Crystallization of chromite from nickel-iron sulphide melts

An experiment, in which an iron-nickel-copper sulphide melt was heated with synthetic chromite and then cooled, showed that substantial quantities of chromite had dissolved in the melt and had then recrystallized as euhedral crystals rimmed with magnetite. This experiment suggests that the unusual chromite (low in Mg and Al) which is associated with the sulphide phase in Western Australian nickel ores may have formed in a similar way.J.M.R. carried out the experimental part of this investigation as a post-graduate student at Flinders University, South Australia, working under a CSIRO extramural grant.     

Uranium and potassium in calc-alkaline volcanic rocks from Sardinia

The U content of major rock-forming minerals in a suite of calc-alkaline volcanic rocks from Sardinia is very low and their partition coefficient of U (D^U = C^S/C^L) is smaller than 0.1. The values of D^U of the mineral phases decrease from basalt to dacite and, in all rocks, the bulk of U and K is present in the groundmass. The apparent close association between K and U in basic and intermediate rocks probably reflects the fact that most of their rock-forming minerals are relatively ‘inert’ with respect to both of these elements.     

Greatlakean Substage: A replacement for Valderan Substage in the Lake Michigan basin

New evidence from recent field and seismic investigations in the Lake Michigan basin and in the type areas of the Valders, Two Creeks and Two Rivers deposits necessitates revision of late-glacial ice-front positions, rock- and time-stratigraphic nomenclature and climatic interpretations and deglaciation patterns for the period ca. 14,000–7,000 radiocarbon years B.P. The previously reported and long accepted pattern of deglaciation for the Lake Michigan basin started with a regular retreat from the Lake Border Morainic System, with a minor oscillation marked by the Port Huron moraine(s) and then an extensive Twocreekan deglaciation followed by a major (320 km) post-Twocreekan advance (Valders). However, we now record a major retreat between the times of the Lake Border and Port Huron moraines, followed by a gradual retreat from the Port Huron limit and interrupted by a minor standstill (deposition of Manitowoc Till), a retreat (Twocreekan) and a readvance (Two Rivers Till). No Woodfordian or younger readvance was as extensive as had been the preceding one. This sequence argues for a normal, climatically controlled, progressive deglaciation rather than one interrupted by a major post-Twocreekan (formerly Valderan) surge. This revision appears finally to harmonize the geologic evidence and the palynological record for the Great Lakes region. Our investigations show that Valders Till from which the Valderan Substage was named is late-Woodfordian in age. We propose the term “Greatlakean” as a replacement for the now misleading time-stratigraphic term “Valderan”. The type section and the definition of the upper and lower boundaries of the Greatlakean Substage remain the same as those originally proposed for the Valderan Substage but the name is changed.     

The geosynclinal pair at the continental margin of Peru

The Andean geosynclinal pair in Peru consists of a eugeosynclinal marine andesitic volcanic trough and a miogeosynclinal sedimentary trough. Both troughs developed on a block-faulted basement of Precambrian crystalline rocks in which movement occurred along faults parallel to the continental margin. Subsidence in the eugeosyncline was most rapid during the Albian during which period about 7000 m of marine volcanics were deposited. In the miogeosyncline the greatest subsidence took place during the Tithonian but continued throughout the Cretaceous to accumulate a total thickness of about 6000 m. From the Late Cretaceous to the mid-Tertiary the Andean granitoid batholith was emplaced, mainly in the eugeosynclinal zone. A Benioff zone has been active at the continental margin from the Early Jurassic until the present so that the entire geotectonic cycle from the geosynclinal stage through to orogeny and uplift has taken place under a regime of active subduction.During the geosynclinal stage the sedimentary troughs developed in fault-bounded blocks which subsided under tension. It is possible to envisage crustal thinning within the subsident blocks by rotational movement on extensional faults or by plastic stretching of the lower crust. Stretching would be facilitated by the high geothermal gradient resulting from the emplacement of plutonics and volcanics and might be analogous to the formtion of marginal basins of western Pacific type. It is more difficult to account for the subsequent uplift for although the granites contributed to the crustal thickening, the main uplift did not occur in the granitic sector but further inland, and was moreover delayed for at least 20 m.y. after the last granites were emplaced.     

Plate motion and thermal instability in the asthenosphere

This paper investigates the effect of shear heating in the asthenosphere on the thermal structure of the upper mantle. Equations describing the motion of the lithosphere over the asthenosphere in the presence of a strongly temperature-dependent stress-strain rate relation are derived and solved with the help of several approximations. These approximations are shown to be valid under conditions appropriate for the earth.Two sets of solutions are found. For one set (the “subcritical” solutions) a normal shear stress—velocity relation is found for small stresses. The velocity increases as the stress increases, reaching a maximum velocity σ_c for a critical stress σ_c. The subcritical solutions have a negligible effect on the thermal structure of the earth, even at the critical stress. The other set of solutions (the “supercritical” solutions) has the bizarre property that a decrease of applied shear stress leads to an increase of velocity. Thus, as the shear stress goes to zero, the velocity becomes infinite. At larger shear stresses the velocity decreases until it reaches σ_c at a stress σ_c (the two sets of solutions share this point in common). There are no steady solutions of any kind for shear stresses in excess of σ_c. We discard the supercritical solutions as candidates for the thermal structure of the earth on the basis of their instability to small perturbations of applied stress and temperature.The realm of subcritical solutions (stress less than σ_c, velocity less than σ_c) thus defines a regime of plate motion in which the thermal effects of shear heating are negligible. If the shear stresses acting on plates exceed σ_c, however, new physical processes must come into play to dissipate the excess heat generated. Assuming that the velocities of plates on the earth today are less than σ_c, relative to the deep mantle, a strict upper limit of a few tens of bars can be derived for σ_c, corresponding to effective viscosities of ca. 10¹⁹ poise in the asthenosphere.     

Additional evidence of existence of ancient rocks in the mid-Atlantic ridge and the age of the opening of the Atlantic

A metabasalt dredged at a junction of the median valley with the Atlantis fracture zone (30°01/tN, 42°04/tW) in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge shows complete recrystallization under a metasomatic condition, though the original igneous texture of a coarse-grained basalt is still recognizable. There is strong circumstantial evidence suggesting that this rock is not an ice-rafted erratic, but an authentic Mid-Atlantic Ridge rock. The ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar age of this sample is 169 m.y. (Jurassic) which should represent the time of recrystallization. The initial value (^87Sr/86Sr)_O is 0.720, far above the values previously observed in oceanfloor basalts, including both tholeiitic and alkalic rocks (0.701–0.704). Sr with such a high isotopic ratio is considered to have been introduced by metasomatism during metamorphism by a solution coming from a continental mass or masses which were then located very close to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The ⁴⁰Ar−³⁹Ar age of sample AM50 may approximate the time of the commencement of the opening of the Atlantic. All these data support the possible existence of ancient rock masses in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as was formerly claimed by Bonatti, Melson and others.