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Disulfidptosis is a newly discovered form of cell death. Not yet clearly classified as programmed cell death or accidental cell death. This study aimed to create a novel disulfidptosis-related lncRNA index (DLI) that can be used to predict survival and chemotherapy drugs sensitivity in patients with cervical cancer. First of all, we found lncRNAs associated with disulfidptosis between cervical cancer tissues and normal tissues. By LASSO-Cox analysis, overlapping lncRNAs were then used to construct lncRNA index associated with disulfidptosis, which can be served to predict the prognosis of patients with CC, especially the chemotherapy drugs sensitivity. ROC curves and PCA based on DLI and clinical signatures were developed and demonstrated to have good predictive potential. In addition, differences in immune cell subset infiltration and differences in immune checkpoint expression between high-DLI and low-DLI groups were analyzed, and we investigated the relationship between the DLI and tumor mutation burden (TMB). In summary, we constructed a lncRNA prediction index associated with disulfidptosis. This has important clinical implications, including improving the predictive value of cervical cancer patients and providing a biomarker for cervical cancer guiding individualized treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qinling Orogen resulted from the collision between the North and South China blocks in the Triassic. Mesozoic granitoids, ranging from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, are widely distributed in this orogen, and they provide excellent clues for understanding the crustal evolution and geodynamic evolution of the orogenic belt. The Triassic belt is mostly located in the South Qinling, whereas the Cretaceous belt is located mostly in the North Qinling. The Taibai complex pluton is located at the conjunction of the two belts. Here we present a data set comprising zircon U-Pb dating and elemental and Sr-Nd isotopic geochemistry for Late Mesozoic granite and microgranular enclaves (MME) exposed in the Taibai complex pluton. The granite and MME yield concordant U-Pb zircon ages of 124 to 118 Ma, indicating that they were products of roughly simultaneous magmatism in the Late Mesozoic. The granite rocks are high-K, calc-alkaline, and weakly peraluminous in compositions, and they are characterized by enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (e. g., Rb, Ba), depletion in high field strength elements (e.g., Nb, Ta, Zr, Ti), and variable Sr/Y ratios of 7.64 to 63.6. Low MgO, Cr, and Ni contents imply that the magma(s) were essentially crust-derived. Both the granite and the MME show relative depletion in Sr-Nd isotopic composition (initial 87Sr/86Sr of 0.704 4 to 0.706 7, initial εNd values of −3.4 to −2.6), suggesting that the magma(s) originated from juvenile crustal rocks. These Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics are significantly different from those of other Late Mesozoic granitoids exposed elsewhere in the Qinling orogenic belt, which formed from much older and enriched sources and with negligible contributions from mantle or juvenile crust. We propose a reworking event of the juvenile crust during the Late Mesozoic that was triggered by the tectonic extension and subsequent asthenospheric upwelling that occurred in eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the internet and the exploding data, the recommendation algorithm is an effective way to solve information overload has been widely concerned. Recently, some researchers have introduced review information to improve recommendation performance. Previous methods typically combine the reviews for a given user or item into a single long document and then extract features from the document level. However, such methods train the model on aggregated historical reviews over time. There may be many conflicting semantics or vocabularies, so scalability and accuracy may be affected. This paper proposes an attentive convolutional neural network representing document and sentence(ACNNDS) for rating prediction. The parallel network includes the sentence-level and document-level reviews, which extract user and item latent expressions from aggregated documents. The importance of sentences and words in reviews is different for different users. We established sentence-level and document-level attention mechanisms to capture the critical sentences and words from reviews to solve this problem. The experimental results show that the ACNNDS boosts recommendation performance, which is significantly better than comparing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As important information provided by recommender systems, knowledge graphs are widely applied in computer science and many other fields. The recommender system performance can be significantly improved by leveraging the knowledge graph between the user and item. Various recommendation approaches have been proposed based on the knowledge graph in recent years; however, most of the existing models only apply item-level user representations or attention mechanisms to users and items in the same way and ignore the fact that user and item attributes are significantly different. Hence, these models are not an effectively exploited attribute information and circumscribe the further improvement of recommender performance. In this paper, a novel approach of dynamic co-attention with an attribute regularizer (DCAR) for a knowledge-aware recommender system is proposed to explore the latent connections between the user level and item level. The model dynamically adjusts the dynamic co-attention mechanism through the attribute similarity between the target user and the candidate item. Specifically, an attribute regularizer between user and item is designed to improve the quality of attribute embedding. Experimental results on two realistic datasets show that our proposed model can significantly improve recommender system effectiveness and represents an advancement beyond the compared deep models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qaidam Basin on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is well endowed with a variety of critical metals, such as Li and Rb. However, little is known about the distribution, source, and enrichment mechanisms of these elements. In this paper, we present results of systematic geochemical and H-O-B isotopic analyses of brines in the Tertiary and Quaternary sediments of the Qaidam basin. The results reveal that the paleobrines from oil-bearing anticlines at Dafengshan, Nanyishan, Youquanzi, Jiandingshan, and Jianshishan are significantly enriched in Li and Rb, whose contents are 81.1–128.9 mg L−1 and 4.5–29.2 mg L−1, respectively, reaching levels of economic significance. High Rb contents (up to 12.5 mg L−1) and well-endowment of Li also characterize the Dongtai, Xitai, Yiliping, and Senie salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin. The Tertiary paleobrine average in δD and δ18O at −40.7‰ and 2.84‰, respectively. The paleobrine with the highest Li and Rb has δD and δ18O values close to magmatic water. The δ11B values are lower than those of river water but close to those of geothermal fluids, suggesting that replenishment by deep magmatic hydrothermal fluid is most likely the key mechanism for the anomalous enrichment of these elements in the paleobrines, though evaporation and water-rock reactions have contributed to the critical metal mineralization. The anomalous enrichment of Li and Rb in modern salt lake brines is closely related to the input of volcanic geothermal water. The relatively high Li and Rb contents of intercrystalline brines in salt lakes of the western Qaidam Basin and the increase of Li and Rb contents with increasing depth were caused by upwelling of local paleobrines along the fault zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kashan plutons are situated in the central part of Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc recording subduction-related magmatism within the Alpine-Himalayan orogeny in Iran. These rocks consist of different calc-alkaline plutonic rocks including gabbro, gabbroic diorite, microdiorite, monzodiorite, tonalite, granodiorite, and granite. The plutons were emplaced into the Jurassic sedimentary units (Shemshak Formation) and the Eocene calc-alkaline volcanic and pyroclastic rocks. New U-Pb zircon ages show that the Kashan plutons formed during two main periods at 35.20±0.71 Ma in the Late Eocene (Priabonian) and at 18.90±0.84, 19.26±0.83, 19.30±1.2, and 17.3±1.8 Ma in the Early Miocene (Burdigalian). The reported events in the Kashan plutons imply the final phases of subductionrelated magmatism before the collision which happened between the Arabian and Iranian plates in the Middle Miocene. The plutonic activity in the Kashan region occurred during the transition from Eocene subduction-related setting to Middle Miocene collisional setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Longwangzhuang pluton is a typical example of Paleoproterozoic A-type granite intrusions at the southern margin of the North China Craton. This pluton is composed of arfvedsonite granite and minor aegirine–augite granites. Samples from both granite types display similar zircon U-Pb ages with 207U-206Pb ages of 1612 ± 19 Ma [mean square weighted deviation (MSWD) = 0.66] and 1609 ± 24 Ma (MSWD = 0.5), respectively. The granites exhibit similar high silica (SiO2 = 71.1–73.4 wt.%), high alkaline (Na2O + K2O = 8.10–9.26 wt.%, K2O/Na2O > 1), and low Al2O3 (11.8–12.8 wt. %) contents and metaluminous to weakly peraluminous bulk chemistry. The chemical variations of the Longwangzhuang pluton suggest the effects of mineral fractionation. In addition, all samples show typical characteristics of A-type granites, such as high 10000Ga/Al ratios (4.10–7.28), high FeOtot/(FeOtot + MgO) ratios (0.88–0.99), and high Zr (484–1082 ppm), Ce (201–560 ppm), and Y (78–156 ppm) contents. The εNd(t) values and the (206Pb/204Pb)t, (207Pb/204Pb)t, and (208Pb/204Pb)t ratios of the arfvedsonite granite samples vary from −4.6 to –5.3, 15.021 to 17.349, 15.241 to 15.472, and 33.206 to 36.905, respectively, and those for the aegirine–augite granite sample amount at −0.2, 14.421, 15.175, and 33.706. The distinct and variable Nd and Pb isotope values indicate the presence of heterogeneous protoliths. Based on its geochemistry, its low initial Pb isotope ratios, and its enrichment in Nd isotopes, we infer that the Longwangzhuang A-type granite is the partial melting product of basement rocks such as the Taihua Group gneisses accompanied by some involvement of juvenile material from the mantle. Together with published data from other Paleoproterozoic A-type granite plutons exposed at the southern margin of the craton, our findings suggest that these granites had a similar origin. Furthermore, geochemically, they can be divided into two groups: A2-type, which formed earlier (~1.8–1.6 Ga), and A1-type, which formed later (~1.6–1.5 Ga). Combining this information with the variations in whole-rock Nd and zircon Hf isotopic composition at ca. 1.6 Ga, we propose that tectonic transformation from post-orogenic to anorogenic magmatism occurred at the southern margin of the North China Craton at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Song Ma zone in NW Vietnam bears important tectonic implications as a potential subduction corridor between the Indochina and South China blocks. On the basis of U-Pb ages, the Hf isotopic characteristics of zircons and the geochemical composition of granitoids, a two-stage magmatic evolution process of the Song Ma zone at ~290-260 and ~245-230 Ma can be proposed. Isotopic analyses indicate magmatic contributions from Neoproterozoic oceanic island basalt, Proterozoic continental crust, and depleted mantle or juvenile lithosphere. By combining geochronological and geochemical data from the granitoid rocks, we suggest that the staged magmatic processes of Song Ma zone may be related to a long-lasting period of ocean subduction (ca. 290-260 Ma) and subsequent syn-/post-collisional evolution (ca. 245-230 Ma). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alanya Massif, which is located to the south of central Taurides in Turkey, presents a typical nappe pile consisting of thrust sheets with contrasting metamorphic histories. In two thrust sheets, Sugözü and Gündoğmuş nappes, HP metamorphism under eclogite (550-567 °C/14-18 kbar) and blueschist facies (435-480 °C/11-13 kbar) conditions have been recognized, respectively. Whereas the rest of the Massif underwent MP metamorphism under greenschist to amphibolite facies (525-555 °C/6.5-7.5 kbar) conditions. Eclogite facies metamorphism in Sugözü nappe, which consists of homogeneous garnet-glaucophane-phengite schists with eclogite lenses is dated at 84.8 ± 0.8, 84.7 ± 1.5 and 82 ± 3 Ma (Santonian-Campanian) by Ar/Ar phengite, U/Pb zircon and rutile dating methods, respectively. Similarly, phengites in Gündoğmuş nappe representing an accretionary complex yield 82-80 Ma (Campanian) ages for blueschist facies metamorphism. During the exhumation, the retrograde overprint of the HP units under greenschist-amphibolite facies conditions and tectonic juxtaposition with the Barrovian units occurred during Campanian (75-78 Ma). Petrological and geochronological data clearly indicate a similar Late Cretaceous tectonometamorphic evolution for both Alanya (84-75 Ma) and Bitlis (84-72 Ma) Massifs. They form part of a single continental sliver ( Alanya- Bitlis microcontinent), which was rifted from the southern part of the Anatolide-Tauride platform. The P- T- t coherence between two Massifs suggests that both Massifs have been derived from the closure of the same ocean ( Alanya- Bitlis Ocean) located to the south of the Anatolide-Tauride block by a northward subduction. The boundary separating the autochthonous Tauride platform to the north from both the Alanya and Bitlis Massifs to the south represents a suture zone, the Pamphylian- Alanya- Bitlis suture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoproterozoic volcanic-sedimentary sequences of the southern Qinling belt, central China, were intruded by voluminous mafic dikes. secondary ion mass spectrometry zircon U-Pb dating indicates that these dikes were emplaced at 650.8 ± 5.2 Ma, coeval with mafic rocks occurring at the northern margin of the Yangtze block. The dikes are characterized by enrichment of large ion lithophile elements, high Ti contents (up to 3.73 wt%) and Nb/Ta ratios between 14.5 and 19.6, suggesting a mantle source of oceanic island basalt affinity. Initial Sr/Sr ratios show positive correlation with SiO contents and negative correlation with Zr/Nb ratios, implying that these rocks were affected by crustal contamination during the magma ascend and emplacement process. The dikes have initial ε values of +0.2 to +3.3, low Pb/Pb ratios of 16.96-17.45, and moderate Sr/Sr ratios of 0.7043-0.7076, likely pointing to the involvement of an enriched mantle source. The mafic dikes and coeval mafic volcanic equivalents in the South Qinling and the northern Yangtze are hypothesized to be related with the prolonged breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, suggesting that continental rifting lasted until ca. 650 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qinling Group was previously interpreted as the oldest Precambrian basement unit of the North Qinling Terrain, recording its formation and early crustal evolution. The Qinling Group consists predominantly of gneisses, amphibolites, and marbles, which underwent multi-phase deformation and metamorphism. In order to better constrain the provenance and tectonic setting of this group and the evolution of the North Qinling orogenic belt, in situ U-Pb dating and oxygen isotopic analysis of zircons in combination with whole-rock geochemistry and Sr-Nd isotope analysis was performed on the two dominant rock types, amphibolite and felsic gneiss. Felsic gneisses exhibit enrichment of LREEs and LILEs (Rb, Ba, Th, K, Pb), negative Eu anomalies and depletion of HFSEs (Nb, Ta, P, Ti). The rocks have slightly elevated δO values (6.5-9.3 ‰) and initial ε values of −4.6 corresponding to two-stage Nd model age of 1.99 Ga. Amphibolites are also enriched in LILEs and LREEs and depleted in Nb and Ta and have homogeneous δO values (5.0-6.0 ‰), but higher initial ε values (2.8-3.3) and younger two-stage Nd model ages (1.29-1.24 Ga) compared to the gneisses. The zircon age record indicates that the gneisses and amphibolites were formed in a ~960 Ma volcanic arc environment rather than in a rift setting as previously suggested. A major metamorphic event took place during the Early Paleozoic. Based on the age spectrum of detrital zircons, the Qinling Group is interpreted as an autonomous geological unit, which was mainly derived mostly from 1,000 to 900 Ma old granitoid rocks. The North Qinling Terrain can be regarded as a remnant of the Grenville orogenic belt with an early Neoproterozoic evolution different from that of the North and South China blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences in the South China Block provide great opportunity to examine the tectonic evolution and crustal accretion during this period. This study presents U-Pb ages and Hf isotope composition of detrital zircons and Nd isotope composition of whole rocks of the Neoproterozoic sequences from the Yangtze Block, part of the South China Block. Age patterns of detrital zircons imply that the source area experienced three major periods of magmatic activity at 2,300-2,560, 1,900-2,100 and 770-1,000 Ma and two major episodes of juvenile crust accretion at 2,600-3,400 and 770-1,000 Ma. The maximum age of the Gucheng glaciation can be restricted at ~768 Ma from the youngest detrital zircon ages, probably corresponding to the Kaigas glaciation rather than to the Sturtian glaciation. High La/Sc ratio and low Cr/Th, Sc/Th and Co/Th ratios of the sedimentary rocks point to a derivation from dominantly felsic upper continental crustal sources, whereas large variation of ε( t) and ε( t) values indicates that mantle-derived magmatic rocks also provided material to the sedimentary sequences in different degrees. The shift in ε( t) values of whole rocks and U-Pb age spectra of detrital zircons records the evolution from a back-arc to retro-arc foreland to a rift basin. Age distribution of detrital zircons from the Neoproterozoic sequences, compared with those of the major crustal blocks of Rodinia, implies that the position of the Yangtze Block was probably adjacent to northern India rather than between Australia and Laurentia before the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afyon Zone, which was derived from the Anatolide-Tauride platform during closure of the Neo-Tethys, is made up of pre-Mesozoic basement and unconformably overlying Triassic-Early Tertiary cover series. The Afyon Zone contains widespread metavolcanic rocks, which are dominated by rhyolite, dacite, and trachyandesite. They form a distinct volcanic succession, which is separated from the underlying Silurian-Lower Carboniferous metacarbonates and meta-siliciclastics by a regional unconformity. Trachyandesitic metavolcanics are made up of massive lava flows, pyroclastics and epiclastics, less frequently, domes and dikes, which were developed on a deeply eroded subaerial landmass. U/Pb and Pb/Pb zircon geochronology yielded Lower Triassic (~250 Ma) ages, which are interpreted as extrusion age of trachyandesitic volcanics. Based on the stratigraphic, geochronological, and geochemical data, we suggest that these Lower Triassic magmatic rocks represent an extensional tectonic setting on the northern active margin of the Gondwana, which led to the development of the northern branch of the Neo-Tethys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic tracer was applied, for the first time, to identifying the sources of the particles in the East Rongbuk ice core from Mt. Qomalangma (Everest). The results show that the particles in the dirty layers originate mainly from local sources, while the particles in the non-dirty layers are consistent with the features of dust from the arid regions in northwestern India. The HYSPLIT model shows that the air trajectory goes first through northwestern India before reaching the drilling site of ice core when dust storms occur in northwestern India, confirming northwestern India as a possible source of dust in the East Rongbuk ice core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baoshan block of the Tethyan Yunnan, southwestern China, is considered as northern part of the Sibumasu microcontinent. Basement of this block that comprises presumably greenschist-facies Neoproterozoic metamorphic rocks is covered by Paleozoic to Mesozoic low-grade metamorphic sedimentary rocks. This study presents zircon ages and Nd–Hf isotopic composition of granites generated from crustal reworking to reveal geochemical feature of the underlying basement. Dating results obtained using the single zircon U–Pb isotopic dilution method show that granites exposed in the study area formed in early Paleozoic (about 470 Ma; Pingdajie granite) and in late Yanshanian (about 78–61 Ma, Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary; Huataolin granite). The early Paleozoic granite contains Archean to Mesoproterozoic inherited zircons and the late Yanshanian granite contains late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic zircon cores. Both granites have similar geochemical and Nd–Hf isotopic charateristics, indicating similar magma sources. They have whole-rock T DM(Nd) values of around 2,000 Ma and zircon T DM(Hf) values clustering around 1,900–1,800 and 1,600–1,400 Ma. The Nd–Hf isotopic data imply Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic crustal material as the major components of the underlying basement, being consistent with a derivation from Archean and Paleoproterozoic terrains of India or NW Australia. Both granites formed in two different tectonic events similarly originated from intra-crustal reworking. Temporally, the late Yanshanian magmatism is probably related to the closure of the Neotethys ocean. The early Paleozoic magmatism traced in the Baoshan block indicates a comparable history of the basements during early Paleozoic between the SE Asia and the western Tethyan belt, such as the basement outcrops in the Alpine belt and probably in the European Variscides that are considered as continental blocks drifting from Gondwana prior to or simultaneously with those of the SE Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rb-Sr isotopic dating of pyrite mineral from ore deposits can directly provide mineralization age. However, many geological factors may affect the Rb-Sr isotopic system, which baffles application of this method. Employing ultra-low procedural blank Rb-Sr method, we have dated pyrites separated from the No. 4 breccia pipe of the Qiyugou gold deposit, western Henan Province. Single grains of euhedral pyrite crystal with few micro-cracks yield an isochron age of 126 ± 11 Ma, which represents time of the main mineralization stage of the deposit. Pyrite grains of cataclastic type show nevertheless scattered Rb-Sr isotopic composition ard no reasonable isochron can be defined. Crystal piorphology and mineral inclusion studies reveal that Rb and Sr of pyrite mineral probably are preserved mainly in biotite, K-feldspar, and sericite mineral inclusions. The dating results likely suggest that cataclastic pyrite is not suitable for the Rb-Sr dating due to modification of the Rb-Sr isotopic system by later hydrothermal activity of fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both low procedural blank and high-precision measurements of isotopic ratios are crucial for the analysis of micro samples. This study reports a chemical procedure of ultra-low blank for the high precision measurement of Sr isotopic ratios on micro samples (<1 ng level) using a new-type thermal ionization mass spectrometer IsoProbe-T, with a case study of single-grain Rb-Sr isochron dating on phlogopite from the Fuxian kimberlite in Liaoning Province. This method can be employed in studies of high resolution Rb-Sr geochronology and Sr isotopic geochemistry and thus will broaden application of the Rb-Sr isotopic system to earth sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents U-Pb zircon ages for granitic gneiss and amphibolite from the Luzhenguan Complex (LZC) in northern part of the eastern Dabie Orogen and their geological significance. Two granitic gneisses and one amphibolite give protolith zircon U-Pb ages of 740 Ma and 725 Ma, respectively. The ages show that the LZC is composed mainly of Neoproterzoic acid and basic igneous rocks, suggesting that there is no Paleozoic active continental marginal rock association in the southern margin of the North China Block in northern part of the eastern Dabie Mountain. Based on the ages and combining the geological and geophysical analyses, the middle-low grade metamorphic rocks in the North Huiyang Belt (NHB) can be divided into three parts, which are the LZC composed mainly of the Neoproterzoic acid and basic igneous rocks, the Neoproterzoic Xianrechong Formation and Xiangyunzhai Formation and the Devonian Zhu-foan Formation and Pangjialing Formation of the Foziling Group, and the suture zone between the Yongtze Block and the North China Block is inferred to be thrust under the NHB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential exhumation was petrologically recognized in ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks from the southern and northern parts of the Sulu terrane. While a normal exhumation occurred for eclogites and gneisses in south Sulu, granulite-facies overprinting of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks took place with high retrograde temperatures in north Sulu. A study of fluid inclusions reveals trapping of five type fluid inclusions in high and ultrahigh pressure eclogite minerals and vein quartz in the Sulu terrane. These are A-type N2±CO2 inclusion trapped at high and ultra-high pressure eclogite-facies metamorphic condition, B-type pure-CO2 liquid phase inclusion with higher density trapped during granulite-facies overprinting metamorphism of eclogites, C-type CO2-H2O inclusion and D-type hypersaline inclusion trapped in high pressure eclogite-facies re-crystallization stage, and E-type low salinity H2O inclusion trapped in the latest stage of ultrahigh pressure exhumation (amphibolite-facies retrogression). Identification of crowded-distributing pure-CO2 liquid inclusions with higher density trapped in garnet of eclogites provides an evidence for granulite-facies overprinting metamorphism in the north Sulu terrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To place constraints on the formation and deformation history of the major Variscan shear zone in the Bavarian Forest, Bavarian Pfahl zone, SW Bohemian Massif, granitic dykes and their feldspar-phyric massive host rock (so-called “palite”), zircons were dated by the U–Pb isotope dilution and Pb-evaporation methods. The dated samples comprise two host rocks and four dykes from a K-rich calc-alkaline complex adjoining the SW part of the Bavarian Pfahl shear zone. The palites, which appear to be the oldest magmatic rocks emplaced in the shear zone, yield ages of 334±3, 334.5±1.1 Ma (average 207Pb/206Pb-evaporation zircon ages) and 327–342 Ma (range of U/Pb zircon ages) suggesting a Lower Carboniferous age for the initiation of the Pfahl zone. Absence of inherited older cores in all investigated zircons indicates that incorporation of crustal zircon material has played virtually no role or that the melting temperature was very high. Determination of the dyke emplacement age is complicated by partial Pb-loss in most of the fractions analysed. This Pb-loss can be ascribed to higher U content of the dyke zircons compared to those from host rock. Upper discordia intercept ages of the different dykes range from 322±5 to 331±9 Ma. The dykes are pre- to synkinematic with respect to penetrative regional mylonitisation along the Pfahl zone, and the upper intercept ages provide a maximum age for this tectonic event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dalat zone in southern Vietnam comprises a Cretaceous Andean-type magmatic arc with voluminous granitoids and contemporary volcanic rocks. On the basis of petrographical and mineralogical studies, the granitoids were subdivided into three suites: Dinhquan, Deoca and Cana. Rocks of the Dinhquan suite are hornblende–biotite diorites, granodiorites and minor granites. The Cana suite encompasses mainly leucocratic biotite-bearing granites with scarce hornblende. The Deoca suite is made up of granodiorites, monzogranites and granites. Geochemically, the granitoids are of subalkaline affinity, belong to the high-K, calc-alkaline series, and most of them display typical features of I-type granites. This paper presents the new Rb–Sr mineral and U–Pb zircon and titanite age data for the granitoids, which establish the ages of the plutonic suites as: the Dinhquan at ~112–100 Ma, Cana at ~96–93 Ma and Deoca at ~92–88 Ma. These ages are significantly different from earlier publications, and indicate that the earliest magmatism in the Dalat zone began at ~112 Ma ago, that is ~30–50 Ma later than previously thought. Our geochronological data are also support the continuation of an Andean-type arc running from SE China via southern Vietnam to SW Borneo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents research on zircon and garnet ages of a mafic granulite from the Variscan belt in the Black Forest of Germany. The isotope closure temperature of garnet Sm-Nd and U-Pb systems; The age of zircon grains found by the U-Pb and evaporation methods; The Sm-Nd and Pb-Pb isochron ages of garnet; Suggestion that many zircons might have lost radiogenic Pb due to metamictization or recrystallisation during the granulite-facies metamorphism at ∼340 Ma; Evidence of pro-grade metamorphism in the garnet Sm-Nd and U-Pb systems; Possibility of a fluid-absence metamorphic environment; Assertion that garnet mineral could be a better candidate than zircon when dating high-grade metamorphism by the U-Pb and Sm-Nd methods.

Presents an approach for the correction of common lead contribution to [sup 207]lead/[sup 206]lead ages obtained by the zircon evaporation technique. Basis for the stepwise evaporation method for zircon dating; Outline of the evaporation technique.

Provides the first direct constraint on the Nanhua-Sinian boundary age. Xiuning Formation of the Nanhua System in Shangrao district; Comparison between the Nantuo Formation and the Lantian Formation; Correlation of the Neoproterozoic glacial ages; Correlation of the Nantuo formation on the Yangtze Block to the stratigraphical units of the Sturtian glaciation in Australia and other continents.