Characteristic and Geological Significance of Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures(MISS) in Terrestrial P-T Boundary in Xingyang,Western He’nan Province

Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures (MISS) are primary sedimentary structures that arise syndepositionally from microbial community activity. Especially valuable are MISS for the analysis of early Archean (and extraterrestrial) deposits. However, most reports of MISS have focused on the Precambrian and Phanerozoic mass extinction marine sediments, and only a few and terrestrial MISS have been studied. The MISS presented in this paper, which mainly consists of mat growth feature, mat destruction feature and mat decay feature, are well preserved in terrestrial clastic rocks around the P-T boundary in Xiyang area, western Henan. Large U ridges, oriented sand quartz, mica grains and thin clayey laminae arranged parallel to bedding plane are the main features visible under the microscope. Several lines of evidence indicate that the Xingyang MISS are of biogenic origin. Abundant MISS in Xingyang may indicate the degradation of terrestrial ecosystems and proliferation of microbial mats immediately after the severe Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Study aiming at MISS helps to analyze their space distribution in the globe and to probe into links between microbial proliferation and environmental stresses following the end-Permian mass extinction in terrestrial ecosystems.     

贺兰山及周边地区加里东运动研究

基于对贺兰山及周边地区下古生界详细的野外地质调查,通过碎屑锆石年龄谱的物源分析、地层接触关系追踪、岩性岩相突变特征分析、残留地层分布、古生物组合及亲缘性分析,讨论了阿拉善地块与华北地块和中祁连地块的亲缘关系,探讨了研究区加里东运动的幕次,认为早古生代阿拉善地块和华北地块相互独立,俯冲造山特征建造不清晰,两者之间可能为转换型陆缘。阿拉善地块和中祁连地块之间的加里东运动幕次清晰。加里东运动一幕发生在中-晚寒武世,香山群深水复理石沉积和张夏组浅水碳酸盐台地相沉积呈拼合式接触,生物组合为亲华北-亲祁连混合型,彼时中祁连地块从Rodinia大陆裂离,逐步靠近阿拉善地块;加里东运动二幕发生在早-中奥陶世,下奥陶统碳酸盐岩在全区稳定分布,与下伏香山群不整合接触,与阿不且亥组整合接触,生物相统一,生物组合为华北型,中祁连地块-阿拉善地块-华北地块平和成为一个统一的块体,整体为浅水台地沉积环境;加里东运动三幕发生在奥陶纪末,中-上奥陶统与泥盆系角度不整合接触,商丹洋闭合,扬子地块与阿拉善地块和华北地块靠近,商丹缝合带南部的宽坪洋打开,导致研究区中、晚奥陶世亲华北-亲扬子混合型生物组合类型。     

Anthropogenic impacts on nitrogen fixation rates between restored and natural Mediterranean salt marshes

To test the effects of site and successional stage on nitrogen fixation rates in salt marshes of the Venice Lagoon, Italy, acetylene reduction assays were performed with Salicornia veneta‐ and Spartina townsendii‐vegetated sediments from three restored (6–14 years) and two natural marshes. Average nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) rates ranged from 31 to 343 μmol C₂H₄·m^?2·h^?1 among all marshes, with the greatest average rates being from one natural marsh (Tezze Fonde). These high rates are up to six times greater than those reported from Southern California Spartina marshes of similar Mediterranean climate, but substantially lower than those found in moister climates of the Atlantic US coast. Nitrogen fixation rates did not consistently vary between natural and restored marshes within a site (Fossei Est, Tezze Fonde, Cenesa) but were negatively related to assayed plant biomass within the acetylene reduction samples collected among all marshes. Highest nitrogen fixation rates were found at Tezze Fonde, the location closest to the city of Venice, in both natural and restored marshes, suggesting possible site‐specific impacts of anthropogenic stress on marsh succession.     

Geochemical characteristics of the Paleogene shales in the Dongying depression,eastern China

Fluctuations in lacustrine sedimentary environments significantly affect distributions of organic matter (OM), uranium, and other elements in shales. In this study a high-resolution geochemical record of fluctuations in the paleo-depositional environment of a terrestrial lake basin is provided on the basis of extensive samples collected from the Member 3 of the Paleogene Shahejie Formation (Es₃) of the Niu-38 well in the Dongying Depression, Eastern China. These samples were tested for total organic carbon (TOC), element concentrations, and biomarkers to study the evolution and fluctuation in the depositional environments of an ancient lake basin and associated geochemical response. The evolution and fluctuation of the sedimentary environment from a deep lake to a semi-deep lake and then to a shallow lake delta were indicated by geochemical response. During this evolution, the values of TOC, S₁, S₂, Sr, and Ts/(Ts + Tm) remarkably decreased, whereas those of Co, Ni, Rb, Na, Fe/Mn, Fe/(Ca + Mg), and C₂₉ mortane/C₂₉ hopane significantly increased. The deep lake basin shows depositional fluctuations, as indicated by rock lithofacies and their geochemical parameters. A close interrelationship was observed among U concentration, TOC content, and inorganic element content. Uranium concentrations are positively correlated with TOC contents, Ca and Sr concentrations, and Sr/Ba and Ca/Mg ratios but negatively with K, Na, Ba, and Rb contents and Fe/(Ca + Mg) and Fe/Mn ratios. The observed increase in U concentration in the lower Es₃ section is closely related to surface adsorption by clay minerals and OM, together with some replacements of Ca and Sr by U in the shales.     

Vertebrate tracks from the Paso Córdoba fossiliferous site (Anacleto and Allen formations,Upper Cretaceous), Northern Patagonia,Argentina: Preservational,environmental and palaeobiological implications

The Paso Córdoba fossiliferous site (Río Negro, Northern Patagonia) is one of the first Mesozoic fossiliferous localities studied in Argentina. There, turtle, crocodile and dinosaur remains as well as dinosaur and bird tracks have been recorded. Recently, a new locality with vertebrate tracks, the Cañadón del Desvío, has been discovered in Paso Córdoba. Six track-bearing layers were located in outcrops belonging to the Anacleto (lower to middle Campanian, Neuquén Group) and Allen (middle Campanian-lower Maastrichtian, Malargüe Group) formations. The Cañadón del Desvío locality reveals that vertebrate trace fossils are distributed in two distinct environments, floodplains of a meandering fluvial to shallow lacustrine system and a wet interdune deposit that is associated to an aeolian setting. Also, in the logged section several soft sediment deformation structures were found. In regard of this, a sedimentary facies analysis is provided in order to assess the palaeoenvironmental implications of this new record. The analysed tracks are preserved in cross-sections, on bedding-planes and as natural casts. When it is possible, the tracking surface, true tracks, undertracks and overtracks/natural casts have been identified and the track preservation and the formation history of the tracksite are discussed. Only two tracks preserve enough anatomical details to relate them with their trackmakers, in this case hadrosaurid dinosaurs. The stratigraphical, facial and palaeoenvironmental data of this study support the idea of a transitional passage between the Anacleto and Allen Formation in Paso Córdoba. The presence of hadrosaurid dinosaur tracks suggests that the upper part of the log, where this kind of tracks were found, likely belong to Allen Formation due to this dinosaurs appear in the Southern Hemisphere in this epoch. The sum of osteological and ichnological remains improve the Paso Córdoba palaeofaunistic knowledge. The presence of six different levels in which the trackmakers walked reflects the abundance of vertebrates in the transition between Anacleto and Allen formations.     

长江三角洲北岸土体工程地质层组划分及其应用

鉴于研究区工程地质层划分标准尚不统一,不利于工程地质资料的交流和资料的社会化利用。为提高研究区工程地质资料的通用性,结合研究区11个1∶50000标准图幅工程地质调查工作,以100m以浅的土体为工程地质层组划分对象,考虑沉积时代、沉积环境、土体结构特征和物理力学参数,建立研究区基本地层结构层序和编码,将研究区土体划分为7个工程地质层组和21个工程地质层。通过工程地质层组的建立,找出了大区域工程钻孔土层的对应关系,使区域地层资料对比分析成为可能,有助于地质模型的概化和抓住工程地质问题。采用物理力学参数离散性、绘制的地质剖面和三维型分析了工程地质层组划分的合理性,证实了层组划分结果合理正确。通过工程地质层组划分,找出了2个软弱敏感层和4个优势持力层。本文的成果对长江北岸三角洲地区的工程勘察、城市规划和建设项目选址论证具有一定的指导意义。     

内蒙古克什克腾旗哲斯组沉积学和年代学研究及其古地理意义

为了重建西拉木伦河北部晚古生代沉积古地理格局并探讨古亚洲洋的闭合过程,本研究对克什克腾旗西部的哲斯组地层进行了详细的沉积环境与沉积相分析、锆石U-Pb年代学研究。来自哲斯组的凝灰质砂岩与安山岩样品的最年轻锆石组的谐和年龄为262±1Ma和258±17Ma,限定研究区内地层沉积下限为中晚二叠世。前人认为哲斯组地层为深海环境下的浊流沉积,本文研究表明哲斯组以近源快速堆积、快速沉降为特征,沉积环境为三角洲前缘相与前三角洲相的多次交替,同时受到火山活动的影响。通过详细的沉积岩野外剖面观察,区内地层并没有发现以单调的递变层理为特征的连续鲍马序列层序,而是出现从砂岩到粉砂岩或泥岩的不规则截然互层层序,并与巨厚层的滑塌堆积交替发育,表明研究区中二叠世古地理格局并不具备深海浊积扇的发育条件,也暗示中二叠世不存在向南发育的广阔大陆边缘;另一方面,结合古流向恢复和物源分析,哲斯组的沉积物应主要来自于南部的华北克拉通以及南造山带陆缘弧,说明研究区在中二叠世已与华北板块连通,并没有类似大洋俯冲带的阻隔作用。因此,研究区中二叠世古地理格局并不具备深海远源浊积扇的发育条件,而是处于近源快速堆积的伸展环境,中二叠世既不存在向南发育的广阔大陆边缘,也不存在代表板块边界的俯冲带。     

Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the mixed clastic-carbonate deposits in the Late Paleozoic icehouse period: A case study from the northern Qaidam Basin

The widely-developed, mixed clastic-carbonate succession in the northern Qaidam Basin records the paleo-environment changes under the glacial activity during the Late Paleozoic icehouse period in the context of regional tectonic stability, however, the depositional environment and sequence stratigraphy characteristics of the mixed deposits is rarely reported and still not clear. Combined the latest drilling wells data, we analyzed the sedimentary and stratigraphic characterization of the mixed strata via detailed field outcrops and core observations and thin section microscopic observations and recognized three depositional systems, including progradational coastal system, incised valley system, and carbonate-dominated marine shelf system, and identified four third-order sequences, SQ1, SQ2, SQ3 and SQ4, consisting of LST, TST, and HST. The depositional environment is overall belonged to marine-continental transition context and shifted from marine to continental environment frequently, showing an evolutionary pattern from marine towards terrestrial-marine transition and then back into the marine environment again in the long-term, which was controlled by the regional tectonic subsidence and the high-frequency and large-amplitude sea-level changes due to the Late Paleozoic glacial activity. The result is of significance in understanding the evolution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the sedimentation-climate response.©2021 China Geology Editorial Office.     

Seismic images of a collision zone offshore NW Sabah/Borneo

Multichannel reflection seismic data from the southern South China Sea, refraction and gravity modelling were used to investigate the compressional sedimentary structures of the collision-prone continental margin off NW Borneo. An elongated imbricate deepwater fan, the toe Thrust Zone bounds the Northwest Borneo Trough to the southeast. The faults separating the individual imbricates cut through post-Early Miocene sediments and curve down to a carbonate platform at the top of the subsiding continental Dangerous Grounds platform that forms the major detachment surface. The age of deformation migrates outward toward the front of the wedge. We propose crustal shortening mechanisms as the main reason for the formation of the imbricate fan. At the location of the in the past defined Lower Tertiary Thrust Sheet tectonostratigraphic province a high velocity body was found but with a much smaller extend than the previously defined structure. The high velocity structure may be interpreted either as carbonates that limit the transfer of seismic energy into the sedimentary layers beneath or as Paleogene Crocker sediments dissected by remnants of a proto-South China Sea oceanic crust that were overthrust onto a southward migrating attenuated continental block of the Dangerous Grounds during plate convergence.     

Research on red tide occurrences using enclosed experimental ecosystems in west Xiamen Harbor, China—Relationship between various factors and red tide occurrences

A series of enclosed ecosystem experiments were conducted in a land-based tank near the seaside of West Xiamen Harbor. The results of experiments conducted in different seasons and years showed a repeatable phytoplankton succession. In this relatively stable ecosystem with added nutrients and trace metals, diatoms dominated initially, dinoflagellates dominated in the later stage, and dinoflagellate red tides eventually occurred. Vitamin B₁₂ enrichment may speed up this succession process. Stirring the water column could stop this process. Soluble Mn at a level of 3–4 μg/L in seawater, which also is the existing concentration of soluble Mn in Xiamen Harbor seawater, is sufficient for the multiplication of algae and occurrence of red tide. The present study showed that excessive soluble Mn in Xiamen Harbor cannot cause red tide, and that Fe was one of the important factors causing diatiom red tide in this present study. Project 39570145 supported by NSFC.