Data from two mud volcanoes discovered on the eastern Mediterranean Ridge are presented, showing that these features have erupted episodically within historical time. Both volcanoes mark the site of active gas and fluid venting from deep within the sedimentary pile. Large volumes of mud breccia have been extruded onto the volcano slopes. For the first time, clasts up to
c.
1 m in size have been recovered from sea-floor mud volcanoes. The submarine clasts show lithologies ranging from shallow water bioclastic sandstones to marls and limestones, dated using microfauna as Oligocene, Miocene and perhaps Cretaceous in age. Deep-towed video footage of one of the volcanoes shows clasts up to several metres across within the crater area. Deep-towed, high resolution side-scan sonar data and core data are presented to compare the two examples. The paper documents the discovery of the two volcanoes: the Dublin mud volcano and the Stoke-on-Trent mud volcano, the clasts that have been recovered from them, the intermittence of the eruptions as interpreted from gravity-core data, and how the volcanoes contrast with other mud volcanoes further to the west.
The Lower Carnian succession in northern Middle Siberia includes continental and marine deposits. Bivalves, nautiloids and ammonites in the marine units provide biostratigraphic control for a palynological study of three important sections. Palynomorph associations from the base of the succession include forms that have previously been reported only from Norian and Rhaetian deposits in the Tethyan and Boreal realms. This suggests that, in comparison with other areas, the palynoflora of Siberia was more uniform throughout the Late Triassic, and that the Carnian and Norian stages have a miospore assemblage that is recognizable in a wide belt through Arctic Canada and northern Eurasia.
Anabar-Lena Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element (AL CTSE) is located in the northern East Siberia extending for c. 700 km along the Laptev Sea coast between the Khatanga Bay and Lena River delta. AL CTSE consists of rocks from Mesoproterozoic to Late Cretaceous in age with total thickness reaching 14 km. It evolved through the following tectonic settings: (1) Meso-Early Neoproterozoic intracratonic basin, (2) Ediacaran - Early Devonian passive margin, (3) Middle Devonian - Early Carboniferous rift, (4) late Early Carboniferous - latest Jurassic passive margin, (5) Permian foreland basin, (6) Triassic to Jurassic continental platform basin and (7) latest Jurassic - earliest Late Cretaceous foreland basin. Proterozoic and lower-middle Paleozoic successions are composed mainly by carbonate rocks while siliciclastic rocks dominate upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic sections. Several petroleum systems are assumed in the AL CTSE. Permian source rocks and Triassic sandstone reservoirs are the most important play elements. Presence of several mature source rock units and abundant oil- and gas-shows (both in wells and in outcrops), including a giant Olenek Bitumen Field, suggest that further exploration in this area may result in economic discoveries.
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