Synchronism of Holocene East Asian monsoon variations and North Atlantic drift-ice tracers

Eighteen radiocarbon-dated eolian and paleosol profiles within a 1500-km-long belt along the arid to semi-arid transition zone of north-central China record variations in the extent and strength of the East Asian summer monsoon during the Holocene. Dated paleosols and peat layers represent intervals when the zone was dominated by a mild, moist summer monsoon climate that favored pedogenesis and peat accumulation. Brief intervals of enhanced eolian activity that resulted in the deposition of loess and eolian sand were times when strengthened winter monsoon conditions produced a colder, drier climate. The monsoon variations correlate closely with variations in North Atlantic drift-ice tracers that represent episodic advection of drift ice and cold polar surface water southward and eastward into warmer subpolar water. The correspondence of these records over the full span of Holocene time implies a close relationship between North Atlantic climate and the monsoon climate of central China.     

Lermontovskoe Tungsten Skarn Deposit: the Oldest Mineralization in the Sikhote-Alin Orogen, Far East Russia

Abstract. Lermontovskoe tungsten skarn deposit in central Sikhote-Alin is concluded to have formed at 132 Ma in the Early Cretaceous, based on K-Ar age data for muscovite concentrates from high-grade scheelite ore and greisenized granite. Late Paleozoic limestone in Jurassic - early Early Cretaceous accretionary complexes was replaced during hydrothermal activity related to the Lermontovskoe granodiorite stock of reduced type. The ores, characterized by Mo-poor scheelite and Fe^3+- poor mineral assemblages, indicate that this deposit is a reduced-type tungsten skarn (Sato, 1980, 1982), in accordance with the reduced nature of the granodiorite stock.
The Lermontovskoe deposit, the oldest mineralization so far known in the Sikhote-Alin orogen, formed in the initial stage of Early Cretaceous felsic magmatism. The magmatism began shortly after the accretionary tectonics ceased, suggesting an abrupt change of subduction system. Style of the Early Cretaceous magmatism and mineralization is significantly different between central Sikhote-Alin and Northeast Japan; reduced-type and oxidized-type, respectively. The different styles may reflect different tectonic environments; compressional and extensional, respectively. These two areas, which were closer together before the opening of the Japan Sea in the Miocene, may have been juxtaposed under a transpressional tectonic regime after the magmatism.     

Cretaceous isochron ages from K–Ar and Ar / Ar dating of eclogitic rocks in the Tso Morari Complex, western Himalaya, India

The Tso Morari Complex, which is thought to be originally the margin of the Indian continent, is composed of pelitic gneisses and schists including mafic rock lenses (eclogites and basic schists). Eclogites studied here have the mineral assemblage Grt + Omp + Ca-Amp + Zo + Phn + Pg + Qtz + Rt. They also have coesite pseudomorph in garnet and quartz rods in omphacite, suggesting a record of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. They occur only in the cores of meter-scale mafic rock lenses intercalated with the pelitic schists. Small mafic lenses and the rim parts of large lenses have been strongly deformed to form the foliation parallel to that of the pelitic schists and show the mineral assemblages of upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism. The garnet–omphacite thermometry and the univariant reaction relations for jadeite formation give 13–21 kbar at 600 °C and 16–18 kbar at 750 °C for the eclogite formation using the jadeite content of clinopyroxene (X_Jd = 0.48).

Phengites in pelitic schists show variable Si / Al and Na / K ratios among grains as well as within single grains, and give K–Ar ages of 50–87 Ma. The pelitic schist with paragonite and phengite yielded K–Ar ages of 83.5 Ma (K = 4.9 wt.%) for paragonite–phengite mixture and 85.3 Ma (K = 7.8 wt.%) for phengite and an isochron age of 91 ± 13 Ma from the two dataset. The eclogite gives a plateau age of 132 Ma in Ar/Ar step-heating analyses using single phengite grain and an inverse isochron age of 130 ± 39 Ma with an initial ⁴⁰Ar / ³⁶Ar ratio of 434 ± 90 in Ar/Ar spot analyses of phengites and paragonites. The Cretaceous isochron ages are interpreted to represent the timing of early stage of exhumation of the eclogitic rocks assuming revised high closure temperature (500 °C) for phengite K–Ar system. The phengites in pelitic schists have experienced retrograde reaction which modified their chemistry during intense deformation associated with the exhumation of these rocks with the release of significant radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar from the crystals. The argon release took place in the schists that experienced the retrogression to upper greenschist facies metamorphisms from the eclogite facies conditions.     

Quaternary bedrock erosion and landscape evolution in the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica: Reevaluating rates and processes

Rates and processes of rock weathering, soil formation, and mountain erosion during the Quaternary were evaluated in an inland Antarctic cold desert. The fieldwork involved investigations of weathering features and soil profiles for different stages after deglaciation. Laboratory analyses addressed chemistry of rock coatings and soils, as well as ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al exposure ages of the bedrock. Less resistant gneiss bedrock exposed over 1 Ma shows stone pavements underlain by in situ produced silty soils thinner than 40 cm and rich in sulfates, which reflect the active layer thickness, the absence of cryoturbation, and the predominance of salt weathering. During the same exposure period, more resistant granite bedrock has undergone long-lasting cavernous weathering that produces rootless mushroom-like boulders with a strongly Fe-oxidized coating. The red coating protects the upper surface from weathering while very slow microcracking progresses by the growth of sulfates. Geomorphological evidence and cosmogenic exposure ages combine to provide contrasting average erosion rates. No erosion during the Quaternary is suggested by a striated roche moutonnée exposed more than 2 Ma ago. Differential erosion between granite and gneiss suggests a significant lowering rate of desert pavements in excess of 10 m Ma^− 1. The landscape has been (on the whole) stable, but the erosion rate varies spatially according to microclimate, geology, and surface composition.     

The evolution of groundwater in the Tyrrell catchment, south-central Murray Basin, Victoria, Australia

The Tyrell catchment lies on the western margin of the Riverine Province in the south-central Murray Basin, one of Australia’s most important groundwater resources. Groundwater from the shallow, unconfined Pliocene Sands aquifer and the underlying Renmark Group aquifer is saline (total dissolved solids up to 150,000 mg/L) and is Na-Cl-Mg type. There is no systematic change in salinity along hydraulic gradients implying that the aquifers are hydraulically connected and mixing during vertical flow is important. Stable isotopes (¹⁸O+²H) and Cl/Br ratios indicate that groundwater is entirely of meteoric origin and salts in this system have largely been derived by evapotranspiration of rainfall with only minor halite dissolution, rock weathering (mainly feldspar dissolution), and ion exchange between Na and Mg on clays. Similarity in chemistry of all groundwater in the catchment implies relative consistency in processes over time, independent of any climatic variation. Groundwater in both the Pliocene Sands and Renmark Group aquifers yield ages of up to 25 ka. The Tyrrell Catchment is arid to semi-arid and has low topography. This has resulted in relatively low recharge rates and hydraulic gradients that have resulted in long groundwater residence times.     

Hydrochemistry and isotope geochemistry as tools for groundwater hydrodynamic investigation in multilayer aquifers: a case study from Lomellina, Po plain, South-Western Lombardy, Italy

A multicriteria approach in studying hydrodynamics of a multilayer aquifer system has been used in the Lomellina region (Northern Italy). It involves the reconstruction of the hydrogeological framework coupled to the definition of the hydrochemical and isotopic features of the aquifers. A shallow phreatic aquifer, reaching depths of about 60–80 m from the surface, and deeper aquifers containing confined groundwater, were distinguished. Groundwater generally shows mineralisation decreasing with depth; dissolved ions depict calcium-bicarbonate hydrochemical facies and stable isotopes define the recharge mechanisms, the origin of groundwater, and the hydraulic confinement of deep aquifers. The phreatic aquifer is fed by local infiltration and by streams and irrigation channels. Tritium and Carbon-14 groundwater dating indicate long residence times (on the order of thousands of years) for confined aquifers. The confined aquifers show essentially passive hydrodynamic conditions and maintain a higher piezometric level than the phreatic aquifer. This inhibits the possibility of recent water penetrating far below the surface. The hydrogeological setting of the Lomellina region displays features which are common to other sectors of the Po plain. As a consequence, the results of this study, although conducted on a restricted area, are highly illustrative of groundwater hydrodynamics in large sedimentary aquifers.     

玛纳斯河一级电站引水渠沿线提取地下水进行融冰的可行性研究

通过对向斜洼地含水层水文地质特征的勘探及研究,对研究区的水文地质边界条件进行了概化,并用水均衡法估算了地下水资源量,对拟建一级电站引水渠沿线提取地下水进行融冰的可行性进行了研究,并提出了取水方案.     

道虎沟生物群(前热河生物群)的发现及其地质时代

根据最新发现的动、植物化石 ,确立了“道虎沟生物群”,这一新的生物群属前热河生物群 ,生存时代大体相当于晚侏罗世的牛津期 (Oxfordian)至基末利期 (Kim meridgian)。这一发现大大补充了我国这一地质时期贫乏的化石记录 ,为探讨热河生物群的起源提供了较丰富的第一手材料。     

白云鄂博碳酸岩型REE-Nb-Fe矿床——一个罕见的中元古代破火山机构成岩成矿实例

白云鄂博碳酸岩型REE-Nb-Fe矿床是世界上最大的稀土矿床。稀土矿石产于整个白云石碳酸岩体和部分脉状碳酸岩中。对比世界上20余个火成碳酸岩地区的特征后发现,白云鄂博地区完全具备国外火成碳酸岩区的地质特征。在岩石、矿石组合上,本区也发育一套碳酸岩+超基性岩+碱性基性岩(含基性熔岩)+碱性岩+稀土矿石+铁矿石组合;在矿物组合上,以白云石为主,方解石次之,伴生一套碱性闪石、长石、霓石、磷灰石、萤石、磁铁矿、稀土矿物组合;在全岩化学成分、微量元素、稀土元素和Sr、Nd、Pb、C、O同位素上,这些岩石具有一定的亲缘关系,有着共同的来源;在岩体的形态与岩石组构上,它们以岩席、岩筒和脉岩的形式出现,并发育有强烈的熔离作用与流动构造;在区域构造上,发育隐伏穹窿构造、岩筒构造和巨型断裂汇聚构造。综合分析上述特征表明:白云鄂博地区具有中元古代破火山机构的痕迹,赋矿白云石碳酸岩体则是顺层侵入的火成碳酸岩体,东矿、主矿可能是一个火山颈构造控矿,而赋矿白云石碳酸岩体西南侧的苏木图矿床则是隐伏岩筒构造控矿。     

东南极Lambert冰川-Amery冰架系统平衡通量分布的计算

通过对Lambert冰川盆地(LGB)考察路线上约1 700 km长的LGB剖面和距冰架末端约50 km、长150 km的A剖面, 分别利用GPS冰流速值及雷达测厚值进行冰通量的计算得出:每年流过LGB剖面的冰通量为43.95 Gta-1, 而通过A剖面的冰通量仅为26. 42 Gt*a-1, Amery冰架底部净融化量为7.8 Gt*a-1. 整个Lambert冰川-Amery冰架系统(LAS)地区的表面净物质平衡总量约为90 Gt*a-1; LGB地区的表面净物质平衡总量为46 Gt*a-1. 通过分析得出, 整个LAS地区及LGB地区均处于物质正平衡状态, 而LAS流域的上游区域S'则处于物质负平衡状态.