Research on Ecological Restoration Technology in Arid or Semi-arid Areas from the Perspective of the Belt and Road Initiative

In the new era of the rapid development of economic globalization and the community of human destiny, the implementation of the “One Belt and One Road” (OBOR) construction model is designed to coordinate environmental protection and economic development. Most of the countries along the Silk Road in the 21st century are developing countries, and the majority of them are facing the same ecological and developmental difficulties as China. In this paper, under the background of the “OBOR” strategy and on the basis of the distribution of global climate types, we selected Central Asia and Northwest China, which have temperate continental climates, as the research objects. We sorted out and summarized the main ecological problems faced by Western China and Central Asia during the development of the “Belt and Road” initiative. At the same time, in combination with the major ecological governance projects implemented in recent years, we proposed key ecological governance technologies that have a certain degree of scalability, such as key technologies for water resource utilization and protection, sand prevention and control, and saline-alkali land governance. The aim was to offer the experiences and a reference for providing technological models for the “one belt along the road” region and the country to build an effective ecological governance system. Two suggestions are then proposed for improving the feasibility and rationality of ecological governance technology in the construction of the “One Belt, One Road”. 1) With the implementation of the strategy of “OBOR” construction, the ecological threats the OBOR countries are facing cannot be ignored. Every country needs to jointly act to build an “OBOR” ecological civilization. 2) The participants must pay attention to the spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of ecological carrying capacity, and provide data reference and support for the reasonable allocation of ecological governance technology.     

Petrology of green polished stone axes of the Jomon period from the Sannai-Maruyama site,Japan, investigating the origin of source rock

Numerous green polished stone axes have been excavated from the Sannai-Maruyama site, one of Japan's largest archeological sites in the Jomon period (5.9–4.2 cal kyr BP). The axes are composed of weakly metamorphosed fine-grained volcaniclastic rock having a peculiar texture that includes numerous acicular actinolites growing in random directions within a quartz and albite matrix. Cobbles of Aotora stone found along the Nukabira River, Biratori town, southern Hokkaido, are the most likely raw material for these stone axes. Aotora stones have alternate bands of a soft dark-green picritic layer and a hard SiO₂-rich pale-green layer. The pale-green layer has a texture similar to the stone axes. Basaltic and picritic volcanic rocks of the Sorachi-Yezo Belt occupy the area along the Shidoni River, a tributary of the Nukabira River. Volcaniclastic rocks similar in texture, mineralogy, and bulk rock compositions to the Aotora stone are exposed in the area. These rocks underwent metamorphism under the actinolite-pumpellyite facies conditions. Their protolith is submarine hyaloclastic rocks that are intercalated with laminated picrite detritus. The stone axes, pale-green layers of Aotora stone, and those of the volcaniclastic rocks of the Shidoni River area all have high SiO₂ (~ 55 wt%), Cr (~ 840 μg/g), and Ni (~ 370 μg/g). The rare earth element patterns with abundant light rare earth elements and depleted heavy rare earth elements of stone axes were also consistent with the pale-green layers of the outcrop. These pale-green layers, interleaved with dark-green layers of picritic detritus, were the likely source rock of the stone axes. The high SiO₂ content in the pale-green layer caused the crystallization of quartz and albite in the matrix, which resulted in high-quality raw material for making stone axes.     

Recognition of an Early Triassic accretionary complex in the Nedamo Belt of the Kitakami Massif,Northeast Japan: New evidence for correlation with Southwest Japan

The Kitakami Massif of the Tohoku district, Northeast Japan, consists mainly of the South Kitakami Belt (Silurian–Cretaceous forearc shallow-marine sediments, granitoids, and forearc ophiolite) and the North Kitakami Belt (a Jurassic accretionary complex). The Nedamo Belt (a Carboniferous accretionary complex) occurs as a small unit between those two belts. An accretionary unit in the Nedamo Belt is lithologically divided into the Early Carboniferous Tsunatori Unit and the age-unknown Takinosawa Unit. In order to constrain the accretionary age of the Takinosawa Unit, detrital zircon U–Pb dating was conducted. The new data revealed that the youngest cluster ages from sandstone and tuffaceous rock are 257–248 Ma and 288–281 Ma, respectively. The Early Triassic depositional age of the sandstone may correspond to a period of intense magmatic activity in the eastern margin of the paleo-Asian continent. A 30–40 my interval between the youngest cluster ages of the sandstone and the tuffaceous rock can be explained by the absence of syn-sedimentary zircon in the tuffaceous rock. The new detrital zircon data suggest that the Takinosawa Unit can be distinguished as an Early Triassic accretionary complex distinct from the Early Carboniferous Tsunatori Unit. This recognition establishes a long-duration northeastward younging polarity of accretionary units, from the Carboniferous to Early Cretaceous, in the northern Kitakami Massif. Lithological features and detrital zircon spectra suggest that the Early Triassic Takinosawa Unit in the Nedamo Belt is comparable with the Hisone and Shingai units in the Kurosegawa Belt in Shikoku. The existence of this Early Triassic accretionary complex strongly supports a pre-Jurassic geotectonic correlation and similarity between Southwest and Northeast Japan.     

The Quetzalapa Pumice: a voluminous late Pleistocene rhyolite deposit in the eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

The study area is located in the east part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, in the Las Cumbres Volcanic Complex (LCVC) which lies between two large stratovolcanoes: Pico de Orizaba (5700 m a.s.l.) to the south, and Cofre de Perote (4200 m a.s.l.) to the NNE. The most conspicuous structure of the LCVC is a 4-km-diameter circular crater with a dacitic dome in the center, which constitutes the remains of a destroyed stratovolcano.The Quetzalapa Pumice (QP) was produced by a plinian eruption that was dated by the ¹⁴C method at 20 000 yr. BP. The eruptive sequence consists predominantly of pumice fall deposits and scarce intra-plinian pyroclastic flow deposits, which crop out on the west flank of the LCVC. The absence of post-plinian ignimbrite deposits is striking.The deposits are well sorted, clast-supported with reverse grading at the base, with a medium to high accessory lithics content. The maximum average thickness of the deposit in the proximal areas is about 15 m and has been divided into three members: the Basal Member (BM), 2 m thick with four submembers (BMf₁, BMf₂, BMf₃, and BMafl), the Intermediate Member (IM), 10 m thick with two submembers (IMpf and IMaf), and the Upper Member (UM), 3 m thick with four submembers (UMpl, UMsdf, UMwaf, and UMpls).The predominant component of the fall deposits is a white, highly vesiculated pumice with 71% SiO₂ content. Plagioclase is the most abundant mineral followed by 1–3-mm-long biotite phenocrysts. The accessory lithics are lavas mostly of andesitic composition. Their abundance increases toward the uppermost levels of the sequence.We calculate a minimum volume of 8.4 km³ (2.22 km³ dense rock equivalent), for the entire QP deposit. Isopach and isopleth maps show that the IM deposit has an elongated distribution with a NNE–SSW direction, whereas the UM deposit has a circular distribution.We estimate a maximum eruptive column height for the IM of 20 km. Field studies and isopach and isopleth maps indicate that the eruptive column was affected by a strong wind.Previous studies located the QP source in the Las Cumbres crater. However, based on the isopach and isopleth distribution, and the lack of pumice fall deposits inside the Las Cumbres crater, we consider that the QP emission center is located on the west flank of the LCVC, and was buried by its own pumice fall deposits. It coincides with an explosion crater called La Capilla formed during the closing phase of the QP eruption.A ‘pumice fountain’ model is proposed to explain the observed sequence of deposits. According to this model, the material was emitted through a ‘hose-type’ conduit during a monogenetic eruption of rhyolitic composition. This kind of volcanic activity is not extensively reported in the literature.     

Build‐up and depositional dynamics of an arc front volcaniclastic complex: the Miocene Tepoztlán Formation (Transmexican Volcanic Belt,Central Mexico)

Volcanic terrains such as magmatic arcs are thought to display the most complex surface environments on Earth. Ancient volcaniclastics are notoriously difficult to interpret as they describe the interplay between a single or several volcanoes and the environment. The Early Miocene Tepoztlán Formation at the southern edge of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt belongs to the few remnants of this ancestral magmatic arc, and therefore is thought to represent an example of the initial phase of evolution of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt. Based on geological mapping, detailed logging of lithostratigraphic sections, palaeocurrent data of sedimentary features and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, mapping of two‐dimensional panels from outcrop to field scale, and geochronological data in an area of ca 1000 km², three periods in the evolution of the Tepoztlán Formation were distinguished, which lasted around 4 Myr and are representative of a volcanic cycle (edifice growth phases followed by collapse) in a magmatic arc setting. The volcaniclastic sediments accumulated in proximal to medial distances on partly coalescing aprons, similar to volcanic ring plains, around at least three different stratovolcanoes. These volcanoes resulted from various eruptions separated by repose periods. During the first phase of the evolution of the Tepoztlán Formation (22·8 to 22·2 Ma), deposition was dominated by fluvial sediments in a braided river setting. Pyroclastic material from small, andesitic–dacitic composite volcanoes in the near vicinity was mostly eroded and reworked by fluvial processes, resulting in sediments ranging from cross‐bedded sand to an aggradational series of river gravels. The second phase (22·2 to 21·3 Ma) was characterized by periods of strong volcanic activity, resulting in voluminous accumulations of lava and tuff, which temporarily overloaded and buried the original fluvial system with its detritus. Continuous build‐up of at least three major volcanic centres further accentuated the topography and, in the third phase (21·3 to 18·8 Ma), mass flow processes, represented by an increase of debris flow deposits, became dominant, marking a period of edifice destruction and flank failures.     

Mega-fold interference patterns in the Beishan orogen (NW China) created by change in plate configuration during Permo-Triassic termination of the Altaids

Kilometer-size fold interference patterns in the Beishan Orogenic Collage (BOC) in the southernmost Altaids formed by fold superimposition in fossiliferous Permian sedimentary rocks. First-phase (F₁), upright and almost north-trending folds, were refolded by E- to ENE-trending F₂ folds, whose axial planes and axes are vertical or subvertical. From east to west there is a regional change in style of interference patterns from lobate–cuspate-, to crescent- to mushroom-shape. This variation is accompanied by a westward decrease in the F₂ interlimb angle and related to a higher percentage of coarse-grained clastic rocks, suggesting a dependence of the F₂ deformation on lithology. Axial planar slaty cleavages are well developed in F₁ and poorly developed in F₂ folds. The superposed folds mainly underwent flexural-slip and flexural flow folding to give rise to the lobate–cuspate pattern, and to the crescent pattern caused by flattening and flexural flow folding where the sediments were unconsolidated and enriched in fluids. The two folding events are interpreted to result from a major change in plate configuration that caused the inversion of an inter-arc basin during the final amalgamation of the BOC in the latest Permian to early to mid-Triassic. The two folding events bracketed between a maximum detrital zircon age of <273 Ma, and the youngest age of an intruded dyke at 219.0 ± 1.2 Ma suggest rapid plate reconfiguration related to final amalgamation of the Altaids orogen.     

Geochemistry and geochronology of the Rathjen Gneiss: Implications for the early tectonic evolution of the Delamerian Orogen

The Rathjen Gneiss is the oldest and structurally most complex of the granitic intrusives in the southern Adelaide Fold‐Thrust Belt and therefore provides an important constraint on the timing of the Delamerian Orogen. Zircons in the Rathjen Gneiss show a complex growth history, reflecting inheritance, magmatic crystallisation and metamorphism. Both single zircon evaporation (‘Kober’ technique) and SHRIMP analysis yield best estimates of igneous crystallisation of 514 ± 5 Ma, substantially older than other known felsic intrusive ages in the southern Adelaide Fold‐Thrust Belt. This age places an older limit on the start of the Delamerian metamorphism and is compatible with known stratigraphic constraints suggesting the Early Cambrian Kanmantoo Group was deposited, buried and heated in less than 20 million years. High‐U overgrowths on zircons were formed during subsequent metamorphism and yield a ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 503 ± 7 Ma. The Delamerian Orogeny lasted no more than 35 million years. The emplacement of the Rathjen Gneiss as a pre‐ or early syntectonic granite is emphasised by its geochemical characteristics, which show affiliations with within‐plate or anorogenic granites. In contrast, younger syntectonic granites in the southern Adelaide Fold‐Thrust Belt have geochemical characteristics more typical of granites in convergent orogens. The Early Ordovician post‐tectonic granites then mark a return to anorogenic compositions. The sensitivity of granite chemistry to changes in tectonic processes is remarkable and clearly reflects changes in the contribution of crust and mantle sources.     

Sulfur isotope distribution in Late Silurian volcanic‐hosted massive sulfide deposits of the Hill End Trough,eastern Lachlan Fold Belt,New South Wales

Volcanic‐hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits of the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales represent a VHMS district of major importance. Despite the metallogenic importance of this terrane, few data have been published for sulfur isotope distribution in the deposits, with the exception of previously published studies on Captains Flat and Woodlawn (Captains Flat‐Goulburn Trough) and Sunny Corner (Hill End Trough). Here is presented 105 new sulfur isotope analyses and collation of a further 92 analyses from unpublished sources on an additional 12 of the VHMS systems in the Hill End Trough. Measured δ³⁴S values range from ‐7.4% to 38.3%, mainly for massive and stockwork mineralisation. Sulfur isotope signatures for polymetallic sulfide mineralisation from the Lewis Ponds, Mt Bulga, Belara and Accost deposits (group 1) are all very similar and vary from ‐1.7% to 5.9%. Ore‐forming fluids for these deposits were likely to have been reducing, with sulfur derived largely from a magmatic source, either as a direct magmatic contribution accompanying felsic volcanism or indirectly through dissolution and recycling of rock sulfide in host volcanic sequences. Sulfur isotope signatures for sulfide mineralisation from the Calula, Commonwealth, Cordillera and Kempfield deposits, Peelwood mine and Sunny Corner (group 2) are similar and have average δ³⁴S values ranging from 5.4% to 8.1%. These deposits appear to have formed from ore fluids that were more oxidising than group 1 deposits, representing a mixed contribution of sulfur derived from partial reduction of seawater sulfate, in addition to sulfur from other sources. The δ³⁴S values for massive sulfides from the John Fardy deposit are the highest in the present study and have a range of 11.9–14.5%, suggesting a greater component of sulfur of seawater origin compared to other VHMS deposits in the Hill End Trough. For barite the sulfur isotope composition for samples from the Commonwealth, Stringers and Kempfield deposits ranges from 12.6% to 38.3%. More than 75% of barite samples have a sulfur isotope composition between 23.4 and 30.6%, close to the previously published estimates of the composition of seawater sulfate during Late Silurian to earliest Devonian times, providing supporting evidence that these deposits formed concurrently with the Late Silurian volcanic event. Sulfur isotope distribution appears to be independent of the host rock unit, although there appears to be a relation linking the sulfur isotope composition of different deposits to defined centres of felsic volcanism. The Mt Bulga, Lewis Ponds and Accost systems are close to coherent felsic volcanic rocks and/or intrusions and have sulfur isotope signatures with a stronger magmatic affinity than group 2 deposits. By contrast, group 2 deposits (including John Fardy) are characterised by ³⁴S‐enrichment and a lesser magmatic signature, are generally confined to clastic units and reworked volcanogenic sediments with lesser coherent volcanics in the local stratigraphy, and are interpreted to have formed distal from the magmatic source. An exception is the Belara deposit, which is hosted by reworked felsic volcanic rocks and has a more pronounced magmatic sulfur isotope signature.     

Cyclic sedimentation in the Permian coal measures of New South Wales

Statistical analysis of borehole sections through the Illawarra and Newcastle Coal Measures of the Sydney Basin shows that cyclic sedimentation is present. The composite sequence for the Southern Coalfield (Illawarra Coal Measures) is (in ascending order): sandstone—sandstone/siltstone alternations—shale—coal, whereas that for the Newcastle Coalfield is: shale—sandstone/siltstone alternations—sandstone, often conglomeratic, or conglomerate—sandstone/siltstone alternations—shale —coal.

The environment of deposition is discussed. It is suggested that in the Southern Coalfield cyclicity is due to sedimentational processes inherent in the deltaic and alluvial conditions envisaged during Permian times. Periodic influxes of glacial meltwaters, although not essential, are not ruled out.

In the Newcastle Coalfield, however, the composite sequence does not match easily the ideal cycles expected in deltaic and/or alluvial regimes. Contemporary volcanism and tectonism complicated matters and lack of sedimentological details makes it impossible at present to give preference to any one mechanism of cycle formation.