Petrology and geochemistry of late archaean granitoids in the northern part of Eastern Dharwar Craton,Southern India: Implications for transitional geodynamic setting

The results of field, petrographic and geochemical work of the granitoids of Hutti-Gurgunta area in the northern part of Eastern Dharwar Craton (EDC) is presented in this paper. This crustal section comprises polyphase banded to foliated TTG gneisses, middle amphibolite facies Gurgunta schist belt and upper greenschist facies Hutti schist belt and abundant granite plutons. The focus of the present study is mainly on basement TTG gneisses and a granite pluton (∼ 240 sq km areal extent), to discuss crustal accretion processes including changing petrogenetic mechanism and geodynamic setting. The TTGs contain quartz, plagioclase, lesser K-feldspar and hornblende with minor biotite while the granite contain quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar and hornblende. Late stage alteration (chloritisation, sericitisation and epidotisation) is wide spread in the entire area. A huge synplutonic mafic body which is dioritic to meladioritic in composition injects the granite and displays all stages of progressive mixing and hybridization. The studied TTGs and granite show distinct major and trace element patterns. The TTGs are characterized by higher SiO₂, high Al₂O₃, and Na₂O, low TiO₂, Mg#, CaO, K₂O and LILE, and HFS elements compared to granite. TTGs define strong trondhjemite trend whilst granite shows calc-alkaline trend. However, both TTGs and granite show characteristics of Phanerozoic high-silica adakites. The granite also shows characteristics of transitional TTGs in its high LILE, and progressive increase in K₂O with differentiation. Both TTGs and granite define linear to sub-linear trends on variation diagrams. The TTGs show moderate total REE contents with fractionated REE patterns (La/Yb_N =17.73–61.73) and slight positive or without any significant Eu anomaly implying little amount of amphibole or plagioclase in residual liquid. On the other hand, the granite displays poor to moderate fractionation of REE patterns (La/Yb_N = 9.06–67.21) without any significant Eu anomaly. The TTGs have been interpreted to be produced by low-K basaltic slab melting at shallow depth, whereas the granite pluton has been formed by slab melting at depth and these melts interacted with peridotite mantle wedge. Such changing petrogenetic mechanisms and geodynamic conditions explain increase in the contents of MgO, CaO, Ni and Cr from 2700 Ma to 2500 Ma granitoids in the EDC.     

Life in the sublittoral zone of long-lived Lake Pannon: paleontological analysis of the Upper Miocene Szák Formation,Hungary

Life and depositional environments in the sublittoral zone of Lake Pannon, a large, brackish Paratethyan lake from the Late Miocene, were reconstructed from fossils and facies of the Szák Formation. This formation is exposed in several, roughly coeval (9.4–8.9 Ma) outcrops, located along strike of the paleo-shelf-break in northwestern Hungary. The silty argillaceous marl of the formation was deposited below storm wave base, at 20–30 to 80–90 m water depth. The abundance of benthic organisms indicates that the bottom water was usually well oxygenated. Interstitial dysoxia, however, may have occurred immediately below the sediment–water interface, as evidenced by occasional preservation of trace fossils such as Diplocraterion. The fauna comprised endemic mollusks, including brackish cockles of the subfamily Lymnocardiinae, dreissenid mussels (Congeria), and highly adapted, uniquely large-sized deep-water pulmonate snails (planorbids and lymnaeids). Ostracods were dominated by endemic species and, in some cases, endemic genera of candonids, leptocytherids, cypridids, and loxoconchids. Fish remnants include a sciaenid otolith and the oldest skeletal occurrence of Perca in Europe. The phytoplankton comprised exclusively endemic coccolithophorids, mostly endemic dinoflagellates (prevailingly Spiniferites), and cosmopolitan green algae. The Late Miocene fauna and flora of Lake Pannon were in many ways similar to the modern Caspian biota, and in particular cases can be regarded as its precursor.     

Heavy minerals of the Barakar Formation,Talchir Gondwana Basin,Orissa

Heavy mineral analysis has been carried out in the Barakar Formation of the Talchir Gondwana Bbasin, Orissa. The characteristic heavy minerals are garnet, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, biotite, chlorite, pyroxenes, hornblende, staurolite, sillimanite, apatite, epidote, sphene, spinel and siderite including opaques and leucoxene. These heavy minerals are divisible into four groups on the basis of principal component analysis and suggest derivation of Barakar sediments from pegmatite, acid and basic igneous as well as low- and high-rank metamorphic rocks lying to the south of the Talchir Gondwana Basin. Though the heavy mineral suites of all the sandstone samples are by and large similar, differences have been noticed in the frequencies of many heavy minerals in vertical succession. Cyclic nature and vertical fluctuation of heavy mineral frequencies can be ascribed to variation of the relief of the source area, sudden release of some of the minerals in the source region and/or existence of favourable geochemical condition to escape partial dissolution.     

Chesapeake Bay Plume Morphology and the Effects on Nutrient Dynamics and Primary Productivity in the Coastal Zone

To determine the effects of the Chesapeake Bay outflow plume on the coastal ocean, nutrient concentrations and climatology were evaluated in conjunction with nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) uptake rates during a 3-year field study. Sixteen cruises included all seasons and captured high- and low-flow freshwater input scenarios. Event-scale disturbances in freshwater flow and wind speed and direction strongly influenced the location and type of plume present and thus the biological uptake of N and C. As expected, volumetric primary productivity rates did not always correlate with chlorophyll a concentrations, suggesting that high freshwater flow does not translate into high productivity in the coastal zone; rather, high productivity was observed during periods where recycling processes may have dominated. Results suggest that timing of meteorological events, with respect to upwelling or downwelling favorable conditions, plays a crucial role in determining the impact of the estuarine plume on the coastal ocean.     

The Ereendavaa Range (north-eastern Mongolia): an additional argument for Mesozoic extension throughout eastern Asia

Mesozoic rift basins locally bounding metamorphic core complexes have been recognized in Transbaikalia and northern China. Numerous basement outcrops located between these two regions, in eastern Mongolia, are considered as pre-Palaeozoic in age. One of these, the Ereendavaa Range, appears as a gneissic core marked by amphibolite-facies metamorphic conditions. The range is overlain to the NW by the unmetamorphosed Mesozoic Onon Basin. Below the basin, the upper part of the range consists of a gently NW-dipping shear zone associated with top-to-the-NW motion. The structural pattern is consistent with syn-extensional exhumation of the range. Preliminary geochronological data indicate that the shear zone is late Jurassic to early Cretaceous in age, coeval with the Onon Basin. These new data from eastern Mongolia constitute a link between Transbaikalia and northern China, indicating that NW–SE extensional Mesozoic tectonics occurred throughout the entire region.     

Inverse kinetic isotope fractionation during bacterial nitrite oxidation

Natural abundance stable isotopes in nitrate (), nitrite (), and nitrous oxide (N₂O) have been used to better understand the cycling of nitrogen in marine and terrestrial environments. However, in order to extract the greatest information from the distributions of these isotopic species, the kinetic isotope effects for each of the relevant microbial reactions are needed. To date, kinetic isotope effects for nitrite oxidation and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) have not been reported. In this study, the nitrogen isotope effect was measured for microbial nitrite oxidation to nitrate. Nitrite oxidation is the second step in the nitrification process, and it plays a key role in the regeneration of nitrate in the ocean. Surprisingly, nitrite oxidation occurred with an inverse kinetic isotope effect, such that the residual nitrite became progressively depleted in ¹⁵N as the reaction proceeded. Three potential explanations for this apparent inverse kinetic isotope effect were explored: (1) isotope exchange equilibrium between nitrite and nitrous acid prior to reaction, (2) reaction reversibility at the enzyme level, and (3) true inverse kinetic fractionation. Comparison of experimental data to ab initio calculations and theoretical predictions leads to the conclusion that the fractionation is most likely inverse at the enzyme level. Inverse kinetic isotope effects are rare, but the experimental observations reported here agree with kinetic isotope theory for this simple N-O bond-forming reaction. Nitrite oxidation is therefore fundamentally different from all other microbial processes in which N isotope fractionation has been studied. The unique kinetic isotope effect for nitrite oxidation should help to better identify its role in the cycling of nitrite in ocean suboxic zones, and other environments in which nitrite accumulates.     

The effect of aqueous diffusion on the fractionation of chlorine and bromine stable isotopes

Diffusive isotopic fractionation factors are important in order to understand natural processes and have practical application in radioactive waste storage and carbon dioxide sequestration. We determined the isotope fractionation factors and the effective diffusion coefficients of chloride and bromide ions during aqueous diffusion in polyacrylamide gel. Diffusion was determined as functions of temperature, time and concentration. The effect of temperature is relatively large on the diffusion coefficient (D) but only small on isotope fractionation. For chlorine, the ratio, D_³⁵Cl/D_³⁷Cl varied from 1.00128 ± 0.00017 (1σ) at 2 °C to 1.00192 ± 0.00015 at 80 °C. For bromine, D_⁷⁹Br/D_⁸¹Br varied from 1.00098 ± 0.00009 at 2 °C to 1.0064 ± 0.00013 at 21 °C and 1.00078 ± 0.00018 (1σ) at 80 °C. There were no significant effects on the isotope fractionation due to concentration. The lack of sensitivity of the diffusive isotope fractionation to anything at the most common temperatures (0 to 30 °C) makes it particularly valuable for application to understanding processes in geological environments and an important natural tracer in order to understand fluid transport processes.     

The Taihua group on the southern margin of the North China craton: further insights from U–Pb ages and Hf isotope compositions of zircons

The "Taihua Group" is a collective term for a series of old terranes scattered along the southern margin of the North China Craton. The timing of formation and thermal overprinting of the Taihua Group have long been contentious, and its relationship with the Qinling orogenic belt has been unclear. In this study, new data from integrated in-situ U–Pb dating and Hf isotope analysis of zircons from an amphibolite (from the Xiong’ershan terrane) and a biotite gneiss (from the Lantian-Xiaoqinling terrane) indicate that the Upper Taihua Group formed during the Paleoproterozoic (2.3–2.5 Ga) and thus was originally part of the southern edge of North China Craton, detached during the Mesozoic Qinling orogeny and displaced about 100 km north from its original location. This suggests that the Taihua Group became part of the tectonic terrane associated with the Qinling orogeny and now forms part of the overthrust basement section of the Qinling belt. Before the Qinling orogeny, the Taihua Group was metamorphosed at 2.1 Ga. The initial Hf-isotope compositions of zircons, together with positive εNd(t) values for the whole-rocks, imply that the original magmas were derived from a juvenile source with some assimilation of an Archean crustal component.     

Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the Southeast China Block: New insights from basin analysis

In order to better understand the Mesozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast China Block (SECB in short), this paper describes geological features of Mesozoic basins that are widely distributed in the SECB. The analyzed data are derived from a regional geological investigation on various Mesozoic basins and a recently compiled 1:1,500,000 geological map of Mesozoic–Cenozoic basins. Two types of basin are distinguished according to their tectonic settings, namely, the post-orogenic basin (Type I) and the intracontinental extensional basin (Type II); the latter includes the graben and the half-graben or faulted-depression basins. Our studies suggest that the formation of these basins connects with the evolution of geotectonics of the SECB. The post-orogenic basin (Type I) was formed in areas from the piedmont to the intraland during the interval from Late Triassic to Early Jurassic; and the formation of the intracontinental extensional basin (Type II) connects with an intracontinental crustal thinning setting in the Late Mesozoic. The graben basin was generated during the Middle Jurassic and is associated with a bimodal volcanic eruption; and the half-graben or faulted-depression basin, filled mainly by the rhyolite, tuff and sedimentary rocks during Early Cretaceous, is occupied by the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene red-colored terrestrial clastic rocks. We noticed that the modern outcrops of numerous granites and basins occur in a similar level, and the Mesozoic granitic bodies contact with the adjacent basins by large normal faults, suggesting that the modern landforms between granites and basins were yielded by the late crustal movement. The modern basin and range framework was settled down in the Cretaceous. Abundant sedimentary structures are found in the various basins, from that the deposited environments and paleo-currents are concluded; during the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic time, the source areas were situated to the north and northeast sides of the outcrop region. In this paper, we present the study results on one geological and geographical separating unit and two separating fault zones. The Wuyi orogenic belt is a Late Mesozoic paleo-geographically separating unit, the Ganjiang fault zone behaves as the western boundary of Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks, and the Zhenghe–Dapu fault zone separates the SE-China Coastal Late Mesozoic volcanic-sedimentary basins and the Wuyi orogenic belt. Finally, we discuss the geodynamic mechanisms forming various basins, proposing a three-stage model of the Mesozoic sedimentary evolution.     

Physical properties of selected block Argonne Premium bituminous coal related to CO2, CH4, and N2 adsorption

CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ adsorption and gas-induced swelling were quantified for block Blind Canyon, Pittsburgh #8 and Pocahontas Argonne Premium coals that were dried and structurally relaxed at 75 °C in vacuum. Strain measurements were made perpendicular and parallel to the bedding plane on ~ 7 × 7 × 7 mm³ coal blocks and gravimetric sorption measurements were obtained simultaneously on companion coal blocks exposed to the same gaseous environment. The adsorption amount and strain were determined after equilibration at P  ≤ 1.8 MPa. There is a strong non-linear correlation between strain and the quantity of gas adsorbed and the results for all gases and coals studied follow a common pattern. The dependence of the coal matrix shrinkage/swelling coefficient (C_gc) on the type and quantity of gas adsorbed is seen by plotting the ratio between the strain and the adsorbate concentration against the adsorbate concentration. In general, C_gc increases with increasing adsorbate concentration over the range of ~ 0.1 to 1.4 mmol/g. Results from the dried block coals are compared to CO₂ experiments using native coals with an inherent level of moisture as received. The amount of CO₂ adsorbed using native coals (assuming no displacement of H₂O by CO₂) is significantly less than the dried coals. The gas-induced strain (S) and adsorption amount (M) were measured as a function of time following step changes in CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ pressure from vacuum to 1.8 MPa. An empirical diffusion equation was applied to the kinetic data to obtain the exponent (n) for time dependence for each experiment. The data for all coals were pooled and the exponent (n) evaluated using an ANOVA statistical analysis method. Values for (n) near 0.5 were found to be independent on the coal, the gas or type of measurement (e.g., parallel strain, perpendicular strain, and gas uptake). These data support the use of a Fickian diffusion model framework for kinetic analysis. The kinetic constant k was determined using a unipore diffusion model for each experiment and the data were pooled for ANOVA analysis. For dry coal, statistically significant differences for k were found for the gases (CO₂ > N₂ > CH₄) and coals (Pocahontas >Blind Canyon > Pittsburgh #8) but not for the method of the kinetic measurement (e.g., strain or gas uptake). For Blind Canyon and Pittsburgh #8 coal, the rate of CO₂ adsorption and gas-induced strain for dry coal was significantly greater than that of the corresponding native coal. For Pocahontas coal the rates of CO₂ adsorption and gas-induced strain for dry and native coal were indistinguishable and may be related to its low native moisture and minimal amount of created porosity upon drying.