THE TSINAN INTRUSIVE.

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION. "One of the striking features in the Tsinan plain is a group ofisolated hillocks standing up boldly from it. Though mainly overgrown withvegetation, they are distinguishable by ther shape and dark colour from thelight-grey tabular limestone islands which for the last outposts pushedforward by the mountains lying to the south."     

Contrasting morphodynamics in alluvial fans and fan deltas: effect of the downstream boundary

Alluvial fans and fan deltas can, in principle, have exactly the same upstream conditions, but fan deltas by definition have ponding water at their downstream boundary. This ponding creates effects on the autogenic behaviour of fan deltas, such as backwater adaptation, mouth bars and backward sedimentation, whereas alluvial fans may lack these effects. Hence the present authors hypothesize that morphodynamics on alluvial fans are determined primarily by upstream boundary conditions, whereas morphodynamics on fan deltas are determined by both the upstream and the downstream boundary condition and changes therein. To isolate the effects of the upstream and downstream boundaries, five new alluvial fan experiments are compared with the details of three fan deltas published earlier that were formed under very similar and simple conditions. Similar to the fan deltas, the alluvial fans build up by sheet flow, whilst quasi‐regular periods of incision cause temporary channelized flow. Incision is followed by channel backfilling, after which the fan returns to sheet flow. The channelization and backfilling in alluvial fans is markedly less pronounced and more prone to autogenic disturbance than in fan deltas. The difference is caused by morphodynamics at the downstream boundary. In a fan delta, the flow expansion of the channel causes deposition of all the sediment, which forms a mouth bar and causes strong backfilling. In an alluvial fan, on the other hand, the slope break at the fan perimeter causes some deposition, but transport is not reduced to zero. Consequently, the backfilling in alluvial fans is less pronounced than in fan deltas. Other published experiments support this trend: removal of the mouth bar by a river leads to permanent channelization, whilst pronounced mouth‐bar formation in highly channelized deltas promotes backward sedimentation. The experimental results for this study predict that, when alluvial fans prograde into lakes or deep rivers, they transition to fan deltas with increasingly deeper channels and thicker backfill deposits.     

Dissolution of Corundum and Andalusite in H2O-Saturated Haplogranitic Melts at 800{degrees}C and 200 MPa: Constraints on Diffusivities and the Generation of Peraluminous Melts

The mechanisms and kinetics of equilibration between peraluminousminerals and granitic melt were investigated experimentallyby the dissolution of corundum and andalusite into H₂O-saturatedmetaluminous haplogranitic melt at 800°C and 200 MPa. Mineraland haplogranitic glass rods were juxtaposed inside platinumcapsules, and then subjected to experimental conditions fortimes ranging from 12 to 2900 h. Upon melting, the mineral –meltinterface retreats with the square root of time. The compositionof the melt at the interface changes with time, but its ASI[aluminum saturation index = molar Al₂O₃/(CaO + Na₂O + K₂O)]remains constant at     

Zircon and whole-rock Nd-Pb isotopic provenance of Middle and Upper Ordovician siliciclastic rocks, Argentine Precordillera

Graptolite‐bearing Middle and Upper Ordovician siliciclastic facies of the Argentine Precordillera fold‐thrust belt record the disintegration of a long‐lived Cambro‐Mid Ordovician carbonate platform into a series of tectonically partitioned basins. A combination of stratigraphic, petrographic, U‐Pb detrital zircon, and Nd‐Pb whole‐rock isotopic data provide evidence for a variety of clastic sediment sources. Four Upper Ordovician quartzo‐lithic sandstones collected in the eastern and central Precordillera yield complex U‐Pb zircon age spectra dominated by 1·05–1·10 Ga zircons, secondary populations of 1·22, 1·30, and 1·46 Ga, rare 2·2 and 1·8 Ga zircons, and a minor population (<2%) of concordant zircons in the 600–700 Ma range. Archaean‐age grains comprise <1% of all zircons analysed from these rocks. In contrast, a feldspathic arenite from the Middle Ordovician Estancia San Isidro Formation of the central Precordillera has two well‐defined peaks at 1·41 and 1·43 Ga, with no grains in the 600–1200 Ma range and none older than 1·70 Ga. The zircon age spectrum in this unit is similar to that of a Middle Cambrian quartz arenite from the La Laja Formation, suggesting that local basement rocks were a regional source of ca 1·4 Ga detrital zircons in the Precordillera Terrane from the Cambrian onwards. The lack of grains younger than 600 Ma in Upper Ordovician units reinforces petrographic data indicating that Ordovician volcanic arc sources did not supply significant material directly to these sedimentary basins. Nd isotopic data (n = 32) for Middle and Upper Ordovician graptolitic shales from six localities define a poorly mixed signal [ɛ_Nd(450 Ma) = −9·6 to −4·5] that becomes more regionally homogenized in Upper Ordovician rocks (−6·2 ± 1·0; T_DM = 1·51 ± 0·15 Ga; n = 17), a trend reinforced by the U‐Pb detrital zircon data. It is concluded that proximal, recycled orogenic sources dominated the siliciclastic sediment supply for these basins, consistent with rapid unroofing of the Precordillera Terrane platform succession and basement starting in Mid Ordovician time. Common Pb data for Middle and Upper Ordovician shales from the western and eastern Precordillera (n = 15) provide evidence for a minor (<30%) component that was likely derived from a high‐μ (U/Pb) terrane.     

Architecture and sedimentary facies evolution of a marine, expanding outer-arc half-graben (Crete, late Miocene)

Vertical trends in architecture and facies of delta systems are preserved in a clastic wedge of an expanding marine half-graben in which tectonics, eustatic sea-level change and climatic change are roughly known from independent evidence. The studied half-graben is situated on Crete (Greece) and part of a larger, E-W-trending extensional domain situated north of the Hellenic subduction zone. The extension seems to be related to the southward migration of the trench (roll-back) in early Late Miocene times. The infill pattern is discussed in the light of theoretical fault-growth models for expanding half-grabens. The geometry of the half-graben fill is typically wedge shaped, with a thickness of nearly 1000 m near the fault scarp thinning to c. 50 m about 20 km away from the scarp. The lower part of the wedge (Stratified Prina Series) contains coarsening-upward units representing progradational, shallow-marine deltas. At the base of the wedge these units are thin and retrogradationally stacked. Upwards in the succession, the units become composite (coarsening-upward subunits), thicker and finer grained. The composite structure, the thickening and the fining trend is related to progressive increase in accommodation space inherent in fault growth. Rapid deepening of the basin from the photic zone (evidenced by intercalated coral and stromatolite beds) up to a depth of 900 m started at the top of the Stratified Prina Series. The deepening continued over some tens of metres of marly sediments of the base of the Kalamavka Formation and may be related to structural collapse of the fault block. After the structural collapse, basin depth remained more or less constant and basin infilling occurred by progradation of deep-water delta systems. These systems are characterized by a muddy delta slope with channelized conglomerates, and by mainly aggradation of prodelta turbidites deposited in small lobes at the base of slope.     

τ-p SEISMIC DATA FOR VISCOELASTIC MEDIA - PART 2: LINEARIZED INVERSION1

An approach to extraction of viscoelastic parameters from seismic data is implemented and succesfully tested. Viscoelastic inversion is performed using adaptive damping factors to control the sensitivity of the viscoelastic parameters in relation to the τ-p seismic data. A priori information is incorporated through the damping factors as standard deviations of the data and of the viscoelastic model parameters. The stability of the inversion process is controlled by the variation of the damping factors as a function of the residual errors and parameter updates at each iteration. Tests on synthetic and real data show that P- and S-wave quality factors, Q_p and Q_s, in addition to P- and S-wave velocities and density C_p, C_s and p, can be extracted from τ-p seismic information. Singular value decomposition analysis demonstrates that estimated Q_p and Q_s values are more affected by the presence of data inaccuracies and noise than are those of C_p and p. C_s and Q_s are not uniquely recovered due to the limited contribution of P-S converted waves. Knowledge of the viscoelastic parameters is of particular importance in accurately describing petrophysical properties of rocks and pore fluids existing in the subsurface; this is demonstrated with real data from the Gulf of Mexico.     

Full-glacial — late-glacial palaeoclimate of the Southern Andes: evidence from pollen,beetle and glacial records

Palaeoecological studies carried out in the Chilean Lake District and Chilotan Archipelago (41°–43°S) record full-glacial and late-glacial pollen assemblages beginning just after 21000 and beetle assemblages after 18000, both sets extending until 10000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Pollen records indicate that Subantarctic Parkland, the vegetation of the early millennia of record, changed after about 14000 yr BP to become open woodland and later North Patagonian Evergreen Forest. Assemblages of plants and beetles, responding more or less in unison to a strong rise in temperature (≥ 6°C), behaved in accord at around 14000 until 13000–12500 yr BP, the beetle fauna displaying a marked increase in obligate forest types. During full-glacial conditions (17400–16100 and 15300 and 14400 yr BP) and in the late-glacial interval (after about 13000 yr BP), however, climate evidently coerced populations dissimilarly, the pollen sequence showing an increase in plant taxa indicative of colder climate, whereas the beetle fauna underwent little or no variation. Contrasting climate modes implied by plants and beetles may be attributed to differential responses to apparent low-order temperature changes (≤ 2–3°C).