Uranium/thorium dating of Quaternary carbonates

Gustavsson, J. E. & Högberg, S. A. C.: Uranium/thorium dating of Quaternary carbonates. Boreas, Vol. 1, pp. 247–274. Oslo, 1st December, 1972.
The U/Th methods and particularly the theory of the ²³⁰Th-deficiency method are reviewed. The closed system question is discussed against the background of the growth and structure of the molluscan shells measured. The choice of the half-life value for ²³⁰Th, 75,200 years, is accounted for in a review of the five half-life determinations known to the authors. The measurement procedure starts with the mechanical and ultrasonic cleaning of the sample. Small portions are taken for X-ray analysis. The sample is then divided into two parts. One is treated chemically to separate the uraninium and the thorium, in order to determine the ratio between the activities of the uranium isotopes and to determine the content of ²²⁶Ra. The other part of the sample is used to make the total measurement on the uranium and thorium isotopes simultaneously from the same part of the sample without any chemical pretreatment.     

Experiments on the entrainment threshold of well-sorted and poorly sorted carbonate sands

Few studies have examined the hydrodynamic behaviour of carbonate sediments. The data presented here are the result of preliminary research on entrainment in well- and poorly sorted carbonate sands. Experiments were performed using naturally occurring sediments in a tilting, recirculating freshwater flume. Results indicate that when of similar size, shape and density, the transport threshold of carbonate sands is similar to that of quartz. However, owing to their lower density and often platy or irregular shape, skeletal sands require a lower shear stress to initiate transport. Because the density of carbonate particles may increasingly vary with grain size, the threshold of motion in coarse carbonate grains may differ more markedly from that of quartz. In poorly sorted samples, results show that the coarse-grained constituents move before the finer-grained components. Grain properties and boundary-layer dynamics are believed to explain this phenomenon. Rollability of the larger grains combined with physical trapping and immersion within a low velocity sublayer are believed to prevent finer particles from moving. Given the appropriate sediments and flow conditions, it may therefore be possible to deposit and preserve fine-grained sediments in a flow regime typically thought to transport such materials.     

Facies and cyclicity of the Late Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures in the Northern Prince Charles Mountains, MacRobertson Land, Antarctica

The Late Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures form part of the Permo-Triassic Amery Group, which crops out in the Beaver Lake area of the Northern Prince Charles Mountains, MacRobertson Land, Antarctica. The exposed strata are believed to have formed in graben or half-graben sub-basins on the western edge of the Lambert Graben, a major failed rift system. Sedimentological analysis has revealed that these rocks formed in alluvial environments in which swiftly flowing rivers of low sinuosity (represented by Facies A1 and A2) flowed northward down the axis of the basin, and were associated with waterlogged floodbasin and peat-forming wetlands (Facies B1-B4). A third Facies Association (comprising Facies C1-C3), interpreted as the deposits of lake floor and delta environments, is exclusively developed within a distinctive, fine-grained interval here named the Dragon's Teeth Member. The proportion of Association B facies within the succession increases markedly above the level of the Dragon's Teeth Member (at about 300 m above the base of the formation). Flat, low-angle and undulatory bedding structures preserved within channel deposits are suggestive of sediment deposition in flow conditions which were often critical or supercritical. Presence of massive and chaotic intervals of sandstone further implies some deposition from high-concentration aqueous flows. Alluvial channel bodies show evidence of incision into underlying substrates, both during initiation and at later stages in channel belt construction. The lack of interfingering between channel deposits and coals suggests that thick peats formed only in areas and at times of minimal clastic sediment supply. Analysis of well-developed cyclicity within the coal measures suggests that the dominant control on sequence architecture was climatic, related to precessional Milankovitch fluctuations of c. 19-kyr periodicity. Cycles began abruptly with the deposition of coarse-grained material in high-energy alluvial channels, which contracted with time in response to changes in water supply (rainfall). Upper parts of cycles are dominated by finer-grained sediments and then coal, indicative of progressively reduced coarse sediment input. Tectonic processes overprinted this pattern at least once during the period of sediment accumulation, to form the Dragon's Teeth Member.     

Transportation of detrital materials on the lunar surface: evidence from Apollo 15

The thickness frequency distribution of stratigraphic layers intersected by the Apollo 15 deep core suggests that the majority of impact events reworking the lunar soil are small and produce ejecta blankets with an average thickness of less than 1·D5 cm. The energy frequency distribution of the meteorites producing the layers may be bimodal. The impacting meteorites produce both normal and reverse graded beds which appear to be the end products of two depositional mechanisms. First, the normally graded beds appear to be produced in base surges as escaping gases fluidize the flowing debris and larger particles move downwards in response to Stokes Law. Second, if the gas loss from the base surge is excessive the fluidization may cease and inertial grain flow dominates. In this situation the beds are reverse graded as larger particles move under dispersive pressure to the region of minimum shear stress at the upper boundary of the base surge. The same processes also produce measurable shape sorting of the particles in the beds.     

Response of coastal plain rivers to falling relative sea-level: allogenic controls on the aggradational phase

This study combines mathematical modelling and supporting flume experiments to address the problem of how coastal plain rivers respond to a steady fall in relative sea-level. The theoretical component of the study focuses on the development of a moving boundary model of fluviodeltaic progradation that treats rigorously the dynamics of the shoreline and alluvial–basement transition (the upstream limit of the alluvial river system). Dimensional analysis and numerical solutions to the model governing equations together suggest that, at first order, coastal plain rivers will remain aggradational on a timescale that varies with allogenic sediment and water supply and the fall rate of relative sea-level. In natural fluviodeltaic systems, this intrinsic timescale is likely to vary by several orders of magnitude, suggesting that the aggradational phase of river response can be geologically long-lived. At second order, the duration of alluvial aggradation is controlled by two dimensionless numbers that embody system geometry and the kinematics of alluvial sediment transport. Model predictions were tested in a series of carefully scaled flume experiments. The level of agreement between predicted and measured trajectories for the shoreline and alluvial–basement transition strongly suggests that the moving boundary theory developed here successfully captures the response of small-scale fluviodeltaic systems to falling sea-level. The results of this study have several sequence-stratigraphic implications: a fall in relative sea-level at the shoreline is not a sufficient condition for river incision; the onset of alluvial degradation and sequence-boundary formation need not coincide with a maximum in the rate of sea-level fall; and the onset of sequence-boundary formation is sensitive to allogenic sediment supply.     

Sea-level related resedimentation processes on the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank (Middle Pleistocene to Holocene)

Middle Pleistocene to Holocene sediment variations observed in a 26 metre long core taken during a cruise of the RV Marion Dufresne are presented. Core MD992202 was retrieved from the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank and provides an excellent example for sedimentation processes in a mid‐slope depositional environment. The sediment composition indicates sea‐level related deposition processes for the past 375 000 years (marine isotope stages 1 to 11). The sediments consist of: (i) periplatform ooze (fine‐grained particles of shallow‐water and pelagic origin) with moderate variations in carbonate content, carbonate mineralogy and grain‐size; and (ii) coarser intervals with cemented debris consisting of massive, poorly sorted, mud‐supported or clast‐supported deposits with an increased high‐magnesium calcite content. During interglacial stages (marine isotope stages 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11) periplatform oozes (i) are characterized by higher aragonite contents, finer grain‐size and higher organic contents, whereas during glacial stages (marine isotope stages 2 to 4, 6, 8 and 10), increased low‐magnesium and high‐magnesium calcite values, coarser grain‐size and lower organic contents are recorded. These glacial to interglacial differences in mineralogy, grain‐size distribution and organic content clearly show the impact of climatically controlled sea‐level fluctuations on the sedimentation patterns of the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank. The coarser deposits (ii) occur mainly at the transitions from glacial to interglacial and interglacial to glacial stages, and are interpreted as redeposition events, indicating a direct link between sediment properties (changes in mineralogy, grain‐size distribution, variations in organic contents) and sea‐level fluctuations. Changes in hydrostatic pressure and the wave base position during sea‐level changes are proposed to have triggered these large‐scale sediment redepositions.     

AN ASSESSMENT OF CLAST MACROFABRICS IN GLACIGENIC SEDIMENTS BASED ON A/B PLANE DATA

Previous studies of clast macrofabrics in glacigenic deposits have concentrated on A‐axis orientations and dips, and a variety of control samples are available based upon such measurements. Like clast A‐axes, A/B planes will also tend to rotate to parallelism with the direction of shear and therefore should also provide meaningful data on the direction and cumulative impact of shear by the depositing/deforming medium (i.e. glacier ice). The measurement of A/B plane dip and orientation avoids the potential problem of the transverse orientations observed for clast A‐axes and provides poles‐to‐plane data, thereby strengthening the modality of samples and providing clear visual impressions of stress directions. Such data also enable more significant inter‐sample comparisons of fabric strength and clast dip angles, which are significant when assessing the impact of shearing in sediment genesis. We present data on clast A/B plane dip directions and angles from subglacial tills, glacitectonite continuums, subglacially lodged clasts and glacimarine/glacilacustrine deposits using traditional methods of statistical and graphical macrofabric analysis. These sample sets will serve as control data for future macrofabric analyses that utilize A/B planes. The separation of the unequivocally lodged clast component from subglacial till samples allows us to demonstrate the influence of deformation and ploughing in the relative weakening of till fabrics as proposed by some researchers. High angles of A/B plane dip in glacigenic subaqueous deposits appear to be well developed in the glacilacustrine setting investigated here, confirming previous studies based on A‐axis dips, but less convincing in the glacimarine sediments of the Canadian Arctic, thereby widening the range of fabric strengths in subaqueous glacigenic deposits. Significant overlaps of A/B plane fabric shape envelopes reflect the strain history of subglacial and subaqueous depositional environments, which is unsurprising given the hybrid nature of glacigenic deposits, but the statistical isolation of the lodgement component from subglacial traction tills strongly suggests that the continuum of sample plots on modality/isotropy graphs reflects the range of strain histories in glacitectonites and subglacial traction till.     

Magma Genesis and Mantle Heterogeneity in the Manus Back-Arc Basin, Papua New Guinea

Geochemical data from back-arc volcanic zones in the Manus Basinare used to define five magma types. Closest to the New Britainarc are medium-K lavas of the island arc association and back-arcbasin basalts (BABB). Mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), BABB andmildly enriched T-MORB (transitional MORB) occur along the ManusSpreading Center (MSC) and Extensional Transform Zone (ETZ).The MSC also erupted extreme back-arc basin basalts (XBABB),enriched in light rare earth elements, P, and Zr. Compared withnormal MORB, Manus MORB are even more depleted in high fieldstrength elements and slightly enriched in fluid-mobile elements,indicating slight, prior enrichment of their source with subduction-relatedcomponents. Chemical variations and modeling suggest systematic,coupled relationships between extent of mantle melting, priordepletion of the mantle source, and enrichment in subduction-relatedcomponents. Closest to the arc, the greatest addition of subduction-relatedcomponents has occurred in the mantle with the greatest amountof prior depletion, which has melted the most. Variations inK₂O/H₂O indicate that the subduction-related component is bestdescribed as a phlogopite and/or K-amphibole-bearing hybridizedperidotite. Magmas from the East Manus Rifts are enriched inNa and Zr with radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, possibly indicating crustalinteraction in a zone of incipient rifting. The source for XBABBand lavas from the Witu Islands requires a mantle componentsimilar to carbonatite melt. KEY WORDS: Manus back-arc basin, mantle metasomatism, magma generation