Distribution patterns of gypsum and kalistrontite in a dry lake basin of the southwestern Kalahari (Omongwa pan,Namibia)

The deposits of the Omongwa pan, southwestern Kalahari, Namibia, are partly gypsiferous and locally contain small amounts of kalistrontite. The distribution patterns of gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O) and kalistrontite (K₂Sr(SO₄)₂) are mainly determined by groundwater depth and by the lithological composition of the deposits. The latter determines the hydraulic conductivity for saturated and unsaturated flow and therefore controls the depth of the interval within the deposits where evaporation and mineral precipitation can take place. Other factors that affect the distribution of the evaporite minerals are the patterns of groundwater flow within the basin and the occurrence of a redistribution of salts during short flooding stages. Gypsum occurs as crystals of four distinct morphological types, which each developed in different conditions: prismatic crystals formed both as subaqueous precipitates and as crystals that developed within the sediment matrix of a brine-saturated surface layer; sub/euhedral tabular crystals formed within brine-filled macropores; hemi-bipyramidal crystals formed in a nearly permanently brine-saturated part of a subsurface horizon (phreatic zone), as the product of recrystallization of an older gypsum occurrence; and lenticular crystals formed by intrasediment growth in the vadose zone. The development of these morphological types of gypsum crystals is marked by differences in the differential inhibition of growth of the various crystal forms. The further growth of lenticular crystals, which are most strongly affected by differential growth inhibition, is still characterized by a difference in degree of inhibition between the {1 11} and {1 03} forms, expressed as a change in orientation of the plane of flattening. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

24万年来西昆仑山甜水海湖岩芯碳酸盐含量变化与气候环境演化

青藏高原现代气候与环境存在着明显的区域差异。高原西北部的西昆仑山甜水 海地区是高原上气候最干旱的区域。作者于１９９５年６月在该区海拔４８４０ｍ的湖盆首次打钻取芯（ＴＳ９５孔）,获得５７ｍ湖泊岩芯,经对样品的实验室测年和多项环境指标分析,表明,ＴＳ９５孔岩芯覆盖了距今２４０－１７ｋａ间的时间尺度。期间,经历了倒数第二次冰期,末次间冰期,末次冰期早期,末次冰期间冰阶和末次冰盛期几个气候变化阶段。岩芯中     

Chronology of Holocene lacustrine sediments in Co Ngoin, central Tibetan Plateau

Lake sediments, in which abundant, continuous and high resolved signals are preserved, have the potential to recover the history of terrestrial environmental variation. The value of such paleo-environment signals depends firstly on tying them to accurate …     

巢湖柱状沉积物中甘油二烷基甘油四醚脂(GDGTs)的组成特征

甘油二烷基甘油四醚脂(GDGTs)是目前生物地球化学研究的热点之一.与GDGTs有关的指标已成功地应用在海洋环境中有关来源判识和古环境古气候重建的研究,但是在湖泊环境中的应用目前还比较有限.通过开展巢湖柱状沉积物中GDGTs的组成测定,为GDGTs类脂分子标志物在湖泊系统中的应用提供依据.研究表明由柱状沉积物中支链GDGTs参数计算得到的量化结果与巢湖周围流域的环境温度、pH等历史记录能较好地吻合;柱状沉积物中类异戊二烯类GDGTs来源的不确定性可能是造成TEX_(86)指标的量化结果和实际的水体温度出现较大偏差的重要原因.另外,沉积物中GDGTs指标和TOC、C/N、δ~(13)C_(org)、δ~(15)N等传统湖泊总体有机质参数以及其它分子标志物指标相比,具有高分辨性和抗干扰等特点.因此,湖泊中GDGTs有望成为湖泊古气候和古环境重建的重要指标.     

The crustal structures of the central Longmenshan along and its margins as related to the seismotectonics of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

In 2010, a 500-km-long wide-angle reflection/refraction seismic profile was completed, running northwest from the central Sichuan Basin. This profile orthogonally crosses the meizoseismal area of great Wenchuan earthquake of 12 May 2008, which occurred in the central part of the Longmenshan. The profile also passes through the northwestern Sichuan Plateau, along which a new deep seismic sounding observation system was set up that was much improved over previous datasets and enabled abundant observations to be recorded. Seismic wave phase records that reflect the structural characteristics of different tectonic blocks, especially the complicated phase features associated with the Wenchuan earthquake, were calculated and analyzed in detail. A 2D crustal P-wave velocity model for the orogenic belt in the central Longmenshan and its margins was determined, and crustal structure differences between the stable Sichuan Basin and the thickened northwestern Sichuan Plateau were characterized. Lithological variations within the upper and lower crust in the interior of the plateau, especially a great velocity decrease and plastic rheological properties associated with strong lithologic weakening in lower crust, were detected. From west to east in the lower crust beneath the orogenic belt lying between the Sichuan Basin and the northwestern Sichuan Plateau, a giant shovel-like upwelling is observed that dips gently in the lower part and at higher angles in the upper part; this is inferred to be related to the fault systems in the central Longmenshan. An upwelling in the upper-middle crust along the eastern margin of the orogenic belt is associated with steeply dipping thrusts that strongly uplift the upper crust and crystalline basement beneath a central fault system in the Longmenshan. The data, combined with an understanding of the regional tectonic stress field and previous geological results, enable a discussion of basin-and-range coupling, orogenic tectonics, the crustal fault system, and the seismogenic tectonic environment of the central Longmenshan along the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.     

The mobilization and deposition of mud deposits in a coastal plain estuary

Muddy sediments with their potential for containing contaminants are commonly deposited and remobilized by tidal currents in estuarine environments. We examined the mobilization and subsequent redeposition of mud in a coastal plain estuary located in the southeastern United States. Time-series data for salinity, suspended sediment concentrations and quality (percent organic matter and pigment concentrations) were obtained over a 13-hour tidal cycle. We found that fast-settling mud particles are found during the highest tidal current speeds. Particle quality analyses suggest that all the material is of similar origin, and that phaeopigment can be used as a tracer of particles in this system. These particles settle onto the bed when current speeds approach slack conditions. We speculate that the quantity of mud mobilized during neap tide is less than during spring tide resulting in an opportunity for the mud to partially consolidate on the bottom and be removed from resuspension. We further speculate that the muddy sediments are mainly derived from fringing marshes in this estuary.     

Climatic and tectonic significance of Late Pleistocene and Holocene tufa deposits in the Mijares River canyon,eastern Iberian Range,northeast Spain

The tufa deposits developed in the Mijares River canyon at the eastern sector of the Iberian Range were studied by using geomorphological, stratigraphic, micromorphological, mineralogical and chronological (U/Th and ¹⁴C) techniques. These tufas are located along a high‐gradient river profile reach, with high water turbulence and mechanical outgassing, related to Quaternary faulting activity upstream in the regional context of an extensional tectonic regime. Two stepped and terraced fluviatile tufa structures with large phytohermal barrage frameworks and smaller dammed areas have been differentiated. The first structure, Upper Pleistocene in age (from 200 000 to 50 000 years BP ), is made up by two morphosedimentary units reaching 120 m in thickness, and the second one, Holocene in age (10 000–5000 years BP ), is 35 m in thickness. These structures record a more or less continuous tufa development with a mean deposition rate ranging between 1 and 5 mm a⁻¹ as minimum. A preferential growth with high biological activity during warm and wet palaeoenvironmental stages (isotopic stages 7, 3 and 1) can be deduced. Thus, neotectonic activity controlled the location along the Mijares River as well as the large thickness of the tufa deposits, whereas warm climatic periods favoured intense tufa activity in the fluvial system. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

滨里海盆地东缘中区块盐下构造识别方法

滨里海盆地东缘中区块在下二叠统孔谷阶沉积了巨厚的盐岩层,由于盐层速度与围岩的速度存在很大差异,造成了下伏地层在时间剖面上存在上拉现象,形成了一些假构造圈闭或者使构造幅度发生变化,成为勘探陷阱.本文针对中区块盐下构造识别的难题,分析含盐盆地速度特征和盐下构造的影响因素,提出了正演模拟、基于地震叠加速度谱的变速成图和叠前深度偏移的识别方法.综合识别结果,并相互对比验证,最终消除盐丘造成的构造假象,有效识别了盐下构造,主要目的层的平均深度误差只有1%左右.上述方法对于解决含盐盆地地区以及速度横向变化剧烈区的构造问题具有借鉴意义.     

The degree of trace metal pyritization in subtidal sediments of a mariculture area: application to the assessment of toxic risk

Four 2–3 m sediment cores were taken at the sites on the periphery of mussel raft concentrations in the subtidal zone of the inner Ría de Vigo (Galicia, NW Spain) with a view to evaluate the potential risk to mariculture from sediment-borne trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn). The distribution of each of these elements in reactive, organic, pyrite and silicate-bound fractions was determined at 64 samples, and these data were used to calculate the degree of trace metal pyritization (DTMP) of each metal/metalloid. In the top 10–20 cm, relatively oxic conditions led to As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn having large reactive fractions due to their association with Fe and Mn oxyhydroxides. At lower levels, anoxic conditions favoured by intense diagenesis led to the precipitation of trace metals and metalloids as sulphides, with or without association with pyrite. Particularly large pyrite fractions in the 20–100 cm layer are attributed to the organic matter of this layer being more marine in origin than that of deeper sediments. DTMP was greatest for Cu and As, and least for Pb, Zn and Cr. The risk of trace element toxicity in the event of disturbances instituting oxic conditions in these sediments is discussed.     

青藏高原东边缘冕宁-宜宾剖面电性结构及其构造意义

在青藏高原东边缘沿冕宁—宜宾进行了大地电磁探测研究,剖面西起康滇地轴,向东穿过大凉山地块,终止于四川盆地.利用带地形的NLCG(非线性共轭梯度)方法对资料进行了反演,得到沿剖面的二维电性结构.康滇地轴和大凉山地块地壳中存在向上拱起的高导层(HCL),顶面埋深为10～15 km,最浅处不足10 km,厚度大约15～25 km,最小电阻率小于10 Ωm.四川盆地中下地壳不存在高导层.和该剖面北侧的石棉—乐山剖面的地壳电性结构对比分析表明,高导层在南北方向上可能连续延伸,长度大于100 km.壳内高导层的高导电性与岩石的部分熔融有关,并可能含有百分之几的含盐流体,易于流动和变形.青藏高原东部地壳内的可流动层在向东或东南方向流动过程中,由于受到四川盆地的阻挡,转向南或南南东方向,大体沿着大凉山地块的走向.在东西方向,壳内高导层自川滇地块向东运动,穿过大凉山地块西边界的安宁河断裂和则木河断裂,在大凉山地块东部,向四川盆地深部倾俯.本文对于壳内可流动层的存在及其与青藏高原东边缘的变形和地震活动性的关系进行了探讨.     

The unique nature in ore composition,geological backgroudd and metallogenic mechanism of non-conventional superlarge ore deposits: A preliminary discussion

The new plants documented here, including a representative of the trimerophytesPsilophyton primitiuum sp. nov., a questionable rhyniophyte or trimerophyteHedeia sinica sp. nov., a prelycopodBragwanathia sp. and two species of zosterophyllophytes,Zosterophyllum australianum Lang and Cookson 1930 and2. sp. 1, from the Posongchong Formation of southeastern Yunnan, China, add to the known floral diversity of the Early Devonian of this region. Two sections of the Posongchong Formation, Changputang section of Wenshan district and Gegu section of Mengzi district also are introduced. After comparing the plants with those of the coeval flora of Australia and considering the data of recent paleocontinental reconstructions, the authors suggest that there is a northeastern Gondwana phytogeographic unit during the early Devonian comprising Australia, South China Block and perhaps Shan-Thai Block. The similarity of the floral component between Australia and South China is discussed. Because both Australia and South China also have dominant or endemic taxa, each might be recognized as a subunit, separately characterized byHedeia for Australia andEophyllophyton for South China. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 49372075 and 49742004)