Nature of zircon clastics in the Riphean and Vendian sandstones of the Southern Urals

New age dates of detrital zircons of terrigenous rocks augmented the possibilities of interpretation of their provenance. Unfortunately this interpretation is restricted by a formal comparison of age-and-composition characteristics of detrital crystals with any very distant model objects. The paper deals with a situation when the role of a source of a detritus is claimed by local objects. When comparing the age parameters of primary and detrital crystals of zircons, the data on Riphean volcanics and ancient metamorphics of the Taratash complex of the Southern Urals were used. Specifying the ideas on the nature of the zircon clastics (detritus) and its relationships with primary zircons of sources, a role of processes of mechanical abrasion is pointed out, leading to a clearing of heterogenous primary grains of defect crystals, which results in an accumulation of crystals of more homogenous appearance. The analysis of SHRIMP and TIMS-dates of zircons and U and Th concentrations in them, and also a comparison of histograms of primary zircons from Riphean volcanics and rocks of the Taratash complex on one hand and the detrital zircons from the Vendian and Riphean sandstones of the Southern Urals on the other, have shown that the age variations of both are rather comparable. It means that the age characteristics of primary zircons from the Riphean volcanics and rocks of the Taratash complex as sources of zircon clastics for the Riphean and Vendian sandstones are regulated by processes of resedimentation, and a detrital fraction of zircons is formed at the expense of local objects. The participation of very distant sources is not excluded, but in our case it is not detected

Quantum vortex fluctuations in cuprate superconductors

We study the effects of quantum vortex fluctuations in two-dimensional superconductors using a dual theory of vortices, and investigate the relevance to underdoped cuprates where the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) is possibly driven by quantum vortex proliferation. We find that a broad enough phase fluctuation regime may exist for experimental observation of the quantum vortex fluctuations near SIT in underdoped cuprates. We propose that this scenario can be tested via pair-tunneling experiments which measure the characteristic resonances in the zero-temperature pair-field susceptibility in the vortex-proliferated insulating phase.Comment: RevTex 5 pages, 2 eps figures; expanded; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Unstable Asia: active deformation of Siberia revealed by drainage shifts

Regional incision and lateral shifts of rivers in the West Siberian Basin and surrounding areas show the action of long wavelength surface tilting, directed away from the Urals and Central Asian mountains and towards the Siberian Craton. In the north of the basin, surface uplift of individual folds is recorded by local lateral drainage migration. Lateral slopes of river valleys vary in gradient from 0.001 to 0.0001, generally decreasing with increasing river discharge. As a result of this surface deformation significant drainage shifts are taking place in three of the longest and highest discharge river systems on Earth: the Yenisei, Ob' and Irtysh. The deformation is most plausibly caused by subtle faulting at depth, below the thick basin fill of Mesozoic and Lower Cenozoic sediments. Active deformation of western Siberia appears to represent a previously unrecognised, far-field effect of the India–Eurasia collision, up to ∼1500 km north of the limit of major seismicity and mountain building. It adds ∼2.5 × 106 km2 to the region deformed by the collision, which is an area greater than the Himalayas and Tibet combined. It is also an analogue for the formation of low-angle unconformities in terrestrial sedimentary basins on the periphery of other orogenic belts