New constraints on the evolution of the Gibraltar Arc from palaeomagnetic data of the Ceuta and Beni Bousera peridotites (Rif,northern Africa)

The Betic Cordillera and the Moroccan Rif together form one of the smallest and tightest orogenic arcs on Earth and almost completely close the Mediterranean to the west. For the explanation of the geodynamic evolution of the mountain belt, palaeomagnetic data that generally found clockwise block rotations in the Iberian and anticlockwise rotations in the Moroccan part of the mountain belt, have played a key role in recent works. This palaeomagnetic study has found new constraints on the rotations and timing of the peridotitic bodies outcropping in the key position at the westernmost margin of the mountain belt, in Ceuta and Beni Bousera (Rif, northern Africa).Detailed thermal demagnetization of 115 individually oriented samples from 14 sites was combined with rock magnetic and scanning electron microscopic experiments to analyze the magnetic mineralogy responsible for the remanences and the mechanisms and relative times of their acquisition. In Ceuta, up to three magnetic components, and in Beni Bousera, up to two magnetic components have been found, that are all to be interpreted as chemical remanent magnetizations (CRM). The data suggests the following succession of geodynamic events affecting the peridotites until recent times: (1) after their exhumation and subsequent cooling about 20 Ma ago, they recorded a characteristic remanent magnetization of both normal and reversed polarities, carried by (pseudo-)single-domain magnetite grains; (2) after their dismembering, the Ceuta peridotites were tilted southward by 22–34° about a horizontal or tilted axis (up to plunge 50°) with an azimuth of 72–145° and the Beni Bousera peridotites were rotated anticlockwise by 72.3 ± 12.1° about a vertical axis and (3) both recorded another magnetic signal of normal polarity only, carried by multi-domain magnetite grains; and finally (4) the Ceuta peridotites rotated anticlockwise by 19.7 ± 5.9° about a vertical axis.This study provides the first palaeomagnetic data for the Ceuta peridotites that, with their tilt and recent small net rotation, had a distinct geodynamic evolution from the large net rotations about vertical axes in Beni Bousera and Ronda (Betic Cordillera). Moreover, earlier palaemagnetic data for Beni Bousera is improved, as mixed polarities have been found in the older of the remanences for the first time, and its interpretation as a CRM changes the rotation timing that was proposed previously. The sequence of events exposed in this work are important constraints that need to be incorporated in any geodynamic model of the evolution of the Betic–Rifean mountain belt.     

Morphology and distribution of dolines on ultramafic rocks from airborne LiDAR data: the case of southern Grande Terre in New Caledonia (SW Pacific)

Dolines are closed geomorphological depressions which are surface manifestations of karstic systems. Usually developed on limestones, they also typify the morphology of the New Caledonian landscape, particularly on the southern massif of the main island (known as Massif du Sud). The specificity of dolines here lies in their development on ultramafic rocks. They are evidences of subsidence, suffosion and collapse phenomena resulting from dissolution weathering of peridotites. However, extensive underground drainage systems are still not yet recognized. Semi‐automatic mapping of dolines is carried out on a 148 km² area of the Massif du Sud from a high accuracy LiDAR digital elevation model. In this area 8601 dolines ranging from 1 m² to 2 km² are identified and morphologically characterized with precision. Most are small, shallow and round‐shaped, yet more complex shapes are locally observed. Size distribution analysis allows the setting of a threshold of 20 000 m² above which surface processes rather than chemical weathering control doline evolution. Doline density analysis reveals high concentrations on flat areas where ferricrete overlies the complete weathering profile, especially in the case of elevated rainy watersheds. Dolines are aligned and elongated along a north 135° ± 5° major fracture direction, which is inherited from the obduction of the Pacific Plate upper mantle in the Late Eocene. Finally, we propose a pioneering morphometric typology of dolines that provides important clues as to pseudokarstic activity. We define collapse, bowl‐shaped and flat bottom dolines. Collapse and bowl‐shaped dolines are assumed to denote active pseudokarst. They may widen and deepen, or eventually be filled by sediments. They are distinguished from flat bottom dolines that are partially to completely filled, which suggests that they are associated with paleo‐pseudokarsts. However the groundwater flow paths associated with the genesis and evolution of dolines must be clarified, thus collapse and bowl‐shaped dolines should be hydrologically monitored. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

低温敏不育系水稻“冷灌繁种”技术微气象效应的数值试验

在田间试验基础上,从系统生态学的观点出发,构建了水稻田冠层－水层温度场耦合模型。通过对模型的不同输入,模拟了不同天气条件,不同水稻群体结构以及不同灌溉方案下的冷灌效应,对低温敏水稻冷繁技术的生产实施具有指导意义。     

Petrological investigation of the Ganyu peridotite in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure terrane, eastern China

The ultramafic body sampled in the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) Hole PP3 is located in the eastern part of the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic belt near Donghai County. It is about 480 m thick, and consists chiefly of garnet peridotite, dunite and serpentinite. The principal minerals include olivine, chromium spinel, diopside, enstatite, garnet with minor secondary augite, phlogopite and amphibole. Both the olivine and orthopyroxene are highly magnesian, and the garnet is pyropic with 5.4-6.4% CaO and 0.3-3.3% Cr₂O₃. Two generations of clinopyroxene are present; an early diopside followed by augite. Chromium spinels are highly variable with Cr#s (100Cr / (Cr + Al)) between 51 and 89, and their compositions reflect different processes of formation, namely partial melting and eclogite, amphibole and greenschist facies metamorphism. The Mg#s (100 Mg / (Mg + Fe²⁺))of the spinels correlate positively with the Cr#s but negatively with oxygen fugacity. Based on the spinel compositions the ultramafic rocks originated in the shallow mantle, then subducted to depths of more than 100 km and finally exhumed to the surface. They underwent partial melting at shallow depths, mostly in the spinel facies, and were later transformed into garnet peridotites during deep subduction. All of the rocks were weakly metasomatized during exhumation and were subjected to retrograde metamorphism.     

Ultrahigh-pressure garnet peridotites from the devolatilization of sea-floor hydrated ultramafic rocks

Garnet peridotites occur in quartzofeldspathic gneisses in the Northern Qaidam Mountains, western China. They are rich in Mg and Cr, with mineral compositions similar to those in mantle peridotites found in other orogenic belts and as xenoliths in kimberlite. Garnet‐bearing lherzolites interlayered with dunite display oriented ilmenite and chromite lamellae in olivine and pyroxene lamellae in garnet that have been interpreted to indicate pressures in excess of 6 GPa. However, some garnet porphyroblasts include hornblende, chlorite and spinel + orthopyroxene symplectite after garnet; some clinopyroxene porphyroblasts include abundant actinolite/edenite, calcite and lizardite in the lherzolite; some olivine porphyroblasts (Fo₉₂) include an earlier generation Mg‐rich olivine (Fo_95–99), F‐rich clinohumite, pyroxene, chromite, anthophyllite/cummingtonite, Cl‐rich lizardite, carbonates and a new type of brittle mica, here termed ‘Ca‐phlogopite’, in the associated dunite. The pyrope content of garnet increases from core to rim, reaching the pyrope content (72 mol.%) of garnet typically found in the xenoliths in kimberlite. The simplest interpretation of these observations is that the rock association was formerly mantle peridotite emplaced into the oceanic crust that was subjected to serpentinization by seawater‐derived fluids near the sea floor. Dehydration during subduction to 3.0–3.5 GPa and 700 °C transformed these serpentinites into garnet lherzolite and dunite, depending on their Al and Ca contents. Pseudosection modelling using thermocalc shows that dehydration of the serpentinites is progressive, and involved three stages for Al‐rich and two stages for Al‐poor serpentinites, corresponding to the breakdown of the key hydrous minerals. Static burial and exhumation make olivine a pressure vessel for the pre‐subduction mineral inclusions during ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphism. The time span of the UHP event is constrained by the clear interface between the two generations of olivine to be very short, implying rapid subduction and exhumation.     

内蒙古宁城早中生代地幔捕虏体及熔/流体交代作用

内蒙古宁城地区发现的尖晶石二辉橄榄岩捕虏体,其寄主岩为早中生代堆晶成因的辉石岩。尖晶石二辉橄榄岩在矿物组成和Sr、Nd、Pb同位素特征等方面区别于寄主辉石岩,具有地幔岩特征。相对原始地幔岩,尖晶石二辉橄榄岩具有Fe高,Mg、Al低,富集K、Na、Ca、LREE和Rb、Sr、Ba、Th等不相容元素的特征,据此可以认为捕虏体来源于交代的富集地幔。对熔/流体交代反应形成的结构及其交代矿物金云母、韭闪石、白云石、方解石的进一步研究,揭示富K、Al、Ca、LREE和不相容元素的硅酸质和碳酸质熔/流体的交代作用致使地幔岩向不断饱满和富集的趋势演化,导致地幔岩Mg#值、Fo值的降低,Al和其他不相容元素的增高。单斜辉石环带原位微量元素测定也证实交代作用的存在。剪切结构的发育可能与软流圈底辟体上涌引发的塑性流变有关。联系华北古老岩石圈地幔多次的地质事件,笔者认为,早中生代地幔的特征与华北克拉通长期以来自身的深部演化有关。     

河北阳原新生代玄武岩中橄榄岩捕虏体矿物化学:华北岩石圈地幔演化

橄榄岩及其中矿物的组成, 特别是单斜辉石的微量元素, 可以很好的揭示岩石圈地幔性质.在对河北阳原新生代玄武岩中橄榄岩捕虏体详细岩相学和矿物化学研究基础上, 重点分析了单斜辉石的激光原位微量元素, 讨论了新生代华北内部山带岩石圈地幔特征及其演化机制.阳原地区陆下岩石圈, 除个别样品的部分熔融程度为15%~20%外, 多数样品<5%, 显示该区的地幔演化是不均一的, 并表现为饱满与难熔-过渡型地幔的交叉并存.这种共存现象可以用软流圈物质对古老地幔进行不均匀侵蚀、改造和置换作用来解释.