Subduction fluxes through geologic time

Much of the author’s research career has been spent working both on modern oceanic volcanic systems and at the same time looking at their Archaean counterparts. Many authors have attempted to make inferences on early Earth models based on modern processes which can be increasingly well constrained. In this short review it will be shown how we are beginning to understand and quantify inputs to modern subduction systems and some questions are posed as to how these processes may have affected Earth’s evolution in its distant past.     

A Milankovitch scale for Cenomanian time

A detailed cyclostratigraphy is present in the rhythmically bedded Cenomanian hemipelagic chalks of the northern Anglo-Paris Basin, which can be correlated over 100,000 km². Individual decimetre-scale couplets probably represent the precession cycle (modes at 18 or 23 kyr), and can be readily grouped in sets averaging five, indicative of the short cycle of eccentricity (100 kyr). A composite cyclostratigraphy for the basin is presented here, and is used as the basis for a Cenomanian time-scale (20 and 100 kyr units). The total duration of the Cenomanian thus obtained (4.4 Myr) compares well with recent radiometric dates of 4.0–4.5 Myr. The time-scale is used to estimate the length of ammonite, inoceramid, and planktonic foraminiferal zones, the rates of formation of authigenic minerals (glauconite), sedimentation rates and the duration of transgressions and anoxic events.     

Changes in crustal fluid flow over geologic time

Important changes in the physical drives for crustal fluid flow may have occurred when substantial organic matter began to be buried in post-Proterozoic time, when continental glaciers grew and melted, and when continents assembled or broke up.     

Exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages through geologic time and space

Geologic deposits containing fossils with remains of non-biomineralized tissues (i.e. Konservat-Lagerstätten) provide key insights into ancient organisms and ecosystems. Such deposits are not evenly distributed through geologic time or space, suggesting that global phenomena play a key role in exceptional fossil preservation. Nonetheless, establishing the influence of global phenomena requires documenting temporal and spatial trends in occurrences of exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages. To this end, we compiled and analyzed a dataset of 694 globally distributed exceptional fossil assemblages spanning the history of complex eukaryotic life (~ 610 to 3 Ma). Our analyses demonstrate that assemblages with similar ages and depositional settings commonly occur in clusters, each signifying an ancient geographic region (up to hundreds of kilometers in scale), which repeatedly developed conditions conducive to soft tissue preservation. Using a novel hierarchical clustering approach, we show that these clusters decrease in number and shift from open marine to transitional and non-marine settings across the Cambrian-Ordovician interval. Conditions conducive to exceptional preservation declined worldwide during the early Paleozoic in response to transformations of near-surface environments that promoted degradation of tissues and curbed authigenic mineralization potential. We propose a holistic explanation relating these environmental transitions to ocean oxygenation and bioturbation, which affected virtually all taphonomic pathways, in addition to changes in seawater chemistry that disproportionately affected processes of soft tissue conservation. After these transitions, exceptional preservation rarely occurred in open marine settings, excepting times of widespread oceanic anoxia, when low oxygen levels set the stage. With these patterns, non-marine cluster count is correlated with non-marine rock quantity, and generally decreases with age. This result suggests that geologic processes, which progressively destroy terrestrial rocks over time, limit sampling of non-marine deposits on a global scale. Future efforts should aim to assess the impacts of such phenomena on evolutionary and ecological patterns in the fossil record.     

对地质时代划分的意见及新地质年代表

<正> 1989年国际地层委员会通过了新的前塞武划分方案(Cowie 1989,孙大中1990,孙卫国1990),该方案将前塞武分为太古、元古两宙,而将元古宙又分为老、中、新三代(各以 2500、1600、1000M·Y·B·P·为底界)。元古宙各代共分出十个纪,各纪的名称采用当时地球上主要地质事件的希腊文词根来命名(如σιδηρ-铁,στενο-狭窄等)。     

Effects of geologic time on the initial stiffness of clays

The paper addresses the effect of geologic aging on the initial stiffness of clays through the analysis of in situ shear stiffness data obtained using a seismic cone penetrometer at three sites in Boston blue clay (BBC), a 12,000–14,000-year old post-glacial marine clay deposit. The effects of this aging period are estimated using as reference for the unaged behavior the results of over 90 triaxial shear phases conducted on specimens of resedimented Boston blue clay (RBBC), a soil prepared in the laboratory from natural BBC, and tested after 1 day of laboratory aging.At the same OCR and effective stress level, the natural clay displays an initial stiffness, which on the average, is approximately 50% greater than that of the laboratory resedimented clay. Based on the estimated age of the natural deposit, this corresponds to an increase of the stiffness per log cycle of time of 7%. This value of the aging coefficient, N_G, is at the low end of values presented in the literature for clays, which are however all based on shorter aging durations (days to weeks).     

Towards a quaternary time scale

Nine first-appearance datums (FADs), twenty-three last-appearance datums (LADs), and three other micropaleontological datums are related to the magnetic-reversal, oxygen-isotope, and calcite-dissolution/coarse-fraction time scales to provide a preliminary basis for subdivision of the Quaternary in deep-sea sediments. The magnetic-reversal, oxygen-isotope, and calcite-dissolution/coarse-fraction scales have been correlated by determination on the same core materials, and absolute dates applied by ⁴⁰K/⁴⁰Ar or ¹⁴C dating of materials in known positions on one or another of these scales. FADS and LADs have been determined in cores for which either a magnetic-reversal, oxygen-isotope, or calcite-dissolution/coarse-fraction scale has also been available. Altogether 3 FADs and 5 LADs based on diatoms, 4 FADs and 5 LADs based on calcareous nannoplankton, 1 FAD and 8 LADs based on radiolarians, 1 FAD and 5 LADs based on planktonic foraminifers, 2 acme datums, and 1 ratio reversal datum have been determined, and absolute dates inferred by interpolation from known dates on the reference time scales. Some of the FADs and LADs apply or are synchronous only over limited areas of the oceans; others appear to be synchronous throughout the oceans. The base of the Quaternary is set at the top of the Olduvai event at 1.7 my. Four FADs, twelve LADs, two acme datums, and one ratio reversal datum occur above the base of the Quaternary at an average rate of about 1 per 100,000 yr. Five FADs and twelve LADs are recognized in the 0.8-my interval between the top of the Olduvai event and the Gauss/Matuyama Boundary at 2.5 my at an average incidence of about 1 per 50,000 yr.     

Recent progress on geologic time ontologies and considerations for future works

Semantic Web technologies bring innovative ideas to computer applications in geoscience. As an essential part of the Semantic Web, ontologies are increasingly discussed in the geoscience community, in which geologic time scale is one of the topics that have received the most discussion and practices. This paper aims to carry out a review of the recent progress on geologic time ontologies, discuss further improvements, and make recommendations for other geoscience ontology works. Several models and ontologies of geologic time scale are collected and analyzed. Items such as ontology evaluation, ontology mapping, ontology governance, ontology delivery and multilingual labels are discussed for advancing the geologic time ontologies. We hope the discussion can be useful for other geoscience ontology works, and we also make a few further recommendations, such as referring to an ontology spectrum in ontology creation, collaborative working to improve interoperability, and balancing expressivity, implementability and maintainability to achieve better applications of ontologies.     

Estimation of the Mesozoic geological time scale

Geological time scales are constructed by combining the stratigraphic record with radiometric dates and their standard deviations. The stratigraphic record encompasses litho-, bio-, chrono-, and magnetostratigraphy. The statistical methods employed should embody concepts and data available for the systems considered. Recently, in order to estimate the ages of 31 Mesozoic stage boundaries, use was made of a database with chronostratigraphic classifications for 340 dates, biostratigraphic data including ammonite subzones, and information on seafloor spreading. This paper is primarily concerned with the propagation of errors through the successive steps of the data analysis. The following stepwise approach was taken for combining the different types of data: (1) maximum likelihood estimation with windows set around prior stage boundary estimates, (2) averaging of estimates with variable precision including magnetochronologic data, and (3) calibration by means of cubic smoothing splines assuming equal duration of ammonite subzones. The end product is a time-scale in which the stage boundary ages are accompanied by approximate 95 per cent confidence intervals.     

Optimal filtration and a pulsar time scale

An algorithm is proposed for constructing a group (ensemble) pulsar time based on the application of optimal Wiener filters. This algorithm makes it possible to separate the contributions of variations of the atomic time scale and of the pulsar rotation to barycentric residual deviations of the pulse arrival times. The method is applied to observations of the pulsars PSR B1855+09 and PSR B1937+21, and is used to obtain corrections to UTC relative to the group pulsar time PT_ens. Direct comparison of the terrestial time TT(BIPM06) and the group pulsar time PT_ens shows that they disagree by no more than 0.4 ± 0.17 μs. Based on the fractional instability of the time difference TT(BIPM06)-PT_ens, σ _z = (0.5 ± 2) × 10⁻¹⁵, a new limit for the energy density of the gravitational-wave background is established at the level Ω _g h ² ∼ 10⁻⁹.     

地质资料存储方式的转变--浅谈地质资料光盘存储工作

本文分析了地质资料管理的现状;指出地质资料光盘存储是实现地质资料现代化管理的第一步,重点介绍了地质资料光盘存储工作的内容和过程,以及作者在工作实践中的几点体会;指出了地质资料光盘存储工作是实现地质资料存储方式转变,实现地宣现代化的重要基础。     

象山煤矿中小型地质构造发育规律及其预测

通过对象山井田勘探、建井及采掘生产以来的地质构造资料进行整理、统计和作图分析,系统总结了已采区断层构造的发育特征和展布组合规律,并对井田未采区的地质构造进行了预测。结果显示,象山煤矿煤层中的断层构造极为发育,主采煤层中众多的中小型构造具有明显的方向性,其中断层展布方向主要为NW向,其次为近EW向、NE向和近SN向;断层发育具有明显的成带性,在3号煤层中划分出4个构造带组和16个构造带,在这些构造带内,煤层构造较为复杂,对安全开采影响较大,而在这些构造带之间则为煤层构造相对简单的块段。     

依托地质遗迹景观开发地质旅游资源

随着我国国民经济的增长、国力的增强、国际地位的提高,以及地质事业的发展,我们国家对地质遗迹的保护和重视在逐年加强,使越来越多的人关注到地质遗迹这些大自然赐给我们的宝贵财富.……     

A synthesis of the geologic evolution of Taiwan

The island arc of Taiwan is composed of Cenozoic geosynclinal sediments more than 10,000 m thick, lying on a pre-Tertiary metamorphic basement. Pleistocene to Miocene andesitic islands surround the main island and are related mostly to arc magmatism. The Penghu Island Group in the Taiwan Strait is covered with Pleistocene flood basalt. Neogene shallow marine clastic sediments are exposed mainly in the western foothills with Pleistocene andesitic extrusives at the northern tip and the northeastern offshore islands. A thick sequence of Paleogene to Miocene argillitic to slaty metaclastic rocks underlies the western Central Range and forms the immediate sedimentary cover on the pre-Tertiary metamorphic complex to the east, which represents an older Mesozoic arc-trench system. The Coastal Range in eastern Taiwan is a Neogene andesitic magmatic arc, including also a large variety of volcaniclastic and turbiditic sediments. Cenozoic Taiwan is the site of arc-continent collision where the Luzon arc on the Philippine Sea plate overrides the Chinese continental margin on the Eurasian plate. East and northeast of Taiwan, the polarity of subduction changes whereby the oceanic Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Ryukyu arc system on the Eurasian plate. Continent-arc collision in Taiwan island is anomalous and may occur in a broad belt of deformation rather than along a well-defined plate boundary or subduction zone.