Depositional and diagenetic history of limestones and dolostones of the Oligo‐Miocene Kujung Formation in the Northeast Java Basin,Indonesia

Lithological and geochemical features of platformal carbonates record the signatures of the global climates and the regional environmental settings and also reconstruct the diagenetic history and porosity evolution, which are essential to evaluate the potential of hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study investigates the platformal carbonates of the Oligo‐Miocene Krunji Formation of North East Java Basin, which are potentially significant hydrocarbon reservoirs. The carbonate sequence in a 283 m thick section at Kranji in East Java is subdivided into three lithological units: limestone unit 1, dolostone unit 2, and limestone unit 3, in ascending order. The strontium‐isotope ratios of well‐preserved calcite samples indicate the depositional period from Chattian (late Oligocene) to Burdigalian (early Miocene), which is consistent with ages of the foraminifer assemblages. Unit 1 consists of low‐porosity limestone, in which two horizons of subaerial exposure are recognized by the occurrence of red‐colored matrix and lower δ¹³C values. Unit 2 consists of dolomitic rock and exhibits coarse‐grained calcitic grains and cross‐stratified structure. Considering that this unit has been subject to dolomitization, the sediment of unit 2 was initially permeable and was likely deposited in a shoal setting. The overlying unit 3 of Aquitanian–Burdigalian age is characterized by a highly granular texture. High porosity and uniformly low δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values indicate that Unit 3 was subjected to more intense meteoric diagenesis than the Chattian unit 1. This was likely a consequence of the Antarctic ice‐sheet expansion during the Oligocene/Miocene transition, which amplified sea level change. The unit 2 dolomite has high δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values and a high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio which resulted from the reflux of seawater into permeable the sediment body in middle‐late Miocene (Burdigalian Tortonian) following the deposition of unit 3. The porosity and permeability of the Kujung Formation were initially controlled by sedimentological processes, but largely modified by later diagenetic processes.     

Another sea area separated from the Panthalassic Ocean in the Norian,the Late Triassic: The lowest Sr isotopic composition of the Ishimaki limestone in central Japan

Mt. Ishimaki is the Jurassic accretionary complex of the Chichibu Belt in Toyohashi City, near Nagoya in central Japan. The Ishimaki limestone is thought to be seamount-type limestone. The P₁ elements of the conodonts Norigondolella navicula and Ancyrogondolella quadrata found in the limestone indicate it is of Norian age. The Sr isotopic compositions of 45 Ishimaki limestone samples ranged from 0.7055 to 0.7077. Eighteen of these samples had lower Sr isotopic compositions than the lowest Sr isotopic composition (0.7068) of seawater throughout the Phanerozoic. The Sr isotopic compositions in the limestone block are generally lower at the base of the block and higher at the top. The present Sr isotopic compositions of the Ishimaki limestone are unlikely to have been reduced by post-depositional alteration because most of the limestone samples had a low amount of Mn (<300 ppm) or high Sr/Mn ratios (>2) and the conodont elements had low (1–2) CAI (conodont alteration index) values. Additionally, there was little acid-insoluble residue. Thus, the low Sr isotopic compositions are thought to represent the strontium of the past ambient seawater. The low Sr isotopic compositions are in complete disagreement with the generally recognised range of seawater Sr isotopic compositions in the Norian stage of the Late Triassic (0.7075–0.7078) because the depositional environment of the Ishimaki limestone was closed or semi-closed from the Panthalassic Ocean. Therefore, the Sr isotopic composition of the limestone differs from that of the Panthalassic seawater. The low Sr isotopic compositions were probably affected by Sr inflows from mafic oceanic crust by hydrothermal fluid circulation or from hinterlands surrounded by mafic rocks by river water circulation.     

Occurrence and chemical composition of the Eoarchean carbonate rocks of the Nulliak supracrustal rocks in the Saglek Block of northeastern Labrador,Canada

The Eoarchean Nulliak supracrustal rocks in the Saglek Block of northeastern Labrador, Canada, contain some of the world's oldest carbonate rocks. This work attempted to reveal the origin of the carbonate rocks and estimate the surface environmental conditions of the early Earth based on their occurrence and geochemistry. They occur together with mafic and ultramafic rocks in Pangertok Inlet and St. John's Harbour South, whereas they are interlayered with pelitic rock layers with quartzofeldspathic mineral assemblages in St. John's Harbour East and Big Island. The geological occurrence suggests that the formers were formed around hydrothermal fields, whereas the latters were deposited near a continental margin. Some carbonate rocks have high SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and Zr contents, indicating that the silicification and involvement of detrital materials influenced their composition; thus, pure carbonate rocks were selected using a combined filter of the SiO₂, TiO_2, Al₂O₃, Zr, and Ba contents. The selected carbonate rocks have positive La, Eu, Gd, Y, U, Pb, and Sr anomalies, negative Nb, Zr, and Hf anomalies, and relatively small enrichment in heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). The La and Y anomalies suggest that they originated from chemical sediments precipitated from seawater. On the other hand, the small HREE-enrichment suggests that REEs were mainly dissolved as REE-carbonate complexes in seawater or that the riverine influxes were dominated by the detritus of Eoarchean continental crusts, presumably composed of HREE-depleted TTG. The U anomaly suggests that uranium was more dissolved than Th as U-bearing carbonate complexes in seawater. The Nulliak carbonate rocks also show a positive correlation between Y and Eu anomaly values, suggesting that the precipitation of iron-oxyhydroxide causing the Y anomaly was more significant near the hydrothermal fields than the continental margin, consistent with an alkaline hydrothermal model.     

Geochemistry and petrogenesis of carbonatites from South Nam Xe,Lai Chau area,northwest Vietnam

This paper presents a study of the petrography, mineral chemistry, geochemistry, and Sr–Nd–Pb–C–O isotope systematics of carbonatite dykes and associated rocks from the northeastern part of the Song Da intracontinental rift in South Nam Xe (northwest Vietnam) aimed at constraining the origin of the carbonatite magmas. The carbonatites are characterized by SiO₂ < 12.18 wt.% and by wide ranges in FeO, MgO and CaO content that define them as calciocarbonatite and ferrocarbonatite. On U–Th–Pb isochron diagrams, whole rocks and mineral separates from the ferrocarbonatites form linear arrays corresponding to ages of 30.2–31.6 Ma (Rupelian, Oligocene). The South Nam Xe carbonatites are extremely enriched in Sr, Ba, and light rare earth elements (LREE), and depleted in high field strength elements (HFSE) (e.g. Ti, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf). The age–corrected Sr–Nd–Pb isotope ratios and C isotope data are relatively uniform (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(t) = 0.708193–0.708349; ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(t) = 0.512250–0.512267; ε_Nd(t) = ?6.46 to ?6.80; ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t) = 18.26–18.79; ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t) = 15.62–15.64; ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_(t) = 38.80–39.38; δ¹³C_V-PDB = –2.7?‰ to ?4.1?‰). These isotopic compositions indicate source contamination that occurred before the production of the carbonatite magmas, and did not change noticeably during or after emplacement. The variation in oxygen isotopes is consistent with the change in mineral compositions and trace element abundances: the lower δ¹⁸O values (9.1–11.0?‰) coupled with Sr-rich, Mn-poor calcite, and igneous textures such as triple junctions among calcite grain boundaries, define a magmatic origin. However, the elevated δ¹⁸O values of the ferrocarbonatites (12.0–13.3?‰) coupled with a volatile-bearing mineral assemblages (including REE fluorcarbonates, sulfates, sulfides and fluorite) may be due to interaction with meteoric water during low-temperature alteration. High δ¹³C values and Sr–Pb ratios, and low Rb/Sr (0.00014–0.00301), Sm/Nd (0.089–0.141) and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios, coupled with very high Sr-Nd concentrations, suggest the involvement of an enriched mantle component, which probably resulted from metasomatism due to the migration of subducted material. Because of the lack of tectonic data and the limited number of samples studied, this conclusion is still ambiguous and requires further study.     

Detectability analysis of interplate fault slips in the Nankai subduction thrust using seafloor observation instruments

To help the decision making regarding where to locate new observation instruments on the seafloor, we examined the detectability of interplate earthquakes and slow slips in the Nankai subduction thrust in Japan using seafloor observation instruments. Here, the detectability is defined as the smallest magnitude of the interplate fault slip detected by the assumed observation points based on crustal deformation simulation. In the detectability analyses, we considered the effect of sensor drifts that are particularly associated with seafloor observations. In addition, we introduced high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) finite element modeling of crustal deformation to consider the effect of the topography and 3D heterogeneous crustal structure around the Nankai Trough. The results of the detectability analyses show that introducing new seafloor stations for tilt observation in the Nankai region should increase the detectability of small- or medium-sized interplate earthquakes and slow slips significantly. Based on the obtained results, we also discuss the advantage of both the existing and the new observation instruments in detecting interplate fault slips.

     

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON BEHAVIORS OF MAJOR AND MINOR LITHOPHILE ELEMENTS IN VAPORIZATION UNDER EVACUATED CONDITION

In order to investigate the volatilities of major and minor lithophile elements, evaporation experiments by electron bombardment were carried out employing basaltic rock powder. The elements studied included Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Mn, Na, K, Rb, Ba and REE. The source crucible was heated to about 2300 °K, and the vaporized material was collected at different distances from the source. The enrichment factors of studied elements in the material collected on the condensation plate were calculated relative to the starting material. Patterns of REE removed during flights between varying distances were also evaluated.     

Detrital zircon evidence for Hf isotopic evolution of granitoid crust and continental growth

We have determined U-Pb ages, trace element abundances and Hf isotopic compositions of approximately 1000 detrital zircon grains from the Mississippi, Congo, Yangtze and Amazon Rivers. The U-Pb isotopic data reveal the lack of >3.3 Ga zircons in the river sands, and distinct peaks at 2.7-2.5, 2.2-1.9, 1.7-1.6, 1.2-1.0, 0.9-0.4, and <0.3 Ga in the accumulated age distribution. These peaks correspond well with the timing of supercontinent assembly. The Hf isotopic data indicate that many zircons, even those having Archean U-Pb ages, crystallized from magmas involving an older crustal component, suggesting that granitoid magmatism has been the primary agent of differentiation of the continental crust since the Archean era. We calculated Hf isotopic model ages for the zircons to estimate the mean mantle-extraction ages of their source materials. The oldest zircon Hf model ages of about 3.7 Ga for the river sands suggest that some crust generation had taken place by 3.7 Ga, and that it was subsequently reworked into <3.3 Ga granitoid continental crust. The accumulated model age distribution shows peaks at 3.3-3.0, 2.9-2.4, and 2.0-0.9 Ga.The striking attribute of our new data set is the non-uniformitarian secular change in Hf isotopes of granitoid crusts; Hf isotopic compositions of granitoid crusts deviate from the mantle evolution line from about 3.3 to 2.0 Ga, the deviation declines between 2.0 and 1.3 Ga and again increases afterwards. Consideration of mantle-crust mixing models for granitoid genesis suggests that the noted isotopic trends are best explained if the rate of crust generation globally increased in two stages at around (or before) 3.3 and 1.3 Ga, whereas crustal differentiation was important in the evolution of the continental crust at 2.3-2.2 Ga and after 0.6 Ga. Reconciling the isotopic secular change in granitoid crust with that in sedimentary rocks suggests that sedimentary recycling has essentially taken place in continental settings rather than active margin settings and that the sedimentary mass significantly grew through addition of first-cycle sediments from young igneous basements, until after ∼1.3 Ga when sedimentary recycling became the dominant feature of sedimentary evolution. These findings, coupled with the lack of zircons older than 3.3 Ga in river sands, imply the emergence of large-scale continents at about 3.3 Ga with further rapid growth at around 1.3 Ga. This resulted in the major growth of the sedimentary mass between 3.3 and 1.3 Ga and the predominance of its cannibalistic recycling later.     

Grain-scale iron isotopic distribution of pyrite from Precambrian shallow marine carbonate revealed by a femtosecond laser ablation multicollector ICP-MS technique: Possible proxy for the redox state of ancient seawater

The redox state of Precambrian shallow seas has been linked with material cycle and evolution of the photosynthesis-based ecosystem. Iron is a redox-sensitive element and exists as a soluble Fe(II) species or insoluble Fe(III) species on Earth’s surface. Previous studies have shown that the iron isotopic ratio of marine sedimentary minerals is useful for understanding the ocean redox state, although the redox state of the Archean shallow sea is poorly known. This is partly because the conventional bulk isotope analytical technique has often been used, wherein the iron isotopic record may be dampened by the presence of isotopically different iron-bearing minerals within the same sample. Here we report a microscale iron isotopic ratio of individual pyrite grains in shallow marine stromatolitic carbonates over geological time using a newly developed, near-infrared femtosecond laser ablation multicollector ICP-MS technique (NIR-fs-LA-MC-ICP-MS).We have determined that the grain-scale iron isotopic distribution of pyrite from coeval samples shows a bimodal (2.7 and 2.3 Ga) or unimodal pattern (2.9, 2.6, and 0.7 Ga). In particular, pyrite from the 2.7 Ga Fortescue Group shows a unique bimodal distribution with highly positive (+1.0‰ defined as Type 1) and negative δ⁵⁶Fe values (−1.8‰ defined as Type 2). Type 1 and 2 pyrites occasionally occur within different siliceous layers in the same rock specimen. Layer-scale iron isotopic heterogeneity indicates that the iron isotopic ratios of the two types of pyrite are not homogenized by diagenesis after deposition. Some cubic pyrites have a core with a positive δ⁵⁶Fe value (1‰) and a rim with a crustal δ⁵⁶Fe value (0‰). The observed isotopic zoning suggests that the positive δ⁵⁶Fe value is a primary signature at the time of stromatolite formation, while secondary pyrite precipitated during diagenesis.The positive δ⁵⁶Fe value of Type 1 and the large iron isotopic difference between Type 1 and 2 (2.8‰.) suggest partial Fe(II) oxidation in the 2.7-Ga shallow sea, i.e., pyritization of ⁵⁶Fe-enriched ferric oxyhydroxide (Type 1) and ⁵⁶Fe depleted Fe²⁺aq in seawater (Type 2). Type 2 pyrite was probably not produced by microbial iron redox cycling during diagenesis because this scenario requires a higher abundance of pyrite with δ⁵⁶Fe of 0‰ than of −1.8‰. Consequently, the degree of Fe(II) oxidation in the 2.7-Ga shallow sea can be estimated by a Fe²⁺aq steady-state model. The model calculation shows that half the Fe²⁺aq influx was oxidized in the seawater. This implies that O₂ produced by photosynthesis would have been completely consumed by oxidation of the Fe²⁺aq influx. Grain-scale iron isotopic distribution of pyrite could be a useful index for reconstructing the redox state of the Archean shallow sea.     

Responses of Estuarine Bacterioplankton,Phytoplankton and Zooplankton to Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Inorganic Nutrient Additions

The response of planktonic bacteria and phytoplankton to various additions of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) as glucose, with and without inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), was tested in the upper to mid Hunter Estuary, Australia. In situ microcosms (1.25 L) were performed at two sites with varying salinities over three seasons. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference among control and treatments for all seasons for the bacterial, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a responses (P < 0.05). A significant interaction between treatment and site was found in autumn for dissolved oxygen, autumn and spring for bacterial and spring for chlorophyll a responses. At both sites for each season, and on nearly all occasions, bacterial surface area was enhanced by DOC addition as indicated by both increased bacterial abundance and dissolved oxygen utilisation. DOC in combination with inorganic nutrients sometimes further enhanced the bacterial response compared to DOC alone. Inorganic nutrients alone did not enhance growth of the heterotrophic bacterioplankton. Addition of DOC alone led to decreased chlorophyll a relative to the control, probably due to competition for limited inorganic nutrients with the bacterioplankton DOC non-limiting conditions. Results suggest that the heterotrophic community was limited by DOC at both sites and across seasons. An experiment with a larger volume (70 L), performed over a longer time, compared a control with DOC addition. Increased bacterial biomass as a result of DOC addition occurred at day 2. Chlorophyll a did not significantly differ between treatments. An increase in zooplankton density was recorded in the DOC treatment relative to the control at day 10. This study supports the contention that increased DOC delivery with river inflows through environmental flow allocations will stimulate heterotrophic bacterioplankton production in the upper Hunter Estuary.