Geological mapping and diamond exploration in northern Quebec and Labrador has revealed an undeformed ultramafic dyke swarm in the northern Torngat Mountains. The dyke rocks are dominated by an olivine-phlogopite mineralogy and contain varying amounts of primary carbonate. Their mineralogy, mineral compositional trends and the presence of typomorphic minerals (e.g. kimzeyitic garnet), indicate that these dykes comprise an ultramafic lamprophyre suite grading into carbonatite. Recognized rock varieties are aillikite, mela-aillikite and subordinate carbonatite. Carbonatite and aillikite have in common high carbonate content and a lack of clinopyroxene. In contrast, mela-aillikites are richer in mafic silicate minerals, in particular clinopyroxene and amphibole, and contain only small amounts of primary carbonate. The modal mineralogy and textures of the dyke varieties are gradational, indicating that they represent end-members in a compositional continuum.
The Torngat ultramafic lamprophyres are characterized by high but variable MgO (10–25 wt.%), CaO (5–20 wt.%), TiO2 (3–10 wt.%) and K2O (1–4 wt.%), but low SiO2 (22–37 wt.%) and Al2O3 (2–6 wt.%). Higher SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O and lower CO2 content distinguish the mela-aillikites from the aillikites. Whereas the bulk rock major and trace element concentrations of the aillikites and mela-aillikites overlap, there is no fractional crystallization relation between them. The major and trace element characteristics imply related parental magmas, with minor olivine and Cr-spinel fractionation accounting for intra-group variation.
The Torngat ultramafic lamprophyres have a Neoproterozoic age and are spatially and compositionally closely related with the Neoproterozoic ultramafic lamprophyres from central West Greenland. Ultramafic potassic-to-carbonatitic magmatism occurred in both eastern Laurentia and western Baltica during the Late Neoproterozoic. It can be inferred from the emplacement ages of the alkaline complexes and timing of Late Proterozoic processes in the North Atlantic region that this volatile-rich, deep-seated igneous activity was a distal effect of the breakup of Rodinia. This occurred during and/or after the rift-to-drift transition that led to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. 相似文献
The Picacho gold deposit, located in southeasternmost California, is a low-grade gold deposit in a nearly flat-lying denudational
fault of regional extent and probable Oligocene age. The deposit is hosted by intensely fractured and faulted Mesozoic leucogranite
and by chloritic augen gneiss and schist, and is overlain unconformably and in fault contact by unmineralized late Oligocene
Quechan volcanic rocks. The deposit is structurally characterized by normal and normal-oblique faults of low to high dip at
shallow depths in the mine, merging downward with a synchronous, low-dipping ore-stage extensional fault system (the Chocolate
Mountains/Gatuna Fault) of probable Oligocene age in deeper portions of the deposit. The fault system was infiltrated during
much of its active life by hot, dilute, highly exchanged meteoric water having temperatures of 170°–210° C, salinity <2 wt%
NaCl equivalent and calculated δ18Ofluid between −2.6‰ and 5.2‰. This main-stage fluid precipitated quartz, pyrite, and specular hematite, accompanied by silicification
and sericitization. Auriferous ore-stage pyrite was precipitated late in the fault evolution probably by mixing of reducing
ore fluid with relatively oxidized main-stage fluid during regional Oligocene extension on the Chocolate Mountains/Gatuna
Fault. The Picacho deposit is characterized by a gold–arsenic–antimony geochemical signature consistent with bisulfide complexing
of gold in reducing fluid, in contrast with typical denudation fault-hosted base-metal-rich deposits associated with high-salinity
fluids elsewhere in the southwestern United States. The deposit is overprinted by Miocene normal faults having a wide range
of dips. These postore faults are associated with red earthy hematite precipitation, pyrite oxidation, and supergene enrichment
of gold.
Editorial handling: L. Meinert 相似文献
This study evaluates the susceptibility of landslides in the Lai Chau province of Vietnam using Geographic Information System
(GIS) and remote sensing data to focus on the relationship between tectonic fractures and landslides. Landslide locations
were identified from aerial photographs and field surveys. Topographic, geological data and satellite images were collected,
processed, and constructed into a spatial database using GIS data and image-processing techniques. A scheme of the tectonic
fracturing of crust in the Lai Chau region was established. Lai Chau was identified as a region with many crustal fractures,
where the grade of tectonic fracture is closely related to landslide occurrence. The influencing factors of landslide occurrence
were: distance from a tectonic fracture, slope, aspect, curvature, soil, and vegetative land cover. Landslide prone areas
were analyzed and mapped using the landslide occurrence factors employing the probability–frequency ratio model. The results
of the analysis were verified using landslide location data and showed 83.47% prediction accuracy. That emphasized a strong
relationship between the susceptibility map and the existing landslide location data. The results of this study can form a
basis stable development and land use planning for the region. 相似文献
Permafrost records, accessible at outcrops along the coast of Oyogos Yar at the Dmitry Laptev Strait, NE-Siberia, provide unique insights into the environmental history of Western Beringia during the Last Interglacial. The remains of terrestrial and freshwater organisms, including plants, coleopterans, chironomids, cladocerans, ostracods and molluscs, have been preserved in the frozen deposits of a shallow paleo-lake and indicate a boreal climate at the present-day arctic mainland coast during the Last Interglacial. Terrestrial beetle and plant remains suggest the former existence of open forest-tundra with larch (Larix dahurica), tree alder (Alnus incana), birch and alder shrubs (Duschekia fruticosa, Betula fruticosa, Betula divaricata, Betula nana), interspersed with patches of steppe and meadows. Consequently, the tree line was shifted to at least 270 km north of its current position. Aquatic organisms, such as chironomids, cladocerans, ostracods, molluscs and hydrophytes, indicate the formation of a shallow lake as the result of thermokarst processes. Steppe plants and beetles suggest low net precipitation. Littoral pioneer plants and chironomids indicate intense lake level fluctuations due to high evaporation. Many of the organisms are thermophilous, indicating a mean air temperature of the warmest month that was greater than 13 °C, which is above the minimum requirements for tree growth. These temperatures are in contrast to the modern values of less than 4 °C in the study area. The terrestrial and freshwater organism remains were found at a coastal exposure that was only 3.5 m above sea level and in a position where they should have been under sea during the Last Interglacial when the global sea level was 6–10 m higher than the current levels. The results suggest that during the last warm stage, the site was inland, and its modern coastal situation is the result of tectonic subsidence. 相似文献