An indirect lead isotope age determination of gold mineralization at the Corinthia mine,Yilgarn Block,Western Australia

The Corinthia lode‐gold deposit in amphibolite‐facies greenstone belt rocks in the Southern Cross Province of the Archaean Yilgarn Block contains a largely undeformed pegmatite dyke emplaced during the last phases of movement along the Fraser's‐Corinthia shear zone. Gold mineralization and shear zone development were synchronous, and a Pb‐Pb isochron age of 2620 ±6 Ma for pegmatite emplacement either indirectly dates mineralization, or places a minimum age constraint on the timing of mineralization. This age is in accord with a broadly synchronous dominant episode of Archaean lode‐gold mineralization throughout the Yilgarn Block.     

Constraining Holocene 10Be production rates in Greenland

The absence of a production rate calibration experiment on Greenland has limited the ability to link ¹⁰Be exposure dating chronologies of ice‐margin change to independent records of rapid climate change. We use radiocarbon age control on Holocene glacial features near Jakobshavn Isbræ, western Greenland, to investigate ¹⁰Be production rates. The radiocarbon chronology is inconsistent with the ¹⁰Be age calculations based on the current globally averaged ¹⁰Be production rate calibration data set, but is consistent with the ¹⁰Be production rate calibration data set from north‐eastern North America, which includes a calibration site nearby on north‐eastern Baffin Island. Based on the best‐dated feature available from the Jakobshavn Isbræ forefield, we derive a ¹⁰Be production rate value of 3.98 ± 0.24 atoms g a^?1, using the ‘St’ scaling scheme, which overlaps with recently published reference ¹⁰Be production rates. We suggest that these ¹⁰Be production rate data, or the very similar data from north‐eastern North America, are used on Greenland. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response of detrital zircon and monazite,and their U–Pb isotopic systems,to regional metamorphism and host‐rock partial melting,Cooma Complex,southeastern Australia

Progressive Early Silurian low‐pressure greenschist to granulite facies regional metamorphism of Ordovician flysch at Cooma, southeastern Australia, had different effects on detrital zircon and monazite and their U–Pb isotopic systems. Monazite began to dissolve at lower amphibolite facies, virtually disappearing by upper amphibolite facies, above which it began to regrow, becoming most coarsely grained in migmatite leucosome and the anatectic Cooma Granodiorite. Detrital monazite U–Pb ages survived through mid‐amphibolite facies, but not to higher grade. Monazite in the migmatite and granodiorite records only metamorphism and granite genesis at 432.8 ± 3.5 Ma. Detrital zircon was unaffected by metamorphism until the inception of partial melting, when platelets of new zircon precipitated in preferred orientations on the surface of the grains. These amalgamated to wholly enclose the grains in new growth, characterised by the development of {211} crystal faces, in the migmatite and granodiorite. New growth, although maximum in the leucosome, was best dated in the granodiorite at 435.2 ± 6.3 Ma. The combined best estimate for the age of metamorphism and granite genesis is 433.4 ± 3.1 Ma. Detrital zircon U–Pb ages were preserved unmodified throughout metamorphism and magma genesis and indicate derivation of the Cooma Granodiorite from Lower Palaeozoic source rocks with the same protolith as the Ordovician sediments, not Precambrian basement. Cooling of the metamorphic complex was relatively slow (average ～12°C/10⁶y from ～730 to ～170°C), more consistent with the unroofing of a regional thermal high than cooling of an igneous intrusion. The ages of detrital zircon and monazite from the Ordovician flysch (dominantly composite populations 600–500 Ma and 1.2–0.9 Ga old) indicate its derivation from a source remote from the Australian craton.     

SHRIMP zircon age for an Early Cambrian dolerite dyke: An intrusive phase of the Antrim Plateau Volcanics of northern Australia

The Antrim Plateau Volcanics, Australia's largest Phanerozoic flood‐basalt province, originally covered an area of at least 300 000 km² across northern Australia. Stratigraphic constraints indicate that the Antrim Plateau Volcanics are of Early Cambrian age (ca 545–509 Ma), although previous attempts to date the Antrim basalts by radiometric methods have been inconclusive. We present an ion microprobe U–Pb zircon age of 513 ± 12 Ma for the ～250 km‐long Milliwindi dolerite dyke in the west Kimberley. The dolerite is geochemically identical to basalts of the Antrim Plateau Volcanics, and was probably a feeder dyke for basalts that have since been eroded. It is suggested that the Antrim Plateau Volcanics extended hundreds of kilometres further to the west than recognised previously and may have once covered part of the Kimberley block.     

Peat mounds of southwest Tasmania: Possible origins

Small mounds of peat rise several metres above the level of the water‐table at Melaleuca Inlet and Louisa Plains on the buttongrass plains in southwest Tasmania. Possible origins of the peat mounds have been explored by pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a set of samples taken from a vertical section of one peat mound at Melaleuca. The peat accumulation is entirely of Holocene age although the mound is underlain by sapric peats preserving a cold climate palynoflora of probable Late Pleistocene age. Peats at and near the base of the mound accumulated under a heath sedgeland during the earliest Holocene while after about 7630 a BP the peat‐forming vegetation was shrub‐dominated. The radiocarbon data indicate two main phases of overall peat accumulation, between 7630 and 5340 a BP (Middle Holocene) and between 4450 and 450 a BP (Late Holocene), that were interrupted by a wildfire which burnt into the surface peats. The maintenance of high surface and internal levels of moisture almost certainly was the critical factor behind the low incidence of in situ fires burning into the surface peats on the mound. The perennial influx of groundwater below the mound is a possible origin that fits well with our observations, although the expansion and contraction of soils cannot be discounted as an initiating factor. Enhanced nutrient input from birds may have helped promote growth in the peat‐forming communities. The data do not support the mounds being eroded remnants of a former blanket peat cover or being due to periglacial activity. The peat mounds of southwest Tasmania deserve maximum protection because of their rarity in the Australian landscape and, it seems, elsewhere.     

Statistical estimation of mineral age by K-Ar method

Statistical estimation of age of⁴⁰Ar/⁴⁰K ratios may be considered a result of convolution of uniform and normal distributions with different weights for different minerals. Data from Gul'shad Massif (Nearbalkhash, Kazakhstan, USSR) indicate that⁴⁰Ar/⁴⁰K ratios reflecting the intensity of geochemical processes can be resolved using convolutions. Loss of⁴⁰Ar in bioties is shown whereas hornblende retained the original content of⁴⁰Ar throughout the geological history of the massif. Results demonstrate that different estimation methods must be used for different minerals and different rocks when radiometric ages are employed for dating.     

航空摄影最佳曝光量的选择

分解力是评定影象质量的重要指标。本文介绍利用改进后的国产9 w测微密度仪,测定航空软片静态分解力与曝光量的关系。以最大分解力所相应的曝光量作为确定航摄软片感光度的基准,以此为基础,确定航摄底片的最大密度(D_(max))、最小密度(D_(min))、影象反差(△D)和平均密度(D_R)本文对国产1022T、1022P、柯达2402、2412等航摄软片进行了研究,其试验结果可作为今后修改航摄规范的基础。     

沂沭断裂带断层泥中 K-Ar、FT 和 TL 体系年代学含义的初步研究

本文报道了利用K-Ar法、TL法和FT法,分别测定断层泥中1Md伊利石(<1μ粒级组份)、石英(2-10μ粒级组份)和磷灰石单矿物的年龄结果;给出了沂沭断裂带三次强烈活动的年龄区间及强度逐渐减弱的变化趋势。首先提出了利用这三种测年手段,测定断层泥中三种不同物质的年龄,进而研究断层活动(强度和时间)的新方法     

热释光断代技术测定断层活动时代可能性的研究

本文根据多年来研究断层活动所积累的热释光年龄资料和断层运动过程中各种温、压条件变化的模拟实验结果,阐述了断层运动所产生的摩擦升温有可能使断层面上乃至断层带内某些矿物原有的热释光“退火”,初步探讨了用热释光测年技术测定断层活动年代的可能性