Home – Home – Jornals – Russian Geology and Geophysics 2023 number 9

The placer deposits of the Miass valley in the Southern Urals have been known since the beginning of the 19th century. Over two centuries of mining more than 120 tons of gold have been extracted from alluvial and alluvial-deluvial placers. Despite the industrial significance of this territory, native gold of alluvial deposits is practically unstudied and there is no data on the mineral composition of concentrates. Native gold and heavy fraction minerals from seven placers of the Miass placer zone of deluvial-alluvial and alluvial types were researched. The study of the typomorphic features of native gold and distribution of heavy fraction minerals in loose deposits makes it possible to determine the genetic types of primary sources of placer formation. Chrome-spinel and ilmenite prevail in the concentrates, magnetite, epidote, rutile, titanite, clinopyroxene, hematite, zircon, garnets, and monazite are less common. Chromespinelides of various placers are represented by chromite and subferrichromite, they are characterized by a high average content of Cr₂O₃ (50.9 wt.%). Chromespinelide chemical composition features show evidence of its penetration into placer sediments from rocks of the ophiolitic association. The composition and morphological features of phosphates of rare earth elements (monazite and xenotime) indicate their metamorphogenic nature and penetration into placers from the Riphean strata. Native gold is characterized by a low degree of roundness. Mineral inclusions in native gold are represented by sulfides, arsenides, bismuthides, cuprous gold, platinoids. Composition of native gold from the Miass River valley placers varies over a wide range. The main admixtures are silver (4.5-23.4 wt.%) and mercury (up to 5.14 wt.%), copper (up to 2.03 wt.%) was noted in several grains. The EBSD study of native gold internal structure showed predominance of primary crystallization structures, a low degree of deformation and growth of gold-rich rims with a fine-grained mosaic structure. Formation of gold-rich rims in gold grains in placers is explained by recrystallization of the most deformed parts of gold during transportation. Placers occurred due to the destruction of primary sources located in the upper reaches of streams or near them, which is confirmed by a low degree of grains’ roundness. The composition of native gold in combination with a set of micro-inclusions indicate the gold-sulfide-quartz type of mineralization of most primary sources.

We have studied the trace element composition of apatite from several varieties of carbonatites and associated apatite ores of the Vuoriyarvi alkaline-ultrabasic carbonatite complex (Kola region, northwestern Russia), which hosts several commercial deposits of apatite-magnetite and pyrochlore ores and large-scale unexplored rare-earth mineral occurrences. The composition of apatite was analyzed by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (hereafter, TXRF). Verification of the obtained results was carried out by ICP-MS analysis of weighed portions of apatite monomineral samples. It is shown that during the evolution of the Vuoriyarvi carbonatites and associated apatite-magnetite ores, the contents of Sr and rare-earth elements (REE) and the degree of REE fractionation in apatite synchronously increased. The obtained TXRF data on the composition of apatite in the carbonatite complex demonstrate the efficiency of TXRF and its high potential in both applied and fundamental research concerned with apatite of various geologic objects.

Cores of Holocene bottom sediment collected in the East Siberian Sea revealed layers with mixed textures and layers with breaks in sedimentation corresponding to the two sea levels defined as modern (upper) and Early Holocene (lower). The layers are characterized by distinctly chaotic variability in textural pattern (mottled appearance, multidirectional banding), colorimetric and geochemical parameters (sawtooth-like distribution curves). Such character of changes is associated with the physical action of dragging keels of ice/icebergs exerted on the seafloor and is referred to as ice gauging (scouring). Its analysis can be used for identification of ice scour-affected layers in other sediment cores collected in this region, and for the purpose of creating a representative database, predicting their occurrence and developing adequate measures to minimize the damaging impact from drifting sea ice and icebergs on the seafloor within the bounds of the Arctic shelf.

This paper describes a set of studies performed at a thermal manifestation (Lake Utinaya Banya) on the Iturup Island (Kuril Islands). These studies include bathymetric survey of the lake basin, geometric leveling across the lake, pitting, sampling of thermal waters from the lake and springs, hydrochemical research, and isotopic analysis of oxygen and hydrogen in the lake water. It is suggested by the shape of the lake basin (close to lenticular with a significant concentric depression), the underwater gas-hydrothermal vents, the bank along the perimeter of the lake basin, and the presence of several layers of clastic deposits at the top of the rampart that the lake was formed by a hydrothermal eruption. The lake temperature has remained constant over the years and ranges on average from 25 to 15 °C, depending on the season. The water of Lake Utinaya Banya is represented by acidic, sulfate calcium, and low-mineralized waters.

Shoulder beds may have a significant effect on the resistivity log responses. This problem is especially acute in studies of complex strata composed of thin beds with contrasting properties. Different approaches to taking account of the shoulder-bed effect on logging signals are known, such as correction charts, deconvolution operations, and using advanced algorithms of numerical data inversion, which allow one to consider the vertical inhomogeneity of the section. The best result is achieved using the inversion toolkit, but the high labor- and resource-intensiveness of the approach limits its widespread use. The deconvolution approach does not have these disadvantages, but it does not take into account the influence of radial changes in the medium properties on the shapes of measured signals.The possibility of using artificial neural networks (ANN) to increase the vertical resolution of the measured logging data is explored. We assume the existence of a deconvolution-like transformation in which change in the medium properties in the radial direction is also considered. In this case, we can find its approximation using a neural network. The approach is demonstrated by creating a transformation algorithm for the high-frequency electromagnetic logging (VIKIZ) sounding tool, which is widely used in the CIS countries for petroleum exploration. The developed algorithm has been tested on the VIKIZ logs from the Fedorovskoe oilfield (Latitudinal Ob’ region).

The paper presents new data on the chemical and mineral compositions of ultramafic rocks and various gabbro of the Birkhin massif in the Ol’khon region. Porphyric phenocrysts and zoned grains of clinopyroxene have been first found and studied in gabbronorite, which made it possible to reconstruct the entire melt crystallization trend from ultramafic to gabbro parageneses. Similar clinopyroxene trends have been established for clinopyroxenites and subvolcanic ankaramites, whose bodies and dikes have been recently discovered within the massif and in its environment. The total petrological data show that the magnesian high-Ca ankaramite melt corresponds in composition to the assumed primary melt for the Birkhin massif.

The tectonothermal evolution of Transbaikalia is reconstructed using U/Pb, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, and apatite fission track thermochronology of samples from the Late Paleozoic Angara-Vitim granitoid batholith (AVB). Successive closure of the zircon and amphibole isotope systems provides evidence that the AVB rocks cooled down rapidly soon after crystallization and 4-7 km of rocks were denuded subsequently during an extensive late Paleozoic orogeny in southern Siberia. The isotopic system of feldspar closed in the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (170-140 Ma) after a period of tectonic stability and slow closure of the biotite isotopic system in the early Permian-Middle Jurassic (295-170 Ma). The 170-140 Ma span was the time when the Mongol-Okhotsk orogen began its evolution, and the orogeny caused denudation of ~3 km of rocks. Denudation was slow in the Paleogene-Miocene (60-5 Ma) but accelerated over the past 5 million years (a ~2-3 km thick layer) during rapid cooling of rocks and activity under a far-field effect of the India-Eurasia collision.

We present the results of comprehensive studies of Holocene bottom sediments from the shallow hypersaline (mineralization up to 282 g/L) Lake Bolshoi Bagan, located in the East Baraba lowland (south of Western Siberia). The research methods include X-ray diffractometry (XRD), IR spectroscopy, laser granulometry, scanning electron microscopy, elemental analysis of sediments and pore water, radiocarbon (¹⁴C AMS) dating. It has been found that during the Holocene an intensive authigenic mineral formation took place in the lake basin; gypsum, halite and carbonates of calcite-dolomite series dominate among the newly formed mineral phases. Mg-calcites with different Mg contents, excess-Ca dolomites, aragonite and occasionally Mg-siderite have been found in the assemblage of carbonate minerals by mathematical modeling of complex XRD patterns. Mineralogical and crystallochemical studies, supplemented by the results of geochemical analyses, allowed us to identify four stages of the evolution of Lake Bolshoi Bagan in the Holocene, due to regional climate variations. The boundaries of the stages in general correspond to the boundaries of the climatostratigraphic phases by the Blytt-Sernander system: Stage I (the end of the Boreal) - the lake formation, humid climate; Stage II (Atlantic) - climate aridization, shallowing of the lake; Stage III (Subboreal) - unstable climate, frequent change of conditions; Stage IV (Subatlantic) - moderately cool and dry climate.

The continuous growth of geomagnetic observations requires adequate methods for their processing and analysis. On the other hand, many studies in the field of geomagnetism require accurate and reliable measurements from both ground and space. Mathematical methods of geoinformatics can provide a solution to these problems. The article describes the progress made in the field of intellectual analysis of geomagnetic data continuously recorded by magnetic observatories and low-orbit satellites, demonstrates the results in the study of rapid variations of the Earth’s core magnetic field associated with the processes in the Earth’s deep interior, and presents the investigation of near-Earth electromagnetic dynamics. The applied value of the obtained results is also shown.

The Angara regional fault which is transversal to the Baikal basin totals about 150 km in length and ranks as a major strike-slip fault with the normal component in the seismically active rift zone. Given that its vicinities represent an area with high population density, the emphasis needs to be placed primarily on the study of its structural features. At this, the Angara fault has been poorly studied by geophysical methods. Results of the specialized mapping carried out in the 1990s revealed the block structure of the Angara fault zone, however without a reliable identification of the fault plane, which leaves its position still to be debatable. To establish the Angara fault plane and studying its deep structure, the integration of such geophysical methods as magnetotelluric (MT) sounding, radon emanation and fieldwalking magnetic surveys was required. Their application in the study of the deep structure of the southern parts of the Angara fault allowed revealing anomalies in all of the measured fields, accordingly. The anomaly-forming object, which the authors associate with the deep penetrated Angara fault plane, was expressed in the most distinct way by the magnetotelluric data (as a high-resistivity region (ER = 8500 Ohm·m) relative to the host rock) and radon emanation survey (radon volumetric activity index RAI ≥ 20). The fact that the magnetic field received only minor distortions from the object may indicate either moderate magnetic characteristics of the latter or a significant occurrence depth. The identified anomaly-forming object localized within the crystalline basement tends to be more sharply expressed in the left bank of the Irkutsk Reservoir, while in the upper part of the cross-section it is overprinted by rocks of the sedimentary cover.