Antidune and chute and pool structures in the base surge deposits of the Laacher See area, Germany

Grey tuffs of late Pleistocene age form broad fans radiating from the Laacher See basin. They were derived from phreatomagmatic outbursts, and transported in turbulent pyroclastic flows, in contrast with the underlying white pumice tuffs of air fall origin. Flow origin of the grey tuffs is inferred from the well-bedded plane parallel to cross-bedded tephra characteristic of base surge deposits, and a variety of other sedimentary structures, as well as grain size distributions. We recognize a tentative sequence of five main kinds of dune structures or cross-bedded strata. With some reservations these may be compared with the high flow-regime alluvial bedforms produced experimentally in flumes. Most of the cross-bedded structures in the Laacher See deposits resemble antidunes, with steep stoss sides and very low-dipping lee sides. Upcurrent migration of antidune crests is dominant close to the source, but changes to downcurrent migration at greater distances, presumably because of decay in flow energy. The most spectacular cross-bedding is somewhat similar to chute and pool structures formed under experimental condition in alluvial flumes, but not recognized in ancient sedimentary rocks. We suggest that these structures of the Laacher See tuffs formed during deposition from phreatic pyroclastic flows of very high flow energy and high sediment concentration. The antidunes apparently formed at lesser flow velocity than chute and pool structures, although interpretation of velocity conditions by examination of the deposits is difficult because of other factors such as the cohesiveness of wet material erupted by explosive phreatic volcanic activity. The large wave lengths of the dune-like structures, however, suggest unusually high velocities. The Laacher See magmas were of phonolitic to tephritic composition, and may have erupted with greater explosive energy and in greater volume than comparable basaltic eruptions.     

Quaternary glaciations of the Rongbuk Valley,Tibet

Randomisation tests on boulder weathering data distinguish moraines of four different ages in the Rongbuk Valley, all deposited by valley glaciers flowing northward into Tibet from the Himalaya. Lichenometry utilising subgenus Rhizocarpon distinguishes two groups of moraines, those <100 yr old and those older than several thousand years. The degree of soil development has a similar, limited utility in relative-age dating these moraines. The radiocarbon ages of calcium carbonate coatings in the lower horizons of moraine soils provide minimum-limiting ages of 1900 yr BP for the penultimate advance of the Rongbuk glacier (Samdopo moraine) and 9500 yr BP for the Rongbuk moraine, the moraine suggested by previous workers to represent the last glacial maximum. Equilibrium-line depression associated with the Rongbuk moraine probably was slight, <200 m. The small magnitude of this depression relative to glaciers in other mountain ranges could relate to a weakening of the monsoon in full glacial times, recent tectonic uplift, and/or to the insensitivity of these high-altitude glaciers to lowering temperatures in the rain shadow of Mount Everest.     

Morphology and evolution of an anastomosed channel network where saline underflow enters the Black Sea

The Bosphorus Strait accommodates two‐way flow between the Aegean and Black Seas. The Aegean (Mediterranean) inflow has speeds of 5 to 15 cm sec^?1 in the strait and a salinity contrast of ～12‰ to 16‰ with the Black Sea surface waters on the shelf. An anastomosed channel network crosses the shelf and in water deeper than 70 m is characterized by first‐order channels 5 to 10 m deep, local lateral accretion bedding, muddy in‐channel barforms, and a variety of sediment waves both on channel floors and bar crests, crevasse channels entering the overbank area and levée/overbank deposits which are radiocarbon‐dated in cores to be younger than ～7·5 to 8·0 ka. This channel network accommodates the saline density current formed by the Mediterranean inflow. The density contrast between the density underflow and the ambient water mass is ～0·01 g cm^?3, similar to the density contrast ascribed to low‐concentration turbidity currents in the deep sea. Channel‐floor deposits are sandy to gravelly with local shell concentrations. Low‐relief bedforms on the channel floor have relatively straight crests, upflow‐dipping cross‐stratification, heights 1 to 1·5 m and wavelengths 85 to 155 m. Bankfull flows are subcritical, so these probably are not antidunes. Bar tops are ornamented locally with mudwaves having heights 1 to 2 m and wavelengths ～20 to 100 m; these are potentially antidunes formed under shallow overbank flows. Towards the shelf edge, the degree of channel bifurcation increases dramatically and bar tops are dissected locally by secondary channels, some of which terminate in hanging valleys. Conical mounds on the shelf (possibly mud volcanoes or sites of fluid seepage) interact with the channel network by promoting accretion of muddy streamlined macroforms in their lee. This channel network may be one of the largest and most accessible natural laboratories on Earth for the study of continuously flowing density currents. Although the driver is salinity contrast, the underflow transports sufficient sediment to form levée wedges and large streamlined barforms, and presumably transports sediment into deep water.     

中国北方草地植物群落碳、氮元素组成空间变化及其与土壤地球化学变化的关系

碳、氮元素是土壤中的关键元素.在我国黄土高原北部-宁夏中东部处于荒漠化初期阶段的草地中,土壤的碳、氮元素组成出现了异乎寻常的特征,即相对于碳含量,氮含量异常偏低.认识造成这一现象的原因对我国北方草地的保护和重建具有重要意义.植被的输入是土壤中碳、氮元素组成的最为重要的控制因素之一.为认识植被碳、氮含量的空间变化对上述现象产生的贡献,对包括草地碳、氮异常区在内的区域进行了沿线植物群落的化学组成研究.结果表明:1.植物群落平均碳含量约为40%～50%,不同植物群落类型碳含量以苦豆子、达乌里胡子枝群落最高(44.225%),蛛丝蓬、骆驼蓬群落最低(35.516%).绝大多数植物群落平均氮含量约为2%～4%,不同植物群落类型含氮量以猪毛菜、星状角果藜群落最高(4.482%),蛛丝蓬群落最低(1.356%);2.植物群落生物量空间分布与对应降雨量变化趋势一致,说明降雨量是限制群落地理分布的关键因子;3.植物群落与土壤C/N比值随纬度呈现不一致的变化规律,相关分析表明,两者呈现统计学上的显著负相关关系,相关系数为:r=-0.392(P＜0.05,n=32).上述结果表明,在研究地区荒漠化初期阶段的草地中,植被输入不是引起该区域土壤C/N异常升高的原因.     

Shallow-water gravity-flow deposits, Chapel Island Formation, southeast Newfoundland, Canada

A remarkable suite of shallow-water, gravity-flow deposits are found within very thinly-bedded siltstones and storm-generated sandstones of member 2 of the Chapel Island Formation in southeast Newfoundland. Medium to thick siltstone beds, termed unifites, range from non-graded and structureless (Type 1) to slightly graded with poorly developed lamination (Type 2) to well graded with lamination similar to that described for fine-grained turbidites (Type 3). Unifite beds record deposition from a continuum of flow types from liquefied flows (Type 1) to turbidity currents (Type 3). Calculations of time for pore-fluid pressure dissipation support the feasibility of such transitions. Raft-bearing beds consist of siltstone with large blocks or‘rafts’ of thinly bedded strata derived from the underlying and adjacent substrate. Characteristics suggest deposition from debris flows of variable strength. Estimates of debris strength and depositional slope are calculated for a pebbly mudstone bed using measurable and assumed parameters. An assumed density of 2.0 g cm^-1 and a compaction estimate of 50% gives a strength estimate of 79.7 dyn cm^-2 and a depositional slope estimate of 0.77°. The lithologies and sedimentary structures in member 2 indicate an overall grain-size distribution susceptible to liquefaction. Inferred high sediment accumulation rates created underconsolidated sediments (metastable packing). Types of sediment failure included in situ liquefaction (‘disturbed bedding’), sliding and slumping. Raft-bearing debrites resulted from sliding and incorporation of water. Locally, hummocky cross-stratified sandstone directly overlies slide deposits and raft-bearing beds, linking sediment failure to the cyclical wave loading associated with large storms. The gravity flows of the Chapel Island Formation closely resemble those described from the surfaces of modern, mud-rich, marine deltas. Details of deltaic gravity-flow deposition from this and other outcrop studies further our understanding of modern deposits by adding a third dimension to studies primarily carried out with side-scan sonar.     

Hafnium Isotope and Trace Element Constraints on the Nature of Mantle Heterogeneity beneath the Central Southwest Indian Ridge (13{degrees}E to 47{degrees}E)

Hafnium isotope and incompatible trace element data are presentedfor a suite of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) from 13 to 47°Eon the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR), one of the slowest spreadingand most isotopically heterogeneous mid-ocean ridges. Variationsin Nd–Hf isotope compositions and Lu/Hf ratios clearlydistinguish an Atlantic–Pacific-type MORB source, presentwest of 26°E, characterized by relatively low _Hf valuesfor a given _Nd relative to the regression line through all Nd–Hfisotope data for oceanic basalts (termed the ‘Nd–Hfmantle array line’; the deviation from this line is termed_Hf) and low Lu/Hf ratios, from an Indian Ocean-type MORB signature,present east of 32°E, characterized by relatively high _Hfvalues and Lu/Hf ratios. Additionally, two localized, isotopicallyanomalous areas, at 13–15°E and 39–41°E,are characterized by distinctly low negative and high positive_Hf values, respectively. The low _Hf MORB from 13 to 15°Eappear to reflect contamination by HIMU-type mantle from thenearby Bouvet mantle plume, whereas the trace element and isotopiccompositions of MORB from 39 to 41°E are most consistentwith contamination by metasomatized Archean continental lithosphericmantle. Relatively small source-melt fractionation of Lu/Hfrelative to Sm/Nd, compared with MORB from faster-spreadingridges, argues against a significant role for garnet pyroxenitein the generation of most central SWIR MORB. Correlations between_Hf and Sr and Pb isotopic and trace element ratios clearly delineatea high-_Hf ‘Indian Ocean mantle component’ that canexplain the isotope composition of most Indian Ocean MORB asmixtures between this component and a heterogeneous Atlantic–Pacific-typeMORB source. The Hf, Nd and Sr isotope compositions of IndianOcean MORB appear to be most consistent with the hypothesisthat this component represents fragments of subduction-modifiedlithospheric mantle beneath Proterozoic orogenic belts thatfoundered into the nascent Indian Ocean upper mantle duringthe Mesozoic breakup of Gondwana. KEY WORDS: mid-ocean ridge basalt; isotopes; incompatible elements; Indian Ocean     

Recognition of ancient carbonate wind deposits: lessons from a modern analogue, Chrissi Island, Crete

Carbonate aeolian deposits are common along arid to semiarid, wind-exposed, present-day coastlines bordered by productive carbonate ramps. Lithified carbonate dunes (aeolianites) have been described around the world in marine terraces of Quaternary age, but these deposits have seldom been identified in the Pre-Quaternary record. Several authors have suggested that this scarcity reflects that these deposits form and are preserved only during icehouse periods characterized by high-amplitude sea-level changes. Others [e.g. McKee and Ward Carbonate Depositional Environments (1983) , AAPG Memoirs, Vol. 33, pp. 131–170] suggest that the scarcity of aeolianites in the Pre-Quaternary record could reflect the ‘great difficulty in recognising wind blown carbonate deposits and in differentiating between them [aeolianites] and other carbonate sands of nearshore environments’. It has been considered that carbonate shoreface/foreshore deposits are very difficult to discriminate petrographically from backshore deposits. This petrographic study of recent sediments from the shoreface to backshore along the northern coast of Chrissi Island, Crete, confirms that carbonate aeolian sands can be very easily misinterpreted as shoreface deposits. Textural examination of thin sections by image analysis techniques indicates, however, that grain orientation patterns differ between facies. Shoreface deposits exhibit a unimodal distribution of grain orientation (flat rose diagram), whereas backshore deposits show a tendency towards a bimodal distribution with a significant proportion of vertical grains. This observation has been confirmed in Pleistocene aeolianites from Tunisia and Western Australia. Grain verticality thus seems to be a reliable criterion for discriminating wind-lain carbonate bodies from shoreface deposits. Vertical grains in aeolian carbonate deposits could reflect gravity effects (e.g. reorientation of grains because of meteoric water percolation and air pull-up). Laboratory experiments conducted on carbonate sands under the action of percolating waters confirm this hypothesis. This reorganization process is preferentially developed in recently deposited and loosely packed sands resulting from grainfall and/or grainflow. In addition, this suggests that the presence of vertical grain orientation might be an indicator of the frequency and intensity of rainfalls during deposition.     

水对三峡库区滑带（体）土直剪强度参数的弱化规律研究

通过对三峡库区典型滑带不同状态的原位直剪对比试验,研究了粘土、粉质粘土及土石混合体三类滑带（体）土在不同含水状态下的直剪强度参数及c,φ值随含水率的变化规律。在大量的数据基础上建立了滑带（体）土c,φ值与含水率之间的经验关系,分析了水对不同性质的滑带（体）土的作用机理,得出了蓄水或者含水率变化后滑带（体）土c,φ值的经验公式,量化了含水率变化（水位涨落）对直剪强度参数的弱化程度。     

西藏南部晚始新世打拉埃达克质花岗岩及其构造动力学意义

打拉二云母花岗岩岩体位于雅拉香波穹隆的东南,侵入到中生代以前的变质岩系(眼球状花岗质片麻岩和石榴黑云母片麻岩)和特提斯沉积岩(页岩和砂岩)中,主要由石英、斜长石、钾长石、黑云母和白云母组成,形成于～44.3Ma。打拉二云母花岗岩地球化学特征表明:打拉花岗岩具有高Al_2O_3(16.0%～17.0%)、Na_2O/K_2O(1.2)以及A/CNK比值(1.05),表明打拉花岗岩为富钠过铝质花岗岩;轻稀土(LREE)富集,重稀土(HREE)相对亏损,HREE中的Ho到Lu元素有变平的特征((Ho/Lu)_N=1.11～1.46);具有微弱或无Eu异常,Eu/Eu~*=0.87～0.95;较高的初始Sr同位素比值(~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr(i)=0.71754～0.71785)和较低的初始Nd比值(ε_(Nd)(i)=-9.15～-12.4)。打拉花岗岩具有高Sr含量(为355×10~(-6)～416×10~(-6))和Sr/Y的比值(59.1～71.5)、高La/Yb比值、低Y及HREE亏损的特征,与埃达克质花岗岩类似。上述特征表明打拉花岗岩是在较高压力条件下,以角闪岩为主的深部岩石部分熔融的结果。