Geophysical prospecting in the Lake Victoria goldfields

Two areas of the Lake Victoria Region in Tanzania, where most of the old gold prospects are situated, were chosen for a comprehensive mineral survey. Since most of the country is covered by tropical soils, geophysical methods were applied. The gold occurs in quartz veins, shear zones and impregnation deposits, sometimes closely associated with sulphides or graphites, mostly in the archean country rocks of the Nyanzian System. The Nyanzian rocks form irregular shaped rafts in the roof of the central granite and have nearly the same physical properties as the gold occurrences. This obstacle was overcome by a special combination of geophysical methods:Airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys were flown in order to distinguish major fault zones, conducting horizons and profound changes in lithology.In promising areas, selected from the airborne results or from the presence of old mine workings, special grids were cut out and pegged. These grids were surveyed with magnetometer and E. M. Gun. The results, evaluated in contour and derived structural maps, produced the important tectonic features of the areas.These informations formed the background for the finalTuram survey, which gave in some instances direct indications of the mineralized quartz veins. This combination revealed also so many particulars of the structural pattern, that extensions of the deposits could be established and it became possible, to carry out trenching and drilling programmes successfully. The application of the combined methods is explicated on the example of one particular mineralized quartz vein of Sarama Area.

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Zusammenfassung Zwei Gebiete am Victoriasee in Tanzania, in denen zahlreiche alte Goldbergbaue liegen, wurden durch eine Mineralprospektion erfaßt. Da ein großer Teil des Landes von tropischen Lehmen überdeckt wird, mußten geophysikalische Methoden angewendet werden. Das Gold kommt in Quarzgängen, Scherzonen und Imprägnations-Lagerstätten vor, teilweise in enger Verbindung mit Sulfiden oder Graphit, zumeist innerhalb der archaischen Gesteine des Nyanzian, die als unregelmäßig gestaltete Flöße im Dach des Zentralgranites schwimmen. Diese Serie besitzt nahezu dieselben physikalischen Eigenschaften wie die Goldvorkommen. Dieses Problem wurde durch eine besonders geeignete Kombination geophysikalischer Methoden gelöst:Magnetische und elektromagnetische Flugvermessungen wurden gleichzeitig durchgeführt, um Hauptverwerfungen, gut leitende Horizonte und die Verbreitung der wichtigsten Gesteine festzustellen.In höffigen Gebieten, die nach den Ergebnissen der Flugvermessungen oder nach der Lage alter Goldbergbaue ausgewählt wurden, sind besondere Netzwerke ausgeschlagen und verpflockt worden. Magnetometer und E.-M.-Gun-Messungen erfolgten zuerst; ihre Ergebnisse, in Isolinienkarten und abgeleiteten Strukturkarten ausgewertet, spiegelten die wichtigsten tektonischen Einheiten des Untersuchungsgebietes wider.Diese Resultate bildeten die Grundlage für die abschließendenTuram-Messungen, die direkte Hinweise auf die vererzten Quarzgänge erbrachten. Diese Verbindung unterschiedlicher Untersuchungsmethoden gab außerdem so viele Einzelheiten des geologischen Aufbaues wieder, daß die Ausdehnung einiger Erzkörper festgestellt und Schürf sowie Bohrprogramme erfolgreich ausgeführt werden konnten. Die Anwendung dieses Verfahrens wird am Beispiel einer typischen Quarzgang-Goldlagerstätte aus dem Sarama-Gebiet erläutert.

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Résumé Une recherche minière a été effectuée dans deux secteurs de la région du Lac Victoria en Tanzanie, où se trouve située la majorité des anciennes mines aurifères. De différentes méthodes géophysiques furent appliquées au cours de cette recherche, compte-tenux de l'importante altération de type tropical existant dans cette région. L'or se rencontre dans des veines de quartz, des zones de cisaillement ou en imprégnations diffuses et se trouve fréquemment associé à des sulfures et du graphite. La minéralisation est intrusive dans les formations précambriennes du Nyanzien. Ces formations constituent des îlots de forme irrégulière répartis dans le granite et ont, géophysiquement parlant, sensiblement les mêmes propriétés physiques que les formations aurifères. Cet obstacle fut levé en utilisant une combinaison spéciale de méthodes géophysiques:Une campagne de géophysique aéroportée (magnétométrie et électromagnétisme) fut effectuée en vue de repérer les failles principales, les horizons conducteurs et les changements lithologiques majeurs.Une étude au sol par magnétométrie et électromagnétisme (E. M. Gun) fut alors entreprise dans les zones favorables, choisies sur la base des résultats de la géophysique et de l'importance des anciens travaux miniers, suivant une maille spéciale qui avait été jalonée au préalable sur le terrain. Les résultats furent consignés sous forme de cartes de contours et révélèrent les principales marques caractéristiques tectoniques de la région.Ces informations servirent de base à une campagne auTuram qui donne en certains endroits des indications précises sur les veines de quartz aurifère.Cette combinaison de méthodes géophysiques permit d'établir l'aspect structural de la région à un degré tel qu'il fut possible de déterminer l'extension des gisements et il devint alors possible de réaliser avec succès les programmes de prospection superficielle et de sondage. A titre d'exemple, l'application de ces méthodes combinéses est détallée pour une veine de quartz aurifère de la région de Sarama.

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Herrn Professor Dr.Roland Brinkmann zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.

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Annotation note of the editorial staff: Due to lack of time we have not been able to alter the text of this paper.     

Calcium-isotope fractionation in selected modern and ancient marine carbonates

The calcium-isotope composition (δ^44/42Ca) was analyzed in modern, Cretaceous and Carboniferous marine skeletal carbonates as well as in bioclasts, non-skeletal components, and diagenetic cements of Cretaceous and Carboniferous limestones. In order to gain insight in Ca²⁺_aq-CaCO₃-isotope fractionation mechanisms in marine carbonates, splits of samples were analyzed for Sr, Mg, Fe, and Mn concentrations and for their oxygen and carbon isotopic composition. Biological carbonates generally have lower δ^44/42Ca values than inorganic marine cements, and there appears to be no fractionation between seawater and marine inorganic calcite. A kinetic isotope effect related to precipitation rate is considered to control the overall discrimination against ⁴⁴Ca in biological carbonates when compared to inorganic precipitates. This is supported by a well-defined correlation of the δ^44/42Ca values with Sr concentrations in Cretaceous limestones that contain biological carbonates at various stages of marine diagenetic alteration. No significant temperature dependence of Ca-isotope fractionation was found in shells of Cretaceous rudist bivalves that have recorded large seasonal temperature variations as derived from δ¹⁸O values and Mg concentrations. The reconstruction of secular variations in the δ^44/42Ca value of seawater from well preserved skeletal calcite is compromised by a broad range of variation found in both modern and Cretaceous biological carbonates, independent of chemical composition or mineralogy. Despite these variations that may be due to still unidentified biological fractionation mechanisms, the δ^44/42Ca values of Cretaceous skeletal calcite suggest that the δ^44/42Ca value of Cretaceous seawater was 0.3-0.4‰ lower than that of the modern ocean.     

Palaeobotanical evidence of wildfires in the Late Palaeozoic of South America – Early Permian, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Fossil charcoal, as direct evidence of palaeowildfires, has repeatedly been reported from several plant-bearing deposits from the Late Palaeozoic of the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast charcoal reports from the Late Palaeozoic deposits of the Southern Hemisphere are relatively rare in comparison to the Northern Hemisphere. Although the presence of pyrogenic coal macerals has repeatedly been reported from Late Palaeozoic coals from South America, no detailed anatomical investigations of such material have been published so far. Here is presented an anatomical analysis of charcoal originating from Early Permian sediments of the Quitéria Outcrop, Rio Bonito Formation, Paraná Basin, located in the central-eastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This charcoal comes from two different coaly facies, and it was possible to scrutinize between three types, based on anatomical characters of the charcoal. Two of these charcoal types can be correlated to gymnosperm woods, and the other type corresponds to strongly permineralized bark with characteristic features of lycopsids. The presence of charcoal in different facies, ranging from parautochtonous to allochtonous origin, indicates that different vegetation types, i.e. plants which grew under wet conditions in the lowland as well as in the more dry hinterland, have experienced wildfires. Taking into account previous petrographic and lithological analyses from the facies in which the charcoal occurs and from the conditions of the wood and bark fragments, it was possible to speculate that the intensity of such wildfires most probably corresponds to forest-crown fires. Moreover, it is possible to state that wildfires have been a more or less common element in distinct Late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems in the South American part of Gondwana. The data support previous assumptions on the occurrence of wildfires in the Early Permian of the Paraná Basin which were based solely on coal-petrographic data.     

Redistribution of HFSE elements during rutile replacement by titanite

Titanite growth at the expense of rutile during retrograde hydration of eclogite into amphibolite is a common phenomenon. We investigated an amphibolite sample from the Tromsø eclogite facies terrain in Northern Norway to gain insight into the trace element distribution between rutile and titanite during incomplete resorption of the rutile by titanite. Patchy compositional zoning of Al, Ti, and F in titanite relates to the presence of a fluid with variable Ti/Al and/or F during its growth. Laser ablation ICP–MS and electron microprobe data for high field strength elements (HFSE: Nb, Zr, Ta, and Hf) of rutile resorbed by titanite indicate a pronounced enrichment of these elements in the rim of a large single rutile crystal (~8 mm) and a systematic decrease towards uniform HFSE contents in the large core. HFSE contents of smaller rutile grains (~0.5 mm) and rutile inclusions (<100 μm) in the titanite overgrowth are similar or higher than in the rims of large rutile crystals. Element profiles from the rim inward demonstrate that HFSE enrichment in rutile is controlled by diffusion. HFSE ratios in diffusion-altered rutile show systematic variations compared with the uniform core composition of the large rutile. Modelling of Zr and Nb diffusion in rutile indicates that diffusion coefficients in rutile in fluid-dominated natural systems must be considerably higher than those determined experimentally at 1 bar in dry systems. Variations of HFSE contents in the newly formed titanite show no systematic spatial distribution. HFSE ratios in titanite and the rims of rutile are different, indicating different solid/fluid distribution coefficients in these minerals. Element fractionation by diffusion into the relict rutile and during fluid-mediated growth of new titanite could substantially change the HFSE budget of these minerals and could affect their use for geochemical tracing and other applications, such as Zr-based geothermobarometry.     

Seismic images of a collision zone offshore NW Sabah/Borneo

Multichannel reflection seismic data from the southern South China Sea, refraction and gravity modelling were used to investigate the compressional sedimentary structures of the collision-prone continental margin off NW Borneo. An elongated imbricate deepwater fan, the toe Thrust Zone bounds the Northwest Borneo Trough to the southeast. The faults separating the individual imbricates cut through post-Early Miocene sediments and curve down to a carbonate platform at the top of the subsiding continental Dangerous Grounds platform that forms the major detachment surface. The age of deformation migrates outward toward the front of the wedge. We propose crustal shortening mechanisms as the main reason for the formation of the imbricate fan. At the location of the in the past defined Lower Tertiary Thrust Sheet tectonostratigraphic province a high velocity body was found but with a much smaller extend than the previously defined structure. The high velocity structure may be interpreted either as carbonates that limit the transfer of seismic energy into the sedimentary layers beneath or as Paleogene Crocker sediments dissected by remnants of a proto-South China Sea oceanic crust that were overthrust onto a southward migrating attenuated continental block of the Dangerous Grounds during plate convergence.     

The age of the Roter Kamm impact crater,Namibia: Constraints from 40Ar-39Ar,K-Ar,Rb-Sr,fission track,and 10Be-26Al studies

Abstract The well-preserved 2.5 km diameter Roter Kamm impact crater is located in the Namib desert in Namibia. The impact has occurred in Precambrian granitic and granodioritic orthogneisses of the 1200–900 Ma old Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex which were partly covered by Gariep metasediments; the granites are invaded by quartz veins and quartz-feldspar-pegmatites. Previous geological field evidence suggested a crater age of about 5–10 Ma. In order to constrain this age, we selected a set of basement rocks (granites, granodiorites) exposed at the crater rim and studied the Rb-Sr, K-Ar, ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar, and ¹⁰Be-²⁶Al isotopic systems as well as apatite fission track ages of these samples. The Rb-Sr isotopic systematics confirm the derivation of these samples from the Namaqualand basement (age about 1.29 Ga), which underwent Damaran orogenesis at about 650 Ma. No basement rocks with Rb-Sr ages younger than about 410 Ma were identified. The K-Ar ages of pseudotachylite and melt breccia samples show that these samples are dominated by incompletely degassed fragments of basement rocks, with some retaining their original metamorphic ages of about 470 Ma. The apatite fission track ages range from 20–28 Ma, which may be interpreted as an extension of the 25 Ma Burdigalian peneplanation event, or as incomplete resetting of the apatite fission tracks during the impact event. The ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al exposure age of a quartz sample isolated from a quartz-pegmatite was found to be 150 ka; it is likely that the exposure of the sample began after material covering it had been removed by erosion 150 ka ago. Two glassy fractions extracted from a rim granite were dated by ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar analysis. One sample gives practically a plateau age of 3.7 ± 0.3 Ma, while the other gives a minimum age of 3.6 Ma. The best available age estimate for the Roter Kamm crater is therefore 3.7 ± 0.3 Ma.     

Characteristics of large-scale atmospheric circulation related to extreme monthly rainfall anomalies in the Pampa Region, Argentina, under non-ENSO conditions

Summary There is a widely held view that the Pampa region (PR) dry and wet periods are predominantly a consecuence of the El Ni?o-Southern oscillation (ENSO) phenomenom. The current paper focuses on non-ENSO rainfall anomalies for the period 1948–2000, the more recent of which have had catastrophic consequences throughout the region. We analyze horizontal water vapor transport, pressure and circulation anomalies occurring in Southern South America (SSA) during this type of event. Positive and negative (wet and dry) extreme events during the rainy and dry seasons in the region were registered. Based on NCEP reanalysis data it was established that under rainfall deficit, anomalies of similar intensity occurred simultaneously in the PR and in central Chile, whereas under excess rainfall the anomalies were mostly confined to the PR. The existence of a cyclone-anticyclone pair in the anomalous circulation pattern over mid latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and straddling the southern portion of the continent maintains an intense and extense meridional circulation over the continental plains, which leads to the abnormal values in moisture transport and rainfall rate. The atmospheric water balance equation calculated for the PR indicates that anomalous water vapor is carried in from the continental equatorial region and from the subtropical Atlantic, its magnitude varying in accordance with the season and the sign of the anomaly. Furthermore, evidence of the important role of transient terms corroborates their contribution to the anomalous total moisture flux divergence under rainfall deficit during the dry season. The mean sea-level pressure anomaly fields of the extreme cases were further examined by principal component analysis to discern those circulation features directly linked to rainfall deviations.     

用电子束CT作冠状动脉血管造影

本文介绍用电子束ＣＴ作冠状动脉可视化造影的方法,说明本项成就的特征和在应用这项技术的局限性,并指出这种技术在临床上,可能成为新无创伤性的诊断工具。     

Element signatures of subduction-zone fluids. An experimental study of the element partitioning (Dfluid/rock) of natural partly altered igneous rocks from the ODP drilling site 1,256

The trace element signatures of fluids were investigated by leaching experiments on natural samples of partly altered mafic igneous rocks recovered from the drilling site 1,256 of ODP Leg 206 on the Cocos plate (Central America). Experiments with ultrapure water were performed at 400 °C/0.4 GPa and 500 °C/0.7 GPa. Both fluids and residual solids were examined to obtain the partition coefficients (D^fluid/rock) of various trace elements. Element partition coefficients (D^fluid/rock) obtained at 500 °C/0.7 GPa are significantly lower compared to results obtained at 400 °C/0.4 GPa, which is in contrast to observations at higher pressures (2.2–6 GPa) and temperatures between 700 and 1,400 °C (Kessel et al. in Earth Planet Sci Lett 237: 873–892, 2005a; Spandler et al. in Chem Geol 239: 228–249, 2007). This finding may indicate a considerable pressure effect on the leaching processes and strongly divergent fluid–rock interactions in the upper part of a subduction zone at 0.4–0.7 GPa compared to deeper subduction areas with higher pressures. Furthermore, this may be interpreted as one of the earliest fractionation processes during the subduction of crustal material.