Anwendung Gefügeanalytischer Arbeitsmethoden am Beispieleines Bergbaues

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Sedimentological and palynological constraints on the basal Triassic sequence in Central Switzerland

In Central Switzerland, Mesozoic sedimentation began after erosion and peneplainisation of the Hercynian relief and late Paleozoic continental deposition in SW-NE striking pull-apart basins. The first Triassic sedimentary sequence overlaying a weathered crystalline basement consists of a relatively thin (<10 m), lithologically highly variable unit with coarse-grained siliciclastic deposits at the base, grading into a mixed sandstone/shale-dolomite sequence followed by well-bedded dolomites with chert nodules.Sedimentary texture analyses and petrological investigations revealed four different sedimentary units starting at the base with a regolith unit that represents the weathered crystalline basement. It is overlain by terrestrial plain deposits, followed by mixed siliciclastic-carbonaceous sediments and a sequence of dolomites, deposited between the supralittoral and eulittoral zones of a tidal flat (Mels-Formation), and the eulittoral to sublittoral zones of a carbonate tidal flat environment (Röti-Dolomit), respectively.Palynological data from four localities in Central Switzerland indicate a heterochronous early Anisian age (Aegean – Bithynian/Pelsonian) for the supra- to eulittoral mixed siliciclastic-carbonaceous sediments. These new biostratigraphic ages suggest that the first Triassic marine transgression in Central Switzerland is time equivalent with those of the basal Wellendolomit in Northern Switzerland but slightly older than in the Germanic Basin. Consequently, Central Switzerland was located at this time at the northern shoreline of the Tethys and not on the southern limit of the Germanic Basin.     

Neubenennungen lithostratigraphischer Einheiten in der helvetischen Kreide (Schweizerisches Komitee für Stratigraphie (Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 102/2)

The two newly defined lithostratigraphic units – the Rohrbachstein and Plaine-Morte Beds – within the recently reinstated Grünten Member (former “Upper Orbitolina Beds") embody characteristic lithostratigraphic units, which are well distinguishable in the field. They furthermore bear significant paleoceanographic information in that they document the final drowning episode of the Schrattenkalk carbonate platform (Rohrbachstein Bed) and overlap with oceanic anoxic event 1a (“Selli event": Plaine-Morte Bed). Their use is in line with a long-standing tradition to name individual phosphate- and glauconite-containing marker beds and is fully justified with respect to the Swiss guidelines of stratigraphical nomenclature (Remane et al. 2005).     

哈萨克斯坦东部斋桑盆地恐龙蛋壳化石与白垩系-古近系界线

在晚白垩世期间,哈萨克斯坦东部的斋桑盆地形成了一个湖盆,一直延续到现在。古斋桑湖中最老的沉积是Tayzhuzgen组,由厚达136m的泥岩、粉砂岩、页岩、石英砂岩、砾岩和淡水石灰岩红层组成。按照当地的地层名称,Tayzhuzgen组包括Manrak、Tayzhuzgen、Aulisbulak、Aktobe、Dysum bay和Kiin Kerish层。在斋桑湖以南的Tayzhuzgen河附近一个地点的Tayzhuzgen组下部,发现了恐龙蛋壳碎片,蛋壳至少包括有两个主要类型:圆形蛋类和长形蛋类。恐龙蛋壳指示了Tayzhuzgen组下部的时代为晚白垩世(可能是马斯特里赫特期)。在本组的较高层位,发现了晚?古新世的植物化石,因此斋桑盆地的白垩系-古近系界线在Tayzhuzgen组内部。在Tayzhuzgen组中,白垩纪与古新世化石层之间的地层间隔只有约50m,由此推测在Tayzhuzgen组内部可能存在一个或多个不整合,或是本组的中部为凝缩沉积,即在白垩系-古近系界线处的沉积速率非常缓慢。Tayzhuzgen组顶部有一个显著的不整合,那里中或晚始新世(Arshantan,Irdinmanhan或Egilian陆生哺乳动物"期")的地层存在于含哺乳动物化石剖面的底部。斋桑盆地的白垩系-古近系界线位于古斋桑湖沉积剖面的下部。这不是一个完整的界线剖面,可能是一个包含有一个或多个不整合和/或一个由慢速沉积造成的凝缩剖面。     

An exceptional rocky shore preserved during Oligocene (Late Rupelian) transgression in the Upper Rhine Graben (Mainz Basin,Germany)

The Early Oligocene (Late Rupelian) Alzey Formation (Mainz Basin, Upper Rhine Graben, Germany) records the development of a rocky coast depositional system during transgression. The formation unconformably overlies Permian bedrock across a composite transgressive ravinement surface. Exposure of the surface shows a succession of subplanar bedrock terraces, separated by near‐vertical risers. Terraces show a broad staircase geometry and display wave‐erosional features (notches, sea stacks, furrows). Detailed sedimentological and palaeoecological investigations reveal prograding beachface and shoreface depositional units that overlie terraces and are adjacent to risers. Terraces are interpreted as wave‐cut platforms, backed by palaeocliffs. The staircase architecture records the episodic landward migration of palaeoshorelines onto palaeotopographic highs during the Early Oligocene. Stacking patterns of gravelly beach and shoreface associated units (facies tracts) indicate successive episodes of terrace cutting, beach development, drowning and shoreline backstepping during an overall relative sea‐level rise. The exceptional preservation of the stair‐cased rocky shore may be attributed to a highly jerky rising relative sea‐level, as the result of the conjugated effects of rift‐controlled tectonic subsidence and eustatic sea‐level oscillations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Insights on the growth and mobility of debris flows from repeat high-resolution lidar

Landslides - How debris flows erode and deposit material along their paths is difficult to determine in natural settings due to the lack of warning and the rapid pace at which they occur....     

Subduction of lithospheric upper mantle recorded by solid phase inclusions and compositional zoning in garnet: Example from the Bohemian Massif

This paper presents monomineral and multiphase inclusions in garnet from eclogites and clinopyroxenites, which form layers and boudins in garnet peridotites from two areas in the Moldanubian zone of the Bohemian Massif. The garnet peridotites occur in felsic granulites and reached UHP conditions prior to their granulite facies overprint. In addition to complex compositional zoning, garnets from hosting eclogites and clinopyroxenites preserve inclusions of hydrous phases and alkali silicate minerals including: amphiboles, chlorites, micas and feldspars. Amphibole, biotite and apatite inclusions in garnet have a high concentration of halogens; CO₂ and sulfur are involved in carbonates and sulfide inclusions, respectively. The inclusion patterns and compositional zoning in garnet in combination with textural relations among minerals, suggest that the ultramafic and mafic bodies are derived from lithospheric mantle above the subduction zone and were transformed into garnet pyroxenites and eclogites in the subduction zone. Based on compositional, mineral and textural relations, all of these rocks along with the surrounding crustal material were overprinted by granulite facies metamorphism during their exhumation.     

Holocene climatic variations—Their pattern and possible cause

In the northeastern St. Elias Mountains in southern Yukon Territory and Alaska, C¹⁴-dated fluctuations of 14 glacier termini show two major intervals of Holocene glacier expansion, the older dating from 3300-2400 calendar yr BP and the younger corresponding to the Little Ice Age of the last several centuries. Both were about equivalent in magnitude. In addition, a less-extensive and short-lived advance occurred about 1250-1050 calendar yr BP (A.D. 700–900). Conversely, glacier recession, commonly accompanied by rise in altitude of spruce tree line, occurred 5975–6175, 4030-3300, 2400-1250, and 1050-460 calendar yr BP, and from A.D. 1920 to the present. Examination of worldwide Holocene glacier fluctuations reinforces this scheme and points to a third major interval of glacier advances about 5800-4900 calendar yrs BP; this interval generally was less intense than the two younger major intervals. Finally, detailed mapping and dating of Holocene moraines fronting 40 glaciers in the Kebnekaise and Sarek Mountains in Swedish Lapland reveals again that the Holocene was punctuated by repeated intervals of glacier expansion that correspond to those found in the St. Elias Mountains and elsewhere. The two youngest intervals, which occurred during the Little Ice Age and again about 2300–3000 calendar yrs BP, were approximately equal in intensity. Advances of the two older intervals, which occurred approximately 5000 and 8000 calendar yr BP, were generally less extensive. Minor glacier fluctuations were superimposed on all four broad expansion intervals; those of the Little Ice Age culminated about A.D. 1500–1640, 1710, 1780, 1850, 1890, and 1916. In the mountains of Swedish Lapland, Holocene mean summer temperature rarely, if ever, was lower than 1°C below the 1931–1960 summer mean and varied by less than 3.5°C over the last two broad intervals of Holocene glacial expansion and contraction.Viewed as a whole, therefore, the Holocene experienced alternating intervals of glacier expansion and contraction that probably were superimposed on the broad climatic trends recognized in pollen profiles and deep-sea cores. Expansion intervals lasted up to 900 yr and contraction intervals up to 1750 yr. Dates of glacial maxima indicate that the major Holocene intervals of expansion peaked at about 200–330, 2800, and 5300 calendar yr BP, suggesting a recurrence of major glacier activity about each 2500 yr. If projected further into the past, this Holocene pattern predicts that alternating glacier expansion-contraction intervals should have been superimposed on the Late-Wisconsin glaciation, with glacier readvances peaking about 7800, 10,300, 12,800, and 15,300 calendar yr BP. These major readvances should have been separated by intervals of general recession, some of which might have been punctuated by short-lived advances. Furthermore, the time scales of Holocene events and their Late-Wisconsin analogues should be comparable. Considering possible errors in C¹⁴ dating, this extended Holocene scheme agrees reasonably well with the chronology and magnitude of such Late-Wisconsin events as the Cochrane-Cockburn readvance (8000–8200 C¹⁴ yr BP), the Pre-Boreal interstadial, the Fennoscandian readvances during the Younger Dryas stadial (10,850-10,050 varve yr BP), the Alleröd interstadial (11,800-10,900 C¹⁴ yr BP), the Port Huron readvance (12,700–13,000 C¹⁴ yr BP), the Cary/Port Huron interstadial (centered about 13,300 C¹⁴ yr BP), and the Cary stadial (14,000–15,000 C¹⁴ yr BP). Moreover, comparison of presumed analogues such as the Little Ice Age and the Younger Dryas, or the Alleröd and the Roman Empire-Middle Ages warm interval, show marked similarities. These results suggest that a recurring pattern of minor climatic variations, with a dominant overprint of cold intervals peaking about each 2500 yr, was superimposed on long-term Holocene and Late-Wisconsin climatic trends. Should this pattern continue to repeat itself, the Little Ice Age will be succeeded within the next few centuries by a long interval of milder climates similar to those of the Roman Empire and Middle Ages.Short-term atmospheric C¹⁴ variations measured from tree rings correlate closely with Holocene glacier and tree-line fluctuations during the last 7000 yr. Such a correspondence, firstly, suggests that the record of short-term C¹⁴ variations may be an empirical indicator of paleoclimates and, secondly, points to a possible cause of Holocene climatic variations. The most prominent explanation of short-term C¹⁴ variations involves modulation of the galactic cosmic-ray flux by varying solar corpuscular activity. If this explanation proves valid and if the solar constant can be shown to vary with corpuscular output, it would suggest that Holocene glacier and climatic fluctuations, because of their close correlation with short-term C¹⁴ variations, were caused by varying solar activity. By extension, this would imply a similar cause for Late-Wisconsin climatic fluctuations such as the Alleröd and Younger Dryas.     

Distribution of diagenetic alterations in glaciogenic sandstones within a depositional facies and sequence stratigraphic framework: Evidence from the Upper Ordovician of the Murzuq Basin, SW Libya

The spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations has been constrained in relationship to depositional facies and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Ordovician glaciogenic quartzarenite sandstones in the Murzuq Basin, SW Libya, which were deposited during the Haritanian glaciation when the basin was laying along the continental margin of Gondwana. Eogenetic alterations encountered include: (i) replacement of detrital silicates, mud matrix and pseudomatrix by kaolinite in paraglacial, tide-dominated deltaic, in foreshore to shoreface (highstand systems tract; HST) and in post-glacial, Gilbert-type deltaic (lowstand systems tract; LST) sandstones, particularly below the sequence boundaries (SB). Kaolinite formation is attributed to the influx of meteoric water during relative sea level fall and basinward shift of the shoreline. (ii) Cementation by calcite (δ¹⁸O_VPDB = − 3.1‰ to + 1.1‰ and δ¹³C_VPDB = + 1.7‰ to + 3.5‰) and Mg-rich siderite in the paraglacial, tide-dominated deltaic and foreshore to shoreface HST sandstones, in the glacial, tide-dominated estuarine (transgressive systems tract; TST) sandstones and in the post-glacial, shoreface TST sandstones is interpreted to have occurred from marine pore-waters. (iii) Cementation by Mg-poor siderite, which occurs in the post-glacial, Gilbert-type deltaic LST sandstones and in the paraglacial, tide-dominated deltaic and foreshore to shoreface HST sandstones, is interpreted to have occurred from meteoric waters during relative sea level fall and basinward shift of the shoreline. (iv) Pervasive cementation by iron oxides has occurred in the glacial, shoreface–offshore TST sandstones and post-glacial, shoreface TST sandstones immediately below the maximum flooding surfaces (MFS), which was presumably enhanced by prolonged residence time of the sediments under oxic diagenetic conditions at the seafloor. (v) Formation of grain-coating infiltrated clays mainly in the glacial, fluvial incised-valley LST sandstones and in the post-glacial, Gilbert-type deltaic LST sandstones as well as, less commonly, in the paraglacial, foreshore to shoreface HST sandstones and in the tide-dominated deltaic HST sandstones below the SBs.

Mesogenetic alterations include mainly the formation of abundant quartz overgrowths in the glacial, fluvial incised-valley LST sandstones, post-glacial, Gilbert-type deltaic LST sandstones and glacial, shoreface TST sandstones, in which early carbonate cements are lacking. Illite, chlorite and albitized feldspars, which occur in small amounts, are most common in the glacial, tide-dominated estuarine TST sandstones and paraglacial, shoreface HST sandstones. This study demonstrates that the spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations and their impact on reservoir-quality evolution in glacial, paraglacial and post-glacial sandstones can be better elucidated when linked to the depositional facies and sequence stratigraphic framework.