Rheological gravity model of the crust and upper mantle of Transbaikalia

Based on rheological interpretation of formalized gravity models, earlier known deep-seated structures in the Earth’s crust and mantle of Transbaikalia have been detailed and new ones discovered. The structures are asymmetric and transverse relative to the Baikal rift zone. Their presence explains the peculiar features of the Baikal rift, including the one-way southeasterly direction of horizontal displacement of tectonic masses and northwestern migration of the Earth’s crust extension processes. The prolonged history (more than 250 Ma) of the Baikal rift zone and Transbaikalia mountainous country involved gravity or rotational detachments of rigid tectonic slabs from the craton and their sliding along intracrustal and subcrustal decollement zones into the above-dome area of the Transbaikalia asthenolith.     

The composition and age of the Argillite Sequence (sedimentary cover of the continental slope, Sea of Japan)

The Argillite Sequence located at the base of the sedimentary cover on the continental slope of the Sea of Japan was studied by petrographic, palynological, and X-ray diffraction methods. Two spores-pollen complexes were distinguished in it: the Late Oligocene reflecting cooling and the Early Miocene corresponding to initiated warming. The data obtained indicate that the sequence is composed of terrigenous silty-clayey sediments that accumulated in shallow coastal-marine settings. The global sea-level rise at the Early-Middle Miocene transition, combined with the regional tectonic processes, determined the basin deepening, owing to which the argillite sequence was overlain by thick Middle Miocene diatomaceous-clayey sediments. Due to tectonic movement along existing faults in the terminal Late Miocene, the argillite sequence occurring initially at depths of at least 400–500 m was locally exhumed to the basin bottom.     

The extreme diversity of uranium deposits

Most available classifications of uranium deposits are based on the characteristics of the host rocks or on the morphology of the ore deposits. The aim of the present paper is to propose the basis for a genetic classification of these deposits. After a short introduction on the geochemical behavior of uranium in fluids and silicate melts and on the main uranium fractionation mechanisms operating in uranium-rich peraluminous, metaluminous, and peralkaline melts, the most recent metallogenic models of the main types of uranium deposits are shortly reviewed.     

Metamorphic reactions in dry and aluminous granulites: a Perple_X <Emphasis Type="Italic">P–T</Emphasis> pseudosection analysis of the influence of effective reaction volume

In high-Mg, Al metapelites, monophase sapphirine corona occur around spinel–corundum aggregates in monomineralic cordierite layers, and bi-phase orthopyroxene–sillimanite aggregates replace locally warped sapphirine in polygonized cordierite aggregates. P–T phase topologies computed (Perple_X software) using compositions of cordierite-rich layers that host the reaction textures did not match the assemblages for the discontinuous reactions spinel + corundum + cordierite → sapphirine and sapphirine + cordierite → orthopyroxene + sillimanite. Instead, the reaction assemblages were reproduced using P–T pseudosection analysis for micro-domain reaction volumes estimated from compositions of product phases in the volume proportion they occur. The results are consistent with known phase relations deduced using Schreinmakers P–T grids. Apparently, the compositions of cordierite-rich layers that hosted the reaction textures were inadequate chemical proxies for determining P–T–X relations of phase-boundary controlled reactions influenced by compositions of the nearest-neighbor minerals in the proportion they react (effective composition), and not in the proportion they existed in the layer/bulk rock. In other words, P–T–X phase topologies and reconstructed P–T paths in dry and aluminous rocks may be best understood by thermodynamic modeling of reactions using effective reaction volume compositions rather than the bulk composition of the rock or the mineralogical layer that host the reaction textures.     

Quantification of adamantane in organic media via infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy

In the present study, the quantitative determination of the diamondoid compound adamantane in organic solvents via infrared attenuated total reflection (IR-ATR) spectroscopy at unmodified waveguide surfaces was established. Limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of adamantane in dichloromethane, hexane and carbon tetrachloride were determined. Quantitative IR-ATR measurements additionally facilitated the determination of adamantane solubility limit in dichloromethane, hexane and carbon tetrachloride. The developed analytical strategy further enabled the successful detection and quantification of adamantane in crude oil matrices. Consequently, IR-ATR spectroscopy provides a promising strategy for on ship and in situ diamondoid analysis in harsh real world environments.     

Chemical evolution and petrogenetic implications of loparite in the layered,agpaitic Lovozero complex,Kola Peninsula,Russia

Summary Lovozero, the largest of the world’s layered peralkaline intrusions, includes gigantic deposits of Nb + REE-loparite ore. Loparite, (Na,Ce,Ca)₂(Ti,Nb)₂O₆, became a cumulus phase after crystallisation of about 35% of the ‘Differentiated Complex’, and its compositional evolution has been investigated through a 2.35 km section of the intrusion. The composition of the cumulus loparite changes systematically upwards through the intrusion with an increase in Na, Sr, Nb and Th and decrease in REE and Ti. This main trend of loparite evolution records differentiation of the peralkaline magma through crystallisation of 1600 m of the intrusion. The formation of the loparite ores was the result of several factors including the chemical evolution of the highly alkaline magma and mechanical accumulation of loparite at the base of a convecting unit. At later stages of evolution, when concentrations of alkalis and volatiles reached very high levels, loparite reacted with the residual melt to form a variety of minerals including barytolamprophyllite, lomonosovite, steenstrupine-(Ce), vuonnemite, nordite, nenadkevichite, REE, Sr-rich apatite, vitusite-(Ce), mosandrite, monazite-(Ce), cerite and Ba, Si-rich belovite. The absence of loparite ore in the “Eudialyte complex” is likely to be a result of the wide crystallisation field of lamprophyllite, which here became a cumulus phase. Received November 6, 2000; revised version accepted January 18, 2001     

Basement-controlled faulting of Paleozoic strata in southern Ontario, Canada: new evidence from geophysical lineament mapping

Basement fault reactivation is now recognized as an important control on sedimentation and fault propagation in intracratonic basins. In southern Ontario, the basement consists of complexly structured mid-Proterozoic (ca. 1.2 Ga) crystalline rocks and metasedimentary rocks that are overlain by up to 1500 m of Paleozoic sedimentary strata. Reactivation of basement structures is suspected to control the location of Paleozoic fault and fracture systems, but evaluation has been hindered by a limited understanding of the regional structural characteristics of the buried basement. New aeromagnetic- and gravimetric-lineament mapping presented in this paper better resolves the location of basement discontinuities and provides further evidence for basement controls on the distribution of Paleozoic fault and fracture systems. Lineament mapping was facilitated by reprocessing and digital image enhancement (micro-levelling, regional residual separation, derivative filtering) of existing regional gravity and aeromagnetic datasets. Reprocessed images identify new details of the structural fabric of the basement below southern Ontario and delineate several previously unrecognized aeromagnetic and gravity lineaments and linear zones. Linear zones parallel the projected trends of mid-Proterozoic terrane boundaries identified by field mapping on the exposed shield to the north of the study area, and are interpreted as zones of shearing and basement faulting. Mapped aeromagnetic and gravity lineaments show similar trends to Paleozoic faults and fracture networks and broad zones of seismicity in southern Ontario. These new data support an ‘inheritance model’ for Paleozoic faulting, involving repeated reactivation and upward propagation of basement faults and fractures into overlying cover strata.     

A Model for the polar motion of the deformable Earth adequate for astrometric data

Refined analytical expressions for the frequencies corresponding to the Chandler motion of the pole and the diurnal rotation of the deformable Earth are derived. Numerical estimates of the period and amplitude of the polar oscillations are presented. The trajectory of the Chandler polar motion derived via numerical modeling is in qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental data from the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). An evolutionary model describing slow variations in the Earth’s rotation parameters under the action of the dissipative moments of the tidal gravitational forces on time scales considerably longer than the precession period of the Earth’s axis is constructed. The axis of the Earth’s figure tends to approach the angular momentum vector of the proper rotation.     

Groundwater flow and solute transport at the Mourquong saline-water disposal basin, Murray Basin, southeastern Australia

Saline groundwater and drainage effluent from irrigation are commonly stored in some 200 natural and artificial saline-water disposal basins throughout the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia. Their impact on underlying aquifers and the River Murray, one of Australia's major water supplies, is of serious concern. In one such scheme, saline groundwater is pumped into Lake Mourquong, a natural groundwater discharge complex. The disposal basin is hydrodynamically restricted by low-permeability lacustrine clays, but there are vulnerable areas in the southeast where the clay is apparently missing. The extent of vertical and lateral leakage of basin brines and the processes controlling their migration are examined using (1) analyses of chloride and stable isotopes of water (²H/¹H and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O) to infer mixing between regional groundwater and lake water, and (2) the variable-density groundwater flow and solute-transport code SUTRA. Hydrochemical results indicate that evaporated disposal water has moved at least 100 m in an easterly direction and that there is negligible movement of brines in a southerly direction towards the River Murray. The model is used to consider various management scenarios. Salt-load movement to the River Murray was highest in a "worst-case" scenario with irrigation employed between the basin and the River Murray. Present-day operating conditions lead to little, if any, direct movement of brine from the basin into the river. Electronic Publication