Progradational and backstepping shoreface deposits in the Ladinian to Early Norian Snadd Formation of the Barents Sea

Shoreface sandstone deposits within the Early Carnian part of the Snadd Formation of the Norwegian Barents Sea can be traced for hundreds of kilometres in the depositional strike direction and for tens of kilometres in the depositional‐dip direction. This study uses three‐dimensional seismic attribute mapping and two‐dimensional regional seismic profiles to visualize the seismic facies of these shoreface deposits and to map their internal stratigraphic architecture at a regional scale. The shoreface deposits are generally elongate but show variable width from north‐east to south‐west, which corresponds to a sediment source in the northern part of the basin and a southward decrease in longshore sediment transport. The Snadd Formation presents an example of how large‐scale progradational shoreface deposits develop. The linear nature of its shoreface deposits contrasts with more irregular, cuspate wave‐dominated deltaic shorelines that contain river outlets, and instead implies longshore drift as the main sediment source. In map view, discrete sets of linear features bounded by truncation surfaces scale directly to beach ridge sets in modern counterparts. The shoreface deposits studied here are characteristic in terms of scale and basin‐wide continuity, and offer insight into the contrast between shallow marine deposition under stable Triassic Greenhouse and fluctuating Holocene Icehouse climates. Findings presented herein are also important for hydrocarbon exploration in the Barents Sea, because they describe a hitherto poorly understood reservoir play in the Triassic interval, wherein the most prominent reservoir plays have so far been considered to be found in channelized deposits in net‐progradational delta‐plain strata that form the topsets to shelf‐edge clinoforms. The documented presence of widespread wave‐dominated shoreface deposits also has implications for how the relative importance of different sedimentary processes is considered within the basin during this period.     

Is Darwin's ‘Abominable Mystery’ still a mystery today?

Darwin described the Cretaceous diversification and subsequent rapid rise of flowering plants (angiosperms) as an “abominable mystery”: how could they have achieved worldwide ecological dominance by early Paleogene times when the oldest angiosperm fossils are only Cretaceous in age? However, recent phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographical analyses have suggested a much earlier, perhaps Triassic origin for the stem angiosperms. We suggest that the fossil record is accurately reflecting the rapid diversification of the crown angiosperms that molecular data suggests occurred in Cretaceous–early Palaeogene times, and which coincides with similar explosive diversifications that occurred in other parts of the terrestrial biota including insects, birds and mammals. Early, stem angiosperms are poorly represented in the fossil record for a combination of taphonomic and ecological reasons. We conclude that the reported evidence shows that the Darwin's “mystery” is in fact no mystery and confirms that it merely requires an appropriate reading of the fossil record.     

鄂尔多斯盆地晚三叠世延长期古湖盆生物相带划分及地质意义

鄂尔多斯盆地晚三叠世发育大型坳陷型湖盆。湖水的升降影响着湖盆水体面积的大小、深浅以及沉积体系发育分布,进而影响全盆地晚三叠延长统地层生储盖组合的发育特征。通过野外剖面、钻井岩芯中古生物化石的鉴定,结合古生物组合特征对鄂尔多斯盆地晚三叠世湖盆的古生物生态环境进行了恢复。确定鄂尔多斯晚三叠世湖盆是一个最大水深不超过60 m的浅水湖盆,属于温暖潮湿的淡水-半咸水环境。从湖岸到湖心,可以划分为预测古水深1～2 m的河流-沼泽生物相带;预测古水深3～15 m的滨岸-河口三角洲生物相带;预测古水深15～35 m的浅湖生物相带;预测古水深在35～60 m范围的半-深湖生物相带。这些生物相带的划分,为恢复鄂尔多斯盆地晚三叠世时期的岩相古地理奠定了基础,为盆地延长组沉积边界、盆地内沉积体系发育展布以及沉积相带的划分提供了坚实的地质依据,具有理论与实际意义。     

华北北缘东段开原地区三叠纪侵入岩年代学及岩石地球化学研究

本文报道了位于华北北缘东段开原地区尖山子岩体、宝兴岩体和树德屯岩体的岩相学、岩石地球化学及年代学特征,探讨了上述岩体的形成时代、岩石成因及其构造环境。锆石U-Pb定年结果表明,尖山子岩体形成于251±1.3Ma,宝兴岩体形成于235±1.3Ma,树德屯岩体形成于224±1.9Ma,说明开原地区三叠纪存在早三叠世、中三叠世和晚三叠世三个时期的岩浆活动。尖山子岩体以二长花岗岩为主,具高硅低镁特征,属钙碱性系列;富集大离子亲石元素Rb、K、Ba、Th,相对亏损Ta、Nb、P、Hf、Zr等高强场元素;δEu=0.55~1.87,(La/Yb)N=6.23~47.9,轻重稀土分馏明显,富集轻稀土,亏损重稀土。宝兴岩体以花岗闪长岩为主,Si O2含量变化较大(52.36%~74.06%),Al2O3含量(14.5%~17.34%),Mg O含量(0.61%~3.66%),属钙碱性系列;富集大离子亲石元素Rb、K、Ba、Th,相对亏损Ta、Nb、P、Ti等高强场元素;无明显的Eu异常,(La/Yb)N=6.81~25.6,轻重稀土分馏较明显,富集轻稀土,亏损重稀土。树德屯岩体以闪长岩为主,岩石具有低硅高镁特征,K2O/Na2O比值为0.33~0.76,显示富K贫Na特征,属钙碱性系列;富集大离子亲石元素Rb、K、Ba、Th,相对亏损Ta、Nb、P、Ti、Hf、Zr等高强场元素;无明显的Eu异常,(La/Yb)N=3.87~10.2,轻重稀土分馏不明显。上述岩石地球化学特征表明,尖山子岩体和宝兴岩体的原始岩浆起源于下地壳基性物质的部分熔融,树德屯岩体的原始岩浆起源于亏损的地幔楔。研究区三叠纪岩浆岩形成于造山阶段挤压环境下。华北北缘东段的挤压碰撞作用一直持续到晚三叠世(224Ma),而造山阶段向造山后阶段的构造转换(挤压地壳加厚向伸展垮塌的环境转换)发生于晚三叠世-早侏罗世(224~180Ma)期间。华北北缘东段中生代岩石圈减薄或破坏始于晚三叠世-早侏罗世(224~180Ma)期间。     

Bicyclic alkanes in source rocks of the Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Ordos Basin and their inconsistency in oil-source correlation

The Triassic Yanchang Formation is the main source rocks for Mesozoic oil in Ordos Basin. The formation includes 10 oil-bearing beds (Ch 1–Ch 10), that each can be further divided into two to three intervals. Abundant C₁₂–C₁₄ and C₁₅–C₁₆ bicyclic alkanes have been detected in the formation in the Xifeng oilfield, Ordos Basin. The C₁₂–C₁₄ group is dominated by C₁₂ and C₁₃, and the C₁₅–C₁₆ group contains abundant C₁₅. The groups show three distribution patterns: A) the C₁₂–C₁₄ group is the major component in the non-source rocks of the Ch 7-1 and Ch 8-1 intervals; B) both groups are abundant and are common in source rocks of the Ch 7-3 interval; and C) the C₁₅–C₁₆ group is the major component in source rocks of the Ch 7-3 interval and also in sediments that contain type Ⅰ or partial sapropel type Ⅱ₁ organic matter (OM) in the Ch 7-2 and Ch 8-1 intervals. Although thermal maturities of the source rocks in the Ch 7 section are similar, they show significant differences with respect to the drimane isomerisation index, which indicates that the drimane rearrangement is controlled by thermal evolution of the sediments, but may also be closely related to the depositional environment. This study determined that reducing environments are more conducive to preservation of drimane than oxic environments. The drimane isomerisation index and the value of the hopane parameter Tm/Ts are positively correlated. The parameter Tm/Ts varies over a wide range within the sequence, and the large variations may be a result of terrigenous OM input by turbidity currents and/or gravity flows, mixed with the autochthonous sediments. Abundant homodrimane in both source rocks may reflect reducing environments in deep lakes and major input of higher plant OM. Organic-rich shale and oil shale in the Ch 7-3 interval of the Yanchang Formation are the primary sources of oil in reservoirs in the Xifeng area. The crude oil is rich in bicyclic alkanes that are dominated by C₁₅–C₁₆ as source rocks with pattern C for bicyclic alkanes, which indicates an origin mainly from the Ch 7-3 interval. The main peaks in all of the crude oils are associated with 8β(H)-drimane and lower abundance of rearranged drimane. However, most of the source rocks have a main peak associated with 8β(H)-homodrimane or rearranged drimane. Weak microbial action, selective degradation and water washing may be the cause of the significant difference in bicyclic sesquiterpane composition between the crude oil and the source rocks. The result suggests that oil-source correlations based on the bicyclic sesquiterpanes are questionable.     

Origin of the Breno and Esino dolomites in the western Southern Alps (Italy): Implications for a volcanic influence

The Esino Limestone of the western Southern Alps represents a differentiated Ladinian-Lower Carnian (?) carbonate platform comprised of margin, slope and peritidal inner platform facies up to 1000 m thick. A major regional subaerial exposure event lead to coverage by another peritidal Lower Carnian carbonate platform (Breno Formation). Multiphase dolomitization affected the carbonate sediments. Petrographic examinations identified at least three main generations of dolomites (D1, D2, and D3) that occur as both replacement and fracture-filling cements. These phases have crystal-size ranges of 3–35 μm (dolomicrite D1), 40–600 μm (eu-to subhedral crystals D2), and 200 μm to 5 mm (cavity- and fracture-filling anhedral to subhedral saddle dolomite D3), respectively.The fabric retentive near-micritic grain size coupled with low mean Sr concentration (76 ± 37 ppm) and estimated δ¹⁸O of the parent dolomitizing fluids of D1 suggest formation in shallow burial setting at temperature ∼ 45–50 °C with possible contributions from volcanic-related fluids (basinal fluids circulated in volcaniclastics or related to volcanic activity), which is consistent with its abnormally high Fe (4438 ± 4393 ppm) and Mn (1219 ± 1418 ppm) contents. The larger crystal sizes, homogenization temperatures (D2, 108 ± 9 °C; D3, 111 ± 14 °C) of primary two-phase fluid inclusions, and calculated salinity estimates (D2, 23 ± 2 eq wt% NaCl; D3, 20 ± 4 eq wt% NaCl) of D2 and D3 suggest that they formed at later stages under mid-to deeper burial settings at higher temperatures from dolomitizing fluids of higher salinity, which is supported by higher estimated δ¹⁸O values of their parent dolomitizing fluids. This is also consistent with their high Fe (4462 ± 4888 ppm; and 1091 ± 1183 ppm, respectively) and Mn (556 ± 289 ppm and 1091 ± 1183 ppm) contents, and low Sr concentrations (53 ± 31 ppm and 57 ± 24 ppm, respectively).The similarity in shale-normalized (SN) REE patterns and Ce (Ce/Ce*)_SN and La (Pr/Pr*)_SN anomalies of the investigated carbonates support the genetic relationship between the dolomite generations and their calcite precursor. Positive Eu anomalies, coupled with fluid-inclusion gas ratios (N₂/Ar, CO₂/CH₄, Ar/He), high F⁻ concentration, high F/Cl and high Cl/Br molar ratios suggest an origin from diagenetic fluids circulated through volcanic rocks, which is consistent with the co-occurrence of volcaniclastic lenses in the investigated sequence.     

Does compaction-induced subsidence control accommodation space at the top of prograding carbonate platforms? Constraints from the numerical modelling of the Triassic Esino Limestone (Southern Alps,Italy)

The demise of the high-relief, steep-slope, prograding Ladinian-Early Carnian carbonate platforms of the Esino Limestone (Central Southern Alps of Italy) is marked by subaerial exposure of the platform top associated with different erosional (mainly karst-related), depositional and diagenetic processes (Calcare Rosso). The exposure-related deposits consist of three major facies associations: 1) residual soils with thin lenses of conglomerates with black pebbles, and, locally, weathered vulcanites; 2) chaotic breccia lenses irregularly distributed in the uppermost part of the Esino Limestone carbonate platform, interpreted as collapse breccias in karstic setting: 3) inter-supratidal carbonate cycles with dissolution and development of paleosols and tepee structures.Facies distribution follows the sub-environments of the underlying Esino Limestone. Facies 1 and 2 typically characterize the core of the platform, covering the underlying inner platform facies. Facies 3 instead develops toward the edge of the platform, above reef-upper slope facies of the prograding facies of the Esino Limestone. The thickness of facies 3 decreases toward the core of the platform. Facies distribution reflects differences in the accommodation space and sedimentary processes from the rim (highest accommodation, favouring the deposition of peritidal-supratidal carbonates) to the core (reduced accommodation, causing pedogenesis and karstification) of the carbonate system.The observed thickness changes may be controlled by different factors: 1) syndepositional tectonics, 2) subsidence induced by magmatic activity or 3) differential subsidence controlled by the stratigraphic architecture of the Esino Limestone platform and adjoining basins. As evidence of tectonics was not observed and the presence of volcanic bodies is only documented tens of km away from the study area, the scenario involving the creation of accommodation space by compaction of the basinal sediments (resedimented, fine-grained calciturbidites) during the progradation of the carbonate platform is here investigated. Numerical modelling was performed to verify the compatibility of compaction-induced subsidence with the observed depositional architecture. The models were built to simulate the architectural evolution of the platform by progressively adding layers from deepest to shallowest, while compacting the underlying sediments, in order to evaluate compaction-induced subsidence (and accommodation space for the Calcare Rosso) after the deposition of the youngest platform strata. Modelling results allow us to conclude that the wedge geometry of the Calcare Rosso, deposited on top of the extinct Esino carbonate platform, can be explained by subsidence controlled by compaction of the basinal sediments present below the early-cemented, fast prograding platform slope deposits.     

西藏白朗南部地区三叠纪地层沉积环境及物源

综合露头剖面、砂岩碎屑组分、地球化学、阴极发光等资料的研究,对西藏白朗地区南部三叠系沉积环境及物源开展了研究。该区三叠纪地层以灰黑色泥岩、浅灰白色石英砂岩、长石石英砂岩、灰色灰岩为主,沉积背景为拉轨岗日被动陆缘盆地的浅海-半深海环境。碎屑岩及其地球化学分析结果反映,物源总体来自克拉通内部。阴极发光结果表明,物源区石英主要为变质成因,次为火成岩成因。综合判定,研究区该套地层为下—中三叠统吕村组和上三叠统涅如组,物源区来自南部高喜马拉雅基底杂岩带。     

The Late Triassic I–Type Granites from the Longmu Co–Shuanghu Suture Zone in the interior of Tibetan Plateau, China: Petrogenesis and Implication for Slab Break–Off

The Jiangaidarina granitic mass(JM) is an important part of the magmatic belt in Longmu CoShuanghu Suture Zone(LSSZ) in the central Tibetan Plateau. An integrated research involving wholerock geochemistry, zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions was carried out to define the timing, genesis and tectonic setting of the JM. Zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb ages have been obtained ranging from 210 to 215 Ma, rather than the Early Jurassic as previously thought. Fifteen granite samples contain hornblendes and show a negative correlation between P_2 O_5 and SiO_2, indicating that the JM is an I-type granite. All the granites are enriched in LREE relative to HREE, with negative Eu anomalies(Eu/Eu*=0.56-0.81), and have similar trace elements patterns, with depletion of Ba, Nb, Sr and P. These suggest that the JM was fractionated, and this is also proved by the characteristic of negative correlations between oxide elements(TiO_2, MgO, FeOt, MnO, CaO) and SiO_2. Almost all ε_(Hf)(t) values of the granites are between-10.3 and-5.8, implying that the JM has a crustal source intimately related with the South Qiangtang Block(SQB), except for one(+10.2), showing a minor contribution from mantle source.Moreover, relatively low Na_2 O/K_2 O ratios(0.42-0.93) and high A/CNK values(0.91-1.50) reflect that the JM was predominately derived from the medium-high potassium basaltic crust, interacted with greywacke. Our new geochemical data and geochronological results imply that the Late Triassic magmas were generated in a post-collisional tectonic setting, probably caused by slab break-off of the Longmu Co-Shuanghu Tethyan Ocean(LSTO). This mechanism caused the asthenosphere upwelling, formed extension setting, offered an enormous amount of heat, and provided favorable conditions for emplacement of voluminous felsic magmas. Furthermore, the LSTO could be completely closed during the Middle Triassic, succeed by continental collision and later the slab broke off in the Late Triassic.     

藏北羌塘中部日湾茶卡地区晚三叠世安山岩与闪长质包体岩石成因及地质意义

龙木错-双湖-澜沧江缝合带将羌塘板块划分为南、北2个次级板块,在缝合带两侧大规模发育晚三叠世岩浆作用,并伴随大量的高压超高压变质岩。在缝合带以南的日湾茶卡地区识别出一套安山岩,其中发育大量的暗色闪长质捕虏体,锆石U-Pb测年结果在安山岩中获得了364.7±1.9Ma和223.9±1.3Ma两组年龄信息,锆石原位Hf同位素测试结果εHf(t)分别为+7.22~+8.69和-5.94~-4.14。结合羌塘中部已有的研究成果,认为闪长质捕虏体形成于晚泥盆世洋壳俯冲背景,是地幔楔部分熔融底侵至地壳的产物;而安山岩形成于晚三叠世碰撞后伸展背景,是深部板片断离机制下深俯冲陆壳边缘一侧熔体混染晚泥盆世新生地壳的产物。安山岩中闪长质捕虏体的发现支持了俯冲带作为大陆生长的重要场所的观点。