Petrogenesis of metamorphic rocks within a subduction-accretion terrane, Signy Island, South Orkney Islands

Abstract Whole-rock and mineral analyses of polydeformed mica-schist, quartzite, marble and amphibolite are presented from Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, part of the Scotia metamorphic complex. Whole-rock chemistry suggests that the amphibolites are the metamorphosed equivalent of enriched tholeiitic and alkali basalts of an oceanic intraplate basalt series. These, together with limestones and Mn-rich cherts of an oceanic island assemblage were tectonically mixed with trench or trench inner slope basin sediments in a subduction zone environment. Variation in mineral chemistry indicates an increase in temperature and decrease in pressure during metamorphism; pressures of 8 kbar and temperatures of approximately 545°C were reached during amphibolite facies metamorphism in the latter stages of deformation. These new data provide good evidence to support the previous interpretation of the Scotia metamorphic complex as a subduction complex.     

Kinetics of microbially mediated reactions: dissimilatory sulfate reduction in saltmarsh sediments (Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA)

A sediment disk reactor was tested in once flow-through mode to retrieve kinetic parameters for the Monod rate law that describes sulfate reduction. The experimental method was compared with a previously described procedure by the authors where a sediment plug-flow reactor was operated in a recirculation mode. In recirculation mode, accumulation of metabolic byproducts in certain cases may result in negative feedback, thus preventing accurate determination of kinetic information. The method described in this article provides an alternative to the recirculation sediment plug-flow-through reactor technique for retrieving kinetic parameters of microbially mediated reactions in aquatic sediments.For sulfate reduction in a saltmarsh site, a maximum estimate of the half-saturation concentration, K_s, of 204±26 μM and a maximum reaction rate, R_m, of 2846±129 nmol cm_{(wetsediment)}³ d⁻¹ was determined. The K_s value obtained was consistent with the one estimated previously (K_s=240±20 μM) from a different site within the same saltmarsh mud flat using a recirculating reactor. From the R_m value and reduction rates determined using ³⁵SO₄²⁻ incubation experiments, we infer that sulfate reduction is limited in the field. Substrate availability is not the main contributor for the limitation, however. Competition from other microbes, such as iron reducers affects the activity of sulfate reducers in the suboxic to anoxic zones, whereas aerobes compete in the oxic zone. High sulfide concentration in the pore water may also have acted as a toxin to the sulfate reducers in the field.     

高压-超高压变质岩外来40Ar成因探讨

高压—超高压变质带是地球上重要的地质单元,特殊的形成环境使该类变质岩的矿物中常因含有外来⁴⁰Ar而⁴⁰Ar／³⁹Ar年龄偏老,制约了⁴⁰Ar／³⁹Ar年代学在此类岩石中的应用。本文探讨了氩在不同相中的溶解度与分配系数的差异,并着重论述了扩散参数与压力的关系及压力对岩体封闭性的影响,系统总结了高压-超高压变质矿物中外来⁴⁰Ar的形成机制。此外,随Fe/Mg、Si/Al、K等组分不同,氩在矿物中保存能力的某种规律性变化、离子孔隙度研究等也从理论上为研究氩的扩散和封闭行为提供了新的视角。在高压—超高压变质过程中多种因素共同作用,氩在这类矿物中的扩散更为复杂。对外来⁴⁰Ar形成机制的探讨对揭示高压—超高压变质结晶环境、岩体开放与否、不同矿物对氩保存能力等有重要的指示意义。     

Mineral distribution within polymineralic veins in the Sanbagawa belt,Japan: implications for mass transfer during vein formation

Pelitic schists of the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt contain several types of polymineralic veins that formed during the late stages of exhumation. The vein mineral assemblages are quartz + albite + K-feldspar + chlorite ± calcite (Type I, II) and quartz + albite + calcite (Type III). Type I and II veins contain quartz and albite with stretched-crystal and elongate-blocky textures, respectively. The mineral species within Type I veins vary with compositional bands within the host rocks. Type III veins are characterized by euhedral to subhedral quartz grains with concentric zoning and a homogeneous distribution along the vein length. The vein textures vary depending on the crack aperture during multiple crack-seal events: <0.08 mm for Type I, and 0.5–10 mm for Type III. Type II veins show intermediate features between Type I and III veins in terms of mineral distribution (weak dependence on the host rock composition) and apparent crack aperture (less than 1–15 mm). These observations suggest a transition in the dominant transport mechanism of vein components with increasing crack aperture, from diffusion from host rocks to fluid advection along cracks.     

绿辉石Fe2+的调整及对榴辉岩温压计算和分类的影响

榴辉岩中绿辉石的Fe2 校正是一直存在争论的问题,它直接影响到榴辉岩p-t条件的精确评价。本文通过对南大别太湖地区和桐城地区榴辉岩中绿辉石的四种Fe2 的校正比较,依据计算的峰期变质p-t条件和岩相学研究的限定,探讨了绿辉石Fe2 的校正对温度压力计算的影响,认为电价平衡是目前较为理想的校正绿辉石Fe2 的方法,并建议为保证分析的准确性和全面性,配合使用端元组分调Fe2 法和Fe2 /Fe3 =1∶1方法。同时,根据电价平衡方法计算p-t条件,判定桐城地区榴辉岩为低温高压榴辉岩,推测其原岩为洋壳物质。     

长江三角洲晚新生代沉积物磁性特征和磁性矿物及其指示意义

笔者通过对长江三角洲平原晚新生代钻孔SG7孔沉积物的粒度和磁性分析,揭示磁性矿物类型随时间的演变,探讨新构造运动、气候、海平面等对本区沉积物源、沉积环境的耦合作用。研究结果显示,上新世磁性强弱相间,且达到全剖面最强,磁性矿物为磁铁矿、磁赤铁矿、针铁矿和黄铁矿,反映本区气候暖湿,发育山间湖泊,沉积物主要来自周边白龙港玄武岩的风化产物;早更新世早期,磁性为全剖面最弱,以磁铁矿为主,反映在构造沉降作用下,发生物源改变,即主要来自贫铁的中酸性浅成岩或喷出岩,同时沉积物主要为冰期的河道相沉积,反映山间河流/冲积扇环境;早更新世晚期至晚更新世末,磁性显著增强且和沉积物粗细变化一致,粗颗粒沉积物中磁性矿物以变质岩来源的粗粒磁铁矿为主,细粒沉积物中磁性矿物见针铁矿、赤铁矿和黄铁矿,反映古地理环境逐渐向冲积平原、滨海平原演变;自晚更新世晚期出现细粒磁赤铁矿和磁铁矿,反映长江上游物源的加入。全新世沉积物磁性较更新世泥质沉积物显著增强,反映长江河口、三角洲环境。     

Late orogenic collapse and thermal doming in the northern Gondwana margin incorporated in the Variscan Chain: A case study from the Ozieri Metamorphic Complex, northern Sardinia, Italy

A branch of the South European Variscan chain is noticeably exposed in Sardinia. The early stage of collision between the Northern Gondwana margin and the Armorica Terrane Assemblage (ATA) generated syn-metamorphic folding and thrusting. The evidences of such deformation are well preserved in the nappe zone, a structural domain characterized by stacking of different tectonic units under metamorphism of Barrovian greenschist facies. A late, post-nappe, shortening, under retrograde metamorphic conditions, gave rise to wide, upright, N120–N160 trending antiforms that control the trend of the chain. The structural analysis of the Ozieri Metamorphic Complex (OMC) shows evidence of an important phase of late-Variscan extensional tectonics. Deformation results in, the formation of oppositely dipping, normal shear zones, which developed at upper and middle structural level along the limbs of major regional antiforms causing fabric reactivation, crustal thinning, and exhumation of the OMC core. Within the OMC, the activity of the shear zones was coeval with HT-LP metamorphism as suggests the occurrence of syn-kinematic cordierite + andalusite ± sillimanite + biotite. Whereas syntectonic dykes and a tonalite body in the deeper part of the OMC indicate that early emplacement of melt along shear zones and/or in the antiform hinges possibly supplied the heat for the anomalous thermal gradient and triggered the exhumation of a core complex-like structure.     

Brittle normal faulting in the highest-grade Sambagawa metamorphic rocks of central Shikoku, southwest Japan: Indication of the exhumation into the upper crustal level

Analysis of fault system in the high-P/T type Sambagawa metamorphic rocks of central Shikoku, southwest Japan, shows that conjugate normal faults pervasively developed in the highest-grade biotite zone (upper structural level) in three study areas (Asemi river, Oriu and Niihama areas). These conjugate normal faults consist of NE–SW to E–W striking and moderately north-dipping (set A), and NNW–SSE striking and moderately east dipping (set B) faults. The fault set A is dominant compared to the fault set B, and hence most of deformation is accommodated by the fault set A, leading to non-coaxial deformation. The sense of shear is inferred to be a top-to-the-WNW to NNW, based on the orientations of striation or quartz slickenfibre and dominant north-side down normal displacement. These transport direction by normal faulting is significantly different from that at D₁ penetrative ductile flow (i.e. top-to-the-W to WNW). It has also been found that these conjugate normal faults are openly folded during the D₃ phase about the axes trending NW–SE to E–W and plunging west at low-angles or horizontally, indicating that normal faulting occurred at the D₂ phase. D₂ normal faults, along which actinolite breccia derived from serpentinite by metasomatism sometimes occurs, perhaps formed under subgreenschist conditions (ca. 250 °C) in relation to the final exhumation of Sambagawa metamorphic rocks into the upper crustal level. The pervasive development of D₂ normal faults in the upper structural level suggests that the final exhumation of Sambagawa metamorphic rocks could be caused by “distributed extension and normal faulting (removal of overburden)” in the upper crust.     

大别山东北缘桐城高压-超高压变质带的构造解析及其对郯庐断裂带的制约

通过对郯庐断裂带南段桐城地区高压-超高压变质带详细的岩石学和构造学研究,将研究区从空间结构上划分为三个构造单元:上部低温-高压单元、中部中温-高压单元和下部超高压单元。根据研究区多期构造变形分析,共识别出了五期有区域构造地质学含义的事件(D_1-D_5):D_1代表高压-超高压变质岩中-晚三叠世同碰撞早期折返过程;D_2表征了高压-超高压变质岩晚三叠世同碰撞晚期折返过程;D_3记录了早白垩世中大别变质核杂岩的形成,也即整个中国东部晚中生代大规模伸展构造在研究区的表现;D_4可能标志着郯庐断裂走滑构造对高压-超高压造山带的叠加;D_5表现为脆性正断作用,控制了晚白垩世-古近纪潜山半地堑盆地的形成。这些结果表明了研究区所经历构造演化的复杂性,其构造几何形态很难用郯庐断裂左行平移南大别超高压变质岩来解释,也不支持桐城地区存在巨大走滑作用的证据。     

Thermomechanical evolution of the high‐grade core in the nappe zone of Variscan Sardinia,Italy: the role of shear deformation and granite emplacement

In the nappe zone of the Sardinian Variscan chain, the deformation and metamorphic grade increase throughout the tectonic nappe stack from lower greenschist to upper amphibolite facies conditions in the deepest nappe, the Monte Grighini Unit. A synthesis of petrological, structural and radiometric data is presented that allows us to constrain the thermal and mechanical evolution of this unit. Carboniferous subduction under a low geothermal gradient (~490–570 °C GPa^?1) was followed by exhumation accompanied by heating and Late Carboniferous magma emplacement at a high apparent geothermal gradient (~1200–1450 °C GPa^?1). Exhumation coeval with nappe stacking was closely followed by activity on a ductile strike‐slip shear zone that accommodated magma intrusion and enabled the final exhumation of the Monte Grighini Unit to upper crustal levels. The reconstructed thermo‐mechanical evolution allows a more complete understanding of the Variscan orogenic wedge in central Sardinia. As a result we are able to confirm a diachronous evolution of metamorphic and tectonic events from the inner axial zone to the outer nappe zone, with the Late Variscan low‐P/high‐T metamorphism and crustal anatexis as a common feature across the Sardinian portion of the Variscan orogen.