High iridium concentration of alkaline rocks of Deccan and implications to K/T boundary

We report here an unusually high concentration of iridium in some alkali basalts and alkaline rocks of Deccan region having an age of about 65Ma, similar to the age of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. The alkali basalts of Anjar, in the western periphery of Deccan province, have iridium concentration as high as 178pg/g whereas the alkaline rocks and basalts associated with the Amba Dongar carbonatite complex have concentrations ranging between 8 and 80 pg/g. Some of these values are more than an order of magnitude higher than the concentration in the tholeiitic basalts of Deccan, indicating the significance of alkaline magmatism in the iridium inventory at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Despite higher concentration, their contribution to the global inventory of iridium in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary clays remains small. The concentration of iridium in fluorites from Amba Dongar was found to be <30 pg/g indicating that iridium is not incorporated during their formation in hydrothermal activity.     

赣南白面石铀矿田成因再认识

赣南白面石铀矿田经上世纪60~80年代勘查,发现和探明了白面石、龙坑、双坑、马荠塘4个铀矿床和黄泥湖铀矿点,成为中国重要的铀资源基地。该矿田产于EW向南岭铀成矿带东段的白面石沉积-火山盆地内。该盆地的基底为印支期白面石花岗岩体;盖层为中侏罗统菖蒲组。盖层的底部为第一层砂岩,其上由基性-酸性双峰式火山岩组合与5层碎屑岩夹层组成。铀矿主要赋存在盖层底部的第一层砂岩中,其次是产在第一层玄武岩与第一层砂岩的接触带,有少量产在基底花岗岩顶部的风化壳中。关于该铀矿田的成因,有砂岩型沉积说、同生沉积后生富集说、成岩成矿热液叠加说、岩浆热液说,等等。为了厘定矿床成因类型,以确立今后的找矿方向,笔者对该矿田的资料进行了重新整理,应用Minesight软件选择典型的白面石铀矿床建立了三维地质模型,并收集了最新的同位素定年和岩石地球化学分析资料。研究表明,白面石铀矿田存在2次成矿（160~156 Ma和99~86 Ma）,其主成矿作用与第一层玄武岩的覆盖,在空间上相伴（铀矿体主要赋存于第一层砂岩及其与玄武岩的接触带）、时间上相近（成矿时间为160~156 Ma,玄武岩成岩时间为173 Ma）、成生上相关（矿化具有明显的中-低温热液蚀变）,为火山热盖成因类型,后期又有大量脉体活动,在岩脉两侧的砂岩层内又有热液型铀矿化叠加,从而形成了火山热盖及热液叠加的复成因矿床。该矿田的成矿条件是：富铀的基底,砂岩的沉积,洼沟的地形,岩浆的热盖,脉岩的入侵。     

The Central Bundelkhand Archaean greenstone complex,Bundelkhand craton,central India: geology,composition, and geochronology of supracrustal rocks

Analysis of 3.3 Ga tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) series granitoids and greenstone belt assemblages from the Bundelkhand craton in central India reveal that it is a typical Archaean craton. At least two greenstone complexes can be recognized in the Bundelkhand craton, namely the (i) Central Bundelkhand (Babina, Mauranipur belts) and (ii) Southern Bundelkhand (Girar, Madaura belts). The Central Bundelkhand greenstone complex contains three tectonostratigraphic assemblages: (1) metamorphosed basic or metabasic, high-Mg rocks; (2) banded iron formations (BIFs); and (3) felsic volcanics. The first two assemblages are regarded as representing an earlier sequence, which is in tectonic contact with the felsic volcanics. However, the contact between the BIFs and mafic volcanics is also evidently tectonic. Metabasic high-Mg rocks are represented by amphibolites and tremolite-actinolite schists in the Babina greenstone belt and are comparable in composition to tholeiitic basalts-basaltic andesites and komatiites. They are very similar to the metabasic high-Mg rocks of the Mauranipur greenstone belt. Felsic volcanics occur as fine-grained schists with phenocrysts of quartz, albite, and microcline. Felsic volcanics are classified as calc-alkaline dacites, less commonly rhyolites. The chondrite-normalized rare earth element distribution pattern is poorly fractionated (La_N/Lu_N = 11–16) with a small negative Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 0.68–0.85), being characteristic of volcanics formed in a subduction setting. On Rb – Y + Nb, Nb – Y, Rb – Ta + Yb and Ta – Yb discrimination diagrams, the compositions of the volcanics are also consistent with those of felsic rocks formed in subduction settings. SHRIMP-dating of zircon from the felsic volcanics of the Babina belt of the Central Bundelkhand greenstone complex, performed for the first time, has shown that they were erupted in Neoarchaean time (2542 ± 17 Ma). The early sequence of the Babina belt is correlatable with the rocks of the Mauranipur belt, whose age is tentatively estimated as Mesoarchaean. The Central Bundelkhand greenstone complex consists of two (Meso- and Neoarchaean) sequences, which were formed in subduction settings.     

Primary volcanic structures from a type section of Deccan Trap flows around Narsingpur-Harrai-Amarwara, central India: Implications for cooling history

Field investigations of the Deccan Trap lava sequence along a 70 km traverse in the Narsingpur-Harrai-Amarwara area of central India indicate twenty lava flows comprising a total thickness of around 480 m. Primary volcanic structures like vesicles and cooling joints are conspicuous in this volcanic succession and are used to divide individual flows into three well-defined zones namely the lower colonnade zone, entablature zone, and the upper colonnade zone. The variable nature of these structural zones is used for identification and correlation of lava flows in the field. For twenty lava flows, the thicknesses of upper colonnade zones of eight flows are ∼5 m while those of eight other flows are ∼8 m each. The thicknesses of upper colonnade zones of remaining four flows could not be measured in the field. Using the thicknesses of these upper colonnade zones and standard temperature-flow thickness-cooling time profiles for lava pile, the total cooling time of these sixteen Deccan Trap lava flows has been estimated at 12 to 15 years.     

Developments in the stratigraphy of the Deccan Volcanic Province,peninsular India

The Deccan Volcanic Province has been considered as one of the largest magmatic regions, involving an aerial coverage of ca. 500,000 km². It is subdivided into four sub-provinces, and holds a unique position in global tectonic models for understanding earth's geodynamics and the impact of voluminous eruptions on the contemporary biosystem and climate system. Published stratigraphic data suggest that volcanic eruption took place from 69 to 64 million years (Ma) ago when the Indian plate passed over the Réunion hotspot. The main phase of volcanic activity consisting of about 80% of total basaltic lava, erupted rapidly, during a short span (<1 Ma) or even less (two or three hundred thousand years), close to chron 29R, straddling to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary. Recent high-precision age data show that the main volcanic phase is genetically linked to the Chicxulub impact and plume-head of the hotspot, and largely contributed to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. To assess the links of the province to the K–Pg boundary, Chicxulub impact, Réunion plume, and Late Cretaceous global climate crisis, it is crucial to have a current state of knowledge of the understanding of its stratigraphy. A review of published data shows a surge in the province research that has considerably advanced the understanding of its stratigraphy. This province is intercalated with numerous infra- and intertrappean sedimentary beds that have yielded diverse biota, providing a reliable relative time control for duration of the volcanic activity. This paper presents a review of the stratigraphic developments of the province (lithostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and chronostratigraphy) from the very beginning to the present, and discusses the role of the Réunion plume in its formation.     

新疆鄯善县阿奇山一带火山岩特征及构造意义

东天山的板块汇聚一造山运动时间置于泥盆末一早石炭世,或置于晚石炭世,或置于早二叠世是长期争议的问题。近年来,通过新疆鄯善阿奇山一带1：5万区域矿产地质调查项目工作,对东天山造山带南部的早中石炭世中一中酸性火山岩系、火山韵律及岩石化学分析研究,认为该套火山岩属较典型的岛弧火山岩组合,表明早中石炭世是天山洋盆重要的汇聚阶段。     

西昆仑柳什塔格峰西侧火山岩的特征、时代及地质意义

在西昆仑麻扎-康西瓦-苏巴什结合带的柳什塔格一带发现了一套火山岩建造,主要由强蚀变玄武岩、绿帘阳起石岩、阳起石岩(原岩为玄武岩)组成,上覆少量深水沉积岩.火山岩的岩石地球化学特征表明其主要来源于富集地幔玄武岩浆,形成于洋岛环境,因此它是一个古结合带大洋洋壳的残留.采样作Rb-Sr等时线年龄分析,时代为震旦纪(563±48Ma),说明麻扎-康西瓦-苏巴什结合带所代表的洋盆在震旦纪就已经存在.这个发现对重新认识麻扎-康西瓦-苏巴什结合带的演化时限具有重要意义.     

Palaeomagnetism and rock magnetism of the Deccan traps

Extensive work on the palaeomagnetism of the Deccan traps by several workers has revealed only one reversal (normal-reverse-normal) of the geomagnetic field during the period of eruption of these flows. The scatter in the natural remanent magnetic directions of different flows in a sequence of these traps is rather large and it persists even after magnetic cleaning. Generally this large scatter of directions is attributed to the geomagnetic secular variation during formation of the traps. Recent studies of the magnetic properties of the trap samples indicate that the presence of multidomain magnetite in a lava sequence differs from locality to locality in the Deccan trap province and so the stability of their natural remanent magnetization. While these features can be clearly perceived, an understanding of the same seems to be quite difficult. However, it appears that part of the scatter in directions could be due to the alteration of the magnetic minerals in the Deccan traps and hence it would not be proper to relate the entire scatter to the secular variation.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112000072

The Abor volcanics outcroping in the core of the Siang window in the Eastern Himalaya comprise voluminous mafic volcanics (47％-56％ w(SiO2)),with subordinate felsic volcanics (67％-75％ w(SiO2)).The felsi...     

内蒙古中部构造混杂带晚古生代-早中生代变质基性岩的地球化学特征及其大地构造意义

内蒙古中部构造混杂带中的变质基性岩可分为南、北两带:南带位于乌兰沟-图林凯地区,被划分至温都尔庙群下部的桑达来因组,主要为一套变质玄武岩和辉长岩、辉绿岩,局部含有超基性岩和碳酸岩透镜体,其中变质基性火山岩以绿片岩相变质为主,局部保留枕状构造或发育蓝片岩,已有的锆石U-Pb年代学数据表明南带变质基性火山岩形成于晚古生代到早中生代;北带位于芒和特-二道井-红格尔一线,主要呈岩块状保存在由绢云绿泥石英片岩、硅质岩、含铁石英岩和少量的大理岩组成的基质中,岩石类型包括蓝片岩、冻蓝闪石片岩、阳起片岩、绿帘角闪片岩等。地球化学研究显示南、北两带的变质基性岩相对低Al(Al2O3=10.66%~14.97%)、低Ti(TiO2=1.27%~1.96%)、高Na(Na2O=1.02%~4.20%)、贫K(K2O=0.02%~0.71%),具有拉斑玄武岩到碱性玄武岩系列的过渡特征,高的Na2O/K2O比值(6.89~454)暗示这些基性岩在变质作用前发生了细碧角斑岩化。不活动元素Zr与其他高场强元素(HSFE;Th、Nb、Hf、Ti)和稀土元素(REE)显示良好的线性关系,表明在变质过程中,高场强元素和稀土元素基本保持稳定,可以反映原岩的性质。根据稀土、微量元素配分型式和相关比值可以将内蒙中部构造混杂带中的变质基性岩分为两类:一类稀土含量相对较低(∑REE=46.00×10-6~78.08×10-6)、轻重稀土分异不明显((La/Yb)N=0.50~1.04),无明显Eu负异常,Hf/Ta=6.82~15.18,具有正常的大洋中脊玄武岩(NMORB)特征;另一类稀土含量相对较高(∑REE=58.66×10-6~151.3×10-6)、轻重稀土分异明显((La/Yb)N=2.28~4.68),无明显Eu负异常,Hf/Ta=2.06~4.70,与富集型洋中脊玄武岩(E-MORB)相似。部分变质基性岩样品轻微富集大离子亲石元素Rb和Ba,可能暗示原岩在就位过程中遭受了微弱的陆壳混染。以上地球化学特征表明这些变质基性岩的原岩可能形成于一个扩张规模有限的陆内洋盆环境。已有的古生物地理学研究表明古亚洲洋闭合后,到晚古生代早期,内蒙古中部地区成为佳-蒙地块的一部分。石炭纪期间整个内蒙古中部发育稳定的浅海相沉积,局部为造山后隆起环境,发育加里东I型花岗岩和花岗闪长岩。从晚石炭世-早二叠世起,内蒙中部开始处于伸展环境:二连浩特到东乌珠穆沁旗一带发育大量的碱性岩;华北克拉通北缘发育很多高钾钙碱性-碱性的花岗岩;内蒙中部地区广泛发育二叠纪大石寨组双峰式火山岩。到中二叠世开始裂解形成若干近东西向分布的海盆,发育哲斯组、林西组浅海相、泻湖相沉积。持续的伸展形成了有限洋盆,发育以温都尔庙群为代表的含铁硅质岩以及晚古生代-早中生代基性岩。由于早中三叠世华北板块与扬子板块全面碰撞和陆内造山过程的影响,有限洋盆最终在早中生代之后发生被动闭合,形成南、北构造混杂带,并导致该基性岩乃至整个内蒙中部的晚古生代沉积发生广泛绿片岩相变质作用,而局部蓝片岩的形成可能与有限洋盆的俯冲作用有关。