Engineering characteristics and uses of duricrusts in Australia

The uses and shortcomings of duricrusts (ferricrete, calcrete and silcrete) in engineering construction (as used for road‐base, aggregate, foundation materials and aquifers) are reviewed. Australian production of these materials represents about one‐third of all unprocessed road‐base and they are especially important as pavement courses for lightly trafficked, low‐cost rural and outback roads. However, duricrusts are regarded as marginal materials at best because of their typically poor grading, particle unsoundness, high fines plasticity, and absorption of water and bitumen. These materials are used because they are available locally in areas that are otherwise lacking in hard rock materials, such as deeply weathered and sedimentary rock terrains. The weathering profiles of which they form part are characterized by high permeability (despite being clay‐rich), variable cementation, low compressibility and a tendency to become weaker with depth. Although the more indurated layers are unrippable, they are also difficult to blast. Pedogenic (nodular) duricrusts were formerly sought for natural road‐base, because they occur widely and require only rudimentary processing. However, well‐cemented groundwater (vadose) duricrusts are now the preferred deposits, even though they require crushing and screening. Ferricrete is the most widely exploited of the duricrusts for engineering purposes, especially in northern and southwestern Australia, although calcrete is important in South Australia and in the Murray Basin. Silcrete is only a minor source of aggregate and road‐base, mainly in western Queensland.     

The freeze-thaw weathering regime at a section of the Niagara escarpment on the Bruce Peninsula,Southern Ontario,Canada

The bedrock freeze-thaw and moisture regimes at an actively eroding site on the Niagara Escarpment, Bruce Peninsula, southern Ontario, were monitored between December 1983 and April 1984, and the results compared with amounts of debris collected in an adjacent rock trap. Frost wedging in pre-existing rock fissures is the primary mechanism responsible for the observed rockfall events; hydration effects are negligible. Debris production was more closely related to the duration of the freezing leg of the freeze-thaw cycle than to intensity or to cycle frequency. Release also coincided with periods of high pore saturation (> 60 per cent) and the seepage of water from cracks and fissures. Fewer freeze-thaw cycles were recorded in the air than at 1 and 3.5 cm in the bedrock. The number of cycles that could be declared geomorphologically effective according to established temperature criteria was normally less than half the total number of freeze-thaw cycles recorded in both air and bedrock. Under the current temperature regime at the field site, few effective cycles are capable of penetrating more than 5 cm into the free face.     

大连新港的红粘土及其工程特性的形成

在大连新港油罐区的建设中,发现了一种具有高孔隙性、高含水量、高塑性、中低压缩性的特殊土。作者对这种土及其母岩的矿物学、岩石学、地球化学、物理化学和工程特性进行了系统研究,揭示了该区红粘土及其工程特性的形成机理,该区红粘土乃是蒙脱石化的粗玄岩,在中温带气候区红土花作用的产物。     

论宁夏金场子渗流热卤水-表生改造型金矿床的矿源

稳定同位素、岩石微量元素(金)和地质特征研究的结果,表明金场子金矿床的成矿物质来源系上地壳源,并且金、银、铅、铜等金属和硫、硒、砷、氯、氟、碳等来源于石炭纪和泥盆纪沉积岩。成矿流体是大气水和沉积地层水的混合溶液。金矿化与地热流体渗流热卤水成矿作用和表生风化成矿作用有关。     

怀安蔓菁沟早前寒武纪高压麻粒岩混杂岩带地质特征、岩石学和同位素年代学

华北克拉通北缘中段怀安蔓菁沟高压麻粒岩混杂岩带产在太古宙怀安杂岩南缘与花岗岩带交界处,由高压基性麻粒岩、辉长质麻粒岩、英云闪长质麻粒岩和少量夕线石榴片麻岩相间排列的席状岩层构成,岩层间被高应变带或剪切带分隔。高压基性麻粒岩是石榴辉石麻粒岩。据石榴石斑晶内包裹的早期矿物(Cpx+Q)估算的早期高压变质作用条件:T=800℃,P>1.4GPa。环绕斑晶的后成合晶反应边矿物组合(P1+Opx+Hb+Cpx)的变质条件为:T=820℃,P为0.7～0.9GPa。全岩Sm-Nd等时线年龄2.65Ga,矿物Sm-Nd等时线年龄1.82Ga,锆石U-Pb一致线年龄1.83Ga。高压基性麻粒岩的原岩代表晚太古代陆壳的最下部,大约在2.7Ga从上地幔分异出来,可能经壳下垫托作用加在早期陆壳底部,随后经历高压变质作用。早元古代晚期,由于地壳规模的大型逆冲作用,使其上升,并经受褶皱形变、剪切推覆和退变质等作用的改造,形成高压麻粒岩混杂岩带。     

大别造山带钾氩年龄的解释—差异上升的地块

根据冷却年龄理论和大别造山带变质岩K-Ar表面年龄的平面分布,指出这些年龄既不代表岩石形成事件,也不简单地反映后期热事件,而代表岩石经剥蚀隆起温度下降到该矿物封度温度以来的时间,即反映地区的构造隆起历史。现有资料说明大别造山带整体在印支期开始隆起,但中部罗田—英山一带则隆起较快或地热增温率高,因而表现出年轻(燕山期)的表面年龄。     

Tafoni on coastal slopes,South Devon,U.K.

Cavernous weathering (tafoni development) occurs on coastal slopes in greenschist bedrock at elevations up to 40 m above sea level. The freshly weathered surfaces of the cavern interiors are irregular in morphology, discordant to major rock structure, formed by substantially weakened rock and associated with granular weathering debris. The weathering debris contains soluble elements in proportions similar to those present in seawater, and the penetration of elements associated with sea salts into the weathering surface to estimated depths of at least 0·1–0·2 m is indicated by the presence of chlorine. Scanning electron microscopy and microprobe analyses suggest that rock breakdown occurs principally through limited chemical weathering at grain boundaries. The mechanism for the emplacement of marine salts within sheltered rock surfaces in the tafoni is postulated to be a combination of dry deposition under turbulent atmospheric conditions and wetting by coastal fog.