Late Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic geotherms in the Kaapvaal craton, South Africa: constraints on the thermal evolution of the Witwatersrand Basin

The c. 2.97–2.71 Ga Witwatersrand Basin located in the Kaapvaal craton of South Africa represents a remnant of a large Late Archaean sedimentary basin that hosts the world's premier gold deposit within a series of conglomerate horizons. Evidence of postdepositional gold mobility within these conglomerates associated with hydrothermal–metamorphic activity has led to speculation about the Late Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic geothermal gradients in the basin. We use surface heat flow and heat production data from rocks in the basin and its environs in order to calculate detailed temperature profiles for the central Kaapvaal craton that show that the steady state crustal geotherm during the Late Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic was relatively cool at 15–20 K km^?1. The geotherm in the upper crustal strata is also largely unaffected by substantial increases in the heat flow into the base of the crust. Consequently, regional greenschist facies metamorphism of the basin sediments could only have been achieved during a transient thermal event that advected heat into the upper crust. The most likely candidate for this is the Bushveld magmatic event at 2.06 Ga.     

Effective timescales of coupling within fluvial systems

This paper presents a review of the coupling concept in fluvial geomorphology, based mainly on previously published work. Coupling mechanisms link the components of the fluvial system, controlling sediment transport down the system and the propagation of the effects of base-level change up the system. They can be viewed at several scales: at the local scale involving within-hillslope coupling, hillslope-to-channel coupling, and within-channels, tributary junction and reach-to-reach coupling. At larger scales, coupling can be considered as zonal coupling, between major zones of the system or as regional coupling, relating to complete drainage basins. These trends are illustrated particularly by the examples of hillslope-to-channel coupling in the Howgill Fells, northwest England, badland systems in southeast Spain, alluvial fans in Spain, USA and UAE, and base-level-induced dissection of Neogene sedimentary basins in southeast Spain. As the spatial scales increase, so do the timescales involved. Effective temporal scales relate to magnitude and frequency characteristics, recovery time and propagation time, the relative importance changing with the spatial scale. For downsystem coupling at the local scale, the first two are important, with propagation time increasing in importance in larger systems, especially in those involving upsystem coupling related to base-level change. The effective timescales range from the individual event, with a return period of decades, through decadal to century timescales for downsystem coupling, to tens to hundreds of thousands of years for the basinwide response to base-level change. The effective timescales influence the relative importance of factors controlling landform development.     

Earth-mass planets in exoplanetary systems

No exoplanets with masses anywhere near as small as that of the Earth have yet been found. Barrie Jones considers whether they could, nevertheless, exist.     

Cometary science at the launch of Rosetta

The launch of ESA's Rosetta mission, to orbit and land on a comet, has been postponed and the target of the mission may have to change. Uncertainty over the mission provoked extra interest at the RAS discussion meeting in December 2002, as Geraint Jones and Simeon Barber report.     

The electrical structure of the Slave craton

The Slave craton in northwestern Canada, a relatively small Archean craton (600×400 km), is ideal as a natural laboratory for investigating the formation and evolution of Mesoarchean and Neoarchean sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). Excellent outcrop and the discovery of economic diamondiferous kimberlite pipes in the centre of the craton during the early 1990s have led to an unparalleled amount of geoscientific information becoming available.

Over the last 5 years deep-probing electromagnetic surveys were conducted on the Slave, using the natural-source magnetotelluric (MT) technique, as part of a variety of programs to study the craton and determine its regional-scale electrical structure. Two of the four types of surveys involved novel MT data acquisition; one through frozen lakes along ice roads during winter, and the second using ocean-bottom MT instrumentation deployed from float planes.

The primary initial objective of the MT surveys was to determine the geometry of the topography of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) across the Slave craton. However, the MT responses revealed, completely serendipitously, a remarkable anomaly in electrical conductivity in the SCLM of the central Slave craton. This Central Slave Mantle Conductor (CSMC) anomaly is modelled as a localized region of low resistivity (10–15 Ω m) beginning at depths of 80–120 km and striking NE–SW. Where precisely located, it is spatially coincident with the Eocene-aged kimberlite field in the central part of the craton (the so-called “Corridor of Hope”), and also with a geochemically defined ultra-depleted harzburgitic layer interpreted as oceanic or arc-related lithosphere emplaced during early tectonism. The CSMC lies wholly within the NE–SW striking central zone defined by Grütter et al. [Grütter, H.S., Apter, D.B., Kong, J., 1999. Crust–mantle coupling; evidence from mantle-derived xenocrystic garnets. Contributed paper at: The 7th International Kimberlite Conference Proceeding, J.B. Dawson Volume, 1, 307–313] on the basis of garnet geochemistry (G10 vs. G9) populations.

Deep-probing MT data from the lake bottom instruments infer that the conductor has a total depth-integrated conductivity (conductance) of the order of 2000 Siemens, which, given an internal resistivity of 10–15 Ω m, implies a thickness of 20–30 km. Below the CSMC the electrical resistivity of the lithosphere increases by a factor of 3–5 to values of around 50 Ω m. This change occurs at depths consistent with the graphite–diamond transition, which is taken as consistent with a carbon interpretation for the CSMC.

Preliminary three-dimensional MT modelling supports the NE–SW striking geometry for the conductor, and also suggests a NW dip. This geometry is taken as implying that the tectonic processes that emplaced this geophysical–geochemical body are likely related to the subduction of a craton of unknown provenance from the SE (present-day coordinates) during 2630–2620 Ma. It suggests that the lithospheric stacking model of Helmstaedt and Schulze [Helmstaedt, H.H., Schulze, D.J., 1989. Southern African kimberlites and their mantle sample: implications for Archean tectonics and lithosphere evolution. In Ross, J. (Ed.), Kimberlites and Related Rocks, Vol. 1: Their Composition, Occurrence, Origin, and Emplacement. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication, vol. 14, 358–368] is likely correct for the formation of the Slave's current SCLM.     

Palaeomagnetic results from the ca. 1130 Ma Borgmassivet intrusions in the Ahlmannryggen region of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, and tectonic implications

Detailed palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic analyses provide improved palaeomagnetic results from 23 sites in the Borgmassivet intrusions in the Ahlmannryggen region of Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. These intrusions are of similar age to their host, the ca. 1130 Ma Ritscherflya Supergroup (RSG). A mean direction of D=235.4°, I=−7.6° with k=45.9 and α₉₅=4.5° was obtained from this study. When combined with previously reported results from 11 sites in the same region, including sites from the Ritscherflya Supergroup, it gives an overall mean direction for 34 sites from the igneous suite with D=236.5°, I=−3.6°, k=27.9 and α₉₅=4.8°. Isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) experiments on several specimens suggest magnetite or titanomagnetite as the primary remanence carrier, while high temperature magnetic susceptibility experiments indicate the presence of single domain particles. These observations, together with field evidence and the high coercivities and unblocking temperatures, support a primary origin for the observed characteristic remanence. The Borgmassivet palaeomagnetic pole lies at 54.5°E, 8.3°N with A₉₅=3.3°. If Antarctica is moved to its Gondwanan position adjacent to southeast Africa, the Borgmassivet pole (BM) coincides with that of the African well-established, well-dated (1100 Ma) Umkondo Large Igneous Province pole, supporting the hypothesis that the Grunehogna craton of Dronning Maud Land was part of the Kalahari craton of southern Africa at ca. 1100 Ma.     

Phytolith analysis from the archaeological site of Kush, Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

Despite the wealth of archaeological sites and excellent conditions for preservation, few phytolith investigations have been undertaken from the Arabian Gulf region. The results from the Sasanian and Islamic archaeological tell of Kush, Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, are presented. Kush is situated just inside the Gulf on an important trade route. The occupation sequence dates from the 4^th century A.D. until the 13^th century A.D., recording the development of the site in the Sasanian period, followed by the arrival of Islam in the 7^th century A.D. and the final abandonment of the site in the late 13^th century when the nearby site of al-Mataf (Julfar) began to develop closer to the present day coastline. All the samples analyzed contained abundant phytoliths (short cells, elongated cells, and groups of elongated cells) of various types. They included date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), papillae (possibly from barley (Hordeum)), and hair cells possibly from species of canary grass (Phalaris spp.). Some researchers have suggested that groups of elongated cells may indicate the presence of irrigation in semiarid environments. The present results for this class of phytoliths appeared to imply that intensive irrigation was unlikely to have taken place around Kush.     

Strontium in coral aragonite: 2. Sr coordination and the long-term stability of coral environmental records

We have used X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Sr K-edge Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) to determine the structural state of Sr in a suite of coral aragonite samples. Our samples encompassed a selection of coral species (Porites lobata, Porites lutea, Pocillopora eydouxi, Montastrea annularis, Pavona gigantea and Pavona clavus) including some commonly used for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Aragonite was the only carbonate observed by XRD. We refined the isolated EXAFS against structural models for Sr in aragonite and two-phase strontianite/aragonite mixes. Our data are indistinguishable from Sr ideally substituted in aragonite and strontianite was present below detection levels (estimated at <5% of Sr present). Comparisons of recent and ancient coral aragonite show no sign of exsolution, either by spinodal decomposition or by the direct nucleation of strontianite domains. Published diffusion rates of Sr in ionic solids support the view that exsolution would occur prohibitively slowly. Coral aragonites are metastable materials with slow diffusion kinetics that have the potential to encode environments over timescales of millions of years.