Bulk organic δ13C and C/N ratios as palaeosalinity indicators within a Scottish isolation basin

Microfossils in isolation basin sediments are frequently used to reconstruct sea‐level change, but preservation problems and non‐analogue situations can limit their usefulness. Here we investigate the potential of stable carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter, as an alternative proxy of salinity within isolation basin sediments from a basin in northwest Scotland. Within the Holocene sediment δ¹³C and C/N are determined largely by the mean weighted values of the predominant source of the organic material. Analysis of modern materials and comparison with the diatom record shows that the marine parts of the sequence are dominated by high δ¹³C and variable C/N. In the fresh water sequences the organic material is a mixture of both freshwater aquatic and terrestrial plant input that have relatively low δ¹³C and high C/N. The application of δ¹³C and C/N ratios in the studied basin in general follow the environmental change recorded by the diatoms and shows the potential of bulk organic matter in the investigation of salinity change in isolation basins. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A method to solve the paleotectonic analysis problem

The method to determine the rates of tectonic movements is based on the use of dynamic models of sedimentary basins. A standard dataset should be provided as input information: the present-day position of sedimentary layer interfaces (chronostratigraphic boundaries), land surface and basement, the layer ages, and the uncertainty limits within which the depth of sedimentation of each layer may have differed. In terms of dynamic models, the paleotectonic analysis problem is reduced to the determination of such tectonic rates that, at prescribed reference times, the model surface topography within the assumed limits would be constrained. At the final moment, the interfaces would be brought into agreement with the contemporary geologic cross-section. The analysis the problem of tectonic rates determination has shown that it has no unique solution. One of the ways to obtain the unique solution is to seek it within a prescribed class of functions, for example, the Fourier series. This method differs from the paleotectonic analysis methodology in that it treats the tectonic rates of motion as functions of time and spatial variables. Under certain conditions, it proves feasible to reconstruct the rates of tectonic movements not only within the time intervals represented in the deposited strata, but within periods of erosion as well. It also is possible to take into account the deformation-induced changes in thickness of the layers. The method's application is illustrated with an example of the Terek-Caspian Trough. As follows from the computation, the tectonic movements since the Middle Jurassic may be presented as a sum of two components: an overall slowing-down subsidence whose rate is proportional to the square root of the age, and local movements which follow a regular oscillatory time pattern with a period of 60–70 MY. The character of the local movements is such that the profile appears to break into a northern and southern segment. When one was being uplifted, the other segment was sinking, andvice versa. These two segments are separated by a deep-seated fault. This may have been a result of an external compression on the trough.     

Stratigraphy, depositional environments and level reconstruction of the last interglacial Lake Samra in the Dead Sea basin

In this paper we describe the stratigraphy and sediments deposited in Lake Samra that occupied the Dead Sea basin between ∼ 135 and 75 ka. This information is combined with U/Th dating of primary aragonites in order to estimate a relative lake-level curve that serves as a regional paleohydrological monitor. The lake stood at an elevation of ∼ 340 m below mean sea level (MSL) during most of the last interglacial. This level is relatively higher than the average Holocene Dead Sea (∼ 400 ± 30 m below MSL). At ∼ 120 and ∼ 85 ka, Lake Samra rose to ∼ 320 m below MSL while it dropped to levels lower than ∼ 380 m below MSL at ∼ 135 and ∼ 75 ka, reflecting arid conditions in the drainage area. Lowstands are correlated with warm intervals in the Northern Hemisphere, while minor lake rises are probably related to cold episodes during MIS 5b and MIS 5d. Similar climate relationships are documented for the last glacial highstand Lake Lisan and the lowstand Holocene Dead Sea. Yet, the dominance of detrital calcites and precipitation of travertines in the Dead Sea basin during the last interglacial interval suggest intense pluvial conditions and possible contribution of southern sources of wetness to the region.     

A comparison of TRMM to other basin-scale estimates of rainfall during the 1999 Hurricane Floyd flood

The volumetric rainfall attributed to Hurricane Floyd in 1999 was computed for the bulk of the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear River Basins in eastern North Carolina, USA from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) research product, and compared with volumes computed using kriged gauge data and one centrally located radar. TMPA showed similar features in the band of heaviest rainfall with kriged and radar data, but was higher in the basin-scale integrations. Furthermore, Floyd’s direct runoff volumes were computed and divided by the volumetric rainfall estimates to give runoff coefficients for the three basins. The TMPA, having the larger storm totals, would suggest greater infiltration during Floyd than the gauge and radar estimates would. Finally, we discuss a concept for adjusting the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service rainfall-runoff model when predicting discharge values from real-time TMPA in ungauged river basins.

被动陆缘盆地陆隆斜坡对盐构造形成的影响 ——来自物理模拟实验的启示

被动陆缘盆地盐构造形成的影响因素及时空演化分析受到了国内外学者的高度重视.丰富的油气资源促进了被动陆缘盆地地震资料品质的不断提升,高精度地震数据的解译结果表明,被动陆缘盆地盐层下的地形往往具有大型的起伏特征,而前人在基底构造形态对盐构造形成影响方面的研究并未取得共识,仍需要深入研究和探讨.为此,本文基于前人的研究认识,...     

Cenozoic Plate interaction of the Australia and Philippine Sea Plates: “hit-and-run” tectonics

Recent studies in northwest New Guinea have shown the presence of at least two marginal basins of different age, both of which formed in back-arc settings. The older basin opened between the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, a remnant of which is now preserved as the New Guinea Ophiolite. Its obduction started at 40 Ma and it was finally emplaced on the Australian margin at 30 Ma. The younger basin was active during the Oligocene to Middle Miocene and was obducted in the Early Pliocene. Studies of the western edge of the Philippine Sea also reveal an important deformation of the Philippine arc in the Oligocene, which hitherto has remained unexplained. Using information from these systems, paleomagnetic results, kinematic reconstructions and geochemistry of the supra-subduction ophiolite, we present a plate model to explain the region's Eo–Oligocene development. We suggest that an extensive portion of oceanic crust extended the Australian Plate a considerable distance north of the Australian Craton. As Australia began its steady 7–8 cm/year northward drift in the Early Eocene, this lithosphere was subducted. Thus, the portion of the Philippine Sea Plate carrying the Taiwan–Philippine Arc to its present site may have actually been in contact with the ophiolite now in New Guinea and obduction led to deformation of the Philippine Sea Plate itself. Neogene Plate kinematics transported the deformed belt in contact with the Sunda block in the Late Miocene and Pliocene. This interpretation has implications for the origin for the Philippine Sea Plate and the potential incorporation of continental fragments against its boundaries.     

Architecture of coastal and alluvial deposits in an extensional basin: the Carboniferous Joggins Formation of eastern Canada

Abstract The Joggins Formation was deposited in the Cumberland Basin, which experienced rapid mid‐Carboniferous subsidence on bounding faults. A 600 m measured section of coastal and alluvial plain strata comprises cycles tens to hundreds of metres thick. The cycles commence with coal and fossiliferous limestone/siltstone intervals, interpreted as widespread flooding events. These intervals are overlain by coarsening‐upward successions capped by planar‐based sandstone mounds, up to 100 m in width that represent the progradation of small, river‐generated delta lobes into a standing body of open water developed during transgression. The overlying strata contain sand‐rich heterolithic packages, 1–8 m thick, that are associated with channel bodies 2–3 m thick and 10–50 m wide. Drifted plant debris, Calamites groves and erect lycopsid trees are preserved within these predominantly green‐grey heterolithic sediments, which were deposited on a coastal wetland or deltaic plain traversed by channel systems. The cycles conclude with red siltstones, containing calcareous nodules, that are interbedded with thin sandstones and associated with both single‐storey channel bodies (1–1·5 m thick and 2–3 m wide) and larger, multistorey channels (3–6 m thick) with incised margins. Numerous channel bodies at the same level suggest that multiple‐channel, anastomosed river systems were developed on a well‐drained floodplain. Many minor flooding surfaces divide the strata into parasequences with dominantly progradational and aggradational stacking patterns. Multistorey channel bodies are relatively thin, fine grained and modestly incised, and palaeosols are immature and cumulative. The abundance and prominence of flooding surfaces suggests that base‐level rise was enhanced, whereas the lack of evidence for abrupt basinward stepping of facies belts, coupled with the absence of strong fluvial incision and mature palaeosols, suggests that base‐level fall was suppressed. These architectural features are considered to reflect a tectonic architectural signature, in accordance with the high‐subsidence basinal setting. Evidence for restricted marine influence and variation in floral assemblages suggests modulation by eustatic and climatic effects, although their relative importance is uncertain.     

中国北方晚中生代陆相盆地红-黑岩系耦合产出对砂岩型铀矿成矿环境的制约

为研究中国北方陆相盆地红层-黑色岩系对砂岩型铀成矿的制约,文章研究了国内外红-黑岩系与砂岩型铀矿赋存岩层的时空关系,筛选了10万余m岩心钻探资料,选择准噶尔、鄂尔多斯和松辽盆地这3个典型产铀盆地,通过编制盆地钻孔柱状图、典型地区连井剖面图及关键岩层的地球化学测试等方法,对红-黑岩系和砂岩型铀矿的赋存岩层进行了垂向、横向上综合分析与对比。研究发现:北方陆相盆地自西向东铀矿赋存地层的时代由中侏罗世过渡到晚白垩世;晚中生代至少存在6次大规模的富氧红层沉积事件:Ⅰ中侏罗世—晚侏罗世早期(BathonianOxfordian),Ⅱ早白垩世早中期(Berriasian-Barremian),Ⅲ早白垩世中期(Barremian),Ⅳ晚白垩世早期(Cenomanian),Ⅴ晚白垩世中期(Coniacian)和Ⅵ晚白垩世晚期(Campanian)。其中第Ⅰ、Ⅴ和Ⅵ期红层之下沉积了时代相近的黑色层,与之构成"红-黑岩系"的沉积结构,是北方砂岩型铀成矿的3个重要层位。典型盆地内地球化学表明,红层与黑色层的B、Sr和Cu元素含量及Fe~(2+)/Fe~(3+)、B/Ga、Sr/Cu和FeO/MnO比值具有明显的差异,结合黑色岩层中草莓状黄铁矿、碳屑、油斑和红层中碳酸盐岩的发育,认为红层为相对较强氧化环境,黑色层为相对较还原环境。连井剖面资料显示红层、黑色层与砂岩型铀矿空间关系密切,铀矿多产于红层与黑色层之间过渡带上,呈板状矿体赋存于灰色、绿灰色砂岩和细砂岩中。一般红层与黑色层垂向距离超过500 m不利于成矿。晚中生代陆相盆地内耦合产出的黑色岩系和红色岩系是古沉积环境由还原向氧化转变形成的垂向分带,前者为铀矿物质沉淀提供了"障",后者为表生流体溶解铀矿提供了"场"。文章初步提出了红-黑岩系垂向环境变化制约着北方陆相盆地砂岩型铀大规模成矿作用的新认识。这些认识不仅对砂岩型铀矿成矿环境、成矿规律及成矿模式研究具有重要意义,更对目前正在开展的砂岩型铀矿勘查工作具有实践指导意义。     

TECTONO-SEDIMENTARY EVOLUTION OF THE TERTIARY BASINS IN EASTERN TIBET: CONSTRAINING THE RAISING OF TIBETAN PLATEAU

TECTONO-SEDIMENTARY EVOLUTION OF THE TERTIARY BASINS IN EASTERN TIBET: CONSTRAINING THE RAISING OF TIBETAN PLATEAU1　YinA ,HarrisonTM .TheTectonicEvolutionofAsia[M] ..Cambridge :CambridgeUniversityPress,1996 .4 4 2～ 4 85. 2　SunH ,ZhengD .FormationevolutionanddevelopmentofTibetanPlateau[M ] .Guangzhou :GuangdongScienceandTechnologyPress,1998.73～ 2 30 . 3　ShiY ,LiJ,LiB .UpliftandEnvironmentalChangesofTibetanPlateauintheLateCen…