Cambrian-early Ordovician volcanism across the South Armorican and Occitan domains of the Variscan Belt in France:Continental break-up and rifting of the northern Gondwana margin

The Cambrian-lower Ordovician volcanic units of the South Armorican and Occitan domains are ana- lysed in a tectonostratigraphic survey of the French Variscan Belt. The South Armorican lavas consist of continental tholeiites in middle Camhrian-Furongian sequences related to continental break-up. A significant volcanic activity occurred in the Tremadocian, dominated by crustal melted rhyolitic lavas and initial rifting tholeiites. The Occitan lavas are distributed into five volcanic phases： （I） basal Cambrian rhyolites, （2） upper lower Cambrian Mg-rich tholeiites close to N-MORBs but crustal contaminated, （3） upper lower-middle Cambrian continental tholeiites, （4） Tremadocian rhyolites, and （5） upper lower Ordovician initial rift tholeiites. A rifting event linked to asthenosphere upwelling took place in the late early Cambrian but did not evolve. It renewed in the Tremadocian with abundant crustal melting due to underplating of mixed asthenospheric and lithospheric magmas. This main tectono-magmatic conti- nental rift is termed the ＂Tremadocian Tectonic Belt＂ underlined by a chain of rhyolitic volcanoes from Occitan and South Armorican domains to Central Iberia. It evolved with the setting of syn-rift coarse siliciclastic deposits overlain by post-rift deep water shales in a suite of sedimentary basins that fore- casted the South Armorican-Medio-European Ocean as a part of the Palaeotethys Ocean.

Features of Minerogenic Series Related to Continental VolcanicRocks in the Southeastern Coastal Area of China-A Case Study of the Daiyunshan-ShiniushanVolcanic Depression in Fujian

The Daiyunshan-Shiniushan volcanic depression in Fujian Province is situated in a volcanic belt of the southeast coastal area in China along the west Pacific Ocean. A new breakthrough has been made in the exploration of gold and silver ore deposits in recent years. The minerogenic series of the Daiyunshan-Shiniushan volcanic depression is discussed in this paper based on the analysis of major metallogenic types and factors. According to the study of enormous ore deposits and occurrences in the study area, two minerogenic series have been recognized: 1. Late Jurassic Au-Ag-Pb-Zn minerogenic series related to intermediate-acid, acid volcanic formations; 2. nonmetallic minerogenic series (pyrophyllite, alunite pearlite, andalusite, zeolite, corundum and so on) related to intermediate and acid volcanic formations. The division and study of the minerogenic series have revealed metallogenic and time-space distribution characteristics of the ore deposits in the volcanic belt of the southeast coastal area in China, which are of economic importance for metallogenic prognosis.

United theory of biological evolution:Disaster-forced evolution through Supernova,radioactive ash fall-outs,genome instability,and mass extinctions

We present the disaster-forced biological evolution model as a general framework that includes Darwinian ＂phylogenic gradualism＂, Eldredge-Gould＇s ＂punctuated equilibrium＂, mass extinctions, and allopatric, parapatric, and sympatric speciation. It describes how reproductive isolation of organisms is established through global disasters due to supernova encounters and local disasters due to radioactive volcanic ash fall-outs by continental alkaline volcanism. Our new evolution model uniquely highlights three major factors of disaster-forced speciation： enhanced mutation rate by higher natural radiation level, smaller population size, and shrunken habitat size （i.e., isolation among the individual pop- ulations）. We developed a mathematical model describing speciation of a half-isolated group from a parental group, taking into account the population size （Ne）, immigration rate （m）, and mutation rate （μ）. The model gives a quantitative estimate of the speciation, which is consistent with the observations of speciation speed. For example, the speciation takes at least 105 generations, if mutation rate is less than 10 3 per generation per individual. This result is consistent with the previous studies, in which μ is assumed to be 10 3-10-5. On the other hand, the speciation is much faster （less than l0S generations） for the case that μ is as large as 0.1 in parapatric conditions （m 〈 μ）. Even a sympatric （m ~ 1 ） speciatiou can occur within 103 generations, if mutation rate is very high （μ- 1 mutation per individual per generation）, and if Ne 〈 20-30. Such a high mutation rate is possible during global disasters due to supernova encounters and local disasters due to radioactive ash fall-outs. They raise natural radiation level by a factor of 100-1000. Such rapid speciation events can also contribute to macro-evolution during mass extinction events, such as observed during the Cambrian explosion of biodiversity. A similar rapid speciation （though in a much smaller scale） also has been undergoing in cichlid fishes and great African apes in the last several tens of thousand years in the current African rift valley, including the origin of humankind due to the radioactive ash fall-outs bv continental alkaline volcanism.

Tectonic Related Lithium Deposits Another Major Region Found North East Tanzania—A New Area with Close Association to the Dominant Areas: The Fourth of Four

The current “mega” interest in Lithium resources was spurred by the development of Lithium-Ion batteries to aid in restructuring the world’s reliance on carbon spewing power petroleum reserves. Current resources of lithium recovery have fallen into two main categories—Pegmatite, found worldwide associated with felsic intrusions and Brine Related, and now with development in the Southwest United States of America (SWUS), a third category— Tertiary Volcanic clays, are specifically associated with Tertiary volcanics and major Tectonic Plate interactions. “Active” Plate tectonics is important as both the SWUS, the Lithium Triangle of South America (LTSA) and the Tibetan Plateau of China (TPC) producing tertiary (Miocene) volcanism that is important to the development of Lithium resources. The Tanzanian part of the East Africa Rift System (EARS) has features of both the SWUS, tertiary volcanic related “playas” and Continental rifting, the LTSA, tertiary volcanic related “Brines” and a major Tectonic plate event (subduction of an Oceanic Plate beneath the Continental South American Plate) and the TPC, tertiary volcanics (?) and major tectonic plate event (subduction of the Indian Continental Plate under the Eurasian Continental Plate). As well as the association of peralkaline and metaluminous felsic volcanics with Lithium playas of the SWUS and the EARS (Tanzania) “playas”. These similarities led to an analysis of a volcanic rock in Northeast Tanzania. When it returned 1.76% Lithium, a one-kilometer spaced soil sampling program returned, in consecutive samples over 0.20% Lithium (several samples over 1.0% lithium and a high of 2.24% lithium). It is proposed that these four regions with very similar past and present geologic characteristics, occur nowhere else in the world. That three of them have produced Lithium operations and two of them have identified resources of Lithium clay and “highly” anomalous Lithium clays should be regarded as more than “coincidental”.

Ages, Trace Elements and Hf-Isotopic Compositions of Zircons from Claystones around the Permian-Triassic Boundary in the Zunyi Section, South China: Implications for Nature and Tectonic Setting of the Volcanism

A growing body of evidence shows that volcanism near the Permian-Triassic boundary（PTB） may be crucial in triggering the Permian–Triassic（P–Tr） mass extinction. Thus, the ash beds near the PTB in South China may carry information on this event. Three volcanic ash layers, altered to clay, outcropped in the PTB beds in Zunyi Section, Guizhou Province, Southwest China. The U-Pb ages, trace elements, and Hf-isotope compositions of zircon grains from these three ash beds were analyzed using LA-ICPMS and LA-MC-ICPMS. The zircons are mainly magmatic in origin（241-279 Ma） except for two inherited/xenocrystic zircons（939 and 2 325 Ma）. The ages of these magmatic zircons indicate three episodes of magmatism which occurred around the MiddleLate Permian boundary（-261.5 Ma, MLPB）, the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary（-254.5 Ma, WCB）, and the PTB（-250.5 Ma）, respectively. The first two episodes of magmatism near the MLPB and WCB may be attributed to magmatic inheritance or re-deposition. All magmatic zircons share similar trace-element and Hf-isotope compositions. They have Y, Hf, Th and U contents and Nb/Ta ratios are typical of zircons from silicic calc-alkaline magmas. These zircons also exhibit enriched Hf-isotope compositions with _（εHf）（t） values of-11.4 to ＋0.2, which suggests that the three magmatic episodes involved melting of the continental crust. The more enriched Hf-isotope composition （_（εHf）（t）=-11.4--4.8） of Bed ZY13（-250.5 Ma） implies more input of ancient crustal material in the magma. Integration of the Hf-isotope and trace-element compositions of magmatic zircons suggest that these three episodes of magmatism may take place along the convergent continent margin in or near southwestern South China as a result of the closure of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean.

Subaquatic volcanic eruptions in continental facies and their influence on high quality source rocks shown by the volcanic rocks of a faulted depression in Northeast China

This paper reports the analysis on cores and rock slices, data on seismic and logging activities, characteristics of core samples, and the paleogeographic background of the Yingcheng Formation of the Xujiaweizi faulted depression in the Songliao Basin. The results show that some of the volcanic rocks were formed during subaquatic eruptions. These subaqueous volcanic rocks are further characterized by the interbedded black mudstone and tuffite, the presence of double-layer perlite enclosing aphyric or sparsely phyric rhyolite, the presence of a bentonite layer, and the coefficient of oxidation （Fe203/FeO）. The types of rocks are volcanic breccia, lava breccias, perlite, rhyolite, tuff and sedimentary tuff. The subaquatic eruptions are distributed mainly in Wangjiatun, Shengping, Xuxi, Xuzhong, and Xudong. The XS-I area is the most typical. The organic abundance of over- burden mud rocks within the volcanic rocks of the Yingcheng Formation indicates that these rocks represent high-quality source rocks. The analysis also shows that continental subaquatic volcanic eruptions provide a rich supply of minerals and en- ergies for the lake basin and increase the organic matter content in the water. Moreover, the water differentiation provides a good reducing environment for the conservation of organic matter, and is beneficial for the formation of high-quality source rocks. Finally, we propose a hypothesis to describe the mode of subaquatic eruptions and the formation of high-quality source rocks.