Mass flow sedimentology within the HYC Zn–Pb–Ag deposit,Northern Territory,Australia: evidence for syn-sedimentary ore genesis

Laterally continuous mass-flow deposits are an important feature of the HYC stratiform sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag deposit, which reveal more about the HYC mineralising system than has been previously recognised. Mass flow deposits are interbedded with sheet-like mineralised lenses in a carbonaceous dolomitic siltstone host rock. Sedimentological processes of mass-flow deposit emplacement are proposed that constrain stratiform mineralisation to the top metre of the sediment pile, based on mass-flow geometry and detailed clast petrology. Four distinct sedimentary facies are identified within the mass-flow units: framework-supported polymictic boulder breccia; matrix-supported pebble breccia; and gravel-rich and sand-rich graded turbidite beds. The boulder breccias are weakly reverse graded and show rapid lateral transition into the other facies, all of which are distal manifestations of the same sedimentary events. The flow geometry and relationships between these facies are interpreted to reflect mass-flow initiation as clast-rich debris flows, with transformation via the elutriation of fines into a subsequent turbulent flow from which the turbidite and matrix-supported breccia facies were deposited. All the mass-flow facies contain clasts of the common and minor components of the in-situ laminated base-metal mineralised siltstone. Texturally these are identical to their in-situ counterparts, and are clearly distinct from other sulphidic clasts that are of unequivocal replacement origin. In the boulder breccias, intraclasts may be the dominant clast type and the matrix may contain abundant fine-grained sphalerite and pyrite. Dark coloured sphaleritic and pyritic breccia matrices are distinct from pale carbonate-siliclastic matrices, are associated with high abundance of sulphidic clasts, and systematically occupy the lower part of breccia units. Consequently, clasts that resemble in-situ ore facies are confirmed as genuine intraclasts that were incorporated into erosive mass flows prior to complete consolidation. Disaggregation and assimilation of sulphidic sediment in the flow contributed to the sulphide component of the dark breccia matrices. The presence of laminated sulphidic intraclasts in the mass-flow facies constrains mineralisation at HYC to the uppermost part of the seafloor sediment pile, where this material was susceptible to erosion by incoming clast-rich mass flows.Editorial handling: N. White     

Grain size variations in ignimbrites and implications for the transport of pyroclastic flows

Ignimbrite flow units commonly show reverse grading of large pumice clasts and normal grading of large lithic clasts. Ignimbrites show coarse-tail grading, in which particles beneath a critical diameter, ranging from 64 to 2 mm, are ungraded. Above this size the larger the clast diameter the more pronounced the segregation. The grading is consistent with the theoretical settling rates of particles in a dispersion with a high particle concentration. Ignimbrite flow units show a reversely graded, fine grained basal layer which is attributed to the action of boundary forces during flow. Ignimbrites are commonly associated with cross-stratified pyroclastic surge deposits and fine ash fall deposits formed in the same eruption. The fine ash fall deposit is depleted in crystals and is thought to be the deposit of the fine turbulent cloud observed making up the upper parts of nuées ardentes. Pyroclastic flows are postulated to be dense, poorly expanded partly fluidized debris flows. Only its fine grained components can be fluidized by gas. Pyroclastic flows are believed to behave as a dispersion of larger clasts in a medium of fluidized fines, which acts as a lubricant similar to water in mud-flows. Poor sorting in ignimbrites is attributed to high particle concentrations not turbulence. Many pyroclastic flows may be laminar in their movement with apparent viscosities, deduced from the lateral grading of large lithic clasts, in the range 10¹?10³ poise.     

陕西富平中-上奥陶统深水碳酸盐重力流沉积模式

陕西富平地区,在中-晚奥陶世位于华北地台南侧的弧后盆地的大陆边缘。其中完好地保存了一套以半远洋的泥晶灰岩夹重力流的角砾灰岩和砂屑灰岩为特征的深水沉积岩系。一般认为,与半远洋的石灰岩共生的碳酸盐重力流沉积的复杂岩相,是大陆坡的标志,而相应的陆源碎屑沉积,则被作为海底扇的产物。然而,富平地区的碳酸盐重力流沉积,却是在弧后盆地伸进浅水台地之间的深海前槽中,沿海槽轴向呈席状流搬运、沉积的。     

Stages of development in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep basin

In southern Poland, Miocene deposits have been recognised both in the Outer Carpathians and the Carpathian Foredeep (PCF). In the Outer Carpathians, the Early Miocene deposits represent the youngest part of the flysch sequence, while in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep they are developed on the basement platform. The inner foredeep (beneath the Carpathians) is composed of Early to Middle Miocene deposits, while the outer foredeep is filled up with the Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) strata, up to 3,000mthick. The Early Miocene strata are mainly terrestrial in origin, whereas the Badenian and Sarmatian strata are marine. The Carpathian Foredeep developed as a peripheral foreland basin related to the moving Carpathian front. The main episodes of intensive subsidence in the PCF correspond to the period of progressive emplacement of the Western Carpathians onto the foreland plate. The important driving force of tectonic subsidence was the emplacement of the nappe load related to subduction roll-back. During that time the loading effect of the thickening of the Carpathian accretionary wedge on the foreland plate increased and was followed by progressive acceleration of total subsidence. The mean rate of the Carpathian overthrusting, and north to north-east migration of the axes of depocentres reached 12 mm/yr at that time. During the Late Badenian-Sarmatian, the rate of advance of the Carpathian accretionary wedge was lower than that of pinch-out migration and, as a result, the basin widened. The Miocene convergence of the Carpathian wedge resulted in the migration of depocentres and onlap of successively younger deposits onto the foreland plate.     

贵州中三叠统上部垄头组的沉积性质——再论其钙结壳的成因

钙结壳是土壤层之下的岩石在出露地表渗流带环境内受大气雨水的溶解,并通过上覆土壤层的淋滤而成的产物。由于雨水的不断的溶解,使原始的岩石或沉积物发生破裂,从而形成各种大小的砾块或砾石。随着雨水不断的溶解,雨水逐渐增加 CaCO_3的含量。这些富含碳酸钙的雨水,当它流到位于潜水面之上的下渗流带时,就在土壤层之下、原来岩石之上沉积了特殊的、层纹状方解石胶结物。它们往往覆盖岩石表面或沿着砾石的外缘、呈包覆状沉积,从而形成典型的层纹状钙结壳。渗滤豆粒的外皮也属于层纹状钙结壳的性质,这些外皮有向下方加厚的趋势,这表明渗流带的含碳酸钙的雨水,受重力作用影响下,具有往下悬垂现象,类似于洞穴内的钟乳石。豆粒之间的相互衔接呈多边形构造,也表明它是受重力作用而形成的构造。     

Late Cretaceous to early Miocene deposits of the Carpathian foreland basin in southern Moravia

 The Late Cretaceous to Early Miocene strata of the Carpathian foreland basin in southern Moravia (Czech Republic) are represented by a variety of facies which reflects the evolution of the foreland depositional system. However, because of the intensive deformation and tectonic displacement and the lack of diagnostic fossils the stratigraphic correlation and paleogeographic interpretation of these strata are difficult and often controversial. In order to better correlate and to integrate them into a broader Alpine–Carpathian foreland depositional system, these discontinuous and fragmentary strata have been related to four major tectonic and depositional events: (a) formation of the Carpathian foreland basin in Late Cretaceous which followed the subduction of Tethys and subsequent deformation of the Inner Alps-Carpathians; (b) Middle to Late Eocene transgression over the European foreland and the Carpathian fold belt accompanied by deepening of the foreland basin and deposition of organic-rich Menilitic Formation; (c) Late Oligocene to Early Miocene (Egerian) uplifting and deformation of inner zones of the Carpathian flysch belt and deposition of Krosno-type flysch in the foreland basin; and (d) Early Miocene (Eggenburgian) marine transgression and formation of late orogenic and postorogenic molasse-type foreland basin in the foreland. These four principal events and corresponding depositional sequences are recognized throughout the region and can be used as a framework for regional correlation within the Alpine–Carpathian foreland basin. Received: 18 August 1998 / Accepted: 9 June 1999     

隐爆角砾岩——古地震的一种成因标志SCIEI北大核心CSCD

全球到处发育的隐爆角砾岩表明隐爆作用的普遍性,并标志着古地震的一种形成机制。隐爆角砾岩具有特殊的角砾形状和构造。地震地质资料表明大地震产生的地表破裂带没有肉眼可观测到的断层位移。材料聚集应变能估算值表明岩石聚集的应变能不足以产生大地震。携带高能量的地核-地幔流体不仅为自己逸散提供了能量,而且为产生地震提供了充足的能量。深部流体以运移-聚集-爆炸-运移-聚集-爆炸的循环方式向地表逃逸,在地球内部不同深度产生了不同震级的地震。因此,超高压流体隐爆应该是地震形成的主要机制。地震隐爆成因机制不仅能够更好地解释各种天然地震(中深源地震、震群、慢地震和非双力偶性地震等)以及全球地震、火山和地热带的空间吻合,而且能够解释隐爆角砾岩及其伴生矿的形成。     

Vented sediments and tsunami deposits in the Puget Lowland,Washington – differentiating sedimentary processes

The sandy deposits produced by tsunamis and liquefaction share many sedimentary features, and distinctions between the two are important in seismically active coastal zones. Both types of deposits are present in the wetlands bordering Puget Sound, where one or more earthquakes about 1100 years ago caused both tsunami flooding and sediment venting. This co‐occurrence allows an examination of the resulting deposits and a comparison with tsunami and liquefaction features of modern events. Vented sediments occur at four of five wetland field localities and tsunami deposits at two. In comparison with tsunami deposits, vented sediments in this study and from other studies tend to be thicker (although they can be thin). Vented sediments also have more variable thickness at both outcrop and map scale, are associated with injected dykes and contain clasts derived from underlying deposits. Further, vented sediments tend to contain a greater variety of sedimentary structures, and these structures vary laterally over metres. Tsunami deposits compared with vented sediments are commonly thinner, fine and thin landward more consistently, have more uniform thickness on outcrop and map scales, and have the potential of containing coarser clasts, up to boulders. For both tsunami deposits and vented sediments, the availability and grain size of source material condition the characteristics of the deposit. In the cases presented in this paper, both foraminifera and diatom assemblages within tsunami deposits and vented sediments consisted of brackish and marine species, and no distinction between processes could be made based on microfossils. In summary, this study indicates a need for more careful analysis and mapping of coastal sediments associated with earthquakes to avoid misidentification of processes and misevaluation of hazards.     

地震成因综述

本文从地质、地球物理、地球化学和能量等方面分析了地震的成因。源于地核地幔的流体携带大量热能,为岩浆起源、地震形成和地热田提供了充足的能量,然而岩石聚集的应变能不足以产生中等以上的地震。大地震(M≥6.0)绝大部分分布在海沟、火山岛弧和大陆裂谷带等拉张性构造带,如环太平洋海沟、东印度洋海沟、大洋中脊、非洲裂谷、地中海-黑海-里海-波斯湾、欧亚大陆中部的伊塞克湖-阿拉湖-乌布苏湖-库苏古尔湖-贝加尔湖裂谷。流体在地球深部物质运动、地壳运动、地震和火山活动中扮演着重要作用。全球到处发育的隐爆角砾岩表明隐爆作用的普遍性。深部流体向上运移、向地表逃逸的过程中发生爆炸,在地球内部产生了不同震级和震源深度的地震。因此,隐爆应该是产生地震的主要机制。地震成因的隐爆模型不仅能够更好地解释不连续、各向异性的非弹性介质中发生的各类地震,譬如中深源震、震群、慢地震和非双力偶性地震等,而且能够更好地诠释全球地震、火山和地热带在空间上的吻合以及隐爆角砾岩型矿藏的形成。     

'Linked' debrites in sand-rich turbidite systems – origin and significance

Abstract The outer parts of a number of small Late Jurassic sandy deep‐water fans in the northern North Sea are dominated by the stacked deposits of co‐genetic sandy and muddy gravity flows. Sharp‐based, structureless and dewatered sandstone beds are directly overlain by mudclast breccias that are often rich in terrestrial plant fragments and capped by thin laminated sandstones, pseudonodular siltstones and mudstones. The contacts between the clast‐rich breccias and the underlying sandstones are typically highly irregular with evidence for liquefaction and upward sand injection. The breccias contain fragments (up to metre scale) of exotic lithologies surrounded by a matrix that is extremely heterogeneous and strewn with multiphase and variably sheared sand injections and scattered coarse and very coarse sand grains (often coarser than in the immediately underlying sand bed). Markov chain analysis establishes that the breccias consistently overlie sandstones, and the character of the breccias and their external contacts rule out a post‐depositional origin via in situ liquefaction, intrastratal flowage or bed amalgamation and disruption. The breccias are interpreted as debrites that rode on a water‐rich sand bed just deposited by a co‐genetic concentrated gravity current. As such, they are referred to as ‘linked debrites’ to distinguish them from debrites emplaced in the absence of a precursor sand bed. The distinction is important, because these linked debris flows can achieve significant mobility through entrainment of both water and sediment from beneath, and they ride on a low‐friction carpet of liquefied sand. This explains the paradox presented by fan fringes in which there are common debrites, when conventional thinking might predict that deposits of low‐concentration gravity currents should be more important here. In fact, evidence for transport by low‐concentration turbidity currents is rare in these systems. Several possible mechanisms might explain the formation of linked flows, but the ultimate source of both sandy and clast‐rich flow components must be in shallower water on the basin margin (the debrites are not triggered from distal slopes). Flow partitioning may have occurred by upslope erosion and retardation of the mudclast‐charged portion of an erosional sandy density current, partial flow transformation of a precursor debris flow and/or hydraulic segregation and reconcentration of the flaky clasts and carbonaceous matter during transport. Linked debrites are not restricted to small sand‐rich fans, and similar mechanisms may be responsible for the long runout of debris flows in other systems. The recognition of a distinct class of linked debrites is of wider importance for facies prediction, reservoir heterogeneity and even carbon fluxes and sequestration on continental margins.     

A non-glacial origin for the ordovician (middle caradocian) cosquer formation,veryarc'h,crozon peninsula,brittany, France

The presence of a dispersed clast fraction in strata near the base of the Cosquer Formation in west Brittany, does not support a glacial origin for this unit. The upper 25 to 30 m of the underlying Kermeur Formation consists of a prograding sequence of very fine to fine sandstones deposited in a mid to distal current swept shelf setting. This sequence shows signs of slope instability, as do the supposed ‘glacial strata’ which overlie it. The upper two thirds of the Cosquer Formation contain spectacular slump-breccias. Smaller clasts within the laminated mudrocks at the base of the formation are associated with thin graded and non-graded sandstone laminae. They show no evidence of active penetration into underlying laminae other than can be explained by compaction. Larger clasts are confined to thicker massive beds, or disrupted units with marked internal contorted lamination. This, along with the abundance of slump features within the sequence suggests lateral emplacement by sediment gravity flows in a distal shelf-slope setting. Surface textures of sand grains within the formation are related to rock disaggregation along fractures developed during post-depositional deformation and are not related to glacial processes. Distinctive mineralogically immature, poorly-sorted aggregate sediment pellets, which have been considered as positive proof of glaciation, are not present.     

Deep-water resedimentation of anhydrite and gypsum deposits in the Middle Miocene (Belayim Formation) of the Red Sea, Egypt

The Middle Miocene evaporites in the Red Sea rift were deposited within a complex system of fault-bounded basins that were episodically active during sedimentation. Such a tectonic framework is known to be highly favourable to resedimentation processes. An offshore petroleum well in the north-western Red Sea has cored, below a massive salt unit, an anhydrite-bearing succession which provides an excellent opportunity to study the processes of gravity induced redeposition of Ca-sulphates in a deep basin. Anhydrite deposits, interbedded with siliciclastic layers and thin halite layers, are composed of resedimented facies ranging from fine-grained laminated sediments to coarse-grained breccias. The components derive from the reworking of shelf sediments deposited initially in shallow water to supratidal settings on the surface and edges of structural highs bordering depressions: proximal siliciclastic deposits with interstitial anhydrite (cement patches, nodules) or gypsum and dolostones with early diagenetic anhydrite facies (nodular, chicken-wire) formed in sabkha conditions, interstitially grown gypsum crystals and subaqueous gypsum crusts precipitated in hypersaline ponds, and diatom-rich oozes formed in marine, shallow-water conditions. The homogeneity of the stable isotope composition and petrography of sulphates argue for the initial crystallization of Ca-sulphates within brines of the same origin and in closely interconnected sedimentary settings. The unconsolidated sediments redeposited as slope-foot accumulations were carried both as anhydrite (nodules, soft masses, various fragments, individual grains or crystals released by disintegration of large masses) and gypsum (crystalline aggregates or single crystals) later converted to anhydrite during burial. Layers of chaotic breccia are interpreted as the result of seismic events, whereas the fine-grained deposits could be related to redistribution by nepheloid layers of suspensions of finer grains released by disintegration of the soft anhydrite masses during downslope transport, or of in situ deposits removed by the turbiditic flows.     

Genesis of the Giant Late Miocene to Pliocene Copper Deposits of Central Chile in the Context of Andean Magmatic and Tectonic Evolution

Multiple large mineralized breccia pipes (Cu grades up to >10%; individual pipes with >10 × 10⁶ metric tons of Cu) are prominent, if not dominant, features in the three giant Andean Cu deposits of Los Pelambres, Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, and El Teniente of central Chile. At Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, over 90% of the >50^x 10⁶ metric tons of hypogene Cu occurs within the matrix of breccias and/or clasts and wall rock altered in association with the formation of these breccias, while at the other two deposits a lesser but still significant amount of Cu ore also is directly related to breccias. At both Los Pelambres and Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, high-grade (>0.5%) Cu occurs in zones of potassic alteration characterized by stockwork biotite veining and intense biotitization associated spatially, temporally, and genetically with biotite breccias. At Los Bronces-Rio Blanco, high-grade ore also occurs in younger tourmaline breccia pipes, emplaced both within and around the older central biotite breccia complex and potassic alteration zone after a period of uplift and erosion. Potassic alteration, sericitization, silicification, and mineralization of clasts in these tourmaline breccias occurred during their formation. At El Teniente, a significant amount of high-grade Cu ore also occurs in different tourmaline-rich breccias, including the marginal portion of the Braden breccia pipe and a related zone of quartz-sericite alteration that surrounds this pipe. Small, shallow, weakly mineralized or barren silicic porphyry intrusions occur in each of these three deposits, but their main role has been to redistribute rather than emplace mineralization.

The mineralized breccia pipes in each deposit were emplaced into early and middle Miocene volcanic and plutonic rocks during the late Miocene and Pliocene by the expansion of boiling aqueous fluids. Fluid-inclusion and stable-isotope data indicate that the high-temperature, saline, metalrich fluids that produced the brecciation, precipitated the Cu ore in the matrix of the breccias, and generated the associated alteration and mineralization in clasts and wall rock were magmatic in origin. These magmatic fluids were not derived from the early and middle Miocene host plutons, which already were solidified at the time of breccia emplacement. Sr- and Nd-isotopic compositions of breccia-matrix minerals indicate that breccia-forming fluids were exsolved from magmas that were isotopically transitional between older volcanic and plutonic host rocks and younger silicic porphyry stocks, dikes, and extrusives. The fact that the roots of the breccias have not yet been encountered implies that these magmas cooled at depths >3 km to form plutons not yet exposed at the surface.

The generation of the multiple mineralized breccias at each deposit occurred over a relatively short (but still significant) time period of 1 to 3 million years, during the final stages of existence of the long-lived (7gt;15 m.y.) Miocene magmatic belt in central Chile. The decline of magmatic activity in this belt was tectonically triggered, as subduction angle decreased in association with the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge. This caused a decrease in the sub-arc magma supply and subsequently eastward migration of the magmatic arc, as well as crustal thickening, uplift, and erosion, which led to the superposition of younger and shallower alteration and mineralization events on older and deeper events in each deposit.

The giant Cu deposits of central Chile cannot be explained by a static model in which their size is a function of the mass of a single pluton or the longevity of a single hydrothermal convection system. These deposits are giant because they were produced by multistage processes involving the formation, over a period of 1 to 3 million years, of multiple superimposed mineralized breccias and associated alteration zones resulting from the exsolution of metalrich magmatic fluids from independent magma batches cooling at depths >3 km. Neither an unusually large magma supply nor Andean magmas of unusually high Cu content is required to produce the sequence of multiple mineralization     

Mid-Cretaceous basin margin carbonates, east-central Mexico

Isolated, high relief carbonate platforms developed in the intracratonic basin of east-central Mexico during Albian-Cenomanian time. Relief on the platforms was of the order of 1000 m and slopes were as steep as 20–43°. Basin-margin debris aprons adjacent to the platforms comprise the Tamabra Formation. In the Sierra Madre Oriental, at the eastern margin of the Valles-San Luis Potosi Platform, an exceptionally thick (1380m) progradational basin to platform sequence of the Tamabra Formation can be divided into six lithological units. Basinal carbonate deposition that preceded deposition of the Tamabra Formation was emphatically punctuated by an allochthonous reef block 1 km long by 0·5 km wide with a stratigraphic thickness of 95 m. It is encased in Tamabra Formation unit A, approximately 360 m of peloidal-skeletal wackestone and lithoclastic-skeletal packstone that includes some graded beds. Unit B is 73 m of massive dolomite with sparse skeletal fragments and intraclasts. Unit C, 114m thick, consists of structureless skeletal wackestone passing upward into graded skeletal packstone. Interlaminated lime mudstone and fine grained bioclastic packstone with prominent horizontal burrows are interspersed near the top. Unit D is 126 m of breccia with finely interbedded skeletal grainstone and burrowed or laminated mudstone. The breccias contain a spectrum of platform-derived lithoclasts and basinal intraclasts, up to 10 m in size. The breccias are typically grain supported (rudstone) with a matrix of lightly to completely dolomitized mudstone or skeletal debris. Beds are up to several metres thick. Unit E is 206 m of massive, sucrosic dolomite that replaced breccias. Unit F is approximately 500 m of thick bedded to massive skeletal packstone with abundant rudists and a few mudstone intraclasts. Metre scale laminated lime mudstone beds are interspersed. The section is capped by El Abra Formation platform margin limestone, consisting of massive beds of caprinid packstone and grainstone with many whole valves. Depositional processes within this sequence shift from basinal pelagic or peri-platform sedimentation to distal, platform-derived, muddy turbidity currents with a large slump block (Unit A); through more proximal (coarser and cleaner) turbidity currents (Unit B?, C); to debris flows incorporating platform margin and slope debris (Units D, E). Finally, a talus of coarse, reef-derived bioclasts (Unit F) accumulated as the platform margin prograded over the slope sequence. Interspersed basinal deposits evolved gradually from largely pelagic to include influxes of dilute turbidity currents. Units containing turbidites with platform-derived bioclasts reflect flooding of the adjacent platform. Breccia blocks and lithoclasts were probably generated by erosion and collapse of the platform during lowstands. Laminated, black, pelagic carbonates, locally cherty, are interbedded with both breccias and turbidites. At least those interbedded with turbidites may have been deposited within an expanded mid-water oxygen minimum zone during relative highstands of sea level. They are in part coeval with mid-Cretaceous black shales of the Atlantic Ocean.     

The relationship between carbonate facies, volcanic rocks and plant remains in a late Palaeozoic lacustrine system (San Ignacio Fm, Frontal Cordillera, San Juan province, Argentina)

The San Ignacio Fm, a late Palaeozoic foreland basin succession that crops out in the Frontal Cordillera (Argentinean Andes), contains lacustrine microbial carbonates and volcanic rocks. Modification by extensive pedogenic processes contributed to the massive aspect of the calcareous beds. Most of the volcanic deposits in the San Ignacio Fm consist of pyroclastic rocks and resedimented volcaniclastic deposits. Less frequent lava flows produced during effusive eruptions led to the generation of tabular layers of fine-grained, greenish or grey andesites, trachytes and dacites. Pyroclastic flow deposits correspond mainly to welded ignimbrites made up of former glassy pyroclasts devitrified to microcrystalline groundmass, scarce crystals of euhedral plagioclase, quartz and K-feldspar, opaque minerals, aggregates of fine-grained phyllosilicates and fiammes defining a bedding-parallel foliation generated by welding or diagenetic compaction. Widespread silicified and silica-permineralized plant remains and carbonate mud clasts are found, usually embedded within the ignimbrites. The carbonate sequences are underlain and overlain by volcanic rocks. The carbonate sequence bottoms are mostly gradational, while their tops are usually sharp. The lower part of the carbonate sequences is made up of mud which appear progressively, filling interstices in the top of the underlying volcanic rocks. They gradually become more abundant until they form the whole of the rock fabric. Carbonate on volcanic sandstones and pyroclastic deposits occur, with the nucleation of micritic carbonate and associated production of pyrite. Cyanobacteria, which formed the locus of mineral precipitation, were related with this nucleation. The growth of some of the algal mounds was halted by the progressive accumulation of volcanic ash particles, but in most cases the upper boundary is sharp and suddenly truncated by pyroclastic flows or volcanic avalanches. These pyroclastic flows partially destroyed the carbonate beds and palaeosols. Microbial carbonate clasts, silicified and silica-permineralized tree trunks, log stumps and other plant remains such as small branches and small roots inside pieces of wood (interpreted as fragments of nurse logs) are commonly found embedded within the ignimbrites. The study of the carbonate and volcanic rocks of the San Ignacio Fm allows the authors to propose a facies model that increases our understanding of lacustrine environments that developed in volcanic settings.     

蓟县雾迷山组碳酸盐岩原地型风暴沉积特征及成因探讨

蓟县地区雾迷山组碳酸盐岩地层中发育原地型风暴沉积,它具有A、B、C和D四个沉积单元,即下部单元A为丘状角砾岩,中部单元B为波纹状层理,上部单元C为水平层理,顶部单元D为厚层一块层状层理,运用现代气象学和海洋水文学的研究成果,文章对该区原地型风暴沉积的成因作了初步探讨,认为在风暴作用下,形成海水高速涡漩,受风暴控制的碳酸盐台地或浅海沉积盆地底部沉积物被剪切、打碎而形成角砾,风暴衰减后,几乎在原地沉积下来,形成了具有独特韵律的沉积构造。     

川滇黔交界地区铅锌矿床含矿角砾岩特征及其构造意义

川滇黔交界地区的铅锌矿床中普遍发育含矿角砾岩。文章综述了角砾岩的成因分类,在重点矿床野外地质调查的基础之上,对川滇黔交界地区的铅锌矿床含矿角砾岩进行了详细研究。结果表明:大部分含矿角砾岩显示张性角砾岩的特点,仅个别矿床同时出现挤压角砾岩。综合区域地质构造演化特征和典型铅锌矿床的同位素测年数据,可大致推断出,从中二叠世茅口期以来该铅锌成矿区伸展构造至少有2期:一期发生在铅锌矿化之前或同时,即早二叠世/晚二叠世的升降运动(东吴运动)与晚二叠世峨眉山玄武岩喷发期间,此次伸展作用形成的角砾岩为成矿流体提供了大量的容矿空间,并最终导致成矿流体沿断裂运移并充填沉淀而形成角砾状或网脉状-脉状构造的矿石;另一期发生在铅锌矿化之后,即白垩纪—古近纪,发育一系列正断层,并有可能破坏了铅锌矿体的连续性。     

3-D upper crustal tomographic structure across the Vrancea seismic zone, Romania

The VRANCEA99 and VRANCEA2001 seismic refraction experiments are part of a multidisciplinary project to study the Eastern Carpathians in Romania. The objectives of these studies are intended to disclose a more detailed picture of the crustal and upper mantle structures above the seismically active Vrancea region. In this paper we provide additional constraints for the upper crustal structures of the area. The 1999 campaign consisted of a 320-km-long N–S profile and a 70-km-long E–W profile. The intersecting 2001 profile extended in E–W direction from the Hungarian border to the Black Sea. In order to enhance the model resolution, first arrival data from local crustal earthquakes were also included.This configuration allowed for the first time to derive a 3-D velocity model for the upper crust of the Romanian Carpathian Orogen, within a 115×235 km wide region, centred over the Vrancea seismic zone. The 3-D model reveals lateral velocity variations, which were not visible on the in-line interpretations. It allows us to distinguish between foreland platform areas, foreland basins and the Carpathian Orogen. Clear velocity differences between the foreland basins south and southeast of the Eastern Carpathians and the Focsani Basin further north indicate different pre-Miocene sedimentary compositions and geological evolutions of these foreland platforms. The involved Moesian and Scythian platforms are separated by the Trotus Fault system, which is observed as a velocity discontinuity. An upper crustal high-velocity zone, above the northern Vrancea seismic zone, could also be identified. This high-velocity zone is explained by a Middle Pliocene to Pleistocene E–W oriented out-of-sequence thrust of the crystalline basement, below the decollement of the flysch nappes.     

论与斑岩矿床有关的矿化角砾岩成因类型及其地质意义

伴随有各类矿化角砾岩的斑岩矿床是深成源岩在浅成-超浅成条件下侵位-矿化的产物。本文详细阐述了与斑岩矿床有关的各类矿化角砾岩的地质特征、成因分类和识别标志,并从中国独特的构造环境出发,对与矿化角砾岩有关的各种地质现象作了初步剖析,指出矿化角砾岩的形成从根本上讲是深成岩浆侵位的多旋回性造成的,以岩浆水为主体的热流体是含矿斑岩体系从封闭环境转为开放环境的主要动力条件。因此,矿化角砾岩不仅是金属元素的原始富集条件,而且是重要的找矿标志之一。我国与斑岩矿床有关的矿化角砾岩的主要成因类型为爆破角砾岩、侵入角砾岩、火山角砾岩等。多种角砾岩的叠加现象十分明显,热液交代角砾岩的叠加作用为矿化过程的指示标志.     

Lower Miocene gypsum palaeokarst in the Madrid Basin (central Spain): dissolution diagenesis, morphological relics and karst end-products

Abstract The Miocene sedimentary record of the Madrid Basin displays several examples of palaeokarstic surfaces sculpted within evaporite formations. One of these palaeokarstic surfaces represents the boundary between two main lithostratigraphic units, the Miocene Lower and Intermediate units of the Madrid Basin. The palaeokarst formed in lacustrine gypsum deposits of Aragonian age and corresponds to a surface palaeokarst (epikarst), further buried by terrigenous deposits of the overlying unit. Karst features are recognized up to 5·5 m beneath the gypsum surface. Exokarst and endokarst zones are distinguished by the spatial distribution of solution features, i.e. karren, dolines, pits, conduits and caves, and collapse breccias, sedimentary fills and alteration of the original gypsum across the karst profiles. The development of the gypsum palaeokarst began after drying out of a saline lake basin, as supported by recognition of root tubes, later converted to cylindrical and funnel‐shaped pits, at the top of the karstic profiles. The existence of a shallow water table along with low hydraulic gradients was the main factor controlling the karst evolution, and explains the limited depth reached by both exokarst and endokarst features. Synsedimentary fill of the karst system by roughly laminated to massive clay mudstone with subordinate carbonate and clastic gypsum reflects a punctuated sedimentation regime probably related to episodic heavy rainfalls typical of arid to semi‐arid climates. Duration of karstification is of the order of several thousands of years, which is consistent with previous statements that gypsum karstification can develop rapidly over geologically short time periods.