Enriched mantle – Dupal signature in the genesis of the Jurassic Ferrar tholeiites from Prince Albert Mountains (Victoria Land, Antarctica)

The major, trace (including rare earth) element abundances, and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions, have been analysed for andesitic basalt and andesitic sills and lavas of the Jurassic Ferrar Magmatic Province, Prince Albert Mountains, Antarctica. The typical “crustal signature” of the Ferrar magmatism, characterized by relatively high SiO₂, LREE and LILE contents in these samples, is associated with high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and low ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd. Systematic correlations of major and trace elements indicate that fractional crystallization was important. However, increases in incompatible elements are positively correlated with initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, suggestive of crustal assimilation processes. The observed correlations between initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and LREE enrichments have been modelled by an AFC process, starting from the least evolved sample and assuming the compositions of the orthogranulites of Victoria Land as contaminants. The REE patterns of the least evolved Ferrar rocks approach those of E-type MORB, differing only by higher LREE/IREE. The enrichment in LREE, accompanying high initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and low ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd compared with E-type MORB, can be explained by interaction of “primary Ferrar basalt” with crystalline basement. We propose a petrological model whereby Ferrar magmas were generated through high degrees of melting of an E-type MORB mantle source, and subsequently these “primary” melts underwent AFC processes inheriting a crustal signature. The Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions required by the AFC model for the primary Ferrar basalt are similar to those of the Dupal signature of the oceanic basalts of the Southern Hemisphere (Hart 1984). Transantarctic Mountains would have been located inside the Dupal anomaly in pre-Gondwana dispersion times. Received: 21 April 1998 / Accepted: 25 January 1999     

Relative timing of igneous intrusion in the Eucalyptus area,northeastern Yilgarn Block,Western Australia

Field studies in the Eucalyptus area, northeastern Yilgarn Block have shown intrusive and extrusive rocks in an Archaean greenstone sequence to be comagma‐tic, and have suggested the sequence of subsequent granitoid intrusion and gold mineralisation. Andesitic volcanic rocks and related subvolcanic granodiorite porphyry and epiclastic sediments were followed by tholeiitic basalt with gabbro/dolerite sills and dykes, which were in turn succeeded by high‐Mg basalt with associated peridotite intrusions. Large, irregular gabbro and peridotite intrusions, which are inferred to represent subvolcanic magma chambers, occur in lower stratigraphic levels, whereas comformable subvolcanic sills occur in higher stratigraphic levels. Granodiorite plutons were followed by adamellite plutons; at least some gold mineralisation was contemporaneous with granitoid emplacement.     

Development of heterogeneities in the subcontinental Mantle: Evidence from the Ferrar Group,Antarctica

Tholeiitic lava flows (Kirkpatrick Basalts) and dolerite sills and dikes (Ferrar Dolerites) of the Jurassic Ferrar Group from Antarctica and dolerite sills from Tasmania, Australia are characterised by initial strontium isotope ratios ranging from 0.7089 to 0.7153. The mean and standard deviation of 85 analyses is 0.7115±0.0012. Some of the scatter in the initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios can be attributed to sample inhomogeneity, analytical uncertainties and sample alteration. The published major element data show well-defined trends that are consistent with an evolution by fractional crystallization. Recognition of a parental magma is difficult due to the fractionated nature of the rocks. Trace element analyses, particularly the rare earth elements (REE) support a differentiation model. Compared to mid-ocean ridge basalts, Ferrar Group rocks are enriched in light REE. Kirkpatrick Basalts from the central Transantarctic Mountains show significant correlations between initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and major elements only for SiO₂ and CaO. The general lack of strong correlation is the basis for rejecting the possibility of wholesale contamination by sialic material as a possible cause of the high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios. Selective contamination of the basaltic magmas is a possibility and cannot be completely discounted. It would probably involve a fluid phase in order to transport and mix the light REE, Rb, ⁸⁷Sr, and other elements. By analogy with selective contamination of ocean ridge basalts by sea water it is difficult to envisage a similar process acting on magma emplaced in a non-marine environment. Because of the elevated values of the initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios, their similar average value over 2,500 km and the large volume of magma involved (4× 10⁵ km³) a mantle origin for the high Sr ratios is preferred. Models to account for the enrichment of Rb and light REE in the Antarctic mantle during or prior to the Jurassic include:

1. addition of continental material from a Palezoic Mesozoic subduction zone;
2. metasomatism of volatile elements from the lower mantle; and
3. evolution of a mantle with a high Rb/Sr ratio.

     

Pan-African eclogite facies metamorphism of ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range, Antarctica

In the Shackleton Range of East Antarctica, garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks occur as lenses in supracrustal high-grade gneisses. In the presence of olivine, garnet is an unmistakable indicator of eclogite facies metamorphic conditions. The eclogite facies assemblages are only present in ultramafic rocks, particularly in pyroxenites, whereas other lithologies – including metabasites – lack such assemblages. We conclude that under high-temperature conditions, pyroxenites preserve high-pressure assemblages better than isofacial metabasites, provided the pressure is high enough to stabilize garnet–olivine assemblages (i.e. ≥18–20 kbar). The Shackleton Range ultramafic rocks experienced a clockwise P–T path and peak conditions of 800–850 °C and 23–25 kbar. These conditions correspond to ∼70 km depth of burial and a metamorphic gradient of 11–12 °C km⁻¹ that is typical of a convergent plate-margin setting. The age of metamorphism is defined by two garnet–whole-rock Sm–Nd isochrons that give ages of 525 ± 5 and 520 ± 14 Ma corresponding to the time of the Pan-African orogeny. These results are evidence of a Pan-African suture zone within the northern Shackleton Range. This suture marks the site of a palaeo-subduction zone that likely continues to the Herbert Mountains, where ophiolitic rocks of Neoproterozoic age testify to an ocean basin that was closed during Pan-African collision. The garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range are the first known example of eclogite facies metamorphism in Antarctica that is related to the collision of East and West Gondwana and the first example of Pan-African eclogite facies ultramafic rocks worldwide. Eclogites in the Lanterman Range of the Transantarctic Mountains formed during subduction of the palaeo-Pacific beneath the East Antarctic craton.     

New U–Pb SHRIMP zircon age for the Schurwedraai alkali granite: Implications for pre-impact development of the Vredefort Dome and extent of Bushveld magmatism, South Africa

The Schurwedraai alkali granite is one of a number of prominent ultramafic-mafic and felsic intrusions in the Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic sub-vertical supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome, South Africa. The alkali granite intruded the Neoarchaean Witwatersrand Supergroup and has a peralkaline to peraluminous composition. A new zircon SHRIMP crystallization age of 2052 ± 14 Ma for the Schurwedraai alkali granite places it statistically before the Vredefort impact event at 2023 ± 4 Ma and within the accepted emplacement interval of 2050–2060 Ma of the Bushveld magmatic event. The presence of the alkali granite and associated small ultramafic-mafic intrusions in the Vredefort collar rocks extends the southern extremity of Bushveld-related intrusions to some 120 km south of Johannesburg and about 150 km south of the current outcrop area of the Bushveld Complex. The combined effect of these ultramafic-mafic and felsic bodies may have contributed to a pronouncedly steep pre-impact geothermal gradient in the Vredefort area, and to the amphibolite-grade metamorphism observed in the supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome.     

Constraints on the formation of geochemically variable plagiogranite intrusions in the Troodos Ophiolite,Cyprus

The geochemistry and petrology of tonalitic to trondhjemitic samples (n = 85) from eight different plagiogranite intrusions at the gabbro/sheeted dyke transition of the Troodos Ophiolite were studied in order to determine their petrogenetic relationship to the mafic plutonic section and the lava pile. The plagiogranitic rocks have higher SiO₂ contents than the majority of the glasses of the Troodos lava pile, but lie on a continuation of the chemical trends defined by the extrusive rocks, indicating that the shallow intrusions generally represent crystallised magmas. We define three different groups of plagiogranites in the Troodos Ophiolite based on different incompatible element contents and ratios. The first and most common plagiogranite group has geochemical similarities to the tholeiitic lavas forming the lavas and sheeted dyke complex in the Troodos crust, implying that these magmas formed at a spreading axis. The second plagiogranite group occurs in one intrusion that is chemically related to late-stage and off-axis boninitic lavas and dykes. One intrusion next to the Arakapas fault zone consists of incompatible element-enriched plagiogranites which are unrelated to any known mafic crustal rocks. The similarities of incompatible element ratios between plagiogranites, lavas and mafic plutonic rocks, the continuous chemical trends defined by plagiogranites and mafic rocks, as well as incompatible element modelling results, all suggest that shallow fractional crystallisation is the dominant process responsible for formation of the felsic magmas.     

The Permian mafic intrusive events in the northwestern margin of the Tarim Basin and their tectonic significanceSCIEI北大核心CSCD

塔里木大火成岩省是我国境内发现的两个重要的二叠纪大火成省之一,不仅有大规模的溢流相玄武岩喷发,还有复杂多样的侵入岩及其组合。以往的研究主要集中在二叠系等显生宙地层发育区,对于前寒武系等古老层系中是否存在二叠纪岩浆侵入未引起重视。本文通过野外地质调查,在阿克苏地区前寒武系中识别出数条侵入南华系的基性岩墙和较大规模侵入震旦系的基性岩床。岩墙、岩床与围岩之间均显示出典型的侵入接触关系,包括岩体内部结晶粗、边部结晶细的淬冷边结构、岩床顶底面显著的切层现象以及包裹围岩团块等;显微镜下观察表明,辉绿岩具有典型的辉绿结构和嵌晶含长结构。锆石U-Pb年代学结果表明,侵入下震旦统的辉绿岩岩床和侵入南华系的辉绿岩岩墙的侵位时代在误差范围内基本一致,约为290Ma。岩石地球化学特征表明,辉绿岩岩床具有与洋岛玄武岩(OIB)相似的稀土及微量元素配分模式,结合Sr-Nb-Pb同位素测试结果,认为它们来源于碳酸盐化的富集型岩石圈地幔部分熔融,而辉绿岩岩墙具有Nb、Ta、Zr、Hf等负异常的地球化学特征,可能来自曾被俯冲相关流体/熔体交代的岩石圈地幔源区。本文的早二叠世辉绿岩岩床和岩墙的形成时代、岩浆源区和岩浆演化...     

Deformation structures associated with the Trachyte Mesa intrusion,Henry Mountains,Utah: Implications for sill and laccolith emplacement mechanisms

Deformation structures in the wall rocks of igneous intrusions emplaced at shallow crustal depths preserve an important record of how space was created for magma in the host rocks. Trachyte Mesa, a small Oligocene age intrusion in the Henry Mountains, Utah, is composed of a series of stacked tabular, sheet-like intrusions emplaced at 3–3.5 km depth into sandstone-dominated sedimentary sequences of late Palaeozoic–Mesozoic age. New structural analysis of the spatial distribution, geometry, kinematics and relative timings of deformation structures in the host rocks of the intrusion has enabled the recognition of distinct pre-, syn-, and late-stage-emplacement deformation phases. Our observations suggest a two-stage growth mechanism for individual sheets where radial growth of a thin sheet was followed by vertical inflation. Dip-slip faults formed during vertical inflation; they are restricted to the tips of individual sheets due to strain localisation, with magma preferentially exploiting these faults, initiating sill (sheet) climbing. The order in which sheets are stacked impacts on the intrusion geometry and associated deformation of wall rocks. Our results offer new insights into the incremental intrusion geometries of shallow-level magmatic bodies and the potential impact of their emplacement on surrounding host rocks.     

南美地台中生代活化的火成岩记录(英文)

在冈瓦纳大陆裂解的同时及其后,出现了岩浆作用过程,它影响到远离安第斯山链的南美地台的大部分。这个岩浆作用过程构成了几种类型的记录:(1)拉斑玄武质侵入岩和喷出岩,如沉积盆地中的熔岩流、岩床、岩墙和基底中的岩墙。最大活动强度出现于中侏罗世至前阿普第阶早白垩世。在大陆的北部,出现局部的二叠—三叠纪拉斑玄武质岩墙。(2)碱性和过碱性镁铁质至长英质岩浆活动和共生的碳酸盐岩,它们出现于巴西Serra do Mar、巴拉那盆地周边以及在亚马孙地盾周边和玻利维亚,呈孤立的小面积出现,时代上大部分属后阿尔必阶。由于此期岩浆作用发生于南美和非洲移开之时,所以一直延续至中新世。少量的侵入岩是与侏罗纪—始自垩纪火山活动同时的。(3)在前寒武纪末期结束造山作用的地区以及在时代为中元古代的巴西克拉通区,已找到了几个金伯利岩体,少量的同位素资料指出其年龄属中生代。 地质构造影响了中新生代岩浆活动。玄武质熔岩流和岩床在克拉通内盆地中下沉较大的内部更常见,厚度也较大。许多前寒武纪断裂受到辉绿岩墙的影响,这些岩墙可以构成岩墙群。其它岩墙明显与古老断裂无关,但是它们位于大陆分离过程中遭受张应力的地区。巴拉那盆地周边的碱性岩浆作用通常受穹窿和断开的单褶的控制。相似的机制——也发现     

Two orogenies in the Meatiq area of the Central Eastern Desert,Egypt

The Pan-African basement exposed in the Meatiq area west of Quseir, Egypt, consists of an infracrustal basement overthrusted by a supracrustal cover. The infracrustal rocks were developed as a result of an old orogeny referred to as the Meatiqian orogeny where granite—gneiss, migmatitic gneisses and migmatized amphibolites were formed. The granite—gneiss represents a deformed granite pluton emplaced at 626±2 Ma, whereas the migmatitic gneisses and amphibolites are of mixed igneous and sedimentary parentage. In view of the data so far available, the nature of the Meatiqian orogeny could not be deciphered. In spite of the young isotopic ages, it is suggested that at least the metasedimentary gneisses represent older rocks in the stratigraphic sequence of the infracrustal basement.The supracrustal cover represents a part of an extensive ophiolitic mélange obducted onto the infracrustal basement during the next orogeny (Abu Ziran orogeny) which culminated at 613±2 Ma. An active continental margin-type regime can adequately explain the evolution of such a supracrustal cover. During obduction, the ophiolitic mélange and the upper 2 km thick part of the infracrustal basement were intensely deformed and metamorphosed under PT conditions of the greenschist—epidote amphibolite facies. The deformed infracrustal basement was converted into mylonitic—blastomylonitic rocks and schists composing five thrust sheets, and subsequently intruded by synkinematic granitoid sheets. Later, both the infracrustal basement and the overlying supracrustal cover were isostatically uplifted, subjected to complex shallow folding giving rise to the major Meatiq domal structure, and were intruded by a postkinematic adamellite pluton at 579±6 Ma.     

Pyroxenes of the Dufek Intrusion, Antarctica

The Dufek intrusion is a stratiform mafic body, 24,000 to 34,000km² in area and 8 to 9 km thick, in the Pensacola Mountainsof Antarctica. Textures, structures, magmatic stratigraphy,and chemical variation indicate that layered gabbros and relatedrocks of this body developed by accumulation of crystals thatsettled on the floor of a magma chamber. The major cumulus phasesin the exposed part of the intrusion are plagioclase, pyroxene,and iron-titanium oxides. The base of the Dufek intrusion is not exposed, and both Ca-richand Ca-poor pyroxene coexist as cumulus phases in the lowerexposed rocks. The Ca-rich pyroxenes belong to an augite-ferroaugiteseries (Ca_36.4Mg_48.7Fe_14.9-Ca_30.0Mg_23.5Fe_46.5) that extendsup through the 300 m thick capping granophyre. The Ca-poor pyroxenesbelong to a bronzite-inverted pigeonite series (Ca_3.5Mg_69.1Fe_27.4-Ca_11.4Mg_34.0Fe_54.6)that extends only to about 200 m below the granophyre layer.In addition to the cumulus pyroxenes some rocks contain post-cumulusgreen calcic augite and ferrohypersthene. The compositional change of the cumulus pyroxenes with stratigraphicheight is one of general iron enrichment. Superimposed on thistrend are (1) a 1 km thick section in the lower part of thebody that shows slight to no iron enrichment and (2) a markedreversal in the Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratio about 1 km below the top ofthe body. The variations from the general trend are associatedwith cyclic units and are best explained by convective overturnof the magma. In general, the pyroxene compositional trends are similar tothose of the Skaergaard and Bushveld intrusions. One significantdifference in the Dufek intrusion is the limited iron enrichmentof its Ca-rich pyroxenes, that may relate to a slower decreaseof P_O2 during crystallization of the Dufek magma.     

Layered Jurassic intrusions in Antarctica

The paper addresses the current understanding of the inner structure of the layered intrusions at Dufek Massif in the Pensacola Mountains and the Utpostane and Muren intrusions in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, which are still poorly known to Russian geologists. The magmatic events at approximately 180 Ma, including the emplacement of layered intrusions, are thought to had predated the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent. The spatiotemporal similarities of the intrusions determine the importance of the problem of whether they were produced by a single or more than one parental magmas, which are thought to have been derived under the effect of a superplume.     

东南极晚新元古—早古生代构造热事件及其在冈瓦纳超大陆重建中的意义

在东南极大陆内部及边缘发育3条晚新元古代—早古生代造山带,即东非造山带（南延部分）、普里兹造山带和罗斯造山带。东非造山带的南延部分主要出露于吕措—霍尔姆湾—毛德王后地—沙克尔顿岭地区,其内发育蛇绿岩、榴辉岩相超镁铁岩及逆冲—推覆构造,因而被解释为东、西冈瓦纳陆块拼合的缝合线。罗斯造山带主要出露于横贯南极山脉地区,其内保存有大陆裂解、洋壳俯冲和地体增生的地质纪录,代表冈瓦纳超大陆的活动大陆边缘。普里兹造山带主要出露于普里兹湾和登曼冰川,因其位于从前假设的统一东冈瓦纳陆块的内部,加之缺少蛇绿混杂岩、岛弧增生杂岩和高压变质岩（如蓝片岩或榴辉岩）等与大洋板块俯冲作用密切相关的岩石,所以当前存在着碰撞造山成因和板内改造成因两种不同的认识。普里兹造山带构造性质的确定不仅决定了冈瓦纳超大陆的汇聚过程和方式,也制约了罗迪尼亚超大陆的形成和演化过程。因此,开展普里兹造山带的研究对于揭示新元古代—早古生代的全球构造演化具有重要的科学意义。     

Age and significance of voluminous mafic–ultramafic magmatic events in the Murchison Domain,Yilgarn Craton

Mafic–ultramafic rocks in structurally dismembered layered intrusions comprise approximately 40% by volume of greenstones in the Murchison Domain of the Youanmi Terrane, Yilgarn Craton. Mafic–ultramafic rocks in the Murchison Domain may be divided into five components: (i) the ～2810 Ma Meeline Suite, which includes the large Windimurra Igneous Complex; (ii) the 2800 ± 6 Ma Boodanoo Suite, which includes the Narndee Igneous Complex; (iii) the 2792 ± 5 Ma Little Gap Suite; (iv) the ～2750 Ma Gnanagooragoo Igneous Complex; and (v) the 2735–2710 Ma Yalgowra Suite of layered gabbroic sills. The intrusions are typically layered, tabular bodies of gabbroic rock with ultramafic basal units which, in places, are more than 6 km thick and up to 2500 km² in areal extent. However, these are minimum dimensions as the intrusions have been dismembered by younger deformation. In the Windimurra and Narndee Igneous Complexes, discordant features and geochemical fractionation trends indicate multiple pulses of magma. These pulses produced several megacyclic units, each ～200 m thick. The suites are anhydrous except for the Boodanoo Suite, which contains a large volume of hornblende gabbro. They also host significant vanadium mineralisation, and at least minor Ni–Cu–PGE mineralisation. Collectively, the areal distribution, thickness and volume of mafic–ultramafic magma in these complexes is similar to that in the 2.06 Ga Bushveld Igneous Complex, and represents a major addition of mantle-derived magma to Murchison Domain crust over a 100 Ma period. All suites are demonstrably contemporaneous with packages of high-Mg tholeiitic lavas and/or felsic volcanic rocks in greenstone belts. The distribution, ages and compositions of the earlier mafic–ultramafic rocks are most consistent with genesis in a mantle plume setting.     

Subduction,mega-shear systems and Late Palaeozoic basin development in the African segment of Gondwana

 Basins within the African sector of Gondwana contain a Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic Gondwana sequence unconformably overlying Precambrian basement in the interior and mid-Palaeozoic strata along the palaeo-Pacific margin. Small sea-board Pacific basins form an exception in having a Carboniferous to Early Permian fill overlying Devonian metasediments and intrusives. The Late Palaeozoic geographic and tectonic changes in the region followed four well-defined consecutive events which can also be traced outside the study area. During the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous period (up to 330 Ma) accretion of microplates along the Patagonian margin of Gondwana resulted in the evolution of the Pacific basins. Thermal uplift of the Gondwana crust and extensive erosion causing a break in the stratigraphic record characterised the period between 300 and 330 Ma. At the end of this period the Gondwana Ice Sheet was well established over the uplands. The period 260–300 Ma evidenced the release of the Gondwana heat and thermal subsidence caused widespread basin formation. Late Carboniferous transpressive strike-slip basins (e.g. Sierra Australes/Colorado, Karoo-Falklands, Ellsworth-Central Transantarctic Mountains) in which thick glacial deposits accumulated, formed inboard of the palaeo-Pacific margin. In the continental interior the formation of Zambesi-type rift and extensional strike-slip basins were controlled by large mega-shear systems, whereas rare intracratonic thermal subsidence basins formed locally. In the Late Permian the tectonic regime changed to compressional largely due to northwest-directed subduction along the palaeo-Pacific margin. The orogenic cycle between 240 and 260 Ma resulted in the formation of the Gondwana fold belt and overall north–south crustal shortening with strike-slip motions and regional uplift within the interior. The Gondwana fold belt developed along a probable weak crustal zone wedged in between the cratons and an overthickened marginal crustal belt subject to dextral transpressive motions. Associated with the orogenic cycle was the formation of mega-shear systems one of which (Falklands-East Africa-Tethys shear) split the supercontinent in the Permo-Triassic into a West and an East Gondwana. By a slight clockwise rotation of East Gondwana a supradetachment basin formed along the Tethyan margin and northward displacement of Madagascar, West Falkland and the Gondwana fold belt occurred relative to a southward motion of Africa. Received: 2 October 1995 / Accepted: 28 May 1996     

Remnants of arc-related Mesoarchaean oceanic crust in the Tartoq Group of SW Greenland

The Tartoq Group, located in SW Greenland, consists of supracrustal rocks of mainly tholeiitic basaltic composition, including pillow lavas, sills/dykes and gabbros, as well as ultramafic rocks. Metamorphic grade ranges from greenschist facies to granulite facies. The Tartoq Group crops out as a series of blocks and slivers that are imbricated with originally intrusive Mesoarchaean TTG orthogneisses. The supracrustal rocks form part of a SE vergent fold and thrust belt consistent with the imbrication of TTG gneisses and supracrustal rocks along a convergent margin. LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon dating of an intrusive TTG sheet yields a minimum age of 2986 ± 4 Ma for the Tartoq Group. This age is consistent with MC-ICP-MS Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd isotopic whole-rock data for mafic samples from different blocks of the Tartoq Group, which yield errorchron ages of 3189 ± 65 Ma and 3068 ± 220 Ma, respectively. The mafic supracrustal rocks of the Tartoq Group have chondrite-normalized REE patterns with La_CN/Sm_CN of 0.67–1.96 and rather flat primitive mantle-normalized multi-element patterns, except for scattered LILE contents, and generally negative Nb-anomalies with Nb/Nb* of 0.26–1.31. Th/Yb varies between 0.06 and 0.47 and Nb/Yb between 0.45 and 4.4 indicative of an arc affinity when compared to rocks from modern settings. The similar geochemistry of the different lithological units, together with their coeval formation, as evident from trace element geochemical trends, supports a co-magmatic origin for the rock assemblage and their formation as imbricated relics of oceanic crust. Accordingly, we propose that the Tartoq Group represents remnants of Mesoarchaean oceanic crust, which formed in a suprasubduction zone geodynamic environment.     

New U–Pb SHRIMP zircon age for the Schurwedraai alkali granite: Implications for pre-impact development of the Vredefort Dome and extent of Bushveld magmatism,South Africa

The Schurwedraai alkali granite is one of a number of prominent ultramafic-mafic and felsic intrusions in the Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic sub-vertical supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome, South Africa. The alkali granite intruded the Neoarchaean Witwatersrand Supergroup and has a peralkaline to peraluminous composition. A new zircon SHRIMP crystallization age of 2052 ± 14 Ma for the Schurwedraai alkali granite places it statistically before the Vredefort impact event at 2023 ± 4 Ma and within the accepted emplacement interval of 2050–2060 Ma of the Bushveld magmatic event. The presence of the alkali granite and associated small ultramafic-mafic intrusions in the Vredefort collar rocks extends the southern extremity of Bushveld-related intrusions to some 120 km south of Johannesburg and about 150 km south of the current outcrop area of the Bushveld Complex. The combined effect of these ultramafic-mafic and felsic bodies may have contributed to a pronouncedly steep pre-impact geothermal gradient in the Vredefort area, and to the amphibolite-grade metamorphism observed in the supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome.     

Genesis of the Batinah mélange above the Semail ophiolite,Oman

The Batinah mélange which overlies the late Cretaceous Semail ophiolite in the northern Oman Mountains comprises mostly sedimentary rocks of deep-water facies, alkalic lavas and intrusives, all of continental margin affinities, together with smaller volumes of Semail ophiolitic and metamorphic rocks. Four intergradational textural types of mélange can be recognized. Sheet mélange has large (>1 km) intact sheets either with little intervening matrix or set in other mélange types, and with an organised sheet orientation fabric. Slab mélange is finer textured (>100 m) and more disrupted. Block mélange has smaller (> m) blocks with some matrix and a weak to random block fabric. Clast mélange is matrix-supported rudite with a weak depositional clast fabric. Structural relationships, particularly the absence of tectonic fabrics, the decreasing strength of fragment fabrics with increasing fragmentation, and the abundance of brittle fragmentation, suggest that these mélange types formed by either gravity-driven sedimentary processes or superficial sliding or thrusting of individual rock slabs.In the slab mélange, long sequences can be pieced together, passing up from Upper Triassic mafic sub-marine extrusives and sediments into radiolarian cherts, hemipelagic and redeposited limestones, and terminating in non-calcareous radiolarities with Mn-deposits of early Cretaceous age. Mafic sills are numerous. These sequences can be matched with sub-ophiolite rocks now exposed in fault corridors through the Semail. These sequences become progressively disrupted upwards in the corridors and can be traced continuously into overlying mélange, which then thins away from the corridors.We argue that, during late Cretaceous emplacement over the Arabian margin, active fault corridors split the Semail slab and acted as conduits up which sub-ophiolite rocks were supplied to the ophiolite surface. There the rocks were redisributed by superficial processes.     

Geology and geochemistry of Pachmarhi dykes and sills,Satpura Gondwana Basin,central India: problems of dyke-sill-flow correlations in the Deccan Traps

Many tholeiitic dyke-sill intrusions of the Late Cretaceous Deccan Traps continental flood basalt province are exposed in the Satpura Gondwana Basin around Pachmarhi, central India. We present field, petrographic, major and trace element, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data on these intrusions and identify individual dykes and sills that chemically closely match several stratigraphically defined formations in the southwestern Deccan (Western Ghats). Some of these formations have also been identified more recently in the northern and northeastern Deccan. However, the Pachmarhi intrusions are significantly more evolved (lower Mg numbers and higher TiO₂ contents) than many Deccan basalts, with isotopic signatures generally different from those of the chemically similar lava formations, indicating that most are not feeders to previously characterized flows. They appear to be products of mixing between Deccan basalt magmas and partial melts of Precambrian Indian amphibolites, as proposed previously for several Deccan basalt lavas of the lower Western Ghats stratigraphy. Broad chemical and isotopic similarities of several Pachmarhi intrusions to the northern and northeastern Deccan lavas indicate petrogenetic relationships. Distances these lava flows would have had to cover, if they originated in the Pachmarhi area, range from 150 to 350 km. The Pachmarhi data enlarge the hitherto known chemical and isotopic range of the Deccan flood basalt magmas. This study highlights the problems and ambiguities in dyke-sill-flow correlations even with extensive geochemical fingerprinting.     

Fingered Intrusion of Shallow Saucer-shaped Igneous Sills: Insights from the Jiaojiang Sag, East China Sea

An extensive suite of igneous sills was intruded into the Tertiary sedimentary section of the Jiaojiang sag,East China Sea.This suite has been well imaged offshore through 2D and 3D seismic surveys,showing a close relationship with CO2 content in nearby gas discoveries.A new observational model,which incorporates simple upward propagation,simple horizontal propagation,and transgressive propagation,was proposed to interpret these sill intrusions.In this model,the source magma of the saucer-shaped sills was injected from their lowest points near the center.The transgressive propagation can be interpreted as a combination of the vertical and horizontal propagation.Most shallow sub-volcanic intrusions in the Jiaojiang sag exhibit fingered characteristics,both vertically and horizontally.The vertical fingered propagation produced saucer-shaped sills arranged in the flower style.Along the brims of lower sills could usually be found the upper sills,which are interpreted to have formed simultaneously with or later than the lower feeder sills.In the second type,the chilled paths of the older sills were reutilized by subsequent intrusions.The horizontal fingered propagation formed sheet intrusions that exhibit groove,lobate,tubular,and crevasse splaylike geometry in plan view.In 3D view,the sheet intrusions have still preserved the lower center and higher rim that similar with the sub-rounded saucer-shaped sills.Although fracture propagation may be important,flow inflation was the key mechanism of magma intrusion.Further consideration of the mechanisms underlying sill formation may help explain the fingered characteristics of sill propagation.