Volcanogenic Deposits of Non-ferrous Metals in the Lesser Caucasus and Eastern Pontides

The paper presents brief characteristics of geological environments of ore deposit occurrences in Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. They can be attributed to Kuroko-type deposits, being distinguished by the character of ore accumulation. To the west, in Turkey, there are epigenetic and hydrothermal-sedimentary copper-zinc deposits that were formed in deep restricted basinal settings. An example of the latter is the Chayeli deposit.To the east, in the Caucasus, we have predominantly only epigenetic deposits. Besides, in the Bolnisi mining district (Georgia) there is the Madneuli deposit which represents an example of polyformational deposit. Here, within the restricted territory, have been concentrated:barite, barite-polymetallic, gold-bearing secondary quartzite, large-scale stockworks of copper ores. Judged by the 87Sr/86Sr ratios, some volcanites which are spatially associated with ores, might have been products of the “differentiation” of undepleted mantle, or other magmas that were generated in the lower part of the earth crust.In the Alaverdi ore district in Armenia, there are Jurassic volcanodepressions that host copper, copper-zinc and barite-sulfide ores. All the deposits of the Alaverdi district, porphyry copper including, contain economic reserves of ores.On the basis of available literature material and our own data, there has been created a mental-logical geological-genetic model of volcanogenic deposits.

The distribution of Sphenobaiera biloba Prynada in the Cretaceous of Northeastern Asia

A revision of Sphenobaiera biloba Prynada from Northeastern Asia is based on restudy of the type material from the Zyryanka River Basin (Prynada’s collection), as well as additional specimens from the type locality (Samylina’s collection) and collections from the Ul’ya and Anadyr rivers. A new extended diagnosis of S. biloba based on the leaf morphology and epidermal structure is proposed. Geographic and stratigraphic distribution of this species in Northern Asia is discussed. S. bilobais known in the Aptian of Eastern Siberia (Lena River Basin) and from the early-middle Albian to Coniacian of northeastern Russia. In the Late Cretaceous this species was considered as relict and related with volcanogenic deposits of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanic belt.

Ginkgophytes of the Ul’ya flora (the Ul’ya depresiion, the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt)

The Ul’ya flora comes from the Coniacian volcanogenic deposits of the Amka Formation (the Ul'ya depression, southern part of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt). Ginkgoaleans are diverse in this flora and represented by three genera: Ginkgo, Sphenobaiera and Baiera. All specimens have no cuticle and were assigned to morphotaxa. Genus Ginkgo includes two species: G. ex gr. adiantoides (Ung.) Heer with entire leaves and G. ex gr. sibirica Heer with dissected leaves. Genus Sphenobaiera also consists of two species: S. ex gr. longifolia (Pom.) Florin with 4–8 leaf lobes and S. ex gr. biloba Prynada with two leaf lobes. Genus Baiera is represented by new species B. lebedevii Golovn., sp. nov.Leaves of this species are 25–30 cm long and 13–16 cm wide, narrowly wedge-shaped with flat slender petiole, dichotomously dissected 4–5 times into linear segments 3–6 mm wide with 6–12 veins. The length of ultimate segments is equal to about a half of leaf length. Leaves attached spirally to ovoid short shoots about 2 cm long. Among the Late Cretaceous floras similar diversity of ginkgoaleans was recorded only in the Turonian-Coniacian Arman flora from middle part of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt (Herman et al., 2016). Four species of ginkgoaleans from the Ul’ya flora (except G. ex gr. adiantoides) are considered as the Early Cretaceous relicts.

Late Cretaceous Kholokhovchan floral assemblage of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt (North-Eastern Asia)

Results of comprehensive study of the Kholokhovchan floral assemblage collection is summarized. These plant fossils were collected in 1978 by E. L. Lebedev from volcanogenic deposits in Penzhina and Oklan rivers interfluve, North-Eastern Russia. This assemblage was previously known as a list of Lebedev’s preliminary identifi cations only. He had suggested that the Kholokhovchan assemblage is correlative to the latest Albian — early Turonian Grebenka flora from the Anadyr River middle reaches. However, our study demonstrates that the Kholokhovchan assemblage is most similar to the presumably the Turonian-Coniacian Arman flora of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt and, therefore, should be dated as the Turonian-Coniacian or Turonian.

The late cretaceous flora from volcanogenic deposits of Northern Priokhotie (The Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt)

The Karamken floristic assemblage occurs from basal layers of the Kholchan Formation of the Okchotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt (OCVB). The locality is situated at Khasyn River near Karamken settlement. The Karamken assemblage is composed of 6 taxa: Heilungia sp., Phoenicopsis ex gr. angustifolia Heer, Sphenobaiera sp., Metasequoia sp., Taxodium amguemensis (Efimova) Golovn., Trochodendroides sp. This flora is distinct from more ancient Arman flora and younger Ola flora. According to systematic composition the Karamken floristic assemblage is similar to the Chaun flora of Central Chukotka (the Coniacian), to the Aleeki flora from the Villigha and Toomahni Rivers interfluve (the Coniacian) and to the floristic assemblage from the Leurvaam (?) Formation of Eastern Chukotka (Efimova, 1966). On this basis the age of the Karamken flora is estimated as the Coniacian. Association of the remains of Metasequoia, Taxodium amguemensis, Phoenicopsis and large leaves of Sphenobaiera is repeated in different localities in different part of the OCVB. These remains are usually connected with fine-grained volcanogenic-terrigenous paludal-lacustrine deposits.

Shape analysis of filamentous Precambrian microfossils and modern cyanobacteria

Variations in the orientation and cross-sectional shape of filamentous microfossils provide quantitative measures for characterizing them and probing their native mechanical structure. Here, we determine the tangent correlation length, which is the characteristic length scale for the variation in direction of a sinuous curve, for both a suite of Precambrian filamentous microfossils and six strains of modern filamentous cyanobacteria, all with diameters of a few microns. Among 1.9-2-Ga microfossils, Gunflintia grandis, Gunflintia minuta and Eomycetopsis filiformis possess, respectively, correlation lengths of 360 ± 40 μm, 670 ± 40 μm and 700 ±100 μm in two dimensions. Hundreds of times larger than the filament diameters, these values lie in the same range as the cyanobacteria Geitlerinema and Pseudanabaena, but are smaller than several strains of Oscillatoria. In contrast, the 2-Ga microfossil trichome Halythrix, is found to have a short correlation length of 29 ± 4 μm in two dimensions. Micron-wide pyritic replacement filaments observed in 3.23-Ga volcanogenic deposits also display a modest correlation length of 100 ± 15 μm in two dimensions. Sequences of species in two genera of our modern cyanobacteria possess tangent correlation lengths that rise as a power of the filament diameter D—D3.3 ± 1 for Oscillatoria and D5.1 ± 1 for Geitlerinema. These results can be compared with power-law scaling of D3 for hollow tubes and D4 for solid cylinders that is expected from continuum mechanics. Extrapolating the observed scaling behavior to smaller filament diameters, the measured correlation length of the pyrite filaments is consistent with modern Geitlerinema whereas that of Halythrix lies not far from modern Oscillatoria, suggesting that there may be structural similarities among these genera.

The late cretaceous flora from volcanogenic deposits of northern Priokhotie (The Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt)

Assemblage of fossil plants from the Gydra, Yum and Kananyga Formations (the Villigha and Toomahni Rivers interfluve, Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt) are joined in the Aleeki flora. The systematic description of main species is given and floristic and phytostratigraphical analysis of this flora is carried out. New species Lobifolia alikensis Golovn. et Shczep. is described. The Aleeki flora is typical flora of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt. It contain few angiosperms and significant amount relic elements among ferns (Hausmannia, Lobifolia), cycadophytes (Heilungia), czekanowskiales (Phoenicopsis) and ginkgoales (Sphenobaiera, Ginkgo ex gr. sibirica). In consequence of its stratigraphical position the Aliky flora is slightly younger than the Chingandzha flora (the Turonian-Coniacian) and it is compositionally similar with the Chaun flora (Coniacian). On this basis the age of the Aleeki flora is estimated as the Coniacian. The common taxa of the Aleeki and Chingandzha floras are Coniopteris tschuktschorum, Asplenium dicksonianum, Cladophlebis inaequipinnulata, Birisia sp., Ginkgo ex gr. adiantoides, G. ex gr. sibirica, Sequoia, Metasequoia, Menispermites, Dalembia and Trochodendroides. The common genera of the Aleeki and Chaun floras are Coniopteris, Asplenium, Arctopteris, Cladophlebis, Ginkgo, Sphenobaiera, Heilungia, Phoenicopsis, Picea, Sequoia, Metasequoia, Menispermites, Dalembia and Trochodendroides. Besides that the Aleeki flora contains some species, which were believed as endemic of the Chaun flora: Tchaunia lobifolia, Cladophlebis grandis and Araucarites subacutensis. The Aleeki and Chaun floras are now considered as contemporaneous regional floras, which were distributed in the northern part of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt.