Nannofossil age constraints for the northern KwaZulu-Natal shelf-edge wedge: Implications for continental margin dynamics, South Africa, SW Indian Ocean

Samples collected from the shelf-edge wedge using surface grab samples and the Jago submersible constrain the KwaZulu-Natal shelf-edge wedge to a late Pliocene age on the basis of the absence of Gephyrocapsa oceanica s.l. and Discoaster brouweri, and the presence of Calcidiscus macintyrei. This correlates with proposed Tertiary sea-level curves for southern Africa and indicates relative sea-level fall during the late Pliocene coupled with hinterland uplift. Exposed failure scarps in the upper portions of submarine canyons yield sediment samples of early Pleistocene ages, indicating the uppermost age of deposition of clinoform topsets exposed in the scarp walls. Partially consolidated, interbedded silty and sandy deposits of similar age outcrop in the thalweg of Leven canyon at a depth of 150 m. These sediments provide an upper age limit of the shelf-edge wedge of early Pleistocene, giving a sedimentation rate of this wedge of 162–309 m/Ma. The distribution of widespread basal-most Pleistocene sediments on the upper slope indicates that these sediments escaped major reworking during sea-level falls associated with Pleistocene glaciations and remain as relict upper slope veneers. The absence of more recent sediments suggests that this area has been a zone of sediment bypass or starvation since the early Pleistocene. Areas where younger sediments mantle deposits of early Pleistocene ages represent areas of offshore bedload parting, re-distributing younger Holocene sediment offshore and downslope.     

Overview of the geology, petrology and tectonic framework of the high-pressure–ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic belt of the Kokchetav Massif, Kazakhstan

Abstract High‐ to ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic (HP–UHPM) rocks crop out over 150 km along an east–west axis in the Kokchetav Massif of northern Kazakhstan. They are disposed within the Massif as a 2 km thick, subhorizontal pile of sheet‐like nappes, predominantly composed of interlayered pelitic and psammitic schists and gneisses, amphibolite and orthogneiss, with discontinuous boudins and lenses of eclogite, dolomitic marble, whiteschist and garnet pyroxenite. On the basis of predominating lithologies, we subdivided the nappe group into four north‐dipping, fault‐bounded orogen‐parallel units (I–IV, from base to top). Constituent metabasic rocks exhibit a systematic progression of metamorphic grades, from high‐pressure amphibolite through quartz–eclogite and coesite–eclogite to diamond–eclogite facies. Coesite, diamond and other mineral inclusions within zircon offer the best means by which to clarify the regional extent of UHPM, as they are effectively sequestered from the effects of fluids during retrogression. Inclusion distribution and conventional geothermobarometric determinations demonstrate that the highest grade metamorphic rocks (Unit II: T = 780–1000°C, P = 37–60 kbar) are restricted to a medial position within the nappe group, and metamorphic grade decreases towards both the top (Unit III: T = 730–750°C, P = 11–14 kbar; Unit IV: T = 530°C, P = 7.5–9 kbar) and bottom (Unit I: T = 570–680°C; P = 7–13.5 kbar). Metamorphic zonal boundaries and internal structural fabrics are subhorizontal, and the latter exhibit opposing senses of shear at the bottom (top‐to‐the‐north) and top (top‐to‐the‐south) of the pile. The orogen‐scale architecture of the massif is sandwich‐like, with the HP–UHPM nappe group juxtaposed across large‐scale subhorizontal faults, against underlying low P–T metapelites (Daulet Suite) at the base, and overlying feebly metamorphosed clastic and carbonate rocks (Unit V). The available structural and petrologic data strongly suggest that the HP–UHPM rocks were extruded as a sequence of thin sheets, from a root zone in the south toward the foreland in the north, and juxtaposed into the adjacent lower‐grade units at shallow crustal levels of around 10 km. The nappe pile suffered considerable differential internal displacements, as the 2 km thick sequence contains rocks exhumed from depths of up to 200 km in the core, and around 30–40 km at the margins. Consequently, wedge extrusion, perhaps triggered by slab‐breakoff, is the most likely tectonic mechanism to exhume the Kokchetav HP–UHPM rocks.     

高分辨率航磁方法及在大冶铁矿区的应用

本文针对危机矿山深部及周边找矿的难度大、勘探周期短的特点,提出了一套以找矿为目的,集直升机大比例尺航空物探测量、数据处理、解释为一体的高分辨率航磁方法技术.这些方法包括硬架式直升机航磁测量方法、曲面位场处理方法、精细反演解释方法等.应用该方法在湖北黄石大冶铁矿中布钻,已有两孔见富磁铁矿及伴生的铜、金矿,见矿最大厚度为14.6m.因此,高分辨率航磁方法在危机矿山进一步挖潜工作中可以实现快速找矿目的.     

地震断错地貌

大地震产生的断错,能改变震前的地表形态,这种改造后新出现的地形景观称为地震断错地貌。地震断错地貌可分为地震断层崖、地震断错——挠曲崖、地震断错水系和地震断错台地四类。研究地震断错的相关堆积时,发现逆推断层崖也有崩积楔。提出的崩积楔发育模式与正断层崖的发育模式截然不同。     

Lithium isotope fractionation in the southern Cascadia subduction zone

We present lithium (Li) abundances and isotope compositions for a suite of anhydrous olivine tholeiites (HAOTs) and hydrous basalt-andesitic (BA) lavas from the Mt. Shasta and Medicine Lake regions, California. The values of δ⁷Li vary from + 0.9‰ to + 6.4‰ and correlate inversely with distance from the trench. These data are consistent with continuous isotope fractionation of Li during dehydration of the subducted oceanic lithosphere, an interpretation corroborated by uniformly high pre-eruptive H₂O contents in basaltic andesites accompanied by high Li, Rb, Sr, Ba and Pb abundances. The subduction-derived component that was added to these hydrous magmas is shown to be very similar beneath both Mt. Shasta and Medicine Lake volcanoes despite characteristically distinct Li isotope compositions in the magmas themselves. More evolved andesites and dacites from Mt. Shasta have δ⁷Li from + 2.8 to + 6.9‰ which is identical with the range obtained for HAOTs and BA lavas from Mt. Shasta. Therefore, Li isotopes do not provide evidence for any other crustal component admixed to Mt. Shasta andesites or dacites during magmatic differentiation and magma mixing in the crust.     

Hydration and dehydration in the lower margin of a cold mantle wedge: implications for crust–mantle interactions and petrogeneses of arc magmas

Garnet orthopyroxenites from Maowu (Dabieshan orogen, eastern China) were formed from a refractory harzburgite/dunite protolith. They preserve mineralogical and geochemical evidence of hydration/metasomatism and dehydration at the lower edge of a cold mantle wedge. Abundant polyphase inclusions in the cores of garnet porphyroblasts record the earliest metamorphism and metasomatism in garnet orthopyroxenites. They are mainly composed of pargasitic amphibole, gedrite, chlorite, talc, phlogopite, and Cl-apatite, with minor anhydrous minerals such as orthopyroxene, sapphirine, spinel, and rutile. Most of these phases have high X_Mg, NiO, and Ni/Mg values, implying that they probably inherited the chemistry of pre-existing olivine. Trace element analyses indicate that polyphase inclusions are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE), light rare earth elements (LREE), and high field strength elements (HFSE), with spikes of Ba, Pb, U, and high U/Th. Based on the P–T conditions of formation for the polyphase inclusions (?1.4 GPa, 720–850°C), we suggest that the protolith likely underwent significant hydration/metasomatism by slab-derived fluid under shallow–wet–cold mantle wedge corner conditions beneath the forearc. When the hydrated rocks were subducted into a deep–cold mantle wedge zone and underwent high-pressure–ultrahigh-pressure (HP–UHP) metamorphism, amphibole, talc, and chlorite dehydrated and garnet, orthopyroxene, Ti-chondrodite, and Ti-clinohumite formed during prograde metamorphism. The majority of LILE (e.g. Ba, U, Pb, Sr, and Th) and LREE were released into the fluid formed by dehydration reactions, whereas HFSE (e.g. Ti, Nb, and Ta) remained in the cold mantle wedge lower margin. Such fluid resembling the trace element characteristics of arc magmas evidently migrates into the overlying, internal, hotter part of the mantle wedge, thus resulting in a high degree of partial melting and the formation of arc magmas.     

阿尔金断裂系的组成及相关中新生代含油气盆地的成因特征

阿尔金构造带是多次俯冲—碰撞而形成的塔里木板块东南边缘,构造带内的走滑活动始于奥陶纪中晚期,中新生代强烈活动,并将北部不同构造单元的一些地质体拖曳到断裂带中,形成北山与敦煌构造楔。北山—阿拉善及断裂两侧的其他地质体受到走滑拉分作用的强烈改造,形成许多中新生代含油气盆地,共同构成我国中西部一条巨型走滑断裂系。     

俯冲-增生型造山带增生楔流体研究进展

俯冲－增生型造山带弧前增生楔流体的特点为：盐度低、氯化物含量异常低，并含有丰富的CO2和CH4。流体以扩散式或沿断层带渠道式活动；泥火山、张裂隙充填脉、碳酸盐壳、深海生物群是流体活动的直接体现；流体活动影响着增生楔的内部结构和构造样式；增生楔中流体活动特征的研究对研究造山带的地质演化及矿床成因具有重要意义。     

Geomorphological study on a clastic accretionary prism: The Nankai Trough

Abstract The Nankai Trough, off southwest Japan, is one of the best sites for the study of geomorphic characteristics of a clastic accretionary prism. A recent multibeam survey over the central and eastern parts of the Nankai accretionary prism has revealed a large variation of the topography along the trough axis. Analysis of the bathymetric data suggests the existence of prism deformational features of different scales, such as depressions, embayment structures and cusps. These structures are the results of slope instability caused by basement relief of subducted oceanic plate. Unstable slopes recover by new accretion and development of a low angle thrust. Small-scale deformation due to the subduction of a small isolated seamount is then adjusted to the regional trend. By contrast, a 30 km indentation of the wedge observed in the eastern part of the Nankai Trough, the Tenryu Cusp, has seemed to retain its geometry. The subducted Philippine Sea plate has deformed greatly near the eastern end of the Nankai Trough, because of the collision between the Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin) arc and central Japan. Therefore, the indentation may be the result of the continuous subduction of a basement high, such as the Zenisu Ridge, which has been formed under north-south compression due to the arc-arc collision.     

岛弧环境中不同成因的火成岩组合及其地质意义

岛弧环境的形成是与大洋板块俯冲作用有关,由俯冲流体作用于地幔楔部分熔融形成的钙碱性火成岩组合是岛弧环境中物质组成的主体。此外,目前还识别出与俯冲作用有关的其它的岩石类型:埃达克岩、富铌玄武岩、TTG、赞岐岩、玻安岩等,它们指示着不同的地球动力学背景、壳—幔相互作用过程以及源岩发生部分熔融的物理化学条件。本文主要对形成于岛弧环境中不同成因的火成岩组合的特征、形成机制、成矿作用及动力学意义进行了综述。