The Valley and Ridge Province of eastern Pennsylvania—stratigraphic and sedimentologic contributions and problems

Many contributions that have led to a better understanding of Appalachian geology have resulted directly from work in the folded Appalachian Mountain and Great Valley sections of the Valley and Ridge physiographic province of eastern Pennsylvania. Disagreements have been common since H.D. Rogers first described the geology of the area in 1858. Many differing opinions still exist regarding the stratigraphy, structural geology, geomorphology, and glacial geology. The rocks in the area, which range from Middle Ordovician to Late Devonian in age, are more than 25000 feet (7620 m) thick. This diversified group of sedimentary rocks was deposited in many different environments, ranging from deep sea, through neritic and tidal, to alluvial. In general, the Middle Ordovician through Lower Devonian strata are a sedimentary cycle related to the waxing and waning of Taconic tectonism. The sequence began with a greywacke-argillite suite (Martinsburg Formation) representing synorogenic basin deepening. This was followed by basin filling and pro-gradation of a sandstone-shale clastic wedge (Shawangunk Formation and Bloomsburg Red Beds) derived from the erosion of the mountains that were uplifted during the Taconic orogeny. The sequence ended with deposition of many thin units of carbonate, sandstone, and shale on a shelf marginal to a land area of low relief. Another tectonic-sedimentary cycle, related to the Acadian orogeny, began with deposition of Middle Devonian rocks. Deep-water shales (Marcellus Shale) preceded shoaling (Mahantango Formation) and turbidite sedimentation (Trimmers Rock Formation) followed by another molasse (Catskill Formation).     

Tectonostratigraphic and geochronologic constraints on evolution of the northeast Paleotethys from the Songpan-Ganzi complex, central China

The Middle to Late Triassic deep-water deposits that form the Songpan-Ganzi complex (SGC) of central China comprise an estimated ~ 2.0 × 10⁶ km³ of detrital material that accumulated in the northeasternmost branch of the Paleotethys. A review of existing data demonstrates significant spatial and temporal variations in the stratigraphic and petrologic character of these turbidites. These variations are used to divide the complex into different depocenters: a northeastern depocenter (SGC-NE), a eastern–central depocenter (SGC-EC) and a northwestern depocenter (SGC-NW). Turbidite strata of the SGC-NE and SGC-EC zones of the Songpan-Ganzi complex are linked to the collision of the North China and South China blocks, whereas turbidite strata of the SGC-NW area are likely to be more closely affiliated with evolution of the Kunlun deformation belt. To test the validity of the Songpan-Ganzi stratigraphic framework and interpretations of its tectonostratigraphic evolution, sixty-eight U–Pb zircon ages were determined from five samples of felsic intrusive igneous rock, two samples from felsic plutonic rock of the adjacent Yidun arc complex, and one sample of volcanic rock interbedded with Middle Triassic turbidites of the SGC using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe-Reverse Geometry (SHRIMP-RG). Together these data indicate primarily Late Triassic (~ 214–211 Ma) felsic magmatism in the SGC, with some indication of magmatic activity beginning as early as Middle Triassic (220 Ma). Zircon ages from the Yidun arc complex support Middle–Late Triassic magmatism from 225–215 Ma, prior to deformation of the SGC, suggesting deformation of the SGC was not related to subduction of the SGC substrate southwestward beneath the Yidun arc. Inherited Neoproterozoic (880–740 Ma) zircon ages found in two samples from the SGC-EC indicate either inheritance of zircon crystals from the surrounding SGC turbidite strata or possibly involvement of South China basement during crustal thickening and magma genesis.     

The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Ordovician Partry Group,southeastern Murrisk,Ireland

The uppermost part of the Ordovician succession in southeastern Murrisk, western Ireland, consists of coarse-grained sedimentary rocks and tuffs, the Partry Group, hitherto subdivided into the Mweelrea Formation, unconformably overlain by the Maumtrasna Formation. The age of the lower part of the succession is late Llanvirn whilst that of the upper part is unknown. Evidence is presented to show that the two formations are lateral equivalents. Consequently the Mweelrea Formation is redefined and the Maumtrasna Formation becomes redundant. The revision of the stratigraphy enables a coherent sedimentological model for the group to be proposed. The sediments of the Mweelrea Formation were deposited on alluvial fans and distally-equivalent alluvial plains and delta fans. The direction of sediment transport was towards the north and northwest.     

An east–west‐trending Quaternary tunnel valley in the south‐eastern North Sea and its seismic–sedimentological interpretation

A combination of a dense reflection seismic grid and up to 50‐m‐long records from sediment cores and cone penetration tests was used to study the geometry and infill lithology of an E–W‐trending buried tunnel valley in the south‐eastern North Sea. In relation to previously known primarily N–S‐trending tunnel valleys in this area, the geometry and infill of this 38‐km‐long and up to 3‐km‐wide valley is comparable, but its E–W orientation is exceptional. The vertical cross‐section geometry may result from subglacial sediment erosion of advancing ice streams and secondary incision by large episodic meltwater discharges with high flow rates. The infill is composed of meltwater sands and reworked till remnants on the valley flanks that are overlain by late Elsterian rhythmic, laminated, lacustrine fine‐grained sediments towards the centre of the valley. A depression in the valley centre is filled with sediments most likely from the Holsteinian transgression and a subsequent post‐Holsteinian lacustrine quiet‐water setting. The exceptional axis orientation of this tunnel valley points to a regional N–S‐oriented ice front during the late Elsterian. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geology of the Victor Kimberlite, Attawapiskat, Northern Ontario, Canada: cross-cutting and nested craters

The pipe shapes, infill and emplacement processes of the Attawapiskat kimberlites, including Victor, contrast with most of the southern African kimberlite pipes. The Attawapiskat kimberlite pipes are formed by an overall two-stage process of (1) pipe excavation without the development of a diatreme (sensu stricto) and (2) subsequent pipe infilling. The Victor kimberlite comprises two adjacent but separate pipes, Victor South and Victor North. The pipes are infilled with two contrasting textural types of kimberlite: pyroclastic and hypabyssal-like kimberlite. Victor South and much of Victor North are composed of pyroclastic spinel carbonate kimberlites, the main features of which are similar: clast-supported, discrete macrocrystal and phenocrystal olivine grains, pyroclastic juvenile lapilli, mantle-derived xenocrysts and minor country rock xenoliths are set in serpentine and carbonate matrices. These partly bedded, juvenile lapilli-bearing olivine tuffs appear to have been formed by subaerial fire-fountaining airfall processes.

The Victor South pipe has a simple bowl-like shape that flares from just below the basal sandstone of the sediments that overlie the basement. The sandstone is a known aquifer, suggesting that the crater excavation process was possibly phreatomagmatic. In contrast, the pipe shape and internal geology of Victor North are more complex. The northwestern part of the pipe is dominated by dark competent rocks, which resemble fresh hypabyssal kimberlite, but have unusual textures and are closely associated with pyroclastic juvenile lapilli tuffs and country rock breccias±volcaniclastic kimberlite. Current evidence suggests that the hypabyssal-like kimberlite is, in fact, not intrusive and that the northwestern part of Victor North represents an early-formed crater infilled with contrasting extrusive kimberlites and associated breccias. The remaining, main part of Victor North consists of two macroscopically similar, but petrographically distinct, pyroclastic kimberlites that have contrasting macrodiamond sample grades. The juvenile lapilli of each pyroclastic kimberlite can be distinguished only microscopically. The nature and relative modal proportion of primary olivine phenocrysts in the juvenile lapilli are different, indicating that they derive from different magma pulses, or phases of kimberlite, and thus represent separate eruptions. The initial excavation of a crater cross-cutting the earlier northwestern crater was followed by emplacement of phase (i), a low-grade olivine phenocryst-rich pyroclastic kimberlite, and the subsequent eruption of phase (ii), a high-grade olivine phenocryst-poor pyroclastic kimberlite, as two separate vents nested within the original phase (i) crater. The second eruption was accompanied by the formation of an intermediate mixed zone with moderate grade. Thus, the final pyroclastic pipe infill of the main part of the Victor North pipe appears to consist of at least three geological/macrodiamond grade zones.

In conclusion, the Victor kimberlite was formed by several eruptive events resulting in adjacent and cross-cutting craters that were infilled with either pyroclastic kimberlite or hypabyssal-like kimberlite, which is now interpreted to be of probable extrusive origin. Within the pyroclastic kimberlites of Victor North, there are two nested vents, a feature seldom documented in kimberlites elsewhere. This study highlights the meaningful role of kimberlite petrography in the evaluation of diamond deposits and provides further insight into kimberlite emplacement and volcanism.     

Volcanic stratigraphy, structural controls, and mineralization in the san cristobal Ag–Zn–Pb deposit, southern bolivia

The Late Miocene San Cristobal Ag–Zn–Pb deposit represents syngenetic and epigenetic mineralization with low- and high-sulfidation characteristics. Rocks in the deposit are characterized by barren dacitic ring fracture domes, mineralized resurgent rhyodacite domes, strongly altered and mineralized tuffaceous lacustrine sedimentary rocks, and an extensive crystal-lithic tuff debris apron. The ore body is hosted by intracauldron sedimentary and volcanic rocks and genetically associated breccias. Fluid inclusion data suggest that silver, lead, and zinc were transported as chloride complexes and precipitated by cooling in veins from <5 wt.% NaCl eq. fluids at 170–215 °C. Silver that was spatially, and perhaps temporally, associated with an episode of rhyodacite resurgence may have been transported as a chloride complex and precipitated by increased H₂S activity or increased fluid pH. Although San Cristobal represents a major silver resource, the occurrence of stratiform wurtzite and sphalerite in cauldron-hosted sedimentary rocks represents a syngenetic component of mineralization that is very rare in continental caldera-associated epithermal deposits, which contributes to San Cristobal's significance as a zinc resource.     

The upper Hawasina nappes in the central Oman Mountains: stratigraphy,palinspastics and sequence of nappe emplacement

Abstract

In the Oman mountains, a succession of sedimentary decollement nappes, the Hawasina nappes, is sandwiched between the Samail ophiolite nappe and its underlying melange and the “autochthonous” sequences of the Arabian platform. The sediments of the Hawasina nappes document the Mesozoic evolution of the northeastern Arabian continental margin and the adjacent Tethys Ocean. In earlier paleogeographic reconstructions, based on simple telescoping of the tectonic units, the upper Hawasina nappes represent the distal part and the lower nappes the proximal part of the margin. New stratigraphic data suggest a revision of the paleogeography and a more complex model for nappe emplacement in the central Oman mountains. The lower Hawasina nappes with their Jurassic and Cretaceous base of slope and basin sediments (Hamrat Duru, Wahrah) form the original cover of part of the upper Hawasina nappes. In the latter (Al Ayn, Haliw), Triassic pelagic sediments, locally overlain by massive sandstone successions are preserved. Complete Mesozoic sequences with pelagic Cenomanian sediments as youngest dated elements are found in the highest Hawasina units (Al Aridh and Oman Exotics). The stratigraphic data indicate polyphase thrusting in the central Oman mountains. Downward propagation of thrusting in front of the Samail is responsible for cutting the original stratigraphie sequence into a number of thrust-sheets, involving successively older and more external formations. This kind of thrust propagation eventually leads to the observed superposition of originally lower stratigraphie units onto their original cover. Regional deformation of the nappe contacts in post-nappe culminations (J. Akhdar, Saih Hatat) is related to ramp-flat-systems in the Arabian foreland.     

Discussion of “Geology and diamond distribution of the 140/141 kimberlite, Fort à la Corne, central Saskatchewan, Canada”, by A. Berryman, B.H. Scott-Smith and B.C. Jellicoe (Lithos v. 76, p. 99–114)

A wide variety of geological data and geological observations by numerous geoscientists do not support a two-stage crater excavation and in-fill model, or a champagne glass-shaped geometry for the 169 or 140/141 kimberlite bodies in the Fort à la Corne kimberlite field, Saskatchewan as described by Berryman, A., Scott Smith, B.H., Jellicoe, B., (2004). Rather, these kimberlite bodies are best described as polygenetic kimberlite tephra cones and tuff rings with associated feeder vents of variable geometry as shown by previous workers for the 169 kimberlite, the 140/141 kimberlite and the Star kimberlite. The domal tephra cone geometry is preserved due to burial by conformable Cretaceous marine mudstones and siltstones and is not an artifact of Quaternary glacial processes.     

Sedimentology,stratigraphy and palynological occurrences of the late Cretaceous Erlian Formation,Erlian Basin,Inner Mongolia,People's Republic of China

The Erlian Basin is one of the non-marine Cretaceous basins of north-east China that developed during the late Mesozoic continental extension in eastern Asia. This basin experienced two major tectonic events: (i) a syn-rift stage that was dominated by a fluvial–lacustrine depositional environment and (ii) a post-rift stage that was dominated by a fluvial environment. A new sedimentological study performed on Erlian Formation drill cores has led to the determination of an architectural model and to the subsequent characterisation of the stratigraphic evolution of this sedimentary unit during the late Cretaceous. The palynological occurrences that were identified in samples provided a possible stratigraphical age for the Erlian Formation.Sediments of the Erlian Formation occur at the top of the Cretaceous stratigraphic column of the Erlian Basin and were deposited during the post-rift stage. Facies architecture and the ideal succession of facies that were identified for this formation exhibit two different members, both dominated by a fluvial depositional environment: (i) the lower member, which is dominated by channels of a braided river system and (ii) the upper member, which is dominated by overbank deposits. The lower member expresses a tectonically induced uplift as indicated by channels clustering under negative accommodation, whereas a period of stratigraphic base-level rise that is associated with an increase of accommodation is identified in the upper member. Therefore the Erlian Formation highlights an alternation of short uplifts that were dominated by braided fluvial channel deposits with periods of stratigraphic base-level rise that were dominated by overbank deposits. This sedimentological architecture has significant metallogenic implications for the origin of confined permeable sandstone layers, which represent adequate host-rocks for roll front-type uranium deposits.The palynological assemblage Exesipollenites, Ulmipollenites/Ulmoideipites, Buttinia and Momipites that were recognised in two samples of the Erlian Formation has revealed a post-late Campanian age therefore more likely indicating a late Cretaceous age of deposition for the sediments of the Erlian Formation.     

Hierarchy of tectonic control on stratigraphic signatures: Base-level changes during the Early Permian in the Paraná Basin, southernmost Brazil

The Lower Permian sedimentary succession of the Paraná Basin in southernmost Brazil has an overall transgressive sedimentation regime, recorded by a clear retrogradation of the facies belt. However, important depositional strike-orientated variations and regional inversions occur in the sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline (i.e., along-strike) of the basin. At the regional scale, a huge source area was uplifted by the end of the Artinskian in the north and caused regression; the southern part of the study area increasingly was transgressed by the epicontinental sea (= regional inversion). This important tectonic overprint on the stratigraphic signature of the basin’s infill has a tectonic origin. The variable sedimentation regime along the paleo-shoreline is controlled by the structural framework of the basement, which is formed by several crustal blocks with different responses to tectonic strain induced by terrain accretion on the occidental margin of Gondwana during the Permian. Stratigraphic data indicate that during the Early Permian, there were at least two differential subsidence and uplift events, one by the end of the Sakmarian–Artinskian and another during the Late Artinskian–Kungurian.     

The enigma of fine-grained alluvial basin fills: the Permo-Triassic (Cumbrian Coastal and Sherwood Sandstone Groups) of the Solway Basin,NW England and SW Scotland)

The late Permian to Triassic sediments of the Solway Basin consist of a layer-cake succession of mature, predominantly fine-grained red clastics laid down in semi-arid alluvial plain to arid sabkha and saline marginal marine or lacustrine environments. The Cumbrian Coastal Group consists of Basal Clastics and Eden Shales. The Basal Clastics are thin regolith deposits resting unconformably on all-underlying units and are composed of mixtures of angular local gravel and far-transported fine to very fine-grained sands deposited as basal lag. The Eden Shales are predominantly gypsiferous red silty mudstones, with thin very fine-grained sandstone beds, and with thick marine gypsum beds at the base, deposited at a saline lake margin. The overlying Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group consists of the Annan and Kirklinton Sandstones. The Annan Sandstones are predominantly thick-bedded, multi-storied, fine-grained mature red quartz sandstones in which coarse sand is practically absent despite channels with clay pebbles up to 30 cm in diameter. The overlying, predominantly aeolian, Kirklinton Sandstones consist of festoon cross-bedded and parallel-laminated fine-grained sandstones, almost identical to the Annan Sandstones except that mica and clay are absent. The Stanwix Shales, located above, consist of interbedded red, blue and green mudstones, siltstones, and thin very fine-grained sandstones, with gypsum layers. Although the entire succession can plausibly be interpreted as deposited in a large desert basin opening into a hypersaline marine or lacustrine embayment to the southwest, the uniformly fine-grained nature of the succession is unusual, as is the absence of paleosols, and body and trace fossils. There is almost no coarse sand even in the river channel units, and it seems likely that the basin was not only extremely arid but supplied predominantly by wind rather than water.     

Evolution of Ataúro Island: Temporal constraints on subduction processes beneath the Wetar zone, Banda Arc

Ataúro is a key to understanding the late stage volcanic and subduction history of the Banda Arc to the north of Timor. A volcanic history of bi-modal subaqueous volcanism has been established and new whole rock and trace element geochemical data show two compositional groups, basaltic andesite and dacite–rhyolite. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of hornblende from rhyo-dacitic lavas confirms that volcanism continued until 3.3 Ma. Following the cessation of volcanism, coral reef marine terraces have been uplifted to elevations of 700 m above sea level. Continuity of the terraces at constant elevations around the island reflects regional-scale uplift most likely linked to sublithospheric processes such as slab detachment. Local scale landscape features of the eastern parts of Ataúro are strongly controlled by normal faults. The continuation of arc-related volcanism on Ataúro until at least 3.3 Ma suggests that subduction of Australian lithosphere continued until near this time. This data is consistent with findings from the earthquake record where the extent of the Wetar seismic gap to a depth of 350 km suggests slab breakoff, as a result of collision, commenced at ∼4 Ma, leading to subsequent regional uplift recorded in elevated terraces on Ataúro and neighbouring islands.     

Age constraints on the formation and emplacement of Neoproterozoic ophiolites along the Allaqi–Heiani Suture, South Eastern Desert of Egypt

Ophiolites are key components of the Neoproterozoic Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS). Understanding when they formed and were emplaced is crucial for understanding the evolution of the ANS because their ages tell when seafloor spreading and terrane accretion occurred. The Yanbu–Onib–Sol Hamed–Gerf–Allaqi–Heiani (YOSHGAH) suture and ophiolite belt can be traced  600 km across the Nubian and Arabian shields. We report five new SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages from igneous rocks along the Allaqi segment of the YOSHGAH suture in southernmost Egypt and use these data in conjunction with other age constraints to evaluate YOSHGAH suture evolution. Ophiolitic layered gabbro gave a concordia age of 730 ± 6 Ma, and a metadacite from overlying arc-type metavolcanic rocks yielded a weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 733 ± 7 Ma, indicating ophiolite formation at  730 Ma. Ophiolite emplacement is also constrained by intrusive bodies: a gabbro yielded a concordia age of 697 ± 5 Ma, and a quartz-diorite yielded a concordia age of 709 ± 4 Ma. Cessation of deformation is constrained by syn- to post-tectonic granite with a concordia age of 629 ± 5 Ma. These new data, combined with published zircon ages for ophiolites and stitching plutons from the YOSHGAH suture zone, suggest a 2-stage evolution for the YOSHGAH ophiolite belt ( 810–780 Ma and  730–750 Ma) and indicate that accretion between the Gabgaba–Gebeit–Hijaz terranes to the south and the SE Desert–Midyan terranes to the north occurred as early as 730 Ma and no later than 709 ± 4 Ma.     

Cenozoic basin evolution of the Central Patagonian Andes: Evidence from geochronology,stratigraphy, and geochemistry

The Central Patagonian Andes is a particular segment of the Andean Cordillera that has been subjected to the subduction of two spreading ridges during Eocene and Neogene times. In order to understand the Cenozoic geologic evolution of the Central Patagonian Andes, we carried out geochronologic(U-Pb and⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar), provenance, stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and geochemical studies on the sedimentary and volcanic Cenozoic deposits that crop out in the Meseta Guadal and Chile Chico areas(～47°S). Our data indicate the presence of a nearly complete Cenozoic record, which refutes previous interpretations of a hiatus during the middle Eocene-late Oligocene in the Central Patagonian Andes. Our study suggests that the fluvial strata of the Ligorio Marquez Formation and the flood basalts of the Basaltos Inferiores de la Meseta Chile Chico Formation were deposited in an extensional setting related to the subduction of the Aluk-Farallon spreading ridge during the late Paleocene-Eocene. Geochemical data on volcanic rocks interbedded with fluvial strata of the San Jose Formation suggest that this unit was deposited in an extensional setting during the middle Eocene to late Oligocene. Progressive crustal thinning allowed the transgression of marine waters of Atlantic origin and deposition of the upper Oligocene-lower Miocene Guadal Formation. The fluvial synorogenic strata of the Santa Cruz Formation were deposited as a consequence of an important phase of compressive deformation and Andean uplift during the early-middle Miocene. Finally, alkali flood basalts of the late middle to late Miocene Basaltos Superiores de la Meseta Chile Chico Formation were extruded in the area in response to the suduction of the Chile Ridge under an extensional regime. Our studies indicate that the tectonic evolution of the Central Patagonian Andes is similar to that of the North Patagonian Andes and appears to differ from that of the Southern Patagonian Andes, which is thought to have been the subject of continuous compressive deformation since the late Early Cretaceous.     

The stratigraphy of the Permo-Triassic rocks of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site,U.K.

An almost complete late Permian and Triassic succession c. 1300 m thick is exposed in the cliffs between Exmouth and Lyme Regis in the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, U.K. All except the youngest part of the succession was deposited in terrestrial environments that include alluvial fans, aeolian sand dunes, braided rivers and playa-lakes. The succession of environments with time not only reflects the denudation of the Variscan mountains that lay to the west and south in the Cornubian and Armorican massifs, but also responses to periods of tectonic uplift and subsidence, and to long- and short-term climatic and associated biotic changes. Notwithstanding the almost continuous, readily accessible exposures in the cliffs and intertidal areas, few of the formations have yielded any age-diagnostic fossils with the result that much of the succession cannot be dated with certainty. The Permo-Triassic boundary has been placed in the lower part of the succession on the basis of magnetostratigraphy and the same method has been used to quantify some of the stage boundaries and the principal tectonic breaks in the succession.     

Layered mantle at the Karelian Craton margin: P–T of mantle xenocrysts and xenoliths from the Kaavi–Kuopio kimberlites, Finland

Peridotitic clinopyroxene (cpx) and pyrope garnet xenocrysts from four kimberlite pipes in the Kaavi–Kuopio area of Eastern Finland have been studied using major and trace element geochemistry to obtain information on the vertical compositional variability of the underlying mantle. The xenocryst data, when combined with the petrological constraints provided by peridotite xenoliths, yield a relatively complete section through the lithospheric mantle. Single-grain cpx thermobarometry fits with a 36-mW/m² geotherm calculated using heat flow constraints and xenolith modes and geophysical properties. Ni thermometry on pyrope xenocrysts gives 700–1350 °C and, based on the cpx xenocryst/xenolith geotherm, indicates a wide sampling interval, ca. 80–230 km. Plotting pyrope major and trace element compositions as a function of temperature shows there are three distinct layers in the local lithospheric mantle:

(1) A low-temperature (<850 °C) harzburgite layer distinguished by Ca-rich but Ti-, Y- and Zr-depleted pyropes. The xenoliths originating from this layer are all fine-grained garnet-spinel harzburgites with secondary cpx.

(2) A variably depleted lherzolitic, harzburgitic and wehrlitic horizon from 950 to 1150 °C or 130 to 180 km.

(3) A deep layer from 180 to 240 km composed largely of fertile material.

The peridotitic diamond window at Kaavi–Kuopio stretches from the top of the diamond stability field at 140 km to the base of the harzburgite-bearing mantle at about 180 km, implying a roughly 40-km-wide prospective zone.     

Nd,Sr, Pb,Ar, and 0 isotopic systematics of Sturgeon Lake kimberlite,Saskatchewan, Canada: constraints on emplacement age,alteration, and source composition

Rb-Sr isotopic dating of phlogopite megacryst samples separated from Sturgeon Lake kimberlite, Saskatchewan, yields a crystallization age of 98±1 Ma (2 , MSWD=1.2; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr(t)=0.7059). The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar analyses of a phlogopite megacryst sample indicate the presence of large amounts of excess ⁴⁰Ar and yield an excessively old age of 410 Ma. Assessment of the Ar data using isotope correlation plots indicates clustering of the data points about a mixing line between the radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar component at 98 Ma and a trapped component with uniform ³⁶Ar/⁴⁰Ar and Cl/⁴⁰Ar. Values of {ie212-1} as high as +20%. (VSMOW) for calcite from the groundmass and a whole-rock sample indicate pervasive lowtemperature alteration. The {ie212-2} of matrix carbonate is-11.3%. (PDB), slightly lighter than typical values from the literature. The {ie212-3} values of about +5%. (VSMOW) for brown phlogopite megacrysts may be primary, green phlogopites are interpreted to be an alteration product of the brown variety and are 2%. heavier. Initial Nd-Sr-Pb isotopic ratios for a whole-rock sample {ie212-4}; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.7063, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=18.67, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=15.54, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=38.97) suggest an affinity with group I kimberlites. Initial {ie212-5} values of +1.7 and +0.5 (⁸⁷Sr/ ⁸⁶Sr(t)=0.7053 and 0.7050) for eclogitic and lherzolitic garnet megacryst samples, and values of 0.0 for two phlogopite megacryst samples reflect an origin from an isotopically evolving melt due to assimilation of heterogeneous mantle. Lilac high-Cr lherzolitic garnet megacrysts give an unusually high {ie212-6} of +28.6 (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.7046) indicating a xenocrystic origin probably from the lithospheric mantle. The very radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios of the kimberlite are consistent with melting of EM II (enriched) mantle components.     

滇西昌宁─孟连带南部地层地质问题

滇西孟连以南，整合于南段组浊积岩之上的拉巴群硅质岩含晚二叠世早期放射虫化石，南段组时代不仅限于石炭纪，可能延入二叠纪。二者为晚古生代思茅地块的外陆坡沉积。其西面的南基河杂岩（新名）由层序混乱的晚古生代硅质岩、泥岩和少量砂岩、玄武岩构成。放射虫化石证据表明，硅质岩时代不仅限于晚泥盆世－早二叠世，还延入晚二叠世，而有的砂岩时代为早石炭世，它们是经过强烈构造变动的古特提斯洋的沉积记录。昌宁－孟连带向南可能延至泰国北部的清迈带，而非东北部的难河带。     

滇西昌宁─孟连带南部地层地质问题

滇西孟连以南，整合于南段组浊积岩之上的拉巴群硅质岩含晚二叠世早期放射虫化石，南段组时代不仅限于石炭纪，可能延入二叠纪。二者为晚古生代思茅地块的外陆坡沉积。其西面的南基河杂岩（新名）由层序混乱的晚古生代硅质岩、泥岩和少量砂岩、玄武岩构成。放射虫化石证据表明，硅质岩时代不仅限于晚泥盆世－早二叠世，还延入晚二叠世，而有的砂岩时代为早石炭世，它们是经过强烈构造变动的古特提斯洋的沉积记录。昌宁－孟连带向南可能延至泰国北部的清迈带，而非东北部的难河带。