Microstructures of sediment flow deposits and subglacial sediments: a comparison

Microstructural analysis of glacial deposits has recently been used as a research tool to determine sediment genesis. However, the occurrence of microstructures in deposits of known origin has not been sufficiently documented, hindering our ability to confidently interpret microstructures in sediments of unknown origin. Our objective is to present a calibration study of microstructures of recent sediment flow deposits and associated sediments from the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, and to evaluate the degree of commonality with microstructures found in subglacially deformed sediments. Microstructures in sediment flow deposits can be formed as a result of sediment transport, deposition, and/or post-depositional processes, and are related to the viscosity regime of the source flow. Characteristic microstructures formed during brittle deformation include shears, faults, and brecciation; microstructures formed during ductile deformation include folds, pressure shadows, re-orientation of clasts around a 'core' stone, fine laminations, basal shear zones, imbrication, and flow fabrics. Other microstructures include fluid escape and injection structures, clast haloes, and fissility. The results of our comparison suggest that sediment flow deposits share many microstructures in common with subglacially deformed sediments.     

Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry of Oceanic-Arc Lavas

Variations of oxygen isotope ratios in arc-related lavas canconstrain the contributions of subducted crustal igneous rocks,sediments, and fluids to the sub-arc mantle. We have measuredoxygen isotope ratios in 72 arc and back-arc lavas from fiveocean–ocean subduction zone systems using laser-fluorinationanalyses of olivine and other phenocrysts and glass. Eightypercent of our samples have     

The Chalk sea-urchin Micraster: microevolution, adaptation and predation

Serial variation between Micraster populations from successive zones in the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of Europe is widely cited as evidence for evolution at the species level, whether changes between species are interpreted as gradual or punctuational. That these changes were adaptive and represent an improved functional efficiency with time is also now widely agreed, if not whether the changes were independent of environmental change or a response to it. Dead specimens of Micraster were commonly encrusted by a wide variety of small invertebrates, presumably because they provided islands of hard substrate on an otherwise soft, muddy sea floor. Less commonly, there is evidence that living specimens of Micraster were susceptible to predation by gastropods and other organisms, one of the natural selection pressures favouring adaptation to a burrowing mode of life.     

METEOROLOGICAL TSUNAMIS IN SOUTHERN BRITAIN: AN HISTORICAL REVIEW*

ABSTRACT. Meteorological tsunamis, or meteo‐tsunamis, are long‐period waves that possess tsunami characteristics but are meteorological in origin, although they are not storm surges. In this article we investigate the coast of southern Britain‐the English Channel, the Bristol Channel, and the Severn Estuary‐for the occurrence of tsunami‐like waves that, in the absence of associated seismic activity, we recognize as meteo‐tsunamis. The passage of squall lines over the sea apparently generated three of these events, and two seem to have been far‐traveled, long‐period waves from mid‐North Atlantic atmospheric low‐pressure systems. The remaining three wave events appear to have been associated with storms that, among possible explanations, may have induced large‐amplitude standing waves‐such as seiches‐or created long‐period waves through the opposition of onshore gale‐force winds and swells with high ebb tidal current velocities. This coastal hazard has resulted in damage and loss of life and should be considered in future coastal defense strategies and in beachuser risk assessments.     

An Experimental Study of Water and Carbon Dioxide Solubilities in Mid-Ocean Ridge Basaltic Liquids. Part I: Calibration and Solubility Models

Experiments were conducted to determine the solubilities ofH₂O and CO₂ and the nature of their mixing behavior in basalticliquid at pressures and temperature relevant to seqfloor eruption.Mid-ocean ridge basaltic (MORB) liquid was equilibrated at 1200°Cwith pure H₂O at pressures of 176–717 bar and H₂O—CO₂vapor at pressures up to 980 bar. Concentrations and speciationof H₂O and CO₂ dissolved in the quenched glasses were measuredusing IR spectroscopy. Molar absorptivities for the 4500 cm^–1band of hydroxyl groups and the 5200 and 1630 cm^–1 bandsof molecular water are 0•67±0•03, 0•62±0•07,and 25±3 l/mol-cm, respectively. These and previouslydetermined molar absorptivities for a range of silicate meltcompositions correlate positively and linearly with the concentrationof tetrahedral cations (Si+Al). The speciation of water in glass quenched from vapor-saturatedbasaltic melt is similar to that determined by Silver &Stolper (Journal of Petrology 30, 667–709, 1989) in albiticglass and can be fitted by their regular ternary solution modelusing the coefficients for albitic glasses. Concentrations ofmolecular water measured in the quenched basaltic glasses areproportional to f H₂O in all samples regardless of the compositionof the vapor, demonstrating that the activity of molecular waterin basaltic melts follows Henry's law at these pressures. Abest fit to our data and existing higher-pressure water solubilitydata (Khitarov et al., Geochemistry 5, 479–492, 1959;Hamilton et al., Journal of Petrology 5, 21–39, 1964),assuming Henrian behavior for molecular water and that the dependenceof molecular water content on total water content can be describedby the regular solution model, gives estimates for the V^{o, m}_H2Oof 12±1 cm³/mol and for the 1-bar water solubility of0•11 wt%. Concentrations of CO² dissolved as carbonate in the melt forpure CO₂-saturated and mixed H₂O-CO₂-saturated experiments area simple function of f_CO2 These results suggest Henrian behaviorfor the activity of carbonate in basaltic melt and do not supportthe widely held view that water significantly enhances the solutionof carbon dioxide in basaltic melts. Using a V^{o, m}_r of 23 cm³/mol(Pan et al., Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 55, 1587–1595,1991), the solubility of carbonate in the melt at 1 bar and1200°C is 0•5 p.p.m. Our revised determination of CO₂solubility is 20% higher than that reported by Stolper &Holloway (Earth and Planetary Science Letters 87, 397–408,1988). KEY WORDS: mid-ocean ridge basalts; water and carbon dioxide solubility; experimental petrology     

A Crustal Progenitor for the Intrusive Anorthosite--Charnockite Kindred of the Cupriferous Koperberg Suite, O'okiep District, Namaqualand, South Africa; New Isotope Data for the Country Rocks and the Intrusives

The Koperberg Suite comprises some 1700 small bodies of intrusiverocks largely composed of andesine anorthosite, biotite diorite,and leuconorite, norite and melanorite-hypersthenite; 30 mineshave been established in the O'okiep District in the cupriferousrocks of this anorthosite-charnockite kindred. The suite isintrusive into a sequence of granite gneiss and metavolcanicand metasedimentary rocks, and intrusive granite, that wereelevated to the granulite fades of regional metamorphism.TheSm-Nd model ages for the country rocks and the Koperberg Suiteare all 1700 Ma (T_CHUR) and 2000 Ma (T_DM) supporting a majorcrustforming event in this portion of Namaqualand at the endof Lower Proterozoic times. The granulite fades metamorphismin the O'okiep District is recorded by a Rb-Sr isochron ageof 1223 48 Ma on the Nababeep Granite Gneiss, and by (1197 15)-Ma-old inherited cores of zircons in the Koperberg Suite.The time of intrusion of the Concordia and Rietberg Granitesis believed to be reflected by their Rb-Sr whole-rock age of1105 24 Ma. The mean U-Pb age of 1029 10 Ma on individualzircon grains and zircon rims from the Koperberg Suite recordsthe time of its intrusion, and this is supported by the Sm-Ndwhole-rock age of 1022 42 Ma for the suite. Subsequent coolingand reheating events are recorded by the Ar-Ar ages of 800–850Ma for the Koperberg Suite, and of 500–550 Ma for thesuite and certain country rocks, respectively.An Nd value of-7,and its volume and composition, suggest a crustal-melt sourcefor the intrusive Concordia Granite. Moreover, the age-correctedhigh l_Sr (07061-07272) and low Nd (-9), and the high µ₂(101), that characterize the Koperberg Suite also imply a crustalsource, and a model is presented for the generation of the majorpart of the suite by partial melting of granulites of overallintermediate (diorite) composition in the lower crust. Corresponding author     

Sapphirine+Forsterite and Sapphirine+Humite-Group Minerals in an Ultra-Magnesian Lens from Kuhi-lal, SW Pamirs, Tajikistan: Are these Assemblages Forbidden?

Sapphirine occurs with humite-group minerals and forsteritein Precambrian amphibole-facies rocks at Kuhi-lal, SW PamirMountains, Tajikistan, a locality also for talc+kyanite magnesiohornblendewhiteschist. Most of these sapphirine-bearing rocks are graphiticand sulfidic (pyrite and pyrrhotite) and contain enstatite,clinohumite or chondrodite, spinel, rutile, gedrite, and phlogopite.A phlogopite schist has the assemblage with X_Fe = Fe/(Fe+Mg)increasing as follows: chlorite (0-003)<phlogopite (0.004–0.005)sapphirine (0.004–0.006) enstatite (0-006)forsterite (0-006–0-007)<spinel (0-014). This assemblage includes the incompatiblepair sapphirine+forsterite, but there is no textural evidencefor reaction. In one rock with clinohumite, X_Fe increases asfollows: clinohumite (0-002) <sapphirine (0-003) <enstatite(0-004–0-006) <spinel (0-010). Ion microprobe and wet-chemicalanalyses give 0-57–0-73 wt.% F in phlogopite and 0-27wt.% F in chlorite in the phlogopite schist; 0-04, 1.5–1.9,and 4.4 wt.% F in forsterite, clinohumite, and chondrodite,respectively; and 0-0-09 wt.% BeO and 0-05–0-21 wt.% B₂O₃in sapphirine. Stabilization of sapphirine+clinohumite or sapphirine+chondroditeinstead of sapphirine+phlogopite is possible at high F contentsin K-poor rocks, but minor element contents appear to be toolow to stabilize sapphirine as an additional phase with forsterite+enstatite+spinel.Although sapphirine+forsterite is metastable relative to spinel+enstatitein experiments conducted at a_H2O=1 in the MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂Osystem, it might be stabilized at a_H2O0.5, P4 kbar, T650–700C.Textures in the Kuhi-lal whiteschists suggest a polymetamorphicevolution in which the rocks were originally metamorphosed atT650C, P 7 kbar, conditions under which sapphirine+clinohumiteand sapphirine+chondrodite are inferred to have formed, andsubsequently affected by a later event at lower P, similar T,and lower a_H2O. The latter conditions were favorable for sapphirine+forsteriteto form in a rock originally containing chlorite+forsterite+spinel+enstatite.     

Normal fault zone evolution and fault scarp degradation in the Aegean region

Abstract The initial stages of rift-basin evolution are periods of great landform change. Fault scarps are newly created axes of erosion which, along with footwall uplands, act as sediment sources for subsiding hanging wall basins. Scarps formed during neotectonic normal faulting of Mesozoic carbonates in mainland Greece and western Turkey display a varied pattern of degradation related to the history of fault development and variations in fault zone architecture. Alternating zone-parallel compact breccia sheets and incohesive breccia belts, of contrasting resistance to erosion, underlie scarps. Meso-scale slip-plane phenomena, such as corrugations, gutters, comb fractures, and pluck holes, together with geomorphological features, such as subsurface solution pipes, and vegetation result in initial variations in the denudability of erosionally resistant compact breccia sheets. Migration with time of slip-plane activity within a fault zone into its hanging wall (i.e. intrafault-zone hanging wall collapse) adds to the structural heterogeneity of fault scarp footwalls. Quaternary talus, whether offset across a fault, banked unconformably against a slip plane, or faulted against a reactivated slip plane, has a dampening effect on degradation. The complexities of fault zone architecture combined with a history of hanging wall collapse lead, in the Aegean region, to non-uniform degradation and scarps which are commonly stepped and occasionally cavitated.