Lithostratigraphy and U-Pb zircon dating in the overturned limb of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe: a new key for Middle Penninic nappe geometry.

Detailed field work and zircon analysis have improved the knowledge of the lithostratigraphy at the base of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe in the Mattertal (St-Niklaus-Törbel area). They confirm the existence of an overturned limb and clarify the structure of the St-Niklaus syncline. The following formations can be observed:

• Polymetamorphic gneisses; composed of paragneisses, amphibolites and micaschists (Bielen Unit, pre-Ordovician).
• Fine-grained, greyish quartzite and graywacke with kerogen-rich horizons (Törbel Formation, presumed Carboniferous).
• Green or white micaschists characterized by brown carbonate spots associated with white conglomeratic quartzites (Moosalp Formation, Early Permian).
• Massive, green or white, fine grained, microconglomeratic or conglomeratic quartzites with characteristic pink quartz pebbles (Bruneggjoch Formation, Late Permian-Early Triassic).

This coherent overturned sequence can be observed from the St-Niklaus area to the Moosalp pass to the north. Detailed mapping revealed that the St-Niklaus syncline is symmetrical and connects the overturned limb of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe to the normal series of the Upper Stalden zone. U-Pb zircon geochronology on magmatic and detrital zircons allowed constraining ages of these formations. Detrital zircons display ages ranging from 2900 ± 50 to 520 ± 4 Ma in the Törbel Formation, and from 514 ± 6 to 292 ± 9 Ma in the Moosalp Formation. In addition, the Permian Randa orthogneiss is intrusive into the polymetamorphic gneisses and into the Permo-Carboniferous metasediments of the overturned limb of the Siviez-Mischabel nappe. This revision clarified also the lithostratigraphy of the nearby and subjacent Lower Stalden zone composed of an overturned limb with Permo-Carboniferous formations. This has critical implications for the tectonic setting of the nappes in the region, speaking for few recumbent folds with well preserved normal and overturned limbs instead of a succession of imbricate thrust sheets in a normal stratigraphic position.     

Computer microtomography of zircon: A new approach to the selection of targets for U-Pb geochronologic studies

The paper reports results obtained by the complex studying of zircon crystals from rocks of various genesis. Zircon is one of the minerals most often used as geochronometers. It also provides genetic information on superimposed processes that is “recorded” in the external and internal morphology of its crystals. This mineral is thoroughly examined to select its unaltered crystals for U-Pb dating by the single-grain method. Zircon grains are selected with the use of optical and electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence. This publication presents the first results obtained by examining zircon by computer microtomography (μCT) and the results of the studying of the external and internal structure by conventional techniques ([optical microscopy and SEM (SE and CL)]. The paper demonstrates the advantages of the application of the μCT techniques to the selection of targets for U-Pb zircon dating: there is no need for the special preparation of the samples and no material is destructed. However, this technique may be not informative enough if the zircon contains inherited core whose density does not differ from the density of the surrounding mineral.     

A method to estimate the artificial recharge capacity of the Crestatx aquifer (Majorca, Spain).

This paper presents a method for the feasibility of an artificial recharge scheme in a limestone aquifer. A 3D digital groundwater flow model was developed and calibrated to gain a better understanding of the aquifer dynamics and to estimate its capacity for artificial recharge. Several scenarios, based on different pumping alternatives, were tested over a 30 year period. The results were then analysed by yearly input-output balances. Worst case scenario model output suggests that implementing the scheme might ensure a sustainable use of the aquifer in the future.     

Dissolution rates and activation energy for dissolution of brucite (001) : A new method based on the microtopography of crystal surfaces

Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM) was used to develop a method which can provide quantitative kinetic data of crystal growth and dissolution. Based on observations of single crystal faces in monolayer resolution, morphology and temperature dependent growth and dissolution rates can be obtained. From these kinetic data activation energies can be calculated and compared with existing theories. The experimental method works by extracting grown or dissolved terrace areas and step densities from image sequences taken at different temperatures. As an example, the method is applied for dissolution on the brucite (001) surface in acidic water (pH 2.7) within the temperature range of 21 to 35°C. At these conditions the dissolution rate depends nonlinearly on the step density and gives evidence for interstep interaction. The calculated activation energy for dissolution is 60 ± 12 kJ mol⁻¹. With this high activation energy, dissolution cannot be regarded as a transport-controlled process, and is therefore surface controlled.     

The geologic history of the Caribbean-Cocos plate boundary with special reference to the Nicoya ophiolite complex (Costa Rica) and D.S.D.P. results (Legs 67 and 84 off Guatemala): A synthesis

The Pre-Upper Senonian basement of Costa Rica crops out in the Santa Elena and Nicoya peninsulas. From south to north and from base to top the basement includes: the Esperanza, Matapalo and Santa Elena units. The Esperanza unit is Albian-Santonian in age and consists mainly of pillow basalt and massive basalt flows. The Matapalo unit includes Callovian to Cenomanian radiolarite and includes massive basalt flows, basalt, and dolerite basement. The Santa Elena unit contains ultramafic and mafic rocks in which harzburgite is the major component. The most important tectonic features of the Nicoya Complex are the large Santa Elena and Matapalo nappes. Nappe emplacement was from north to south during upper Santonian time. The sedimentary cover of the Nicoya Complex comprises:

1. (1) the Campanian El Viejo Formation that consists of shallow-water sediments in the north (Santa Elena Peninsula) and the Campanian-Maastrichtian Sabana Grande Formation of deep-water origin in the South (Nicoya Peninsula);

2. (2) Paleocene strata indicating deposition in a deep-water environment comprises the Rivas, Las Palmas and Samara Formations;

3. (3) a post-upper Eocene (?) sequence that consists of the shallow-water Barra Honda and Montezuma Formations.

Two unconformities are significant geological features of the upper-Senonian to Tertiary history of Costa Rica. The lower one is at the base of the Sabana Grande Formation and marks a major change in the geologic conditions (basalt is scarce in the Campanian-Tertiary series); the upper unconformity at the base of the Barra Honda and Montezuma Formations is not as major as the lower one. During post-Campanian time, normal faulting occurred in two stages separated by a strong erosional phase.The geology of the landward slope of the adjacent Middle America Trench is outlined by interpreting multifold seismic reflection records off the west coast of Costa Rica and the DSDP Legs 67 and 84 transects off Guatemala. The western Caribbean plate boundary may have been under extensional stress for the last 75 m.y. The strong landward-dipping reflectors of the Middle America Trench landward slope off Guatemala could be equivalent to the on-land pre-Campanian overthrusts of Costa Rica. The available data are consistent with the Convergent Extensional margin concept.     

The double solid reactant method: II. An application to the shallow groundwaters of the Porto Plain,Vulcano Island (Italy)

This paper presents an example of application of the double solid reactant method (DSRM) of Accornero and Marini (Environmental Geology, 2007a), an effective way for modeling the fate of several dissolved trace elements during water–rock interaction. The EQ3/6 software package was used for simulating the irreversible water–rock mass transfer accompanying the generation of the groundwaters of the Porto Plain shallow aquifer, starting from a degassed diluted crateric steam condensate. Reaction path modeling was performed in reaction progress mode and under closed-system conditions. The simulations assumed: (1) bulk dissolution (i.e., without any constraint on the kinetics of dissolution/precipitation reactions) of a single solid phase, a leucite-latitic glass, and (2) precipitation of amorphous silica, barite, alunite, jarosite, anhydrite, kaolinite, a solid mixture of smectites, fluorite, a solid mixture of hydroxides, illite-K, a solid mixture of saponites, a solid mixture of trigonal carbonates and a solid mixture of orthorhombic carbonates. Analytical concentrations of major chemical elements and several trace elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sr and Ba) in groundwaters were satisfactorily reproduced. In addition to these simulations, similar runs for a rhyolite, a latite and a trachyte permitted to calculate major oxide contents for the authigenic paragenesis which are comparable, to a first approximation, with the corresponding data measured for local altered rocks belonging to the silicic, advanced argillic and intermediate argillic alteration facies. The important role played by both the solid mixture of trigonal carbonates as sequestrator of Mn, Zn, Cu and Ni and the solid mixture of orthorhombic carbonates as scavenger of Sr and Ba is emphasized.