A highstand oolitic sequence and associated facies from a Late Triassic lake basin, south-west England

High energy, lake‐shoreline carbonate sequences are rarely documented in the geological record. However, one example occurs in the Upper Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group (MMG) of southern Britain. The MMG is one of a number of thick, non‐fossiliferous mudstone deposits associated with North Atlantic Mesozoic rift basins. The origin of the MMG mudstones is the subject of current debate, with marine, playa‐lacustrine and alluvial–aeolian models having been proposed. Shoreline features have been documented from the northern margin of the basin, but the rarity of such features elsewhere in the MMG has led many workers to doubt a lacustrine origin for the mudstones. Wave‐dominated, lake‐shoreline deposits have been recognized in several sections from the southern basin margin in the Clevedon area of the Bristol Channel in south‐west England. These deposits provide evidence for the development of a sizeable perennial to semi‐perennial hypersaline lake in which the MMG mudstones accumulated. Shoreline sediments overlie alluvial stream and sheet‐flood deposits, and pass from transgressive gravel–conglomerate beach units with bioclasts, influenced by shore‐normal waves (deposited under semi‐humid conditions), to lower gradient, highstand oolitic sands affected by more varied wave approach (deposited under progressively more arid conditions), which culminated in lowstand, oolitic strand‐plain deposits overlain by a playa‐mudflat unit. Shoreline deposits record a simple shallowing‐upward transgressive–highstand–lowstand sequence. However, a change from a reflective (transgressive) to dissipative (highstand) shoreline is believed to represent a climatically induced change in prevailing wind direction. Shoreline features recognized in the MMG are similar to those of recent playa‐lacustrine basins of the western United States. Ooids display a variety of size, fracture and dissolution features in addition to beachrock fabrics, suggesting that they were originally composed of radial aragonite, similar to modern ooids from the Great Salt Lake, Utah.     

济源上三叠统古土壤及其意义

河南省济源地区上三叠统曲流河体系中发现赋存于洪泛平原和天然堤沉积中的古土壤,湖泊体系中则发现滨岸泥滩和湖泊淤浅古土壤。本文总结了其野外识别标志,探讨其成因,并讨论了将其应用于地层对比、层序地层学研究、盆地和沉积环境分析等方面的前景。     

一种新的错时相沉积物——巨鲕及其环境意义

华南下三叠统缓坡背景的地层中广泛发育高能滩相鲕粒灰岩,其中含相当数量的巨鲕,粒径大部分在2~6 mm之间,最大可达12 mm。巨鲕的核心类型以多晶粒状方解石和球粒为主,具明暗相间的同心纹层,沿切线方向定向排列的晶体结构表明其原生矿物可能为文石。含巨鲕灰岩与生物碎屑灰岩交互沉积,指示了当时海平面的相对变化。巨鲕在新元古代地层中广泛发育,但在显生宙和现代海洋环镜中超过5 mm的鲕粒相当少见。巨鲕在二叠纪末灭绝事件后大量出现,随着中三叠世生态的复苏、海洋环境趋于正常而又消失。这些特征说明巨鲕可以作为一种错时相沉积物,它的形成无疑与当时的生态和海水环境有关,代表着一类特殊的沉积学现象。分析了巨鲕产出背景、微观结构和沉积特征,对于了解其成因、探索二叠纪—三叠纪之交地质突变期异常的生态状况和特殊的海洋环境具有重要意义。     

Linked sequence stratigraphy and tectonics in the Sichuan continental foreland basin,Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation,southwest China

Intracontinental subduction of the South China Block below the North China Block in the Late Triassic resulted in formation of the transpressional Sichuan foreland basin on the South China Block. The Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation was deposited in this basin and consists of an eastward-tapering wedge of predominantly continental siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that are up to 3.5 km thick in the western foredeep depocenter and thin onto the forebulge and into backbulge depocenters.Five facies associations (A–E) make up the Xujiahe Formation and these are interpreted, respectively, as alluvial fan, transverse and longitudinal braided river, meandering river, overbank or shallow lacustrine, and deltaic deposits. This study establishes a sequence stratigraphic framework for the Xujiahe Formation which is subdivided into four sequences (SQ1, 2, 3 and 4). Sequence boundaries are recognized on the basis of facies-tract dislocations and associated fluvial rejuvenation and incision, and systems tracts are identified based on their constituent facies associations and changes in architectural style and sediment body geometries. Typical sequences consist of early to late transgressive systems tract deposits related to a progressive increase in accommodation and represented by Facies Associations A, B and C that grade upwards into Facies Association D. Regionally extensive and vertically stacked coal seams define maximum accommodation and are overlain by early highstand systems tract deposits represented by Facies Associations D, E and C. Late highstand systems tract deposits are rare because of erosion below sequence boundaries. Sequence development in the Xujiahe Formation is attributed to active and quiescent phases of thrust-loading events and is closely related to the tectonic evolution of the basin. The Sichuan Basin experienced three periods of thrust loading and lithospheric flexure (SQ1, lower SQ2 and SQ3), two periods of stress relaxation and basin widening (upper SQ 2 and SQ3) and one phase of isostatic rebound (SQ4). Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Sichuan Basin in the Late Triassic indicates that the Longmen Mountains to the west, consisting of metamorphic, sedimentary and pre-Neoproterozoic basement granitoid rocks, was the major source of sediment to the foredeep depocenter. Subordinate sediment sources were the Xuefeng Mountains to the east to backbulge depocenters, and the Micang Mountains to the northwest during the late history of the basin. This study has demonstrated the viability of sequence stratigraphic analysis in continental successions in a foreland basin, and the influence of thrust loading on sequence development.     

Rifts,rivers and climate recovery: A new model for the Triassic of England

Triassic basins of England developed under a regime of largely W–E extension and progressed from non-marine fluvial and aeolian sedimentation (Sherwood Sandstone Group), through marine-influenced playa lacustrine deposits (Mercia Mudstone Group) to marine environments (Penarth Group). A new tectono-stratigraphic model for the Sherwood Sandstone Group is proposed in which two major long-distance river systems developed under conditions of relative fault inactivity in the Early Triassic (Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds and equivalent) and Middle Triassic (Otter Sandstone and equivalent). These are separated by a late Early Triassic syn-rift succession of fluvio–aeolian sandstones (Wildmoor Sandstone and Wilmslow Sandstone formations) and playa lacustrine muds (Nettlecombe Formation) which show major thickness variation and localisation with hanging wall basins. The partitioning of syn-rift deposits into mudstones within upstream basins (close to the source of water and sediment) and clean aeolian or fluvio–aeolian sandstones in downstream basins is similar to the pattern observed in the underlying late Permian. Under conditions of rapid tectonic subsidence chains of extensional basins may become disconnected with upstream basins (Wessex Basin) acting as traps for fines and water permitting more aeolian activity in temporarily unlinked downstream basins (Worcester and Cheshire basins). In addition to tectonic controls, fluctuating climate, relief related to limestone resilience in arid settings, the smoothing effect of fill and spill sedimentation and Tethyan sea-level change all contributed toward the observed Triassic stratigraphy in England.     

Upper delta plain lacustrine and fluviolacustrine facies from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, NE England

Facies analysis suggests that the productive Westphalian (Upper Carboniferous) Coal Measures of the Durham coalfield in NE England were deposited on an upper delta plain. Distributary channels crossed the plain and were separated by shallow lakes. Detailed examination of largely three-dimensional exposures has revealed the existence of nine laterally and vertically interrelated fluviolacustrine and lacustrine lithofacies. Facies 1 and 2 are interpreted as overbank deposits of distributary channels, Facies 3–5 are regarded as deposits of crevasse splay/minor delta systems, and Facies 6–9 are considered to have formed in areas of diminished clastic sediment supply. Facies 4 and 5 are volumetrically the most important. Facies 3–9 are interpreted as representing progressively less energetic conditions of sedimentation across a lake, from the point of entry of a crevasse splay/minor delta system. The distribution and characteristics of the lithofacies indicate that the upper delta plain lakes were completely or effectively enclosed, up to about 8m deep and had wave fetches of the order of 20 km. These lakes were intermittently infilled by the crevasse-initiated, minor delta systems and, to a relatively minor extent, by overbank flood sediment from channels. Infilled lake surfaces became platforms for plant colonization and peat accumulation. The three dimensional relationships of the various lithofacies provide a model of Coal Measure lacustrine sedimentation, which may have wider implications in extending the model of interdistributary genesis and infilling proposed by Elliott, particularly with respect to detailed facies relationships and to the balance between overbank and crevasse-derived sediment.     

四川乐威地区晚三叠世含煤地层划分及煤层对比

四川盆地西南晚三叠世含煤地层为四川省重要的含煤地层,在该地区工作的各地勘单位对含煤地层的划分和命名存在较大差异。通过区域资料的分析对比,进行了含煤地层划分和煤层对比初步研究,认为垮洪洞组和小塘子组向东尖灭,须家河组一段由东向西超覆,不同命名的K7与高炭、K3与大白炭、K2与小白炭、K1与下元炭为同一煤层或层位。     

Organic matter, putative nannobacteria and the formation of ooids and hardgrounds

Modern ooids from Joulters Cay, when baked at 500 °C, turn various shades of black depending upon the organic content. Mucus-rich laminae occur at quasi-regular intervals of a few micrometres within the cortex. When mucus is still present, it turns black; when it is absent, there is a gap. The cortex consists of two types of aragonite: (1) 'batons' of circular cross-section capped by a single 0·1-μm (100-nm) ball, which can be interpreted as a single nannobacteria cell that precipitated the baton; (2) elongate crystals made of multiple rows of minute balls of about 0·03 μm (30 nm), which may or may not have been small organisms in the size range of viruses. There are also some crystals that show no evidence of organic precipitation. Hardground cementation begins with the formation of a terminal mucus-rich ring on the ooid that bakes black and is crowded with 0·1-μm (100-nm) balls. Some ooids are then joined by a meniscus also made of mucus with aragonite crystals. The final, most abundant hardground cement forms a fur of inorganic aragonite crystals often shaped like plywood sheets, although some 'organic', elongate crystals composed of ≈0·03 μm (≈30 nm) balls are also found in the later cement. For a century, ooids have been known to be closely associated with organic matter; this paper goes further and proposes that the bulk of the ooid may be precipitated by nannobacterial processes. Hardground formation, in the beginning, may also be a microbiological process, but most cementation is accomplished inorganically.     

The age and formation mechanisms of Late Triassic fissure deposits,Gloucestershire, England: Comments on Mussini,G. et al. (2020). Anatomy of a Late Triassic Bristol fissure: Tytherington fissure 2

In the Late Triassic the landscape NE of present-day Bristol, SW England was dominated by Carboniferous Limestone ridges and cuestas that became progressively buried by continental Mercia Mudstones and finally inundated during the Rhaetian marine transgression. Mussini et al. (2020) adopt the assertions of earlier collaborators back to Whiteside and Marshall (2008) that terrestrial vertebrate assemblages from sediments contained within karstic fissure systems in the former limestone ridges at Cromhall, Tytherington and elsewhere are restricted to the Rhaetian. We review and reject the sedimentological, stratigraphic, geomorphological and topographic arguments for this and reassert a long pre-Rhaetian (Norian) history for the vertebrate-bearing fissure systems at both Tytherington and Cromhall. We also reject the contemporaneous Rhaetian freshwater-seawater mixing zone dissolution model for the fissure systems adopted by Mussini et al. (2020) and reaffirm that the Tytherington and Cromhall fissures developed as conduit caves with a long Triassic history. Applying a new regional study of the Rhaetian transgressive surface, we also show that whilst the fissures at Cromhall remained sealed after the Norian, those at nearby Tytherington were re-exposed in the Late Rhaetian. Already partially filled with Norian sediments, the Tytherington fissures were subject to reworking on the seabed. Internal collapses, probably triggered by well documented repeated regional seismicity, led to the chaotic state of the Tytherington fills when downward moving Rhaetian marine components came to lie amongst and mix with earlier Norian terrestrial sediments. The vertebrate associations in the Tytherington fissures therefore contain a substantial Rhaetian input whilst those at Cromhall do not.     

Syn-sedimentary hydrothermal dolomites in a lacustrine rift basin: Petrographic and geochemical evidence from the lower Cretaceous Erlian Basin,Northern China

Dolomites occur extensively in the lower Cretaceous along syn-sedimentary fault zones of the Baiyinchagan Sag, westernmost Erlian Basin, within a predominantly fluvial–lacustrine sedimentary sequence. Four types of dolomite are identified, associated with hydrothermal minerals such as natrolite, analcime and Fe-bearing magnesite. The finely-crystalline dolomites consist of anhedral to subhedral crystals (2 to 10 μm), evenly commixed with terrigenous sediments that occur either as matrix-supporting grains (Fd1) or as massive argillaceous dolostone (Fd2). Medium-crystalline (Md) dolomites are composed of subhedral to euhedral crystals aggregates (50 to 250 μm) and occur in syn-sedimentary deformation laminae/bands. Coarse-crystalline (Cd) dolomites consist of non-planar crystals (mean size >1 mm), and occur as fracture infills cross-cutting the other dolomite types. The Fd1, Md and Cd dolomites have similar values of δ¹⁸O (−20·5 to −11·0‰ Vienna PeeDee Belemnite) and δ¹³C (+1·4 to +4·5‰ Vienna PeeDee Belemnite), but Fd2 dolomites are isotopically distinct (δ¹⁸O −8·5 to −2·3‰ Vienna PeeDee Belemnite; δ¹³C +1·4 to +8·6‰ Vienna PeeDee Belemnite). Samples define three groups which differ in light rare-earth elements versus high rare-earth elements enrichment/depletion and significance of Tb, Yb and Dy anomalies. Medium-crystalline dolomites have signatures that indicate formation from brines at very high temperature, with salinities of 11·8 to 23·2 eq. wt. % NaCl and T_h values of 167 to 283°C. The calculated temperatures of Fd1 and Cd dolomites extend to slightly lower values (141 to 282°C), while Fd2 dolomites are distinctly cooler (81 to 124°C). These results suggest that the dolomites formed from hydrothermal fluid during and/or penecontemporaneous with sediment deposition. Faults and fractures bounding the basin were important conduits through which high-temperature Mg-rich fluids discharged, driven by an abnormally high heat flux associated with local volcanism. It is thought that differing amounts of cooling and degassing of these hydrothermal fluids, and of mixing with lake waters, facilitated the precipitation of dolomite and associated minerals, and resulted in the petrographic and geochemical differences between the dolomites.     

Changing lake dynamics and sequence stratigraphy of synrift lacustrine strata in a half-graben: an example from the Triassic Ischigualasto–Villa Unión Basin, Argentina

Well‐exposed Triassic rift strata from the Ischigualasto–Villa Unión Basin (NW Argentina) include a 80 to ca 515 m thick lacustrine‐dominated package that can be correlated across a half‐graben using key stratigraphic surfaces (sequence boundaries, lacustrine flooding surfaces and forced regressive surfaces). The characteristics of the synrift lacustrine fill in different parts of the half‐graben have been examined and the mechanisms controlling sedimentation inferred. A variety of sedimentary environments are recognized including; volcaniclastic floodplain, mildly saline lake and playa lake, offshore lacustrine, delta front to fluvial‐dominated and wave‐dominated deltas, distributary and fluvial channel, and interdistributary bay. The succession can be divided into four stratigraphic sequences (SS1 to SS4), the oldest of which (SS1) contains volcaniclastic, fluvial and saline lake deposits; it is thickest close to the western border fault zone, reflecting more rapid subsidence here. Accommodation exceeded sediment and water input during SS1. The second and third sequences (SS2 and SS3) mark the onset of widespread lacustrine sedimentation, reflecting a balance between accommodation creation and water and sediment fluxes. Sequences SS2 and SS3 are represented by offshore meromictic lacustrine and deltaic deposits, the latter mostly sourced from the flexural and southern axial margins of the half‐graben. The presence of stacked parasequences bound by lacustrine flooding surfaces is related to climatically induced lake‐level fluctuations superimposed on variable rates of subsidence on the controlling rift border fault zone. The youngest sequence (SS4) is represented by the deposits of littoral lacustrine and shallow shelf deltas distinguished by a change in lithofacies, palaeocurrents and sandstone composition, suggesting a switch in sediment supply to the footwall margin to the NW. The change in the sediment source is related to reduced footwall uplift, the possible presence of a relay ramp and/or supply from a captured antecedent drainage network. During SS4, the rate of creation of accommodation was exceeded by the sediment and water discharge. The stratigraphic evolution of lacustrine strata in the half‐graben was mainly controlled by tectonic processes, including subsidence rate and the growth and evolution of the border fault zone, but changing climate (inducing changes in water balance and lake level) and autocyclic processes (delta lobe switching) were also important.     

四川义敦地区上三叠统曲嘎寺组岩相古地理研究

对四川义敦地区上三叠统曲嘎寺组9幅1：5万区调图幅和44条剖面和沉积等厚线的综合分析研究,认为该区曲嘎寺组主体部分发育了浅海陆棚-泻湖相、开阔碳酸盐台地相、扇三角洲与碳酸盐台地交互相、浅海陆棚相、局限台地相等5种相组合,并可划分为义敦弧后前陆盆地、义敦火山弧及弧内火山洼地、沙鲁里边缘海等3个次级火山-沉积盆地,在义敦初始火山弧内发育有果德火山穹隆、根隆火山穹隆、扎翁拉火山洼地等更次一级的古地貌单元。     

川东北前陆盆地上三叠统沉积相及沉积演化

在对川东北前陆盆地上三叠统须家河组露头剖面野外实测和钻井等资料综合研究的基础上,对该区上三叠统须家河组层序及沉积相类型、沉积特征进行了详细的研究。结果表明:研究区内主要发育冲积扇、辫状河、曲流河、扇三角洲、辫状河三角洲、曲流河三角洲、湖泊、海相三角洲等八种主要的沉积相类型。古地理演化经历了由海相环境-海陆过渡相环境-陆相环境的转变。反映了川东北前陆盆地晚三叠世须家河期盆-山耦合过程及其沉积响应。须一段(即小塘子期)发育时期,受印支期构造运动的影响,本区大部分隆升成陆,仅在研究区北西部广元、剑阁等地发育海相三角洲相沉积。须二段发育时期,米仓山-大巴山构造山系的逆冲推覆构造作用较为强烈,川东北前陆盆地坳陷幅度加大,沉积物供给充分,沿米仓山-大巴山前缘地带主要发育辫状河三角洲沉积,而盆地西南部主要发育浅湖沉积。在须三段发育时期,米仓山-大巴山构造山系构造活动逐渐减弱,处于低幅稳定隆升状态,碎屑物供给量减少,沿米仓山-大巴山前缘地带主要发育辫状河三角洲沉积;从盆地前缘地带向中心地带则主要发育浅湖沉积。须四-须六段发育时期,米仓山-大巴山开始进入强烈逆冲推覆和构造隆升阶段,川东北前陆盆地坳陷幅度急剧加大,碎屑物供给量骤然增多,从盆地前缘地带向中心地带主要发育冲积扇-扇三角洲-辫状河三角洲、曲流河、曲流河三角洲相到浅湖相沉积。     

德阳须家河组四段沉积相特征和砂体分布规律

孝泉—新场—合兴场地区上三叠统须家河组四段以发育扇三角洲沉积体系为主,其砂体成因类型为扇三角洲前缘水下辫状分流河道(含砾)中—粗粒砂岩夹少量碎屑流沉积砾岩。须家河组四段可划分为1个长期、3个中期和18个短期基准面旋回层序,主要砂体合并为6套砂组。各砂组分布与由基准面变化引起的可容纳空间和沉积物供给量比值密切相关:低位体系域沉积期,基准面上升缓慢,沉积物供给(远)大于可容纳空间,沉积作用以主动进积为主,砂体不断向湖盆方向推进;湖侵体系域沉积期,基准面快速上升,沉积物供给量逐渐减少而(远)小于可容纳空间,沉积作用由进积逐渐转入加积和退积;高位体系域沉积期,基准面由缓慢上升逐渐进入到快速下降,可容纳空间由缓慢增加突变为迅速减小,而沉积物供给由小于或略等于可容纳空间逐渐变为(远)大于可容纳空间,沉积作用由弱进积、加积迅速变为强迫进积。     

孙氏新铺龙（爬行纲：海龙目一新幼年个体研究

新铺龙是产于我国西南地区的海龙目的一个属,最早发现于贵州省关岭晚三叠世卡尼期小凹组地层。虽然新铺龙材料众多,但其未成年个体骨骼学特征及个体发育模式并未被详细地记述。笔者等报道了一个保存完好的孙氏新铺龙未成年标本,是目前发现最小的完整的孙氏新铺龙个体,标本产自贵州省关岭县新铺乡。依据其体长小于正型标本的一半,头骨长度和躯干比值大,头骨骨缝清晰等特征,判断该标本为孙氏新铺龙的幼年个体。新标本补充了孙氏新铺龙幼年个体的形态学信息,如上颞骨内侧突短于外侧突,翼骨无牙齿发育,神经弓与椎体未融合,尺骨两端微凸,五边形坐骨等。此外,结合已发表的新铺龙标本数据进行统计分析发现,该物种吻部相对头部呈负异速生长,证明了吻部占头骨比例的大小属于新铺龙种内个体发育差异,而并非之前所认为的新铺龙种间差异。     

The Late Triassic Sequence-Stratigraphic Framework of the Upper Yangtze Region, South China

In the transitional period between the Middle and the Late Triassic, the Indochina orogeny caused two tectonic events in South China: (1) the formation and uplift of the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt along the northern margin of the South China Plate, due to its collision with the North China Plate; and 2) the development of a 1300-km-wide intra-continental orogen in the southeastern part of the South China Plate, which led to a northwestward movement of the foreland thrust-fold zone. These tectonic events resulted in the ending of the Yangtze Platform, and were a stable paleogeographic factor from the Eidacaran to the end of the Middle Triassic. This platform was characterized by the widespread development of shallow-water carbonates. After the end of the Yangtze Platform, the upper Yangtze foreland basin (or Sichuan foreland basin) was formed during the Late Triassic and became a accumulation site of fluvial deposits that are composed of related strata of the Xujiahe Formation. In western Sichuan Province, the Xujiahe Formation overlies the Maantang Formation shallow-water carbonate rocks of the Xiaotangzi Formation siliciclastic rocks (from shelf shales to littoral facies). The sequence-stratigraphic framework of the Upper Triassic in the upper Yangtze foreland basin indicates a particular alluvial architecture, characterized by sequences composed of (1) successions of low-energy fluvial deposits of high-accommodation phases, including coal seams, and (2) high-energy fluvial deposits of low-accommodation phases, including amalgamated river-channel sandstones. The spatial distribution of these fluvial deposits belonging to the Xujiahe Formation and its relative strata is characterized by gradual thinning-out, overlapping, and pinching-out toward both the east and south. This sedimentary record therefore expresses a particular sequence-stratigraphic succession of fluvial deposits within the filling succession of the foreland basin. The sequence-stratigraphic framework for the Upper Triassic in the Upper Yangtze region provides a record of the end of the Yangtze Platform and the formation of the upper Yangtze foreland basin.     

孙氏新铺龙（爬行纲：海龙目）一新幼年个体研究

新铺龙是产于我国西南地区的海龙目的一个属,最早发现于贵州省关岭晚三叠世卡尼期小凹组地层。虽然新铺龙材料众多,但其未成年个体骨骼学特征及个体发育模式并未被详细地记述。本文报道了一个保存完好的孙氏新铺龙未成年标本,是目前发现最小的完整的孙氏新铺龙个体,标本产自贵州省关岭县新铺乡。依据其体长小于正型标本的一半,头骨长度和躯干比值大,头骨骨缝清晰等特征,判断该标本为孙氏新铺龙的幼年个体。新标本补充了孙氏新铺龙幼年个体的形态学信息,如上颞骨内侧突短于外侧突,翼骨无牙齿发育,神经弓与椎体未融合,尺骨两端微凸,五边形坐骨等。此外,结合已发表的新铺龙标本数据进行统计分析发现,该物种吻部相对头部呈负异速生长,证明了吻部占头骨比例的大小属于新铺龙种内个体发育差异,而并非之前所认为的新铺龙种间差异。     

新疆乌鲁木齐二叠系湖相微生物白云岩成因

新疆乌鲁木齐地区养牛场剖面中二叠统芦草沟组以发育浅湖至半深湖背景下的中层深灰色、灰色碳酸盐岩、粉砂岩、细砂岩与中、厚层灰黑色泥岩、油页岩的互层沉积为特点.湖相碳酸盐岩以微晶白云岩为主体,其次为微晶灰岩.微晶白云岩主要由白云石、铁白云石及少量方解石等组成,常混有泥质组分且富含有机质.镜下观察白云石主要为微晶(＜4μm)及微亮晶(4-10 μm),极少数为亮晶(＞10μm).扫描电镜分析发现微晶白云岩中存在微球状(直径约9μm)、微棒状(长度约0.3～1.2μm)及微米级它形(＜ 5μm)等3种微形貌的白云石,其中微米级它形白云石在白云岩中占绝大多数.在微晶灰岩中还发现了直径约70-150nm,形态与球菌相似的纳米微粒,具有微生物矿化的特征.研究区白云岩Sr丰度及Sr/Ca比总体持平或略高于微晶灰岩,Mn丰度远高于微晶灰岩,C、O同位素均高于微晶灰岩,暗示了白云岩可能形成于比微晶灰岩更深及盐度更大的水下还原环境,二者之间缺乏明显的交代关系.芦草沟组白云岩的δ13CPDB介于9.2 ‰～15.6‰,强烈正偏的δ13CPDB可能是产甲烷古菌的代谢活动引起有机质碳同位素分馏的结果.以上特征表明,研究区芦草沟组白云石的沉淀可能与产烷带厌氧微生物的代谢活动引起的甲烷生成作用有关.     

豫西宜阳地区晚二叠世晚期—早三叠世沉积记录及其对古气候变化的响应

晚二叠世—早三叠世宜阳地区位于东特提斯低纬度地区的华北板块南缘，发育一套连续且沉积特征显著的陆相碎屑 岩相沉积，是研究陆相晚二叠世—早三叠世古环境与古气候变化的理想地层。本文在前人研究与野外实测的基础上，采用 岩石学、沉积学、古生物学方法综合分析研究区的沉积记录，识别出宜阳地区在该时期由陆源近海的滨湖沉积环境向河流 沉积环境过渡的古环境，重建了晚二叠世晚期—早三叠世宜阳地区的古地理面貌。沉积特征显示，此期整体气候条件为炎 热—半干旱，并且在长兴期末期与奥伦尼克期早期出现了极端干旱气候，可能是受到当时全球性巨型季风环流的影响。这 一时期的古气候与古环境的变化可能对二叠纪末陆地大灭绝事件起到了推动作用，并抑制了早三叠世生物复苏的进展。     

四川龙门山马角坝组铁质鲕粒成因及沉积环境

本文应用显微镜和扫描电镜对下石炭统马角坝组顶部的铁质鲕粒的研究发现:铁质鲕粒由核心和同心圈层组成,核心成分主要是赤铁矿碎屑和石英颗粒,圈层厚度较小,整体呈胶状形态,由赤铁矿围绕核心呈致密板状平行排列,整体上结构一致;铁质鲕粒是在适合的pH、Eh条件下,大量铁质围绕石英碎屑或矿物碎屑转动时胶体沉积形成的,沉积环境为潮间-潮下的浅水动荡环境,是大规模海退暴露后海平面初始上升期的产物。