Tectonically significant pebble types: Sheared,pocked and second-cycle examples

A history of repeated faulting, within an area, can be obtained from unconformity analysis or sediment-vector sequences (not treated in the present paper) or from studies of gravel tongues. The latter may include sheared pebbles, pocked pebbles, half-rounds, and second-cycle (or multi-cycle) pebbles. Sheared pebbles (and larger fragments) were cut by faulting after deposition, hence represent two episodes of deformation. Pocked pebbles (scarred pebbles) were ground against each other, after deposition, by a second episode. Sheared and pocked pebbles typically develop where sand matrix is not abundant; single pebbles “floating” in sandstone rarely show these features. Quartz sand schist is a fine-grained equivalent of the sheared-pebble gravel or conglomerate. Half-rounds represent transportation of sheared pebbles, after shearing; where half-rounds have been sheared, at least three episodes of deformation are indicated.A second-cycle conglomerate is one in which individual pebbles (or larger pieces) are themselves conglomerates. They likewise indicate at least two episodes of deformation.In some areas, details of displacement can be obtained best from unconformity analysis; in other areas, the special pebble types listed here may provide such details. In a few places, both types of information may be available, thus giving a fuller picture than could be obtained in other ways.The best example of a thick stratigraphic sequence containing these special pebble types (representing repeated deformation), described in the present paper, is located near Bucaramanga, Colombia. A second example from northern New Mexico is described less fully. Brief references to other occurrences, in Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma and Alabama, are made. It is concluded that, although these pebble types may not be abundant at any one locality, they nevertheless occur at many places, and therefore can provide important information about deformational history.     

仿和田玉籽料的方法及鉴定

和田玉籽料以其洁白温润博得了越来越多人的喜爱,加之其有限的资源和丰厚的利润,市场上出现的和田玉籽料仿制品也越来越多。介绍了和田玉的分类及外部特征,分析了仿和田玉籽料的两种常用方法——滚料磨圆和染色处理做假皮,从其外形、颜色、硬度、密度和光泽等特征及仪器测试方面,讨论研究了和田玉籽料与其仿制品之间的差异,以达到鉴定和田玉籽料真伪的目的。     

川藏寒区道路边坡涎流冰防治措施试验研究

涎流冰是川藏寒区道路工程常见病害,严重威胁道路建设及运营安全。防止地下水出露地表或者地下水位过高可减缓或消除涎流冰病害。野外调查和卫图判识表明川藏寒区涎流冰以溢流型为主。通过室内物理模拟试验研究采用含砾粗砂或卵石换填疏导地下水以及铺设防水土工布隔水对涎流冰的防治效果。试验表明：当冻结深度大于地下水位埋深时会逐渐形成涎流冰;采用含砾粗砂或卵石作为换填渗流层,加快地下水排泄,可有效减少孔隙水压力,相对于未处治边坡,涎流冰体积分别减少85.4%和93.9%,孔隙水压力分别减少46.2%和58.1%;采用防水土工布阻隔地下水,涎流冰面积减少97.5%,但孔隙压力会增加。考虑到川藏交通廊道区卵（碎）石材料充足,推荐采用渗透性良好的卵（碎）石作为换填层,加强地下水疏导,并在换填层上铺设防水土工布隔水。研究成果可为川藏地区交通道路涎流冰防治提供参考。     

Umbrella structure and channel-wall stoping in the Cambrian St. Roch Formation,Quebec Appalachians: significance for particle support mechanisms and turbulence development in hyper-concentrated sediment gravity flows

Umbrella structure is a newly recognized sedimentary structure associated with large platy clasts in resedimented boulder-bearing pebble conglomerate with a sandy matrix. It consists of a sand rim that lacks pebbles on parts or the entire underside of platy boulders, whereas on the upper side, pebbles are in direct contact with the boulders. The depositing processes were high- to hyper-concentrated sediment gravity flows in a submarine channel or canyon on the Cambrian continental slope of North America bordering the Iapetus Ocean. The structure occurs predominantly where clasts dip moderately in the down-current direction. Based on the association of the structure with slightly forward dipping slabs, it is proposed that these down-current dipping slabs may have been in the process of counter-clockwise rotation that was aborted and may have generated a pressure shadow on the underside enabling the inrush of fluid and the infiltration of sand into the anomalous low-pressure zone. The structure has implications for particle support mechanisms in high- to hyper-concentrated sedimentary gravity flows, in that it redirects attention to the much debated mechanism of dispersive pressure and alternatives. It provides an observable sediment structure that supports dispersive pressure which so far depended on experimental evidence and theoretical arguments alone. Vrolijk and Southard’s (1997) concept of a ‘laminar sheared layer’ is here for the first time interpreted as having an upward-moving ‘free-surface’ layer effect during deposition from hyper-concentrated flows. Channel-wall stoping involves unlithified turbiditic spillover sand in the levee sediment of the canyon wall that was washed out by the upper diluted parts of the high-concentration flows coming down the channel and leaving a niche in the wall that was filled with coarser channel-axis facies by the same flow (or later flows) when its aggradation reached the level of the niche. The contact between turbidite and pebble conglomerate occurs now more than 2 m laterally into the exposed channel wall. Channel-wall stoping tracks turbulence development in hyper-concentrated gravity flows.     

和田玉仔料与仿和田玉仔料的肉眼鉴识

收集十几块和田玉仔料和数十块仿和田玉仔料样品,进行肉眼与镜下观察。简要总结和田玉仔料与仿和田玉仔料以及染色和田玉仔料的肉眼鉴别要领。     

Wavy lamination in a mixed sand and gravel foreshore facies of the Pleistocene Hosoya Sandstone, Aichi, central Japan

Although sandy foreshore facies are generally characterized by parallel lamination, wavy lamination is predominant in the mixed sand and gravel foreshore facies of the Pleistocene Hosoya Sandstone, which crops out along the Pacific coast of the Atsumi Peninsula, Aichi, central Japan. The foreshore facies consists of three sedimentary subfacies; interbeds of gravel and parallel laminated sand of the lower foreshore facies, parallel laminated fine to medium sand beds containing scattered pebbles and cobbles of the middle foreshore facies, and wavy laminated fine to medium sand beds containing scattered pebbles and cobbles of the upper foreshore facies. A lack of erosional surfaces in the middle foreshore facies indicates the continuous accumulation of sand in flat beds under upper plane bed flow. The wavy laminated sands of the upper foreshore facies exhibit erosional surfaces indicative of repeated deposition and erosion. The erosional surfaces are undulatory, with depressions (10 cm wide and 3 cm deep) that contain scattered pebbles and cobbles. These depressions reflect backwash erosion of sand around and below the pebbles and cobbles. Sand draping over the undulating erosional surfaces forms the wavy lamination. The wavy laminated sand with scattered pebbles and cobbles is a key facies of an upper foreshore or swash zone, and is a good sea-level marker.     

芦山—天全地区大溪砾岩岩石学特征及物源区分析

大溪砾岩为一套厚层碳酸盐质砾岩,具有砾石含量高,砾石分选、磨圆较好的特点。据砾石统计、薄片分析、古生物鉴定、古流分析及重矿物组合表明,大溪砾岩中砾石主要来自龙门山区的泥盆系—三叠系,填隙物中的石英碎屑可能主要来自杂岩体。大溪砾岩的砾石成分有向上趋于复杂的特点。     

云南晋宁梅树村下寒武统砾屑磷块岩的扫描电镜研究

通过扫描电镜观察.发现云南梅树村中谊村段砾屑磷块岩中的磷质砾屑主要由磷质鲕球、磷质微球和磷质雏晶堆积体组成.磷质微晶是磷酸盐的基本晶体.磷质雏晶是在扫描电镜下所能观察到的最小的磷酸盐颗粒,但它们晶形不完全.砾屑磷块岩的形成过程可以分为三个阶段:磷质鲕球、微晶和雏晶形成阶段,磷质砾屑形成阶段,和砾屑磷块岩形成阶段.磷质砾屑的形成环境为浅水近岸,水动力条件不稳定,沉积速率和通量不高.     

Field experiments of aeolian dust accumulation on rock fragment substrata

The effect of rock fragments and rock fragment cover on the accumulation of airborne dust was examined in a long-term field experiment in the Negev desert of Israel. Four parameters were studied: pebble eccentricity, pebble size, pebble flattening and cover density. The effect of these parameters on the accumulation of dust on the pebbles, on the accumulation of dust between and underneath the pebbles, and on total dust accumulation (pebbles+interpebble space) was measured separately. Accumulation on the pebbles increased as the pebbles became larger, less flattened and more elongated, and as cover density increased. Accumulation between and underneath the pebbles increased as the pebbles became smaller, more flattened and more elongated, and as cover density increased (although the accumulation area available became smaller). Total dust accumulation increased as the pebbles became smaller, more flattened and more elongated, and as cover density increased. Rock fragments act as a dust trap as dust accumulation on pebble-covered surfaces is several tens of times larger than dust accumulation on similar but pebble-free surfaces. However, less than 20% of the initially settled dust is protected from further erosion. In the Negev desert, dust erosion by wind is of the order of 10 times larger than dust erosion by water. The rate of long-term dust accumulation in the Negev is of the order of 15–30 g.m^?2.yr^?1. This is considerably lower than the rates proposed elsewhere in the literature, which are based upon over optimistic dust retainment percentages.     

Incipient vertical traction carpets within collapsed sinkhole fills

Small vertically oriented traction carpets are reported from the collapsed sandy fills of 100 m deep Devonian limestone sinkholes underlying the Lower Cretaceous Athabasca oil sands deposit in north‐eastern Alberta, Western Canada. Dissolution of 100 m of underlying halite salt beds caused cataclysmic collapse of the sinkhole floors and water saturated sinkhole sand fills to descend very rapidly. Turbulent currents flushed upper sinkhole fills of friable sandstone blocks and disaggregated sand and quartz pebble for tens of metres. Laminar deposits with inverse grading accumulated as many as six to eight curvilinear entrained pebble streaks, 10 to 30 cm long, vertically impinged against the sides of descending collapse blocks. These deposits were initiated as vertically oriented early stage traction carpets that interlocked fine sand grains and inversely graded overlying pebbles entrained below the dilute overlying turbulent flows. Vortexes that flushed these sinkhole fills and induced these depositional processes may have lasted only seconds before the very rapid descents abruptly halted. Some of the fabrics were suspended vertically in‐place and preserved from unlocking and obliteration. These small fabrics provide insight into the instability and ephemeral character of the transition from strong gravity‐driven grain falls to very early stages of traction carpet formation. These short‐lived deposits of very thin sand layers resulted from sufficient incipient frictional freezing that grain interlocking overcame, however briefly, the strong gravity drives of the vertical falls that would have otherwise dispersed grains and obliterated any organized fabric patterns. Tenuous frictionally locked grains were also suspended at the centres of hyperbolic grain fall flows that briefly developed between turbulent flow eddies, some of which were fortuitously preserved. Some of these suspended grain locking zones passed downward onto the relatively more stable surfaces of the rapidly descending block surfaces. The morphogenesis of these early stage traction carpets differ from more fully developed deposits elsewhere because of their short‐lived transport, dynamic instability and vertical orientation.     

The action of wind and water in a mid‐Cretaceous subtropical erg‐margin system close to the Variscan Iberian Massif,Spain

Aeolian processes and ephemeral water influx from the Variscan Iberian Massif to the mid‐Cretaceous outer back‐erg margin system in eastern Iberia led to deposition and erosion of aeolian dunes and the formation of desert pavements. Remains of aeolian dunes encased in ephemeral fluvial deposits (aeolian pods) demonstrate intense erosion of windblown deposits by sudden water fluxes. The alternating activity of wind and water led to a variety of facies associations such as deflation lags, desert pavements, aeolian dunes, pebbles scattered throughout dune strata, aeolian sandsheets, aeolian deposits with bimodal grain‐size distributions, mud playa, ephemeral floodplain, pebble‐sand and cobble‐sand bedload stream, pebble–cobble‐sand sheet flood, sand bedload stream, debris flow and hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Sediment in this desert system underwent transport by wind and water and reworking in a variety of sub‐environments. The nearby Variscan Iberian Massif supplied quartzite pebbles as part of mass flows. Pebbles and cobbles were concentrated in deflation lags, eroded and polished by wind‐driven sands (facets and ventifacts) and incorporated by rolling into the toesets of aeolian dunes. The back‐erg depositional system comprises an outer back‐erg close to the Variscan highlands, and an inner back‐erg close to the central‐erg area. The inner back‐erg developed on a structural high and is characterized by mud playa deposits interbedded with aeolian and ephemeral channel deposits. In the inner back‐erg area ephemeral wadis, desiccated after occasional floods, were mud cracked and overrun episodically by aeolian dunes. Subsequent floods eroded the aeolian dunes and mud‐cracked surfaces, resulting in largely structureless sandstones with boulder‐size mudstone intraclasts. Floods spread over the margins of ephemeral channels and eroded surrounding aeolian dunes. The remaining dunes were colonized occasionally by plants and their roots penetrated into the flooded aeolian sands. Upon desiccation, deflation resulted in lags of coarser‐grained sediments. A renewed windblown supply led to aeolian sandsheet accumulation in topographic wadi depressions. Synsedimentary tectonics caused the outer back‐erg system to experience enhanced generation of accommodation space allowing the accumulation of aeolian dune sands. Ephemeral water flow to the outer back‐erg area supplied pebbles, eroded aeolian dunes, and produced hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Fluidization and liquefaction generated gravel pockets and recumbent folds. Dune damming after sporadic rains (the case of the Namib Desert), monsoonal water discharge (Thar Desert) and meltwater fluxes from glaciated mountains (Taklamakan Desert) are three potential, non‐exclusive analogues for the ephemeral water influx and the generation of hyperconcentrated flows in the Cretaceous desert margin system. An increase in relief driven by the Aptian anti‐clockwise rotation of Iberia, led to an altitude sufficient for the development of orographic rains and snowfall which fed (melt)water fluxes to the desert margin system. Quartzite conglomerates and sands, dominantly consisting of quartz and well‐preserved feldspar grains which are also observed in older Cretaceous strata, indicate an arid climate and the mechanical weathering of Precambrian and Palaeozoic metamorphic sediments and felsic igneous rocks. Unroofing of much of the cover of sedimentary rocks in the Variscan Iberian Massif must therefore have taken place in pre‐Cretaceous times.     

Brittle deformation in pitted pebble conglomerates

The fracture patterns produced in pitted pebble conglomerates from the Alpine Molasse and the Carboniferous of northern Spain, have been studied in relation to the stress concentrations which were produced in the conglomerates during their deformation. The stress distributions which develop around pebble contacts at different stages of their pitting history have been determined from photoelastic experiments. The development of different types of fracture, having dominantly tensile or shear components, and their distribution within the pebbles, are shown to be related to the mineralogy of the pebbles, the strength of the matrix and the amount of deformation the conglomerate has suffered.     

Strain analysis using deformed pebbles: The influence of initial pebble shape

Several methods exist for the determination of the finite strain ellipsoid from deformed pebble shapes. These methods are critically evaluated and others are proposed on the basis of calculations which predict both the sectional and three-dimensional shape of pebbles in simple deformed simulated conglomerates. In many cases it is found preferable to use an average pebble shape to estimate the tectonic strain and that the harmonic mean of the ratios of axial lengths yields an average pebble shape which is closest to the strain ellipsoid shape.     

关于卵石地层“粘聚力”的分析、探讨及原位剪切试验成果分析、验证

通过对卵石地层的结构进行深入分析,认为其所具有的特殊结构会产生"粘聚力"的效果。同时,通过对卵石地层进行原位剪切试验,其测试成果"粘聚力"不等于0,且数值显著,由此,进一步证明需对卵石地层的"粘聚力"进行重新认识、合理取值。     

A comparison of the geochemistry of Fe–Mn coatings on pebbles and Potamopyrgus (Hydrobia) jenkinsi shells,Allen River,SW England,UK

An investigation of the chemistry of surface precipitates on stream pebbles and Potamopyrgus (Hydrobia) jenkinsi (Smith) shells has been undertaken on samples collected from a contaminated river in SW England, UK. Samples were analysed by LA-ICP-AES to evaluate the technique as a suitable method to use on small environmental samples, and to determine if the Pb/Fe and Zn/Mn ratios of the coatings on the two substrates were comparable. The ratios in the coatings are similar in these samples types, but are generally higher on the pebble samples. Results have been compared to a previous investigation of pebble coating chemistry in the river, and are shown to have the same spatial distribution but very different absolute values due to changes in environmental conditions in the river over time.     

泰国东北部猜也奔府Noen Sa-nga地区Yasothon土壤剖面中的澳大拉西亚玻陨石

A sedimentary profile exposed in soil quarries a few kilometers north of Noen Sa-nga district, Chaiyaphum province, NE Thailand, reveals a Quaternary geological history. The lower part of the soil profile is a gravel deposit characterized by sub-angular to well-rounded pebbles representing an abandoned river sedimentary deposit. The gravel bed in some places is coated by iron oxide as a thin layer of ferricrete at the uppermost part. The upper part of the soil profile is a bright reddish brown structureless sand deposit with fining upward sedimentary structure at the basal portion, the Yasothon soil series. A piece of tektite was discovered at the contact boundary between the two sedimentary units. It is characterized by an irregular shape with a smooth concaved surface regarding as an external mold of a piece of well-rounded pebble. This piece of tektite indicates that a solidified tektite had fallen from high sky then was remelted into a plastic form prior to reach and partly cover a piece of well-rounded pebble. These evidences suggest that there was a meteoritic or cometary impact on our earth surface somewhere in the region then catapulted numbers of melted silica ejecta with vast volume of dust into the sky. The melted silica ejecta were solidified into splash-form tektites with various shapes while they were in the high sky. After that the tektites had fallen down and remelted into a plastic form prior to reach the ground surface and then solidified as a tektite deposit followed by larger-sized sediments and angular quartz fragments forming a fining upward sedimentary structure. The finer sediments were gradually settled down forming a bright reddish brown structureless sand deposit, the Yasothon soil series. This meteoritic impact event occurred at about 0.77 Ma ago as the evidence of the previous tektite radiometric dating.     

THE PROBLEM OF UNDERSTANDING THE NOMENCLATURE OF FACIES

Chert-plus-pyrite pebbles have been known for some time in a number of Witwatersrand conglomerates, but their distribution is highly variable. A wide variety of textures in chert-plus pyrite pebbles are documented here, and these textures place constraints on the origin of such pebbles. Replacement of chert pebbles by pyrite is indicated (pyrite grains and aggregates continue across many pebble boundaries), and both distributional and textural evidence favors a post-burial timing for this process. Significant mobility of sulfur after burial is indicated. Whether this replacement was diagenetic or metamorphic is not certain.     

兰州黄河阶地卵砾石层渗透系数测试研究

采用多孔抽水、钻孔注水和单环注水试验测得兰州黄河Ⅰ级阶地卵砾石层渗透系数分别为34.19m/d、32.68m/d和26.50m/d。颗粒分析成果表明,研究区卵砾石层孔隙体系形式为卵砾类骨架形成架空大孔隙,含量较少的中细砂小颗粒难以完全充填架空大孔隙,仅起到减少大孔隙通道的作用,其渗透系数大于中细砂但小于一般意义上不含或仅含极少量中细砂的卵砾石层。对比分析可知,基于特征粒径、不均匀系数的半经验渗透系数预测值具有很大的离散性和变异性,与实测值有较大差异,作为工程建设设计参数时应通过多种方法验证其准确性。依据水文地质测试成果,结合相关资料工程经验值及地区经验,推荐研究区降水方案设计含水层渗透系数取34.19m/d。     

Particle over-passing on depth-limited gravel bars

An experimental channel is used to examine the transport of mixed sand and gravel bedload over the crestal platform of ‘hump-back’ bars and along the top of planar gravel sheets. Hydraulic processes result in the simultaneous transport of cobbles and pebbles over a static closely packed bed consisting of like-sized and finer particles. For prescribed conditions, flat upper-stage plane sand-beds develop over the crestal location with pebbles rolling easily over the sandy bed. At the brinkpoint, flow separation ensures effective segregation of the gravel from the sand. Over the slip-face the deposition rate of the sand is insufficient to fill fully the interstices within the gravel foresets before rapid deposition of gravel further advances the bed-form. Consequently, distinctive vertical assemblages of open-work and closed contact framework gravels could be generated as another bar migrates over, and preserves, the initial structure. In respect to the observed mechanisms of sorting over the bars, a mathematical expression is developed to explain the critical conditions allowing coarse particle mobility over planar sand or gravel beds under upper-stage plane-bed conditions on the crestal platform. The model then is used to ascertain whether the depositional environment ascribed to certain facies in the Bunter Pebble Beds, described in a recent publication, is appropriate given the distinctive facies assemblages generated in this experiment and the known hydrodynamic control of the particle-segregation process.     

Diffusional mass transfer processes in pitted pebble conglomerates

The diffusional mass transfer of soluble components in pitted pebble conglomerates from the Alpine Molasse and the Carboniferous of northern Spain has been studied using electron microprobes. Two categories of pitted pebble conglomerates are distinguished depending on the presence or absence of an affected zone within the pebble which has suffered volume loss. In these affected zones there is a reduction of mobile components—Ca, Ba, Sr, and sometimes Si, and a concentration of immobile components—Mg, Al, Fe, Mn, Si, K, and Ti. The changes in relative abundances of different elements across these zones are shown to be dependent on the mineralogy of the dissolving pebble. This is interpreted as being partly due to the modification of the stress fields, developed within pebbles due to their composition. Theoretical predictions of the rates of pebble pitting are shown to be in reasonable agreement with natural examples. Most of the deformational structures in these conglomerates were produced by a diffusional mass transfer process such as pressure solution.