Volume 54, Nº 2 (2019)

The Paleozoic reef formation was a cyclic process, and its global-scale cessation was related to biological reasons: biotic crises and large-scale extinctions near the Early–Middle Cambrian, Ordovician–Silurian, Frasnian–Famennian, Serpukhovian–Bashkirian, and Permian–Triassic boundaries. The Early Cambrian stage of reef formation terminated simultaneously with the disappearance of Archaeocyatha. At the subsequent stages marked by much more complicated ecosystems, the reefs ceased to grow before the complete extinction of reef-builder communities. Hiatuses in the reef formation within separate stages were related to the geological and paleogeographical reasons (manifestations of volcanism, regressions, climate aridization, and others).

Reference sections of friable sediments in central Kamchatka are studied and their present-day state is described. Previous concepts of the Middle Pleistocene age of these sediments are critically examined. Radiocarbon dates performed in the 1980s‒1990s by researchers at the Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, are revised. It is shown that some (oldest) part of dates did not pass the quality check. Results of the new (2016‒2017) radiocarbon dating agree well with the data accomplished previously and supported later by revision. Based on the combined databank with 65 determinations of different species of the buried organic material and mammal bones, the Late Pleistocene age of sediments is suggested. A new interpretation is proposed for the formation setting of some sequences in the studied sections.

The paper presents the results of study of metalliferous (ferromanganese and manganese) rocks at the Nadeiyakha ore occurrence (Pai-Khoi) discovered in 2010. The metalliferous deposit represents a stratiform body lying conformably in the Upper Devonian carbonaceous siliceous and clayey–carbonate–siliceous shales. The ore bed occurs 180 m below the regional Famennian manganiferous rock association in Pai-Khoi. Discovery of the Nadeiyakha ore occurrence suggests the existence of an additional age interval of Mn accumulation within the Devonian sequence of this region. The studied metalliferous rocks display structures and textures typical of the metasedimentary rocks. In terms of composition, they are divided into two varieties: (i) ferromanganese (quartz–carbonate) rocks composed of quartz, dolomite, kutnahorite, rhodochrosite, siderite, and calcite; (ii) manganiferous (quartz–rhodochrosite–silicate) rocks composed of quartz, rhodochrosite, tephroite, sonolite, and pyroxmangite. The Nadeiyakha ore occurrence is marked by the abundance of dolomite in the ferromanganese rocks and host shales. In terms of the relationship of indicator elements (Al, Ti, Fe, and Mn), ferromanganese and manganese rocks are comparable with the recent metalliferous and ore-bearing sediments. The carbon isotope composition in carbonates (δ¹³C from –16.4 to –7.8‰ PDB) corresponds to authigenic carbonates related to the involvement of carbon dioxide produced during the microbial decomposition of organic matter at the stage of dia- and/or catagenesis. Geological and petrographic observations show that the ferruginous and manganiferous sediments were deposited synchronously with the terrigenous–carbonate–siliceous sediments. Fe and Mn could be sourced from hydrothermal solutions or interstitial diagenetic waters. The latter version seems to be more probable. Metals were accumulated in a depression-trap characterized by a periodic stagnation of bottom waters. Such sedimentation setting promoted the formation of paragenetic association of ferruginous and manganiferous sediments with the carbonaceous sediments and fostered reductive conditions during the postsedimentary mineral formation. Calcium carbonates contained in the primary rocks were subjected to dolomitization during the dia- or catagenesis. This process was promoted by the mobilization of Mg released during the transformation of clay minerals owing to the montmorillonite–illite transition. Iron and manganese carbonates were formed during the later replacement of oxides of Mn³⁺, Mn⁴⁺, and Fe³⁺. Crystallization of manganese silicates also started at early stages of lithogenesis and terminated during the regional metamorphism of metalliferous rocks.