Geochemistry of acidic volcanic clasts in Silurian conglomerates of the Midland Valley of Scotland: Implications on the Caledonian orogeny

20 clasts of acidic volcanic rocks from Silurian conglomerates of the Midland Valley of Scotland are similar in their geochemical composition to rhyolithes, rhyodacites and dacites of recent island arcs and active continental margins. They differ from the geochemical composition of upper Ordovician peralkaline rhyolites of the Tweed Valley in the Southern Uplands (Scotland) because of their lower Zr, Nb, Ce and Y contents. It is argued that these volcanic clasts represent erosional remnants of an island arc or active continental margin which was situated in the Midland Valley during upper Ordovician or lower Silurian time. This has implications on palaeogeographic models which have been suggested for the Scottish Caledonides.

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Zusammenfassung 20 Gerölle saurer Vulkanite aus silurischen Konglomeraten des Midland Valley in Schottland haben in ihrer geochemischen Zusammensetzung Ähnlichkeiten mit Rhyolithen, Rhyodaziten und Daziten von rezenten Inselbögen und aktiven Kontinentalrändern. Sie unterscheiden sich durch niedrigere Gehalte an Zr, Nb, Ce und Y von oberordovizischen Peralkali-Rhyolithen des Tweed Valley in den Southern Uplands (Schottland). Es wird vermutet, daß die analysierten Gerolle Erosionsreste eines Inselbogens oder aktiven Kontinentalrandes darstellen, der zur Zeit des oberen Ordoviziums oder unteren Silurs im Raum des Midland Valley gelegen hat. Es ergeben sich daraus Folgerungen für paläogeographische Modelle, die für die schottischen Kaledoniden entwickelt worden sind.

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Résumé La présente note porte sur 20 galets de volcanites acides contenus dans des conglomérats siluriens du Midland Valley (Ecosse). Leurs compositions géochimiques sont analogues à celles de rhyolites, rhyo-dacites et dacites d'arcs insulaires et de marges continentales actives actuels. Leur faible teneur relative en Zr, Nb, Ce et Y les distinguent des rhyolites peralcalines d'âge ordovicien supérieur des Southern Uplands (Ecosse). Ces galets de volcanites sont interprétés comme des produits de l'érosion soit d'un arc insulaire, soit d'une marge active, situés à l'emplacement de l'actuelle Midland Valley au cours de l'Ordovicien supérieur ou du Silurien inférieur.Ceci entraîne certaines implications dans les modèles paléogéographiques qui ont été proposés pour les Calédonides d'Ecosse.

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20 Midland Valley, . , . Tweed Valley , . , , , , Midland Valley. .

     

Factors influencing the salinity regime of Lake Pontchartrain,Lousiana, a shallow coastal lagoon: Analysis of a long-term data set

Lake Pontchartrain., Louisiana is a 1,630 km² shallow brackish lagoon with a mean salinity from 1.2‰ in the west to 5.4‰ in the east., The construction of a 120 km long deep-water connection to the Gulf of Mexico in 1963, was expected to cause a 5‰ increase in lagoon salinity. However, the actual increase was everywhere in the lagoon less than 2‰ Analysis of 31 years of daily salinity and discharge records indicates that discharge is the most important factor controlling salinity variations in Lake Pontchartrain., Seventy-four percent of low-frequency salinity variations are explained by freshwater discharge and the completion of the deep-water canal. Lake Pont.-chartrain experiences annual variations of salinity as high as 8‰ This salinity signal has remained constant since the beginning of the salinity records in 1946. It appears that the deep-water canal is not responsible for observed die-back of freshwater swamps and retreat of lagoon shorelines.     

Significance of Europium anomalies in silicate melts and crystal-melt equilibria: a re-evaluation

Although europium speciation in silicate melts partly reflects prevailing oxygen fugacities, melt composition and structure play the major role in determining Eu²⁺/ Eu³⁺ ratios and europium partitioning into mineral phases. Experimental evidence by different investigators on the magnitude of the compositional effect on Eu²⁺/Eu³⁺ provides consistent results only if account is taken of the oxygen buffer system employed in the experiments. The medium-dependent reduction of europium can be understood in terms of the preferential stabilization of Eu²⁺ by a strong aluminosilicate complex in the melt phase, and to a much lesser degree by metasilicate complexes. The stability of these complexes increases as the field strength of the associated cation species decreases. Hence Eu²⁺-aluminosilicate complexes are preferentially stabilized relative to trivalent lanthanides in melts of appropriate composition and their presence minimizes the enthalpy of the melt. The influence of these complexes is particularly pronounced in melts with a high feldspathic component and a strongly polymerized structure. Their petrogenetic influence is best documented through the behaviour of europium relative to the other lanthanides during anhydrous anatexis in high-grade metamorphic terrains and in the anomalous europium partition coefficients of phenocryst phases which formed during the crystallization of highly silicic magmas.     

Volume relaxation of compacted SiO2 glass: a model for the conservation of natural diaplectic glasses

Relaxation experiments on vitreous SiO₂, densified at 900°C, 20 kbar to a permanent density of 2.36 g cm^?3 yield an activation energy of69 ± 5kcal mol^?1 in the temperature range 700–800°C. The data can be used to estimate minimum cooling rates, maximum depositional temperatures or maximum thicknesses of shock-metamorphosed rocks containing diaplectic glasses, if relaxation of a glass densified under dynamic conditions is assumed to be similar to that of statically densified glass.     

Flow characteristics above a very low and gently sloping hill

Tower measurements of wind and turbulence in near neutral conditions at the top of a very low and gently sloping hill (height ~ 20 m, with a length scale ~ 1000 m) are analysed in terms of current flow-over-hill theory. Measurements of wind maximum height and the change of the variances of the three wind components from the inner to the outer region are found to be in agreement with predictions from the theory. Spectra of the longitudinal and vertical wind components in the inner region, scaled according to Panofsky et al. (1982), come close to the corresponding Kansas curves in the high frequency range. They have higher energy in the low frequency region, probably a spectral lag effect caused by rougher upwind terrain. In the outer region, the spectra coincide with the corresponding Kansas curves if normalized by their respective variances and plotted against f/f _m.     

Petrographische und Kalium-Argon-Untersuchungen an basischen tertiären Vulkaniten zwischen Westerwald und Vogelsberg

Between the upper tertiary volcanic areas of Westerwald and Vogelsberg (central Western Germany) occur more than 40 isolated tertiary volcanic dikes, eroded necks, plugs and domes. Twelve of these volcanic rocks have been investigated petrographically and chemically and classified by means of their modal and chemical composition. Additional modal analyses have been performed on seven other volcanics. On seventeen volcanic occurences K-Ar-whole rock age determinations have been made. The K-Ar age determinations yield- with the exception of an olivine-nephelinite — values between 27 and 15 Ma. Regarding the known intervals of volcanic activities of the Westerwald- and Voge1sberg-areas, most of the examined volcanics can be related genetically with one of the adjacent volcanic areas. There seems to be no geographical overlapping of volcanics showing Westerwaldages and Vogelsberg-ages. A possible influence of excess-Ar-bearing phases (e. g. mantle xenoliths) and an Ar-loss of constituent matter of the groundmass have been estimated by additional age determinations of enriched samples. These influences — partially compensating each other — may shift the K-Ar whole rock age to a maximum of 5 % and thus do not exceed the dimension of the standard deviations. A distinct NNE-SSW-striking fault in the region between Marburg and Gießen is situated parallel with the eastern border of the “Rheinisches Schiefergebirge”. Volcanics showing Westerwald-age and Vogelsberg-age respectively reach this fault, but obviously do not overlap it. Relations between rock-type an rock age, as it has been observed for the volcanics of the northern Hessian Depression (Kreuzer et al. 1973;Wedepohl 1982) cannot be proved certainly. On the other hand, similar to the basaltic rocks of the northern Hessian Depression, the youngest volcanic product is an olivine-nephelinite (9 Ma).     

Temperature dependence of calcite dissolution kinetics between 1 and 62°C at pH 2.7 to 8.4 in aqueous solutions

The kinetics of calcite dissolution in aqueous KCl-solutions far from equilibrium, between 1 and 62°C in the pH-range 2.7 to 8.4 have been investigated using a rotating disc apparatus. At neutral and alkaline pH in the mixed kinetic regime the empirical apparent activation energy (EAAE) for the surface chemical reaction rate constant is 54 ± 4 kJ mole^?1 for Carrara marble and 46 ± 4 kJ mole^?1 for Iceland spar. Under similar conditions the EAAE of the transport rate constant increases with decreasing temperature, but has a mean value of 27 ± 2 kJ mole^?1. The corresponding diffusion coefficient has a mean EAAE of 37 ± 3 kJ mole^?1 and this high EAAE is consistent with transport dependence on product diffusion in this H⁺-independent regime.In contrast, in acid solutions, where the rate approaches end-member transport control, the EAAE of the diffusion coefficient is 16 kJ mole^?1, also decreasing with increasing temperature. This is compatible with H⁺-diffusion to the surface being rate-controlling.In inhibitor-free natural systems, calcite dissolution kinetics far from equilibrium can be described in terms of three regimes: an H⁺-dependent regime (pH < 4 at 25°C), a transition regime (4 < pH < 5.5 at 25°C) and an H⁺-independent regime (pH > 5.5 at 25°C). At lower temperatures these boundaries move to higher pH values. The presence of inhibitors in natural systems may enhance surface controlled kinetics.