Biotite composition as a tool for the identification of Quaternary tephra beds

Stratigraphically important Quaternary rhyolitic tephra deposits that erupted from the Okataina and Taupo volcanic centers in New Zealand can be geochemically identified using the FeO and MgO contents of their biotite phenocrysts. The FeO/MgO ratio in biotite does not correlate with FeO/MgO in the coexisting glass phase so that tephra beds with similar glass compositions can be discriminated by their different biotite compositions. Some individual tephra deposits display sequential changes in biotite composition that allow separate phases of the eruption to be identified, greatly increasing the potential precision for correlation. In addition, devitrified lavas that are unsuitable for glass analysis can be correlated to coeval tephra deposits by their biotite compositions. Biotite is common in high-K₂O (>4 wt%) tephra beds and is widely dispersed in ash plumes because of its platy form, thus making it important in correlation studies.     

Multiple Sources for Sea-Rafted Loisels Pumice, New Zealand

Sea-rafted Loisels Pumice is one of the few stratigraphic markers used to correlate late Holocene coastal deposits in New Zealand. Along with underlying sea-rafted products of the local Taupo eruption of ca. 1800 yr B.P., these events have been used to bracket the first arrival of humans at New Zealand. Loisels Pumice is dacitic to rhyolitic (SiO₂63–78 wt%) in composition, but individual clasts are homogeneous (SiO₂range ± 1 wt%). Characteristics include very low K₂O (0.5–1.75 wt%) and Rb (<25 ppm) and a mineralogy dominated by calcic and mafic xenocrysts. Similar features are shared by pumices of the Tonga–Kermadec arc, suggesting a common tholeiitic oceanic source. Interclast diversity of Loisels Pumice suggests that it is the product of several eruptive events from different volcanoes. The differences in glass and mineral compositions found at various sites can be explained if the deposits are from different events. A multisource origin can also partially explain the discrepancy in reported¹⁴C ages (ca. 1500–600 yr B.P.) from different localities. Therefore, the value of Loisels Pumice as a stratigraphic marker is questionable, and it does not constrain the arrival of humans. The predominant westward drift of historic Tonga–Kermadec arc pumices and prevailing ocean currents suggest a long anticlockwise semicircular transport route into the Tasman Sea before sea-rafted pumice arrival in New Zealand. The diversity of the pumices indicates that silicic eruptions frequently occur from the predominantly basic oceanic volcanoes.     

Speleothem preservation and diagenesis in South African hominin sites implications for paleoenvironments and geochronology

Plio‐Pleistocene speleothems from australopithecine‐bearing caves of South Africa have the potential to yield paleoenvironmental and geochronological information using isotope geochemistry. Prior to such studies it is important to assess the preservation of geochemical signals within the calcitic and aragonitic speleothems, given the tendency of aragonitic speleothems to recrystallize to calcite. This study documents the geochemical suitability of speleothems from the principal hominin‐bearing deposits of South Africa. We use petrography, together with stable isotope and trace element analysis, to identify the occurrence of primary aragonite, primary calcite, and secondary calcite. This study highlights the presence of diagenetic alteration at many of the sites, often observed as interbedded primary and secondary fabrics. Trace element and stable isotopic values distinguish primary calcite from secondary calcite and offer insights into geochemical aspects of the past cave environment. δ¹³C values of the primary and secondary calcites range from +6 to −9‰ and δ¹⁸O values range from −4 to −6‰. The data are thus typical of meteoric calcites with highly variable δ¹³C and relatively invariant δ¹⁸O. High carbon isotope values in these deposits are associated with the effects of recrystallization and rapid outgassing of CO₂ during precipitation. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios differ between primary and secondary calcite speleothems, aiding their identification. Carbon and oxygen isotope values in primary calcite reflect the proportion of C₃ and C₄ vegetation in the local environment and the oxygen isotope composition of rainfall. Primary calcite speleothems preserve the pristine geochemical signals vital for ongoing paleoenvironmental and geochronological research. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Heterogeneous andesite–dacite ejecta in 26–16.6 ka pyroclastic deposits of Tongariro Volcano,New Zealand: the product of multiple magma-mixing events

The previously poorly documented 26–16.6 ka interval of pyroclastic volcanism from Tongariro Volcano is marked by three distal lapilli fall units (Rt1-3) exposed in ring-plain deposits. The distal Rt1-3 units are tentatively correlated to proximal scoria deposits on the upper slopes of North Crater based on their dispersal patterns, petrography and geochemistry. Lapilli in each of the Rt1-3 deposits are characterised by variable groundmass crystallinity, vesicularity and colour within individual clasts. Matrix glasses are mostly microlite-free, and compositionally diverse across the deposits (SiO₂ = 62–75 wt%), with wide composition ranges occurring within single clasts. The glasses represent different melts that were mingled and mixed shortly before eruption; a finding supported by widely variable Fe–Ti oxide equilibrium temperature estimates (∼830–1,200°C). Ranges of 30–160°C (typically 70°C) occur within individual clasts. Some clinopyroxene crystals display Mg-rich (∼Mg #88) rim zones around homogeneous low-Mg (∼Mg #68) cores, with abrupt transition zones. This zoning is interpreted as resulting from the injection of a more mafic melt into a stagnating, resident magma. Crystal-melt equilibria indicate that several episodes of mafic intrusion occurred, to produce hybrid melts with zoned crystals forming isolated ponds within the resident magma. Variable mixing from the percolation of melts and the coalescence of melt ponds would explain the wide range of melt compositions and equilibrium temperatures observed in the ejecta. The magma heterogeneity was preserved by quenching on prompt eruption, with much of the short-duration chaotic mixing of melts and crystals occurring in the conduit. The Rt1-3 eruptions were from an open magmatic system consisting of one or more long-lived stagnant crystal mush zones, from which eruptions were rapidly triggered by new injections of mafic magmas from greater depths. A similar pattern of magmatic dynamics was observed in the much smaller 1995 eruptions of the neighbouring Ruapehu Volcano.     

Reconstructing the largest explosive eruptions of Mt. Ruapehu,New Zealand: lithostratigraphic tools to understand subplinian–plinian eruptions at andesitic volcanoes

We analysed the tephra record of Mt. Ruapehu for the period 27,097 ± 957 to ~10,000 cal. years BP to determine the largest-scale explosive eruptions expected from the most active New Zealand andesitic volcano. From the lithostratigraphic analysis, a systematic change in the explosive behaviour is identified from older deposits suggesting dry magmatic eruptions and steady eruptive columns, characterised by frothy to expanded pumice fabrics, to younger deposits that are products of unsteady conditions and collapsing columns, characterised by microvesicular, fibrous, and colour-banded pumice fabrics. The end-members were separated by eruptions with steady columns linked to water–magma interaction and highly unstable conduit walls. Dry magmatic eruptions producing steady plinian columns were most common between 27,097 ± 957 and shortly after 13,635 + 165 cal. years BP. Following this time, activity continued with eruptions that produced dominantly oscillating unsteady columns, which engendered pyroclastic density currents, until ~10 ka when there was an abrupt transition at Mt. Ruapehu since which eruptions have been an order of magnitude lower in intensity and volume. These data demonstrate long-period transitions in eruption behaviour at an andesitic stratovolcano, which is critical to understand if realistic time-variable hazard forecasts are to be developed.     

Elements in fish of Malibu Creek and Malibu Lagoon near Los Angeles,California

Our aim was to assess whether past discharges from a wastewater treatment plant increased metal pollutant loads in stream mobile species in a one-day baseline sampling study that included a coastal wetland. Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) of two sizes, black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), and crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) were collected from Malibu Creek, and California killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis) of three sizes, as well as arroyo chub (Gila orcutti) were sampled from Malibu Lagoon near Los Angeles, California. Species from each locality were pooled by length, homogenized, digested by microwave wet ashing, and analyzed by simultaneous inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy for 27 elements. Lagoon killifish 2.0-3.5 cm long contained levels of arsenic and lead above the levels for 95% of California fish, the EDL95. Black bullhead upstream of the discharge contained elevated levels of As, Cr and Se. Young mosquitofish <3 cm in length upstream of the discharge differed greatly in the order of abundance of their elements relative to larger mosquitofish and to other species collected. More sampling than this baseline study allowed was needed to determine if the wastewater treatment plant was a pollution source.     

Crustal structure of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau from the Songpan-Ganzi terrane to the Ordos basin

The 1000-km-long Darlag–Lanzhou–Jingbian seismic refraction profile is located in the NE margin of the Tibetan plateau. This profile crosses the northern Songpan-Ganzi terrane, the Qinling-Qilian fold system, the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region, and the stable Ordos basin. The P-wave and S-wave velocity structure and Poisson's ratios reveal many significant characteristics in the profile. The crustal thickness increases from northeast to southwest. The average crustal thickness observed increases from 42 km in the Ordos basin to 63 km in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane. The crust becomes obviously thicker south of the Haiyuan fault and beneath the West-Qinlin Shan. The crustal velocities have significant variations along the profile. The average P-wave velocities for the crystalline crust vary between 6.3 and 6.4 km/s. Beneath the Songpan-Ganzi terrane, West-Qinling Shan, and Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region P-wave velocities of 6.3 km/s are 0.15 km/s lower than the worldwide average of 6.45 km/s. North of the Kunlun fault, with exclusion of the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region, the average P-wave velocity is 6.4 km/s and only 0.5 km/s lower than the worldwide average. A combination of the P-wave velocity and Poisson's ratio suggests that the crust is dominantly felsic in composition with an intermediate composition at the base. A mafic lower crust is absent in the NE margin of the Tibetan plateau from the Songpan-Ganzi terrane to the Ordos basin. There are low velocity zones in the West-Qinling Shan and the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region. The low velocity zones have low S-wave velocities and high Poisson's ratios, so it is possible these zones are due to partial melting. The crust is divided into two layers, the upper and the lower crust, with crustal thickening mainly in the lower crust as the NE Tibetan plateau is approached. The results in the study show that the thickness of the lower crust increases from 22 to 38 km as the crustal thickness increases from 42 km in the Ordos basin to 63 km in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane south of the Kunlun fault. Both the Conrad discontinuity and Moho in the West-Qinling Shan and in the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are laminated interfaces, implying intense tectonic activity. The arcuate faults and large earthquakes in the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are the result of interaction between the Tibetan plateau and the Sino–Korean and Gobi Ala Shan platforms.