Age and evolution of the Grenville Province in eastern Labrador from U-Pb systematics in accessory minerals

U-Pb isotope analysis of zircon, titanite, monazite and rutile extracted from 15 different Grenville Province rocks in eastern Labrador reveals: 1) major crust formation through magmatism between 1,710 and 1,630 Ma ago; no evidence of older crustal material was found. 2) Pegmatite and gabbro intrusions between 1,500 and 1,400 Ma ago, probably related to incomplete rifting of the earlier formed crust. 3) Granite and syenite plutonism, presumably anorogenic, circa 1,300 Ma ago. 4) High grade metamorphism and anatexis during the Grenvillian Orogeny, causing Pb-loss in primary zircon and new growth of zircon, titanite and monazite at circa 1,030 Ma ago in the south (Lake Melville and Mealy Mountains terranes) and circa 970 Ma ago in the north (Groswater Bay Terrane and Trans-Labrador Batholith); geochronological distinction of these large-scale crustal segments substantiates their juxtaposition along deeply rooted, intracontinental ductile thrust zones during Grenvillian Orogeny. 5) Late Grenvillian growth of rutile in gabbros circa 925 Ma ago.     

Nature, origin and classification of peritidal tepee structures and related breccias

Distinctive peritidal tepee antiform structures, buckled margins of saucer-like megapolygons are common in marine vadose fenestral and pisolitic limestones and/or dolomites of carbonate platform sequences and occur in intertidal and supratidal carbonates ranging in age from Silurian to Holocene. These megapolygons commonly form and are sometimes truncated before the deposition of the next sedimentary layer. The megapolygons result from the expansion of surface sediments by as much as 15%. The expansion is caused by the following continuously repeated sequence of processes: (1) Desiccation and thermal contraction causing small fractures; (2) phases of wetting causing enlargement of fractures; (3) phases of crystallization of calcium carbonate and other minerals causing the enlargement, fill and cementation of the fractures. Precipitation is from brines and meteoric waters; (4) hydration of minerals, thermal expansion, breaking waves and faulting may add to this disruption. The development of the tepee fabric can be traced from an initially cemented subaerial fenestral crust, exhibiting expansion and compressional structures, to a completely disrupted and brecciated sediment riddled by a labyrinth of fractures and solution cavities. These spaces are filled by numerous phases of internal marine and fresh-water cement and sediment, the latter containing penecontemporaneous or younger marine faunas. Peritidal tepees are useful tools for geologic reconstruction and provide evidence of subaerial exposure; a tropical to subtropical climate; and back-beach or back-barrier deposition. Proper identification of tepees is of economic importance, because they provide good early porosity and permeability for petroleum entrapment and a site for mineralization. Aesthetically, tepee rocks are a fine kaleidoscopic decorative stone.     

Stratigraphy, palaeomagnetism and age of volcanics in the upper regions of ÞJórsárdalur valley, central southern Iceland

The 'Hreppar Formation' of southern Iceland is a succession mostly composed of basalt lavas and clastic material, with a slight anticlinal structure. It may represent a crustal fragment left in place by eastwards movement of the active spreading zone during the past 2–3 Ma. Evidence of several cycles of alternating glacial-interglacial conditions is seen in this succession. The first systematic stratigraphic study within the succession which is combined with K-Ar age determinations and laboratory palaeomagnetic measurements on oriented cores has yielded encouraging results. The age determinations confirm earlier estimates by Icelandic geologists on the age range spanned by the Hreppar succession. Units from the Jaramillo geomagnetic subchron are present in its upper part, and at least one polarity reversal event in the lower Matuyama chron is also recorded.     

A brief overview of the ACEP project: Ecosystem Processes in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight§

This introductory paper lays the basis for this supplementary issue by briefly presenting the state of knowledge on the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Bight at the start of this multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, ship-based research project that ran from 2009 to 2013. The rationale and aims of the project are also described. The project was a major component of the South African Department of Science and Technology’s African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP), which has been prominent in supporting research on the east coast of South Africa and the wider South-West Indian Ocean. Pivotal to this was the RS Algoa, which was made available for two 30-day surveys (winter and summer) in the KZN Bight by the Department of Environmental Affairs. Although some aspects of the bight ecology are known, much of the research is dated and fragmented, and required refreshing and consolidation in order to produce a platform upon which the understanding of the region’s ecosystem functioning could be established. Much of the oceanographic knowledge is also dated, with no dedicated surveys and significant measurements undertaken since 1989. The overarching theme of the KZN Bight project was to examine the relative importance of sources of nutrients to the central KZN coast and how these are taken up and recycled in the ecosystem, and to describe aspects of the benthic biodiversity, which is poorly described in much of this region. An ambitious project, its accessibility to a ship-based research platform and the diverse scientific skills of the participating scientists allowed considerable success, as reflected in the papers that follow.     

Subsolidus Phase Relations in the System MgO--SiO2--Gr--O in Equilibrium with Metallic Cr, and their Significance for the Petrochemistry of Chromium

Subsolidus phase relations have been determined in the systemsSiO₂-Cr-0 and MgO-SiO₂-Cr-O in equilibrium with metallic Cr,at 1100–1500C and 0–288 kbar. There are no ternaryphases in the SiO₂-Cr-O system at these conditions, ie. onlythe assemblage eskolaite + Cr-metal + SiO₂ is found. However,in the MgO-containing system, extensive substitution of Cr²⁺for Mg is observed in (Mg,Cr²⁺)₂SiO₄ olivine, (Mg,Cr²⁺)₂Si₂O₆pyroxene, and (Mg,Cr²⁺)Cr³⁺₂0₄ spinel. Cr ³⁺ levels in olivineand pyroxene are below detection limits. The pyroxene is orthorhombicat monoclinic at higher . The structure of the spinels becomestetragonally distorted at is limited by the breakdown of olivine to pyroxene + spinel+ metal. This maximum amount increases strongly with increasingtemperature, reaching >0.2 at 1500C and 48 kbar. Increasing pressure reduces the maximum. Increasing temperature also increases the maximum amounts of Cr²⁺ which substitute intopyroxene and spinel, indicating that end-member Cr₂Si₂0₆ andCr₃O₄ may become stable above 1650C if melting does not intervene.Powder X-ray diffraction analysis of selected runs has beenused to extract molar volumes of the Mg-Cr²⁺ solid solutionsas a function of composition, which may be extrapolated to predictmolar volumes for Cr₂SiO₄ (olivine), Cr₂Si₂O₆ (ortho- and clino-pyroxene)and Cr₂O₄ (cubic spinel) of 477, 680 and 449 cm³, respectively.The experimental data have been fitted to a thermodynamic model,including free energies of formation for end member Cr₂SiO₄,Cr₂Si₂O₆ and Cr₃O₄. This model is then used to predict the amountsof Cr²⁺ which can be expected in olivine in equilibrium withCr-bearing spinel as a function of T, P and fo₂. This amountincreases strongly with temperature along standard T-fo₂ buffercurves, and is sufficient to explain the observed high Cr contentsof olivine from komatiites and diamond inclusions at reasonableterrestrial fo, values. The lower fo₂ of the lunar environmentresults in significant Cr²⁺ in olivine being stable to muchlower temperatures. The tendency for the oxidation state ofCr, and hence its geochemical properties, to change with temperaturerelative to other redox reactions makes it a potentially usefulmonitor of the temperatures of uppermantle processes, and isa significant factor in the differing styles of igneous differentiationin the Earth and Moon. Corresponding author     

Observations of in situ fluorescence of chlorophyll-a in Saanich Inlet

The possibility of using the in situ fluorescence line of chlorophyll-a in remote sensing studies of surface water productivity is investigated in a series of spectroscopic and water sampling measurements made from a launch in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. The paper demonstrates the proportionality of the observed height of the line to measured chlorophyll concentrations. Weighting corrections are applied to allow for the observed vertical variations in chlorophyll concentrations. Changes in the blue/green region of the observed spectra are also considered as an indicator of the chlorophyll present, and the two methods appear capable of giving chlorophyll concentrations to a comparable accuracy for the relatively high levels observed.     

The Effect of Cr2O3 on the Partial Melting of Spinel Lherzolite in the System CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-Cr2O3 at 1{middle dot}1 GPa

Chromium as Cr³⁺ substitutes for octahedrally coordinated Alin upper-mantle minerals, thereby reducing the activity of Al₂O₃in the system and hence the concentration of Al₂O₃ in partialmelts. The effect of Cr₂O₃ on melt compositions multiply saturatedwith the spinel lherzolite phase assemblage has been quantifiedin the system CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–Cr₂O₃at 1·1 GPa as a function of 100 Cr/(Cr + Al) in the spinel(Cr#_sp). The decrease of Al₂O₃ in the melt with increasing Cr#_spis accompanied by increasing MgO and SiO₂, whereas CaO remainsalmost constant. Consequently, the CaO/Al₂O₃ ratio of the meltincreases with Cr#_sp, and the melt becomes richer in normativediopside, hypersthene and quartz. The effect may explain certainmantle melts with unusually high CaO/Al₂O₃ ratios. The concentrationof Cr₂O₃ in the melt remains low even at high Cr#_sp, which meansthat the strong effect of Cr₂O₃ on partial melting equilibriais not readily apparent from its concentration in the melt itself.The existence of a highly refractory major component such asCr₂O₃ nullifies simplified conclusions from the ‘inverseapproach’ in the experimental study of basalt petrogenesis,as there is insufficient information in the composition of thepartial melt to reconstruct the conditions of melting. KEY WORDS: basalt petrogenesis; partial melting; reversal experiment; spinel lherzolite; system CMAS–Cr₂O₃; CaO/Al₂O₃ of melt; effect of Cr₂O₃