Geochemical Evidence for Subduction Fluxes, Mantle Melting and Fractional Crystallization Beneath the South Sandwich Island Arc

The volcanoes of the South Sandwich island arc follow threedistinct series: low-K tholeiitic (followed by Zavodovski, Candlemas,Vindication, Montagu and Bristol), tholeiitic (followed by Visokoi,Saunders and Bellinghausen) and calcalkaline (followed by Leskov,Freehand and part of Cook and Thule). Flux calculations indicatethat the percentage contribution of the subduction componentto the mantle source of all three series varies from undetectable(e.g. Zr) through small (e.g. Nd=20%) and moderate (e.g. La,Ce, Sr=50–80%) to dominant (e.g. Pb, K, Ba, Rb, Cs >90%)with little change along the arc. Isotope systematics (Pb, Nd,Sr) show that this subduction component obtains a greater contributionfrom altered oceanic crust than from pelagic sediment. Elementsfor which the subduction contribution is small show that themantle is already depleted relative to N-MORB mantle (equivalentto loss of an 2•5% melt fraction) before melting beneaththe arc. After addition of the subduction component, dynamicmelting of this depleted mantle then causes the variations inK that distinguish the three series. The estimated degree ofpartial melting (20%) is slightly greater than that beneathocean ridges, though geothermometry suggests that the primarymagma temperature (1225C) is similar to that of primary MORB.About half of the melting may be attributed to volatile addition,and half to decompression. Dynamic melting involving three-dimensional,two-phase flow may be needed to explain fully the inter-islandvariations. KEY WORDS: geochemistry; petrology; fluxes; melting; subduction ^*Corresponding author     

Stable Isotopic Evidence for Fluid-Rock Interactions in the Ivrea Zone, Italy

Stable isotope compositions of Ivrea Zone marbles and associatedlithologies are in general heterogeneous. The oxygen isotopecomposition of quartz in pelites ranges from ¹⁸O +9 to + 17(SMOW) and does not vary systematically with metamorphic grade.Peridotites retain oxygen isotope signatures close to mantlevalues. Marble calcites vary in isotopic composition from ¹³C + 2(PDB),¹⁸0 +24(SMOW)to ¹³C –6(PDB), ¹⁸O + 13 (SMOW).Depletions in ¹⁸O and ¹³C may be explained dominantly by interactionwith fluids derived from within the observed metasedimentarysequence during prograde metamorphism. ¹⁸O and ¹³C show gradients of greater than 5/m across marblemargins and within marbles. The preservation of such isotopicgradients is not consistent with the long-term presence of grain-boundary-scaleinterconnected fluid films in and around marbles. There is ageneral lowering of ¹⁸O within individual marble bodies althoughlarge carbon and oxygen isotopic gradients are present. Calcitein marbles may attain oxygen isotope equilibrium, but rarelycarbon isotope equilibrium, with surrounding metapelites. Infiltrationof marbles must involve a component of channelized fluid flow. The general lack of isotopic equilibration within the sequencerequires channelized fluid flow and limited fluid-rock ratios.Large pervasive mantle to crust fluid fluxes are not consistentwith the observations. ^*Present address: Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1EU, England     

Meteorites at Meridiani Planum provide evidence for significant amounts of surface and near‐surface water on early Mars

Abstract– Six large iron meteorites have been discovered in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in a nearly 25 km‐long traverse. Herein, we review and synthesize the available data to propose that the discovery and characteristics of the six meteorites could be explained as the result of their impact into a soft and wet surface, sometime during the Noachian or the Hesperian, subsequently to be exposed at the Martian surface through differential erosion. As recorded by its sediments and chemical deposits, Meridiani has been interpreted to have undergone a watery past, including a shallow sea, a playa, an environment of fluctuating ground water, and/or an icy landscape. Meteorites could have been encased upon impact and/or subsequently buried, and kept underground for a long time, shielded from the atmosphere. The meteorites apparently underwent significant chemical weathering due to aqueous alteration, as indicated by cavernous features that suggest differential acidic corrosion removing less resistant material and softer inclusions. During the Amazonian, the almost complete disappearance of surface water and desiccation of the landscape, followed by induration of the sediments and subsequent differential erosion and degradation of Meridiani sediments, including at least 10–80 m of deflation in the last 3–3.5 Gy, would have exposed the buried meteorites. We conclude that the iron meteorites support the hypothesis that Mars once had a denser atmosphere and considerable amounts of water and/or water ice at and/or near the surface.     

Preparing For Hyperseed MAC: An Observing Campaign To Monitor The Entry Of The Genesis Sample Return Capsule

The imminent return of the Genesis Sample Return Capsule (SRC) from the Earth’s L1 point on September 8, 2004, represents the first opportunity since the Apollo era to study the atmospheric entry of a meter-sized body at or above the Earth’s escape speed. Until now, reentry heating models are based on only one successful reentry with an instrumented vehicle at higher than escape speed, the 22 May 1965 NASA “FIRE 2” experiment. In preparation of an instrumented airborne and ground-based observing campaign, we examined the expected bolide radiation for the reentry of the Genesis SRC. We find that the expected emission spectrum consists mostly of blackbody emission from the SRC surface (T∼ ∼2630 K@peak heating), slightly skewed in shape because of a range of surface temperatures. At high enough spectral resolution, shock emission from nitrogen and oxygen atoms, as well as the first positive and first negative bands of N₂⁺, will stand out above this continuum. Carbon atom lines and the 389-nm CN band emission may also be detected, as well as the mid-IR 4.6-μm CO band. The ablation rate can be studied from the signature of trace sodium in the heat shield material, calibrated by the total amount of matter lost from the recovered shield. A pristine collection of the heat shield would also permit the sampling of products of ablation.     

Structures of Well Preserved Australite Buttons from Port Campbell,Victoria, Australia

Abstract. Complete and nearly complete australite buttons in good states of preservation from Port Campbell, Victoria, show excellent structural details and are of great scientific importance. Some of the features on their posterior surfaces are doubtfully assigned a primary origin in an extraterrestrial birthplace but have been modified by terrestrial solution-etching. Secondary features on their anterior surfaces are due to the effects of aerodynamic frictional heating during transit with stable orientation at supersonic velocity through the earth's atmosphere. Tertiary processes such as subaerial weathering have played some part in slightly modifying their shape and sculpture patterns. They contrast strongly with the many thousands of australites collected from the arid and sub-arid regions of Australia, and with a considerable number that were abraded by stream or gravity transportation in the more temperate zones of the strewnfield. The majority of such specimens have been more severely weathered with the resultant loss of much or all of their primary and secondary features.     

Experimental Investigation and Optimization of Thermodynamic Properties and Phase Diagrams in the Systems CaO-SiO2, MgO-SiO2, CaMgSi2O6-SiO2 and CaMgSi2O6-Mg2SiO4 to 1{middle dot}0 GPa

Using experimental results at 1·0 GPa for the systemsCaO–SiO₂, MgO–SiO₂, CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂ and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄,and all the currently available phase equilibria and thermodynamicdata at 1 bar, we have optimized the thermodynamic propertiesof the liquid phase at 1·0 GPa. The new optimized thermodynamicparameters indicate that pressure has little effect on the topologyof the CaO–SiO₂, CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂, and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄systems but a pronounced one on the MgO–SiO₂ binary. Themost striking change concerns passage of the MgSiO₃ phase fromperitectic melting at 1 bar to eutectic melting at 1·0GPa. This transition is estimated to occur at 0·41 GPa.For the CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂ and CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄ pseudo-binaries,the size of the field clinopyroxene + liquid increases withincreasing pressure. This change is related to the shift ofthe piercing points clinopyroxene + silica + liquid (from 0·375mol fraction SiO₂ at 1 bar to 0·414 at 1·0 GPa)and clinopyroxene + olivine + liquid (from 0·191 molfraction SiO₂ at 1 bar to 0·331 at 1·0 GPa) thatbound the clinopyroxene + liquid field in the CaMgSi₂O₆·SiO₂and CaMgSi₂O₆·Mg₂SiO₄ pseudo-binaries, respectively. KEY WORDS: CaO–SiO₂; CaMgSi₂O₆–Mg₂SiO₄; CaMgSi₂O₆–SiO₂; experiments; MgO–SiO₂     

Corona textures between kyanite, garnet and gedrite in gneisses from Errabiddy, Western Australia

Abstract Corona textures, which developed in alternating layers in rocks in a supracrustal belt at Errabiddy, Western Australia, involved:
(a) The production of staurolite, cordierite and quartz or sapphirine between Kyanite and/or sillimanite and gedrite; and
(b) The production of cordierite between garnet and gedrite.
These textures are inconsistent with development along the same pressure–temperature path in the system FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O, but can be accounted for if CaO, mainly in garnet, is taken into account. The sapphirine-bearing kyanite–gedrite textures are explained by lower a (SiO₂) during their development. The assemblages indicate a consistent pressure–temperature ( P–T ) trajectory involving substantial uplift with only a slight decrease in temperature. The history of these rocks includes reheating of originally high-grade rocks that had cooled to a stable conductive geotherm, followed by substantial, essentially isothermal uplift. The tectonic environment for this was presumably the one responsible for emplacement of the high-grade terrain in the upper crust.