Revised age of proximal deposits in the Zagros foreland basin and implications for Cenozoic evolution of the High Zagros

The regionally extensive, coarse-grained Bakhtiyari Formation represents the youngest synorogenic fill in the Zagros foreland basin of Iran. The Bakhtiyari is present throughout the Zagros fold-thrust belt and consists of conglomerate with subordinate sandstone and marl. The formation is up to 3000 m thick and was deposited in foredeep and wedge-top depocenters flanked by fold-thrust structures. Although the Bakhtiyari concordantly overlies Miocene deposits in foreland regions, an angular unconformity above tilted Paleozoic to Miocene rocks is expressed in the hinterland (High Zagros).

The Bakhtiyari Formation has been widely considered to be a regional sheet of Pliocene–Pleistocene conglomerate deposited during and after major late Miocene–Pliocene shortening. It is further believed that rapid fold growth and Bakhtiyari deposition commenced simultaneously across the fold-thrust belt, with limited migration from hinterland (NE) to foreland (SW). Thus, the Bakhtiyari is generally interpreted as an unmistakable time indicator for shortening and surface uplift across the Zagros. However, new structural and stratigraphic data show that the most-proximal Bakhtiyari exposures, in the High Zagros south of Shahr-kord, were deposited during the early Miocene and probably Oligocene. In this locality, a coarse-grained Bakhtiyari succession several hundred meters thick contains gray marl, limestone, and sandstone with diagnostic marine pelecypod, gastropod, coral, and coralline algae fossils. Foraminiferal and palynological species indicate deposition during early Miocene time. However, the lower Miocene marine interval lies in angular unconformity above ~ 150 m of Bakhtiyari conglomerate that, in turn, unconformably caps an Oligocene marine sequence. These relationships attest to syndepositional deformation and suggest that the oldest Bakhtiyari conglomerate could be Oligocene in age.

The new age information constrains the timing of initial foreland-basin development and proximal Bakhtiyari deposition in the Zagros hinterland. These findings reveal that structural evolution of the High Zagros was underway by early Miocene and probably Oligocene time, earlier than commonly envisioned. The age of the Bakhtiyari Formation in the High Zagros contrasts significantly with the Pliocene–Quaternary Bakhtiyari deposits near the modern deformation front, suggesting a long-term (> 20 Myr) advance of deformation toward the foreland.     

Paléo-bactéries et minéralisations plombo-zincifères du Bled Zelfane (tunisie centrale)

Résumé Le Bled Zelfane est un synclinal mio-pliocène sur la bordure septentriono-orientale de l'ile de Kasserine. L'ile de Kasserine est une plate-forme devenue insulaire à partir du Crétacé supérieur et restée émergée jusqu'au Miocène moyen. Ce môle a été soumis apparemment pendant sa période continentale à un climat oxydant de type méditerranéen relativement sec. On note une certaine diversification dans la nature des dépôts en zones basses (secteur de Kasserine) et en zones hautes (secteur du Bled Zelfane). En zones basses, la sécheresse climatique a favorisé la formation de dépôts de gypse, d'argiles rouges et de calcrêtes. En zones hautes, une érosion par lessivage acide a créé des dépressions karstiques dans les calcaires du Crétacé supérieur (Aïn Khamouda) et dans les calcaires du Maëstrichtien (Sidi Mabrouk et Guémata). Le remplissage des cavités karstiques (poches, crevasses) s'est fait avec de l'argile blanche (halloysite), contenant des micro-cristaux de galène, avec de la calamine et des oxydes de fer. Les conditions climatiques étaient trop oxydantes pour que le zinc se dépose autrement que sous forme de calamine. Elles expliquent aussi la présence de paléo-algobactéries (aérobies) sur la calamine. La présence de micro-cristaux de galène dans l'halloysite serait liée à un sulfuretum et non à des conditions réductrices réelles. Il semble en effet que dans ces karsts du Bled Zelfane une flore bactérienne très riche a joué un rôle essentiel dans le piégeage d'éléments lourds et notamment dans la genèse de galènes supergènes et dans la cristallisation de la calamine. Une minéralisation, elle aussi plombo-zincifère, de type stratiforme, s'observe à la base de Miocène inférieur et montre de même des bactéries fossiles à foison.

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Bled Zelfane is a Mio-Pliocene syncline on the NE edge of the palaeo-island of Kasserine, a platform which became insular at the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous and remained emergent until the Middle Miocene. During its long emergence this platform was affected by an oxidising, relatively dry, Mediterranaean-type climate. There exists a certain diversity in the sedimentary accumulations in both the lower (Kasserine area) and upper (Bled Zelfane area) sectors of this palaeo-relief. In the lower sectors the dry climate has favourised gypsum, red clays and calcrete formation. In the higher sectors erosion and leaching by acid waters has created karstic depressions in the Upper Cretaceous (Aïn Khamouda) and in the limestones of Maestrichtian (Sidi Mabrouk and Guémata). The karst cavities (pockets and fissures) are filled with white, halloysite clays containing micro-crystals of galena associated with calamine (Zn) and iron oxides. The climatic conditions were too oxidising to permit the formation of Zn other than in the form of calamine. The dry climate is also an explanation for the presence of aerobic palaeo-algobacteria on this calamine. The presence of micro-crystals of galena within the halloysite is probably related to a sulfuretum and not to effective reducing conditions. It would seem that the presence of a rich bacterial flora within the karst at Bled Zelfane has played a significant role in the stabilisation of heavy elements, and especially the supergene genesis of the galena. A Lead/Zinc mineralisation also exists at the base of the Miocene. This latter is diffused through the cement in conglomerates and sandstones.

     

Petrogenesis of late stage magmatism at Hold with Hope, East Greenland

The Myggbukta caldera complex and a swarm of basic dykes constitute the latest Tertiary magmatism in the Hold with Hope region, East Greenland. The Sr and Nd isotope ratios of these rocks show coherent variations which extend to high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and low ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd values and require a contribution from continental lithosphere. Broad correlations with major element differentiation indices suggest that the continental component was incorporated during magmatic differentiation thereby favouring a crustal contamination process. Trace element concentrations are strongly correlated with isotopic compositions but display ranges for many incompatible elements which extend beyond likely crustal contaminant compositions. This is readily modelled by AFC processes in which the dominant cause of trace element enrichment is the concentration effect of fractional crystallisation rather than the composition of the contaminant. The simplest such models still require unrealistically high degrees of fractional crystallisation to explain the ten-fold enrichment of some trace elements. This can be overcome if the primary magmas entering the crust already had highly variable trace element compositions. Such variability is readily achieved if melts from different parts of the melting column escape without thorough homogenization. An AFC model which incorporates variability in parental magma composition is then able to simulate the range of compositions observed at Hold with Hope. This carries the implication that the variations observed are more readily attributed to changes in uncontaminated parental magma than to variations in the composition or amount of contaminant. Received: 5 March 1998 / Accepted: 16 June 1998     

Impact melting of the Cachari eucrite 3.0 Gy ago

Both the host phase and glass veins of the Cachari eucrite have been analyzed by microprobe and neutron activation analysis for their chemical compositions and by mass spectrometry for their ³⁹Ar-⁴⁰Ar gas retention ages. Cachari is chemically similar to other non-cumulate eucrites. The vesicular glass veins vary from pure glass, to devitrified glass, to areas that are substantially crystalline. The glassy areas have nearly the same concentrations of major and trace elements as the unmelted portions of Cachari, but some differences, probably due to preferential dissolution, occur along melt contacts. The glass formed by shock melting of Cachari host or of rock identical to it. ³⁹Ar-⁴⁰Ar data for the host and glass suggest distinctly different ages of 3.04 ±.07 Gy and 3.47 ±.04 Gy, respectively. The time of glass formation, which may also be the time of brecciation, is most likely given by the 3.0 Gy age of the host. The higher age for the glass is interpreted to represent incomplete Ar degassing during the 3.0 Gy event due to the greater resistance to Ar diffusion shown by the glass compared to the host. Event ages significantly younger than 4.5 Gy have now been determined for several eucrites and howardites and suggest a long dynamic regolith history for the parent body.     

15,000-yr pollen record of vegetation change in the high altitude tropical Andes at Laguna Verde Alta, Venezuela

Pollen analysis of sediments from a high-altitude (4215 m), Neotropical (9°N) Andean lake was conducted in order to reconstruct local and regional vegetation dynamics since deglaciation. Although deglaciation commenced 15,500 cal yr B.P., the area around the Laguna Verde Alta (LVA) remained a periglacial desert, practically unvegetated, until about 11,000 cal yr B.P. At this time, a lycopod assemblage bearing no modern analog colonized the superpáramo. Although this community persisted until 6000 cal yr B.P., it began to decline somewhat earlier, in synchrony with cooling following the Holocene thermal maximum of the Northern Hemisphere. At this time, the pioneer assemblage was replaced by a low-diversity superpáramo community that became established 9000 cal yr B.P. This replacement coincides with regional declines in temperature and/or available moisture. Modern, more diverse superpáramo assemblages were not established until 4600 cal yr B.P., and were accompanied by a dramatic decline in Alnus, probably the result of factors associated with climate, humans, or both. Pollen influx from upper Andean forests is remarkably higher than expected during the Late Glacial and early to middle Holocene, especially between 14,000 and 12,600 cal yr B.P., when unparalleled high values are recorded. We propose that intensification of upslope orographic winds transported lower elevation forest pollen to the superpáramo, causing the apparent increase in tree pollen at high altitude. The association between increased forest pollen and summer insolation at this time suggests a causal link; however, further work is needed to clarify this relationship.     

Analyse des Standards de L'U.S.G.S. : GXR-1 a GXR-6 par Activation Neutronique et Fluorescence X

Six roches standards de I'USGS : GXR-1 à GXR-6 ont été analysées par activation neutronique instrumentale (INAA) pour le dosage de 17 éléments traces et par fluorescence X (XRF) pour les autres éléments difficiles à doser par activation neutronique. Les travaux précédemment publiés par Gladney et al. ont été pris comme référence en particulier les valeurs recommandées (R.V.) qui sont généralement en bon accord avec nos résultats. Quelques remarques et corrections sont proposées pour expliquer certaines disparités.
Six United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Geochemical Exploration References Samples (GXR) have been analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for the determination of seventeen trace elements and by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRFS) for other trace elements difficult to determine by INAA. Our results compare favourably with the values recommended by E.S. Gladney et al. Some suggestions and corrections are proposed to explain some discrepancies.     

The Fayette County,Texas, meteorites

Abstract— We report the first petrologic examination of all stone meteorites of Fayette County, Texas. The 10 stones represent four or five different fall events. The three recovered Bluff stones represent two falls. Bluff (a), which includes the 145.5-kg Bluff #1 stone, is classified as L5(S4), whereas Bluff (b) is classified as L4(S3) and is represented by a single stone. The studied Cedar stones are classified as H4(S3), and all four Cedar stones appear to define a strewnfield. Round Top (a), classified as L5(S3) and represented by two stones, is unrelated to either Bluff or Cedar. Round Top (b) [H4(S3); 1 stone], whose exact provenance is unknown, might be a transported fragment of the Cedar shower.     

Deuterium in interstellar clouds

Increasing numbers of observations of deuterium ratios have revealed that all is not as it seemed in interstellar space. Tom Millar describes how fractionation theory has confirmed the importance of interstellar grains in cosmic chemistry.     

Magma plumbing beneath Anak Krakatau volcano, Indonesia: evidence for multiple magma storage regions

Understanding magma plumbing is essential for predicting the behaviour of explosive volcanoes. We investigate magma plumbing at the highly active Anak Krakatau volcano (Indonesia), situated on the rim of the 1883 Krakatau caldera by employing a suite of thermobarometric models. These include clinopyroxene-melt thermobarometry, plagioclase-melt thermobarometry, clinopyroxene composition barometry and olivine-melt thermometry. Petrological studies have previously identified shallow magma storage in the region of 2–8 km beneath Krakatau, while existing seismic evidence points towards mid- to deep-crustal storage zone(s), at 9 and 22 km, respectively. Our results show that clinopyroxene in Anak Krakatau lavas crystallized at a depth of 7–12 km, while plagioclase records both shallow crustal (3–7 km) and sub-Moho (23–28 km) levels of crystallization. These magma storage regions coincide with well-constrained major lithological boundaries in the crust, implying that magma ascent and storage at Anak Krakatau is strongly controlled by crustal properties. A tandem seismic tomography survey independently identified a separate upper crustal (<7 km) and a lower to mid-crustal magma storage region (>7 km). Both petrological and seismic methods are sensitive in detecting magma bodies in the crust, but suffer from various limitations. Combined geophysical and petrological surveys, in turn, offer increased potential for a comprehensive characterization of magma plumbing at active volcanic complexes.