kaikoura canyon new zealand active conduit from near shore sediment zones to trench axis channel kaikoura canyon is one of a few major active conduits between a near shore sediment transport system and a deep ocean channel it is the sink for mobile zones of gravel sand and mud that migrate northwards off northeastern south island new zealand it is presently the primary source for the 1500 km long hikurangi channel which supplies overbank turbidites to a filled trench an ocean plateau basin and a distal fan drift swath data seismic profiles side scan sonographs aerial photographs cores grab samples and current meter data are used to define the shape and texture of the canyon and adjacent shelf in order to better understand how coastal processes and canyon interact to supply sediment to the deep ocean kaikoura canyon is 60 km long up to 1200 m deep and generally u shaped in profile its head is within 500 m of the shore and within 200 m of rocky projections from the shore platform in a mountain backed bay without large rivers the canyon head incises the 18 m depth contour and boulders pebble gravel and megarippled coarse sand reach the canyon rim fine sand migrating northward along the shelf under the influence of waves and currents is trapped in a southward projecting canyon head gully which incises the thickest part of the holocene sediment prism it is estimated that about 1 5 106 m3 of sediment falls into the canyon head each year tensional fractures around the canyon rim suggest that sediments in the canyon head gully are unstable gravel turbidites with post last glacial age shells are at or near the seabed in the lower canyon but are blanketed by many thin silt and sand possibly storm generated turbidites in the upper canyon the top gravel contains a twig that is about 170 years old suggesting that the last major collapse in the canyon head coincides with many onshore rockfalls triggered by rupture of a major strike slip plate boundary fault in about 1833 an underlying gravel is about 300 years old and may again coincide with fault rupture most of the large earthquake triggered failures may ignite to form self perpetuating autosuspension flows that feed a 1500 km long deep sea turbidite channel

visible albedo of mars south polar cap 2003 hst observations abstract the martian south polar cap was observed with the high resolution camera on hubble space telescope near the very favorable 2003 opposition well calibrated images taken at a number of wavelengths in visible and uv were used to measure the apparent lambert albedos of two bright polar areas these were corrected for the effects of atmospheric dust to obtain wavelength dependent surface albedos which are diagnostic for the purity and grain size of the co 2 deposits the bolometric albedo estimated from these data may be sufficiently large to be consistent with stability of the perennial co 2 in the residual cap

mars orbiter camera observations of the martian south polar cap in 1999 2000 the spring summer recession of the south polar cap of mars in 1999 2000 has been investigated using the wide angle cameras of the mars orbiter camera experiment on mars global surveyor the 1999 2000 regression closely resembles the recession observed by viking orbiters in 1977 although the rates of recession are quite similar the current recession was slightly ahead of that in 1977 throughout spring the rapid development of dark terrain dubbed cryptic terrain by hugh kieffer in one sector of the south cap between ls 198 and 223 is documented the emergence and separation of the mountains of mitchel has also been recorded in detail culminating with its complete disappearance at solstice the 2000 residual cap is almost identical to that in 1977 this observation does not resolve the mystery of the very different appearance of the residual cap in 1972 the albedos in the residual cap region and in bright seasonal frost increase rapidly to high values at around solstice and then level out until the seasonal frost disappears observations of more martian years will be needed to constrain the amount of interannual variability and its relation to other phenomena such as dust storms

textural control on gold distribution in as free pyrite from the dongping huangtuliang and hougou gold deposits north china craton hebei province china article i nfo pyrite from the dongping huangtuliang and hougou gold deposits hebei province china was investigated using a combination of ore microscopy including back scattered imaging and in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy la icp ms a range of elements including au te ag pb bi cu co ni and as was analyzed with the aim to constrain the textural controls and influence of superimposed deformation on the distribution of invisible gold in as free pyrite thedatasetshowsexcellentcorrespondence betweenmeasuredhighgoldvaluesandthreekeytexturalcriteria i areasofclusteredtellurideinclusions especiallyindongping ii microshearingandfracturing brecciation dongping and huangtuliang and iii pyrite recrystallization huangtuliang invisible gold is only at trace levels in the hougou and gold bearing telluride minerals are not observed this is considered to result from larger scale remobilization of gold during advanced brecciation and recrystallization of pyrite pyrite grains containing clustered inclusions have by far the highest gold concentrations up to 1 wt with consistent values of thousands of ppm au interpretation of textures and la icp ms data infers that in these areas the distribution of telluride inclusions extends pervasively from micron to nanoscale i e as fields of nanoparticles local employment of coupled dissolution reprecipitation reaction between pyrite and fluids driving the k metasomatic alteration dated at 150 ma is invoked to explain such patterns syn deformational grain scale mobilization of gold and other elements took place leading to a portion of the gold being recrystallized within fractures and microshears the deformational event leads to gold enrichment in the huangtuliang pyrite where brittle fracturing brecciation has been followed by a resorption and recrystallization in the latter case foam textured pyrites again without as can contain up to hundreds of ppm gold theinterpreted sequenceof pyritepost depositional eventsis inaccordancewith the protracted magmaticevolution of the area starting with variscan alkaline intrusions 390 ma and reactivated during the yanshanian orogeny 150 ma thestudyshows i thatas freepyritecanreadilycontainsignificantamountsofinvisiblegold bothasnanoparticles

regression of martian north polar cap 1990 1997 hubble space telescope observations abstract hubble space telescope imaging of mars from december 13 1990 through april 17 1997 has resulted in the synoptic monitoring of parts of four consecutive martian north polar cap regressional cycles spanningls 335 65 tols 144 56 the 1990 1993 observations were obtained with the wide field planetary camera 1 wfpc1 instrument while subsequent observations from 1994 to 1997 were obtained with the improved optics of the wide field planetary camera 2 wfpc2 mars observations were obtained from the ultraviolet 218 nm to the near infrared 1042 nm which has allowed us to constrain the effects of clouds and dust particulates on cap edge measurements hst observations of the polar cap regressions afterls 0 are fairly consistent from year to year with some variations possible beforels 0 the 1991 observations atls 35 25 andls 59 88 in the longitude range 270 280 possibly support a standstill in cap retreat at a latitude 70 n the standstill in cap retreat reported in previous years at a latitude 67 n was not observed in 1992 1997 comparison with previous ground based and spacecraft observations suggests that interannual variations may be significant they may be due to interannual atmospheric changes such as global dust storm activity lambert albedos of the north polar cap in red and violet bandpasses are similar to those reported before

continental extension of the pacific plate at the southern termination of the hikurangi subduction zone the north mernoo fault zone offshore new zealand a complex transition from subduction at the hikurangi margin to transpressive continental collision across the southern alps occurs in the ne south island region of new zealand offshore the southern limit of oceanic subduction is constrained by the chatham rise a submerged continental plateau on the pacific plate which is presumably too buoyant for normal subduction in the nw corner of the rise is the north mernoo fault zone nmfz a 100 by 300 km region of basement involved active normal faulting of late miocene circa 8 6 ma to recent age the nmfz evolved contemporaneously with the rotation and development of the adjacent plate boundary zone growth faulting is characteristic within the sedimentary cover which is generally less than 2 km thick but the distribution of faulting has varied temporally the amount of mid pliocene recent extension is estimated to be not more than a few percent the nmfz consists of an array of overlapping south dipping normal faults which are typically 2 5 km apart and which trend roughly e w at a high angle to the plate boundary zone late quaternary surface traces are widely distributed on the mid to upper continental slope but many surface scarps are poorly preserved due to extensive erosion of the seafloor the western end of the fault zone crosses submarine canyons at the southern end of the hikurangi trough and almost abuts two fold and thrust fault systems on the ne south island continental margin although few data constrain the kinematics of extension a single mw 6 1 earth quake at the western end of the nmfz suggests planar rotating faults with a component of left lateral oblique slip two possible models of regional extension are considered 1 lateral buckling of the upper crust in which faulted slivers of crust are peeled off as the chatham rise slides past the transpressive marlborough fault system toward the southern alps and 2 flexure of the edge of continental pacific plate as the chatham rise is bent downward into the southern end of the hikurangi subduction zone improved seismological data and deep crustal seismic reflection profiles may help to constrain the kinematics of deformation

monitoring the perennial martian northern polar cap with mgs moc abstract we have used the mars global surveyor mars orbiter camera wide angle mgs moc wa dataset to study albedo trends on the martian northern residual cap six study regions were selected the chasma boreale source region three regions near the center of the cap fish hook region latitude 87 bottle opener region latitude 87 steep shallow region latitude 85 and two lower latitude regions crater latitude 77 and polar outlier latitude 82 and the albedos of these six regions were examined these regions were chosen due to their good temporal coverage in the moc dataset as well as having been studied by other researchers bass et al 2000 icarus 144 382 396 calvin and titus 2004 lunar planet sci xxxv abstract 1455 the picture which emerges is complex most areas experience a combination of darkening and brightening through the northern summer only one area consistently brightens the polar outlier region a good deal of interannual repeatability in each region s albedo behavior is seen however possible causes for the observed complex behaviors include dust deposition from late summer storms sintering of frost grains over the course of the summer and cold trapping of volatiles on bright cold surfaces

mars south polar spring and summer behavior observed by tes seasonal cap evolution controlled by frost grain size thermal emission spectrometer tes observations of the recession phase of mars south polar cap are used to quantitatively map this recession in both thermal and visual appearance geographically nonuniform behavior interior to the cap is characterized by defining several small regions which exemplify the range of behavior for most of the cap while temperatures remain near the co2 frost point albedos slowly increase with the seasonal rise of the sun then drop rapidly as frost patches disappear over a period of 20 days a cryptic region remains dark and mottled throughout its cold period tes observations are compared with first order theoretical spectra of solid co2 frost with admixtures of dust and h2o the tes spectra indicate that the cryptic region has much larger grained solid co2 than the rest of the cap and that the solid co2 here may be in the form of a slab the mountains of mitchel remain cold and bright well after other areas at comparable latitude apparently as a result of unusually small size of the co2 frost grains we found little evidence for a significant presence of h2o although co2 grain size may be the major difference between these regions incorporated dust is also required to match the observations a self cleaning process carries away the smaller dust grains comparisons with viking observations indicate little difference in the seasonal cycle 12 martian years later the observed radiation balance indicates co2 sublimation budgets of up to 1250 kg m 2 regional atmospheric dust is common localized dust clouds are seen near the edge of the cap prior to the onset of a regional dust storm and interior to the cap during the storm

new insights into the tectonic inversion of north canterbury and the regional structural context of the 2010 2011 canterbury earthquake sequence new zealand the 2010 2011 canterbury earthquake sequence highlighted the existence of previously unknown active faults beneath the north canterbury plains and pegasus bay south island new zealand we provide new insights into the geometry and kinematics of ongoing deformation by analyzing marine seismic data to produce new maps of regional faults and cross sectional reconstructions of deformation history active faulting and folding extends up to 30 km offshore and involves reactivation of sets of late cretaceous paleogene normal faults under nw se tectonic compression the active faults consist predominantly of ne sw striking se dipping reverse faults and less commonly e w to nw se faults suitably oriented for strike slip reactivation additionally newly developing reverse faults obliquely segment and overprint the inherited basement fabric and impose geometric and kinematic complexities revealed by mapping and reverse displacement profiles of markers the quaternary reverse slip rates decrease from 0 1 0 3 mm yr beneath northern pegasus bay to 0 05 mm yr approaching banks peninsula fault growth modeling involving trishear fault propagation folding mechanisms successfully restores an evolutionary sequence of progressive fault inversion revealing a history of reactivated individual faults tectonic inversion and overprinting processes beneath pegasus bay are immature and 1 2 0 4 ma old with no evidence of systematic spatial migration of deformation our marine data analyses give insights into the structural context of the 2010 2011 canterbury earthquake sequence while the combined onshore to offshore data provide an excellent illustration of fault growth associated with immature inversion tectonics in which selective fault reactivation results from compressive stress imposed across a complex network of inherited faults

albedo of the south pole on mars determined by topographic forcing of atmosphere dynamics the nature of the martian south polar cap has remained enigmatic since the first spacecraft observations in particular the presence of a perennial carbon dioxide ice cap the formation of a vast area of black slab ice known as the cryptic region and the asymmetric springtime retreat of the cap have eluded explanation here we present observations and climate modelling that indicate the south pole of mars is characterized by two distinct regional climates that are the result of dynamical forcing by the largest southern impact basins argyre and hellas the style of surface frost deposition is controlled by these regional climates in the cold and stormy conditions that exist poleward of 60 degrees s and extend 180 degrees in longitude west from the mountains of mitchel approximately 30 degrees w surface frost accumulation is dominated by precipitation in the opposite hemisphere the polar atmosphere is relatively warm and clear and frost accumulation is dominated by direct vapour deposition it is the differences in these deposition styles that determine the cap albedo

yearly comparisons of the martian polar caps 1999 2003 mars orbiter camera observations abstract the mars global surveyor mars orbiter camera wide angle cameras were used to obtain images of the north and south seasonal and residual polar caps between 1999 and 2003 wide angle red camera images were used in assembling mosaics of the north and south polar recessions and regression rates were measured and compared there are small variations in the north polar recession between 2000 and 2002 especially between l s 7 and l s 50 however there is no evidence for the plateau in the recession curves that has been observed in some prior years the south polar recession changes very little from year to year and the 2001 dust storm had little if any effect on the average cap recession that year albedo values of the geographic north pole were measured using wide angle red and blue camera images and the residual south polar cap configuration was compared between the three years observed by moc the albedo of the geographic north pole generally varies between 0 5 and 0 6 as measured from moc wide angle red camera images there were only minor variations near the edges of the residual south polar cap between the three years examined

metallogeny during continental outgrowth in the columbia supercontinent isotopic characterization of the zhaiwa mo cu system in the north china craton abstract the eastern qinling molybdenum belt eqmb in central china represents the largest mo province in the world located at the southern margin of the north china craton this mo province is largely associated with mesozoic granitoids here we report re os isochron age of 1761 33 ma 2 mswd 2 9 from molybdenite in the recently discovered zhaiwa porphyry mo cu system within the eqmb this age coincides with the peak eruption period 1 78 1 75 ga of the xiong er group volcanic rocks which unconformably overlie the taihua supergroup and are interpreted to have developed on a continental arc the re concentrations 1 to 43 ppm of the zhaiwa molybdenites are similar to those of typical porphyry cu mo au systems developed on continental arcs the 34 s values of the zhaiwa ores 2 7 7 3 average 5 2 suggest that the sulfur was mainly sourced from a magmatic system the sulfides from the ores yield sr i average of 0 70533 similar to that of the xiong er group 0 70547 albeit higher than that of the kuanping group 0 70334 and lower than the taihua supergroup 0 70763 suggesting a mixed source the average e nd 1 76 ga of the sulfides from the ores 0 9 falls between the averages of the taihua supergroup ca 6 8 and the kuanping group ca 7 4 the pb isotope ratios of the ores are similar to but slightly higher than those of the taihua supergroup reflecting preferential leaching of radiogenic pb from the taihua supergroup by magmatic fluids integrated data and interpretations constrain the zhaiwa mo cu deposit to be a porphyry mineral system developed within a ca 1 76 ga continental arc related to oceanic plate subduction beneath the southern margin of the north china craton a correlation between tectonic settings and metallogenic types clearly indicate that the xiong er group was formed in a volcanic arc confirming paleo mesoproterozoic continental outgrowth along the margins of the columbia supercontinent the isotopic characterization of the zhaiwa deposit provides new insights into the enigma of the widespread distribution of large and super large mo deposits of eqmb along the southern margin of the north china craton

assembling north china craton within the columbia supercontinent the role of double sided subduction abstract an evaluation of recent s wave receiver functions s wave velocities and two versions of p wave tomographic images along various transects in the north china craton provides some clues on the subduction collision history of the different crustal blocks and their final amalgamation within the paleoproterozoic columbia supercontinent interpretation of a n s seismic section of the craton suggests thick slab debris sinking to various depths in the mantle the w e seismic corridors show the preservation of a thick 200 km lithospheric root tectosphere beneath the ordos block and its variable and extensive erosion towards the yanliao block eastern block this zone is characterized by layers with marked velocity contrast and suggests repeated stacking of the remnants of underplated and accreted paleoproterozoic oceanic lithosphere the present day lithosphere asthenosphere boundary beneath this region probably marks the erosional plane along which decratonization occurred through subduction erosion from the east and thermal and material erosion by upwelling asthenosphere from below resulting in the partial destruction of the tectosphere and its thinning towards the east within the asthenosphere below the yanliao block younger and thinner slabs predominate in the absence of any prominent thick high velocity layers these younger slabs define a westward polarity and constitute a mega scale duplex formed by underplating through phanerozoic subduction process particularly the pacific plate subduction from the east the lithologic associations within the inner mongolia suture zone dividing the yinshan block to the north and ordos block to the south correspond to an accreted ocean plate stratigraphic sequence with the tonalite trondhjemite granodiorite ttg gneisses charnockites and calc alkaline granites representing a continental arc built up through subduction from the north the seismic transects bring out a contrasting polarity in the subduction regime with an oblique east to southward subduction of the yinshan block and a westward subduction of the yanliao block here i propose a double sided subduction history for the ncc similar to the ongoing subduction process in the western pacific such double sided subduction is considered to promote rapid amalgamation of continental fragments within supercontinents and the subduction polarities and mantle dynamics of ncc are therefore considered to be critical in evaluating the final assembly of the paleoproterozoic supercontinent columbia

interannual and seasonal changes in the south seasonal polar cap of mars observations from my 28 31 using marci the mars color imager marci camera on the mars reconnaissance orbiter provides daily synoptic coverage that allows monitoring of seasonal cap retreat and interannual changes that occur between mars years my and over the southern summer we present the first analysis of this data for the southern seasonal cap evolution observed in my 28 29 30 and 31 2 2007 to 07 2013 observation over multiple mars years allows us to compare changes between years as well as longer term evolution of the high albedo deposits at the poles seasonal cap retreat is similar in all years and to retreats observed in other years by both optical and thermal instruments the cryptic terrain has a fairly consistent boundary in each year but numerous small scale variations occur in each my observed additionally numerous small dark deposits are identified outside the classically identified cyptic region including inca city and other locations not previously noted the large water ice outlier is observed to retain seasonal frost the longest outside the polar dome and is also highly variable in each my the development of the cryptic anti cryptic hemispheres is inferred to occur due to albedo variations that develop after dust venting starts and may be caused by recondensation of co2 ice on the brightest and coldest regions controlled by topographic winds ground ice may play a role in which regions develop cryptic terrain as there is no elevation control on either cryptic terrain or the late season brightest deposits

the xiong er volcanic belt at the southern margin of the north china craton petrographic and geochemical evidence for its outboard position in the paleo mesoproterozoic columbia supercontinent abstract the xiong er volcanic belt covering an area of more than 60 000 km 2 along the southern margin of the north china craton has long been considered an intra continental rift zone and recently interpreted as part of a large igneous province formed by a mantle plume that led to the breakup of the paleo mesoproterozoic supercontinent columbia however such interpretations cannot be accommodated by lithology mineralogy geochemistry and geochronology of the volcanic rocks in the belt lithologically the xiong er volcanic belt is dominated by basaltic andesite and andesite with minor dacite and rhyolite different from rock associations related to continental rifts or mantle plumes which are generally bimodal and dominated by mafic components however they are remarkably similar to those rock associations in modern continental margin arcs in some of the basaltic andesites and andesites amphibole is a common phenocryst phase suggesting the involvement of h 2 o rich fluids in the petrogenesis of the xiong er volcanic rocks geochemically the xiong er volcanic rocks fall in the calc alkaline series and in most tectono magmatic discrimination diagrams the majority of the xiong er volcanic rocks show affinities to magmatic arcs in the primitive mantle normalized trace element diagrams the xiong er volcanic rocks show enrichments in the lile and lree and negative nb ta ti anomalies similar to arc related volcanic rocks produced by the hydrous melting of metasomatized mantle wedge nd isotope compositions of the xiong er volcanic rocks suggest that 5 15 older crust has been transferred into the upper lithospheric mantle by subduction related recycling during archean to paleoproterozoic time available shrimp and la icp ms u pb zircon age data indicate that the xiong er volcanic rocks erupted intermittently over a protracted interval from 1 78 ga through 1 76 1 75 ga and 1 65 ga to 1 45 ga though the major phase of the volcanism occurred at 1 78 1 75 ga such multiple and intermittent volcanism is inconsistent with a mantle plume driven rifting event but is not uncommon in ancient and existing continental margin arcs taken together the xiong er volcanic belt was most likely a paleo mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arc that formed at the southern margin of the north china craton similar paleo mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arcs were also present at the southern and southeastern margins of laurentia the southern margin of baltica the northwestern margin of amonzonia and the southern and eastern margins of the north australia craton which are considered to represent subduction related episodic outbuilding on the continental margins of the paleo mesoproterozoic supercontinent columbia therefore in any configuration of the supercontinent columbia the southern margin of the north china craton could not have been connected to any other continental block as proposed in a recent configuration but must have faced an open ocean whose lithosphere was subducted beneath the southern margin of the north china craton

seasonal recession of martian south polar cap 1992 hst observations the seasonal recession of the south polar cap of mars has been studied using the wide field planetary camera images from hubble space telescope obtained during the summer of 1992 when the angular size of mars was between 5 and 6 arc sec the observations cover the interesting period betweenls 259 and 284 when the recession is rapid and the asymmetry in the cap is large these will be the only hst observations of this season during the 1990s because of the solar elongation constraint on telescope pointing the well known mountains of mitchel outlier which has been observed by viking and by many ground based observers nearls 260 is clearly present in the first set of hubble images the latitude of the cap edge the displacement of the center of the cap from the geographical pole and the albedo of the polar deposits determined from these images are consistent with observations of these quantities by viking in 1977 the data are not compatible with a recession as advanced as that deduced from the 1956 telescopic observations

the motunau fault and other structures at the southern edge of the australian pacific plate boundary offshore marlborough new zealand abstract the boundary between the indo australian and pacific plates passes through new zealand as the alpine fault then links northeastwards with the hikurangi subduction margin through the marlborough shear zone a group of five major subparallel transcurrent faults the southern limit of the marlborough shear zone is situated at the motunau fault a previously unrecognized offshore extension of the active porters pass fault and lineation system to the south of the motunau fault the kaikoura sequence cretaceous cainozoic sediments that underlie the canterbury continental shelf are effectively undeformed and lie outside of the plate boundary zone 3 5 khz profiler records and other marine geologic data collected on g r v tangaroa cruises 1097 and 1116 show that the shelf north of the motunau fault is underlain by complexly deformed sediments faulting and folding continue in this area today as evidenced by the presence of deformed late pleistocene strata and by the distribution of earthquake epicentres within the marlborough plate boundary zone the five major strike slip faults delimit four substantial blocks or microplates 20 60 km wide and up to 220 km long from north to south these are the spenser inland kaikoura seaward kaikoura and conway blocks respectively kaikoura sequence sediments are most strongly deformed near the margins of the blocks and their subsidiary fault systems within each microplate deformation is restricted to moderate folding and faulting the overall structural pattern being consistent with dextral movement on the boundary faults the available marine geologic and geophysical data suggest that subduction of the pacific plate may have propagated southwards during the late neogene causing successive activation of the marlborough faults today subduction is occurring right to the southern head of the hikurangi trough where the motion is transferred to the motunau fault system since earthquake epicentres only reach to intermediate depths beneath the southern part of the conway microplate and since the motunau fault system is not such a continuous physiographic features as faults further north it is likely that this southern margin to the plate boundary zone is still actively developing

isotope and fluid inclusion geochemistry and genesis of the qiangma gold deposit xiaoqinling gold field qinling orogen china abstract the qiangma gold deposit is hosted in the 1 9 ga taihua supergroup metamorphic rocks in the xiaoqinling terrane qinling orogen on the southern margin of the north china craton the mineralization can be divided as follows quartz pyrite veins early quartz polymetallic sulfide veinlets middle and carbonate quartz veinlets late stages with gold being mainly introduced in the middle stage three types of fluid inclusions were identified based on petrography and laser raman spectroscopy i e pure carbonic carbonic aqueous co 2 h 2 o and aqueous inclusions the early stage quartz contains pure carbonic and co 2 h 2 o inclusions with salinities up to 12 7 wt nacl equiv bulk densities of 0 67 to 0 86 g cm 3 and homogenization temperatures of 280 365 c the early stage is related to h 2 o co 2 n 2 ch 4 fluids with isotopic signatures consistent with a metamorphic origin 18 o water 3 1 to 5 2 d 37 to 73 the middle stage quartz contains all three types of fluid inclusions of which the co 2 h 2 o and aqueous inclusions yield homogenization temperatures of 249 346 c and 230 345 c respectively the co 2 h 2 o inclusions have salinities up to 10 9 wt nacl equiv and bulk densities of 0 70 to 0 98 g cm 3 with vapor bubbles composed of co 2 and n 2 the isotopic ratios 18 o water 2 2 to 3 6 d 47 to 79 suggest that the middle stage fluids were mixed by metamorphic and meteoric fluids in the late stage quartz only the aqueous inclusions are observed which have low salinities 0 9 9 9 wt nacl equiv and low homogenization temperatures 145 223 c the isotopic composition 18 o water 1 9 to 0 5 d 55 to 66 indicates the late stage fluids were mainly meteoric water trapping pressures estimated from co 2 h 2 o inclusions are 100 285 mpa for the middle stage suggesting that gold mineralization mainly occurred at depths of 10 km fluid boiling and mixing caused rapid precipitation of sulfides and native au through boiling and inflow of meteoric water the ore forming fluid system evolved from co 2 rich to co 2 poor in composition and from metamorphic to meteoric as indicated by decreasing 18 o water values from early to late the carbon sulfur and lead isotope compositions suggest the hostrocks within the taihua supergroup to be a significant source of ore metals integrating the data obtained from the studies including regional geology ore geology and fluid inclusion and c h o s pb isotope geochemistry we conclude that the qiangma gold deposit was an orogenic type system formed in the tectonic transition from compression to extension during the jurassic early cretaceous continental collision between the north china and yangtze cratons

isotope systematics and fluid inclusion studies of the qiyugou breccia pipe hosted gold deposit qinling orogen henan province china implications for ore genesis abstract the qiyugou gold deposits henan province are hosted in breccia pipes within the xiong er terrane qinling orogen on the southern margin of the north china craton in these deposits three paragenetic assemblages have been recognized an early k feldspar epidote quartz pyrite a middle quartz polymetallic sulfide and a late quartz carbonate adularia in this paper we review and interpret fluid inclusion and stable and radiogenic isotopic data of host rocks and ores fluid inclusions in quartz and calcite include water rich co 2 rich and daughter crystal bearing the co 2 rich and daughter mineral bearing fluid inclusions are common in the early stage quartz and absent in the late stage quartz and calcite which only contain water rich fluid inclusions accordingly the early stage ore fluids are magmatic in origin and characterized by high temperature 350 c high salinity 30 wt nacl equiv and are co 2 rich fluid boiling in the middle ore stage resulted in co 2 release decreasing oxygen fugacity and rapid precipitation of ore materials the late stage fluids have low temperature low salinity are co 2 poor and lack daughter minerals these fluids are probably sourced from meteoric water h o c isotope systematics confirm that the ore fluid system evolved from magmatic to meteoric the carbon and lead isotope ratios indicate that the meso neoproterozoic sequence south of the xiong er terrane was the likely source of the ore forming materials the qiyugou breccia pipes and their associated gold ores were emplaced during an extensional regime following a transition from collision to rifting tectonics linked to collision and subduction of the yangtze plate beneath the north china craton geochronological studies show that mesozoic magmatism in the region occurred between the triassic and cretaceous the triassic to jurassic magmas were mostly derived from partial melting of ancient crust whereas the cretaceous magmas show juvenile signatures indicating mantle derived components processes of fragmentation of lithospheric roots crustal and lithospheric thinning extension and rifting were probably associated with the subducting pacific izanagi plate these crust mantle geodynamic processes were responsible for the development of anorogenic granitic melts that interacted with the meso neoproterozoic volatile rich sedimentary successions producing a flow of gas rich hydrothermal fluids that resulted in the emplacement of the qiyugou auriferous breccia pipes we conclude that the qiyugou gold deposits are intrusion related explosive breccia pipe type that evolved from hypothermal through mesothermal to epithermal

a comparison of historical and paleoseismicity in a newly formed fault zone and a mature fault zone north canterbury new zealand the timing of large holocene prehistoric earthquakes is determined by dated surface ruptures and landslides at the edge of the australia pacific plate boundary zone in north canterbury new zealand collectively these data indicate two large m 7 earthquakes during the last circa 2500 years within a newly formed zone of hybrid strike slip and thrust faulting herein described as the porter s pass to amberley fault zone ppafz two earlier events during the holocene are also recognized but the data prior to 2500 years are presumed to be incomplete a return period of 1300 2000 years between large earthquakes in the ppafz is consistent with a late holocene slip rate of 3 4 mm yr if each displacement is in the range 4 8 m historical seismicity in the ppafz is characterized by frequent small and moderate magnitude earthquakes and a seismicity rate that is identical to a region surrounding the structurally mature hope fault of the marlborough fault system farther north this is despite an order of magnitude difference in slip rate between the respective fault zones and considerable differences in the recurrence rate of large earthquakes the magnitude frequency distribution in the hope fault region is in accord with the characteristic earthquake model whereas the rate of large earthquakes in the ppafz is approximated but over predicted by the gutenberg richter model the comparison of these two fault zones demonstrates the importance of the structural maturity of the fault zone in relation to seismicity rates inferred from recent historical and paleoseismic data

orogenic disseminated gold in phanerozoic fold belts examples from victoria australia and elsewhere abstract orogenic gold mineralisation in the lachlan orogen of southeastern australia and in other phanerozoic fold belts has generally been assumed to be confined entirely to quartz veins however an improved understanding of the tectonic structural and geochronological framework in which these occurrences form and recent advances towards the extent of wallrock alteration around these veins cast doubt on the validity of this deeply entrenched lode gold paradigm ore grade orogenic disseminated gold mineralisation has been recognised in a number of fold belts that are known to host significant orogenic lode gold deposits lachlan orogen australia buller terrane and otago schist new zealand meguma terrane canada tien shan mountains in uzbekistan and kyrgyzstan yana kolyma province baikal verhoyansk and allakh yun fold belts in north central mongolia and far east russia disseminated mineralisation in these collisional belts is invariably hosted by pervasively altered greenschist to subgreenschist facies rocks these occurrences also share a number of characteristics with some carlin type gold deposits in the great basin of western north america e g getchell regarding structural relationships fluid composition mineral paragenesis and a common association of carbonaceous matter with mineralisation features of alteration physico chemical characteristics of the ore bearing fluids and strong structural control in all of the studied occurrences point to a close genetic association with lode gold mineralisation the two styles are considered to represent end members of a crustal continuum of orogenic gold emplacement in phanerozoic fold belts with disseminated mineralisation more likely to develop at shallower levels and within more permeable units during the waning stages of uplift and exhumation these conditions facilitate ground preparation via brittle fracturing and the development of intricate stockwork systems efficient gold segregation from bisulphide complexes is largely controlled by fluid mixing of an evolved metamorphic fluid with either more oxidised ascending fluids or meteoric fluids and accelerated by the presence of carbonaceous matter at the site of deposition

a focused look at the alpine fault new zealand seismicity focal mechanisms and stress observations the alpine fault is the pacific australian plate boundary in the south island of new zealand this study analyzes 195 earthquakes recorded during the 6 month duration of the southern alps passive seismic experiment sapse in 1995 1996 and two mr 5 0 earthquakes and aftershocks in 1997 which occurred close to the central part of the alpine fault precise earthquake locations are derived by simultaneous inversion for hypocenter parameters a one dimensional velocity model and station corrections together with focal mechanisms calculated using a first motion and amplitude ratio method these results provide a picture of the seismotectonics in the central south island over a 6 month period moment tensor inversions of three earthquakes provide an independent means of comparison to the focal mechanisms derived using the amplitude first motion method to validate our observations over time we compare the sapse seismicity with the seismicity recorded by the new zealand national seismic network nznsn and a local network at lake pukaki east of the southern alps 6 months versus 8 years our study indicates that the alpine fault releases elastic strain seismically from the surface down to 10 12 km depth between milford sound in the south and the hope fault in the north the seismicity rate of the alpine fault is low but comparable to locked sections of the san andreas fault with large earthquakes expected seismicity decreases north of bruce bay at the alpine fault and within a triangular region along the alpine fault located between the hope and porters pass fault zones we interpret this as the result of deformation distributed on the alpine fault and the hope and porters pass fault zones the base of the seismogenic zone is fairly uniform at 12 km 2km over large parts of the south island the high alps region has a shallower base of the seismogenic zone indicating localized elevated temperatures east of the alpine fault most of the study region deforms under a uniform stress field with a maximum principal horizontal shortening direction of 110o 120 o similar to geodetic observations and plate motions this confirms that the region is not undergoing strain partitioning the earthquake data show that the deformation away from the alpine fault is distributed on mainly nne trending thrust faults and strike slip transfer faults with a maximum seismogenic depth of 12km