Plastic flow strength of jadeite and diopside investigated by microindentation hardness tests

Microindentation hardness tests were performed on jadeite and diopside, being end members of the omphacite solid solution series. At temperatures between 300 and 750 °C, the hardness of jadeite ranges from 7.4 to 8.5 GPa, that of diopside from 4.9 to 6.1 GPa. Jadeite is significantly stronger than diopside in the low-temperature plasticity regime. Normalization of the hardness-derived yield stress with respect to the shear modulus considerably reduces the strength contrast. The normalized Peierls stress is identical for jadeite and diopside. This indicates that jadeite and diopside belong to the same isomechanical group. The hardness-derived yield stress for jadeite as well as for diopside is used to estimate flow law parameters for the low-temperature plasticity regime.     

Mineralogy and geochemistry of a Late Permian coal in the Dafang Coalfield, Guizhou, China: influence from siliceous and iron-rich calcic hydrothermal fluids

This paper describes the influence of siliceous and iron-rich calcic low-temperature hydrothermal fluids (LTHF) on the mineralogy and geochemistry of the Late Permian No. 11 Coal (anthracitic, R_r=2.85%) in the Dafang Coalfield in northwestern Guizhou Province, China. The No. 11 Coal has high contents of vein ankerite (10.2 vol.%) and vein quartz (11.4 vol.%), with formation temperatures of 85 and 180 °C, respectively, indicating that vein ankerite and vein quartz were derived from low-temperature calcic and siliceous hydrothermal fluids in two epigenetic episodes. The vein quartz appears to have formed earlier than vein ankerite did, and at least three distinct stages of ankerite formation with different Ca/Sr and Fe/Mn ratios were observed.The two types of mineral veins are sources of different suites of major and trace metals. Scanning electron microscope and sequential extraction studies show that, in addition to Fe, Mg, and Ca, vein ankerite is the dominant source of Mn, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the coal, and the contents of these five elements are as high as 0.09% and 74.0, 33.6, 185, and 289 μg/g, respectively. In contrast, vein quartz is the main carrier mineral for platinum-group elements (PGEs) Pd, Pt, and Ir in the coal, and the contents of Pd, Pt, and Ir are 1.57, 0.15, and 0.007 μg/g, respectively. Sequential extraction showed a high PGE content in the silicate fraction, up to 10.4 μg/g Pd, 1.23 μg/g Pt, and 0.05 μg/g Ir, respectively. It is concluded that the formation of ankerite and quartz and the anomalous enrichment of trace elements in the No. 11 Coal in the Dafang Coalfield, Guizhou, result from the influx of calcic and siliceous low-temperature hydrothermal fluids.     

青藏高原东缘新生代隆升剥露与断裂活动的低温热年代学约束

青藏高原东缘作为高原生长的东边界,其新生代以来隆升剥露与扩展模式备受关注.高原内部平缓的地貌和边界构造带不显著的缩短变形被认为是下地壳流作用的重要证据.然而近年来,越来越多的低温热年代学研究结果表明,中-晚新生代以来跨不同断裂带存在显著的差异性隆升剥露,指示了断裂体系在青藏高原东缘构造变形与演化中的重要作用.本文系统收集区域内现有不同封闭温度体系的低温热年代学数据,综合分析结果表明青藏高原东缘隆升剥露及生长扩展与整个高原抬升具有准同步性.最为广泛和显著的剥露主要发生在~30 Ma以来,且高原东缘的最大侵蚀量区受控于断裂活动,快速侵蚀带的空间分布与鲜水河断裂带相一致.在区域尺度上,现有数据所揭示的剥露事件启动、持续时间及速率的显著差异性揭示了断层活动对青藏高原东缘地表剥露过程的控制作用.本文提出青藏高原向东扩展是多阶段、非均匀过程,新生代以来不同断裂带在青藏高原向东扩展过程中起到了至关重要的作用,不支持"下地壳流假说"强调的"东缘上地壳变形不显著"的认识.     

(U-Th)/He测年技术:α离子射出效应及其校正

(u-Th)/He测年技术是近年来低温热年代学研究领域快速发展的一个重要分支,被应用于磷灰石、锆石、榍石、石榴子石等多种矿物,并且磷灰石(U-Th)/He在目前已知的所用低温热年代学指标中具有最低的封闭温度和较强的热敏感性,此外矿物的(U-Th)/He分析还可用来反演样品所经历的热历史,因此该技术在地质学中得到了广泛的应用.随着对(U-Th)/He方法研究程度的提高,影响测年结果的各种因素也被相继发现和认识.从(U-Th)/He测年的基本原理出发,详细介绍了矿物内 α离子的射出效应及其对氦年龄计算的影响与校正,进一步说明了矿物成分环带、晶体形状、比表面积等因素对于氦年龄校正的作用,并详细阐述了已有的针对这些因素的不同校正模型的原理、特点、发展历程以及前缘研究方向.     

低温平衡ZnS-PbS-FeS-H_2S四组分体系的热力学分析

本文介绍了热力学相图在浅成低温热液硫化物矿床中的应用,并以三江地区金顶铅锌矿床中的矿物含量为例进行定量分析。一方面在相同温度下,浓度与矿物(组合)之间存在对应关系,并且一些矿物(组合)对应特定的酸碱条件,例如在400K和105Pa条件下,黄铁矿与方铅矿的组合在碱性环境下稳定,而方铅矿与闪锌矿的组合在酸性环境中稳定,且酸性条件下当lg[Pb2+]≥-11.29时,才开始出现方铅矿;另一方面对比了298.15K和400K条件下矿物共生组合的及介质pH值的变化情况,并得到400K条件下形成矿物或矿物组合所需离子的浓度更高。     

Geochemical constraints on the modes of carbonate precipitation in peridotites from the Logatchev Hydrothermal Vent Field and Gakkel Ridge

The ultramafic-hosted Logatchev Hydrothermal Field (LHF) at 15°N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Arctic Gakkel Ridge (GR) feature carbonate precipitates (aragonite, calcite, and dolomite) in voids and fractures within different types of host rocks. We present chemical and Sr isotopic compositions of these different carbonates to examine the conditions that led to their formation. Our data reveal that different processes have led to the precipitation of carbonates in the various settings. Seawater-like ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios for aragonite in serpentinites (0.70909 to 0.70917) from the LHF are similar to those of aragonite from the GR (0.70912 to 0.70917) and indicate aragonite precipitation from seawater at ambient conditions at both sites. Aragonite veins in sulfide breccias from LHF also have seawater-like Sr isotope compositions (0.70909 to 0.70915), however, their rare earth element (REE) patterns show a clear positive europium (Eu) anomaly indicative of a small (< 1%) hydrothermal contribution. In contrast to aragonite, dolomite from the LHF has precipitated at much higher temperatures (~ 100 °C), and yet its ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.70896 to 0.70907) are only slightly lower than those of aragonite. Even higher temperatures are calculated for the precipitation of deformed calcite veins in serpentine–talc fault schists form north of the LHF. These calcites show unradiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.70460 to 0.70499) indicative of precipitation from evolved hydrothermal fluids. A simple mixing model based on Sr mass balance and enthalpy conservation indicates strongly variable conditions of fluid mixing and heat transfers involved in carbonate formation. Dolomite precipitated from a mixture of 97% seawater and 3% hydrothermal fluid that should have had a temperature of approximately 14 °C assuming that no heat was transferred. The much higher apparent precipitation temperatures based on oxygen isotopes (~ 100 °C) may be indicative of conductive heating, probably of seawater prior to mixing. The hydrothermal calcite in the fault schist has precipitated from a mixture of 67% hydrothermal fluid and 33% seawater, which should have had an isenthalpic mixing temperature of ~ 250 °C. The significantly lower temperatures calculated from oxygen isotopes are likely due to conductive cooling of hydrothermal fluid discharging along faults. Rare earth element patterns corroborate the results of the mixing model, since the hydrothermal calcite, which formed from waters with the greatest hydrothermal contribution, has REE patterns that closely resemble those of vent fluids from the LHF. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, that (1) precipitation from pure seawater, (2) conductive heating of seawater, and (3) conductive cooling of hydrothermal fluids in the sub-seafloor all can lead to carbonate precipitation within a single ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal system.     

Continental accretion and incremental deformation in the thermochronologic evolution of the Lesser Caucasus

Apatite fission-track analysis and thermochronologic statistical modeling of Precambrian-Oligocenc plutonic and metamorphic rocks from the Lesser Caucasus resolve two discrete cooling episodes.Cooling occurred during incremental crustal shortening due to obduction and continental accretion along the margins of the northern branch of the Neotethys.(1) The thermochronometric record of a Late Cretaceous(Turonian-Maastrichtian) cooling/exhumation event,coeval to widespread ophiolite obduction,is still present only in a relatively small area of the upper plate of the Amasia-Sevan-Akera(ASA) suture zone,i.e.the suture marking the final closure of the northern Neotethys during the Paleogene.Such area has not been affected by significant later exhumation.(2) Rapid cooling/exhumation occurred in the Early-Middle Miocene in both the lower and upper plates of the ASA suture zone,obscuring previous thermochronologic signatures over most of the study area.Miocene contractional reactivation of the ASA suture zone occurred contemporaneously with the main phase of shortening and exhumation along the Bitlis suture zone marking the closure of the southern branch of the Neotethys and the ensuing ArabiaEurasia collision.Miocene collisional stress from the Bitlis suture zone was transmitted northward across the Anatolian hinterland,which was left relatively undeformed,and focused along preexisting structural discontinuities such as the eastern Pontides and the ASA suture zone.     

青藏高原东南缘大凉山新生代隆升建造过程——多封闭系统低温热年代学与热模型限制

长波长、低起伏度大凉山构造带新生代隆升剥露与建造过程是解译青藏高原东向扩展过程的关键核心地区之一.本文基于大凉山构造带喜德剖面和沐川剖面9件样品的多封闭系统低温热年代学年龄(即磷灰石(U-Th)/He(AHe)、磷灰石裂变径迹(AFT)和锆石(U-Th)/He(ZHe))定年,揭示出多封闭系统热年代学年龄与古岩性柱深度具有明显的正相关性,即伴随古岩性柱深度增大,多封闭系统热年代学年龄明显减小.喜徳剖面多封闭系统低温热年代学AHe、AFT和ZHe年龄值分别为7—9Ma、14—22Ma和25—38Ma;沐川剖面多封闭系统低温热年代学AHe和AFT年龄值分别为10—26Ma、23—85Ma,ZHe年龄值为未完全退火年龄.多封闭系统热年代学和QTQt热史模拟揭示,大凉山构造带喜徳和沐川剖面岩性柱所有样品都经历大致相似的三阶段热演化过程,尤其是晚新生代快速隆升剥露阶段(30—20 Ma以来),其平均剥露速率分别为~0.15mm·a-1和~0.20mm·a-1,抬升剥露量分别为~3.0km和~1.5km.结合区域低温热年代学特征的大凉山构造带地表隆升动力学模型,揭示出重力均衡作用下地壳缩短与剥露作用(即构造隆升剥露机制)控制形成了现今大凉山造山带长波长、低起伏和高海拔地貌建造过程.     

中天山科克苏河地区隆升剥蚀历史——来自(U-Th)/He年龄的制约

天山是中亚造山带重要组成部分,其中-新生代构造热演化及隆升剥露史研究是认识中亚造山带构造变形过程与机制的关键.本文应用磷灰石(U-Th)/He技术重建中天山南缘科克苏河地区中-新生代构造热演化及隆升剥蚀过程.磷灰石(U-Th)/He数据综合解释及热演化史模拟表明该地区至少存在晚白垩世、早中新世、晚中新世3期快速隆升剥蚀事件,起始时间分别为~90Ma、~13Ma及~5Ma,且这3期隆升剥蚀事件在整个天山地区具有广泛的可对比性.相对于磷灰石裂变径迹,磷灰石(U-Th)/He年龄记录了中天山南缘地质演化史中更新和更近的热信息,即中天山在晚中新世(~5 Ma)快速隆升剥蚀,其剥蚀速率为~0.47mm·a~(-1),剥蚀厚度为~2300m.总体上,中天山科克苏地区隆升剥蚀起始时间从天山造山带向昭苏盆地(由南向北)逐渐变老,表明了中天山南缘隆升剥蚀存在不均一性,并发生了多期揭顶剥蚀事件.     

Deformation characterization of a regional thrust zone in the northern Rif (Chefchaouen,Morocco)

This paper provides the structural analysis of the Chefchaouen area in the northern Rif. Here the Dorsale Calcaire superposes, by means of an excellently exposed thrust fault, onto the Predorsalian succession in turn tectonically covering the Massylian Unit. Hanging wall carbonates of the Dorsale Calcaire Unit form a WSW-verging regional fold with several parasitic structures, deformed by late reverse faults in places indicating an ENE vergence. A 200 m thick shear zone characterizes the upper part of the Predorsalian succession, located at footwall of the Dorsale Calcaire Unit. Here the dominantly pelitic levels are highly deformed by (i) C′ type shear bands indicating a mean WSW tectonic transport and (ii) conjugate extensional shear planes marking an extension both orthogonal and parallel to the shear direction. The Massylian Unit is characterized by a strain gradient increasing toward the tectonic contact with the overlying Predorsalian succession, where the dominantly pelitic levels are so highly deformed so as appearing as a broken formation. Such as the previous succession, conjugate extensional shear bands and normal faults indicate a horizontal extension parallel to the thrust front synchronous with the mainly WSW-directed overthrusting. The whole thrust sheet pile recorded a further shortening, characterized by a NW–SE direction, expressed by several reverse and thrust faults and related folds. Finally strike-slip and normal faults were the last deformation structures recorded in the analyzed rocks. A possible tectonic evolution for these successions is provided. In the late Burdigalian, the Dorsale Calcaire Unit tectonically covered the Predorsalian succession and together the Massylian Unit. The latter two successions were completely detached from their basement and accreted in the orogenic wedge within a general NE–SW shortening for the analyzed sector of the northern Rif. At lithosphere scale the thrust front migration was driven by roll back and slab tear mechanisms producing a synchronous arching and related counterclockwise rotation of the tectonic prism along the African margin. Radial displacement involved extension parallel to the thrust front well-recorded in the analyzed rocks. The NE–SW shortening, probably acting in the Tortonian–Pliocene interval, was related to the final compression of the Rif Chain resulting in out-of-sequence thrusts affecting the whole orogenic belt.