Constraints on the onset age of the Sturtian glaciation from the Southeast Yangtze Block,South China

ABSTRACT

The Neoproterozoic glaciations represent a milestone in the Earth evolution due to their influence on atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. Evidence for the Sturtian glaciation, the early stage of Cryogenian, has been recorded worldwide, but the precise timing and synchroneity of its counterpart, the Chang’an glaciation, in South China have been controversial. As such, new zircon U–Pb ages from the pre-Sturtian Gongdong Formation and the overlying the Chang’an Formation in southeastern Yangtze Block were reported. The youngest U–Pb zircon age from a tuff sample of the topmost Gongdong Formation was 716.8 ± 6.8 Ma, and that from a sandstone sample of the lower Chang’an Formation was 725.9 ± 4.4 Ma. The zircon weighted mean age of 716.8 ± 6.8 Ma was interpreted as the maximum depositional age of the termination of the Danzhou Group. This age, along with the ages reported from the bottom of the Danzhou Group, constrains deposition of the Danzhou Group to between ca. 820 Ma and ca. 715 Ma. The age of 716.8 ± 6.8 Ma from the top of the Gongdong Formation is consistent with the SIMS U-Pb age of 715.9 ± 2.8 Ma from the Sibao section, as well as ages from the Banxi Group, Liantuo Group, and Kaijianqiao Formation in the Yangtze Block, which further constrain the onset time of the Sturtian glaciation in South China at ca. 715 Ma. It is also, with uncertainties, consistent with ages from pre-Sturtian strata in Laurentia and Oman, which indicates a global synchroneity and extent for the Sturtian glaciation.     

New data on detrital zircons from the sandstones of the lower Cambrian Brusov Formation (White Sea region,East-European Craton): unravelling the timing of the onset of the Arctida–Baltica collision

The basement of the northeastern periphery of the East-European Craton (ЕЕС) is composed of volcanic-sedimentary sequences, volcanic rocks, granitoids, and rare ophiolite complexes. Geochronological data constrain their age from ca. 750 to 500 Ma, and there is a consensus that these rocks represent relicts of a late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Pre-Uralides–Timanides orogeny. Combining new integrated isotopic (U-Pb, Lu-Hf) and trace-element data (TerraneChrone^® approach) on detrital zircons from sandstones of the lower Cambrian Brusov Formation in the Mezen basin (White Sea region in the northeastern periphery of the EEC) with available studies on detrital zircons from Neoproterozoic–middle Cambrian (meta)sedimentary units of the northeastern periphery of the EEC allow us to conclude that (1) the onset of the Arctida–Baltica collision can now be constrained to the time interval between ca. 540 and 510 Ma and (2) the Ediacaran–early Cambrian Mezen sedimentary basin was a basin on the Timanian passive margin of Baltica up to 540 Ma, but was not a foreland basin of the Pre-Uralides–Timanides orogen.     

桂北平英花岗岩锆石U-Pb年代学、Hf同位素、地球化学特征及其地质意义

通过对桂北平英花岗质岩体详细的锆石U-Pb年代学、Hf同位素组成及岩石地球化学特征的研究,论证了岩体的形成时代、成因类型、源区性质及其与宝坛锡矿的成矿关系。该岩体中心相-粗粒黑云母花岗岩的锆石LA-MC-ICP-MS U-Pb定年表明,其~(206)Pb/~(238)U加权平均年龄为834.2±5.1 Ma,属新元古代构造岩浆活动的产物。平英花岗岩具有高硅、富碱、强过铝质的特征,岩石富集Cs、Rb、U、Ta而亏损Ba、Sr、Ti等元素。球粒陨石标准化稀土配分曲线呈右倾形和强烈的Eu负异常(Eu/Eu*=0.05~0.31)。花岗岩中锆石的εHf(t)值介于-12.6~-1.6之间,峰值在-4.8~-3.0之间;二阶段模式年龄T_(DM)~C(Hf)在1.83~2.51 Ga之间,峰值在1.9~2.0 Ga之间。这些特征表明平英岩体形成于该区古元古代富硼基底的部分熔融作用,并经历了高度的分异演化过程。桂北九万大山—元宝山地区的新元古代黑云母花岗岩具有良好的锡成矿潜力,是华南多时代花岗岩演化及锡多金属成矿系列的重要组成部分。     

安徽绩溪新元古代海底扇沉积环境分析

研究区位于安徽绩溪县杨溪镇,区内主要发育一套新元古代浅变质碎屑岩系,厚度为639.7 m。碎屑岩以泥岩、泥质粉砂岩、砂岩、含砾砂岩和砾岩为主,发育水平层理,粒序层理,韵律层理等沉积构造,可见鲍马层序Ta、Tc、Td、Te段。碎屑组分以跃移组分为主,含量为35%～58%。地层上段厚为254.8 m,包含粉砂岩、泥质粉砂岩和粉砂质泥岩,水平层理和粒序层理发育,为中扇-外扇扇叶沉积,中段厚为192.5 m,主要为细砂岩、粉砂岩和泥质粉砂岩,砂岩条带广泛发育,属于中扇水道沉积,下段厚为192.4 m,为一套砾岩层,砾石分选较差,砾岩层间夹有粉砂质泥岩,为上扇水道滞留沉积。总体上,形成一套退积的海底扇沉积序列。     

Perspectives for Li- and Ta-Mineralization in the Borborema Pegmatite Province,NE-Brazil: A review

The increasing strategic importance of Li- and Ta-ores during the last decades due to the strong consumption growth for rechargeable batteries and high temperature and corrosion resistant capacitors reactivated the interest of studies in pegmatite fields around the world, because these rocks supply respectively 25% and 100% of the world consumption in these elements. Research on petrogenetic issues and major and accessory mineral chemistry variations in rare element (REL)-pegmatites of the Borborema Pegmatite Province in Northeast Brazil were tested as tools for the diagnosis of the metallogenetic potential of rare metals in individual pegmatites and in the province as a whole along the last dozen of years. The results allowed to establish the nearly isobaric (3.8 kbar) crystallization conditions of the REL-pegmatites between approximately 580 °C (liquidus) and 400 °C (solidus) from a peraluminous melt saturated in an aquo-carbonic medium to low salinity volatile phase and an immiscible peralkaline flux-enriched (H₂O, CO₂, F, B, Li etc.) melt fraction, based on melt and fluid inclusion studies. Mineral-chemistry data from 30 selected REL-pegmatites in the province allowed to classify three of them as being of the complex-spodumene or -lepidolite subtype in Černý's classification. Both subtypes are supposed to be potentially fertile, (highly fractionated, and with good chances to bear Li- and Ta-ore concentrations). It was also possible to identify several pegmatitic granite intrusions with textural and lithogeochemical characteristics also found in source granites of REL-pegmatite provinces elsewhere. Preliminary chemical Pb/U/Th geochronological determinations in uraninite and xenotyme crystals of these granites indicate an age of 520 ± 10 Ma and match recently published Ar/Ar in mica and U/Pb ages in columbite-group minerals (CGM) of the REL-pegmatites between 509 and 525 Ma. Mineral-chemistry data from grains of the outer zones of the pegmatites do not allow to distinguish potentially fertile from barren pegmatites. This discrimination is possible only if samples of the inner intermediate zone, replacement pockets or quartz core are used. From the tested minerals trace-element determinations (mainly Li, Al, Ti, Ge, B among 14 tested elements) by LA-ICP-MS technique in quartz seem to be more efficient than the classical approach (of Rb, K, Cs, Ga, Sr Ta) in K-feldspar or micas, due to the susceptibility to hydrothermal or supergene alteration of the latter. Mineral-chemistry variations in CGM, tourmalines, garnet and gahnite turned out to be efficient discriminators but all of them have the disadvantage of an eventual and, if present, random distribution, typical for accessory minerals in pegmatites, not allowing a regular sampling in most cases. Additional tests are recommended to confirm respectively the preliminary results of mineral-chemistry as exploration tools on a larger number of pegmatites and geochronological data to confirm the existence of another, older, synorogenetic generation of REL-pegmatites in the BPP.     

湘北杨家坪中新元古宇和下古生界的近变质作用与成岩作用

运用伊利石结晶度、K云母晶格常数b0、应变值τ、颗粒大小分布与矿物组合分析等低温变质指示数据对湘北杨家坪剖面中晚元古宇和下古生界的近变质作用和成岩作用进行了研究。Kisch国际标样用于校正伊利石结晶度的测定。中晚元古宇伊利石结晶度Kübler指数范围为:0.21~0.24°Δ2θ,而下古生界为0.28~0.67°Δ2θ。表明近变质作用影响了中晚元古宇和部分下古生界。按照Kisch国际标样的成岩/变质界限(0.21~0.38°Δ2θ,CuKα),将剖面划分为北部近变质带和中南部成岩带。由绿泥石化学成分地质温度计估计近变质峰期温度约为260℃。K云母晶格常数b0值变化范围0.9000~0.9045nm,平均为0.9017nm,表明近变质作用处于中压-中低压力范围。近变质带伊利石(主要是中晚元古宇)的多型为2M1型,而成岩带伊利石(主要是下古生界)的多型为2M1+1M混合类型。平均对数粒度与对数方差之积(GLR)称为对数总成熟效应具有不同的两组分布特征即近变质作用区(GLR1.88)与成岩作用区(GLR1.88),这是一个新的发现。后变质作用的构造应力不仅可产生断层,而且可引起矿物的应变,从而导致衍射峰的宽化,使得近变质带伊利石结晶度值次生变大到成岩值范畴。与剖面南部地区(长沙-澧陵-浏阳,黄土店-仙溪,沅古坪)比较,杨家坪剖面中晚元古宇和下古生界经历了中压-中低压近变质作用和成岩作用的影响。这一结果与多数前人认为的"元古宇板溪群处于绿片岩相或亚绿片岩相或低绿片岩相而震旦到下古生界为沉积盖层"的观点不同。     

Re-assessment of the northern Guinean “Koubia–Lessere unconformity” (KLU): Consequences on the geological correlations throughout West Africa

New radiometric data from recent cartographic projects (2007, 2010) lead to a re-interpretation of the “Koubia–Lessere Unconformity” (KLU). This unconformity is evidenced in the Bassaride Ranges (northern Guinea) and in two western inliers (Tominé and Kemberra). The KLU was previously correlated with the main unconformity (Jbeliat unconformity [JU]) separating the lower “super group 1” from the middle “super group 2” of the large Taoudeni basin. Consequently, the brecciated level (partly glaciogenic) that underlines the “KLU” was correlated with the “tillitic” level located at the base of the super group 2. The latter is linked to the worldwide “Marinhoan” glacial event (650–635 Ma). However, 32 recently published U/Pb age data on detrital or new formed zircons show clearly that the Bassarides groups (ante KLU), deformed and slightly metamorphosed by the Panafrican-II orogen, belong to the super group 2 of the Taoudeni basin. Consequently, the overlying “Koubia–Lessere unconformity” (KLU) cannot be linked to the “Jbeliats unconformity” (JU) that separates the super groups 1 and 2 in the Taoudeni basin. The KLU is younger than the Panafrican-II orogen and probably younger than the last volcanic basaltic flows (492 Ma) outcropping in the Bassaride belt. Consequently, the glaciogenic levels that outcrop in the KLU should be distinguished from the numerous “Marinhoan” glacial levels of West Africa. This new KLU interpretation implies some important changes in the stratigraphic correlations and interpretations all over the West African domain.     

Layered intrusions and volcanic sequences in Central Brazil: Geological and geochronological constraints for Mesoproterozoic (1.25 Ga) and Neoproterozoic (0.79 Ga) igneous associations

A 350-km long belt of layered complexes and associated volcano-sedimentary sequences forms a continental-scale feature exposed along the internal portion of the Neoproterozoic Brasília Belt in central Brazil. This study provides new geochronological results and a critical review of the available data of these igneous associations of central Brazil. Precise age dating combined with geological and petrological studies indicate that this belt consists of two distinct igneous rock associations. The 1.25 and 0.79 Ga igneous episodes are constrained by reliable U–Pb zircon ages (SHRIMP and ID-TIMS) obtained in different regions and lithotypes of this belt. Both igneous associations were affected by high-grade metamorphism and tectonism at ca. 0.76 Ga, which partially disrupted the original igneous stratigraphy of the layered complexes and volcano-sedimentary sequences. The present configuration of this belt results from later events, probably caused by final ocean closure and continental collision between the São Francisco and Amazonian continents at ca. 0.63 Ga.     

Global perturbation of the marine Ca isotopic composition in the aftermath of the Marinoan global glaciation

Ca isotopic compositions of Marinoan post-glacial carbonate successions in Brazil and NW Canada were measured. Both basal dolostones display δ^44/40Ca values between 1 and 0.7‰, overlying limestones show a negative Ca isotope excursion to values around 0.1‰, and δ^44/40Ca values rapidly increase up-section to near 2.0‰. In the Brazilian successions, those high δ^44/40Ca values rapidly decrease and stabilize to values between 0.6 and 0.9‰. These Ca isotope secular variation trends are unlike those of Sturtian post-glacial carbonate successions, but similar to those of Marinoan post-glacial carbonate successions in Namibia, suggesting that the perturbation of the marine Ca cycle was global. This recommends Ca isotope stratigraphy as a tool to correlate Neoproterozoic post-glacial carbonate successions worldwide.