Comparative Study of Cyclicity of Lithofacies in Lower Gondwana Formations of Talchir Basin, Orissa, India: A Statistical Analysis of Subsurface Logs

Cyclic characters of Karharbari, Barakar and Barren Measures Formations of the Talchir Gondwana basin have been studied in the subsurface logs statistically using first order Markov chain and entropy analyses. Results strongly suggest that the sediments of these formations were deposited by Markovian mechanism and all the three formations represent cyclic sedimentation. The complete cycles of all the three formations are identical and exhibit fining-upward character. Each complete cycle starts with a thin conglomerate or pebbly to coarse-grained sandstone at the base and successively followed by medium- and fine-grained sandstones, interbedded sandstone-shale, shale and terminates with a coal seam at the top. There are, however, minor variations of facies transition in different formations. Entropy analysis also corroborates these findings. The upward sequence of facies states, which is stationary at individual localities, is non-stationary over the entire area. Broad regional variations in the depositional environment, that are not significant at the local scale, may be the plausible explanation. The Karharbari, Barakar and Barren Measures sediments of the Talchir Gondwana basin fit suitably into the concept of fluvial cycles.     

Brittle faulting in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica: Cretaceous transtensional tectonics related to the break-up of Gondwana

The Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf occupies a narrow NNE–SSW-orientated fault-bound depression referred to as the Lambert Graben. Deep faults associated with this structure are recognised geophysically, and are interpreted to extend at least 700 km inland from the Antarctic coast. Kinematic and palaeostress data from quartz- and calcite-bearing faults, inferred to represent the surface expression of these deeper structures, suggest that a single faulting event occurred in response to NW–SE-directed extension, oblique to the axis of the graben. The bulk of the movement along these faults was dextral strike slip, accommodating components of both normal and reverse offset. In the northern Prince Charles Mountains, these faults disrupt the Permo-Triassic Amery Group and juxtapose it against Proterozoic basement. Equivalent strike-slip faults in the southern Prince Charles Mountains produce dextrally offset tectonic boundaries and metamorphic isogrades across the Lambert Glacier. The similarity in orientation between the palaeostress field calculated for these faults and the Cretaceous divergence vector between India and Antarctica strongly supports the inference that faulting was of Cretaceous age, and related to the break-up of Gondwana.     

西藏区域地质基本特征

西藏是青藏高原主体,大地构造位置居于南、北大陆之间的阿尔卑斯—喜马拉雅巨型山系东段,是特提斯构造域的组成部分。本文介绍了西藏区域地层、岩浆岩、变质岩及变质作用、地质构造格局的基本特征,阐述其形成环境及分布特点,从时空角度展示西藏特提斯构造演化历史。     

华夏植物群及其与全球同期植物群的比较

文中研究的焦点是华夏植物群及其与全球同期植物群的比较 ,并论证了石炭纪和二叠纪的古植物地理再造。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,华夏植物区和欧美植物区皆位于具热带气候的赤道区 ,在类似的气候条件下 ,这两个地区的一些植物具有形态上的相似性。此外 ,华夏植物群含有一些与欧美植物群共有的分子 ;因此 ,这两个植物群的关系比较密切。尽管华夏植物群具有相当数量的分子是与欧美植物群所共有的 ,但是在大羽羊齿类植物中 ,在种级上两者并没有相同的成分。华夏植物群是以热带雨林气候为特征。在二叠纪 ,华夏区的气候比欧美区的气候更为湿润。华夏植物群的分子不同于安加拉植物群的分子 ;此外 ,安加拉植物群代表了温带气候条件。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,冈瓦纳植物群分布在南半球高纬度地区 ,不同于分布于北半球低纬度的华夏植物群的组成分子 ;因此 ,这两个植物群没有必然联系。在石炭纪和二叠纪 ,在北半球华夏植物群与欧美植物群的一些植物在形态上的相似性以及在南半球 (西藏、沙特阿拉伯、土耳其、新几内亚和伊拉克 )一些华夏型分子的分布可以是起因于类似的气候条件、大陆位置、板块运动、洋流作用、古地理环境等因素的影响。华夏植物群与其同期植物群的差异反映了植物群成分、古气候、古地理位置和陆地生态系在时?     

Melt-producing and melt-consuming reactions in the Achankovil cordierite gneisses, South India

Migmatitic cordierite gneisses within the Achankovil Zone (AZ) of southern Pan‐African India record melt‐producing and subsequent melt‐consuming mineral reactions. Early mineral assemblages Bt‐Sil‐Qtz and Bt‐Sil‐Spl, deduced from inclusion textures in garnet prophyroblasts, break down via successive dehydration melting reactions to high‐T phase assemblages (e.g. Grt‐Crd‐Liq, Opx‐Liq, Spl‐Crd‐Liq). Later back reactions between the restite and the in situ crystallizing melt resulted in thin cordierite coronas separating garnet from the leucosome, and partial resorption of garnet to Opx‐Crd or Crd‐Bt‐Qtz symplectites. Leucosomes generally display a moderate (low‐strain gneisses) to strong (high‐strain gneisses) depletion of alkali feldspar attributed to mineral‐melt back reactions partly controlled by the degree of melt segregation. Using a KFMASH partial petrogenetic grid that includes a melt phase, and qualitative pseudosections for microdomains of high and low Al/Si ratios, the successive phase assemblages and reaction textures are interpreted in terms of a clockwise P–T path culminating at about 6–7 kbar and 900–950 °C. This P–T path is consistent with, but more detailed than published results, which suggests that taking a melt phase into account is not only a valid, but also a useful approach. Comparing P–T data and lithological and isotopic data for the AZ with adjacent East Gondwana fragments, suggests the presence of a coherent metasedimentary unit exposed from southern Madagascar via South India (AZ) and Sri Lanka (Wanni Complex) to the Lützow–Holm Bay in Eastern Antarctica.     

Tectonic rotations in the Deseado Massif, southern Patagonia, during the breakup of Western Gondwana

Paleomagnetic investigation in the Deseado Massif, southern Patagonia, suggests that Triassic sedimentary rocks carry a latest Triassic to Jurassic remagnetization and that earliest Jurassic plutonic complexes carry a reversed polarity magnetization of thermoremanent origin. Despite uncertainties in the timing of the observed remanence in the Triassic rocks and the lack of paleohorizontal control on the plutonic complexes, comparison of the derived pole positions with the most reliable Late Triassic–Jurassic apparent polar wander paths indicates that the study areas underwent significant clockwise vertical-axis rotation. In contrast, paleomagnetic results from mid-Cretaceous rocks in the region indicate no rotation. The observed crustal rotations in the Deseado Massif are thus bracketed to have occurred between Jurassic and Early Cretaceous times, documenting southern Patagonian deformation during the breakup of Western Gondwana and then enlarging the regional record of clockwise rotations associated with this event. These results suggest a more complex than previously supposed tectonic evolution of this part of South America.     

U-Pb zircon geochronology of late Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian granitoids in Iran: Implications for paleogeography, magmatism, and exhumation history of Iranian basement

Eurasia has largely grown to its present enormous size through episodic addition of crustal blocks by recurring birth and demise of oceans such as Paleotethys and Neotethys. Excluding the Kopet Dagh Mountains in the northeast, crystalline basement rocks of various dimensions are exposed in all continental tectonic zones of Iran. These rocks have traditionally been viewed as continental fragments with Gondwanan affinity and summarily been assigned Precambrian or younger ages, despite the fact that evidence from isotopic dating has largely been lacking. This study presents new ion microprobe and thermal-ionization zircon U-Pb geochronological data from granitoids and orthogneisses from several locations in central Iran and the Sanandaj–Sirjan structural zones to determine crystallization ages and investigate the origin and continental affinity of these various crustal fragments. The resulting U-Pb crystallization ages for the granites and orthogneisses range from late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian, matching the mostly juvenile Arabian–Nubian shield and Peri-Gondwanan terranes constructed after the main phase of Pan-African orogenesis. TIMS analyses of zircons with inherited cores from western Iran suggest that the Neoproterozoic crust of Iran might not be entirely juvenile, pointing to the potential presence of inherited older Proterozoic components as is common in the eastern Arabian shield. More importantly, the new zircon U-Pb crystallization ages unequivocally demonstrate that crystalline basement underlying the Sanandaj–Sirjan zone, central Iran, and the Alborz Mountains is composed of continental fragments with Gondwanan affiliation, characterized by wide spread late Neoproterozoic subduction-related magmatism. The exposure of these late Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian basement rocks in the Iranian regions north of the Zagros is structurally controlled and linked to both large-scale crustal extension and exhumation during Mesozoic and Tertiary time as well as Tertiary collisional tectonics associated with the closure of Neotethys.     

Sedimentary facies of a glacially influenced continental succession in the Pennsylvanian Jericho Formation, Galilee Basin, Australia

Recent work on the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age in eastern Australia has shown the Joe Joe Group in the eastern Galilee Basin, Queensland, to be of critical importance as it is one of few records of Pennsylvanian glacial activity outside South America. This paper presents detailed sedimentological data, from which the Late Palaeozoic environment of the region is reconstructed and which, consequently, allows for robust comment on the broader Gondwanan glaciation. The Jericho Formation, in the lower Joe Joe Group, was deposited in an active extensional basin in lacustrine to fluvial environments, during the mid‐Namurian to early Stephanian. The region experienced a cool climate during this time, and polythermal mountain or valley‐type glaciers periodically advanced into the area from highlands to the north‐east. The Jericho Formation preserves a suite of proglacial to terminal glacial facies that is characterized by massive and stratified diamictites deposited from debris flows, massive and horizontally laminated conglomerates and sandstones deposited from hyperconcentrated density flows, laminated siltstones with outsized clasts and interlaminated siltstone/conglomerate deposited through ice‐rafting into lakes, and sedimentary dykes and breccias deposited through overpressurization of groundwater beneath permafrost. Non‐glacial facies are dominated by fluvial sandstones and lacustrine/overbank siltstones. The glacigenic rocks of the Jericho Formation are confined to discrete packages, recording three separate glacial advances during the latest Namurian to late Westphalian. This arrangement is consistent with the temporal distribution of glacigenic rocks from around the remainder of Australia and Gondwana, which supports the theory that glacial deposits occurred in discrete intervals. The Joe Joe Group is a key succession in the world in this context as, at this time, eastern Australia provides the only unequivocal evidence of a Namurian/Westphalian glaciation outside South America. The continuous record of sedimentation through the Pennsylvanian and Early Permian is indicative of significant warming between glacial intervals, which is difficult to reconcile with the development of long‐lived, cold‐based ice sheets across the supercontinent.     

Age and kinematics of ductile deformation in the Cerro Durazno area, NW Argentina: Significance for orogenic processes operating at the western margin of Gondwana during Ordovician – Silurian times

The Cerro Durazno Pluton belongs to a suite of Paleozoic granitoid intrusions in NW-Argentina, that are central for understanding the tectonic setting of the western margin of Gondwana in Ordovician and Silurian times. The pluton and its host rocks were tectonically overprinted by metamorphic mineral shape fabrics formed under middle greenschist-facies metamorphic conditions and associated with the nearby Agua Rosada Shear Zone. Kinematic analysis of the shear zone based on the geometric relationship between individual segments of the shear plane and principal axes of mineral fabric ellipsoids indicates reverse-sense of shear with a minor component of left-lateral displacement. This is compatible with the kinematics of other ductile deformation zones in this area, collectively forming a network, which accomplished orogen-parallel extension in addition to vertical thickening. Using the Rb–Sr isotopic system, an undeformed pegmatite dike of the Cerro Durazno Pluton was dated at 455.8 ± 3.6 Ma and mineral fabrics of the Agua Rosada Shear Zone formed at middle greenschist-facies metamorphism gave deformation ages of 437.0 ± 3.8 Ma and 428.4 ± 4.5 Ma. Thus, tectonic overprint at low metamorphic grade occurred about 20–30 Ma after terminal magmatism in the Cerro Durazno area. Our data from the Cerro Durazno area and regional considerations suggest that the western margin of Gondwana was characterized by orogen-parallel extension in addition to crustal thickening as well as episodes of magmatism and ductile deformation that varied greatly in time and space.     

冈瓦纳大陆北缘早期的洋壳信息──来自青藏高原羌塘中部早古生代蛇绿岩的依据

冈瓦纳大陆北缘裂解普遍认为发生在泥盆纪,形成了古特提斯洋并持续演化到晚三叠世。最近在羌塘中部的桃形湖—果干加年山一带发现了完整的蛇绿岩组合,蛇绿岩中的堆晶辉长岩具有洋中脊玄武岩的地球化学特征,在堆晶辉长岩中获得467 Ma～431Ma的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年龄,这是龙木错-双湖缝合带首次发现早古生代蛇绿岩,应记录了冈瓦纳北缘早期的洋壳演化信息,冈瓦纳大陆北缘的裂解可能发生于早古生代。