Lithostratigraphy and structure of the old red sandstone of the Northern Dingle Peninsula,Co. Kerry,Southwest Ireland

The lower part of the Old Red Sandstone in the Dingle Penisula has been previously assigned to one lithostratigraphic group (Dingle Group) despite marked variations in sedimentary facies. However the apparently oldest non-marine sequence in the northwest of the peninsula has sedimentary and lithological attributes that contrast strongly with those of the late Silurian-early Devonian Dingle Group to the south. This northern sequence, here renamed the Smerwick Group, evolved independently of the Dingle Group in a separate basin of deposition. Field relationships between the two groups in the north of the peninsula are interpreted as indicating that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, a normal Dingle Group succession. Similarly, it is argued that the Smerwick Group overlies, with angular unconformity, the Dingle Group in the northwest of the peninsula, but there the Dingle Group is attenuated, represented only by a conglomerate unit some 10 m thick. In the absence of biostratigraphic evidence the age of the Smerwick Group is poorly constrained. Nevertheless, we propose a tectonic model that suggests that the Smerwick Group evolved within a small extensional half-graben on the northern margin of the Munster Basin. This model accounts for the stratigraphic and structural relationships observed, and implies that the Smerwick Group is of Late Devonian age.     

星地碰撞的板块构造效应

板块构造是一种全球大地构造理论.它以洋底扩张、洋壳边缘俯冲及转换断层为主要构造活动形式,配以地幔对流为原动力,建立一套颇具魅力的板块构造机制理论,被受到广泛认同.但也存在一些重要问题,主要是其地幔对流理念难以令人信服和对海陆格局变迁问题没提出明确的动力机制.在阐明造成板块构造理论这两方面困难问题的主要理由之后,介绍了星地碰撞事件的存在状况及其动力作用,着重论述了大规模星地碰撞的动力作用强大,对全球地质构造活动都有重要影响,板块构造也难以避免;星地碰撞的强烈冲击作用,有能力造成洋底开裂或使大陆裂解.据此设想,可用"星地撞击成缝,减压诱发岩浆上侵"的模式,取代与地球内部层圈结构相抵触的"地幔对流"模式来解释洋底扩张;并以星地碰撞发生地点的随机变化性作为大规模海陆格局变迁的主控原因.如此,则可有助于上述板块构造理论中存在的两大难题的解决.     

早新生代温室气候及冰期气候转型的模拟研究

早新生代是地质史上最后一个温室气候期,随后南极冰盖形成,地球进入到晚新生代冰期。温室气候的成因和冰期气候转型的机制一直是国际相关学界关注的问题。评述国际上对此开展的古气候模拟,反映了早新生代温室气候受到了海洋和大陆的地理位置、暖海洋温盐环流和海洋热输送、太阳辐射和大气CO2浓度变化的作用和影响。古气候模拟还反映了早新生代温室气候转向冰期气候,受到了大洋通道改变和高原构造隆起、大气成分变化以及海陆生态系相互的作用和反馈。这些古气候模拟试验锁定在气候变化的关键时段和重要驱动因子,对测试地球内外驱动力和地球各圈层反馈作用提供了重要的科学依据;温室气候以及趋向冰期气候的模拟研究对探讨气候变化内在机制、预测未来气候具有重要意义。      

南海北部陆缘新生代玄武岩地球化学特征及成因

南海盆地及周缘地区新生代玄武岩对揭示南海盆地的演化历史至关重要,然而这些玄武岩的成因还存在争议。本文研究了位于南海北部陆缘的海南岛临高县多文组玄武岩岩石地球化学和矿物地球化学特征,并探讨其成因和构造背景。多文组玄武岩主要由橄榄石、单斜辉石、斜长石、斜方辉石、铬尖晶石和铁钛氧化物等组成。橄榄石Fo值变化于55.5～71.1之间,Ni的含量较低,Fe/Mn比值较高。铬尖晶石Cr^#值为74.1～82.7,Mg^#值为45.5～63.8, Ti的含量较高。斜方辉石Mg^#值为63.9～79.6,单斜辉石为66.0～80.6。单斜辉石稀土配分曲线富集MREE,亏损LREE和HREE,呈拱形分布。斜长石以中-拉长石为主(Ab_{36.56～52.78}),富集LREE、Ba、Sr和Eu。铁钛氧化物的TiO₂含量为50.19%～51.46%。多文组玄武岩原始岩浆的主量和微量元素组成与夏威夷、峨眉山、塔里木等玄武岩组成一致,地幔源区包含了辉石岩的成分,而且其地幔潜在温度(>1400℃)和氧逸度(Δ...     

青藏高原东南缘次林错岩体晚白垩世—早新生代快速剥蚀

青藏高原东南缘是研究构造、地貌演化和气候变化相互作用的理想场所,前人研究主要揭示了晚始新世—早中新世和晚中新世以来的快速剥蚀事件,缺乏晚白垩世—早新生代时期地貌演化过程的研究。次林错花岗岩已有的低温热年代学数据覆盖了整个新生代时期,为探索该区域新生代早期的剥露演化历史提供了重要资料。该岩体新生代早期冷却事件是岩浆冷却单一作用的结果,还是受快速剥蚀作用的影响,目前仍然存疑,需要定量研究。因此,本文结合已有的岩石地化和年代学数据,对次林错花岗岩开展了锆石饱和温度和一维岩浆冷却模拟研究。锆石饱和温度计算结果表明次林错花岗岩的岩浆结晶温度介于647～705℃之间,属低温花岗岩。一维岩浆冷却模拟结果显示岩体侵位时的最小围岩温度为160～120℃,对应深度约为3.7～5.0 km。结合锆石和磷灰石(U-Th)/He年代学数据,本文认为该岩体在晚白垩世—早新生代时期(67～40 Ma)经历了一期剥蚀量至少为2 km的快速剥蚀事件。已发表成果的综合分析表明,此次快速剥露事件可能是整个青藏高原地区广泛存在的构造剥蚀事件,新特提斯洋的俯冲闭合与印亚板块的初始碰撞可能是触发此次大规模区域剥蚀的主要原因。     

库车坳陷西部构造圈闭形成期与烃源岩生烃期匹配关系探讨

根据库车坳陷西部地质剖面分析其构造圈闭类型,利用平衡剖面和生长地层分析构造圈闭形成期次。选取大北1井和一口人工井,应用PRA公司的BasinMod1-D软件,对其进行烃源岩成熟度史模拟,分析烃源岩的主要生烃期。根据构造圈闭形成期与烃源岩主要生烃期的匹配关系,认为西秋里塔格构造带盐下古构造圈闭与拜城凹陷烃源岩生烃期匹配良好,形成的油气藏大部分在后期保存良好,盐上圈闭可能形成油藏,盐层内部圈闭可能形成油藏、气藏或油气藏,在较厚盐层之下的圈闭可能会形成气藏。克拉苏构造带古构造圈闭与克拉苏构造带烃源岩主要生烃期以及拜城凹陷的主要生油期匹配良好,可以形成良好的油气藏,但是库车组沉积末期—第四纪构造破坏严重,油气藏经受构造调整、破坏和再分配形成残余油气藏、次生油气藏,此时正处于侏罗系烃源岩生气期,可以在盐下形成大量气藏。     

Evolution of the Australian lithosphere

The evolution of the Australian plate can be interpreted in a plate‐tectonic paradigm in which lithospheric growth occurred via vertical and horizontal accretion. The lithospheric roots of Archaean lithosphere developed contemporaneously with the overlying crust. Vertical accretion of the Archaean lithosphere is probably related to the arrival of large plumes, although horizontal lithospheric accretion was also important to crustal growth. The Proterozoic was an era of major crustal growth in which the components of the North Australian, West Australian and South Australian cratons were formed and amalgamated during a series of accretionary events and continent‐continent collisions, interspersed with periods of lithospheric extension. During Phanerozoic accretionary tectonism, approximately 30% of the Australian crust was added to the eastern margin of the continent in a predominantly supra‐subduction environment. Widespread plume‐driven rifting during the breakup of Gondwana may have contributed to the destruction of Archaean lithospheric roots (as a result of lithospheric stretching). However, lithospheric growth occurred at the same time due to mafic underplating along the eastern margin of the plate. Northward drift of Australia during the Tertiary led to the development of a complex accretionary margin at the leading edge of the plate (Papua New Guinea).     

Variable hangingwall palaeotransport during Silurian and Devonian thrusting in the western Lachlan Fold Belt: Missing gold lodes,synchronous Melbourne Trough sedimentation and Grampians Group fold interference

The western margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt contains early ductile and brittle structures that formed during northeast‐southwest and east‐west compression, followed by reactivation related to sinistral wrenching. At Stawell all of these structural features (and the associated gold lodes) are dismembered by a complex array of later northwest‐, north‐ and northeast‐dipping faults. Detailed underground structural analysis has identified northwest‐trending mid‐Devonian thrusts (Tabberabberan) that post‐date Early Devonian plutonism and have a top‐to‐the‐southwest transport. Deformation associated with the initial stages of dismemberment occurred along an earlier array of faults that trend southwest‐northeast (or east‐west) and dip to the northwest (or north). The initial transport of the units in the hangingwall of these fault structures was top‐to‐the‐southeast. ‘Missing’ gold lodes were discovered beneath the Magdala orebody by reconstructing a displacement history that involved a combination of transport vectors (top‐to‐the‐southeast and top‐to‐the‐southwest). Fold interference structures in the adjacent Silurian Grampians Group provide further evidence for at least two almost orthogonal shortening regimes, post the mid‐Silurian. Overprinting relationships, and correlation with synchronous sedimentation in the Melbourne Trough, indicates that the early fault structures are mid‐ to late‐Silurian in age (Ludlow: ca 420–414 Ma). These atypical southeast‐vergent structures have regional extent and separate significant northeast‐southwest shortening that occurred in the mid‐Devonian (‘Tabberabberan orogeny’) and Late Ordovician (‘Benambran orogeny’).     

Geological interpretation of a deep seismic‐reflection transect across the boundary between the Delamerian and Lachlan Orogens,in the vicinity of the Grampians,western Victoria

A deep seismic‐reflection transect in western Victoria was designed to provide insights into the structural relationship between the Lachlan and the Delamerian Orogens. Three seismic lines were acquired to provide images of the subsurface from west of the Grampians Range to east of the Stawell‐Ararat Fault Zone. The boundary between the Delamerian and Lachlan Orogens is now generally considered to be the Moyston Fault. In the vicinity of the seismic survey, this fault is intruded by a near‐surface granite, but at depth the fault dips to the east, confirming recent field mapping. East of the Moyston Fault, the uppermost crust is very weakly reflective, consisting of short, non‐continuous, west‐dipping reflections. These weak reflections represent rocks of the Lachlan Orogen and are typical of the reflective character seen on other seismic images from elsewhere in the Lachlan Orogen. Within the Lachlan Orogen, the Pleasant Creek Fault is also east dipping and approximately parallel to the Moyston Fault in the plane of the seismic section. Rocks of the Delamerian Orogen in the vicinity of the seismic line occur below surficial cover to the west of the Moyston Fault. Generally, the upper crust is only weakly reflective, but subhorizontal reflections at shallow depths (up to 3 km) represent the Grampians Group. The Escondida Fault appears to stop below the Grampians Group, and has an apparent gentle dip to the east. Farther east, the Golton and Mehuse Faults are also east dipping. The middle to lower crust below the Delamerian Orogen is strongly reflective, with several major antiformal structures in the middle crust. The Moho is a slightly undulating horizon at the base of the highly reflective middle to lower crust at 11–12 s TWT (approximately 35 km depth). Tectonically, the western margin of the Lachlan Orogen has been thrust over the Delamerian Orogen for a distance of at least 25 km, and possibly over 40 km.     

Crustal structure of the Ordovician Macquarie Arc,Eastern Lachlan Orogen,based on seismic‐reflection profiling

In the Eastern Lachlan Orogen, the mineralised Molong and Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belts are two structural belts that once formed part of the Ordovician Macquarie Arc, but are now separated by younger Silurian‐Devonian strata as well as by Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites. Interpretation of deep seismic reflection and refraction data across and along these belts provides answers to some of the key questions in understanding the evolution of the Eastern Lachlan Orogen—the relationship between coeval Ordovician volcanics and quartz‐rich turbidites, and the relationship between separate belts of Ordovician volcanics and the intervening strata. In particular, the data provide evidence for major thrust juxtaposition of the arc rocks and Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites, with Wagga Belt rocks thrust eastward over the arc rocks of the Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belt, and the Adaminaby Group thrust north over arc rocks in the southern part of the Molong Volcanic Belt. The seismic data also provide evidence for regional contraction, especially for crustal‐scale deformation in the western part of the Junee‐Narromine Volcanic Belt. The data further suggest that this belt and the Ordovician quartz‐rich turbidites to the east (Kirribilli Formation) were together thrust over ?Cambrian‐Ordovician rocks of the Jindalee Group and associated rocks along west‐dipping inferred faults that belong to a set that characterises the middle crust of the Eastern Lachlan Orogen. The Macquarie Arc was subsequently rifted apart in the Silurian‐Devonian, with Ordovician volcanics preserved under the younger troughs and shelves (e.g. Hill End Trough). The Molong Volcanic Belt, in particular, was reworked by major down‐to‐the‐east normal faults that were thrust‐reactivated with younger‐on‐older geometries in the late Early ‐ Middle Devonian and again in the Carboniferous.