Том 473, № 1 (2017)

In the Kurai fault zone, travertine forms a matrix cementing clastic material of colluvial and glacial deposits or rarely forming a stockwork in a system of fractures in Palaeozoic rocks. The regular change of composition of solutions in the process of travertine formation has resulted in change of stable Mg–calcite by Sr–aragonite. According to the carbon isotopic composition, the travertine has intermediate genesis between thermal and meteogene. The light oxygen isotopic composition of CaCO₃ indicates formational water input. The carbonates inherited Y, Sr, U, and Ni and in some areas, V, As, and Zn from the endogeneous water sources. Given that the Kurai zone travertine cements the Late Pleistocene–Holocene sediments and ¹⁴C dating of the carbonates gives a range of >40 000–3475 ± 35 years, the faults serving as routes of migration of the solutions forming the travertine should be considered as active structures.

In the central part of the European part of Russia in the southeastern part of the Kursk tectonic block, some deposits and occurrences of apatite genetically related to the alkaline–carbonatite complex have been revealed. The results of U–Pb analysis of titanite provided the first confident age estimate of silicate–carbonate (phoscorite) rocks in the Dubravin alkaline–ultramafic–carbonatite massif: they formed no later than 2080 ±13 Ma, which indicates their crystallization in the pre-Oskol time during the final stage of the Early Paleoproterozoic (post-Kursk time) stabilization phase of the Kursk block of Sarmatia (about 2.3–2.1 Ga).

This paper reports data on the Atelian horizon identified in the Caspian Sea bottom. Seismoacoustic profiling has made it possible to determine its area, position, and setting in the Upper Quaternary sequence and the relation to the host deposits. According to the drillhole core data, the Atelian horizon is composed of continental clay loam and sandy loam containing peatlike organic remains. They are depleted in biogenic residues containing rare freshwater mollusk species. The Atelian deposits were accumulated in lake reservoirs filling the depressions developed in the strata of the Upper Khazarian horizon. The radiocarbon age determined for the first time by humic acids has been used to estimate the Atelian deposition time in the range of 40 000–45 000 calibrated years BP.

Three groups of industrial uranium deposits that differ in the distribution of lanthanides in U oxides have been recognized. A dependence of the REE distribution type on the Yttrium content and Yttrium index YI = (La + Ce)/Y that controls the formation of REE phases capable of selective accumulation of lanthanides has been discovered. This indicates the important role of crystal–chemical fractionation in the distribution of lanthanides. Preferable accumulation of Sm–Gd by U oxides has been found to occur at relatively low contents of Y. In Proterozoic uranium deposits, the yttrium specialization of oxides predominates, while in most Phanerozoic deposits the lanthanum–cerium specialization is typical. These results extend the possibilities of using REEs in ores for purposes of study of the genesis of various uranium deposits.

As a result of LA ICP MS analysis of sulfides of the Semenov-2 hydrothermal field, it is established that covellite, which replaces Zn sulfides, is enriched in most trace elements. The Ga, Ni, and In contents in it do not vary, whereas Mn, Co, and Cd are lower than in sphalerite. The distribution of trace elements in covellite, which replaces Cu–Fe sulfides, is distinct: it is enriched in Cd, Sb, Pb, and Bi, whereas the contents of other elements are either lower or invariant. Covellite, which replaces Zn sulfides, is enriched in all trace elements relative to that replacing Cu–Fe sulfides. Enrichment of covellite in trace elements relative to primary sulfides was favored by oxidation of the hydrothermal fluid by seawater, which is similar to the processes of submarine oxidation of ancient massive sulfide deposits. Covellite is also a host to invisible gold and silver in ores of the Semenov-2 field along with toxic elements such as As, Se, Te, Tl, and Cd.

Native gold, platinum, nickel, and other ore minerals have been discovered in graphite-bearing rocks of the Liumao deposit (Heilongjiang province, China). The results obtained are similar to the previously published materials on the mineralogy of carbon-rich formations of the Tamga and Turgenevo deposits (Primorye, Russian Far East) located in the same region of graphitization in the Khankai terrane as the Chinese object. The defined similarities are most likely explained by participation of deep reduced fluids in the process of ore genesis.

Zircons were separated from syenites of the Avashla intrusion in the Kurgass anticline of the Bashkir megaanticlinorium in the Southern Urals. The obtained samples were dated using the U–Pb procedure by means of a SHRIMP II ion microprobe. The integrated mineralogical, geochemical, and isotope studies of zircons resulted in primary data on the origin and current conditions of zircons in syenites of the Avashla intrusion. The relics of early zircon generations (1320–1340 Ma) allowed us to specify the geological position of syenites along with the stratigraphic location of the enclosing sedimentary rocks. The time of the transformation (metamorphism) of the zircons at the Middle–Upper Riphean boundary is represented by a dating of 1097±20 Ma, which is of importance for specifying the boundary age and for revealing a geological event that started a new development stage of the stratoregion in the Upper Riphean.

New data on the composition of tagamites (impact melt rocks) of the Popigai atsrobleme (Siberia) are presented. The preliminary results support the following major conclusions: (1) the matrix of the studied tagamites is crystallized and is composed of identified minerals; (2) the degree of the matrix crystallization and the amount of inclusions in tagamites can vary significantly; (3) tagamites are identical to the intracrater gneisses of the Popigai astrobleme by the REE contents and are distinct from them by significantly lower SiO₂ and higher Al₂O₃, FeO, MgO, and CaO contents; (4) the Popigai tagamites and intracrater gneisses are enriched in Ni (on average) in comparison with gneisses of the Khapchan Group; and (5) the various (often sufficient) degrees of crystallization of tagamites indicate the duration of the cooling of the melt, when diamonds could possibly have been dissolved.

Multiproxy investigation of sediment core AF-0731 from the Mendeleev Rise revealed several epochs of high bioproductivity corresponding to climate amelioration and surface water mass warming in the Arctic. During these periods, sediments became enriched in carbonate microfossils as well as in coarsegrained ice- and iceberg-rafted debris (IRD) that precipitated from melting sea ice and icebergs. Variability in the δ¹⁸О composition of planktic foraminifers also reflects glacial-interglacial periodicity. Low δ¹⁸О values correspond to glacial epochs and, especially, glacial terminations with strong meltwater inputs. Increased δ¹⁸О values characterize interglacial epochs of sea-level rise and growing salinity due to enhanced water exchange with neighboring oceans. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio was measured in foraminifers from basal core layers, and their SIS-age was estimated at 670 + 50 ka. Sedimentation rates at AF-0731 core site on the Mendeleev Rise varied between 0.4 and 0.6 cm/kyr.

The ages of detrital zircons from sandstones and silty sandstones from conditionally Upper Proterozoic–Cambrian rocks have been obtained for the first time. These deposits are united in the Khingan Group and are one of the most ancient formations in the Lesser Khingan terrane in the eastern part of the Central Asian fold belt. These data along with relationships with granitoids imply that the ages of the Muranda and underlying Igincha Formations range within the Tonian–Ediacaran time span, while the age of the Kimkan unit is Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician. Given that the Muranda and Igincha Formations, on the one hand, and the Kimkan unit, on the other hand, are substantially different in age and structurally separated by granitoids intruded at the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary, we should accept that they cannot be regarded as a single sedimentary sequence.

A weak seismic event with body wave magnitude 2.1 was detected near the epicenter of an underground explosion conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on September 9, 2016. The event occurred approximately two days after the test. Using the method of waveform cross-correlation, two array stations of the International Monitoring System (IMS), USRK and KSRS, recorded the arrival of P_n waves. At the same time, this event was not recorded during the standard automatic processing at the International Data Center. The location and other characteristics of this weak event indicate that it is likely to have been an aftershock of the preceding explosion. Based on the successful automatic detection and construction of the event, we conducted an extended investigation, which consisted in searching for secondary seismic phases at the nearest stations that do not belong to the International Monitoring System. The final solution, which is based on waveform cross-correlation, includes stations MDJ (China) and SEHB (Republic of Korea), the aftershock epicenter is located at ~2 km northwest of the epicenter of the DPRK test.

The results of calculation of the seismic moment tensor (in the double-couple approximation) for the earthquake that occurred in the northeastern Taimyr Peninsula on June 9, 1990, from amplitude spectra of the surface waves, are presented. The obtained results are of interest for works related to construction of geodynamic models for the Taimyr region, for studies of the stress-strain state of the Earth’s crust, and for assessments of the seismic hazard of this territory.

We analyzed long-term satellite geodesic observations after the Simushir earthquakes of 2006–2007. Application of a key model of the structure of the island arc regions combined with a model of nonstationary convective system in the upper mantle allowed us to find a consistent explanation of the motion of the Earth’s surface and distinguish the segments of the island arc at different stages of the seismic cycle.

Horizons with seismogenic sediments are revealed in the bottom sediments of the lake basins in the southwestern Kola Peninsula. In the borehole cores, they are represented by material that sharply differs from the overlying and underlying sediments: fragments of gyttia, siltstone, wood, sand, and peat that are embedded in the sapropelic matrix and look like breccia. These sediments reflect a strong catastrophic event from the Holocene that occurred 6000–5400 ¹⁴C yr BP. The seismic events that happened in the middle Holocene in the northeastern Fennoscandian shield indicate a significant role of the tectonic component in the damping process of relaxation of the Earth’s crust in the unloading of the recent glacier cover.

The results of calculating the values of average annual transport of waters eastward of Greenland in 2007–2015 by the system of western boundary currents are discussed. It is shown that the values of the average annual transport of waters estimated by different methods for measuring the velocity of currents and the different calculation methods differ by 20%. The role of friction in the bottom jets of the northwestern deep water, which were discovered for the first time during long-term observations, is discussed. The considerable contribution of the shelf water cascading across the continental slope to the formation of the structure and transport of the East Greenland Current is established. The significant influence of vertical mixing on the physicochemical properties of the bottom layer waters is shown. The biological arguments of the contribution made by the Irminger current and the subsurface waters to the formation of the northwestern deep water are presented.