Gravity anomalies and deep structure of the Andaman arc

The Andaman arc is associated with a major Free-air anomaly pair of mean amplitude 180 mgal. Two-dimensional gravity interpretation suggests significant mass anomalies below the arc that presumably have resulted due to subduction of the Indian plate below the Burma plate. It is inferred that the Andaman trench is of asymmetric V-shape containing about 7 km sediments. An outer bathymetric rise seaward of the trench possibly corresponds to a lithospheric flexure by 500 m. The Cretaceous-Tertiary sediments constituting the Andaman sedimentary arc attain their maximum thickness of about 13 km under the Nicobar. Deep at the subduction zone. At this location a mafic mass is emplaced within the sedimentary section. The underlying oceanic crust apparently experiences phase transition at about 27 km depth in a Benioff zone environment. The Andaman volcanic arc underlies a low density zone that is at least 60 km wide. Along the east margin of the Andaman Sea, cuustal transition presumably occurs below the Mergui Terrace at the Malayan coast.     

Secondary welding of submarine,pumice-lithic breccia at Mount Chalmers,Queensland, Australia

Very thick units of massive pumice and lithic clast-rich breccia in the Early Permian Berserker beds at Mount Chalmers, Queensland, are deposits from cold, water-supported, volcaniclastic mass flows emplaced in a below-wave base submarine setting. Adjacent to syn-volcanic andesitic and rhyolitic sills and dykes, the pumice-lithic breccia shows a well-developed eutaxitic texture. The eutaxitic foliation is parallel to intrusive contacts and extends as far as a few metres away from the contact. At these sites, pumice clasts are strongly flattened and tube vesicles within the pumice clasts are compacted and aligned parallel to the direction of flattening. Some lenticular pumice clasts contain small (2 mm), round, quartz-filled amygdales and spherulites. Further away from the sills and dykes, the pumice clasts have randomly oriented, delicate tube vesicle structure and are blocky or lensoid in shape. Round amygdales were generated by re-vesiculation of the glass and the spherulites indicate devitrification of the glass at relatively high temperatures. The eutaxitic texture is therefore attributed to re-heating and welding compaction of glassy pumice-lithic breccia close to contacts with intrusions. In cases involving sills, secondary welding along the contacts formed extensive, conformable, eutaxitic zones in the pumice-lithic breccia that could be mistaken for primary welding compaction in a hot, primary pyroclastic deposit.     

The discovery of the Neoarchean mafic dyke swarm in Hengshan and reinterpretation of the previous "Wutai greenstone belt"

The structural mapping and section study indicate that the "greenstone belts" in the southern to central parts of Hengshan were intensively sheared and transposed mafic dyke swarm,which originally intruded into the Neoarchean grey gneiss and high-pressure granulite terrain(HPGT).The HPGT is characterized by flat-dipping structures,to the south it became steep and was cut by the Dianmen mafic dyke swarm.After high-pressure granulite-facies metamorphic event,the mafic dyke swarm occurred,and was associated with the extensional setting and reworked by the late strike-slip shearing.The zircon age dating proves that the Dianmen mafic dyke swarm was emplaced during the period between 2499±4 Ma and 2512±3 Ma,followed by late tectonothermal reworking.The Dianmen mafic dyke swarm further documents the extensional episode in the central to northern parts of North China Craton(NCC),providing the important constraint for the limit between Archean and Proterozoic and correlation between NCC and other cratonic blocks of the world.     

Experimental modelling of thin-skinned shortening around magmatic intrusions

Magmatic intrusions can trigger thin-skinned compression of the adjacent sedimentary cover by three processes: (a) gravity gliding away from the topographic dome resulting from the ascending magma; (b) fluid push from the rear resulting from forceful intrusion then lateral spreading of the magma; and (c) increased loading by volcanic accumulation. The applicability of the first two mechanisms, gravity gliding and fluid push, was tested using dynamically scaled experiments. Model results help to elucidate the kinematics and structural evolution of thrusts and folds formed by such processes and determine which geological parameters control the deformation style. The results show that the presence of a weak layer within the sedimentary overburden is essential to form thrust and fold belts around the intrusion. Experiments suggest that although gravity gliding can dominate the early stages of deformation, most of the deformation is caused by lateral spreading of the fluid magma pushing the adjacent sedimentary rocks. Models also suggest that true laccoliths can form only if the sedimentary section comprises a basal low-viscosity stratum. Comparison with natural examples allows the evaluation of the applicability of experimental results.     

Virtual Pole from Magnetic Anomaly (VPMA): A procedure to estimate the age of a rock from its magnetic anomaly only

Virtual Pole from Magnetic Anomaly (VPMA) is a new multi-disciplinary methodology that estimates the age of a source rock from its magnetic anomaly, taken directly from available aeromagnetic data. The idea is to use those anomalies in which a strong remanent magnetic component is likely to occur. Once the total magnetization of the anomaly is computed through any of the currently available methods, the line that connects all virtual paleogeographic poles is related with the position, on a paleogeographic projection, of the appropriate age fragment of the APWP curve. We applied this procedure to five (5) well-known magnetic anomalies of the South American plate in SE Brazil, all of them associated to alkaline complexes of Mesozoic age. The apparent ages obtained from VPMA on three of the anomalies where the radiometric age of the source rock is known – Tapira, Araxá and Juquiá – were inside the error interval of the published ages. The VPMA apparent ages of the other two, where the age of the source rock is not known (Registro and Pariqueraçu magnetic anomalies) were geologically coherent. We expect that the application of the VPMA methodology as a reconnaissance geochronological tool may contribute to geological knowledge over continental areas, especially when the source rocks of the magnetic anomalies are unknown or buried below superficial sediments.     

华北克拉通中生代以来基性岩墙群的分布及研究意义

围绕岩石圈破坏和减薄这个主题.华北克拉通成为近10年来国内外研究的热点地区.华北克拉通中生代以来基性岩墙群分布广泛,然而对此仍缺乏系统的研究.通过对基性岩墙群的系统总结,在详尽的资料收集和已有研究的基础上,重点对华北克拉通中生代基性岩墙群的研究现状、分布和意义进行了汇总和讨论.随后,结合近年来的研究经验,提出了基性岩墙群定年中应注意的问题.     

新疆北山红石山含铜镍镁铁-超镁铁质岩体PGE和Re-Os同位素地球化学特征及成矿意义

对新疆北山地区红石山镁铁-超镁铁质岩体中含铜镍的硫化物矿石和岩石进行了铂族元素和Re-Os同位素地球化学特征研究,结果表明,矿石及岩石的铂族元素(PGE)总量较低,变化于0.54×10-9~15.84×10-9之间。较低的Pd/Ir比值表明岩石主要受岩浆作用控制,后期热液作用影响不明显。较高的Cu/Pd和Ti/Pd比值表明岩浆在演化过程中发生了硫化物的熔离。岩体的母岩浆为有早期结晶橄榄石加入的高镁的玄武质岩浆。γOs(t)的变化较大,变化于-282~+282之间,表明有较多的地壳物质混入。地壳物质混染和橄榄石等矿物的分离结晶可能是引起岩浆中的S达到饱和进而熔离的重要因素。红石山岩体是经历了结晶分异和硫化物熔离后橄榄石的堆积体与残余岩浆演化的混合体。     

粤北白垩纪基性岩脉的年代学和地球化学

对粤北白垩纪基性岩脉进行了系统的年代学、元素和Ｓｒ－Ｎｄ同位素地球化学研究。基性岩脉主要形成于－１４０Ｍａ、ｄ－１０５Ｍａ、－９０Ｍａ三个阶段，其化学成分以拉斑质玄武岩为主，高的εＮｄ（Ｔ）值（＋５）表明其母岩来源于一大离子亲石元素和轻稀土元素长期较亏损的地幔源。     

龙首山岩带典型镁铁-超镁铁质岩体岩石地球化学特征

通过龙首山岩带中几个典型镁铁-超镁铁质岩体样品的岩石地球化学分析,对金川超镁铁质岩体与其外围镁铁-超镁铁质岩体的形成演化关系进行探讨,结果发现:这些岩体处于相同的构造环境,样品点整体为亚碱性拉斑玄武岩系列,随M g#值的增加,C aO,A l2O3,N a2O,K2O值具有连续减少的趋势,指示了它们存在连续的岩浆演化关系;稀土与微量元素分析,蛛网图整体具有右倾特征,龙首山岩带中段岩体有明显δEu负异常,东、西段岩体样品有δEu正异常或无异常,暗示中段岩体较外围岩体经历了更完全的分离结晶作用;结合前人对金川所做的S r-N d同位素等资料,证明金川岩体的岩浆源区为富集型地幔。