First evidence for the Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2, ‘Bonarelli’ event) from the Ionian Zone,western continental Greece

Integrated biostratigraphic (planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils), chemostratigraphic (bulk C and O isotopes) and compound-specific organic geochemical studies of a mid-Cretaceous pelagic carbonate—black shale succession of the Ionian Zone (western Greece), provide the first evidence for the Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2, ‘Bonarelli’ event) in mainland Greece. The event is manifested by the occurrence of a relatively thin (35 cm), yet exceptionally organic carbon-rich (44.5 wt% TOC), carbonate-free black shale, near the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary within the Vigla limestone formation (Berriasian–Turonian). Compared to the ‘Bonarelli’ black-shale interval from the type locality of OAE2 in Marche–Umbria, Italy, this black shale exhibits greatly reduced stratigraphic thickness, coupled with a considerable relative enrichment in TOC. Isotopically, enriched δ¹³C values for both bulk organic matter (−22.2‰) and specific organic compounds are up to 5‰ higher than those of underlying organic-rich strata of the Aptian-lower Albian Vigla Shale member, and thus compare very well with similar values of Cenomanian–Turonian black shale occurrences elsewhere. The relative predominance of bacterial hopanoids in the saturated, apolar lipid fraction of the OAE2 black shale of the Ionian Zone supports recent findings suggesting the abundance of N₂-fixing cyanobacteria in Cretaceous oceans during the Cenomanian–Turonian and early Aptian oceanic anoxic events.     

Zircon geochronology of basement rocks from the Pelagonian Zone,Greece: constraints on the pre-Alpine evolution of the westernmost Internal Hellenides

The Pelagonian Zone of Greece is the westernmost segment of the Internal Hellenides comprising widespread crystalline basement exposures of granites and orthogneisses. We dated these basement rocks in order to identify the major crust-forming episodes and to understand the evolutionary history of the area. In our study we investigated granites, gneisses, meta-rhyolites and mylonites from the major occurrences of the Pelagonian Zone. We applied single-zircon dating techniques such as Pb–Pb evaporation, conventional U–Pb and SHRIMP. The majority of the basement rocks gave Permo-Carboniferous intrusion ages, thus emphasizing the importance of this crust-forming event for the Internal Hellenides of Greece. Triassic intrusion ages were obtained, however, for a meta-rhyolite from the western Pelagonian Zone and two mylonites from the eastern Pelagonian Zone. These ages are interpreted to reflect magmatism accompanying early rifting that led to the subsequent opening of the Pindos Ocean to the west and the Meliata Ocean to the east of the Pelagonian Zone. The geochronological results demonstrate that the magmatic episodes during which most of the Pelagonian Zone crystalline basement formed are predominantly pre-Alpine in age.     

Tectonic evolution of a crustal-scale oblique ramp,Hellenides thrust belt,Greece

This study investigates the tectonic evolution of the Omalos transverse zone, which served as a crustal-scale oblique ramp in the External Hellenides thrust belt on Crete island. The Omalos oblique ramp developed above an inherited Mesozoic fault zone that strikes NE–SW, oblique to the regional SSW-directed tectonic transport. During the Early Miocene–Pleistocene evolution of the thrust belt, the oblique ramp was repeatedly reactivated localizing deformation above the inherited structure. Geological and structural mapping combined with kinematic analysis of ductile and brittle structures suggest that the Omalos oblique ramp generated a local kinematic field, which deviated significantly from the regional kinematic pattern in the thrust belt. The most conspicuous feature in the tectonic evolution of the oblique ramp is a change from a ductile wrench-dominated to a brittle, primarily reverse faulting regime across the brittle–ductile transition, followed by brittle wrench deformation after the final exhumation of high-pressure (HP) rocks. Deflections of transport and compression orientations from the regional pattern are attributed to buttressing against basement-cover offsets produced by the pre-existing fault zone, to oblique ramping, and to transfer faulting, respectively. Our findings are potentially applicable to other examples of crustal-scale oblique thrust ramps in various tectonic settings.     

Detrital blue amphiboles from the western Othrys Mountain and their relationship to the blueschist terrains of the Hellenides (Greece)

In contrast to blue amphiboles of the Ossa and Olympos tectonic windows in Thessaly, detrital blue amphiboles in Paleocene flysch deposits in the western Othrys Mountain (Pelagonian Zone s.l.) are chemically comparable with blue amphiboles from the Cyclades. For the detrital material, therefore, a source with "Cycladic" chemical affinities is assumed. The occurrence of these detrital minerals is in line with a Cretaceous onset of blueschist facies metamorphism in parts of the Hellenides, especially in the Cycladic belt. This was in response to Cretaceous subduction of the Pindos oceanic plate along the external margin of the Pelagonian micro-continent. Blueschist complexes were exhumed latest in the Paleocene when the terrigenous flysch sedimentation started in the Pelagonian and Pindos zones.     

Kinematics and strain partitioning in the southeast Hellenides (Greece)

New kinematic and structural data from the tectonic windows of eastern Crete and the Dodecanese Islands combined with strain and quartz fabric analysis have enabled us to determine a detailed structural evolution of the region and to present a plate tectonic scenario for the southeast Hellenides. During the Early Mesozoic, the southeastern part of Apulia was separated from North Africa and the adjacent microplates by WNW‐trending rift zones and NE‐trending transfer faults. Displacement along the transfer faults has locally reoriented these rift zones into an ENE–WSW direction. Finite strain and quartz fabric asymmetry data indicate that in Late Cenozoic time, NNW‐directed nappe movements caused a nearly coaxial deformation along the ENE–WSW trending rift segments and non coaxial top‐to‐the‐southeast shearing along the WNW‐trending rift segments, as well as along the pre‐existing NE‐trending transfer faults. Tectonic style along the margin varies in response to the obliquity of the principal shortening direction with respect to the margin. These variations could be due to the pre‐convergence geometry of the southern margin of Eurasia and to local strain partitioning effects. Furthermore, a tectonic model is presented in which syncompressional uplift and vertical buoyancy of the subducted crustal slice caused the rapid exhumation of metamorphic units in the south Hellenides. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the occurrence of a pumice-rich layer in Holocene deposits of western Peloponnesus, Ionian Sea, Greece. A geomorphological and geochemical approach

A single, pumice-rich sandy horizon located in Holocene deposits of western Peloponnesus, Ionian Sea, Greece has been newly detected in a littoral belt 250 m wide and more than 3km long. Pumice fragments are hosted in siliceous-cherty sand that overlies coarser clastic sediments, and occur in varying sizes. The geomorphology of the area and the development of two dune systems played an important role in the entrapment of the pumice fragments. These were transported there by the wind and marine currents, rather than by a tsunami event. The chemistry of the pumice fragments is constistent throughout the deposit. Major and trace element analysis of the pumice suggests an origin in the south Aegean Volcanic Arc, rather than in southern Italy and surroundings. The age of this deposition is thought to be younger than 4,000 years before present.     

Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Boco Plain,western Tasmania

The Late Devonian‐Early Carboniferous Mansfield Basin is the northernmost structural sub‐basin of the Mt Howitt Province of east‐central Victoria. It is comprised predominantly of continental clastic sedimentary rocks, and is superimposed upon deformed Cambrian to Early Devonian marine sequences of the Palaeozoic Lachlan Fold Belt. This paper documents evidence for synsedimentary deformation during the early history of the Mansfield Basin, via sedimentological, structural and stratigraphic investigations. Repeating episodes of folding, erosion and sedimentation are demonstrated along the preserved western margins of Mansfield Basin, where fold structures within the lower sequences are truncated by intrabasinal syntectonic unconformities. A convergent successor basin setting (an intermontane setting adjacent to, or between major fault zones) is suggested for initial phases of basin deposition, with synsedimentary reverse faulting being responsible for source uplift and subsequent basin deformation. Palaeocurrents within conglomerate units indicate derivation from the west and are consistent with episodic thrusting along basin margin faults providing elevated source regions. Periods of tectonic quiescence are represented by finer grained meandering fluvial facies (indicative of lower regional topographic gradients) which display drainage patterns that appear not to have been influenced by bounding faults to the west. An up‐sequence increase in the textural and compositional maturity of basin sandstones and conglomerates is proposed to be a result of the incorporation of basin fill into ongoing basin deformation, with unstable metapelitic rocks being progressively winnowed from clast populations. Rather than resulting from Carboniferous (Kanimblan) reactivation of extensional structures, as is generally assumed, the deformation observed within the lower units of the Mansfield Basin is suggested here to be essentially syndepositional and at least Late Devonian in age.     

The stratigraphy of western Australia

Abstract

Measurements of intensity of magnetization and susceptibility have been made at intervals of 5 ft. on some bore cores from Tasmanian tholeiites of Jurassic age. In all cases the direction of magnetization was nearly vertical. One sill appears to have its upper 700 ft. magnetized normally and its lower part reversed.

The magnetic properties vary very rapidly and show a structure in which narrow regions with high values are superposed on a general increase to a maximum at about 300 ft. from the top of the sill. This coincides with a minimum of the density and a maximum of normative magnetite and total iron and also in the size of the areas of mesostasis.

It is suggested that this behaviour is due to differentiation and that magnetic measurements form an extremely sensitive tool for the study of this process. An attempt is made to show that differentiation by the settling of individual crystals through the sill is impossible in thick sills in which convection does not occur. and that the mechanism must be one of roof stoping in which large blocks of mixed crystals and residual magma fall from the roof to the floor of the sill. The regions with exceptionally high magnetic values which have been observed are regarded as composed of magma trapped between these blocks.     

A revision of the lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of Lebanon

The lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the lower Cretaceous strata of Lebanon is completely revised. Four formations are defined in place of the existing complex of informal nomenclature. In ascending order these are the Chouf Sandstone Formation, the Abeih Formation, the Mdairej Limestone Formation and the Hammana Formation. The Hammana Formation is subdivided into a lower Dahr el Beidar Member and an upper Knisseh Member.     

川西义敦地区三叠纪层序地层研究新认识

义敦地区处于活动岛弧带 ,1:5万区调将原图姆沟组自下而上分解为党恩组、列衣组、曲嘎寺组和勉戈组。以曲嘎寺组底部的I型不整合面及勉戈组底部的II型不整合面为基准 ,结合内部沉积组合特征 ,尝试划分出 3套三级层序地层 ,即下部层序 (未见底 )、中部I型碳酸盐层序和上部II型层序 (包括喇嘛垭组 ) ,在这些层序内各体系域发育齐全 ,特征明显。     

Sedimentology and stratigraphy in the cave Hamnsundhelleren,western Norway

The stratigraphy in Hamnsundhelleren is as follows. A basal weathered rock bed of unknown age is followed by laminated clay deposited under stadial conditions and correlated with palaeomagnetism to the Laschamp excursion (43–47 000 yr BP). Angular blocks, bones and clay above this are ¹⁴C dated to the Ålesund Interstadial (28–38 000 yr BP). Another stadial laminated clay following the Ålesund Interstadial includes a palaeomagnetic excursion correlated with Lake Mungo (28 000 yr BP). The newly discovered Hamnsund Interstadial above this consists of frost-weathered clay and scattered angular blocks. It is ¹⁴C dated to 24 500 yr BP on bones mixed into the Ålesund Interstadial. The Hamnsund Interstadial is succeeded by another stadial laminated clay and then a Late-glacial–Holocene mixture of bones and blocks. In Hamnsundhelleren and other similar caves four successive phases of sedimentary environments for each ice-free–ice-covered cycle have been identified: (i) ice-free phase (deposition of bones and frost-weathered blocks); (ii) subaerial ice-dammed lake phase (sand or silt deposited in a lateral glacial lake); (iii) subglacial ice-dammed lake phase (cave closed by ice, deposition of till, debris flows and laminated clay); (d) ice-plugged phase (cave is plugged by frozen lake water and/or glacial ice, no deposition).     

川西义敦地区三叠纪序地层研究新认识

义敦地区处于活动岛弧带,1:5万区调将原图姆沟组自下而上分解为党恩组、列衣组、曲嘎寺组和勉戈组。以曲嘎寺组底部的I型不整合面及勉戈组底部的Ⅱ型不整合面为基准,结合内部沉积组合特征,尝试划分出3套三级层序地层,即下部层序(未见底)、中部I型碳酸盐层序和上部I I型层序(包括喇嘛垭组),在这些层序内各体系域发育齐全,特征明显。     

辽西建平—喀左地区元古宙—古生代层序地层

通过１∶５万区域地质调查工作,对建平—喀左地区元古宙—古生代地层做了岩石地层、生物地层、不整合界线地层和层序地层的多重划分与对比。进行了基本层序、沉积相和沉积环境的调查研究,将元古宙—古生代地层划分为１０个层序,归并为２个超层序,初步建立了岩石地层和年代地层格架。     

Early Cretaceous (Valanginian – Hauterivian) belemnites from western Morocco: stratigraphy and palaeoecology

Recent field work in Lower Cretaceous successions of the Agadir-Essaouira region, western High Atlas, Morocco, have resulted in 489 belemnite guards collected bed-by-bed from the lower Valanginian – upper Hauterivian interval. These findings are described and discussed in their biostratigraphic, taxonomic, palaeoecologic and palaeobiogeographic context. The most common belemnite genera, Hibolithes, Vaunagites?, and Duvalia, are of Meditteranean affinities and closely related to Spanish, French, and Bulgarian faunas. Less common taxa include Pseudoduvalia and Berriasibelus. The genus Pseudobelus, however, common in southeastern France and southern Spain, is rare in the Moroccan sections. The palaeoecological interpretation of these observations result in the recognition of three belemnite assemblages, characterizing different marine settings: 1) A Hibolithes - Duvalia assemblage which is typical for inner to middle shelf settings. These are relatively shallow marine environments with a high input of siliciclastics. 2) A Duvalia - Hibolithes assemblage of the outer shelf setting. Duvalia spp. is the most common genus, Hibolithes spp. is less common, while Berriasibelus spp. and Pseudobelus spp. are rare. 3) A Duvalia - Pseudobelus assemblage of hemi-pelagic preference. Duvalia is most common, next is Pseudobelus.     

Weichselian stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments at Bellsund, western Svalbard

A coastal cliff facing the ocean at the west coast of Spitsbergen has been studied, and seven formations of Weichselian and Holocene age have been identified. A reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and glacial history shows that most of the sediments cover isotope stage 5. From the base of the section, the formation 1 and 2 tills show a regional glaciation that reached the continental shelf shortly after the Eemian. Formation 3 consists of glacimarine to marine sediments dated to 105,000–90,000 BP. Amino acid diagenesis indicates that they were deposited during a c . 10,000-year period of continuous isostatic depression, which indicates contemporaneous glacial loading in the Barents Sea. Foraminifera and molluscs show influx of Atlantic water masses along the west coast of Svalbard at the same time. Local glaciers advanced during the latter part of this period, probably due to the penetration of moist air masses, and deposited formation 4. A widespread weathering horizon shows that the glacial retreat was succeeded by subaerial conditions during the Middle Weichselian. Formation 5 is a till deposited during the Late Weichselian glacial maximum in this area. The glaciation was dominated by ice streams from a dome over southern Spitsbergen, and the last deglaciation of the outer coast is dated to 13,000 BP. A correlation of the events with other areas on Svalbard is discussed, and at least two periods of glaciation in the Barents Sea during the Weichselian are suggested.     

Quaternary tectonics in the Gulf of Patras, western Greece

Air gun seismic and 3.5 kHz profiling data from the Gulf of Patras, western Greece, show that it is occupied by a small asymmetric graben with several geometric similarities to the larger-scale graben in the Gulf of Corinth to the east. Major listric faulting characterizes the southern flank of the graben whilst the northern flank represents an associated rollover structure affected by antithetic and synthetic faulting. The present phase of subsidence is of Holocene age, but buried growth faults suggest earlier subsidence in the Gulf. The average rate of subsidence through the Holocene is estimated to be 10 mm/year.The Gulf of Patras graben, together with the Gulf of Corinth graben and the Megara basin, represent a continuous system of WNW-ESE trending grabens in a broad zone of intense seismicity within the Aegean domain. Individual grabens are offset and are interconnected by NE-SW trending fault systems.     

特提斯喜马拉雅白垩纪层序地层分析

白垩纪是新特提斯演化过程中一个极其重要的阶段,其沉积蕴涵着新特提斯早期演变的丰富信息。在对典型剖面进行层序地层分析的基础上,结合前人的研究成果,笔者分别对特提斯喜马拉雅沉积带南、北两亚带白垩系进行较为详细的露头层序地层学研究,在沉积南带识别出为24个三级层序、5个层序组(亚二级层序)、2个二级层序(中层序),在北亚带识别出22个三级层序、5个层序组(亚二级层序)、2个二级层序(中层序)。特提斯喜马拉雅早白垩世层序地层总体表现为海进的退积序列,反映了特提斯洋壳的扩张阶段;晚白垩世层序地层总体表现为海退的进积序列,反映了特提斯洋盆地持续收缩和长期海平面逐步下降的过程,应是洋壳俯冲阶段的产物。整个白垩纪显示出一次极其明显的海水进退旋回,是特提斯洋从扩张到收缩这一演化过程的客观反映。由对层序特征、沉积特征及古生物特征等的分析所得出的特提斯喜马拉雅在白垩纪的海水进退规程,与同期的全球海平面的变化基本一致。     

Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and glacier dynamics, western Scottish Highlands

Glacial sediments of the western Scottish Highlands are comprehensively described and characterized here for the first time, enabling the first glacial stratigraphy for the area to be proposed. This classification is based on the results of extensive geological mapping and field investigation of sedimentary sequences and their structures, X-ray diffraction and particle size distribution analyses, and comparison with deposits formed in contemporary glaciated environments. These new data are subsequently appraised in terms of their implications for late Pleistocene glacier evolution and dynamics. Together, the data suggest that much of the landscape is palimpsest, and can be attributed to the Weichselian (Late Devensian) glaciation. Subsequent glacier advance during the Younger Dryas did little to modify the area, suggesting that ice flow was dominated by sliding on a meltwater-lubricated rigid bed, with deformation of basal sediments playing a more limited role. Final deglaciation was marked by a significant increase in basal meltwater flux, reflecting the warming climate and increasing precipitation. These new palaeoglaciological and palaeoenvironmental insights advance our understanding of former glacier dynamics in the western Scottish Highlands, improve our knowledge of Pleistocene landscape evolution of this area, and enable comparisons to be made with sedimentary sequences elsewhere.