Structural pattern and emplacement mechanism of the Neka Valley nappe complex,eastern Alborz,Iran

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Neka Valley nappe complex is exposed in the south of Gorgan County in the eastern Alborz fold-and-thrust belt. We use the results of a regional survey...     

The geochemistry of vanadiferous magnetite in the bushveld complex: Implications for crystallization mechanisms in layered complexes

Detailed trace-element analyses of pure magnetite from four continuous borehole intersections through the main magnetitite layer from the upper zone of the Rustenburg Layered Suite of the Bushveld Complex are presented. One section has been analysed at one centimetre intervals. Rapid depletion of Cr occurs over short, vertical sequences near the base of the layer, which is due to bottom-crystallization and the resulting chemical depletion of a thin layer of liquid. Sudden increases in Cr content of magnetite are attributed to convection cells which bring undepleted magma into the zone or crystallization. We suggest that these cells individually have lateral extents no greater than hundreds of metres, but collectively may be traced at a specific stratigraphic horizon for several tens of km. This lateral traceability of the effect of convection cells at approximately uniform stratigraphic height demonstrates the long-held implicit assumption that time-planes are in general parallel to the layering, and does not support the hypothesis that layers in the Bushveld Complex grew laterally. The activity of these cells is highly variable, with long periods of quiescence interspersed with periods of rapid, small-scale overturn. Most convection cells do not impinge upon the floor, and the abruptness of the resulting chemical reversal is largely a function of the thickness of the layer of depleted liquid trapped between the cumulates and the sole of the convection cell. Occasionally, these cells do touch the cumulate pile and may even cause erosion. This material may be redeposited elsewhere in the magnetitite layer either as mineralogically distinct fragments if erosion penetrated below the layer or, in the present instance, as a chemically chaotic pile of magnetite. The abruptness of the chemical reversals severely restricts the extent to which post-cumulus redistribution of elements or re-equilibration with percolating trapped liquid (infiltration metasomatism) may have occurred. The appearance of disseminated plagioclase in magnetite layers in variable proportions and in a non-systematic manner in the four profiles is attributed to fluctuations in pressure.     

雅鲁藏布江蛇绿岩的侵位机制:一个新的分析模型

蛇绿岩侵位机制是板块构造理论中一直没有得到合理阐释的科学问题,制约了许多次级问题的解决。本文综述了已发表的关键资料和地质观察,提出了一个新的分析模型。蛇绿岩带的长距离延伸表明其形成过程与板块汇聚过程紧密相关;冈底斯岩浆弧的两期弧岩浆活动暗示汇聚板块边缘的构造性质曾经发生过转换;前人报道的玻安岩缺乏充分的地质学、岩石学和矿物学约束;强还原晶体群的普遍性暗示蛇绿岩侵位过程与大规模流体活动有关。据此,本文提出了一个由流体协助的蛇绿岩侵位模型,认为俯冲板块回卷、断离、流体-岩石圈相互作用、大洋岩石圈穹隆等过程是蛇绿岩侵位的基本控制因素。     

Collisional emplacement history of the Naga-Andaman ophiolites and the position of the eastern Indian suture

Dismembered late Mesozoic ophiolites occur in two parallel belts along the eastern margin of the Indian Plate. The Eastern Belt, closely following the magmatic arc of the Central Burma Basin, coincides with a zone of high gravity. It is considered to mark a zone of steeply dipping mafic–ultramafic rocks and continental metamorphic rocks, which are the locus of two closely juxtaposed sutures. In contrast, the Western Belt, which follows the eastern margin of the Indo-Burma Range and the Andaman outer-island-arc, broadly follows a zone of negative gravity anomalies. Here the ophiolites occur mainly as rootless subhorizontal bodies overlying Eocene–Oligocene flyschoid sediments. Two sets of ophiolites that were accreted during the Early Cretaceous and mid-Eocene are juxtaposed in this belt. These are inferred to be westward propagated nappes from the Eastern Belt, emplaced during the late Oligocene collision between the Burmese and Indo-Burma-Andaman microcontinents.Ophiolite occurrences in the Andaman Islands belong to the Western Belt and are generally interpreted as upthrust oceanic crust, accreted due to prolonged subduction activity to the west of the island arc. This phase of subduction began only in the late Miocene and thus could not have produced the ophiolitic rocks, which were accreted in the late Early Eocene.     

A compartment model for the mass transfer inside a conventional flotation cell

A model is developed by taking into account the simultaneous mechanisms of true flotation and entrainment in a conventional flotation cell. The total volume of the cell is divided into three compartments: pulp collection zone, pulp quiescent zone and froth region, with the mechanisms being modeled as occurring at the same time but originating at different places: true flotation from the collection zone and entrainment from the quiescent one. A particle is referred to as suspended in water or attached to an air bubble, depending upon its original state before crossing the pulp–froth interface (whether or not it remains in that state all the way to the concentrate launder). The model is obtained by solving a set of equations describing the mass conservation of solids and water between adjacent compartments. The principal mass transfer factors are identified as: the flotation rate constant, the mean residence time in the collection zone, the froth recovery of attached particles, the degree of entrainment through the froth and the water recovery from the feed to the concentrate. The development presented here allows the intricate nature of the mass transfer in a flotation cell to be reduced to one single equation, overcoming the need of numerical methods for simulation purposes. Moreover, it is shown that reliable prediction of grade and recovery can be obtained without detailed information on the pulp hydrodynamics or on any froth sub-process either than drainage, bubble bursting and bubble coalescence.     

The Alnö complex: tectonics of dyke emplacement

The model of dyke emplacement proposed by v. Eckermann could not be confirmed by the present study. A new model is suggested, involving up-doming of the wall-rock due to the intrusion of magma (accompanied by the formation of radial dykes and two sets of cone sheets), followed by subsidence (formation of sövite ring dykes and two other sets of cone sheets).     

Sheeting and dyking emplacement of the Gunnison annular complex,SW Colorado

Emplacement of the Proterozoic Gunnison annular complex, Colorado, involved brittle failure and both subhorizontal sheeting and steeply-dipping dyking. The annular complex consists of a central diorite body (1730 Ma), surrounded by a ring of metamorphosed supracrustal rocks, in turn ringed by tonalite and granodiorite (1721 Ma). The older central diorite was emplaced as sills parallel to bedding, prior to regional deformation of the Gunnison volcanic arc, ∼1730–1710 m.y. ago. This central body was deformed during regional shortening, into an upright bowl with inward-dipping walls. The surrounding country rocks were folded and locally transposed against the central body, forming an arcuate foliation, conforming roughly to the shape of the body. This foliation and bedding acted as mechanical planes of weakness, which localized the syn-deformational emplacement of the outer ring intrusions, as multiple magma sheets parallel to steeply dipping bedding and foliation. Portions of the outer rings were also injected along concentric, inward-dipping, shear fractures generated under high magma pressure, a process similar to cone sheet emplacement in volcanic ring-dyke complexes. Multiple mechanisms were therefore involved in the emplacement of this sheeted annular plutonic complex, which otherwise superficially resembles a subvolcanic ring-dyke complex.     

湘东地区铀成矿远景圈定及定位预测

湘东地区是重要的热液型铀成矿区，本文利用湘赣边区走滑构造及铀成矿动力学研究成果和相关的地球物理，地球化学的定性、半定量资料，采用信息量计算法、特征分析法，逻辑信息法进行区域铀成矿远景区的圈定和定位预测。     

A structural record of the emplacement of the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite onto the Menderes-Taurus block in the late Cretaceous, eastern Taurides, Turkey

The Aladag region of eastern Taurides, Turkey, is characterized by an imbricated thrust structure developed during late stage emplacement of the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite onto the Menderes-Taurus block in the late Cretaceous. The mid to late Cretaceous dynamothermal metamorphic sole and the underlying unmetamorphosed mélange, here named the Aladag accretionary complex, were accreted to the base of the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite during intra-oceanic subduction, transport and final obduction of the ophiolite onto the Menderes-Taurus block.In the dynamothermal metamorphic sole, intensity of deformation and degree of metamorphism increase from the base to the top, and at least three episodes of foliation, lineation and fold development are recognized. The asymmetry of quartz c-axis fabrics, tightness and asymmetry of folds of the same generation, and curvature of fold hinge lines increase from base to top, indicating that non-coaxial progressive deformation prevailed during the development of the metamorphic sole. The mélange is divided into three major thrust fault-bounded tectonic slivers, each of which is characterized by distinctive types of matrix and block lithologies, structures and deformation style. Kinematic analyses of the dynamothermal metamorphic sole and the mélange reveal that the tectonic transport direction of the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite during its emplacement was from north-northwest to south-southeast, suggesting that the Pozanti-Karsanti ophiolite was derived from a Neo-Tethyan ocean to the north of the Menderes-Taurus block.     

A late quaternary pollen record from the Transvaal bushveld, South Africa

Pollen spectra from cores of organic spring deposits from the Transvaal provide evidence for the climatic evolution of the province during the last 35,000 yr B.P. or more. The past climatic phases are derived from palynological reconstructions of past vegetation types by comparison of fossil pollen data with modern surface pollen spectra from various localities. Evidence is provided for an early moist, cool phase with relatively mesic bushveld and expanded montane forest in the central Transvaal, followed by a drier period with drier bushveld which probably lasted until approximately 25,000 yr B.P. During the next phase, which at the latest ended about 11,000 yr B.P., the temperatures were probably 5°–6°C cooler than at present. At that time bushveld vegetation in the central Transvaal was replaced by open grassland with macchia elements. Climatic amelioration came and semiarid savanna returned to the plains, at first gradually and then developing into a warm Kalahari thornveld-type vegetation. After 6000 yr B.P. it apparently became slightly wetter and a more broad-leafed bushveld developed. About 4000 yr B.P. it again became cooler and slightly wetter and the bushveld vegetation on the central and northern plains was comparable to present open upland types. After 2000 yr B.P. conditions gradually became warner until about 1000 yr B.P., when the modern climate of the central Transvaal bushveld originated.     

Lead isotopic disequilibrium between sulfide and plagioclase in the bushveld complex and the chemical evolution of large layered intrusions

The Pb isotopic compositions of coexisting plagioclase and sulfide from the Bushveld Complex were determined by laser ablation multi-collector ICPMS (LA MC-ICPMS). The samples are of the upper Critical Zone in the northeast corner of the Complex and were collected from drill core and underground mine exposures. All the rocks are fresh and exhibit no evidence for alteration, weathering, or disruption of the Pb isotope systematics subsequent to the initial cooling of the intrusion. Furthermore, individual plagioclase and sulfide crystals do not contain enough U to warrant correction for radiogenic in-growth. For these reasons, the measured Pb isotope ratios approximate the initial ones. For plagioclase, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ranges from 0.98 to 1.02 and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb from 2.26 to 2.35. Low ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios characterize grain boundaries and partially annealed microcracks, some of which contain minute fragments of sulfide and other phases, and this accounts for most, if not all, the heterogeneity exhibited by individual samples. Real compositional differences exist, however, in plagioclase from different lithologic layers. For example, plagioclase ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb values vary from 1.004 in norite beneath the Merensky pyroxenite to 1.009 in the mineralized pyroxenite, and 0.997 in overlying norite. In most samples in which sulfide and plagioclase coexist, the sulfide ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratio is lower and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratio higher than the corresponding ones in plagioclase. For example, in a mineralized Merensky reef sample, average sulfide ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios are 0.993 and 2.313, respectively, while those in plagioclase are 1.000 and 2.292. In one sample, the sulfide is extremely heterogeneous, with ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios as low as 0.84 and 2.12. In this particular sample, the compositions must represent an isolated occurrence of addition of a young Pb component.The array of sulfide and plagioclase compositions requires multiple sources of Pb at the time of crystallization or soon thereafter. The disequilibrium between plagioclase and sulfide implies that some of the Pb originated from the isotopically distinct country rocks and was introduced at temperatures at which the composition of sulfide but not plagioclase could be modified. Thus, Bushveld sulfide, and to some extent plagioclase, do not reliably record the initial Pb isotopic composition(s) of the parent magma(s).     

Chronology of multiphase emplacement of the Salmi rapakivi granite-anorthosite complex, Baltic Shield: implications for magmatic evolution

The U-Pb dating of 18 samples, representing the principal rock types of the 4000 km² Salmi anorthosite-rapakivi granite complex and its satellite Uljalegi pluton, southeastern Baltic (Fennoscandian) Shield, reveals that six temporally distinct episodes of igneous activity occurred in a timespan of 17 million years. From oldest to youngest they are: (1) gabbronorite and monzonite at 1546.7 Ma; (2) syenogranite at 1543.4 Ma; (3) early wiborgite and pyterlite at 1540.6–1537.9 Ma; (4) biotite granite and more evolved granite at 1538.4–1535 Ma; (5) late pyterlite at 1535.2 Ma; (6) olivine gabbro and biotite-amphibole granite at 1530 Ma. The resolvable intervals between magmatic episodes are 3.5–5.0 million years. Early wiborgite and pyterlite (3, above) and biotite granite (4, above) probably crystallized from multiple magma intrusions. Age differences of 3.4±1.5 million years between zircon and baddeleyite in olivine gabbro (6, above) are probably a result of xenocrystic origin of baddeleyite extracted from an earlier mafic phase of the Salmi complex. The ages and chemical features of early and late zircon populations, together with our modeling of magma crystallization and zircon growth, show that the duration of magma crystallization and Pb-diffusion in zircon was short lived and insignificant compared to the precision of dating of about ±1–2 million years. Hence, the range of U-Pb ages for each of the major rock types may approximate the emplacement intervals of their respective magmas. Average rate of magma emplacement was about 0.01 km³/year for the most voluminous phase of early biotite-amphibole rapakivi granite, and about 0.0024 km³/year for the Salmi complex as a whole. Compositional changes of the Salmi magmas over time are in agreement with the model of magmatism related to lithospheric extension. Received: 2 August 1996 / Accepted 19 December 1996     

华北东部晚中生代区域伸展背景下同构造花岗岩体的起源与就位

花岗质岩浆的起源、迁移及就位是研究大陆岩石圈流变学特性的重要方面。然而,板内伸展背景下同构造花岗岩体的岩浆来源、就位机制和岩浆流动与区域应力场的关系等问题缺乏系统性的总结。晚中生代期间华北板块东部逐渐变为区域伸展体制,同时中浅部地壳形成一系列的韧性剪切带、变质核杂岩和拆离断层,这些伸展构造往往伴有同剪切变形的花岗岩体。因此,华北东部是系统研究板内伸展背景下同构造花岗岩体的最佳区域。本文选取多个典型的同构造花岗岩体,进行综合分析。通过归纳总结这些同构造岩体的岩石地球化学和年代学资料,发现多数同构造岩体具有多个岩浆源区,且较早就位的中性岩席（单元）往往来自壳幔混合岩浆或新生下地壳的部分熔融,而较晚的酸性岩席（单元）则主要来源于古老下地壳的部分熔融。这一特点反映了同伸展岩体岩浆源区由深至浅的演化规律,也揭示了区域伸展背景下源自地幔的流体和热量是触发地壳部分熔融的重要因素。通过分析岩浆就位过程中围岩和岩体中形成的定向及变形组构,发现华北东部同伸展岩体的就位模式可分为三大类：以扁平岩床或岩基形式就位于中部地壳的水平韧性剪切带内;岩浆以近直立运移的方式形成长轴平行拆离断层的岩基,就位于变质核杂岩核部或拆离断层下盘;岩浆就位于再活化的先存断裂,通过膨胀作用、挤压围岩获得就位空间并使围岩变形,形成类似底辟作用的就位方式。剪切应力和浮力是影响岩浆运移方向的重要力学参数。岩浆自源区上升的过程中浮力起着主要控制作用,就位于韧性剪切带时剪切应力起着控制作用,就位于浅部地壳的脆-韧性过渡带时浮力的作用再次凸显。

     

Evolutionary model for Alpine Corsica: mechanism for ophiolite emplacement and exhumation of high-pressure rocks

A tectonic model of Alpine Corsica is proposed based on geological studies. Its evolution starts after the Jurassic with intraoceanic subduction, followed by mid-Cretaceous subduction of the European continental margin under the oceanic segment of the Adriatic plate. After subduction of the continental crust to a depth of ≈ 150 km, slices of crustal material are buoyantly uplifted together with high-pressure oceanic rocks (ophiolites and 'schistes lustrés'). High pressure–low temperature continental gneiss units overthrust the outer segments of the European crust, while producing a normal sense motion along the upper surface of the rising crustal body. During the Eocene, the closure of the remnant Ligurian oceanic basin separating the proto Corsican belt and Adria, resulted in a second orogenic phase with the emplacement of unmetamorphosed ophiolitic nappes which overthrust the previously exhumed and eroded HP belt. This Corsican model suggests an original evolutionary path for orogenic belts when continental collision is preceded by intraoceanic subduction.     

An autochthonous geological model for the eastern Andes of Ecuador

We describe a traverse across the Cordillera Real and sub-Andean Zone of Ecuador, poorly known areas with very little detailed mapping and very little age control. The spine of the Cordillera comprises deeply eroded Triassic and Jurassic plutons, the roots of a major arc, emplaced into probable Palaeozoic pelites and metamorphosed volcanic rocks. The W flank comprises a Jurassic (?) submarine basaltic–andesitic volcanic sequence, which grades up into mixed Jurassic/Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Inter-Andean Valley. The sub-Andean Zone, on the E flank of the Cordillera, comprises a newly recognized Cretaceous basin of cleaved mudrocks, quartz arenites and limestones. East of the syndepositional Cosanga Fault, the Cretaceous basin thins into a condensed sequence that is indistinguishable from the rocks of the adjacent hydrocarbon-bearing Oriente Basin. The principal penetrative deformation of the Cordillera Real was probably latest Cretaceous/Palaeocene. It telescoped the magmatic belts, but shortening was largely partitioned into the pelites between plutons. The plutons suffered inhomogenous deformation; some portions completely escaped tectonism. The pelites conserve two foliations. The earliest comprises slaty cleavage formed under low- or sub-greenschist conditions. The later is a strong schistosity defined by new mica growth. It largely transposed and obliterated the first. Both foliations may have developed during a single progressive deformation. We find inappropriate recent terrane models for the Cordillera Real and sub-Andean Zone of Ecuador. Instead we find remarkable similarities from one side of the Cordillera to the other, including a common structural history. In place of sutures, we find mostly intrusive contacts between major plutons and pelites. Triassic to Cretaceous events occurred on the autochthonous western edge of the Archaean Guyana Shield. The latest Cretaceous–Paleocene deformation is interpreted as the progressive collision of an oceanic terrane(s) with the South American continent. Young fault movements have subsequently juxtaposed different structural levels through the Cordillera Real orogen.     

青藏高原东缘斑岩铜钼金成矿带的构造模式

在印度—亚洲大陆碰撞形成的青藏高原东缘,伴随着高钾富碱斑岩的浅成侵位,发育“成对”出现的、受大规模走滑断裂控制的新生代陆内斑岩铜钼金成矿带,其中西带为江达—芒康—祥云铜钼金成矿带,东带为中甸—盐源—姚安斑岩铜金铅银成矿带。含矿斑岩岩石类型为花岗斑岩、二长花岗斑岩、二长斑岩和少量正长斑岩,以较高的SiO2(>63%)和较低的Y(<20×10-6)区别于非含矿斑岩,并具有似埃达克岩(adakite-like)岩浆亲合性。富碱斑岩相对富集LILE(K、Rb、Ba)、亏损HFSE(Nb、Ta、Ti、P),Nb/Y比值具有较大的变化范围,REE分馏强烈但不出现明显的负Eu异常,反映岩浆源区曾经历过古俯冲洋壳板片流体的交代富集作用和软流圈小股熔融体的注入。含矿的似埃达克斑岩可能源于玄武质下地壳,后者经历高压(>40km)下角闪岩-榴辉岩相变质和板片流体交代,并作为下地壳角闪岩包体在富碱斑岩中出现;不含矿的正长斑岩可能起源于含水的金云母橄榄岩富集地幔。微量元素和Sr-Nd-Pb同位素系统反映,该源区遭受了更强烈的板片流体交代和软流圈物质混染。深部地球物理探测资料表明,50Ma以来的扬子大陆板片向西俯冲,并与印度大陆俯冲板片对挤,诱发了软流圈上涌热蚀及其熔融体的底侵注入,引起了壳幔过渡带的部分熔融。似埃达克斑岩岩浆以相对富水     

Origin and emplacement of the Higher Himalayan Leucogranite in the eastern Himalaya: Constraints from geochemistry and mineral chemistry

The Higher Himalayan Leucogranites (HHLG) intruded into the high grade rocks of the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) in western Arunachal Pradesh, eastern Himalaya, yield distinctive field data, petrography, geochemical and mineral chemistry data. The HHLG mostly occur as sill like bodies of limited thickness and lateral extent within the HHC. The Arunachal HHLG are characterized by the presence of two micas; normative corundum; high contents of SiO₂ (67–78 wt.%), Al₂O₃ (13–18 wt.%), A/CNK (0.98–1.44) and Rb (154–412 ppm); low contents of CaO (0.33–1.91 wt.%) and Sr (19–171 ppm), and a high ratio of FeO_(tot)/MgO in biotite (2.54–4.82). These distinctive features, along with their strong depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE), suggest their affinity to peraluminous S-type granite generated by the partial melting of crustal material. Since the HHLG associated with high grade rocks of HHC and lack of basaltic magmatism, strongly suggests that the high grade rocks of HHC might represent the melt source and HHLG are product of pure crustal melt without any contamination of mantle material. Geothermobarometric estimations and mineral assemblages of the HHC metapelites confirm that the HHLG were probably generated in the middle crust (～20 km) and the produced melts intruded the HHC in the form of sills/dykes.     

A kinematic model of emplacement of quartz reefs and subsequent deformation patterns in the central Indian Bundelkhand batholith

This paper attempts to show that the quartz reefs forming the principal fabric of a large number of granitoid diapirs in the central Indian Bundelkhand batholith are dominated by numerous sigmoidal tensile fissures generated as a result of an EW sinistral brittle-ductile inhomogeneous simple shear but the secretion of quartz veins within the reefs occurred under an approximately EW subhorizontal extension. The paper also discusses the disruption along the reefs and of the reefs themselves by later faulting under a rotational subhorizontal or gently plunging maximum principal compressive stress that seems to be intimately related to the diapinc rise of more and more acidic magmas at relatively deeper levels within the crust, the relationship with the deformation within the supracrustals and suggests that the overall prolate strain within the diapirs was built up gradually, with initial NE-SW shortening, followed by meridional shortening and finally culminating into the NW-SE shortening that opened a large number of tensile cracks occupied by late dyke swarms. The slight reverse component of strike-slip faults, of both dextral and sinistral, corroborates the overall constriction at the centres of individual diapirs at depth. The palaeostress analysis using slickensided striae corroborates the general conclusions presented. Indeed, the paper tries to demonstrate that the prolate strain in the central part of a diapir is not something that occurs simultaneously from all sides radially inwards but is a phased one. It depends upon the size and shape of the initial diapir, and the part of the supracrustals in which the deformation begins first and is controlled by pre-existing planes of weakness. The paper tries to demonstrate how the prolate strain at the centres of granitoid diapirs might express itself at higher crustal levels under a relatively less ductile or brittle-ductile and even brittle regime.     

Synkinematic emplacement of the Pan-African Ngondo igneous complex (west Cameroon,central Africa)

The Ngondo Complex is one of the Pan-African plutons intruded in the West Cameroon Pan-African Orogenic Belt. The complex consists of three major groups of rocks: basic to intermediate rocks (diorites, granodiorites and minor gabbros), fined-grained granites and coarsed-grained granites successively emplaced in a metamorphic country rock of amphibolite-facies. Synkinematic emplacement of the complex, in relation with a ductile mega shear zone, is documented by a study of microstructures and foliation patterns which indicate a continuous transition from magmatic to high temperature solid-state deformation. The geometry of the internal foliation trajectories and the joint orientation in the complex suggest that the emplacement of the three groups of rocks was totally controlled by a N30° sinistral shear zone. Emplacement mechanisms, which are related in time and space to a continuum of deformation, may indicate a relative rheological change of the crust from ductile to brittle behaviour.     

A mechanism for emplacement and concentration of diatoms in glacigenic deposits

The occurrence of diatoms (both marine and freshwater) in sediments beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is suggestive of past ice-sheet collapse. However, it is not the only model explaining such occurrences. We propose another mechanism for introducing diatoms beneath ice sheets by considering the fate of a diatom placed (by eolian processes) on top of an ice sheet. Mathematical modeling indicates that the route the diatom will take through the ice sheet is dictated by the basal melting rate. If no basal melting takes place, flowlines will crop out at the ice-sheet margin. However, if basal melting is as low as 0.01 m/yr the trajectories of all Howlines except for those nearest the margin will intersect the bed, with those diatoms deposited near the dome reaching the bed about halfway down the Howband. Larger values of basal melting lead to the diatoms reaching the bed even faster and closer to the point of origin. In light of these results, the presence of diatoms in sediments beneath the WAIS does not lead to a unique solution; it is not necessary to invoke past ice-sheet collapse to account for their presence.