A cyclicity in the early brigantian (D2) limestones east of the clwydian range,north wales and its use in correlation

For the first time, minor cyclicity is described from some limestones in the lower part of the Brigantian (D2) succession of the Mold district North Wales which can be traced throughout the area enabling a detailed correlation to be established. The minor cyclicity may have been caused by eustatic sea-level fluctuations. Periods of emergence associated with each regressive phase are demonstrated by the presence of subaerial features and terrestrial deposits. The lateral persistence of the cycles is confirmed by comparison with established faunal and lithological horizons. Correlation with other cyclic Brigantian strata in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Bristol is briefly discussed. The Asbian/Brigantian (D1/D2) boundary in North Wales is described and distinctive faunal and lithological changes similar to those in the area of the stratotype in north England have been recorded.     

Archaeal Communities of Frozen Quaternary Sediments of Marine Origin on the Coast of Western Spitsbergen

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The archaeal composition of permafrost samples taken during the drilling of frozen marine sediments in the area of the Barentsburg coal mine on the east...     

Age and geochemistry of zircon from the oldest metamorphic rocks of the Omolon Massif (Northeast Russia)

This study provides SHRIMP-RG data on zircons from garnet gedritites, the products of retrograde metamorphism of eclogite-like rocks constituting belonging to the basement of the Omolon Massif. The earliest episode recorded by oscillatory-zoned cores having high HREE and Ti contents occurred at 3.25–3.22 Ga (Paleoarchean) and is interpreted to represent an upper age limit of a metamorphic or magmatic protolith. One zircon core with a pronounced negative Eu anomaly yielded a concordant age of 2.6 Ga, which is interpreted to mark a Neoarchean episode of granite formation. The studied population of zircons provides the most distinct record of a Paleoproterozoic (1.9 Ga) event, which is marked by formation of garnet gedritites under amphibolite-facies conditions. This event is recorded by transparent recrystallization rims of preexisting large zircon grains and small newly-formed grains, which are characterized, compared with their cores, by lower crystallization temperatures and one order of magnitude lower concentrations of U, Th, and HREE, and the presence of garnet micro-inclusions.     

ESRO-1 AND ESRO-4: A model of the U.T. effect in electron density at middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere

The electron density observations made using ESRO-1 and ESRO-4 near solar maximum and solar minimum, respectively, show a strong longitudinal variation at middle latitudes in the southern hemisphere. The peak of this sinusoidal variation occurs at around 7 hr U.T. and decreases exponentially in size from about 300 km (depending on local time, season, solar flux) with increasing or decreasing altitude. During local summer conditions the amplitude is larger than during local winter conditions and particularly high values occur near the solar maximum. Selecting data from magnetically quiet periods, a quantitative model is constructed of the UT-eflect in the topside electron densities.     

The sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Amur River and North Sakhalin Basin: new evidence from seismic stratigraphy and Neogene–Recent sediment budgets

The North Sakhalin Basin in the western Sea of Okhotsk has been the main site of sedimentation from the Amur River since the Early Miocene. In this article, we present regional seismic reflection data and a Neogene–Recent sediment budget to constrain the evolution of the basin and its sedimentary fill, and consider the implications for sediment flux from the Amur River, in particular testing models of continental‐scale Neogene drainage capture. The Amur‐derived basin‐fill history can be divided into five distinct stages: the first Amur‐derived sediments (>21–16.5 Ma) were deposited during a period of transtension along the Sakhalin‐Hokkaido Shear Zone, with moderately high sediment flux to the basin (71 Mt year^?1). The second stage sequence (16.5–10.4 Ma) was deposited following the cessation of transtension, and was characterised by a significant reduction in sediment flux (24 Mt year^?1) and widespread retrogradation of deltaic sediments. The third (10.4–5.3 Ma) and fourth (5.3–2.5 Ma) stages were characterised by progradation of deltaic sediments and an associated increase in sediment flux (48–60 Mt year^?1) to the basin. Significant uplift associated with regional transpression started during this time in southeastern Sakhalin, but the north‐eastward propagating strain did not reach the NE shelf of Sakhalin until the Pleistocene (<2.5 Ma). This uplift event, still ongoing today, resulted in recycling of older deltaic sediments from the island of Sakhalin, and contributed to a substantially increased total sediment flux to the adjacent basinal areas (165 Mt year^?1). Adjusted rates to discount these local erosional products (117 Mt year^?1) imply an Amur catchment‐wide increase in denudation rates during the Late Pliocene–Pleistocene; however, this was likely a result of global climatic and eustatic effects, combined with tectonic processes within the Amur catchment and possibly a smaller drainage capture event by the Sungari tributary, rather than continental‐scale drainage capture involving the entire upper Amur catchment.     

First data on the noble metal geochemistry of the rocks from the gabbro-anorthosite massifs of the Kalar group

This paper addresses the geochemical features of the noble metal disseminated sulfide and Timagnetite mineralization in the rocks of the Kalar group of autonomous gabbro-anorthosite massifs. The investigations suggest that this mineralization was formed in two stages. The first stage is related to the gabbroanorthosites proper and may be promising for low-sulfide PGE mineralization as well as PGE-bearing Ti-magnetite mineralization, while the second stage is linked to the ultrabasic intrusions associated with copper-nickel or chromite mineralization accompanying by PGE. The horizons of low-sulfide mineralization in the gabbro-anorthosites and copper-nickel mineralization in the dunite-pyroxenites are characterized by the Pd predominance over Pt, while the Cr-bearing and Ti-magnetite ores show the Pt predominance over Pd.     

Gold–quartz deposits of the Zhdaninsky ore–placer cluster,eastern Yakutia: Structural control and formation conditions

Gold deposits and occurrences small in reserves and high in Au grade conventionally determine the line of prospecting in terrigenous sequences of the Verkhoyansk–Kolyma region. In this paper, the geological structure of such gold objects is considered with the example of the deposits and prospects making up the Zhdaninsky ore–placer cluster in the Republic of Sakha (Yakuia). From lithological, structural, and mineralogical–geochemical data, the formation conditions of ore-bearing complexes are specified, the geological evolution history of the northern Ol’chan Zone of the Kular–Nera Belt is reconstructed, and the zonal distribution of mineralization within the ore–placer cluster is revealed. The structural–compositional complexes were formed in the following succession: (1) sedimentation at the shelf of the passive margin accompanied by synsedimentation deformations; (2) metagenesis of sediments and the development of bedding-plane intraformational detachments of collision stage D₁ under conditions of tangential compression and accompanied by the formation of carbon dioxide–aqueous metamorphic fluid at a temperature of 300°C and under a pressure of 1.4 kbar; (3) folding and faulting of orogenic stage D₂ with the formation of synkinematic magmatic bodies, metasomatic alteration, and Au-bearig mineral assemblages. Small Au-bearing objects with veined mineralization and high Au grade are localized in structures of stage D₂ transverse to bedding-plane schistosity S₁. They form at the collision stage above intraformational detachment surfaces and are controlled by shear structures of the orogenic stage with misalignment of these deformations. The ore zoning is determined by the distribution of Co and Ni minerals and by variations in the anionic composition of ore (S, As, Sb).