Ore belts of the Greater Altai and their ore resource potential

The results of comprehensive geological and metallogenic studies of the Greater Altai are presented. This project has been carried out since 1997 under the guidance of Academician G.N. Shcherba. The importance of these investigations is determined by the need to enhance and further develop mineral resources of nonferrous, noble, rare, and other metals for operating mining and metallurgical enterprises of Kazakhstan. The great body of information on the geology, geophysics, and metallogeny of the region obtained over many years has been integrated on the basis of new global tectonics. The Greater Altai embraces the Hercynides of the Rudny Altai, Qalba-Narym, West Qalba, Zharma-Saur, and the adjacent territories of Russia and China. The present-day tectonic units are considered to be detached blocks of ancient continental massifs that drifted in the Paleoasian ocean and then amalgamated into the structure of the Greater Altai during the Hercynian collision. The tectonic and metallogenic demarcation of the studied territory made possible the recognition of the Rudny Altai, Qalba-Narym, West Qalba, and Zharma-Saur ore belts, different in geology, geodynamic evolution, and metallogeny. The formation conditions and localization of volcanic-hosted massive sulfide, gold, and rare-metal deposits pertaining to certain ore-bearing geochronological levels were specified, and the potential of the region for various mineral resources was estimated.     

Melanterite and szomolnokite as weathering products of pyrite from the Bazhenovo Formation

Weathering of pyrite in the core recovered from black shales of the Bazhenovo Formation (Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous) in the West Siberian marine basin promoted the successive formation of melanterite (FeSO₄ · 7H₂O) and szomolnokite (FeSO₄ · H₂O). Szomolnokite was detected in West Siberia for the first time.     

Wind erosion of the wind-deposited Navajo Sandstone, USA

Outcrops of the Early Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in southern Utah and northern Arizona, south-western USA are being actively eroded by sand-laden, south-westerly winds. Small-scale stepped topography with risers facing into the wind develops even on steep canyon walls when wind-swept grains strike the rock at a low angle. Photosynthetic, endolithic microbes directly underlie most outcrop surfaces; the crusts formed by these organisms are essential to formation of the small-scale steps. Wind erosion of highlands also forms troughs and pits that are tens of metres across. The pits have deeply scalloped, overhanging walls, and contain central domes surrounded by 'moats' filled with dune sand. Wind erosion of aeolian sandstone is favoured by a positive feedback mechanism in which grains that are liberated from outcrops by impacting particles become a fresh supply of pre-sorted abrasive particles for further attack.     

Composition and formation conditions of pay zones in the lower Cretaceous Nizhnyaya Kheta and Yakovlevo formations within the Vankor oil-and-gas field (in the Northeast of West Siberia)

Sedimentologic analysis of cores from wells sunk in the Vankor petroleum field allowed refinement of the accumulation conditions producing the sandy strata of the Nizhnyaya Kheta River (Nizhnekhetsky) Formation accumulated in the coastal marine zone and of the Yakovlevo (Yakovlevsky) Formation accumulated under alluvial-deltaic conditions. Petrographic examination of the sandstones added information on the sources, transport, and accumulation conditions of the terrigenous material in the northeastern marginal part of the West Siberian sedimentation basin.     

Identification of waste management development drivers and potential emerging waste treatment technologies

Application and development of municipal solid waste treatment technology depends on various socio-economic and environmental factors. All those factors are work as development drivers for waste management systems. The study aims to identify key drivers from case studies of waste management development trend in Sweden. Social, economic and environmental drivers are identified and presented in this study. The study identifies personal behaviour, local waste management practice, consumption and generation of waste as the key social drivers. Resource value of waste, economic benefit from waste treatment facilities and landfill tax have been acknowledged as economic drivers for developing waste treatment technology. Moreover, global climate change, environmental movement and awareness have been working as environmental drivers for developing various waste treatment methods in Sweden. In addition, the study aims to analyse emerging waste treatment technologies based on a number of literature review and questionnaire survey. Dry composting, pyrolysis-gasification, plasma arc, and anaerobic digestion have been identified as potential emerging technologies for waste management systems in Sweden.     

Reciprocality between biology and geology: Reconstructing polar Gondwana

The reciprocal nature of the relationship between historical geology (reconstruction models) and biology (constructing phylogenies) is discussed and the conceptual basis of such a relationship is examined through its historical development. Examples to illustrate aspects of the relationship are drawn from the Cretaceous breakup of polar Gondwana and the Cenozoic history of some of the resultant microcontinental fragments. A new mid-Cretaceous (circa 100 Ma) rift zone, separating the west Gondwanan Campbell Plateau, southern New Zealand, from the east Gondwanan Melanesian Rift is proposed, and biological and geological evidence for it is presented and discussed. It is also suggested that the Bounty Trough, Chatham Rise, and Hikurangi Plateau unit is incorrectly placed in reconstruction models, and it should be fitted outboard of the Melanesian Rift until its mid-Cenozoic attachment to the Campbell Plateau. It is concluded that both reconstruction modelling and phylogenetic analyses have much to gain through ‘reciprocal illumination’.     

Clustering of groundwater chemistry data with implications for reservoir appraisal in West Siberia

Division of sedimentary strata according to groundwater chemistry is discussed with implications for petroleum reservoir potential. It is suggested to process multiparametric water chemistry data from West Siberia using formalized clustering techniques. The efficiency of this approach has been tested for Neocomian clinoform reservoirs with reference to regional-scale appraisal and subregional petroleum division.