The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France): A new lacustrine sequence of the early Middle Pleistocene in western Europe

The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France) provides a long lacustrine sequence (40.6 m) attributed to the early Middle Pleistocene. Sediment, pollen and diatoms analysis of its upper part (AL2 core, 14.6 m) indicates two temperate phases marked by high lake levels, forest development and vegetation expansion. They are separated by a cold period during which lake level drops, coarse sediment input increases and steppic and xerophilous plants develop. Pollen data suggests that this sequence belongs to the upper part of the Cromerian complex. These results are in agreement with the 557 ± 3 ka (±12 ka, including all errors) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age obtained from an interbedded tephra layer emitted by the Mont-Dore/Sancy strato-volcano and establish that this sequence probably covers the MIS 15 substages.     

张广才岭燕山早期白石山岩体成因与壳幔相互作用

出露于东北地区张广才岭的白石山岩体,其全岩-矿物Rb-Sr等时线年龄为196士4 Ma,表明形成于中生代的燕山早期,而非传统认识上的印支期.岩体主岩和闪长质包体均具有低ISr(≈0.705)和正εNd(t)(+1.7～+2.2)值的特点,反映岩体成因与地幔具有密切的联系.地质学、岩石学和地球化学的详细研究表明该岩体具有壳幔混合成因,闪长质包体是较基性的地幔岩浆进入主岩浆中淬火结晶而成,花岗质岩浆的源区主要为新生的地壳物质.动力学分析表明,本区在华北板块和西伯利亚板块碰撞拼合后,由于东侧大洋板块的俯冲及后续的岩石圈拆沉效应,导致软流圈地幔上隆及幔源岩浆的板底垫托,并进而造成先存和新生地壳的部分熔融和不同源区岩浆的混合作用.底垫的新生地壳是兴蒙造山带造山后晚期形成的.因此,古生代-中生代是本区地壳生长的重要时期,且这种地壳生长是在垂向构造机制下进行的.     

New Early Cretaceous palaeomagnetic pole from Córdoba Province (Argentina): revision of previous studies and implications for the South American database

A continental sequence of red beds and interbedded basaltic layers crops out in the Sierra Chica of Córdoba Province, Argentina (31.5°S, 64.4°W). This succession was deposited in a half-graben basin during the Early Cretaceous. We have carried out a palaeomagnetic survey on outcrops of this basin (147 sites in seven localities). From an analysis of IRM acquisition curves and detailed demagnetization behaviour, three different magnetic components are identified in the volcanic rocks: components A, B and X are carried by single- or pseudo-single-domain (titano) magnetite, haematite and multidomain magnetite, respectively. Component A is interpreted as a primary component of magnetization because it passes conglomerate, contact, tilt and reversal tests. The carrier of the primary magnetization, fine-grained (titano)magnetite, is present in basalts with a high degree of deuteric oxidation. This kind of oxidation is interpreted to have occurred during cooling. Components B and X are discarded because they are interpreted as recent magnetizations. In the sedimentary rocks, haematite and magnetite are identified as the carriers of remanence. Both minerals carry the same component, which passes a reversal test. The calculated palaeomagnetic pole, based on 55 sites, is Lat. 86.0°S, Long. 75.9°E ( A ₉₅=3.3, K =35). This palaeomagnetic pole supersedes four with anomalous positions reported in previous papers.     

Sedimentology and early diagenesis of the Broadford Beds (Lower Jurassic), Skye,north-west Scotland

The Broadford Beds comprise a basal carbonate-dominated unit overlain by dark muddy sandstones and an upper cross-bedded sandstone unit. The limestones include coralliferous and oolitic lithologies and the sandstones include pisolitic berthierine ironstones and abundant phosphate nodules. The Broadford Beds have a maximum thickness of 140 m and can be subdivided into 17 parasequences, each initiated by an approximately 20 m rise in relative sea level. Marine flooding surfaces are most readily recognized in the lower parts of the succession, where diagenetic data can be utilized to locate emergence surfaces. There is no diagenetic evidence of early emergence in the upper parts of the sequence, but a variety of sedimentological data can be used to identify parasequence boundaries. Deposition of the Broadford Beds occurred largely around the shores of a number of islands in the northern Hebridean area. These islands partly isolated the Skye–Applecross area from a deeper marine basin to the west, and this may have enhanced the formation of authigenic phosphates and iron silicates. It is possible to use the regional variability of parasequence thicknesses to investigate the role of active local tectonism in governing differential subsidence and sediment supply.     

河南嵩县店房金矿区花岗斑岩锆石U-Pb年龄、Hf同位素及岩石地球化学

华北陆块南缘外方山店房金矿区内出露后沟、水漉塘和店房钾长花岗斑岩体(脉),其与隐爆角砾岩筒及金矿化有密切的空间关系。为查明钾长花岗斑岩体的侵位时代、岩石成因和源区性质,本次开展了锆石U-Pb定年、锆石Hf同位素及岩石地球化学分析等研究。结果表明岩体具有高硅、高钾、富铝、低镁的特征,属钾玄岩系列Ⅰ型花岗岩,轻重稀土元素分馏明显,具有弱的Eu负异常,岩石富集Rb、K、Ba等,亏损Nb、Ta、Sr、P、Ti等元素。锆石具有核—边结构,其中锆石边SHRIMP U-Pb年龄142.6±2.1Ma(MSWD=1.4),_(εHf)(t)=-23.0~-13.8,两阶段模式年龄主要集中于2075~2652 Ma;锆石核LA-ICPMS U-Pb年龄可分为两组,即2169~2336Ma和1732~1881Ma,Hf同位素组成可分为两组,_(εHf)(t)分别集中于-13.1~-4.8和-4.5~3.7,模式年龄主要集中于2376~2805Ma。表明钾长花岗斑岩体形成于142.6±2.1Ma的早白垩世早期,岩浆可能由2169~2336Ma的古老下地壳新太古代太华群部分熔融而成,并有地幔组分参与,岩浆在上升或定位过程中捕获了1732~1881Ma熊耳群火山岩的锆石。结合区域构造背景认为,该岩体是早白垩世古太平洋板块向欧亚大陆俯冲致使华北陆块岩石圈减薄伸展而引起的岩浆活动的产物。     

Fossil caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) from the Early Cretaceous of southern England

The first fossil caddis cases from the Early Cretaceous (Wealden) of SE England are described and named Conchindusia rasnitsyni ichnosp. nov., Piscindusia sukachevae ichnogen. et isp. nov., ?Ostracindusia vyalovi ichnosp. nov. and Pelindusia percealleni ichnosp. nov. In addition, the necrotauliid caddisfly Paratrichopteridium purbeckianum (Handlirsch) comb. nov. from the earliest Cretaceous (Purbeck Group) of Dorset is redescribed.     

Permo-Carboniferous Radiolarians from the Wupata＇erkan Group, Western South Tianshan, Xinjiang, China

The Wupata‘erkan Group, also called Wupata‘erkan Formation, distributed in the South Tianshan, Xinjiang,China, mainly consists of gray and dark gray fine-grained clastic rocks, interlayered with volcanic rocks, carbonates and cherts. Some ultra-basic rocks (blocks) punctuate the formation. The formation was variously assigned to Silurian-Middle Devonian, Silurian-Lower Devonian, and pre-Devonian, mainly based on Atrypa bodini Mansuy, Hypothyridina parallelepipedia (Brour.) and Prismatophyllum hexagonum Yoh collected from the limestone interlayers, respectively.However, radiolarian fossils obtained from 24 chert specimens of the Wupata‘erkan Group, mainly include Albaillella sp.cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon, Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto, Albaillella sp. and Latentifistulidae gen. et. sp.indet., are earliest Carboniferous and Late Permian. The earliest Carboniferous assemblage is characterized by Albaillella sp. cf. A. undulata Deflandre, Albaillella sp. cf. A. paradoxa Deflandre, Albaillella cf. A. deflandrei Gourmelon and Albaillella sp. cf. A. indensis Won, and the Late Permian assemblage by Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa Ishiga, Kito and Imoto. This new stratigraphic evidence indicates that the Wupata‘erkan Group is possibly composed of rocks with different ages from Silurian to Permian, and therefore, it is probably an ophiolite mrlange. The discovery of Late Permian Albaillella sp. cf. A. excelsa provides more reliable evidence supporting the existence of a Permian relic ancient oceanic basin in the western part of Xinjiang South Tianshan.     

Early Paleozoic gabbro-granitoid associations in eastern segment of the Mongolian-Okhotsk foldbelt (Amur River basin): Age and tectonic position

Magmatic rocks of the Pikan and Un’ya massifs situated in eastern segment of the Mongolian-Okhotsk foldbelt are studied using isotopic-geochronological (U-Pb zircon dating) and geochemical methods. Two rock complexes different in age are recognized in the Pikan massif: the high-Al gabbro-tonalite association of the Middle Ordovician (468 ± Ma) and granodiorite-granite association of the Late Silurian-Early Devonian (415 ± 7 Ma). The Late Ordovician age (454 ± 5 Ma) is established for leucocratic granites of the Un’ya massif. As is suggested, the Pikan and Un’ya massifs are “allogenic blocks” detached from continental framework of the Mongolian-Okhotsk foldbelt and tectonically emplaced into the foldbelt structure at the last stage of its development.     

Subaqueous mass flow origin for Lower Permian diamictites and associated facies of the Grant Group, Barbwire Terrace, Canning Basin, Western Australia

The intracratonic Canning Basin is Western Australia's largest sedimentary basin (>400 000 km²) and has experienced repeated episodes of Phanerozoic extension and subsidence, resulting in deposition of a number of first-order 'megasequences'. A major phase of basin extension and sedimentation (Grant Group) occurred in the Late Carboniferous/Early Permian when Australia lay at high palaeolatitudes. Facies analysis of 5000 m of drill core from 25 continuously cored wells in Grant Group strata on the fault-bounded Barbwire Terrace in the northern Canning Basin identified three facies associations (FAs). These record the predominance of fault-generated, subaqueous mass flow and sediment reworking. The lowest association (FA I; up to 355 m thick) rests unconformably on tilted older strata and consists of coarse-grained, subaqueously deposited, sediment gravity flow facies. These include fault-generated breccias, massive and graded sandstones and conglomerates deposited by turbidity currents and diamictites generated by mixing of different textural populations during downslope remobilization. FA I is overlain abruptly by relatively fine-grained deposits of FA II (up to 140 m thick), which consist of laminated to thin-bedded mudstone and sandstone turbidites, recording an abrupt increase in relative water depths. In turn, these facies coarsen upwards and are transitional into shallow-water, swaley cross-stratified and rippled sandstones of FA III (up to 125 m thick). The overall stratigraphic succession probably records an initial phase of faulting and accommodation of coarse sediment (FA I), a subsequent phase of rapid subsidence, increasing water depths and 'sediment underfilling' (FA II) and, finally, a regressive phase of shoreface progradation. The occurrence of rare striated clasts in FA I suggests reworking of glacial sediment, but no direct glacial influence on sedimentation can be identified.     

The glacial and interstadial sediments at the Burn of Benholm,Kincardineshire: evidence for onshore pre‐Devensian ice movement in northeast Scotland

Pebbly clays and diamictons containing marine shell fragments and peat lenses exposed beneath subglacially deposited Late Devensian till at the Burn of Benholm provide new insights into the glacial history of Quaternary sequences in eastern Scotland. The peat yielded pollen of interstadial affinity (including Bruckenthalia spiculifolia) and non‐finite radiocarbon dates. Comparisons with other pre‐Late Devensian pollen records in northern Scotland suggest that the peat lenses are remnants of an Early Devensian interstadial deposit, of Oxygen Isotope Substage 5c or 5a age. Reworked faunal assemblages in the shelly sediments include Quaternary marine molluscs of low boreal aspect, as well as Mesozoic and Palaeozoic microfossils. Amino acid ratios from fragments of Arctica islandica suggest that the shells are of Oxygen Isotope Stage 9 age or older. The fabric and composition of the shelly sediments are consistent with their emplacement as deformation till during the onshore movement of glacially transported rafts of marine sediment. Folded and sheared contacts between the shelly deposits, peat lenses and the overlying Late Devensian till indicate that the fossiliferous sediments were glacitectonised during the main Late Devensian glaciation, when ice moved from Strathmore and overrode the site from the southwest. British Geological Survey. © NERC 2000.