Organic petrology and geochemistry of the Carboniferous coal seams from the Central Asturian Coal Basin (NW Spain)

This paper presents for the first time a petrological and geochemical study of coals from the Central Asturian Coal Basin (North Spain) of Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian), mainly of Moscovian, age. A paleoenvironmental approach was used, taking into account both petrographic and organic geochemical studies. Vitrinite reflectance (R_r) ranges from 0.5% to 2.5%, which indicates a high volatile bituminous to semianthracite and anthracite coal rank. The coal samples selected for paleoenvironmental reconstruction are located inside the oil–gas-prone phase, corresponding to the interval between the onset of oil generation and first gas generation and efficient expulsion of oil. This phase is represented by coals that have retained their hydrocarbon potential and also preserved biomarker information. Paleodepositional reconstruction based on maceral and petrographic indices points to a swamp environment with vitrinite-rich coal facies and variable mineral matter content. The gelification index (GI) and groundwater influence index (GWI) indicate strong gelification and wet conditions. The biomarkers exhibit a high pristane/phytane ratio, suggesting an increase in this ratio from diagenetic processes, and a high diterpanes ratio. This, in turn, would seem to indicate a high swamp water table and a humid climate. The maximum point of coal accumulation occurred during the regressive part of the Late Moscovian sequence and in the most humid climate described for this period of time in the well-known coal basins of Europe and North America.     

Contrôle structural du partage de Rb entre fluide et micas potassiques dans les pegmatites du Brésil

A geochemical study of pegmatitic micas from Minas Gerais State in Brazil was performed with an electron microprobe, in order to examine the variations of Rb, K, Al and F contents. It is observed a linear decreasing relationship between the [Rb/K] ratio of the micas and their contents in Al^VI. The interpretation is based on the hypothesis that the partition coefficient C_Rb/K^mica/fl between fluid and mineral does not vary significantly as a function of temperature and pressure in the narrow conditions of crystallization of pegmatites. It is suggested that the relation: C_Rb/K^mica/fl=0.55×(5?[Al^VI]) is of crystallochemical order. Micas with low contents in Al take higher contents in Rb because the potassic sites where Rb enters are larger. This relation gives another way of calculating the values [Rb/K] of the fluids knowing Rb, K, Al and Si in the micas. This crystallochemistry also allows us to foresee a direct correlation between Rb and F in the pegmatitic micas. To cite this article: J. Quéméneur et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Effet de la température sur les distributions de Na,Rb et Cs entre la sanidine,la muscovite,la phlogopite et une solution hydrothermale sous une pression de 1 kbar

The distribution of trace amounts of Na, Rb and Cs, between muscovite, phlogopite, sanidine and hydrothermal solution have been studied by ion exchange in a temperature range from 400 to 800°C.These distributions have been expressed with a partition ratio P^aq?m_x = $\text{(}\text{X}\text{K}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{aq}}\text{(}\text{X}\text{K}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{m}}$ (where X is Na, Rb or Cs).In the case of Na and Cs in muscovite, even for the dilute solutions, the ratio P^aq?m_x is not the equilibrium constant k_x of exchange reactions. In other cases, P^aq?m_x does not depend on the trace alkali ion concentration in silicates (X) and is equal to k_x. Variations of P_x or k_x with T are greater for Na and Cs than for Rb. Generally, k_x decreases with increase in T. The function log $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{= f(}\text{1}\text{T}\text{)}$ is not linear for Na or Cs, but in the case of Rb, $\text{f(}\text{1}\text{T}\text{)}$ is linear and the standard enthalpy and entropy of exchange reactions have been estimated by applying the Arrhenius relation.The distribution relations obtained between silicate and vapour phase permit the determination of distributions of Na, Rb and Cs between two minerals mI and mII, relative to K. These have been expressed with the partition ratio Q_x =$\text{(}\text{X}\text{K}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{mI}}\text{(}\text{X}\text{K}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{mII}}$. Variations of Q_x with T are not remarkable, and even for Rb between phlogopite and feldspar are negligible. Nevertheless, one may use the distributions of Rb and Cs between muscovite and feldspar for geothermometry. Experimental results have been applied to some rocks by effecting corrections from the major element composition of the natural minerals. Estimated temperatures are near to 400°C in the granites and pegmatite studied here.     

Geodynamic aspects of the basic intrusions of central and Western Nepal

A petrological study of the basic rocks of magmatic activity in the Pokhara and Beri Khola regions of Central and Western Nepal suggests that the volcanic activities were not related to collision or continental subduction.     

Effet de la composition des micas trioctaedriques sur les distributions de Rb et Cs a l'etat de traces

An experimental study is reported on the distributions of trace amounts of Rb and Cs between some trioctahedral micas and a hydrothermal solution at 600°C and 1000 bars. The equilibrium constant K_X^min = (X/K)_aq/(X/K)_min varies considerably with the composition of micas. K_Cs^min is equal to 4.2 for phlogopite of theoretical composition, whereas it becomes equal to 8 for a mica close to eastonite. It reaches up to 17 for a mica in which Mg is largely substituted by Al. In annite, Fe(II) analogue of phlogopite, K_Cs^min becomes equal to 1.8. With Rb, the variations of the equilibrium constant are smaller than with Cs. K_Rb^min is 0.65 for phlogopite and increases up to 1.9 for a more aluminous mica. It is 0.44 for annite.The distributions depend very much on the ratios Mg/Fe and Si/Al of the trioctahedral micas. Consequences in geothermometrical interpretation of alkali trace element distributions in natural rocks are considered.     

Rythme et Modalités des Plissements Superposés dans les Chaînes Subalpines Méridionales des Alpes Occidentales Françaises

Résumé Les chaînes subalpines des Alpes françaises offrent un bon exemple de plis de couverture décollés au niveau du Keuper à évaporites. Leur partie méridionale, au S du Vercors et au N et NE des Chaînes Provençales, montre en outre l'entrecroisement de deux systèmes plissés presque orthogonaux: un système E-W, dit pyrénéoprovençal, dont la genèse s'étale du Crétacé supérieur à l'Eocène moyen, et un système N-S à NW-SE, dit alpin, qui date de l'Oligocène et du Néogène. Il y a donc eu deux étapes majeures de plissements qui se sont succédées dans le temps; mais on doit se demander si chacune de ces étapes était faite d'une succession de phases tectoniques courtes séparées par des intervalles relativement plus longs de calme tectonique, ou bien si elles correspondent à de longues périodes de déformations continues; ces deux postulats paraissent ici également vraisemblables. La première période, celle des plis pyrénéens, semble avoir fait naître des plis droits assez simples, parfois de style éjectif, dont les anticlinaux ont souvent, dès l'Eocène, été érodés jusqu'au Jurassique supérieur. A l'Oligocène et au Miocène, des plis N-S à NW-SE sont nés, dans les domaines qui n'étaient pas déjà plissés, tandis que les plis E-W déjà existants ont été accentués et rompus, dégénérant parfois en chevauchements caractérisés par des troncatures des flancs inverses des plis. A l'échelle des Alpes Occidentales comme à celle des Chaînes Subalpines Méridionales et des « arcs » élémentaires qui les composent, les structures plissées disposées en arc ne sont pas simples, mais sont l'aboutissement d'une évolution tectonique longue et complexe.

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The Subalpine Chains of the French Western Alps give a good example of cover folds, which are detached along evaporite-bearing upper-Triassic beds. Their southern half shows also the intersection of two successive folded systems: E-W pyrenean folds (upper Cretaceous-middle Eocene), followed by N-S to NW-SE alpine folds (Oligocene—Miocene). It is therefore possible to distinguish two successive stages of tectonic deformation, but the problem remains to decide whether these stages can be divided into a certain number of short tectonic phases, or are long and continuous periods of tectonic deformation. It is shown that these two answers to the problem are two postulates, which seem to be equally probable. The first pyrenean stage of deformation gave rise to relatively simple folds, often of the ejective style type. The second, alpine, stage, occurred after and during subaerial erosion. In the areas where earlier E-W folds did not occur, new alpine N-S to NW-SE folds rose, whereas in the areas where earlier E-W folds were present, refolding of these folds only occurred, often accompanied by breaks, i. e. wrench faults and overthrusts, the latter often showing subhorizontal truncation of nearly vertical beds. In the same manner as for the entire Western Alps arc, the fold arcs in the southern subalpine chains are not simple virgations, but the result of a long and complex tectonic evolution.

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Zusammenfassung Die subalpinen Ketten der französischen Westalpen sind ein gutes Beispiel von abgescherten Falten einer sedimentären Serie. Ihr südlicher Teil zeigt die Kreuzung von zwei Faltensystemen: Pyrenäische E-W-Falten (Obere Kreide -Mittleres Eozän) und alpine N-S-oder NW-SE-Falten (Oligozän-Miozän). Es bleibt das Problem, ob diese zwei Faltungsperioden in verschiedene tektonische Phasen gegliedert werden müssen oder nicht. Beide Hypothesen scheinen gleich wahrscheinlich zu sein. Während der ersten pyrenäischen Faltungsperiode entstehen nur einfache ejektive Falten. Die zweite, alpine Periode verlief während und nach kontinentaler Erosion; die ersten E-W-Falten wurden überkippt und zerbrachen, so daß Überschiebungen entstanden. Für die Westalpen sowie für die einzelnen Ketten der subalpinen Ketten sind Faltenbögen nicht einfache Virgationen, sondern verwickelte Strukturen, deren Geschichte lang und verschieden war.

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Le probléme des relations des schistes lustrés piémontais avec la zone briançonnaise dans les alpes cottiennes

This paper deals with the tectonic and paleogeographic relations of two main internal zones of the Western Alps: The Briançonnais zone (“geanticline”, with thin sedimentation during Jurassic and Cretaceous times), and the still more internal Piemont zone (“eugeosyncline”, with Mesozoic-Post-Triassic-“Schistes lustrés” and Ophiolites). From structural, and especially stratigraphic and paleontological proofs, it can be concluded that, the Schistes-lustrés-complex (with or without his fossiliferous triassic-liassic basis) is thrusted over the Briançonnais zone; intermediate tectonic units are known; they belong to the intermediate paleogeographic Acclegio zone having undergone intensive Post-Triassic erosion; thus Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones and breccias are transgressive upon the Lower Triassic and Paleozoic basement rocks. This Acceglio zone can be linked with the upper portion of a “Prepiemontese Flexure” parting the Briançonnais geanticline and the Piemont geosyncline. At the lower part of this flexure, no erosion occured, but breccias and microbreccias are interbedded in Post-Triassic “Prepiemontese” sediments (“Schistes lustrés” facies but no ophiolites) belonging to the “Gondran zone” (an external portion of the Piemont zone with triassic dolomites followed by fossiliferous rhaetic an liassic beds). The ophiolite-bearing Schistes lustrés often lie conformably upon the sediments of this Gondran zone, but the contact is not definitely a stratigraphic one: More field research is necessary to decide if these ophiolites and Schistes lustrés really are the stratigraphc continuation (upper jurassic and lower cretaceous?) of the triassic-liassic (and meso-Jurassic?) sequence of the Gondran zone, or if they belong to an independant tectonic unit, coming from some internal zone.     

Dinosaur remains from the type Maastrichtian: an update

Isolated cranial and post-cranial remains of hadrosaurid dinosaurs have been collected from various outcrops in the type area of the Maastrichtian stage during the last few years. In the present contribution, dentary and maxillary teeth are recorded from the area for the first time. Post-cranial elements comprise a newly collected, fragmentary, large right metatarsal III and a broken ?right humerus, recently recognised in the collections of Teylers Museum (Haarlem). Unfortunately, none of these remains can be identified to species level. The available material suggests, however, that more than one taxon of non-lambeosaurine hadrosaurid and a possible euhadrosaurian are represented. Most of the new finds are stratigraphically well documented, which means that they may be linked to the recently published sequence-stratigraphic interpretation of the type Maastrichtian. Dinosaur remains recorded previously from the Maastrichtian type area are tabulated.