Gulpuliyul structure: a possible impact structure of Mesoproterozoic age in western Arnhem Land,Northern Territory

The Gulpuliyul structure is the eroded remains of a possible impact structure of Mesoproterozoic age, in western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, on the Arnhem Shelf of the northwestern McArthur Basin. Enigmatic, highly deformed and brecciated strata, within the roughly circular or pentagonal feature about 8.5 km across, contrast with mildly deformed rocks of the surrounding Arnhem Shelf. Shock-metamorphic features have yet to be observed. Other features of the Gulpuliyul Structure are: (i) sharp and faulted outer boundaries; (ii) strata within the structure are younger than adjacent country rocks; i.e., the rocks have been emplaced downwards into the structure; (iii) outcrops display an overall concentric or tangential pattern, the stratigraphy is essentially coherent, and there is an overall younging from the centre outwards; and (iv) strata are commonly overturned by southward-directed thrusting and recumbent folding. It is suggested that the projectile impacted at a shallow angle from the north, to produce a southward-deepening crater about 8.5 km across. The depth of the transient crater was probably between ～500?–?700 m (minimum) and ～800 m (maximum). The central uplift probably rebounded only about 300?–?400 m. The present erosion level is thought to lie near the top of the low central uplift, at about or just below the floor of the final crater. The age of the possible impact is Mesoproterozoic (ca 1600?–?1325 Ma); it is most likely to have occurred very early in the Mesoproterozoic (1600?–?1500 Ma).     

Amelia Creek: a Proterozoic impact structure in the Davenport Ranges,Northern Territory

The Amelia Creek impact structure is located in Australia's Northern Territory in folded Palaeoproterozoic strata of the Davenport Ranges (20°51'S, 134°53′E). An impact origin is confirmed by presence of unequivocal shatter cones with apices that point upwards, and by planar microstructures in quartz grains from target sandstones of the Hatches Creek Group. Aeromagnetic, advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER), and X-band synthetic aperture radar (X-SAR) images show an area of anomalous deformation in which smooth regional trends are disrupted by arcuate features at a 10 km radius to the north and south of the shock-metamorphosed rocks. However, no arcuate forms are apparent to the east and west of these shocked rocks, and instead, large south-southwest-trending faults are present about 6 km away on both sides. Despite pervasive shatter coning, typical of the central region of complex impact structures, no structural uplift is apparent, but instead the shocked rocks lie at the southern toe of a north-northeast-trending syncline. These shatter cones overprint and post-date the Palaeoproterozoic regional deformation, and thus, the impact structure has not been refolded and its abnormal form is likely due to pre-existing structure in the target rocks and/or an oblique impact. Small pockets of undeformed Late Neoproterozoic and Middle Cambrian strata are exposed in palaeovalleys in the central region of the structure, constraining the time of the impact to the Proterozoic.     

Remote sensing and GIS analyses of the Strangways impact structure,Northern Territory

Remote sensing and GIS techniques play a substantial role for the identification of possible terrestrial impact structures, for mapping target-rock lithologies and deciphering the structural style of known craters. In this case study the lithological and structural characteristics of the highly eroded Proterozoic Strangways impact crater in the Northern Territory have been analysed on the basis of Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper satellite imagery, topographical data and airborne geophysical data. Regarding Landsat data, the calculation of basic statistical parameters and the optimum index factor has been found useful for a pre-selection of informative band combinations. By means of the analysis of multisensoral data, the distribution of crystalline basement rocks, siliciclastic target rocks of the Roper Group as well as post-impact deposits and deeper seated Proterozoic dykes can be detected. The original crater dimensions of the Strangways structure are carefully estimated at 26?–?29 km by combining the remote sensing data with the distribution of shatter cones localised in the field. The remote sensing/GIS approach of a geological interpretation based on multisensoral sources and combined fieldwork data can be successfully applied to other impact structures on earth, as well.     

Spider impact structure,Kimberley Plateau,Western Australia: interpretations of formation mechanism and age based on integrated map-scale data

The centre of the 13?×?11 km Spider impact structure, Western Australia, displays an unusual system of eroded folds and imbricated thrusts surrounding a sandstone dome. As inferred from GIS-integrated remote sensing, geological and digital elevation data, the structural setting of the original crater was influenced by, and hence post-dates, the formation of the Mt Barnett Syncline, the east?–?west-oriented axis of which runs through the Spider structure. The syncline formed during the regional Yampi Orogeny (ca 900 Ma), thus constraining the maximum age of the impact event. The sandstone dome in the centre of Spider formed prior to the imbrication, as interpreted from the present setting that indicates a deflection of the southward moving material during the crater collapse. Two modes of formation are discussed in order to explain the south-directed shortening in the Spider impact structure: (i) impact into the bottom of a syncline-controlled palaeovalley leading to uplift of the central crater floor followed by gravity-driven asymmetric sliding preferentially from the northern crater wall and valley slope, respectively; and (ii) moderately oblique (～10?–?30°) impact from the north onto the axis of the syncline, producing a central uplift under the influence of downrange residual momentum and, thus, asymmetric deformation inside the uplift and farther downrange. Neither model alone explains all the observations, and only a combination of both may provide a satisfactory solution.     

滇中峨山地区中元古界昆阳群黑山头组火山岩锆石U-Pb年龄及其地质意义

滇中玉溪—昆阳一带广泛出露的中元古界昆阳群是一套与晋宁运动密切相关的浅变质火山-沉积岩系,其形成时代、沉积充填序列及大地构造属性一直存在争议。出露于峨山县美党地区的昆阳群黑山头组富良棚段发育有厚近百米的安山质熔结凝灰岩、晶屑凝灰岩、玄武岩及岩屑凝灰岩。对样品D0121-1及D0121-2进行同位素年代学研究,分别获得LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年龄加权平均值为1007±13Ma和1005±18Ma;同时,样品D0121-2中还获较多的2200±15Ma继承性锆石,推测滇中地区应存在古元古代的地质体。2件样品锆石的Th/U值均大于0.3,均具清晰的振荡环带结构,均为岩浆成因的锆石,表明黑山头组富良棚段形成于中元古代晚期,属于与造山作用相关的火山岩系,可能是罗迪尼亚超大陆事件在扬子陆块的响应,是全球格林维尔期造山过程的组成部分。     

丹凤地区秦岭岩群片麻岩锆石U-Pb年龄:北秦岭地体中-新元古代岩浆作用和早古生代变质作用的记录

秦岭岩群被认为是出露于北秦岭地体内最古老的前寒武纪基底岩石,记录了北秦岭造山带的地壳形成和演化历史。本文报道丹凤-西峡地区五件秦岭岩群片麻岩锆石U-Pb年龄结果,限定其形成和变质时代,探讨北秦岭地体的构造归属。定年结果表明,岩浆成因锆石颗粒的年龄集中在1400～1600Ma左右和850～950Ma左右,记录两期主要岩浆活动。6粒锆石具有变质成因特征,低Th/U比值(0.03),206Pb/238U年龄变化在510～465Ma之间,加权平均值477±18Ma。这一古生代变质叠加时代与北秦岭地体南北缘高压变质作用时代基本一致,说明秦岭岩群遭受到北秦岭造山带俯冲-碰撞造山过程的变质作用。秦岭岩群主要形成于中元古代晚期至新元古代早期,基底岩石缺乏早元古代和太古代岩浆活动的记录。在岩浆作用时代上,北秦岭地体与广泛发育新元古代中-晚期岩浆作用的扬子陆块北缘有差别,也不同于晚太古代-早元古代的华北陆块南缘,可能是中-新元古代形成的独立微陆块。     

柴达木盆地北缘全吉群红藻山组凝灰岩锆石U-Pb年龄及其地质意义

全吉群是不整合于柴达木北缘全吉(欧龙布鲁克)地块变质基底之上的第一套盖层型沉积,目前多数研究者认为其时代大体为新元古代晚期。本文在柴北缘全吉山的全吉群红藻山组建组剖面上,对位于该组下部的两层凝灰岩开展了LA-MC-ICPMS锆石U-Pb同位素定年研究,获得其岩浆锆石的U-Pb同位素年龄分别为(1 640±15) Ma和(1 646±20) Ma,标定了红藻山组的形成年龄,为柴北缘中新元古界年代地层的重新厘定与划分,提供了新的、直接的年代学约束,具有重要的科学意义。首先,这一新进展表明,在柴北缘地区,传统的全吉群红藻山组以下各组的时代,并非一直以来的“新元古代晚期南华纪-震旦纪(埃迪卡拉纪)”,而应属于国内的中元古代长城纪、国际上的古元古代固结纪(Statherian,1 800~1 600 Ma)晚期;其次,根据当前定年并结合新近在红藻山组与上覆地层之间发现有古风化壳及区域性不整合、全吉群上部发育有埃迪卡拉纪化石及冰碛砾岩等证据,本文进一步确认,柴北缘全吉群在红藻山组与其上覆黑土山组等地层单位之间其实存在着相当长时间的地层缺失,传统的“全吉群”应予解体。由此并参考已有资料,本文认为,早先代表柴达木地块形成的“全吉运动”并不能与华南的“晋宁运动”对比,而应与华北的“吕梁运动”相当,全吉地块乃至整个柴达木及周边地区的中、新元古代地质演化历史及其大地构造亲缘属性等,都应重新予以考虑。     

扬子陆块西南缘河口群沉积时限和构造属性的再厘定：兼论中元古代洋板块地层

河口群、东川群和原通安组是扬子陆块中元古代早中期重要的地层单元,但其沉积时限和构造属性长期存在争论。本文在区域地质调查和同位素年代学研究的基础上,从“洋板块地质”的视角重新厘定了河口群、东川群和原通安组的沉积时限和构造属性。原通安组是由不同规模的岩块和基质共同构成的一套蛇绿混杂岩;东川群则较为完整地记录了从陆内裂谷到被动大陆边缘的演化过程,代表了盆地边缘的地层序列,东川群与原通安组(现定义为菜子园-通安蛇绿混杂岩)虽位于不同的断块,但应是同一盆地发展的产物;河口群与东川群、原通安组序列明显不同,但总体上也是粒度向上变细的海侵序列,并发育多套火山岩,在Columbia超大陆裂解的大背景下,河口群最有可能形成于夭折裂谷。对采自河口群长冲组的石榴子石云母片岩进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年研究,绝大部分锆石具有核-边结构,核部最年轻一组²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb年龄的加权平均值为1468±28 Ma(MSWD=0.40,n=16),解释为原岩的最大沉积年龄;结合前人研究成果,将河口群和东川群的沉积时代分别限定在1.75～1.40 Ga和1.75...     

Neoarchaean impact spherule layers in the Fortescue and Hamersley Groups,Western Australia: stratigraphic and depositional implications of re-correlation

Previously, two layers containing impact melt spherules, the Wittenoom spherule layer and the Carawine spherule layer, exposed in the main outcrop area and Oakover River area, respectively, of the Neoarchaean?–?Palaeoproterozoic Hamersley Basin of Western Australia, were correlated. Subsequent discovery and study of the Jeerinah spherule layer in the main outcrop area, as well as a new Carawine spherule layer exposure now suggest that the Carawine and Jeerinah spherule layers are correlates. The previous Wittenoom?–?Carawine correlation was based on the presence of spherules and sedimentological consistency: both layers comprise sediment gravity flows, and the Wittenoom spherule layer was interpreted as the downflow equivalent of the Carawine layer. However, the Jeerinah spherule layer also consists of sediment gravity flows, which could be related to the Carawine layer. Since all three layers reflect events triggered by oceanic impacts, these similarities are not surprising, but they do eliminate sedimentology as a correlation tool. However, two compositional trends suggest that the Carawine and Jeerinah layers are correlates: (i) the textures of their spherules are very similar and are distinctly different from the Wittenoom layer; and (ii) only the Carawine and Jeerinah layers contain irregular impact melt particles. The latter observation is strong evidence as irregular particles are unknown in any other early Precambrian spherule layers in Western Australia. While triggered by the same impact, it is unlikely that the Carawine and Jeerinah spherule layers were deposited by the same sediment gravity flows, as they contain very different intraclast populations.     

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon geochronology of high-grade rocks and charnockites from the eastern Amery Ice Shelf and southwestern Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: Constraints on Late Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian tectonothermal events related to supercontinent assembly

The eastern Amery Ice Shelf (EAIS) and southwestern Prydz Bay are situated near the junction between the Late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian high-grade complex of the Prydz Belt and the Early Neoproterozoic Rayner Complex. The area contains an important geological section for understanding the tectonic evolution of East Antarctica. SHRIMP U–Pb analyses on zircons of felsic orthogneisses and mafic granulites from the area indicate that their protoliths were emplaced during four episodes of ca. 1380 Ma, ca. 1210–1170 Ma, ca. 1130–1120 Ma and ca. 1060–1020 Ma. Subsequently, these rocks experienced two episodes of high-grade metamorphism at > 970 Ma and ca. 930–900 Ma, and furthermore, most of them (except for some from the Munro Kerr Mountains and Reinbolt Hills) were subjected to high-grade metamorphic recrystallization at ca. 535 Ma. Two suites of charnockite, i.e. the Reinbolt and Jennings charnockites, intrude the Late Mesoproterozoic/Early Neoproterozoic and Late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian high-grade complexes at > 955 Ma and 500 Ma, respectively. These, together with associated granites of similar ages, reflect late- to post-orogenic magmatism occurring during the two major orogenic events. The similarity in age patterns suggests that the EAIS–Prydz Bay region may have suffered from the same high-grade tectonothermal evolution with the Rayner Complex and the Eastern Ghats of India. Three segments might constitute a previously unified Late Mesoproterozoic/Early Neoproterozoic orogen that resulted from the long-term magmatic accretion from ca. 1380 to 1020 Ma and eventual collision before ca. 900 Ma between India and the western portion of East Antarctica. The Prydz Belt may have developed on the eastern margin of the Indo-Antarctica continental block, and the Late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian suture assembling Indo-Antarctica and Australo-Antarctica continental blocks should be located southeastwards of the EAIS–Prydz Bay region.     

Haines Structure: a probable Eocene complex impact structure in the offshore Canning Basin,Western Australia

A seismic structure imaged in a single 2D seismic profile from the offshore Canning Basin, Western Australia, is interpreted to be a possible complex impact crater on the basis of its seismic character. The feature, herein referred to as the Haines Structure, is symmetrical in two dimensions over ～2.5 km and comprises a centrally uplifted basal surface, a depressed upper surface, a highly deformed intervening package and an overlying horizon that is ‘sagging’ over the depression. The possible impact structure lies within carbonate units of Eocene or Early Oligocene age as determined from seismic correlation to petroleum exploration wells. The structure has not been drilled; therefore distinguishing characteristics used to define an impact origin, such as shock metamorphism, are not available. Comparison with other features in the Neogene succession of Australia's North West Shelf that have previously been interpreted as impact structures highlights the presence of key elements in the Haines Structure that characterise known complex impact craters, and the absence of seismic features related to alternative processes, such as a link to deeper structures that would be expected beneath a volcanic pipe.     

Taxonomy and affinity of Early Mesoproterozoic megascopic helically coiled and related fossils from the Rohtas Formation, the Vindhyan Supergroup, India

A well preserved assemblage of compressed, straight, circular to sinuously coiled megascopic and helical carbonaceous fossils and other varied megascopic morphoforms are known from the Early Mesoproterozoic Rohtas Formation, Semri Group within Vindhyan Supergroup exposed in Katni district of central India. These megascopic remains are preserved as impressions, compressions, partially mineralized remains, and/or epi-relief. Some of the forms are typical filamentous empty sheaths and others are trichomes, with cell like entities under various stages of degradation. This study, based on fresh collections and also of the topotype material of the helically coiled megascopic fossils, straight forms and related fossilized remains occurring as epi-relief from Katni indicate that the two morphotaxa are distinct entities and possibly appear to be prokaryotes. Grypania spiralis and Katnia singhii are most likely of cyanobacterial origin. Spirally coiled and circular fossils, with epi-relief, and which probably represents a tissue grade organism, are considered as Spiroichnus beerii Mathur, 1983. Linear sheet-like carbonaceous solitary form has been placed in the morphotaxon Proterotainia and described as P. katniensis n. sp. Certain rare circular, carbonaceous forms are considered as Chuaria sp. A few circular disc-like forms found in the assemblage are treated as dubiofossils.     

Geology and age of the Glikson impact structure,Western Australia

The Glikson structure is an aeromagnetic and structural anomaly located in the Little Sandy Desert of Western Australia (23°59'S, 121°34′E). Shatter cones and planar microstructures in quartz grains are present in a highly deformed central region, suggesting an impact origin. Circumferential shortening folds and chaotically disposed bedding define a 19 km-diameter area of deformation. Glikson is located in the northwestern Officer Basin in otherwise nearly flat-lying sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate of the Neoproterozoic Mundadjini Formation, intruded by dolerite sills. The structure would not have been detected if not for its strong ring-shaped aeromagnetic anomaly, which has a 10 km inner diameter and a 14 km outer diameter. We interpret the circular magnetic signature as the product of truncation and folding of mafic sills into a ring syncline. The sills most likely correlate with dolerites that intrude the Boondawari Formation ～25 km to the north, for which we report a SHRIMP U?–?Pb baddeleyite and zircon age of 508?±?5 Ma, providing a precise older limit for the impact event that formed the Glikson structure.     

Discovery of a layer of probable impact melt spherules in the Late Archaean Jeerinah Formation,Fortescue Group,Western Australia

In the high‐grade (granulite facies) metamorphic rocks at Broken Hill the foliation is deformed by two groups of folds. Group 1 folds have an axial‐plane schistosity and a sillimanite lineation parallel to their fold axes; the foliation has been transposed into the plane of the schistosity by these folds. Group 2 folds deform the schistosity and distort the sillimanite lineation so that it now lies in a plane. Both groups of folds are developed as large folds. The retrograde schist zones are zones in which new fold structures have formed. These structures deform Group 1 and Group 2 folds and are associated with the formation of a new schistosity and strain‐slip cleavage. The interface between ore and gneiss is folded about Group 1 axial planes but about axes different from those in the foliation in the gneiss. On the basis of this, the orebody could not have been parallel to the foliation prior to the first recognizable structural and metamorphic events at Broken Hill. The orebody has been deformed by Group 2 and later structures.     

Early Mesoproterozoic metamorphism in the Barossa Complex,South Australia: links with the eastern margin of Proterozoic Australia

LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronological data from metamorphic monazite in granulite-facies metapelites in the Barossa Complex, southern Australia, yield ages in the range 1580–1550 Ma. Metapelitic rocks from the Myponga and Houghton Inliers contain early biotite–sillimanite-bearing assemblages that underwent partial melting to produce peak metamorphic garnet–sillimanite-bearing anatectic assemblages. Phase equilibrium modelling suggests a clockwise P–T evolution with peak temperatures between 800 and 870°C and peak pressures of 8–9 kbar, followed by decompression to pressures of ～6 kbar. In combination with existing age data, the monazite U–Pb ages indicate that the early Mesoproterozoic evolution of the Barossa Complex is contemporaneous with other high geothermal gradient metamorphic terranes in eastern Proterozoic Australia. The areal extent of early Mesoproterozoic metamorphism in eastern Australia suggests that any proposed continental reconstructions involving eastern Proterozoic Australia should share a similar tectonothermal history.     

Lithostratigraphy and structure of the old red sandstone of the Northern Dingle Peninsula,Co. Kerry,Southwest Ireland

The lower part of the Old Red Sandstone in the Dingle Penisula has been previously assigned to one lithostratigraphic group (Dingle Group) despite marked variations in sedimentary facies. However the apparently oldest non-marine sequence in the northwest of the peninsula has sedimentary and lithological attributes that contrast strongly with those of the late Silurian-early Devonian Dingle Group to the south. This northern sequence, here renamed the Smerwick Group, evolved independently of the Dingle Group in a separate basin of deposition. Field relationships between the two groups in the north of the peninsula are interpreted as indicating that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, a normal Dingle Group succession. Similarly, it is argued that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, the Dingle Group in the northwest of the peninsula, but there the Dingle Group is attenuated, represented only by a conglomerate unit some 10 m thick. In the absence of biostratigraphic evidence the age of the Smerwick Group is poorly constrained. Nevertheless, we propose a tectonic model that suggests that the Smerwick Group evolved within a small extensional half-graben on the northern margin of the Munster Basin. This model accounts for the stratigraphic and structural relationships observed, and implies that the Smerwick Group is of Late Devonian age.     

Daly Basin,Northern Territory: lithostratigraphic revision resolves context of incongruous Ordovician fossils

A local succession of interbedded dolostone, limestone and glauconitic sandstone in the central Daly Basin of the Northern Territory, dated as Early Ordovician, has for many years appeared incongruous in terms of lithology and age relative to mapped formations of the Cambrian Daly River Group. Geological mapping and stratigraphic drilling have now shown that this interval, recently named the Florina Formation and described here, unconformably overlies the karstified surface of the uppermost formation of the Daly River Group, the Oolloo Dolostone. It is the youngest formation of the Daly Basin succession, but due to the lengthy hiatus between it and the underlying units, it is not included within the Daly River Group. It comprises three intervals of carbonate rocks alternating with thicker intervals of siliciclastic rocks. The latter are viewed as forming under dominantly moderate energy, shallow marine conditions with sediments derived from a distant terrigenous source. The carbonate rocks were dominantly subtidal, too far offshore to receive significant amounts of terrigenous material but shallow enough to be above storm wave base. The Oolloo Dolostone is formally divided here into two members, the lower Briggs Member and the upper King Member. Both consist largely of dolostone, but the Briggs Member is typically well bedded, contains ooids and has a minor component of quartz sand. It accumulated mainly as ooid shoals seaward of tidal flats. The overlying King Member is massive to coarsely bedded with only traces of terrigenous sediment and was deposited in deeper water seaward of the Briggs Member.     

Origin of Molar-Tooth Structure Based on Sequence- Stratigraphic Position and Macroscopic Features： Example from Mesoproterozoic Gaoyuzhuang Formation at Jixian Section, Tianjin, North China

INTRODUCTION Located at the famous Jixian Section in Tianjinin the North China , the MesoproterozoicGaoyuzhuang Formationis a set of 1 600 mthick car-bonates that formed over about 200 Ma in the Clym-Figure 1 .Section location of the Mesoprotero-zoic Gaoyuzhuang Formation at the Jixian Sec-tion in Tianjin.mian (1 600 Ma to 1 400 Ma ;Zhu et al .,1994 ; Du,1992 ;Fig.1) . The Gaoyuzhuang Formation at theJixian Section can be divided into four members thatare characterized by differ…     

柴达木盆地南缘金水口群的早古生代构造热事件:锆石U-Pb SHRIMP年龄证据

通过柴达木盆地南缘(东昆仑北缘)原定为金水口群麻粒岩相片麻岩和花岗质岩石中锆石的SHRIMP测定,确定其麻粒岩相变质时代为460Ma±8Ma,而具有深熔成因特征的花岗质岩石深熔作用时间为402Ma±6Ma。这些年龄数据表明,金水口群经历了早古生代与麻粒岩相变质和深熔作用有关的构造热事件,原认为是柴达木地块的前寒武纪变质基底明显在早古生代造山过程中发生了活化作用。花岗质岩石的继承锆石给出了少量太古宙和大量1600～1800Ma之间的年龄,代表了其锆石的主要源区物质年龄,这与祁连—柴达木地区以及扬子地块的地壳形成年龄基本一致,反映柴南缘(东昆仑北缘)的变质基底与扬子克拉通具有明显的亲缘性。     

Redetermination of the Depositional Age of the Haerdaban Group in the Northern Margin of the Yili Block,Western Tianshan,NW China: Implications for Regional Tectonics and Pb-Zn Mineralization

The Yili Block in the Western Tianshan orogen is a key area for understanding the early crustal formation and evolution of the Central Asian orogenic belt, due to the widely-distributed Precambrian rocks. Also, it hosts a lot of medium– to large-scale sedimentary exhalative(SEDEX) Pb-Zn deposits that mainly occur in Proterozoic metamorphosed clasticcarbonate rocks. In this study, LA-ICP-MS U-Pb analyses were carried out on detrital zircons in siltstones of the Precambrian Haerdaban Group in the ...