Occurrence of volcanic ash in the Quaternary alluvial deposits,lower Narmada basin,western India

This communication reports the occurrence of an ash layer intercalated within the late Quaternary alluvial succession of the Madhumati River, a tributary of the lower Narmada River. Petrographic, morphological and chemical details of glass shards and pumice fragments have formed the basis of this study. The ash has been correlated with the Youngest Toba Tuff. The finding of ash layer interbedded in Quaternary alluvial sequences of western Indian continental margin is significant, as ash being datable material, a near precise time-controlled stratigraphy can be interpreted for the Quaternary sediments of western India. The distant volcanic source of this ash requires a fresh re-assessment of ash volume and palaeoclimatic interpretations.     

Advance of alpine glaciers during final retreat of the Cordilleran ice sheet in the Finlay River area, northern British Columbia, Canada

Sharp-crested moraines, up to 120 m high and 9 km beyond Little Ice Age glacier limits, record a late Pleistocene advance of alpine glaciers in the Finlay River area in northern British Columbia. The moraines are regional in extent and record climatic deterioration near the end of the last glaciation. Several lateral moraines are crosscut by meltwater channels that record downwasting of trunk valley ice of the northern Cordilleran ice sheet. Other lateral moraines merge with ice-stagnation deposits in trunk valleys. These relationships confirm the interaction of advancing alpine glaciers with the regionally decaying Cordilleran ice sheet and verify a late-glacial age for the moraines. Sediment cores were collected from eight lakes dammed by the moraines. Two tephras occur in basal sediments of five lakes, demonstrating that the moraines are the same age. Plant macrofossils from sediment cores provide a minimum limiting age of 10,550-10,250 cal yr BP (9230 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr BP) for abandonment of the moraines. The advance that left the moraines may date to the Younger Dryas period. The Finlay moraines demonstrate that the timing and style of regional deglaciation was important in determining the magnitude of late-glacial glacier advances.     

Late-Quaternary summer temperature changes in the northern-European tree-line region

We present two new quantitative July mean temperature (T_jul) reconstructions from the Arctic tree-line region in the Kola Peninsula in north-western Russia. The reconstructions are based on fossil pollen records and cover the Younger Dryas stadial and the Holocene. The inferred temperatures are less reliable during the Younger Dryas because of the poorer fit between the fossil pollen samples and the modern samples in the calibration set than during the Holocene. The results suggest that the Younger Dryas T_jul in the region was 8.0–10.0°C, being 2.0–3.0°C lower than at present. The Holocene summer temperature maximum dates to 7500–6500 cal yr BP, with T_jul about 1.5°C higher than at present. These new records contribute to our understanding of summer temperature changes along the northern-European tree-line region. The Holocene trends are consistent in most of the independent records from the Fennoscandian–Kola tree-line region, with the beginning of the Holocene thermal maximum no sooner than at about 8000 cal yr BP. In the few existing temperature-related records farther east in the Russian Arctic tree line, the period of highest summer temperature begins already at about 10,000 cal yr BP. This difference may reflect the strong influence of the Atlantic coastal current on the atmospheric circulation pattern and the thermal behaviour of the tree-line region on the Atlantic seaboard, and the more direct influence of the summer solar insolation on summer temperature in the region east of the Kola Peninsula.     

A new Scandinavian reference 10Be production rate

An important constraint on the reliability of cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating is the rigorous determination of production rates. We present a new dataset for ¹⁰Be production rate calibration from Mount Billingen, southern Sweden, the site of the final drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, an event dated to 11,620 ± 100 cal yr BP. Five samples of flood-scoured bedrock surfaces (58.5°N, 13.7°E, 105–120 m a.s.l.) unambiguously connected to the drainage event yield a reference ¹⁰Be production rate of 4.19 ± 0.20 atoms g⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the CRONUS-Earth online calculator Lm scaling and 4.02 ± 0.18 atoms g⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the nuclide specific LSD_n scaling. We also recalibrate the reference ¹⁰Be production rates for four sites in Norway and combine three of these with the Billingen results to derive a tightly clustered Scandinavian reference ¹⁰Be production rate of 4.13 ± 0.11 atoms g⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the CRONUS Lm scaling and 3.95 ± 0.10 atoms g⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the LSD_n scaling scheme.     

三塘湖盆地条湖组含沉积有机质凝灰岩致密储层特征

含沉积有机质凝灰岩是三塘湖盆地一种特殊类型的致密储层,对这套含沉积有机质凝灰岩致密储层的研究将为提高我们对非常规致密储层的认识提供一个很好的机会。文中通过凝灰岩样品岩石矿物组成、薄片、扫描电镜、石英结晶度和物性等的分析,阐述了三塘湖盆地二叠系条湖组含沉积有机质凝灰岩致密储层的特征。结果表明：条湖组凝灰岩致密储层的岩石类型主要有玻屑凝灰岩和晶屑玻屑凝灰岩,凝灰岩中最主要的矿物是石英,平均含量可以达到50%以上。凝灰岩致密储层的储集空间类型可以分为脱玻化作用形成的矿物粒间孔,溶蚀作用形成的粒内孔、无机矿物粒内孔和黏土矿物粒内孔,有机质孔以及裂缝。凝灰岩储层的物性具有高孔低渗的特点,孔隙度主要分布在10%~25%,空气渗透率主要分布在(0.01~0.5)×10-3 μm2,凝灰岩火山玻璃质的脱玻化作用是导致凝灰岩储层高孔低渗的主要因素,脱玻化形成的粒间孔体积小但数量巨大造成了凝灰岩总孔隙度较高,孔隙喉道半径极小又导致渗透率很低。凝灰岩储层物性主要受原始火山灰的组分以及脱玻化程度的控制,玻屑凝灰岩比晶屑玻屑凝灰岩储层物性好,脱玻化程度越高储层物性越好,而脱玻化程度主要受凝灰岩的埋深(温度)、有机质(有机酸)含量等因素控制。     

鄂尔多斯盆地延长组火山灰沉积物岩石地球化学特征

鄂尔多斯盆地延长组火山灰沉积物分布广泛, 为研究其岩石地球化学特征和形成机制, 通过详细的岩心观察、薄片鉴定、X荧光光谱分析(XRF)、ICP-MS分析、扫描电镜(SEM)分析等手段, 对延长组火山灰层进行了细致的岩石地球化学分析.结果表明火山灰沉积物富含晶屑、玻屑等火山物质, 整体蚀变强烈, 可分为凝灰岩和斑脱岩, 以伊利石、伊蒙混层等粘土矿物为主; 主量元素SiO₂含量为50.29%~79.82%, 富钾, K₂O+Na₂O在3.20%~7.88%之间, SiO₂与Al₂O₃、TFe₂O₃、MgO之间存在着明显的负相关关系; ∑REE在(99.82~550.15)×10-6之间变化, 总体特征表现为轻稀土富集, 重稀土亏损, 曲线形态整体表现为右倾型, Eu负异常, δEu为0.147~0.837, 没有明显的Ce异常; 大离子亲石元素K、Rb、Ba、Th呈正异常, 在Nb/Y-Zr/TiO₂图解中, 数据点主要落在安山岩-流纹岩之间, 说明火山物质主体来源于中酸性岩.综合岩石地球化学和沉积学分析, 认为延长组火山灰沉积物包括空降型和水携两种形成机制, 大地构造环境判识图解反映了火山灰源于火山弧钙碱性岩浆原区, 与晚三叠世秦岭造山带的演化关系密切.      

凝灰岩岩基风化带精细划分技术

正岩体风化带的划分是水利工程勘察重要的研究内容,提高岩基垂向上的精细识别对建基面的开挖、坝基防渗设计、坝基的稳定性和变形控制等方面具有重要意义(王旺盛等,2009;韩刚等,2011)。传统岩体风化程度的划分主要依据钻探过程中的人为感觉、现场岩样的直观判断以及室内的岩石物理力学试验等,在总结大量工程实践的前提下,可以说采用定性或半定量的判别手段在岩体划分中     

滇东北宣威一带铌矿床地质特征

随着贵州威宁玉龙、黑石头等地铌矿床（点）的发现,结合该区域同类型铌矿床研究成果,以及本次在宣威倘塘一带所开展的矿产地质调查工作中发现的铌矿体（点）,总结了滇东北宣威一带铌矿床地质特征,认为主要赋矿层位为峨眉山玄武岩顶部的铁质凝灰岩地层,受峨眉山玄武岩喷发后期剥蚀沉积成矿。含矿层具有明显的高铌低钽,并伴(共)生稀土及钪、钛等元素之特征。成矿类型初步定为玄武岩喷发后期剥蚀沉积型铌矿床。     

新疆西天山加曼特金矿床赋矿围岩年代学、地球化学及地质意义

加曼特金矿床是西天山博罗科努多金属成矿带中的一个浅成低温热液金矿床。矿床赋存于晚古生代大哈拉军山组岩屑晶屑凝灰岩和花岗斑岩中。LA ICP MS锆石U Pb同位素定年结果显示岩屑晶屑凝灰岩、花岗斑岩的成岩时代分别为(3659±30) Ma和(3623±43) Ma,结合上覆阿恰勒河组地层中维宪阶生物化石的时代,加曼特金矿的成矿时代被约束在362~331 Ma之间。矿区岩石地球化学分析结果表明：二者均为高钾钙碱性系列岩石,富集轻稀土、Th和大离子亲石元素(Rb、K),亏损Ba、Sr、高场强元素(Nb、Ta、Ti、P)和重稀土元素,具有同源性和岛弧岩浆岩的地球化学亲缘性。岩石形成于古准噶尔洋向伊犁—中天山板块俯冲的活动大陆边缘弧环境,主要是下地壳基性岩石部分熔融的产物,混合了少量洋底沉积物熔体交代地幔楔形成的幔源岩浆。     

Dynamic landscape changes in Glen Roy and vicinity,west Highland Scotland,during the Younger Dryas and early Holocene: a synthesis

This paper introduces a special issue devoted to the sequence of events in and around Glen Roy during the Loch Lomond or Younger Dryas Stadial, the short but important cold period dated to between ∼12,900 and 11,700 years ago, during which glaciers last expanded to occupy the Scottish Highlands, and during the subsequent transition to warmer conditions at the start of the Holocene. The Glen Roy area is internationally famous for the ‘Parallel Roads’, pre-eminent examples of ice-dammed lake shorelines which were formed during the stadial. What makes these shorelines unique, however, is their role as distinctive time markers, allowing the order of formation of landforms and sediments to be construed with unprecedented detail. Varved lake sediments preserved within Glen Roy and nearby Loch Laggan provide a precise timescale – the Lochaber Master Varve Chronology (LMVC) – for establishing the rates and timing of some of the events. This introductory paper first sets the geological context for those new to this topic, with a digest of key advances in understanding made between the nineteenth century and the publication of the LMVC in 2010. It then summarises the evidence and ideas that have emerged from new research investigations reported in this special issue for the first time, and which shine new light on the subject. Two final sections synthesise the new data and consider future prospects for further refinement of the precise sequence and timing of events. A major conclusion to emerge from this new body of work is that the ice-dammed lakes, and the glaciers that impounded them, persisted in the area until around 11,700 to perhaps 11,600 years ago. This conflicts with recently promoted suggestions that the last glaciers in Scotland were already in a state of considerable decline by ∼12,500 years ago.