Pattern and timing of late Cenozoic rapid exhumation and uplift of the Helan Mountain,China

The Helan Mountain, an intraplate deformation belt in the North China Craton, is located in the northern portion of the China North-South seismic belt, and at the northwestern margin of the Ordos Block. The Cenozoic deformation history of the Helan Mountain is characterized by extension along the eastern Helan Mountain fault (EHSF), resulting in the exhumation and uplift of the Helan Mountain, relative to the rifting of the adjacent Yinchuan Basin. Here we present new apatite fission track (AFT) data from several transects adjacent to the EHSF in the central and northern Helan Mountain. AFT ages from the northern Helan Mountain (Dawukou and Zhengyiguan transects) range from 10 Ma to 89 Ma, whereas AFT ages from the southern Helan Mountain (Suyukou transect) are greater than 71 Ma. The AFT data analysis reveals initiation of rapid uplift and exhumation of the Helan Mountain at 10–12 Ma. Additionally, a plot of the AFT ages versus their mean track length shows a distinctive "boomerang" pattern indicating that the Helan Mountain experienced a discrete phase of accelerated exhumation beginning at 10-12 Ma. Spatially, AFT samples systematically increase in age away from the EHSF and are consistent with late Cenozoic exhumation that was slow in the southwestern Helan Mountain and rapid in the northeastern Helan Mountain, as well more rapid adjacent to the EHSF and slower away from the EHSF. Obviously, the spatial distribution of late Cenozoic exhumation indicates that normal faulting of the EHSF is related to southwestward tilting and rapid exhumation of the Helan Mountain beginning at 10–12 Ma. The uplift and exhumation of the Helan Mountain was a response to the intensive extension of the northwestern margin of the Ordos Block in the late Cenozoic; this occurred under a regional extensional stress field oriented NW-SE along the Yinchuan-Jilantai-Hetao and the Weihe-Shanxi graben systems adjacent to the Ordos Block.     

Origin of CO_2 in natural gas from the Triassic Feixianguan Formation of Northeast Sichuan Basin

The natural gas from the Triassic Feixianguan Formation of Northeast Sichuan Basin contains high H2S whereas relatively low CO2 concentrations and the CO2 display high δ13C values (ranging from -5.81‰ to 3.3‰ (PDB)). This seems to contradict the conventional wisdom that TSR should be a primary source of CO2 in natural gas from the Feixianguan Formation. In contrast, many authigenic calcite samples from these sites display very low δ13C values (ranging from -18.4‰ to -10.3‰ (PDB)). This suggests that the carbon from TSR source dominated the formation of calcite whereas the carbon from inorganic source came into CO2 in natural gas. In order to assess the origin of CO2 from these H2S-rich sites, we have calculated the relative contributions of organic and inorganic carbon sources to the CO2 and authigenic calcite. The organic carbon source possibly originated from TSR, whereas the inorganic one might be generated from marine carbonates dissolution. This calculation is based on the carbon isotopic compositions of CO2 and authigenic calcite as well as an isotopic mass balance. The results show that the contribution of organic carbon source to the CO2 is only 2%, whereas that to authigenic calcite is as high as 43% on average. Such results combined with thermodynamic evidence indicate that the isotopically light CO2 produced by TSR process may contribute to authigenic calcite precipitation during burial diagenesis. Distinguishable from Ordovician reservoir of Tarim Basin, Feixianguan reservoir of Northeast Sichuan Basin experienced rapid tectonic uplift due to Yanshanian movement after TSR occurred. Such tectonic event could induce temperature decrease and further promote carbonates dissolution. During these processes, secondary porosity has developed in Feixianguan carbonate reservoirs. Therefore, much attention should be paid to the structural highs in search of high quality carbonate reservoirs.     

Fast and dynamic generation of linear octrees for geological bodies under hardware acceleration

In the application of 3D Geoscience Modeling,we often need to generate the volumetric representations of geological bodies from their surface representations.Linear octree,as an efficient and easily operated volumetric model,is widely used in 3D Geoscience Modeling.This paper proposes an algorithm for fast and dynamic generation of linear octrees of geological bodies from their surface models under hardware acceleration.The Z-buffers are used to determine the attributes of octants and voxels in a fast way,a...     

The formation and evolution of Chepaizi-Mosuowan paleo-uplift and its control on the distributions of sedimentary facies in the Junggar Basin

The Chepaizi-Mosuowan paleo-uplift is a large-scale uplift stretching across the Junggar Basin formed during the Yanshanian. It has experienced four evolutionary stages: the initial forming stage (J1), the intense development stage (J2+3), the waning and burial stage (K-E), and the tilting and extinction stage (N-Q). The most intense period of activities is the Middle Jurassic. Dur-ing the Early Jurassic, the Chepaizi-Mosuowan paleo-structure was a low amplitude uplift. Because of the subsequent strong upli...     

Turbulent intensity and its similarity function over an Inner Mongolian grassland during spring

Macroscopic reason for the development of turbulences in fluid is the conjunction action of velocity and temperature shears. We use the 2008 spring flux observations in the surface layer over Inner Mongolian grassland, obtain the similarity functions of turbulent intensity under different stratification stability conditions, and calculate the clear day turbulent intensity in the spring, which is then analyzed and compared with the observed values of turbulent intensity. The results show that in the Inner Mo...     

Analysis of expressed sequence tags from the Ulva prolifera (Chlorophyta)

In 2008,a green tide broke out before the sailing competition of the 29th Olympic Games in Qingdao.The causative species was determined to be Enteromorpha prolifera (Ulva prolifera O.F.Müller),a familiar green macroalga along the coastline of China.Rapid accumulation of a large biomass of floating U.prolifera prompted research on different aspects of this species.In this study,we constructed a nonnormalized cDNA library from the thalli of U.prolifera and acquired 10 072 high-quality expressed sequence tags ...     

Nutrient compositions of cultured Skeletonema costatum,Chaetoceros curvisetus,and Thalassiosira nordenskildii

We cultured different-sized fractions of dominant phytoplankton species,Skeletonema costatum,Chaetoceros curvisetus,and Thalassiosira nordenski ldii,collected in different sea areas in various seasons,and measured and compared their C,N,P,Si contents.The N content of these species is similar,while the C,P,and Si contents of S.costatum from eutrophic Changjiang (Yangtze River) estuary are higher than those from Jiaozhou Bay (JZB),particularly the content of Si.The C,N,P,and Si contents of cultured phytoplank...     

峡口高地应力软岩隧道施工监测及支护对策研究

针对高应力软岩公路隧道的特点,对湖北宜巴高速公路峡口隧道开展了地应力测试、隧洞收敛下沉、接触应力、结构受力等项目的监测工作。地应力测试结果表明,虽然隧洞埋深不大,但由于构造应力的存在,仍属于高地应力区。施工监测结果表明,高应力软岩隧道变形与结构受力具有明显的时空效应,与开挖方式、工作面距离以及支护时机密切相关。由于隧洞围岩软弱破碎,加之处于高应力作用下,在工作面通过后,岩体产生持续性的流变变形,导致隧洞产生挤压大变形和结构受力的持续增加,达到支护结构强度极限,最终导致围岩失稳和支护体系的失效。基于上述研究成果,提出了相应的高应力软岩大变形支护设计对策。研究成果为高应力软岩隧道变形与结构受力的时空效应性提供了监测数据支持,为峡口隧道的施工和支护设计提供了依据,对我国西部其他高应力软岩公路隧道的建设具有借鉴意义     

Sensitivity of sea ice and ocean simulations to sea ice salinity in a coupled global climate model

The impacts of the spatiotemporal variations of sea ice salinity on sea ice and ocean characteristics have not been studied in detail, as the existing climate models neglect or misrepresent this process. To address this issue, this paper formulated a parameterization with more realistic sea ice salinity budget, and examined the sensitivity of sea ice and ocean simulations to the ice salinity variations and associated salt flux into the ocean using a coupled global climate model. Results show that the inclus...     

Conductivity structure and rheological property of lithosphere in Southern Tibet inferred from super-broadband magnetotelluric sounding

To understand deep lithosphere structure beneath the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau more comprehensively and objectively and to explore important scientific issues,such as characteristics of plateau lithospheric deformation,state of strain,thermal structure,plate (or terrane) movement,and crust-mantle rheology,it is necessary to research the variation of crust-mantle electrical structure in the east-west direction in every geological unit.For this purpose,six super-broadband magnetotelluric (MT) sounding profiles ha...