Ocean-floor hydrothermal metamorphism in the Limousin ophiolites (western French Massif Central): evidence of a rare preserved Variscan oceanic marker

The Limousin ophiolite is located at the suture zone between two major thrust sheets in the western French Massif Central. This ophiolitic section comprises mantle‐harzburgite, mantle‐dunite, wehrlites, troctolites and layered gabbros. It has recorded a static metamorphic event transforming the gabbros into undeformed amphibolites and the magmatic ultramafites into serpentinites and/or pargasite‐bearing chloritites. With various thermobarometric methods, it is possible to show that the different varieties of amphibole have registered low‐P (c. 0.2 GPa) conditions with temperature ranging from high‐T, late‐magmatic conditions to greenschist–zeolite metamorphic facies. The abundance of undeformed metamorphic rocks (which is typical of the lower oceanic crust), the occurrence of Ca–Al (–Mg) metasomatism illustrated by the growth of Ca–Al silicates in veins or replacing the primary magmatic minerals, the P–T conditions of the metamorphism and the numerous similarities with oceanic crustal rocks from Ocean Drilling Program and worldwide ophiolites are the main arguments for an ocean‐floor hydrothermal metamorphism in the vicinity of a palaeo‐ridge. Among the West‐European Variscan ophiolites, the Limousin ophiolites constitute an extremely rare occurrence that has not been involved in any HP (subduction‐related) or MP (orogenic) metamorphism as observed in other ophiolite occurrences (i.e. France, Spain and Germany).     

KIDS AND SPACE IN THE PUERTO RICAN HIGHLANDS

ABSTRACT. The spatial world of the child comprises two great realms, “in’ and “out,’ more or less corresponding to the great behavioral domains of “got to’ and “doing nothing.’ Within the “got‐to’ domain–and thus “in’–are home, school, and other loci of secure, stable authority. Included in “doing nothing’–and so “out’–are street and yard, field and stream, pool hall and movie theater, the spaces of games, things to do, and really doing nothing. This study looks at the shifting relationships of these realms across the life cycle of kids in the highlands of Puerto Rico in 1969–1970.     

Homogeneous region delineation based on annual flood generation mechanisms

Abstract

Flood distributions can have unimodal or multimodal densities due to different flood generation mechanisms such as snowmelt and rainfall in the annual flood series. When applying nonparametric frequency analysis to annual flood data from the province of New Brunswick in Canada, unimodal, bimodal and heavy-tailed distribution shapes were found. By grouping basins with similarly-shaped densities on a geographical basis, homogeneous regions were delineated. Regional equations derived for a homogeneous region gave lower integral square errors than those of province-wide equations.     

The Geochemistry of Scapolite: Part II. Trace Elements, Petrology, and General Geochemistry

Fifty scapolites have been analysed spectrographically for numerouselements. Average concentrations (p.p.m.) were as follows: B25, Be 9–3, Ga 33, Ti 82, Li 56, Cu 4–4, Zr 59,Mn 57, Sr 1,800, Pb 45, Ba 120, Rb 20. The following were seldomor never detected: Cr, Ni, Co, Mo, Sn, V, Sc, Ag, Y, La. Themajor elements Ca, Na, K were also determined. The distributionof the trace elements can be explained by isomorphous substitution,but no detailed correlation of trace elements with each otheror with major elements was found. Refractive indices were determined and the relation betweenaverage index and per cent Me was examined: correlation waspoor, which may in part be attributed to analytical error. Examination of scapolite parageneses shows that scapolite characteristicallyoccurs in the upper amphibolite facies or the pyroxene hornfelsfacies: it is not restricted to these and may occur in any faciesfrom zeolitic to granulitic and in any hornfels facies. Theelements generally concentrated in scapolite include Ca, Na,C, Cl, S, H, B, Be, Li, Sr, Pb. The presence of C, Cl, S, Htestify to genesis in the presence of high partial pressureof CO₂, Cl₂, SO₃, H₂O (or related compounds), that is in pneumatolytic,pegmatitic, or hydrothermal environments. The concentrationof B, Be, Li can also be attributed to these conditions. The source of the elements concentrated in scapolite must inpart be common rocks. In a limited contact zone, the nearbymagma supplied some elements, but where regional scapolitizationhas taken place the presence of magma is less clear. Many commonrocks or rock series contain all the necessary constituents,but some particular conjunction of conditions is necessary forscapolite to form, or it would be more common.     

POST‐LITTLE ICE AGE PATTERNED GROUND DEVELOPMENT ON TWO PYRENEAN PROGLACIAL AREAS: FROM DEGLACIATION TO PERIGLACIATION

This study aims to observe post‐Little Ice Age glacier retreat and the constitutive patterned ground development at two French Pyrenean glacier forelands (Taillon Glacier and Pays Baché Glacier). Periglacial feature observations are associated with periods of deglaciation using aerial photos and archive files. Four conclusions are drawn. (1) The two glaciers have lost respectively 68% and 92% of their surface since 1850, which corroborates observations on other Pyrenean glaciers. (2) Patterned ground can develop very rapidly, sometimes only 10 years after deglaciation. (3) Patterned ground size does not systematically increase as a function of the time elapsed since deglaciation. (4) All the forms, even those developing near the Little Ice Age moraines, are active. We propose that the location, activity and size of patterned ground are more probably linked to drift characteristics and local wetness conditions than to the time elapsed since deglaciation.     

The Geochemistry of Scapolite Part II. Trace Elements, Petrology, and General Geochemistry

Fifty scapolites have been analysed spectrographically for numerouselements. Average concentrations (p.p.m.) were as follows: B25, Be 9-3, Ga 33, Ti 82, Li 56, Cu 4-4, Zr 59, Mn 57, Sr 1,800,Pb 45, Ba 120, Rb 20. The following were seldom or never detected:Cr, Ni, Co, Mo, Sn, V, Sc, Ag, Y, La. The major elements Ca,Na, K were also determined. The distribution of the trace elementscan be explained by isomorphous substitution, but no detailedcorrelation of trace elements with each other or with majorelements was found. Refractive indices were determined and the relation betweenaverage index and per cent Me was examined: correlation waspoor, which may in part be attributed to analytical error. Examination of scapolite parageneses shows that scapolite characteristicallyoccurs in the upper amphibolite facies or the pyroxene hornfelsfacies: it is not restricted to these and may occur in any faciesfrom zeolitic to granulitic and in any hornfels facies. Theelements generally concentrated in scapolite include Ca, Na,C, Cl, S, H, B, Be, Li, Sr, Pb. The presence of C, Cl, S, Htestify to genesis in the presence of high partial pressureof CO₂, Cl₂, SO₃, H₂O (or related compounds), that is in pneumatolytic,pegmatitic, or hydrothermal environments. The concentrationof B, Be, Li can also be attributed to these conditions. The source of the elements concentrated in scapolite must inpart be common rocks. In a limited contact zone, the nearbymagma supplied some elements, but where regional scapolitizationhas taken place the presence of magma is less clear. Many commonrocks or rock series contain all the necessary constituents,but some particular conjunction of conditions is necessary forscapolite to form, or it would be more common.     

Book Reviews

Regular grid sampling structures in the plane are a common spatial framework for many studies. Constructing grids with desirable properties such as equality of area and shape is more difficult on a sphere. We studied the distortion characteristics of recursive partitions of the surface of the globe starting with the octahedron and icosahedron polyhedral models. We used five different methods for mapping from the polyhedral model to the surface of the sphere: the Gnomonic projection, Fuller's Dymaxion projection, Snyder's equal area polyhedral projection, direct spherical subdivision, and a recursive polyhedral projection. We increased partition density using both a 4-fold and a 9-fold ratio at each level of recursive subdivision by subdividing to the 8th level with the 4-fold density ratio (65 536 cells per polyhedral face) and to the fifth level with the 9-fold density ratio (59 049 cells per polyhedral face). We measured the area and perimeter of each cell at each level of recursion for each method on each model using each density ratio. From these basic measurements we calculated the range and standard deviation of the area measurement, and the mean, range, and standard deviation of a compactness measurement defined as the ratio of (the ratio of the perimeter to the area of the cell) to (the ratio of the perimeter to the area of a spherical circle with the same area). We looked at these basic measurements and their statistics using graphs of variation with recursion level, sums of squares analyses of variation, histograms of the distributions, maps of the spatial variation, and correlograms. The Snyder projection performed best in area distortion and the Gnomonic projection performed best in compactness distortion. The Fuller projection and the Sphere method had moderate distortion in both area and compactness relative to the worst methods. There was little difference in distortion performance between partitions using the 4-fold density ratio and those using the 9-fold density ratio. Partitions based on the icosahedron performed better for all statistics than those based on the octahedron.     

Cessation and partial reversal of deep water freshening in the northern North Atlantic: observation-based estimates and attribution

Recent decadal salinity changes in the Greenland-Scotland overflow-derived deep waters are quantified using CTD data from repeated hydrographic sections in the Irminger Sea. The Denmark Strait Overflow Water salinity record shows the absence of any net change over the 1980s–2000s; changes in the Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) and in the deep water column (σ₀ > 27.82), enclosing both overflows, show a distinct freshening reversal in the early 2000s. The observed freshening reversal is a lagged consequence of the persistent ISOW salinification that occurred upstream, in the Iceland Basin, after 1996 in response to salinification of the northeast Atlantic waters entrained into the overflow. The entrainment salinity increase is explained by the earlier documented North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)-induced contraction of the subpolar gyre and corresponding northwestward advance of subtropical waters that followed the NAO decline in the mid-1990s and continued through the mid-2000s. Remarkably, the ISOW freshening reversal is not associated with changes in the overflow water salinity. This suggests that changes in the NAO-dependent relative contributions of subpolar and subtropical waters to the entrainment south of the Iceland–Scotland Ridge may dominate over changes in the Nordic Seas freshwater balance with respect to their effect on the ISOW salinity.