Spinel to garnet lherzolite transition in relation to high temperature palaeogeotherms,eastern Australia∗

Eastern Australian xenolith suites and lithospheric transition zones are re‐evaluated using new mineral analyses and thermo‐barometry. Some suites, including that defining the southeastern Australian geotherm, are not fully equilibrated. New pressure‐temperature estimates, based on experimental calibrations that allow for Cr and Ti in pyroxenes, differ from earlier results by up to 0.6 GPa and 250°C. The preferred Brey and Köhler 1990 thermo‐barometer indicates a shallower cooler garnet lherzolite transition under Mesozoic New South Wales (50 km depth at 980° C) than for Tertiary Tasmania (60 km depth at 1090°C).

Deviations between palaeogeotherms may reflect: (i) higher temperature gradients for Tasmania and New South Wales (by 100°C/0.1 GPa) related to abnormally hot mantle; (ii) higher temperature gradients linked to more voluminous magmatism, largely Cenozoic in age; and (iii) complex temperature perturbations linked to different levels of magmatic intrusion.

These deviations blur reconstructions of lithospheric assemblages, where temperature is determinable and pressure comes from an assumed geotherm. Potential errors in locating spinel lherzolite and crust‐mantle transition assemblages may reach 15 km in depth. The highest Tertiary geothermal gradients in Tasmania and northeastern New South Wales match those from regions of active lithospheric extension. The young southeastern Australian geotherm is decaying from a higher temperature equilibration, based on experimental work, and Mesozoic New South Wales geotherms trend towards the lower gradients of bounding cratons.     

Granitic and monzonitic rocks dredged from the southeast Australian continental margin

Four Middle Devonian (381 Ma) granodiorite samples have been recovered from two dredge sites approximately 65 km east of Green Cape, New South Wales. The granodiorite samples are similar in age and composition to members of the Moruya Suite and probably form an along‐strike extension of that suite. The location of granodiorite on the southeastern margin requires that a piece of continental lithosphere was located to the present east of the study area in the Devonian. This piece of lithosphere may now be located somewhere on the western Lord Howe Rise.

A sample of Early Cretaceous leuco‐quartz monzodiorite was also recovered from a dredge site approximately 45 km north‐northeast of Dalmeny, New South Wales. It represents a body that was intruded at essentially the same time as, and is inferred to be of similar origin to, the syenite rocks of the nearby Mt Dromedary and Montague Island complexes.     

Palynology of Upper Cretaceous (uppermost Campanian–Maastrichtian) deposits in the South Yellow Sea Basin, offshore Korea

Forty-seven samples from Upper Cretaceous sections penetrated by the Kachi-1 and Inga-1 wells in the South Yellow Sea Basin have been analysed for their spore and pollen content. Thirty-five species of 18 spore genera and 54 species of 28 pollen genera are documented. One new monotypic genus, Diporocolpopollenites, and its type species, D. kachiensis sp. nov., are erected, and Dilwynites Harris, 1965, and its type species, D. granulatus Harris, 1965, are emended. There are also three new combinations: Ephedripites eocaenicus (Selling, 1944), E. praeclarus (Chlonova, 1961), and Retitricolpites anguloluminosus (Anderson, 1960). Two palynological zones are erected: anAquilapollenites attenuatus Assemblage Zone, which encompasses deposits that are considered to be latest Campanian–Early Maastrichtian in age, and an Aquilapollenites eurypteronus Assemblage Zone for sections that have been dated as Late Maastrichtian. The assemblages are typical of the Yenisey-Amur Subprovince of the Aquilapollenites (floral) Province. Lowland floodplain to shallow, commonly mesotrophic, lacustrine environments of deposition are indicated. The climate was probably wet subtropical, with rainfall being somewhat higher during the Late Maastrichtian than through the latest Campanian–Early Maastrichtian.     

The identity of the British Ordovician cystoid ‘Hemicosmites rugatus Forbes‘

New articulated specimens of the British Ordovician cystoid first mentioned under the name ‘Hemicosmites rugatus Forbes’ in 1848 allow its morphology and systematic affinities to be established for the first time. Despite being based on isolated plates, ‘H. rugatus Forbes’ has been reported from England and Wales, Belgium, France, Spain and Thailand, and has been attributed to four genera. It is characterized by a heteromorphic, circular stem, a theca with four basal, six infra‐lateral and eight lateral plates, all with sharp‐crested ridges running to plate angles, multiple arms in each ambulacrum and an extensive tegmen. These characters indicate it belongs in the family Caryocrinitidae and genus Caryocrinites. Caryocrinites rugatus had arms with lateral brachioles that folded in against the main arm axis, as in the type species C. ornatus Say. It is the first Ordovician species known to possess this character. Isolated plates show sorting and a few may represent other species of Caryocrinites s.l. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new deep‐water Upper Ordovician (Caradocian) trilobite fauna from south‐west Wales

A deep‐water trilobite fauna has been discovered in the otherwise graptolitic Mydrim Formation near Clarbeston Road, Pembrokeshire, south‐west Wales. Associated graptolites indicate an early Caradocian age. The trilobites comprise three species with eyes reduced or absent, representing an atheloptic assemblage with benthic life habits, which appeared during a short period of relative oxygenation of the Welsh Basin. The trilobite Platycalymene dilatata (Tullberg) is redescribed from the type material from Sweden, and new material from Wales is assigned to this species. Two new species are described in addition. Rorringtonia multisegmentata sp. nov. possesses twelve thoracic segments, which has implications for the classification of the Rorringtoniidae within the Aulacopleuroidea. Trinucleus conollyi sp. nov. differs from T. fimbriatus in the proliferation of the radial sulci. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occurrence and significance of Ischadites Murchison in Ordovician Limestones at Bowan Park,New South Wales

Ischadites lindstroemi Hinde 1884 is described from the Ordovician Daylesford Formation (lower part of the Bowan Park Group) of central western New South Wales. The species characterises a distinctive unit in the formation, occurring in bands throughout the unit. From a study of the associated lithofacies and their stratigraphic distribution in the limestones, an interpretation of the environment in which the species lived is presented. The species is considered to have inhabited a shallow‐water, lime‐mud environment, which was off‐shore and marginal to calcarenite shoals.     

Age and correlations of the Siluro‐Devonian strata in the Yass Basin,New South Wales

An early Ludlovian (early eβ1) to early Gedinnian (early eγ) age is assigned to the Cliftonwood Limestone—Elmside Formation strata of the Yass Basin, New South Wales. Several Australian sequences are correlated with the Yass Basin succession.     

Proterozoic‐Cambrian detrital zircon and monazite ages from the Anakie Inlier,central Queensland: Grenville and Pacific‐Gondwana signatures

The Anakie Metamorphic Group is a complexly deformed, dominantly metasedimentary succession in central Queensland. Metamorphic cooling is constrained to ca 500 Ma by previously published K–Ar ages. Detrital‐zircon SHRIMP U–Pb ages from three samples of greenschist facies quartz‐rich psammites (Bathampton Metamorphics), west of Clermont, are predominantly in the age range 1300–1000 Ma (65–75%). They show that a Grenville‐aged orogenic belt must have existed in northeastern Australia, which is consistent with the discovery of a potential Grenville source farther north. The youngest detrital zircons in these samples are ca 580 Ma, indicating that deposition may have been as old as latest Neoproterozoic. Two samples have been analysed from amphibolite facies pelitic schist from the western part of the inlier (Wynyard Metamorphics). One sample contains detrital monazite with two age components of ca 580–570 Ma and ca 540 Ma. The other sample only has detrital zircons with the youngest component between 510 Ma and 700 Ma (Pacific‐Gondwana component), which is consistent with a Middle Cambrian age for these rocks. These zircons were probably derived from igneous activity associated with rifting events along the Gondwanan passive margin. These constraints confirm correlation of the Anakie Metamorphic Group with latest Neoproterozoic ‐ Cambrian units in the Adelaide Fold Belt of South Australia and the Wonominta Block of western New South Wales.     

A New Axymyiid Genus with Two New Species from the Middle Jurassic of China (Diptera: Nematocera: Axymyiidae)

The Axymyiidae is one of the small families of the suborder Nematocera within the Diptera.Up to date,three genera and seven species of extant axymyiids have been described from the Holarctic Region,including Canada,China,Hungary,Japan,Russia,and USA,with three genera and three species of fossil taxa described from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou,northeastern China.A new genus Raraxymyia gen.nov.and two new species,R.parallela and R.proxima gen.et sp.nov.from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou Village,Inner Mongolia,China,are herein described based on their well-preserved wings and body characters.A revised key to the genera of axymyiids is provided.     

Australian provenance for Upper Permian to Cretaceous rocks forming accretionary complexes on the New Zealand sector of the Gondwanaland margin

U–Pb (SHRIMP) detrital zircon age patterns are reported for 12 samples of Permian to Cretaceous turbiditic quartzo‐feldspathic sandstone from the Torlesse and Waipapa suspect terranes of New Zealand. Their major Permian to Triassic, and minor Early Palaeozoic and Mesoproterozoic, age components indicate that most sediment was probably derived from the Carboniferous to Triassic New England Orogen in northeastern Australia. Rapid deposition of voluminous Torlesse/Waipapa turbidite fans during the Late Permian to Late Triassic appears to have been directly linked to uplift and exhumation of the magmatically active orogen during the 265–230 Ma Hunter‐Bowen event. This period of cordilleran‐type orogeny allowed transport of large volumes of quartzo‐feldspathic sediment across the convergent Gondwanaland margin. Post‐Triassic depocentres also received (recycled?) sediment from the relict orogen as well as from Jurassic and Cretaceous volcanic provinces now offshore from southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. The detailed provenance‐age fingerprints provided by the detrital zircon data are also consistent with progressive southward derivation of sediment: from northeastern Queensland during the Permian, southeastern Queensland during the Triassic, and northeastern New South Wales — Lord Howe Rise — Norfolk Ridge during the Jurassic to Cretaceous. Although the dextral sense of displacement is consistent with the tectonic regime during this period, detailed characterisation of source terranes at this scale is hindered by the scarcity of published zircon age data for igneous and sedimentary rocks in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic age components cannot be adequately matched with likely source terranes in the Australian‐Antarctic Precambrian craton, and it is possible they originated in the Proterozoic cores of the Cathaysia and Yangtze Blocks of southeast China.     

New and recalculated radiometric data supporting a carboniferous age for the emplacement of the Bathurst batholith,New South Wales

The Bathurst batholith is a complex of massive granitic intrusions cutting across deformed early and middle Palaeozoic rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales. An adamellite from Dunkeld, near the western edge of the batholith, has yielded K‐Ar ages of 304 ± 4 m.y. (total‐rock) and 301 ± 6 m.y. (biotite).

Recalculated radiometric ages on rocks from the eastern end (Hartley) and northern edge (Yetholme), together with the new data from the western end (Dunkeld) of the Bathurst batholith yield a mean age of emplacement of 310 m.y. (8 values, standard deviation = 6.8 m.y.). This age is supported by Re‐Os data from molybdenite at Yetholme. As yet these data do not allow establishment of temporal relationships between separate intrusive phases of the Bathurst batholith, although the Durandal Adamellite at Yetholme appears to be the oldest phase yet dated.     

New Data of Macrofossils in the Ediacaran Wenghui Biota from Guizhou, South China

The abundance and diversity of macrofossils in the Ediacaran have attracted much attention. The upper Doushantuo macrobiotas in South China, including the Miaohe biota from Hubei and the Wenghui biota from Guizhou, are mainly preserved as the carbonaceous compressions and dominated by macroscopic algae and metazoans. Here, we describe 10 genera and 10 species (including 6 new genera and species) of macrofossils from the Wenghui biota. At present, the Wenghui biota yields macrofossils in more than 31 genera and 33 species, excluding those given no image and established on a few unascertained specimens. Based on the occurrence and distribution of macrofossils in both Miaohe and Wenghui areas, the middle-late Ediacaran (back shales of the upper Doushantuo Formation) in South China can be subdivided into two assemblage biozones in biostratigraphy: (i) the Protoconites–Linbotulitaenia–Eoandromeda–Anomalophton assemblage biozone characterized by abundant and diverse macrofossils and by the ranges of Protoconites, Linbotulitaenia and Anomalophton; and (ii) the Baculiphyca–Gesinella–Cucullus–Beltanelliformis assemblage biozone characterized by the acme of the longer macrofossils Baculiphyca and Gesinella, and by few shorter and discoidal macrofossils.     

A silurian porphyry copper prospect near Yeoval,New South Wales

The Yeoval porphyry copper prospect lies in a complex of dioritic rocks which form part of the eastern margin of the Yeoval Batholith in central‐western New South Wales. Rocks of the batholith are mainly granite and adamellite whose age is about 370 m.y. The diorite complex, (411 m.y.) is composed of rocks ranging from granodiorite to gabbro and pyroxenite.

Hydrothermal alteration of granodiorite in the Yeoval Mine area, 3.5 km north of Yeoval, is associated with disseminated and stockwork‐veinlet copper‐sulphide‐bearing zones. Alteration assemblages are similar to those described from some disseminated or porphyry copper/molybdenum deposits of southwestern USA.

The ubiquity of potassic zones in veinlet alteration envelopes and the poor development of sericitic and argillic zones suggest that the Yeoval prospect formed at or below the level of the Ajo deposit, Arizona, and the Los Loros deposit, Chile, which formed some 5 km below surface near the base of the ‘porphyry system’.

High Rb and Ba contents in the Yeoval diorites and their associated andesitic volcanics, and the presence of garnet‐bearing rhyodacite of similar age, imply that the Yeoval area was part of an Andean type of continental margin in the middle Palaeozoic.     

Discovery of Iapetognathus fauna from far western New South Wales: towards a more precisely defined Cambrian–Ordovician boundary in Australia

Conodont species Iapetognathus fluctivagus and Iapetonudus ibexensis are documented for the first time from Australia. The former is the primary marker internationally defining the base of the Ordovician, and the latter is also a distinctive species previously recorded only from the base of the Ordovician in North America. Both species were recovered from a single sample in the Kandie Tank Limestone of the Kayrunnera Group, located about 50 km west of White Cliffs in far western New South Wales. Other species recovered from this sample include Prooneotodus spp., Cordylodus lindstromi, Cordylodus proavus, Hirsutodontus simplex, Teridontus nakamurai and Variabiloconus sp. Recognition of the Iapetognathus fluctivagus Biozone in the Kandie Tank Limestone supports its correlation with the Green Point section (Global Stratigraphic Section and Point for the base of the Ordovician) in western Newfoundland and the Lawson Cove section of Utah (Auxiliary Stratigraphic Section and Point), as well as sections in Asia and South America. Review of other sections in Australia and elsewhere spanning the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary confirms that, in the absence of I. fluctivagus, the presence of C. lindstromi is a good proxy for this level.     

Late Quaternary core stratigraphy of the northern New South Wales continental shelf

On the southeast Australian continental margin, mixed siliciclastic and temperate carbonate sediments are presently forming along the narrow 20–35 km‐wide northern New South Wales shelf over an area of 4960 km². Here, year‐round, highly energetic waves rework inner and mid‐shelf clastic sediments by northward longshore currents or waning storm flows. The strong East Australian Current flows south, sweeping clastic and outer shelf biogenic sands and gravels. Quaternary siliciclastic inner shelf cores consist of fine to medium, lower shoreface sand and graded storm beds of fine to coarse sand. Physically abraded, disarticulated molluscs such as Donacidae and Glycymeridae form isolated gravel lags. Highstand inner shelf clastics accumulate at 0.53 m/10³ y in less than 50 m water depth. Clastic mid‐shelf cores contain well‐sorted, winnowed, medium shoreface sands, with a fine sand component. Fine sand and mud in this area is discharged mainly from New South Wales’ largest river, the Clarence. The seaward jutting of Byron Bay results in weakened East Australia Current flows through the mid‐shelf from Ballina to Yamba allowing the fine sediments to accumulate. Quaternary carbonate outer shelf cores have uniform and graded beds forming from the East Australian Current and are also influenced by less frequent storm energy. Modern clastic‐starved outer shelf hardgrounds are cemented by coralline algae and encrusting bryozoans. Clay‐sized particles are dominantly high‐Mg calcite with minor aragonite and smectite/kaolinite. Carbonate sands are rich in bryozoan fragments and sponge spicules. Distinctive (gravel‐sized) molluscs form isolated shells or shell lag deposits comprising Limopsidae and Pectinidae. The upper slope sediments are the only significant accumulation of surficial mud on the margin (18–36 wt%), filling the interstices of poorly sorted, biogenic gravels. Pectinid molluscs form a basal gravel lag. During highstand the outer shelf accumulates sediment at 0.40 m/10³ y, with the upper slope accumulating a lower 0.23 m/10³ y since transgression. Transgression produced a diachronous (14–10 ka) wave‐ravinement surface in all cores. Relict marine hardgrounds overlie the wave‐ravinement surface and are cemented by inorganic calcite from the shallow and warm East Australian Current. Transgressive estuarine deposits, oxygen isotope Stage 3–5 barriers or shallow bedrock underlie the wave‐ravinement surface on the inner and mid shelf. Northern New South Wales is an example of a low accommodation, wave‐ and oceanic current‐dominated margin that has produced mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate facies. Shelf ridge features that characterise many storm‐dominated margins are absent.     

Discussion: Macrofaunal zonation of Middle Permian coal sequences in Sydney Basin

Three suites of alkaline granite can be recognised in the Narraburra Complex at the triple junction of the Tumut, Giralambone‐Goonumbla and Wagga Zones, central southern New South Wales. On the basis of K₂O/Na₂O ratios, biotite and hornblende‐biotite potassic I‐type granites have been assigned to the Gilmore Hill (K₂O/Na₂O 1.00) and Barmedman Suites (K₂O/Na₂O > 1.2). These are metaluminous to weakly peraluminous suites that crystallised from high‐temperature,reduced magmas with the least fractionated members of each suite having high Ba and low Rb abundances compared to other Lachlan Fold Belt granites. Fractionated members of these suites have high abundances of high‐field‐strength elements, similar to those observed in A‐type granites. Arfvedsonite and aegirine‐arfvedsonite granites have been assigned to the peralkaline Narraburra Suite. Granites from this suite have chemistry consistent with them being the intrusive equivalents of comendites and they are also similar in some respects to A‐type granites: they have, for example, particularly high abundances of Zr. The A‐type signature is, however, at least in part the result of strong fractionation. Total‐rock Rb–Sr isotopic analyses from both I‐type suites plot on the same isochron, giving an age of 365 ± 4 Ma (Sr_l = 0.70388 ± 53). A total‐rock isochron for the peralkaline Narraburra Suite gives a less well‐defined age of 358 ± 9 Ma (Sr_l = 0.7013 ± 80). The Late Devonian Rb–Sr ages may be emplacement ages or a result of resetting during fluid‐rock interaction. Although granites of the Narraburra Complex have geochemical affinities with alkaline granites formed late in orogenic cycles, they post‐date arc magmatism by at least 75 million years and they formed in a within‐plate setting. Magmatism was related to localised reactivation of major faults (Gilmore Fault and the Parkes Thrust) in the region, and to partial melting involving both enriched mantle and Ordovician shoshonitic crustal components. Emplacement of the Narraburra Complex was contemporaneous with magmatism in the Central Victorian Magmatic Province and A‐type magmatism in eastern New South Wales. Collectively, all these magmatic events were related to extension post‐dating amalgamation of the western and central/eastern subprovinces of the Lachlan Fold Belt.     

Retrograde Schists of the Amphibolite Facies at broken hill,New South Wales

Aluminous, mafic, felsic, calcareous, and sulphide‐rich rocks have been involved in localized deformation and retrograde metamorphism at Broken Hill, western New South Wales, where retrograde schist‐zones intersect high‐grade, regional metamorphic rocks of the lower granulite facies (or the amphibolite‐granulite facies transition). Although technically retrograde, the schists contain mineral assemblages indicative of the lower amphibolite facies. The schist‐zones were formed by local folding, apparently as part of the third stage of deformation in the Broken Hill area.     

Cathodoluminescence study of carbonate cements in the Upper Cambrian conglomerates from the Wonominta Block,northwestern New South Wales

Petrological studies were carried out on the Upper Cambrian conglomerates from the Bilpa and Cupala Creek areas, in the Wonominta Block, northwestern New South Wales. The sediments are post‐orogenic, molasse‐type, shaped in continental and shallow‐marine environments, and deposited in the form of major coarse‐grained deltas. Diagenetic processes caused an extensive lithification of these psephitic deposits. Multistage carbonate cementation is one of the most significant diagenetic changes that occurred. Several generations of carbonate cements have been distinguished based on observations under the polarising microscope, and particularly, using cathodoluminescence analysis. In both areas studied the conglomerates show four types of calcite cements under cathodoluminescence developed in the following order: non‐luminescent (+oscillatory zoned)‐bright orange‐dull orange‐(non‐luminescent). The most likely sequence of carbonate cementation is presented involving eo‐, meso‐ and telo‐ stages of diagenesis. Minor malachite crystallised along with calcite in the telodiagenetic stage.     

U – Pb zircon ages from leucogneiss in the Etheridge Group and their significance for the early history of the Georgetown region,north Queensland

The Timbarra Tablelands pluton is an extensive (～550 km²) complexly zoned intrusion forming one of many predominantly monzogranite I‐type plutons, which constitute the Moonbi Supersuite in northern New South Wales, Australia. It comprises an outer rim of Rocky River monzogranite (Zones 1–3), an intermediate zone of Sandy Creek syenogranite (Zones 4A–4C), surrounding a core of Surface Hill syenogranite (Zones 5–7). The suite is calc‐alkaline, high‐K, and varies from mildly metaluminous to weakly peraluminous with increasing fractionation. Average Rb/Sr ratios range from 0.4 in the least evolved very coarse‐grained monzogranite (Zone 3) to 46 in the most evolved very fine‐grained biotite microgranite (Zone 6). Trace‐element modelling indicates that the observed compositional variation could have been produced by crystal fractionation. New bulk rock major‐ and trace‐element data for 71 samples are presented, and indicate that a compositional continuum exists that varies between 63 and 78 wt% SiO₂. Importantly, there is no systematic chemical variation with spatial distribution of samples from the core of the pluton to its margin, requiring multiple separate pulses of an evolving magma to explain compositional discontinuities. The pluton is interpreted to have been emplaced at mesozonal levels (～180 ± 60 MPa, 5–10 km depth) and crystallised at temperatures between 620 and 820°C under moderately oxidising conditions (log fO₂ = ‐11.5 to ‐19). The association of gold‐molybdenite mineralisation at Timbarra with moderately oxidised I‐type magmas is consistent with fractionation‐redox controls on ore‐element behaviour in magmatic systems in other studies.     

K‐Ar dating of Permian and Tertiary igneous activity in the Southeastern Sydney Basin,New South Wales

The southern part of the Sydney Basin of New South Wales is comprised mainly of Permian and Triassic marine to freshwater clastic sedimentary rocks. Within this sequence there are six latite extrusive units, several medium‐sized monzonite intrusions and a large number of small to medium‐sized basic to intermediate intrusions. Thin basaltic flows were extruded onto the Tertiary topographic surface. All of these rocks are relatively undeformed.

Radiometric (K‐Ar) dating has previously been carried out on Mesozoic and Tertiary intrusions and flows of the southwestern portion of the Sydney Basin. However, relatively few Permian, and no post‐Permian, K‐Ar dates have been published for the southeastern portion of the basin. The present investigation provides nine K‐Ar dates from the latter area.

Four extrusive and intrusive units have been confirmed as Permian in age (238 ± 6; 241 ± 4; 245 ± 6; and 251 ± 5 m.y.). Five post‐Permian (on stratigraphic criteria) intrusions yielded Tertiary ages (26.2 ± 3.0; 47.9 ± 2.5; 49.0 ± 4.0; 49.4 ± 2.0; and 58.8 ± 3.5 m.y.). The Permian ages agree with previously published K‐Ar data from the southeastern Sydney Basin, and the Tertiary ages complement and extend the data from the southwestern portion of the basin. However, no Mesozoic K‐Ar dates were obtained from the southeastern Sydney Basin. The Tertiary intrusions may have been emplaced as a result of rifting between Australia and New Zealand, or between Australia and Antarctica, or both.