The spatial connection between the zones of deep-lying faults and the narrowly-localized paleo-relief sections posessing an anomolous sedimentation condition in the latter Cretaceous is identified. It is established that this is of significance in choosing the primary regions for conducting oil exploration.
Remotely-operated SHRIMP dating of zircon is an interesting alternative for dating of zircon crystals. Although it does not represent any technical progress of the geochronological method using the U-Pb system in zircon it is a very useful and cheap facility. The procedure was first used for mass spectrometric analyses involving two international laboratories in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Beijing, China. It was applied to samples of three gneiss-migmatitic rocks from the Ita quarry in the Atuba Complex (located between the Luis Alves and the Apiai Domain) to test previous controversial hypotheses about its evolution. The presence of important archaean and paleo proterozoic components in the complex is confirmed by analyses of zircon found in probably neo proterozoic leucosomes. Diorite intrusion also occurred during the neo proterozoic, associated with the 0.6Ga continental collisions involved in the assembly of Gondwana. The determination of Hf isotope ratios by ...
Abstract: The basement of the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent areas can be divided into six divisions (regions) - Paleozoic Erathem graben-faulted basement division in Beibu Gulf, Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip pull-apart in Yinggehai waters, Paleozoic Erathem faulted-depression in eastern Hainan, Paleozoic Erathem rifted in northern Xisha (Paracel), Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip extending in southern Xisha, and Paleozoic-Mesozoic Erathem extending in Nansha Islands (Spratly) waters. The Pre-Cenozoic basement in the SCS and Yunkai continental area are coeval within the Tethyan tectonic domain in the Pre-Cenozoic Period. They are formed on the background of the Paleo-Tethyan tectonic domain, and are important components of the Eastern Tethyan multi-island-ocean system. Three branches of t...
A continuous, subsurface Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary section, including the boundary clay within an 87 cm thick lignite, has been recovered from a core hole near Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, Canada. The lignite-encompassed clay layer with geochemical anomaly indicates that peat deposition was continuous across the boundary. Core data indicate that, locally, a pre-boundary, conifer-dominated swamp was abruptly replaced by an angiosperm-dominated, herbaceous wetland. Sudden extermination of the dominant forest elements indicates mass kill at the level of the boundary and supports the theory of extraterrestrial impact accompanied by catastrophic destruction. Devastation of the standing vegetation may have been caused by one or more of the killing agents predicted to have accompanied impact, including freezing temperatures caused by atmospheric dust, acid rain, thermal pulse, and shock waves. There is no evidence supporting wildfires as a killing agent. Vegetational change apparent within ...
Understanding feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric systems is vital for predicting the consequences of global change, particularly in the rapidly changing Arctic. Fire is a key process in this context, but the consequences of altered fire regimes in tundra ecosystems are rarely considered, largely because tundra fires occur infrequently on the modern landscape. We present paleoecological data that indicate frequent tundra fires in northcentral Alaska between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago. Charcoal and pollen from lake sediments reveal that ancient birchdominated shrub tundra burned as often as modern boreal forests in the region, every 144 years on average (+/- 90 s.d.; n = 44). Although paleoclimate interpretations and data from modern tundra fires suggest that increased burning was aided by low effective moisture, vegetation cover clearly played a critical role in facilitating the paleo-fires by creating an abundance of fine fuels. These records suggest ...
The Rio Grande alluvial floodplain aquifer between El Paso/Juarez and Fort Quitman, Texas has been intensively tilled and irrigated since 1910. Almost since that time, the Rio Grande and its interconnected alluvial aquifer in this stream reach have been affected by excessive salinity problems. Presently, salinity of surface water and groundwater increases from 800 to 2000 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) near El Paso, Texas to 2500 to 5500 mg/L TDS near Fort Quitman, Texas, approximately 115 km downstream. Chloride (Cl) and Chloride/Bromide (Cl/Br) ratios increase downstream, with a marked increase in salinity beginning about 45 km below El Paso. Groundwater sampling in an intensively investigated reach of the floodplain aquifer, extending from 35 to 60 km below El Paso identified two distinct water types. The first water type (17 samples) is a relatively dilute groundwater containing 1000 to 2000 mg/L TDS, 250 to 600 mg/L Cl, and Cl/Br weight ratios of 550 to 900. The second ...
The paleogeography postulated from the distribution of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks in the Middle East is shown and related to the paleostructure of the region. The Middle East region as defined here includes the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Iraq, SE Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula. Within the limits of the area included in this study, a relatively stable pre-Late Triassic tectonic regime can be recognized and distinguished from a succession of diastrophic events of the Late Triassic epoch, which caused marked changes in the types and distribution of facies. Excluding NE Iran, the Middle East was stable from Late Cambrian to Middle Triassic times, as it formed a part of the Arabian Massif and much of the Middle East Platform, which is a broad shelf bordering the positive Afro-Arabian Massif to the NE and east. The sediments of this platform have undergone no strong deformation and have been subjected only to epeirogenic movements which ...
A geological study was conducted to better understand the nature of cleat development and degree of mineralization in coal seams of the Scollard and Coalspur Formations in western Alberta. The results can be applied to equivalent formations. The source and reservoir rocks of a coalbed methane (CBM) system were described. Coal seams are basically fractured reservoirs with 7 types of cleats. The field work involved cleat minerals sampling and determining cleat attributes such as type, strike and spacing from open-cut mines and outcrops. The laboratory work involved X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive microscopy, stable isotope analysis, and fluid inclusions analysis. The study showed that coal seams of the Scollard and Coalspur Formations are widespread and cleated to various degrees. The face and butt cleats strike northeast-southwest and northwest southeast respectively along the structural grain of the Laramide Orogeny. The major cleat mineral is calcite ...