Cryptotephrochronology of the Eemian and the last interglacial–glacial transition in the North East Atlantic

The Eemian interglacial and the onset of the subsequent glacial period serve as the most recent analogue for the natural operation of the climate system during the current interglacial. Pronounced climatic oscillations occurred during this period, but their nature and pattern are poorly understood due to dating limitations and unknown phase relationships between different regions and archives. Tephrochronology offers considerable potential for precise correlation of disparate palaeoclimatic archives preserving evidence of these rapid climatic transitions through the tracing of common isochronous tephra horizons. We outline the identification of three previously unknown cryptotephra horizons within a marine core from the Rockall Trough, North East Atlantic. This sequence preserves a high‐resolution record of this interval and shard size, geochemical heterogeneity and the co‐variance of shard concentrations with ice‐rafted debris data are utilized to demonstrate that primary airfall was the most likely transport and depositional pathway. The main geochemical populations of these horizons have similar transitional alkali major and trace element compositions, suggesting that they were derived from a common Icelandic source, potentially the Öræfajökull volcanic system. These tephra horizons represent additions to the North Atlantic event stratigraphy for this period and tentative correlations to Icelandic terrestrial deposits are proposed for two horizons.     

WEST AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL NARRATIVES AND DEVELOPMENT‐VOLUNTEER PRAXIS*

ABSTRACT. Environmental narratives in Africa have been examined in a flurry of publications since the mid‐1990s. In this article we seek to offer insights into the role and motivations of volunteer development workers in perpetuating environmental narratives. We examine the factors that led to the questioning or nonquestioning of environment‐development discourses and their influence, if any, on the actual work undertaken by volunteers. As former development volunteers, we also explore the role that the development‐volunteer experience subsequently played in shaping our own research as academics. Our analysis is based largely on our tenure as U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in Mali from 1987 until 1989 and our later experiences as academics. We draw on our memories, interviews with former colleagues, and training materials to describe how volunteers were introduced to, and encouraged to act on, environmental problems in the West African Sudano‐Sahel. We adopt a reflexive approach to explore briefly how our experiences as volunteers influenced our research and writing as academics.     

Using magnetic resonance imaging for experimental analysis of fine‐sediment infiltration into gravel beds

Sedimentologists recognize that development of a fine‐resolution, truly three‐dimensional analytical tool is essential if the internal structure of an opaque material is to be examined. This paper therefore seeks to: (i) test the viability of magnetic resonance imaging for sedimentological research; and (ii) investigate fine‐sediment infiltration into gravel beds. The results of six experiments are analysed quantitatively using Image J post‐processing software. Data indicate that magnetic resonance imaging‐based measurements of particle axes and volumes are comparable with standard laboratory techniques. Furthermore, the technique permits visualization and analysis of differences in the pattern of fine‐sediment infiltration (median particle diameter, d) into a framework of gravel (median particle diameter, D). Data clearly illustrate a siltation process for samples of D/d = 34 and a sealing process for samples of D/d = 7 where the seal is restricted to a depth equal to 2D. This pore‐scale visualization is valuable to the understanding of hydraulic–sediment–habitat interactions.     

Stratigraphic base level and fluvial architecture: Ericson Sandstone (Campanian), Rock Springs Uplift, SW Wyoming, USA

The concept of stratigraphic base level, or the ratio between accommodation and sediment supply (A/S ratio), has been used to analyse the Rusty and Canyon Creek Members of the Campanian Ericson Sandstone in the Rock Springs Uplift, SW Wyoming, USA. The Ericson Sandstone was deposited under fluvial to estuarine conditions in a foreland basin setting influenced both by Sevier-style (thrust belt) tectonism and by more local, Laramide-style, foreland uplifts. The depositional setting was situated several tens to a few hundred kilometres from the nearest shoreline. Therefore, sea level change at the contemporaneous shoreline probably had little, if any, influence on the development of the sedimentary architecture. The Rusty Member shows an alternation between incised valleys filled by multi-storey estuarine channel sandstones showing palaeoflow to the south and delta plain sediments with single-storey channels with no evidence of tidal influence, which show palaeoflow to the east. This cyclicity is interpreted as recording repeated uplift of the Wind River Range to the north, causing valley incision and reduction of the A/S ratio. During quiescent periods, the A/S ratio increased allowing the valleys to fill and delta plain conditions to be subsequently re-established because of increased sediment supply from the thrust belt in the west. A regional unconformity at the base of the Canyon Creek Member truncates the Rusty Member, and represents a significant reduction of the A/S ratio caused by Laramide tectonic uplift. The Canyon Creek Member is a multi-storey, multi-lateral fluvial channel sandstone, where channel preservation and thickness increase upwards, suggesting an increase of the A/S ratio. The Canyon Creek Member channels are interpreted to have been sinuous, meandering channels from the observed sedimentary structures and fill patterns, despite their sand-rich nature. It is argued that grain size is a poor indicator of channel planform, and that there was very low preservation potential for fine material because of a relatively low A/S ratio. The top of the Canyon Creek Member is a regionally correlative surface marking an abrupt increase of the A/S ratio. This surface is termed an expansion surface, denoting an abrupt increase in accommodation. The overlying Almond Formation shows a single-storey alluvial architecture with a very high preservation of fine-grained material. An assumed correspondence in time of the Late Absaroka thrust phase in the Sevier belt to the west and the formation of the sharp top of the Canyon Creek Member suggests that the thrust phase caused a basin-wide abrupt increase of subsidence that changed the alluvial architecture. As an alternative to sequence stratigraphic nomenclature defined for strata controlled by shoreline movements, a scheme relating systems tracts and surfaces to changes in stratigraphic base level is proposed. Such a scheme is useful where correlations to shoreline strata are ambiguous or cannot be made, or where tectonics and climate are important controls.     

Calcium and magnesium‐limited dolomite precipitation at Deep Springs Lake,California

Dolomite [Ca,Mg(CO₃)₂] precipitation from supersaturated ionic solutions at Earth surface temperatures is considered kinetically inhibited because of the difficulties experienced in experimentally reproducing such a process. Nevertheless, recent dolomite is observed to form in hypersaline and alkaline environments. Such recent dolomite precipitation is commonly attributed to microbial mediation because dolomite has been demonstrated to form in vitro in microbial cultures. The mechanism of microbially mediated dolomite precipitation is, however, poorly understood and it remains unclear what role microbial mediation plays in natural environments. In the study presented here, simple geochemical methods were used to assess the limitations and controls of dolomite formation in Deep Springs Lake, a highly alkaline playa lake in eastern California showing ongoing dolomite authigenesis. The sediments of Deep Springs Lake consist of unlithified, clay‐fraction dolomite ooze. Based on δ¹⁸O equilibria and textural observations, dolomite precipitates from oxygenated and agitated surface brine. The Na‐SO₄‐dominated brine contains up to 500 mm dissolved inorganic carbon whereas Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ concentrations are ca 1 and 0·3 mm , respectively. Precipitation in the subsurface probably is not significant because of the lack of Ca²⁺ (below 0·01 mm ). Under such highly alkaline conditions, the effect of microbial metabolism on supersaturation by pH and alkalinity increase is negligible. A putative microbial effect could, however, support dolomite nucleation or support crystal growth by overcoming a kinetic barrier. An essential limitation on crystal growth rates imposed by the low Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ concentrations could favour the thermodynamically more stable carbonate phase (which is dolomite) to precipitate. This mode of unlithified dolomite ooze formation showing δ¹³C values near to equilibrium with atmospheric CO₂ (ca 3‰) contrasts the formation of isotopically light (organically derived), hard‐lithified dolomite layers in the subsurface of some less alkaline environments. Inferred physicochemical controls on dolomite formation under highly alkaline conditions observed in Deep Springs Lake may shed light on conditions that favoured extensive dolomite formation in alkaline Precambrian oceans, as opposed to modern oceans where dolomites only form diagenetically in organic C‐rich sediments.     

Overgrowth Textures, Disequilibrium Zoning, and Cooling History of a Glassy Four-Pyroxene Boninite Dyke from New Caledonia

Pyroxenes in a low-Ca boninite from a dyke show remarkable growthand overgrowth textures and chemical zoning, which are usedto infer crystallization mechanisms and kinetics. The rock comprisesnearly 50 vol.% fresh glass, phenocrysts and glomerocrysts ofclinoenstatite sensu lato ({small tilde}32 vol.%), microphenocrystsof orthopyroxene and Ca-rich clinopyroxene ({small tilde}17vol.%), and microlites of amphibole and oxides ({small tilde}3vol.%). Clinoenstatite, which inverted from protoenstatite,is skeletal with glass and chrome-spinel inclusions and thinovergrowth zones of Ca-rich clinopyroxene and amphibole; thecrystals are occasionally broken. Orthopyroxene is often skeletal,sometimes slightly resorbed with the same inclusions and overgrowthzones. Ca-rich clinopyroxene and amphibole occur mainly in pyroxeneovergrowth zones. Chrome-spinel in contact with glass is overgrownby magnetite-maghemite or amphibole. The rock is andesitic witha high mg-number of 0.78, and is quartz- and strongly hypersthene-and feldspar-normative. The glass is dacitic with an mg-numberof 0.15, strongly quartz- and feldspar-normative, and rich inwater ({small tilde}5.6wt.%). Strong chemical zoning occurs in all minerals, oscillatory zoningoccurring only in clinoenstatite and orthopyroxene. The mg-numberin clinoenstatite sensu lato ranges from 0.95 (clinoenstatitesensu stricto) to 0-68 (clinohypersthene), the largest rangeso far described, and from 0.88 to 0.43 in orthopyroxene. TheWo content of the former (0.21–1.56 with rare higher values)is considerably smaller than and does not overlap that of thelatter (1.36–4.84X Wo generally increasing with Fs. Thecores of both are chromian (up to 0–018 atoms per formulaunit), and Cr falls to or below the detection limit for Fs>25.The Fs-rich zones of clinohypersthene have {small tilde}2wt%A1₂O₃ and (M6wt% TiO₂, whereas those of orthopyroxene reachnearly 10 and 04 wt. %, respectively. Ca-rich clinopyroxenevaries from pigeonite through subcalcic augite and augite toferroaugite, the outer zones reaching 12wt.% A1₂O₃ and 1–8wt% TiO₂. Amphibole is magnesio-hornblende on pyroxene or tschermakitichornblende on oxide. The relative times of nucleation, growth, partial resorption,and fracturing of the crystals were determined from the texturesand the chemistry of the overgrowths. Protoenstatite and chrome-spinelnucleated from the melt and were overgrown in places by allsucceeding minerals. Orthopyroxene nucleated mainly from themelt, whereas the other phases occur only as overgrowths. Orthopyroxenemay show weak resorption at intermediate stages. Protoenstatitecrystals were occasionally broken, the relative times beingshown by the nature of the overgrowths. Minor-element concentrationsvary strongly with the growth stage, chromium soon being usedup in the melt and aluminium and titanium being strongly concentratedin the crystals during the last stages. Plagioclase and quartzare absent because of suppression of their nucleation in a water-richmelt on rapid cooling. Crystallization probably occurred intwo main stages, an early one of moderately fast cooling atlow undercooling probably in a shallow magma chamber (correspondingto the growth of the protoenstatite phenocrysts) and a laterone over a period of less than a day of faster cooling at higherundercooling after uprise and injection into the dyke (correspondingto the fracturing of protoenstatite and growth of the microphenocrystsand microlites).     

Mineral Chemistry of Peridotites from Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Lithosphere: Constraints on Mantle Evolution beneath Eastern China

Major- and trace-element data on the constituent minerals ofgarnet peridotite xenoliths hosted in early Paleozoic (457–500Ma) kimberlites and Neogene (16–18 Ma) volcanic rockswithin the North China Craton are compared with those from thepre-pilot hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific DrillingProject (CCSD-PP1) in the tectonically exhumed Triassic (220Ma) Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane along its southernmargin. P–T estimates for the Paleozoic and Neogene peridotitexenoliths reflect different model geotherms corresponding tosurface heat flows of 40 mW/m² (Paleozoic) and 80 mW/m² (Neogene).Garnet peridotite xenoliths or xenocrysts from the Paleozoickimberlites are strongly depleted, similar to peridotites fromother areas of cratonic mantle, with magnesium olivine (meanFo_92.7), Cr-rich garnet and clinopyroxene with high La/Yb. Garnet(and spinel) peridotite xenoliths hosted in Neogene basaltsare derived from fertile mantle; they have high Al₂O₃ and TiO₂contents, low-Mg-number olivine (mean Fo_89.5), low-Cr garnetand diopside with flat rare earth element (REE) patterns. Thedifferences between the Paleozoic and Neogene xenoliths suggestthat a buoyant refractory lithospheric keel present beneaththe eastern North China Craton in Paleozoic times was at leastpartly replaced by younger, hotter and more fertile lithosphericmantle during Mesozoic–Cenozoic times. Garnet peridotitesfrom the Sulu UHP terrane have less magnesian olivine (Fo_91.5),and lower-Cr garnet than the Paleozoic xenoliths. The diopsideshave low heavy REE (HREE) contents and sinusoidal to light REE(LREE)-enriched REE patterns. These features, and their highMg/Si and low CaO and Al₂O₃ contents, indicate that the CCSD-PP1peridotites represent a moderately refractory mantle protolith.Details of mineral chemistry indicate that this protolith experiencedcomplex metasomatism by asthenosphere-derived melts or fluidsin Mesoproterozoic, and subsolidus re-equilibration involvingfluids/melts derived from the subducted Yangtze continentalcrust during UHP metamorphism in the early Mesozoic. Tectonicextension of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle of the NorthChina Craton and exhumation of the Sulu UHP rocks in the earlyMesozoic induced upwelling of the asthenosphere. Peridotitessampled by the Neogene basalts represent newly formed lithospherederived by cooling of the upwelling asthenospheric mantle inJurassic–Cretaceous and Paleogene time. KEY WORDS: garnet peridotite xenoliths; North China Craton; lithospheric thinning; Sulu UHP terrane; UHP lithosphere evolution; mantle replacement     

Quantifying Three-Dimensional Silicate Fabrics in Cumulates Using Cumulative Distribution Functions

We present a new method for quantifying three-dimensional silicatefabrics and the associated uncertainties from grain orientationdata on three orthogonal sections. Our technique is appliedto the orientation of crystallographic features and, hence,yields a fabric related to the lattice-preferred orientation,although the method could be applied to shape-preferred orientationsor strain analysis based on passive linear markers. The orientationdata for each section are represented by their cumulative distributionfunction, and an iterative procedure is used to find the symmetricsecond-rank strain tensor that will simultaneously satisfy thecumulative distribution functions observed on each section.For samples with well-developed fabrics, this technique providesa much closer match to the sectional data than do previous techniquesbased on eigenparameter analysis of two-dimensional orientationdata. Robust uncertainty estimates are derived from a non-parametricbootstrap resampling scheme. The method is applied to two cumulates:one with a well-developed fabric and the other with a weak fabric,from the Stillwater complex, Montana. The silicate petrofabricorientations obtained for these samples compare favorably withindependent direct estimates of the volume fabric from electronbackscatter diffraction and magnetic techniques. KEY WORDS: cumulates; fabrics; quantitative; Stillwater complex; textural analysis     

Diagenetically formed ooids and intraclasts in South African calcretes

Certain South African calcrete (caliche) beds contain structures that very closely resemble normal marine ooids and intraclasts. The ooids/intraclasts are actually non-marine in origin, and were formed by an in situ process of calcretization and selective neomorphism. The term ‘diagenetic ooids/intraclasts’ is thus applied to distinguish these grains from marine ooids/intraclasts. Quaternary calcretes contain the only known ooids/intraclasts in any South African Cretaceous or Cainozoic rocks. The diagenetic grains are believed to have formed in the following manner. Rain water percolates through an unlithified calcareous sand deposit, dissolving carbonate along its downward path. This carbonate-laden water is eventually checked in its descent and drawn upward somewhat by capillary action. Evaporation and soil suction in the uppermost zones of the sediment body cause precipitation of a concentric coating of carbonate mud around individual grains (incipient ooids) or composites of grains (incipient intraclasts). As this dissolution-precipitation cycle is repeated the micritic coatings thicken and locally push grains apart. At this stage three things can happen: (a) sparry calcite may be introduced as an intergranular cement (very rare in these calcretes), (b) wet carbonate mud may fill the pore spaces and lithify to micrite (common), or (c) wet carbonate mud may fill the pore spaces and neomorphose to microspar (common). The last process causes ooids/intraclasts to stand out distinctively, since they are opaque, micrite-coated grains set in a fabric of clear microspar. This selective neomorphism of the micritic mud in pore spaces, rather than the micritic mud forming ooids/intraclasts, is probably a function of rapidity of lithification. The micrite of the coatings must have lithified quickly, before neomorphic crystal enlargement could occur, whereas lithification of the intergranular mud was delayed long enough for the growth of microspar crystals.