M. Santosh

China University of Geosciences (Beijing) · School of Earth Sciences and Resources

Basalts are ubiquitous mafic rocks found within diverse tectonic settings on Earth. Despite concerted efforts to distinguish tectonic settings through the chemical compositions of basalt, some features of these rocks related to tectonic processes can be obscured by weathering and erosion over geological time, making the discrimination results ambig...

During the Mesozoic, the North China Craton (NCC) especially the eastern part underwent significant destruction of its cratonic roots. During ∼125–120 Ma, the source of magmatism shifted from an ancient enriched lithospheric mantle to a juvenile depleted asthenospheric mantle. While this geochemical change is clear in the eastern NCC, it is unclear...

The Xiaoqinling gold province, located in the southern margin of the North China Craton (NCC), is the second largest gold-enriched region in China. In this region, the Mesozoic Huashan (HS) and Wenyu (WY) plutons are the major magmatic intrusions coeval with gold mineralization, although they show contrasting characteristics in the distribution of...

Unlike the gold deposits typically hosted in metamorphosed volcanic-sedimentary sequences, the recently discovered Axile gold deposit (over 13 t Au at 5.35 g/t) is a unique example in the Chinese Altai for evaluating the genesis of intrusion-hosted lode gold deposits in metamorphic terranes. The orebodies in this deposit occur as quartz veins and a...

In this study, we investigated Early Paleozoic magmatic rocks of the Manlai Formation exposed along the eastern margin of the Lancang terrane to better understand the tectonic history of the Proto-Tethys. We present petrological, geochemical and whole-rock Sr-Nd and zircon Hf isotopic data for basalts and gabbros sampled from the Qianmai mélange. Z...

The Sanhetun tellurium–gold (Te–Au) deposit, located in the Duobaoshan polymetallic metallogenic belt (DPMB) within the eastern section of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is a newly discovered small-scale gold deposit. The mineralization, with a resource of ≥4 t Au, is mainly hosted in three NNE-trending alteration zones between Early Carbo...

This book documents the heterogeneous distribution of metal resources as well as their industrial use. The main chapters explain the genesis and exploration of the respective mineral systems grouped into abundant, scarce, rare, trace, and precious metal systems based on their different crustal abundance. The book also discusses the temporal distrib...

The late Mesoarchean era was a critical period for the Earth's geodynamic regime. However, it remains unclear which geodynamic regime dominated this stage and how different geodynamic regimes transitioned or interacted with each other. From the perspective of crust-mantle interactions, effectively identifying different geodynamic regimes and establ...

The link between mantle plumes and the formation of large igneous provinces (LIPs) is well established although the anatomy of these remains equivocal. Recent experimental studies and geophysical data suggest that the mantle plume head is more likely to be irregular and asymmetric, rather than an axisymmetric flattened disk. The Emeishan large igne...

Among various natural hazards, those induced by hydrological and meteorological factors have emerged as the most frequent and damaging. India is at the second from the top, after Bangladesh, of flood hazard-affected countries of the world, causing immense damage to life and property every year. The Middle Ganga Plain in the country is one of the mo...

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in the central United States is a seismically active intraplate region composed of two fault segments: the Reelfoot and Cottonwood Grove fault segments. It has witnessed several major earthquakes, including a devastating 1811–1812 earthquake sequence of three ~M7 events. Nearly 200 years later, earthquakes still c...

Research Highlights  Critical metals have potential for exhaustion or geopolitical issues in single countries.  Global demand for critical metals as components of modern clean energy machines enhanced.  Limited supply of critical metals causes a dilemma as they are unrecyclable. Abstract The global demand for metallic mineral resources has been...

Synthetic hematite (Fe2O3) nanoparticles are extensively explored for medicine, optics, and environmental remediation. However, natural iron nanoparticles in a freshwater ecosystem have not been well characterized. Here we report the presence of natural iron nanoparticles in a tropical freshwater ecosystem in southern India. These iron nanoparticle...

The Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic Proto-Tethys Ocean has preserved critical records of Earth’s evolutionary history. The Lower Cambrian detrital strata along the northern margin of the Yangtze Block provide valuable information for gaining insight into the evolution of the Proto-Tethys Ocean, which is important in understanding the collision between...

Salt deposits are indicative of relatively extreme climate events. However, due to insufficient independent temperature proxies, paleotemperature records obtained from salt deposition are still lack. The Paleocene evaporite sequence deposited in the Hongze Depression of Subei Basin of eastern China provides an important terrestrial sediment record...

IAGR Conference 2024

Tin deposits are predominantly associated with granitic rocks, yet the factors controlling tin enrichment in granites remain controversial. Here, we investigated the Daguanshan pluton within the central part of the Lincang batholith in the Lancangjiang zone, southwestern China, representing a northern extension of the Southeast Asian tin belt (span...

Landslides pose significant impact on human life and society such as loss of livelihood, destruction of infrastructure, and damage to natural resources around the world. Due to existing complications in conditional factors of landslide, mapping and predicting landslide occurrences with high accuracy needs more attention. In light of this, we aim to...

The South Andaman Island is located on the southeastern fringe of the Indian plate. Tectonically, the islands are associated with the Burma-Andaman-Java subduction zone of the Indonesian arc system. Several Mesozoic ophiolitic exposures are preserved in the Burma-Andaman-Java subduction zone. This study reports new petrological, geochemical, and zi...

The large-scale salt lakes widely distributed in the Tibetan Plateau provide unique and potential resources for lithium (Li) and boron (B). The concentration and characteristics of elements in these salt lakes resemble those found in geothermal water in northern Tibet, which highlights both as crucial sources of rare elements. This study presents c...

Plagioclase ultraphyric basalts (PUBs) are an important unit of the Abor magmatic complex (AMC) of the eastern Himalaya, containing ≥35 vol% plagioclase phenocrysts. Apart from the eastern region, PUBs have not been reported in any other part of the Himalayas. However, very little information is available about their origin and significance in the...

The widely distributed Devonian granitoids comprise a significant part of the crust in the Chinese Altai, although their petrogenetic implications remain debated. The Habahe Intrusion, comprising biotite granite batholith, gabbroic diorite dikes, and biotite granite hosted-enclaves, is a key magmatic unit to understand the extensively developed mag...

In the Dabie orogen, central China, the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism (UHPM) was best recorded from meta-mafic and ultramafic rocks occurring as lenses within voluminous amphibolite-facies metafelsic rocks. However, whether or not these metafelsic rocks experienced ultra-deep subduction (>5 GPa) has been rarely quantified because of the rare pres...

Pyrite is a ubiquitous mineral in many ore deposits and sediments, and its trace element composition is mainly controlled by temperature, oxygen fugacity, pH, compositions of fluids, and host rock composition. A discriminant analysis (DA), based on multi-element compositions of pyrite, distinguishes iron oxide-apatite (IOA), iron oxide copper-gold...

The Sanhetun tellurium-gold (Te-Au) deposit, located in the Duobaoshan polymetallic metallogenic belt (DPMB) within the eastern section of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is a newly discovered small scale gold deposit. The mineralization, with resource of ≥ 4t Au, is mainly hosted in 3 NNE-trending alteration zones between granitic mylonite...

Sedimentary carbonates are known to be carried into the deep mantle by subducted slabs, and studies on mantle‐derived magmas have attempted to trace the recycled carbonate in their mantle source. However, the final depth of storage of recycled carbonate and the role of recycled carbonate in the partial melting of mantle remain controversial. Peralk...

Plume-derived high-MgO lavas provide important information on the lithological, thermal and chemical variations of Earth’s deep mantle. Here we present results from detailed field, mineralogical and geochemical studies of Late Permian–Late Triassic high-MgO lavas near the Chalukou area in the Western Kunlun (WK) orogenic belt, NW China. The major e...

Determining the association of Pb–Zn(-Ag) mineralization with granite is crucial for understanding metallogeny and identifying exploration targets. The genesis of Pb–Zn-Ag-Sb deposits and their genetic association with Sb(-Au) deposits and granite-associated Sn-W deposits in the Tethys Himalaya of southern Tibet, China, remains controversial. Our c...

Analysis of optical microscopic image data is crucial for the identification and characterization of mineral phases, and thus directly relevant to the subsequent methodology selections of further detailed petrological exploration. Here we present a novel application of Swin Transformer, a deep learning algorithm to classify metal mineral phases suc...

Molybdenum (Mo) is an important globally strategic metal and mostly occurs as molybdenite (MoS2) in diverse Mo deposits. The Yuku ore field includes multiple porphyry-skarn Mo deposits and forms an significant world-class Mo cluster in the Qinling molybdenum belt, central China. Previous studies on the ore field were largely related to its genesis,...

To clarify the species of uranium and its effect on the safety assessment in the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes (HLWs), we presented geochemical simulations of Beishan deep groundwater in Gansu Province, China. The Ca–UO2–CO3 complexes are the main species. They can decrease the blocking of granites on uranium, which is unfavorable for t...

The 2.45–2.20 Ga period during the early Paleoproterozoic era is considered to have witnessed a global “Tectono-Magmatic Lull (TML)” and thus marks a relatively quiescent period. Our study unveils a 2.45–2.20 Ga magmatic suite from the Xiong’ershan area in the southern North China Craton, offering some key constraints on localized active tectonics...

Space syntax is utilized to model flows through open and closed built environments, which enables project innovation by rethinking the design of spaces on a global scale with better flow quality. Therefore, studies focused on spatial syntax, when related to comprehensive flows in open and closed spaces, provide a holistic and valuable understanding...

Identifying the tectonic setting of formation of rocks is an essential component in the field of geosciences. The conventional approach is to employ standard tectonic discrimination diagrams based on elemental correlations and ratios, which sometimes are plagued with uncertainties and limitations. The application of machine learning algorithms base...

The development of earth fissures, which are linear fractures with openings or offsets on the land surface, can severely affect landforms, especially in urban areas, in the form of earthquakes causing major concern on human lives as well as damage to infrastructures. Thus, an early warning map for lands susceptible to earth fissures can better equi...

The products of Cenozoic continental arc magmatism in Iran provide an outstanding natural laboratory for investigating subduction-related processes. Here we present whole rock, Srsingle bondNd isotopic, zircon U–Pb–Hf age, and mineral composition data for Cenozoic intrusive rocks from the Natanz area, central Urumieh–Dokhtar magmatic arc (UDMA), wi...

The application of Artificial Intelligence in various fields has witnessed tremendous progress in the recent years. The field of geosciences and natural hazard modelling has also benefitted immensely from the introduction of novel algorithms, the availability of large quantities of data, and the increase in computational capacity. The enhancement i...

The North Qilian Orogen witnessed the opening, subduction, and closure of the Proto-Tethys Qilian Ocean and the post-subduction of multiple exhumation events from Late Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic. The Early Paleozoic dioritic-granitic magmatic suites, prominently exposed in the eastern North Qilian Orogen, offer valuable insights into the evo...

The Palaeozoic magmatic history of Central Iran is related to the subduction of the Proto‐Tethys Ocean and the amalgamation of Gondwana continental fragments. This study presents whole‐rock geochemistry, Sr–Nd isotope and zircon U–Pb–Hf ages of shoshonitic plutonic rocks (e.g., monzonite–syenite) from the north Posht‐e‐Badam (NPB) district with a v...

Magmatic suites provide the keys to evaluate the growth and reworking of continental crust. Late Cretaceous to Pleistocene convergence in the Urumieh–Dokhtar magmatic arc (UDMA) of Iran produced continental-arc magmatism that traces the transition from subduction to collision. The extent and origin of some magmatic segments in the SE UDMA remain po...

Land subsidence is a worldwide threat. In arid and semiarid lands, groundwater depletion is the main factor that induce the subsidence resulting in environmental damages and socio-economic issues. To foresee and prevent the impact of land subsidence, it is necessary to develop accurate maps of the magnitude and evolution of the subsidences. Land su...

The Coorg Block in southern Peninsular India is one of the oldest crustal blocks on Earth that preserves the evidence for continental crust formation during the Paleo-Mesoarchean through subduction related arc magmatism, followed by granulite facies metamorphism in the Mesoarchean. In this study, we report for the first time, the ‘bar codes’ of a m...

Highlights • Outline of the birth and evolution of Earth involving tectonic recycling to a habitable planet with energy and metal resources. • Evaluation of modern concerns over catastrophic climate change and sea level rise related to anthropogenic CO2. • Challenges to implementation of consequent Net Zero target arising from fast depleting crit...

Salt deposits correspond to relatively extreme climate events. However, due to insufficient independent temperature proxies, there is a lack of paleotemperature records obtained from salt laminae deposition .The Paleocene evaporite sequence deposited in the Hongze Depression of Subei Basin provides an important terrestrial sediment record during th...

Granulite facies rocks provide important keys to evaluating collisional metamorphism in orogenic belts. The mafic granulites of Baoding in the Fuping Complex of the North China Craton occur within the Trans-North China Orogen (TNCO), a major Paleoproterozoic collisional orogen. Here, we present results from detailed investigations on newly discover...

The mechanism of gold migration, enrichment, and precipitation in forming world-class gold deposits has been a topic of wide interest, particularly where these deposits are abundant in tellurides. The Jiaodong Peninsula in eastern China hosts some of the world-class gold deposits among which the Jinqingding deposit is one of the best examples with...

Orogenic gold systems are arguably the most variable mineral system globally in terms of an extreme range of depositional depths, corresponding P–T conditions and wallrock alteration assemblages, structural controls and styles, and element associations. This diversity has ignited controversy on genetic models for the two decades since orogenic gold...

The spatio-temporal distribution of COVID-19 across India’s states and union territories is not uniform, and the reasons for the heterogeneous spread are unclear. Identifying the space–time trends and underlying indicators influencing COVID-19 epidemiology at micro-administrative units (districts) will help guide public health strategies. The distr...

A major question in geodynamic evolution of the Earth is whether the continental keel evolved geochemically or were delaminated and replaced by a new mantle. Here we present direct evidence for the geochemical evolution of continental keel from lherzolite xenoliths preserved in the Cenozoic alkali basalts from Jeju Island, Korea. Our findings, usin...

Landslides are among the devastating geological hazards that cause immense damage in hilly regions. The Indian Himalayan region is plagued by numerous major landslides. Here we present results of landslide susceptibility mapping in a representative area of Jakholi region of Indian Himalaya based on a novel approach of integrating deep learning neur...

Lithium (Li), a crucial mineral resource for modern high-tech industries, is notably abundant in the northern Tibetan Plateau, primarily within lithium-rich salt lakes. However, the exploration and development of these resources are hindered due to an incomplete understanding of their nature and origin. Here we present results from a comprehensive...

The Shuangyuangou copper deposit is located in the southern segment of the Qinling orogenic belt in central China. The ore‐related intrusions include quartz diorite porphyry, granite porphyry and lamprophyre. In this study, we present whole‐rock geochemistry, zircon U–Pb geochronology, trace elements and Lu–Hf isotope data on the Shuangyuangou intr...

The Sm-Nd geochronology has great potential to directly constrain the age of hydrocarbon generation, migration, and charging; however , this technique has been rarely applied and poorly understood in the context of timing of petroleum system formation and evolution. In this contribution, we carried out a comprehensive study of the Sm-Nd isotope, mi...

Landslides are a prevalent geologic phenomenon that substantially threatens human life and infrastructure, resulting in considerable loss and destruction. The practice of landslide susceptibility mapping is crucial for the mitigation of risks connected with this natural disaster. This work aims at investigating the influence of varying sample sizes...