Sedimentary architecture and 3D ground-penetrating radar analysis of gravelly meandering river deposits (Neckar Valley, SW Germany)

Sedimentological outcrop analysis and sub‐surface ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) surveys are combined to characterize the three‐dimensional sedimentary architecture of Quaternary coarse‐grained fluvial deposits in the Neckar Valley (SW Germany). Two units characterized by different architectural styles are distinguished within the upper part of the gravel body, separated by an erosional unconformity: (i) a lower unit dominated by trough‐shaped depositional elements with erosional, concave‐up bounding surfaces that are filled by cross‐bedded sets of mainly openwork and filled framework gravel; and (ii) an upper unit characterized by gently inclined sheets of massive and openwork gravels with thin, sandy interlayers that show lateral accretion on a lower erosional unconformity. The former is interpreted as confluence scour pool elements formed in a multi‐channel, possibly braided river system, the latter as extensive point bar deposits formed by the lateral migration of a meandering river channel. The lateral accretion elements are locally cut by chute channels mainly filled by gravels rich in fines, and by fine‐grained abandoned channel fills. The lateral accretion elements are associated with gravel dune deposits characterized by steeply inclined cross‐beds of alternating open and filled framework gravel. Floodplain fines with a cutbank and point bar morphology cover the gravel deposits. The GPR images, revealing the three‐dimensional geometries of the depositional elements and their stacking patterns, confirm a change in sedimentary style between the two stratigraphic units. The change occurred at the onset of the Holocene, as indicated by ¹⁴C‐dating of wood fragments, and is related to a re‐organization of the fluvial system that probably was driven by climatic changes. The integration of sedimentological and GPR results highlights the heterogeneity of the fluvial deposits, a factor that is important for modelling groundwater flow in valley‐fill aquifers.     

A Stable Isotope Study of Anorogenic Magmatism in East Central Asia

A stable isotope study of 168 plutonic igneous rock and fivewater samples from Transbaikalia, East Asia, has been made,including 318 whole-rock and mineral ¹⁸O/¹⁶O analyses and 14D/H analyses. This represents the first detailed isotopic studyof the enormous Phanerozoic K-rich (mostly anorogenic) granitoidbelts of this region, which are thousands of kilometers in lengthand span an age range of >250Ma. Of the five main intrusivesuites, emplacement of the youngest (Permo-Triassic) was accompaniedby intense meteoric-hydrothermal activity, locally causing extreme¹⁸O depletio (¹⁸O _feldspar<–12). This reflects thevery low ¹⁸O of the water involved in these systems, which probablyhad ¹⁸O < – 20 and D < – 150, consistent withthe high paleolatitude of Transbaikalia in the early Mesozoic(80N). Despite local post-emplacement, hydrothermal ¹⁸O-depletioneffects near Permo-Triassic and younger plutons, the variationof magmatic isotopic composition in the five intrusive suites,in space and time, can be clearly discerned using the ¹⁸O/¹⁶Ovariation in phases such as quartz and sphene that are resistantto sub-solidus exchange. A procedure for analyzing ¹⁸O/¹⁶O insphene using a laser fluorination technique is described: analysisof samples as small as 0.4 mg (including single crystals ofsphene from granitoids) is possible and provides an effectiveway to estimate the magmatic ¹⁸O value of plutonic igneous rocks.Most sphene and quartz ¹⁸O values vary by 1.0–2.0% withineach of the five main intrusive suites in Transbaikalia (rangingin age from mid-Paleozoic to Mesozoic), and are uniform bothwithin individual plutons and among plutons of the same suiteseparated by tens or hundreds of kilometers. However, each suitehas a unique range in ¹⁸O/¹⁶O, indicating that, on a regionalscale, the magmatic ¹⁸O values of these granitoids decreasedprogressively in 1% decrements from +10 in the earliest groupto +6 in the youngest. This progression was accompanied by increasesin the concentration of elements such as K and Zr, and decreasesin the concentration of elements such as Sr and Ba. These systematicsrequire large scale deep crustal melting and mixing processesto generate the compositional uniformity of individual plutonsand groups over such wide areas, and also a progressive hybridizationof the crust with alkalic, mantle-derived magmas to generatesyenites and granites with progressively lower ¹⁸O values. Thisprocess may be a hallmark of anorogenic granitoid petrogenesisand the intracontinental cratonization process in general, andalso represents an important (though largely cryptic) crustalgrowth mechanism. KEY WORDS: anorogenic granitoids; crustal growth; hybridization; hydrothermal systems; stable isotopes ¹Present address: Galson Sciences Limited, 5 Grosvenor House, Melton Road, Oakham LE15 6AX, UK.     

THE UPPER CARBONIFEROUS OF FERGANA AND THE QUESTION OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE CARBONIFEROUS AND THE PERMIAN

The study of the Upper Carboniferous has been attracting much attention recently and the question as to its extent and stratigraphy has been the object of very serious discussion, but so far without any positive results. The large territory of the Soviet