Neogene echinoids from the Cayman Islands,West Indies: regional implications

The first fossil echinoids are recorded from the Cayman Islands. A regular echinoid, Arbacia? sp., the spatangoids Brissus sp. cf. B. oblongus Wright and Schizaster sp. cf. S. americanus (Clark), and the clypeasteroid Clypeaster sp. are from the Middle Miocene Cayman Formation. Test fragments of the mellitid clypeasteroid, Leodia sexiesperforata (Leske), are from the Late Pleistocene Ironshore Formation. Miocene echinoids are preserved as (mainly internal) moulds; hence, all species are left in open nomenclature because of uncertainties regarding test architecture. All Miocene taxa are recorded from single specimens apart from the 27 assigned to Brissus. Schizaster sp. cf. S. americanus (Clark) is compared to a species from the Oligocene of the south‐east USA. Brissus sp. cf. B. oblongus is close in gross morphology to a taxon from the Miocene of Malta. Leodia sexiesperforata is identified from fragments with confidence, being the only extant Antillean sand dollar with elongate ambulacral petals that is limited to carbonate substrates. The Miocene echinoids of Grand Cayman, although of limited diversity, are mainly comprised of genera common in comparable mid‐Cenozoic carbonate environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

琼东南盆地南部中新统“丘”形反射成因探讨

在琼东南盆地南部中新统梅山组广泛发育“丘”形反射, 对其识别分析具有重要的意义。这些“丘”形反射主要分布在北礁凹陷及周缘斜坡带上, 在顶底界面呈强反射, 在内部成层、杂乱或为空白反射, 有时在顶部见披覆沉积, 从盆地中心北礁凹陷向边缘斜坡带迁移生长。通过对“丘”形反射的古构造和古地理背景、几何学特征及地震响应特征等方面综合分析, 对其成因进行了探讨, 排除了其为生物礁、泥底辟以及火山丘的可能, 认为其可能为深水环境底流作用下形成的等深流沉积或某种沉积物波。     

A New Fossil Termite(Isoptera,Stolotermitidae,Stolotermes)from the Early Miocene of Otago,New Zealand

<正>The forewing of a termite from Early Miocene lake sediments in Otago,southern New Zealand is figured and described.It exhibits the generic characters of the damp-wood termite Stolotermes Hagen,but differs from forewings of the known species in size and venation pattern and is described as Stolotermes kupe sp.nov.S.kupe represents the first confident record of fossil Stolotermitidae and extends the fossil record of the family back to the Early Miocene.It also is the first direct evidence of fossil Isoptera from New Zealand,though silicified termite faecal pellets,referable to Kalotermes brauni,have been previously described.S.kupe indicates that Stolotermitidae has been present in the Australasian region since at least the Early Miocene.     

Morphological indicators of structural control,relative sea-level fluctuations and platform drowning on present-day and Miocene carbonate platforms

The morphology of Carbonate platforms may be influenced by tectonic activity and eustatic variations. 3D seismic data and satellite imagery are used in order to investigate the morphological similarities between present-day carbonates platforms, East of Borneo Island and Miocene carbonate platforms of the South China Sea. The morphological similarities exhibit platform fragmentation, that could be caused by subtle faulting, sufficient to drown reef rims; platform contraction, which is a result of back-stepping of the reef margin during a relative sea level rise and polygonal patterns in internal lagoons, described as mesh reefs in modern platforms and possibly interpreted as karst in Miocene platforms.Vertical movements may trigger the formation of new geomorphological conditions that modify the distribution of coral growth with respect to the new hydrodynamic conditions in space and time. These movements (uplift and tilting) reduce and localize the space necessary for the coral ecosystem, explaining the contraction leading to drowning of parts of and, ultimately, the whole platform.     

Structural evolution of Malay Basin,its link to Sunda Block tectonics

The Malay Basin is located offshore West Malaysia in the South China Sea, within north central region of 1st order Sunda Block. The basin developed partly as a result of tectonic collisions and strike-slip shear of the Southeast Asia continental slabs, as the Indian Plate collided into Eurasia, and subsequent extrusion of lithospheric blocks towards Indochina. The Sunda Block epicontinental earliest rift margins were manifested by the Palaeogene W–E rift valleys, which formed during NW–SE sinistral shear of the region. Later Eocene NW–SE dextral shear of (2nd order) Indochina Block against East Malaya Block rifted open a 3rd order Malay Basin. Developed within it is a series of 4th order N–S en-echelon ridges and grabens. The grabens and some ridges, sequentially, host W–E trending 5th order folds of later compressional episodes. The Malay Basin Ridge and Graben Model explains the multi-phased structural deformation which started with, the a) Pre-Rift Palaeo/Mesozoic crystalline/metamorphic Basement, b) Synrift phase during Paleogene, c) Fast Subsidence from Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene, d) Compressional inversion of first Sunda fold during Late Miocene, and e) Basin Sag during Plio-Pleistocene with mild compressional episodes. The subsequent Mio-Pliocene folding history of Malay Basin is connected to the collision of Sunda Block against subducting Indian–Australian Plate. This Neogene Sunda tectonics, to some degree after the cessation of South China Sea spreading, is due to the diachronous collision along the 1st order plate margins between SE Asia and Australia.     

Warm‐temperate,marine, carbonate sedimentation in an Early Miocene,tide‐influenced,incised valley; Provence,south‐east France

The Saumane‐Venasque compound palaeovalley succession accumulated in a strongly tide‐influenced embayment or estuary. Warm‐temperate normal marine to brackish conditions led to deposition of extensive cross‐bedded biofragmental calcarenites. Echinoids, bryozoans, coralline algae, barnacles and benthic foraminifera were produced in seagrass meadows, on rocky substrates colonized by macroalgae and within subaqueous dune fields. There are two sequences, S1 and S2, the first of which contains three high‐frequency sequences (S1a, S1b and S1c). Sequence 1 is largely confined to the palaeovalley with its upper part covering interfluves. Each of these has a similar upward succession of deposits that includes: (i) a basal erosional surface that is bored and glauconitized; (ii) a discontinuous lagoonal lime mudstone or wackestone; (iii) a thin conglomerate generated by tidal ravinement; (iv) a transgressive systems tract series of cross‐bedded calcarenites; (v) a maximum flooding interval of argillaceous, muddy quartzose, open‐marine limestones; and (vi) a thin highstand systems tract of fine‐grained calcarenite. Tidal currents during stages S1a, S1b and S1c were accentuated by the constricted valley topography, whereas basin‐scale factors enhanced tidal currents during the deposition of S2. The upper part of the succession in all but S1c has been removed by later erosion. There is an overall upward temporal change with quartz, barnacles, encrusting corallines and epifaunal echinoids decreasing but bryozoans, articulated corallines and infaunal echinoids increasing. This trend is interpreted to be the result of changing oceanographic conditions as the valley was filled, bathymetric relief was reduced, rocky substrates were replaced as carbonate factories by seagrass meadows and subaqueous dunes, and the setting became progressively less confined and more open marine. These limestones are characteristic of a suite of similar cool‐water calcareous sand bodies in environments with little siliciclastic or fresh water input during times of high‐amplitude sea‐level change wherein complex inboard antecedent topography was flooded by a rising ocean.     

A Middle Miocene carbonate embankment on an active volcanic slope: Ilhéu de Baixo,Madeira Archipelago,Eastern Atlantic

Carbonate factories on insular oceanic islands in active volcanic settings are poorly explored. This case study illuminates marginal limestone deposits on a steep volcanic flank and their recurring interruption by deposits linked to volcaniclastic processes. Historically known as Ilhéu da Cal (Lime Island), Ilhéu de Baixo was separated from Porto Santo, in the Madeira Archipelago, during the course of the Quaternary. Here, extensive mines were tunnelled in the Miocene carbonate strata for the production of slaked lime. Approximately 10 000 m³ of calcarenite (−1 to 1ø) was removed by hand labour from the Blandy Brothers mine at the south end of the islet. Investigations of two stratigraphic sections at opposite ends of the mine reveal that the quarried material represents an incipient carbonate ramp developed from east to west and embanked against the flank of a volcanic island. A petrographic analysis of limestones from the mine shows that coralline red algae from crushed rhodoliths account for 51% of all identifiable bioclasts. This material was transported shoreward and deposited on the ramp between normal wave base and storm wave base at moderate depths. The mine's roof rocks are formed by Surtseyan deposits from a subsequent volcanic eruption. Volcaniclastic density flows also are a prevalent factor interrupting renewed carbonate deposition. These flows arrived downslope from the north and gradually steepened the debris apron westwards. Slope instability is further shown by a coral rudstone density flow that followed from growth of a coral reef dominated by Pocillopora madreporacea (Lamarck), partial reef collapse, and transport from a more easterly direction into a fore‐reef setting. The uppermost facies represents a soft bottom at moderate depths in a quiet, but shore‐proximal setting. Application of this study to a broader understanding of the relationship between carbonate and volcaniclastic deposition on oceanic islands emphasizes the susceptibility of carbonates to dilution and complete removal by density flows of various kinds, in contrast to the potential for preservation beneath less‐disruptive Surtseyan deposits. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emplacement of the La Peña alkaline igneous complex,Mendoza, Argentina (33° S): Implications for the early Miocene tectonic regime in the retroarc of the Andes

The La Peña alkaline complex (LPC) of Miocene age (18–19 Ma) lies on the eastern front of the Precordillera (32°41ʹ34ʺS, 68°59ʹ48″W, 1400–2900 m a.s.l.), 30 km northwest of Mendoza city, Argentina. It is a subcircular massif of 19 km² and 5 km in diameter, intruded in the metasedimentary sequence of the Villavicencio Formation of Silurian-Devonian age. It is the result of integration of multiple pulses derived from one or more deep magma chambers, which form a suite of silicate rocks grouped into: a clinopyroxenite body, a central syenite facies with a large breccia zone at the contact with the clinopyroxenite, bodies of malignite, trachyte and syenite porphyry necks, and a system of radial and annular dikes of different compositions. Its subcircular geometry and dike system distribution are frequent features of intraplate plutons or plutons emplaced in post-orogenic settings. These morphostructural features characterize numerous alkaline complexes worldwide and denote the importance of magmatic pressures that cause doming with radial and annular fracturing, in a brittle country rock. However, in the LPC, the attitude of the internal fabric of plutonic and subvolcanic units and the preferential layout of dikes match the NW–SE extensional fractures widely distributed in the host rock. This feature indicates a strong tectonic control linked to the structure that facilitate space for emplacement, corresponding to the brittle shear zone parallel to the N–S stratigraphy of the country rock. Shearing produced a system of discontinuities, with a K fractal fracture pattern, given by the combination of Riedel (R), anti-Riedel (R′), (P) and extensional (T) fracture systems, responsible for the control of melt migration by the opening of various fracture branches, but particularly through the NW–SE (T) fractures. Five different pulses would have ascent, (1) an initial one from which cumulate clinopyroxenite was formed, (2) a phase of mafic composition represented by dikes cross-cutting the clinopyroxenite, (3) a malignite facies that causes a small breccia in the clinopyroxenite, (4) a central syenite facies that develops breccias at the contact with the clinopyroxenite and, finally, (5) porphyry necks and a system of radial dikes intruding all units. At the moment of the emplacement different mechanisms would have acted, they summarized in: 1) opening of discontinuities synchronous to the magma circulation as the principal mechanism for formation of dikes and conduits; 2) stoping processes, that play an important role in the development of the breccia zone and enabling an efficient transference of material during the emplacement of the syenitic magma and 3) shear-related deformation (regional stress), affected the internal fabric of the facies, causing intracrystalline deformation and submagmatic flow, which is very evident in the central syenite intrusive. The kinematic analysis of shear planes allows proposing that emplacement of the LPC took place in a transtensive regime, which would have occurred in the back-arc of the Andes orogen, during a long period spanning from Miocene to the present, of the compressive deformation responsible, westward and at the same latitude, for the development of the Aconcagua fold and thrust belt.     

Geochronologic and paleontologic evidence for a Pacific–Atlantic connection during the late Oligocene–early Miocene in the Patagonian Andes (43–44°S)

Cenozoic marine strata occur in the western, eastern, and central parts of the North Patagonian Andes between ∼43°S and 44°S. Correlation of these deposits is difficult because they occur in small and discontinuous outcrops and their ages are uncertain. In order to better understand the age and sedimentary environment of these strata, we combined U–Pb (LA-MC-ICPMS) geochronology on detrital zircons with sedimentologic and paleontologic (foraminifers and molluscs) studies. Sedimentologic analyses suggest that the Puduhuapi Formation on the western flank of the Andean Cordillera was deposited in a deep-marine setting, the Vargas Formation in the central part of the Andes was deposited at outer-neritic or bathyal depths, and the La Cascada Formation on the eastern flank of the range was deposited in a shallow-marine environment. Geochronologic and paleontologic results indicate that the three marine units were deposited during the late Oligocene-early Miocene interval, although it is not clear whether this occurred during one or more marine incursions in the area. The alluvial(?) conglomeratic deposits of the La Junta Formation, exposed in the proximity of the Vargas Formation outcrops, have a maximum depositional age of ∼26 Ma and could have been deposited during the initial stage of subsidence that affected this region prior to the marine transgression over this area. The occurrence of both Pacific and Atlantic molluscan taxa in the La Cascada and Vargas formations suggests that a marine strait connected both oceans during the accumulation of these units. The new data on the age of the Puduhuapi, Vargas, and La Cascada formations indicate that these units may correlate with lower Miocene marine deposits in the forearc of central and southern Chile (Navidad Formation and equivalent units) and on the eastern flank of the Patagonian Andes (Río Foyel Formation and equivalent units). A late Oligocene−early Miocene age for these marine deposits is a reliable maximum age for the deformation and uplift of the North Patagonian Andes.     

中中新世中亚构造抬升驱动气候干旱化：以塔里木盆地东南缘江尕勒萨伊剖面为例

中亚前陆盆地地层中氧同位素和孢粉,以及黄土高原和北太平洋粉尘记录均表明,中中新世(16~12 Ma)中亚地区气候干旱化显著增强。然而,对其驱动机制的认识不一,包括全球降温、中亚地区的构造抬升、高海拔的"原西藏高原"的存在、副特提斯洋的退缩以及上述几者联合作用的结果。不过,全球降温(约14 Ma)、"原西藏高原"的抬升(≥40 Ma)、以及副特提斯洋退缩的时间(34 Ma)与中中新世中亚气候干旱化增强的时间(16~12 Ma)不一致。因此,它们可能是导致中中新世中亚干旱化增强的重要边界条件,或者是有利的辅助条件,但没起直接的主导作用。对塔里木盆地东南缘江尕勒萨伊剖面的前期研究结果表明,阿尔金山快速抬升始于16 Ma。在获得了磁性地层年龄的基础上,前人的碳氧同位素数据指示了16 Ma江尕勒萨依地区气候干旱化逐渐增强。鉴于同时发生,笔者把16 Ma气候干旱化增强归因于此时阿尔金山的快速抬升。从更广范围看,中中新世中亚发生了广泛的的地壳缩短变形和造山运动。对中国黄土高原的红粘土以及北太平洋粉尘沉积的多指标分析(磁化率、粒径、粉尘通量以及物源等)表明,中中新世中亚构造抬升及其引起的雨影效应是中亚气候干旱化增强的主因。