesize significant recent results on the deep structure and origin of the active volcanoes in mainland China.Magmatism in the western Pacific arc and back-arc areas is caused by dehydration of the subducting slab and by corner flow in the mantle wedge,whereas the intraplate magmatism in China has different origins.The active volcanoes in Northeast China(such as the Changbai and Wuda-lianchi) are caused by hot upwelling in the big mantle wedge(BMW) above the stagnant slab in the mantle transition zone and deep slab dehydration as well.The Tengchong volcano in Southwest China is caused by a similar process in the BMW above the subducting Burma microplate(or Indian plate). The Hainan volcano in southernmost China is a hotspot fed by a lower-mantle plume which may be associated with the Pacific and Philippine Sea slabs' deep subduction in the east and the Indian slab's deep subduction in the west down to the lower mantle.The stagnant slab finally collapses down to the bottom of the mantle,which can trigger the upwelling of hot mantle materials from the lower mantle to the shallow mantle beneath the subducting slabs and may cause the slab—plume interactions.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000681

We present the disaster-forced biological evolution model as a general framework that includes Darwinian "phylogenic gradualism",Eldredge-Gould's "punctuated equilibrium",mass extinctions,and allopatric.parapatric,and sympatric speciation.It describes how reproductive isolation of organisms is established through global disasters due to supernova encounters and local disasters due to radioactive volcanic ash fall-outs by continental alkaline volcanism.Our new evolution model uniquely highlights three major factors of disaster-forced speciation:enhanced mutation rate by higher natural radiation level,smaller population size,and shrunken habitat size(i.e.,isolation among the individual populations).We developed a mathematical model describing speciation of a half-isolated group from a parental group,taking into account the population size(N_e),immigration rate(m),and mutation rate(μ).The model gives a quantitative estimate of the speciation,which is consistent with the observations of speciation speed.For example,the speciation takes at least 10~5 generations,if mutation rate is less than10~(-3) per generation per individual.This result is consistent with the previous studies,in which μ is assumed to be 10~(-3)-10~(-5).On the other hand,the speciation is much faster(less than 10~5 generations)for the case that μ is as large as 0.1 in parapatric conditions(m μ).Even a sympatric(m ~ 1) speciation can occur within 10~3 generations,if mutation rate is very high(μ~1 mutation per individual per generation),and if N_e 20-30.Such a high mutation rate is possible during global disasters due to supernova encounters and local disasters due to radioactive ash fall-outs.They raise natural radiation level by a factor of 100-1000.Such rapid speciation events can also contribute to macro-evolution during mass extinction events,such as observed during the Cambrian explosion of biodiversity.A similar rapid speciation(though in a much smaller scale) also has been undergoing in cichlid fishes and great African apes in the last several tens of thousand years in the current African rift valley,including the origin of humankind due to the radioactive ash fall-outs by continental alkaline volcanism.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001521

The Tarim Basin is a representative example of the basins developed in the northwest China that are characterized by multiple stages of heating and cooling.In order to better understand its complex thermal history,apatite fission track （AFT） thermochronology was applied to borehole samples from the Tazhong Uplift Zone （TUZ）.Twelve sedimentary samples of Silurian to Triassic depositional ages were analyzed from depths coinciding with the apatite partial annealing zone （～60-120 ℃）.The AFT ages,ranging from 132 ± 7 Ma （from a Triassic sample） to 25 ± 2 Ma （from a Carboniferous sample）,are clearly younger than their depositional ages and demonstrate a total resetting of the AFT thermometer after deposition.The AFT ages vary among different tectonic belts and decrease from the No.Ten Faulted Zone （133-105 Ma） in the northwest,the Central Horst Zone in the middle （108-37 Ma）,to the East Buried Hill Zone in the south （51 25 Ma）.Given the low magnitude of post-Triassic burial heating evidenced by low vitrinite reflectance values （Ro ＜ 0.7％）,the total resetting of the AFT system is speculated to result from the hot fluid flow along the faults.Thermal effects along the faults are well documented by younger AFT ages and unimodal single grain age distributions in the vicinity of the faults.Permian-early Triassic basaltic volcanism may be responsible for the early Triassic total annealing of those samples lacking connectivity with the fault.The above arguments are supported by thermal modeling results.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000095

<正>Bauxite deposits are studied because of their economic value and because they play an important role in the study of paleoclimate and paleogeography of continents.They provide a rare record of the weathering and evolution of continental surfaces.Geomicrobiological analysis makes it possible to verify that microorganisms have played a critical role during the formation of bauxite with the possibility already intimated in previous studies.Ambient temperature,abundance of water,organic carbon and bioavailable iron and other metal substrates provide a suitable environment for microbes to inhabit.Thio-bacillus, Leptospirilum,Thermophilic bacteria and Heterotrophs have been shown to be able to oxidize ferrous iron and to reduce sulfate-generating sulfuric acid,which can accelerate the weathering of alumi-nosilicates and precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides.Microorganisms referred to the genus Bacillus can mediate the release of alkaline metals.Although the dissimilatory iron-reducing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in bauxites have not yet been identified,some recorded authigenic carbonates and "bacteriopyrites" that appear to be unique in morphology and grain size might record microbial activity.Typical bauxite minerals such as gibbsite,kaolinite,covellite,galena,pyrite,zircon,calcium plagioclase,orthoclase, and albite have been investigated as part of an analysis of microbial mediation.The paleoecology of such bauxitic microorganisms inhabiting continental(sub) surfaces,revealed through geomicrobiolo-gical analysis,will add a further dimension to paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental studies.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001277

A numerical model is developed for investigating the evolution of fracture permeability in a coupled fracture-matrix system in the presence of fracture-skin with simultaneous colloidal and bacterial tr...     

Southern East Siberia Pliocene–Quaternary faults: Database, analysis and inference

This paper presents the first release of an Informational System（IS）devoted to the systematic collection of all available data relating to Pliocene-Quaternary faults in southern East Siberia,their critical analysis and their seismotectonic parameterization.The final goal of this project is to form a new base for improving the assessment of seismic hazard and other natural processes associated with crustal deformation.The presented IS has been exploited to create a relational database of active and conditionally active faults in southern East Siberia（between 100°-114° E and 50°-57° N）whose central sector is characterized by the highly seismic Baikal rift zone.The information within the database for each fault segment is organized as distinct but intercorrelated sections（tables,texts and pictures,etc.）and can be easily visualized as HTML pages in offline browsing.The preliminary version of the database distributed free on disk already highlights the general fault pattern showing that the Holocene and historical activity is quite uniform and dominated by NE-SW and nearly E-W trending faults;the former with a prevailing dip-slip normal kinematics,while the latter structures are left-lateral strike-slip and oblique-slip（with different proportion of left-lateral and normal fault slip components）.These faults are mainly concentrated along the borders of the rift basins and are the main sources of moderate-to-strong（M≥5.5）earthquakes on the southern sectors of East Siberia in recent times.As a whole,based on analyzing the diverse fault kinematics and their variable spatial distribution with respect to the overall pattern of the tectonic structures formed and/or activated during the late Pliocene-Quaternary,we conclude they were generated under a regional stress field mainly characterized by a relatively uniform NW-SE tension,but strongly influenced by the irregular hard boundary of the old Siberian craton.The obtained inferences are in an agreement with the existing models of the development of