A large landslide on the urban fringe of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona

A granitic rock avalanche, one of the largest Quaternary landslides in Arizona outside the Grand Canyon with a volume of approximately 5.25 M m³ and a width a little under 0.5 km, ran 1 km from the eastern McDowell Mountains. With lateral levees and pressure ridges, the rock avalanche deposit displays many features found on classic sturzstroms. Failure occurred along a major joint plane paralleling the slope with a dip of 44°, when a major base level lowering event in the Salt River system would have undermined the base of the failed slope, and probably during a period of more moisture than normally available in the present-day arid climate. Failure at the subsurface weathering front highlights the importance of the dramatic permeability change between grussified regolith and relatively fresh bedrock. Rock varnish microlaminations (VMLs) dating, in concert with other geomorphic evidence, suggests that the rock avalanche deposit is slightly older than 500 ka. The rock vanish results also have important implications for sampling strategies designed to use cosmogenic nuclide to date Quaternary landslide deposits. Discovery of a large landslide in close proximity to the extending urban fringe of metropolitan Phoenix argues for a more careful analysis of landslide hazards in the region, especially where rapid development excavates bedrock at the base of steep mountain slopes and where the subsurface weathering front is near the surface.     

赣南地区寒武纪高滩组碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄和Hf同位素特征及地质意义

寒武纪高滩组广泛分布于赣南武功山-雩山地区,主体为一套浅变质砂岩夹板岩的复理石建造。为分析其物源,并对源区地壳生长和构造演化提供约束,本文对采自高滩组的变长石石英杂砂岩进行了LA-ICP-MS碎屑锆石U-Pb年代学和Hf同位素研究。锆石U-Pb年龄数据显示2 500 Ma、1 100~900 Ma和900~700 Ma 3个主要年龄峰值。2 500 Ma的年龄峰值代表了新太古代末期—古元古代的古陆核生长事件。1 100~900 Ma和900~700 Ma两个峰最显著,表明Rodinia超大陆聚合裂解在华南地区的响应,为该区寒武纪地层提供了主要物源。此外,3 003 Ma锆石年龄的捕获说明,华夏地块可能存在太古宙地壳基底。Hf同位素数据表明,源区锆石结晶多为古老地壳组分部分熔融产生的岩浆。结合锆石年龄数据分析认为,华南地区存在强烈的新元古代岩浆活动,该时期岩浆活动主要是古老地壳物质的再循环。     

张河湾水库地区断层的ESR年龄测定

本文叙述了电子自旋共振(简称ESR)法所测定的河北省张河湾水库F₁、F₇断层的年龄,将ESR年龄和以往测试的TL年龄进行对比,两种方法测试结果基本吻合,证明ESR测定第四纪断层的可能性,F₁、F₇断层的年龄值均大于定义的活动断层年龄值下限(1.1×104a)。因此,它们不属活动断层,这个结论也被其它地质观测手段所证实。      

Petroleum accumulation and leakage in a deeply buried carbonate reservoir,Níspero field (Mexico)

The filling history of the Níspero deeply buried Lower Cretaceous carbonate reservoir (below 4000 m) from the south part of Gulf of Mexico was studied using a combination of data from petrography, stable isotopes and fluid inclusions and compared with a one-dimensional burial model to derive timing.     

Neuzeitlicher Schadstofftrend: Polycylische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK) in aquatischen und terrestrischen Sedimenten

A Recent Contamination Trend: Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Aquatic and Terrestrial Sediments Concentrations of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured in aquatic sediments of small, medium‐sized or very large inland lakes, of estuaries as well as in terrestrial sediments from Germany, the UK, Finland, and the USA were plotted in 10 trend curves over the period from 1800 to 1990. The segments of the bore cores were dated for their deposition age. For comparability of the results, the trend is preferentially shown by the guide parameter fluoranthene. Until the 19th century, a constant background value of C_Fluo = 10…50 μg/kg was observed in all regions. Then a steep increase in concentration followed, reaching in the aquatic sediments a maximum in the period 1940 to 1965, while the individual fluoranthene values ranged widely from 90 to 2400 μg/kg. In several regions, a more or less distinct decrease superseded this maximum, although this development did not appear in terrestrial sediments, in one estuary, and in remote forest lakes in Finland. The trend curves reflect the atmospheric deposition of PAHs in airborne dust and in some cases the import through runoff via rivers. Thus, the sediment profiles depict the development of air pollution by pyrogenic contaminants over more than a century. Sediment profiles from rivers can be used only with a high degree of reservation, because of the irregularity and low representativity of the sedimentation.     

Paramagnetic lattice defects in quartz for applications to ESR dating

Quartz is one of the minerals useful for ESR dating with many applications. Although the study has quite a long history since 1980's, ESR dating of quartz is still in a developing stage. After the basis in physics for the ESR signals in quartz is described, the current status of ESR dating of quartz is summarized for applications to fault gouge, tephra and sediment. Both basic studies for mechanisms and practical applications with independent age controls are still necessary to establish the protocols.     

Luminescence chronology of the Sankosh river terraces in the Assam- Bhutan foothills of the Himalayas: Implications to climate and tectonics

Himalaya is an active fold and thrust belt formed due to continent-continent collision between the Eurasian and Indian plates. It comprises a 3000 km long chain of mountains that span ∼1000 km across, with major boundary thrusts viz., Main Central Thrust (MCT), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT). MFT is marked as mountain front and is the most active thrust; however, evidence of tectonic activity along MCT and MBT also exists.Tectonic activity along MFT created uplifted terraces which now serve as geomorphic archives of past tectonic events. The present study focussed on a glacial-fed river Sankosh that originates in northern Bhutan, and crosses MCT, MBT and MFT before joining the Brahmaputra River in Assam. Due to tectonic uplift, the river shows a deflection at MFT, incising and thus forming four levels of strath terraces. Luminescence chronology, geomorphic studies and analysis of satellite images suggest four levels of terraces T4 (highest level, 195 m asl), T3, T2 and T1 (lowest level, 120 m asl).The quartz was found insensitive for luminescence dating, and thus fading corrected Infra-Red Stimulated Luminescence (IRSL) ages on feldspar minerals were measured that provided ages of 143-77 ka (T4), 65-36 ka (T2) and 35-14 ka (T1), respectively. The T3 terrace was present only on the right bank of the river and could not be accessed. These ages accord with other studies at the Chalsa and Malbazar, North Bengal (west of the study area) and this regional disposition of similar ages suggest that these formed during glacial-interglacial periods. The strath terraces indicate a time-averaged tectonic uplift with a 0.5 mm/year rate over the past 150 ka.     

The upper Pleistocene loess-palaeosol sequence at solonovka on the Cis-Altai plain,west Siberia – First luminescence dating results

Loess-palaeosol deposits of the Upper Pleistocene cover an extensive territory in the south of Western Siberia. Previously, most studies of loess-palaeosol sequences were carried out on river bank sections of the Ob river around Novosibirsk and upstream of this location (Ob Loess plateau); more recently, the focus of research has shifted towards the inner part of the Cis-Altai plain. Despite a good knowledge of the structure of regional loess-palaeosol sequences, there is a considerable lack of absolute dating beyond the radiocarbon limit. However, recent high resolution luminescence dating of a key Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5) stratotype at Lozhok has identified the presence of a long hiatus in the deposit. As a result, the published ages of the main units have been underestimated, because the existing chronology is largely based on palaeosol counting. This new observation argues for an urgent re-evaluation of the accepted chronostratigraphy of Western Siberian Late Quaternary. Here we present the first luminescence data for a loess-palaeosol sequence of the Cis-Altai plain, at the Solonovka key section, using both quartz optically stimulated luminescence and feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence from 25 samples. The results show that the deposits were formed during the Late Pleistocene. The ∼1 m thick well-developed upper pedocomplex (PC1) has cryoturbation cracks filled with upper loess; this a characteristic regional benchmark for stratigraphic correlation. Two distinct hiatuses in sedimentation are found in the section: at the boundary of MIS 3/2, and after the formation of the MIS 5 Berdsk pedocomplex (PC3 and 2) until the beginning of the formation of MIS 3 deposits. The age of the thick PC3 palaeosol at the base of the section is determined as MIS 5, confirming evidence for the pronounced Kazantsevo (Eemian) interglacial in the loess-palaeosol record of Western Siberia. The results of our study emphasize the importance of understanding the palaeogeomorphological background to soil development, and the necessity of absolute chronology; we consider that the position of MIS 5 in the regional chronostratigraphic chart of South Western Siberia requires further study.     

云开元古宙眼球状花岗岩Sm—Nd和Rb—Sr同位素体系定年及其动力学意义

对云开核部韧性-流变剪切变形眼球状花岗岩石样品进行了全岩Sm-Nd、Rb-Sr同位素年龄测定,获得1414±68Ma的Sm-Nd等时线和490±36Ma的Rb-Sr等时线年龄,它们分别代表这套花岗岩的形成时代和加里东期韧性-流变剪切部分熔融构造热事件发生时间,表明云开地区不仅在加里东期发生造山运动,而且在中元古晚期发生了更为重要的构造—岩浆造山运动,其时代与全球性的格林威尔造山运动时间可以对比。     

Fluctuations of magnetic inclination and declination in Mexico during the last three millennia

Revealing the evolution of the past geomagnetic field is of dual interest. It is crucial to estimate the conditions of the Earth's deep interiors, while it offers a reliable absolute dating tool of burned archaeological artifacts. Although a substantial effort was paid during the last decade to construct a reference archaeomagnetic curve for Mesoamerica, mostly absolute intensity variations are revealed for the previous three millennia. Here, we report an updated directional (inclination and declination) reference secular variation curve based on volcanic lava flows and archaeological artifacts carrying full thermoremanent magnetization. A bootstrap method with penalized cubic b-splines was used to develop the directional curve. Relocation error exercise and strict selection criteria allowed to use 82 well-defined palaeodirections. Both data distribution density and the firm relationship between the ages and samples, ensure the reliability of the curve for the dating purposes. The combination of directional data with available intensity variation highlights some sudden geomagnetic field fluctuations.