Paleo-environments and tectonic setting of the Mesozoic Thung Yai Group in Peninsular Thailand,with a new record of Parvamussium donaiense Mansuy, 1914

The Thung Yai Group extends over a large area of peninsular Thailand, along the eastern margin of the Shan Thai block. Bound by angular unconformities 300 m thick dominantly detritic brackish to non-marine deposits with few intercalated limestone beds between Triassic marine and Tertiary non-marine sediments, represent the Thung Yai Group that comprises four formations: Khlong Min, Lam Thap, Sam Chom, and Phun Phin Formations. In the Ao Luk–Plai Phraya (ALPP) area, the Khlong Min and Lam Thap formations yield marine, brackish-water and non-marine fossil assemblages. These include trace fossils and for the first time in peninsular southern Thailand, the bivalve Parvamussium donaiense Mansuy, 1914. Based on fossil determinations, the Thung Yai Group has a late Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age.Our new observations help unravel the tectonic history of Mesozoic Peninsular Thailand. After the complete closure of the Paleotethys in the Late Triassic, renewed inundation, from the late Early Jurassic to the early Middle Jurassic, brought a regime of shallow to open marine and lagoon sedimentation over northwestern, western and southern peninsular Thailand, in the eastern part of Sundaland bordering the Mesotethys to the west.     

Petrogenesis of ultramafic rocks and olivine-rich troctolites from the East Taiwan Ophiolite in the Lichi mélange

Mineralogy and Petrology - We examine ultramafic and olivine-rich troctolite blocks of the East Taiwan Ophiolite (ETO) in the Lichi Mélange. Although ultramafic rocks are extensively...     

Dynamics of microphytobenthic biomass in a coastal area of western Seto Inland Sea, Japan

This study focused on the causes of the variation in microphytobenthic biomass and the effects of this variation on macrobenthic animals in the western Seto Inland Sea, Japan, where the importance of microphytobenthos as the primary food source for benthic animals has been recently reported. We investigated the microphytobenthic biomass together with light attenuation of seawater, phytoplanktonic biomass, macrobenthic density and biomass at eight stations (water depth = 5–15 m) during four cruises in 1999–2000. The increased light attenuation coefficient of the water column associated with increased concentration of the phytoplanktonic Chl-a caused a decrease in light flux that reached the seafloor. The biomass of the microphytobenthos within the upper 1 cm of the sediment, 1.9–46.5 mg Chl-a m⁻², was inversely correlated with the phytoplanktonic biomass in the overlying water column, 10.9–65.0 mg Chl-a m⁻². Thus, interception of light by phytoplankton is considered to be a main cause of the variation in the microphytobenthic biomass. The microphytobenthos biomass showed a significant positive correlation with the macrobenthic density (78–9369 ind. m⁻²) and biomass (0.4–78.8 gWW m⁻²). It appears that the increase in oxygen production by the microphytobenthos allowed macrobenthic animals to become more abundant, as a consequence of oxygenation of the organically enriched muddy sediments (14.5 ± 2.69 mg TOC g⁻¹). This study suggests that the variation in the microphytobenthic biomass is influenced by the phytoplanktonic biomass due to shading effect, and the balance between these two functional groups might affect the variability in the macrobenthic density and biomass.     

Broadband strong motion simulation in layered half-space using stochastic Green’s function technique

The stochastic Green’s function method, which simulates one component of the far-field S-waves from an extended fault plane at high frequencies (Kamae et al., J Struct Constr Eng Trans AIJ, 430:1–9, 1991), is extended to simulate the three components of the full waveform in layered half-spaces for broadband frequency range. The method firstly computes ground motions from small earthquakes, which correspond to the ruptures of sub-faults on a fault plane of a large earthquake, and secondly constructs the strong motions of the large earthquake by superposing the small ground motions using the empirical Green’s function technique (e.g., Irikura, Proc 7th Japan Earthq Eng Symp, 151–156, 1986). The broadband stochastic omega-square model is proposed as the moment rate functions of the small earthquakes, in which random and zero phases are used at higher and lower frequencies, respectively. The zero phases are introduced to simulate a smooth ramp function of the moment function with the duration of 1/fc s (fc: the corner frequency) and to reproduce coherent strong motions at low frequencies (i.e., the directivity pulse). As for the radiation coefficients, the theoretical values of double couple sources for lower frequencies and the theoretical isotropic values for the P-, SV-, and SH-waves (Onishi and Horike, J Struct Constr Eng Trans AIJ, 586:37–44, 2004) for high frequencies are used. The proposed method uses the theoretical Green’s functions of layered half-spaces instead of the far-field S-waves, which reproduce the complete waves including the direct and reflected P- and S-waves and surface waves at broadband frequencies. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and results show excellent agreement with the observation records at broadband frequencies. At the same time, the method still needs improvements especially because it underestimates the high-frequency vertical components in the near fault range. Nonetheless, the method will be useful for modeling high frequency contributions in the hybrid methods, which use stochastic and deterministic methods for high and low frequencies, respectively (e.g., the stochastic Green’s function method + finite difference methods; Kamae et al., Bull Seism Soc Am, 88:357–367, 1998; Pitarka et al., Bull Seism Soc Am 90:566–586, 2000), because it reproduces the full waveforms in layered media including not only random characteristics at higher frequencies but also theoretical and deterministic coherencies at lower frequencies.     

Genetic Aspects of the Manto-type Copper Deposits Based on Geochemical Studies of North Chilean Deposits

Recent studies on mineralogy, geochronology, fluid inclusion and stable isotope (Pb, Os, S, C, O, Sr) characteristics were reviewed to determine constraints for genetic models of the Chilean manto‐type copper deposits. The Chilean manto‐type deposits are divided into the two geologic categories of the northern areas (Arica–Iquique, Tocopilla–Taltal) and the central areas (Copiapó, La Serena, Santiago). The former is distributed in the coastal range composed of Jurassic andesite‐dominated volcano‐sedimentary piles and younger plutonic intrusions, and yields chalcocite (‐digenite) and bornite as the principal hypogene copper sulfides. The latter is hosted mostly in Lower Cretaceous volcano‐sedimentary sequences, and has chalcopyrite‐rich mineral associations. The fluid inclusion data indicate that the primary copper mineralization was commonly generated in the temperature range 150–360°C under low‐pressure conditions near the boiling curve, mediated with relatively saline brines. Generally, homogeneous Pb and S isotope compositions for primary copper minerals imply direct magma source or leaching of igneous rocks. Pb and Os isotope data published for some deposits, however, suggest that ore‐forming metals were derived mainly from the volcano‐sedimentary host rocks. The noticeably negative isotope ratios of primary sulfide sulfur and hydrothermal calcite carbon of some central area deposits indicate influx of sedimentary rock components, and the high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr initial ratios of hydrothermal calcite from the Tocopilla–Taltal area deposits imply contribution of the contemporaneous seawater or marine carbonates. These isotopic constraints imply a formation mechanism in which the Chilean manto‐type copper deposits formed epigenetically in the process of hydrothermal interaction of non‐magmatic surface‐derived brine with the volcano‐sedimentary host rocks, which is inferred to have been induced by a deep‐seated plutonic complex as the possible heat source.     

Chromian spinels in lherzolite inclusions from Itinome-gata,Japan

Spinel, which constitutes from 0.7% to 3% of lherzolite inclusions, occurs as primary anhedral grains (chrome-rich variety) and as a secondary phase as breakdown products of garnet (alumina-rich variety). Although individual primary spinel grains are chemically homogeneous, spinels are characterized by a wide range of Cr/Al ratios and a relatively narrow range of Mg/Fe″ ratios, even in a single lherzolite sample. The chemical variations of spinels are considered to have the following origin: When garnet lherzolite enters the stability field of the spinel peridotite facies as a consequence of slow upward transport, both orthopyroxenes and clinopyroxenes are recrystallized with loss of jadeite and some Tschermak's component to reach equilibrium. A part of the Tschermak's component reacts with olivine to form pyroxene and spinel. This secondary spinel component is alloted to the primary chromian spinel. However, these reactions did not always reach equilibrium with the major constituent minerals in the lherzolites.     

Diagenesis of the Lower Cretaceous Kanmon Group sandstones, SW Japan

The Kanmon Group (Lower Cretaceous) is a non-marine sequence in the Inner Zone of southwest Japan and is divided into the lower Wakino (lacustrine) and the upper Shimonoseki (fluvial) subgroups. Major diagenetic changes in this group are compaction, iron-oxide cementation, calcite cementation and grain replacement, quartz overgrowth and pore-fill cementation, illite authigenesis, chlorite pore-fill cementation and grain replacement, albitization of feldspar, and grain replacement by pyrite. Two subgroups of the Kanmon Group present no significant differences in general diagenetic features, paragenetic sequence, or the degree of diagenetic changes despite differences in depositional environments (lacustrine vs. fluvial) and stratigraphic positions. However, some differences are recognized in the content and chemistry of authigenic minerals caused by different sandstone framework compositions. The content of authigenic clay minerals is higher in sandstones of the Shimonoseki Subgroup containing abundant volcanic rock fragments. In addition, the composition of chlorite, the most abundant authigenic clay mineral in Kanmon sandstones, is Mg-rich in the volcanoclastic Shimonoseki sandstones, compared to an Fe-rich variety in Wakino sandstones. The original sandstone composition played a significant role in pore-water composition and diagenetic reactions.The Wakino sandstones lost most of its porosity by compaction, whereas Shimonoseki sandstones are only compacted in the vicinity of the basin-bounding fault. The weakly compacted Shimonoseki sandstones, instead, were largely cemented by pore-filling calcite during early diagenesis; cementation prevented compaction during further burial. The Kanmon Group sediments were heated to about 300 °C based on illite crystallinity values.     

Missing ophiolitic rocks along the Mae Yuam Fault as the Gondwana–Tethys divide in north-west Thailand

Abstract Thailand comprises two continental blocks: Sibumasu and Indochina. The clastic rocks of the Triassic Mae Sariang Group are distributed in the Mae Hong Son–Mae Sariang area, north‐west Thailand, which corresponds to the central part of Sibumasu. The clastic rocks yield abundant detrital chromian spinels, indicating a source of ultramafic/mafic rocks. The chemistry of the detrital chromian spinels suggests that they were derived from three different rock types: ocean‐floor peridotite, chromitite and intraplate basalt, and that ophiolitic rocks were exposed in the area, where there are no outcrops of them at present. Exposition of an ophiolitic complex denotes a suture zone or other tectonic boundary. The discovery of chromian spinels suggests that the Gondwana–Tethys divide is located along the Mae Yuam Fault zone. Both paleontological and tectonic aspects support this conclusion.     

Nature of accretion related to Paleo-Tethys subduction recorded in northern Thailand: Constraints from mélange kinematics and illite crystallinity

We reconstructed the accretion process related to Paleo-Tethys subduction recorded in northern Thailand, based on mélange and thrust structures, and metamorphic temperatures derived from illite crystallinity data. Mélange formation was characterized by hydrofracturing and cataclastic deformation, with mud injection under semi-lithified conditions followed by shear deformation and pressure solution. Illite crystallinity data suggest metamorphic temperatures below 250 °C during mélange formation. The combined structural and metamorphic data indicate that during mélange formation, the accretionary complex related to Paleo-Tethys subduction developed at shallow levels within an accretionary prism. Asymmetric shear fabrics in mélange indicate top-to-south shear. After correction for rotation associated with collision between the Indian and Eurasian continents, the trend of the Paleo-Tethys subduction zone is estimated to have been N80 °E. We conclude that the Paleo-Tethys was subducted northward beneath the Indochina Block from the Permian to Triassic.