The timing and extent of illite formation in Ordovician K-bentonites at the Cincinnati Arch, the Nashville Dome and north-eastern Illinois basin

The K/Ar ages of illite/smectite (I/S) were measured from Middle Ordovician K-bentonites both west and east of the present crest of the Cincinnati Arch and the Nashville dome to test a previous hypothesis that I/S formed by reaction with migrated saline solutions during the Alleghanian Orogeny. The K/Ar ages of I/S at the distal margin of the southern Appalachian basin and from central Indiana range from 251 to 277 Ma. However, the ages of I/S from west of the crest of the Cincinnati Arch are slightly older (286–301 Ma) and the ages of I/S from north-eastern Indiana, on the northern edge of the Kankakee Arch and in effect in the Michigan basin, are the oldest measured in this study (315–325 Ma). The westward decrease in the K/Ar ages of I/S from Late Pennsylvanian ages in the proximal basin (286–303 Ma) to Permian (251–277 Ma) at the distal margin suggest that I/S was formed by the westward migration of fluids during the Alleghanian Orogeny as opposed to being formed by projected deep burial by Permian sediments. Moreover, the available thermal maturation data suggest the Cincinnati Arch was not buried deeply. The ages of I/S west of the Cincinnati Arch are an enigma as they are older than the ages in the distal Appalachian basin. The ages of I/S from central Indiana within the Illinois basin suggest the possibility that I/S was formed by reaction with fluids that migrated from the Ouachita orogenic belt in Mississippi. The oldest ages of I/S from north-eastern Indiana suggest the formation of I/S might have been influenced by the presence of potassic brines from the Michigan basin.     

The variability of critical shear stress, friction angle, and grain protrusion in water-worked sediments

The erodibility of a grain on a rough bed is controlled by, among other factors, its relative projection above the mean bed, its exposure relative to upstream grains, and its friction angle. Here we report direct measurements of friction angles, grain projection and exposure, and small-scale topographic structure on a variety of water-worked mixed-grain sediment surfaces. Using a simple analytical model of the force balance on individual grains, we calculate the distribution of critical shear stress for idealized spherical grains on the measured bed topography. The friction angle, projection, and exposure of single grain sizes vary widely from point to point within a given bed surface; the variability within a single surface often exceeds the difference between the mean values of disparate surfaces. As a result, the critical shear stress for a given grain size on a sediment surface is characterized by a probability distribution, rather than a single value. On a given bed, the crtitical shear stress distributions of different grain sizes have similar lower bounds, but above their lower tails they diverge rapidly, with smaller grains having substantially higher median critical shear stresses. Large numbers of fines, trapp.ed within pockets on the bed or shielded by upstream grains, are effectively lost to the flow. Our calculations suggest that critical shear stress, as conventionally measured, is defined by the most erodible grains, entrained during transient shear stress excursions associated with the turbulent flow; this implies a physical basis for the indeterminacy of initial motion. These observations suggest that transport rate/shear stress relationships may be controlled, in part, by the increasing numbers of grains that become available for entrainment as mean shear stress increases. They also suggest that bed textures and grain size distributions may be controlled, within the constraints of an imposed shear stress and sediment supply regime, by the influence of each size fraction on the erodibility of other grain sizes present on the bed.     

Lower Cambrian shelf and shelf margin buildups,Flinders Ranges,South Australia1

Carbonate buildups in the Flinders Ranges of mid-Early Cambrian age grew during a period of high archaeocyath diversity and are of two types: (1) low-energy, archaeocyath-sponge-spicule mud mounds, and (2) high-energy, archaeocyath-calcimicrobe (calcified microbial microfossil) bioherms. Mud mounds are composed of red carbonate mudstone and sparse to abundant archaeocyath floatstone, have a fenestral fabric, display distinct stromatactis, contain abundant sponge spicules and form structures up to 150m wide and 80 m thick. Bioherms are either red or dark grey limestone and occur as isolated small structures 2–20 m in size surrounded by cross-bedded calcarenites and calcirudites or as complexes of mounds and carbonate sands several hundreds of metres across. Red bioherms comprise masses of white Epiphyton with scattered archaeocyaths and intervening areas of archaeocyath-rich lime mudstone. Grey bioherms are complex intergrowths of archaeocyaths, encrusting dark grey Renalcis and thick rinds of fibrous calcite cement. The bioherms were prone to synsedimentary fracturing and exhibit large irregular cavities, up to 1.5 m across, lined with fibrous calcite. The buildups are isolated or in contiguous vertical succession. Mud mounds occur alone in low-energy, frequently nodular, limestone facies. Individual bioherms and bioherm complexes occur in high-energy on-shelf and shelf-margin facies. The two types also form large-scale, shallowing-upward sequences composed of basal (deep water) mud mounds grading upward into archaeocyath-calcimicrobe bioherm complexes and bioherms in cross-bedded carbonate sands. The uppermost sequence is capped by ooid grainstone and/ or fenestral to stromatolitic mudstone. The calcimicrobe and metazoan associations form the two major biotic elements which were to dominate reefs throughout much of subsequent Phanerozoic time.     

The effect of surface slope on saltation threshold

A new wind tunnel has been constructed to study the mass transport properties of wind-blown sand. This report on the first set of experiments in the new wind tunnel concerns the effect of slope on threshold friction speed. The results of this series of static threshold experiments (and one dynamic threshold experiment) for a range of particle diameters and bed slope angles show that, provided the effects of Reynolds number variation and interparticle cohesive force are accounted for, the static friction angle α is independent of slope and close in value to the measured static angle of response.     

On the Origin of High-Alumina Arc Basalt and the Mechanics of Melt Extraction

Most models of high-alumina arc basalt petrogenesis rely heavilyon the supposition that the abundances of certain trace elements,in particular the relatively unfractionated Rare Earth Element(REE) patterns and the unusually high concentrations of K, Rb,Sr, and Ba are incompatible with a garnet-bearing subductedoceanic crustal (quartz eclogite) source rock. We have carefullyexamined this apparently unequivocal evidence in light of recentprogress on the physics of melt extraction and the heat transferand mechanics of magma ascent. The weakest element of all traceelement models involving a quartz eclogite source is the assumptionthat the element concentrations are fixed at the source andonly later modified in the near-surface environment. We expandon such models by monitoring the concentrations of REE and majorand trace elements during initial melting, ascent, and extractionof magma. This is done by combining calculated cooling curvesfor ascending magmatic bodies with high pressure phase equilibria.The amount that each phase contributes to the melt is monitoredalong with the composition of the melt and residual solids.With quartz eclogite, initial melting initiates gravitationalinstability of the entire source material (melt plus solids)before melt extraction can occur. During ascent of this mush,melting increases until the solids can be repacked to free themelt. This extraction takes place some 15–20 km abovethe slab, after about 50 per cent melting, at which point themelt has a pattern of REE and other trace element concentrationsalmost identical to those observed in high-alumina arc basalts,assuming an initial composition equivalent to altered oceaniccrust plus 5 per cent pelagic sediment. Sr abundances are theonly ones which are not well-matched by this process. The majorelement concentrations of the extracted melt also closely matchthose of high-alumina arc basalt. A similar, but less detailedevaluation of both fertile and depleted peridotite source rocksyields good agreement for the REE and other trace element concentrationsassuming a LREE-enriched source rock strongly enriched in K,Rb, Sr, and Ba. Ni, Cr, and Co abundances are satisfied onlythrough substantial low pressure fractionation of mafic phases,in particular olivine. Though not rigorously tested, such aprocess may be compatible with the observed major element concentrationsof high-alumina basalt. However, the experimentally verifiedfact that high-alumina basalts could never have been in equilibriumwith either an olivine-bearing magma or source rock eliminatesthis possibility altogether. Thus, the simultaneous considerationof the mechanics of ascent and melt extraction along with phaseequilibria clearly shows that partial melting of quartz eclogitebest satisfies the chemical constraints of major, trace, andREE characteristics of high-alumina arc basalts.     

The Dimlington Stadial/Dimlington Chronozone: a proposal for naming the main glacial episode of the Late Devensian in Britain

The term Dimlington Stadial is proposed as a climatostratigraphic name fer the main glacial episode of the Late Devensian in Britain, in preference to stratigraphically unsatisfactory terms, such as Late Devensian Glaciation (which includes the Windermere Interstadial and the Loch Lomond Stadial), icesheet glaciation or maximum of ice expansion, that are currently in use. The name is selected from a site on the East Yorkshire coast and refers to the interval between 26,000 and 13,000 radiocarbon years B.P. Dimlington Chronozone is the formal chronostratigraphic term for the equivalent period of time, and comprises the main part of the Late Devensian Sub-stage.     

Volcanic Rocks from the Nejapa and Granada Cinder Cone Alignments, Nicaragua, Central America

Mafic tholeiitic basalts from the Nejapa and Granada (NG) cindercone alignments provide new insights into the origin and evolutionof magmas at convergent plate margins. In comparison to otherbasalts from the Central American volcanic front, these marietholeiitic basalts are high in MgO and CaO and low in Al₂O_p,K₂O₁, Ba and Sr. They also differ from other Central Americanbasalts, in having clinopyroxene phenocrysts with higher MgO,CaO and Cr₂O₃ concentrations and olivine phenocrysts with higherMgO contents. Except for significantly higher concentrationsof Ba, Sr and ⁸⁷Sr/₈₆Sr, most of the tholeiites are indistinguishable in compositionfrom mid-ocean ridge basalts. In general, phenocryst mineralcompositions are also very similar between NG tholeiites andmid-ocean ridge basalts. The basalts as a whole can be dividedinto two groups based on relative TiO₂-K₂O concentrations. Thehigh-Ti basalts always have the lowest K₂O and Ba and usuallyhave the highest Ni and Cr. All of the basalts have experienced some fractional crystallizationof olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Relative to otherCentral American basalts, the Nejapa-Granada basalts appearto have fractionated at low P_T and P_H2O. The source of primarymagmas for these basalts is the mantle wedge. Fluids and/ormelts may have been added to the mantle wedge from hydrothermally-altered,subducting oceanic crust in order to enrich the mantle in Sr,Ba and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, but not in K and Rb. The role of lower crustaicontamination in causing the observed enrichments in Sr, Baand ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of NG basalts in comparison to mid-ocean ridgebasalts, however, is unclear. Rutile or a similar high-Ti accessoryphase may have been stable in the mantle source of the low-TiNG basalts, but not in that of the high-Ti basalts. Mafic tholeiiticbasalts, similar to those from Nejapa and Granada, may representmagmatic compositions parental to high-Al basalts, the mostmafic basalts at most Central American volcanoes. The characterof the residual high-Al basalts after this fractionation stepdepends critically on P_H2O Both high and low-Ti andesites are also present at Nejapa. Likethe high-Ti basalts, the high-Ti andesites have lower K₂O andBa and higher Ni and Cr in comparison to the low-Ti group. Thehigh-Ti andesites appear to be unrelated to any of the otherrocks and their exact origin is unknown. The low-Ti andesitesare the products of fractional crystallization of plagioclase,clinopyroxene, olivine (or orthopyroxene) and magnetite fromthe low-Ti basalts. The eruption that deposited a lapilli sectionat Cuesta del Plomo involved the explosive mixing of 3 components:high-Ti basaltic magma, low-Ti andesitic magma and high-Ti andesiticlava.