Age and significance of core complex formation in a very curved orogen: Evidence from fission track studies in the South Carpathians (Romania)

Twenty-four new zircon and apatite fission track ages from the Getic and Danubian nappes in the South Carpathians are discussed in the light of a compilation of published fission track data. A total of 101 fission track ages indicates that the Getic nappes are generally characterized by Cretaceous zircon and apatite fission track ages, indicating cooling to near-surface temperatures of these units immediately following Late Cretaceous orogeny.The age distribution of the Danubian nappes, presently outcropping in the Danubian window below the Getic nappes, depends on the position with respect to the Cerna-Jiu fault. Eocene and Oligocene zircon and apatite central ages from the part of the Danubian core complex situated southeast of this fault monitor mid-Tertiary tectonic exhumation in the footwall of the Getic detachment, while zircon fission track data from northwest of this fault indicate that slow cooling started during the Latest Cretaceous. The change from extension (Getic detachment) to strike-slip dominated tectonics along the curved Cerna-Jiu fault allowed for further exhumation on the concave side of this strike-slip fault, while exhumation ceased on the convex side. The available fission track data consistently indicate that the change to fast cooling associated with tectonic denudation by core complex formation did not occur before Late Eocene times, i.e. long after the cessation of Late Cretaceous thrusting.Core complex formation in the Danubian window is related to a larger-scale scenario that is characterized by the NNW-directed translation, followed by a 90° clockwise rotation of the Tisza-Dacia “block” due to roll-back of the Carpathian embayment. This led to a complex pattern of strain partitioning within the Tisza-Dacia “block” adjacent to the western tip of the rigid Moesian platform. Our results suggest that the invasion of these southernmost parts of Tisza-Dacia started before the Late Eocene, i.e. significantly before the onset of Miocene-age rollback and associated extension in the Pannonian basin.     

Creation of the Cocos and Nazca plates by fission of the Farallon plate

Throughout the Early Tertiary the area of the Farallon oceanic plate was episodically diminished by detachment of large and small northern regions, which became independently moving plates and microplates. The nature and history of Farallon plate fragmentation has been inferred mainly from structural patterns on the western, Pacific-plate flank of the East Pacific Rise, because the fragmented eastern flank has been subducted. The final episode of plate fragmentation occurred at the beginning of the Miocene, when the Cocos plate was split off, leaving the much reduced Farallon plate to be renamed the Nazca plate, and initiating Cocos–Nazca spreading. Some Oligocene Farallon plate with rifted margins that are a direct record of this plate-splitting event has survived in the eastern tropical Pacific, most extensively off northern Peru and Ecuador. Small remnants of the conjugate northern rifted margin are exposed off Costa Rica, and perhaps south of Panama. Marine geophysical profiles (bathymetric, magnetic and seismic reflection) and multibeam sonar swaths across these rifted oceanic margins, combined with surveys of 30–20 Ma crust on the western rise-flank, indicate that (i) Localized lithospheric rupture to create a new plate boundary was preceded by plate stretching and fracturing in a belt several hundred km wide. Fissural volcanism along some of these fractures built volcanic ridges (e.g., Alvarado and Sarmiento Ridges) that are 1–2 km high and parallel to “absolute” Farallon plate motion; they closely resemble fissural ridges described from the young western flank of the present Pacific–Nazca rise. (ii) For 1–2 m.y. prior to final rupture of the Farallon plate, perhaps coinciding with the period of lithospheric stretching, the entire plate changed direction to a more easterly (“Nazca-like”) course; after the split the northern (Cocos) part reverted to a northeasterly absolute motion. (iii) The plate-splitting fracture that became the site of initial Cocos–Nazca spreading was a linear feature that, at least through the 680 km of ruptured Oligocene lithosphere known to have avoided subduction, did not follow any pre-existing feature on the Farallon plate, e.g., a “fracture zone” trail of a transform fault. (iv) The margins of surviving parts of the plate-splitting fracture have narrow shoulders raised by uplift of unloaded footwalls, and partially buried by fissural volcanism. (v) Cocos–Nazca spreading began at 23 Ma; reports of older Cocos–Nazca crust in the eastern Panama Basin were based on misidentified magnetic anomalies.There is increased evidence that the driving force for the 23 Ma fission of the Farallon plate was the divergence of slab-pull stresses at the Middle America and South America subduction zones. The timing and location of the split may have been influenced by (i) the increasingly divergent northeast slab pull at the Middle America subduction zone, which lengthened and reoriented because of motion between the North America and Caribbean plates; (ii) the slightly earlier detachment of a northern part of the plate that had been entering the California subduction zone, contributing a less divergent plate-driving stress; and (iii) weakening of older parts of the plate by the Galapagos hotspot, which had come to underlie the equatorial region, midway between the risecrest and the two subduction zones, by the Late Oligocene.     

9: Processes of tectonism, magmatism and mineralization: Lessons from Europe

Metallogenic provinces in Europe range in age from the Archaean to the Neogene. Deposit types include porphyry copper and epithermal Cu–Au, volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS), orogenic gold, Fe-oxide–Cu–Au, anorthosite Fe–Ti-oxide and sediment-hosted base-metal deposits. Most of them formed during short-lived magmatic events in a wide range of tectonic settings; many can be related to specific tectonic processes such as subduction, hinge retreat, accretion of island arcs, continental collision, lithosphere delamination or slab tear. In contrast, most sediment-hosted deposits in Europe evolved in extensional, continental settings over significant periods of time. In Europe, as elsewhere, ore formation is an integral part of the geodynamic evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle. Many tectonic settings create conditions conducive to the generation of water-rich magma, but the generation of ore deposits appears to be restricted to locations and short periods of change in temperature and stress, imposed by transitory plate motions. Crustal influence is evident in the strong structural controls on the location and morphology of many ore deposits in Europe. Crustal-scale fault–fracture systems, many involving strike-slip elements, have provided the fabric for major plumbing systems. Rapid uplift, as in metamorphic core complexes, and hydraulic fracturing can generate or focus magmatic–hydrothermal fluid flow that may be active for time spans significantly less than a million years. Once a hydrologically stable flow is established, ore formation is strongly dependent on the steep temperature and pressure gradients experienced by the fluid, particularly within the upper crust. In Europe, significant fracture porosity deep in the crystalline basement (1%) is not only important for magmatic–hydrothermal systems, but allows brines to circulate down through sedimentary basins and then episodically upward, expelled seismically to produce sediment-hosted base-metal deposits and Kupferschiefer copper deposits. Emerging research, stimulated by GEODE, can improve the predicting power of numerical simulations of ore-forming processes and help discover the presence of orebodies beneath barren overburden.     

临夏盆地13～4.4 Ma湖相沉积物颜色记录的气候变化探讨

利用高分辨率的代用资料来恢复古气候环境变化是当前过去全球变化研究的重要内容.通过对临夏盆地13～4.4 Ma时段稳定湖泊沉积物以10 cm间隔连续采得的2 060块样品进行颜色测定与分析,获得该时段湖相沉积物高分辨率颜色指标变化序列.通过沉积物颜色与成分分析,并与氯离子、CaCO3、风成石英砂含量和孢粉组合以及北太平洋ODP885/886孔的风成粉沙通量变化曲线对比,认为稳定湖相沉积物颜色指标是研究古气候变化的辅助性代用指标,并揭示了该地区在8 Ma和6.2 Ma左右存在两次重大的气候变干转型事件.     

金沙江上游特米古滑坡堰塞湖成因与演化

金沙江上游巴塘—中咱河段位于青藏高原东南缘,该河段两岸岸坡发育众多的大型古滑坡,且部分古滑坡曾堵塞金沙江形成了堰塞湖,特米大型古滑坡堰塞湖是其中之一。关于特米古滑坡堰塞湖的形成与演化过程目前尚未见有过详细的报道。本文在野外调查的基础上,结合遥感影像解译和年代学测试,对特米古滑坡堰塞湖的地貌和沉积特征进行了详细研究,并对其形成与演化过程进行了分析。研究结果表明,特米古滑坡堰塞湖很可能是由该地区的古地震活动触发大型滑坡并堵塞金沙江形成的,最大湖面面积约为1.42×10⁷ m²,库容蓄水量约为1.46×10⁹ m³。该古堰塞湖的形成时间约为1.8 ka BP,其溃决消亡的时间约为1.4 ka BP,溃决洪峰流量约为55 858 m³/s,该滑坡堰塞湖持续稳定了约400年的时间。     

油气形成的力化学作用--油气地质理论思考之一

传统油气地质学认为构造作用主要控制含油气盆地的沉积和油气的运移聚集,而烃类形成演化的能量主要是热能。近年来,越来越多的地质和地球化学资料显示,构造活动对有机质直接成烃的力化学作用在成烃过程中举足轻重,从而引起高度重视。在地质和地球化学资料基础上,结合高分子力化学分析,阐述了力化学作用的基本特点,沉积盆地中应力分布、成烃力化学作用方式、反应类型、影响因素和实验证据以及力化学作用与油气分布,以推进油气     

郯庐断裂带形成演化的年代学研究

通过对郯庐断裂带东侧张八岭蓝片岩带内白云母4 0 Ar - 3 9Ar年龄、断裂带内片麻状花岗岩中钾长石4 0 Ar- 3 9Ar年龄以及断裂带内断层泥K -Ar、ESR年龄的测定 ,并结合有关的地质和古地磁资料 ,厘定了郯庐断裂带形成和演化的过程 :(1)三叠纪 (2 44～ 2 0 9Ma)由于华北与扬子地块碰撞 ,郯庐断裂带形成为其主要左行平移时期 ;(2 )侏罗纪 (189～ 16 4Ma)时郯庐断裂东侧下扬子地块可能经历了逆时针转动 ;(3)白垩纪 (10 3～ 94Ma)开始郯庐断裂带伴随走滑平移而发生正断活动 ;(4)晚白垩—第三纪右旋平移阶段。郯庐断裂的形成与大别 -苏鲁变质带有关。     

黄河口凹陷流体包裹体成藏年代和充注期次研究

流体包裹体技术已被证实在含油气盆地的成藏年代和运移期次的研究中是一个有效的手段。关于包裹体在成藏期次方面的研究已有许多,但系统介绍包裹体技术在油气勘探中的应用研究则少见。为推动该方法在油气勘探中的应用,本文从样品制备、分析仪器、流体包裹体镜下特征、均一温度等方面系统介绍了利用流体包裹体确定油气成藏年代与充注期次的方法,以及该方法在黄河口凹陷油气勘查中的应用研究成果:确定了该凹陷普遍发育较低成熟液态烃包裹体、成熟气液态烃包裹体、较高成熟气液态烃包裹体和气烃包裹体3类包裹体,确定了黄河口地区沙河街组油气充注至少有3期:第1期、第2期油气于明化镇组沉积时期开始注入储层(10~5Ma),第3期较高成熟油及伴生气于第四纪开始注入储层(小于3Ma);利用包裹体均一温度还确定了位于黄河口凹陷与渤中凹陷交界的BZ25构造第1期油气来源于渤中凹陷。     

赣南白面石地区铀资源潜力分析

白面石地区有着得天独厚的铀成矿地质背景,区内铀矿化是在富铀的白面石花岗岩体基础上发展起来的。富铀基底花岗岩的风化,使铀活化迁移,形成高铀含量砂岩层,是该区成矿的基础;北西向展布的双峰式火山岩浆喷溢、形成覆盖在高铀含量砂岩层之上的火山岩层,起着热盖和封闭作用,使铀聚积成矿,是成矿的关键;后期断裂作用及次火山岩的贯入,带来了丰富的热能,使铀再次活化迁移,铀矿化叠加变富。     

泥火山的全球分布和研究进展

本文系统介绍了泥火山的全球分布特征、分类、成矿、成因特征和机制、生物地球化学和地质灾害。泥火山是盆地地层深部含水的泥质物在高压作用下喷出地表形成的锥状沉积体,主要发育在沉积速率较快和有横向挤压构造作用的盆地中。全球陆地有超过40个泥火山发育区,海底有超过20个泥火山发育区,每个发育区有几座到200多座泥火山不等,陆地和浅海区共有2000多个泥火山。各地泥火山有不同的喷发周期,喷发物也各有不同的形态、成分、来源和年龄。尽管泥火山的成因机制尚颇有争议,但较快的沉积速率和活动大陆边缘横向构造挤压作用无疑是两个最为关键的因素。由于泥火山对大地构造属性、油气勘探、生物地球化学、地质灾害和全球气候变化等问题的研究有着重要的意义,已逐渐成为地球科学一个新的研究热点。