A 20‐ka climate record from Central Himalayan loess deposits

The southwest monsoon that dominated Central Himalaya has preserved loessic silt deposits preserved in patches that are proximal to periglacial areas. The occurrence of such silts suggests contemporary prevalence of cold and dry northwesterly winds. Field stratigraphy, geochemistry, mineral magnetism, infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and radiocarbon dating has enabled reconstruction of an event chronology during the past 20 ka. Three events of loess accretion could be identified. The first two events of loess deposition occurred betweem 20 and 9 ka and were separated by a phase of moderate weathering. Pedogenesis at the end of this event gave rise to a well‐developed soil that was bracketed around 9 to > 4 ka. This was followed by the third phase of loess accretion that occurred around 4 to > 1 ka. Episodes of loess deposition and soil formation are interpreted in terms of changes in the strength of the Indian southwest monsoon. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magma Ascent and Crustal Accretion at Ultraslow-Spreading Ridges: Constraints from Plagioclase Ultraphyric Basalts from the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge

Plagioclase ultraphyric basalts (PUBs) with up to 54% plagioclasephenocrysts were dredged in the rift valley and adjacent flanksof the ultraslow-spreading Mohns and Knipovich ridges. The PUBsshow large variations in crystal morphologies and zoning. Thelarge variations suggest that single basalt samples containa mixture of plagioclase crystals that aggregated at differentlevels in the magma conduits. Resorbed crystals and repeatedreverse zones suggest that the magma reservoirs were replenishedand heated several times. Thin concentric zones with melt inclusions,and sharp reductions in the anorthite content of 3–7%,are common between the reverse zones. These zones, and skeletalcrystals with distinctly lower anorthite contents than massivecrystals, are interpreted to be the result of rapid crystalliztionduring strong undercooling. The changes between short periodsof cooling and longer periods with reheating are explained bymultiple advances of crystal-rich magma into cool regions followedby longer periods of gradual magma inflow and temperature increase.The porphyritic basalts are characterizd by more depleted andmore fractionated compositions than the aphyric basalts, withlower (La/Sm)_N, K₂O and Mg-numbers. This relationship, and theobservation that PUBs are sampled only close to segment centresalong these ridges, suggests that the PUBs formed by higherdegrees of melting and evolved in more long-lived magma reservoirs.We propose that the zoning patterns of plagioclase crystalsand crystal morphologies of these PUBs reflect the developmentand flow of magma through a stacked sill complex-like conduitsystem, whereas the aphyric equivalents represent later flowof magma through the conduit. The formation of voluminous higher-degreemelts may trigger the development of the magma conduits andexplain the generally depleted compositions of PUB magmas. KEY WORDS: basalt; mineral chemistry; MORB; magma mixing; magma chamber; major element     

In situ strength measurements on natural upper-mantle minerals

Using in situ strength measurements at pressures up to 10 GPa and at room temperature, 400, 600, and 700°C, we examined rheological properties of olivine, orthopyroxene, and chromian-spinel contained in a mantle-derived xenolith. Mineral strengths were estimated using widths of X-ray diffraction peaks as a function of pressure, temperature, and time. Differential stresses of all minerals increase with increasing pressure, but they decrease with increasing temperature because of elastic strain on compression and stress relaxation during heating. During compression at room temperature, all minerals deform plastically at differential stress of 4–6 GPa. During subsequent heating, thermally induced yielding is observed in olivine at 600°C. Neither orthopyroxene nor spinel shows complete stress relaxation, but both retain some stress even at 700°C. The strength of the minerals decreases in the order of chromian-spinel ≈ orthopyroxene > olivine for these conditions. This order of strength is consistent with the residual pressure of fluid inclusions in mantle xenoliths.     

南海西沙西南海域表层沉积物特征

西沙西南海域表层沉积物样品矿物成分，地球化学，微体古生物分析测试结果表明：沉积物可分为７种类型，沉积环境主要是陆坡，部分为深海平原，海洋生物，海洋化学以及火山物质的沉积起到了积极的作用，陆源物质的影响较小，它们主要来源于北部大陆和南部岛礁等物源区。     

成像光谱矿物填图精度兼与矿物丰度关系初探

成像光谱遥感技术在岩石矿物识别和矿物填图方面发挥着越来越大作用,而成像光谱矿物填图的精度问题一直是研究的焦点。文章利用高光谱数据HyMap对新疆东天山地区的矿物填图结果,通过引入矿物填绘分布强度的概念,探索性的分析了成像光谱矿物填图与填绘矿物丰度的关系。     

中国数字地质调查系统的基本构架 及其核心技术的实现

数字地质调查系统是贯穿整个地质矿产资源调查全过程的软件,涵盖地质矿产调查、矿产资源勘查、矿体模拟、品住估计、资源量估算、矿山开采系统优化等内容。考虑数字地质调查系统的应用技术层面,从数据“层”模型、数据流“池”技术、不同阶段数据模型继承技术、数据互操作技术等几个方面讨论了核心技术及其实现,通过基于无缝一体化技术的数据采集、管理、综合处理与成果表达,在实体或矿块的矿床建模技术与品住估计、储量估算等方面展现了全地质调查过程的数字化,不但为地质人员应用高新技术降低了门坎,而且极大地提高了研究精度和效率,丰富了成果的表现形式和服务形式。随着数字地质调查系统的完善和应用水平的提高,数字地质调查系统将成为中国地质调查的主流软件体系。     

抓“热点”、解“难点”，依法行政搞矿管

原达县地区是全省矿业活动最频繁的地区之一,也一度成了全省有名的“采煤混战”大区。近几年来,以《矿产资源法》为指针,抓住“重点”,调处“热点”,解决“难点”,以点带面,加强矿管行政执法工作,促进了全区矿业秩序的全面好转,矿业生产也相应得到健康发展。矿业产值占全区工业总产值的１５％左右,是全区的一大支柱产业,有力地促进了地方经济的发展。     

环境矿物材料治理镉（Cd^2＋）污染研究进展

近年来,环境矿物材料以其经济、有效、无二次污染等特点,在重金属废水处理和土壤修复方面显示出了众多优势,可替代传统的镉污染处理方法。本文综述了国内外环境矿物材料在处理镉污染方面的研究进展,并对今后应用环境矿物材料治理镉污染提出了一些建议。     

得尔布干成矿带中段八大关——新峰山成矿地质条件分析

得尔布干成矿带中段八大关—新峰山地区断裂构造发育 ,北东向得尔布干深大断裂是重要的控岩控矿构造。与成矿有关岩浆岩主要为燕山期的中性—中酸性侵入岩及次火山岩。赋矿层位主要有上库力组、塔木兰沟组及谢尔塔拉组。在分析典型矿床的成矿地质特征基础上 ,进一步指出找矿方向     

Use of Noise to Augment Training Data: A Neural Network Method of Mineral–Potential Mapping in Regions of Limited Known Deposit Examples

One of the main factors that affects the performance of MLP neural networks trained using the backpropagation algorithm in mineral-potential mapping isthe paucity of deposit relative to barren training patterns. To overcome this problem, random noise is added to the original training patterns in order to create additional synthetic deposit training data. Experiments on the effect of the number of deposits available for training in the Kalgoorlie Terrane orogenic gold province show that both the classification performance of a trained network and the quality of the resultant prospectivity map increasesignificantly with increased numbers of deposit patterns. Experiments are conducted to determine the optimum amount of noise using both uniform and normally distributed random noise. Through the addition of noise to the original deposit training data, the number of deposit training patterns is increased from approximately 50 to 1000. The percentage of correct classifications significantly improves for the independent test set as well as for deposit patterns in the test set. For example, using ±40% uniform random noise, the test-set classification performance increases from 67.9% and 68.0% to 72.8% and 77.1% (for test-set overall and test-set deposit patterns, respectively). Indices for the quality of the resultant prospectivity map, (i.e. D/A, D × (D/A), where D is the percentage of deposits and A is the percentage of the total area for the highest prospectivity map-class, and area under an ROC curve) also increase from 8.2, 105, 0.79 to 17.9, 226, 0.87, respectively. Increasing the size of the training-stop data set results in a further increase in classification performance to 73.5%, 77.4%, 14.7, 296, 0.87 for test-set overall and test-set deposit patterns, D/A, D × (D/A), and area under the ROC curve, respectively.