P–T–t evolution and textural evidence for decompression of Pan-African high-pressure granulites, Lurio Belt, north-eastern Mozambique

Pan‐African high‐pressure granulites occur as boudins and layers in the Lurio Belt in north‐eastern Mozambique, eastern Africa. Mafic granulites contain the mineral assemblage garnet + clinopyroxene + plagioclase + quartz ± magnesiohastingsite. Garnet porphyroblasts are zoned with increasing almandine and spessartine contents and decreasing grossular and pyrope contents from core (Alm₄₆Prp₃₂Grs₂₁Sps₂) to rim (Alm₅₂Prp₂₆Grs₁₉Sps₃). This pattern is interpreted as a retrograde diffusion zoning with the preserved core chemistry representing the peak metamorphic composition. Mineral reaction textures occur in the form of monomineralic and composite plagioclase ± orthopyroxene ± amphibole ± biotite ± magnetite coronas around garnet porphyroblasts. Thermobarometry indicates peak metamorphic conditions of up to 1.57 ± 0.14 GPa and 949 ± 92 °C (stage I), corresponding to crustal depths of ～55 km. Zircon yielded an U–Pb age of 557 ± 16 Ma, inferred to date crystallization of zircon during peak or immediately post‐peak metamorphism. Formation of plagioclase + orthopyroxene‐bearing coronas surrounding garnet indicates a near‐isothermal decompression of the high‐pressure granulites to lower pressure granulite facies conditions (stage II). Development of plagioclase + amphibole‐coronas enclosing the same garnet porphyroblasts shows subsequent cooling into amphibolite facies conditions (stage III). Symplectitic textures of the corona assemblages indicate rapid decompression. The high‐pressure granulite facies metamorphism of the Lurio Belt, followed by near‐isothermal decompression and subsequent cooling, is in accordance with a long‐lived tectonic history accompanied by high magmatic activity in the Lurio Belt during the late Neoproterozoic–early Palaeozoic East‐African–Antarctic orogeny.     

Pencil-beam surveys for trans-neptunian objects: Limits on distant populations

Two populations of minor bodies in the outer Solar System remain particularly elusive: Scattered Disk Objects and Sedna-like objects. These populations are important dynamical tracers, and understanding the details of their spatial- and size-distributions will enhance our understanding of the formation and on-going evolution of the Solar System. By using newly-derived limits on the maximum heliocentric distances that recent pencil-beam surveys for trans-neptunian objects were sensitive to, we determine new upper limits on the total numbers of distant SDOs and Sedna-like objects. While generally consistent with populations estimated from wide-area surveys, we show that for magnitude-distribution slopes of α ? 0.7-1.0, these pencil-beam surveys provide stronger upper limits than current estimates in literature.     

The Hill stability of inclined small mass binary systems in three-body systems with special application to triple star systems, extrasolar planetary systems and Binary Kuiper Belt systems

The dynamical stability of a bound triple system composed of a small binary or minor planetary system moving on a orbit inclined to a central third body is discussed in terms of Hill stability for the full three-body problem. The situation arises in the determination of stability of triple star systems against disruption and component exchange and the determination of stability of extrasolar planetary systems and minor planetary systems against disruption, component exchange or capture. The Hill stability criterion is applied to triple star systems and extrasolar planetary systems, the Sun-Earth-Moon system and Kuiper Belt binary systems to determine the critical distances for stable orbits. It is found that increasing the inclination of the third body decreases the Hill regions of stability. Increasing the eccentricity of the binary also produces similar effects.These type of changes make exchange or disruption of the component masses more likely. Increasing the eccentricity of the binary orbit relative to the third body substantially decreases stability regions as the eccentricity reaches higher values. The Kuiper Belt binaries were found to be stable if they move on circular orbits. Taking into account the eccentricity, it is less clear that all the systems are stable.     

巴尔喀什成矿带Cu-Mo-W矿床的辉钼矿Re-Os同位素年龄测定及其地质意义

巴尔喀什成矿带是世界著名的中亚成矿域斑岩型铜钼成矿带,产出许多斑岩型铜钼矿床和一些石英脉-云英岩型钨钼矿床。中亚成矿域可能是一个多核成矿系统,具有以走滑断裂为边界构成的断裂构造体系并受之控制。本文对巴尔喀什成矿带巴尔喀什—阿克沙套地区11件辉钼矿样品进行了Re-Os同位素分析,得到博尔雷大型斑岩型铜(钼)矿床和东科翁腊德、扎涅特、阿克沙套石英脉-云英岩型钨钼矿床的辉钼矿模式年龄(平均值)分别为315.9Ma、298.0Ma、295.0Ma和289.3Ma;其中,东科温腊德、阿克沙套和扎涅特等3个矿床的Re-Os等时线年龄为297.9-+30..949Ma,MSWD值为0.97。辉钼矿Re-Os年龄说明巴尔喀什成矿带Cu-Mo-W成矿作用发生在315.9～289.3Ma期间,Cu-Mo-W矿床的形成可分为两期:一期为斑岩型铜钼矿床,约形成于315.9Ma;另一期为石英脉-云英岩型钨钼矿床,约形成于297.9Ma。根据辉钼矿模式年龄和等时线年龄,推测该地区花岗斑岩和伟晶岩的形成时代与相应的矿床基本同时,均为晚石炭世,属海西期构造岩浆活动的产物。通过与我国境内西、东准噶尔和东天山斑岩铜矿带的对比表明,巴尔喀什成矿带铜钼成矿作用的年龄介于东天山土屋—延东斑岩铜矿与西准噶尔包古图斑岩铜矿之间。分析表明,中亚成矿域大规模斑岩型铜钼成矿作用集中在晚石炭世,属海西晚期构造-岩浆活动的产物。     

Chemostratigraphy of the Tamengo Formation (Corumbá Group,Brazil): A contribution to the calibration of the Ediacaran carbon-isotope curve

The Corumbá Group, cropping out in the southern Paraguay Belt in Brazil, is one of the most complete Ediacaran sedimentary archives of palaeogeographic, climatic, biogeochemical and biotic evolution in southwestern Gondwana. The unit hosts a rich fossil record, including acritarchs, vendotaenids (Vendotaenia, Eoholynia), soft-bodied metazoans (Corumbella) and skeletal fossils (Cloudina, Titanotheca). The Tamengo Formation, made up mainly of limestones and marls, provides a rich bio- and chemostratigraphic record. Several outcrops, formerly assigned to the Cuiabá Group, are here included in the Tamengo Formation on the basis of lithological and chemostratigraphical criteria. High-resolution carbon isotopic analyses are reported for the Tamengo Formation, showing (from base to top): (1) a positive δ¹³C excursion to +4‰ PDB above post-glacial negative values, (2) a negative excursion to −3.5‰ associated with a marked regression and subsequent transgression, (3) a positive excursion to +5.5‰, and (4) a plateau characterized by δ¹³C around +3‰. A U-Pb SHRIMP zircon age of an ash bed interbedded in the upper part of the δ¹³C positive plateau yielded 543 ± 3 Ma, which is considered as the depositional age ( Babinski et al., 2008a). The positive plateau in the upper Tamengo Formation and the preceding positive excursion are ubiquitous features in several successions worldwide, including the Nama Group (Namibia), the Dengying Formation (South China) and the Nafun and Ara groups (Oman). This plateau is constrained between 542 and 551 Ma, thus consistent with the age of the upper Tamengo Formation. The negative excursion of the lower Tamengo Formation may be correlated to the Shuram–Wonoka negative anomaly, although δ¹³C values do not fall beyond −3.5‰ in the Brazilian sections. Sedimentary breccias occur just beneath this negative excursion in the lower Tamengo Formation. One possible interpretation of the origin of these breccias is a glacioeustatic sea-level fall, but a tectonic interpretation cannot be completely ruled out.     

4D architecture and tectonic evolution of the Laverton region,eastern Yilgarn Craton,Western Australia

The Laverton region, located in the eastern Yilgarn Craton (EYC) Western Australia, is second only to the Kalgoorlie region for gold endowment. The integration of high-density, potential-field data, regional- and camp-scale seismic reflection data, regional- and mine-scale structural analysis, and geochronologically-constrained stratigraphy, provided new insights into the 4D architecture and tectonic evolution of Laverton region.     

阿尔泰造山带富蕴基性麻粒岩折返过程:来自裂变径迹热年代学的限定

论文在阿尔泰造山带富蕴县乌恰沟基性麻粒岩的锆石SHRIMP年代学、地球化学、变质温压条件和形成的大地构造背景研究基础上,利用麻粒岩、围岩片麻岩和侵入到麻粒岩的辉绿岩岩墙的裂变径迹热年代学探讨了麻粒岩从深部折返至地表的过程。裂变径迹年代学研究发现基性麻粒岩的锆石裂变径迹年龄为三叠纪,而麻粒岩、围岩片麻岩和侵入到麻粒岩的辉绿岩岩墙的磷灰石裂变径迹年龄均显示为晚白垩世至新生代早期。对磷灰石裂变径迹测试所得到的径迹长度和单颗粒年龄数据进行热史模拟表明,三叠纪时,基性麻粒岩抬升至约地表以下7.8km的上地壳,温度冷却至锆石裂变径迹的封闭温度;晚白垩世至新生代早期(约100～50Ma),麻粒岩、围岩片麻岩和辉绿岩抬升至约地表以下3.5km,温度冷却至磷灰石裂变径迹的封闭温度;约50～15Ma,三者滞留在约地表以下1.7km的磷灰石部分退火带;约15Ma以来,喜马拉雅运动使得它们被抬升剥蚀至地表。     

Middle Carboniferous crustal melting in the Variscan Belt: New insights from U–Th–Pbtot. monazite and U–Pb zircon ages of the Montagne Noire Axial Zone (southern French Massif Central)

In France, the Devonian–Carboniferous Variscan orogeny developed at the expense of continental crust belonging to the northern margin of Gondwana. A Visean–Serpukhovian crustal melting has been recently documented in several massifs. However, in the Montagne Noire of the Variscan French Massif Central, which is the largest area involved in this partial melting episode, the age of migmatization was not clearly settled. Eleven U–Th–Pb_tot. ages on monazite and three U–Pb ages on associated zircon are reported from migmatites (La Salvetat, Ourtigas), anatectic granitoids (Laouzas, Montalet) and post-migmatitic granites (Anglès, Vialais, Soulié) from the Montagne Noire Axial Zone are presented here for the first time. Migmatization and emplacement of anatectic granitoids took place around 333–326 Ma (Visean) and late granitoids emplaced around 325–318 Ma (Serpukhovian). Inherited zircons and monazite date the orthogneiss source rock of the Late Visean melts between 560 Ma and 480 Ma. In migmatites and anatectic granites, inherited crystals dominate the zircon populations. The migmatitization is the middle crust expression of a pervasive Visean crustal melting event also represented by the “Tufs anthracifères” volcanism in the northern Massif Central. This crustal melting is widespread in the French Variscan belt, though it is restricted to the upper plate of the collision belt. A mantle input appears as a likely mechanism to release the heat necessary to trigger the melting of the Variscan middle crust at a continental scale.