Structure of magnetite lodes at the Estyunino iron deposit in the central Urals

The structure of magnetite lodes is determined by iron and sulfur distribution, as well as texture and structure of ore. These features have been revealed by documentation of cores from ore intervals in exploration boreholes penetrating two main lodes 21 and 22 of the Estyunino iron deposit. The documentation of cores was accompanied by sampling for microscopic examination of texture and structure of ore and selection of Fe and S contents in ore. Then these data were summarized as sections of the lodes. It was established that the structure of magnetite lodes is characterized by conformable ore layers distinguished by texture, structure, and Fe and S contents. Banded and spotty ores containing less than 50% magnetite are predominant. Layers of homogeneous massive ore are infrequent. The textural pattern indicates a volcaniclastic nature of host rocks. The spotty texture is characteristic of hyaloclastites with vitreous shards. The banded texture with oriented distribution of fiamme is inherent to volcaniclastic rocks. In both cases, magnetite selectively replaces dark-colored vitreous fragments and is also dispersed in the salic matrix and lava fragments. No indications of crosscutting superposed relationships are observed. The available data can be satisfactorily explained by an impregnation-metasomatic mode of ore deposition.     

通过第一性原理预测内地核的成分与结构

内地核成分与结构的确定一直是地球深部研究的重要课题。目前地核的公认成分是铁和少量的镍。但由于地核密度低于纯粹的铁镍合金(固态内核2%～3%,液态外核6%～7%),其中必定掺杂有一定量的轻元素,其种类与浓度有待确定。除成分外,地核条件下铁的晶体结构也存在争议。根据地震学观测,声波沿地轴方向的传播速度比赤道平面方向快大约3%～4%。这意味着内地核是各向异性的;但在极端高压下,晶体结构中的原子应该按致密的密排六方结构(h.c.p)排列,而h.c.p结构对声波传输是高度各向同性的,这就需要确定地核条件下铁的晶体结构。根据第一性原理计算得到的高压下体系能量以及爱因斯坦谐振子模型,本项研究估算了给定结构的自由能以及掺杂轻元素后的影响。根据计算结果可以定性的分析得出,在高压OK下致密的h.c.p结构显然比疏松的体心立方(b.c.c)更稳定;而随着温度的升高,原子核的振动造成b.c.c结构的自由能比h.c.p结构下降得更快,因此在高温下b.c.c结构更稳定;掺杂轻元素后,这种优势变得更加明显,而3.6at.%的Si则恰好同时解释了2%～3%的密度缺失和b.c.c结构在内地核条件下的稳定性。因此我们建议内地核的基本结构与成分应为以体心立方结构存在的铁,掺杂约3.6at.%的硅元素,内地核温度至少在5500K以上。这一结论与其它更复杂的方法得到的结果一致。     

中生代复杂构造体系的成矿过程与成矿作用——以华北大陆北缘西拉木伦钼铜多金属成矿带为例

西拉木伦钼铜多金属成矿带处于华北克拉通与中亚造山带的过渡区,是古生代古亚洲构造域与中生代西太平洋构造域的交汇部位。在中生代受多种构造体系的制约,如中亚造山带造山后期局部伸展、蒙古-鄂霍茨克俯冲-碰撞造山作用、古太平洋板块的向西俯冲和中国东部岩石圈减薄事件的影响等。西拉木伦成矿带成矿斑岩锆石U-Pb年龄和辉钼矿Re-Os同位素年龄资料显示,钼铜矿成岩成矿主要集中在260～220Ma、180～150Ma和140～120Ma三个时期。结合华北克拉通北缘构造演化历史,推测这三期成矿作用主要与造山后局部伸展、构造体系转折和陆内伸展(岩石圈减薄)过程有关,并相应建立了"车户沟式"、"鸡冠山式"和"敖伦花式"三类斑岩钼铜矿床成矿模式。进一步研究表明,岩石的酸碱性、岩浆来源、岩浆的氧逸度、岩浆演化方式、构造背景等因素,制约了成矿作用的专属性。     

Epigenesis of Sediments in the Cascadia Accretionary Prism, Western Continental Margin of United States

Upper Miocene to Holocene sediments from the Cascadia accretionary prism and its oceanic surroundings drilled during ODP Leg 146 are studied in order to reveal their alteration during the accretion. The conclusion is made that methane-bearing solutions play a leading role in the transportation of material and the formation of mineralogical-geochemical zonality within the prism. A considerable intensity and high rates of epigenetic alteration are noted. It is shown that low heat flow, absence of progressive subsidence of the accretionary prism, open character of the system relative to water circulation, and heterogeneity of the sedimentary sequence hindered the successive development of epigenesis.     

Formation and Modification of the Shallow Sub-continental Lithospheric Mantle: a Review of Geochemical Evidence from Ultramafic Xenolith Suites and Tectonically Emplaced Ultramafic Massifs of Western and Central Europe

The petrology and geochemistry of shallow continental lithosphericmantle (SCLM) can be studied via (1) tectonically emplaced ultramaficmassifs and (2) mantle xenoliths entrained in alkaline magmas.Data from these two separate sources are used to identify processesthat have formed and modified the SCLM. In western and centralEurope where the continental crust consolidated in Phanerozoictimes, both sources of information are available for study.Rock types found in ultramafic massifs in Europe are generallysimilar to those found in ultramafic xenolith suites. The mostfrequent lithology is anhydrous spinel lherzolite, grading towardsharzburgite. Massifs reveal pyroxenite layering, harzburgitebands and cross-cutting mafic and ultramafic dykes. The PhanerozoicEuropean SCLM xenoliths and massifs show broad mineralogicaland chemical similarities to Phanerozoic continental spinelperidotites world-wide. The main process that controls the geochemistryof the SCLM is depletion by removal of basaltic melt. Differencesfrom this norm reflect significantly different processes inthe SCLM, such as interaction with melts and fluids. Such processesprobably gave rise to hornblendite veins and pyroxenite layers,although the latter have also been interpreted as recycled oceaniccrust. Rare earth element data for whole-rock peridotites andtheir constituent clinopyroxenes show a variety of patterns,including light rare earth element (LREE) depletion as a resultof removal of basaltic melt, LREE enrichment caused by metasomatism,and U-shaped REE patterns that are probably due to interactionwith carbonatite melts. Extended mantle-normalized incompatibletrace element patterns for whole rocks show enrichment in Rband Ba in peridotites considered to have been subduction-metasomatized,whereas those considered to be carbonate-metasomatized havestrong negative anomalies in Zr, Nb and Hf. Mantle amphibolesare strongly enriched in LREE when found in veins, but can beLREE depleted if they are interstitial. Radiogenic isotope ratiosfor xenoliths and massifs largely overlap, although the xenolithsshow a significant clustering around a ‘plume-component’identical to the Neogene alkaline magmatism of Europe. Thiscomponent is lacking in the massifs, most of which were emplacedinto the crust before the onset of Neogene plume activity. Infiltrationof carbonatite melts is observed petrographically in some xenolithsand evidenced by low Ti/Eu ratios in bulk rocks, but is veryrare. The effect of passage of hydrous fluids from subductingslabs is also seen in some suites and massifs, being exhibitedmainly as unusual Sr and Pb isotope ratios, although enrichmentin K, Rb and Ba, and the presence of modal phlogopite, may alsopoint to subduction-metasomatism. KEY WORDS: peridotites; xenoliths; orogenic massifs; Europe     

Magmatic Evolution of the La Pacana Caldera System, Central Andes, Chile: Compositional Variation of Two Cogenetic, Large-Volume Felsic Ignimbrites

La Pacana is one of the largest known calderas on Earth, andis the source of at least two major ignimbrite eruptions witha combined volume of some 2700 km³. These ignimbrites have stronglycontrasting compositions, raising the question of whether theyare genetically related. The Toconao ignimbrite is crystal poor,and contains rhyolitic (76–77 wt % SiO₂) tube pumices.The overlying Atana ignimbrite is a homogeneous tuff whose pumiceis dacitic (66–70 wt % SiO₂), dense (40–60% vesicularity)and crystal rich (30–40 % crystals). Phase equilibriaindicate that the Atana magma equilibrated at temperatures of770–790°C with melt water contents of 3·1–4·4wt %. The pre-eruptive Toconao magma was cooler (730–750°C)and its melt more water rich (6·3–6·8 wt% H₂O). A pressure of 200 MPa is inferred from mineral barometryfor the Atana magma chamber. Isotope compositions are variablebut overlapping for both units (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_i 0·7094–0·7131;¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd 0·51222–0·51230) and are consistentwith a dominantly crustal origin. Glass analyses from Atanapumices are similar in composition to those in Toconao tubepumices, demonstrating that the Toconao magma could representa differentiated melt of the Atana magma. Fractional crystallizationmodelling suggests that the Toconao magma can be produced by30% crystallization of the observed Atana mineral phases. Toconaomelt characteristics and intensive parameters are consistentwith a volatile oversaturation-driven eruption. However, thelow H₂O content, high viscosity and high crystal content ofthe Atana magma imply an external eruption trigger. KEY WORDS: Central Andes; crystal-rich dacite; eruption trigger; high-silica rhyolite; zoned magma chamber     

Late Pleistocene paleo-oceanography of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea: Benthic foraminiferal evidence

Fluctuations in benthic foraminiferal faunas over the last 130,000 yr in four piston cores from the Norwegian Sea are correlated with the standard worldwide oxygen-isotope stratigraphy. One species, Cibicides wuellerstorfi, dominates in the Holocene section of each core, but alternates downcore with Oridorsalis tener, a species dominant today only in the deepest part of the basin. O. tener is the most abundant species throughout the entire basin during periods of particularly cold climate when the Norwegian Sea presumably was ice covered year round and surface productivity lowered. Portions of isotope Stages 6, 3, and 2 are barren of benthic foraminifera; this is probably due to lowered benthic productivity, perhaps combined with dilution by ice-rafted sediment; there is no evidence that the Norwegian Sea became azoic. The Holocene and Substage 5e (the last interglacial) are similar faunally. This similarity, combined with other evidence, supports the presumption that the Norwegian Sea was a source of dense overflows into the North Atlantic during Substage 5e as it is today. Oxygen-isotope analyses of benthic foraminifera indicate that Norwegian Sea bottom waters warmer than they are today from Substage 5d to Stage 2, with the possible exception of Substage 5a. These data show that the glacial Norwegian Sea was not a sink for dense surface water, as it is now, and thus it was not a source of deep-water overflows. The benthic foraminiferal populations of the deep Norwegian Sea seem at least as responsive to near-surface conditions, such as sea-ice cover, as they are to fluctuations in the hydrography of the deep water. Benthic foraminiferal evidence from the Norwegian Sea is insufficient in itself to establish whether or not the basin was a source of overflows into the North Atlantic at any time between the Substage 5e/5d boundary at 115,000 yr B.P. and the Holocene.