Stratigraphic evolution of a fluvial–eolian succession: The example of the Upper Jurassic—Lower Cretaceous Guará and Botucatu formations, Paraná Basin, Southernmost Brazil

The Guará and Botucatu formations comprise an 80 to 120 m thick continental succession that crops out on the western portion of the Rio Grande do Sul State (Southernmost Brazil). The Guará Formation (Upper Jurassic) displays a well-defined facies shift along its outcrop belt. On its northern portion it is characterised by coarse-grained to conglomeratic sandstones with trough and planar cross-bedding, as well as low-angle lamination, which are interpreted to represent braided river deposits. Southwards these fluvial facies thin out and interfinger with fine- to medium-grained sandstones with large-scale cross-stratification and horizontal lamination, interpreted as eolian dune and eolian sand sheets deposits, respectively. The Botucatu Formation is characterised by large-scale cross-strata formed by successive climbing of eolian dunes, without interdune and/or fluvial accumulation (dry eolian system). The contact between the Guará and the Botucatu formations is delineated by a basin-wide deflation surface (supersurface). The abrupt change in the depositional conditions that took place across this supersurface suggests a major climate change, from semi-arid (Upper Jurassic) to hyper-arid (Lower Cretaceous) conditions. A rearrangement of the Paraná Basin depocenters is contemporaneous to this climate change, which seems to have changed from a more restrict accumulation area in the Guará Formation to a wider sedimentary context in the Botucatu Formation.     

Partial melting and P–T evolution of the Kodaikanal Metapelite Belt, southern India

The Kodaikanal region of the Madurai Block in southern India exposes a segment of high-grade metamorphic rocks dominated by an aluminous garnet–cordierite–spinel–sillimanite–quartz migmatite suite, designated herein as the Kodaikanal Metapelite Belt (KMB). These rocks were subjected to extreme crustal metamorphism during the Late Neoproterozoic despite the lack of diagnostic ultrahigh-temperature assemblages. The rocks preserve microstructural evidence demonstrating initial-heating, dehydration melting to generate the peak metamorphic assemblage and later retrogression of the residual assemblages with remaining melt. The peak metamorphic assemblage is interpreted to be garnet + sillimanite + K-feldspar + spinel + Fe–Ti oxide + quartz + melt, which indicates pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions around 950–1000 °C and 7–8 kbar based on calculated phase diagrams. A clockwise P–T path is proposed by integrating microstructural information with pseudosections. We show that evidence for extreme crustal metamorphism at ultrahigh-temperature conditions can be extracted even in the cases where the rocks lack diagnostic ultrahigh-temperature mineral assemblages. Our approach confirms the widespread regional occurrence of UHT metamorphism in the Madurai Block during Gondwana assembly and point out the need for similar studies on adjacent continental fragments.     

青藏高原植物形态和解剖适应性研究进展

与低海拔地区相比，青藏高原的太阳辐射、水分条件、氧分压、气温等环境条件都有明显差异，青藏高原的植物在细胞壁厚度、栅栏细胞层数、通气组织大小、异细胞数量和分布、表皮附属物类型等方面与低海拔地区的相比也有较大的不同。综述了在青藏高原特殊的生态条件下，植物在形态和解剖方面的适应性表现，分析了该领域目前的研究特点和存在的一些问题，并在全球环境变化背景下，对其发展前景进行了展望，指出了未来的发展趋势。     

Surface pollen and its relationship to vegetation on the southern slope of the eastern Qilian Mountains

The objective of this study is to investigate pollen-vegetation relationship in the Qilian Mountains. The eastern Qilian Mountains are located in the transitional zone of the Tibetan Plateau, the Loess Plateau and the arid region of Northwest China, which is one of the key areas of global environmental change. A total of 13 surface pollen samples from main vegetation have been collected. Pollen percentages were calculated in all samples. In order to reveal the relationship between pollen composition and the vegetation types from which the soil samples have been collected, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) ordination method was employed on the pollen data. The results show that dominating vegetation types can be recognized by their pollen spectra: Picea crassifolia forest, alpine shrub and alpine meadow as well. Altitude and temperature determine the distribution of the surface pollen and the vegetation. The good agreement between modern vegetation and surface samples across this area provides a measure of the reliability of using pollen data to reconstruct paleoenvironment and paleovegetation patterns in this or other similar regions. However the loss of Betula pollen in forest needs further investigation. Pollen oxidation is the most important factor contributing to the damage of modern pollen in the study area. Pollen concentrations decrease with the increase of pH values of soils, and decrease sharply when the pH exceeds 7.6.     

Petrogenesis and geotectonic setting of the PanAfrican basement rocks in Bamenda Massif, Obudu Plateau, southeastern Nigeria： Evidence from trace element geochemistry

1 IntroductionThe study area is part of the Obudu Plateau,which forms part of the Precambrian Pan-African tec-tonothermal belt, lying between the West African Cra-ton and the Gabon-Congo Craton ( Fig. 1). It isbounded by the Benue Trough, in the NE-SW axi…     

Evolution from Oceanic Subduction to Continental Collision: a Case Study from the Northern Tibetan Plateau Based on Geochemical and Geochronological Data

Two apparently distinct, sub-parallel, paleo-subduction zonescan be recognized along the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau:the North Qilian Suture Zone (oceanic-type) with ophioliticmélanges and high-pressure eclogites and blueschistsin the north, and the North Qaidam Belt (continental-type) inthe south, an ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terrane comprisingpelitic and granitic gneisses, eclogites and garnet peridotites.Eclogites from both belts have protoliths broadly similar tomid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) or oceanic island basalts (OIB)in composition with overlapping metamorphic ages (480–440Ma, with weighted mean ages of 464 ± 6 Ma for North Qilianand 457 ± 7 Ma for North Qaidam), determined by zirconU–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating.Coesite-bearing zircon grains in pelitic gneisses from the NorthQaidam UHP Belt yield a peak metamorphic age of 423 ±6 Ma, 40 Myr younger than the age of eclogite formation, anda retrograde age of 403 ± 9 Ma. These data, combinedwith regional relationships, allow us to infer that these twoparallel belts may represent an evolutionary sequence from oceanicsubduction to continental collision, and continental underthrusting,to final exhumation. The Qilian–Qaidam Craton was probablya fragment of the Rodinia supercontinent with a passive marginand extended oceanic lithosphere in the north, which was subductedbeneath the North China Craton to depths >100 km at c. 423Ma and exhumed at c. 403 Ma (zircon rim ages in pelitic gneiss). KEY WORDS: HP and UHP rocks; subduction belts; zircon SHRIMP ages; Northern Tibetan Plateau     

西藏俄卡地银多金属异常区地球化学

异常形态、分布严格受推覆断裂控制,范围大、浓集中心明显,浓度变化及因子载荷表明。区内找Ag、Pb有利,而Sb又为其最佳指示元素。     

青藏高原东缘缅萨洼金矿成矿流体地质地球化学特征

缅萨洼金矿位于中国中轴构造带的中南段,青藏高原的东缘,赋存于金河-箐河断裂带次级断裂羊坪子韧性剪切带中本文根据对该矿床硫化物流体包裹体的氦氩同位素、硫化物的硫同位素以及与硫化物共生的石英的流体包裹体特征、成分以及氢氧同位素组成的测定,讨论了缅萨洼金矿的成矿流体来源及其矿床成因。结果显示,该矿床硫化物流体包裹体中的3He/4He变化较小,为0.69-0.82,显示了地幔流体参与成矿作用的可能性。而4He的含量变化范围较大,一般在2.19-10.62×10-6cm3STP/g(方铅矿除外)与3He/4He相比,40Ar/36Ar的比值则变化较小,一般为251-509。而硫化物的δ34S同位素变化范围在-1.8-2.2‰,平均值为0.5‰,说明硫的地幔来源。与硫化物共生的石英的流体包裹体的类型主要有富液相的盐水溶液包裹体、富气相的盐水溶液包裹体、三相CO2包裹体、纯液相CO2包裹体以及有机流体包裹体。成矿流体的氢氧同位素则显示成矿流体来源于岩浆水(或地幔流体)与大气降水的混合流体,本文认为,缅萨洼金矿的成矿流体为地幔流体与大气降水的混合流体,是渐新世印度大陆与亚洲大陆碰撞之后,该地区大规模走滑与剪切作用过程中,局部伸展作用的产物。