Geology and petroleum potential of the Fairway Basin in the Tasman Sea

The Fairway Basin is a large, generally north – south-trending, sediment-filled structure in water 1500 – 3000 m deep, on the eastern slope of the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea, and is partly within Australian jurisdiction. It was poorly known until a few years ago, when seismic profiling and piston coring cruises were carried out. The basin, about 1100 km long and 120 – 200 km wide, can be divided into three segments—north, central and south—that trend northwest, north and north-northwest, respectively. All three segments probably formed by thinning of continental crust during breakup of Lord Howe Rise and surrounding aseismic continental ridges in the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. Normal faulting, large inputs of terrigenous sediment and subsidence to bathyal marine depths occurred during that time. A period of compression, perhaps related to overthrusting on New Caledonia, occurred in the Eocene, leading to uplift (and in parts, erosion) of northern Lord Howe Rise, and reversal of faulting in the basin. By the Oligocene, the area was again in bathyal depths, and pelagic ooze and some turbidites accumulated. The basinal sequence is generally 2000 – 4000 m thick, with 1200 – 3200 m of Cretaceous to Eocene sediment concentrated in depocentres, capped by 500 – 800 m of Oligocene and younger sediment. In the depocentres, numerous sedimentary diapirs pierce sedimentary sequences. The sedimentary diapirs appear to be fed by Cretaceous muds deposited during rifting. Often, these diapirs are overlain by faults extending to the seafloor, and hummocky bathymetry is possibly caused by fluid escape. The overall geology suggests that the Fairway Basin may be a large frontier hydrocarbon province. Seismic profiles display a bottom-simulating reflector above many depocentres, 500 – 700 m below the seafloor. The bottom-simulating reflector has positive polarity, which could result from a diagenetic phase transformation, a thin gas hydrate layer with a sharp top, or from the sharp base of a gas layer (probably beneath gas hydrates). Standard piston cores taken above diapirs and apparent fluid-escape features have recovered little gas. Other than drilling, the next steps in assessing petroleum potential are to clearly document fluid-escape structures, and to sample any fluids emitted for hydrocarbons.     

Analyse quantitative du rifting et de la relaxation thermique de la partie occidentale de la marge transformante nord-africaine: le Rif externe (Maroc)

Résumén

Un résumé de la cinématique du Rif externe central et occidental, de la période de rifting aux événements tectoniques récents, est proposé. L’évolution du Rif externe est abordée sur le plan quantitatif par le biais des principaux mécanismes physiques qui ont pu affecter cette partie de la marge nord-africaine durant le Jurassique, le Crétacé et le Paléocène (processus de dilatation thermique lors du rifting et de contraction thermique lors du refroidissement de la lithosphère, effondrement par flexure de la marge nord-africaine lors de la collision). Les géométries et densités obtenues sont comparées avec les données gravimétriques et de sismique réfraction.

Un des aspects du modèle de Wernicke (1985), la dissymétrie du rifting de la marge africaine, semble se vérifier par l’analyse et à la modélisation de la subsidence. Mais celle-ci montre l’existence d’une fusion adiabatique tardive du manteau supérieur dont le modèle de cisaillement simple ne tient pas compte. Le soulèvement de la marge à la fin du rifting ne serait pas dû uniquement à une dilatation thermique car les données de terrain montrent des discordances angulaires importantes sur la marge africaine. Ce soulèvement est attribué localement à la poussée des rides médio-océaniques naissantes de l’Atlantique et du sillon transformant nord-africain.

La modélisation de la subsidence tectonique permet d’expliquer l’absence d’intumescence sous le Rif. Elle est attribuée aux taux d’amincissement crustaux élevés durant les phases d’extension triasico-jurassiques. Cette approche quantitative confirme l’existence d’un bassin intra-continental avorté au sud-ouest et d’une marge continentale sensu stricto au nord-est. Si l’océanisation paraît plus tardive dans la partie rifaine du sillon transformant nord-africain (Callovien) que dans l’Atlantique Central (Bajocien), la subsidence post-rift ne se distingue pas de celle d’une marge passive classique.     

赣南陂头A型花岗岩的地质地球化学特征及其形成的构造环境

赣南陂头岩体主要钾长花岗岩组成,岩石为准铝质（ＡＮＫＣ＝０．９４～１．０７,平均０．９８）,富硅（ＳｉＯ２：７１．０６％～７６．２８％）,富碱（Ｎａ２Ｏ＋Ｋ２Ｏ：８．１％～９．８％）,ＦｅＯ＾Ｔ／ＭｇＯ（％）较高（９．６０～２２．００）,ＣａＯ和ＭｇＯ含量低（分别为０．５８％～１．１６％和０．０７％～０．２５％）,富含稀土元素（∑ＲＥＥ＝２７１．３６～７１７．７５μｇ／ｇ）和高场强元素（Ｙ、Ｚｒ、     

大陆裂谷作用的物理模拟

裂谷作用的物理模拟是研究大陆裂谷系统的几何结构与动力学机制之间关系的一种直观有效的手段。对正向裂谷作用、斜向裂谷作用以及两期作用先后叠加模拟过程中,断裂系统发育的特征进行了综述。目前这些实验结果已被用于解释天然裂谷的形式,并根据断层方向的统计分析推导伸展向量的大致方向。     

Evolution of the eastern margin of Korea: Constraints on the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea)

We interpreted marine seismic profiles in conjunction with swath bathymetric and magnetic data to investigate rifting to breakup processes at the eastern Korean margin that led to the separation of the southwestern Japan Arc. The eastern Korean margin is rimmed by fundamental elements of rift architecture comprising a seaward succession of a rift basin and an uplifted rift flank passing into the slope, typical of a passive continental margin. In the northern part, rifting occurred in the Korea Plateau that is a continental fragment extended and partially segmented from the Korean Peninsula. Two distinguished rift basins (Onnuri and Bandal Basins) in the Korea Plateau are bounded by major synthetic and smaller antithetic faults, creating wide and considerably symmetric profiles. The large-offset border fault zones of these basins have convex dip slopes and demonstrate a zig-zag arrangement along strike. In contrast, the southern margin is engraved along its length with a single narrow rift basin (Hupo Basin) that is an elongated asymmetric half-graben. Analysis of rift fault patterns suggests that rifting at the Korean margin was primarily controlled by normal faulting resulting from extension rather than strike-slip deformation. Two extension directions for rifting are recognized: the Onnuri and Hupo Basins were rifted in the east-west direction; the Bandal Basin in the east–west and northwest–southeast directions, suggesting two rift stages. We interpret that the east–west direction represents initial rifting at the inner margin; while the Japan Basin widened, rifting propagated southeastward repeatedly from the Japan Basin toward the Korean margin but could not penetrate the strong continental lithosphere of the Korean Shield and changed the direction to the south, resulting in east–west extension to create the rift basins at the Korean margin. The northwest–southeast direction probably represents the direction of rifting orthogonal to the inferred line of breakup along the base of the slope of the Korea Plateau; after breakup the southwestern Japan Arc separated in the southeast direction, indicating a response to tensional tectonics associated with the subduction of the Pacific Plate in the northwest direction. No significant volcanism was involved in initial rifting. In contrast, the inception of sea floor spreading documents a pronounced volcanic phase which appears to reflect asthenospheric upwelling as well as rift-induced convection particularly in the narrow southern margin. We suggest that structural and igneous evolution of the Korean margin, although it is in a back-arc setting, can be explained by the processes occurring at the passive continental margin with magmatism influenced by asthenospheric upwelling.     

Quantitative Modelling of Multiphase Lithospheric Stretching and Deep Thermal History of Some Tertiary Rift Basins in Eastern China

The stretching process of some Tertiary rift basins in eastern China is characterized by multiphase rifting. A multiple instantaneous uniform stretching model is proposed in this paper to simulate the formation of the basins as the rifting process cannot be accurately described by a simple (one episode) stretching model. The study shows that the multiphase stretching model, combined with the back-stripping technique, can be used to reconstruct the subsidence history and the stretching process of the lithosphere, and to evaluate the depth to the top of the asthenosphere and the deep thermal evolution of the basins. The calculated results obtained by applying the quantitative model to the episodic rifting process of the Tertiary Qiongdongnan and Yinggehai basins in the South China Sea are in agreement with geophysical data and geological observations. This provides a new method for quantitative evaluation of the geodynamic process of multiphase rifting occurring during the Tertiary in eastern China.     

赣南燕山早期双峰式火山岩的厘定和意义

研究表明分布在赣南寻邬县的白面石—菖蒲火山—沉积盆地和龙南县的东坑—临江火山-沉积盆地火山岩系下部的玄武岩与流纹岩具有紧密的时、空关系,是一套中侏罗世形成的双峰式火山岩组合。玄武岩和流纹岩的不相容元素地球化学特征与板内玄武岩一致,表明中国东南大陆存在燕山早期的裂谷作用或碰撞后伸展作用。     

广西宜州裂陷槽晚古生代演化与早石炭世沉积锰矿分布*

滇黔桂地区晚古生代浅水碳酸盐岩台地与深水硅泥质盆地共存的古地理格局,是在加里东期褶皱基底上发生裂陷及差异沉降而发展起来的。广西宜州—柳州一带既是晚古生代上扬子碳酸盐岩地台南缘1条重要的沉积相分界线,也是晚古生代桂中和桂北地层分区、古生代—中生代雪峰山南段构造体系和桂中坳陷构造体系的分界线。文中通过对宜山—柳州一带晚古生代地层的区域对比和成因分析,恢复了桂中宜山—柳州地区晚古生代沉积盆地的演化历史。狭长型宜州裂陷槽盆地西起丹池断裂,向东经龙头、北牙、宜州延伸至柳州。自中泥盆世开始,首先在东西两端开始裂陷下沉,至早石炭世发展成型。受北侧来自江南隆起带陆源碎屑物质充填影响,其表现为南北不对称并在早石炭世晚期被填平。在宜州裂陷槽内发育多处早石炭世沉积型碳酸锰矿,含矿地层分布、地层序列及其沉积背景明显与裂陷槽演化有关。它们既是盆地演化历史的见证,也体现了桂中地区裂陷海槽的特色,值得在后续锰矿成因研究中予以重视。     

华北克拉通大红峪组高钾火山岩的地球化学特征及其岩石成因

华北克拉通中元古代大红峪组火山岩是一套高钾(K2O Na2O)、富铝、贫硅的碱玄岩-响质碱玄岩-响岩组合。地球化学特征显示其富集轻稀土(LREE)和大离子亲石元素(LILE)(Rb,Ba,K等)、贫高场强元素(HFSE)(Th,Zr,Hf,HREE等)和弱亏损Nb,Ta的微量元素特征。稀土元素配分模式为右倾,有轻微的Eu正异常,类似于OIB的特征。较稳定的La/Nb比值和εNd(t)值,说明岩浆在上升过程中并未遭受到明显的地壳混染作用;结合岩石Nb,Ta弱亏损以及εNd(t)值为-0.66~0.63的特征,表明其地球化学特征更多的是其地幔源区的反映。因此,岩浆来源于富集地幔,可能为被俯冲交代作用改造过的深部岩石圈地幔,并有OIB特征的软流圈组分加入。构造环境分析表明,大红峪组火山岩形成于板内裂谷,其深部地球动力学过程可能与地幔柱有关。