Pan-African eclogite facies metamorphism of ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range, Antarctica

In the Shackleton Range of East Antarctica, garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks occur as lenses in supracrustal high-grade gneisses. In the presence of olivine, garnet is an unmistakable indicator of eclogite facies metamorphic conditions. The eclogite facies assemblages are only present in ultramafic rocks, particularly in pyroxenites, whereas other lithologies – including metabasites – lack such assemblages. We conclude that under high-temperature conditions, pyroxenites preserve high-pressure assemblages better than isofacial metabasites, provided the pressure is high enough to stabilize garnet–olivine assemblages (i.e. ≥18–20 kbar). The Shackleton Range ultramafic rocks experienced a clockwise P–T path and peak conditions of 800–850 °C and 23–25 kbar. These conditions correspond to ∼70 km depth of burial and a metamorphic gradient of 11–12 °C km⁻¹ that is typical of a convergent plate-margin setting. The age of metamorphism is defined by two garnet–whole-rock Sm–Nd isochrons that give ages of 525 ± 5 and 520 ± 14 Ma corresponding to the time of the Pan-African orogeny. These results are evidence of a Pan-African suture zone within the northern Shackleton Range. This suture marks the site of a palaeo-subduction zone that likely continues to the Herbert Mountains, where ophiolitic rocks of Neoproterozoic age testify to an ocean basin that was closed during Pan-African collision. The garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range are the first known example of eclogite facies metamorphism in Antarctica that is related to the collision of East and West Gondwana and the first example of Pan-African eclogite facies ultramafic rocks worldwide. Eclogites in the Lanterman Range of the Transantarctic Mountains formed during subduction of the palaeo-Pacific beneath the East Antarctic craton.     

Computerized streamflow measurement using slug injection

Using current meters to estimate flows in fast mountain streams is difficult and inaccurate. The salt dilution method offers an easier and more accurate alternative. The method has been used for many years but is time consuming and messy because of the need to mix chemical solutions and measure chemical concentrations in the field. A computer program has been developed which uses a laptop computer to calculate the mixing length and the mass of salt needed. The program controls the conductivity measurements and calculates the streamflow directly in the field. The development of this program is described and examples are presented of the application of the method in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia.     

Geochemistry of the Mian-Lue ophiolites in the Qinling Mountains, central China: Constraints on the evolution of the Qinling orogenic belt and collision of the North and South China Cratons

The Anzishan ophiolite, a typical ophiolitic block of early Carboniferous age in the Mian-Lue suture zone of the Qinling Mountains, central China, consists of amphibolites/metabasalts, gabbros and gabbroic cumulates. All of these rocks, as well as those in the Hunshuiguan-Zhuangke (HZ) block, have compositions similar to normal MORB and back-arc basin basalts (BABB) with high ε_Nd(t) values, indicating that they were derived from a depleted mantle source. The Mian-Lue suture zone also contains blocks of other lithologies, e.g., rift volcanic rocks in the Heigouxia block and arc volcanic rocks in the Sanchazi block. Although they are in fault contact with each other, the presence of these different blocks in the Mian-Lue suture zone may represent a complete Wilson cycle, from initial rifting to open ocean basin to final subduction and continent-continent collision, during the late Paleozoic-early Triassic. In this region, the North and South China Cratons were separated by Paleo-Tethys at least until the early Carboniferous, and final amalgamation of both cratons along the Qinling orogenic belt took place in the Triassic.     

Temperature dependence of large-scale water-retention curves: a case study

A local-scale model for temperature-dependence of water-retention curves may be applicable to large scales. Consideration of this temperature dependence is important for modeling unsaturated flow and transport in the subsurface in numerous cases. Although significant progress has been made in understanding and modeling this temperature effect, almost all the previous studies have been limited to small scales (on the order of several centimeters). Numerical experiments were used to investigate the possibility of extending a local-scale model for the temperature-dependence of water retention curves to large scales (on the order of meters). Temperature effects on large-scale hydraulic properties are of interest in many practical applications. Numerical experiment results indicate that the local-scale model can indeed be applicable to large-scale problems for special porous media with high air entry values. A typical porous medium of this kind is the porous tuff matrix in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed geologic disposal site for national high-level nuclear wastes. Whether this finding can approximately hold for general cases needs to be investigated in future studies.     

Drainage spacing regularity on a fault-block: A case study from the eastern Ruahine Range

Abstract:  Recent research has indicated river basin outlets draining linear sections of large, uplifting mountain belts often show a regularity of spacing, transverse to the main structural trend. A morphometric analysis of part of the Ruahine Range, on the North Island was undertaken to test whether drainage regularity may exist in smaller, younger mountain ranges. The ratio, R , of the half-width of the mountain belt, W , and the outlet spacing, S , was used to characterize drainage networks on the eastern side of the range. The spacing ratio for the range of 1.31 is lower than R results from studies of larger mountain belts ( R  = 1.91–2.23). We suggest the cause of this lower ratio is related to eastward migration of the Ruahine drainage divide.     

西安翠华山山崩地质遗迹资源保护

文论述了西安翠华山山崩地质遗迹资源保护的目的，进行了保护分区，将其分为核心保护区、缓冲区和视域保护区三个区，重点分析了核心保护区的保护现状，并在此基础上提出了相应的保护内容和对策，以实现山崩地质遗迹资源的可持续利用和发展。     

新疆天山地区地貌分形与多重分形特征研究

利用投影覆盖法和投影覆盖概率对新疆天山地区不同构造地貌类型进行了分形与多重分形特征的研究。结果表明：在所研究的标度范围内，不同地貌区均表现出明显的多度域分形，分维值总体上呈现出高山区＞中低山区＞盆地区特点，多重分形谱Dq的形态和值域范围也表现出不同特征。研究认为，地貌表面的分维值与地貌形成的内外力地质作用方式和强度密切相关，并提出5-6km的尺度可作为地貌学研究中宏观与微观作用的分界点。     

略阳煎茶岭铜镍硫化物矿床Re—Os同位素年龄及其地质意义

采用矿石Re-Os同位素方法对陕西省煎茶岭硫化镍矿床矿石进行了成矿年代学研究,获得了878士27 Ma(1σ)的等时线年龄,首次厘定了该矿床成矿时代为新元古代,成岩成矿基本同时.通过对878 Ma硫化镍矿石初始Re-Os同位素体系的γOs计算和Re/Os值分析表明,其yOs和Re/Os值变化范围大,深部条带状矿石的Re/Os值仅为0.05,yOs为-6.70;块状矿石的Re/Os值范围为4.24～24.43,γOs为-15.37～+280.65,说明成矿过程中有壳源物质的混染;两件样品的γOs为负值(-15.37,-6.70),可能指示其超镁铁质岩浆来源于Re亏损地幔.煎茶岭超基性岩体年龄及其镍矿石的Re-Os等时线年龄与扬子克拉通北缘火山岩浆活动时间相对应,它们是扬子克拉通西北缘晋宁期构造岩浆成矿作用的产物.     

STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NIUSHOU MOUNTAIN AND ITS GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN CENTRAL NINGXIA

There are many thrust-related structures occurring in the Paleozoic strata of the Niushou Mountain in the central part of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The fault-related folds are the typical structures in this area. Based on the analysis about these structures and their relationships, the processes by which these structures of the Miboshan Formation were formed are reconstructed, and the strata underwent about three stages of deformation: (1) horizontal shortening, (2) folding, and (3) thrusting. And the fact that the Niushou Mountain is the leading edge of an old thrust sheet was proved, the Niushou Mountain, the Daluo Mountain and the Xiaoluo Mountain together constitute the front part of this old thrust zone, so the Niushou Mountain and the Ordovician strata in the central and southern parts of Ningxia now are likely allochthons. In the period from middle Ordovician to Devonian, the areas of the central and southern Ningxia belonged to the back-arc foreland basin of North Qilianshan orogen, which was adjacent to the continent in the north. In the later part of the early Paleozoic period, the Niushou Mountain was formed after the closure of the back-arc foreland basin.