Pleiades Publishing Ltd

Upper Paleozoic (D3–P1) carbonaceous shales and siltstones in the surrounding of the Kara astrobleme are studied. The material composition of the target rocks is analyzed by methods of multidimensional statistics—correlation, factorial, and hierarchical cluster methods. As a result, we revealed the geochemical specificity of the components, generally indicating the contamination of the target rocks of the Kara astrobleme by some ore and rare earth elements by the post-impact hydrothermal activity, mobilization, redeposition, and concentration of the substance. The analysis of the contents of Ni, Cr, and Co indicates partial enrichment of the target rocks by cosmic matter in the area of intense impact crushing, disintegration, and hydrothermal mineralization.

The results of continuous (September 2010–September 2011) temperature monitoring in the 300-m-deep borehole on Kunashir Island are presented. There were several earthquakes, including the Tohoku one (March 3, 2012, M = 9.0), during the observation period, and they produced a significant coseismic response in the temperature field. The Tohoku earthquake was preceded by a constant decrease in temperature at the depth of 240 m with a mean rate of 0.02 K per month. The coseismic response was manifested in an abrupt (in à day) growth of temperature by 1.2 K. The relationships between the earthquake characteristics (magnitude, epicentral distance) and the amplitude of the coseismic temperature response in the borehole have been estimated. The deformation mechanism of the temperature response to earthquake preparation and implementation processes is suggested.

The interaction of biogeochemical sulfur and carbon cycles in water bodies has been studied by the different authors and methods, including the use of 35S and 14C radioactive tracers. The main reactions of sulfur and carbon interaction by the example of the Black Sea (sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation) are considered. Based on the experimental radioisotope data, the annual microbial production of H2S and CH4 in the water column of the Black Sea is estimated. The average annual production of CH4 is 3.8% of the annual production of H2S. The share of migration methane from the bottom sediments (seeps, mud volcanoes, etc.) is approximately 2% of the total dissolved methane pool.

Geochemical and Sm–Nd isotope–geochemical studies of synnyrite and syenite from the Synnyr massif and high-K syenite from the Tas massif of the Late Paleozoic (eastern Siberia) corresponding to one of the largest provinces of high-K and ultrapotassic magmatism worldwide are performed. It is shown that their formation was controlled by transformation of the Precambrian continental crust of the Siberian Craton and Central Asian Mobile Belt under the influence of the Siberian mantle plume.

This paper presents data on the distribution of REEs in sulfide minerals from ore-bearing gabbronorites in the Penikat layered intrusion and the results of their isotopic-geochronological Sm-Nd study. A new procedure for determination of REEs in the samples without preliminary separating and concentrating was tested on standard samples to be further used for analysis of sulfide minerals. Analysis of the spectra of the REE distribution in sulfides represents a distribution trend that is similar to the already studied bulk rock and allows deducing that the character of the REE distribution in sulfide minerals from gabbronorites in the Penikat layered intrusion was inherited from the parent magma melt; while the formation of sulfides took place at the stage of rock crystallization. The performed complex studies allow considering that sulfides can be successfully used together with the rock-forming minerals in Sm-Nd dating of ore-bearing mafite-ultramafite intrusions.