Climatic and environmental reconstructions based on fossil assemblages from middle devensian (Weichselian) deposits of the river Thames at south kensington, central London, UK

Fossiliferous silts within the Late Pleistocene Kempton Park Gravel, of the River Thames Valley, were exposed in 1980 during foundation works for the Ismaili Centre in South Kensington, London. The results of a multidisciplinary study of the geomorphology, sediments, fossil plants, vertebrates, molluscs, ostracods and insects are reported. The silts were deposited under two distinct climatic regimes; a lower unit accumulated when the climate was arctic and an upper when the temperatures were at least as warm as those of the present day. Both these units occupy the same channel system and are separated from one another by less than a metre of sediment, implying that the climatic change was probably sudden and intense. The strongest evidence for this climatic difference comes from a study of the Coleoptera, which show an almost complete replacement of the arctic element in the fauna by a suite of temperate species. Palaeotemperature reconstructions using the Mutual Climatic Range method, based on the coleopteran assemblages from the lower unit, suggest that the mean temperature of the warmest month was 9±2 °C and that of the coldest month −22±10 °C. For the upper unit the mean temperature of the warmest month had risen to about 17 °C and that of the coldest month to about −4 °C. The episode represented by the lower unit, with its arctic climate, had not previously been recognized in the Thames Valley. The fauna from the upper, temperate, unit is very similar to that from other sites in the Kempton Park Gravel, such as that from Isleworth, 10 km upriver, which, like the upper unit at the Ismaili Centre, was characterized by the virtual absence of trees. It would appear that in such cases this treelessness does not indicate cold conditions, equivalent to those of the modern tundra, but may instead result from a combination of ecological and temporal factors. The value of multidisciplinary studies in reaching such conclusions is emphasized.The temperate episode described here is correlated with the thermal maximum at the early part of the Upton Warren Interstadial Complex. An earlier suggestion, based on amino acid epimerization ratios, that the Upton Warren Interstadial correlates with Oxygen Isotope Sub-stage 5a is not supported by the data, which show no evidence of the forested environments that characterized this period in both Britain and the adjacent Continent. It is thought that the temperate deposits at the Ismaili Centre belong to the Middle (Pleniglacial), rather than the Early, Devensian (Weichselian) and are equivalent to Oxygen Isotope Stage 3.     

Characteristics and origin of sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits: a review

Sediment-hosted disseminated gold (SHDG) deposits comprise a major portion of the gold production and reserves in the US. Although presently known to be common only in western North America, SHDG deposits are a significant source of world gold production. These deposits are characterized by extremely fine-grained disseminated gold, hosted primarily by arsenian pyrite. Other metals show very little enrichment although in addition to As, anomalous concentrations of elements such as Sb, Hg, Tl and Ba are utilized as exploration tools. The host rocks are dominantly silty carbonates, but ore concentrations are also present in siliceous and silicified rocks as well as intrusive rocks. Alteration consists of decarbonatization, silicification (jasperoid formation) and argillization, which are arranged both spatially and temporally in that order. Argillic alteration is zoned from kaolinite-dominated cores to sericite-dominated margins. The deposits commonly exhibit significant structural (faults) and stratigraphic (composition/permeability) controls. Until the last few years, SHDG deposits were considered as near-surface, epithermal type deposits in origin. Because of their fine-grained nature and the lack of macroscopic features such as veins, it has proven quite difficult to extract geochemical data that are clearly related to their genesis. However, fluid inclusion data indicate pressures corresponding to depths of 2–4 km under lithostatic conditions. Temperatures are constrained by fluid inclusions and phase equilibria to near 225°C. Stable isotope data from alteration minerals and fluid inclusions indicate that the ore fluids were dominated by meteoric waters, some of which had clearly exchanged oxygen with wallrocks during their passage through the crust. Although the data vary, most ore fluids probably had δD values near −150‰ and δ¹⁸O values ranging from −10 to +5‰. Sulfur isotope values reported from SHDG deposits span a wide range, from −30 to +20‰ (sulfides) and 0 to >45‰ (sulfates). Ore-related sulfides (pyrite, realgar) fall at the upper end of the range reported for sulfides. The alteration and mineral assemblage indicate the ore fluids were probably near neutral and gold was likely carried as a bisulfide complex. The depositional mechanism(s) probably included mixing, cooling and oxidation. These mechanisms are consistent with the observed alteration features, i.e. quartz precipitation, calcite dissolution and sericite-kaolinite coexistence. It also explains the presence of both siliceous ores containing native Au and sulfide ores containing Au in pyrite. The extreme variations in sulfur isotopes as seen at Post and fluid inclusion data from Carlin may be indicative of some phase separation (‘boiling’), but such relations have not been documented in other deposits and the importance of phase separation to gold deposition appears minimal.     

The abundance of ammonium in the granites of central Spain,and the behaviour of the ammonium ion during anatexis and fractional crystallization

Summary The granites of the Sistema Central Espanol are richer in ammonium than those of most other regions, and have a mean NH₄ ⁺ content of 84 ppm (range = 1–243 ppm). Among the possible causes for the high level of ammonium, a high proportion of organic-rich pelitic protolith and reducing conditions during anatexis are considered to be the most significant. The behaviour of the ammonium ion during magmatic differentiation is discussed by reference to its distribution in the Pedrobernardo layered intrusion: ammonium is depleted in the final liquid fraction, but there is no relative fractionation of NH₄ ⁺ and K⁺. The depletion of the melt in NH₄ ⁺ during crystallization is attributed to its removal by biotite and to a lesser extent by K-feldspar. The behaviour of the ammonium ion during anatexis is discussed with reference to the Peña Negra migmatite complex. It is shown that large amounts of NH₄ ⁺ are present in these high grade metamorphic rocks, and that NH₄ ⁺ is preferentially partitioned into the restite fraction during partial melting. These relationships are attributed to the preferential incorporation of NH₄ ⁺ into potassic host minerals in the order: biotite > muscovite > K-feldspar.

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Ammonium in Zentralspanischen Graniten, und das Verhalten des Ammonium-Ions während Anatexis und fraktionierter Kristallisation

Zusammenfassung Die Granite des Sistema Central Espanol sind reicher an Ammonium als die der meisten anderen Regionen, und haben einen durchschnittlichen NH₄ ⁺ Gehalt von 84 ppm (von 1-243 ppm). Der hohe Ammoniumgehalt könme auf einen hohen Anteil peiitischer Ausgangsgesteine, die reich an organischen Material sind, and auf reduzierende Bedingungen während der Anatexis zurückgehen. Das Verhalten des Ammonium-Ions während magmatischer Differentiation wind in Hinblick seiner Verteilung in der geschichteten Intrusion von Pedrobernardo diskutiert: Ammonium ist in der finalen Schmelzfraktion angereichert, aber es gibt keine relative Fraktionierung von NH₄ ⁺ and K⁺. Die Verarmung der Schmelze an NH₄ ⁺ wahrend der Kristallisation geht darauf zurück, daß NH₄ ⁺ von Biotit and in einem geringen Ausmaß von K-Feldspat aufgenommen wird. Das Verhalten des Ammonium-Ions während der Anatexis wird am Peña Negra Migmatit-Komplex diskutiert. Es zeigt rich, daß große Mengen von NH₄ ⁺ in diesen hochgradig metamorphen Gesteinen vorkommen, and das NH₄ ⁺ während teilweiser Aufschmelzung vorzugsweise in der Restit-Fraktion angereichert wird. Diese Beziehungen gehen auf die vorzugsweise Aufnahme von NH₄ ⁺ in Kali-führenden Gastmineralen zurück, and zwar in folgender Ordnung: Biotit > Muskovit > K-Feldspat.

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With 5 Figures     

Calculating surface water PCO2 from foraminiferal organic δC

The δ¹³C of organic matter bound within the crystal lattice of foraminiferal calcite tests may provide a potential tracer of the isotopic composition of the surface water primary photosynthate. Using δ¹³C of the organic matter extracted from the crystal lattice and the calcite test, it is theoretically possible to estimate the paleo-surface water pCO₂. We have tailored this technique initially for the subpolar planktonic foraminifera species Globigerina bulloides. Initial surface water pCO₂ estimates from deep-sea core BOFS 5K (50°41.3′N, 21°51.9′W, water depth 3547 m) indicate that the northeast Atlantic Ocean may have been a greater sink for CO₂ during the last glacial than during the Holocene. Greatly reduced benthic foraminifera abundances, especially phytodetritus feeders, in BOFS 5K during the last glacial indicates low surface productivity. This rules out a productivity-driven CO₂ sink. The enhanced glacial CO₂ sink must, therefore, have results from a southwards shift of the centre of deep water formation.     

Evidence for freeze–thaw events and their implications for rock weathering in northern Canada

Discussions regarding weathering in cold environments generally centre on mechanical processes and on the freeze–thaw mechanism in particular. Despite the almost ubiquitous assumption of freeze–thaw weathering, unequivocal proof of interstitial rock water actually freezing and thawing is singularly lacking. Equally, many studies have used the crossing of 0 °C, or values close to that, as the basis for determining the number of ‘freeze–thaw events’. In order to assess the weathering regime at a site in northern Canada, temperatures were collected at the surface, 1 cm and 3 cm depth for sets of paving bricks, with exposures both vertical and at 45°, orientated to the four cardinal directions. Temperature data were collected at 1 min intervals for 1 year. These data provide unequivocal proof for the occurrence of the freezing and thawing of water on and within the rock (freeze–thaw events). The freeze event is evidenced by the exotherm associated with the release of latent heat as the water actually freezes. This is thought to be the ?rst record of such events from a ?eld situation. More signi?cantly, it was found that the temperature at which freezing occurred varied signi?cantly through the year and that on occasion the 1 cm depth froze prior to the rock surface. The change in freeze temperature is thought to be due to the chemical weathering of the material (coupled with on‐going salt inputs via the melting of snowfall), which, it is shown, could occur throughout the winter despite air temperatures down to ?30 °C. This ?nding regarding chemical weathering is also considered to be highly signi?cant. A number of thermal stress events were also recorded, suggesting that rock weathering in cold regions is a synergistic combination of various chemical and mechanical weathering mechanisms. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long term atmospheric deposition as the source of nitrate and other salts in the Atacama Desert, Chile: New evidence from mass-independent oxygen isotopic compositions

Isotopic analysis of nitrate and sulfate minerals from the nitrate ore fields of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile has shown anomalous ¹⁷O enrichments in both minerals. Δ¹⁷O values of 14-21 ‰ in nitrate and 0.4 to 4 ‰ in sulfate are the most positive found in terrestrial minerals to date. Modeling of atmospheric processes indicates that the Δ¹⁷O signatures are the result of photochemical reactions in the troposphere and stratosphere. We conclude that the bulk of the nitrate, sulfate and other soluble salts in some parts of the Atacama Desert must be the result of atmospheric deposition of particles produced by gas to particle conversion, with minor but varying amounts from sea spray and local terrestrial sources. Flux calculations indicate that the major salt deposits could have accumulated from atmospheric deposition in a period of 200,000 to 2.0 M years during hyper-arid conditions similar to those currently found in the Atacama Desert. Correlations between Δ¹⁷O and δ¹⁸O in nitrate salts from the Atacama Desert and Mojave Desert, California, indicate varying fractions of microbial and photochemical end-member sources. The photochemical nitrate isotope signature is well preserved in the driest surficial environments that are almost lifeless, whereas the microbial nitrate isotope signature becomes dominant rapidly with increasing moisture, biologic activity, and nitrogen cycling. These isotopic signatures have important implications for paleoclimate, astrobiology, and N cycling studies.     

Li/Ca in multiple species of benthic and planktonic foraminifera: thermocline, latitudinal, and glacial-interglacial variation

Li/Ca ratios were measured in planktonic and benthic foraminifera from a variety of hydrographic settings to investigate the factors influencing lithium incorporation into foraminiferal tests including temperature, dissolution, pressure, and interspecies differences. Down-core measurements of planktonic (Orbulina universa, Globigerinoides ruber, and Globigerinoides sacculifer) and benthic foraminifera (calcitic Cibicides wuellerstorfi and aragonitic Hoeglandina elegans) show a systematic variation in Li/Ca with δ¹⁸O through the last glacial-interglacial transition. All species examined exhibit an increase in Li/Ca between 14 to 50% from the Holocene to the last glacial maximum. Li/Ca generally increases with decreasing temperature as seen in a latitudinal transect of planktonic O. universa and down-slope benthic species along the Bahama Bank margins. Postdepositional dissolution possibly causes a decrease in planktonic foraminiferal Li/Ca along the Sierra Leone Rise, and increased water depth causes a decrease in benthic foraminiferal Li/Ca in the deep Caribbean. However, none of these effects are sufficient to account for the observed glacial-interglacial changes. Physiological factors such as calcification rate may affect the Li/Ca content of foraminiferal calcite. The calcification rate in turn may be a function of carbonate ion concentration of ambient ocean water. This work shows that incorporation of lithium by foraminifera appears to be influenced by factors other than seawater composition and does not appear to be dominated by changes in temperature, dissolution, or pressure. We hypothesize that the consistent increase in foraminiferal Li/Ca during the last glacial maximum may be linked to changes in seawater carbonate ion concentration. Important parameters to be tested include calcification rate and foraminiferal test size and weight. If foraminiferal Li/Ca is dominantly controlled by calcification rate as a function of seawater carbonate ion concentration, then Li/Ca may act as a proxy of past atmospheric CO₂.     

Rock albedo and monitoring of thermal conditions in respect of weathering: some expected and some unexpected results

Broadly speaking, there is, at least within geomorphic circles, a general acceptance that rocks with low albedos will warm both faster and to higher temperatures than rocks with high albedos, reflectivity influencing radiative warming. Upon this foundation are built notions of weathering in respect of the resulting thermal differences, both at the grain scale and at the scale of rock masses. Here, a series of paving bricks painted in 20 per cent reflectivity intervals from black through to white were used to monitor albedo‐influenced temperatures at a site in northern Canada in an attempt to test this premise. Temperatures were collected, for five months, for the rock surface and the base of the rock, the blocks being set within a mass of local sediment. Resulting thermal data did indeed show that the dark bricks were warmer than the white but only when their temperatures were equal to or cooler than the air temperature. As brick temperature exceeded that of the air, so the dark and light bricks moved to parity; indeed, the white bricks frequently became warmer than the dark. It is argued that this ‘negating’ of the albedo influence on heating is a result of the necessity of the bricks, both white and black, to convect heat away to the surrounding cooler air; the darker brick, being hotter, initially convects faster than the white as a product of the temperature difference between the two media. Thus, where the bricks become significantly hotter than the air, they lose energy to that air and so their respective temperatures become closer, the albedo influence being superceded by the requirement to equilibrate with the surrounding air. It is argued that this finding will have importance to our understanding of weathering in general and to our perceptions of weathering differences between different lithologies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrothermal Quartz Vein Formation, Revealed by Coupled SEM-CL Imaging and Fluid Inclusion Microthermometry: Shuteen Complex, South Gobi, Mongolia

Abstract. Scanning electron microscopy-cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) imaging of vein quartz in the Cu-mineralised, Shuteen Complex (South Gobi, Mongolia) has revealed a complex history of crystal growth, dissolution and microfracture healing, associated with several hydrothermal events that could not be detected using other observational techniques (e.g. transmitted/reflected light microscopy, back-scattered electron imaging, or secondary electron imaging).
The quartz initially grew as CL-bright/grey crystals in a 345±30C liquid reservoir, as inferred by the analysis of primary liquid fluid inclusions (average Th of 343C; 6.6∼7.7 wt% NaCl_eq). Quartz precipitation occurred at the edge of the crystals as reservoir fluids cooled to 260±25C, as indicated by micron-scale CL-dark/CL-bright quartz growth bands containing abundant fluid inclusions (with an average T_h values of 261C). Pressure fluctuations were the likely cause of dissolution, as SEM-CL imaging reveals the quartz have corroded or rounded crystal edges, and precipitation of later quartz into open space. SEM-CL imaging shows the quartz contains healed microfractures that trapped low salinity fluids (3.9 wt% NaC1_eq) with Th values of 173±15C.
SEM-CL imaging provides a means of deciphering the thermal and chemical evolution of the fossil Shuteen hydrothermal system, and the nature of hydrothermal quartz vein-forming processes, by facilitating the correlation of distinct fluid inclusion populations and their relative chronology, with specific hydrothermal events.