Proterozoic Deep Marine Volcanic Eruptive Product (Obsidian Glass) in Chanda Limestone, Penganga Group, India: Its Implications for Basin Evolution and Metallogenesis

Subaqueous effusive to low-explosive eruptive product composed of blocky and fluidal fragments of glass and sparsely crystalline glass of obsidian lava are present in fine-grained volcaniclastic debris flow conglomerate and turbidite, occurring in a deep marine sequence of thin- and even-bedded grey siliceous micritic limestone of the Chanda Limestone. The siliceous limestone conformably encloses stratiform manganese deposit. Obsidian glass fragments consist of coherent and amorphous glassy groundmass containing patches of devitrified fibrous glass, oriented microlites and microphenocrysts of quartz and K-feldspars. Euhedral crystals, resorbed-rounded and embayed crystals, spherical vesicles, microlites, and flow texture are distinctive volcanic features observed in these fragments chemically similar to obsidian lava.The blocky fragments represent the products of hydroclastic fragmentation whereas the fludial one may indicate formation under steam explosion. Gravitational instability of the resulting slurry of glass fragments and the ambient sea water-sediments at the site of eruption causes gravity flows that carries the fragments along with epiclasts away from vent to a distal site for final deposition. This study records maiden evidence of volcanism in the Chanda Limestone of the Neoproterozoic Penganga Group and infers rifting and partial melting of the sialic crust and silicic lava flow during deposition of limestone unusually rich in silica. The inferred tectono-sedimentary setting, facies association and mode of occurrence of the manganese deposit suggest a hydrothermal source for the metal.     

江山—绍兴断裂带陈蔡岩群片麻岩SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年龄及其地质意义

浙江诸暨陈蔡地区发育一套副变质岩层,由中深度变质的片麻岩、片岩和大理岩组成,与双溪坞群为断层接触,其地质时代多被视为与江山—绍兴断裂带南东侧的华夏地块古老变质基底相同。陈蔡岩群地处江绍断裂带北东端,变质和变形较深,前人将其划归为华夏古陆的小块体,地层时代曾与福建古元古代麻源岩群或浙江八都岩群和江西中元古代铁砂街组对比。在陈蔡岩群下吴宅组含榴夕线黑云斜长片麻岩及含榴黑云斜长片麻岩中获得大量的锆石,具有典型的核、幔、边结构,核部年龄集中在新元古代,206Pb/238U年龄加权平均值为848±10Ma和845±9Ma,锆石后期增生边部年龄多为加里东期的年龄,206Pb/238U年龄加权平均值为431.4±7.8Ma。陈蔡岩群斜长片麻岩获得的锆石核部较单一的U-Pb年龄,反映出陈蔡岩群下吴宅组夕线石所代表的泥质成分所含的锆石单一,其锆石核部年龄应代表陈蔡岩群下吴宅组的原岩年龄;同时,认为陈蔡岩群既不能与福建古元古代的麻源岩群对比,也不能与江西地区中元古代铁砂街组对比。其原岩为稍晚于双溪坞群（905~877Ma）的新元古代地层（848~845Ma）,从年代上倾向于江南造山带范畴。该年龄对江山—绍兴断裂带变质地层的区域对比和构造演化有重要意义。     

新疆喀喇昆仑地区甜水海岩群发现青白口纪叠层石

2003年在对新疆喀喇昆仑地区原划长城系甜水海岩群进行地质填图及实测剖面的工作中,采集到了大量叠层石化石,时代为新元古代青白口纪。该群岩石变形非常强烈,变质达绿片岩相。本次区调依据其岩石变形变质特征,结合叠层石化石资料,对其形成时代进行了重新厘定。     

Taphofacies of Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian marine invertebrates from the Monte Alegre and Itaituba formations,part of the outcropped marine sequence of the Tapajós Group (Southern Amazonas Basin,Brazil) – regional palaeoecological models

One of the most relevant characteristics of the Pennsylvanian shallow-water carbonates of the Amazonas Basin is its diverse and well preserved invertebrate fossiliferous assemblages. In order to better understand the origin of these fossil concentrations, taphonomic data were obtained along well exposed areas of the uppermost part of the Monte Alegre Formation and basal part of the Itaituba Formation, which, based on conodonts, fusulinids and palynomorphs is of Atokan age. The taphonomic data focused on invertebrate organisms were supported by petrographic analysis. The understanding of the stacking pattern of the strata in the studied section allowed the identification of five type taphofacies, which contributed in the development of regional palaeoecological models, expressed as block-diagrams. These characterize the distribution of the environmental parameters, the composition of the faunal associations and the distribution and amplitude of the taphonomic processes that created the taphonomic signatures of the bioclastic elements throughout the supratidal to lower intertidal/deep subtidal depositional environments pertinent to the studied depositional environment. The regional palaeoecological models here presented are related to the particularities of the depositional environments of the studied rocks and are exclusive for the characterization of this intracratonic basin set influenced by high frequency climatic variations. Lithofacies, biofacies and taphofacies associations also reflect depositional conditions pertinent to the studied regional context, differing from the elements observed in modern intracratonic contexts analogous to the one studied, from different sedimentary basins around the world. Therefore, invertebrate taphonomy, supported by the analysis of sedimentary facies, fulfills the purposes recommended in this work, demonstrating its potential as a tool for palaeoecological analysis in the Pennsylvanian outcropping section in the southern platform of the Amazonas Basin.     

珲春7.0级深源地震前地下流体加卸载响应比群体异常的变化特征

用加卸载理论对珲春7．0级深震前加卸载响应比群体异常随时空的变化进行了研究，结果表明响应比群体异常项次具有配套性，在时间上具有突变性，在空间上具有迁移性，是中期异常阶段向短期异常阶段过渡中的标志，是非线性系统失稳的过程。     

The Somerset Dam Layered basic intrusion,Southeastern Queensland

The Somerset Dam Layered Basic Intrusion is probably a sub‐volcanic magma chamber, and it consists of 20 saucer‐shaped layers composed of troctolites, olivine gabbros, ferrigabbros, and leucogabbros. The layered sequence is 1650 ft (500 m) thick, and comprises several repetitions of a standard pattern termed a zone. Each zone is generally composed of four layers, and successive mineral assemblages from the base upwards are: plagioclase‐olivine, plagioclase‐augite‐olivine, plagioclase‐augite‐magnetite‐ilmenite, and plagioclase‐uralite. Pronounced modal and textural changes define the boundaries between these layers. Within a zone, systematic variation in the proportions and compositions of minerals is thought to be the result of a slight decrease in temperature, and an increase in the partial pressures of water vapour and oxygen from the base to the top.

Repetition of zones is explained by a mechanism involving periodic renewals of magma. Lack of progressive changes in mineral compositions and proportions from the base to the top of the layered sequence is also a consequence of the magma composition, the control of water vapour pressure, and the limited range of crystallisation temperatures. Gravitational settling of early minerals does not explain the variation within a zone, or the small‐scale rhythmic layering that is locally developed, and it is concluded that diffusion has been an important control.     

Whale watching, the Buenos Aires Group and the politics of the International Whaling Commission

Whale watching is now reputed to be a $2 billion a year industry. This industry has the potential to impact the politics of whaling, specifically the moratorium on all commercial whaling in three ways: by creating political and economic counterweights to whalers, by countering claims about who may legitimately manage whales and to what end and by transforming views about whales and whaling both within whaling states and beyond. This article examines whale watching in Latin America and the Caribbean and the alliance of Latin American and Caribbean members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) known as the Buenos Aires Group (BAG). The BAG group has emerged as coherent group opposing the ending of the moratorium and championing the views of whale watchers. The article finds that whale watching creates a politically important interest group in an area lacking whaling operations; it argues that these regional opponents of whaling provide a counter weight to charges that opposition to whaling is exclusively the providence of rich, urban citizens of developed countries and draw upon politically powerful frames in justifying their opposition to the lifting of the moratorium. Finally, it finds limited evidence that whale-watching is associated with a rise in general concern for marine mammals in the region. There remains the question, however, of what the future of whale watching in the region will be over the longer term.     

甘肃中西部龙首山一带“韩母山群”的重新厘定

关于甘肃龙首山一带“韩母山群”的划分和时代归属,前人曾有不同的认识。依据沉积建造、古生物化石、变质变形等资料,对韩母山群进行解体。将该群下部变质变形较强的烧火筒沟组(钙质砾岩、细碎屑岩夹碳酸盐岩建造)厘定为震旦系,上部变质变形较弱的草大坂组(碎屑岩、碳酸盐岩建造)厘定为寒武系,并将后者与鄂尔多斯西缘下、中寒武统对比。     

Additional members of the local group of galaxies and quantized redshifts within the two nearest groups

Galaxies of redshiftz ≲ 1000 km s⁻¹ are investigated. In the South Galactic Hemisphere there are two large concentrations of these galaxies. One is in the direction of the centre of the Local Group, roughly aligned with M 31 and M 33. The other concentration is centred almost 80 degrees away on the sky and involves the next nearest galaxies to the Local Group, NGC 55, NGC 300 and NGC 253. The large scale and isolation of these concentrations, and the continuity of their redshifts require that they are all galaxies at the same, relatively close distance of the brightest group members. The fainter members of the group have higher redshifts, mimicking to some extent a Hubble relation. But if they are all at the same average distance the higher redshifts must be due to a cause other than velocity. The redshifts of the galaxies in the central areas of these groups all obey a quantization interval of δcz₀ = 72.4 kms⁻¹. This is the same quantization found by William Tifft, and later by others, in all physical groups and pairs which have been tested. The quantization discovered here, however, extends over a larger interval in redshift than heretofore encountered. The majority of redshifts used in the present analysis are accurate to ± 8 km s⁻¹. The deviation of those redshifts from multiples of 72.4 km s^-1 averages ±8.2 km s⁻¹. The astonishing result, however, is that for those redshifts which are known more accurately, the deviation from modulo 72.4 drops to a value between 3 and 4 km s⁻¹! The amount of relative velocity allowed these galaxies is therefore implied to be less than this extremely small value.