Rocky relationships: the petroglyphs of the Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula and Dampier Archipelago) in Western Australia

The petroglyphs of the Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula and Dampier Archipelago) in Western Australia are of exceptional cultural value for the nation. It is Australia’s largest and most significant collection of aboriginal rock art essentially as petroglyphs, with the number estimated at more than one million engravings. The Murujuga is a textbook example of ancient and modern times colliding as it also hosts potentially polluting, major industrial complexes such as iron ore and salt ports; liquefied natural gas, liquid ammonia and ammonium nitrate plants; railway lines, pipelines and rock quarries. The work presented in this paper is underpinned by an annual monitoring study of 10 selected sites including two control sites located on Dolphin and Gidley islands and eight test sites located closer to the industrial areas. The main rock types of the Murujuga, gabbro and granophyre, have been affected by weathering consisting of a cm-thick leached zone capped by a skin of orange and red iron and manganese oxides. The petroglyphs were engraved by removing the few top millimetres of the iron oxide-rich layer and the contrast with the paler leached zone clearly showing the carved motifs. Phosphorus is abnormally enriched in the leached zone and the surface coating, with manganese exclusively on the surface coating, demonstrating the impact of bird droppings and ‘desert varnish’ on the rocks. The colour difference and the hematite–goethite ratio, measured with a field portable reflectance spectrometer, between the background and engraving provides a tool to estimate the relative age of the petroglyphs and the selection of the backgrounds. As the fine-grained granophyres were preferentially chosen from the coarser-grained gabbros to host the petroglyphs, the goethitic (or yellower) backgrounds were prepared as canvas before being engraved. Many petroglyphs register the food items of the area, which changed as the last ice age ended and sea levels rose. We hypothesise that based on their locations and colour difference the constraint for the oldest age of the petroglyphs exceeds 17 000?years BP.     

珠江三角洲含N亚硝胺地下水与地区性癌症

肆虐我国南方局部区数百年以鼻咽癌和肝癌为主的恶性肿瘤病,为典型的地区性癌症。本文以珠江三角洲为例,应用流行病学与生态地球化学相结合的调查方法,检出了病区环境水和饮水中存在致癌物质N亚硝胺,研究了癌病区生态系统由地质构造背景、气候、水文和生态条件制约,自然形成水体N亚硝胺的机理。实验改进、优化了环境饮水微量亚硝胺测定方法,新建立的固相萃取气相色谱串联质谱(GC/El-MS/MS)测定纳克级N亚硝胺方法一次可测9种N亚硝胺化合物,检出限达到0.34~2.19 ng/L。在珠江三角洲癌病区环境饮水中首次发现9种亚硝胺化合物,含量为307~0.34 ng/L,总检出率为40%。四会等较低工业污染区古井水、手压井水和自来水的亚硝胺有相近似的含量统计特点:亚硝基二甲胺和亚硝基二正丁胺的均值和峰值为不高的超标值,均值分别为21.77和15.54 ng/L。这批水样大多采自0~20 m深度井水,属本区代表性特殊地质构造和气候生态环境中形成的地下水,也是研究区生产和生活开发最多的水源层;所含超标亚硝胺可能是本区数百年高发癌症的主因。近年工业发展带来的亚硝胺污染源的叠加,增高了该区环境饮水亚硝胺超标率及癌症发病率。文中分析了珠江三角洲土壤和地下水富氮营养化现象和区域氮的来源。     

Gabbroic xenoliths from La Palma, Tenerife and Lanzarote, Canary Islands: evidence for reactions between mafic alkaline Canary Islands melts and old oceanic crust

Gabbroic and hornblendite xenoliths from La Palma, Tenerife and Lanzarote fall into three main groups based on petrography and chemistry. One group (comprising all xenoliths from Lanzarote and some from La Palma) consists of highly deformed orthopyroxene-bearing gabbroic rocks that show a strong affinity to N-MORB and oceanic gabbro cumulates in terms of mineral chemistry and REE relations. However, they show mild enrichment in the most incompatible elements (particularly Rb+Ba±K) relative to intermediate and heavy REE, and their Sr–Nd isotope ratios fall within or close to the N-MORB field. The second group (60% of the xenoliths from La Palma) are gabbroic cumulates with zoned clinopyroxenes (Ti–Al-poor cores, Ti–Al-rich rims) and reaction rims of hornblende, biotite and clinopyroxene on other phases. Their trace-element and Sr–Nd isotope relations are in general transitional between N-MORB cumulates and Canary Islands alkali basalts, but they show strong enrichment in Rb, Ba and K relative to other strongly incompatible elements. The third group (comprising some xenoliths from La Palma and all those from Tenerife) are undeformed gabbroic and hornblendite rocks in which hornblende and biotite appear to belong to the primary assemblage. These rocks show strong affinities to Canary Islands alkali basaltic magmas with respect to mineral, trace-element, and Sr–Nd isotope chemistry. The first two groups are interpreted as fragments of old oceanic crust which have been mildly to strongly metasomatized through reactions with Canary Islands alkaline magmas. The reaction process is a combination of enrichment in elements compatible with biotite (and hornblende), and simple mixing between N-MORB cumulates and trapped alkaline magmas. The third group represents intrusions/cumulates formed from mafic alkaline Canary Islands magmas. Modeling indicates that locally up to 50% new material has been added to the old oceanic crust through reactions with ocean island basalts. Reactions and formation of cumulates do not represent simple underplating at the mantle/crust boundary, but have taken place within the pre-existing oceanic crust, and are likely to have significantly thickened the old oceanic crust.     

东昆仑西段巴什康阔勒辉长岩地球化学特征及其构造意义

通过主微量元素特征研究,MgO、FeO含量分别介于 578%~123%和516%~104%,Al2O3含量介于142%~2156%,整体含量较高。TiO2含量相对较高,介于018%~132%,平均为077%,与岛弧拉斑玄武岩的084%较为接近,K2O含量偏低,介于005%~053%,平均为02%,与洋中脊拉斑玄武岩02%一致;轻稀土元素富集,重稀土元素亏损;富集大离子亲石元素(K除外),高场强元素Ti、P等轻微富集,而Nb、Zr亏损,结合构造环境判别认为形成环境为弧后盆地。利用锆石U Pb测年,获得两组年龄,其中上交点206Pb/238U表面年龄加权平均值(501±1) Ma(MSWD=025),为寒武世晚期,代表原岩结晶年龄;下交点206Pb/238U表面年龄加权平均值(451±2) Ma(MSWD=0084),为晚奥陶世早期,代表变质年龄。结合主量和微量元素特征、构造环境以及同位素年龄,认为洋壳俯冲始于晚寒武世之前,且在晚奥陶世已开始发生碰撞。     

Experimental studies of electrical conductivities and P-wave velocities of gabbro at high pressures and high temperatures

The studies on the physical properties of minerals and rocks in combination with the work in petrology, mineralogy and geochemistry are not only a useful mean to look into the composition and structure of the earth抯 interior, but also can provide extreme…     

On the Use of Changes in Dihedral Angle to Decode Late-stage Textural Evolution in Cumulates

The melt-filled pore structure in the final stages of solidificationof cumulates must lie somewhere between the two end-membersof impingement (in which pore topology is controlled entirelyby the juxtaposition of growth faces of adjacent grains) andtextural equilibrium (in which pore topology is controlled bythe minimization of internal energies). The exact position betweenthese two end-members is controlled by the relative rates ofcrystal growth and textural equilibration. For samples in whichgrowth has stopped, or is very slow, textural equilibrium willprevail. A close examination of dihedral angles in natural examplesdemonstrates that these two end-member textures can be distinguished.The impingement end-member results in a population of apparentsolid–melt dihedral angles with a median of 60° anda standard deviation of 25–30°, whereas the texturallyequilibrated end-member population has a median of 28° anda standard deviation of 14°. For the specific case of cumulatesin the Rum Layered Intrusion, residual porosity in troctoliticcumulates was close to the impingement end-member, whereas thatin peridotites was close to melt-bearing textural equilibrium.Suites of glass-bearing samples from small, or frequently disturbed,magma systems show modification of initial impingement textures.These modifications may be a consequence of textural equilibrationor of diffusion-limited growth during quenching. Distinctioncan be made between these two processes by a consideration ofgrain shape. The geometry of interstitial phases in suites offully solidified cumulates from the Rum Layered Intrusion showsvariable approach to sub-solidus textural equilibrium from aninitial state inherited by pseudmorphing of the last melt. Texturalequilibration at pore corners occurs as a continuous process,with a gradual movement of the entire dihedral angle populationtowards the equilibrium final state. If the initial, pseudomorphedstate is one of disequilibrium (i.e. a melt-present impingementtexture) this change is accompanied by a reduction in the spreadof the population. If it is one of equilibrium, the change isaccompanied by an initial increase in the spread of the population,followed by a decrease. These observations demonstrate thatpreviously published models of dihedral angle change involvingthe instantaneous establishment of the equilibrium angle inthe immediate vicinity of the pore corner are incorrect. KEY WORDS: cumulate; dihedral angle; textural evolution; Rum intrusion; Kula; Santorini     

Using LA-ICPMS Mapping and Sector Zonation to Understand Growth and Trace-Element Partitioning in Sector-Zoned Clinopyroxene Oikocrysts from the Norra Ulvo Gabbro, Sweden

Petrographic analysis and geochemical mapping are used to characterizesector-zoned clinopyroxene oikocrysts from the Norra UlvöGabbro, Sweden. The sector zones are distinguished opticallyand by differences in TiO₂ , Al₂O₃ , and incompatible traceelements. The oikocrysts grew with a branching morphology asevidenced by numerous triple points in a single oikocryst. Oikocrystsgrew from the center of domains outward and the growth withinindividual domains did not completely fill the space until theoikocryst had reached its full size. In some domains sectorzones are overgrown by growth zones that lack sectors. The lastcrystallization infilled channels that allowed late-stage liquidsto move through the oikocryst at the contacts with chadacrysts.Calculation of partitioning behavior of trace elements betweenadjacent sectors shows it to be regular and consistent withexperimental results. The data show that the CaTiAl₂O₆ componentgreatly enhances the solubility of most incompatible elementsin clinopyroxene. KEY WORDS: cumulate; layered intrusion; oikocryst; sector-zoned; trace elements     

福建同安角闪辉长岩的矿物化学、40Ar-39Ar年龄及地质意义

福建同安角闪辉长岩的岩石化学成分具有低MgO高铝玄武岩的特征,其中的角闪石是富钙钙镁闪石,斜长石是An=91～95的钙长石.在基性的弧岩浆中,低MgO高铝玄武岩浆富水是导致结晶出高钙斜长石的关键因素.钙镁闪石的40Ar-39Ar年龄为129.62±0.15 Ma,说明同安角闪辉长岩是东南沿海早白垩世"初始引张阶段"岩浆活动的产物.     

云南东川白锡腊碱性钛铁质辉长岩类岩株与侵入构造控矿特征

白锡腊矿段深部铁铜矿体属于与碱性钛铁质辉长岩侵入体有关的铁氧化物铜金型(IOCG)矿床。采用井巷工程构造岩相学填图技术,对云南东川白锡腊碱性钛铁质辉长岩类侵入体的侵入构造系统和控矿规律进行研究,认为滥泥坪-白锡腊铁铜矿段深部IOCG矿体产于碱性钛铁质辉长岩类侵入体的边缘,古火山机构、碱性钛铁质辉长岩侵入体、隐爆角砾岩体、多期叠加断裂构造和裂隙破碎带等是白锡腊IOCG矿床的控制构造组合样式。在辉长岩类侵入体中发育的脆韧性剪切带、热液角砾岩带和断裂-裂隙带等构造岩相学部位,构造-热流体耦合和水岩反应强烈,形成了蚀变构造岩相带。IOCG矿体的储矿构造类型为辉长岩类侵入体的膨大与转折部位的底部和产状变化部位、隐爆角砾岩和构造裂隙破碎带等。辉长岩侵入体的过渡相、含矿隐爆角砾岩相和蚀变构造岩相带等,它们是隐伏IOCG矿床的直接找矿预测标志。预测在白锡腊矿段深部和白锡腊-哑巴峡倒转背斜-断裂破碎带北翼深部具较大找矿前景,是寻找大型IOCG矿床有望靶区。     

东天山黄山岩体的侵位时代及其地质意义

东天山黄山—镜儿泉地区分布有众多镁铁质—超镁铁质岩体,岩体成群成带分布,受区域性韧性剪切带和断裂构造控制.为进一步确定黄山—镜儿泉基性—超基性岩带的侵位时代、成因和大地构造背景,对选自黄山岩体辉长岩相中单颗粒锆石进行了LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年研究,将其结果[(284.5±2.5)Ma]与黄山岩体和黄山—镜儿泉一带其他基性—超基性岩中已有的定年成果进行了对比,并结合近年来该区研究成果,分析得到黄山辉长岩侵位于晚石炭世—早二叠世,此时正值东天山后碰撞大规模岩浆侵位和成矿时期.黄山镁铁质—超镁铁质岩带形成于后碰撞的伸展构造环境.