Deglaciation sequences in the Permo-Carboniferous Karoo and Kalahari basins of southern Africa: a tool in the analysis of cyclic glaciomarine basin fills

The Late Westphalian to Artinskian glaciomarine deposits of the Karoo and Kalahari basins of southern Africa consist of massive and stratified diamictite, mudrock with ice-rafted material, sandstone, silty rhythmite, shale and subordinate conglomerate forming a cyclic succession recognizable across both basins. A complete cycle comprises a resistant basal unit of apparently massive diamictite overlain by softer, bedded stratified diamictite, sandstone and mudrock with a total thickness of as much as 350 m. Four major cycles are observed each separated by bounding surfaces. Lateral facies changes are present in some cycles. The massive diamictites formed as aprons and fans in front of the ice-grounding line, whereas the stratified diamictites represent more distal debris-flow fans. The sandstones originated in different environments as turbidite sands, small subaqueous outwash channel sands and delta front sands. The rhythmites and mudrock represent blanket deposits derived from turbid meltwater plumes. Cycles represent deglaciation sequences which formed during ice retreat phases caused by eustatic changes in the Karoo and Kalahari basins. Evidence for shorter-term fluctuation of the ice margin is present within the major advance-retreat cycles. Hardly any sediment was deposited during lowstand ice sheet expansion, whereas a deglaciation sequence was laid down during a sea-level rise and ice margin retreat with the volume of meltwater and sediment input depending on temporary stillstands of the ice margin during the retreat phase. The duration of the cycles is between 9 and 11 Ma suggesting major global tectono-eustatic events. Smaller cycles probably linked to orbital forcing were superimposed on the longer-term events. A sequence stratigraphic approach using the stacking of deglaciation sequences with the ice margin advance phases forming bounding surfaces, can be a tool in the framework analysis of ancient glaciomarine basin fills.     

Unusual biomarker maturation ratio changes through the oil window, a consequence of varied thermal history

Saturated and aromatic biomarker ratios continue to change systematically through the oil window and into the gas-condensate window to high vitrinite reflectances (R_o = 1.16%) in mature marine and lacustrine Mesozoic clastic samples from a South African basin. Two of the ratios reverse above R_o = 0.9%. These unusual maturation effects result from isolated periods of high rates of maturation increase. The basin cooled regionally after the break-up of Gondwana but high heating rates prevailed during the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary, as Africa moved across a hotspot, and again in the late Tertiary as a result of a possible hotspot and hydrothermal event.     

Depositional history and stratigraphical evolution of the Sakoa Group (Lower Karoo Supergroup) in the southern Morondava Basin, Madagascar

The Sakoa Group is the lowermost stratigraphical succession of the Karoo Supergroup and the oldest sedimentary unit in Madagascar, spanning the Late Carboniferous through Early Permian epochs. The Sakoa Group is exposed in the southern Morondava Basin. It is predominantly a siliciclastic sequence comprising seven lithofacies associations: (1) diamictites; (2) conglomeratic sandstones; (3) sandstones; (4) interbedded thin sandstones and mudstones; (5) mudstones; (6) coals; and (7) limestones. These facies represent deposition in the early extensional stages of continental rift development. The sediments were deposited predominantly on alluvial fans, and in braided to meandering stream and overbank environments. Locally lacustrine and coal swamp environments formed in low areas of the basin floor during rift initiation. Subsidence rates remained fairly constant throughout the Early Permian and were accompanied by a gradual reduction in relief of the basin margins and an increased geomorphic maturity of the fluvial systems flowing across the basin floor. Near the end of the Early Permian the southern Morondava Basin was inundated by a marine transgression , which resulted in deposition of the Vohitolia Limestone. Subsequent tectonic uplift and erosion resulted in a regional unconformity between the Sakoa Group and the overlying Sakamena Group.     

An auto-biographical approach to understanding migration: the case of Hong Kong emigrants

Summary This paper seeks to make a methodological contribution by evaluating the autobiographical approach and its application to migration research. The migration act is seen as a manifestation of an individual's identity. This is moulded by many social influences over an individual's lifecourse. The paper explores the realm of practical consciousness (Giddens 1984) using a biographical approach in an attempt to identify the values underpinning the intentions of professional emigrants from Hong Kong.     

Transient electromagnetic responses in seafloor with triaxial anisotropy

Electrical anisotropy of young oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges is detectable by observation of the rate and geometry of the diffusion of electromagnetic fields. The anisotropy in electrical properties arises from the presence of conductive seawater in an interconnected network of mostly ridge-parallel cracks. In this paper, we first justify the choice of a triaxial model to represent young oceanic crust, with three distinct electrical conductivities in the vertical, strike and spreading directions. We then present an algorithm to calculate the transient electromagnetic responses generated by an electric dipole source over such a triaxially anisotropic seafloor. We show that if the transient passages are measured with three distinct electric dipole-dipole configurations, it is possible to discern all three unknown conductivities independently of each other.     

The Darwin Rise demise: the western Pacific guyot heights trace the trans-Pacific Mendocino fracture zone

The Darwin Rise has been proposed so many times and in so many forms and places that the time has come to make a more comprehensive examination of the region. Lying on the NW Pacific Plate between the Geisha Guyots, the Mid-Pacific Mountains, the equator, and the trenches, the region is roughly bounded by magnetic anomaly M20 (147 Ma). It was subjected to a massive outpouring of lava about 105 to 120 Ma, which created the guyots and seamounts in that region. Guyots are excellent tools for studying events of long ago because they eroded in the same lowstand in the Cretaceous and guyot relief, therefore, is a surrogate for paleo-sealevel. The relief is derived by subtracting the break depth of the summit plateau of a guyot from the regional depth. Guyot relief would necessarily be less in the center than to the periphery if the feature formed on a pre-existing rise, as has been postulated. The existence of a paleo-Darwin Rise would give concentric contours for the region in question. Of the sixty guyots used in this study, thirty-seven of these guyots were surveyed using SASS multibeam in the Marcus-Wake seamount group. Twenty-three guyots were surveyed using random track single-beam sonar surveys. An entirely different scenario is shown. Data revealed a major fracture passing through the area coevally or after the guyots formed. Because the depths to the summit are not the same now, vertical tectonics occurred after subaerial erosion. This means the fracture formed during and after the erosion (roughly 105 Ma) and influenced the normal sequence of events in guyot formation. Depending on how one deciphers trends through the Hess Rise morass, SASS bathymetry shows a continuation of the Surveyor/Mendocino fracture zone swarm inside the M20 region to the NE of these data. The fracture swarm continues to the western Pacific trench system. Based on this information, if the Darwin Rise ever existed, it had to have done so elsewhere.     

Newtontoppen granitoid rocks, their geology, chemistry and Rb-Sr age

A post-tectonic Caledonian granite in southern Ny Friesland has been fully mapped and the following new names are proposed: the Chydeniusbreen granitoid suite, consisting of the Raudberget granitoid body in the north; the Newtontoppen granitoid body in the middle; and the Ekkoknausane granitoid body in the south
The contact relationships, internal structures and distribution of various rock types infer an asymmetric lopolith or a harpolith-like body, a large sickle-shaped intrusion stretched in the direction of general tectonic transport, for the Newtontoppen granitoid body.
Seven rock types are described in the Newtontoppen granitoid and four emplacement stages are recognised. The major rock types seem to have an alkali-calcic to alkalic bulk rock chemistry and show a transition between I- and S-type granite derived from anatectic melting of various protoliths under relatively high temperature conditions. Possible later K₂0 introduction modified the earlier formed rock types.
A Rb-Sr whole rock age of 432 ± 10 Ma has been obtained by a seven point isochron with MSDW = 2.59 and an initial Sr isotope ratio = 0.715. This age is approximately 30 Ma older than the previously obtained K-Ar whole rock and Rb-Sr biotite ages, ca. 400 Ma, which represents the period of cooling. The high initial Sr isotope ratio supports the interpretation of an anatectic origin.     

Rb-Sr whole rock and U-Pb zircon datings of the granitic-gabbroic rocks from the Skålfjellet Subgroup, southwest Spitsbergen

Recent remapping and new age determinations has shed light on the understanding of Precambrian rocks northwest of Hornsund, southwest Spitsbergen. The Skålfjellet Subgroup has been regarded as the eastern equivalent of the Vimsodden Subgroup, and both of these occur within the Precambrian Eimfjellet Group of southwest Spitsbergen. Although the Eimfjellet Group is considered to be older than the oldest unconformity in the area, the age of the rocks has not been known. The granitic-gabbroic rocks in the Skålfjellet Subgroup have been considered to be the products of granitisation for many years, but recent observations show that they are exotic blocks incorporated into the basic eruptive rocks which are the main constituents of the subgroup. These plutonic rocks have a wide range of compositions, from syenite via granite to gabbroic cumulates, which suggests the existence of a well-differentiated plutonic body at depth.
U-Pb zircon and Pb evaporation datings yielded magmatic ages of ca. 1,100 to 1,200 Ma, and a conformable age has been obtained by Rb-Sr whole rock dating. Detrital zircons from the micaceous schists of the Isbjørnhamna Group, which underlies the Skålfjellet Subgroup, show a poorly defined discordia with an upper intercept age of ca. 2,200 Ma and a lower intercept age of ca. 360 Ma. These dating results define the magmatic age of the granitic-gabbroic rocks as late Mesoproterozoic, early Grenvillian. This age is in broad agreement with that of the metavolcanic rock clasts of the Pyttholmen meta-pyroclastic-conglomeratic unit at Vimsodden, which is considered to be the westernmost occurrence of the Skålfjellet Subgroup.
A Rb-Sr whole rock age determination of the shaly phyllites from the Deilegga Group was performed in order to place constraints on the age of younger Precambrian event; however, no good isochron was obtained.