祁连造山带东段中寒武世深沟组中-基性火山岩锆石U-Pb年龄、地球化学特征及构造环境

拉脊山构造带南东端磨沟地区出露一套变安山岩夹片理化变玄武岩组合,其原岩分别为亚碱性拉斑系列安山岩和玄武岩。研究表明,变安山岩锆石U-Pb年龄为503.1±6.6Ma,形成于中寒武世。玄武岩稀土元素总量为93.40×10~(-6)～135.39×10~(-6),(La/Yb)_N值为2.76～3.64,δEu为0.87～1.00,微量元素蛛网图具有不相容元素富集特征,没有明显的Nb、Ta负异常,与板内火山岩特征相似。安山岩稀土元素总量低于玄武岩,而微量元素蛛网图具有富集大离子亲石元素Cs、Rb、Ba等,亏损高场强元素Nb、Ta、Ti等特征。岩石成因研究表明,玄武岩没有经历显著的地壳混染,为软流圈地幔石榴子石+尖晶石二辉橄榄岩低程度部分熔融的产物,而安山岩为地壳部分熔融的产物。构造环境判别表明,深沟组火山岩形成于大陆裂谷环境,表明祁连地块中部的拉脊山构造带南东端可能没有发育成熟的洋盆系统,随后在南祁连洋早古生代俯冲消减过程中以裂谷型岩石圈碎片的方式构造侵位于中祁连地块南缘。     

白云鄂博铁-稀土-铌矿床地质特征及其研究中存在的科学问题——兼论白云鄂博超大型矿床的成因

华北克拉通北缘的白云鄂博Fe-REE-Nb建造矿床是世界上已知的最大的稀土矿床,其矿床类型特殊,具有十分重要的意义,长期以来都备受国内外矿床地质学家的关注。由于其成矿作用的独特性和复杂性,国内外地质学界对此争议颇大,一直没有定论。国内外地质学家提出了多种成矿模式,但至目前为止,没有一种模型能够成功地解释区内缤纷复杂的地质现象,致使很多有关矿床成因关键性问题争论依旧。研究该矿床成因的意义不仅是解释矿床的形成条件,而且对于正确认识华北陆块北缘与西伯利亚板块碰撞条件下的壳幔相互作用以及寻找超大型矿床均有重要意义。结合我们多年的科研积累,特别是针对已获得大量岩石化学、稳定和放射成因同位素数据及相关研究成果,系统梳理及综述了白云鄂博超大型矿床的基底性质、火成碳酸岩、岩石地层及矿床形成时代,在此基础上,提出了白云鄂博矿床多阶段成矿模式。我们认为白云鄂博赋矿白云岩是沉积碳酸盐受地幔碳酸岩浆及派生的流体交代的产物,碳酸岩浆及其派生的富稀土流体与在地壳深部对沉积碳酸盐产生强烈交代,导致稀土元素在H8白云岩及其他地层的第一次富集。后来经加里东时期的板块聚合过程中的流体改造,使得稀土元素二次运移富集,形成了白云鄂博独特的Fe-REE-Nb矿床及区域性的大规模稀土矿化。至于铁矿的形成,我们认为它是在基底之上发育的一套BIF,经过中元古的碳酸岩侵入作用的改造,之后在加里东时期的板块聚合过程的再次聚集。     

Climatic and tectonic controls on carbonate deposition in syn‐rift siliciclastic fluvial systems: A case of microbialites and associated facies in the Late Jurassic

This work provides new insights to assess the factors controlling carbonate deposition in the siliciclastic fluvial systems of rift basins. Sedimentological and stable‐isotope data of microbialites and associated carbonate facies, along with regional geological information, are shown to reveal the influence of climate and tectonics on the occurrence and attributes of carbonate deposits in these settings. The Vega Formation – a 150 m thick Lower Kimmeridgian siliciclastic fluvial sequence in Asturias Province (northern Spain) – constitutes a candidate for this approach. This unit includes varied facies (stromatolites; rudstones, packstones and wackestones containing oncoids, intraclasts, charophytes and shell bioclasts; marlstones and polygenic calcareous conglomerates) that formed in a low‐gradient fluvial–lacustrine system consisting of shallow, low‐sinuosity oncoid‐bearing channels and pools within marshy areas, with sporadic coarse alluvial deposition. The sedimentological attributes indicate common erosion by channel overflow and rapid lateral changes of subenvironments caused by water‐discharge variations. The carbonate fluvial–lacustrine system developed near uplifted marine Jurassic rocks. The occurrence of the system was conditioned by normal faults (active during the deposition of the unit) that favoured: (i) springs of HCO₃–Ca‐rich water from a Rhaetian–Sinemurian carbonate rock aquifer; and (ii) carbonate deposition in areas partially isolated from the adjacent siliciclastic fluvial system. The microbialite δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values support deposition in a hydrologically open system, fed by ambient‐temperature meteoric water, with riparian vegetation. Three types of lamination in the stromatolites and oncoids reflect distinct morphological types of cyanobacterial communities. The textural pattern of lamination parallels δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O changes, suggesting short‐term cycles of precipitation and temperature. A moderately to strongly contrasted seasonal and/or pluriannual precipitation regime is inferred from the cyclic δ¹³C pattern of the lamination and from the discontinuous and asymmetrical growth of oncoids. Thus, the isotopic and sedimentological attributes of the carbonate deposits were linked to short‐term climate changes associated with semi‐arid conditions, consistent with the studied climatic zone.     

贵州西部晚古生代裂陷作用及其成矿系列

为探讨贵州西部晚古生代裂陷作用及其与成矿作用的关系,文章系统识别了贵州西部裂陷构造,分析了各级别构造发展阶段特点、各类别地质环境特点及其与成矿作用的关系,并对贵州西部晚古生代成矿系列进行了修订和完善。研究得出,全区共有3个矿床成矿系列、7个亚系列、18个矿床式,其中部分与晚古生代裂陷构造作用有密切关系:1贵州西部晚古生代因板内拉张形成了裂陷构造,以及裂陷槽盆与台地相间排列的古地理格局;2峨眉地幔热柱活动是在地壳岩石受裂谷作用破坏最强烈的阶段沿着构造薄弱地段发生的,裂谷构造对岩浆活动产物的就位有一定控制作用;3海西期以陆内裂陷为主,主要形成了多种沉积型矿产的矿体及一些后生热液型矿种的矿源层,其中同生断裂对于沉积、成矿产生了积极作用;4印支期以升降运动为主,而燕山期以水平运动为主,因此主要是燕山期导致大规模褶皱造山和断裂活动,导致晚古生代地质体产生了后生成矿作用,形成了较多的金、铅锌、汞、锑等低温热液矿产。     

Geochemistry and Tectonic Setting of Mafic Igneous Units in the Neoproterozoic Katangan Basin, Central Africa: Implications for Rodinia Break-up

Geochemical compositions of mafic igneous rocks in the Katangan basin in Central Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, hereafter Congo, and Zambia) provide the basis for the geodynamic interpretation of the evolution of this Neoproterozoic basin located between the Congo and Kalahari cratons. The Katangan basin is subdivided into five major tectonic units: the Katangan Aulacogen, the External Fold and Thrust Belt, the Domes Region, the Synclinorial Belt and the Katangan High. The metamorphosed mafic igneous rocks investigated occur in the Katangan Aulacogen, the External Fold and Thrust Belt and the Domes Region. The earliest magmatic activity produced continental tholeiites emplaced on Paleoproterozoic crust during the early stages of intraplate break-up. This continental tholeiite magmatism was followed by an association of alkaline and tholeiitic basalts emplaced in the Katangan continental rift and then by tholeiitic basalts with E-MORB affinity marking a young oceanic crust. These volcanic associations mark different stages of evolution from pre-rift continental break-up up to a continental rift similar to the East African rift system and then to a Red Sea type incipient oceanic rift. A similar evolution occurs in the Damaran basin in southwestern Africa, although no pre-rift continental tholeiites have been recorded in this segment of the Pan-African belt system.     

Late Permian–early Middle Triassic back-arc basin development in West Qinling,China

The Late Permian–early Middle Triassic strata of the northern West Qinling area, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, are composed of sediment gravity flow deposits. Detailed sedimentary facies analysis indicates these strata were deposited in three successive deep-marine environments. The Late Permian–early Early Triassic strata of the Maomaolong Formation and the lowest part of the Longwuhe Formation define a NW–SE trending proximal slope environment. Facies of the Early Triassic strata composing the middle and upper Longwuhe Formation are consistent with deposition in a base-of-slope apron environment, whereas facies of the Middle Triassic Anisian age Gulangdi Formation are more closely associated with a base-of-slope fan depositional environment. The lithofacies and the spatial–temporal changes in paleocurrent data from these strata suggest the opening of a continental margin back-arc basin system during Late Permian to early Middle Triassic time in the northern West Qinling. U–Pb zircon ages for geochemically varied igneous rocks with diabasic through granitic compositions intruded into these deep-marine strata range from 250 to 234 Ma. These observations are consistent with extensional back-arc basin development and rifting between the Permian–Triassic Eastern Kunlun arc and North China block during the continent–continent collision and underthrusting of the South China block northward beneath the Qinling terrane of the North China block. Deep-marine sedimentation ended in the northern West Qinling by the Middle Triassic Ladinian age, but started in the southern West Qinling and Songpan-Ganzi to the south. We attribute these observations to southward directed rollback of Paleo-Tethys oceanic lithosphere, continued attenuation of the West Qinling on the upper plate, local post-rift isostatic compensation in the northern West Qinling area, and continued opening of a back-arc basin in the southern West Qinling and Songpan-Ganzi. Rollback and back-arc basin development during Late Permian to early Middle Triassic time in the West Qinling area explains: the truncated map pattern of the Eastern Kunlun arc, the age difference of deep-marine sediment gravity flow deposits between the Late Permian–early Middle Triassic northern West Qinling and the late Middle Triassic–Late Triassic southern West Qinling and Songpan-Ganzi, and the discontinuous trace of ophiolitic rocks associated with the Anyemaqen-Kunlun suture.     

Distinct styles of fluvial deposition in a Cambrian rift basin

Process‐based and facies models to account for the origin of pre‐vegetation (i.e. pre‐Silurian) preserved fluvial sedimentary architectures remain poorly defined in terms of their ability to account for the nature of the fluvial conditions required to accumulate and preserve architectural elements in the absence of the stabilizing influence of vegetation. In pre‐vegetation fluvial successions, the repeated reworking of bars and minor channels that resulted in the generation and preservation of broad, tabular, stacked sandstone‐sheets has been previously regarded as the dominant sedimentary mechanism. This situation is closely analogous to modern‐day poorly vegetated systems developed in arid climatic settings. However, this study demonstrates the widespread presence of substantially more complex stratigraphic architectures. The Guarda Velha Formation of Southern Brazil is a >500 m‐thick synrift fluvial succession of Cambrian age that records the deposits and sedimentary architecture of three distinct fluvial successions: (i) an early rift‐stage system characterized by coarse‐grained channel elements indicative of a distributive pattern with flow transverse to the basin axis; and two coeval systems from the early‐ to climax‐rift stages that represent (ii) an axially directed, trunk fluvial system characterized by large‐scale amalgamated sandy braid‐bar elements, and (iii) a distributive fluvial system characterized by multi‐storey, sandy braided‐channel elements that flowed transverse to the basin axis. Integration of facies and architectural‐element analysis with regional stratigraphic basin analysis, palaeocurrent and pebble‐provenance analysis demonstrates the mechanisms responsible for preserving the varied range of fluvial architectures present in this pre‐vegetation, rift‐basin setting. Identified major controls that influenced pre‐vegetation fluvial sedimentary style include: (i) spatial and temporal variation in discharge regime; (ii) the varying sedimentological characteristics of distinct catchment areas; (iii) the role of tectonic basin configuration and its direct role in influencing palaeoflow direction and fluvial style, whereby both the axial and transverse fluvial systems undertook a distinctive response to syn‐depositional movement on basin‐bounding faults. Detailed architectural analyses of these deposits reveal significant variations in geometry, with characteristics considerably more complex than that of simple, laterally extensive, stacked sandstone‐sheets predicted by most existing depositional models for pre‐vegetation fluvial systems. These results suggest that the sheet‐braided style actually encompasses a varied number of different pre‐vegetation fluvial styles. Moreover, this study demonstrates that contemporaneous axial and transverse fluvial systems with distinctive architectural expressions can be preserved in the same overall tectonic and climatic setting.     

Kenn Plateau off northeast Australia: a continental fragment in the southwest Pacific jigsaw

The submarine Kenn Plateau, with an area of about 140 000 km², lies some 400 km east of central Queensland beyond the Marion Plateau. It is one of several thinned continental fragments east of Australia that were once part of Australia, and it originally fitted south of the Marion Plateau and as far south as Brisbane. It is cut into smaller blocks by east- and northeast-trending faults, with thinly sedimented basement highs separated by basins containing several kilometres of sediment. In the Cretaceous precursor of the Kenn Plateau, Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous basins probably rested unconformably on Palaeozoic to Triassic rocks of the New England Fold Belt. Rift volcanism was common on the northern plateau and was probably of Early Cretaceous age. Late Cretaceous extension and breakup were followed by Paleocene drifting, and the Kenn Plateau moved to the northeast, rotated 30° anticlockwise and left space that was filled by Tasman Basin oceanic basalts. During these events, siliciclastic sediments poured into the basins from the continental mainland and from locally eroding highs. After a regional Late Paleocene to Early Eocene unconformity, siliciclastic sedimentation resumed in proximal areas. In deep water, radiolarian chalks were widely deposited until biosiliceous sediment accumulation ended at the regional Late Eocene to Early Oligocene unconformity, and warming surface waters led to accumulation of pure biogenic carbonates. Calcarenite formed in shallow water on the margins of the subsiding plateau from the Middle Eocene onward. Some seismic profiles show Middle to Late Eocene compression related to New Caledonian obduction to the east. Hotspots formed parts of two volcanic chains on or near the plateau as it moved northward: Late Eocene and younger volcanics of the Tasmantid chain in the west, and Late Oligocene and younger volcanics of the Lord Howe chain in the east. As the volcanoes subsided, they were fringed by reefs, some of which have persisted until the present day. Other reefs have not kept up with subsidence, so guyots formed. The plateau has subsided 2000 m or more since breakup and is now subject solely to pelagic carbonate sedimentation.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of the Devonian Gumbardo Formation (Adavale Basin): evidence for cratonisation of the Central Thomson Orogen by the Early Devonian

Abstract

The Devonian subsurface Adavale Basin occupies a central position in the Paleozoic central Thomson Orogen of eastern Australia and records its tectonic setting during this time interval. Here, we have focussed on the basal volcanics of the Gumbardo Formation to clarify the tectonic setting of the basin. The approach has been to undertake stratigraphic logging, LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon geochronology and whole-rock geochemical analysis. The data indicate that basin initiation was rapid occurring at ca 401?Ma. The volcanic rocks are dominated by K-feldspar phyric rhyodacitic ignimbrites. The whole-rock geochemical data indicate little evidence for extensive fractional crystallisation, with the volcanic suite resembling the composition of the upper continental crust and exhibiting transitional I- to A-type tectonomagmatic affinities. One new U–Pb zircon age revealed an Early Ordovician emplacement age for a volcanic rock previously interpreted to be part of the Early Devonian Gumbardo Formation, and older basement age is consistent with seismic interpretations of uplifted basement in this region of the western Adavale Basin. Five ignimbrites dated from different stratigraphic levels within the formation yield similar emplacement ages with a pooled weighted age of 398.2?±?1.9?Ma (mean square weighted deviation?=?0.94, n?=?93). Significant zircon inheritance in the volcanic rocks records reworking of Ordovician and Silurian silicic igneous basement from the Thomson Orogen and provides insight into the crustal make-up of the Thomson Orogen. Collectively, the new data presented here suggest the Adavale Basin is a cover-type basin that developed on a stabilised Thomson Orogen after the major Bindian deformation event in the late Silurian.