Occurrence of the Indian genus Hemibos (Bovini, Bovidae, Mammalia) at the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition in Italy

The morphology of the horn-core structure and section shape of the Bos galerianus type specimen, as well as the general anatomy of the frontal and occipital areas of the skull, suggest that the skull is better attributed to the Indian genus Hemibos. This finding contributes to our understanding of faunal dispersal patterns into Europe at the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition.     

U–Pb dating of silicic lavas,sills and syneruptive resedimented volcaniclastic deposits of the Lower Devonian Crudine Group,Hill End Trough,New South Wales

The Hill End Trough of central‐western New South Wales was an elongate deep marine basin that existed in the Lachlan Fold Belt from the early Late Silurian to late Early Devonian. It is represented by a regionally extensive, unfossiliferous sequence of interbedded turbidites and hemipelagites of substantially silicic volcanic derivation, which passes laterally into contemporaneous shallow‐water sedimentary rocks. The Turondale and Merrions Formations of the Lower Devonian Crudine Group are two prominent volcanogenic formations in the predominantly sedimentary trough sequence. They contain a range of primary and resedimented volcanic facies suitable for U–Pb dating. These include widespread subaqueous silicic lavas and/or lava cryptodomes, and thick sequences of crystal‐rich volcaniclastic sandstone emplaced by a succession of mass‐flows that were generated by interaction between contemporaneous subaerial pyroclastic flows and the sea. Ion microprobe dating of the two volcanogenic formations by means of the commonly used SL 13 zircon standard yields ages ranging between 411.3 ± 5.1 and 404.8 ± 4.8 Ma. Normalising the data against a different zircon standard (QGNG) yields preferred slightly older mean ages that range between 413.4 ± 6.6 and 407.1 ± 6.9 Ma. These ages broadly approximate the Early Devonian age that has been historically associated with the Crudine Group. However, the biostratigraphically inferred late Lochkovian ‐ early Emsian (mid‐Early Devonian) age for the Merrions Formation is inconsistent with the current Australian Phanerozoic Timescale, which assigns an age of 410 Ma to the Silurian‐Devonian boundary, and ages of 404.5 Ma and 395.5 Ma to the base and top of the Pragian, respectively. There is, however, good agreement if the new ages are compared with the most recently published revision of the Devonian time‐scale. This suggests that the Early Devonian stage boundaries of the Australian Phanerozoic Timescale need to be revised downward. The new ages for the Merrions Formation could also provide a time point on this time‐scale for the Pragian to early Emsian, for which no data are presently available.     

Stromatoporoid growth forms and Devonian reef fabrics in the Upper Devonian Alexandra Reef System,Canada – Insight on the challenges of applying Devonian reef facies models

Existing facies models for Devonian reef systems can be divided into high‐energy and low‐energy types. A number of assumptions have been made in the development of these models and, in some cases, criteria that distinguish important aspects of the models are poorly defined. The Upper Devonian Alexandra Reef System contains a variety of reef fabrics from different depositional environments and is ideal for studying the range of environments in which stromatoporoids thrived and the facies from these different environments. A wide variety of stromatoporoid growth forms including laminar, tabular, anastamosing laminar and tabular, domal, bulbous, dendroid, expanding conical, concave‐up whorled‐laminar, concave‐up massive tabular and platy‐multicolumnar are present in the Alexandra Reef System. The whorled‐laminar and massive tabular concave‐up growth forms are virtually undocumented from other Devonian reefs but were common in the reef front of the Alexandra, where they thrived in a low‐energy environment around and below fair‐weather wave base. In contrast, high‐energy parts of the reef margin were dominated by bioclastic rubble deposits with narrow ribbon‐like discontinuous bodies of laminar stromatoporoid framestone. In the lagoon, laminar stromatoporoids formed steep‐sided sediment‐dominated bioherms in response to sea‐level rise and flooding. Relying mostly on the different reef facies in the Alexandra system, a new classification scheme for Devonian reef fabrics has been developed. Devonian reef fabrics can be classified as being: (i) sediment‐laden metazoan dominated; (ii) metazoan–microbial dominated (boundstone); (iii) metazoan dominated (framestone); or (iv) metazoan–marine cement dominated. Distinction of these fabrics carries important sedimentary and palaeoecological implications for reconstructing the depositional environment. With examples from the Alexandra Formation, it is demonstrated that reef facies accumulated in a range of depositional environments and that the simple observation of massive stromatoporoids with or without microbial deposits does not automatically imply a high‐energy reef margin, as otherwise portrayed in a number of the existing facies models for these systems.     

阿尔泰小土尔根铜矿区岩体LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年及地质意义

小土尔根是近年来阿尔泰诺尔特盆地发现的首例斑岩铜矿床,其成岩成矿年代学的研究可以对矿床模型构建、区域成矿规律的总结提供制约。矿区侵入岩发育,矿化受花岗闪长斑岩控制,少部分赋存在地层中。文章利用LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb测年法对矿区岩体进行了成岩年代学研究。含矿花岗闪长斑岩、黑云二长花岗岩和花岗斑岩中锆石的206Pb/238U年龄的加权平均值分别为(401.0±2.9)Ma、(398.1±2.2)Ma和(400.5±2.0)Ma,为早泥盆世同一岩浆侵入活动形成的不同侵入岩。侵入岩年龄结合凝灰岩年龄,将矿区地层划归早泥盆世诺尔特组。含矿花岗闪长斑岩锆石U-Pb年龄限定小土尔根斑岩铜矿床成矿时代略晚于401 Ma,即矿床形成于早泥盆世。     

青海祁漫塔格地区泥盆纪地球动力学背景及意义

青海祁漫塔格地区多金属矿床以矽卡岩型为主,主要产于中酸性侵入体与碳酸盐岩围岩的接触带附近,受NWW向、NW向和近EW向断裂的控制。大多数学者研究后认为,该区多金属矿床主要与三叠纪后碰撞伸展所导致的地幔物质底侵关系密切（如丰成友等,2012）。然而,一些学者发现泥盆纪岩浆作用与多金属成矿作用亦存在密切的联系（如陈博等,2012;高永宝等,2014）。研究表明,东昆仑造山带主要经历了新元古代—早泥盆世和石炭纪—晚三叠世的2期俯冲—碰撞造山作用过程（姜春发等,1992;Yang et al., 1996, 2009）,但到目前为止,关于青海祁漫塔格地区泥盆纪的构造背景的研究却十分薄弱。因此,本文根据已发表数据对该区泥盆纪构造背景进行了初步探讨。     

黑河新生地区中侏罗世花岗质岩石锆石U-Pb年龄、地球化学特征及岩石成因

黑河新生地区西古兰河以北二长花岗岩的LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素测试结果表明,其形成时代为中侏罗世((163.8±1)Ma)。这些中侏罗世二长花岗岩属于弱过铝质高钾钙碱性系列的Ⅰ型花岗岩,明显富集大离子亲石元素(Rb、Ba、Th)和亏损高场强元素(Zr、Hf、Nb、Ta),元素Sr具有明显的负异常,表明其原始岩浆起源于地壳火成岩的部分熔融。结合区域资料同时代火成岩的组合特征和古太平洋板块的构造演化,认为该二长花岗岩形成于活动大陆边缘,而其形成的地球动力学背景可能为古太平洋板块向欧亚板块俯冲造山后的伸展环境。     

甘肃宝积山盆地中侏罗世石拐茨康叶表皮构造及古环境意义

甘肃宝积山盆地中侏罗统窑街组发现茨康类植物化石,通过对其外部形态和表皮构造研究,认定为石拐茨康叶(Czekanowskia(Vachrameevia)shiguaiensis)。对比当前化石及其现存最近对应种(the nearest living equivalent species)—Ginkgo biloba L.的气孔比率,得到宝积山盆地在中侏罗世的古大气CO_2体积分数为1.55×10~(-3),数值接近GEOCARBⅢ碳平衡模型的拟合曲线,表明茨康叶属植物也是恢复古大气CO_2体积分数的良好材料。同时,通过角质层特征进行古环境重建,结果表明宝积山盆地在中侏罗世时期气候较为温和湿润。     

新疆喀喇昆仑山地区泥盆纪地层划分与特征

在新疆西昆仑地区1∶5万区域地质调查中,对分布于喀喇昆仑山地层区中的泥盆纪地层,开展剖面测量和区域填图,系统收集其岩性岩相、岩石组合、分布特征、接触关系、生物化石、基本层序等资料,并展开了多重地层划分与对比研究。研究表明区内泥盆纪地层由中下统大王顶组,中统黄羊滩组、落石沟组和上统天神达坂组组成,各组之间均为整合接触关系,除天神达坂组未获生物化石外,其他层位均获有丰富的古生物化石。其中新建大王顶组和黄羊滩组2个岩石地层单位,以及腕足类3个、珊瑚类1个、菊石类1个、三叶虫类1个,共计6个生物地层单位。全面系统厘定和完善了区内泥盆纪的岩石地层序列、生物地层序列和年代地层序列,黄羊滩组是重要的铜矿和石膏矿赋矿层位。从而极大地提高了喀喇昆仑山地区泥盆纪地层研究程度,也为本区地质构造演化和成矿规律分析提供了必要地史资料。