Pb-Pb dating of black shales from the Lower Cambrian and Neoproterozoic strata, South China

Black shales occur widely in the Lower Cambrian and Neoproterozoic strata on the Yangtze Platform, South China. In this study, Lower Cambrian black shales from Xiuning section and Late Neoproterozoic black shales from Weng’an section were studied and Pb isotopic compositions were analyzed following a stepwise acid-leaching technique. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios in both sections show large variations, from 18.906 to 43.737 in the Weng’an section and from 24.811 to 38.110 in the Xiuning section. In contrast, the ranges for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb values in both sections are relatively smaller from 15.649 to 17.126 and 37.744-38.199 in the Weng’an section, and from 16.034 to 16.783 and 38.602-39.391 in the Xiuning section, respectively. These data yielded two Pb isotope isochron ages of 536±39 and 572±36 Ma, respectively. These ages well accord with other published data and we suggest that they represent the depositional ages for the Lower Cambrian Hetang Formation and the upper Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation in South China.     

内蒙古苏莫查干敖包萤石矿区流纹岩锆石SHRIMP定年及地质意义

内蒙古苏查（苏莫查干敖包）萤石矿区晚古生代火山沉积岩分布广泛,主要岩石类型有碳泥质板岩、结晶灰岩、凝灰岩、千枚岩、英安岩和流纹岩,其中碳泥质板岩和流纹岩为苏查特大型萤石矿床的顶和底板围岩。采用锆石SHRIMP UPb铅法分别对底板围岩中蚀变流纹岩和顶板围岩中未蚀变流纹岩样品进行了同位素年代测定,所获数据分别为276±10 Ma和271±8 Ma。蚀变和未蚀变流纹岩的形成时间均为海西晚期（早二叠世）。苏查萤石矿区早二叠世流纹岩是华北陆台与西伯利亚板块从碰撞挤压到松弛张裂转折期,酸性岩浆喷发活动的产物,其成岩物质来自壳、幔混合源。早二叠世流纹岩的出现不仅标志着苏查到西里庙地区海西期构造岩浆活动的终结,同时也为苏查特大型萤石矿床的成矿作用提供了动力、热力和物质来源。早二叠世流纹岩成岩时代的厘定不仅为阐明华北陆台北缘西段构造演化历史提供了科学依据,而且对于查明流纹岩的原岩性质和圈定新的萤石矿床找矿靶区也具有重要意义。     

鲁西寒武系第三统张夏组附枝菌与附枝菌微生物灰岩特征研究

本文通过大比例尺野外测量及镜下观察,对鲁西寒武系第三统张夏组的附枝菌与附枝菌微生物灰岩特征进行了详细研究。附枝菌是一种树枝状蓝细菌,一般向上生长扩展,形成灌木状附枝菌群落,生长于附枝菌微生物丘内部。而在微生物丘的外部边缘,附枝菌群落呈半闭合的房室状,与肾状菌十分相似。房室状附枝菌群落可能是在微生物丘外部边缘受局部高能微环境（如水流、波浪等）的影响形成的。在其形成后,其保存状态则是由附枝菌的钙化作用及早期成岩作用决定。由于附枝菌构成其微生物岩的生长骨架,且该微生物岩不具备清晰的中型构造,故可称其为附枝菌格架岩,作为对微生物岩分类命名的又一补充。附枝菌格架岩一般生长于台地边缘或台地外部斜坡环境,其生长过程受水动力条件、阳光照射及海水清澈度等影响。     

Early Mesozoic unroofing pattern of the Dabie Mountains (China): Constraints from the U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology and Si-in-white mica analysis of synorogenic sediments in the Jianghan Basin

This paper presents the results of an integrated U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology and Si-in-white mica analysis for synorogenic sediments in the Jianghan Basin to the south of the Dabie Orogen. The results provide an improved understanding of the provenance of these sediments and the unroofing pattern of the early Mesozoic Dabie Mountain. Si contents of detrital white micas range from 3.09 to 3.34 atoms pfu for the upper Triassic sandstones whereas 3.06 to 3.59 atoms pfu for the lower and middle Jurassic sandstones. The majority of detrital white micas in the lower Jurassic sandstones is phengitic and originated exclusively from the Dabie high- to ultrahigh- pressure rocks. The U-Pb dating results of the detrital zircons for seven samples suggest that these synorogenic sediments have a significant change of provenance from late Triassic to early and middle Jurassic. For the upper Triassic sandstone, the U-Pb age clusters of these zircons are characterized by ~ 420-450 Ma, ~ 750-820 Ma, ~ 1050-1200 Ma and ~ 2500 Ma with minor Luliangian (~ 1700–2000 Ma) components. In contrast, the zircon ages of the Jurassic sandstones are dominated by the Luliangian (~ 1700–2000 Ma) ages with only minor Caledonian (~ 420-450 Ma) and Greenville (~ 1050-1200 Ma) ages. In combination with other available geological data, it can be concluded that the Dabie HP-UHP rocks might initially be exposed to the surface at the beginning of early Jurassic (~ 190 Ma). The Jiangnan terrain (also named “Jiangnan old continental in Chinese) to the south of the Jianghan basin provided the predominant supply of upper Triassic sediments, whereas the Paleoproterozoic Yangtze crustal materials (overlying the present Dabie Complex at the time) were the important provenance of the Jurassic sediments in the Jianghan basin.     

Rhodophycean algae from the Lower Cretaceous of the Cauvery Basin,South India

The present paper records eight Rhodophycean taxa from the Kallakudi limestone of the Uttatur Group (Lower Cretaceous) exposed in the quarries at Kallakudi and Olaipadi near Govindarajapatnam of the Cauvery Basin, south India. Of these, four species (Melobesioideae gen. et sp. indet 1, Melobesioideae gen. et sp. indet 2, Lithophyllum alternicellum and Pseudoamphiroa propria) belong to corallinaceae family, one species (Polystrata alba) is assigned to Peyssonneliaceae family, two species (Solenopora urgoniana and Parachaetetes asvapatii) are placed under Solenoporaceae; and one species (Sporolithon sp.) is referable to Sporolithaceae family. Among these, three taxa (Solenopora urgoniana, Lithophyllum alternicellum and Pseudoamphiroa propria) are recorded for the first time from India. The study also includes observations on ultrastructural morphological features of Parachaetetes asvapatii. The observations reveal absence of cell fusions, which confirms its affinities with Solenoporaceae. Palaeoecological data indicate that the assemblage from the sequence at the Kallakudi quarry is characteristic of lagoonal to reefal environment, whereas the Olaipadi quarry sequence near Govindarajapatnam points to 20 m to 30 m deep environment characterized by high- to moderate energy conditions.     

Carbon-isotope records of the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) oceanic anoxic event from the Valdorbia (Umbria–Marche Apennines) and Monte Mangart (Julian Alps) sections: palaeoceanographic and stratigraphic implications

The Toarcian oceanic anoxic event ( ca 183 Ma) coincides with a global perturbation marked by enhanced organic carbon burial and a general decrease in calcium carbonate production, probably triggered by changes in the composition of marine plankton and elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. This study is based on high-resolution sampling of two stratigraphic successions, located in Valdorbia (Umbria–Marche Apennines) and Monte Mangart (Julian Alps), Italy, which represent expressions of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event in deep-water pelagic sediments. These successions are characterized by the occurrence of black shales showing relatively low total organic carbon concentrations (compared with coeval strata in Northern Europe), generally < 2%, and low hydrogen indices. On this basis, they are similar to other Toarcian black shales described from the Tethyan region. The positive and negative carbon-isotope records from the two localities permit a high-resolution correlation such that ammonite biostratigraphy information from Valdorbia can be transferred to those parts of the Monte Mangart section that lack these fossils. Spectral analyses of δ¹³C_org values and of CaCO₃ percentages from the sedimentary records of both the Valdorbia and Monte Mangart sections reveal a strong cyclic pattern, best interpreted as an eccentricity signal which hence implies a duration of ca 500 kyr for the negative carbon-isotope excursion. Based on the carbon-isotope curves obtained, the high-resolution correlation between the Italian successions and a section in Yorkshire (Northern Europe) confirms the supposition that the apparent mismatch between the dating of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event in the Boreal and Tethyan realms is an artefact of biostratigraphy.     

Palaeoleptus burmanicus n. gen., n. sp., an Early Cretaceous shore bug (Hemiptera: Palaeoleptidae n. fam.) in Burmese amber

Palaeoleptus burmanicus gen. et sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Leptopodomorpha: Palaeoleptidae fam. nov.) is described from Early Cretaceous Burmese amber. The fossil is characterized by nearly completely coreaceous wings with only a small membranous area at the distal tip, and a unique wing venation consisting of eight closed cells, including four obliquely orientated toward the embolar wing margin and two large vertically-positioned cells extending nearly to the apical wing margin. Additional characters are large, compound eyes, three pairs of cephalic trichobothria, four antennal segments all similar in texture, spines on the profemur, ocelli positioned on a tubercle and a rostrum extending to the mesocoxae, with the second segment bearing four pairs of spines. The female fossil contains an asymmetrical subgenital plate orientated toward the left side of the body, indicating a side-by-side mating behavior as occurs in extant Leptopodomorpha.     

瑶岭钨矿区寒武纪地层特征对寻找石英脉型黑 钨矿的指示意义

瑶岭钨矿由北矿区、东矿区和白基寨矿区3个矿区组成,其中北矿区是主要生产矿区,以石英脉型黑钨矿为主.在对北矿区大比例尺填图过程中,我们发现矿区地表地层单一,主要为寒武纪沉积的变质砂岩和板岩.针时这种情况,我们采用土壤地球化学测量、物探磁法测量、钻探等工程方法对寒武纪地层进行研究,综合分析了矿区地质特征、地球物理磁法特征及地球化学特征在对矿脉水平分布、矿脉垂直分布、蚀变矿物因素、构造因素、热接触因素和成矿因素的外在表现,从而建立起矿区寒武纪地层对矿化的指示体系表,并指出瑶岭钨矿北区深部和东南部有很大的找矿潜力,是值得继续找矿的有利目标地段.     

Sedimentary records of the late Early Cretaceous compressional setting in the South China block: A case study of the Xingning Basin,Guangdong Province

Recently, some scholars have proposed that the South China Block (SCB) was controlled by a compressive tectonic regime in the middle–late Early Cretaceous, challenging the belief that the SCB was under an extensional setting during the Cretaceous. The Early Cretaceous tectonic setting constraint in the SCB can offer vital insight to clarify the Mesozoic subduction history of the Paleo-Pacific. Therefore, to determine the SCB tectonic regime during the Early Cretaceous, this study investigated sedimentary rocks from the Lower Cretaceous Heshui Formation in the Xingning Basin, a foreland basin located in the southeastern SCB. Provenance analysis was performed using sandstone modal analysis, sandstone geochemical characteristics, and detrital zircon geochronology. Based on the results, we discussed basin sediment sources and the SCB tectonic regime during the Early Cretaceous. The results showed that the maximum Heshui Formation depositional age was 103 Ma ± 1.6 Ma in the Early Cretaceous Albian. Detrital framework modes and geochemical characteristics of sandstone indicated that Heshui Formation's source rocks were granites and sedimentary rocks. The detrital zircon U–Pb ages could be classified into two major and four subordinate age populations. The Wuyi Terrane to the north and southeast coastal regions to the east were the primary potential Heshui Formation source areas. However, the lower and upper sandstones are different in the peak ages, ~437 and ~146 to 104 Ma, respectively, indicating that the major source area shifted from the Wuyi Terrane to the southeastern coastal regions during the late Early Cretaceous. The sandstone modal analysis results indicated that the source area comprised mainly collisional–orogenic material. The SCB was under a compressive tectonic regime during the late Early Cretaceous and this compression action continued until at least 103 Ma ± 1.6 Ma.     

天门山震旦/寒武系界线上地外撞击事件痕迹

从湘西北天门山震旦—寒武系界线上发现的冲击砾裂、冲击角砾、冲击岩脉、微球粒撞击玻粒(microirghi-zites)、微球粒玻璃陨石(microtektites),特别是陨石碎屑残迹现象,可能表明:在震旦—寒武系界线上曾经发生过地外撞击的事件。