MAGNETOTELLURIC SOUNDING AND LATERAL INHOMOGENEITIES IN THE LITHOSPHERE

ABSTRACT

Libyan Desert Glass (LDG), rediscovered in modern times in 1932, is an ultrahigh-temperature glass composed of nearly pure SiO₂. LDG is found as surface float in Egypt’s Libyan (Western) Desert, its strewnfield defined by the intersection of major faults. Extra-terrestrial components are present in LDG but there is no associated impact crater. LDG is not an impactite, nor do pieces exhibit aerodynamic forms. Extremely viscous silica remained hot long enough to flow several centimetres. Additional constraints on the origin of LDG are imposed by exotic materials found nearby: a dark 30-gram granular micro-diamond mass, mullite-magnetite-silica glass rocks with micro-diamonds, lumps of fine-grained magnetite, titanium filaments, titanium nitride, titanium aluminide, aluminium oxycarbonitride, phosphides, silver, zirconium, zinc, carbonaceous grains, and metal grains coated with carbonaceous materials. The region is underlain by 500–3000 m of flat-lying sandstone composed of quartz grains and little else. To account for LDG and the other unusual materials and nearby outgassing vents, serpentinization is evoked. Products of this complex low-temperature crustal process include serpentine, magnetite, aqueous silica, and great quantities of hydrogen. The hydrogen, produced in Basement rocks beneath the sandstones, may have risen along faults, passing around grains of quartz (with which it does not react) until slowed by tight conditions, perhaps self-sealed by silica produced during serpentinization. Columns of quartz hundreds or thousands of metres high with intergranular spaces filled with H₂ (±CH₄) may have been established with some hydrogen leaking into the surface domain while still more was produced at depth. Disturbance by occasional impacts or airbursts, large or small, would violently release great columns of pressurized hydrogen, which, ignited, would burn until exhaustion. Such sustained heating events could be repeated. Exotic products might come from materials formed cold in the outer solar system, transformed in a great flickering flame with temperatures perhaps exceeding 1800°C.     

青海锡铁山铅锌矿床中发现的宇宙尘及其初步研究

本文对发现于锡铁山铅锌矿床中的磁性小球的化学成分、粒度、硬度、形貌、吸收系数、结构和构造进行了分析研究。结果表明,该磁性小球与前人所报道的其他地区的宇宙尘类似。根据它们的化学成分特征(表2、3、4、5)、方铁矿和磁铁矿构成的外壳和α-Fe内核,初步确定其为下古生代宇宙尘。     

Lithium in tektites and impact glasses: Implications for sources, histories and large impacts

Lithium (Li) abundances and isotope compositions were determined in a representative suite of tektites (moldavites, Muong Nong-type tektites and an australite, Ivory Coast tektites and bediasites), impact-related glasses (Libyan Desert Glass, zhamanshinites and irghizites), a glass fragment embedded in the suevite from the Ries impact crater and sedimentary materials in order to test a possible susceptibility of Li to fractionation during hypervelocity impact events and to de-convolve links to their potential parental sources. The overall data show a large spread in Li abundance (4.7-58 ppm Li) and δ⁷Li values (−3.2‰ to 26.0‰) but individual groups of tektites and impact glasses have distinctive Li compositions.Most importantly, any significant high-temperature Li isotope fractionation can be excluded by comparing sedimentary lithologies from central Europe with moldavites. Instead, we suggest that Li isotope compositions in tektites and impact-related glasses are probably diagnostic of the precursor materials and their pre-impact geological histories. The Muong Nong-type tektites and australite specimen are identical in terms of Li concentrations and δ⁷Li and we tentatively endorse their common origin in a single impact event. Evidence for low-temperature Rayleigh fractionation, which must have operated prior to impact-induced melting and solidification, is provided for a subset of Muong Nong-type tektites. Although Li isotope variations in most tektites are broadly similar to those of the upper continental crust, Libyan Desert Glass carries high δ⁷Li ?24.7‰, which appears to mirror the previous fluvial history of parental material that was perhaps deposited in lacustrine environment or coastal seawater. Lithium isotopes in impact-related glasses from the Zhamanshin crater define a group distinct from all other samples and point to melting of chemically less evolved mafic lithologies, which is also consistent with their major and trace element patterns.Extreme shock pressures and the related extreme post-shock temperatures alone appear not to have any effect on the Li isotope systematics; therefore, useful information on parental lithologies and magmatic processes may be retrieved from analyses of Martian and lunar meteorites. Moreover, lack of significant Li depletion in tektites provides further constraints on the loss of moderately volatile elements during the Moon-forming impact.     

Importance of volcanic glass alteration to sediment stabilization: offshore Japan

A minor amount (ca 1 wt%) of amorphous silica cement sourced from volcanic glass inhibits consolidation of hemipelagic sediment approaching the Nankai Trough subduction zone throughout the Shikoku Basin. The distribution and nature of the cement were examined via secondary and backscattered electron imaging. The amorphous silica occurs as altered material in contact with volcanic glass, coating grains (including grain contacts) and filling pores. Based on chemical and petrographic evidence, the cement is probably sourced from volcanic glass; this is in contrast to a previous suggestion that this silica cement is sourced dominantly from biogenic silica. Amorphous silica sourced from disseminated volcanic glass shards has the ability to form a thin coating on clay‐dominated sediment throughout the Shikoku Basin. Measured amorphous silica content in hemipelagic sediments suggests that the cementing process is active throughout the Shikoku Basin (at sites separated by >500 km). The cementation process may occur in other locations where sediment containing hydrated disseminated volcanic glass is buried sufficiently for heat to facilitate alteration (i.e. Central America, Cascadia and the Gulf of Alaska).     

Recognition features of felsic pyroclastics of Serra do Tombo formation,Minas Gerais,Brazil

In this contribution we report a study of poorly exposed, rhyodacitic welded-ignimbrite deposit from Minas Gerais. A petrographic study of textures indicate high temperature of emplacement. Key features include eutaxitic texture, flattened and agglutinated lapilli and glass menisci. Most of the feldspar minerals and glass are extensively altered to clay minerals, which pseudomorph the original volcanic textures. Glass menisci and spherules suggest a possible process of liquid immiscibility. Immobile trace element distribution indicates a possible link with other post-Palaeozoic felsic volcanic rocks in Brazil, a magmatism interpreted as due to basaltic underplating and partial melting of a hydrous continental crust. A peculiar feature is a high Light REE/Heavy REE ratio. Depletion in heavy rare earth elements is possibly due to a residual HREE-bearing phase in the source. The geologic context of these rocks suggests a Lower Cretaceous age and a tectonic relationship with a continental rifting event.     

The primitive matrix components of the unique carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094: a TEM study

The mineralogical and chemical characteristics of the fine-grained matrix (< or = 3 micrometers) of the unique primitive carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094 have been investigated in detail by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM). Generally, the fine-grained matrix represents a highly unequilibrated assemblage of an amorphous material, small forsteritic olivines (200-300 nm), low Ca-pyroxenes (300-400 nm), and Fe,Ni-sulfides (100-300 nm). The matrix is basically unaffected by secondary processes. Only minor amounts of serpentine and ferrihydrite, as products of hydrous alteration, are present. Texturally, the amorphous material acts as a groundmass to olivines, pyroxenes, and sulfides, mostly exhibiting rounded or elongated morphologies. Only very few clastic mineral grains have been found. The texture and chemical composition of the amorphous material are consistent with an origin by disequilibrium condensation in either the cooling solar nebula or a circumstellar environment. As such, the amorphous material may be considered as a possible precursor of matrix materials in other types of chondrites. The non-clastic matrix olivines (Fo98-99) and pyroxenes (En97-100) are suggested to have formed either by condensation in the solar nebula under highly oxidizing conditions or by recrystallization from the amorphous material. The formation of these grains by fragmentation of chondrule components is unlikely due to chemical and microstructural reasons. Rapid cooling caused the observed intergrowths of clino/orthoenstatite in the Mg-rich matrix pyroxenes. Although some similarities exist comparing the fine-grained matrix of Acfer 094 with the matrices of the unequilibrated CO3 chondrite ALHA77307 and the unique type 3 chondrite Kakangari, Acfer 094 remains unique. Since it contains the highest measured concentrations of circumstellar SiC and the second highest of diamond (highest is Orgueil), it seems reasonable to suggested that at least parts of the amorphous material in the fine-grained matrix may be of circumstellar origin.     

Microtexture,nanomineralogy, and local chemistry of cryptocrystalline cosmic spherules

The paper reports scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data on three cryptocrystalline (CC) cosmic spherules of chondritic composition (Mg/Si ≈ 1) from two collections taken up at glaciers at the Novaya Zemlya and in the area of the Tunguska event. The spherules show “brickwork” microtextures formed by minute parallel olivine crystals set in glass of pyroxene–plagioclase composition. The bulk-rock silicate chemistry, microtexture, mineralogy, and the chemical composition of the olivine and the local chemistry of the glass in these spherules testify to a chondritic source of the spherules. The solidification of the spherules in the Earth’s atmosphere was proved to be a highly unequilibrated process. A metastable state of the material follows, for example, from the occurrence of numerous nanometer-sized SiO₂ globules in the interstitial glass. These globules were formed by liquid immiscibility in the pyroxene–SiO₂ system. Troilite FeS and schreibersite (Fe,Ni)₃P globules were found in the FeNi metal in one of the spherules, which suggests that the precursor was not chemically modified when melted in the Earth’s atmosphere. Our results allowed us to estimate the mineralogy of the precursor material and correlate the CC spherules with the chondrule material of chondrites. The bulk compositions of the spherules are closely similar to those of type-IIA chondrules.     

Rock 14318: A polymict lunar breccia with chondritic texture

Rock 14318 is a complex microbreccia consisting of lithic fragments, chondrules, glass spherules, and glass and mineral fragments that are embedded into a fine-grained, partly glassy matrix. Rock fragmenta, chondrules, and glasses are tightly welded to the matrix and partly recrystallized, indicating a relatively high-temperature agglomeration history. Few lithic fragments have igneous textures; most are miorobreccias that have suffered various degrees of recrystallization before they were embedded into rock 14318. Compositions of lithic fragments, glasses and chondrules, in terms of compositional rock and rock suite equivalents, represent members of the ANT (anorthositic-noritic-troctolite) suite; the alkalic high-alumina basalt (KREEP) group; high-alkali quartz basalt; basalt; and dunite. The polymict nature of many lithic fragments suggests that rook 14318 require at least two, and probably more, impact episodes for its formation. Final agglomeration took place while part of the material was hot, as is indicated by the welded texture, suggesting that the final impact event was a large one, producing a fiery cloud similar to a nuée ardente. The close similarity in texture of lunar rock 14318 to certain polymict-brecciated meteorites such as Siena suggests that meteorites of this type were also formed by complex and successive impact events on the surface of the meteorite parent body, rather than during agglomeration of the parent body.     

Compositional variation in magma through early neogene in the Northeast Indian Ocean: A testimony from glass shards

We report unusual occurrence of glass shards with diverse morphologies and compositions in the volcanic ash associated with the early Neogene marine stratigraphic succession (early Miocene to early middle Miocene) of Andaman-Nicobar Islands, Northeast Indian Ocean. These small, ash-size (200 to 800 μm) broken pieces of glass shards when viewed under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), represent distinctive — platy, sickle, bicuspate, concentric, angular, horn shape and slivers with broken angular bubble wall — morphologies. Glass shards are colourless. But, a few are grey or reddish-brown, indicate high Fe content. Chilled, juvenile, angular and blocky shards show fragments of highly viscous, silicic magma. Spindle and ribbon-shape shards form from a low viscosity basalt and rhyolite. Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA) was used to measure low concentration variations of major oxides within individual amorphous silicate solid glass shards whose disordered atomic structure is that of a liquid derived from a silicate melt. Major elemental chemistry of early Miocene glass shards from Colebrook island show low silica, alkalis, high FeO_(T) MgO and CaO, whereas, early middle Miocene glass shards from Inglis island show high silica, alkalis, low FeO_(T), MgO and CaO contents. These data-sets when plotted on ternary TotalAlkali-Silica and Na₂O+K₂O-MgO-FeO_(T) diagrams show that their data plots lie within the basaltic-andesite, tephri-phonolite, rhyolite and trachyte fields. These glass shards which were present in the provenance, formed by explosive eruption of lavas, ranging in composition from basalt to rhyolite with andesite/ basalt-andesite being the most common magma types erupted sub-areally, implying island arc type of tectono-magmatic setting for the formation of these lavas. However, more evolutionary variant rhyolite was most likely formed by crystal fractionation.     

Investigation and simulation of metallic spherules from lunar soils

Metallic spherules selected from the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16 sites were studied by optical techniques as well as the electron probe and scanning electron microscope. In addition, metallic spherules of similar composition were produced experimentally. The structure of the metallic lunar spherules indicates an origin by solidification of molten globules of metal. The experimentally produced spherules have external morphologies, metallographic structures and solidification rates (7 × 10² to 10⁶ ° C/sec) similar to the lunar spherules which have rapidly solidified. The majority of the lunar spherules are, however, either more slowly cooled or have been reheated in place with the lunar fragmental rocks, glass or soil. The heavy meteorite bombardment of the highlands is strongly reflected by the evidence of reheating and/or slow cooling of a majority of Apollo 14 and 16 spherules.The metallic spherules are probably produced from both lunar and meteoritic sources. Impact processes cause localized shock melting of metallic (and non-metallic) constituents at metal-sulfide phase interfaces in surface rocks and in the meteoritic projectile. The major source of metallic spherules is the metal phase present in the lunar rocks and soil. The large variation in spherule bulk compositions is attributed to the different meteoritic projectiles bombarding the Moon, metal phases of differing compositions in the lunar soils and rocks and to the experimental results which indicate that high S, high P alloys form two immiscible liquids when melted.     

Geochemical processes controlling silica concentrations in groundwaters of the Salado River drainage basin, Argentina

Chemical analyses of dissolved silica in the shallow groundwater of the lower part of the Salado River drainage basin indicate that silica values averaged 60 ppm. The groundwaters are oversaturated in relation to quartz, Na-plagioclase, K-feldspar, and the weathering of quartz and aluminosilicates appear to have little control on silica concentrations in solution. Groundwater is undersaturated with respect to amorphous silica present in the loessic sediments, and these sediments are specially important in the control of the groundwater composition. The sources of amorphous silica are volcanic glass shards and biogenic silica derived from plant (silicophytoliths, diatom frustules) or animal remains (sponge spicules) also present in the Pampean loess. Silicophytoliths and diatoms have also been reported in A soil horizon samples. The dissolution of amorphous silica most likely controls the high dissolved silica concentrations in groundwater.     

Spherular modern dolomite from the Coorong area, South Australia

Scanning electron micrographs show that the youngest and apparently least altered of the Coorong dolomite is in the form of spherular bodies about 0.2–1.0 μm in size which themselves are composed of spherules about 100 nm in diameter. Older and more lithified sediments show sharply defined dolomite crystals suggesting an origin as primary dolomite spherules followed by aggregation and diagenetic alteration to well crystallized dolomites.     

A transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of silver nanoparticles associated with mine waste from New Caledonian nickel deposits: potential origins of silver toxicity in a World Heritage Site

The nature of silver nanoparticles associated with nickel-laterite ore deposits in New Caledonia (SW Pacific Ocean) is explored using transmission electron microscopy. The silver nanoparticles, dispersed in a matrix of amorphous silica, display complex textures such as linear aggregation and bimodal diameter distributions of 3–12 and 20–60 nm for one sample and 2–30 and 150–650 nm for the other, indicative of Ostwald ripening. These features as well as chemical heterogeneity (31–82% Ag—normalized X-ray energy dispersive spectrum), destructive assemblage interfaces, and amorphous and nanoparticle silica phases are consistent with those observed in epithermal gold deposits, potentially indicating a similar origin. Silver is highly toxic to a wide variety of organisms, and therefore, its significant presence in material directly related to mine runoff is a major threat to the New Caledonian environment, particularly the lagoons, which are listed as a World Heritage Site. Potential exists that the silver nanoparticles observed here provide the key to the origin of the toxic silver accumulation observed in New Caledonian reef organisms.     

Typomorphic Characteristics of Molybdenite from the Bystrinsky Cu–Au Porphyry–Skarn Deposit,Eastern Transbaikal Region,Russia

The paper presents pioneering data on the composition, texture, and crystal structure of molybdenite from various types of molybdenum mineralization at the Bystrinsky Cu–Au–Fe porphyry–skarn deposit in the eastern Transbaikal region, Russia. The data were obtained using electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Molybdenite found at the deposit in skarn, sulfide-poor quartz veins, and quartz–feldspar alteration markedly differs in the concentrations of trace elements determined by their species in the mineral, as well as in its structural features. Molybdenite-2H from skarn associated with phyllosilicates occurs as ultrafine crystals with uniform shape and texture; no dislocations or inclusions were found but amorphous silica was. The molybdenite composition is highly contrasting in the content and distribution of both structure-related (Re, W, and Se) and other (Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Cd, Sb, Te, Ag, Pd, Au, Hg, Pb, and Bi) metals. In the sulfide-poor quartz veins, highly structurally heterogeneous (2H + 3R) molybdenite microcrystals with abundant defects (dislocations and volumetrically distributed inclusions) are associated with illite, goethite, and barite. Some single crystals are unique three-phase (2H + 3R polytypes + amorphous MoS₂). The mineral has a low concentration of all trace elements, which are uniformly distributed. However, individual domains with uniquely high Pd, Te, Ni, Hg, and W concentrations caused by mineral inclusions are found in some grains. Molybdenite from quartz–feldspar alteration is characterized by low concentrations of all trace elements except for Re and Se, which enrich some domains of the grains. Our data indicate that the compositional and structural heterogeneity of molybdenite from the Bystrinsky deposit are its crucial features, which obviously correlate with the types of Mo mineralization.     

Shock-induced growth and metastability of stishovite and coesite in lithic clasts from suevite of the Ries impact crater (Germany)

The microtextures of stishovite and coesite in shocked non-porous lithic clasts from suevite of the Ries impact structure were studied in transmitted light and under the scanning electron microscope. Both high-pressure silica phases were identified in situ by laser-Raman spectroscopy. They formed from silica melt as well as by solid-state transformation. In weakly shocked rocks (stage I), fine-grained stishovite (≤1.8 μm) occurs in thin pseudotachylite veins of quartz-rich rocks, where it obviously nucleated from high-pressure frictional melts. Generally no stishovite was found in planar deformation features (PDFs) within grains of rock-forming quartz. The single exception is a highly shocked quartz grain, trapped between a pseudotachylite vein and a large ilmenite grain, in which stishovite occurs within two sets of lamellae. It is assumed that in this case the small stishovite grains formed by the interplay of conductive heating and shock reverberation. In strongly shocked rocks (stages Ib–III, above ∼30 GPa), grains of former quartz typically contain abundant and variably sized stishovite (<6 μm) embedded within a dense amorphous silica phase in the interstices between PDFs. The formation of transparent diaplectic glass in adjacent domains results from the breakdown of stishovite and the transformation of the dense amorphous phase and PDFs to diaplectic glass in the solid state. Coesite formed during unloading occurs in two textural varieties. Granular micrometre-sized coesite occurs embedded in silica melt glass along former fractures and grain boundaries. These former high-pressure melt pockets are surrounded by diaplectic glass or by domains consisting of microcrystalline coesite and earlier formed stishovite. The latter is mostly replaced by amorphous silica.     

Melting of carbon at 50 to 300 kbar

Diamond (～1 μm) and graphite (1–10 μm) in NaCl were melted at 50 to 300 kbar in a diamond anvil cell using a pulsed YAG laser. The samples were removed from the cell and the structures of the quenched phases were studied by transmission electron microscopy. The melted regions of the samples were found to consist of nearly perfect spheres of carbon ranging in size from ～1 μm down to less than a few nanometers. In the diamond sample melted at 300 kbar, the larger spherules (>0.2 μm) are polycrystalline diamond with either a granular or radial texture. The smaller spherules (<0.2 μm) give electron diffraction patterns with four diffuse rings that correspond to the 002, 100, 004 and 110 of graphite. This diffraction pattern is typical of disordered graphite randomly oriented about the c-axis. Dark field imaging, using a portion of the 002 ring, produces a “bow tie” figure in each of the smaller spherules. The orientation of the “bow tie” figure depends on the portion of the ring used to form the image, and indicates a radial orientation of the c-axis of the disordered graphite. The spacing between the 002 layers depends on the pressure at the time of melting. We interpret this to indicate that there is some sp³ bonding between layers in the disordered graphite in the smaller spherules. The smaller spherules may have the disordered graphite structure because of the effect of the size on the free energy relationship between the phases, or they may have been quenched more rapidly than the larger spherules thus preserving some of the character of the melt. If the latter explanation is correct, then our results may indicate that the diamond melt contains significant sp² bonding. Lattice images (Fig. 12) of the internal structure of the smallest spherules observable (～50 A) clearly show that the carbon layers are parallel to the surface of the spherules and that there is a great deal of disorder in the layers. These observations are entirely consistent with our conclusions based on the dark field images.     

A natural analogue of nuclear waste glass in compacted bentonite

A marine based argillaceous rock containing volcanic glass shards has been investigated to infer the long-term durability of vitrified nuclear waste in compacted bentonite, which is a candidate for buffer material constituting the engineered barrier system for nuclear waste disposal. Fission track ages indicate that the volcanic glass shards, andesitic scoria, have been buried in the argillaceous rock for about 1 Ma. Neither glass matrix dissolution nor precipitation on the surface was seen under an optical microscope. Little leaching of any element has been recognized by analyses using an electron microprobe analyzer. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis, however, indicates significant hydration which may dominantly be a permeation of molecular water.As an indicator of durability of glass against groundwater a normalized mass loss of Si (NL_Si) has been evaluated for the volcanic glass based on free energy for hydration. The difference between estimated NL_Si of the volcanic glass and that of a simulated waste glass is within one order so that the volcanic glass may be analogous to a waste glass with respect to durability to water. The argillaceous rock is analogous to the compacted bentonite with respect to physical properties such as dry-density, unconfined compression strength, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. The ambient physical and chemical conditions surrounding the volcanic glass have been also investigated: temperature was in the range from 4 to 30°C due to the burial history of the volcanic glass. Over most of the past 1 Ma the volcanic glass has been in contact with groundwater originating from seawater. Thermodynamic calculations indicate (1) pH (=7.74–7.94) of the groundwater has mainly been controlled by dissolution of carbonate minerals, (2) the redox potential (Eh=−34–−73 mV) of the groundwater has dominantly been controlled by decomposition of organic materials to produce CH₄(g), and (3) activity of aqueous silica of the groundwater was in equilibrium with SiO₂ amorphous. Because of the equilibrium between aqueous silica and SiO₂ amorphous, the volcanic glass did not dissolve during the burial.Vitrified nuclear waste sealed in compacted bentonite, therefore, will not dissolve significantly if buried in an environment as mentioned above.     

Impact of iron on nuclear glass alteration in geological repository conditions: A multiscale approach

Interactions between nuclear glass and Fe were investigated in a clayey environment to better understand the mechanisms and driving forces controlling the long-term behavior of high-level waste glass in a geological repository. An integrated experiment involving a Glass–Iron–Clay (GIC) stack was run at a laboratory scale in anoxic conditions for 2 years and the interfaces were characterized by a multiscale approach using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman microspectroscopy and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the SLS Synchrotron. The characterization of glass alteration patterns on cross sections revealed an increase in glass alteration with the Fe content and the proximity between the glass and Fe. The alteration layers are polyphase and stratified with an inner porous gel layer incorporating Fe and an outer layer composed of nanocrystalline Fe-silicates. Several mechanisms which could affect the glass alteration kinetics and the transport properties of the alteration layer are proposed to explain this pattern: (i) consumption of hydrolyzed silica by precipitation of Fe-silicates; (ii) penetration of Fe within the gel porosity probably as precipitates such as Fe oxyhydroxide or Fe-silicates. These new data may imply some consequences when considering the long-term behavior of glass in geological disposal conditions.     

深海沉积物中的宇宙球粒

1978-1979年,我国海洋调查船“向阳红09号”从太平洋西部海底沉积物中发现了很多透明、半透明和不透明的细小球粒(直径<1mm),作者曾作过初步报道^[1,2]。本文将报道对这些球粒的进一步研究结果。