Geochronology of khondalite-series rocks of the Jining Complex: confirmation of depositional age and tectonometamorphic evolution of the North China craton

A belt of khondalite-series rocks in the Western Block of the North China craton (NCC) are considered to represent products of the collision between the north Yinshan and the south Ordos terranes before final amalgamation of the NCC basement. The Jining Complex of Inner Mongolia occurs in the eastern part of the Khondalite Belt and is crosscut by the Trans-North China Orogen. Khondalite rocks of the Jining Complex mainly comprise sillimanite-garnet gneiss, garnet/sillimanite-bearing granite, massive porphyritic granite, garnet quartzite, calc-silicate, and marble with minor felsic gneiss and mafic granulite. LA-ICP-MS, U–Pb dating and cathodoluminescence (CL) image analysis of zircons from five rocks from the complex, i.e. Sil-Bt-Grt leptynite gneiss, Spl-Sil-Ksp-Grt vein in (Crd)-Sil-Grt gneiss, Sil-Grt-K-Fsp mylonite from a shear zone, Crd-bearing Sil-Grt gneiss, and granite were used to determine protolith and metamorphic ages of the khondalite-series rocks. Results of 315 detrital zircon grains indicate five age populations: 2410–2550 Ma, 2162 Ma, 2047–2099 Ma, 1950–1993 Ma, and 1866 Ma. CL investigation reveals that zircon grains of most samples are rounded, unzoned with low Th/U, indicating a metamorphic origin, whereas quite a few grains in some rocks are characterized by magmatic oscillatory zoning and comparatively high Th/U, and are typically overgrown by metamorphic, low CL rims with low Th/U. Three samples of Sil-Bt-Grt gneiss record oldest ages of ～2550–2480 Ma, suggesting an Archaean/early Palaeoproterozoic provenance for the Jining Complex. Ages of ～2162–2047 Ma are interpreted as the metamorphic modified inherited source of supercrustal protoliths of the khondalite-series rocks. The khondalite depositional age is defined as 2228–2027 Ma by concordant ages obtained in this research. The Sil-Ksp-Grt vein and the granite have single population ages of 1985?±?28 Ma and 1957?±?19 Ma, respectively, and are inferred to record the same metamorphic event, i.e. formation of the Khondalite Belt within the Western Block owing to the collision of the north Yinshan and the south Ordos terranes. The Sil-Grt-K-Fsp mylonite yields a single group age of 1866?±?22 Ma, which may date final suturing of the Eastern Block and the Western Block and stabilization of the NCC.     

Investigations and assessment of the landslide hazards of Fengdu county in the reservoir region of the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River

The spatial database of landslides in Fengdu County of the reservoir region of the Three Gorges project (TGP) on the Yangtze River was compiled from a variety of different sources including field investigations on landslides, existing catalogues and archives on landslides, reports of meteorological events and human engineering activities that triggered slope failures. The major factors that are found to have affected the slope stabilities are outlined, and an assessment and zonation of landslide hazards of the region is made using an integrated information model, which is divided into destructive, disastrous, likely disastrous and essentially non-disastrous areas from the assessment of landslide hazards. The destructive and disastrous areas are respectively 1.9 and 13.8% of the total region, mostly being nearby townships, highways along the south bank of the Yangtze River and residential quarters along two flanks of the Yangtze River and its distributaries, that will impose direct impact to highway transportation and residential lives, and may effect to some degree the navigation of the Yangtze River, reservoir banks, and building of cities and towns.     

Soil moisture potential and water content in the unsaturated zone within the arid Ejina Oasis in Northwest China

Three soil profiles were selected in the Ejina Oasis, northwest China, to determine water content profiles and evolution of soil moisture potentials in the unsaturated zone within the arid area. The total soil moisture potentials have been monitored for about 3 months in 2001 at different depths in the soil profiles. The occurrence and movement of water in the unsaturated zone was analyzed using the zero flux plane (ZFP) method. It is shown that convergent ZFPs and divergent ZFPs may occur at depths between 0.5 and 3.0 m, and that the depth of the ZFPs was controlled by the root zone of plants growing on the land surface. Profiles of the total soil moisture potentials were observed to be coincident with those of the water contents at the three experimental sites. The total soil moisture potential showed a slight increasing trend and the ZFPs tend to vanish from summer to winter as the water extraction by roots decreased. Evapotranspiration through vegetation has an important bearing on the water content and the total potential in the unsaturated zone.     

东亚大陆边缘的构造格架及其中-新生代演化

燕山运动在亚洲大陆雏形东缘形成2条北东向的剪切带:郯庐断裂带和长乐-南澳-中央构造线断裂带,晚侏罗世—古近纪早期沿之发生地体/地块的拼贴。系统叙述了各移置地体/地块的主要岩石记录和拼贴时代,据起源分为3类:异地的(包括源自冈瓦纳的和源自盘古大洋的)、半异地的和准原地的;据拼贴位置分为2组:拼贴后基本位于原地的(日本海张开以前) 和发生过向北东错移的。新生代内东亚大陆边缘发生解体,可以台湾岛以北的菲律宾海盆断裂为界将东亚大陆边缘弧分为2段,北段仍处于剪切-拉张中,南段已进入剪切挤压-造山阶段。强调该地区中—新生代演化经历了2个里丁旋回, 形成早白垩世的北东向和新近纪的北东东向2期新生构造。     

Improved Geometric Model of Extensional Fault–bend Folding

Extensional fault–bend folds, also called rollovers, are one of the most common structures in extensional settings. Numerous studies have shown that oblique simple shear is the most appropriate mechanism for quantitative modeling of geometric relations between normal faults and the strata in their hanging walls. However, the oblique simple shear has a rather serious issue derived from the shear direction, particularly above convex bends. We use geometric and experimental methods to study the deformation of extensional fault–bend folds on convex bends. The results indicate that whether the fault bends are concave or convex, the shear direction of the hanging wall dips toward the main fault. On this basis, we improve the previous geometric model by changing the shear direction above the convex bends. To illustrate basin history, our model highlights the importance of the outer limit of folding instead of the growth axial. Moreover, we propose a new expression for the expansion index that is applicable to the condition of no deposition on the footwall. This model is validated by modeling a natural structure of the East China Sea Basin.     

Offshore Aggregates Resources on the Northern Continental Shelf of the East China Sea

A large‐scale survey for offshore aggregates is carried out on the northern shelf of the East China Sea. Results show that most of them are directly exposed in the Yangtze Shoal and the linear sand ridges system at water depths 25–55 m and 60–120 m, respectively. The components of these deposits belong to fine aggregates in terms of the fineness modulus. The potential resources are as high as 147.8 × 10¹² kg for the Yangtze Shoal yet only 36.68 × 10¹² kg for the sand ridges area, respectively. A preliminary feasibility analysis suggests that the Yangtze Shoal is suitable for dredging under the present conditions of technology and economy.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000668

Microbial diversity in the hydrate-containing (sites SH3B and SH7B) and-free (sites SH1B, SH5B, SH5C) sediments collected from the Shenhu area of the South China Sea (SCS) was investigated using 16S rR...     

Objective Analysis on Large-scale Circulation Type and Its Links to Precipitation over China

Atmospheric circulation anomaly is a direct cause of weather and climate change. In the past, most researches for the relationship between Weather Type (WT) and precipitation have mainly focused on the subjective classification and diagnosis. Compared to the subjective analysis, objective classification uses more consistent index and standard unification, thus, we can get more WTs, and it has been widely used in many areas. By using daily 12UTC Sea Level Pressure (SLP), Precipitable Water (PW), and 700 hPa wind speed (UV700) data from ECMWF’s Interim Reanalysis, the classification of WTs over China was performed with the method of obliquely rotated T-mode principle component analysis. WT and its link to precipitation over China were further analyzed. The results show that the influence of different WTs on precipitation is not uniform over China, and also show distinctly difference in different seasons. A common feature is that WTs great impact on the regions and months with large precipitation, while less impact on regions and months have with less precipitation. In addition, precipitation trends originating from WT intensity changes are much more deterministic, significant, and predictable than trends from WT frequency changes.     

Origin of natural sulfur-metal chimney in the Tangyin hydrothermal field,Okinawa Trough: constraints from rare earth element and sulfur isotopic compositions

For the first time, we present the rare earth element (REE) and sulfur isotopic composition of hydrothermal precipitates recovered from the Tangyin hydrothermal field (THF), Okinawa Trough at a water depth of 1206 m. The natural sulfur samples exhibit the lowest ΣREE concentrations (ΣREE= 0.65×10^–6–4.580×10^–6) followed by metal sulfides (ΣREE=1.71×10^–6–11.63×10^–6). By contrast, the natural sulfur-sediment samples have maximum ΣREE concentrations (ΣREE=11.54×10^–6–33.06×10^–6), significantly lower than those of the volcanic and sediment samples. Nevertheless, the δEu, δCe, (La/Yb)_N, La/Sm, (Gd/Yb)_N and normalized patterns of the natural sulfur and metal sulfide show the most similarity to the sediment. Most hydrothermal precipitate samples are characterized by enrichments of LREE (LREE/HREE=10.09–24.53) and slightly negative Eu anomalies or no anomaly (δEu=0.48–0.99), which are different from the hydrothermal fluid from sediment-free mid-oceanic ridges and back-arc basins, but identical to the sulfides from the Jade hydrothermal field. The lower temperature and more oxidizing conditions produced by the mixing between seawater and hydrothermal fluids further attenuate the leaching ability of hydrothermal fluid, inducing lower REE concentrations for natural sulfur compared with metal sulfide; meanwhile, the negative Eu anomaly is also weakened or almost absent. The sulfur isotopic compositions of the natural sulfur (δ³⁴S=3.20‰–5.01‰, mean 4.23‰) and metal sulfide samples (δ³⁴S=0.82‰–0.89‰, mean 0.85‰) reveal that the sulfur of the chimney is sourced from magmatic degassing.     

天然气水合物区多相流体运移模型：以南海神狐海域为例

天然气水合物是重要的海洋油气资源,近年来利用孔隙水地球化学手段结合流体反应运移模型对水合物进行勘探已 成为研究热点。文章针对南海神狐海域钻探GMGS-1航次的数据资料,用孔隙水溴碘摩尔数比值拟合全新世流体运移速率, 构建了二期次非稳态水合物多相流体运移模型,并以SH7站位作为应用,发现自更新世以来研究区水合物成藏系统处于衰 退状态。通过模型参数敏感性分析,了解到影响模型输出的参数权重从高到低依次是沉积物孔隙度、有机质含量和沉积埋 藏速率。进一步数值分析表明,在水合物成藏系统中,有机质含量与水合物饱和度满足线性相关,其他主要参数与饱和度 的关系并非单调函数,且主导水合物稳定区内的甲烷物源是深部外源流体所携带的甲烷。多相流体运移模型对水合物资源 勘查具有一定的理论意义。