Ongonite from Ongon Khairkhan,Mongolia

Summary Albite-topaz kerotophyres, termed ongonites, were discovered byV. I. Kovalenko and coworkers at Ongon Khairkhan in Mongolia in 1970. The type area was revisited, described, resampled, the new data is compared with the earlier data and that from similar rocks elsewhere (Beauvoir and Cinovec granites; Macusani glass).Ongonites are fluorine-rich peraluminous sodic two feldspar granitoids with orthoclase and albite phenocrysts, high modal and normative albite content and the presence of topaz as common accessory mineral. They contain variable amounts of lithium micas or muscovite. Chemically, ongonite is similar to highly fractionated S-type or ilmenite series granitoids. In the type area, F-rich water-poor ongonite melts have intruded to a high crustal level.Ongonite displays a long history of subsolidus reactions and hydrothermal alteration. The hydrothermal alteration may be linked to a spatially associated quartz-wolframite stockwork not genetically related to ongonite. Ongonite has a low W content and an elevated Sn content despite a lack of association with Sn deposits.

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Ongonite von Ongon Khairkhan, Mongolei

Zusammenfassung Albit-Topas-Keratophyre, auch als Ongonite bezeichnet, wurden 1970 von V. E. Kowalenko und Mitarbeitern bei Ongon Khairkhan in der Mongolei entdeckt. Die TypLokalität wurde beschrieben und beprobt und die neuen Daten werden mit den früher erhaltenen, und denen von ähnlichen Gesteinen in anderen Bereichen (die Granite von Beauvoir und Cinovec, das Glas von Macusani) verglichen.Ongonite sind Fluor- und Aluminiumreiche (Peraluminous), zwei-Feldspat-Natriumgranitoide mit idiomorphen Orthoklasen und Albit, hohem modalem und normativem Albitgehalt, und Topas als verbreitetem Nebenmineral. Sie führen wechselnde Gehalte von Lithiumglimmern oder Muskovit. Chemisch sind Ongonite stark fraktionierten S-Typ Granitoiden vergleichbar oder auch Granitoiden der Ilmenit-Serie. Im Gebiet der Typlokalität sind fluorreiche wasserarme Ongonit-Schmelzen in ein hohes Krustenniveau intrudiert worden.Ongonite zeigen eine lange Geschichte von Subsolidusreaktionen und hydrothermaler Umwandlung. Die hydrothermale Umwandlung kann mit einem räumlich assoziiertem Quarz-Wolframit Stockwerk in Beziehung gesetzt werden, das genetisch nicht mit den Ongoniten zusammenhängt. Ongonit hat einen niedrigen Wolframgehalt und einen erhöhten Zinngehalt, obwohl keine Assoziation mit Zinnlagerstätten zu beobachten ist.

     

The responses of different ethnic groups in the Sudan to rural-urban migration

The ethnic identities of the various population groups in the Sudan are a product of their specific natural and social environments. The migration of these groups to the towns, especially to Greater Khartoum, involves a drastic change of cultural norms and values. However, the capability of change and the subsequent results are strongly conditioned by the specific background of each ethnic group and by the conditions in its area of origin. This is being proved by a comparative study on three ethnic groups in the Sudan: the Nuba, the Zaghawa and the Hadandawa.     

Denudation,vertical crustal movements and sedimentary basin infill

Denudation and vertical crustal movements are linked through the isostatic equation for conservation of lithospheric mass. Recent empirical results from a wide range of sources are presented on the rates of these processes. Denudation alone can cause non-tectonic (isostatic) surface uplift of the right magnitude predicted by theory. A case is made, following Ahnert, for a single linear relationship (although with much scatter) between denudation rate and mean drainage basin relief for large basins. Some recent determinations of denudational time constants have neglected to include tectonic and isostatic terms which oppose the reduction of relief by denudation. Application of diffusional transport models to determine the rate of sediment deposition are severely limited by inherent one-dimensionality and neglect of suspended and washload contributions. Basin infill sequences may be used to determine past sediment transfer coefficients from a hinterland, but problems arise in the apportionment of the various hinterland fluxes that occur in »real-world« three dimensional basins. Sediment yields in smaller half-graben and growth fold basins must reflect the magnitude of drainage basins and the complex local controls upon sediment yields. Examples are given from extensional basins in the Western USA and Greece. The »length« of tectonic relief produced in tilt blocks and growth folds will control the area of drainage basin developed (through the fractal form of Hack's Law) and hence the magnitude of deposition in sedimentary basins adjoining tectonic uplands.

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Zusammenfassung Denudation und vertikale Krustenbewegungen sind verbunden durch das isostatische Gesetz über den Erhalt der lithosphärischen Masse. Neuerliche empirische Ergebnisse aus einem weiten Quellenbereich werden im Verhältnis zu diesen Prozessen präsentiert. Denudation allein, kann nicht tektonisch bedingte (isostatische) Oberflächenhebungen hervorrufen, die in der richtigen Größenordnung liegen, wie sie auch theoretisch ermittelt wurden. Es wird in Anlehnung an Ahnert ein Fall geschaffen, in der eine einfach lineare Beziehung (obgleich mit vielen Streuungen) zwischen der Denudationsrate und dem durchschnittlichen Abflußbeckenrelief für große Becken vorliegt. Einige neue Ermittlungen der Denudationszeitkonstanten wurden vernachlässigt, um tektonische und isostatische Begriffe einzufügen, welche sich der Verringerung des Reliefs durch Denudation widersetzen. Die Anwendung des Verbreitungstransportmodells zum Bestimmen der Sedimentationsrate sind streng begrenzt durch die ihm innewohnende Eindimensionalität, und der Vernachlässigung der Schwebe- und Schwämmfrachtbeteiligung. Bekkenfüllungssequenzen können benutzt werden um vergangene Sedimenttransferkoeffizienten aus dem Hinterland festzulegen; aber es treten auch Probleme bei der Verteilung der verschiedenen Hinterlandeinträge auf, die bei einem realen dreidimensionalen Becken vorhanden sind. Sedimenteinträge in kleineren Halbgräben und Growth-fold Becken müssen die Größe des Abflußbeckens widerspiegeln, sowie die komplexen lokalen Steuerungen auf die Sedimenteinträge. Beispiele von Dehnungsbecken aus dem Westen der USA und Griechenlands werden angesprochen. Die Länge des tektonischen Reliefs in verkippten Blöcken und Growth-Folds wird die Fläche des entwickelten Abflußbeckens kontrollieren (durch die fraktale Form des Gesetzes von Hack), und daher die Ablagerungsmenge von Sedimentbecken in der Nähe von tektonischen Hochlagen.

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Résumé L'érosion et les mouvements crustaux verticaux sont liés par l'équation isostatique de conservation de la masse lithosphérique. Des résultats empiriques récents provenant d'un large éventail de sources sont présentés en relation avec ces processus. L'érosion seule peut être la cause d'une montée non tectonique (isostatique) dont l'ampleur est prévue exactement par la théorie. Un cas est présenté, d'après Ahnert, qui montre, pour de grands bassins, une relation linéaire simple (mais avec une forte dispersion des points) entre le taux de dénudation et le relief moyen de l'aire de drainage. Certaines déterminations récentes des constantes de temps de dénudation ont omis de tenir compte des termes tectonique et isostatique qui s'opposent à la destruction du relief par érosion. L'utilisation de modèles de transport diffus en vue de déterminer le taux d'accumulation des sédiments est sévèrement limitée par le caractère unidimensionnel de tels modèles et par le fait qu'il ne tiennent pas compte de la fraction en suspension. Les séquences de comblement d'un bassin sédimentaire peuvent être utilisées pour déterminer les anciens cfficients de transfert à partir de l'hinterland; mais des difficultés surgissent à propos de la répartition des différents flux en provenance de l'hinterland dans le cas réel d'un bassin à 3 dimensions. Les apports sédimentaires dans les bassins de demi-graben et de »growth-fold« doivent traduire la grandeur des aires de drainage et les facteurs locaux complexes qui régissent ces apports. Des exemples sont présentés, relatifs à des bassins d'extension de l'ouest des USA et de Grèce. La »longueur« des reliefs tectoniques en relation avec les blocs basculés et les »growth-folds« déterminent, par la forme fractale de la loi de Hack, la surface des aires de drainage ainsi engendrées et, en conséquence, l'importance des dépôts dans les bassins sédimentaires voisins des reliefs tectoniques.

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African linkage of Precambrian Sri Lanka

New age and isotopic data show that the high-grade basement rocks of Sri Lanka were not linked to the Archaean granulite domain of southern India but experienced their main structural and metamorphic development during the Pan-African event some 950 to 550 Ma ago. This occurred when West Gondwana and East Gondwana collided to form one of the longest collisional structures in the Supercontinent — the Mozambique belt that extends from Mozambique to Ethiopia and Sudan. A major tectonic boundary, interpreted as a thrust zone, divides the Highland/Southwestern Complex in the central part of Sri Lanka from the Vijayan Complex in the E and SE. The former is interpreted to represent the remnant of a once extensive passive margin extending west, in a Gondwana reconstruction, via Madagasgar to Tanzania and Mozambique. The Vijayan Complex may have been part of a separate continental margin plutonic assemblage, and its collision with the Highland/ Southwestern Complex marks the final amalgamation of East and West Gondwana into a supercontinent some 550 Ma ago. The Sri Lankan granulites cannot be correlated with the distinctly older granulites of the Eastern Ghats belt of India, and this suggests that Sri Lanka was situated close to the SE coast of Madagascar in a Gondwana reconstruction.

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Zusammenfassung Neue Isotopen- und Altersdaten aus dem metamorphen Grundgebirge von Sri Lanka zeigen, daß dieses Gebiet nicht, wie vielfach vermutet, Teil des archaischen Granulitkomplexes von Südindien war, sondern seine strukturelle und metamorphe Entwicklung während der panafrikanischen Orogenèse zwischen ca. 950 Ma und ca. 550 Ma hatte. Diese Orogenèse ist das Resultat der Kollision zwischen West-Gondwana (Afrika und Südamerika) und Ost-Gondwana (Südindien, Australien und Antarktis) und führte zur Bildung eines der längsten Kollisionsgürtel des Superkontinentes, dem Mosambik-Gürtel, der sich von Mosambik bis nach Äthiopien und in den Sudan erstreckt. Der West- und Zentralteil Sri Lankas mit den Wanni und Highland/Southwestern Komplexen wird vom Vijayan Komplex im Osten und Südosten durch eine Überschiebungszone getrennt, die möglicherweise eine Sutur darstellt. Die Gesteine im Westen und in den Highlands werden als der Rest eines ehemals weiträumigen passiven Kontinentalrandes interpretiert, zu dem wohl auch die lithologisch ähnlichen Abfolgen der hochmetamorphen Gebiete in Mosambik, Tansania und Madagaskar gehörten. Der Vijayan Komplex war wohl Teil der separaten plutonischen Suite eines aktiven Kontinentalrandes, und seine Kollision mit dem Highland/ Southwestern Komplex markiert das endgültige Verschweißen von West- und Ost-Gondwana zu einem Superkontinent vor ca. 550 Ma. Die Granulite Sri Lankas können nicht mit den deutlich älteren Granuliten des Gürtels der Eastern Ghats in Südost Indien korreliert werden sondern ähneln eher den hochgradigen Gesteinen in Südost Madagaskar. Damit ist die Lage Sri Lankas nahe Madagaskar in einer Gondwana Rekonstruktion wahrscheinlicher als nahe der Südostküste Indiens.

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Résumé De nouvelles données isotopiques et géochronologiques montrent que les roches métamorphiques du socle du Sri Lanka ne constituent pas, comme on l'a souvent cru, une partie du complexe granulitique archéen de l'Inde méridionale, mais qu'elles ont vécu leur propre histoire tectono-métamorphique au cours de l'orogenèse panafricaine, entre 950 et 550 Ma. Cette orogenèse est le résultat de la collision entre le Gondwana occidental (Afrique et Amérique du Sud) et le Gondwana oriental (Inde du sud, Australie et Antarctique) et constitue une des plus grandes chaînes de collision du Supercontinent: la chaîne du Mozambique, qui s'étend du Mozambique jusqu'au Soudan et en Ethiopie. Un contact tectonique majeur, interprété comme un charriage, sépare le »Highland/South-western Complex« (partie centrale du Sri Lanka) du »Vijayan Complex« (partie est et sud-est). Le premier de ces complexes est interprété comme un reste d'une ancienne marge passive de grande étendue, à laquelle appartenaient aussi les séries lithologiquement analogues du domaine très métamorphique du Mozambique, de Tanzanie et de Madagascar. Le «Vijagan Complex« a pu être une partie d'un ensemble plutonique séparé de marge active; sa collision avec le »Highland/Southwestern Complex« marque la réunion finale en un super-continent il y a quelque 550 Ma, des Gondwanas oriental et occidental. Les granulites du Sri Lanka ne peuvent pas être corrélées avec celles de la chaîne des Eastern Ghats (Inde du sud-est) qui sont nettement plus anciennes; elles se rapprochent plutôt des roches très métamorphiques du sud-est de Madagascar. On en déduit que la position du Sri Lanka, dans une reconstruction du Gondwana, devait être plus proche de Madagascar que de la côte sud de l'Inde.

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Archean high-Mg monzodiorite–syenite,epidote skarn,and biotite–sericite gold lodes in the Granny Smith–Wallaby district,Australia: U–Pb and Re–Os chronometry of two intrusion-related hydrothermal systems

The Granny Smith (37 t Au production) and Wallaby deposits (38 t out of a 180 t Au resource) are located northeast of Kalgoorlie, in 2.7 Ga greenstones of the Eastern Goldfields Province, the youngest orogenic belt of the Yilgarn craton, Western Australia. At Granny Smith, a zoned monzodiorite–granodiorite stock, dated by a concordant titanite–zircon U–Pb age of 2,665 ± 3 Ma, cuts across east-dipping thrust faults. The stock is fractured but not displaced and sets a minimum age for large-scale (1 km) thrust faulting (D2), regional folding (D1), and dynamothermal metamorphism in the mining district. The local gold–pyrite mineralization, controlled by fractured fault zones, is younger than 2,665 ± 3 Ma. In augite–hornblende monzodiorite, alteration progressed from a hematite-stained alkali feldspar–quartz–calcite assemblage and quartz–molybdenite–pyrite veins to a late reduced sericite–dolomite–albite assemblage. Gold-related monazite and xenotime define a U–Pb age of 2,660 ± 5 Ma, and molybdenite from veins a Re–Os isochron age of 2,661 ± 6 Ma, indicating that mineralization took place shortly after the emplacement of the main stock, perhaps coincident with the intrusion of late alkali granite dikes. At Wallaby, a NE-trending swarm of porphyry dikes comprising augite monzonite, monzodiorite, and minor kersantite intrudes folded and thrust-faulted molasse. The conglomerate and the dikes are overprinted by barren (<0.01 g/t Au) anhydrite-bearing epidote–actinolite–calcite skarn, forming a 600-m-wide and >1,600-m-long replacement pipe, which is intruded by a younger ring dike of syenite porphyry pervasively altered to muscovite + calcite + pyrite. Skarn and syenite are cut by pink biotite–calcite veins, containing magnetite + pyrite and subeconomic gold–silver mineralization (Au/Ag = 0.2). The veins are associated with red biotite–sericite–calcite–albite alteration in adjacent monzonite dikes. Structural relations and the concordant titanite U–Pb age of the skarn constrain intrusion-related mineralization to 2,662 ± 3 Ma. The main-stage gold–pyrite ore (Au/Ag >10) forms hematite-stained sericite–dolomite–albite lodes in stacked D2 reverse faults, which offset skarn, syenite, and the biotite–calcite veins by up to 25 m. The molybdenite Re–Os age (2,661 ± 10 Ma) of the ore suggests a genetic link to intrusive activity but is in apparent conflict with a monazite–xenotime U–Pb age (2,651 ± 6 Ma), which differs from that of the skarn at the 95% confidence level. The time relationships at both gold deposits are inconsistent with orogenic models invoking a principal role for metamorphic fluids released during the main phase of compression in the fold belt. Instead, mineralization is related in space and time to late-orogenic, magnetite-series, high-Mg monzodiorite–syenite intrusions of mantle origin, characterized by Mg/(Mg + Fe_TOTAL) = 0.31–0.57, high Cr (34–96 ppm), Ni (22–63 ppm), Ba (1,056–2,321 ppm), Sr (1,268–2,457 ppm), Th (15–36 ppm), and rare earth elements (total REE: 343–523 ppm). At Wallaby, shared Ca–K–CO₂ metasomatism and Th-REE enrichment (in allanite) link Au–Ag mineralization in biotite–calcite veins to the formation of the giant epidote skarn, implicating a Th + REE-rich syenite pluton at depth as the source of the oxidized hydrothermal fluid. At Granny Smith, lead isotope data and the Rb–Th–U signature of early hematite-bearing wall-rock alteration point to fluid released by the source pluton of the differentiated alkali granite dikes.     

Groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling at an air weapons range

Numerical modelling was done at the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, Canada, to test whether the dissolved RDX and nitrate detected in groundwater come from the same sources, and to predict whether contamination poses a threat to the surface water receptors near the site. Military live fire training activities may indeed pose a risk of contamination to groundwater resources, however field investigations on military bases are quite recent, and little information is available on the long-term behaviour of munition residues related contaminants. Very limited information was available about the contaminant source zones, which were assigned based on our knowledge of current training activities. The RDX plume was well represented with the model, but the heterogeneous distribution of nitrate concentrations was more difficult to reproduce. It was nonetheless determined that both contaminants originate from the same areas. According to the model, both contaminants should reach the nearby river, but concentrations in the river should remain very low if the source zone concentration does not change. Finally, the model allowed the recommendation of a new location for the main bombing target, which would offer added protection to the river and the lake into which it flows.     

Partitioning of Na between olivine and melt: An experimental study with application to the formation of meteoritic Na2O-rich chondrule glass and refractory forsterite grains

We report experimentally determined 1 atm olivine/melt D_Na partitioning data for low f_O2, a variety of melt compositions and a temperature range of 1325-1522 °C. We demonstrated that high-current electron microprobe analyses (EPMA, I = 500 nA, 600 s on the peak) allow quantitative determination of Na₂O in olivine down to ∼10 μg/g. The mean olivine/melt D_Na from 12 experimental runs is 0.0031 ± 0.0007 (1σ). This is the recommended value for low pressures and a wide range of natural compositions.This result is applied to the problem of the origin of alkalis in chondrules and the formation of chondritic refractory forsterite grains. The data on Semarkona (LL3.0) chondrules show that Na₂O is primordial and was present during olivine crystallization. For refractory forsterite grains from Murchison (CM2), we demonstrate that high CaO contents are not a result of equilibration with Na₂O-rich melts, but require high activities of CaO during their formation.     

Feasibility of pre-earthquake strengthening of buildings based on cost-benefit and life-cycle cost analysis, with the aid of fragility curves

There are two fundamental questions this article aims to deal with. First, whether a pre-earthquake strengthening of a large and heterogeneous building stock (the emphasis here is on building types common in S. Europe), is economically feasible or not, and second what is the optimal retrofit level for mitigating the seismic risk. To this purpose contemporary decision making tools, namely cost-benefit and life-cycle cost analyses, are tailored to the needs of the present study, and implemented with the aid of an ad-hoc developed new software application (COBE06). A method for estimating the reduction in structural vulnerability due to retrofit is proposed, as well as a methodology to determine the optimum retrofit level using the fragility curve approach. Finally, the proposed methodology is used in a pilot application that concerns the city of Thessaloniki, and results are drawn for the feasibility of strengthening the reinforced concrete building stock in this city.     

The Nordic geological surveys： Geology for society in practice

Since the mid-nineteenth century., when the first of the Nordic Geological Surveys were established, they have generated a substantial amount of information on the Earth＇s crust, its natural resources, its processes, and on the geological history of Nordic areas. The collective mission of the geological surveys is to carry out ＂Geology for Society＂, by doing research and providing services, and by making geological information and data easily accessible to all the varied end users in industry, government agencies, government institutes, public administrations, technical offices, academia and research institutes, as well as for private individuals. The present paper gives a brief overview of a few, selected, research areas and projects currently undertaken by the Nordic geological surveys. These serve as practical examples of how the Nordic geological surveys address important societal problems and challenges that require geological input for their solution.