Cretaceous Environments of Afghanistan:A Synthesis Based on Selected Sections

1IntroductionThe Late Mesozoic sequences of Afghanistan are important in understanding the geodynamic evolu-tion of the northwestern part of South Asia, in par-ticular the transgressive and regressive history of the northwestern part of the Tethys connecting Iran to the west and the northern Indian Subcontinent to the east. Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous sedimentary seque-nces were initially studied by Griesbach (1885 ~1887) and Hayden (1880~1901) through several traverses in northern an…     

Instability and geotechnical problems of the Buddha niches and surrounding cliff in Bamiyan Valley,central Afghanistan

This paper describes the slope-instability processes and geological hazards affecting the historical site of Bamiyan, central Afghanistan, a major world-cultural heritage site. Here, two standing Buddhas carved in rock during the 2nd–4th centuries A.D. were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001. There are very evident slope instabilities resulting from both explosions and natural processes: rock slides and rock falls had already occurred in the past and most areas are prone to collapse. Under the coordination of UNESCO, field data were collected and laboratory tests were performed to determine mechanisms for potential evolution of the cliff and niches. Areas of greatest instability, based on the field survey and data interpretation for both the small and great Buddha niches and surrounding cliff, were determined. This information helps to identify the most suitable method for restoration, in accord with the high cultural value of this site.     

Research on the Sustainability of Afghanistan Based on the Emergy Analysis

Afghanistan is an important country for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road) proposed by China. Due to years of war, Afghanistan is not well-developed economically. However, Afghanistan has abundant mineral resources and unique geographical advantages that are of far-reaching significance for Chinese economic strategic development. To investigate the sustainability of the eco-economic system of Afghanistan, we completed a quantitative evaluation of the emergy of Afghanistan during the period 2008 to 2015 by establishing an indicator system based on an emergy analysis. Results showed that from 2008 to 2015, the total emergy used of Afghanistan increased from 5.56×10²² sej to 9.75×10²² sej, among which the proportion of non-renewable emergy was less than 25.7%. This indicates that local resources in Afghanistan have yet to be exploited and utilized effectively and that its economic development relied heavily on the input of external resources. Meanwhile, the Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI) of Afghanistan from 2008 to 2015 dropped from 3.00 to 0.72, the Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR) increased from 0.77 to 2.06, and the Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR) dropped from 2.31 to 1.49, reflecting the imbalanced utilization of resources and the low level of economic development in Afghanistan. As a result, the potential for sustainable development of Afghanistan is relatively great. Basic infrastructure construction and reasonable exploitation of natural resources are the urgent needs.     

Coal resource potential of Afghanistan

abstract

Coal exploration in Afghanistan has focused exclusively on expanding the boundaries of the known Jurassic coal deposits. The systematic stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies needed to locate and characterize new prospects in other parts of the country have never been conducted. Exploration strategies are based on received wisdom formulated before tectonic theory developed, and do not incorporate current understanding of the geologic and environmental processes responsible for peat formation and burial. This analysis reassesses existing data and limited new field reconnaissance data using modern tectonic and coal geology concepts to provide a new understanding of Afghanistan’s true coal potential. Afghanistan assembled during the Phanerozoic from a minimum of 11 microcontinental fragments, 5 arc systems, 3 accretionary wedges, and 2 rift systems. An unknown number of additional Precambrian terranes with separate tectonic histories are exposed in the cores of the Phanerozoic microcontinents. All of the Phanerozoic microcontinents separated from the disintegrating Gondwanaland. Each transited equatorial latitudes prior to accreting to Asia. From a purely theoretical standpoint, peat could have accumulated on every fragment during its equatorial transit. Mississippian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Oligocene, and Pliocene coals and carbonaceous shales are known. Triassic, Jurassic, and Pliocene deposits have been mined, but only the economically important Jurassic outcrops have been studied to any detail. Graphite-rich Precambrian strata are common from the Mesoarchean to the Neoproterozoic, and a Neoproterozoic bone coal was encountered while drilling for copper near Kabul. Jurassic and potentially Triassic and Carboniferous coals may underlie a significant percentage of the North Afghan Platform. Jurassic coals are extremely gassy and are known hydrocarbon source rocks across most of Central Asia. In Afghanistan, where these coal systems are closer to the surface, they could be coalbed methane reservoir rocks.     

Late Cretaceous ophiolite obduction and Paleocene India-Asia collision in the westernmost Himalaya

Abstract

Collision of the Kohistan island arc with Asia at ~100 Ma resulted in N-S compression within the Neo-Tethys at a spreading center north of the Indo-Pakistani craton. Subsequent India-Asia convergence converted the Neo-Tethyan spreading center into a short-lived subduction zone. The hanging wall of the subduction zone became the Waziristan, Khost and Jalalabad igneous complexes. During the Santonian- Campanian (late Cretaceous), thrusting of the NW IndoPakistani craton beneath Albian oceanic crust and a Cenomanian volcano-sedimentary complex, generated an ophiolite-radiolarite belt. Ophiolite obduction resulted in tectonic loading and flexural subsidence of the NW Indian margin and sub-CCD deposition of shelf-derived olistostromes and turbidites in the foredeep. Campanian-Maastriehtian calci- clastic and siliciclastic sediment gravity flows derived from both margins filled the foredeep as a huge allochthon of Triassic-Jurassic rise and slope strata was thrust ahead of the ophiolites onto the Indo-Pakistani craton. Shallow to intermediate marine strata covered the foredeep during the late Maastrichtian. As ophiolite obduction neared completion during the Maastrichtian, the majority of India-Asia convergence was accommodated along the southern margin of Asia. During the Paleocene, India was thrust beneath a second allochthon that included open marine middle Maastrichtian colored mélange which represents the Asian Makran-Indus-Tsangpo accretionary prism. Latérites that formed on the eroded ophiolites and structurally higher colored mélange during the Paleocene wei’e unconformably overlapped by upper Paleocene and Middle Eocene shallow marine limestone and shale that delineate distinct episodes of Paleocene collisional and Early Eocene post-collisional deformation.     

阿富汗艾娜克铜矿西矿区构造成矿特点

通过对阿富汗艾娜克铜矿矿区地质条件的研究,分析了矿区的构造特征。剖析了艾娜克复式背斜及其北翼1—3号次级背、向斜构造特征和4组断裂构造特征。探讨了矿区的主要构造活动(褶皱和断裂)对艾娜克铜矿控矿的影响。     

Remote Sensing and GIS as Counterterrorism Tools in the Afghanistan War: A Case Study of the Zhawar Kili Region*

Rocks forming the backdrop of video footage of an admitted September 11 terrorist appeared to the author to belong to the Kurram Group of eastern Afghanistan. The cultural geography and military history of the area suggested that the terrorist was in or near the Zhawar Kili cave complex. Band‐ratio satellite image mapping combined with public National Imagery and Mapping Agency and United Nations databases confirmed that Zhawar Kili is on Kurram Group rocks. This information was forwarded to the U.S. government in October 2001. Military and news media reports indicate the subsequent successful elimination of a large number of terrorists and munitions at Zhawar Kili in November 2001 and January, February, and April of 2002.     

Cretaceous Environments of Afghanistan:A Synthesis Based on Selected Sections

The Cretaceous of Afghanistan is marked by great facies diversity. The evolution of Cretaceous basins is part of a complex accretionary history involving three distinct tectonic units namely the Asian (Russian) Block separated from the Indian plate by a rather well defined transcurrent fault (Chaman-Nuski). The southwestern component is representedby the Iran-Afghanistan plate. The Lower Cretaceous of the Asian Block is represented by the Red-Grit Series which isconformable to the underlying Upper Jurassic sequences. The transition is marked by evaporitic facies dominated by salt,gypsum and marl deposits. In south Afghanistan volcanic rocks occur at Farah, with the emplacement of plutonics inwest-central Afghanistan. The Upper Cretaceous of north Afghanistan is marked by richly fossiliferous, lime stone-dominated sequences. The Upper Cretaceous of southern Afghanistan is marked by strong ophiolitic magrmatism.     

阿富汗科里奇-阿什普什塔勘查区煤层煤质特征研究

阿富汗科里奇一阿什普什塔勘查区面积约69．098km^2,含煤地层为侏罗系中统和下统。侏罗系中统下段阿什普塔组含一层可采煤层,即7煤层。侏罗系下统科里奇组下段含可采煤4层,分别为4、2、2、2F煤层,其中2煤层为西部主要可采煤层,总资源量11389．6万t。7煤层煤质为低灰、特低硫、特低磷、中热值、中等软化温度灰之不粘煤;其他煤层均为中-高灰、低硫、低磷、中热值、高挥发份、中等软化温度灰之长焰煤。     

Supracrustal suite of the Precambrian crystalline crust in the Ghor Province of Central Afghanistan

The Proterozoic pre-Ediacaran metamorphic basement of the southern Tajik (North Afghanistan) continental block and the adjacent Band-e-Bayan zone is exposed in the Ghor Province of Central Afghanistan. It is predominantly composed of the EW-striking supracrustal succession consisting of interbedded felsic schists and gneisses (metapsammites), amphibolites (metabasalts), calcite and dolomite marbles. The metamorphic facies changes from greenschist in the Band-e-Bayan zone to amphibolite facies in the Tajik block. The supracrustal rocks of the Band-e-Bayan zone and Tajik block possess common features suggesting that the former represents a tectonized part of the latter. The geochemical characteristics of metapsammites indicate derivation of the clastic material from a continental arc and, partly from a passive continental margin, whereas the composition of metabasalts suggests their possible formation in a continental rift basin. The tectonic setting of supracrustal unit could be interpreted as a back-arc type basin. We presume that the Tajik microcontinent split off the Gondwana supercontinent along an ancient rift zone during the late Paleozoic.