The evolution of marginal basins and adjacent shelves in east and southeast Asia

The structural elements on the shallow (Sunda Shelf) and deep seas of east and south—east Asia are interpreted as the result of past interaction between lithospheric plates. During the Mesozoic the western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean were parts of the Tethys Sea and were moving to the north relative to Antarctica. A Mesozoic ridge system trending east—west produced east—west trending magnetic anomalies throughout the entire area. The ridge system was bisected by large north—south transform faults which divided the eastern Indian Ocean—western Pacific Ocean into sub-plates traveling at different speeds. The Mesozoic evolution of the Sunda Shelf and the deep seas resulted from such horizontal differential movement in a north—south direction. During Late Cretaceous—Eocene the various segments of the spreading ridge gradually submerged beneath the deep sea trenches to the north, causing a gradual change in the direction of motion of the Pacific plate. The change in motion of the Pacific plate resulted in the separation between the Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean plates, the formation of large northeast—southwest tectonic elements on the Sunda Shelf and elsewhere in south—east Asia, the formation of the western Philippine Basin and the rapid northward motion of Australia. The only remnant of the Mesozoic ridge system exists today at the western Philippine Basin.     

On the causes of landslides: Human activities,perception, and natural processes

Conceptual equations are presented for the net benefits, total risk, and total vulnerability associated with hazard zone occupation. It is shown that, as they are polycausal phenomena, landslides require a more sophisticated approach to this form of analysis than that employed for most other forms of hazard.Three examples of landsliding are examined. At Cuyocuyo, in the Peruvian Cordillera Oriental, slope instability is virtually inevitable, but human intervention may be disturbing some very fragile natural equilibria. At Calciano, in southern Italy, deforestation has resulted in a mudflow disaster, although man-made factors are not the only causes at work. Finally, in the Valle dell'Orco (also in southern Italy) demographic and agrarian change have aided the partial metamorphosis of the catchment into a large-scale mudflow complex (although the longer-term causes are natural, tectonic ones). These examples illustrate parts of the continuum that extends from dominant natural to dominant anthropogenic causes.Human intervention has played a key role in stimulating the natural antecedents of landslides occurring in the study areas. It is concluded that risk perception has not been wide enough to promote adequate risk mitigation, in part because of a failure properly to conceive of landslides as polycausal phenomena, in which man-made causes effectively cannot—and should not—be separated from natural ones.     

International migration and health: Sickle cell and thalassaemia health care in the United Kingdom

Human migration has contributed to the redistribution of diseases from regions where they were endemic, thereby creating new areas where the task of control and management has become necessary. This is the case with respect to the major haemoglobinopathies — sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia — in the United Kingdom since World War II. On the one hand, the great cultural diversity of the immigrant population presents an important challenge in delivering health care to the populations at risk of the diseases. On the other hand, the spatial concentration of these populations is one of the greatest advantages in the management of the disorders, since access to centrally located services can be optimized.The case of health care relating to the major haemoglobinopathies in the United Kingdom raises practical and theoretical questions about the most effective health care delivery models for ethnic minority needs. In turn, this issue has important implications for decisions concerning national and regional budgetary priorities in the health service and the position of minority medicine in the allocation of resources.     

Plate tectonic model for the oligo-miocene evolution of the western Mediterranean

This paper outlines a plate tectonic model for the Oligo-Miocene evolution of the western Mediterranean which incorporates recent data from several tectonic domains (Corsica, Sardinia, the Kabylies, Balearic promontory, Iberia, Algero-Provençal Basin and Tunisian Atlas). Following late Mesozoic anticlockwise rotation of the Iberian peninsula (including the Balearic promontory and Sardinia), late Eocene collision occurred between the Kabylies and Balearic promontory forming a NE-trending suture with NW-tectonic polarity. As a result of continued convergence between the African and European plates, a polarity flip occurred and a southward-facing trench formed south of the Kabylie—Balearic promontory suture. During late Oligocene time an E-W-trending arc and marginal basin developed behind the southward-facing trench in the area of the present-day Gulf of Lion. Opening of this basin moved the Corsica—Sardinia—Calabria—Petit Kabylie—Menorca plate southward, relative to the African plate. Early Miocene back-arc spreading in the area between the Balearic promontory and Grand Kabylie emplaced the latter in northern Algeria and formed the South Balearic Basin. Coeval with early Miocene back-arc basin development, the N-S-extension in the Gulf of Lion marginal basin changed to a more NW-SE direction causing short-lived extension in the area of the present-day Valencia trough and a 30° anticlockwise rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia-Calabria—Petit Kabylie plate away from the European plate. Early—middle Miocene deformation along the western Italian and northeastern African continental margins resulted from this rotation. During the early late Miocene (Tortonian), spreading within a sphenochasm to the southwest of Sardinia resulted in the emplacement of Petit Kabylie in northeastern Algeria.     

Extensional shear zones as imaged by reflection seismic lines: the Larderello geothermal field (central Italy)

The Larderello geothermal field is located in the Inner Northern Apennines, in an area which has been subject to extension since the Early Miocene. The latest extensional episode (Pliocene–Present) has resulted in the formation of NW-trending, NE-dipping listric normal faults, whose geometry is controlled down to 3 km by borehole data. In this paper, we integrate a new interpretation of seismic reflection lines with existing seismic, field, and borehole data to analyse the relations among listric normal faults, the top of the brittle–ductile transition, and the migration of geothermal fluids.In accordance with previous interpretations, we consider the strong reflector (K-horizon) marking the top of the reflective mid-lower crust, and located at a depth of 3–5 km in the geothermal area, to represent the top of the brittle–ductile transition. Its reflectivity most probably derives from the presence of overpressured fluids. We identify three main NW-trending, NE-dipping extensional brittle shear zones, showing listric geometry and soling out in the vicinity of the K-horizon. The latter appears to be dislocated in correspondence of the soling out of the shear zones. These shear zones, because of the associated intense fracturing, represent the most natural channels of upward migration of geothermal fluids from the magmatic sources located below the K-horizon.We suggest that these two conclusions—that listric normal faults root at or near the brittle–ductile transition, and that they act as preferential upward migration paths for magmatic fluids—may be of general validity for geothermal fields located in extensional settings.     

Fact and fiction: Geography and literature

Main epistemological reflections in Geography developed since the 1970s emphasize holistic perspectives in which intuition has an important cognitive. Bringing forward the ideas lifeworld and espace véçu important currents in this approach put in relief the sense of place, the affective ties with the environment, the aesthetic and landscape symbology, the genius loci and the spatial-temporal rythms connected to personal experiences. In this context, literary works (tales, novels, or short stories) are important because they provide authentic and indespensable testimony of the influence of human experience on place.The analysis of the vast bibliography on geographic interpretation of literary sources reveals typologies: studies on the links between real and literary landscapes, understanding of the sense of place, the concepts of rooting and uprooting, the definitions of inscapes and territorial consciousness. These five thematic foci allow the interpretation of the relationship existing between geography — regarded as landscape and place — and literary works —considered as the expression to define and fix the culture and feelings of a human group with respect to its own space and place.     

Modern sands of South America: composition,provenance and global significance

Standard petrographic methods were used to study 604 modern sands from South America, of which 351 came from rivers and 253 from beaches. In spite of the wide geomorphic contrasts, these sands belong to only three great families: (1) an immature Andean family of lithic arenites rich in volcanic and metamorphic grains that covers about 30% of South America; (2) a cratonic association rich in quartz that covers about 62% of the continent; and (3) a transitional, molasse association, which occurs between these two and covers only about 8% of the continent. The grand arithmetic average Q:F: Rf ratio for the entire continent is 60:11:29 and the area-weighted, carbonate-free average Q_a:F_a:Rf_a is 68:10:22, a superior continental estimate, and the first ever for an entire continent.Rock fragments are the most informative of all the provenance indicators and in South America they range from tropical alterites of the cratonic family through the dominant volcanic and metamorphic grains of the Andean family to biogenic carbonate in beach sands. Carbonate grains are almost totally absent in modern South American rivers because of present day tropical weathering and a long geological evolution that has favored sand production. They are present in many of the beach sands, however, and are most abundant along the tropical Brazilian and Caribbean coasts. Metamorphic grains rival volcanics as earmarks of the Andean family and survive tropical weathering far better than volcanic grains.There is a strong association between continental soil types and the composition of river sand, but the ultimate controls are tectonic history — the ancient landscapes preserved on the Gondwana shields of South America versus the tectonically young landscapes of the Andes — and climate. Climate can either cause leaks to a far distant ocean where weathering is retarded by aridity or it can serve as a barrier to continental sand dispersion, where tropical weathering eliminates unstable grains in transit to the sea.When provenance studies are conducted across an entire, unglaciated continent, events in the far distant past need to be considered when seeking fundamental explanations of its contemporary, surficial sands.     

From labour lines to urban living: Health transition in Mauritius

Recently Mauritius has witnessed a rapid urbanization process. In such a small space, with a high population density and an improving economic situation — shifting from an agricultural-based to an industrial one — it is possible nowadays to distinguish the growth of major villages into well-structured urban centres. Contrary to the trend observed in some economically less developed countries (LDCs), health characteristics have veered mostly towards trends exhibited by economically more developed countries (MDCs). This paper will describe briefly the urbanization processes at work in Mauritius and will explore the changing health characteristics and provisions observed in such a small island state. It will try to lay the foundation for comparison with other small island states transcending the MDC/LDS divide.     

Geoarchaeology and late glacial landscapes in the western lake superior region,Central North America

The transition from full glacial to interglacial conditions along the southern margin of the Laurentide ice sheet resulted in dramatic changes in landscapes and biotic habitats. Strata and landforms resulting from the Wisconsin Episode of glaciation in the area directly west of Lake Superior indicate a context for late Pleistocene biota (including human populations) connected to ice margins, proglacial lakes, and postglacial drainage systems. Late Glacial landscape features that have the potential for revealing the presence of Paleoindian artifacts include abandoned shorelines of proglacial lakes in the Superior and Agassiz basins and interior drainages on deglaciated terrains. The linkage between Late Pleistocene human populations and Rancholabrean fauna has yet to be demonstrated in the western Lake Superior region, although isolated remains of mammoth ( Mammuthus) have been documented, as well as fluted points assigned to Clovis, Folsom, and Holcombe‐like artifact forms. Agate Basin and Hell Gap (Plano‐type) artifacts also imply the presence of human groups in Late Glacial landscapes associated with the Agassiz and Superior basins. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Groundwater problems in a semiarid area (Low Andarax river,Almeria, Spain)

The three aquifer units differentiated in the Low Andarax—detritic, carbonated, and deep aquifers—present problems in water quality. This is made worse during the course of development as a result of the appearance of processes of marine intrusion, dissolution of saline rocks present in the stratigraphic series, overexploitation with considerable increase in the boron content, and the continual recycling of water with a resulting increase in total dissolved solids. All this has resulted in the salinization of the majority of the underlying soils that has led to the abandoning of many cultivated areas—especially areas of citrus growth—and/or the substitution of a farming system that is much more tolerant of the salts.     

Hydrometallurgical processing and recovery of molybdenum trioxide from spent catalyst

Hydrometallurgical processing of spent hydrodesulphurisation (HDS) catalyst for the recovery of molybdenum using sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide mixtures was investigated. The results indicated that the recovery of molybdenum was largely dependent on the concentrations of Na₂CO₃ and H₂O₂ in the reaction medium, which controls the acidity of the leach liquor and carry over of impurities such as Al, Ni, P, Si and V. Leaching process was exothermic and leaching efficiency of molybdenum decreased with increasing solid to liquid ratio. Large scale leaching of spent catalyst, under optimum conditions: 20% pulp density, 85 g/L Na₂CO₃, 10 vol.% H₂O₂ and 1 h reaction, resulted a leaching efficiency of 84% Mo. The obtained leach liquor contained (g/L): Mo — 22.0, Ni — 0.015 and Al — 0.82, P — 1.1, Si — 0.094 and minor quantities of V — 8 mg/L, As and Co — < 1 mg/L. Recovery of Mo from leach solution as MoO₃ of 97.30% purity was achieved by ammonium molybdate precipitation method.     

Excess in precipitation as a cause for settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain during the third millennium BC

Although the relations between climate and settlement are not straightforward, there is a general agreement that arid conditions are less favorable for human settlement in the semiarid Near East than humid conditions. Here we show that humid conditions resulted in the abandonment of settlements along the Israeli coastal plain. We first present archaeological evidence for a drastic decline in settlement along the Israeli coast during most of the third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age II-III). Then, based on archaeological and climatic evidence, we link this decline to an environmental change occurring at that time. We propose that increased precipitation intensified the already existing drainage problems and resulted in flooding, which led to the transformation of arable land into marshes and to the spread of diseases, gradually causing settlement decline and abandonment.     

The role of synmetamorphic igneous rocks in the metamorphism and partial melting of metasediments,Northwest Adirondacks

Field and petrologic studies along the Adirondack Lowlands — Highlands boundary near Harrisville, NY, indicate that heat from the synmetamorphic intrusion of the Diana syenite complex (intrusion temperature of 1,050° C) played a major role in the local metamorphic thermal regime and was responsible for extensive partial melting of adjacent metasedimentary units (Major Paragneiss of Engel and Engel). Metamorphic temperatures inferred from two — feldspar and spinel — quartz assemblages decrease from 850–950° C along the Diana — metasediment contact to 650–700° C, 2–3 km away from the contact. Metamorphic pressures are 7±0.5 kb as determined from coexisting plagioclase — garnet — sillimanite — quartz, kyanite — sillimanite, and garnet — rutile — ilmenite — sillimanite — quartz (GRAIL). In the paragneiss, migmatites consisting of quartz — microcline perthite — sodic plagioclase leucosomes are generally concordant with the melanosome consisting of biotite — sillimanite — garnet — spinel — plagioclase ±corundum±cordierite. Qualitatively the amount of partial melt and occurrences of corundum-bearing assemblages decrease away from the Diana contact. Activity of H₂O inferred from coexisting biotite — sillimanite — quartz — garnet — K-feldspar ranges from 0.01 to 0.17 and is five to ten times lower in corundum-bearing rocks.Melting proceeded via vapor-absent reactions involving biotite in response to localized heating by synmetamorphic intrusion of magma. This unusually preserved, synmetamorphic contact aureole in a regional granulite terrane supports the concept that granulites owe their origin to magma intrusion and/or the ponding of magmas at the base of the crust.     

Applicability of piezocone and dilatometer to characterize the soils of the Venice Lagoon

The effectiveness of two geotechnical investigation tools—the piezocone and the dilatometer—to characterize the soils forming the shallowest deposits of the upper quaternary basin of the Venice lagoon soil is examined in this study. For this purpose, the results of a comprehensive site and laboratory investigation carried out recently over a small lagoon area—the Malamocco Test Site—are used to evaluate the applicability of the most widely used charts or correlative equations to characterize soil profile and estimate the main geotechnical properties of these soils, when applied to the interpretation of CPTU and DMT results. The particular interest of this site—apart from its unquestionable historical relevance—is the presence, apparently without any regular pattern in depth and site, of a predominantly silty fraction combined with clay and/or sand, thus forming an erratic interbedding of various types of sediments. This case represents therefore the opposite condition of that which has been normally utilized in the past to calibrate the two devices, namely the presence of particularly homogeneous natural deposits or artificially sedimented homogeneous layers of sand or clay. The Malamocco Test Site may therefore be considered as test benchmark for the applicability of the two devices to characterize highly heterogeneous silty deposits.     

Ancient Forests in European drylands: Holocene palaeoecological record of Mazarrón,south-eastern Spain

This paper presents a new Holocene palaeoecological record from coastal south-eastern Spain, a region characterised by high plant species diversity, varied physiography, high risk of desertification, and a history of human pressure on the landscape that stretches to antiquity. The pollen sequence shows four main vegetation phases: the first characterised by mixed forests of Pinus and evergreen Quercus accompanied by broad-leaved mesophilous trees, and a diversity of Mediterranean scrub; the second phase is characterised by mesophytic decline and expansion of Artemisia; a third, mid-Holocene phase of thermo-mesophytic maxima with prevalence of forested landscapes; and, finally, the progressive opening of the landscape with sparse pines, halo-xerophytic grasslands and sclerophyllous brushwood. The current treeless situation of south-eastern Spain is a relatively recent feature resulting from a dramatic change in the ecological structure of the regional landscapes. This paper stresses the continued vulnerability of these arid systems in the face of a changing climate. This sequence adds to previous palaeobotanical records (pollen and charcoal) and archaeological reports to suggest that deforestation started earlier in low-elevation areas and river basins than in the inland mountains and platforms, a factor that appears in connection to human exploitation of the natural environment.     

Geochemistry and petrogenesis of the marginal zone of the Mount Lowe Intrusion,central San Gabriel Mountains,California

The marginal zone of the Mount Lowe Intrusion (MLI) is composed of a mineralogically and geochemically distinctive suite of quartz poor, alkali-enriched monzodiorites and quartz monzodiorites. Low initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, Rb, and Rb/Sr coupled with high Ab/Or, K/Rb, Ba and Sr suggest that feldspathic continental crust did not contribute significantly to the magma. The inferred original magma composition is most consistent with experimental data for about 20% batch modal melting of eclogite or quartz eclogite of altered oceanic tholeiite composition. The high absolute Ba and Sr abundances require in addition an enriched component, perhaps derived from dehydration processes within a subducted slab. At the level of exposure, the range of observed compositions resulted from fractionation of hornblende, plagioclase, sphene, apatite and magnetite. Fractionation resulted in formation of a peraluminous, Mn — enriched residual liquid which crystallized garnet. The grandite — enriched composition of the garnet is inferred to be due to high pressure (ca. 6.7 kb), high crystallization, relative to typical plutonic garnets. The composition of the marginal zone of MLI has many chemical similarities to early Mesozoic plutonism in the Cordilleran continental margin magmatic arc of western North America.     

Tethyan evolution of Turkey: A plate tectonic approach

The Tethyan evolution of Turkey may be divided into two main phases, namely a Palaeo-Tethyan and a Neo-Tethyan, although they partly overlap in time. The Palaeo-Tethyan evolution was governed by the main south-dipping (present geographic orientation) subduction zone of Palaeo-Tethys beneath northern Turkey during the Permo-Liassic interval. During the Permian the entire present area of Turkey constituted a part of the northern margin of Gondwana-Land. A marginal basin opened above the subduction zone and disrupted this margin during the early Triassic. In this paper it is called the Karakaya marginal sea, which was already closed by earliest Jurassic times because early Jurassic sediments unconformably overlie its deformed lithologies. The present eastern Mediterranean and its easterly continuation into the Bitlis and Zagros oceans began opening mainly during the Carnian—Norian interval. This opening marked the birth of Neo-Tethys behind the Cimmerian continent which, at that time, started to separate from northern Gondwana-Land. During the early Jurassic the Cimmerian continent internally disintegrated behind the Palaeo-Tethyan arc constituting its northern margin and gave birth to the northern branch of Neo-Tethys. The northern branch of Neo-Tethys included the Intra-Pontide, Izmir—Ankara, and the Inner Tauride oceans. With the closure of Palaeo-Tethys during the medial Jurassic only two oceanic areas were left in Turkey: the multi-armed northern and the relatively simpler southern branches of Neo-Tethys. The northern branch separated the Anatolide—Tauride platform with its long appendage, the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment from Eurasia, whereas the southern one separated them from the main body of Gondwana-Land. The Intra-Pontide and the Izmir—Ankara oceans isolated a small Sakarya continent within the northern branch, which may represent an easterly continuation of the Paikon Ridge of the Vardar Zone in Macedonia. The Anatolide-Tauride platform itself constituted the easterly continuation of the Apulian platform that had remained attached to Africa through Sicily. The Neo-Tethyan oceans reached their maximum size during the early Cretaceous in Turkey and their contraction began during the early late Cretaceous. Both oceans were eliminated mainly by north-dipping subduction, beneath the Eurasian, Sakaryan, and the Anatolide- Tauride margins. Subduction beneath the Eurasian margin formed a marginal basin, the present Black Sea and its westerly prolongation into the Srednogorie province of the Balkanides, during the medial to late Cretaceous. This resulted in the isolation of a Rhodope—Pontide fragment (essentially an island arc) south of the southern margin of Eurasia. Late Cretaceous is also a time of widespread ophiolite obduction in Turkey, when the Bozkir ophiolite nappe was obducted onto the northern margin of the Anatolide—Tauride platform. Two other ophiolite nappes were emplaced onto the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment and onto the northern margin of the Arabian platform respectively. This last event occurred as a result of the collision of the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment with Arabia. Shortly after this collision during the Campanian—Maastrichtian, a subduction zone began consuming the floor of the Inner Tauride ocean just to the north of the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment producing the arc lithologies of the Yüksekova complex. During the Maastrichtian—Middle Eocene interval a marginal basin complex, the Maden and the Çüngüş basins began opening above this subduction zone, disrupting the ophiolite-laden Bitlis—Pötürge fragment. The Anatolide-Tauride platform collided with the Pontide arc system (Rhodope—Pontide fragment plus the Sakarya continent that collided with the former during the latest Cretaceous along the Intra Pontide suture) during the early to late Eocene interval. This collision resulted in the large-scale south-vergent internal imbrication of the platform that produced the far travelled nappe systems of the Taurides, and buried beneath these, the metamorphic axis of Anatolia, the Anatolides. The Maden basin closed during the early late Eocene by north-dipping subduction, synthetic to the Inner-Tauride subduction zone that had switched from south-dipping subduction beneath the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment to north dipping subduction beneath the Anatolide—Tauride platform during the later Palaeocene. Finally, the terminal collision of Arabia with Eurasia in eastern Turkey eliminated the Çüngüş basin as well and created the present tectonic regime of Turkey by pushing a considerable piece of it eastwards along the two newly-generated transform faults, namely those of North and East Anatolia. Much of the present eastern Anatolia is underlain by an extensive mélange prism that accumulated during the late Cretaceous—late Eocene interval north and east of the Bitlis—Pötürge fragment.     

Beyond hydrogeologic evidence: challenging the current assumptions about salinity processes in the Corangamite region, Australia

In keeping with the standard scientific methods, investigations of salinity processes focus on the collection and interpretation of contemporary scientific data. However, using multiple lines of evidence from non-hydrogeologic sources such as geomorphic, archaeological and historical records can substantially add value to the scientific investigations. By using such evidence, the validity of the assumptions about salinity processes in Australian landscapes is challenged, especially the assumption that the clearing of native vegetation has resulted in rising saline groundwater in all landscapes. In the Corangamite region of south-west Victoria, salinity has been an episodic feature of the landscapes throughout the Quaternary and was present at the time of the Aboriginal inhabitants and the first pastoral settlement by Europeans. Although surface-water salinity has increased in some waterways and the area of salinised land has expanded in some landscapes, there is no recorded evidence found which supports significant rises in groundwater following widespread land-use change. In many areas, salinity is an inherent component of the region’s landscapes, and sustains world-class environmental assets that require appropriate salinity levels for their ecological health. Managing salinity requires understanding the specific salinity processes in each landscape.     

The human component in flood warning and flood response system

The disign of flood warning — flood response systems is often performed as part of the overall engineering analysis of flood damage mitigation schemes. However, an important part of the flood response component of such systems is human perception of the flood hazard and its implication for the responses undertaken. This human dimension is examined from three viewpoints, the perception of the flood, the issues in the warning dissemination process, and the implications for the actions undertaken by individual flood plain occupants in response to a warning. Evidence is provided to show how the human characteristics of the flood plain occupants can signigicantly affect the benefits derived from a flood warning — flood response system. The importance of these non-engineering aspects of the problem leads to recommendations for closer collaboration between traditional technical experts and social scientists. The cooperation should extend beyond the assessment of the reduction in flood damages expected from a particular flood warning scheme into actual design of the dissemination process and response mechanisms.     

Rare earth element mobility in the Roffna Gneiss,Switzerland

The Roffna Gneiss, a deformed Hercynian granite porphyry within the Penninic nappes of eastern Switzerland, underwent extreme cataclasis with the progressive development of phengite towards the margins of the nappe under conditions of the glaucophane schist to greenschist facies. This resulted in the selective mobilization of major and trace elements over distances of 10's to 100's of meters and the resetting of the Rb — Sr whole rock isotopic systems some 100 my ago. The component ratios and compositionvolume relationships of progressively deformed gneiss samples studied here suggest that this process was essentially isovolumetric. The mineralogy of the deformation sequence appears to have been controlled by a reaction involving the breakdown of microcline, albite and biotite and the formation of phengite and quartz. The fluids introduced Mg and H₂O, promoting the development of phengite, and removed the Na being released by the breakdown of albite. The fluids were most probably derived from the surrounding Triassic carbonates and quartzites. These relatively high fO₂ and carbonate rich fluids also introduced rare earth elements (REE) into the gneiss. The gneiss was progressively enriched in Eu up to 60%, Y up to 40%, and Yb up to 100%. These enrichments are associated with the development of epitaxial xenotime around zircon in the most phengite-rich sample. While the REE were mobile, uranium and thorium were essentially immobile. The formation of xenotime was suggested to explain the observed heavy REE enrichment when large differences in the REE contents were found for replicate analyses using HF and then lithium metaborate for dissolution. These differences arose because xenotime, like monazite, can be difficult (if not impossible) to dissolve in hydrofluoric acid. Due to the possibility of incomplete sample dissolution, we now recommend fusion with lithium metaborate for all REE, Lu — Hf or Sm — Nd studies.