First application of the revised Ti-in-zircon geothermometer to Paleoproterozoic ultrahigh-temperature granulites of Tuguiwula, Inner Mongolia, North China Craton

The revised titanium-in-zircon geothermometer was applied to Paleoproterozoic ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulites at Tuguiwula, Inner Mongolia, North China Craton. The Tuguiwula granulites contain diagnostic UHT mineral assemblages such as sapphirine + quartz and high alumina orthopyroxene + sillimanite + quartz, suggesting formation under temperatures of ca. 1,000°C and pressures of up to 10 kbar. Here, we report detailed petrographic studies and ICP-MS data on titanium concentration in zircons associated with the UHT assemblages. The zircons associated with sapphirine–spinel–sillimanite–magnetite assemblages have the highest Ti concentration of up to 57 ppm, yielding a temperature of 941°C, and suggesting that the growth of zircons occurred under ultrahigh-temperature conditions. The maximum temperatures obtained by the revised Ti-in-zircon geothermometer is lower than the equilibrium temperature of sapphirine + quartz, indicating an interval of cooling history of the granulites from UHT condition to ca. 940°C. Many of the zircons have Ti concentrations ranging from 10 to 33 ppm, indicating their growth or recrystallization under lower temperatures of ca. 745–870°C. These zircons are interpreted to have recrystallized during the retrograde stage indicated by microstructures such as cordierite rim or corona between spinel and quartz, and orthopyroxene–cordierite symplectite around garnet. Previous geochronological study on the zircons of the Tuguiwula UHT granulites gave a mean U–Pb SHRIMP age of 1.92 Ga. However, based on the Ti-in-zircon geothermometer results reported in this work, and considering the relatively slow thermal relaxation of these rocks, we infer that the timing of peak UHT metamorphism in the Tuguiwula area could be slightly older than 1.92 Ga.     

A 44-year high-resolution ocean and atmospheric hindcast for the Mediterranean Basin developed within the HIPOCAS Project

A set of 44-year (1958–2001) homogeneous and high-resolution hindcasts of atmospheric, sea level residuals, and wave states was performed for the Mediterranean Basin within the framework of the HIPOCAS European Project. To this aim, different numerical models were used. As a first step, a Mediterranean high-resolution atmospheric database, suitable to provide realistic and homogeneous forcing for ocean hindcast runs was generated. The HIPOCAS atmospheric database was created by means of dynamical downscaling from the global reanalysis NCEP, using for that the limited area model SN-REMO along with a spectral nudging technique. In a second stage, different Mediterranean oceanic hindcasts were performed. On one hand a long-term database of sea state over the western Mediterranean was generated by means of the wave model WAM and on the other hand a sea level residual database containing storm surge events was obtained from a long-term integration of the HAMSOM model over the entire basin. The three different hindcast runs have been exhaustively validated. On that score, various simulated parameters have been compared to both satellite and in situ measurements. Such comparisons provide a measure of the skills of the different simulated fields to realistically reproduce the observed features. Once these skills are evaluated, a study of the ocean and atmospheric climate trends as well as the interannual variability for the whole 44-year period was carried out with the hindcasted data. The reliability of the data as shown by its comparison to measurements and a proven temporal homogeneity over the 44 years of simulation make the Mediterranean HIPOCAS ocean–atmosphere hindcasted database a useful tool for studies focused on regional climatic variability, as well as for further applications in coastal and environmental decision processes in the Mediterranean area.     

Carbon,hydrogen and nitrogen isotopes in solvent-extractable organic matter from carbonaceous chondrites

Solvent extractions were done on the carbonaceous chondrites Murray, Murchison, Orgueil and Renazzo, using CCl₄ and CH₃OH. Between 2 and 10% of the total carbon in these meteorites is extractable by ordinary techniques, most of it in CH₃OH. After demineralization with HF, perhaps as much as 30% of the total carbon in Murray may be extractable with CH₃OH. The extracts from Renazzo have isotopic ratios which suggest that they are mainly terrestrial organic matter, with lesser contributions from indigenous organics. The CH₃OH-soluble organic matter from Murchison and both untreated and HF-treated Murray has δ¹³C values of about +5 to + 10%. and δ¹⁵N values of about +90 to +100%., both of which are significantly higher than the bulk meteorite values. The Orgueil CH₃OH-extract also has a δ¹⁵N value well above the value in residual organic matter. Values for δD of +300 to +500%. are found for the CH₃OH-soluble organic matter. The combined data for C, H and N isotopes makes it highly unlikely that the CH₃OH-soluble components are derivable from, or simply related to, the insoluble organic polymer found in the same meteorites. A relationship is suggested between the event that formed hydrous minerals in CI1 and CM2 meteorites and the introduction of water-soluble (methanol-soluble) organic compounds. Organic matter soluble in CCl₄ has essentially no nitrogen, and δ³C and δD values are lower than for CH₃OH-soluble phases. Either there are large isotopic fractionations for carbon and hydrogen between different soluble organic phases, or the less polar components are partially of terrestrial origin.     

Intra-oceanic settings of the western Mexico Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous arc sequences. Implications for the Pacific-Tethys geodynamic relationships during the Cretaceous

Abstract

The Guerrero suspect terrane composed of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous sequences, extends from Baja California up to Acapulco and is considered to be coeval with the Late Mesozoic igneous and sedimentary arc sequences of the Greater Antilles, Venezuela and Western Cordillera of Colombia. New geological, petrological and geochemical data from central and southern Mexico, led us to propose a new model for the building of the Alisitos-Teloloapan arc. This arc, partly built on the Pacific oceanic lithosphere and partly on continental fragments, could be related to the subduction of an oceanic basin - the Arperos basin - under the Paleo-Pacific plate. This subduction was dipping southwest.

At the beginning of the magmatic activity of the oceanic segment of this arc, depleted tholeiitic basalts were emitted in a submarine environnement below the CCD. While subduction was going on, the arc magmas evolved from LREE depleted tholeiites to slightly LREE enriched tholeiites and then, to calc-alkaline basalts and andesites enriched in LREE and HFSE. Concurrently, the arc sedimentary environment changed from deep oceanic to neritic with the deposition of Aptian-Albian reefal limestones, at the end of the arc building. In the continent-based segment, the arc magmas are exclusively differentiated calc-alkaline suites depleted in HREE and Y, formed of predominantly siliceous lavas and pyroclastic rocks, emitted in a sub-aerial or shallow marine environment.

Thus, taking into account this above mentioned model, the Cretaceous volcanic series, accreted to the margins of cratonal America, in Colombia, Venezuela, Greater Antilles and Mexico, could be related to the same west-south-west dipping subduction of oceanic basins, fringing the North and South American continental cratons and connected directly with the inter-American Tethys. While the subduction was proceeding, this magmatic arc drifted towards the North and South American cratons and finally, collided with the continental margins at different periods during the Cretaceous.     

位场小波变换研究进展

小波变换的具有多尺度分析的特点,在位场资料分析中得到了广泛应用.本文总结了位场小波变换的理论基础及应用现状,介绍了位场小波基函数的概念.小波分析可以应用于位场分离、去噪、反演及综合地质解释等分析.文中从小波的数学性质和物理意义等角度讨论了位场资料处理中小波基函数的选取问题.     

Cracking mechanisms during galena mineralization in a sandstone-hosted lead–zinc ore deposit: case study of the Jinding giant sulfide deposit, Yunnan, SW China

There are two types of lead–zinc ore bodies, i.e., sandstone-hosted ores (SHO) and limestone-hosted ores (LHO), in the Jinding giant sulfide deposit, Yunnan, SW China. Structural analysis suggests that thrust faults and dome structures are the major structural elements controlling lead–zinc mineralization. The two types of ore bodies are preserved in two thrust sheets in a three-layered structural profile in the framework of the Jinding dome structure. The SHO forms the cap of the dome and LHO bodies are concentrated beneath the SHO cap in the central part of the dome. Quartz, feldspar and calcite, and sphalerite, pyrite, and galena are the dominant mineral components in the sandstone-hosted lead–zinc ores. Quartz and feldspar occur as detrital clasts and are cemented by diagenetic calcite and epigenetic sulfides. The sulfide paragenetic sequence during SHO mineralization is from early pyrite to galena and late sphalerite. Galena occurs mostly in two types of cracks, i.e., crescent-style grain boundary cracks along quartz–pyrite, or rarely along pyrite–pyrite boundaries, and intragranular radial cracks in early pyrite grains surrounding quartz clasts. The radial cracks are more or less perpendicular to the quartz–pyrite grain boundaries and do not show any overall (whole rock) orientation pattern. Their distribution, morphological characteristics, and geometrical relationships with quartz and pyrite grains suggest the predominant role of grain-scale cracking. Thermal expansion cracking is one of the most important mechanisms for the generation of open spaces during galena mineralization. Cracking due to heating or cooling by infiltrating fluids resulted from upwelling fluid phases through fluid passes connecting the SHO and LHO bodies, provided significant spaces for crystallization of galena. The differences in coefficients of thermal expansion between pyrite and quartz led to a difference in volume changes between quartz grains and pyrite grains surrounding them and contributed to cracking of the pyrite grains when temperature changed. Combined thermal expansion and elastic mismatch due to heating and subsequent cooling resulted in the radial and crescent cracking in the pyrite grains and along the quartz–pyrite grain boundaries.     

Multi-stage reaction history in different eclogite types from the Pakistan Himalaya and implications for exhumation processes

Metabasites were sampled from rock series of the subducted margin of the Indian Plate, the so-called Higher Himalayan Crystalline, in the Upper Kaghan Valley, Pakistan. These vary from corona dolerites, cropping out around Saif-ul-Muluk in the south, to coesite–eclogite close to the suture zone against rocks of the Kohistan arc in the north. Bulk rock major- and trace- element chemistry reveals essentially a single protolith as the source for five different eclogite types, which differ in fabric, modal mineralogy as well as in mineral chemistry. The study of newly-collected samples reveals coesite (confirmed by in situ Raman spectroscopy) in both garnet and omphacite. All eclogites show growth of amphiboles during exhumation. Within some coesite-bearing eclogites the presence of glaucophane cores to barroisite is noted whereas in most samples porphyroblastic sodic–calcic amphiboles are rimmed by more aluminous calcic amphibole (pargasite, tschermakite, and edenite). Eclogite facies rutile is replaced by ilmenite which itself is commonly surrounded by titanite. In addition, some eclogite bodies show leucocratic segregations containing phengite, quartz, zoisite and/or kyanite. The important implication is that the complex exhumation path shows stages of initial cooling during decompression (formation of glaucophane) followed by reheating: a very similar situation to that reported for the coesite-bearing eclogite series of the Tso Morari massif, India, 450 km to the south-east.     

The mechanism of induced seismicity at mosul reservoir based on the first motion analysis

In 1986 shortly after the impounding of Mosul reservoir, shallow earthquakes began occurring in the immediate reservoir vicinity, with magnitudes up to ML 3.0, at rates of up to 3 events per week. These events were almost certainly reservoir-induced and coincided with steadily increasing water levels. Cluster of epicenters was observed in the area located within a complex fault zone called the Sinjar-Dohouk-Kuchuk fault system. The presence of such fault system considers a potential source of earthquakes. A composite fault plane solution, based on first p-wave motion analyses, indicates that the mechanisms of seismicity were right-lateral strike-slip faulting along N44°E plane dipping 58° NW, in conformity with the local tectonics.