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—The Kolyvan’–Tomsk folded zone (KTFZ) is a late Permian collisional orogen in the northwestern section of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The Mesozoic history of the KTFZ area includes Late Triassic–Early Jurassic and Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous orogenic events. The earlier event produced narrow deep half-ramp basins filled with Early–Middle Jurassic molasse south of the KTFZ, and the later activity rejuvenated the Tomsk thrust fault, whereby the KTFZ Paleozoic rocks were thrust over the Early–Middle Jurassic basin sediments. The Mesozoic orogenic events induced erosion and the ensuing exposure of granitoids (Barlak complex) that were emplaced in a within-plate context after the Permian collisional orogeny. Both events were most likely associated with ocean closure, i.e., the Paleothetys Ocean in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic and the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean in the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. The apatite fission track (AFT) ages of granitoids from the Ob’ complex in the KTFZ range between ~120 and 100 Ma (the Aptian and the Albian). The rocks with Early Cretaceous AFT ages were exhumed as a result of denudation and peneplanation of the Early Cretaceous orogeny, which produced a vast Late Cretaceous–Paleogene planation surface. The tectonic pattern of the two orogenic events, although being different in details, generally inherited the late Paleozoic primary collisional structure of the Kolyvan’–Tomsk zone.

Late Paleozoic – early Mesozoic geological evolution of the Kolyvan-Tomsk Fold Zone (KTFZ) located in the northwestern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt is significant to understanding the tectonic transition from post-collision to intraplate settings. We present new whole-rock geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic data, and in situ zircon U-Pb ages for granitic rocks from the KTFZ basement to constrain their petrogenesis and to characterize changing of the tectonic setting and geodynamic evolution. Zircon U-Pb ages reveal extended multi-stage emplacement of the KTFZ granitoids for about 20 Ma from ~260 to ~240 Ma, that can be divided into two stages: the Permian-Triassic (~260 to 250 Ma) and the Triassic (~250 to 240 Ma). The Permian –Triassic granitic rocks with SiO2 between 63% and 74% have high LREE, HFSE (except Nb and Ta), Sr, Mg#, Cr, Ni concentrations, Sr/Y and (La/Yb)N ratios and remarkably low Y and Yb contents and 87Sr/86Sr(T) values (0.704682 and 0.703368). They are magnesian and show metaluminous to weakly peraluminous natures, indicating their formation through high degree fractionation of mantle-derived magmas. The Triassic granitoids exhibit extremely high SiO2 (73–77%), HFSE, HREE, Rb contents, Rb/Sr ratios and elevated negative Eu and Sr anomalies, low Mg#. They are ferroan and have a peraluminous nature with the absence of aluminium-rich minerals, all of which indicate the presence of the crustal substance in the magma source. Isotopic Nd compositions show that the both the Permian –Triassic and Triassic granitoids have uniform magma's, which were derived from partial melting of juvenile Neoproterozoic sources. These two stages of granitoid magmatism are interpreted as reflecting the transition from post-collisional magmatism, related to the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean due to collision between the Baltica and Siberian paleocontinents during the Late Permian – Early Triassic and hence, to the intraplate magmatism. The formation of the KTFZ granitic rocks was induced by an upwelling asthenosphere in an extensional geodynamic setting. During the post-collisional process, the large-scale lithospheric delamination plays a key role in the genesis of the Permian-Triassic granitoids and provide the magma generation for them. In the Triassic, we propose additional source of heat from mantle plume beneath the KTFZ, which promote extending of the granitoid magmatism in intraplate setting.

Waiting times are an important barrier to timely obtaining appropriate mental health care in Flanders, but structural data is limited.To describe the waiting time problem in Flanders and propose some causal hypotheses and possible interventions.An exploration of the available waiting time data, supplemented with literature and insights based on the results of some Flemish Centers for Mental Healthcare.Waiting times are especially problematic for subsidized outpatient care and care for children and youth, although the current data provide an incomplete picture. Besides capacity, important factors are the organization of the intake (e.g. assessment) and flow parameters (e.g. mean treatment duration - and intensity).Eliminating waiting lists is one of the greatest challenges for Flemish mental health care. There is a need to expand capacity as well as the smarter use of existing capacity and resources. A joint multi-level approach is required.

The Uzbek Tian Shan is a prominent metal-rich belt, hosting world-class orogenic Au deposits such as Muruntau. However, its post-collisional history in relation to fluid alteration and mineralisation remains elusive. We present apatite U–Pb dates and rare earth element geochemistry for 44 granitoids, revealing a prolonged history of low-grade metamorphism and associated fluid alteration between ~285 and ~240 Ma. A resulting apatite U–Pb age interpolation map reveals two young anomalies that are interpreted as post-orogenic fluid circulation cells. In addition, the extent of Meso-Cenozoic denudation is presented using apatite fission track (FT) age data. In areas of good data coverage, the combined Apatite U–Pb and FT anomalies reveal a correlation with the locations of orogenic Au mineralisation. Although more data is required to further evaluate such correlation, our study illustrates that integrated multi-method apatite thermochronology and geochemistry may have the potential to become a novel viable tool for mineral exploration.

International audience; Accessory zircon from the polyphase Raygorodok stock (Northern Kazakhstan) has been dated by local U–Pb analysis (SIMS and LA-ICP-MS). This Au-bearing intrusion has been dated to 442–447 Ma, suggesting its emplacement at the very end of the Ordovician and Early Silurian, allowing the stock’s correlation with the Stepnyak Complex of small intrusions. Thus, control of small intrusions of the Stepnyak type over gold mineralization has been corroborated permitting their use as a regional prospecting characteristic.

The lithostratigraphy, age and human occupation of the Late Glacial and Holocene aeolian succession of a Late Palaeolithic Ahrensburg site in the excavation Geldrop-A2 (municipality of Heeze-Leende) have been investigated. The exposure revealed a stacked sequence of aeolian sand units and intercalated soils (Older Coversand II, Younger Coversand I (YCI), Usselo Soil, Younger Coversand II (YCII), Holocene podzol, drift sand). Fourteen optically stimulated luminescence dates on quartz and three radiocarbon dates provide the age control of the aeolian deposition (coversands, drift sand), landscape stability (soils) and human occupation. The upper part of the YCI unit was dated to the early Late Glacial. The well-developed Usselo Soil was formed during a phase of landscape stability during the late Allerød interstadial and onset of the Younger Dryas stadial. During the Younger Dryas, low aeolian dunes were formed locally (YCII), as a response to landscape instability due to cooling and vegetation decline. In the fine-grained lower part of the YCII unit an initial soil testifies to a decadal to centennial period of landscape stability. An Ahrensburg site in the upper part of this initial soil was dated at 10,915±35 BP (c. 12,854–12,789 cal BP). The lithostratigraphic position, radiocarbon dates of the underlying Usselo Soil and a possibly old-wood effect of up to 200 years suggest that Ahrensburg occupation of the dune environment occurred during the early Younger Dryas, shortly afterc. 10,750 BP (12,750 cal BP). Landscape stability and podzol soil formation dominated the early and middle Holocene periods. Drift-sand deposition, probably related to human land use and vegetation decline, occurred in a 200-year period from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Metastable states created by electron or hole capture in crystal defects are widely used in dosimetry and photonic applications. Feldspar, the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust (> 50%), generates metastable states with lifetimes of millions of years upon exposure to ionizing radiation. Although feldspar is widely used in dosimetry and geochronometry, the creation of metastable states and charge transfer across them is poorly understood. Understanding such phenomena requires next-generation methods based on high-resolution, site-selective probing of the metastable states. Recent studies using site-selective techniques such as photoluminescence (PL), and radioluminescence (RL) at 7 K have revealed that feldspar exhibits two near-infrared (NIR) emission bands peaking at 880 nm and 955 nm, which are believed to arise from the principal electron-trapping states. Here, we map for the first time the electron-trapping states in potassium-rich feldspar using spectrally-resolved cathodoluminescence microscopy at a spatial resolution of ~ 6 to 22 µm. Each pixel probed by a scanning electron microscope provides us a cathodoluminescence spectrum (SEM-CL) in the range 600–1000 nm, and elemental data from energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. We conclude that the two NIR emissions are spatially variable and, therefore, originate from different sites. This conclusion contradicts the existing model that the two emissions arise from two different excited states of a principal trap. Moreover, we are able to link the individual NIR emission peaks with the geochemical variations (K, Na and Fe concentration), and propose a model that explains the quenching of the NIR emission by Fe4+. Our study contributes to an improved understanding of charge storage in feldspathic minerals, with implications for developing sub-single grain (micrometer scale) measurement techniques in radiation dosimetry.

The Karagwe-Ankole belt (KAB) is a poorly understood deformation belt in the Great Lakes area of Central Africa, with several hypotheses put forward to explain the emplacement of the various generations of granites. The youngest generation of granites (G4; 1000 Ma) are spatially associated with Sn-W-Ta ore deposits, and are considered as the parental granites. The paragenesis of these mineral resources have been extensively scrutinised, but the geodynamic context and characterisation of these parental granites has been neglected. Tectonic models for the formation of this plutonic suite range from an intra-cratonic to full-scale continent–continent collision setting. In this study, the G4 intrusive suite of the KAB granites, are characterised based on whole-rock geochemical analysis and U-Pb zircon dating. Two main populations of U-Pb zircon ages are identified in the G4 granites at 1370–1420 Ma and 950–1020 Ma. The older population is attributed to inheritance of the bimodal magmatic Kibaran event, while the younger population is ascribed to the new crystallisation. G4 granites contain xenocrystic zircon, indicating inheritance of older granites or basement rocks. G4 granites are, however, much more differentiated compared to older Kibaran granites, containing higher K and Rb and lower Ca, Sr and Ba concentrations, which implicates recycling of older crustal material. The variable geochemistry, as well as the different proportions of xenocrystic zircons in the different granite bodies, suggest melting was highly localised and derived from a highly heterogeneous source region, for which an intracontinental setting is favoured. The Th/U ratios of the parental granites are lower than 0.1, which would suggest a metamorphic origin of the granites. Together with the low luminescence signal of these zircons an anatectic origin of the melt is considered, implying that the parental granites could be considered more like migmatites rather than actual granites formed by fractionation out of large magma chambers.

Ancient forests all over Europe often preserve remains of (pre)historic charcoal production (kilns), informing on past forest composition and anthropogenic woodland exploitation. So far, the chronology of these features has been entirely derived from 14C-dating of associated charcoal. Though generally successful, 14C-dating cannot provide meaningful age information for post-1650 CE features, while most of the archaeological remains of charcoal kilns date to this period. Here, we investigate the potential of quartz-based optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments that were heated during charcoal production as a more precise alternative tool for age determination of these kilns. Using a set of 14 samples collected from both relict charcoal kilns and the underlying parent material, we first document the quartz OSL characteristics in terms of the procedural tests commonly used to assess the appropriateness of the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol. The results suggest that the measurement procedure allows determining equivalent doses both accurately and precisely. We then demonstrate how the linear part of the dose-response curve can be exploited to examine completeness of resetting and/or post-depositional disturbance without compromising instrument time, precision and laboratory accuracy. Optical ages derived from these distributions are consistent with the available independent (14C) age information for the charcoal kilns. We conclude that OSL can provide an accurate and viable alternative to 14C and will be especially useful to constrain post-1650 CE features in time. Our results also suggest that the approach may allow establishing relative chronologies with a time resolution of 2–4%.

Results of apatite fission track dating have been summarized and correlated with stratigraphic, geoelectrical, tectonic, and geomorphological data. The average regional rate of rock denudation in southeastern Gorny Altai is reflected in three thermotectonic events: (1) Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene tectonic activity with a denudation rate of ~200 m/Myr, related to the distant impact of the Mongol–Okhotsk orogeny; (2) Middle Paleogene–Early Neogene stabilization with peneplanation; and (3) Neogene–Quaternary “stepwise” tectonic activity with a denudation rate of ≤270 m/Myr, related to the distant impact of the Indo-Eurasian collision. We present results of study of the evolution of regional tectonic processes and topography over the last 100 Myr by analysis of digital and shaded elevation models and apatite fission track dating.

The Kokchetav subduction-collision zone is located in the western part of the ancestral Central Asian Orogenic Belt. This zone is built up by the Precambrian Kokchetav microcontinent which includes a HP-UHP metamorphic belt, and the North Kokchetav tectonic zone (NKTZ) which represents an accretionary complex between the Kokchetav microcontinent and the adjacent Stepnyak island-arc. The entire region is widely intruded by Palaeozoic granitoids which were emplaced after the collision of the Stepnyak island-arc with the Kokchetav microcontinent. We present zircon U-Pb ages and Lu-Hf systematics in zircon to better characterize the tectonic evolution of the Kokchetav subduction-collision zone.The Lu-Hf results indicate that the Kokchetav basement rocks are derived from late Neoarchaean - early Palaeoproterozoic (~. 2.5. Ga) crust. For the granite-gneiss basement of the Kokchetav microcontinent, early Mesoproterozoic (Grenville-age, ~. 1.17-1.14. Ga) zircon U-Pb crystallization ages were obtained. For the NKTZ, two main age-components were recognized: (1) an oldest Mesoproterozoic age-component (~. 1.20-1.05. Ga) similar as for the Kokchetav microcontinental zircons, and (2) a younger Early Cambrian (540-520. Ma) or Late Cambrian - Early Ordovician (~. 490-480. Ma) age-component. Th/U ratios (. 0.1) and are typical of a magmatic protolith. The distinction between both zircon types is supported by characteristic cathodoluminescence images. These results confirm previous observations, indicating early Palaeozoic high-grade metamorphism (~. 540-520. Ma) and collisional deformation (~. 490-480. Ma) of the Mesoproterozoic Kokchetav zone as a result of subduction-accretion and collision of the Stepnyak island-arc to the Kokchetav microcontinent. For two additional samples of the Balkashin granitic complex Early Devonian (~. 415-395. Ma) zircon crystallization ages (magmatic Th/U ratios) were obtained. The occurrence of a Mesozoic xenocryst within these leucogranites may indicate that they were emplaced in a continental-arc setting. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Detrital zircons from the Ordovician and Devonian sedimentary cover of the Siberian Craton were analyzed for U/Pb geochronology to understand their sediment provenances. Five main age-peaks were identified in the zircon U/Pb age-spectra: (1) Neoarchaean – early Palaeoproterozoic (2.7–2.4 Ga); (2) late Palaeoproterozoic (2.0–1.65 Ga); (3) minor early Neoproterozoic (1.0–0.75 Ga); (4) Ediacaran (0.65–0.60 Ga) and (5) Cambrian – Early Ordovician (0.54–0.47 Ga), reflecting the main magmatic events in the sediment source regions. The oldest zircons (groups 1 and 2) are derived from the Siberian Craton which amalgamated during the Neoarchean – Palaeoproterozoic. The Neoproterozoic zircons (groups 3 and 4) likely sourced from southwestern basement uplifts and Neoproterozoic belts of the Siberian margin such as the Yenisey Ridge and Baikal-Muya region. The provenance of the youngest zircons (group 5) can be traced to the Altai–Sayan fold-belt, where peri-Gondwanan microcontinents and island-arcs accreted to Siberia during late Neoproterozoic – early Palaeozoic progressive consumption of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean.

The interplay of geodynamic and sedimentation processes in the Central Asian orogen and the Siberian craton is discussed in several aspects: (i) general tectonics of the Central Asian orogen, (ii) correlation of deposition and collision events, (iii) deposition history and sediment sources on the northern and eastern margins of the Siberian craton, compared, and (iv) history of the Central Asian orogen (Altaids) and formation of Early Mesozoic sedimentary basins. Chemical and isotope compositions and geochronology of Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic sedimentary sequences indicate deposition synchronicity in basins of different types, within both the craton and the orogen. Thus geodynamic models of deposition in separate basins provide reliable evidence of the history of orogens flanking the Siberian craton. The study has confirmed the existence of the Vendian–Early Paleozoic Charysh–Terekta–Ulagan–Sayan–Olkhon strike-slip suture between the continental-margin complexes of Siberia and Kazakhstan, with the crust of juvenile and mixed types, respectively. Late Paleozoic large-scale strike-slip faulting deformed the previous tectonic framework and caused tectonic mixing of the older structures on different margins. This superposed deformation makes it difficult to decipher the paleogeography, paleotectonics, and paleogeodynamics of the Central Asian orogen.

The Siberian Altai forms part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and currently is an active intracontinental mountain belt. This Siberian Altai orogen was shaped during multiple phases of intense mountain building and associated denudation throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. We performed a multi-method thermochronometric study on the Altai basement in Siberia in order to distinguish these denudation episodes and to place them in an absolute time-frame. Our data shows that inherited suture zones, such as the Charysh–Terekta–Ulagan–Sayan suture, played a dominant role during this episodic deformation in the Altai. Titanite fission track results reveal Late Triassic–Early Jurassic cooling, which is best expressed in intrusions close to the suture zone. Apatite fission track (AFT) results reveal a second phase of steady basement cooling during the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. In the suture, AFT and additional apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He (AHe) data reveal a consistent Late Cretaceous–Early Palaeogene phase of fast cooling. We interpret the Mesozoic cooling signals as far-field effects of the Mongol-Okhotsk orogeny. The intense Late Cretaceous–Palaeogene basement cooling signal in the suture zone can be explained as a result of fault-reactivation during the collapse of this orogen and the subsequent re-organization of crustal blocks. During most of the Palaeogene and Early Neogene, basement cooling stagnated, indicating tectonic quiescence. Neogene AHe ages for the Kurai Range, directly adjacent to the suture may reflect renewed rapid cooling as a result of denudation of the present-day Altai mountains. We interpret this most recent cooling as an indirect consequence of stress-propagation from the India–Eurasia collision into the CAOB interior, which thus reached as far as southern Siberia. This study further demonstrates the importance of thermochrological studies on intrusions along major fault-zones in order to date and distinguish fault-reactivation episodes.

The Irtysh shear zone (ISZ) is an important structure in the framework of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). It represents the site of final collision of Kazakhstan with Siberia during Hercynian times and records up to 1000 km of lateral displacement during subsequent reorganization in the CAOB edifice. We present new zircon U/Pb, apatite fission track and fault kinematic data along the ISZ and consequently derived its tectonic history with emphasis on its formation and reactivation episodes. Carboniferous (∼340–320 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages were obtained for the syn- and post-collisional Kalba–Narym intrusives, dating their emplacement in the framework of the Siberia–Kazakhstan collision. During this period, the ISZ experienced an ‘early brittle’ left-lateral, mainly transtensional stress regime. Late Carboniferous–Early Permian post-collisional intrusives were emplaced and the stress regime changed to a ‘late brittle’ regime, characterized by more compressional conditions, indicating rheological strengthening as a response to cessation of ductile shearing and cooling of the ISZ crust. Apatite fission track data and thermal history modeling reveal Late Cretaceous (∼100–70 Ma) cooling of the ISZ basement rocks as a response to denudation of a bordering Late Mesozoic Altai orogen. After this denudation event, the tectonic activity ceased during the Late Mesozoic–Early Cenozoic. A final step of cooling (from ∼25 Ma), exhibited by some of the thermal history models, may reflect reactivation of the ISZ and initiation of Cenozoic Altai mountain building. The Late Plio-Pleistocene phase of mountain building coincides with a new change in the Palaeostress field, characterized by minor transpressional, right-lateral shear conditions.

In this paper we present new geochronological and thermochronological data from the Turkestan-Alai segment of the southern Kyrgyz Tien Shan, the Ferghana Basin transition and the Trans-Alai Pamir foreland. In the southern and central parts of the Alai Range, towards the Alai Valley, mainly post-collisional granitoids were targeted for zircon U/Pb dating by Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), apatite fission-track (AFT) and apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He (AHe) thermochronology. These granitoids, and their thermally metamorphosed contact aureole, yielded Middle Permian zircon crystallization ages of 284 ± 4 to 264 ± 5 Ma. AFT ages (both using the traditional external detector approach as well as using LA-ICP-MS) for these samples are constrained to the Miocene and range between 22.3 ± 1.1 and 8.4 ± 0.3 Ma, while the AHe ages are somewhat younger, between 12.5 ± 0.8 and 5.0 ± 0.3 Ma. This low-temperature thermochronological data suggests an Early Miocene onset of denudation in this area in the Tien Shan orogen, continuing through the Miocene and Pliocene. This denudation is interpreted as a response to reactivation of the mountain belt in the framework of India–Eurasia convergence, and specific to this region, of the Pamir–Tien Shan interaction. On the northern slopes of the Alai Range, at the edge of the Ferghana Basin, a Late Palaeozoic conglomerate yielded a reset Early Cretaceous AFT age of 118 ± 7 Ma, pointing to an older denudation event with respect to those identified in the southern and central parts of the Alai Range. A Mesozoic sediment sample from the same region only contains a Late Triassic age component of ∼223 Ma. Mesozoic and Cenozoic age components on the other hand are all detected in the Cenozoic sediments of the Trans-Alai Range, at the transition between the southern Alai Valley and the Pamirs, revealing several Meso-Cenozoic denudation events in the adjoining basement source rocks. The age components in these detrital apatites are ∼207 Ma, ∼75 Ma, ∼18 Ma and ∼3 Ma.

Granites from the Tunka pluton of the Sarkhoi complex, located in the eastern Tunka bald mountains (East Sayan), have been dated at the Middle Ordovician (462.6 ± 7.8 Ma) by LA ICP MS. The granites of the Sarkhoi complex within the studied area cut a foldthrust structure consisting of deformed fragments of the Vendian (Ediacaran)–Early Cambrian cover of the Tuva–Mongolian microcontinent (Upper Shumak metaterrigenous formation, Gorlyk carbonate formation). The red-colored conglomerates and sandstones of the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous(?) Sagan-Sair Formation overlie the eroded surface of the Tunka pluton granites in the eastern Tunka bald mountains. The Sagan-Sair Formation, in turn, is overlain along a low-angle thrust by a group of tectonic sheets, which comprises the volcanic and carbonate sediments of the Tolta Formation, biotitic schists, and plagiogneisses with garnet amphibolite bodies. Two nappe generations have been revealed on the basis of the described geologic relationships, the Middle Ordovician age of the Tunka pluton granites, and numerous Late Paleozoic Ar–Ar dates of syntectonic minerals from the metamorphic rocks in the area. The first thrusting stage was pre-Middle Ordovician, and the second, Late Carboniferous–Permian. The Lower Paleozoic thrust structure resulted from the accretion of the Tuva–Mongolian microcontinent to the Siberian Platform. The Late Paleozoic nappes resulted from intracontinental orogeny and the reactivation of an Early Paleozoic accretionary belt under the effect of the Late Paleozoic collisional events.

The Altai-Sayan Fold Belt epitomises how Phanerozoic island-arc continental crust contributed to the growth of the Palaeo-Eurasian continent. Its formation is dominated by the closure of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean (PAO) when island-arc systems and Gondwana-derived terranes accreted to the Siberian margin. Relics of the PAO related tectonic units and associated granitoids occur along the ophiolitic Charysh–Terekta–Ulagan–Sayan suture (CTUSs) between Gorny-Altai and Altai-Mongolia. Zircon LA-ICP-MS U/Pb dating of this igneous record constrains the multi-stage geodynamic PAO evolution. Primitive Kuznetsk-Altai island-arc crust formed at the Siberian margin during the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian (525–555 Ma). This island-arc matured during the Middle–Late Cambrian (~ 510 Ma) and was consumed by PAO subduction in the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician (480–490 Ma) forming the Siberian Early Caledonian accretion–collision belt. South of the CTUSs, granitic magmatism occurred within Gondwana-derived Altai-Mongolia during the Middle–Late Ordovician (450–470 Ma) Palaeo-Kazakhstan assembly and during a Silurian–Early Devonian (400–425 Ma) Andean-type collision. Middle–Late Devonian (360–395 Ma) granitoids were emplaced as a result of the collision of Altai-Mongolia with Siberia. During final Pangaea amalgamation, the suture was strike-slip reactivated (associated magmatism ~ 295 Ma). The youngest (220–255 Ma) sampled granitoids originated in an intra-plate setting.

The furthest distance that is judged to be reachable can change after participants have used a tool or if they are led to misjudge the position of their hand. Here we investigated how judged reachability changed when visual feedback about the hand was shifted. We hoped to distinguish between various ways in which visuomotor adaptation could influence judged reachability. Participants had to judge whether they could reach a virtual cube without actually doing so. They indicated whether they could reach this virtual cube by moving their hand. During these hand movements, visual feedback about the position of the hand was shifted in depth, either away from or toward the participant. Participants always adapted to the shifted feedback. In a session in which the hand movements in the presence of visual feedback were mainly in depth, perceived reachability shifted in accordance with the feedback (more distant cubes were judged to be reachable when feedback was shifted further away). In a second session in which the hand movements in the presence of visual feedback were mainly sideways, for some participants perceived reachability shifted in the opposite direction than we expected. The shift in perceived reachability was not correlated with the adaptation to the shift in visual feedback. We conclude that reachability judgments are not directly related to visuomotor adaptation.

The North Kokchetav tectonic zone is located between the Kokchetav HP-UHP metamorphic belt and the Stepnyak zone of Ordovician island arc and oceanic complexes. The Kokchetav zone is a collage of nappes (thrust sheets) that consist of basement gneiss and sedimentary rocks of the Kokchetav microcontinent, granite gneiss, mica schists with eclogite blocks, the Shchuch’e ophiolite, Middle Proterozoic felsic volcanics, and Arenigian siliceous-terrigenous sediments with olistostromes. The latter are of gravity-sliding origin and their clastic material includes quartz-muscovite and quartz-garnet-muscovite schists, gneiss, dolomite, and amphibolite. The sheet boundaries are marked by mylonite and Early Ordovician mica schists ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of syntectonic muscovite are 489–469 Ma). The North Kokchetav collage of compositionally diverse thrust sheets can be interpreted as a collisional zone. According to geological evidence, tectonic activity in the zone lasted as late as the Middle Ordovician. Syncollisional thrusting in the North Kokchetav zone was coeval with the latest dynamic metamorphic event in the Kokchetav belt. All events of retrograde metamorphism and exhumation of HP and UHP rocks in the belt have Cambrian ages, i.e., the rocks had been exhumed prior to the Early–Middle Ordovician collisions and the related orogeny.

Multichronological data reveal the thermotectonic history of the northern Kyrgyz Tien Shan granitoids (Kyrgyzstan) from emplacement to exhumation. Zircon SHRIMP and LA-ICP-MS U/Pb concordia ages suggest a Middle to Late Ordovician crystallization age (440–470 Ma) for the most voluminous; Caledonian intrusion phase, which is associated with the evolution and closure of the Early Palaeozoic Terskey Ocean. The presence of some additional Early Ordovician – Cambrian U/Pb ages point towards a prolonged production of granitoids during the entire Early Palaeozoic. A sampled younger granitoid (292 ± 5 Ma) was formed during the final closure of the Turkestan Ocean when Tarim eventually collided with the Kazakhstan plate during Hercynian orogeny. 40Ar/39Ar step-wise heating plateau-ages (biotite Ar/Ar: 400–440 Ma; K-feldspar Ar/Ar: 235–375 Ma) bear witness to rapid Silurian – Early Devonian post-magmatic cooling of the Caledonian intrusives, followed by a more modest rate of cooling during the Late Devonian until the Late Triassic. Low-temperature techniques such as apatite fission track (AFT) and Apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He (AHe) thermochronology, give Late Jurassic – Cretaceous ages (90–160 Ma) with some Cenozoic outliers. Thermal history modelling allows us to distinguish two marked cooling phases: (1) Mesozoic cooling occurred as the result of denudation and exhumation of the Tien Shan basement during a pulse of tectonic reactivation, associated with the Cimmerian orogeny. (2) Late Cenozoic cooling (∼10–3 Ma) reflects a far-field effect of the India–Eurasia collision. Some samples also experienced a Late Oligocene – Miocene reheating event, which could be the result of burial due to sediment load stripped from the adjacent, eroding mountain ranges.

Studies investigating the eVect of visual illusions on saccadic eye movements have provided a wide variety of results. In this study, we test three factors that might explain this variability: the spatial predictability of the stimulus, the duration of the stimulus and the latency of the saccades. Participants made a saccade from one end of a Müller-Lyer Wgure to the other end. By changing the spatial predictability of the stimulus, we Wnd that the illusion has a clear eVect on saccades (16%) when the stimulus is at a highly predictable location. Even stronger eVects of the illusion are found when the stimulus location becomes more unpredictable (19-23%). Conversely, manipulating the duration of the stimulus fails to reveal a clear diVerence in illusion eVect. Finally, by computing the illusion eVect for diVerent saccadic latencies, we Wnd a maximum illusion eVect (about 30%) for very short latencies, which decreases by 7% with every 100 ms latency increase. We conclude that spatial predictability of the stimulus and saccadic latency inXuences the eVect of the Müller-Lyer illusion on saccades. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

Recently, Gonzalez et al. (J Neurophys 95:3496-3501, 2006) reported that movements with the left hand are more susceptible to visual size illusions than are those with the right hand. We hypothesized that this might be because proprioceptive information about the position of the left hand is less precise. If so, the difference between the hands should become clearer when vision of the hand is removed so that subjects can only rely on proprioception to locate their hand. We tested whether this was so by letting right-handed subjects make open-loop pointing movements within an illusory context with and without vision of their hand. On average, the illusion influenced the left and the right hand to the same extent, irrespective of the visibility of the hand. There were some systematic differences between the hands within certain regions of space, but these were not consistent across subjects. We conclude that there is no fundamental difference between the hands in susceptibility to the Brentano illusion.

It has been suggested that the metrics of grasping movements directed to visible objects are controlled in real time and are therefore unaffected by previous experience. We tested whether the properties of a visually presented distractor object influence the kinematics of a subsequent grasping movement performed under full vision. After viewing an elliptical distractor object in one of two different orientations participants grasped a target object, which was either the same object with the same orientation or a circular object without obvious orientation. When grasping the circular target, grip orientation was influenced by the orientation of the distractor. Moreover, as in classical visuomotor priming, grasping movements were initiated faster when distractor and target were identical. Results provide evidence that planning of visually guided grasping movements is influenced by prior perceptual experience, challenging the notion that metric aspects of grasping are controlled exclusively on the basis of real-time information.

Apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronological modeling as a diagnostic tool for periods of stability (peneplanation) and tectonic activity (orogeny) has been broadly used in tectonic studies of Central Asia in recent years. We discuss more than 100 AFT ages of samples from the Kyrgyz Tien Shan and Altai and compare them with AFT data from northern Kazakhstan. Geological, geomorphological, and AFT data indicate intense activity in the Late Cenozoic Eurasian continental interior. The impact from the India-Eurasia collision on the northern Tien Shan, Altai, and northern Kazakhstan regions showed up at 11, 5, and 3 Ma, respectively, as a result of stress propagation into the continent, with the ensuing reactivation and mountain growth. We hypothesize that a distant effect of the Late Cenozoic India-Eurasia collision was to rejuvenate Paleozoic fault zones and to deform the Mesozoic sedimentary cover north of the collision front as far as the West Siberian Plate. The reactivation facilitated formation of tectonic oil and gas traps. The activity in northern Central Asia under the effect of the Indian indentation into Eurasia appears to continue and may evolve to include uplift of southern West Siberian plate with uplift.

The Chulyshman Plateau (CP) is located in the central Siberian Altai Mountains and is bordered by active strike-slip and thrust faults. The current mountainous morphology developed since the Late Miocene to Pliocene by transpressive tectonics as a distant effect of India–Eurasia convergence. The metamorphic basement of the plateau is widely intruded by Palaeozoic granitoids. To constrain the thermo-tectonic history, apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronology on basement and granitoids was performed. Cretaceous AFT ages ( ∼ 130 – 90 Ma ) were obtained, while mean track lengths ( 13 – 14 μ m ) and length distributions indicate thermal track shortening and prolonged residence in the apatite partial annealing zone. The AFT data were modelled and a three-stage thermal history model was reconstructed. First, a Late Jurassic–Cretaceous cooling is associated with Mesozoic tectonic reactivation of the area. A second stage is a Late Cretaceous–Early Neogene period of stability linked to regional peneplanation. Final cooling is related to denudation of the CP during Late Cenozoic tectonic reactivation.

The Kuril islands constitute a volcanic island arc-trench system, stretching from eastern Hokkaido (Japan) to Kamchatka (Russia) along the northwestern Pacific subduction system. The current arc consists of several volcanic islands mainly with Neogene basement and capped by several, predominantly andesitic, active subduction stratovolcanoes. Kunashir Island is the southwestern-most island of the arc, just off the Hokkaido coast and represents the study area in this paper. The island is composed of a Lower Complex of mainly late Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks, covered by an Upper Complex of younger (basaltic) andesitic lava flows and tuffs on which currently four active volcanic edifices are built. In the Lower Complex sub-volcanic and deeper-seated intrusives of the so-called Prasolov and Dokuchaev magmatic complexes are found. More differentiated, tonalitic-granodioritic rocks were collected from these small intrusive bodies. An early Oligocene zircon LA-ICP-MS U/Pb age of 31 Ma for the Prasolov Complex was obtained, showing that the basement of Kunashir Island is older than previously thought. Thermochronometry (apatite fission-track and U-Th-Sm/He and zircon U-Th/He analyses) further shows that the magmatic basement of the island was rapidly exhumed in the Pleistocene to present levels in a differential pattern, with He-ages ranging from 1.9 to 0.8 Ma. It is shown that the northern section of the island was hereby exhumed more intensely. (C) 2015, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University

The complex crustal structure of the Tien Shan has a strong impact on the distribution of strain induced by the India–Eurasia collision, with intracontinental deformation in Eurasia’s interior as a distant effect. The northward propagation of the India–Eurasia deformation front is suggested by the rejuvenation of mountain ranges and intermittent intramontane basins. The Tien Shan basement is formed by the rigid, heterogeneous Precambrian blocks (microcontinents) of Tarim, Issyk-Kul (or Central Tien Shan) and Aktyuz-Boordin, surrounded by a ‘soft’ matrix of Paleozoic accretion–collision belts. The Kyrgyz Tien Shan Mountains are situated between the active structures of the Tarim Plate and the Pamir indenter (south), and the stable Kazakhstan Shield (north). Underplating by the Tarim Plate and thrusting by the Pamirs are responsible for the building of the Cenozoic Tien Shan, the reactivation of its inherited structural fabric and the tectonic layering of the upper lithosphere underlying the area. Large earthquakes ( M > 6) delineate the northern and southern margins of the Issyk-Kul microcontinent, indicating that crustal heterogeneity influenced the location of active structures in the northern Kyrgyz Tien Shan.

One generally has the impression that one feels one's hand at the same location as one sees it. However, because our brain deals with possibly conflicting visual and proprioceptive information about hand position by combining it into an optimal estimate of the hand's location, mutual calibration is not necessary to achieve such a coherent percept. Does sensory integration nevertheless entail sensory calibration? We asked subjects to move their hand between visual targets. Blocks of trials without any visual feedback about their hand's position were alternated with blocks with veridical visual feedback. Whenever vision was removed, individual subjects' hands slowly drifted toward the same position to which they had drifted on previous blocks without visual feedback. The time course of the observed drift depended in a predictable manner (assuming optimal sensory combination) on the variable errors in the blocks with and without visual feedback. We conclude that the optimal use of unaligned sensory information, rather than changes within either of the senses or an accumulation of execution errors, is the cause of the frequently observed movement drift. The conclusion that seeing one's hand does not lead to an alignment between vision and proprioception has important consequences for the interpretation of previous work on visuomotor adaptation. © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

In the Brentano version of the Müller-Lyer illusion one part looks longer and the other looks shorter than it really is. We asked participants to make saccadic eye movements along these parts of the figure and between positions on the figure and a position outside the illusion. By showing that saccades from outside the figure are not influenced by the illusion, we demonstrate that the reason that saccades along the figure are influenced is that the incorrectly judged length is used to plan the amplitude of the saccade. This finding contradicts several current views on the use of visual information for action. We conclude that actions are influenced by visual illusions, but that such influences are only apparent if the action is guided by the attribute that is fooled by the illusion. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.

It is not evident how the small effects of the flankers of the Ebbinghaus figure on peak grip aperture (PGA) should be interpreted. One interpretation is that the flankers influence the estimated size, which in turn influences the grasp. If this interpretation is correct, then only the size-dependent aspects of the grasping movement should depend on the spatial positions of the flankers. An alternative interpretation is that the effect on grip aperture is caused by a change in judgement of the required precision, in which case various aspects of the grasping movement could be influenced by the size and position of the flankers. We presented subjects with a display consisting of a central disk surrounded by four large or small flankers. The array of circular flankers could be rotated by 45 degrees . There were two tasks: to reproduce the perceived size of the central disk, and to grasp the central disk. As in other studies, the reproduced size and the PGA were both influenced by the size of the flankers. The effect on reproduced size settings was independent of the flankers' spatial position. Nevertheless, the flankers' position did influence the final grip aperture and the grip orientation at PGA and at movement offset. Because the flankers changed more than only the PGA, we conclude that the effect of the flankers on prehension cannot only be because of misjudgement of the size of the central disk.

Pictorial illusions bias our judgments about certain visual attributes. Such illusions are therefore only expected to influence a task if these attributes are used to perform the task. When pointing to a position, different visual attributes could be used to guide the hand: direction and distance (or length) of the required displacement (vector coding) or the final position (position coding). In this study we used the Brentano illusion (an illusion of length) to determine which attributes are used in pointing. Several conditions were tested in which the visibility of the hand and the stimulus were varied. The illusion influenced movements between two points along the shaft of the figure, but not movements perpendicular to the shaft. When the hand and/or target were invisible during the movement, the influence of the illusion increased. Pointing movements under different visual conditions were based on different relative contributions of position and vector coding. The contribution of vector coding was always rather modest.

Many authors have performed experiments in which subjects grasp objects in illusory surroundings. The vast majority of these studies report that illusions affect the maximum grip aperture less than they affect the perceived size. This observation has frequently been regarded as experimental evidence for separate visual systems for perception and action. In order to make this conclusion, one assumes that the grip aperture is based on a visual estimate of the object's size. We believe that it is not, and that this is why size illusions fail to influence grip aperture. Illusions generally do not affect all aspects of space perception in a consistent way, but mainly affect the perception of specific spatial attributes. This applies not only to object size, but also to other spatial attributes such as position, orientation, displacement, speed, and direction of motion. Whether an illusion influences the execution of a task will therefore depend on which spatial attributes are used rather than on whether the task is perceptual or motor. To evaluate whether illusions affect actions when they influence the relevant spatial attributes we review experimental results on various tasks with inconsistent spatial processing in mind. Doing so shows that many actions are susceptible to visual illusions. We argue that the frequently reported differential effect of illusions on perceptual judgements and goal-directed action is caused by failures to ensure that the same spatial attributes are used in the two tasks. Illusions only affect those aspects of a task that are based on the spatial attributes that are affected by the illusion.

The Salem Block represents the northern part of the Southern Granulite Terrane in SE India, adjacent to the southern Dharwar Craton. New zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf results on charnockites, granitoids and migmatites from the eastern Salem Block indicate that it mainly consists of bimodal juvenile Neoarchaean – early Palaeoproterozoic (∼2.75–2.65 Ga and ∼2.55–2.48 Ga) crust that underwent peak metamorphism at ∼2.53 Ga. These U–Pb ages and Lu–Hf isotopic signatures characterize the Salem Block as part of the lower crust of the Eastern Dharwar Craton. The oldest (∼2.75–2.65 Ga) granulites can be traced along important shear zones (Salem-Attur and Gangavalli Shear Zones), which may thus expose deeper levels of Eastern Dharwar lower crust, in a way similar to that proposed for the Nilgiri granulites. An additional (minor) contribution of recycled Western Dharwar Craton in the Salem Block is suggested by the presence of limited ∼3.65–3.35 Ga recycled crust and ∼2.9–2.6 Ga detritus. Younger intrusions within the Salem Block include the Cryogenian (∼820–800 Ma) Yelagiri alkaline complex and the Ediacaran (559.1 ± 3.5 Ma) Sankari-Tiruchengode granitoid complex. These were sourced from recycled Neoarchaean protoliths of the Salem Block. Cryogenian-Tonian age magmatism is widespread within the Southern Granulite Terrane and is possibly related to initial subduction of the Mozambique Ocean. The Ediacaran A-type granitoids are thought to have formed during the Malagasy Orogeny that is related with the final consumption of the Mozambique Ocean and the collision of India with Azania-East Africa.

[1] Multimethod chronology was applied on intrusives bordering the Kyrgyz South Tien Shan suture (STSs) to decipher the timing of (1) formation and amalgamation of the suturing units and (2) intracontinental deformation that built the bordering mountain ranges. Zircon U/Pb data indicate similarities between the Tien Shan and Tarim Precambrian crust. Caledonian (∼440–410 Ma) and Hercynian (∼310–280 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages were found at the edge of the STSs, related to subduction and closure of the Turkestan Ocean and the formation of the suture itself. Permian-Triassic (∼280–210 Ma) titanite fission track and zircon (U-Th)/He data record the first signs of exhumation when the STSs evolved into a shear zone and the adjacent Tarim basin started to subside. Low-temperature thermochronological (apatite fission track, zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He) analyses reveal three distinct cooling phases, becoming younger toward the STSs center: (1) Jurassic-Cretaceous cooling ages provide evidence that a Mesozoic South Tien Shan orogen formed as a response to the Cimmerian orogeny; (2) Early Paleogene (∼60–45 Ma) data indicate a renewed pulse of STSs reactivation during the Early Cenozoic; (3) Neogene ages constrain the onset of the modern Tien Shan mountain building to the Late Oligocene (∼30–25 Ma), which intensified during the Miocene (∼10–8 Ma) and Pliocene (∼3–2 Ma). The Cenozoic signals may reflect renewed responses to collisions at the southern Eurasian border (i.e., the Kohistan-Dras and India-Eurasia collisions). This progressive rejuvenation of the STSs demonstrates that deformation has not migrated steadily into the forelands, but was focused on pre-existing basement structures.

Background: It has been reported that participants judge an object to be closer after a stick has been used to touch it than after touching it with the hand. In this study we try to find out why this is so. Methodology: We showed six participants a cylindrical object on a table. On separate trials (randomly intermixed) participants either estimated verbally how far the object is from their body or they touched a remembered location. Touching was done either with the hand or with a stick (in separate blocks). In three different sessions, participants touched either the object location or the location halfway to the object location. Verbal judgments were given either in centimeters or in terms of whether the object would be reachable with the hand. No differences in verbal distance judgments or touching responses were found between the blocks in which the stick or the hand was used. Conclusion: Instead of finding out why the judged distance changes when using a tool, we found that using a stick does not necessarily alter judged distances or judgments about the reachability of objects. © 2011 de Grave et al.

Contains fulltext : 103168.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Previous research has shown that subjects systematically misperceive the location of visual and haptic stimuli presented briefly around the time of a movement of the sensory organ (eye or hand movements) due to errors in the combination of visual or tactile information with proprioception. These briefly presented stimuli (a flash or a tap on the finger) are quite different from what one encounters in daily life. In this study, we tested whether subjects also mislocalize real (static) objects that are felt briefly while moving ones hand across them, like when searching for a light switch in the dark. We found that subjects systematically mislocalized a real bar in a similar manner as has been shown with artificial haptic stimuli. This demonstrates that movement-related mislocalization is a real world property of human perception. 5 p.

When grasping an object, subjects tend to look at the contact positions of the digits (A. M. Brouwer, V. H. Franz, D. Kerzel, & K. R. Gegenfurtner, 2005; R. S. Johansson, G. Westling, A. Bäckström, & J. R. Flanagan, 2001). However, these contact positions are not always visible due to occlusion. Subjects might look at occluded parts to determine the location of the contact positions based on extrapolated information. On the other hand, subjects might avoid looking at occluded parts since no object information can be gathered there. To find out where subjects fixate when grasping occluded objects, we let them grasp flat shapes with the index finger and thumb at predefined contact positions. Either the contact position of the thumb or the finger or both was occluded. In a control condition, a part of the object that does not involve the contact positions was occluded. The results showed that subjects did look at occluded object parts, suggesting that they used extrapolated object information for grasping. Additionally, they preferred to look in the direction of the index finger. When the contact position of the index finger was occluded, this tendency was inhibited. Thus, an occluder does not prevent fixations on occluded object parts, but it does affect fixation locations especially in conditions where the preferred fixation location is occluded. © ARVO.

Peak grip aperture has often been used to quantify the influence of illusions on judgments of size for action. However, a larger peak grip aperture need not mean that the object looks larger. It could also mean that it was grasped more carefully. These two possibilities can be distinguished on the basis of the velocity of grip closure just before contact. We let people grasp a bar that was placed on the shaft of a Müller-Lyer figure. The Müller-Lyer figure influenced the peak grip aperture. It did not influence the velocity of grip closure in the way that one would expect if size were misperceived. Thus there is no reason to assume that the perceived size guides the way that we reach and grasp an object. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.

When making an eye movement and a hand movement toward a visual target, the movements could be guided by visual judgments of direction and distance (or length) of the required displacement (vector coding), estimates of the final position (position coding), or both. Using the same information for the eyes and the hand is efficient; however, if this information contains an error, this causes both the eye and the hand to be incorrect. In this study, we tried to find out whether saccades and pointing movements use the same source of information when eye and hand movements are performed either concurrently or separately. Four experiments have been performed using the Brentano illusion, which primarily influences judgments of length but not those of position. This illusion only influences movements if the illusory length is relevant for the task, demonstrating that vector coding is involved. Subjects made saccades, pointing movements, or both between vertices of the Brentano illusion. The illusion influenced saccades and pointing movements when these movements were performed concurrently and separately, showing that the eye and the hand use vector coding. However, depending on the task, eye and hand movements were influenced to a different extent. This favors the interpretation that the eyes and the hand use a common motor command but each with a different relative contribution of vector coding.

We investigated whether the original Roelofs effect and the induced Roelofs effect are caused by the same shift in perceived straight ahead. Subjects were presented with a target within a frame in complete darkness. Target and frame could both be shifted to the left or right of objective straight ahead. On separate trials, subjects gave verbal estimates about the position of either the target or the frame. The eccentricity of the frame was underestimated (the original Roelofs effect). However, the perceived position of the target did not follow this misjudgement of the eccentricity of the frame (the induced Roelofs effect was not present). Thus, it is unlikely that both effects have a common origin in misjudging egocentric straight ahead.

Norman tries to link the ecological and constructivist approaches to the dorsal and ventral pathways of the visual system. Such a link implies that the distinction is not only one of approach, but that different issues are studied. Norman identifies these issues as perception and action. The influence of contextual illusions is critical for Norman's arguments. We point out that fast (dorsal) actions can be fooled by contextual illusions while (ventral) perceptual judgements can be insensitive to them. We conclude that both approaches can, in principle, be used to study visual information processing in both pathways.