Evolution of the Australian lithosphere

The evolution of the Australian plate can be interpreted in a plate‐tectonic paradigm in which lithospheric growth occurred via vertical and horizontal accretion. The lithospheric roots of Archaean lithosphere developed contemporaneously with the overlying crust. Vertical accretion of the Archaean lithosphere is probably related to the arrival of large plumes, although horizontal lithospheric accretion was also important to crustal growth. The Proterozoic was an era of major crustal growth in which the components of the North Australian, West Australian and South Australian cratons were formed and amalgamated during a series of accretionary events and continent‐continent collisions, interspersed with periods of lithospheric extension. During Phanerozoic accretionary tectonism, approximately 30% of the Australian crust was added to the eastern margin of the continent in a predominantly supra‐subduction environment. Widespread plume‐driven rifting during the breakup of Gondwana may have contributed to the destruction of Archaean lithospheric roots (as a result of lithospheric stretching). However, lithospheric growth occurred at the same time due to mafic underplating along the eastern margin of the plate. Northward drift of Australia during the Tertiary led to the development of a complex accretionary margin at the leading edge of the plate (Papua New Guinea).     

Gas generation and expulsion characteristics of Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks,eastern Kuqa Depression,Tarim Basin,China: implications for shale gas resource potential

Frontier exploration in the Kuqa Depression, western China, has identified the continuous tight-sand gas accumulation in the Lower Cretaceous and Lower Jurassic as a major unconventional gas pool. However, assessment of the shale gas resource in the Kuqa Depression is new. The shale succession in the Middle–Upper Triassic comprises the Taliqike Formation (T₃t), the Huangshanjie Formation (T₃h) and the middle–upper Karamay Formation (T_2–3k), with an average accumulated thickness of 260 m. The high-quality shale is dominated by type III kerogen with high maturity and an average original total organic carbon (TOC) of about 2.68 wt%. An improved hydrocarbon generation and expulsion model was applied to this self-contained source–reservoir system to reveal the gas generation and expulsion (intensity, efficiency and volume) characteristics of Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks. The maximum volume of shale gas in the source rocks was obtained by determining the difference between generation and expulsion volumes. The results indicate that source rocks reached the hydrocarbon expulsion threshold of 1.1% VR and the hydrocarbon generation and expulsion reached their peak at 1.0% VR and 1.28% VR, with the maximum rate of 56 mg HC/0.1% TOC and 62.8 mg HC/0.1% TOC, respectively. The volumes of gas generation and expulsion from Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks were 12.02 × 10¹² m³ and 5.98 × 10¹² m³, respectively, with the residual volume of 6.04 × 10¹² m³, giving an average gas expulsion efficiency of 44.38% and retention efficiency of 55.62%. Based on the gas generation and expulsion characteristics, the predicted shale gas potential volume is 6.04 × 10¹² m³, indicating a significant shale gas resource in the Middle–Upper Triassic in the eastern Kuqa Depression.     

Falling sphere observations of anisotropic gravity wave motions in the upper stratosphere over Australia

A study of inertial scale gravity wave motions in the region of the atmosphere between 30 and 60 km has been undertaken, using wind and temperature data derived from rocket-borne falling sphere density experiments performed over Woomera, Australia between 1962 nad 1976. The gross features of the wave field compare favorably with those found in similar northern hemispheric studies. Wave propagation is found to be both vertically and horizontally anisotropic. A rotary spectral analysis indicates predominately upgoing wave energy, suggesting that the majority of sources of these waves lie below 30 km. A detailed statistical investigation of the waves, made using the Stokes parameters technique, reveals that phase progression is also highly directional in the horizontal, with a significant zonal component in summer, but with a strong meridional component in winter. Propagation towards the southeast is inferred in summer, with the waves possibly emanating from tropospheric sources in equatorial regions to the north of Australia. The technique also shows that, on average, the waves appear to have mean ellipse eccentricities (=f/) around 0.4–0.45. Indirect estimates of a number of important wave parameters are made. In particular,v andw flux estimates are made over several height intervals. The vertical gradient of density weighted flux implies wave-induced mean flow accelerations of the order 0.1–1 ms^–1day^–1. This suggests that dissipating gravity waves are a significant source of the momentum residuals that are encountered in studies of satellite data from this region.     

Low-pressure granulite facies metamorphism in the Larsemann Hills area, East Antarctica; petrology and tectonic implications for the evolution of the Prydz Bay area

ABSTRACT Thermobarometric studies on various granulite facies areas along the Prydz Bay coast, East Antarctica (73°-79°E, 68°-70°S), show that, at around 1100 Ma, during a late Proterozoic orogeny, the rocks of the Larsemann Hills suffered a lower pressure metamorphic peak than the surrounding areas. Along the Prydz Bay coast, the rocks affected by this event include parts of the Vestfold Hills block plus all of the Rauer Group, the Larsemann Hills and the Munro Kerr Mountains. The dykes in the south-west corner of the Vestfold Hills were recrystallized during this event with little deformation at temperatures not quite as high as in the areas further south-west (650°C, 6.5 kbar) (Collerson et al., 1983), the Rauer Group was metamorphosed at 800°C and 7.5 kbar (Harley, 1987a), the Larsemann Hills at 750°C and 4.5 kbar, and the Munro Kerr Mountains probably at around 850°C and 5 kbar. Retrograde equilibration in the different areas occurred during decompression to about 10 km depth in all areas, followed by isobaric cooling at this depth. This paper shows that the peak metamorphism in the Larsemann Hills occurred at a pressure which is too low to have been the consequence of thermal relaxation of overthickened crust with normal mantle heat flow. Although other areas in Prydz Bay were metamorphosed at sufficiently high pressures so that their decompression paths are not inconsistent with a continental collision model, the inferred pre-metamorphic peak histories and the requirement of consistency with the Larsemann Hills, make it unlikely that collision followed by erosion-driven decompression is an appropriate model. We suggest that the thermal regime of the crust in the Larsemann Hills region was controlled by a perturbation in the asthenosphere, with magma invasion of the crust. We suggest that the 500 Ma event, represented in Prydz Bay by granitic outcrops at Landing Bluff and by several K/Ar ages from the Larsemann Hills area, was responsible for the final excavation of the terrane.     

中国中元古代裂谷作用及其对层控铜矿床的控制

本文以中国几个重要的层控铜矿为例,并以东川式铜矿及其成矿构造背景——昆阳拗拉谷为重点,分析了它们的大地构造背景和其它地质特征,指出它们均受裂谷—拗拉谷或类似的拉张-裂陷构造所控制,并归纳了这类矿床的主要特征。     

Relative sea-level fluctuations and brown coal formation around the Early-Middle Miocene boundary in the Lusatian Brown Coal District

The Tertiary sedimentary sequence in the Lusatian Brown Coal District is the result of several transgressive pulses with intercalated regressive phases. Regression repeatedly resulted in the formation of large littoral bogs at the transition between brackish and terrestrial palaeoenvironments. In the lithofacies changes of the Lower-Middle Miocene strata (high energy sands, low energy intertidal silts, paralic peats) long-term changes as well as short-term oscillations of sea level are recorded. The rise of sea level in the upper Lower Miocene (Hemmoorian transgression) is proved in numerous localities of the investigation area. After a regression phase with major peat formation events around the Lower-Middle Miocene boundary, a renewed sea-level rise resulted in the widest extension of marine-brackish beds over pre-Tertiary basement in the south of the region (higher Reinbekian transgression, Middle Miocene). Very differentiated, fine-scaled, probably sea-level induced coastline oscillations could probably be traced even into the coal seams by the recognition of successive bogfacial types possibly showing a groundwater level change in the ancient peat bog (change of topogeneous and ombrogeneous bog types). A biostratigraphic calibration of the decalcified Lower-Middle Miocene sequence with its alternating transgressive and regressive trends to the fully marine sediments of the basinal centre, which are dated by calcareous microfossils, is possible by means of dinoflagellate cysts and pollen and spores. Correspondence to: C. Strauss     

Growth Dynamics of the Middle Devonian Jukoupu Bioherm,Xinshao, Hunan

The growth process, palaeoecological features and the function of organisms in reef-building of the Jukoupu bioherm in Hunan are discussed in detail. The bioherm is divided into 10 microfacies. Organisms are very abundant in the reef. Thirty-two genera Belonging to 7 phyla have been recognized. They make up 5 communities composed mainly of stromatopoids, Corals and algae, each of which has its own salient ecological features. An analysis of all communities shows that the organic functions are very complex. The same organisms may possess diverse functions simultaneously as the reef growth enters the late stage. The growth process of the reef may involve five stages' (l)biostrome stage, (2) stabilization stage, (3) frame-type reef-building stage, (4) binding and covering-type reef-building stage, and (5) baffle- type reef -building stage.