Transverse zones controlling the structural evolution of the Zipaquira Anticline (Eastern Cordillera,Colombia): Regional implications

We report paleomagnetic, magnetic fabric and structural results from 21 sites collected in Cretaceous marine mudstones and Paleogene continental sandstones from the limbs, hinge and transverse zones of the Zipaquira Anticline (ZA). The ZA is an asymmetrical fold with one limb completely overturned by processes like gravity and salt tectonics, and marked by several axis curvatures. The ZA is controlled by at least two (2) transverse zones known as the Neusa and Zipaquira Transverse Zones (NTZ and ZTZ, respectively). Magnetic mineralogy methods were applied at different sites and the main carriers of the magnetic properties are paramagnetic components with some sites being controlled by hematite and magnetite. Magnetic fabric analysis shows rigid-body rotation for the back-limb in the ZA, while the forelimb is subjected to internal deformation. Structural and paleomagnetic data shows the influence of the NTZ and ZTZ in the evolution of the different structures like the ZA and the Zipaquira, Carupa, Rio Guandoque, Las Margaritas and Neusa faults, controlling several factors as vergence, extension, fold axis curvature and stratigraphic detatchment. Clockwise rotations unraveled a block segmentation following a discontinuos model caused by transverse zones and one site reported a counter clockwise rotation associated with a left-lateral strike slip component for transverse faults (e.g. the Neusa Fault). We propose that diverse transverse zones have been active since Paleogene times, playing an important role in the tectonic evolution of the Cundinamarca sub-basin and controlling the structural evolution of folds and faults with block segmentation and rotations.     

喜马拉雅造山带晚中新世麻迦淡色花岗岩的构建机制

在北喜马拉雅萨迦片麻岩穹窿西南侧发育有麻迦淡色花岗岩体,出露于南北向申扎—定结裂谷正断层的下盘,属一处较大规模的晚中新世淡色花岗岩体。该岩体具有较均一的元素和同位素(Sr和Nd)组成,但与多数喜马拉雅淡色花岗岩相比,具有异常高的(~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr)_i比值(0.85033~0.85034)和异常低的_(εNd)(t)值(-19.26~-18.30)组成,指示其部分熔融源区有更成熟古老地壳物质的参与。麻迦淡色花岗岩SHRIMP锆石U-Pb定年结果显示:1该岩体主要记录了至少两阶段岩浆结晶作用,分别发生在11.6±0.2 Ma和9.6±0.2 Ma;2个别13.8~16.0 Ma的岩浆作用年龄;3多数锆石继承核年龄分布于泛非期,少数年龄为中元古代(1558~1584 Ma)。在麻迦淡色花岗岩体南侧约40km处的日玛那穹窿,同位于申扎—定结南北向正断层的下盘,出露有大量原岩年龄为古元古代的日玛那糜棱岩,元素地球化学特征上类似于变泥质岩,显示高SiO_2(70.6%~74.6%),Al_2O_3(12.3%~14.0%),K_2O(4.22%~4.93%),A/CNK(1.50~1.58)和K_2O/Na_2O(1.42~2.18),代表了部分熔融源区可能存在的古老地壳物质岩石单元。因此,以麻迦淡色花岗岩为代表的北喜马拉雅晚中新世地壳深熔作用可能与青藏高原后碰撞阶段东西向伸展作用相关,泛非期变泥质岩及少量日玛那糜棱岩所代表的更古老岩石单元在16.0 Ma开始发生部分熔融,并在11.6 Ma至9.6 Ma之间达到深熔作用峰期,熔体活动可能持续了~2myr,以岩脉汇聚的形式延南北向正断层上升,构成侵位至北喜马拉雅特提斯沉积岩系之中的晚中新世麻迦淡色花岗岩体。     

云南富宁者桑金矿床与基性岩年代测定——兼论滇黔桂地区卡林型金矿成矿构造背景

素有"金三角"之称的右江盆地广泛发育卡林型金矿,其成因是否与岩浆活动有关颇有争议。本文以云南富宁地区的者桑卡林型金矿床和该区出露的基性岩为研究对象,分别确定了卡林型金矿床和基性岩的年龄。研究表明,矿床中与载金矿物黄铁矿和毒砂共生的热液蚀变成因绢云母的Ar-Ar坪年龄为215.3±1.9Ma,该区晚期基性岩中锆石的U-Pb年龄为215±5Ma,成岩成矿时代高度一致。在此基础上,本文提出了该矿床的成矿动力学模式:伴随古特提斯洋的闭合,在印支运动后碰撞伸展背景下,形成了富宁地区215±5Ma的基性岩。者桑金矿床分布区的深部可能存在该时期的隐伏岩体,深部岩浆活动驱动主要为大气降水成因的流体浸出地层中的金、砷和锑等成矿元素形成了者桑金矿床。     

Assessment of freely available CartoDEM V1 and V1.1R1 with respect to high resolution aerial photogrammetric DEM in high mountains

The accuracy of DEMs shows wide variations from one terrain to another and it needs to be determined. This study evaluates NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, India) CartoDEM V1 and V1.1R1 with respect to resampled ADS80 DEM for parts of the Himalayas. Both the test DEMs were properly registered with reference to resampled ADS80 DEM and then individually subtracted to get the difference DEMs. Visual and statistical analyses were performed to assess the quality of the tested DEMs in terms of visible terrain and vertical accuracy. For calculating the accuracies in different terrain classes, slope and aspect maps were generated from the ADS80 DEM. Properly registered Landsat5 TM data were used for the development of the land cover map with four classes. The overall vertical accuracy measured for CartoDEM V1 was 269.9 m (LE90), while CartoDEM V1.1R1 showed huge improvement in the accuracy with 68.5 m (LE90).     

Recent variations of supraglacial lakes on the Baltoro Glacier in the central Karakoram Himalaya and its possible teleconnections with the pacific decadal oscillation

This study discusses the formation and variations of supraglacial lakes on the Baltoro glacier system in the central Karakoram Himalaya during the last four decades. We mapped supraglacial lakes on the Baltoro Glacier from 1978 to 2014 using Landsat MSS, TM, ETM + and LCDM images. Most of the glacial lakes were formed or expanded during the late 1970s–2008. After 2008, the total number and the area of glacial lakes were found to be lesser compared to previous years. We tried to find any teleconnections exists between the glacial lake changes in this region and the pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), which entered its prolonged warm regime in the late 1970s and again to its cold regime in 2008, based on observational investigation. The decrease in the number and area of the supraglacial lakes after 2008 is hypothesised to be linked with the recent cold phase of PDO.     

Structural style and evolution of the Gulf of Lion Oligo-Miocene rifting: role of the Pyrenean orogeny

The Gulf of Lion margin results from the Cligo-Aquitanian rifting and Burdigalian crustal separation between continental Europe and Corsica-Sardinia. Immediately before the onset of extension, the area of the Gulf of Lion was affected by the Pyrenean orogeny which controlled the structural style of the evolving margin. During extension, the foreland of the Pyrenean orogen was affected by extensional thin-skinned tectonics. The décollement level ramped down into the basement, in areas where the latter was thickened during orogeny. In this intermediate part, the margin was extended by several crustal-scale low-angle faults, which generated small amounts of syn-rift sedimentation compared with the accumulation of post-rift sediments. However, more than 4 km of syn-rift sediments were deposited in the Camargue basin, which is located at the transition between thin- and thick-skinned extensional systems. Kinematic restorations and stratigraphy suggest a pre-rift surface elevation above sea-level of at least 1 km in the intermediate part of the margin, which is in agreement with reduced syn-rift sedimentation. The slope area extends seaward of the North Pyrenean Fault, a terrane boundary inherited from the Pyrenean collision. This part of the margin was stretched by seaward dipping low-angle block tilting of the upper crust, and antithetic lower crustal and sub-crustal detachment. The lithospheric structures inherited from the Pyrenean orogeny exerted a strong control on the kinematics of the rifting and on the distribution and history of subsidence. Such parameters need to be integrated in the definition of pre-rift initial conditions in future basin-modelling of the Gulf of Lion.     

新疆西准噶尔布龙果尔组的建造类型、时代及有关问题研究的新进展

本文对布龙果尔组的建造类型及地质时代进行了论证,认为其应属磨拉石建造叠加坍塌建造的复合型建造,并将其地质时代从晚奥陶世厘正为早志留世早期。此外,首次提出早古生代西准噶尔北部地区有一次造山运动,这次运动北疆邻区称为“艾比湖运动”,其发生的确切时间应为晚奥陶世末期。最后,根据布龙果尔组中出现蛇绿岩套的近源砾石。推断洪古勒楞蛇绿岩的形成年代早于早志留世。可能是奥陶纪。     

Pressure–temperature–structural distance relationships within Greater Himalayan rocks in eastern Bhutan: implications for emplacement models

In the Himalayan orogen, Greater Himalayan (GH) rocks were buried to mid‐ to lower‐crustal levels and are now exposed across the strike of the orogen. Within the eastern Himalaya, in the Kingdom of Bhutan, the GH is divided into structurally lower (lower‐GH) and upper (upper‐GH) levels by the Kakhtang thrust (KT). Pressure–temperature estimates from lower‐ and upper‐GH rocks collected on two transects across the KT yield similar P–T–structural distance trends across each transect. In the eastern transect, temperatures are similar (from 730 to 650 °C) over a structural thickness of ~11 km, but peak pressures decrease from ~10 to 6 kbar with increasing structural level. In comparison, peak temperatures in the central Bhutan transect are similar (from 730 to 600 °C), but pressures decrease from 10 to 6.5 kbar with increasing structural level over a structural thickness of ~6 km. The structurally highest sample reveals slightly higher pressures of 8.0 kbar in comparison to pressures of ~6.5 kbar for samples collected from within the KT zone, ~4 km below. Within each transect, there are increases in pressure ± temperature within the overall upright P–T gradient that may demarcate intra‐GH shear zone(s). These P–T results combined with evidence that the timing of initial melt crystallization becomes older with increasing structural level suggest that the intra‐GH shear zones emplaced deeper GH rocks via progressive ductile underplating. These shear zones, including the KT, likely aided in the initial emplacement and construction of the GH as a composite tectonic unit during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, from c. 27 to 16 Ma.     

Metamorphic P–T profile and P–T path discontinuity across the far‐eastern Nepal Himalaya: investigation of channel flow models

Thermobarometric data and compositional zoning of garnet show the discontinuities of both metamorphic pressure conditions at peak‐T and P–T paths across the Main Central Thrust (MCT), which juxtaposes the high‐grade Higher Himalayan Crystalline Sequences (HHCS) over the low‐grade Lesser Himalaya Sequences (LHS) in far‐eastern Nepal. Maximum recorded pressure conditions occur just above the MCT (～11 kbar), and decrease southward to ～6 kbar in the garnet zone and northward to ～7 kbar in the kyanite ± staurolite zone. The inferred nearly isothermal loading path for the LHS in the staurolite zone may have resulted from the underthrusting of the LHS beneath the HHCS. In contrast, the increasing temperature path during both loading and decompression (i.e. clockwise path) from the lowermost HHCS in the staurolite to kyanite ± staurolite transitional zone indicates that the rocks were fairly rapidly buried and exhumed. Exhumation of the lowermost HHCS from deeper crustal depths than the flanking regions, recording a high field pressure gradient (～1.2–1.6 kbar km^?1) near the MCT, is perhaps caused by ductile extrusion along the MCT, not the emplacement along a single thrust, resulting in the P–T path discontinuities. These observations are consistent with the overall scheme of the model of channel flow, in which the outward flowing ‘HHCS’ and inward flowing ‘LHS’ are juxtaposed against each other and are rapidly extruded together along the ‘MCT’. A rapid exhumation by channel flow in this area is also suggested by a nearly isothermal decompression path inferred from cordierite corona surrounding garnet in gneiss of the upper HHCS. However, peak metamorphic temperatures show a progressive increase of temperature structurally upward (～570–740 °C) near the MCT and roughly isothermal conditions (～710–810 °C) in the upper structural levels of the HHCS. The observed field temperature gradient is much lower than those predicted in channel flow models. However, the discrepancy could be resolved by taking into account heat advection by melt and/or fluid migration, as these can produce low or nearly no field temperature gradient in the exhumed midcrust, as observed in nature.     

Assessment of diversity, distribution, conservation status and preparation of management plan for medicinal plants in the catchment area of parbati hydroelectric project stage — III in Northwestern Himalaya

The developmental activities, particularly the construction of hydroelectric projects are causing a great loss of biodiversity in the Indian Himalayan Region. The Himachal Pradesh, a part of IHR is well known for the development of hydroelectric projects. The Parbati H.E. Project is amongst the major projects of the State. The different stages of the project are all causing loss of biodiversity of the area. Stage III of the Parbati H.E. Project is a run of the river scheme on the Sainj River downstream of Power House of Parbati H.E. Project Stage II. The project shall utilize regulated discharge of Parbati H.E. Project Stage II and inflow of River Sainj for power generation, and has been contemplated as a peaking station operating in tandem with Stage II. The present study has been undertaken to see the impact of hydroelectric project on the biodiversity, particularly on medicinal plants. A total of 104 species of medicinal plants, belonging to different life forms, i.e., trees (23 spp.), shrubs (22 spp.), herbs (57 spp.) and ferns (2 spp.) were recorded. The species have been analyzed and studied for their distribution, classification, altitudinal zones, part (s) used, indigenous uses, nativity, endemism and rarity. DDifferent parts of these species, such as whole plants, roots (including rhizomes and tubers), leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, stems, barks, spikes, nuts and insect galls are used by the inhabitants for curing various diseases and ailments. 30 species are native to the Himalayan region, 9 species native to the Himalayan region and adjacent countries also and 65 species are non-natives. 9 species are near endemics. Considering the whole Himalaya as a biogeographic unit (sensu lato), the near endemics are endemic to the Himalaya. Among these species, Zanthoxylum armatum is categorized as Endangered and Valeriana wallichii as Vulnerable. Hedychium spicatum, Rhus javanica, Berberis lycium, Thalictrum foliolossum, Salvia lanata, Rubia cordifolia and Bergenia ligulata may be considered as threatened species due to their over exploitation for trade. 90 species are propagated by seeds, 8 species by seeds and rhizomes/roots/tubers, 4 species by seeds and cuttings, and 2 species by sori. A management plan for the cultivation and conservation of the medicinal plants in the dam submergence area, and the commercially viable medicinal plants with high value in the catchment area is suggested.