Early Proterozoic bimodal volcanic rocks in central Colorado,U.S.A., Part II: Geochemistry,petrogenesis and tectonic setting

The early Proterozoic supracrustal rocks of the Salida area of central Colorado consist of strongly bimodal sequences of volcanogenic rocks. The mafic rocks — basalts, basaltic volcaniclastics, and related gabbro sheets — are distinctly tholeiitic, display a strong iron-enrichment trend, and typically contain less than 50% SiO₂. The felsites are rhyolites to dacites and contain more than 70% SiO₂.Major and trace element modeling show that the mafic rocks underwent two stages of crystal fractionation, the first involving olivine and plagioclase, the second involving plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Fractionation occurred within individual injections as they rose toward the surface rather than in a single magma chamber at depth. Field relations and major element data support the derivation of the felsic rocks from a magma generated by anatexis of sialic crust. However, the low Sr and high heavy REE concentrations in these rocks are not compatible with a partial melting model and suggest that the felsic volcanic rocks could have been derived by extensive fractional crystallization of the mafic magma.Normalized trace element abundances and trace element ratios of the mafic rocks are most like continental flood basalts such as the Columbia River basalts. They also display some similarity to immature back-arc basin tholeiites developed on continental crust, such as those of the Sarmiento complex. The felsic rocks have strong chemical affinities to within-plate rhyolites rather than calc-alkaline rhyolites from orogenic areas. The chemical data, as well as the petrographic, stratigraphic, and regional field data all indicate that the early Proterozoic supracrustal rocks of the Salida area developed along a continental margin, probably within an immature back-arc basin underlain by sialic crust. Remnants of the arc system of similar age may lie to the south in northern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado.     

Holocene stratigraphy and depositional history of the Narragansett Bay System, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT An extensive seismic reflection survey has been used to gain further knowledge of Holocene stratigraphy and depositional history in the Narragansett Bay System (NBS). The early Holocene stream-dissected surface beneath the NBS is interpreted as having been flooded by the Holocene sea in a manner suggested by Oldale & O'Hara's (1980) sea-level-rise curve. The sea initially is believed to have penetrated the pre-NBS East Passage trunk valley about 9000 yr BP and subsequently spread landward via the trunk valley and its branches. The Holocene sediments display stratigraphic relationships that differ spatially. At passage mouths, the basal unconformity is inferred to be covered over with some 3 m of paralic and 5 m of marine sands and silts separated, by a transgressive unconformity. In contrast the interior sequences reveal (a) a valley section up to more than 15 m thick in which the regressional unconformity is overlain by probable lower fluvial and/or estuarine sand-silt facies that commonly grades upward to an estuarine silt-clay facies and (b) an interfluve section in which a basal transgressive unconformity is blanketed by an estuarine nearshore sand-silt facies that locally may change upward to a silt-clay facies. Primarily Holocene silt-clay accretion, produced by sedimentation processes associated with net non-tidal estuarine circulation, infilled the evolving NBS. Depositional bodies, lenticular in shape and comprised of 12 m or more of sediment, developed in lowlands near Gould Island (?9000 yr BP), in Upper Narragansett Bay (?7500 yr BP), around Hope Island (?7500 yr BP) and in Mt Hope Bay (?6250 yr BP) with an average minimal sedimentation rate of 1.6–2.2 mm yr^-1. Silt-clay deposition, commonly gas-bearing, has buried the basal relief in most of the NBS upper and middle portions except for middle East Passage. A comparison of NBS sedimentation with that of Chesapeake, Delaware and Hudson Estuaries shows that the estuaries to the south have accumulated more sediment over a slightly longer period yet, with the exception of the higher rate in the Hudson Estuary, the sedimentation rates appear to be similar.     

藏南定日白垩纪火山岩岩石学与地球化学初步研究

本文描述了西藏定日白垩纪火山岩的地质、岩石学、岩石地球化学特征和构造造背景。该火山岩岩石类型有蚀变英安岩和蚀变安山岩,其岩石化学成分特征表明岩石为二氧化硅过饱、铝过饱和类型,属亚碱性拉斑玄武岩系列。岩石稀土元素配分曲线呈强烈右倾的轻稀土富集型;微量元素配分模式图呈锯齿状"多隆起"型,类似于岛弧火山岩的微量元素配分模式。综合判定该期火山岩形成于大陆边缘造山带岛弧构造环境。     

Taphonomic analysis,associational integrity,and depositional history of the Fetterman Mammoth,eastern Wyoming,U.S.A.

The Fetterman Mammoth locality, eastern Wyoming, U.S.A., produced the remains of a single subadult mammoth and a small lithic assemblage. This paper employs a fine‐grained taphonomic approach to investigate the events responsible for the deposit's creation. No cultural modifications were noted on any of the specimens. Long axis orientations plotted against a reconstruction of the depositional surface suggest limited postdepositional movement of individual disarticulated elements. Weathering patterns based on in situ upside and downside positioning document two discrete episodes of sedimentation. These results suggest that the mammoth remains and the cultural assemblage may be separated by at least one depositional event and, as such, their association is considered equivocal. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Radiocarbon dates and late-Quaternary stratigraphy from Mamontova Gora,unglaciated central Yakutia,Siberia, U.S.S.R.

A fine exposure of perennially frozen ice-rich silt and associated flora and vertebrate fauna of late-Quaternary age exists at Mamontova Gora along the Aldan River in central Yakutia, Siberia, U.S.S.R. The silt deposit caps a 50-m-high terrace and consists of three units. An upper layer 1–2 m thick overlies a 10–15-m-thick brownish to black silt layer. The lower silt layer is greenish to gray and about 15 m thick. All the silt is well sorted with 60% of the particles falling between 0.005 and 0.5 mm in diameter and is generally chemically and mineralogically homogeneous. The middle unit contains may extinct vertebrate mammal remains and ice wedges. The lower unit contains little vegetation and no ice wedges. The silt is widespread and exists as a loamy blanket on terraces at various elevations on both sides of the lower Aldan River. The origin of the silt blanket of late-Quaternary age in central Yakutia has long been controversial. Various hypotheses have been suggested, including lacustrine and alluvial, as well as frost-action origins. It is sometimes referred to as loess-like loam. Péwé believes the silt at Mamontova Gora is loess, some of which has been retransported very short distances by water. The silt probably was blown from wide, braided, unvegetated flood plains of rivers draining nearby glaciers. The silt deposits are late Quaternary in age and probably associated with the Maximum glaciation (Samarov) and Sartan and Syryan glaciations of Wisconsinan age. On the basis of biostratigraphy, 10 radiocarbon dates, and their relation to the nearby glacial record, it is felt that the upper unit at Mamontova Gora is Holocene and the middle unit is Wisconsinan. The youngest date available from the middle unit at this particular location is 26,000 years. Dates greater than 56,000 years were obtained in the lower part of the middle unit. The lower unit is definitely beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and probably is older than the last interglacial. The sediment, fauna, ice wedges, stratigraphy, and age of perennially frozen slit deposits in central Alaska are remarkably similar to those of the deposits exposed in central Yakutia. Both areas consist of unglaciated rolling lowlands and river terraces surrounded by high mountains that were extensively glaciated in Pleistocene time. The glaciers extended from the high mountains to the edges of the ranges. In both regions, extensively braided, silt-charged rivers drained the mountains and flowed through the lowlands on their way to the sea. It follows that there should be a similar late-Quaternary history.     

藏北班公湖—怒江缝合带早白垩世双峰式火山岩的确定及其地质意义

班公湖—怒江缝合带及其两侧发育的白垩世岩浆活动记录了大洋俯冲闭合过程的信息,是反演大洋演化的关键。报道了去申拉组火山岩测年结果,并对达查沟地区新发现的去申拉组玄武岩端元进行了详细的地球化学研究。2件火山岩样品的锆石U-Pb年龄分别为104.14Ma和104.95Ma,表明去申拉组火山岩形成于早白垩世晚期。玄武岩地球化学分析结果显示出Nb、Ta、Ti亏损,以及高的Zr含量、Zr/Y和(Th/Nb)N值的特征。研究认为,玄武岩是软流圈地幔部分熔融混染地壳物质的产物。结合已报道的去申拉组酸性岩数据,研究区具有双峰式火山岩特征的去申拉组是班公湖—怒江洋壳南向俯冲过程中,板片断离导致区域伸展背景下岩浆活动的产物。     

Alluvial fan sedimentation of the Horseshoe Park Flood,Colorado, U.S.A., July 15th, 1982

Horseshoe Park Fan covers 70 ha and formed in a few hours after a dam broke in the Rocky Mountain National Park, U.S.A. Sediments range from coarse boulder beds up to 10 m thick, to gravel braid bars, braided stream sands, sandy sheet sands, and finally fine distal sands and desiccated muds. The horizontal transition from boulders to mud occurs in only 1.5 km.     

Seismic hazard evaluation for dams in northern Colorado, U.S.A.

A seismic hazard evaluation for three dams in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado is based on a study of the historical seismicity. To model earthquake occurrence as a random process utilizing a maximum likelihood method, the catalog must exhibit random space-time characteristics. This was achieved using a declustering procedure and correction for completeness of recording. On the basis of the resulting a- and b-values, probabilistic epicentral distances for a 2 × 10^–5 annual probability were calculated. For a random earthquake of magnitude M _L 6.0–6.5, this distance is 15 km. Suggested ground motion parameters were estimated using a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Critical peak horizontal accelerations at the dams are 0.22g if median values are assumed and 0.39g if variable attenuation and seismicity rates are taken into account. For structural analysis of the dams, synthetic acceleration time series were calculated to match the empirical response spectra. In addition, existing horizontal strong motion records from two Mammoth Lakes, California earthquakes were selected and scaled to fit the target horizontal acceleration response spectra.     

四川攀枝花二叠纪双峰式火山岩地球化学特征及其地质意义

攀枝花二叠纪火山岩发育有玄武岩和粗面岩的基性和碱性两个端元,区域上明显缺失中间过渡类型。玄武岩SiO_2含量处于45.65%~49.32%范围内,粗面岩SiO_2含量介于64.39%~69.17%之间,构成经典的"双峰式"火山岩特征组合。两者均具有富Na、贫K、轻稀土富集、轻重稀土明显分馏的特征。特征微量元素Nb/Ta、Th/Ta、Th/U比值变化相对较小,玄武岩分别为15.16、2.70和4.13,粗面岩分别为15.40、2.55和4.12,显示两者具有相似的地球化学属性。微量元素特征显示,除了Ti和Y等少数高场强元素不协调以外,玄武岩与粗面岩绝大多数微量元素变化规律相似,且Rb、Ce、Y、Nb、Hf、Ta等元素与洋岛玄武岩(OIB)特征一致,说明它们具有地幔柱构造系统下的岩浆属性,岩浆源于石榴石二辉橄榄岩岩石圈地幔的部分熔融。结合前人资料,攀枝花二叠纪双峰式火山岩的厘定,不仅暗示了岩浆形成于拉张的裂谷构造环境,也为西南地区二叠纪峨眉山大火成岩地幔柱成因提供支撑。     

Seismic stratigraphy,tectonics and depositional history in the Halk el Menzel region,NE Tunisia

In the Halk el Menzel area, the proximal- to pelagic platform transition and related tectonic events during the Upper Cretaceous–Lower Miocene have not been taken into adequate consideration. The integrated interpretation of outcrop and subsurface data help define a seismic stratigraphic model and clarify the geodynamic evolution of the Halk el Menzel block. The sedimentary column comprises marls and limestones of the Campanian to Upper Eocene, overlain by Oligocene to Lower Miocene aged siliciclastics and carbonates.Well to well correlations show sedimentary sequences vary considerably in lithofacies and thicknesses over short distances with remarkable gaps. The comparison of sedimentary sequences cut by borehole and seismic stratigraphic modelling as well help define ten third order depositional sequences (S1–S10). Sequences S1 through S6 (Campanian–Paleocene) are mainly characterized by oblique to sigmoid configurations with prograding sedimentary structures, whereas, sequences S7–S10 (Ypresian to Middle Miocene) are organized in shallow water deposits with marked clinoform ramp geometry. Sedimentary discontinuities developed at sequence boundaries are thought to indicate widespread fall in relative sea level. Angular unconformities record a transpressive tectonic regime that operated from the Campanian to Upper Eocene.The geometry of sequences with reduced thicknesses, differential dipping of internal seismic reflections and associated normal faulting located westerly in the area, draw attention to a depositional sedimentary system developed on a gentle slope evolving from a tectonically driven steepening towards the Northwest.The seismic profiles help delimit normal faulting control environments of deposition. In contrast, reef build-ups in the Eastern parts occupy paleohighs NE–SW in strike with bordering Upper Maastrichtian-Ypresian seismic facies onlapping Upper Cretaceous counterparts.During the Middle–Upper Eocene, transpressive stress caused reactivation of faults from normal to reverse play. This has culminated in propagation folds located to the west; whereas, the eastern part of the block has suffered progressive subsidence. Transgressive carbonate depositional sequences have predominated during the Middle Miocene and have sealed pre-existing tectonic structures.     

Structure,gravity models and stratigraphy of an early Proterozoic volcanic—sedimentary belt in northeastern Ghana

The structure of an early Proterozoic volcanic—sedimentary belt in northeastern Ghana is inferred from the distribution of lithologic units and interpretation of Bouguer gravity anomaly associated with the belt. It is shown from gravity modelling that the vertical thickness (depth) of the volcanic—sedimentary succession is ca. 3 km and that the structure of the western part of the belt is an overturned anticline, an interpretation consistent with facing data. This structure provides the basis from which the stratigraphic order of the mapped lithic units is deduced: (1) fine-grained epiclastic sediments interbedded with minor felsic tuffs, followed by (2) tholeiitic basaltic lavas, which are overlain by (3) calc-alkaline andesitic and dacitic lavas and tuffs; the youngest volcanic unit belonging to the sequence is a calc-alkaline mafic tuff (4). A manganese-rich chemical sediment is preserved at the boundary between the tholeiitic mafic lava and calc-alkaline intermediate volcanic rock units. The early Proterozoic sequence, which is unconformably overlain by coarse fluviatile sediments, is estimated to be ca. 8500 m thick. The stratigraphic sequence in the study area contrasts strongly with the conceptual stratigraphic schemes which are currently held to be valid for similar lithologic associations of early Proterozoic age (Birimian) in the West African shield.     

大兴安岭南段晚中生代双峰式火山作用

大兴安岭南段晚中生代克头鄂博组山岩表现出双峰式特征，主要由玄武质安山岩、英安岩和流纹岩组成。基性火山岩属于代钾拉斑系列，轻微富集LREE，Eu异常不明显（Eu/Eu=0.99-1.04)和HREE无明显分馏的特征（Dy/YbcN=1.030-1.089);富集大离子亲石元素（LILE）而亏损高场强元素（HFSE），尤其是强烈亏损Nb,Ta。英安岩和流纹岩为钙碱性系列，在REE配分模式上为LREE富集型，其中英安岩为Eu弱负异常（Eu/Eu=0.81-1.01)，流纹岩的Eu负异常明显（Eu^*/Eu=0.65-0.76)；在微量元素蛛网图上，英安岩类似于基性火山岩，流纹岩除了具LILE富集和HFSE亏损特征外，还显示出Sr,P,Ti等元素的强烈亏损，可能与岩浆演化过程中斜长石、磷灰石的分离结晶作用相关。晚中生代双峰式火山岩分离结晶的结果。流纹岩表现出较高的La/Sm比值和很高的K／P、K／Ti比值，其成因可能与地壳混染作用或与大陆中、下地壳重熔作用有关。结合区域晚中生代盆岭构造格局特征、大兴安岭南段晚中生代双峰式火山岩形成于造山后阶段，是岩石圈快速伸展体制下导致受早期流体交代的岩石圈地幔发生减压部分熔融作用的产物。     

Sapphirine-kornerupine rocks from the Reynolds Range,central Australia: constraints on the uplift history of a Proterozoic low pressure terrain

Sapphirine-kornerupine-bearing rocks from the Reynolds Range, Northern Territory, Australia preserve spectacular metamorphic reaction textures that provide valuable insights into the regional metamorphic uplift history. The rocks occur in pods that are several meters in diameter within high-temperature, low-pressure (750 to 800°C and 4 to 5 kbar) granulite facies exposures of the early Proterozoic Lander Rock beds, a laterally extensive sequence of folded pelitic and quartzose metasediments. The pods are not associated with large volumes of partial melts and are likely to have formed by metasomatism near the peak of M₂ metamorphism. The rocks in the pods consist of high-temperature Mg- and Al-rich minerals such as boron-free korneurpine, and are coarse-grained (0.5 to >15 cm), non-foliated, and locally nearly monomineralic. The growth of the coarse minerals in the pods largely post-dated the high-grade regional metamorphic D₂ fabric and completely reconstructed the precursor rocks. The retrograde metamorphic reaction textures show that the early retrogression from the M₂ granulite facies conditions was characterized not by isobaric cooling as previously proposed, but by nearly isthermal decompression. These data imply that the Reynolds Range did not follow a simple anticlockwise P-T-t path. Because rocks such as these preserve information from a only restricted portion of the metamorphic history and can preserve evidence of decompression reactions more clearly than many more ordinary lithologies, they can be especially important for discerning metamorphic P-T-t paths.This paper is a contribution to IGCP Project 304, Lower Crustal Processes.     

新疆阿尔泰南缘达拉乌兹双峰式火山岩年龄及岩石成因

阿尔泰南缘达拉乌兹一带出露了一套玄武岩和流纹岩频繁互层的双峰式火山岩组合。该套双峰式火山岩发生了绿片岩相变质作用,其基性端元——变质玄武岩和酸性端元——变质流纹岩具明显的变余斑状结构。利用LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb法获得流纹岩的喷发年龄365.6±1.6Ma和捕获的锆石年龄413.5±2.0Ma。变质玄武岩富TiO2、碱(富钠)(Na2O/K2O=4.43～19.33)和FeOT,贫MgO和CaO,轻微富集LILE和LREE,具弱的Nb、Ta和Ti的负异常,具有高于正常弧火山岩但低于OIB的HFSE元素(Nb、Ta、Zr、Hf)的含量,Eu负异常不明显。流纹岩具有高SiO2和全碱,具有低的TiO2、极低的MgO和FeOT,呈现明显的Ti、P、Sr、Ba负异常,Th、U、Pb的正异常,HFSE元素(Zr、Hf)和LREE略富集但Nb、Ta亏损的特征,并显示Eu的明显负异常(δEu=0.21～0.41)。它们均具有相似于N-MORB的较低的Pb同位素组成。玄武岩与流纹岩来自两个不同的岩浆房,玄武岩为受俯冲物质加入的亏损软流圈地幔部分熔融后并发生结晶分异作用的结果,流纹岩为新生的地壳物质受幔源岩浆加热熔融并与之混合后演化的产物。结合阿尔泰南缘地区的构造演化特征,推测该双峰式火山岩俯冲作用引起的局部拉张作用的产物。     

Petrography and petrochemistry of latest Pliocene olivine-tholeiites of Taos area,northern New Mexico,U.S.A.

In north-central New Mexico, U.S.A., enormous volumes of basaltic rocks erupted in latest Pliocene time, forming large flat plateaus along the western foot of the Rocky Mountain Range.Petrographically, and also geologically, the volcanic rocks are divided into three series. Of these, the lava flows of the middle series accounted for more than ninety-five per cent of both area and volume. The first two series are composed of olivine-tholeiite while the last one is composed of calc-alkaline andesite.Twenty volcanic rocks, five groundmass plagioclases and five groundmass clinopyroxenes have been chemically analysed.The basalts are intermediate between tholeiitic and alkaline types and are rather similar to the high-alumina basalt from Oregon and the Cascade Range. However, the crystallization trends of groundmass plagioclase and clinopyroxene closely resemble those found in Japanese and Kilauean tholeiitic series.     

藏南墨竹工卡叶巴组双峰式火山岩岩石成因、时代及构造环境

青藏高原南部早中生代岩浆岩的研究对反演区域构造演化具有重要意义,其中早侏罗世叶巴组火山岩被认为是新特提斯洋俯冲的早期岩浆记录,目前对于其形成的构造环境仍存在争议。选取西藏南部墨竹工卡县地区新发现的叶巴组火山岩为研究对象,对其进行了锆石U-Pb同位素、全岩地球化学成分测试。火山岩主要岩性为玄武岩(181.0±5.0 Ma,n=1)和流纹岩(181.4±4.4 Ma,MSWD=0.017, n=18),具有双峰式火山岩特征。玄武岩具有较高的TiO2、P2O5和Nb含量,(La/Nb)PM＜2,具有富铌玄武岩的特征,Mg#值为54.9~57.3,Ti/V＞50,富集轻稀土元素,亏损重稀土元素。流纹岩具有较高的SiO2、Na2O含量,Mg#值为49.1~50.4,Th/Ce值为0.1~0.15,Th/La值为0.22~0.31,Nb/Ta值为14.06~14.32,Sr/Y值较低(4.15~4.82),富集轻稀土和大离子亲石元素,亏损高场强元素。研究结果揭示,玄武岩岩浆源区为板片熔体交代的地幔楔,并在后期演化过程中混入部分地壳物质。流纹岩为幔源岩浆与大陆地壳混染成因。玄武岩具有板内玄武岩及岛弧岩浆岩特征,流纹岩具有岛弧岩浆岩特征,结合区域地质背景推测,墨竹工卡叶巴组火山岩形成于新特提斯洋北向俯冲的弧后盆地环境,区域上叶巴组火山岩的形成时代及构造环境存在差异,可能代表了俯冲不同阶段的产物。     

Oil-generating coals of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado, U.S.A.

Coal beds of the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland Formation in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado have significant liquid hydrocarbon generation potential as indicated by typical Rock-Eval Hydrogen Indexes in the range of 200–400 mg hydrocarbon/g organic carbon (type II and III organic matter). Small, non-commercial quantities of oil have been produced from the coal beds at several locations. The oils are characterized by high pristane/phytane (ca 4) and pristane/n-C₁₇ ratios (ca 1.2), abundant C₂₁₊ alkanes in the C₁₀₊ fraction with a slight predominance of odd carbon-numbered n-alkanes, abundant branched-chain alkanes in the C₁₅₊ region, and a predominance of methylcyclohexane in the C₄----C₁₀ fraction. The oils are indigenous to the Fruitland Formation coals and probably migrated at thermal maturities corresponding to vitrinite reflectance values in the range 0.7–0.8%. Although the oils found to date are not present in commercial amounts, these findings illustrate the potential of some coals to generate and expel oil under conditions of moderate thermal heating.