A Late-glacial colluvial sequence at Watcombe Bottom,Ventnor, Isle of Wight,England

In a dry valley near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, thick subaerial slope deposits of Devensian Late-glacial age overlie the Chalk. The deposits are crudely stratified chalk muds and rubble produced by frost-shattering, and moved downslope by the release of water from melting snow-fields and frozen ground. A laterally extensive humic horizon of a rendzina soil occurs within the sequence, clearly reflecting a period of relative slope stability. In places this horizon divides and its upper surface appears to have been disturbed, possibly by cryoturbation. Micromorphological and other analyses confirm the pedogenic origin of this humic horizon, but also demonstrate the occurrence of pedological features both above and below it. The humic horizon therefore is not a ‘buried’ soil in the strictest sense, but is part of a vertical sequence representing a single complex soil with transported, accretionary and welded components. Molluscan analyses reveal that the sequence can be divided into four local mollusc zones, showing a progressive increase in faunal diversity throughout the profile. This succession is broadly similar to other Late-glacial sequences described from south-east England. Minute fragments of charcoal from the lower part of the humic horizon have yielded an AMS date of 11690 ± 120 vr BP, demonstrating formation during the ‘Allerød phase’ of the Late-glacial Interstadial. This humic horizon is correlated provisionally with the ‘Pitstone Soil’, even though existing dates from its type-site in Buckinghamshire are somewhat younger.     

Sedimentology and lithostratigraphy of Upper Eocene sponge‐rich sediments,southern Western Australia

Late Eocene time in the Bremer and western Eucla Basins of southern Western Australia was a period of terrigenous clastic and abundant, unusual, biosiliceous sponge sedimentation. The Pallinup Formation (revised) consists of five units; 1 and 2 are basal sandstones, 3 and 4 are variably spiculitic mudstones, whilst the uppermost unit is spiculite and spongolite, and formalised as the Fitzgerald Member (new). The Pallinup Formation, plus coeval spiculites in palaeovalleys and carbonates in the western Eucla Basin, accumulated during one large‐scale, transgressive‐regressive relative sea‐level cycle. Drowned, low‐gradient rivers supplied mud but little sand. Instead, sand was locally sourced via transgressive shoreface erosion of deeply weathered regolith. Regression terminated shoreface erosion, eliminated the sand source, and resulted in a river‐supplied, clay‐dominated shallow‐marine depositional system. The unit 2–3 sandstone‐mudstone transition, which would normally be interpreted as transgressive drowning, is in this case the result of regressive cessation of sand supply. The peak relative sea‐level (highstand) horizon thus lies within unit 2 sandstones, a facies that would usually be considered wholly transgressive, and no highstand systems tract was deposited. The maximum flooding and downlap surfaces are the same horizon and cap the transgressive systems tract. They formed coincidentally or subsequent to peak relative sea‐level, but prior to initiation of unit 3 mudstone deposition. Upper unit 2 plus unit 3 represent a condensed section systems tract, and unit 4 plus the Fitzgerald Member comprise a regressive systems tract.     

Snowball structures and their slide origin in the Jebel Tekzim Limestone (Palaeozoic of the Jebilet Range, Morocco)

Sedimentary ball structures observed in the Visean series of Jebel Tekzim, in the Palaeozoic massif of the eastern Jebilet Range, Morocco, are described and interpreted. The metre-sized balls are composed of carbonate. They are texturally akin to wackestone or packstone, and some display a spiralled internal organization. The balls are encased in a calcarenitic to conglomeratic matrix and directly overlie a shale unit. The origin of the structures is thought to be analogous to the mechanism whereby an avalanche of wet snow gives rise to the deposition of snowballs at the base of a slope. A layer of carbonate sediment detaches along an organic-rich horizon and rolls up during downslope movement under gravity.     

论浙江东部早白垩世中期断陷事件和断陷岩套

早白垩世中期中国东南部发生过一次断陷事件,并形成一事件地层单元——断陷岩套。叙述了断陷岩套的形成机理、特征和类型,并利用事件地层单元同时性原理,论证了建组剖面"塘上组"的层位与永康群下部馆头组相同,而非高居永康群之上的"新构造亚层";也论证了嵊县三界一带的所谓"大爽组二段"应为馆头组。这两个断陷岩套中所含生物群证实:事件地层学原理所得的关于其层位与时代的结论是正确的。     

Tourmaline-bearing quartzites at western contact of Kopan and Matkal gabbro complexes

A peculiar horizon of tourmaline-bearing quartzites has been identified in the study of basic intrusives of the South Urals. This horizon is quite consistent along the contacts of gabbro massifs, with the quartzites strongly metasomatized and altered in both structure and mineral composition. The tourmaline appears to be the result of an alkali metasomatism related to granitic intrusions. The principal sequence is albite, tourmaline and quartz. The quartzites appear to be of sedimentary origin, as they form a consistent horizon traceable for tens of kilometers and are intercalated with similarly consistent horizons of hornfels and schists. — F. E. Ingerson.     

地震层位自动追踪技术研究

在地震勘探中,地震层位解释是地震解释的基础工作,而层位的识别和追踪是地震层位解释的一个很重要的环节。由于过去的层位追踪基本上是纯手工,既耗时又耗力,而地震层位反映在地震波形上具有同相性和相似性等,这使得依据地震波形的这些性质,研究某种算法让计算机自动追踪层位成为可能。这里介绍了两种层位自动追踪方法：波形特征追踪算法和相关追踪算法,并分别分析了这两种算法的原理。通过编程实现了这两种方法,对它们的追踪效果进行了对比分析和总结,两种方法总体上满足层位追踪要求,结合应用两种方法能够达到很好的效果。     

A lithogeochemical approach to Stratigraphical problems at the Millstream potash deposit, New Brunswick, Canada

A lithogeochemical study was undertaken of the Millstream potash deposit, New Brunswick, Canada, a marine evaporite deposit with a complex depositional and tectonic history. The objective of the study was to determine if potash intersections in boreholes represent different geological horizons, or the same stratum repeated by folding or faulting. The deposit is found at a depth of 800–1000 m.Water-soluble and -insoluble fractions of drill core from five ore zones in four holes were analyzed using multielement ICP instrumentation following sequential hot water and aqua regia leaches. Meaningful variations in the data for the different ore zones were evident for eight elements in the water-soluble portion, and for seventeen elements in the water-insoluble residue. These results characterize a lowermost sylvinite unit which is relatively depleted in most elements, with the exception of Mg and Al in the residue. Regression analysis indicates a weak correlation between Fe and the common base metals, in contrast to the immediately overlying sylvinite unit which is relatively enriched in most elements, including Fe, but where Fe apparently exerts no control over the base metals. Cluster analysis confirms these two units are easily distinguished from each other. The upper two ore horizons are distinguishable from the lower units on the basis of different abundances of some elements, such as water-soluble B, and on the strong scavenging abilities of Fe on the common base metals.No single element is able to uniquely fingerprint a particular sylvinite horizon, but suites of elements are able to classify each horizon as geochemically distinctive. The results appear to confirm the validity of the geological correlations.     

Reverse modelling of detachment folds; application to the Pico del Aguila anticline in the South Central Pyrenees (Spain)

A simple method to estimate fold-amplification and thrust-movement rates for detachment folds is documented and illustrated by its application to a symmetrical detachment fold in the Southern Pyrenees, Spain. The technique provides a complete record of the kinematic evolution of detachment folds and is based on the application of equations for detachment folds involving limb rotation. The method uses the stratal pattern of the syntectonic sediments and assumes that these growth strata were deposited horizontally, that the folds involve a homogeneous competent unit detached over a ductile horizon, and that the folds can be represented by chevronkink bands. The procedure is applicable to any detachment fold with associated growth strata that display wedge geometries (‘progressive unconformities’) indicating limb rotation through time. This method can be used for both detachment folds formed with constant limb length or variable limb length, and it can also accommodate undecompacted or decompacted growth strata.     

神木—双山地区古生界含气层系岩石地层划分

鄂尔多斯盆地东部神木—双山地区古生界地层含气层系多,地层在横向及纵向上变化复杂,为了更加准确评价该区域含气规模以及特征,本文在岩石地层单元定义基础之上,结合测井、地质等资料,对神木—双山地区古生界含气层系岩石地层的划分进行了重新认识,论述了各个含气层系及标志层的地质和测井响应特征,讨论了测井资料在地层划分及对比时的优越性和不足之处。     

Utilisation of loess for soil amelioration

In Hungary loess has long been used for soil reclamation. The main steps of the method are: horizon A and B are removed from a suitable area and their material is stockpiled at the margins of the resulting pit. The loess (horizon C), this way exposed, is excavated and spread over the salt affected soils to be improved then mixed with their upper layer. The pit is named in Hungarian digó (pit). The name of the reclamation process is the digo method or spreading of yellow earth. Digó method is mainly used for the amelioration of salt affected soils with an acid A horizon and its benefits are as follows:

1. The acidity of the horizon A is eliminated
2. The soil structure is improved
3. The amount of calcium (a plant nutrient) is increased
4. Soil fertility is improved continuously
5. The soil depth is extended which adds to the relative volume of the ground water table.

     

Composite Stratigraphy of the Sailinhudong Group and Ore-bearing Micrite Mounds in the Bayan Obo Deposits,Inner Mongolia,China

Based on studies of sequence stratigraphy, event stratigraphy, biostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy, it is concluded that the Sailinhudong Group is a part of the Bayan Obo Group. Some trilobite fragments are first found in thin sections of the rock from the lower part of the Sailinhudong Group and some Ordovician acritarchs and chitinozoans are also found in this group. A formationa unit of carbonate seismites is first recognized in the upper part and a huge micrite mound is first identified at the top. Dolomite, the host rock of the super giant Bayan Obo Fe-Nb-REE deposits, is neither an igneous carbonatite nor a common bedded sedimentary carbonate, but a huge micrite mound. It has the same macroscopic characters as the micrite mounds at the top of the Sailinhudong Group, which suggests that they should be of the same horizon. According to the fossils, the Sailinhudong and Bayan Obo Groups should be of the Early Palaeozoic rather than the Middle Proterozoic. The new discovery and new idea will throw l     

云南剑川新民铁矿地质及成因

新民铁矿位于北北西—南南东向雪龙山—桥后断裂（弥沙河断裂）东侧之云岭褶皱束三级构造单元中,赋矿层位为中三叠统上兰组下亚段泥质灰岩.地层、构造控矿,为沉积—后期改造型铁矿床.     

Bio-climatic imprints on a Holocene loess palaeosol from China

Micromorphology, heavy minerals, pollen and soil properties were examined in a typical Holocene loess profile in the north of the Loess Plateau, consisting of a palaeosol (locally known as the Ansai palaeosol) underlain by the Malan loess and overlain by modern loess. The palaeosol consists of an upper humus-rich (AB) horizon over a clay-rich (Bt) horizon. The humus-rich horizon is intensely weathered, contains precipitated calcitic material derived from the overlying modern loess, and has both high pollen content and diversity. Clay coatings in the clay-rich horizon indicate formation by eluviation–illuviation of clay. Pedogenetic characteristics and pollen analysis imply that the vegetation during the time of most intensive soil development is likely to have been a warm-temperate forest. A complex interpretation of the loess–palaeosol sequence recognizes several development stages. The phase of soil development, maximum and minimum limiting ages for which are ca. 8800 and 4400 ¹⁴C years BP, involved continuing but reduced loess deposition, and successive Holocene bio-climatic environment overprinted new features on the palaeosol.     

Comparison of interpretations of geochemical soil data by some multivariate statistical methods, Key Anacon, N.B., Canada

The nature of the information - and its usefulness - that can be obtained from some of the more common multivariate statistical techniques is illustrated by their application to H and B horizon soils analyzed for 16 variables from the vicinity of the Key Anacon massive sulphide deposit (New Brunswick, Canada) where the geochemical response is erratic and the contrasts low. The theoretical bases of the statistical techniques are given in an appendix.Stepwise linear discriminant functions are employed as a classifying technique on H horizon soils to identify a regional anomaly, and on B horizon soils to derive discriminant scores to define the location of the sulphide zone. R-mode nonlinear mapping (RNLM) indicates that the variables Hg, Cl⁻, and conductance are closely correlated with the organic carbon content; variations in the latter are clearly related to variations in the secondary environment.Q-mode NLM using Pb, Zn, Co, and Ni as variables (identified as good discriminators by stepwise linear discriminant function) identify “outlying” anomalous samples related to the mineralized zones. A principal component biplot (using the same variables employed in the Q-mode NLM) indicates essentially the same samples as being anomalous as the Q-mode NLM. The biplot technique has the added advantage of also indicating which variable(s) is responsible for any particular sample being identified as anomalous.The practical result of the investigation is that the zone of sulphide mineralization defined by drilling and from underground data is confidently identified and defined. A number of geophysical magnetic anomalies over the same stratigraphic horizon has a relatively weak or no geochemical response, although a few locations are defined as second priority targets for follow-up work.     

Thin-section analysis as a tool to aid identification of palaeoearthquakes on the “slow”, active Geleen Fault, Roer Valley Graben

We analyzed thin sections from two palaeoseismic trenches across the low-slip-rate Geleen Fault in the Belgian Maas River valley to help identifying the most recent large palaeoearthquake on this fault segment. In the first trench we sampled silty sediment below and above a prehistoric stone pavement that was supposedly at or near the surface at the time of the event, and subsequently thrown down. The samples below show a well-developed in situ argillic Bt soil horizon in parent sediment containing remnants of stratification, whereas the sediment above is a structureless colluvium reworked at least partly from Bt-horizon material. Below the stone pavement, we also found evidence of contorted stratification, which is in agreement with macroscopic observations of both the sediment and the stone pavement itself, and which is attributed to co-seismic soft-sediment deformation. In the second trench, we sampled a sequence of vaguely discernible soil horizons in the hanging-wall, interpreted as a buried soil profile (Bt, E, and possibly A horizons), overlain by a featureless deposit. Thin-section analysis supports the colluvial nature of the latter, and also provides evidence that both the base of this layer and the top of the poorly developed A horizon below have occupied a shallow position in a soil profile. A sample from the same depth in the footwall is composed of very different material. Instead of colluvium, we find patches of Bt soil, most likely representing the same pedogenic level as the in situ Bt horizon at larger depth in the hanging-wall, but displaced and subsequently degraded. Furthermore, thin sections confirm that vertical structures cutting this Bt horizon are sand dykes. These dykes could be traced macroscopically upward to the base of the colluvium. In both trenches, we have thus identified a stratigraphic boundary in the hanging-wall, close to the surface, separating an in situ soil below from colluvium above. We interpret this limit and the overlying colluvium as the event horizon and the colluvial wedge, respectively, of a surface-rupturing palaeoearthquake. In addition, in both cases we found evidence of soft-sediment deformation (related to liquefaction) contemporaneous with the event within the stratigraphic resolution.     

黄土高原南缘风尘堆积与现代土壤发育的关系研究

通过对陕西关中地区JYC剖面不同层微形态的观察和定量分析，发现原生不稳定矿物急剧减少、粗颗粒磨圆度、球度、定向性高和含较多侵入物是耕作层的典型特征；针状方解石微晶大量出现在犁底层，指示一种较短期的相对稳定的较干旱环境；相似性系数暗示古土壤S0以上部分具有风积物主要特征，其中0～40 cm是2000年以来人类不断施加黄土性质土粪、农业耕作和粉尘降落的综合产物，40～75 cm主要是自然风尘堆积的产物。     

The antiquity of aroid pit agriculture and significance of buried A horizons on Pacific atolls

The cultivation of aroids (herbaceous plants with starchy corms) is the foundation of Oceanic societies, yet the study of prehistoric atoll agriculture (utilizing Cyrtosperma chamissonis) has been almost totally neglected. Aroid pit agricultural features, some measuring up to 100 m long and 20 m wide, excavated in the Marshall Islands (center ca. 8°N latitude, 170°E longitude) provide the first chronometric dates (1910 ± 70 B.P., Beta-79576) for this type of cultivation practice associated with coral atolls found throughout the Pacific. Excavations through an aroid pit cultivation pit rim identified a stratigraphic sequence beginning with the sterile subsoil, an A horizon deeply buried under pit spoil dirt, and a prehistoric midden deposit beginning below the surface A horizon. Granulometric analysis of sediments and identification of foraminifers documented the nearshore lagoon as the source for all non-cultural sediments. Anthropophilic land snails (Gastrocopta pediculus and Lamellidea pusilla) in the dated, buried A horizon is a firm basis for confirming the presence of humans near initial colonization (ca. 2000 B.P.) and anchors the culture-historical sequence for the long-term study of human impacts to low coral islands. Consequently, on-going analyses of plant opal phytoliths, starch grains, and charcoal from the buried A horizon, should document the nature of early atoll ecology prior to significant human modification. As aroid pit construction is associated, in many examples, with traditional property boundaries, detailed mapping and dating of these cultivation systems should relate to changes in land tenure and prehistoric social organization. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.