Rock Assemblages and Formation Ages of the Baishuijiang Group in the Southwest Qinling Orogenic Belt, Northwest China

The Baishuijiang Group, located in the southwest Qinling orogenic belt, is divided into three belts according to the characteristic of the matrix and rock blocks based on the large scale geological mapping. The north belt and south belt are composed of abyssal mudstone and siltstone, and limestone, chert and basic and ultrabasic rock blocks. The middle belt consists of a few limestone blocks and turbidites, which were formed in the trench environment. At present, in the Baishuijiang Group, many fossils were found in matrix and rock blocks, the fossils contain the Cambrian small shell fossils(Xiao, 1992;Tao et al., 1992), Silurian chitinozoas, scolecodonts and spores, and Ordovician graptolites, and middle Devonian Coral and conodonts in limestone and chert blocks(Wang et al., 2011a), and Permian radiolarians in the matrix(Wang et al., 2007). The volcanic rock blocks have undergone different degree of metamorphism. Their geochemical characteristics indicate that the rocks are similar to oceanic island arc and seamount(Wang et al., 2009), and SHRIMP U-Pb dating yielded ages from Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic(Yan et al., 2007;Wang et al., 2009, 2011b). Therefore, comprehensive analysis of regional data, the Baishuijiang group is an accretionary complex which was consisted of matrix and blocks, and was finally formed during Permian-Triassic.

Dynamic Change and Simulation and Prediction of the Karst Rocky Desertification Sensitivity in Guizhou Province

Sensitivity evaluation of rocky desertification is to recognize the areas prone to be rock-deserted,so as to assess the sensitivity degree of rocky desertification to human activities.To perform the sensitivity evaluation of rocky desertification,we should be on the basis of the mechanism of rocky desertification formation for analyzing its regional distribution difference in the sensitivity and further for finding out the rocky desertification-susceptive areas and their possible degrees.Employing remote sensing and geological information system techniques,we regarded the 1∶ 50 000 topographic map and the TM image in 2000 of Guizhou Province,together with the hydrologic map,soil map,geologic map,rock formation map,administrative map and other geological information as data sources to generate the degree data of rocky desertification sensitivity of Guizhou Province in 1962 and 2000,based on which we determined the corresponding degree transfer matrix and adopted Markov model to simulate the dynamic change process of rocky desertification sensitivity and its future evolution trend.In various sensitivity types of rocky desertification in Guizhou Province,only the insensitive type showed a declined acreage,from the proportion of total land acreage of 61.35% in 1962 to 55.55% in 2000.Various sensitivity types inter-conversed,resultantly the acreage of mildly sensitive type increased most.The prediction results showed that the acreage of insensitive type of rocky desertification in Guizhou Province will assume a remarkable decline trend,of mildly sensitive type will present a remarkably increasing trend and of slightly sensitive type basically will maintain a stable level in the future tens of years.Acreages of both highly sensitive and extremely sensitive type of rocky desertification expanded to some extent,suggesting that the rocky desertification risk in Guizhou Province is in an aggravating process.

Petroleum systems of the Taoudeni Basin,West Africa

The Taoudeni Basin is a typical steady intracratonic basin. Based on the distribution of effective source rocks in the Taoudeni Basin, combined with the structure characteristics of the basin and the distribution characteristics of reservoir beds, two petroleum systems are recognized in the basin： the infra-Cambrian petroleum system and the Silurian petroleum system. Structural uplift and timing of petroleum generation controlled the timing of petroleum charging and preservation of hydrocarbon accumulations. Maturity, evolution history, and distribution of effective source rocks controlled hydrocarbon richness. The geological key factors and geological processes controlled the type of hydrocarbon accumulations.

Latest advances in discontinuous deformation analysis method

Discontinuous deformation analysis （DDA） method, proposed firstly by Shi [1] in 1988, is a novel numerical approach to simulate the discontinuous deformation behaviors of blocky rock structures. In DDA, the domain of interest is represented as an assemblage of discrete blocks and the joints are treated as interfaces between blocks. The governing equations of DDA are derived from Newton’s Second Law of Motion and the Principle of Minimum Potential Energy.