Various sources of 21Ne and 22Ne exist in surface rocks:cosmogenic,in situ nucleogenic from internal U and Th,trapped crustal nucleogenic and trapped atmospheric.This paper reports the first measurement,in China,of cosmogenic 21Ne and 22Ne in surface bedrocks.We developed a unique sample pre-treatment procedure that effectively removed inclusions inside quartz grains,and thus maximally reduced nucleogenic contributions of 21Ne and 22Ne.Step-heating experiments show that concen-trations of cosmogenic 21Ne and 22Ne in summit bedrock samples R9202 and R9203 from Grove Mountains,Antarctica,are(3.83±0.87)×108 and(5.22±0.51)×108 atoms/g,respectively.The corresponding minimum exposure ages are 2.2±0.5 and 3.0±0.3 Ma.This indicates that the ice sheet in East Antarctica was uncovered the crest of Mount Harding,a typical nunatak in Grove Mountains,since at least mid-Pliocene.
KONG Ping1,2,DING Lin2,LAI QingZhou2 & HUANG FeiXin3 1 Key Laboratory of the Earth’s Deep Interior,Institute of Geology and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029,China
Various sources of Ne and Ne exist in surface rocks:cosmogenic,in situ nucleogenic from internal II and Th,tra...
KONG Ping~(1,2*),DING Lin~2,LAI QingZhou~2 & HUANG FeiXin~3 1 Key Laboratory of the Earth’s Deep Interior,Institute of Geology and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029,China
The new field investigations along the Yarlung Zangbo ophiolites zone show that these series underwent low green-schist metamorphism and were then fractured and occurred as slabs in tectonic melanges,without regional tectonic polarity.No large shear zone in north-south direction has been identified between ophiolite bodies and flysch layers on both side and a conformable contact relationship can be observed locally between them.A great mass of tectonic mélange has been substantiated as submarine olistolith bodies.The Mesozoic sedimentary facies and its evolution in both north and south of the ophiolite zone are corresponding in time.The ophiolite zone has often been divided into parallel branches,separated by narrow flysch slats.There is also a similarity of the Paleozoic and the basement of the High Himalaya,Lhasa and Qiangtang Terranes,and they are distinctly different from those of the Indian continent.The geologic information does not warrant a postulate that the Himalaya and Tibet were once separated by a great ocean;it is therefore consistent with an alternative tectonic model by back-arc basin collapse with its juvenile narrow oceanic crust.The real plate tectonic suture,the Neotethys might be covered under the Miocene Siwalik molasse in the southern slope of the High Himalaya range.Based on the new model,the Neotethyan ocean floor was subducted beneath the Asia since the Late Triassic.The outer continental margin of Eurasia was split from the Lhasa Terrane so that a back-arc basin came into existence.Hemi-pelagic and deep sea sediments were deposited before the Late Cretaceous flysch sedimentation,with the linear juvenile oceanic crust when back-arc volcanism occurred in the Gandese region.The Yarlung Zangbo back-arc basin was eventually eliminated when the High Himalayas were sutured onto Eurasia.The ocean floor lightly underthrusted to north and south sides,sediments of the basin were deformed as fold-thrusting.The Neotethys was eliminated during the Tertiary when India collided with Himalaya arc from
The Liuqu Conglomerates consist of a suit of terrestrial molasse deposits formed in a foreland basin of the Himalaya-Tibet orogenic belt before the collision of India and Eurasia.These deposits record considerable geological information regarding the late tectonic evolution of the Neotethyan ocean.The palynological study of interlayers of mudstone and mud-sandstones indicates an Oligocene age.The palynological assemblage consists mainly of deciduous broad-leaved angiosperms,with some coniferous gymnosperms and evergreen broad-leaved angiosperms.The deposits reflect a broad-leaved deciduous forest or mixed with conifer-broad-leaved forest ecotypes,showing a warm-temperate or temperate zone climatic environment.This work provides significant new information about the tectonic evolution,paleogeography,and paleoenvironment of southern Tibet during the Cenozoic.
