Depositional evolution of the Middle-Upper Eocene rocks, Fayum area, Egypt

The Middle-Upper Eocene rocks of the Fayum District are represented by Gehannam, Birket Qarun and Qasr El-Sagha formations. Both field studies and laboratory analyses on the concerned rocks have enabled to distinguish six lithofacies: (1) sheet-like grey silt-shale, (2) large-scale trough cross-bedded sandstone, (3) successive varicolored mud-shale/siltstone intercalation, (4) dark grey to black mud-shale/sandstone intercalation, (5) thinly bedded sandstone-shale intercalation and (6) very large-scale cross-stratified sandstone. These lithofacies proved that the present rocks were deposited in transitional paralic environment of active northward-prograding deltaic subenvironments contemporaneous with rabid but gradual sea level drop. The depositional system started with the delta front silt-shale (Gehannam Formation) of 20 m thickness, followed by distributary mouth bars of cross-bedded sandstone (Birket Qarun Formation, 50 m thick). Both the lower and upper delta plains attain thicknesses of 99 and 38 m, respectively, and are represented by the lower part of Qasr El-Sagha Formation. The deltaic sequence is topped with 45-m-thick eolian sandstones representing the upper part of Qasr El-Sagha Formation. This unit represents an extensive desertification phase that closes the depositional history of the succession examined.     

Tropical northeast Africa in the middle–late Eocene: Paleomagnetism of the marine-mammals sites and basalts in the Fayum province,Egypt

The mid-late Eocene “Valley of Whales” in the Fayum province of Egypt contains hundreds of marine-mammals’ skeletons. Given its paleontological importance, we carried out a paleomagnetic study of the fossil-bearing formations. A sequence of basalts directly overlying the upper Eocene rocks in three distant clusters within a 25 km-long NW–SE graben in the southwestern part of the area was also studied. Thermal demagnetization of three-axis IRM was used to identify and eliminate sites dominated by hematite and/or goethite as potential remanence carriers. Progressive thermal demagnetization of the NRM isolated a characteristic NNE–SSW dual-polarity direction with a shallow inclination that passes both tilt and reversal tests. The mean tilt-corrected direction of the sedimentary formations is D/I = 16°/30° (k = 50, α₉₅ = 3°) yielding a paleomagnetic pole at 70°N/159°E. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) indicated that the observed inclinations were free from inclination shallowing, as did the nearly identical characteristic remanence of the overlying basalt flows (with a tilt-corrected reversed-polarity direction of D/I = 198°/−28° (k = 38, α₉₅ = 7°) and a pole at 68°N/158°E). The new paleopoles place the Fayum province at a lower paleolatitude (15–17°N) than today (29.5°N), and point to the possible prevalence of tropical climate in northeast Africa during mid-late Eocene times. This tropical position is nearly identical to the paleolatitudes extrapolated from the mean of 36 coeval poles rotated from the other major cratons and from Africa itself. The declinations show a minor easterly deviation from those predicted by extrapolation from other continents. This is interpreted as due to a small clockwise rotation internal to NE Africa, possibly related to Red Sea/Gulf of Suez rifting after the late Eocene. The alternative explanation that the geomagnetic field had a non-zonal non-dipole field contribution is not favored.     

Shark and ray faunas in the Middle and Late Eocene of the Fayum Area, Egypt

The Eocene rocks exposed in the Fayum Area, Egypt, are well known for their fossil vertebrates but in recent times the sharks and rays have been largely neglected. Extensive surface collecting, supplemented with bulk samples, has produced large collections from the Midawara, Gehannam, Birket Qarun and Qasr el-Sagha formations, spanning the Bartonian and Priabonian stages and from palaeoenvironments varying from open muddy shelf to very shallow estuarine systems. In total about 90 species of sharks and rays are recorded, many of them previously unrecognised, resulting in some of the most diverse fossil chondrichthyan assemblages known from the Tertiary. Teeth of these species suggest that they occupied a wide range of ecological niches from top predator to tiny benthic invertebrate feeder to planktivore. Many of the species are limited in their stratigraphical range and show potential to be used, at least locally, as biostratigraphical indicators for stratigraphically poorly constrained vertebrate sites elsewhere in North Africa. Distinctly different faunas from different sedimentary environments indicate a strong environmental control on the distribution of many species.     

Sedimentary environments and depositional characteristics of the Middle to Upper Eocene whale‐bearing succession in the Fayum Depression,Egypt

The discovery of whale fossils from Eocene strata in the Fayum Depression has provoked interest in the life and lifestyle of early whales. Excellent outcrop exposure also affords the dataset to develop sedimentological and stratigraphic models within the Eocene strata. Previous work generally asserts that the thick, sand‐rich deposits of the Fayum Depression represent shoreface and barrier island successions with fine‐grained lagoonal and fluvial associations capping progradational successions. However, a complete absence of wave‐generated sedimentary structures, a preponderance of thoroughly bioturbated strata and increasingly proximal sedimentary successions upwards are contrary to accepted models of the local sedimentological and stratigraphic development. This study considers data collected from two Middle to Upper Eocene successions exposed in outcrop in the Wadi El‐Hitan and Qasr El‐Sagha areas of the Fayum Depression to determine the depositional affinities of Fayum strata. Based on sedimentological and ichnological data, five facies associations (Facies Association 1 to Facies Association 5) are identified. The biological and sedimentological characteristics of the reported facies associations indicate that the whale‐bearing sandstones (Facies Association 1) record distal positions in a large, open, quiescent marine bay that is abruptly succeeded by a bay‐margin environment (Facies Association 2). Upwards, marginal‐marine lagoonal and shallow‐bay parasequences (Facies Association 3) are overlain by thick deltaic distributary channel deposits (Facies Association 4). The capping unit (Facies Association 5) represents a transgressive estuarine depositional environment. The general stratigraphic evolution resulted from a regional, tectonically controlled second‐order cycle, associated with northward regression of the Tethys. Subordinate cycles (i.e. third‐order and fourth‐order cycles) are evidenced by several Glossifungites‐ichnofacies demarcated discontinuities, which were emplaced at the base of flooding surfaces. The proposed depositional models recognize the importance of identifying and linking ichnological data with physical–sedimentological observations. As such – with the exception of wave‐generated ravinement surfaces – earlier assertions of wave‐dominated sedimentation can be discarded. Moreover, this study provides important data for the recognition of (rarely reported) completely bioturbated sand‐dominated offshore to nearshore sediments (Facies Association 1) and affords excellent characterization of bioturbated inclined heterolithic stratification of deltaic deposits. Another outcome of the study is the recognition that the whales of the Fayum Depression are restricted to the highstand systems tracts, and lived under conditions of low depositional energy, low to moderate sedimentation rates, and (not surprisingly) in fully marine waters characterized by a high biomass.     

Significance of hypoburrow nodule formation associated with large biogenic sedimentary structures in open-marine bay siliciclastics of the Upper Eocene Birket Qarun Formation,Wadi El-Hitan,Fayum, Egypt

Unusually large biogenic sedimentary structures from the shallow quiescent-marine siliciclastics of the Upper Eocene Birket Qarun Formation in the Fayum area of Egypt display pronounced concretion formation around the trace fossils. The structures are massive, and vary morphologically, forming branched pillars (up to dm-scale), vertical (up to 180 cm height) amphora-like masses, and 3-D box-work “maze”. Bioturbation, mainly Thalassinoides attributable to the Glossifungites ichnofacies, mediated and modified the physical and chemical microenvironments influencing early diagenesis; i.e., burrows promote the precipitation of pervasive calcite-dominated cement. The inferred paragenesis, combined with the negative (light) carbon and oxygen stable-isotopic values of the bulk calcite (δ¹³C_PDB from ?0.94 to ?4.98‰ and δ¹⁸O_PDB from ?4.63 to ?7.22‰) and bulk dolomite (δ¹³C_PDB from ?2.05 to ?8.23‰ and δ¹⁸O_PDB from ?1.41 to ?11.20‰), imply that the pore-water carbon was derived directly from seawater and dissolution of metastable carbonate, which was mediated by bacterial decomposition of organic matter and mixing of meteoric ground water. Thereby, the carbonate cement precipitated mostly under eodiagenetic conditions near the sediment/water interface (<~3 m in depth). The distribution of these structures is confined to parasequence-bounding flooding surfaces (generally expressed as transgressive surfaces of erosion). Notably, sedimentological, ichnological and paragenetic data can be related to stratigraphic evolution such that geochemical and textural evidence is distinctly associated with (1) early cementation of the host sandstone during highstands of relative sea level, (2) the formation of firmgrounds during low relative sea level, (3) the development of a Glossifungites-demarcated discontinuity during initial relative sea-level rise, and (4) continued cementation with rising relative sea level. This was followed by burial diagenesis, evidence for which is derived from petrographic and isotopic data.     

A pollen record from Birket Qarun and the recent history of the Fayum,Egypt

Sediments and fossil pollen of two short cores from Birket Qarun, Egypt, reflect Nile floods, lake levels, and agricultural developments of the last 325 yr, and demonstrate the potential of a long and detailed record from the Fayum Depression. The chronology of these cores is inferred by correlation of historic events with changes in the fossil and sedimentary records.Subangular clay clasts and blocky structure resulting from occasional exposure, drying, and reworking of lake sediments reflect low Nile floods of the mid-1600s. Abundant pollen of shallowwater, rooted aquatic plants provides evidence for continued low lake levels through the 1700s. A high lake level, resulting from the extreme Nile flood of 1817–1818, is recorded by hystrichospheres, reworked by wave action, from Eocene marine sediments exposed on the north shore of Birket Qarun.Political administration, as reflected in agricultural policy, is also recorded in lake history. Changing lake levels are, in part, correlated with canal neglect during Mamluk and Ottoman control, and renewed canal maintenance under the agricultural policy of Mohammed Ali. Increased cattail (Typha) pollen dates from perenial irrigation after 1873. Olive and date pollen, and pollen of newly introduced exotic trees, are abundant after 1930 as a result of accelerated introduction and cultivation of fruit, lumber, fuel, and windbreak trees following World War I. The sequence of introduction of exotic plants is reflected in the pollen of Zea mays, from the New World, followed by Casuarina from Southeast Asia and Australia, and Eucalyptus from Australia.     

Analysis of the extinction of the Late Cretaceous foraminifer Afrobolivina afra

Afrobolivina afra, a Late Cretaceous bolivinid foraminifer, became extinct in the Early Paleocene. It was succeeded by the smaller, morphologically similar species Afrobolivina africana. Morphological variation in A. afra was in part correlated with environmental factors showing a pattern of random fluctuations about long-term ecological trends. A gradual, persistent and unbroken environmental trend, related to a eustatic fall in sea-level, is significantly correlated with the morphological evolution of the species. The micro-biogeography of A. afra at the time it was approaching extinction is consistent with its having given rise to A. afracana allopatrically in a manner which can be described by a fold-catastrophe adaptive model. This mode predicts that A. afra should undergo quantum evolution to A. africana in a restricted area in a near-shore environment.However, detailed study of borehole material reveals an apparent parabolic increase in the overall size of A. afra prior to extinction and it is argued that as a result, A. africana cannot be the direct descendant of A. afra without there having been some “discontinuity” in the environment or evolutionary process. This suggests that the sudden replacement of a species by a smaller, morphologically similar form may not be a straightforward succession. The apparent parabolic increase in size of A. afra can be modelled by the fold catastrophe of Thom theory if interpreted as representing the initial phase of a form of adaptive quantum evolution in which a gradual environmental change causes a fitness peak to be absorbed into the flank of a higher peak.In terms of such a model, the absence of a larger descendant species suggests that A. afra could have been replaced by A. africana before the quantum threshold had been reached. A possible cause for this could be that the changes in the environment might have lowered the height of the fitness function in the vicinity of the peak for A. afra to below that of the peak for A. africana, or vice versa.     

Evolution of the Paleocene-Early Eocene larger benthic foraminifera in the Tethyan Himalaya of Tibet, China

The Paleocene-Early Eocene larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) in the far eastern Neo-Tethyan Ocean of Tibet still remain poorly known. Here, we present a novel, high-resolution larger foraminiferal biozonation from the shallow-water limestones in Tibet, which will improve our current understanding of the larger foraminiferal evolution in the eastern Neo-Tethyan Ocean. Based on one continuous section at Tingri and three separate sections at Gamba, ten Shallow Benthic Zones (SBZ 1–10) have been designated in Tibet by following the principle of Oppel Zone. In contrast to those in Europe, the Paleocene LBFs in Tibet are characterized by high diversification of Lockhartia, Kathina, Daviesina, Miscellanea, Ranikothalia, and Operculina and show progressively increasing diversity of genera and species during SBZ 2–5. Adult dimorphism and large shell size of some LBFs as well as differentiation of the diversity between genera and species initiated as early as SBZ 3. It suggests that the occurrence of the Larger Foraminifera Turnover (LFT) was probably not synchronous in the entire Neo-Tethyan Ocean, because in Europe, the LFT was generally thought to occur at the beginning of SBZ 5. During the Early Eocene, the LBFs in Tibet decreased markedly on the generic level and increased on the species level, and some new genera (Alveolina, Orbitolites, Nummulites, Assilina, Discocyclina) have gained predominance in Tibet. It is nearly identical to the evolution of the LBFs in Europe and indicates a high-degree homogenization of the LBFs in the entire Neo-Tethyan Ocean. Furthermore, the Paleocene-Eocene (P-E) boundary in shallow-water environments has been clearly identified by us, and it is situated in the upper part of SBZ 5 and associated with no evident biotic turnover of shallow benthic foraminiferal communities. The possible diachroneity of the LFT in the Neo-Tethyan Ocean and the evident lagging of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) behind the LFT imply that the LFT could only be the result of a natural evolutionary process and has no linkage with the PETM. Notably, a transient but distinct larger foraminiferal extinction and origination (LFEO) event has been found in Tibet, which is characterized by a sudden disappearance of all Paleocene lamellar-perforate LBFs, such as Lockhartia, Kathina, Daviesina, Miscellanea, Ranikothalia, and Operculina, and the initial dominance of the Early Eocene porcellaneous-walled Alveolina. The LFEO marks the boundary between SBZ 5 and 6, and might only occur in the low-latitude areas of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean. Surprisingly, the LFEO coincides with the initial recovery of the Carbon Isotope Excursion (CIE), and their synchronicity implies that some possible mechanisms causing the rapid recovery of the CIE probably had also led to the LFEO in the shallow-water environments.     

Response of foraminiferal assemblages on the middle Eocene climatic optimum and following climatic transition in the shallow tropical sea (the south Fayoum area,Egypt)

Foraminiferal assemblages from 4 sections (totalling 158 samples) were quantitatively analysed to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes in inner to outer shelf, tropical epicontinental sea of the southern Peritethys area around the middle Eocene climatic optimum. In comparison with bathyal oceanic sites, shelf assemblages from Fayoum area are strongly influenced by climatically forced sea-level oscillations and aridification in cooling post-MECO interval. Pre-MECO interval can be characterized by gradual deepening and hypoxic, eutrophic bottom water. The maximal deepening during the temperature peak was associated with destruction of hypoxic bottom water. Sea-level fall, nutrient decrease and salinity increase in marginal part of basin due to decreased continental runoff caused by aridification was suggested for post-MECO cooling interval. Clastic-carbonate system of the warming period and thermal maximum was changed to only carbonate system of cooling post-MECO period.     

Mg/Ca-paleothermometry in the western Mediterranean Sea on planktonic foraminifer species Globigerina bulloides: Constraints and implications

We generated a high-resolution SST_Mg/Ca record for the surface-dwelling planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides from the core MD99-2346 collected in the Gulf of Lion, and compared it to that obtained using modern analogue techniques applied to fossil foraminiferal assemblages (SST_MAT). The two temperature records display similar patterns during the last 28,000 years but the SST_Mg/Ca estimates are several degrees warmer (∼ +4 °C) than SST_MAT. The temperature shift between SST_Mg/Ca and SST_MAT remained relatively constant over time. This seems to exclude a bias on the Mg/Ca record associated with salinity or secondary Mg-rich calcite encrustation on the foraminiferal tests during early diagenesis. Therefore, anomalously high Mg/Ca suggests either: (1) the empirical equation for G. bulloides of Elderfield and Ganssen (2000) is incorrect; or (2) there is a specific Mediterranean genotypes of G. bulloides for which a specific Mg/Ca-temperature calibration is needed.     

Interindividual variability and ontogenetic effects on Mg and Sr incorporation in the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer

In order to investigate the interindividual and ontogenetic effects on Mg and Sr incorporation, magnesium/calcium (Mg/Ca) and strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratios of cultured planktonic foraminifera have been determined. Specimens of Globigerinoides sacculifer were grown under controlled physical and chemical seawater conditions in the laboratory. By using this approach, we minimised the effect of potential environmental variability on Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios. Whereas temperature is the overriding control of Mg/Ca ratios, the interindividual variability observed in the Mg/Ca values contributes 2-3 °C to the apparent temperature variance. Interindividual variability in Sr/Ca ratios is much smaller than that observed in Mg/Ca values. The variability due to ontogeny corresponds to −0.43 mmol/mol of Mg/Ca ratio per chamber added. This translates into an apparent decrease of ∼1 °C in Mg/Ca-based temperature per ontogenetic (chamber) stage. No significant ontogenetic effect is observed on Sr incorporation. We conclude that the presence of a significant ontogenetic effect on Mg incorporation can potentially offset Mg/Ca-based temperature reconstructions. We propose two new empirical Mg/Ca-temperature equation based on Mg/Ca measurements of the last four ontogenetic (chamber) stages and whole foraminiferal test: Mg/Ca = (0.55(±0.03) − 0.0002(±4 × 10⁻⁵) MSD) e^0.089T and, Mg/Ca = (0.55(±0.03) − 0.0001(±2 × 10⁻⁵) MSD) e^0.089T, respectively, where MSD corresponds to the maximum shell diameter of the individual.     

Origin of spheroidal chert nodules, Drunka Formation (Lower Eocene), Egypt

Chert nodules of the Drunka Formation (Lower Eocene) are mostly spherical, have diameters from 40 to 120 cm, are quasi-uniformly spaced 2–3 m apart in the plane of bedding, have concentric internal structure and, except for rare small (<6 cm) solid chert nodules, are less than 85% chertified. Nodules formed after moderate alteration of limestone by meteoric water (δ¹⁸O_calcite = –4 to –8‰) at shallow (<100 m) burial depths; more extensive alteration of limestone (δ¹⁸O = –10 to –16‰) by meteoric water followed nodule growth. Chertification was by low-temperature meteoric water (δ¹⁸O_quartz = +18‰ in margins to +22‰ in nuclei) at shallow burial depths. Meteoric water may have invaded the Drunka Formation in association with shelf progradation during the Early Eocene, or during the development of a Middle Eocene unconformity. Replacement of carbonate mud by microcrystalline quartz was the dominant chertification process, but fossils were replaced in part by fine-grained equant megaquartz, quartzine and chalcedony; the last of these occurs in places as beekite. Opal A-secreting marine organisms are the inferred source of silica, but none are preserved. There is no compelling evidence of an opal-CT precursor, so quartz may have formed by direct precipitation. Self-organization processes of enigmatic character established the spacing pattern of the nodules and also the Liesegang-banded internal structure of the chert nodules. Nodules grew chiefly by diffusive supply of silica, although one locality has elongate nodules that grew when there was some porewater advection. Chertification patterns and δ¹⁸O values of both calcite and quartz indicate that nodule growth was complex and variable. Some nodules probably grew from the centre outwards. Many nodules, however, initially grew simultaneously across the entire nodule, but late-stage growth was predominantly at the outer margins or at selective internal sites.     

Mineralogy, petrography, and biostratigraphy of the Lower Eocene succession at Gebel El-Qurn, West Luxor, Southern Egypt

The widely exposed siliciclastic/carbonate succession exposed at Gebel El-Qurn, west Luxor, has been investigated from the mineralogical, petrographical and biostratigraphical points of view. The succession belongs to the lower Eocene, including the upper Esna Shale and the Thebes Formations that have been deposited under varied marine conditions and during alternating periods of abundant and ceased clastic influx. They contain abundant and well-diversified planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton, suggesting deposition in open marine inner to middle shelf environments. Mineralogical analysis carried out by XRD revealed the presence of smectite, illite, kaolinite, sepiolite, palygorskite, and smectite–illite-mixed layer as the principal clay minerals, and calcite, dolomite, quartz, anhydrite, gypsum, hematite, and goethite as non-clay minerals. The clay mineral distributions in the sediments reflect the climatic conditions and the weathering processes at the source area as well as the differential hydraulic sorting during transportation. Calcite is the most abundant non-clay mineral, and this is consistent with high calcareous fossil content of the sediments. Petrographic examination of the carbonate lithologies within the succession enables to identify eight microfacies associations. These microfacies were affected by several diagenetic processes including; micritization, compaction, cementation, neomorphism, dissolution, dolomitization, and silicification. Dissolution of original test wall and replacement and infilling by iron oxides and recrystallized calcite were commonly observed. Calcareous nannofossils are generally common to frequent, highly diversified, and moderately to well preserved. Two calcareous nannofossil biozones; Tribrachiatus contortus Zone (NP10) and Discoaster binodosus (NP11) are recorded in the studied sediments suggesting lower Eocene age. Their associated nannofossil taxa are characterized by the predominance of warm water species. Sea-level fluctuations, basin physiography, climate, paleogeography, and sediment supply were the major controls on the deposition of the lower Eocene sediments at Gebel El-Qurn.     

Palaeoenvironmental turnover across the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary at the Stratotype section in Dababiya (Egypt) based on benthic foraminifera

The Global Stratotype Section and Point for the Palaeocene/Eocene (P/E) boundary was defined at Dababiya Quarry (Egypt) at the base of the carbon isotope excursion (CIE). We present the first detailed analysis of Palaeocene–Eocene benthic foraminifera from Dababiya, in order to infer the palaeoenvironmental turnover across the P/E boundary. At Dababiya, the CIE coincides with a major turnover in foraminiferal assemblages; the last occurrence of Angulogavelinella avnimelechi, at the base of the CIE, may be correlated to the main phase of extinction of deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Benthic foraminifera indicate that stressful conditions such as oxygen deficiency, carbonate dissolution, and changes in food supply, persisted at the sea floor over most of the CIE interval. The main phase of recovery of benthic foraminifera is recorded c. 250 cm above the P/E boundary, and it may be linked to increased productivity and oxygenation at the sea floor.     

Rajkanella hottingerinaformis n. gen., n. sp., a new larger benthic foraminifer from the middle-upper Cenomanian of Kosovo

A new larger benthic porcelaneous foraminifer of soritid affinity is described as Rajkanella hottingerinaformis n. gen., n. sp. from the middle-upper Cenomanian of Kosovo. It occurs in foraminiferal packstones and grainstones, in association with cuneolinids, rhapidionids, chrysalidinids, and other benthic foraminifers. Due to its general morphology and superficial chamber subdivision by exoskeletal elements, Rajkanella n. gen. can be compared with the early Paleogene genus Hottingerina Drobne, 1975, from which it mainly differs in its apertural features, ornamented test, and coiled adult stage. Further differences to coeval Pseudorhapydionina De Castro, 1971, Pseudorhipidionina De Castro, 1971, and to other comparable genera, are discussed. The discovery of Rajkanella hottingerinaformis in the middle-upper Cenomanian is a further witness of the significant radiation and blooming of increasingly complex porcelaneous foraminifers in inner platform, shallow-water depositional settings during that period.     

藏南冈底斯带中段始新世岩浆作用的厘定及其大地构造意义

本文对藏南冈底斯带中段的花岗岩类和角闪辉长岩进行了锆石U-Pb年代学和全岩地球化学分析,据此阐明了岩体的形成机制与演化过程,并探讨了成岩时的大地构造背景。分析结果显示,研究区内花岗岩类和角闪辉长岩体的LA-ICPMS锆石U-Pb定年结果为41~55Ma,为始新世早-中期岩浆活动的产物,代表了区内岩体的成岩年龄。在地球化学组成上,花岗岩类属于钙碱性到高钾钙碱性系列,均富集轻稀土(LREE)和大离子亲石元素(LILE)(Rb、Ba和K),强烈亏损Nb、Ta、P等高场强元素(HFSE),具有弧型岩浆岩的地球化学组成。此外,花岗岩类的铝饱和指数(A/CNK)小于1.1,属于准铝质到弱过铝质的I型花岗岩。角闪辉长岩为石榴橄榄岩部分熔融的产物,并在后期侵位的过程中遭受到了壳源物质的混染。综合分析表明,研究区内的岩体形成于初始碰撞向主碰撞的转化阶段。始新世早期(～50Ma)新特提斯洋板片的断离引起软流圈物质上涌,导致岩石圈地幔发生部分熔融形成基性岩浆,随后基性岩浆底侵至下地壳并诱发下地壳发生部分熔融形成花岗岩质岩浆,最后经过岩浆混合作用形成始新世早-中期冈底斯地区的花岗岩类。     

西藏冈底斯中段南木林地区始新世岩浆作用的厘定及其大地构造意义

选取南冈底斯中段南木林地区的二长花岗岩岩体进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb测年和全岩地球化学分析。分析结果显示,研究区二长花岗岩体的锆石U-Pb年龄为50.24±0.68Ma,为始新世岩浆活动的产物,是冈底斯岩基的重要组成部分。岩石地球化学特征表明,里特曼指数为1.66～1.94,具有钙碱性特征,A/CNK=1.11～1.15,显示出过铝质的特征,同时具有高硅、高钾(可达钾玄岩系列)特征。微量元素强烈富集Rb、Th、U等大离子亲石元素(LILE)及La、Ce等轻稀土元素,亏损Nb、Ta、Zr等高场强元素(HFSE),表现出弧型或壳源岩浆岩的地球化学属性。Sm/Nd值为0.45～0.57,平均值为0.53,显示出岩浆的深源特征。稀土元素(La/Yb)N值较高,平均值为9.25,轻稀土元素相对富集,重稀土元素相对亏损,且具有较显著的负Eu异常特征。综合研究表明,南木林花岗岩体形成过程为俯冲至断离的特提斯洋壳发生脱水作用,导致上覆地幔楔发生部分熔融,玄武质岩浆形成,岩浆随后上涌底侵至莫霍面附近,巨大的热烘烤作用迫使下地壳(富黏土或泥质岩)发生部分熔融,之后玄武质与长英质岩浆发生了广泛的混合作用,最后侵位成岩形成南木林地区广泛的含基性包体的花岗岩体。这为特提斯洋闭合、印度-欧亚板块碰撞的时限提供了同位素年龄证据,也丰富了冈底斯岩体成岩模式和地球化学特征。     

Palaeomagnetism of some Miocene rocks, Qattara depression, Western Desert, Egypt

Eleven sites comprising 76 core samples of Lower (sandstone) and Middle (limestone) Miocene age were collected from the northeastern tip of the Qattara depression in the north of the Western Desert of Egypt. The majority of samples showed weak to very weak remanent magnetization with geothite, haematite and titanomagnetite as the main magnetic carriers. However, with a careful detailed thermal demagnetization, they yielded stable, probably primary, magnetization. The resultant overall mean direction of 2.9°/31.2° with α₉₅=2.3° corresponds to a palaeomagnetic pole position of 76.5°N and 198.0°E with A₉₅=2.0°, which seems to agree with other known African Miocene poles. This result implies that the Qattara area has been stable at least since Early Miocene. The presence of goethite as the main magnetic carrier supports the assumption that weathering has been playing an important role in the development and shaping of the depression.     

"Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology of Paleocene/Eocene (P/E) interval of some geological sections in Central Egypt"

The Paleocene/Eocene boundary intervals were studied in three outcrops along the Nile Valley: Gabal Taramsa, Gabal Qreiya, and Gabal Nag El Quda in Qena and Esna regions. The planktonic and benthic foraminifera have been examined. The qualitative study of planktonic foraminifera distinguishes eight planktonic biozones from (P4 and P5) Paleocene age to (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, and E6) Early Eocene age. The analysis of quantitative distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera allows the reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental settings in the studied area. The disappearance or scarce appearance of deeper-water benthic foraminifera (Angulogavelinella avnimelechi and Gavelinella rubiginosus) and increasing dominance of shallow-marine taxa (Buliminides, Loxostomoides applinae) indicate deposition in shallow water environments. The benthic foraminiferal assemblages which dominated by Loxostomoides applinae, Buliminids, and Lenticulina indicate Dysoxic conditions and maximum food levels. The species of mid-way type fauna dominate the assemblages of the studied area; the species of Velasco-type fauna are very rare.