Rates and Timescales of Fractional Crystallization from 238U-230Th-226Ra Disequilibria in Trachyte Lavas from Longonot Volcano, Kenya

A suite of peralkaline trachytes from Longonot volcano, Kenya,which erupted during the last 6000 years, has been analysedfor major and trace elements, Pb and Nd isotopes, and U–Th–Radisequilibria. The lavas are divided into three stratigraphicgroups of trachytes (Lt²a, Lt²b and Lt³), and hybrid lavas,designated LMx¹ and LMx², which, respectively, pre-date andpost-date the Lt² lavas. Major and trace elements are consistent,with up to 37% within-group fractional crystallization of predominantlyalkali feldspar. The parental magma for the different trachytegroups had a more mafic composition—probably hawaiitic.Nd and Pb isotopes show minimal variation, both within and betweenmagma groups, and indicate that up to 10% comendite magma fromthe neighbouring Olkaria volcanic field may have intermixedwith the Longonot magma. (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) disequilibria indicatethat limited U/Th fractionation occurred during the past 10kyr, whereas (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th) disequilibria reflect the effectof alkali feldspar fractionation >8 kyr ago in the Lt²a lavas,between 3 and 7 kyr ago in the Lt²b lavas and in the past 3kyr for the Lt³ lavas. (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th) disequilibria in the Lt²blavas are interpreted using a model that combines the equationsof radioactive decay and in-growth with Rayleigh crystallizationto give fractionation rates of about 0·2 x 10^–4/yearfor the evolution of hawaiite to trachyte, but more rapid ratesof up to 3 x 10^–4/year for fractionation within the trachytesequence. (²²⁶Ra/²³⁰Th) from two whole-rock–alkali feldsparpairs are interpreted to show the crystals formed at 5800 yearsBP (Lt²b) and 2800 years BP (Lt³), implying that phenocrystformation continued almost up to the time of eruption. The resultsstrongly indicate that fractionated magmas can be stored forperiods on the order of 1000–2500 years prior to eruption,whereas other magmas were erupted as fractionation was proceeding. KEY WORDS: trachyte; magma chambers; u-series; Kenya     

Glacial history and marine environmental change during the last interglacial-glacial cycle, western Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Superimposed glacial and marine sediment exposed in coastal cliffs on Brøggerhalvøya, west Spitsbergen, contain four emergence cycles (episodes D, C, B, and A) that are related to glacial-isostatic depression and subsequent recovery of the crust. Tills are found in episodes C and B; in each case glaciation began with an advance of local glaciers, followed by regional glaciation. The marine transgression following episode C deglaciation reached 70 to 80 m above sea level. Glacial-marine and sublittoral sands within episode C contain a diverse and abundant microfauna requiring marine conditions more favorable than during the Holocene. We define this interval as the Leinstranda Interglacial. Based on the fauna, sedimentology and geochronology (radiocarbon, amino acid racemization, and uranium-series disequilibrium) we conclude that the Leinstranda Interglacial occurred during isotope substage 5e. Episode B deglaciation occurred late in isotope stage 5 (c. 70 ± 10 ka ago), and was followed by a marine transgression to about 50 m above sea level. The associated foraminifera, mollusca, and vertebrate fauna require seasonally ice-free conditions similar to those of the Holocene, but less ameliorated than during the Leinstranda Interglacial. A significant influx of Atlantic water into the Norwegian Sea, augmented by a local insolation maximum late in isotope stage 5, are required to produce shallow-water conditions similar to those of the Holocene. There is no evidence for major glacial activity during the Middle Weichselian (isotope stages 4 and 3), and we conclude that ice margins were not significantly different from those of the late Weichselian, but the record for this interval is scant. The extent of ice at the Late Weichselian maximum was less than during either of the two preceding episodes (B or C). Late Weichselian deglaciation (episode A) began prior to 13 ka B.P. Oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns conducive to large-scale glaciation of western Spitsbergen are not well understood, but those patterns that prevailed during isotope stages 4,3, 2, and 1 did not produce a major glacial advance along this coast.     

Constraints on the role of impact heating and melting in asteroids

Abstract— Imaging of asteroids Gaspra and Ida and laboratory studies of asteroidal meteorites show that impacts undoubtedly played an important role in the histories of asteroids and resulted in shock metamorphism and the formation of breccias and melt rocks. However, in recent years, impact has also been called upon by numerous authors as the heat source for some of the major geological processes that took place on asteroids, such as global thermal metamorphism of chondrite parent bodies and a variety of melting and igneous events. The latter were proposed to explain the origin of ureilites, aubrites, mesosiderites, the Eagle Station pallasites, acapulcoites, lodranites, and the IAB, IIICD, and HE irons. We considered fundamental observations from terrestrial impact craters, combined with results from laboratory shock experiments and theoretical considerations, to evaluate the efficiency of impact heating and melting of asteroids. Studies of terrestrial impact craters and relevant shock experiments suggest that impact heating of asteroids will produce two types of impact melts: (1) large-scale whole rock melts (total melts, not partial melts) at high shock pressure and (2) localized melts formed at the scale of the mineral constituents (mineral specific or grain boundary melting) at intermediate shock pressures. The localized melts form minuscule amounts of melt that quench and solidify in situ, thus preventing them from pooling into larger melt bodies. Partial melting as defined in petrology has not been observed in natural and experimental shock metamorphism and is thermodynamically impossible in a shock wave-induced transient compression of rocks. The total impact melts produced represent a minuscule portion of the displaced rock volume of the parent crater. Internal differentiation by fractional crystallization is absent in impact melt sheets of craters of sizes that can be tolerated by asteroids, and impact melt rocks are usually clast-laden. Thermal metamorphism of country rocks by impact is extremely minor. Experimental and theoretical considerations suggest that (1) single disruptive impacts cannot raise the average global temperature of strength- or gravity-dominated asteroids by more than a few degrees; (2) cumulative global heating of asteroids by multiple impacts is ineffective for asteroids less than a few hundred kilometers in diameter; (3) small crater size, low gravity, and low impact velocity suggest that impact melt volume in single asteroidal impacts is a very small (0.01–0.1%) fraction of the total displaced crater volume; (4) total impact melt volume formed during the typical lifetime of an asteroid is a small fraction (<0.001) of the volume of impact-generated debris; and (5) much of the impact melt generated on asteroidal targets is ejected from craters with velocities greater than escape velocity and, thus, not retained on the asteroid. The inescapable conclusion from these observations and calculations is that impacts cannot have been the heat source for the origin of the meteorite types listed above, and we must turn to processes other than impact, such as decay of short-lived radionuclides or electromagnetic induction during an early T-tauri phase of the Sun to explain heating and melting of the parent bodies of these meteorites.     

Magnetic investigations of the West Hawk,Deep Bay and Clearwater impact structures,Canada

Abstract— Due to the effects of erosion, tectonism and burial, impact structures are often obscured or destroyed. Geophysical methods are increasingly being used in detecting the signatures of impact structures. While gravity lows associated with impact structures are well understood, associated magnetic anomaly lows are not. In this study, drill cores from three Canadian impact structures were analyzed for rock magnetic properties and mineralogy, in order to explain the magnetic anomaly lows associated with these structures. Samples from the drill cores were cut and measured for anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and natural remanent magnetization (NRM) parameters. Drill cores from the twin impact craters of the Clearwater structure exhibited different NRM characteristics, and samples from their respective drill cores were subject to demagnetization by alternating field and thermal techniques. The difference noted in their NRM characteristics was attributed to the acquisition of a viscous remanent magnetization (VRM) at depth in Clearwater East. At all three structures, both magnetic susceptibilities and remanent magnetizations are well below regional values in impact generated breccias, melt rocks, shocked crystalline rocks, and in postimpact sedimentary infill. The processes of brecciation, alteration, shock, and infill by nonmagnetic sediments contribute to the development of the magnetic lows. However, a significant contribution to the observed magnetic anomalies was found, by first-order forward modelling, to arise from basement rocks beneath the impact structures. This zone of reduced magnetization may be caused by the partial demagnetization of magnetite by the impact-induced transient stress wave traveling away from the point of impact.     

Metamorphism and Anatexis in the Mafic Complex Contact Aureole, Ivrea Zone, Northern Italy

Emplacement of mantle-derived magma (magmatic accretion) isoften presumed or inferred to be an important cause of regionalgranulite facies metamorphism and crustal anatexis. The juxtapositionof mafic cumulates and regionally distributed granulite faciesrocks has led some to consider the Ivrea zone (northern Italy,Southern Alps) as an important exposure that demonstrates thiscausal relationship. However, regional PTt paths indicated bymetamorphic reaction textures and PT conditions inferred fromgeothermobarometry indicate that the emplacement of mafic plutonicrocks (Mafic Complex) at the Ivrea zone occurred during decompressionfrom ambient pressures at the regional thermal maximum. Fieldand petrographic observations, supported by PT estimates, indicatethat regional retrograde decompression and emplacement of theupper parts of the Mafic Complex probably accompanied extensionduring the Late Carboniferous–Early Permian. A spatiallyrestricted decompression-melting event accompanied final emplacement,depleting supracrustal rocks enclosed by an     

The South Range Breccia Belt of the Sudbury Impact Structure: A possible terrace collapse feature

Abstract— The South Range Breccia Belt (SRBB) is an arcuate, 45 km long zone of Sudbury Breccia in the South Range of the 1.85 Ga Sudbury Impact Structure. The belt varies in thickness between tens of meters to hundreds of meters and is composed of a polymict assemblage of Huronian Supergroup (2.49–2.20 Ga), Nipissing Diabase (2.2 Ga), and Proterozoic granitoid breccia fragments ranging in size from a few millimeters to tens of meters. The SRBB matrix is composed of a fine‐grained (～100 μm) assemblage of biotite, quartz, and ilmenite, with trace amounts of plagioclase, zircon, titanite, epidote, pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and occasionally chlorite. The SRBB hosts the Frood‐Stobie, Vermilion, and Kirkwood quartz diorite offset dykes, the former being associated with one of the largest Ni‐Cu‐PGE sulphide deposits in the world. Optical petrography and whole‐rock geochemistry concur with previous studies that have suggested that the matrix of the SRBB is derived from comminution and at least partial frictional melting of the wall rock Huronian Supergroup lithologies. Rare earth element (REE) data from all sampled lithologies associated with the SRBB exhibit crustal signatures when normalized to C1 chondrite values. Additionally, REE data from the quartz diorites, disseminated sulphides in Sudbury Breccia, and a sample of an aphanitic biotite‐hornblende tonalite dyke exhibit flat slopes when compared to the mafic and felsic norites, quartz gabbro, and granophyre units of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC), which suggests that these lithologies are representative of bulk SIC melt. We suggest that the SRBB was formed by high strain‐rate (>1 m/s), gravity‐driven seismogenic slip of the inner ring of the Sudbury Impact Structure during postimpact crustal readjustment (crater modification stage). Failure of the hanging wall may have facilitated the injection of bulk SIC melt into the SRBB, along with the Ni‐Cu‐PGE sulphides of the Frood‐Stobie deposit. Postimpact Penokean (1.9–1.7 Ga) tectonism, particularly northwest‐directed shearing along the South Range Shear Zone and associated thrust faulting, could account for the present subvertical orientation of the SRBB, and the apparent lack of a connection at depth with the SIC.     

'What Goes Around Comes Around': Informal Activities and Reciprocity Networks in Westport, New Zealand

The article reports the results of a survey into the informal activities of 47 households in the unemployment‐affected small town of Westport, New Zealand. Overall levels of household informal participation are found to be fairly high across all income groups. There is an abundance of informal resources in the surrounding area and a longstanding local culture encouraging participation. However, differentiated ‘established local’ and ‘new local’ reciprocity networks, reflecting broader scale processes of social and economic fragmentation, have emerged since a major round of state and private sector restructuring occurred in 1987.     

安徽铜陵地区幔源镁铁质团块研究及其地质意义

幔源岩石包体研究,是认识上地幔岩石圈物质组成、幔源岩浆演化及壳幔动力学过程的重要手段。铜陵地区小铜官山石英二长闪长岩中发育有微粒闪长质包体,并且这些微粒闪长质包体中不均匀地分布着镁铁质团块,三者的形成过程可视为铜陵地区岩浆演化的缩影,为了解本区深部岩浆作用过程提供了有力的证据。在前人研究的基础上,笔者借助电子探针、扫描电镜、电镜能谱和二次飞行时间离子探针(Tof-SIMS)对产于铜陵地区微粒闪长质包体中的镁铁质团块进行了详细的研究,首次获得了一套精确的矿物化学资料和元素分布图,总结了镁铁质团块的特征,并讨论了本区的深部岩浆作用过程。矿物学研究表明,镁铁质团块中的角闪石和辉石均已发生了不同程度的透闪石化和阳起石化蚀变,蚀变过程中,从镁钙闪石到镁角闪石,再到透闪石,随着Si的增加,角闪石呈现出Mg的富集和Ti、Al贫化的特点。团块中的富Cr磁铁矿、Ti磁铁矿和少量的铝直闪石指示了其具有深源性。Tof-SIMS元素分布图显示,透闪石主要由Al、Si、Ca、Sc、V、Cr、Mn、Cu和Sr元素组成,透辉石主要由Si、Mg、Ca、Cu和Rb组成。在铜陵地区,上地幔部分熔融形成一套玄武岩浆,受岩浆底侵作用影响,玄武岩浆上侵,进入下地壳深位岩浆房,与下地壳硅镁层发生同化混染作用,形成一套轻度演化的中基性(辉长质)玄武岩浆,镁铁质团块就是这类中基性玄武岩浆直接结晶形成的。后受构造作用影响,这类中基性玄武岩浆上侵到中地壳岩浆房(12~16 km),与中地壳的变质岩系发生同化混染和结晶分异作用形成一套中性闪长质岩浆,微粒闪长质包体就是这套闪长质岩浆发生结晶分异作用而形成的。镁铁质团块和微粒闪长质包体清楚地解释了铜陵地区深部岩浆作用过程,并有力地证明了铜陵地区中地壳的闪长质岩浆来源于下地壳的壳幔混源岩浆。     

An information systems approach to the preservation of biological diversity

Abstract

Although biological diversity has emerged in the 1980s as a major scientific and political issue, efforts at scientific assessment have been hampered by the lack of cohesive sets of data. We describe, in concept, a comprehensive national diversity information system, using geographical information system (GIS) techniques to organize existing data and improve spatial aspects of the assessment. One potential GIS analysis, to identify gaps in the network of nature reserves for California, is discussed in greater detail. By employing an information systems approach, available data can be used more effectively and better management strategies can be formulated.