Dense-media separation as a more efficient pollen extraction method for use with organic sediment/deposit samples: comparison with the conventional method

Dense-media separation, frequently adopted as a standard pollen extraction method for use with minerogenic sediment samples, was adapted for use with organic-rich sediment and peat samples. A total of 15 organic-rich sediment samples, obtained from sites in Corsica and the Southern European Alps, was treated using both dense-media separation and the conventional preparation method in order to compare the relative efficiencies of the two methods. The dense-media separation method consistently achieved a remarkably higher purity of extracted pollen grains. This was especially true for the Corsican peat samples, the dense-media separations being quite pure, whereas the classical method produced samples that were so severely polluted with organic fragments that it was impossible to carry out a satisfactory pollen analysis. The percentage values of each taxon were generally similar using both methods, showing that the two methods are compatible for pollen analytical studies. Total pollen concentrations were generally higher with the dense-media separation method (especially for gyttja samples). In conclusion, dense-media separation is an efficient method for pollen extraction from organic as well as from minerogenic sediments and deposits.     

Multistage dolomitization and distribution of dolomitized bodies in Early Jurassic carbonate platforms (Southern Alps,Italy)

The Early Jurassic dolomitized carbonates are a hydrocarbon exploration target in Northern Italy. Of these carbonates, the Liassic Albenza Formation platform and the overlying Sedrina Formation shelf were studied to define a pervasive dolomitization model and to shed light on dolomite distribution in the sub‐surface. Field work, as well as analyses of well cores, stable isotopes, trace elements and fluid inclusions, was carried out on the outcropping thrust belt and sub‐surface deformed foreland of the Southern Alps. Petrographic analyses showed a first, pervasive, replacement dolomitization phase (D1) followed by volumetrically less important dolomite cement precipitation phases (D2, D3 and D4). The δ¹⁸O values fall between ?8·2‰ and 0·1‰ Vienna‐Pee Dee Belemnite with the more depleted samples belonging to dolomite cement‐rich dolostones; the δ¹³C ranges from 2·6‰ to 3·7‰ Vienna‐Pee Dee Belemnite. Analysis of trace elements showed different Fe and Mn contents in the sub‐surface and outcropping dolostones, and a higher Fe in the younger dolomite cements. An increase in the precipitation temperature (up to 130 °C from fluid inclusion data) and a decrease in diagenetic fluid salinity (from sea water to brackish) are observed from the first pervasive replacement dolomite to the dolomite cement phases. Field observations indicate that, in the Albenza Formation, dolomitization was limited to palaeohighs or faulted platform margins in the Early Jurassic carbonates. The pervasive replacement phase is interpreted based on a ‘compaction model’; the formation fluids expelled from compacting basinal carbonates could have funnelled along faults into permeable palaeohighs. The high homogenization temperature of the dolomite cements and decreased salinities indicate precipitation at great depth with an influx of meteoric water. These data, along with the thermal history, suggest that the dolomite cements precipitated according to the ‘tectonic squeegee’ dolomitization model. The dolomite precipitation temperature was set against the thermal history of the carbonate platform to interpret the timing of dolomite precipitation. The dolomite precipitation temperatures (90 to 100 °C) were reached in the studied formations first in the thrust fold belt (Early Tertiary, 60 Ma), and then in the foreland succession during the Late Tertiary (10 Ma). This observation suggests that the dolomite precipitation fronts moved southwards over time, recording a ‘diagenetic wave’ linked to the migration of the orogenic system. Observations suggest that the porosity increased during the first phase of replacement dolomitization while the dolomite cementation phases partially occluded the pores. The distribution of porous dolomitized bodies is therefore linked to the ‘compaction dolomitization’ model.     

Fluid and Element Cycling in Subducted Serpentinite: a Trace-Element Study of the Erro-Tobbio High-Pressure Ultramafites (Western Alps, NW Italy)

The oceanic serpentinization of peridotites and the influenceof such an alteration on element cycling during their subductiondewatering are here investigated in a mantle slice (Erro–Tobbioperidotite), first exposed to oceanic serpentinization and laterinvolved in alpine subduction, partial dewatering and formationof a high-pressure olivine + titanian-clinohumite + diopside+ antigorite assemblage in the peridotites and in veins. Previouswork indicates that high-pressure veins include primary brines,representing a residue after crystallization of the vein assemblageand containing recycled oceanic Cl and alkalis. To reconstructthe main changes during oceanic peridotite serpentinizationand subsequent subduction, we analysed samples in profiles fromserpentinized oceanic peridotites to high-pressure serpentinites,and from high-pressure ultramafites to veins. Here we presentresults indicating that the main features of the oceanic serpentinizationare immobility of rare earth elements (REE), considerable waterincrease, local CaO decrease and uptake of trace amounts ofSr, probably as a function of the intensity of alteration. Srentered fine-grained Ca phases associated with serpentine andchlorite. Trace-element analyses of mantle clinopyroxenes andhigh-pressure diopsides (in country ultramafites and veins),highlight the close similarity in the REE compositions of thevarious clinopyroxenes, thereby indicating rock control on thevein fluids and lack of exotic components carried by externallyderived fluids. Presence of appreciable Sr contents in vein-formingdiopside indicates cycling of oceanic Sr in the high-pressurefluid. This, together with the recognition of pre-subductionCl and alkalis in the vein fluid, indicates closed-system behaviourduring eclogitization and internal cycling of exogenic components.Diopside and Ti-clinohumite are the high-pressure minerals actingas repositories for REE and Sr, and for high field strengthelements (HFSE), respectively. The aqueous fluid equilibratedwith such an assemblage is enriched in Cl and alkaline elementsbut strongly depleted in REE and HFSE (less than chondrite abundances).Sr is low [(0·2–1·6) x chondrites], althoughselectively enriched relative to light REE. KEY WORDS: eclogite facies; fluid; trace elements; serpentinite; subduction