states of paleostress north and south of the periadriatic fault comparison of the drau range and the friuli southalpine wedge this study focuses on the analysis of structures and kinematics of a n s profile along the axis of maximum shortening of the european eastern alps the area includes the southern austroalpine unit in the north and the southalpine unit which is a part of the adriatic indenter the stratigraphically different units are separated by the periadriatic fault the major strike slip fault within the alps in order to assess the kinematics of these units mainly fault slip data from north and south of the periadriatic fault were analyzed we distinguish a succession of five main kinematic groups in both units 1 n s compression 2 nw se compression 3 ne sw compression 3 changes gradually from subvertical to subhorizontal 4 n s compression and 5 nw se compression our study reveals that the deformation sequence on either sides of the paf is similar the mean orientations of the principal stress axes however show small but consistent differences the subhorizontal axes north of the periadriatic fault plunge northward in the south southward a counterclockwise ccw rotation of the southern part in respect to the north is evident and in line with the well known counterclockwise rotation of the adriatic indenter as well as dextral displacement of the n fanning stress field along the periadriatic fault opposing plunge directions are interpreted as a primary feature of the internal stress field within an orogenic wedge further increased during ongoing compression

well preserved palaeogene and cretaceous biomarkers from the kilwa area tanzania we have investigated the biomarker composition of sediments ranging in age from 30 to 70 ma from the kilwa area of tanzania they are dominated by material of terrestrial n alkanols n alkanoic acids n alkanes and triterpenoids and bacterial hopanoids and a dipentadecyl glycerol diether dgd origin with only a minor contribution of marine origin crenarchaeol and some algal steroids this indicates a marine setting dominated by higher plant input which most likely stimulated sedimentary microbial activity including sulfate reduction the lipid composition specifically the presence of bacteriohopanepolyols bhps and the stereochemistry of hopanoids suggests a low degree of thermal maturity many biomarkers have still retained functionality even after 30 70 million years this is in good agreement with the exceptional preservation of foraminifera and nannofossils and can probably be attributed to the very low sediment permeability and burial depth there is a clear distinction in the biomarker distributions between the oligocene age sediments collected at the end of the peninsula near kilwa masoko and the older sediments collected from elsewhere indicating differences in depositional environment sediments from the end of the peninsula have higher branched and isoprenoid tetraether index values indicating a relatively higher terrestrial input they also contain two tentatively assigned c28 hopenes 28 30 dinorneohop 13 18 ene and 28 30 dinorhop 17 21 ene aromatic des a triterpenes des e hopenes aromatic pentacyclic triterpenoids c33 dgd archaeol and bhps which are absent from or only present in small amounts in the other sediments these differences likely reflect an evolution of the depositional area from a relative open shelf environment with substantial water depth to a shallower setting during the early oligocene

petrological and organic geochemical investigation of recent peats with known environments of deposition abstract a series of recent peat samples from tropical sub tropical and temperate locations were investigated using coal petrographical and organic geochemical techniques maceral and biomarker compositions were examined to see if they correlated or diverged from the known environment of deposition of the peats the proportion of humotelinite was related to the water depth and the frequency of dry periods the ph and trophic level have a modifying influence on the preservation of tissues furthermore the proportions of sclerotinite in the peats seem to reflected the oxygen status in the mire which was also mirrored in the abundance of humic and fulvic acids a facies diagram was calculated for the peat samples to see how maceral indices would fare in interpreting their known environments of deposition the results proved to be generally unsuccessful as the herbaceous and woody peats did not always give the predicted high humodetrinite and humotelinite compositions respectively the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction from the extracts of the peat samples show that mainly odd numbered n alkanes are present diterpenoids triterpenoids and hopanoids were found in most samples and were mainly unsaturated in nature the relative proportion of hopanoids in pears appears to be related to bacterial activity in acidic environments de a triterpenoids were also detected in the peat stage of diagenesis in an angiosperm dominated peat type mariscus polycyclic aromatic triterpenoids were present in the aromatic fraction of the extract their occurrence and proportion appears to be related to the degree of humification in a taxodium peat mono di and triaromatic diterpenoids were detected the presence of these aromatic biomarkers indicate the rapid formation of these compounds in the peat stage mainly mediated by microbial activity

ecological and biogeochemical change in an early paleogene peat forming environment linking biomarkers and palynology abstract sphagnum moss is the dominant plant type in modern boreal and sub arctic ombrotrophic bogs and is of particular interest due to its sensitivity to climate and its important role in wetland biogeochemistry here we reconstruct the occurrence of sphagnum moss and associated biogeochemical change within a thermally immature early paleogene 55 ma lignite from schoningen nw germany using a high resolution multi proxy approach changes in the abundance of sphagnum type spores and the c23 c31 n alkane ratio indicate the expansion of sphagnum moss within the top of the lignite seam this sphagnum moss expansion is associated with the development of waterlogged conditions analogous to what has been observed within modern ombrotrophic bogs the similarity between biomarkers and palynology also indicates that the c23 c31 n alkane ratio may be a reliable chemotaxonomic indicator for sphagnum during the early paleogene the 13c value of bacterial hopanes and mid chain n alkanes indicates that a rise in water table is not associated with a substantial increase in aerobic methanotrophy the absence of very low 13c values within the top of the seam could reflect either less methanogenesis or less efficient methane oxidation under waterlogged sulphate rich conditions

syndepositional tectonics and extension compression relationships at the front of the taiwan collision belt a case study in the pleistocene reefal limestones near kaohsiung sw taiwan in the kaohsiung area sw taiwan large lenses of pleistocene reef limestones interbedded in clastic layers of the gutingkeng formation cover the crest of the takangshan and panpingshan anticlines tectonic analyses carried out on these limestones provide evidence that these anticlines developed during deposition of the reefs this is supported by synsedimentary normal faulting related to tensional stresses at the hinge of the anticlines this synsedimentary extension is subperpendicular to the local trends of fold axes and parallel to the compression responsible for fold development and which is mainly marked by strike slip faults these observations lead us to propose a model of extension compression relationships and reef development during quaternary folding in the foreland of the taiwan collision belt

organic geochemical investigations of brown coal lithotypes a contribution to facies analysis of seam banding in the helmstedt deposit abstract samples of light medium light and dark lithotypes from the eocene helmstedt brown coal deposit were examined by organic geochemical methods soxhlet extraction liquid and gas chromatography gc ms the study is part of a facies analysis of banded brown coals there are significant differences between the lithotypes concerning the extractable organic matter yields the composition of the extracts and the composition of the alkane fractions on average the light brown coals produce three times as much extractable organic matter as the dark ones asphaltenes and resins are the main components of the extracts of the light lithotypes hydrocarbons and n s o compounds of lower molecular weight are less abundant than in the dark lithotypes the alkane fraction of light lithotypes contains more n alkanes of high molecular weight and more saturated triterpenoids hopanes excluding homohopane but less unsaturated polycyclic compounds rearranged sterenes triterpenes and less homohopane the generally low concentrations of cyclic diterpanes norabietane norpimarane do not reveal any relationship to the three lithotypes based on these results there is no support for the conventional assumption that the light and dark brown coal lithotypes originated from different plant communities of the paleomoor the results rather suggest that the banding within the seam of the helmstedt brown coal deposit results from different biogeochemical degradation and transformation processes these processes are considered to be dependent on the environment of the paleomoor

the middle miocene yallourn coal seam the last coal in australia abstract the 100 m thick middle miocene yallourn brown coal seam was the last of the major latrobe valley group seams to form in the gippsland basin southeastern australia and the final major coal to form in australia coal deposition coincided with the middle miocene climatic optimum during this warm period of relatively high sea levels high water tables and relatively high subsidence rates a 565 km 2 area of alternating eutrophic and ombrogenous peat swamp developed at the western end of the latrobe valley to form the yallourn seam stratigraphic units of the seam contain a high sclerophyll plant component and abundant charcoal suggesting seasonal dry periods alternated with wet warm conditions characterised by abundant rushes and dense kauri forests iron content in parts of the yallourn seam is relatively high and a strong correlation exists between the iron distribution and the abundance of proteoid roots mainly proteaceae an indicator of seasonal dry periods the contemporaneous carbonates of the wuk wuk marl were deposited in a high productivity upwelling warmer water subtropical environment a new carbon isotope profile at 1 m intervals through the yallourn seam shows a poor relationship between 13 c isotopes and coal colour but some correlation with gymnosperm abundance the 13 c record also correlates well with long term secular changes in climate the presence of global carbon maxima cm2 cm4 and with the deep sea 13 c marine organic record thick coal seam development ended near the end of the middle miocene climatic optimum the termination of coal seam deposition in latrobe valley was primarily the result of tectonic compression uplift and development of adjacent highland relief and erosion at the end of the miocene

active deformation of taiwan from gps measurements and numerical simulations using a two dimensional distinct element model we evaluate the relationships between plate kinematics and present day deformation in taiwan where active collision occurs in particular the distribution of velocity fields calculated in our models is compared with the actual velocity field revealed by the most recent geodetic data gps obtained in taiwan and the surrounding islands of the philippine sea plate and the eurasian shelf the main aim of this paper is to produce a mechanically consistent 2 d model that accounts for the observed velocity field taken as whole within the limits of acceptable rheological parameters and reasonable boundary displacement conditions we evaluate how the active deformation of taiwan is influenced by the presence of strong and weak zones such as the structural highs in the foreland and subduction zones with accretionary prisms respectively major mechanical discontinuities such as the main fault zones in the mountain belt and the opening of the okinawa trough particular attention is paid to the role of preexisting discontinuities since the presence of mechanical decoupling along major faults strongly affects the distribution of the velocity and stress patterns we show that despite parameter uncertainties several tectonic factors the presence of the strong kuanyin and peikang highs in contrast to the weak subduction zone to the south the weak active regional shear zones and the opening of the back arc okinawa trough concur to provide an acceptable mechanical model for this regional deformation these sources are related not only to the geometry of the plate boundary the direction of plate convergence and the shape of the chinese margin but also to the presence of major zones of relative weakness and mechanical decoupling such as the longitudinal valley fault zone and the western thrust belt of taiwan

palaeogene lacustrine record in mallorca nw mediterranean spain depositional palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic implications for the ancient southeastern iberian margin abstract middle bartonian middl1e eocene and chattian upper oligocene lacustrine and alluvial lacustrine successions exist in mallorca northwestern mediterranean they yield a significant palaeobiological record comprising fossil land plants and vertebrates and constitute the best available depositional record for a preliminary palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic analysis of the northeastern part of the palaeogene southern iberian margin western tethys both lacustrine systems developed under similar warm and humid climatic conditions increasingly affected by seasonal and or pluriannual rhythms marked by changing precipitation patterns these climatic conditions were mainly caused by the low palaeolatitude where the lacustrine systems evolved the still probable although decreasing influence of indo pacific warm surface currents and the occurrence of very extensive marine water masses adjacent to wide emerged continental zones the palaeogene lacustrine systems were shallow and characterised by low gradient depositional conditions they were perennial open freshwater oligosaline carbonate lakes where eutrophy thermal meromixis and anoxic bottom conditions could develop allowing the accumulation and preservation of macrophytic plant remains of the circum lacustrine marginal belt and neighbouring terrestrial mesophytic zones the higher plant algal bacterial organic contribution balance favoured the generation of mineable huminitic coal seams carbominerites and of gas prone kerogene type iii and iib source rocks the hydrogen bicarbonate rich waters led to high biogenic and inorganic bio induced carbonate sediment production biogenic muds cyanobacterial incrustations and travertine and tufa precipitation constituted the major carbonate products moreover the high ph conditions in the lacustrine water bodies and in the lacustrine sediment pore waters favoured bacterial sulphate reduction contributing to organic sulphur enrichment in coals these highly alkaline conditions also resulted in some cases in the exceptionally good preservation of chlorophyllinite a rare liptinite maceral recorded in the eocene coal deposits the middle eocene lacustrine system did not evolve in a very well defined tectonic setting characterised by the generation of low uplifts and gently subsiding basins terrigenous contributions from the source areas and clastic sedimentation were restricted to river mouths high autochthonous carbonate production and accumulation characterised most of the remaining lacustrine zones a significant spring recharge of the lacustrine zones is suggested by the well developed spring related travertine deposits by contrast the oligocene lacustrine zones developed both in fluvial related floodplains and in the distal zones of a major alluvial system which was fed from tectonically active source areas located to the nw of the island a more significant water runoff contribution is suggested for this system although underground recharge could also be substantial

inversion of the paleogene chinese continental margin and thick skinned deformation in the western foreland of taiwan abstract new structural data available seismicity data together with mechanical constraints on the eurasian continental lithosphere and reconstruction of paleostress trajectories are combined in order to re assess and discuss the dominant deformation mode thin skinned vs thick skinned in the western fold and thrust belt of the active taiwan collision zone serial balanced cross sections and computed paleostress tensors suggest that structural styles and stress trajectories at the front of the taiwan mountain belt may vary rapidly along strike depending on the presence of pre orogenic paleogene troughs in the chinese continental margin taihsi and tainan basins that are favourably oriented to be reactivated and inverted in localities of the western foreland where basin inversion and thick skinned basement involved shortening predominate the crustal seismic activity is important and characterized by strike slip faulting in these domains of the fold thrust belt the stress deviations with respect to the regional transport direction are also important by contrast in domains of significant syn orogenic subsidence a thin skinned style of deformation may be prominent due to the lack of available pre existing features the seismic activity is limited to few major faulted boundaries such as the active chelungpu sani thrust and the stress deviations are limited the timing of deformation at the belt front seems to be independent of the structural styles so that frontal folds are active since probably 0 5 ma however in inner parts of the western foothills of taiwan where superimposed thick skinned and thin skinned deformation are required out of sequence thrusting occurs to maintain the topographic profile finally we suggest that kinematics and structural styles of the western fold thrust belt are controlled by the mechanics of the eurasian continental margin in agreement with a recent study at the scale of the orogen the limited shortening amounts across the wf and in the central range as well as the absence of continental hp rocks better support a thick skinned collision model for taiwan

the genesis of coal from the viewpoint of coal petrology abstract the genesis of the microscopic constituents of coal macerals and of maceral associations microlithotypes representing various coal facies is discussed in the light of recent advances that have been made in the study of coals and modern peats peat microscopy especially promoted the understanding of humification and biological gelification both of which are decisive for the genesis of huminites vitrinites in brown coals and hard coals respectively microbial activity during peatification has been documented by chemists microbiologists and petrologists and recently by electron microscopical observations in coals this activity leads to the incorporation of lipid substances into the humic matter and later influences the chemical physical and technological properties of vitrinites geochemical gelification transforms the huminites of brown coals into the vitrinites of bituminous coals and is probably caused by the onset of bitumen generation in coal in this process the hydrogel brown coal is transformed to the bitumogel bituminous coal coal as a source rock for oil has become an important research subject for coal petrologists and oil exploration the formation of more or less liquid bitumen and its later cracking to gaseous hydrocarbons leads to the coalification jumps of the macerals especially liptinites and vitrinites and to the generation of secondary macerals like exsudatinite bitumen and micrinite dead carbon bituminization in coal has been revealed by the use of fluorescence microscopy which also found the presence of new liptinite macerals bituminite fluorinite and exsudatinite and suggests a higher proportion of algal material in coals than was thought earlier the genesis of various types of inertinite macerals will probably become an increasingly important subject of research especially with regard to rank inertinites that seem to attain their high inertinitic reflectance initially during coalification besides the origin of macerals the origin of various coal facies in terms of maceral associations is considered in relation to the palaeogeographic depositional milieu the peat forming vegetation palaeoclimate water and nutrient supply acidity marine and calcareous influence and fire with examples from euramerican carboniferous coals gondwana coals and tertiary brown coals vegetation water and oxygen supply eh conditions are most important for the generation of coal facies vegetation has been reconstructed with the help of palaeobotany including palynology cuticular analysis and wood anatomy in brown coals and with the study of petrified permineralized peats preserved in coal balls the microscopical investigations of botanically recognizable plant remains isolated from coals or accompanying rocks has been especially informative however the results of palynological and cuticular analyses should be evaluated with caution considering the varying resistance of palynomorphs and cuticles and in the case of palynomorphs their possible extrapaludal origin microscopical studies of modern peats that were derived from different types of vegetation growing in different hydrological environments have been very helpful in interpreting coal facies especially in brown coals the much disputed origin of brown coal lithotypes is considered in detail for hard coals there seems to be agreement that coal layers rich in vitrites and liptinite poor clarite were deposited in wet forest swamps that microlayered liptinite rich clarites are sub aquatic humic muds and that inertinite rich durites represent oxidized peats the origin of liptinite rich durites is controversial either subaquatic muds or oxidized peats the latter perhaps from raised bogs a recent trend in the literature is the assumption that many if not all mineable coal seams have been deposited in raised bogs under ombrogenous oligotrophic conditions although raised bogs with a dense arborescent vegetation are known from borneo it seems not probable that most seams which were deposited in foredeeps or steadily sinking graben zones are of ombrogenous origin although a succession from relatively wet and eutrophic to relatively dry and oligotrophic conditions may be true for occasional seams but as in modern peats striking changes of coal facies are commonly caused by hydrological events e g inundations as a consequences of crevasses or of fires that burned the peat the origin of the inertinite rich gondwana coals is discussed in relation to their specific climatic conditions and a comparison with sub arctic peats is recommended coals influenced by marine and calcareous conditions are characterized by high contents of sulfur and pyrite as well as by hydrogen rich vitrinites with a relatively low reflectance and high fluorescence all due to a strong bacterial activity in peats of low acidity proposals for further research are made in the conclusions

quaternary transfer faulting in the taiwan foothills evidence from a multisource approach abstract the major structures of the western foothills of taiwan mainly consist of nne ssw trending folds and imbricated west vergent thrust systems the additional occurrence of n140 e striking oblique structures was revealed through a multisource approach involving a digital elevation model dem a study of drainage network anomalies aerial photographs side looking airborne radar slar images and spot p and landsat images these structures are described from north to south based on new field analyses including stratigraphy and tectonics studies they are also compared to seismic data and geodetic reconstruction in order to evaluate their present day activity these n140 e major morphostructures are interpreted as left lateral transfer fault zones either inherited from the eurasian passive margin and or newly formed in the cover in response to the presence of basement highs within the foreland basin peikang and kuanyin highs the sanyi and the chishan transfer fault zones display a high seismic activity the distribution of earthquakes and the related focal mechanisms confirm the left lateral movement along n140 e directions the chiayi chishan and fengshan fault zones act presently as transfer fault zones as indicated by gps data the associated n70 e to n100 e trending faults result from the reactivation of normal faults of the eurasian passive margin as right lateral strike slip faults in the foothills during the plio quaternary collision in taiwan we conclude that multisource and multiscale geomorphic studies combined with tectonic analysis in the field yield a significant contribution to the understanding of the structural and kinematic development of the western foothills at the front of the taiwan collision belt

fluvial carbon fluxes under extreme rainfall conditions inferences from the fly river papua new guinea abstract rivers that drain the tectonically active high relief islands of the indo pacific archipelago contribute disproportionately large amounts of water solutes organic matter and sediments to the oceans the magnitude of these fluxes is principally related to prodigious amounts of precipitation and the steep mountainous terrain of the islands that together cause vast amounts of water to move rapidly through many relatively small watersheds in this study rainfall and streamflow data and a comprehensive set of geochemical and stable isotope data collected from the fly river the largest river of new guinea in terms of annual flow are interpreted to constrain the magnitude of carbon fluxes from the watershed and the principal sources of carbon to the rivers results indicate that the export of dissolved carbon from the fly river watershed is primarily dependent on rainfall variability related to the reception of moisture from the northern and southern hemispheres at different times of the year specifically rainfall amounts and hence the rate of carbon flux via rivers were higher during the austral summer when the inter tropical convergence zone is situated directly over new guinea and lower during the period of moisture transport by trade winds from the western pacific ocean carbon isotope data suggests that the primary source of inorganic carbon in the fly river watershed is the dissolution of carbonate minerals by acidity related to biogenic soil co 2 although considerable seasonality in 13 c values was attributed to biological processes that occur within the rivers themselves i e the relative amounts of photosynthesis and respiration in the aquatic system at different times of the year photosynthesis for instance appears to dominate in the austral summer whereas respiration tends to dominate in the winter

stable isotopes of organic carbon palynology and petrography of a thick low rank miocene coal within the mile basin yunnan province china implications for palaeoclimate and sedimentary conditions abstract coal contains detailed long term records of contemporaneous environment climate and subsequent diagenetic processes stable isotopes of carbon petrological palynological and mineralogical analyses were carried out on a 28 m thick low rank miocene coal seam from the mile basin yunnan province china for the purpose of deciphering the palaeoclimate and sedimentary conditions during peat deposition the coal is characterized by both pale and dark lithotypes palynological analyses show that both lithotypes are dominated by angiosperms which is interpreted to indicate a moderately warm climate the absence of fagus and taxodiaceae pollen suggests that there may have been dry periods during peat accumulation in general both fagus and taxodiaceae require a constant wet environment in order to proliferate organic petrography 13c and gypsum concentrations corroborate that there were alternating drier and wetter periods within the palaeomire during peat accumulation the fine scale variability in the 13c signature appears to be controlled by plant type angiosperm gymnosperm ratios and vegetation index are directly correlated with 13c isotopic values plant type however seems to be proximally controlled by water level angiosperms were more dominant during times of lower water table or less moist conditions interpreted to correspond to less negative values of 13c the correlation of greater concentrations of gypsum with less negative 13c values also supports drier conditions however in addition to the fine scale variability four larger scale cycles are defined based on less negative 13c values a less negative 13c isotopic signature demarcates the top of each of these cycles which represent spikes of lower water table and or drier conditions in addition a general correlation of the 13c variations in the studied coal seam with atmospheric co2 suggests that the atmosphere also had a significant influence on peat formation in the mile basin although the mile basin palaeomire accumulated over a long time an integrated approach to its analysis has demonstrated considerable variation in palaeoclimate changes in wetness dryness had a direct effect on the ecological composition of the palaeomire these floral changes would not have only been restricted to the palaeomire but most likely had a regional influence thus detailed analysis of coals can yield useful insightful and practical knowledge on past regional palaeoenvironmental conditions which can then be placed within a global context

the stratigraphic distribution of inertinite abstract the paper presents the results of an investigation into the stratigraphic distribution of inertinite in humic coals ranging from the silurian to the neogene periods this range equals the time span during which both land plants and atmospheric oxygen evolved the survey is based on a literature study of inertinite in coals covering a variety of depositional environments and climates in all continents the inertinite percentages listed in this paper have been arranged in stratigraphic order they are the mean values based on mineral free whole coal compilations maceral compositions listed in the literature for individual subsections have been averaged to represent complete coal seams beds although this might not have been always possible due to some ambiguity in the published record moreover not all of the published and unpublished information could be used because of poor sample description obscure geographic origin or insufficient stratigraphic information the results show that there have been times in the geological past e g during the late permian in which coals were particularly rich in inertinite compared with other times e g during much of the late tertiary in which many coals contained very little inertinite occasionally such primary global trends were modulated by a diffuse distribution of inertinite percentages that correspond to differences in climate depositional settings e g active orogenic margins versus tectonically inactive shelf margins and other local or regional variations although various mechanisms for the generation of inertinite have been proposed in the past the overall pattern in its stratigraphic distribution supports the notion of incomplete combustion as the main source of inertinite in coal this points to secular variations in the atmospheric oxygen content as an explanation for the global changes in the inertinite distribution while differential subsidence and climatically influenced reaction rates governed regional and local variations in inertinite percentages

sequence stratigraphic analysis and the origins of tertiary brown coal lithotypes latrobe valley gippsland basin australia abstract the methods of sequence analysis have been applied to the onshore gippsland basin and in particular to the latrobe valley group coal measures which include up to five coal seams each exceeding 100 m in thickness the methods appear to provide new depositional concepts to the evolution of these seams and the development of coal lithotypes in the eastern half of the latrobe valley evidence for marine transgressions into the coal measures are recorded in most of the interseam sediment splits by the presence of contained foraminifera and dinoflagellates to the west inland these splits pinch out into continuous coal however they can be followed westwards as enhanced organic sulphur levels along sharply defined boundaries between light coal lithotypes below and dark coal lithotypes above the dark lithotype immediately overlying each of these boundaries contains the highest sulphur value and warmer climate pollen assemblages sluiter et al 1995 this volume colorimeter and lithotype logging strongly supports an upwards lightening cyclicity to coal colour at 12 20 m intervals through the approx 100 m thick seams with cycle boundaries defined at sharp planar to undulating surfaces the lightening upward lithotype cycles together with their unique boundary conditions i e enhanced organic sulphur levels warm climatic indicators and laterally equivalent marine clay splits are interpreted as parasequences and parasequence boundaries respectively each major coal seam can comprise up to five parasequences and is interpreted to represent deposition during an outbuilding high stand systems tract at one of several maximum periods of tertiary coastal onlap the top of each major seam shows evidence of truncation erosion on a regional scale and these surfaces are interpreted to represent the sequence boundaries the major seams are usually conformably underlain by marine clays and extensive aquifer sands being deposits of the late transgressive systems tracts the low stands and early parts of the transgressive systems tracts appear not to be represented in the latrobe valley due to its more basin margin location but are probably present down dip in the equivalent marine facies of the seaspray group stratigraphic correlation of the sequence boundaries identified in the coal measures to the adjacent internationally dated marine seaspray group provides a basis for chronostratigraphic correlation of the coal successions to the coastal onlap charts of haq et al exon mesozoic cenozoic chronostratigraphic chart version january 1988 and august 1989 from this dating it appears that each major seam is confined to high stands of third order eustatic cycles it therefore follows that the lithotype cycles parasequences that comprise each seam are related to fourth order eustatic cycles by analogy all the coal cycles may have developed under subtropical conditions as ombrogenous forested peat swamps in a similar manner to the holocene though tropical swamps of indonesia

carbon and oxygen dynamics in the laurentian great lakes implications for the co2 flux from terrestrial aquatic systems to the atmosphere abstract we collected samples in lakes superior erie and huron including georgian bay in mid summer during the stratified period to determine the relative importance of production respiration and atmospheric exchange to carbon dynamics in the lakes in all lakes sampled oxygen saturation averaged 107 2 significantly greater than the atmospheric equilibrium and the isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen 18odo averaged 22 8 0 1 significantly less than the isotopic composition of dissolved atmospheric oxygen suggesting that biological production was greater than respiration in the epilimnion during the summer months while lakes worldwide are commonly oversaturated in carbon dioxide average pco2 in the epilimnion of the lake studied was 342 42 atm and the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon 13cdic was 0 2 0 2 both values not significantly different from expected atmospheric co2 equilibration n 65 p 0 89 n 64 p 0 81 this trend is atypical approximately ninety percent of lakes globally are oversaturated in carbon dioxide the atmospheric equilibrium observed in the laurentian great lakes and other studies suggest that pco2 in large lakes is depleted relative to smaller lakes this is also the case for rivers that are sourced from or flow though large lakes and they can be expected to have lower pco2 downstream from the lakes and lower per unit area carbon fluxes than other rivers an improved understanding of the global carbon cycle mandates that this be taken into account when considering co2 fluxes from aquatic ecosystems

isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in a large polluted river the vistula poland abstract the vistula is a large lowland temperate river receiving high loads of pollutants from a densely populated catchment on the other hand the river is to a relatively small extent affected by channelisation and damming this study is the first attempt to characterise stable isotope aspects of dissolved inorganic carbon in the vistula which is a major source of pollution to the baltic sea isotopic composition of dic and other chemical properties were measured biweekly at the upper reach and monthly at the mouth of the river two longitudinal samplings were performed in hydrological summer and winter conditions short term and short range observations were carried out in an anthropogenically influenced urban reach at cracow most water samples from the vistula and its tributaries analysed in this study had 13 c dic values around the range 12 to 11 typical for european lowland rivers fed by groundwaters on carbonate areas variablity of 13 c dic in this river system is limited except for the impoundments and the specific hydrological conditions the few impoundments that exist on the vistula intensify the photosynthesis respiration cycle as well as the exchange of co 2 with the atmosphere enhanced contribution of biogenic carbon during floods is reflected by lowering of 13 c dic low flows facilitate photosynthetic assimilation and evasion of co 2 into the atmosphere resulting in positive shifts of 13 c dic principal component analysis confirmed that 13 c dic variability at the fixed cross section in cracow reflected releases and withdrawals of co 2 from the riverine dic pool the apparent 13 c dic variability depends to some extent on the spatio temporal context of observations diurnality can be very pronounced in the impounded anthropogenically influenced reaches in warm periods interpretation of the observed riverine 13 c dic patterns can be difficult as the spatial and temporal variabilities combine resulting in convoluted isotopic signals isotopic investigations into the nature of riverine carbon cycling should be supplemented by discharge records and by observations of the parameters influenced by the photosynthesis respiration cycle dissolved oxygen ph p co 2 and of those conservative with respect to biological processes electrical conductivity stable isotope composition of water

acidic biomarkers from albacora oils campos basin brazil abstract acidic biomarkers of 8 different oil samples from albacora oil field campos basin brazil were analyzed in order to obtain additional information about biodegradation and thermal evolution for this purpose we selected oils lacustrine saline origin showing different biodegradation levels and at different distances from the fault that acted as migration pathway in the area previous analyses using hydrocarbon biomarkers suggested a mix of oil charges characterizing two distinct oil cycles interrupted by meteoric water circulation in these reservoirs analyses of the naphthenic acid biomarkers revealed a parallelism between the hydrocarbon and the acidic biomarkers notwithstanding there is evidence that the carboxylic acid biomarkers more resistent to biodegradation can provide information on past reservoir history when most important neutral biomarkers have been biodegraded the limitations to the use of these biomarkers are their de novo synthesis in the biodegradation process and the complexity of the sample manipulation prior to the analysis

westward advance of the deformation front and evolution of submarine canyons offshore of southwestern taiwan abstract this study analyzes both 2d and 3d seismic images around the palm ridge area offshore of southwestern taiwan to understand how the deformation front shifted westward and how tectonic activities interact with submarine canyon paths in the transition area between the active and passive margins palm ridge is a submarine ridge that developed on the passive china continental margin by down dip erosion of several tributaries of penghu canyon it extends eastward across the deformation front into the submarine taiwan accretionary wedge the presence of proto thrusts that are located west of the frontal thrust implies that the compressional stress field has advanced westward due to the convergence of the philippine sea plate and eurasian plate since the deformation front is defined as the location of the most frontal contractional structure no significant contractional structure should appear west of it we thus suggest moving the location of the previously mapped deformation front farther west to where the westernmost proto thrust lies high resolution seismic and bathymetric data reveal that the directions of the paleo submarine canyons run transverse to the present slope dip while the present submarine canyons head down slope in the study area we propose that this might be the result of the westward migration of the deformation front that changed the paleo bathymetry and thus the canyon path directions the interactions of down slope processes and active tectonics control the canyon paths in our study area

geomorphic tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean the importance of small mountainous rivers analysis of data from 280 rivers discharging to the ocean indicates that sediment loads yields are a log linear function of basin area and maximum elevation of the river basin other factors controlling sediment discharge e g climate runoff appear to have secondary importance a notable exception is the influence of human activity climate and geology on the rivers draining southern asia and oceania sediment fluxes from small mountainous rivers many of which discharge directly onto active margins e g western south and north america and most high standing oceanic islands have been greatly underestimated in previous global sediment budgets perhaps by as much as a factor of three in contrast sediment fluxes to the ocean from large rivers nearly all of which discharge onto passive margins or marginal seas have been overestimated as some of the sediment load is subaerially sequestered in subsiding deltas before the proliferation of dam construction in the latter half of this century rivers

biological processes controlling the development of modern peat forming ecosystems abstract although no precise modern analogue exists for the peat forming ecosystems mires of tertiary times it is argued that the principles underlying peat formation are essentially unchanged in the sense that a peat forming ecosystem has an incomplete decomposition process normally because of waterlogging leaving a residue of organic material in its overall energy flow budget the study of modem mires is therefore of relevance to tertiary coal geologists the classification of modern mires is best achieved by reference to their hydrological characteristics particularly the source of water entering the system flow fed rheotrophic mires are often relatively rich in nutrients and clastic while rainfed ombrotrophic mires are poor the transition from one hydrological state to the other can occur during mire development and involves a physical elevation of the mire surface by the growth of peat such mires have a two layered diplotelmic structure in which the surface layer acrotelm is periodically aerobic has a loose structure and a high hydraulic conductivity while the lower layer catotelm is compacted anaerobic and has a low hydraulic conductivity the hydrological outcome is that precipitation landing upon a raised ombrotrophic mire drains from the elevated mire surface laterally through the acrotelm the water retention of the mire and its elevated water table is dependent on the poor water conductivity of the catotelm the transition to the ombrotrophic condition is accompanied by higher rates of peat accumulation and increasing mire acidity it begins with isolated colonization of hummock forming plants that later converge into an extended cupola this ecological transition may be a consequence of external changes such as climatic alteration increased precipitation evaporation ratio or autogenic internal successional developments basin subsidence however or eustatic sea level rise in the case of coastal systems can operate in the reverse direction and prevent the permanent establishment of an ombrotrophic system the ombrotrophic mire is ultimately limited in the depth of its peat development by microbial respiration within the catotelm as the catotelm extends with peat accumulation the total respiratory activity of the profile will equilibrate with primary productivity and peat formation slows down to an eventual standstill on the assumption that peatland hydrology operated in a similar way in former times the deep peats and eventually coals of tertiary times can best be explained therefore in terms of stacks of sequential mires rather than single continuously forming ecosystems

carboxylic acids of marine evaporitic oils from sergipe alagoas basin brazil a suite of 10 different marine evaporitic oil samples from sergipe alagoas basin brazil was studied for its biomarker content in particular its acidic constituents the oils showed different molecular distributions and relative abundances of n alkanoic isoprenoid and hopanoic acids the observed differences were assigned to the incorporation of immature organic matter in the oils and fractionation along the migration pathway the diagenetic precursor functionality alcohol ether or acid was proposed based on the comparison of the relative abundances of the neutral and acidic biomarkers hopanoids isoprenoids alkyl steranes monoaromatic alkyl steroids in the acidic fraction 3 series of steroid alkanoic acids and monoaromatic steroid alkanoic acids steroid methanoic ethanoic and propanoic acids and monoaromatic steroid methanoic ethanoic and propanoic acids were detected while in the neutral fraction only 2 series of each corresponding class could be observed methyl and ethyl steranes and monoaromatic methyl and ethyl steroids these carbon shifts suggest that decarboxylation is an important process in the formation of the alkyl steranes and monoaromatic alkyl steroids and we infer that carboxylic acids are the diagenetic precursors of these classes of compounds when alcohol or ether are the diagenetic precursors isoprenoids and hopanoids no significant differences in the molecular distributions between neutral and acidic fractions were observed

isometamorphic variations in the reflectance and fluorescence of vitrinite a key to depositional environment abstract petrographic investigations of serial ply samples from five high to medium volatile bituminous coal seams from australia 4 and canada 1 reveal substantial in seam variations in the reflectance and monochromatic microfluorescence intensities of the maceral subgroup telovitrinite the variations consist of one case of reflectance enhancement and fluorescence suppression and four cases of reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement the single case of reflectance enhancement and fluorescence suppression is due to the oxidation of the vitrinite nuclei at the sequence boundary between the bayswater and upper wynn seams in new south wales the four cases of reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement result from the syn and epigenetic absorption by the vitrinite nuclei of hydrogen donated by presumably anaerobic bacteria generated lipids two of the coals are marine influenced the liskeard seam from the bowen basin by combined syngenetic and epigenetic effects and the greta seam from the sydney basin mainly by epigenetic contact with sea water for both coals the results are strong vitrinite reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement the remaining two coals the bulli seam from the sydney basin and a coal seam from the gates formation in british columbia show moderate epigenetic effects on the optical properties of telovitrinite by fresh water in the bulli seam which was studied in two adjacent localities the reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement of telovitrinite are stronger under sandstone roof than under shale roof in some cases the epigenetic effects are superimposed on syngenetic telovitrinite reflectance and fluorescence variations resulting from the cogeneration and mixing of different telovitrinite precursors for example autochthonous roots and hypautochthonous or allochthonous shoots a measure of the degree of dispersal and mixing is the coefficient of variation of telovitrinite reflectance and or fluorescence this coefficient correlates well with detrital minerals and dispersed macerals e g inertodetrinite and to a lesser extent sporinite some comments are made on slitted so called pseudovitrinite which is regarded as a telovitrinite that was subjected to very weak post coalification desiccation and possibly oxidation without losing much of its thermoplastic properties

petrological organic geochemical and geochemical characteristics of coal from the soko mine serbia abstract a petrological organic geochemical and geochemical study was performed on coal samples from the soko mine soko banja basin serbia ten coal and two carbonaceous clay samples were collected from fresh working faces in the underground brown coal mine from different parts of the main coal seam the lower miocene low rank coal of the soko mine is a typical humic coal with huminite concentrations of up to 76 2 vol liptinite less than 14 vol and inertinite less than 11 vol ulminite is the most abundant maceral with variable amounts of densinite and clay minerals sporinite and resinite are the most common macerals of the liptinite group inertodetrinite is the most abundant maceral of the inertinite group the mineral bituminous groundmass identified in some coal samples and carbonaceous marly clay indicate sub aquatic origin and strong bacterial decomposition the mean random huminite reflectance ulminite b for the main coal seam is 0 40 0 05 rr which is typical for an immature to early mature stage of organic matter the extract yields from the coal of the soko banja basin ranges from 9413 to 14 096 ppm in which alkanes constituted 1 0 20 1 aromatics 1 3 14 7 asphaltenes 28 1 76 2 and resins 20 2 43 5 the saturated hydrocarbon fractions included n c15 to n c32 with an odd carbon number that predominate in almost all the samples the contents of n c27 and n c29 alkanes are extremely high in some samples as a contribution of epicuticular waxes from higher plants acyclic isoprenoid hydrocarbons are minor constituents in the aliphatic fraction and the pristane phytane pr ph ratio varies between 0 56 and 3 13 which implies anaerobic to oxic conditions during sedimentation the most abundant diterpanes were abietane dehydroabietane and 16 h phyllocladane in samples from the upper part of the coal seam diterpanes are the dominant constituents of the alkane fraction polycyclic alkanes of the triterpane type are important constituents of alkane fractions the occurrence of and type hopanes from c27 to c31 but without c28 is typical for the soko banja coals the major and trace elements in the coal were analysed using x ray fluorescence xrf and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms in comparison with world lignites using the geometric mean value the coal from the soko banja basin has a high content of strontium 306 953 mg kg higher values than the world lignites were obtained for mo 3 614 mg kg ni 8 119 mg kg se 0 884 mg kg u 2 642 mg kg and w 0 148 mg kg correlation analysis shows inorganic affinity for almost all the major and trace elements except for s which has an organic affinity

relationships between carbon isotope evolution and variation of microbes during the permian triassic transition at meishan section south china this paper investigates kerogen carbon isotopes the difference between carbonate and kerogen carbon isotopes 13ccarb kero 13ccarb 13ckero and the difference between carbonate and n c19 alkane compound specific carbon isotopes 13ccarb n c19 13ccarb 13cn c19 during the permian triassic transition at meishan south china the results show that kerogen carbon isotopes underwent both gradual and sharp shifts in beds 23 25 and 26 29 respectively the differences between carbonate and organic carbon isotopes both the 13ccarb kero and 13ccarb n c19 which are mainly affected by co2 fixing enzyme and pco2 oscillated frequently during the permian triassic transition both the variations of 13ccarb n c19 and 13ccarb kero coupled with the alternation between cyanobacteria and green sulfur bacteria indicated by biomarkers the episodic low values of 13ccarb n c19 corresponded to episodic blooms of green sulfur bacteria while the episodic high values of 13ccarb n c19 corresponded to episodic blooms of cyanobacteria the relationships between the variation of carbon isotopes and biota show that the microbes which flourished after the extinction of macroorganism affected the carbon isotope fractionation greatly combining the carbon isotope compositions and the pattern of size variation of the conodont neogondolella this paper supposes that anoxia of the photic zone at bed 24 was episodic and it would be caused by the degradation of terrigenous organic matters by sulfate reducing bacteria in the upper water column considered together with results from previous research the high resolution variation of the biogeochemistry presents the sequence of the important geo events during the permian triassic crisis

geometry and quaternary kinematics of fold and thrust units of southwestern taiwan structural and paleostress analyses provide new insights into the quaternary kinematics of the outermost fold and thrust units of southwestern taiwan foothills the frontal folds are interpreted as fault related folds and their tectonic evolution through space and time is tightly constrained fold development is correlated with reef building on top of the anticlines moreover we provide field evidence that nw se fault zones oblique to the structural grain of the belt probably acted as transfer fault zones during the the quaternary fold thrust emplacement two successive quaternary stress regimes are evidenced in southwestern taiwan a nw se compression followed by a recent nearly e w compression the latter shows an along strike change from pure e w contraction to the north to perpendicular n s extension in the south this southward decrease in n s confinement probably represents the on land signature of the incipient quaternary tectonic escape predicted by analogue and numerical modelling and evidenced at present day by global positioning system data

analysis of the composition and selective preservation of organic matter in surficial deep sea sediments from a high productivity area banda sea indonesia abstract palynological analysis of box core samples from surficial deep sea sediments along three transects in the banda sea indonesia demonstrates that associations of palynomorphs palynodebris and diffuse organic aggregates are mainly composed of terrigenous and zooplanktonic constituents organic remains of phytoplankton and benthos play a subordinate role in this area the presence of surprisingly high proportions of notably egg envelopes and exoskeleton fragments of copepods indicates that areas with seasonally enhanced high productivity can serve as an important sink of organic carbon derived from primary consumers these zooplankton remains as well as a considerable part of the terrigenous organic matter originate from animal and plant tissues that are chemically characterized by a high polysaccharide chitin cellulose content the quantitative prominence of such labile components can be explained by high organic matter influx in combination with high sedimentation rates in the area considering the positive relationship between organic matter preservability and sedimentation rate variations in the amount of transparent palynodebris derived from crustacean exoskeletons may serve as a proxy indicatpr for spatical variations in organic carbon burial efficiency in surficial sediments it is emphasized that occurrences of structurally preserved organic matter with a presumed chitinous and cellulosic composition are not restricted to young sediments for reasons not yet fully understood some structures may even remain preserved under conditions of thermal maturation so that their records may go well back into the palaeozoic

extended hopanoids in peat environments abstract detailed results are presented for the distributions of triterpenoid alkanes acids and alcohols of the hopane family in ten samples of peat from three environments and of contributing organisms in the case of lyne of skene scotland extended hopanoids of the and configuration appear at the very earliest stage of diagenesis such environments appear to be characterised by particular distributions of c 32 hopanoid acids and alcohols and a high preponderance of the c 31 hopane

a synthesis of the geologic evolution of taiwan abstract the island arc of taiwan is composed of cenozoic geosynclinal sediments more than 10 000 m thick lying on a pre tertiary metamorphic basement pleistocene to miocene andesitic islands surround the main island and are related mostly to arc magmatism the penghu island group in the taiwan strait is covered with pleistocene flood basalt neogene shallow marine clastic sediments are exposed mainly in the western foothills with pleistocene andesitic extrusives at the northern tip and the northeastern offshore islands a thick sequence of paleogene to miocene argillitic to slaty metaclastic rocks underlies the western central range and forms the immediate sedimentary cover on the pre tertiary metamorphic complex to the east which represents an older mesozoic arc trench system the coastal range in eastern taiwan is a neogene andesitic magmatic arc including also a large variety of volcaniclastic and turbiditic sediments cenozoic taiwan is the site of arc continent collision where the luzon arc on the philippine sea plate overrides the chinese continental margin on the eurasian plate east and northeast of taiwan the polarity of subduction changes whereby the oceanic philippine sea plate is subducting beneath the ryukyu arc system on the eurasian plate continent arc collision in taiwan island is anomalous and may occur in a broad belt of deformation rather than along a well defined plate boundary or subduction zone

rapid deformation rates due to development of diapiric anticline in southwestern taiwan from geodetic observations abstract we adopted 106 campaign mode gps observations and 310 precise leveling measurements between 2002 and 2010 to understand the present day crustal deformation in mudstone area and to estimate the earthquake potential of the hsiaokangshan hksf and the chishan faults chnf in southwest taiwan horizontal velocities east of the chnf are 66 mm yr 270 and gradually decrease westward to 15 mm yr n259 a horizontal velocity gradient of 15 mm yr is shown between the hksf and chnf subsidence rates west of the hksf and east of the chnf are 5 10 mm yr while the uplift is observed between these two faults in the highest elevation with the maximum rate of 18 mm yr the observed deformation patterns are difficult to be fully modeled by 2d kinematic fault model field relationships within the vertical shear zones of the mudstone therefore indicate that the deformation pattern may be also controlled by a relic onshore mud diapir that is still experiencing vertical uplift consistency between the geological and geodetic vertical velocities weak rock strength and no destructive earthquakes over the last 100 years imply that faults hksf within the mudstone area are creeping however the chnf or the associated decollement may still have earthquake potential

a study in early diagenesis biomarker composition of a suite of immature coals and coaly shales abstract a suite of samples from the funan mine n e china has allowed a comparison to be made between hydrocarbon rich coals and coaly shales these are immature coals and the known geological history suggests that they have experienced only a mild geothermal history analyses of the di and sesquiterpenoid components show that compounds based on the kaurane skeleton are absent unlike australian brown coals and the diterpenes isopimarane pimarane and 16 h phyllocladane relate to a different community of higher plants such as pinaceae and taxodiaceae from those recognized in australian brown coals a consideration of geochimical parameters and biomarker composition leads to the conclusion that the geolipid concentrations in the sample suite are environmentally determined it is concluded therefore that 22r 17 h 21 h bishomohopanoic acid and the 22r 17 h 21 h homohopane both predominant components in their respective classes are derived from different sources labdanic acids have been identified in these coals they are likely to be derived from resin constituents of the coal and not from microbial biomass they could potentially be developed as a maturation parameter cis and trans isomers of a triaromatic hydrocarbon based on the oleanane skeleton which has been previously identified in victorian brown coal are present in the funan coals the more oxidizing the environment the less advanced is the isomerization of cis to trans and again the environment of deposition is the controlling factor this study emphasizes the importance of understanding pathways of early diagenesis for the interpretation of data derived from more mature samples

organic carbon fluxes to the ocean from high standing islands the transfer of terrestrially derived yet poorly quantified organic carbon to the oceans is an important yet unagreed upon proportion of the world s carbon budget the few data that exist suggest that high standing oceanic islands in the southwest pacific may make important contributions to the overall terrestrial flux of particulate organic carbon poc to the oceans we have determined the poc flux from several streams in new zealand with those data and previous measurements from taiwan and papua new guinea we estimate the poc flux from high standing islands in the southwest pacific to be 48 1012 g c yr 1 a value slightly lower than previous estimates these islands which make up only 3 of earth s landmass contribute 17 35 of the estimated poc entering the world s oceans annually and thus may be important sources of terrestrial carbon to the ocean anthropogenic activities especially deforestation and forest harvesting have probably exacerbated the natural flux few to no data exist for many of these islands and thus a more detailed assessment awaits further measurements

delineation of the distinctive nature of tertiary coal beds abstract floral character in mires has changed progressively through time in the carboniferous pteridophytes sphenophytes and lycophytes were dominant but by the permian gymnosperms were an important component of mire flora during the early mesozoic gymnosperms remained the characteristic mire vegetation together with pteridophytes and conifers became dominant during the jurassic cretaceous and paleocene vegetation are similar with taxodiaceous flora being important in mire vegetation from the eocene onwards however angiosperms were increasingly dominant in mire communities and in the miocene herbaceous vegetation began to play a significant role together with these changes in floral character at least three aspects of coal character also appear to vary sequentially with time and are distinctive in the tertiary 1 proportions and thickness of vitrain banding 2 coal bed thickness and 3 proportions of carbonised material a compilation has been made of data from the coal literature comparing older coals with those of the tertiary in order to give a perspective in which to examine tertiary coals it was found that only tertiary coals contain significant proportions of coal devoid of vitrain bands in addition tertiary coals are the thickest recorded coal beds and generally contain low percentages of carbonised material many less than 5 as compared to older coals it is interesting to note that paleocene coal beds are similar to cretaceous coals in that they tend to be thinner and contain higher proportions of carbonised material than do younger tertiary coals the absence of vitrain bands in some tertiary coal beds is thought to result from the floras dominated by angiosperms which are relatively easily degraded as compared to gymnosperms the thickness of tertiary coals may be related to an increase in biomass production from the carboniferous through to the tertiary as plants made less investment in producing lignin an energy intensive process in addition with less lignin in plants easier degradation of biomass may have facilitated nutrient recycling which in turn led to greater biomass production increased biomass production may have also diluted the carbonised material present in some tertiary peats leading to lower proportions in the coal another possible cause of decreased carbonised components in tertiary coal is that decreasing lignin content resulted in decreased charring during fires as lignin is particularly prone to charring a third possibility is that the carbonised component of peat may be concentrated during coalification so that tertiary coals generally of lower rank than mesozoic or paleozoic coals contain a smaller fraction of carbonised plant material it is not at present clear which of these mechanisms may have affected carbonised material in peat and coal but it is clear that lignin type and content has had an important role in determining peat and coal character since the paleozoic

hydrothermal petroleum generation in red sea sediments from the kebrit and shaban deeps abstract petroleum impregnated sediments and massive sulfides have been found in two deeps of the northerns red sea biological marker distributions in extracts and polar fraction degradation products were analyzed in order to elucidate the source of the petroliferous material two organic phases could be distinguished according to their source and maturity the amounts of n alkanes show a marked decrease with depth whereas the concentrations of various branched and cyclic hydrocarbons increase resulting in a humpof unresolvable compounds in a depth as shallow as 300 cm changes in concentrations and distributions of hopanoids in the kebrit deep sediments indicate a rapid increase of maturity with depth the deepest core section 300 cm and the masive sulfide reveal comparable maturation indices typical for mature oils by chemical degradation of the polar fractions a series of c 40 isoprenoids was obtained which reveals a considerable contribution from methanogenic and thermophilic archapbacteria to the immature organic matter the data suggest that petroliferous material ofthermogenic origin migrates through the younger sequences superimposes the autochthonous organic substances in the sediments and furthermore forms asphaltic impregnations in the massive sulfides

middle late holocene river terraces in the erhjen river basin southwestern taiwan implications of river response to climate change and active tectonic uplift abstract we reconstruct the holocene river history of the erhjen river area 140 km 2 by correlating river terraces aided by 28 radiocarbon dates multiple terraces developed in the lower erhjen river since the middle holocene they converge downstream to the coastal plain the rates of channel incision into bedrock calculated from these terraces at yuehshihchieh are 7 8 mm year during ca 5 7 2 5 ka 5 cm year during 1 5 1 3 ka and 1 cm year since 1 ka the last is close to the average incision rate since middle holocene meanwhile only a single but wide middle late holocene paleo floodplain was developed in the upper erhjen river it was completely abandoned only after 0 8 ka likely following an episode of base level fall starting from the coastal plain based on the apparent downstream and upstream convergence of these dated terraces we identify a doming structure or anticline within the basin which results in a tilt rate of 10 6 to 10 7 per year in the lower erhjen river valley the major terraces here had different initial long profiles which implies that a critical graded long profile may not be a prerequisite for formation of a wide erosional terrace surface instead we propose that these terraces were initiated by a series of catastrophic rainfall events probably climatic related which brought a large amount of bedload from hillslopes to prevent the channel from incising when valley widening was facilitated by high discharge runoff we find that not only terrace surface formation but also channel incision can be strongly controlled by climatic driven discharge and bedload conditions as suggested by the contrast of bedrock incision rates we observe at yuehshihchieh apparently the climate and its effects on the landscape cannot be regarded as constant during the holocene even in a humid tropical area like taiwan however such a fluctuation of climate could only be recorded in a setting where rivers have a high tendency to incise so that multiple terraces can be created the lower erhjen river that is characterized by active tectonic tilting is an example of this setting

terrestrial and fluvial carbon fluxes in a tropical watershed nyong basin cameroon abstract the nyong watershed with an area of 27 800 km2 and a mean annual discharge of 390 m3 s 1 is the second largest river in cameroon the nyong watershed serves as an outstanding study area for the examination of carbon fluxes in humid tropical environments because of its limited anthropogenic impact and homogeneous silicate bedrock between april 2005 and april 2007 we sampled water at seven stations from the small watershed of the mengong 0 6 km2 to the nyong at edea 24 500 km2 and monitored temperature ph dissolved inorganic carbon dic and dissolved organic carbon doc contents as well as the isotopic composition of dic 13cdic and doc 13cdoc we estimated terrestrial net ecosystem productivity in the nyong river watershed and measured fluvial fluxes of carbon to the ocean and the atmosphere the nyong river basin sequesters significant amounts of carbon on an annual basis 7 920 000 t c year 1 300 g c m 2 year 1 the combined dissolved organic dissolved inorganic and atmospheric fluxes of carbon from the nyong river only export 3 of this flux from the basin on an annual basis this includes a minimum co2 outgassing of 1487 g c m 2 year 1 comparable to 115 of the annual flux of doc and four times greater than the flux of dic

cyclic floral succession and fire in a cenozoic wetland peatland system abstract the cyclic succession of brown coals in the latrobe valley gippsland basin australia records an exceptional floral and charcoal record from the late oligocene to middle miocene new palynological geological and charcoal data are consistent with existing colourimetry carbon isotope and organic geochemical and palaeobotanical data indicating that the repeated lithotype cycles represent relative drying terrestrialization based on this detailed palynological study the vegetation succession within the latrobe valley peatlands is interpreted to have begun with a fire prone emergent marsh of bulrushes typhaceae which grades landward into a fire prone meadow marsh of rushes restionaceae heaths ericaceae and coral ferns gleicheniaceae this marsh environment then developed into a forested bog with gymnosperms e g the podocarpaceae dacrycarpus and dacrydium as the dominant trees until an ombrogenous forest bog developed predominantly consisting of angiosperms e g nothofagus quintinia the similarity between vegetation successions in new zealand and the lightening upwards cycles from the latrobe valley coals suggests that new zealand s modern vegetation communities represent a floral analogue for the successions preserved in the latrobe valley coals high abundances of micro and macro charcoal recorded in the darker lithotypes within the lithotype cycles of the m1b and m2a seams suggest that the latrobe valley peatlands were subject to repeated fires during the late oligocene to early miocene

early diagenesis of bacteriohopanoids in recent sediments of lake pollen norway abstract the distribution of free bio and geohopanoids were studied in a short 46 cm core from recent sediments of lake pollen norway bacteriohopanepolyols are abundant components of the sediments totalling up to 321 g g dry sediment 7485 g g toc being dominated by c 32 33 34 35 tetrafunctionalised hopanoids significantly bacteriohopanetetrol only accounts for between 7 to 62 of these 24 on average indicating that composite bacteriohopanoids are more abundant sedimentary constituents and thus more important precursors of geohopanoids than previously recognised downcore profiles of bio and geohopanoid abundance show maxima at ca 25 to 30 cm with a marked decrease in abundance above this depth which coincides with a well documented change in environment from fjord to isolated lake a second maximum in biohopanoid abundance occurs at ca 5 to 12 cm depth specific biohopanoids were affected to different extents by the change in environment suggesting that they have at least partly different sources our data thus indicate that biohopanoids and their geohopanoid products may be sensitive to changes in depositional environment and that they have potential to act as markers for environmental conditions

stable isotopic and elemental characteristics of pale and dark layers in a late pliocene lignite deposit basin in yunnan province southwestern china implications for paleoenvironmental changes abstract the carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions and elemental characteristics of pliocene pale and dark lignites in the jinsuo basin yunnan province southwestern china were investigated these data were used to develop paleoenvironmental models and to discuss possible geological driving forces for the formation of pale and dark layers the 13c values of fossil wood av 24 79 and fusain samples av 24 19 are generally higher than the values obtained from bulk pale av 27 01 and dark av 26 38 lignite samples in contrast the 15n values of fossil wood av 0 63 and fusain samples av 1 29 are lower than the average values of bulk pale lignites av 2 17 and dark lignites av 1 79 the difference in the carbon isotopic values between pale and dark lignites can be explained by the very high amount of liptinite and strong degradation of woody material by bacterial activity in pale lignites which resulted in depletion of 13c in pale lignites and the wet humid depositional conditions contributed to the relatively heavy stable carbon isotope compositions of dark layers the higher 13c values in the fossil wood and fusain samples can be explained by the general enrichment of 13c in woody material compared to leaves the weakly negative correlation between the 15n and 13c values indicates that besides bacterial degradation the liptinite content could also influence the carbon and nitrogen compositions of lignites the influence of the original plant community gymnosperms angiosperms on the carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of bulk lignites is insignificant in the jinsuo basin the paleoenvironmental model suggests deposition of pale layers under relatively dry cold conditions supporting the expansion of gymnosperms such as pinus yunnanensis the slight stepwise uplift of the tibetan plateau and the approximate co occurrence of the more intense asian monsoon might have supported short periods of a locally dry cold climate resulting in the lowering of water table which was favorable for the formation of pale layers the low 13c values in pale layers further support this the relatively high sio2 al2o3 ratios higher values of the average detrital authigenic index and high levels of tio2 and zr in pale layers suggest an increased detrital input relative to dark layers the dark layers however formed in a tropical subtropical warm humid climate that favored angiosperm dominance of the vegetation the long term geologically stable conditions together with the regionally warm humid climate resulted in a rise in the water table in the basin which led to the formation of dark layers until the subsequent slight uplift of the tibetan plateau this conclusion is also supported by the high 13c values in dark layers and the thickness differences between pale thin and dark thick layers and the changes in major elements and minerals changes between the two types of layer

tectonic analysis of fault slip data sets using data that include the direction and the sense of motion on individual fault surfaces determined by slickenside lineations it is possible to reconstruct reduced stress tensors that correspond to the orientation of stress axes and to the ratio 2 3 1 3 between principal stress values 1 2 3 compression being positive no assumption is made concerning the orientation of fault planes relative to stress axes so that reactived faults are taken into account as well as newly created ones qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis of fault slip data were developed during the last 10 years the practical limitation of the methods and the necessity for critical field observations are emphasized these methods can be applied to focal mechanisms of earthquakes a more complex analysis of heterogeneous data sets involving an iterative separation of different stress systems is also discussed this analysis enables one to distinguish successive faulting events careful qualitative study in the field is in all cases essential

an early eocene sphagnum bog at schoningen northern germany a thin local seam in the early eocene lignite succession of the opencast mine schoningen sudfeld lower saxony northern germany revealed pollen and spore assemblages of low diversity they are characterized by an abundance of sphagnum type spores especially tripunctisporis and fern and lycopod spores together with the common occurrence of pollen of ericaceae restionaceae and droseraceae well preserved fragments of sphagnum leaves are common and loricae of habrotrocha like bdelloid rotifers have been recorded occasionally we reconstruct an ombrogenous domed peat bog maintained by prolific growth of sphagnum in association with a rich fern cover oligotrophic and acidophilic plants as well as insectivorous plants indicating severe nutrient deficiency this resembles in many respects an eocene equivalent of a quaternary high latitude sphagnum bog in view of the significant amount of restionaceae pollen however it appears more similar to southern hemisphere restionad bogs the total lack of a waterlogged layer in the highly permeable substrate strongly argues in favour of a purely rain fed ombrogenous peat bog the required high precipitation in combination with frequent wildfires as evidenced by the abundance of charcoal however suggests a highly stressed hydrological cycle under an alternating wet dry climate close to the alleged early eocene climatic optimum eeco

petrographic and geochemical characterization of pale and dark brown coal from yunnan province china abstract fifteen lignite samples from the province of yunnan were analysed by organic petrography and geochemistry twelve of the samples represent the very pale yellow baipao coal the other three were normal coals of a medium brown colour the baipao coal consists mainly of mineral bituminous groundmass whereas the normal coal is characterised by well preserved tissues derived from gymnosperm wood up to 190 mg g c org of extract is extractable from the baipao coal only 63 mg g c org from the normal coal the n alkane fraction of the baipao coal extract consists of high amounts of hopanes and shows the predominance of nor abietane within the diterpenoids present the first group of compounds points to intensive bacterial activity while the second compound indicates not only that gymnosperms are present but also that a relatively oxygen rich environment existed at the time of deposition from the petrographic and organic geochemical characteristics it is concluded that the baipao coal was formed from the same plant source material as the normal coal but underwent stronger decay

the coal bearing cenozoic as pontes basin northwestern spain geological influence on coal characteristics lignite deposits in the cenozoic as pontes strike slip basin northwestern spain were formed as a function of specific paleoclimatic conditions and tectonic evolution of the basin during the early evolutionary stages the presence of active normal faults and thrusts inside the basin resulted in two subbasins with distinct differences in sedimentary records with respect to lignite seam occurrence thickness area1 extent and lithotype development in contrast during the late evolutionary stages the basin was not split and a more homogeneous sedimentary record in terms of coal seam occurrence and lithotype characteristics developed a total of 26 lignite samples distributed along the basin infill were analyzed by organic petrography and geochemistry all are lignite b astm the lignites deposited during lower basin infill sedimentation units 1 and 2 are dark matrix rich mainly huminitic brown coals with minor bright liptinitic rich coal lithotypes the dark huminitic coals in these units show sedimentological and paleontological evidence of lacustrine influence persistent relatively moderate to low tissue preservation index tpi values and high average gelification index gi values are characteristic of these limno telmatic coals lignites in the upper basin infill unit 4 are almost exclusively matrix rich huminitic brown coals persistent widespread low tpi values and variable but low average gi values are also characteristic of these telmatic coals the overall coal petrological data trend tpi gi and widespread development or absence of liptiniteenriched lignite layers recorded from the lower to the upper basin infill units agrees with the stratigraphic and sedimentological data which show a trend of increasingly drier conditions development of bright liptinite enriched lignite layers was widespread during the early basin evolutionary stages and was influenced by punctuated water table oscillations sedimentological petrological and organic geochemical data point to the conclusion that although the paleoenvironments where peat deposition took place did not undergo dramatic changes they were affected by distinguishable

aliphatic and aromatic triterpenoid hydrocarbons in a tertiary angiospermous lignite abstract the hydrocarbon biomarker assemlage of a liptinite rich early tertiary angiospermous lignite has been characterized the biomarker fistribution for the lignite confirms the low maturity and previous paleobotanic interpretations the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction consists predominantly of n alkanes showing a strong odd carbon predominance and numerous de a triterpenoids and triterpenoids derived from higher plants bacterially derived triterpenoids were represented primarily by homohopanes and hopenes the aromatic hydrocarbon fraction contains a series of mono di and triaromatic de a triterpenoids and mono tri and tetraaromatic triterpenoids derived from higher plants the concentration and abundance of monoaromatic triterpenoids containing one to three additonal degress of unsaturation have not seen previously observed in a single deposit as such a diagenetic scheme for angiosperm derived triterpenoids is presented which confirms and extends previous hypothesis

tertiary deltaic and lacustrine organic facies comparison of biomarker and kerogen distributions abstract biological marker and kerogen compositional data in tertiary deltaic and lacustrine settings were compared and contrasted the two settings are represented by a coals and organic carbon rich shales in a ick deltaic sequence from the far east constituting three distinct organic facies and b humic coals and spropelic oil shales in a restricted intermontane freshwater lacustrine sequence from western montana u s a constituting two distinct organic facies wedistinguish the organic facies in each depositional setting by systematic differences in gross compound class distributions kerogen and infrared spectral characteristics molecular character of pyrolyzates sterane carbon number distribution and sterane hopane ratios the kerogens of the three deltaic organic facies are characterized by varying quantities of vitrinite resinite sporinite cutinite and fluorescent amorphinite triterpane distributions reveal numerous terrigenous compounds including oleanane oleanenes and unidentified c 30 presumably resin derived components the two organic facies of the freshwater lacustrine setting are distinguishedased upon either a vitrinite or an alganite fluorescent amorphinite predominance in the kerogen numerous characteristics facies related markers are also present including dehydroabietane land plant resins and 4 methylsteranes perhaps from freshwater dinoflagellate input the available molecular and petrographic data are evaluated and characteristics are proposed for distinguishing five organic facies of these two depositional settings the successful simultaneous use of molecular geochemistry and organic petrography in this study provides a format for refining the organic facies concept

plate collision and paleostress trajectories in a fold thrust belt the foothills of taiwan abstract field analyses of compressional faulting and folding in the foothills of western taiwan enable us to reconstruct paleostress trajectories over a large area and to establish the relative chronology of tectonic events two main compressional events have contributed to the present structure of the fold thrust belt stratigraphic data show that these events are plio pliocene in age older normal faulting indicates nnw sse extension across the chinesse passive continental margin during the neogene the two main compressional events of the taiwan collision correspond to similar fan shaped distributions of maximum compressive stress trajectories with a counterclockwise shift of 30 50 between the two events using the relationship between recent stress trajectories and the direction of recent plate motion as a guide we reconstruct the direction of plate convergence for the older event we suspect that the relative motion philippine sea plate eurasia has rotated counterclockwise of at least 35 45 in taiwan during collision this conclusion is in agreement with independent plate tectonic reconstructions several problems provide objectives to further tectonic and paleomagnetic studies including the duration and diachronism of compressional events as well as possible clockwise rotation of northernmost taiwan

characteristics of sphagnum coal considered as a new genetic type of coal abstract sphagnum coal was discovered in the jinsuo tertiary brown coal basin yunnan province southwest china it was mainly derived from sphagnum a kind of bryophyte in an oligotrophic bog reported in this paper are the comprehensive results of petrological chemical and organicgeochemical studies of sphagnum coal including its macro and micro characteristics physicochemical properties and biomarkers in aliphatic fractions etc a discussion of the results is presented and a comparison made with those of different lithotypes of soft brown coal in the same coal profile the investigation shows that sphagnum coal differs from conventional soft brown coal in many and various respects and thus it is suggested as a new genetic type of coal

a review and reinterpretation of evidence concerning the origin of victorian brown coal abstract the nature of the depositional environments which led to the formation of the very extensive victorian brown coal deposits located in southeeastern australia has been the subject of numerous publications previous publications on this subject have suggested that these coals were laid down in an extensive series of peat swamps similar to the florida everglades u s a one of the central premises of this depositional model has been that lithotype formation is dependent on the degree of inundation of the original peat forming environment specifically it proposes an inverse relationship between the degree of inundation and the lightness of colour of the resulting lithotype with the light and pale lithotypes being deposited in fully inundated environments in this manuscript the evidence on which this depositional model is based and other data from a variety of disciplines relevant to the question of the nature of the depositional environments of these coals is reviewed the resulting synthesis of data has led the present authors to conclude that previous depositional models cannot fully account for the observed chemical physical and geological characteristics of these coals therefore a new depositional model is proposed which seeks to account for these observed characteristics it is concluded by the present authors that deposition of these coals probably took place in an extensive and long lived series of ombrogenous raised or domed forested peat swamps structurally analogous to modern peat accumulations in se asia further it is suggested that lithotype formation is governed not by the degree of inundation of the original peat forming environments but rather by the degree of aerobic degradation experienced by the initial peat accumulations with pale and light coals representing the products of the most severely degraded peats

long chain alkenones in baltic sea surface sediments new insights abstract c 37 alkenones produced by certain haptophytes of the isochrysidales are valuable sedimentary biomarkers used to estimate sea surface temperature sst in the open ocean however in coastal seas the role of salinity gradients on alkenone producing species and sst estimates is poorly known alkenones were analyzed in surface sediments from the marine skagerrak region and the entire brackish baltic sea three types of alkenone distribution patterns were identified type a distribution which resembles the distribution in emiliania huxleyi type b distribution which is similar to ruttnera lamellosa isochrysis galbana and pseudoisochrysis paradoxa distributions although these haptophytes are absent from the baltic sea and type c distribution which is also found in worldwide lake sediments these types of distribution are apparent in the percentage of c 37 4 alkenone c 37 4 which is significantly negatively correlated to sea surface salinity sss the distribution of alkenones very likely results from distinct alkenone producing haptophytes whose spatial distribution is ultimately related to sss as supported by the hydrogen isotope fractionation between alkenones and water u 37 k and u 37 k correlate more significantly than u 37 k with both sst and sss probably due to the superimposed effect of changing alkenone producing species the application of u 37 k and u 37 k as sst proxies results in unrealistic holocene temperature records for the southern baltic sea but c 37 4 as a sss proxy reveals reasonable salinity changes interestingly a c 32 hopanoic acid was found abundantly as the methyl ester in the ketone fractions and may represent a marker for cyano bacterial biomass in the baltic sea

molecular and isotopic stratigraphy in an ombrotrophic mire for paleoclimate reconstruction a 40 cm deep sphagnum dominated peat monolith from bolton fell moss in northern england was systematically investigated by lipid molecular stratigraphy and compound specific 13c and d analysis using gas chromatography gc gc mass spectrometry gc ms gc combustion isotope ratio ms gc c irms and gc thermal conversion irms gc tc irms techniques 210pb dating showed the monolith accumulated during the last ca 220 yr a period encompassing the second part of little ice age while the distributions of lipids including n alkan 1 ols n alkan 2 ones wax esters sterols n alkanoic acids alkandioic acids and hydroxy acids display relatively minor changes with depth the cooler climate event was recorded in the concentrations of n alkanes and organic carbon cpi values of n alkanes and n alkanoic acids and the ratio of 5 n alkylresorcinols sterols superimposed on the fossil fuel effect the relatively cooler climate event was also recorded by 13c values of individual hydrocarbons especially the c23n alkane a major compound in certain sphagnum spp the d values of the c29 and c33n alkanes correlated mainly with plant composition and were relatively insensitive to climatic change in contrast the c23n alkane displayed variation that correlated strongly with recorded temperature for the period represented by the monolith agreeing with previously reported deuterium records in tree ring cellulose spanning the same period in scotland germany and the usa with more negative values occurring during the second part of little ice age these biomarker characteristics including the compound specific 13c and d records provide a new set of proxies of climatic change potentially independent of preserved macrofossils which will be of value in deeper sections of the bog where the documentary records of climate are unavailable and humification is well advanced

δ13c pattern of dissolved inorganic carbon in a small granitic catchment the strengbach case study vosges mountains france abstract the transfers and origins of dissolved inorganic carbon dic were studied for a year in a soil spring stream system in the strengbach catchment vosges mountains france this 80 ha experimental research basin is located on the eastern side of the mountains at an altitude ranging from 883 to 1146 m a s l and is mainly covered by spruce 80 brown acid and podzolic soils developed on a granitic basement and as a result the dic originates solely from co2 generated by oxidation of soil organic matter the 13 c dic in catchment waters is highly variable from about 22 in the springs and piezometers to about 12 in the stream at the outlet of the catchment in the springs pronounced seasonal variations of 13 c dic exist with the dic in isotopic equilibrium with the soil co2 that has estimated 13 c of about 24 in winter and 20 in summer these seasonal variations reflect an isotopic fractionation that seems only induced by molecular diffusion of soil co2 in summer in stream water seasonal variations are small and the relatively heavy dic 12 on average is a result of isotopic equilibration of the aqueous co2 with atmospheric co2

deformation history of the southwestern taiwan foreland thrust belt insights from tectono sedimentary analyses and balanced cross sections abstract analysis of the basin scale and local deformation history and estimates of shortening rates are performed in the southwestern foreland thrust belt of the plio pleistocene taiwan orogen timing of deformational events is constrained using both syntectonic unconformities and other markers of syndepositional tectonic activity three cross sections are investigated and balanced intermediate shortening rates are estimated based on balanced and restored cross sections the total amount of shortening along studied balanced sections results from superimposed thin skinned and thick skinned styles a shallow aseismic thick decollement is located to depth of 6 8 km at the base of thick late miocene shales that behaves as ductile layer the occurrence of a deep seismic decollement to depth of 12 15 km is confirmed by seismicity fault plane solutions of focal mechanisms and a seismic reflection profile providing evidence of reactivated and inverted inherited extensional features beneath the coastal plain three major tectonic stages are recognized within the southwestern foothills which are correlated with local thrusting events the first stage begins at 5 ma with the onset of the taiwan collision and ends at 2 1 6 ma it reflects an initial submarine accretionary stage associated with moderate tectonic activity the second major stage occurs during late pliocene early pleistocene this intermediate collision stage sealed the evolution of the southern foreland thrust wedge from submarine to continental environment in relation with exhumation and denudation of the central range the last stage of deformation begins in the middle pleistocene and continues until present it is associated with high rates of sedimentation and most of the thrusts are activated or reactivated at that time and out of sequence thrusting occurs the collision started synchronously near 5 ma throughout the southwestern taiwan total and intermediate shortening rates are more or less constant through time in studied sections that may suggest that long term deformation in the taiwan foreland thrust belt occurred more or less at steady state since 5 ma the southward decrease of rates of shortening from 3 6 to 4 8 mm year in northern sections to 2 2 mm year in southern section might be related to both influence of indentation by the peikang high to the north and southward transition at the scale of the southwestern foothills from collision to subduction setting the effect of the obliquity of the convergence resulting in regional southward migration of the collision cannot be definitely inferred from this analysis our results place new kinematic and time constraints which must be taken into account in forthcoming geodynamic models of the taiwan collision

worldwide distribution of continental rock lithology implications for the atmospheric soil co2 uptake by continental weathering and alkalinity river transport to the oceans 1 the silicate rock weathering followed by the formation of carbonate rocks in the ocean transfers co2 from the atmosphere to the lithosphere this co2 uptake plays a major role in the regulation of atmospheric co2 concentrations at the geologic timescale and is mainly controlled by the chemical properties of rocks this leads us to develop the first world lithological map with a grid resolution of 1 1 this paper analyzes the spatial distribution of the six main rock types by latitude continents and ocean drainage basins and for 49 large river basins coupling our digital map with the gem co2 model we have also calculated the amount of atmospheric soil co2 consumed by rock weathering and alkalinity river transport to the ocean among all silicate rocks shales and basalts appear to have a significant influence on the amount of co2 uptake by chemical weathering

parameters determining the carbon isotopic composition of coal and fossil wood in the early miocene oberdorf lignite seam styrian basin austria abstract petrographical and geochemical data of gelified and ungelified fossil wood from the early miocene oberdorf lignite seam styrian basin austria provide evidence that the early diagenetic aerobic degradation of wood by fungi may be followed by further decomposition under reducing conditions by the activity of anaerobic bacteria based on the molecular compositions of terpenoid hydrocarbons the wood fragments in the lignite are identified as gymnosperms this result is corroborated by the mean isotopic composition 13c 24 2 of the macrofossils the isotopic difference between fossil wood and extracted cellulose of most samples 3 9 2 5 is higher than in modern trees which can be explained by the smaller effect of 13c discrimination during decomposition of cellulose when compared with wood the mean carbon isotope values found for gymnosperms and coals 24 2 and 24 7 respectively confirm the results from biomarker analyses indicating that the peat forming vegetation of the oberdorf seam was dominated by gymnosperm taxa minor variation in the relative contributions of gymnosperms and angiosperms to coal deposition is of negligible influence on the isotopic composition of the coals cross correlations between 13c of the coals soluble organic matter yield and the proportions of liptinite macerals of higher plant origin imply that the carbon isotopic composition may be affected by the contents of plant lipids because of their 13c values ranging from 5 to 10 less than whole plant tissue values an isotopic shift of the coals towards more negative values due to the activity of prokaryotes i e anaerobic bacteria in organic matter degradation is proposed the results obtained from the early miocene oberdorf lignite indicate that the carbon isotope ratios of the coals are primarily affected by varying contributions of different parts of whole plant tissue due to their different isotopic and molecular compositions e g epicuticular leaf waxes resins wood and their different decay resistance against the early diagenetic changes involved in organic matter decomposition carbon cycling during anoxic decomposition of plant derived organic matter is assumed to affect the 13c values of coal 13c values of wood and extracted cellulose are affected only to a minor extent

mechanical twin sets in calcite as markers of recent collisional events in a fold and thrust belt evidence from the reefal limestones of southwestern taiwan stress reconstructions were carried out based on inversion of calcite twin data from slightly deformed quaternary reefal limestones from sw taiwan results demonstrate that twinning reliably recorded the complex quaternary and present day stress fields in a young mountain range undergoing collisional shortening the stress regimes reconstructed at microscopic scale are predominantly compressional and reflect the main stages of the neotectonic evolution of the collision belt no twinning has been observed in a sample collected in the holocene platform of southern taiwan indicating that these formations did not undergo sufficient stress to initiate calcite twinning three different stress regimes have been recorded in the samples collected in pleistocene reef limestones that developed in relation to active fold systems of the western foothills these regimes appear to be homogeneous at the site scale and at the scale of sw taiwan the reconstructed ene and nw trending compressions only present in sw taiwan probably reflect local perturbations of the regional 105 trending compression the perturbation might be due to activation of a set of folded faulted blocks in the studied area a nw se extension also identified in these samples is related to extrados stretching due to fold development the results are consistent with independent stress data i e quaternary faulting borehole breakouts and focal mechanisms of earthquakes the analysis of mechanical twins in calcite rocks constitutes a powerful tool for tectonic analyses in fold and thrust belts

organic geochemistry and petrography of tertiary coals and carbonaceous shales from argentina a series of eight tertiary coal and carbonaceous shale samples with vitrinite reflectance values between 0 50 and 0 58 were extracted fractionated and the saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons analysed for characteristic components by gc and gc ms additionally a microscopical study was undertaken in order to obtain a more precise picture of the samples under investigation the saturated hydrocarbon fractions displayed the typical n alkane distribution for coals of this rank with cpi values between 2 0 and 3 1 among the branched cyclic compounds pristane and homohopane were recognised as relevant components pointing to an oxic depositional environment detection of benzohopanes c32 c35 in the aromatic hydrocarbon fractions suggests that bacteriohopanetetrol was a significant constituent of the coal biomass taking into consideration the pr ph ratios ash contents and microscopical characteristics of the samples aspects of the possible degradation of hopanetetrol to homohopane are discussed resin derived diterpenoids with the phyllocladane and kaurane skeleton were tentatively identified and although minor compounds they are interpreted to be a sign of the contribution of podocarpaceae and araucareaceae to the coal swamp aromatic compounds were dominated by alkylnaphthalene derivatives presumably formed by c ring cleavage and aromatisation of higher plant derived pentacyclic triterpenois which were main components in the high boiling range of the fractions investigated angiosperms especially fagaceae are postulated as source for these polycyclic compounds and hence for some of the polyalkylated aromatic bicyclics detected

hydrocarbon and fatty acid distributions in rostherne lake sediment england abstract hydrocarbon and carboxylic acid distributions in the top 30 cm section of a contemporary lacustrine sediment rostherne mere cheshire england of age 0 150 yr present variations which can be correlated with changes in input of organic material as well as the effects of early diagenesis thus the higher proportions of short chain and branched lipids in the top 0 7 cm sediment section are as expected on the basis of the relatively greater contribution of algal and other microbial matter to the surface sediment layer similarly the increase in the ratio of saturated to unsaturated straight chain acids with depth is in accord with the more facile diagenesis of the unsaturated components acid hydrolysis of solvent extracted sediment afforded lipid fractions featuring a more significant microbial contribution than pre hydrolysis extracts as denoted by the greater abundance of c15 and c17iso and anteiso branched acids also no trend with depth in the ratio of saturated to unsaturated acids was observed for post hydrolysis extracts indicating that bound compounds may be somewhat protected relative to soluble lipids a contribution from petroleum derived hydrocarbons to the sediment apparent from the complex branched cyclic b c alkane distributions decreases with depth and is virtually absent from the 18 30 cm sediment section

anomalous hopane distributions at the permian triassic boundary meishan china evidence for the end permian marine ecosystem collapse abstract molecular and carbon isotopic geochemistry of hopanes in marine sediments of the meishan section in changxing county zhejiang province of china were studied to reveal biotic and environmental changes across the permian triassic boundary ptb and the wuchiapingian changhsingian boundary wcb the hopane distribution at the ptb is characterized by high ratios of moretane hopane tm ts tm c 30 hopane c 31 c 32 hopane and hopane sterane this hopane distribution is anomalous for these marine sediments but it is typical of coal measure strata and soils two possible genetic mechanisms for such an anomaly are suggested 1 these hopanes were terrigenous and most probably originated from acidified soil and peat this mechanism implies that the marine primary production and aerobic bacteria production at the ptb were extremely low 2 this hopane distribution was possibly caused by freshening and acidification of the upper water column during the end permian to early triassic marine stagnation and stratification this hopane anomaly which coincides with the end permian mass extinction and carbon isotope excursion may signal the end permian mass extinctions and marine and terrigenous ecosystem collapse the 13 c enriched hopanes with the fingerprint of typical anoxic marine shales coupled with an n c 15 n c 17 dominated distribution of n alkanes strongly indicate that the organic matter around the wcb at meishan originated mainly from cyanobacteria the corresponding positive 13 c carbonate and higher total organic carbon and hydrocarbon index hi values strongly suggest that high marine primary production and marine anoxia caused by intermittent cyanobacterial blooms resulted in the local mass extinction at meishan

identification of unusual 17β h moret 22 29 ene in lake sediments an unusual 17 h moret 22 29 ene in lake sediments was identified for the first time based on the coincidence of its hydrogenation product with 17 h 21 h moretane in terms of mass spectrum and gas chromatographic retention time our survey revealed that 17 h moret 22 29 ene is present in sediments of 4 acid lakes 2 brackish lakes and 4 fresh lakes the abundance of 17 h moret 22 29 ene relative to diploptene is high in acid lakes whereas it is very low or almost absent in the latter two types of lakes this suggests that the formation of 17 h moret 22 29 ene is closely associated with the acidic conditions of these lake environments the dehydration of 17 h 21 h moretan 29 ol is proposed as a possible pathway of formation of 17 h moret 22 29 ene in lake sediments although the proposed precursor has yet to be identified

petrology and organic geochemistry of peat samples from a raised bog in kalimantan borneo abstract two peat cores from the margin and centre of a tropical raised bog from the sebangau river near palangkaraya in kalimantan indonesia were investigated to illustrate the changes during peatification using coal petrographic and organic geochemical techniques these methods included a maceral analysis on polished peat blocks under reflected white and blue light excitation using the brown coal maceral nomenclature soxhlet extraction was carried out and an estimate of the humic composition was undertaken on the residues gc and gc ms analysis of the alkane and aromatic fractions were also made to identify biomarkers present in the peat results of this study show that peats from the margin of the raised bog were more decomposed than peats from the centre tissue content extract yield and alkaline insoluble acid soluble humic acid fraction support these results not only were there differences between the two locations of the peat cores but also differences arose with respect to depth in both cores the basal peats were more decomposed than the peats from the upper layers this was a result of their differing environments of deposition i e the basal peats were deposited under relative mesotrophic conditions and a more seasonal climate whereas the peats from the upper layers were deposited under acidic and oligotrophic conditions the biomarker composition of the alkane fraction included long chain n alkanes from n c 23 to n c 35 with an odd over even predominance and interestingly n alkanes from n c 36 to n c 40 with an even over odd predominance peaking at n c 38 pentacyclic triterpenoids were mainly represented by 17 21 h homohopane and hop 17 21 ene biomarkers in the aromatic fraction included polyaromatic triterpenoids derived from and amyrin