Probing fault zone heterogeneity on the Nojima fault: Constraints from zircon fission-track analysis of borehole samples

Fission-track (FT) thermochronologic analysis was performed on zircon separates from rocks in and around the Nojima fault, which was activated during the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Samples were collected from the University Group 500 m (UG-500) borehole and nearby outcrops. FT lengths in zircons from localities > 25 m away from the fault plane as well as one 0.1 m away from the fault in the footwall are characterized by concordant mean values of  10–11 μm and unimodal distributions with negative skewness, which showed no signs of appreciable reduction in FT length. In contrast, those adjacent (< 3 m) to the fault at depths on the hanging wall side showed significantly reduced mean track lengths of  6–8 μm and distributions having a peak around 6–7 μm with rather positive skewness. The former pattern is interpreted to reflect cooling through the zircon partial annealing zone (ZPAZ), without later, partial thermal overprints. The latter indicates substantial track shortening due probably to secondary heating by a thermal event(s) that locally perturbed the geothermal structure. Modeled zircon FT length and age data of partially annealed samples from the UG-500 borehole revealed a cooling episode in the ZPAZ that started at  4 Ma within  3 m from the fault plane, whereas those from the Geological Survey of Japan 750 m borehole record cooling started at  31–38 Ma within  25 m from the fault. On the basis of one-dimensional heat conduction modeling as well as the consistency between the degree of FT annealing and the degree of deformation/alteration of borehole rocks, these cooling ages in both boreholes are interpreted as consequences of ancient thermal overprints by heat transfer or dispersion via fluids in the fault zone. Together with the zircon FT data of a pseudotachylyte layer recently analyzed, it is suggested that the present Nojima fault system was reactivated in the Middle Quaternary from an ancient fault initiated at  56 Ma at mid-crustal depths. Also shown is a temporal/spatial variation in terms of the thermal anomalies recorded in the fault rocks, implying heterogeneity of hot fluid flows in the fault zone.     

Tectonically driven fluid flow and gold mineralisation in active collisional orogenic belts: comparison between New Zealand and western Himalaya

Hydrothermal activity and mesothermal-styled gold mineralisation occurs near the main topographic divide of most active or young collisional mountain belts. The Southern Alps of New Zealand is used in this study as a model for the mineralising processes. The collisional tectonics results in a two-sided wedge-shaped orogen into which rock is transported horizontally. Upper crustal rocks pass through the orogen and leave the orogen by erosion, whereas lower crustal rocks are deformed into the mountain roots. High relief drives meteoric water flow to near the brittle–ductile transition. Lower to upper greenschist facies metamorphic reactions, driven by deformation at the crustal decollement and in the root, release water-rich fluids that rise through the orogen. Intimate chemical interaction between fluid and rock results in dissolution and later precipitation of gold, arsenic and sulphur. Fluid flow and mineralisation in the topographic divide region is facilitated by a network of steeply dipping faults and associated rock damage zones where oblique strike-slip faults intersect the thrust faults that strike subparallel to the main mountain range.The Nanga Parbat massif of the western Himalaya is an example of an active collisional zone which hosts hydrothermal activity but no gold mineralisation. The lack of gold mineralisation is due to the following factors: CO₂-dominated rising metamorphic fluid in dehydrated amphibolite-granulite facies metamorphic rocks does not dissolve gold and arsenic; hot (up to 400 °C) meteoric water confined to fractures in the gneiss limits dissolution of gold and arsenic; low density of hot water/dry steam, and low reduced sulphur content of fluid, restrict solubility of gold and arsenic; absence of fracture networks in the core of the massif and the small volumes of circulating fluid limit metal concentration; and lack of reactive rock compositions limits chemically mediated metal deposition.     

Vampire rock avalanches of January 2008 and 2003, Southern Alps, New Zealand

Rock avalanches fell from Vampire (2,645 m) Peak in the Southern Alps of New Zealand during January 2008. There were no direct witnesses, casualties or damage to infrastructure. Field observations indicate about 150,000 m³ (±50,000) of indurated greywacke collapsed retrogressively from a 73° slope between 2,380 and 2,520 m. Debris fell 800 m down Vampire’s south face and out 1.7 km across Mueller Glacier, with a 27.5° angle of reach. The resulting 300,000 m² avalanche deposit contains three distinct lobes. The national seismograph network recorded two pulses of avalanche-type shaking, equivalent in amplitude to a M _L 2.4 tectonic earthquake, for 60 s on Monday 7 January at 2349 hours (NZDT); then 45 s of shaking at M _L 2.5 on Sunday 13 January at 0923 hours (NZDT). Deposit lobes are inferred to relate directly with shaking episodes. The avalanche fell across the debris from an older avalanche, which was also unwitnessed and fell from a different source on Vampire’s south face between February and November 2003. The 2003 avalanche involved 120,000 m³ (±40,000) of interlayered sandstone and mudstone which collapsed from a 65° slope between 2,440 and 2,560 m, then fell 890 m down across Mueller Glacier at a 24° angle of reach. Prolonged above-freezing temperatures were recorded during January 2008, but no direct trigger has been identified. The event appears to be a spontaneous, gravitationally induced, stress failure.     

Zoned (Cretaceous and Cenozoic) garnet and the timing of high grade metamorphism, Southern Alps, New Zealand

New (garnet Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf) and existing (Rb–Sr, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, U–Pb and Sm–Nd) ages and data on deformational fabrics and mineral compositions show for the first time that the garnet growth and ductile deformation in the Alpine Schist belt and Southern Alps orogen, New Zealand are diachronous and partly Cenozoic in age. The dominant metamorphic isograds in the Alpine Schist formed during crustal thickening at a previously unsuspected time, at c. 86 Ma, immediately prior to the opening of the Tasman Sea at c. 84–82 Ma. Obvious changes in the textures and compositional zoning patterns of garnet are not always reliable indicators of polymetamorphism, and fabric elements can be highly diachronous. A detailed timing history for the growth of a single garnet is recorded by a Sm–Nd garnet–whole rock age of 97.8 ± 8.1 Ma for the inmost garnet core (zone 1), Lu–Hf ages of 86.2 ± 0.2 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.2 Ma for overgrowth zones 2 and 3, a step‐leach Sm–Nd age of 12 ± 37 Ma for zone 4, and growth of the garnet rim (zone 5) over the Alpine Fault mylonite foliation during the modern phase of oblique collision that began at c. 5–6 Ma. Plate convergence along the New Zealand portion of the Gondwana margin continued after c. 105 Ma, almost certainly culminating in the oblique collision of a large oceanic plateau (Hikurangi Plateau). The metamorphism of the Alpine Schist at c. 86 Ma is evidence of that hit. The mid‐ to late‐Cretaceous extension that is widespread elsewhere in the New Zealand region is attributed to upper plate extension and slab roll‐back. The effects of the collision with the Hikurangi Plateau may have contributed to the changing plate motions in the region leading up to the opening of the Tasman Sea at c. 82 Ma.     

Establishing the P–T path for Alpine Schist, Southern Alps near Hokitika, New Zealand

Pressure–temperature pseudosections for ‘greyschist’ (metamorphosed greywacke and argillite) from the Alpine Schist (Haast Schist group) near Hokitika (Southern Alps, New Zealand) are used to gain new insights into its metamorphic history. The rocks were metamorphosed at relatively low‐grade conditions associated with the first appearance and initial growth of garnet in the stability field of albite. The measured and predicted garnet compositional zoning data are used to construct an overall P–T path by combining P–T path results from nearby rocks that have a range of MnO contents. The P–T path obtained is steep from ～380 °C/2.5 kbar up to ～490 °C/8.5 kbar, then recurves sharply with garnet growth continuing during early decompression to ～500 °C/6.5 kbar. Most garnet growth in the study area took place in the stability field of albite, with oligoclase appearing only during decompression, when the peristerite gap was entered. On appearance of oligoclase, there is a marked decrease in the CaO content of garnet. The preservation of mineral assemblages from near‐peak temperature conditions can be understood in terms of the P–T path subsequently becoming tangential to water content contours, during cooling with further decompression.     

Metamorphism and uplift of Alpine schist in the Franz Josef–Fox Glacier area of the Southern Alps, New Zealand

Geothermometry and geobarometry of 10 garnet–oligoclase zone schists in the Franz Josef–Fox Glacier area, Southern Alps, New Zealand, give temperatures ranging from 415 to 625°C and pressures from 5.2 to 9.2 kbar, indicating a T–P array of about 50°C/kbar and inferred peak temperature conditions over a c. 15-km-thick section at depths between c. 20 and 34 km. The present-day distribution of the schist samples implies that only about one-third of the original crustal section is now exposed.
The garnet–oligoclase zone schists represent the deeper part of a metamorphosed and deformed accretionary complex that was associated with late Palaeozoic–early Mesozoic subduction along the Gondwana continental margin. Partial uplift ( c. 0.2 m/Ma) and erosion of the complex during Jurassic–Cretaceous times (Rangitata uplift) was synchronous with D2 deformation and recrystallization, as recorded by the P–T array. Cenozoic (Kaikoura) uplift and exhumation of the schist since c. 30 Ma to form the Southern Alps was associated with oblique-slip movement on the Alpine Fault. The present-day position and steep eastward dip of isograds and D2 structures suggest considerable clockwise rotation during uplift associated with ductile attenuation and tectonic thinning by over two-thirds of the original schist sequence, largely due to simple shear along schistosity planes. As the schist generally shows only incipient greenschist facies retrograde recrystallization, an apparently complete (although contracted) prograde mineral sequence has been preserved by rapid uplift (>5 km/Ma) of hot rock and the effects of limited shear heating near the Alpine Fault.     

Apatite and zircon fission-track dating from the Hirabayashi-NIED borehole, Nojima Fault, Japan: Evidence for anomalous heating in fracture zones

Fission-track (FT) analysis using apatite and zircon was performed on samples from two fracture zones (FZ) at the depths of 1140 and 1310 m within the 1838 m borehole core penetrating the Ryoke Granitic Rocks in the Nojima Fault at Nojima-Hirabayashi, Awaji Island, Japan, drilled just after the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake. Clear discordance in apatite and zircon FT age was found for two samples located at  2 m below the central part of each FZs where the presence of pseudotachylyte and/or fault gouge would predict the largest amount of slip. Asymmetric distribution was identified by discordant ages with respect to the central part of FZs. These very local discordant ages in the fault reflect thermal anomalies caused by secondary heating with an inferred maximum temperature in the region between apatite and zircon closure temperatures at a time post-48 Ma. As a source of the secondary heating, heat transfer or dispersion via geothermal fluids caused presumably the observed similarity in asymmetric distribution of discordant FT ages at two different FZs. Other samples yield concordant FT zircon and apatite ages and these indicate rapid cooling within the bounds of two closure temperatures of these minerals at  60 Ma of the Ryoke Granitic Rocks.     

The South Westland Basin: seismic stratigraphy, basin geometry and evolution of a foreland basin within the Southern Alps collision zone, New Zealand

This paper develops further the case for a foreland basin origin of South Westland Basin, located adjacent to the Southern Alps mountain belt. Geohistory analyses show Middle Miocene initiation of subsidence in the basin, with marked increases at 5–6 Ma. Five seismic reflection horizons, including basement, Middle Miocene (top Awarua Limestone), top Miocene, mid-Pliocene (PPB) and mid-Pleistocene (PPA) have been mapped through the grid of seismic data. A series of five back-stripped structure contour maps taken together with five isopach maps show that prior to the Middle Miocene, subsidence and sedimentation occurred mainly along the rifted continental margin of the Challenger Plateau facing the Tasman Sea; subsequently it shifted to a foredeep trending parallel to the Southern Alps and located northwest of them. Through the Late Miocene–Recent this depocentre has progressively widened, and the loci of thickest sediment accumulation have moved northwestward, most prominently during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene with the progradation of a shelf–slope complex. At the northern end of the basin the shelf–slope break is currently located over the forebulge, which appears not to have migrated significantly, probably because the mountain belt is not advancing significantly northwestwards. Modelling of the lithospheric flexure of the basement surface normal to the trend of the basin establishes values of 3.1 to 9.8×10²⁰ N m for the flexural rigidity of the Australia Plate. This is at the very low end of rigidities for plates, and 1–2 orders of magnitude less than for the Australia Plate beneath the Taranaki Basin. Maps of tectonic subsidence where the influence of sediment loading is removed also clearly identify the source of the loading as lying within or beneath the mountain belt. The basin fill shows a stratigraphic architecture typical of underfilled ancient peripheral foreland basins. This comprises transgressive (basal unconformity, thin limestone, slope-depth mudstone, flysch sequence) and regressive (prograding shelf–slope complex followed by molasse deposits) components. In addition the inner margin of the basin has been inverted as a result of becoming involved in the mountain building, as revealed earlier by fission track thermochronological data. The timing and degree of inversion fits well with the geometrical and stratigraphic development of the basin. That the inversion zone and the coastal plain underlain by molasse deposits are narrow, and most of the basin is beneath the sea, highlights this as an underfilled active foreland basin. The basin is geodynamically part of the Southern Alps collision zone.     

Extensional shear band development on the outer margin of the Alpine mylonite zone,Tatare Stream,Southern Alps,New Zealand

Schistose mylonitic rocks in the central part of the Alpine Fault (AF) at Tatare Stream, New Zealand are cut by pervasive extensional (C′) shear bands in a well-understood and young, natural ductile shear zone. The C′ shears cross-cut the pre-existing (Mesozoic—aged) foliation, displacing it ductilely synthetic to late Cenozoic motion on the AF. Using a transect approach, we evaluated changes in geometrical properties of the mm–cm-spaced C′ shear bands across a conspicuous finite strain gradient that intensifies towards the AF. Precise C′ attitudes, C′-foliation dihedral angles, and C′–S intersections were calculated from multiple sectional observations at both outcrop and thin-section scales. Based on these data the direction of ductile shearing in the Alpine mylonite zone during shear band activity is inferred to have trended >20° clockwise (down-dip) of the coeval Pacific-Australia plate motion, indicating some partitioning of oblique-slip motion to yield an excess of “dip-slip” relative to plate motion azimuth, or some up-dip ductile extrusion of the shear zone as a result of transpression, or both. Constant attitude of the mylonitic foliation across the finite strain gradient indicates this planar fabric element was parallel to the shear zone boundary (SZB). Across all examined parts of the shear zone, the mean dihedral angle between the C′ shears and the mylonitic foliation (S) remains a constant 30 ± 1° (1σ). The aggregated slip accommodated on the C′ shear bands contributed only a small bulk shear strain across the shear zone (γ = 0.6–0.8). Uniformity of per-shear slip on C′ shears with progression into the mylonite zone across the strain gradient leads us to infer that these shears exhibited a strain-hardening rheology, such that they locked up at a finite shear strain (inside C′ bands) of 12–15. Shear band boudins and foliation boudins both record extension parallel to the SZB, as do the occurrence of extensional shear band sets that have conjugate senses of slip. We infer that shear bands nucleated on planes of maximum instantaneous shear strain rate in a shear zone with W_k < 0.8, and perhaps even as low as <0.5. The C′ shear bands near the AF formed in a thinning/stretching shear zone, which had monoclinic symmetry, where the direction of shear-zone stretching was parallel to the shearing direction.     

Exhumation and relief history of the Southern Carpathians (Romania) as evaluated from apatite fission track chronology in crystalline basement and intramontane sedimentary rocks

The combination of apatite fission track (FT) thermochronology from basement units and the FT age distributions of apatites in the Miocene intramontane sedimentary rocks allows describing the exhumation history of the central segment of the Southern Carpathians, Romania. Exhumation and cooling from the total track annealing temperature (>120°C) of the Cozia and Cibin massifs occurred in the Palaeocene–Early Eocene. Between the Eocene and Middle Miocene, there was a stagnation period concerning vertical displacement; the presently exposed part of the basement was buried in shallow depth. The present crests of the Cozia and Cibin Mountains were at temperatures around 80°C and 50°C, respectively. The second exhumation period occurred in Middle Miocene times. The magnitude of the Miocene vertical displacement is on the order of the present-day relief. The vertical apatite FT age distribution in the basement and the age clusters in the sedimentary rocks prove that the levels of the crests were already close to the surface in Palaeogene times. Therefore, the post-Palaeocene erosional removal from the crest zones is very limited.     

SHRIMP monazite and zircon geochronology of high-grade metamorphism in New Zealand

Ion microprobe dating of zircon and monazite from high-grade gneisses has been used to (1) determine the timing of metamorphism in the Western Province of New Zealand, and (2) constrain the age of the protoliths from which the metamorphic rocks were derived. The Western Province comprises Westland, where mainly upper crustal rocks are exposed, and Fiordland, where middle to lower crustal levels crop out. In Westland, the oldest recognisable metamorphic event occurred at 360–370 Ma, penecontemporaneously with intrusion of the mid-Palaeozoic Karamea Batholith (c. 375 Ma). Metamorphism took place under low-pressure/high-temperature conditions, resulting in upper-amphibolite sillimanite-grade metamorphism of Lower Palaeozoic pelites (Greenland Group). Orthogneisses of younger (Cretaceous) age formed during emplacement of the Rahu Suite granite intrusives (c. 110 Ma) and were derived from protoliths including Cretaceous Separation Point suite and Devonian Karamea suite granites. In Fiordland, high-grade paragneisses with Greenland Group zircon age patterns were metamorphosed (M1) to sillimanite grade at 360 Ma. Concomitant with crustal thickening and further granite emplacement, M1 mineral assemblages were overprinted by higher-pressure kyanite-grade metamorphism (M2) at 330 Ma. It remains unclear whether the M2 event in Fiordland was primarily due to tectonic burial, as suggested by regional recumbent isoclinal folding, or whether it was due to magmatic loading, in keeping with the significant volumes of granite magma intruded at higher structural levels in the formerly contiguous Westland region. Metamorphism in Fiordland accompanied and outlasted emplacement of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO) at 110–125 Ma. The WFO equilibrated under granulite facies conditions, whereas cover rocks underwent more limited recrystallization except for high-strain shear zones where conditions of lower to middle amphibolite facies were met. The juxtaposition of Palaeozoic kyanite-grade rocks against Cretaceous WFO granulites resulted from late Mesozoic extensional deformation and development of metamorphic core complexes in the Western Province.     

Provenance comparisons between the Nambucca Block,Eastern Australia and the Torlesse Composite Terrane,New Zealand: connections and implications from detrital zircon age patterns

Detrital zircon U–Pb LAM-ICPMS age patterns for sandstones from the mid-Permian –Triassic part (Rakaia Terrane) of the accretionary wedge forming the Torlesse Composite Terrane in Otago, New Zealand, and from the early Permian Nambucca Block of the New England Orogen, eastern Australia, constrain the development of the early Gondwana margin. In Otago, the Triassic Torlesse samples have a major (64%), younger group of Permian–Early Triassic age components at ca 280, 255 and 240 Ma, and a minor (30%) older age group with a Precambrian–early Paleozoic range (ca 1000, 600 and 500 Ma). In Permian sandstones nearby, the younger, Late Permian age components are diminished (30%) with respect to the older Precambrian–early Paleozoic age group, which now also contains major (50%) and unusual Carboniferous age components at ca 350–330 Ma. Sandstones from the Nambucca Block, an early Permian extensional basin in the southern New England Orogen, follow the Torlesse pattern: the youngest. Early Permian age components are minor (<20%) and the overall age patterns are dominated (40%) by Carboniferous age components (ca 350–320 Ma). These latter zircons are inherited from either the adjacent Devonian–Carboniferous accretionary wedge (e.g. Texas-Woolomin and Coffs Harbour Blocks) or the forearc basin (Tamworth Belt) farther to the west, in which volcaniclastic-dominated sandstone units have very similar pre-Permian (principally Carboniferous) age components. This gradual variation in age patterns from Devonian–late Carboniferous time in Australia to Late Permian–mid-Cretaceous time in New Zealand suggests an evolutionary model for the Eastern Gondwanaland plate margin and the repositioning of its subduction zone. (1) A Devonian to Carboniferous accretionary wedge in the New England Orogen developing at a (present-day) Queensland position until late in the Carboniferous. (2) Early Permian outboard repositioning of the primary, magmatic arc allowing formation of extensional basins throughout the New England Orogen. (3) Early to mid-Permian translocation of the accretionary wedge and more inboard active-margin elements, southwards to their present position. This was accompanied by oroclinal bending which allowed the initiation of a new, late Permian to Early Triassic accretionary wedge (eventually the Torlesse Composite Terrane of New Zealand) in an offshore Queensland position. (4) Jurassic–Cretaceous development of this accretionary wedge offshore, in northern Zealandia, with southwards translation of the various constituent terranes of the Torlesse Composite Terrane to their present New Zealand position.     

塔里木北缘前寒武基底隆升剥露史：来自磷灰石裂变径迹的证据

库鲁克塔格隆起位于塔里木盆地北缘,广泛出露前寒武基底岩石。辛格尔村附近出露的太古宙杂岩,包括灰色片麻岩、角闪岩、片岩、混合岩和大理岩。新元古代地层出露在库鲁克塔格隆起西部的兴地、西山口、辛格尔和杀马山附近,不整合在古元古代和中元古代的片麻岩、角闪岩和片岩之上,并被早古生代的地层不整合。因此,该地区是了解塔里木盆地前寒武基底热演化史的理想地区。本研究的目的是为了探索：①塔里木基底岩石最初于何时剥露于地表？②塔里木基底剥露以后是否经历过再次埋藏和剥露？③塔里木基底岩石构造热演化过程对大陆边缘不同构造事件的响应。为了获取塔里木北缘剥露史和冷却过程信息,我们开展了裂变经迹的研究。含磷灰石的样品采自库鲁克塔格隆起的兴地断裂两侧。样品池年龄介于146．0±13．4和67．6±6．7Ma之间,平均经迹长度介于．11．79±0．14和13．89±0．27μm之间。根据样品年龄和样品所处的构造位置,样品可以分为3组。A组样品包括F2、F3、F4、F5和F8,裂变经迹表观年龄约100～110Ma,通常位于未遭断层变形的地区。B组样品包括F7、D和F10,裂变经迹表观年龄小于80Ma,构造上位于断层上盘并靠近断层。c组样品F11具有最大的裂变经迹表观年龄146．0±13．4Ma。热模拟表明,库鲁克塔格地区的隆升剥露作用可以划分为四期,分别是早侏罗世晚期（180Ma）、晚侏罗世-早白垩世（144～118Ma）、晚白垩世早期（94～82Ma）和新生代晚期（约10Ma）。裂变经迹记录的库鲁克塔格多阶段隆升作用,是对亚洲南缘多期地体碰撞增生的响应。     

Thermobarometric data from a fossil zircon partial annealing zone in high pressure–low temperature rocks of eastern and central Crete, Greece

A fossil partial annealing zone of fission tracks in zircon is described from high pressure–low temperature (HP–LT) rocks of the Phyllite–Quartzite Unit (PQ) on the island of Crete, Greece. Correlation of regional trends in fission track age populations with independent thermobarometric and microstructural data, and with new experimental annealing results, allows a calibration of this low temperature thermochronological method to a degree hitherto not available from other field examples.The zircon fission track (FT) ages of samples from the PQ across Crete range from original detrital signature through reduced to completely reset. The annealing is the result of a single heating period related to the HP–LT metamorphism with near-peak temperatures lasting for only a few million years some time between 24±1 and 20±1 Ma. In eastern Crete, where rocks have experienced temperatures of 300±50 °C and pressures of 0.8±0.3 GPa, zircon FT ages range from 414±24 to 145±10 Ma. Ages above 300 Ma occur mostly near the east coast of the island in rocks which have not been heated to above ca. 280 °C and probably represent a pre-Variscan source. Track lengths are already indicative of a substantial annealing at this temperature. Most of the zircon FT ages from eastern Crete scatter within error around the stratigraphic age. Samples with apparent zircon FT ages significantly younger than the depositional age are only observed in areas where temperatures exceeded ca. 320 °C. Towards the west, a sudden decrease to very young ages ranging from 17±2 to 18±1 Ma reflects a complete resetting at ca. 350 °C. Short tracks, however, are still observed. Throughout the central and western part of the island, ages are consistently below 22 Ma. Thermobarometric data for this area indicate maximum temperatures of 400±50 °C and pressures of 1±0.3 GPa. Only samples from western Crete, which have been exposed to 400±50 °C, show exclusively long tracks. Consequently, the high temperature limit of the zircon partial annealing zone (ZPAZ) appears to be between 350 and 400 °C.A significant influence of elevated confining pressure on the stability of fission tracks in zircon is ruled out by the results of annealing experiments at 0.5 GPa and at different temperatures, which fit the curves previously obtained by other authors at ambient pressure.     

An Australian provenance for the eastern Otago Schist protolith,South Island,New Zealand: evidence from detrital zircon age patterns and implications for the origin of its gold

Uranium–lead age patterns of detrital zircons in Otago Schist meta-sandstones from eastern Otago, including areas of orogenic gold mineralisation, are mostly consistent with a Rakaia Terrane (Torlesse Composite Terrane) accretionary wedge protolith. Southwest of the Hyde-Macraes and Rise & Shine shear zones the depositional age is regarded as Middle–Late Triassic. At the south and west margins, there are two areas in the Late Triassic Waipapa Terrane protolith. Northeast of the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone, the schist protolith has Middle to Late Triassic and middle to late Permian depositional ages of Rakaia Terrane affinity. At the northeastern margin of the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone, there is a narrow strip with a mid-Carboniferous protolith, which may be a counterpart of the Carboniferous accretionary wedge in the New England Orogen, eastern Australia. Ordovician–Silurian zircons are a minor but distinctive feature in many of the protolith age patterns and form significant age components at hard-rock gold locations. These constrain the provenance of Rakaia Terrane protolith sediments to Late Triassic time and within the Permian–Triassic magmatic arcs at the northeastern Australian continental margin and partly within the Ordovician–Silurian granitoids of the Charters Towers Province hinterland and environs. The latter have extensive gold mineralisation and thus upon exhumation might be the origin of Otago gold.     

Dating pseudotachylyte of the Asuke Shear Zone using zircon fission-track and U–Pb methods

Zircon fission-track (FT) and U–Pb analyses were performed on zircon extracted from a pseudotachylyte zone and surrounding rocks of the Asuke Shear Zone (ASZ), Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The U–Pb ages of all four samples are  67–76 Ma, which is interpreted as the formation age of Ryoke granitic rocks along the ASZ. The mean zircon FT age of host rock is 73 ± 7 (2σ) Ma, suggesting a time of initial cooling through the zircon closure temperature. The pseudotachylyte zone however, yielded a zircon FT age of 53 ± 9 (2σ) Ma, statistically different from the age of the host rock. Zircon FTs showed reduced mean lengths and intermediate ages for samples adjacent to the pseudotachylyte zone. Coupled with the new zircon U–Pb ages and previous heat conduction modeling, the present FT data are best interpreted as reflecting paleothermal effects of the frictional heating of the fault. The age for the pseudotachylyte coincides with the change in direction of rotation of the Pacific plate from NW to N which can be considered to initialize the NNE–SSW trending sinistral–extensional ASZ before the Miocene clockwise rotation of SW Japan. The present study demonstrates that a history of fault motions in seismically active regions can be reconstructed by dating pseudotachylytes using zircon FT thermochronology.     

Applications of near-infrared FT-Raman spectroscopy in metamict and annealed zircon: oxidation state of U ions

We report a near-infrared Fourier-transform (FT) Raman spectroscopic method to characterize the electronic transitions of U ions and the alpha-decay damage in natural zircon. The application is demonstrated by analyzing metamict and annealed zircons from Sri Lanka. The data from crystalline zircon reveal a relatively sharp spectral feature appearing near 2733 cm^–1 in Stokes spectra with a laser excitation of 1064 nm. The feature is assigned as signals related to the previously reported U⁵⁺ absorption near 6668 cm^–1. With increasing self-irradiation dose, the feature shows a systematic decrease in intensity, accompanied by a gradual development of a broad feature between 3000 and 3400 cm^–1. On heating for 1 h, the U⁵⁺ feature shows an increase in intensity starting near ~700 K for partially metamict zircon, whereas for highly damaged zircon the first recovery of the feature takes place near 1000 K, accompanied by a decrease in the radiation-induced broad band. The changes observed in the present study reflect the variations of local environments of U ions in natural zircon during metamictization and thermal annealing.     

Calibration of the in situ cosmogenic 14C production rate in New Zealand's Southern Alps

In situ cosmogenic ¹⁴C (in situ ¹⁴C) analysis from quartz‐bearing rocks is a novel isotopic tool useful for quantifying recent surface exposure histories (up to ～25 ka). It is particularly powerful when combined with longer‐lived cosmogenic isotopes such as ¹⁰Be. Recent advances in the extraction of in situ ¹⁴C from quartz now permit the routine application of this method. However, only a few experiments to calibrate the production rate of in situ ¹⁴C in quartz have been published to date. Here, we present a new in situ ¹⁴C production rate estimate derived from a well‐dated debris flow deposit in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, previously used to calibrate ¹⁰Be production rates. For example, based on a geomagnetic implementation of the Lal/Stone scaling scheme we derive a spallogenic production rate of 11.4 ± 0.9 atoms ¹⁴C (g quartz)^?1 a^?1 and a ¹⁴C/¹⁰Be spallogenic production rate ratio of 3.0 ± 0.2. The results are comparable with production rates from previous calibrations in the northern hemisphere. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Embedding the reforms in New Zealand schooling: After neo-liberalism?

Two decades of reforms to the state in New Zealand have altered policy, its making and the ways in which it is realised in micro settings. This paper uses the example of schooling to examine the rationality of these reforms, their spatial logic and what they mean for our understanding of the national state. It examines the development and practices of the Education Review Office (ERO), the body established under the reforms to evaluate and audit the performance of schools in the new national education `system'. The paper interprets neo-liberalism as a governmentality, and argues that the development of new managerial technologies of remote control such as contract and audit constitute a spatial model of control. The paper suggests that this model encourages, and relies for its efficacy upon, the cultivation of neo-liberal subjectivities. It argues that although the political projects working through the reforms have shifted, the altered rationality of the state and the models of control erected to secure it define an enduring and neo-liberalising social transformation. The shift to the `Third Way' in New Zealand's political and social economy is underpinned by neo-liberalising processes, which continue to reorganise social and economic spaces. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.