Fractal Principle of Mineral Deposit Size Forecasting and Its Implication for Gold Resource Potential Evaluation in China

Mineralization distributions are very heterogeneous in nature. As large orsuperlarge mineral deposits are quite rare whether in time or in space, it is difficult to detectall the largest mineral deposits in a region in a limited period of time owing to the restriction oftechnology and exploration degrees-this is called 'not all discovered'. However, all discoveredlarge, especially superlarge, mineral deposits generally have a complete census in the geologicalliteratures. On the other hand, not all discovered small mineral deposits are recorded in thegeological literatures because for economic reasons people have not much interest in them-this iscalled 'not all recorded'. This practice often results in the observation truncations, that is, thedata points near the two ends in an observable population, which is obtained by fitting a power lawsize-frequency distribution to discovered mineral deposits in a given region, show concave-downdeparture from the correlation line fitted. The authors suggest that the size and number ofundiscovered deposits may be forecast by fitting a fractal size distribution to discovered mineraldeposit sizes between the upper and lower truncation observations and then extrapolating thescale-independent area to deposit sizes larger than the upper truncation limit. Based on thestatistical results obtained by the fractal size-frequency distributions of 394 discovered golddeposits with sizes greater than 2 t Au in China and 83 known gold deposits with sizes over 0.3 t Auin the Jiaodong area of China, the authors forecast according to the present commercial standardsfor gold ores that the total resources of undiscovered gold deposits ranging in tonnage from 50 to2000 t Au are more than 4500 tin China, and that in the Jiaodong area of China the total resourcesof potential gold deposits with sizes in the range of 30 to 650 t Au are about 700 t.

Typhoon events recorded in coastal lagoon deposits,southeastern Hainan Island

Coastal lagoon deposits provide evidence for the magnitude and frequency of past tropical cyclones prior to instrumental records and historical documentation.In the present study,we attempt to analyze the sedimentary records containing typhoon information for the northern South China Sea region.For this purpose,sediment cores were collected from two coastal lagoons in the southeastern Hainan Island,and were analyzed in laboratory to derive the data sets about grain size,organic and inorganic carbon contents,and deposition rates.The grain size and organic-inorganic carbon data were used to formulate the proxies of typhoon events.The deposition rates,as calculated using the CRS 210 Pb method,are around 0.5 mm/a for both lagoons,on the basis of which an age model is established.Within the cores,sedimentary layers associated with 35 typhoon events have been identified.On such a basis,a 350 year history of local typhoon activities is reconstructed by incorporating the 210 Pb dating results,typhoon-induced sedimentation patterns and the historical documents.A comparison of the frequency of typhoon occurrence with the regional climate records indicates that the observed changes in tropical cyclone activity patterns,as revealed by the lagoon sedimentary records,may be related to El Ni？o,Pacific Decadal Oscillation（PDO）,North Atlantic Oscillation（NAO）,sunspot,and other potential climate drivers that affect the tropical cyclone variability.This study demonstrates that the sedimentary record of storms can be analyzed in combination with historical documents,to provide meaningful information on past storm activities and their long-term variability.

Characteristics and dynamics of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche triggered by a paleo-earthquake in the Northern Qinling Mountains

Analyzing large prehistoric rock avalanches provides significant data for evaluating the disaster posed by these relatively infrequent but destructive geological events. This paper attempts to study the characteristics and dynamics of the Ganqiuchi granitic rock avalanche, in the middle of the northern margin of Qinling Mountains, 30 km to the south of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China. In plane view, this rock avalanche is characterized by source area, accumulation area and dammed lake area. Based on previous studies, historical records and regional geological data, the major trigger of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche is considered to be a strong paleo-earthquake with tremendous energy. The in situ deposit block size distributions of the intact rock mass and the debris deposits are presented and analyzed by using a simple model for estimating the number of fragmentation cycles that the blocks underwent. The results show that the primary controlling factor of the fragmentation process is the pre-existing fractures, and there is a relationship between the potential energy and the fragmentation energy: the latter is approximately 20% of the former. Based on the dynamic discrete element technique, the study proposes a four-stage model for the dynamic course of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche:(1) failing;(2) highspeed sliding;(3) collision with obstacles;(4) decelerated sliding, which has implication for hazard assessment of the potential rock avalanches in China and other countries with similar geological setting.

Size and elemental composition of dry-deposited particles during a severe dust storm at a coastal site of Eastern China

Dry-deposited particles were collected during the passage of an extremely strong dust storm in March, 2010 at a coastal site in Qingdao（36.15°N, 120.49°E）, a city located in Eastern China. The size, morphology, and elemental composition of the particles were quantified with a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray instrument（SEM–EDX）. The particles appeared in various shapes, and their size mainly varied from 0.4to 10 μm, with the mean diameters of 0.5, 1.5, and 1.0 μm before, during, and after the dust storm, respectively. The critical size of the mineral particles settling on the surface in the current case was about 0.3–0.4 μm before the dust storm and about 0.5–0.7 μm during the dust storm. Particles that appeared in high concentration but were smaller than the critical size deposited onto the surface at a small number flux. The elements Al, Si and Mg were frequently detected in all samples, indicating the dominance of mineral particles. The frequency of Al in particles collected before the dust storm was significantly lower than for those collected during and after the dust storm. The frequencies of Cl and Fe did not show obvious changes, while those of S, K and Ca decreased after the dust arrival. These results indicate that the dust particles deposited onto the surface were less influenced by anthropogenic pollutants in terms of particle number.