Petrographical and petrophysical characteristics of asynchronous beachrocks along Al-Shoaiba Coast, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

The present study describes the petrographic and petrophysical characteristics of three stratigraphically asynchronous beachrocks (A, B, and C) along the Red Sea coast at Al-Shoaiba area, Saudi Arabia, to identify the compositional, depositional, and diagenetic controls on beachrock formation and their petrophysical properties. The beachrocks at the three locations consist basically of calcareous skeletal remains of different types and grain size reflecting the composition of adjacent beach sediments and the depositional conditions. They were cemented by aragonite and high-Mg calcite (HMC) in intertidal zone. The cement exhibits three major fabrics: (1) micritic coatings, (2) isopachous to asymmetric aragonite rim, and (3) cryptocrystalline pore-fillings HMC. In addition, some intergranular and intragranular pores were partially filled with infiltrated silt-sized carbonate and siliciclastic sediments. The cementation was accomplished by the combination of inorganic and organic processes, and the former was dominant through evaporation of pore-filling seawater under hot and dry climatic conditions. Cementation in the present beachrocks is selective; carbonate grains are cemented, whereas siliciclastic grains are cement free. The cement nucleation on carbonate grains was easier than on siliciclastic grains which do not provide good "seed crystals" for carbonate cement growth. The petrophysical measurements are in agreement with petrographic studies. The degree of cementation is the major control on petrophysical characteristics where the lowest and highest porosity and permeability values were obtained from the least cemented beachrocks of location A and the highest cemented beachrocks of location B, respectively. The thickness of cement seems to be controlled by cement precipitation rate, grain size, and size and shape of pore spaces. The coarse sediments of beachrocks at location B were deposited under higher depositional energy than those at locations A and C, and therefore, their primary pore spaces were large enough to be filled with seawaters. Under hot and dry climate, cement precipitation increases leading to partial to complete occlusion of pore spaces.     

西沙群岛晚第四纪碳酸盐岩淡水成岩作用

基于西沙永兴岛上最新钻孔（SSZK1）取得的55.92 m岩芯的 U?Th定年、矿物、薄片、主微量元素及碳氧稳定同位素等资料,开展了西沙群岛晚第四纪碳酸盐岩沉积相和淡水成岩作用的研究。根据不同的矿物组成特征,可将SSZK1钻孔岩芯分为上、中、下三段: 下 段（33.89~55.92 m,主要为低镁方解石）、中 段（18.39~33.89 m,主要为文石和低镁方解石）、上段（0~18.39 m,主要为文石、高镁方解石和低镁方解石）。由于下段碳酸盐岩几乎全为稳定的低镁方解石组成,碳氧同位素值的严重负偏和小幅度变化,可推断其经历了程度较大的淡水成岩作用。中段和上段还存在不稳定的文石和高镁方解石,碳氧同位素值相对下段正偏和高幅高频变化,推测其淡水成岩作用的程度比下段要小。中段碳氧同位素值高幅高频变化同时也说明该段的矿物纵向变化较复杂。这种矿物组成的复杂变化可能是由于晚第四纪海平面频繁变化,该段被大气水渗流带和潜流带交替占据引起的。主微量元素的变化同时受到淡水成岩作用和沉积环境的影响。在中段、下段中可识别出sq1、sq2、sq3、sq4四个完整的相旋回。Na₂O,S,Sr 和碳氧同位素受到的淡水成岩作用而被消耗和负偏,且由于老一期的旋回经历了更长时间的淡水成岩作用,新、老旋回间的 Na₂O,S,Sr含量值和碳氧同位素值有明显差异。利用新、老时期形成的旋回间淡水成岩作用剩余Na₂O,S,Sr含量和碳氧同位素值的差别可以将新、老两个旋回区分开来。     

Early diagenesis in Pleistocene coral reefs, southern Sinai, Egypt: response to tectonics, sea-level and climate

The uplifted Pleistocene terraces along the coast of southern Sinai exhibit a well developed reef system formed during isotope stage 9, and a younger one formed during isotope stage 5. An intermediate reef corresponding to isotope stage 7 occurs only as an erosional relic in the study area. The sediments comprise reefal framestones, peri-reefal facies, coral rubble, and siliciclastic-dominated beach and aeolian facies. The compositional and textural complexity of the sediments leads to a highly variable spatial distribution of diagenetic features. However, the geometric relationships and elemental analyses allow a reconstruction of the general diagenetic evolution: during the major eustatic sea-level highstand of isotope stage 9, the Older Reef was constructed and cemented with aragonite and high-Mg calcite. Climate was probably semiarid with some rainy periods which permitted the installation of ephemeral freshwater lenses, especially during the minor sea-level lowstand within isotope stage 9. In these lenses, and during the subsequent major sea-level lowstand, some freshwater dissolution occurred. The highstand during isotope stage 7 led to the construction of the Intermediate Reef. In the Older Reef, some high-Mg calcite precipitated at that time. Dolomite cement formed either in marine interstitial waters modified by some freshwater input, or in a hypersaline context. Phreatic-meteoric low-Mg calcite cement covers, and partly replaces, previous marine cements and dolomite, but is still attributed to the major highstand of isotope stage 7 when freshwater lenses could develop during minor sea-level lowstands. The subsequent major sea-level lowstand was dominated by an arid climate, and only a little freshwater corrosion occurred. The Younger Reef formed during the major highstand of isotope stage 5. Aragonite and high-Mg calcite cements, as well as some dolomite, are common within the reef, whereas freshwater cements are limited to beach and aeolian facies. Due to tectonic uplift, only the lower part of the Older Reef was reflooded during isotope stage 5, and only some aragonite crystals precipitated on top of dolomite or low-Mg calcite. The interrelationships between tectonics, sea-level variations of different orders, and climatic changes thus had a profound impact on the diagenetic history of these reef systems.     

巴布亚新几内亚合恩半岛晚第四纪上升珊瑚礁造礁珊瑚的成岩历史

更新世以来,剧烈的构造运动已将巴布亚新几内亚合恩半岛东北海岸的晚第四纪珊瑚礁阶地抬升上千米.阶地中造礁珊瑚的成岩变化和成岩产物的组构特征反映了该礁的成岩历史,充分体现该区快速构造上升的影响.海水潜流带和淡水渗流带为上升礁的主要成岩环境.生物钻孔、生物碎屑填隙、珊瑚文石针粗化、珊瑚骨骼的溶解和新生变形转化,以及其不同矿物成分和组构的种种胶结物的胶结作用是造礁珊瑚经历的主要成岩作用.地球化学资料表明其成岩变化发生于开放的化学体系之中.     

Submarine and vadose cements in Pleistocene Bermuda reef rock

Well-rounded pebbles and cobbles of reef rock, which in bio- and lithofacies closely resembles the Recent algal cup reefs, occur in the basal conglomerate of the Pleistocene Devonshire Formation cropping out along Grape Bay on the south shore of Bermuda. The framebuilders of this rock include coralline red algae, vermetid gastropods, and barnacles. Study by petrographic microscope, electron microprobe, and SEM revealed aragonite-needle and spherulitic cements, high-Mg calcite micrite and palisade cements including calcified algal filaments. Two or three generations of these may occur in a given pore. By analogy with the Recent cup-reef material, on the basis of their composition (high strontium content of aragonite, high magnesium content of calcite) and of circumstantial evidence, these are considered submarine cements.In addition, a vadose blocky low-Mg calcite cement occurs, which never precedes any, but frequently succeedes one, two, or three of the above cements. Its fabrics vary: it may exhibit an increase in crystal size toward the center or not, it may or may not be bounded by the meniscus outline characteristic of the vadose diagenetic environment. The limitation of cement precipitation by a meniscus gives rise to a large diversity of forms determined by respective combinations of solution supply, permeability of the micro-environment, and substrate morphology. To illustrate the diversity, the meniscus cement is shown in relation to sediment particles, aragonite-needle cement, and calcified filaments.From the blocky low-Mg cement, selective neomorphism extends into some aragonitic gastropod shells; it is controlled, in part, by original shell structure. The resulting low-Mg calcite mosaic is characterized by relic structures and plane crystalline boundaries. Aragonite needles between blocky calcite cement and neomorphic calcite were not affected by the process of mineralogic alteration.This study shows that cements recognized earlier in Recent Bermuda cup reefs can be traced into the past and that additions to the diagenetic sequence can be distinguished. Knowledge of these features and their sequences should help decipher the diagenetic history of other fossil reefs.     

The Upper Pleistocene deposits in Rafraf (Northeastern Tunisia): new data on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Persististrombus latus</Emphasis> level

Detailed observation of the Upper Pleistocene deposits of Rafraf (Bizerte, Northeastern Tunisia) provides new data about the significant variations in facies, thickness, and faunal assemblages. This work reports, for the first time, the occurrence of a Persististrombus latus level in the Rafraf sea coast. Facies analyses added to the recorded sedimentary features were carried in order to recognize stratigraphy, paleontology, and sea level highstands. They revealed complex succession of various Upper Pleistocene environments ranging from coastal dunes to inner platforms with scatter builds by Vermetus triquetrus and P. latus. The marine Upper Pleistocene deposits rich in the Senegalese fauna P. latus draw scale steps outcropping at diverse altitudes varying between 1 and 14 m. Serial sections along the border of the Rafraf beach show the action of many faults trending EW and NW-SE. Even though these faults got low values of vertical throw, their cumulative throw values led to these different altitudes of strata containing P. latus. These altitude variations are mainly the result of the inherited geomorphology, the environmental distribution, the sea level fluctuations and the tectonic activities.     

海相碳酸盐矿物的阴极发光性与其成岩蚀变的关系

引言众所周知,原始的海相碳酸盐矿物为文石、高镁方解石和低镁方解石,但它们对成岩蚀变极度敏感,在大气淡水成岩环境中,文石和高镁方解石都会转变为成岩低镁方解石,同时,原始的低镁方解石也会有不同程度的蚀变。在进行古代碳酸盐岩的沉积环境和古海洋学研究时,往往需要测定岩石中的微量元素及氧、碳、锶等同位素组成,用以判断古海水     

Aeolianites reveal Pleistocene marine history of Bermuda

Bermuda is a reef atoll along the northern edge of Caribbean coral province. Although investigated by seismic and some shallow drilling, the Pleistocene marine depositional geohistory is poorly constrained. Islands along the southern rim are built by tropical calcareous aeolianites that range in age from Holocene to early Pleistocene (ca 880 kyr). These dunes are composed of particles that were derived from adjacent Pleistocene marine environments at the time of formation. Thus, the aeolianites should contain a record of marine deposition through the Early to Late Pleistocene. Carbonate grains from all aeolian deposits can, via Ward cluster analysis, be separated into two distinct groups: (i) a Halimeda‐rich group; and (ii) a crustose coralline‐rich group. Distribution of these two groups is interpreted to broadly reflect low‐energy (lagoonal) and high‐energy marginal reef (coralline algae and cup‐reef) environments, respectively. Unlike the beach sources, coral particles are perplexingly absent in the aeolianites. This conundrum is interpreted to partly reflect the domal nature of Bermudan corals, which are not incorporated into aeolian deposits due to their relatively large size. Aeolianites from Marine Isotope Stages 7, 9 and 11 record sediments produced in adjacent shallow marine settings that were similar to those present today. The spatially consistent sediment trends are not, however, present in aeolianites from Marine Isotope Stage 5E, where the aeolian bioclastic components are uniformly rich in Halimeda along both southern and northern shores. Such a distribution, where coralline‐rich sediments would be expected, suggests an extrinsic oceanographic control, interpreted herein to be elevated seawater temperature brought in by the Gulf Stream. This interpretation is consistent with palaeozoological studies of Bermuda, as well as North America, the Mediterranean, Japan and Western Australia.     

New interpretations of Great Salt Lake ooids and of ancient non-skeletal carbonate mineralogy

Earlier interpretations of textural alteration affecting Great Salt Lake ooids have greatly influenced concepts of ooid diagenesis. Scanning electron microscope study shows, however, that the coarse radial aragonite rays are depositional, that no recrystallization of pellet cores has occurred, and that Great Salt Lake ooids have not suffered noticeable diagenesis. As suggested by Kahle (1974), radial texture in ancient calcitic ooids is probably mainly original, not diagenetic. Retention of such fine textures has been attributed to organic matter (since found to be equivalent in modern skeletal and non-skeletal grains) or to paramorphic replacement (proposed for non-skeletal grains whose original aragonite mineralogy was only inferred from modern analogs). Pleistocene ooids known to have been aragonite alter like aragonite shells to coarse neomorphic calcite, often with aragonite relics. The striking uniformity of that coarse texture in neomorphic calcite replacing known skeletal aragonites throughout the geologic record has been noted for over 100 years. In contrast, Mississippian ooids retain fine texture as do calcite layers of coexisting gastropods, but unlike the strongly altered aragonite layers of these same gastropods. Therefore, inferences of original aragonitic mineralogy of ancient non-skeletal carbonate grains (including muds) which are now calcite but retain fine texture appear unwarranted, as do assumptions of differential diagenetic behaviour of ancient aragonitic skeletal and non-skeletal grains. Accordingly, modern depositional environments of marine ooids and carbonate muds must be rejected as chemically unrepresentative of comparable ancient environments. It is inferred that ancient non-skeletal carbonates were originally predominantly or exclusively calcite because of an earlier lower oceanic Mg/Ca ratio (<2/1) which altered progressively to values favouring aragonite (modern Mg/Ca value = 5/1). Major influencing factors are: selective removal of calcium by planktonic foraminifers and coccolithophorids since Jurassic-Cretaceous time and by abundant younger, Mg-poor aragonite skeletons and an erratic trend toward decreasing dolomite formation (decreasing removal of oceanic Mg). The change to aragonite dominance over calcite for non-skeletal carbonates was probably during early to middle Cenozoic time.     

Selective blackening of bioclasts via mixing‐zone aragonite neomorphism in Late Triassic limestone,Zlatibor Mountains,Serbia

A peculiar facies of the Norian–Rhaetian Dachstein‐type platform carbonates, which contains large amounts of blackened bioclasts and dissolutional cavities filled by cements and internal sediments, occurs in the Zlatibor Mountains, Serbia. Microfacies investigations revealed that the blackened bioclasts are predominantly Solenoporaceae, with a finely crystalline, originally aragonite skeleton of fine cellular structure. Blackening of other bioclasts also occurs subordinately. Solenoporacean‐dominated reefs, developed behind the platform margin patch‐reef tract, were the main source of sand‐sized detritus. The blackened and other non‐blackened bioclasts are incorporated in automicrite cement. Radiaxial fibrous calcite cements in the dissolutional cavities are also black, dark grey or white. Reworked black pebbles were reported from many occurrences of peritidal deposits; in those cases, the blackening took place under pedogenic, meteoric diagenetic conditions. In contrast, in the inner platform deposits of the Ilid?a Limestone, the blackening of bioclasts occurred in a marine–meteoric mixing‐zone, as indicated by petrographic features and geochemical data of the skeleton‐replacing calcite crystals. Attributes of mixing‐zone pore waters were controlled by mixing corrosion, different solubility of carbonate minerals and microbial decomposition of organic matter. In the moderate‐energy inner platform environment, large amounts of microbial organic tissue were accumulated and subsequently decomposed, triggering selective blackening in the course of early, shallow burial diagenesis. The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values of the mixing‐zone precipitates and replacive calcite do not produce a linear mixing trend. Variation mainly resulted from microbial decomposition of organic matter that occurred under mixing‐zone conditions. The paragenetic sequence implies cyclic diagenetic conditions that were determined by marine, meteoric and mixing‐zone pore fluids. The diagenetic cycles were controlled by sea‐level fluctuations of moderate amplitude under a semi‐arid to semi‐humid climate.     

Depositional and diagenetic history of Pleistocene and Holocene oolitic sediments and sabkhas in Kuwait, Persian Gulf

The Pleistocene and Holocene oolitic sediments of southern Kuwait appear as parallel ridges—ancient and recent barrier beaches and coastal dunes. They are underlain by Tertiary clastic deposits and interfingered with sabkhas. Considering the superposition, primary composition and diagenetic alterations five lithostratigraphic units were distinguished within the oolitic complex. Their formation and preservation were related principally to eustatic oscillations of sea level during Quaternary times, although post-Pliocene tectonics also played an important role both in physiographic and sedimentary developments of the region. The large accumulation of oolites in southern Kuwait might be related, at least partly, to the existence of two tidal channels, khors, discharging waters over-saturated with respect to calcium carbonate over broad tidal flats. The formation of oolites culminated in late Pleistocene probably due to an extreme aridity of the climate. The subaerial diagenesis of the oolitic ridges led to gradual cementation and recrystallization of oolites. The four stages of progressive diagenesis distinguished in the area are compared with schemes suggested by Land, Mackenzie & Gould (1967) for Quaternary sediments in Bermuda and by Gavish & Friedman (1969) for aeolianite ridges in Israel. On the sea floor the cementation has produced widespread beach rocks and hard layers. Aragonite encrustations and dripstones occur within the intertidal zone of channels and lagoons. The shallow, occasionally flooded depresssions in sabkhas are occupied by algal mats. The amount of dolomite in sabkha sediments is rather low in comparison with similar environments of the southern Persian Gulf. This might be at least partly explained by the absence of dolomitic rocks in the Tertiary substratum in Kuwait. The complex of Quaternary sediments in southern Kuwait represents a petroleum setting in which the organic rich source sediments of lagoons and sabkhas are closely associated with highly porous reservoir rocks of the oolitic coastal ridges.     

Growth and submarine fossilization of algal cup reefs,Bermuda*

Small charges of explosives were used to section cup-shaped reefs that occur on the margins of the Bermuda Platform. Study of these artificial outcrops, up to 10 m high, and the samples collected from them show how the reef-building community is rapidly converted to well-lithified reef rock in the marine development. The reefs, known locally as boilers and breakers, occur along the wave-swept south shore of the Bermuda Islands and around the northeast and northwest margins of the Platform. They are cup-shaped, up to 30 m in long dimensions, and rise up to the sea surface as much as 12 m above the surrounding sea floor. The reefs are built by an intergrowth of encrusting organisms, principally crustose coralline algae, an encrusting hydrozoan, Millepora sp., and an attached gastropod, Dendropoma irregulare. The growth framework of these algal cup reefs has extensive voids: large and intermediate-sized growth framework and shelter pores; borings of bivalves and sponges; and both intra- and inter-particle pores. A variety of vagile and sessile organisms (coelobites) inhabit these pores: an encrusting Foraminifera, Homotrema rubrum, is the most abundant attached coelobite; the tests of a variety of benthic Foraminifera and ostracods are common: branched coralline algae, barnacles, bivalves, ahermatypic corals, bryozoans, and burrowing crustaceans occur in varying abundance. Beginning millimetres below the living surface, internal sediments accumulate in the extensive voids. Coarse-grained skeletal sand derived from the surface of the reefs is characteristic of the larger voids; lime mud with the tests of planktonic Foraminifera and planktonic algae occurs generally in the smaller voids. Most specimens from the interior of the reefs show multiple generations of internal sediment that vary in grain size, composition, and colour. The sand-sized sediments are pumped into the voids by the frequent and intense wave action; the lime mud settles out in the smaller, less agitated pores. Cementation of internal sediments and surrounding growth frame begins centimetres below the living surface; it is so pervasive that marble-hard reef rock is developed within 1/2 m or less. The cement is principally high-magnesium calcite of micrite size, and subordinately acicular aragonite, but there are locally wide variations in crystal size and morphology. The occurrence of the cement within the reefs well below sea level, the isotope ratios of the cement crystals, the mineralogy, and the age inferred from radiocarbon age determinations of the growth frame all indicate that the cement is submarine and deposited from water of oceanic composition. The algal cup reefs of Bermuda demonstrate the reef-building ability of a community of encrusting organisms that form only crusts in the intertidal zone of the Mediterranean and Northern Brazil. The cup reefs of the northern margins of the Bermuda Platform are true reefs, not merely veneers covering eroded blocks of Pleistocene limestone. In their composition, location, and early diagenesis, the cup reefs closely resemble the algal or lithothamnion ridge of Pacific atolls. Synsedimentary cementation of internal sediments and growth frame makes a major contribution to the rigidity of these ocean-facing reefs and atoll rims. The assemblage of features that characterize the submarine fossilization of the cup reefs is widespread elsewhere in the modern seas: the floors of the Persian Gulf and parts of the Mediterranean; the margins of Pacific atolls; and the reefs off the north coast of Jamaica. This fossilization is characterized by reiterated generations of coelobites, internal sediments, and synsedimentary cements that can in time replace a major part of the original growth framework. Major variations in the sequence of these generations from pore to pore is the signature of this kind of fossilization. The same features of fossilization are described from reefs in the Devonian, Permian, and Triassic.     

Origin of blocky aragonite cement in Cenozoic glaciomarine sediments,McMurdo Sound,Antarctica

Inorganic aragonite occurs in a wide spectrum of depositional environments and its precipitation is controlled by complex physio-chemical factors. This study investigates diagenetic conditions that led to aragonite cement precipitation in Cenozoic glaciomarine deposits of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. A total of 42 sandstones that host intergranular cement were collected from the CIROS-1 core, located proximal to the terminus of Ferrar Glacier. Standard petrography, Raman spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis reveal a prominent aragonite cement phase that occurs as a pore-filling blocky fabric throughout the core. Oxygen isotope compositions (δ¹⁸O = −30·0 to −8·6‰ Vienna Pee-Dee Belemnite) and clumped isotope temperatures (TΔ₄₇ = 13·1 to 31·5°C) determined from the aragonite cements provide precise constraints on isotopic compositions (δ¹⁸O_w) of the parent fluid, which mostly range from −10·8 to −7·2‰ Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water. The fluid δ¹⁸O_w values are consistent with those of pore water, previously identified as cryogenic brine in the nearby AND-2A core. Petrographic and geochemical data suggest that aragonite cement in the CIROS-1 core precipitated from a similar brine. The brine likely formed and infiltrated sediments in flooded glacial valleys along the western margin of McMurdo Sound during the middle Miocene Climatic Transition, and subsequently flowed basinward in the subsurface. Consequently, the brine forms as a longstanding subsurface fluid that has saturated Cenozoic sediments below southern McMurdo Sound since at least the middle Miocene. Aragonite cementation in the CIROS-1 core is interpreted to reflect its proximal position to sites of brine formation and greater likelihood of experiencing brines with sustained high carbonate saturation states and Mg/Ca ratios. This unusual occurrence expands the range of known natural occurrences of aragonite cement. Given the potential for cryogenic brine formation in glaciomarine settings, blocky aragonite, as the end member of the spectrum of aragonite cement morphology, may be more widespread in glaciomarine sediments than currently thought.     

海南岛南岸海滩岩的胶结作用及稳定同位素组成

海南岛南岸海滩岩发育.现代海滩岩位于高潮线附近,具有特征的文石胶结物,为海水潜流带产物.岩石有较均匀的稳定同位素组成。上升海滩岩位于高潮线以上.这类海滩岩经历了海水及淡水成岩环境,其稳定同位素组成变化范围大.     

Rates of vadose diagenesis in quaternary dune and shallow marine calcarenites,Warrnambool, Victoria,Australia

Progressively younger cycles of Quaternary dune limestones and shallow marine calcarenites infill a coastal embayment near Warrnambool in southeastern Australia. The formations have been dated using U/Th and C¹⁴ methods or have had their ages estimated by comparison with adjacent deposits. They provide a well-dated framework for the quantification of diagenetic rates in the fresh-water vadose zone.The sequence as a whole shows progressive increase in diagenetic alteration with age, related to increasing duration of subaerial exposure. Diagenesis includes alteration of high-Mg calcite to low-Mg calcite, dissolution of aragonite and precipitation of increasing amounts of void-filling low-Mg calcite spar. These changes are reflected in the progression of bulk-rock isotope values from the youngest to the oldest strata.The rocks at Warrnambool pass through 3 main stages of diagenetic evolution. The end of stage 1 is marked by the disappearance of high-Mg calcite. This occurs in just less than 90,000 years. The end of stage 2 occurs between 400,000 and 700,000 years and is marked by the disappearance of aragonite. The end of stage 3 and the beginning of stage 4 is marked by the complete infilling of all pore space by low-Mg calcite spar. This is not generally seen in this sequence but is restricted to specific diagenetic sites such as immediately below paleosol horizons.     

Compositional variations and morphological evolution in platinum beach placers, southern New Zealand

Morphologies of placer platinum group minerals (PGM) are more variable and resistant to modification during transport than placer gold grains. This study documents morphological evolution of PGM placer grains during up to 120 km of transport in beach placers after river transport from inferred sources up to 200 km inland. PGM morphological changes are calibrated with changes in morphology of associated placer gold. Most of the PGM are Pt-Fe alloy and have been fed into the beach placer system from a large river at the western end of the beaches on the south coast of New Zealand. The incoming fluvial PGM suite includes Os, Ir and Ru alloys which may have been derived from distal ophiolitic sources. More proximal sources have Ural-Alaskan affinities and these contributed cooperite and braggite, or sperrylite, locally, as well as Pt-Fe alloy grains. Some PGM may have been recycled through Cretaceous-Quaternary fluvial sediments before entering the modern placer system. Recycled placer PGM grains have also been derived from elevated Quaternary beaches near the coastline. PGM grains entering beach placers have rough surfaces, with remnants of crystal faces, and these evolve to smooth flakes with progressive long-shore transport. PGM flakes have slightly thickened rims caused by impacts by saltating sand on windy beaches, and the most distal beach placers contain flakes with incipient toroidal shapes. These PGM incipient toroids are poorly developed compared to accompanying well-formed toroidal gold that has developed in nearly all beach placers, including those on elevated Quaternary beaches. Typical PGM and gold placer grain size decreases with increasing distance of transport, from fluvial grain size of 400–1,000 to ～200 microns on the most distal beaches, accompanied by eastward loss of equant PGM grains and associated increase in proportion of flakes. Although net transport distance is ～120 km in the beach placer complex, frequent aeolian transport of grains from beach to dunes and subsequent recycling by storm surges substantially increased total transport distance in a dynamic windy tectonic environment.     

Exploring for heavy minerals on Cape York Peninsula,Queensland, Australia

This paper describes the results of a preliminary study of the heavy mineral (HM) potential of the northwest coast of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland that was funded by the Queensland Government's Future Resources Program Industry Priorities Initiative. The study found that the northwest coast may have the potential to host world-class HM deposits. All the essential ingredients in a HM mineral system are present: fertile source rocks, effective transport mechanisms and abundant potential trap sites, particularly along the well-preserved Pleistocene coast.

The source rocks are Proterozoic metamorphic and Paleozoic granitic rocks of the Coen Inlier and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the Laura and Carpentaria basins, all of which crop out along the spine of the Peninsula. These rocks were exposed in the early Cenozoic and were vigorously eroded by seasonally active rivers throughout the Quaternary. Most of these rivers are currently carrying HM, and the zircon content in river sediments in the region is comparatively high. It is speculated that in the late Pleistocene HM delivered by rivers to the northwest coast were transported predominantly in a southwesterly direction, and trapped in the swash zone of prograding beaches. It is further speculated that at this time the coastline was deeply embayed with cliffs and headlands formed in bauxite, and that structural trap sites formed on the northeastern side of prominent headlands.

Pleistocene coastal sediments were partially reworked by Holocene coastal processes, and HM liberated by these processes may have been captured by prograding Holocene beach ridges. These Holocene beach ridges are not as extensive as the Pleistocene beach ridges but are more prominent, partly because they are less well vegetated. The Holocene coastline was probably more regular than the Pleistocene coastline, with fewer headlands to create structural traps. The modern coastline is relatively starved of river sediment because the Holocene and Pleistocene coastal sediments act as barriers to river flow.

It is recommended that ongoing exploration for HM in the region should focus on potential trap sites on the Pleistocene coast and that two sites, Vrilya Point and Jackson River, where structural traps may have been formed by coastal promontories, should be priority targets. It is also noted that if the exploration of Cape York Peninsula for HM deposits is to be effective, further research needs to be carried out into the geomorphological evolution of the west coast and, in particular, the role of cyclones in forming HM deposits in tropical climates.     

Late Pleistocene mixing zone dolomitization, southeastern Barbados, West Indies

ABSTRACT Field, geochemical, and petrographic data for late Pleistocene dolomites from southeastern Barbados suggest that the dolomite precipitated in the zone of mixing between a coastal meteoric phreatic lens and normal marine waters. The dolomite is localized in packstones and wackestones from the algalAmphistegina fore-reef calcarenite facies. Stable isotopic evidence suggests that meteoric water dominated the diagenetic fluids responsible for dolomitization. Carbon isotopes in pure dolomite phases average about -15%₀ PDB. This light carbon is attributed to the influence of soil gas CO₂, and precludes substantial mixing with seawater. A narrow range of oxygen isotopic compositions coupled with a wide range of carbon compositions attest to the meteoric diagenetic overprint. Dolomitization likely occurred with as little as a five per cent admixture of seawater. Strontium compositions of the dolomites indicate probable replacement dolomitization of original unstable mineralogy. The dolomite is characterized by low sodium values. Low concentrations of divalent manganese and iron suggest oxidizing conditions at the time of dolomitization. A sequence of petrographic features suggests a progression of diagenetic fluids from more marine to more meteoric. Early marine diagenesis was followed by replacement dolomitization of skeletal grains and matrix. Limpid, euhedral dolomite cements precipitated in primary intra- and interparticle porosity subsequent to replacement dolomitization. As waters became progressively less saline, dolomite cements alternated with thin bands of syntaxial calcite cement. The final diagenetic phase precipitated was a blocky calcite spar cement, representing diagenesis in a fresh-water lens. This sequence of diagenetic features arose as the result of a single fall in eustatic sea-level following deposition. A stratigraphic-eustatic-diagenetic model constrains both the timing and rate of dolomitization in southeastern Barbados. Dolomitization initiated as sea-level began to fall immediately following the oxygen isotope stage 7–3 high stand, some 216 000 yr bp . Due to the rapidity of late Pleistocene glacio-eustasy, dolomitization (locally complete) is constrained to have occurred within about 5000 yr.     

海南岛全新世海滩岩的胶结作用与成岩环境的关系

我国海南岛及南海诸岛沿岸,广泛发育海滩岩。1980年我队赴海南岛考察现代沉积时,对海滩岩的分布、岩性特征及其与周围环境的关系进行了观察和采样。样品采自崖县鹿回头三亚湾水尾岭海蚀崖、西洲岛、小东海、东瑁岛、西瑁岛、天涯海角,乐东县莺歌海,文昌县渔业等地(图1)。有关的地质、地貌及岩性特征等,已有许多描述,对海滩岩的岩石学及成岩作用也有许多研究。本文侧重探讨海滩岩的胶结作用及与成岩环境的关系。     

Diagenetic development of a Precambrian limestone as interpreted from a modern analogue

A strong correlation in the geometry and mineralogy of two cement generations of a Quaternary with a Precambrian calcarenite enables us to reconstruct the diagenetic history of the Precambrian limestone. Both calcarenites contain two cement generations (A and B) of which A consists of dolomite, B of calcite. The following diagenetic stages can be recognized: after deposition of the allochems in a shallow marine environment, cementation in the intertidal zone with magnesian calcite (cement A) led to the formation of beachrock (Stage 1). By lowering of the sea level, the beach rock was shifted into the supratidal zone, but still remained under the predominant influence of the sea water (breakers, spray). During longer periods of aridity, the magnesian calcite of cement A and of the allochems was transformed into dolomite by brines derived from sea water with very high Mg/Ca ratio (> 15), whereas aragonite and calcite remained unaffected. After further lowering of the sea, an increasing influence of meteoric water caused the wet transformation of aragonitic allochems to sparry calcite and to the precipitation of sparry calcitic cement B.