A New Specimen of Crichtonpelta benxiensis (Dinosauria: Ankylosaurinae) from the Mid-Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China

A new specimen of ankylosaurine dinosaur Crichtonpelta benxiensis is described. The new specimen is based on a nearly completely preserved skull from the same quarry as the holotype of the mid-Cretaceous Sunjiawan Formation in Shuangmiao, Beipiao City, Liaoning Province, China. Cladistic analysis incorporating new information from the new specimen resolves Crichtonpelta benxiensis is more advanced than basal members of Ankylosauridae (Kunbarrasaurus, Liaoningosaurus, Chuanqilong, Cedarpelta, Gobisaurus and Shamosaurus) and represents the first diverging branch of Ankylosaurinae. Comparisons to other mid-Cretaceous ankylosaurid-bearing dinosaur assemblages in northern China indicate a late Early Cretaceous to early Late Cretaceous age for the Shuangmiao dinosaur assemblage.     

Relationship between mid-Cretaceous (upper Albian–Cenomanian) ammonoid facies and lithofacies in the Yezo forearc basin, Hokkaido, Japan

An examination of inner shelf, outer shelf, and slope deposits in the Yezo forearc basin, northern Japan, provides new insights into the relationship between mid-Cretaceous ammonoid facies and lithofacies. Although undergoing post-mortem transport to some degree, the ammonoids were not moved to areas outside of their original habitat. This assumption is based on the condition of the outer shell surface, general absence of fragmentation, and sedimentary structures. Desmoceras predominates in the upper Albian–Cenomanian succession regardless of lithofacies, the family Gaudryceratidae is the second-most dominant group in each lithofacies, the abundance of Zelandites decreases offshore, and other groups, including Acanthoceratidae, are uncommon but occur in both inshore and offshore facies. External shell ornamentation does not necessarily vary according to lithofacies differences, while the shape of the whorl section does vary with lithofacies as a reflection of ambient environments. The smooth, slender Zelandites and the compressed morph of the smooth Desmoceras predominate in high-energy regimes represented by frequent hummocky cross-stratification and current ripple marks of an inner shelf. In contrast, the depressed morph of Desmoceras predominates in low-energy, offshore, muddy sea-floor regimes.     

Time-scales of assembly and thermal history of a composite felsic pluton: constraints from the Emerald Lake area, northern Canadian Cordillera, Yukon

Knowledge of the time-scales of emplacement and thermal history during assembly of composite felsic plutons in the shallow crust are critical to deciphering the processes of crustal growth and magma chamber development. Detailed petrological and chemical study of the mid-Cretaceous, composite Emerald Lake pluton, from the northern Canadian Cordillera, Yukon Territory, coupled with U–Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology, indicates that this pluton was intruded as a series of magmatic pulses. Intrusion of these pulses produced a strong petrological zonation from augite syenite, hornblende quartz syenite and monzonite, to biotite granite. Our data further indicate that multiple phases were emplaced and cooled to below the mineral closure temperatures over a time-scale on the order of the resolution of the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar technique (1 Myr), and that emplacement occurred at 94.3 Ma. Simple thermal modelling and heat conduction calculations were used to further constrain the temporal relationships within the intrusion. These calculations are consistent with the geochronology and show that emplacement and cooling were complete in less than 100 kyr and probably 70±5 kyr. These results demonstrate that production, transport and emplacement of the different phases of the Emerald Lake pluton occurred essentially simultaneously, and that these processes must also have been closely related in time and space. By analogy, these results provide insights into the assembly and petrogenesis of other complex intrusions and ultimately lead to an understanding of the processes involved in crustal development.     

Mid-Cretaceous hydrothermal vents and authigenic carbonates in a transform margin, Basque-Cantabrian Basin (western Pyrenees): a multidisciplinary study

A comprehensive study of authigenic carbonates and associated fauna in Late Albian organic‐rich, deep‐water deposits (the Black Flysch Group) reveals that carbonate precipitation was a by‐product of the anaerobic oxidation of hydrocarbon‐rich hydrothermal fluids. The authigenic carbonates are exposed along the Kardala and Alkolea sea cliffs in the western Pyrenees. The two vent carbonates occur 1 km apart adjacent to the synsedimentary, right‐reverse Mutriku fault, but in contrasting structural domains: the Kardala carbonates occur on a structural ridge (hangingwall) and the Alkolea carbonates are positioned at the base of an erosional scarp (folded downward footwall). The similarity in pattern of the carbonate phases and complex paragenetic events for both vent precipitates implies that hydrothermal fluid generation processes and pore‐water evolution during early and late diagenesis were similar. Nevertheless, a comparison of the geochemistry, fossil fauna and morphology of carbonate structures of both precipitates suggests that the vented hydrocarbon type, flow intensity and temperature of hydrothermal fluids were different. At the Kardala vent, intense focused flow of hot (up to 109 °C), oil‐rich fluids were generated, allowing the development of a relatively abundant chemosynthesis‐based fauna. In contrast, at the Alkolea vent, diffuse flows of warm, thermogenic methane‐rich fluids were expelled to the sea floor and no chemosynthetic fauna developed. These differences are related to the contrasting structural setting of each locality. Similar δ¹³C_org values for both pyrobitumen‐fills and host unit organic matter suggest that the hydrocarbon source was the Black Flysch Group. Contact alteration of these organic‐rich sediments by syndepositional hydrothermal fluids generated hydrothermal petroleum (oil and gas hydrocarbons) which probably migrated updip to the sea floor by contemporary compression tectonics.     

浙闽地区白垩纪中期古土壤类型与古气候

对浙江西南和福建西南数个小型沉积盆地的11个剖面和观察点进行了地质调查,在中国大陆第一次识别了白垩纪中期三种古土壤类型,分别是粘土红壤、钙质土壤和铁质土壤型。粘土红壤型以发育红色(粉砂质)泥岩、生物潜穴、植物根系(根迹)为特点,钙质土壤型以发育紫灰色调钙质泥岩、钙质结核(含姜结石)为标志,铁质土壤型显示了紫红和橙黄色调泥岩、粉砂岩与铁质皮壳及结核组合。进而提出,白垩纪中期的阿普特期-阿尔布时期,在浙江西南金华—衢州—丽水盆地、中部的永康盆地大量发育钙质土壤,以横山组、中戴组、金华组、馆头组和朝川组为代表,属于亚热带干旱—半干旱气候产物;在闽西南地区出现丰富的铁质氧化型土壤,由板头组、均口组和沙县组为代表,反映热带半干旱气候;之后的白垩纪中期赛诺曼期(衢县组)在浙西局部地区气候变为亚热带温湿气候,古土壤变为粘土红壤型,开始产生较为丰富的生物活动,而闽西南主体气候格局可能不变,但沉积建造因区域构造断隆作用转变为巨厚的"丹霞"砾岩。     

白垩纪中期地球磁场与全球地质现象(英文)

白垩纪超静磁带(CNS)是指白垩纪中期约40 Ma内(Aptian Santonian, 121~83 Ma)地球磁场没有出现倒转的异常现象。这一现象引起地球学界的极大关注,原因在于它与白垩纪中期(124~90 Ma)其他一系列事件在时间上非常吻合,包括洋底扩张速率的快速增加和洋底高原、海山链、大型火成岩省等生产速率的快速增加。过去20多年许多研究强调所有这些现象与下地幔对流的联系。近期研究的一个重要的进展在于把地球磁场的变化(反转频率和古强度)与许多重要的地质和地球物理过程结合起来,如周期性地幔对流、地幔柱活动、全球热流、真极移、大型火成岩省的产生和生物群集绝灭。文中回顾了白垩纪地球磁场研究以及与白垩纪中期所发生的全球性的地质事件之间的可能存在的关联,并讨论在这一重要研究领域内未来研究的发展方向。     

Cordilleran-type orogeny and episodic growth of continents: Insights from the circum-Pacific continental margins

A new material migration hypothesis for the plate subduction zone orogeny, so-called ‘the cordilleran-type orogeny’, is proposed on the basis of geological constraints as well as mechanics of accretionary wedges. The major tectonic processes of the hypothesis comprise: (i) episodic, extensive magmatism along the margin of an overriding plate; (ii) supply of voluminous igneous and eroded materials through forearc to trench, with an increase in the net sediment influx into trench; (iii) accelerated accretion of sediments beneath an overriding older accretionary wedge; and (iv) upward material migration within the wedge and resultant exhumation of high-P/T metamorphic rocks near the inland margin of the wedge. This hypothesis was validated by the test using available geo- and thermo-chronological data from two classical types of subduction-related orogens in Southwest Japan and California. The hypothesis, coupled with the thermochronologic point of view, requires the reconsideration of coevality of paired metamorphism. The temporal pairing is to be observed between the beginning of the regional high-T/P metamorphism and that of the uplift and exhumation of high-P/T metamorphism, with some time lag needed for material migration. Where the temporal pairing is examined therefore, the formation age of igneous rocks and related high-T/P metamorphic rocks should be compared to the exhumation age of high-P/T metamorphic rocks. The episodic, extensive magmatism that triggers the cordilleran-type orogeny shows a temporal correlation in the mid-Cretaceous for most circum-Pacific continental margins. The resultant widespread formation of accretionary complexes is also observed in the western part of the circum-Pacific margins. The deduced mid-Cretaceous circum-Pacific orogeny accompanied a gross increase in the continental crust production rate, and was approximately coeval with the Pangea breakup and the Central Pacific superplume episode, implying the orogeny as a part of the mid-Cretaceous pulsation of the Earth.     

白垩纪中期海相富有机碳沉积的地球生物学背景

白垩纪中期(约125～88Ma)海相富有机碳沉积广泛发育于全球各主要洋盆和沉降区,是许多大油田的重要烃源岩。文中从地球生物学的角度探讨了当时海相富有机碳沉积的地质背景和主控因素,认为在白垩纪中期全球事件频发的特殊背景下,保存条件(大洋缺氧)和生产力的提高共同控制了有机质的富集。大洋缺氧不但加快了海洋生物的灭绝和更替,使有机质大量堆积,而且促进了营养元素(P、N、Fe等)的再生和厌氧自养型海洋微生物(如蓝细菌、绿硫细菌和古菌类等)的极度繁盛,提高了生产力水平;而高的生产力又反过来加剧了海洋的缺氧。新的研究成果(Os同位素证据)表明,白垩纪大规模海底火山作用引发了持续的温室效应和海水循环的静滞、紊乱以及弱上升流发育,进而导致生产力的提高和大洋缺氧事件(OAE)的发生,最终造成有机质的广泛堆积和保存。     

Tectonic, eustatic and environmental controls on mid-Cretaceous carbonate platform deposition, south-central Pyrenees, Spain

Cenomanian–Turonian strata of the south‐central Pyrenees in northern Spain contain three prograding carbonate sequences that record interactions among tectonics, sea level, environment and sediment fabric in controlling sequence development. Sequence UK‐1 (Lower to Upper Cenomanian) contains distinct lagoonal, back‐margin, margin, slope and basin facies, and was deposited on a broad, flat shelf adjacent to a deep basin. The lack of reef‐constructing organisms resulted in a gently dipping ramp morphology for the margin and slope. Sequence UK‐2 (Upper Cenomanian) contains similar shallow‐water facies belts, but syndepositional tectonic modification of the margin resulted in a steep slope and deposition of carbonate megabreccias. Sequence UK‐3 (Lower to Middle Turonian) records a shift from benthic to pelagic deposition, as the shallow platform was drowned in response to a eustatic sea‐level rise, coupled with increased organic productivity. Sequences UK‐1 to UK‐3 are subdivided into lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts based on stratal geometries and facies distribution patterns. The same lithologies (e.g. megabreccias) commonly occur in more than one systems tract, indicating that: (1) the depositional system responded to more than just sea‐level fluctuations; and (2) similar processes occurred during different times throughout sequence development. These sequences illustrate the complexity of carbonate platform dynamics that influence sequence architecture. Rift tectonics and flexural subsidence played a major role in controlling the location of the platform margin, maintaining a steep slope gradient through syndepositional faulting, enhancing slope instability and erosion, and influencing depositional processes, stratal relationships and lithofacies distribution on the slope. Sea‐level variations (eustatic and relative) strongly influenced the timing of sequence and parasequence boundary formation, controlled changes in accommodation and promoted platform drowning (in conjunction with other factors). Physico‐chemical and climatic conditions were responsible for reducing carbonate production rates and inducing platform drowning. Finally, a mud‐rich sediment fabric affected platform morphology, growth geometries (aggradation vs. progradation) and facies distribution patterns.     

Planktic foraminiferal porosity: a water mass proxy for latest Cenomanian paleoceanography, Greenhorn Sea, Western Interior USA and Canada

Planktic foraminiferal porosity analyses can be used as a water mass proxy and were conducted on samples from above the latest Cenomanian Neocardioceras or B bentonite from the Western Interior Seaway of North America. This time slice provides a snapshot of water mass characteristics in this vast epicontinental sea during the early phase of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2. Mean sample porosity decreases northward and is interpreted as northward decrease in water temperature at the depth Hedbergella delrioensis (Carsey) calcified. Four water masses are defined by porosity, their boundaries are extremely similar to water mass boundaries previously identified by others using the distributions of macrofossils, microfossils and lithology. The boundary between the Subtropical–Tropical Water Mass and Central Subtropical Water Mass was located in southern Colorado. The boundary between the Central Subtropical Water Mass and the Northern Temperate Water Mass lay at approximately 48°N latitude. This boundary is displaced northward approximately 8° latitude as compared to the Holocene planktic foraminiferal temperate ocean province. Within-sample porosity variation suggests all water masses except the Temperate Water Mass were thermally stratified. Samples from the south indicate that the Subtropical–Tropical Water Mass was the most stratified. The porosity data support a previously published data-based paleoceanographic circulation of the southwestern seaway.