Phosphate deposits of Neogene age in Greece. Mineralogy, geochemistry and genetic implications

In Greece, several occurrences of phosphates have been located in Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. The aim of the present paper is to describe the mineralogy, geochemistry and the origin of the phosphates deposited in marine and lacustrine basins of Neogene age in Greece. Phosphates of marine origin formed in an outer shelf-upper slope environment (Palliki Peninsula, Kefalonia Island) as well as in a hemipelagic environment (Heraklion, Crete Island). In both the deposits, the phosphate minerals belong to the apatite group. In Kefalonia Island, phosphatic material accumulations occur in the field as scattered or accumulated vertebrate bones, fish teeth and other biogenic components, hosted in a sandy limestone of Upper Tortonian age. On a microscopic scale, in the groundmass of the limestone, phosphate minerals are present as fillings and secondarily as replacements of foraminiferal and other calcareous microfossil tests. In Crete Island, burrowed cobbles and phosphatic concretions up to 10 cm in diameter have been detected east of Heraklion town. The phosphatic material is hosted in a sandy marlstone that is interbedded with diatomaceous rocks of Middle Pliocene age. Phosphates of lacustrine origin have been formed in the NW–SE-oriented Upper Miocene basins of Florina–Ptolemais and Elassona–Sarantaporo, located, respectively, in western Macedonia and Thessaly, Greece. The phosphate minerals are mainly represented by Ca/Fe phosphates such as anapaite and mitridatite and secondarily by Ca phosphates of the apatite group that are hosted in a thick succession of clayey diatomite rock. They usually form lenticular layers, asymmetric lenses, nodular and botryoidal aggregates, and faecal pellet replacements.

The major and trace element content of a representative set of rocks was studied. Their geochemistry was found to be controlled by the presence of detrital minerals, the host rock mineralogies, and the types of phosphate minerals present. The relatively high amounts of uranium, arsenic and barium detected in some of the phosphate rocks studied are mainly related with organic matter and are comparable to those detected in other phosphate deposits worldwide.

In the deposits studied, phosphogenesis was mainly promoted by the decay of organic substances derived from diatoms, fishes and other vertebrates, leaves and trunks, and faecal pellets in a highly reducing environment on or just below the sea or lake bottom, and secondarily by the feeding of the basin with phosphate-bearing nutrients that originated in the land.     

Provenance ages of the Neoproterozoic Katanga Supergroup (Central African Copperbelt), with implications for basin evolution

New age data on detrital zircons and micas are presented from key units within the Neoproterozoic Katanga Supergroup, which hosts the major stratiform Cu–Co deposits of the Central African Copperbelt. Detrital zircon ages indicate a mainly Palaeoproterozoic (between 2081 ± 28 and 1836 ± 26 Ma) provenance for the Katanga basin, derived from the Lufubu Metamorphic Complex of the Kafue Anticline and the Bangweulu Block to the north of the outcrop belt. Detrital zircons and clasts from the Grand Conglomerat glacial diamictite indicate a source from the Palaeoproterozoic metavolcanic porphyries and granitoids of Luina Dome region, which was a basement high during Nguba Group deposition. Minor zircons of Mesoproterozoic age may have been derived from the Kibaran belt. Finally, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data from detrital muscovites from Biano Group siltstones give a maximum age of sedimentation of 573 Ma, strongly supporting previous models that the Biano Group was deposited in a foreland basin of the Lufilian Orogen.     

广西钦州-防城地区次生氧化锰矿床矿物学和地球化学研究及矿床成因意义

钦州-防城锰矿带是中国次生氧化锰矿的重要产地之一,其含锰岩系为上泥盆统榴江组含锰硅质岩。锰矿床主要赋存在以腐岩带为主的风化壳中,矿石的主要矿物为软锰矿、锰钡矿、隐钾锰矿、锂硬锰矿、钙锰矿等,与之伴生的其他表生矿物有赤铁矿、针铁矿、石英、高岭石和其他粘土矿物。矿石多呈葡萄状、块状、网脉状构造。与原生含锰硅质岩相比,次生氧化锰矿矿石的品位明显提高,Mn含量平均达到42.6%。矿石化学分析和单矿物电子探针成分分析表明,氧化锰矿石中还普遍出现Co、Ni、Cu、Zn等元素的富集,其平均含量分别为0.05%(最高0.40%)、0.09%(最高0.53%)、0.08%(最高0.53%)和1%(最高2.2%);它们主要以类质同象和吸附的形式赋存在锂硬锰矿及隐钾锰矿中。氧化锰矿石和锰氧化物的Mn/Fe比值均较高,一般大于6～10,说明该区化学风化强烈,铁、锰分离显著,有利于形成高品位的优质锰矿。有害杂质元素P主要存在于针铁矿等铁的氧化物中。氧化锰矿的形成和空间分布受气候、构造、含锰岩系及地形地貌等多种因素的影响和控制。     

雅鲁藏布江大拐弯地区河流形态特征及其意义

为探讨雅鲁藏布江大拐弯地区区域隆升的特点,通过DEM(数字高程模型)和遥感影像提取雅鲁藏布江干流和帕隆藏布江的形态特征,引入Hack剖面、SL参数和Amos河宽理论模型进行分析。雅鲁藏布江干流在大渡卡以下河段的Hack剖面表现为上凸形态,SL参数升高、河流宽度减小,在藏布巴东瀑布-雅鲁藏布江大拐弯顶端段,SL参数达到最大值,河流宽度达到最小值;大拐弯顶端以下河段,SL参数减小,河流渐宽。帕隆藏布江古乡以下河段SL参数梯级增高,河流宽度总体收窄,大拐弯顶端附近达到最大值。综合2条河流的地貌特征和区域地质与地理背景,认为雅鲁藏布江大拐弯地区的隆升具有不均一性,雅鲁藏布江在大渡卡附近开始进入快速隆升区段,隆升最强烈的区段位于藏布巴东瀑布-大拐弯顶端段,大拐弯顶端之后雅鲁藏布江逐渐远离隆升中心区。     

赞比亚砂（页）岩型铜矿成矿年龄及其成因意义

砂(页)岩型铜矿床是全球第二重要的铜矿类型,重要性仅次于斑岩型铜矿,具有巨大的资源量和找矿潜力。本文总结了砂(页)岩型铜矿床的时空分布特点,然后选取该类矿床的典型——赞比亚砂(页)岩型铜矿床来探讨大型砂(页)岩型铜矿的控矿因素。本文系统论述了赞比亚砂(页)岩型矿床的地质背景,报道了赞比亚铜带省典型矿床卢安夏矿床黄铜矿Rb-Sr放射性同位素等时线年龄为501±19 Ma,Sm-Nd等时线年龄为499.1±38 Ma,总结了赞比亚砂(页)岩型矿床的分布规律,探讨了其成矿物质来源,认为赞比亚砂(页)岩型矿床为岩浆期后热液充填矿床。     

Revised age of proximal deposits in the Zagros foreland basin and implications for Cenozoic evolution of the High Zagros

The regionally extensive, coarse-grained Bakhtiyari Formation represents the youngest synorogenic fill in the Zagros foreland basin of Iran. The Bakhtiyari is present throughout the Zagros fold-thrust belt and consists of conglomerate with subordinate sandstone and marl. The formation is up to 3000 m thick and was deposited in foredeep and wedge-top depocenters flanked by fold-thrust structures. Although the Bakhtiyari concordantly overlies Miocene deposits in foreland regions, an angular unconformity above tilted Paleozoic to Miocene rocks is expressed in the hinterland (High Zagros).

The Bakhtiyari Formation has been widely considered to be a regional sheet of Pliocene–Pleistocene conglomerate deposited during and after major late Miocene–Pliocene shortening. It is further believed that rapid fold growth and Bakhtiyari deposition commenced simultaneously across the fold-thrust belt, with limited migration from hinterland (NE) to foreland (SW). Thus, the Bakhtiyari is generally interpreted as an unmistakable time indicator for shortening and surface uplift across the Zagros. However, new structural and stratigraphic data show that the most-proximal Bakhtiyari exposures, in the High Zagros south of Shahr-kord, were deposited during the early Miocene and probably Oligocene. In this locality, a coarse-grained Bakhtiyari succession several hundred meters thick contains gray marl, limestone, and sandstone with diagnostic marine pelecypod, gastropod, coral, and coralline algae fossils. Foraminiferal and palynological species indicate deposition during early Miocene time. However, the lower Miocene marine interval lies in angular unconformity above ~ 150 m of Bakhtiyari conglomerate that, in turn, unconformably caps an Oligocene marine sequence. These relationships attest to syndepositional deformation and suggest that the oldest Bakhtiyari conglomerate could be Oligocene in age.

The new age information constrains the timing of initial foreland-basin development and proximal Bakhtiyari deposition in the Zagros hinterland. These findings reveal that structural evolution of the High Zagros was underway by early Miocene and probably Oligocene time, earlier than commonly envisioned. The age of the Bakhtiyari Formation in the High Zagros contrasts significantly with the Pliocene–Quaternary Bakhtiyari deposits near the modern deformation front, suggesting a long-term (> 20 Myr) advance of deformation toward the foreland.     

Tritium across the hydrologic systems of southern Ontario,Canada: implications for groundwater age dating in the Great Lakes Basin

Modern, ambient tritium concentrations in precipitation are lower and more temporally consistent now that they have recovered from the historic thermonuclear bomb peak of the mid-1960s. With the bomb peak no longer the overriding influence on atmospheric tritium concentrations, anthropogenic point sources, such as nuclear-generating stations (NGS), have the largest influence, though the extent and temporal variability of this influence remains uncharacterized. The lack of precipitation monitoring locations means that spatial trends in tritium concentrations in precipitation are unknown. To address this data gap, tritium concentrations in shallow modern groundwater are interpolated throughout southern Ontario (Canada), at the center of the Great Lakes Basin, and the interpolation is tested as a precipitation proxy with a statistical comparison that shows good agreement between the shallow groundwater and precipitation datasets. The shallow groundwater tritium interpolation is used to delineate the extent of NGS influence as representing 66% of the study area. Recharge timings in the subcropping bedrock aquifers of the study area are interpreted qualitatively in areas outside of NGS influence to be primarily a mix of pre-bomb and modern recharge, with no indication of peak recharge levels remaining. The influence of drift thickness on the proportion of tritium-dead versus tritium-live samples is observed spatially and confirmed by comparing data distributions. The oldest waters (pre-1953) tend to occur in subcropping bedrock aquifers underlying the thickest sediment packages.

     

Post-Clovis survival of American Mastodon in the southern Great Lakes Region of North America

The end of the Pleistocene in North America was marked by a wave of extinctions of large mammals, with the last known appearances of many species falling between ca. 11,000–10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Temporally, this period overlaps with the Clovis Paleoindian cultural complex (11,190–10,530 ¹⁴C yr BP) and with sudden climatic changes that define the beginning of the Younger Dryas chronozone (ca. 11,000–10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP), both of which have been considered as potential proximal causes of this extinction event. Radiocarbon dating of enamel and filtered bone collagen from an extinct American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) from northern Indiana, USA, by accelerator mass spectrometer yielded direct dates of 10,055 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr BP and 10,032 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr BP, indicating that the animal survived beyond the Clovis time period and into the late Younger Dryas. Although the late survival of this species in mid-continental North America does not remove either humans or climatic change as contributing causes for the late Pleistocene extinctions, neither Clovis hunters nor the climatic perturbations initiating the Younger Dryas chronozone were immediately responsible for driving mastodons to extinction.     

云南德钦白马雪山岩体热历史及其对青藏高原三江地区构造地貌演化的指示意义

青藏高原三江地区高程缓降、河流及深切峡谷发育,重建其构造-热年代时空演化为把握该地区地形地貌发育演化的内在驱动力提供科学依据。本研究以云南德钦白马雪山岩体为研究对象,开展磷灰石(U-Th)/He及裂变径迹年代学分析,结合已发表的U-Pb和Ar-Ar年代学结果来重塑该地区的构造-热演化历史和地形演化。研究表明,该地区经历了多期快速冷却事件:三叠世的岩浆侵位活动,早白垩世和中-晚始新世的快速冷却,以及中新世和上新世以来的快速剥蚀。青藏高原隆升致使全球气候变化的同时也导致其周缘地区经受强烈侵蚀:中新世以来(21~11Ma)快速冷却速率为10℃/Myr,而上新世以来(ca.5Ma)冷却速率从10℃/Myr增至15℃/Myr。假定区域现今地温梯度为25~35℃/km,河谷剖面不同位置的侵蚀速率及剥蚀量的空间分布特征进一步表明(靠近澜沧江主干道处侵蚀速率远高于其支流,且对应的年龄相对年轻),河流下切及溯源侵蚀的多重效应导致该地区快速剥蚀、剥露,地形起伏加大的瞬态地貌演化规律。     

The Byers Basin: Jurassic-Cretaceous tectonic and depositional evolution of the forearc deposits of the South Shetland Islands and its implications for the northern Antarctic Peninsula

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the Jurassic–Cretaceous stratigraphic evolution of fore-arc deposits exposed along the west coast of the northern Antarctic Peninsula. In the South Shetland Islands, Upper Jurassic deep-marine sediments are uncomformably overlain by a Lower Cretaceous volcaniclastic sequence that crops out on Livingston, Snow and Low islands. U-Pb zircon ages are presented for the upper Anchorage Formation (153.1 ± 1.7 Ma) and the Cape Wallace granodiorite of Low Island (137.1 ± 1.7 Ma) as well as ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 136–139 Ma for Low Island andesites. Data are also presented for a U-Pb age of 109.0 ± 1.4 Ma for the upper volcanic succession of Snow Island. In combination with published stratigraphy, these data provide a refined chrono- and litho-stratigraphic framework for the deposits herein referred to as the Byers Basin. Tentative correlation is explored with previously described deposits on Adelaide and Alexander islands, which could suggest further continuation of the Byers Basin towards the south. We also discuss possible correlation of the Byers Basin with the Larsen Basin, a sequence that shows the evolution of foreland to back-arc deposits more or less contemporaneously with the fore-arc to intra-arc evolution of the Byers Basin.     

藏西北黑石北湖一带新近纪火山岩的特征及构造意义

青藏高原西北部黑石北湖一带发育的橄榄安粗岩系列火山岩具有由早到晚从基性到中性连续演化的特征，3期火山活动期次分明，以中心式喷发为主，K-Ar年龄分别为9．23Ma、3．19Ma和3Ma。该火山岩的稀土元素、微量元素、同位素组成特征与藏北其他地区的新生代火山岩基本相近。火山活动为新构造活动的响应，受控于青藏高原隆升过程中产生的走滑断裂。     

大兴安岭南段白音查干Sn-Ag-Zn-Pb矿床电气石矿物学特征及对岩浆-热液演化过程的启示

内蒙古西乌旗白音查干矿床是大兴安岭南段锡矿带内最典型、规模最大的Sn-Ag-Zn-Pb矿床。电气石在成矿岩体花岗斑岩和围岩地层中均广泛发育,依据其产状可分为四类：Ⅰ团斑状电气石;Ⅱ热液角砾岩胶结物中电气石;Ⅲ热液脉状电气石;Ⅳ弥散状电气石。在详细的岩相学基础上,利用电子探针点分析和面扫描分析对不同产状和结构的电气石进行了详细的成分分析。结果显示,花岗斑岩体深部的团斑状电气石（Ⅰa类）以自形、环带发育为特征,至少可见三期生长环带：核部电气石（Ⅰa-1）极高的Fe/（Fe+Mg）和Al值暗示其岩浆成因;边部电气石（Ⅰa-3）较富Mg,且与热液矿物共生,是从早期热液流体中沉淀形成的;幔部电气石（Ⅰa-2）的结构和成分显示其形成可能与不混溶的富B-Fe-Na的熔体或流体有关。因此,电气石从核部到边部的生长记录了从晚期岩浆到早期热液阶段的演变过程。花岗斑岩体中上部的团斑状电气石（Ⅰb类）环带不发育,其与热液矿物共生的组合及成分暗示其形成更倾向于与热液过程相关,可能是岩浆顶部聚集的早期流体释放之后被固结岩浆"圈闭"的残余流体结晶的产物。随后,大规模释放的富B流体形成了大量以电气石为主要胶结物的热液角砾岩（Ⅱ类）、成矿前电气石-石英阶段脉系（Ⅲa类）及伴随围岩蚀变而形成的弥散状电气石（Ⅳ类）。对Ⅱ类和Ⅲa类电气石内存在的生长环带分析显示,成矿前可能存在多个脉冲期次且成分有差异的流体的叠加作用。同时,电气石从早期到晚期向富Mg方向的演化,及成分明显受围岩地层影响的现象,暗示岩浆热液流体与围岩地层发生的水岩反应可能在金属成矿过程中起了重要作用。此外,本研究显示,不同产状电气石的结构和成分信息能够有效记录矿床内岩浆-热液转变及热液演化过程的众多细节信息,为深入理解成矿过程提供了依据。     

胶东区域成矿断裂带蚀变年龄研究及其矿床学意义

胶东金矿是中生代构造岩浆活化区岩浆期后中温热液蚀变脉状矿床。前人曾认为该类金矿属于壳源深融花岗岩-热液石英脉-蚀变岩型金矿。近期研究表明,胶东金矿围岩蚀变年龄的测定,对于矿床成因的研究有重要意义。为解决胶东区域断裂热液蚀变年龄问题,对胶东半岛主要断裂矿化蚀变带开展如下相关研究:(1)选择胶东地区各蚀变岩带普遍发育的黄铁绢英岩化蚀变岩带和强钾长石化蚀变岩带作为取样目标,进行区域对比;(2)该两类岩石中的蚀变矿物受到脆性断裂影响较小,能够得到蚀变阶段的稳定化学成分;(3)该两类岩石中的蚀变矿物发育有与蚀变同期的韧性变形,能够揭示蚀变阶段的构造应力应变状态。对样品中的钾长石和斜长石颗粒进行K-Ar法同位素年龄测试,获得蚀变岩同位素年龄数据。测试结果显示,胶东区域构造热液蚀变作用时期为(148.3±4.3)~(52.03±0.70)Ma,即早白垩世燕山晚期;同位素年龄自西向东逐渐变小,证明胶东西部地区的热液蚀变作用早于东部地区。通过分析已有的构造、热液成分和成矿物理化学参数等资料,结合本研究的最新成果,总结出区域成矿时代与成矿规律:胶东区域断裂蚀变系统中的构造附加静水压力、流体温度压力条件和成矿元素的分布与变化控制了热液蚀变成矿规律。上述地质特征显示,胶东金矿床是复成构造热液作用下的一种新型矿床类型。     

黄土醋酸淋溶实验及其碳酸盐组分的地球化学特征

选择性的化学淋溶实验 ,广泛用于沉积物的地球化学研究中。通过对比 1mol/L的盐酸和醋酸两种溶剂对黄土和古土壤的淋溶效果 ,发现 1mol/L的醋酸能选择性淋溶黄土和古土壤中碳酸盐组分 ,对硅酸盐、铁的氧化物等影响很小。在确定溶剂后 ,以 1mol/L醋酸溶液选择性淋溶了洛川剖面 4 3个黄土和古土壤样品 ,通过分析淋溶液的组成 ,得出黄土和古土壤中碳酸盐组分的平均成分 (wB)为 :MgO 1.71% ,MnO 670× 10 - 6 ,Sr 4 90× 10 - 6 。淋溶结果较好地反映了黄土-古土壤剖面的风化成壤程度 ,其中醋酸淋溶液中MnO含量能更好地反映当时的古气候信息。     

A review of cyclone track shifts over the Great Lakes of North America: implications for storm surges

Natural Hazards - Cyclone tracks over the Great Lakes of North America shift, both East–West as well as North–South. The reasons for the shifts are various small-scale as well as...     

First data on the radiocarbon age of the Atelian deposits in the North Caspian Region

This paper reports data on the Atelian horizon identified in the Caspian Sea bottom. Seismoacoustic profiling has made it possible to determine its area, position, and setting in the Upper Quaternary sequence and the relation to the host deposits. According to the drillhole core data, the Atelian horizon is composed of continental clay loam and sandy loam containing peatlike organic remains. They are depleted in biogenic residues containing rare freshwater mollusk species. The Atelian deposits were accumulated in lake reservoirs filling the depressions developed in the strata of the Upper Khazarian horizon. The radiocarbon age determined for the first time by humic acids has been used to estimate the Atelian deposition time in the range of 40 000–45 000 calibrated years BP.     

Tourism patterns and determinants in the Great Lakes Region: populations,resources, roads,and perceptions

The Great Lakes Region of North America is attractive to tourists because of its vast areas of water, thousands of kilometers of shorelines, huge public forests, numerous parks, extensive commercial tourist facilities, interesting cities, and good highways. Most of the region's 65 million residents live in the southern industrial and agricultural portion so summer recreational travel is largely in a northerly direction to the lakes, shorelines, forests, and privately owned seasonal homes known as cottages. This travel involves international border crossings as Americans travel to rural and urban tourism destinations in Ontario, Canadians visit cities in the United States, and residents of both nations take circular tours around the Great Lakes. Each year, Ontario and neighboring American states spend a total of more than 20 million on tourism publicity trying to capture a larger share of the 40 billion spent in the region annually by tourists. However, the amount, nature, and patterns of tourist travel across the border are not well documented because of the lack of exit surveys.     

Behavior of mercury in the supergene zone of geothermal deposits,southern Kamchatka

Mercury distribution was determined in all types of solid materials from the supergene zone of geothermal deposits in southern Kamchatka: rocks, hydrothermally altered rocks (metasomatic rocks), soils, soil—pyroclastic cover, bottom sediments of perennial and intermittent streams, hydrothermal clays, artificial siliceous precipitates, and iron sulfides formed owing to thermal water discharge from a well. The mercury content varies from background values for the Kurile-Kamchatka region in fresh rocks to high and extremely high values in hydrothermal clays and monomineralic pyrite samples. The sources, migration conditions, and concentration mechanisms of mercury were evaluated. Mercury is supplied to the surface of geothermal deposits and thermal fields by a deep hydrothermal flow and is concentrated on thermodynamic barriers in hydrothermal clays, siliceous sinters (silica gel), and soils showing high salinity owing to the deposition in them of silica, sulfates, and other compounds from a vapor-water mixture. Newly formed clay minerals, iron sulfides (pyrite), silica gel, and biological materials (peat) can probably efficiently sorb mercury under geothermal conditions at atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 20°C to 120°C.     

Assessing transformation and sustainability in the Great Lakes Basin

The Great Lakes Basin is a large, complex, diverse system of highly connected social, biological, and physical components. Its long history has culminated today in a variety of environmental, economic, and social problems and efforts to solve them. The idea of sustainability — meeting societal needs and desires without impairing the ability to meet them in the future — is gaining widespread acceptance as an appropriate goal for management of such systems. This paper shows that nonequilibrium systems theories dealing with chaotic and self-organizing behavior can provide some insight into the dynamics of complex sociobiophysical systems such as the Great Lakes Basin, and their prospects for sustainability. A methodology for describing and analyzing sociobiophysical systems is outlined, and used to focus on change, critical variables and transformations in the history of the Great Lakes Basin. Nonequilibrium systems theories are used to develop links between system characteristics and sustainability, ecosystem redevelopment, impact assessment and monitoring, and management of Great Lakes resources. An indicative framework for monitoring change, restructuring, and transformation by assessing the nature of change, evaluating system responsiveness, and monitoring the Basin sociobiophysical system, is presented.