Abstract:1 Introduction The Songpan-Zoigê Block (SRB) lies in the east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is a triangle block confined and surrounded by three structure belts: the east Kunlun-west Qinling belt (EK-WQLB) to the north, the Sichuan Basin to the southeast and the Garzê-Litang-Jinsha River belt to the southwest. This block is also the joint part of three tectonic domains: the North China, South China and Qinghai-Tibet domains (Huang and Chen, 1987). The development and evolutio…

Abstract:1 Introduction The Northern Central Indian Ridge (NCIR) between 3° and 11°S latitudes is joined to the north with the slow spreading Carlsberg Ridge (CR; ~24–26 mm/a, full spreading rate) and to the south with the intermediate spreading Southern Central Indian Ridge (SCIR; ~50 mm/ a) (Fig. 1). Earlier petrological investigations of the Central Indian Ridge were concentrated either on or along the CR to the north and at the southern end of the CIR up to the Rodriguez Triple Junc…

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Abstract:1. Papers should be devoted mainly to various aspects of research concerning geosciences and related disciplines in China, such asstratigraphy, paleontology, origin and history of the Earth, structural geology, tectonics, mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, geology of mineral deposits, hydrogeology, engineering geology, environmental geology, regional geology and new theories and technologies of geological exploration. Those of scientific interest to the geological community in China or of international interest are also welcome.

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Abstract:The Guanshan Fauna is a soft-bodied fauna dominated by arthropods （including trilobites, trilobitoides, Tuzoia, Isoxys, and bradorids） in association with priapulids, brachiopods, anomalocaridids, vetulicoliids, sponges, chancellorids, and echinoderms. This paper reports and describes a new arthropod from the yellowish green mudstone at the lower part of the Wulongqing Formation, Canglangpuan Stage, Lower Cambrian in Kunming, Yunnan, China. The stratigraphic and geographic distribution, classification, fossil preservation, life style of this new arthropod and comparisons with other fossil arthropods are also discussed in details. The discovery and research of the non-mineralized arthropod, Guangweicaris Luo, Fu et Hu gen. nov. from the Guanshan Fauna adds new members to the taxonomic list and provides new information to the evolution of early arthropods. Furthermore, this study would shed new light into the ＂Cambrian Explosion＂ and the evolution of early life.

Abstract:A new compsognathid dinosaur, Sinocalliopteryx gigas gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a complete skeleton from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, northeastern China. It shares the features with Huaxiagnathus orientalis in having a manus as long as the humerus plus radius, very large and subequally long manual claws I and H, and reduced olecranon process on the ulna. But it differs from Huaxiagnathus orientalis in having the much large size, a very long maxillary process of premaxilla not extending the vertical level of the maxillary antorbital fossa, and the proportionally longer ulna and so on. Sinocalliopteryx gigas gen. et sp. nov. represents the largest species among the known compsognathid dinosaurs, suggesting the tendency of the body enlargement in compsognathids to some extent. The long filamentous integuments are attached to the whole body of this compsognathid, confirming that such integuments evolved firstly in the basal coelurosaurs. This new giant compsognathid was a fierce carnivorous theropod, as shown further by an incomplete dromaeosaurid leg inside its abdominal cavity.

Abstract:For a long time, paleontologists have been focusing on hard parts of organisms during different geological periods while soft parts are rarely reported. Well-preserved plant cells, if found in fossils, are treated only as a rarity. Recent progress in research on fossil cytoplasm indicates that plant cytoplasm not only has excellent ultrastructures preserved but also may be a quite commonly seen fossil in strata. However, up to now there is no report of plant cell fossils in China yet. Here plant cell fossils are reported from Huolinhe Coal Mine (the early Cretaceous), Inner Mongolia, China. The presence of plant cytoplasm fossils in two cones on the same specimen not only provides further support for the recently proposed hypothesis on plant cytoplasm fossilization but also marks the first record of plant cytoplasm fossils in China, which suggests a great research potential in this new area.

Abstract:The rugosan fauna from the Guanyinqiao Bed (latest Ordovician, Hirnantian) of northern Guizhou, China is known to belong to the cold or cool-water type corals. The components of the fauna are solitary corals only, and corallite septa are generally strongly dilated, especially the streptelasmatid corals are dominant comprising 98% of the whole fauna. The Guanyinqiao Bed is rich in rugosans of 18 genera, which are streptelasmatid Streptelasma (=Helicelasma), Brachyelasma, Amplexobrachyelasma, Salvadorea, Grewingkia, Borelasma, Crassilasma, Leolasma, Kenophyllum, Ullernelasma, Paramplexoides, Siphonolasma, Pycnactoides, Dalmanophyllum, Bodophyllum, Axiphoria, Lambeophyllum and cystiphyllid Sinkiangolasma. Although this fauna was fairly abundant in a confined area (northern-northeastern Guizhou, southern Sichuan) during the Hirnantian age, the rugosan mass extinction (generic extinction rate 81%) happened at the end of the Hirnantian Stage. It is concluded that the mass extinction is related to the ending of maximum glaciation and ice cap melting in Gondwana in the southern hemisphere in the latest Hirnantian, resulting in rapid global sea-level rise in the earliest Silurian. In the Upper Yangtze Basin, the sea bottom environments were replaced by anoxic and warmer water during that time, so that the cool-water type rugosan became extinct. The present paper attempts to revise some already described rugose coral genera and species (He, 1978, 1985) and to supplement a few new forms from the Guanyinqiao Bed. Fourteen species of 12 genera are re-described and illustrated, of which one species-Grewingkia latifossulata is new. As a whole, the rugosan fauna of the Guanyinqiao Bed may be correlated with those contemporaneous of North Europe, Estonia and North America, indicating a close biogeographic affinity to North Europe.

Abstract:Different scales of structural data reveal a complex deformation history of ultrahigh- pressure （UHP） rocks exposed in the Weihai-Rongcbeng area, NE Sulu （northern Jiangsu-eastern Shandong）, eastern China. Excluding pre-UHP deformations, at least five major sequential deformational stages （D1-Ds） are recognized. The first deformation （DO produced a weak foliation and lineation in massive eclogites. The foliated eclogite with a dominant foliation containing a stretching and mineral lineation was developed during the I）2 deformation. Both the D1 and D2 deformations occurred under UHP metamorphic conditions, and are well preserved in the eclogite bodies. D3 structures which developed shortly after the formation of granulite/amphibolite facies symplectites are characterized by imbricated associations marked by a regional, steeply dipping foliation, compositional layering, eclogite boudinage, isoclinal folds and reverse ductile shear zones. The D3 deformation was accompanied by decompressional partial melting. A regional, gently dipping amphibolite facies foliation and stretching lineation, low-angle detachments, and dome- and arc-shaped structures formed during the D4 deformation stage dominate to some degree the map pattern of the Weihai-Rongcbeng UHP domain. The last stage of deformation （Ds） gave rise to the final exhumation of the UHP rocks. Ds is characterized by development of brittle-dominated high-angle faulting associated with emplacement of large volmnes of undeformed granite plutons and dykes dated at 134-100 Ma. The deformational and metamorphic sequence followed by the UHP rocks in the Weihai-Rongcheng area is similar to that studied in the entire Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts from microscopic to mapping scale. Based on structural data, combined with available petrographic, metamorphic and geochronological data, a speculative tectonic evolutionary model for the Dabie-Sulu UHP and IIP belts is proposed, involving continental subduction/collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons and subsequent polyphase exhumation histories of the UHP and IIP metamorphic rocks.

Abstract:Recent study of magnetotelluric （MT） inversion indicates that the basement of the Songpan- Zoige area could be a stable continental crust. There has developed quite thick and stable Paleozoic continental shelf margin-platform clastic and carbonate sediments during the Triassic. Preliminary field geologic investigation and hydrocarbon potential study show that good-quality source rocks, mainly argillaceous and carbonaceous shale, were deposited in the Cambrian and Silurian in this region, while diverse reservoirs of platform facies carbonate and clastic rocks were in the Carboniferous and Permian. The good vertical source-reservoir-seal configuration might indicate that there exists a certain potential for oil and gas exploration in this area.

Abstract:1 Introduction Natural beryl is an accessory mineral mainly in pegmatite, partly in some highly diffractionated granite or metamorphic rocks, with the crystal shapes beingprismatic, or occasionally tabular. For tabular beryl found in pegmatite it is believed that the tabular configuration is connected with alkali metals (Bieus, 1960; Wang et al., 1981) and geneses of the tabular configuration have been reported before. In recent years, tabular beryl has been found in the Xuebaoding W-Sn-Be d…

Abstract:Morphological and chemical studies on zircon grains from gabbro and granite of the Pingtan magmatic complex, Fujian Province, eastern China, show that there are three stages of zircon growth. The early stage of zircon growth is characterized by colorlessness, high transparence and birefringence, low and dispersive Ipr and Ipy, weak and homogeneous BSE brightness, lower Hf content and depletion of U, Th and Y; the middle stage is characterized by abruptly increasing Ipy, progressively strong and sectoral-zoning BSE brightness, higher Hf content and enrichment of U, Th and Y with Th/U > 1; the late stage of growth is characterized by brownish color, poor transparence, low birefringence, highest Ipr and Ipy, middle and oscillatorily-zoning BSE brightness, highest contents of Hf, U and Y with Th/U < 1. The stages are considered to be formed in a deep magma chamber, ascent passage and emplacement site, respectively. Due to the more or less long residual time of the magma chamber, the difference in age between the early and late stages of zircon might be great enough to be distinguished, which can be attributed to tectonic constraint for the magmatism.

Abstract:1 Introduction The South China Block (SCB), located between the Qinling-Dabie and Songma Indosinian sutures, experienced successively two important tectonic movements during the Mesozoic, i.e. the Indosinian movement (early Mesozoic) and the Yanshanian movement (late Mesozoic). Therefore, the generally accepted viewpoint is that the key geological problems during the Mesozoic are essentially the dynamics and material expression of these two tectonic movements in South China (Chen et al.…

Abstract:1 Introduction Submarine metallic mineral resources consist mainly of polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts. Despite being discovered much later than the former, the latter are becoming one of the most important submarine polymetallic ore resources, because they containmany valuable metallic elements such as Co, platinum group elements (PGE), rare earth elements (REE), Ni and Cu, besides high contents of Fe and Mn (He et al., 2001). The Co-rich crusts are widely distr…

Abstract:Comparing compositions of the fluid inclusions in volcanic rocks to the contents and isotopes of the gases in corresponding volcanic reservoirs using microthermometry, Raman microspectroscopy and mass spectrum analysis, we found that： （1） up to 82 mole% methane exists in the primary inclusions hosted in the reservoir volcanic rocks; （2） high CH4 inclusions recognized in the volcanic rocks correspond to CH4-bcaring CO2 reservoirs that are rich in helium and with a high ^3He/^4He ratio and which show reversed order of 813C in alkane; （3） in gas reservoirs of such abiotic methane （〉80%） and a mix of CH4 and CO2, the enclosed content of CH4 in the volcanic inclusions is usually below 42 mole%, and the reversed order of δ^13C in alkane is sometimes irregular in the corresponding gas pools; （4） a glassy inclusion with a homogeneous temperature over 900℃ also contains a small portion of CH4 although predominantly CO2. This affinity between gas pool and content of inclusion in the same volcanic reservoirs demonstrates that magma-originated gases, both CH4 and CO2, have contributed significantly to the corresponding gas pools and that the assumed hydrocarbon budget of the bulk earth might be much larger than conventionally supposed.

Abstract:The Lannigou deposit is a large-sized sedimentary rock-hosted disseminated gold (SRHDG) deposit located in the Youjiang Basin. It is hosted by the Middle Triassic turbidite. Wall rock alterations, including silicification, pyritization, arsenopyritization, carbonatization and argillization, commonly occur along fractures. PGE study demonstrates that either Permian basalts or Triassic ultrabasic intrusives are unlikely to be the main source of gold mineralization. Coupled with the lack of other magmatic activity in the vicinity of the mining area, an amagmatic origin is proposed. Organic matter compositions and GC-MS analysis of the ores and host rocks show that the organics in the ores and the host rocks have a common source; the organic matter in the ores was mainly indigenous. The positive correlation between S2 and Au contents, along with the common occurrence of organic inclusions, suggest involvement of organic matter in the ore-forming process in terms of promoting Au leaching from the source rocks, making colloidal Au migration possible, as well as hydrocarbon reduction of sulphate. Geological and geochemical characteristics of the Lannigou deposit suggest that it was formed through circulation of meteoric water and probably less importantly organic bearing formation water driven by high geothermal gradient caused by late Yanshanian extension, which leached Au from the source bed, and then migrated as Au-bisulfides and colloidal Au, culminating in deposition by reduction-adsorption and surface complexation of gold onto the growth surface of arsenian pyrite.

Abstract:Concentrations of seventeen hazardous trace elements including As, Pb, Hg, Se, Cd, Cr, Co, Mo, Mn, Ni, U, V, Th, Be, Sb, Br and Zn in the No.11 coal seam, Antaibao surface mine, Shanxi Province were determined using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES), Cold-Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (CV-AAS) and Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GF-AAS). Comparisons with average concentrations of trace elements in Chinese coal show that the concentrations of Hg and Cd in the No. 11 coal seam, Antaibao surface mine are much higher. They may be harmful to the environment in the process of utilization. The variations of the trace elements contents and pyritic sulfur in vertical section indicated that: (a) the concentrations of As, Pb, Mn, and pyritic sulfur decrease from roof to floor; (b) the concentrations of Cr, Zn and Mo are higher in roof, floor and lower in coal seam; (c) the concentration of Br, Sb, and Hg are higher in coal seam and lower in roof and floor; (d) the concentrations of Mo, V, Th and Al vary consistently with the ash yield. Cluster analysis of trace elements, pyritic sulfur, ash yield and major elements, such as Al, Fe, P, Ca shows that: (a) pyritic sulfur, Fe, As, Mn, Ni, Be are closely associated and reflect the influence of pyrite; (b) Mo, Se, Pb, Cr, Th, Co, Ca and Al are related to clay mineral, which is the main source of ash; (c) U, Zn, V, Na, P maybe controlled by phosphate or halite; (d) Hg, Br, Sb and Cd may be mainly organic-associated elements which fall outside the three main groups. The concentration distribution characteristics of trace elements in coal seam and the cluster analysis of major and trace elements showed that the contents of trace elements in the No. 11 coal seam, Antaibao surface mine, are mainly controlled by detrital input and migration from roof and floor.

Abstract:The Ningqiang meteorite is a fall carbonaceous chondrite, containing various Ca-, Al-rich inclusions that usually escaped from secondary events such as high-temperature heating and low- temperature alteration. However, it has not yet been classified into any known chemical group. In order to address this issue, 41 elements of the bulk Ningqiang meteorite were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma atom emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) in this study. The Allende (CV3) carbonaceous chondrite and the Jilin (H5) ordinary chondrite were also measured as references, and our analyses are consistent with the previous results. Rare earth and other refractory lithophile elements are depleted in Ningqiang relative to both Allende and mean CK chondrites. In addition, the REE pattern of Ningqiang is nearly flat, while that of Allende shows slight enrichment of LREE relative to HREE. Siderophile elements of Ningqiang are close to those of mean CK chondrites, but lower than those of Allende. Our new analyses indicate that Ningqiang cannot be classified into any known group of carbonaceous chondrites, consistent with previous reports.

Abstract:Shilin is among the most interesting form of stone forest to occur in karst landscapes. They develop from karren subsoil, and their shapes, entire forests or just individual pillars and their rock relief, depend on the conditions under which they were formed, their location in the karst landscape, and above all on the characteristics of the rock： its composition, stratification, and fissuring. Because of the exceptional characteristics of this karst phenomenon in China, we propose that the term ＂shilin＂ be used in the professional literature for this type of stone forest.

Abstract:Spontaneous combustion of oil shale is very common as a result of long-time exposure to the air in the Fushun West Open-Pit Mine and West Dump. The PAHs in the high-grade oil shale and its spontaneous combustion product were analyzed semiquantitatively by GC-MS in order to investigate their distribution in different states and their potential negative effects on the environment. Totally 57 and 60 PAHs and their alkyl homologues were identified in the two analyzed samples, among which the alkyl derivatives were predominant, taking up to about 65% in the total PAHs. Those low-molecular mass PAHs (3- or 4-ring) were the main compounds in the two samples. Ten of sixteen USEPA priority pollutant PAHs were detected in two samples, of which phenanthrene was the richest whose contents were 6.93% and 15.03%. Based on comparison of analysis results, the amount and contents of PAHs, except for triaromatic steroid group, were higher in the burning oil shale. So it can be determined that the effects caused by spontaneous combustion of oil shale would be more serious and that the effects of the Fushun oil shale and its spontaneous combustion on the environment should not be ignored in the future work.