The Alpine evolution of the Southern Alps around the Giudicarie faults: A Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene transfer zone

Data supporting relevant Late Cretaceous–Early Eocene sinistral displacement along the Giudicarie fault zone and a minor Neogene dextral displacement along the Periadriatic lineament are discussed. The pre-Adamello structural belt is present only in the internal Lombardy zone, located W of the Adamello massif. This belt is unknown in the Dolomites and surrounding areas located to the E of the Giudicarie lineament. Upper Cretaceous–Early Eocene thick syntectonic Flysch deposits of Lombardy and Giudicarie are well preserved along the southern and eastern border of the pre-Adamello belt (S-vergent Alpine orogen). Towards the E, in the Dolomites and in the Carnic Alps and external Dinarides, only incomplete remnants of Flysch deposits, Aptian–Albian and Turonian–Maastrichtian in age, are present. They can be considered as equivalent to those of Lombardy and Giudicarie formerly in connection to each other along the N-Giudicarie corridor. To the S, the syntectonic Flysch deposits are laterally replaced by the calcareous red pelagites of the Scaglia Rossa and by the carbonate shelf deposits of the Friuli (to the E) and Bagnolo (to the S) carbonate platforms. The different location in the southern structural accretion of the eastern and western opposite blocks (the Dolomites versus the pre-Adamello belt) can be related to the Cretaceous–Eocene convergence. In this frame, the N-Giudicarie fault has been considered as part of a former transfer zone, which produced the sinistral lateral displacement of the Southern Alps front for an amount of some 50 km. During the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene the transfer zone was mostly sealed by the Paleogene Adamello batholith. Oligocene to Neogene compressional evolution inverted the N-Giudicarie fault into a backthrust of the Austroalpine units over the South-Alpine chain.     

Small-scale spatial variation of the stress field in the back-arc Aegean area: Results from the seismotectonic study of the broader area of Mygdonia basin (N. Greece)

In the present work a detailed seismotectonic study of the broader area of the Mygdonia basin (N. Greece) is performed. Digital data for earthquakes which occurred in the broader Mygdonia basin and were recorded by the permanent telemetric network of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki during the period 1989–1999 were collected and fault plane solutions for 50 earthquakes which occurred in the study area were calculated with a modified first motions approach which incorporates amplitude and radiation pattern information. Fault plane solutions for the 3 main shocks of Volvi (23/05/78, M_W = 5.8 and 20/06/78, M_W = 6.5) and Arnaia (04/05/95, M_W = 5.8) events and the 1978 aftershock sequence were additionally used. Moreover, data from two local networks established in the Mygdonia basin were also incorporated in the final dataset.Determination of the stress field was realized by the use of the method of Gephart and Forsyth [Gephart, J.W., Forsyth, D.W., 1984. An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: application to the San Fernando earthquake sequence: Jour. Geophys. Res., v.89, no. B11, p. 9305–9320] for the stress tensor inversion and the results were compared with independent estimates based on the calculation of the average moment tensor [Papazachos, C.B.,Kiratzi, A.A., 1992. A formulation for reliable estimation of active crustal deformation and its application to central Greece. Geophys. J. Int. 111, 424–432]. The obtained stress results show a relatively good agreement between the two approaches, with differences in the azimuth of the dominant extension axis of the order of 10°. Furthermore, comparison with independent information for the mean stress axes provided by the study of kinematics on neotectonic faults [Mountrakis, D., Kilias, A., Tranos, M., Thomaidou, E., Papazachos, C., Karakaisis, G., Scordilis, E., Chatzidimitriou, P., Papadimitriou, E., Vargemezis, G., Aidona, E., Karagianni, E., Vamvakaris, D. Skarlatoudis, A. 2003. Determination of the settings and the seismotectonic behavior of the main seismic-active faults of Northern Greece area using neotectonic and seismological data. Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation (OASP) (in Greek)] shows a similar agreement with typical misfit of the order 10°. The stress inversion method was modified in order to select one or both nodal planes of the focal mechanism which corresponds to the “true” fault plane of the occurred earthquakes and was able to select a single fault plane in the majority of examined cases. Using this approach, the obtained fault plane rose diagrams are in agreement with results from various neotectonic studies. Moreover, several secondary active fault branches were identified, which are still not clearly observed in the field.     

不同初始饱水状态红砂岩冻融损伤差异性研究

借助于红砂岩冻融循环CT扫描试验，从扫描层面内不同的感兴趣区域内CT均值数大小及其变化以及CT图像，对4种典型的不同初始饱水状态红砂岩进行冻融循环条件下损伤扩展差异性研究。研究结果表明，对于初始损伤相同的岩石，初始饱水状态将决定冻融循环对其损伤扩展的影响程度。     

西藏比如盆地竟柱山组沉积-火山岩形成环境及构造意义

上白垩统竟柱山组为一套冲积扇-扇三角洲沉积体系的粗碎屑岩,间夹由英安岩、安山岩、石英粗安岩和流纹岩组成的中酸性火山岩。火山岩呈层状、似层状产出,与碎屑岩均呈整合接触关系。地球化学特征表明,竟柱山组火山岩形成于岛弧构造环境,是挤压背景下地壳增厚熔融的产物。竟柱山组沉积-火山岩的形成环境揭示了比如盆地的性质在晚白垩世已由弧后盆地转换为前陆盆地。     

New Cretaceous palaeointensity data and the constraints on geodynamics

A combined geochronologic (K-Ar) and palaeomagnetic study has been conducted on a basalt lava sequence at Yixian Formation in Liaoning Province, northeastern China. The new K-Ar age obtained from thirteen lava flows is 120.93±0.88 Ma. Detailed rock-magnetic investigations were conducted on each lava flow to determine their remanence carriers. The modified version of the Thellier-Thellier palaeointensity method with systematic partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) checks was used for the palaeointensity determination. Virtual dipole moment (VDM) value is (3.66±0.10)x10²² Am². This low dipole-field intensity value is approximately forty-five percent of the today field VDM. Combined with all of the other published palaeointensity data, possible links between the earth’s interior process and its control on the variation of the earth’s magnetic field during the geological time were tentatively discussed.     

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages of late Aptian-early Albian black shale intervals in the Vocontian Basin, SE France

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages were analyzed from three black shale intervals in the upper Aptain to lower Albian of the Vocontian Basin, SE France based on Q-mode principal component analyses. Variations in the distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera around these events suggest differences in the origin of the black shales. Differences between faunas of bioturbated marly and laminated black shale facies have been observed in the Niveau Paquier, Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE) 1b and Niveau Leenhardt. Here, the faunal composition and plankton/benthos ratios suggest eutrophic conditions during the deposition of organic-rich sediments leading to black shales. No major variations have been observed in black shales of the upper Aptain Niveau Jacob. Benthic assemblages and low plankton/benthos ratios indicate mesotrophic conditions. Third order sea-level changes are believed to control mainly the origin of the investigated black shale levels.     

锦江盆地白垩系基本层序与沉积环境分析

本文阐述了锦江盆地白垩系的基本层序特征,对其沉积环境作了系统分析,建立了１２个基本层序,划分了３大沉积体系,探讨了沉积盆地的形成、发展和消亡的演化规律。     

Upper Cretaceous Magmatic Series and Associated Mineralisation in the Carpathian – Balkan Orogen

Abstract: The Alpine Orogen contains in South East Europe, from the Carpathians to the Balkans–Srednogorie, an Upper Cretaceous, ore bearing igneous belt: a narrow elongated body which runs discontinously from the Apuseni Mountains in the North, to the western part of the South Carpathians (Banat) in Romania, and further South to the Carpathians of East Serbia and still further East to Srednogorie (Bulgaria). This results in a belt of 750 km/30–70 km, bending from N-S in Romania and Serbia, to E-W in Bulgaria. Using the well established century-old terminology of this region, we describe it in this paper as the Banatitic Magmatic and Metallogenetic Belt (BMMB). Plate tectonics models of the Alpine evolution of South East Europe involve Mesozoic rifting, spreading and thinning of the continental crust or formation of oceanic crust in the Tethian trench system, followed by Cretaceous-Tertiary convergence of Africa with Europe and opening of Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea troughs. The result of successive stages in the collision process is not only the continental growth of Europe from N to S by the docking of several microplates formerly separated from it by Mesozoic palaeo–oceans, but also the rise of mountain belts by overthickening of the crust, followed by orogenic collapse, lateral extrusion, exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and post-collisional magmatism connected to strike-slip or normal faulting. The BMMB of the Carpathian-Balkan fold belt is rich in ore deposits related to plutons and/or volcano-plutonic complexes. Serbian authors have proposed an Upper Cretaceous Paleorift in Eastern Serbia for the Timok zone and some Bulgarian geologists have furnished geologic, petrological and metallogenetic support for this extensional model along the entire BMMB. The existence and importance of previous westwards directed subductions of Transilvanides (=South Apuseni = Mure? Zone) and Severin-Krajina palaeo–oceans, popular in Roman ian literature, seems to have little relevance to BMMB generation, but the well documented northwards directed subduction of the Vardar-Axios palaeo–ocean during Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous is a good pre-condition for the generation, during the Upper Cretaceous, of banatitic magmas in extensional regime, by mantle delamination due to slab break–off. Four magmatic trends are found: a tholeiitic trend, a calc-alkaline trend, a calc-alkaline high–K to shoshonitic trend and, restricted to East Srednogorie, a peralkaline trend. For acid intrusives, the typology is clearly I-type and magnetite–series, pointing to sources in the deep crust or the mantle; however, some high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios recorded in banatites prove important contamination from the upper crust. The calc-alkaline hydrated magmas, most common for banatitic plutons, can be considered as recording three stages of evolution: more primitive – the monzodioritic, dioritic to granodioritic trend (S Apuseni, S Ba–nat, Timok, C and W Srednogorie); more evolved – the granodioritic-granitic trend (N Apuseni, N Banat, Ridanj–Krepoljin); the alkaline trend (E and W Srednogorie, western part of N Banat). Correlating the composition of the host plutons with the types of mineralisation, several environments can be found in the BMMB, function of timing of fluid separation (porphyry versus non-porphyry environments), depth of emplacement, size of intrusion and geology of intruded rock pile, biotite versus hornblende crystallisation, involving the evolution of K/Na ratio in fluids, i. e. development of potassic and phyllic alteration zones: a) non-porphyry environment with granodioritic to granitic magmas, plutonic level, skarn mineralisation prevails; b) porphyry environment with monzodioritic or dioritic to granodioritic magmas, subvolcanic–hypabyssal–plutonic level; porphyry Cu with skarn halo at hypabyssal-subvolcanic level; c) porphyry environment with monzodioritic or dioritic to granodioritic magmas, volcano-plutonic complexes with porphyry copper plus massive sulfide mineralisation at subvolcanic-volcanic level; d) non-porphyry environment with magmas of alkaline tendency, volcanic level, vein (“mesothermal” and “epithermal”) mineralisation.     

A Note on Extension Variances in IR2

Matheron (1971) proposed an approximation of the extension variance in IR. We propose in this note an extension of this formula in IR ² , based on a MacLaurin formula. Its application is shown in an example, the estimation of the maximum depressional storage of a soil surface.     

Paleo—Latitude Variation of Guizhou Terrain from Devonian to Cretaceous

Over 800 paleomagnetic samples were collected from 79 sample localities, ranging in age from Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian to Jurassic for paleo-latitude research on the Guizhou terrain. The area sampled covers 13 counties with an area of about 50000 km². The paleomagnetic results obtained indicate that the Guizhou terrain was at 11.4°S in Devonian, 4.5°-9.3°S in Carboniferous, 2.6° − 4.5°S in Permian, 14.8°N in Triassic and 24.5° − 26.0°N in Jurassic. In the Cretaceous period, the paleo-latitude of the area was at 22.4 − 23.6°N. Therefore, a variation curve of paleo-latitude is established in this paper for the Guizhou terrain from Late Devonian to Late Cretaceous time.