Asplenium sanshuiense sp. nov.: the Lowest Latitude Fossil Record of the Genus

Extant Asplenium is one of the most widespread fern groups and occurs in the temperate and tropical regions. However, the fossil records of this genus are poorly documented, especially in the low latitudes. Here, a new species, Asplenium sanshuiense sp. nov. is described from the early Eocene of Sanshui Basin, Guangdong Province, South China. This is the lowest modern latitude fossil record of Asplenium and the first fossil assignment of A. section Darea (Jussieu) Bak., as well as the first fossil record of Asplenium reported from South China. This new species shows that Asplenium had already spread into South China by the early Eocene and the section Darea (Jussieu) Bak. was identifiable within the genus Asplenium during that time. This new species, combined with previous fossil spore-pollen records indicates a warm and humid climate in the Sanshui Basin of the early Eocene.     

Eocene mafic volcanism in northern Anatolia: its causes and mantle sources in the absence of active subduction

Eocene mafic volcanic rocks occurring in an E–W-trending, curvilinear belt along and north of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan suture zone (IAESZ) in northern Anatolia, Turkey, represent a discrete episode of magmatism following a series of early Cenozoic collisions between Eurasia and the Gondwana-derived microcontinents. Based on our new geochronological, geochemical, and isotope data from the Kartepe volcanic units in northwest Anatolia and the extant data in the literature, we evaluate the petrogenetic evolution, mantle melt sources, and possible causes of this Eocene volcanism. The Kartepe volcanic rocks and spatially associated dikes range from basalt and basaltic andesite to trachybasalt and basaltic trachyandesite in composition, and display calc-alkaline and transitional calc-alkaline to tholeiitic geochemical affinities. They are slightly to moderately enriched in large ion lithophile (LILE) and light rare earth elements (LREE) with respect to high-field strength elements (HFSE) and show negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies reminiscent of subduction-influenced magmatic rocks. The analysed rocks have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) values between 0.70570 and 0.70399, positive ?_Nd values between 2.7 and 6.6, and Pb isotope ratios of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(i) = 18.6–18.7, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(i) = 15.6–15.7, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(i) = 38.7–39.1. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages of 52.7 ± 0.5 and 41.7 ± 0.3 Ma obtained from basaltic andesite and basalt samples indicate middle to late Eocene timing of this volcanic episode in northwest Anatolia. Calculated two-stage Nd depleted mantle model (T_DM) ages of the Eocene mafic lavas range from 0.6 to 0.3 Ga, falling between the T_DM ages of the K-enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle of the Sakarya Continent (1.0–0.9 Ga) to the north, and the young depleted mantle beneath central Western Anatolia (0.4–0.25 Ga) to the south. These geochemical and isotopic features collectively point to the interaction of melts derived from a sublithospheric, MORB-like mantle and a subduction-metasomatized, subcontinental lithospheric mantle during the evolution of the Eocene mafic volcanism. We infer triggering of partial melting by asthenospheric upwelling beneath the suture zone in the absence of active subduction in the Northern Neotethys. The geochemical signature of the volcanic rocks changed from subduction- and collision-related to intra-plate affinities through time, indicating an increased asthenospheric melt input in the later stages of Eocene volcanism, accompanied by extensional deformation and rifting.     

Late Eocene pollen records and palaeoenvironmental changes in northern Tibetan Plateau

The Eocene palaeovegetation landscape and palaeoclimate reconstructed from the pollen records in the Jiuquan Basin, northwest China provide some important information on the early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the origin and evolution of the aridification in northwest China. The records show the arid-semiarid scrubs with open forest palynofloras controlled by the subtropical high existed in northwest China during the 40.2–33.4 Ma. Four pollen assemblages are found: Nitrariadites-Cheno-podipollis-Pinaceae assemblage (40.2–37.9 Ma) is followed by Chenopodipollis-Nitrariadites assemblage (37.9–34.6 Ma), Pinuspollenites & Abietineaepollenites-Chenopodipollis assemblage (34.6–33.9 Ma), and Chenopodipollis-Nitrariadites assemblage (33.9–33.4 Ma). The percentage of thermophilic types is in anti-correlation with that of the dry types, which means the palaeoclimate is relatively warm-wet or cold-dry during most of that time. Such aridity may be related to the water vapor reduction and the planetary wind system movement northward in response to the cooling caused by small-ephemeral ice-sheets. Supported by the National Key Program for Developing Basic Sciences (Grant No. 2005CB422001), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40334038, 40421101) and the President Fund of Chinese Academy of Sciences     

Rapid evolution of the Eocene accretionary complex (Hyuga Group) of the Shimanto terrane in southeastern Kyushu, southwestern Japan

Abstract   Detailed geologic examination of the Eocene accretionary complex (Hyuga Group) of the Shimanto terrane in southeastern Kyushu revealed that the oceanic plate was composed of Paleocene to Lower Eocene mudstone and siliceous mudstone, lower Middle Eocene red mudstone, and mid-Middle Eocene trench-fill turbidite with siltstone breccia, successively overlying the pre-Eocene oceanic plate. This oceanic plate sequence was overlain by Upper Eocene siltstone. Deposition of the lower Middle Eocene red mudstone was accompanied by basalt flows and it is interbedded with continental felsic tuff, which indicates that the basalt and red mudstone were deposited near the trench just before accretion. The Hyuga Group has very similar geological structure to that of the chert–clastic complexes found in the Jurassic accretionary complexes in Japan: that is, a decollement fault formed in the middle of an oceanic plate sequence, and an imbricate structure formed only in the upper part of the sequence. Thus, it appears that the Hyuga Group was formed by the same accretionary process as the Jurassic accretionary complexes. No accretion occurred before the Middle Eocene, and the rapid accretion of the Hyuga Group was commenced by the supply of coarse terrigenous sediments in the mid-Middle Eocene, when the direction of movement of the Pacific Plate changed. The pre-Eocene oceanic basement and lower Middle Eocene volcanic activity suggest that the oceanic plate partly preserved in the Hyuga Group was very similar to the northern part of the present West Philippine Sea Plate.     

Secondary remanent magnetization carried by magnetite inclusions in silicates: a comparative study of unremagnetized and remagnetized granites

Magnetic carriers in remagnetized Cretaceous granitic rocks of northeast Japan were studied using paleomagnetism, rock magnetism, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) by comparison with unremagnetized granitic rocks. The natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of the remagnetized rocks is strong (0.3–1.7 A/m) and shows a northwesterly direction with moderate inclination (NW remanence), whereas the unremagnetized rocks preserve weak NRM (<0.5 A/m) with westerly and shallow direction (W remanence). Although thermal demagnetization shows that both NRMs are carried by magnetite, the remagnetized rocks reveal a higher coercivity with respect to alternating field demagnetization (20 mT相似文献   

Vorticity analysis of the Palmi shear zone mylonites: new insights for the Alpine tectonic evolution of the Calabria–Peloritani terrane (southern Italy)

New microstructural data on the mylonites from the well‐exposed Palmi shear zone (southern Calabria) are presented with the aim to shed light on both the kinematics and the geometry of the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt during Eocene. In the study area, located between the Sardinia–Corsica block and the Calabria–Peloritani terrane, previous large‐scale geodynamic reconstructions suggest the presence of strike–slip or transform fault zones dissecting the southwestern branch of the Alpine belt. However, there are no field data supporting the occurrence of these structures. This paper uses vorticity analysis technique based on the aspect ratio and the long axis orientation of rigid porphyroclasts in mylonitic marbles and mylonitic granitoids, to estimate the contribution of pure and simple shear of deformation during the movement of the Palmi shear zone. Porphyroclasts aspect ratio and orientation were measured on thin sections using image analysis. Estimates of the vorticity number, W_m, indicate that the Palmi shear zone recorded general shear with a contribution of pure shear of c. 65%. Then, the Palmi shear zone can be interpreted as a segment of a left‐lateral transpressive bend along the southern termination of the Eocene Alpine front. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detrital zircon age spectra of middle and upper Eocene outcrop belts,U.S. Gulf Coast region

Recently reported detrital zircon (DZ) data help to associate the Paleogene strata of the Gulf of Mexico region to various provenance areas. By far, recent work has emphasised upper Paleocene‐lower Eocene and upper Oligocene strata that were deposited during the two episodes of the highest sediment supply in the Paleogene. The data reveal a dynamic drainage history, including (1) initial routing of western Cordilleran drainages towards the Gulf of Mexico in the Paleocene, (2) an eastward shift of the western continental divide, from the Jura‐Cretaceous cordilleran arc to the eastern edge of the Laramide province after the Paleocene and (3) a southward shift, along the eastern Laramide province, of the headwaters of river systems draining to the Mississippi and Houston embayments at some time between the early Eocene and Oligocene. However, DZ characterisation of most (~20 Myr) of the middle Eocene‐lower Oligocene section remains limited. We present 60 DZ age spectra, most of which are from the middle or upper Eocene outcrop belts, with 50–200‐km spacing. We define six to eight distinct groups of DZ age spectra for middle and upper Eocene strata. Data from this and other studies resolve at least six substantial temporal changes in age spectra at various positions along the continental margin. The evolving age spectra constrain the middle and upper Eocene drainage patterns of large parts of interior North America. The most well‐resolved aspects of these drainage patterns include (1) persistent rivers that flowed from erosional landscapes across the Paleozoic Appalachian orogen either into the low‐lying Mississippi embayment or directly into the eastern Gulf; (2) at least during marine regressions, a trunk channel that likely flowed southward along the axial part of Mississippi Embayment and integrated tributaries from the east and west; and (3) rivers that flowed to the Houston embayment in the middle Eocene that likely originated in the Laramide province in central Colorado and southern Wyoming, as Precambrian basement highs in those source areas were being unroofed.     

东秦岭卢氏盆地中始新世沉积-充填过程及其驱动机制

秦岭山间盆地发育的厚层新生代沉积,对于认识秦岭新生代地貌演化及东亚环境变化具有重要意义。但是,对东秦岭地区众多中-新生代山间断陷盆地的沉积-充填过程及其记录的构造、气候信息研究不够。本研究对东秦岭卢氏盆地中始新世河湖相沉积展开沉积学与物源分析,测试了27个层位的碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄。盆地中始新世地层自下而上可划分为张家村组、卢氏组和大峪组。张家村组为冲积扇-河流相沉积,卢氏组为浅湖-半深湖相沉积,大峪组为河流-冲积扇相沉积。张家村组和卢氏组锆石U-Pb年龄均以200~250 Ma（T-J）和400~500 Ma（D-S-O-ϵ）为主要特征峰,700~1000 Ma（Pt₃）为次要峰,部分样品具有1800 Ma（Pt₁）、2500 Ma（Ar₃）的年龄峰值,通过与周边地区地质资料比对,认为张家村组、卢氏组沉积物主要来自于相对远源的北秦岭造山带和南秦岭造山带。大峪组下部锆石U-Pb年龄以1000~1100 Ma（Pt₂）、1800 Ma（Pt₁）和2300 Ma（Pt₁）为特征峰值,物源转变成以近源的北秦岭造山带和华北克拉通南缘两个构造单元为主。近源的物质贡献先升高后降低,可能与河流溯源侵蚀作用有关。大峪组上部地层沉积环境转变为冲积扇,130 Ma（K）的锆石占比加大,可能与东南方栾川地区晚中生代花岗岩的抬升-剥露有关。卢氏盆地中始新世河湖相沉积序列揭示了卢氏古湖从形成到消亡的过程和山-盆地貌侵蚀、搬运和堆积的历史,并记录了秦岭山脉两期区域隆升事件。

     

Sequences and biofacies packages in the mid‐Cenozoic Gambier Limestone,South Australia: Reappraisal of foraminiferal evidence

The mid to outer neritic carbonates of the Gambier Limestone (Upper Eocene to lower Middle Miocene) can be divided into seven units by using criteria of sequence stratigraphy and foraminiferal biofacies. The boundaries fall mainly on erosional surfaces, even though the temporal duration of these surfaces appears to be largely beyond the resolution of foraminiferal biostratigraphy. The Eocene/Oligocene contact is distinctively unconformable in several sections, with at least part of the Upper Eocene sediments missing. Chert nodules, common to abundant in most sections, are associated with deep‐ or cool‐water benthic assemblages (> 100–200 m and <15°C), indicating cool, nutrient‐rich bottom conditions probably influenced by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current beginning during the Early Oligocene. The mid‐Oligocene fall in sea‐level was probably coupled with a major local uplift that removed at least part of the Lower Oligocene, an event widely recorded in the Australian‐New Zealand region. In areas weakly affected, this glacioeustatic lowstand is represented by chert‐free limestone and grey to pink dolomites in some sections, with a poorly preserved assemblage comprising few planktonic and deep‐water benthic species. Local unconformities separate regional unconformity‐bounded or allostratigraphic packages of strata to represent third‐order sequences. Although variations in local subsidence might have influenced accumulation space and sediment thickness, glacioeustatic influence on the packaging of the sequences and units of the Gambier Limestone was easily the more effective and concordant with the global patterns.     

卢氏盆地中始新世沉积序列自生碳酸盐及其古气候意义

始新世暖期可作为当代全球变暖的历史相似型,研究始新世气候变化及其机制对于理解现代气候变暖的幅度和速率具有重要意义。卢氏盆地位于中国中部秦岭东段,发育了连续的、富含碳酸盐矿物的始新世湖相沉积物,是重建始新世暖期陆地气候的良好材料。本研究在卢氏盆地郑家山-三角沟一带（34°04'N,111°10'E）采集了张家村组中上部和卢氏组的样品,采样层厚约288 m,共采集样品505个。根据岩石薄片镜下鉴定,卢氏盆地中始新世湖相沉积物物质组成以碳酸盐、粘土和粉砂为主,其中碳酸盐沉积为表生条件下封闭或半封闭淡水湖或微咸水湖化学作用自生成因。使用傅里叶红外光谱（FTIR）漫反射法测定沉积物碳酸盐含量,发现其与磁化率具有一定的负相关关系,分别指示了内源化学沉积和外源碎屑输入的贡献量,受控于流域蒸发量与降水量的共同作用,揭示了中始新世卢氏盆地的干湿变化。当流域更加湿润,即降水量增加（蒸发量减少）时,径流量相应增加,不利于碳酸盐沉淀而有利于外源碎屑输入,表现为沉积物碳酸盐含量降低、磁化率数值升高,反之同理。在已有年代框架的基础上,建立了卢氏盆地湖相沉积物碳酸盐含量时间序列,其记录了在中始新世气候适宜期（MECO）卢氏盆地较为湿润的气候环境,并且具有多旋回变化,与地球运动轨道的周期变化相关。