Recycling of Proterozoic crust in the Andean Amazon foreland of Ecuador: implications for orogenic development of the Northern Andes

The retro‐arc foreland Andean Amazon Basin records sedimentary infill from the South American craton and the emerging Northern Andean chain from the middle Cretaceous until Present day. The U/Pb ages of detrital zircons indicate significant reworking of Archean‐Proterozoic (max. 2.9 Ga) and Paleozoic crust and sediments, which were eroded on both sides. Heavy mineral associations show that the material derived from Proterozoic craton was supplied by Cretaceous reworking of non‐metamorphosed (unannealed) Paleozoic and older sedimentary rocks, which cover the Amazon Craton. Following latest Cretaceous switch of the dominant sediment source to the Andean cordillera, the influx of Precambrian zircons persisted, and these zircons were derived from the metamorphosed basement and Paleozoic sediments of the Cordillera Real (Loja terrane). Re‐evaluation of existing detrital zircon fission‐track record proves that the rise of the Cordillera Real at the Cretaceous‐Tertiary transition was initiated by the collision of Caribbean Oceanic Plateau and associated arc elements from 75–65 Ma. A further important exhumation event also occurred in the Late Oligocene, which is correlated with the break‐up of the Farallon plate.     

Effects of seed particle size and composition on heterogeneous nucleation of n-nonane

Heterogeneous nucleation of supersaturated n-nonane vapour on seed particles of different size and composition has been investigated using a fast expansion chamber. Monodisperse seed particle sizes were ranging from about 4 nm up to about 24 nm in diameter. By using different types of particle generators WO_x, Ag and (NH₄)₂SO₄ particles were generated. For direct comparison between different particle compositions overlapping sizes have been generated for WO_x and Ag at about 7 nm particle diameter as well as for Ag and (NH₄)₂SO₄ at about 15 nm. Nucleation temperature was kept constant at about 278 K. Experimental data were compared to Kelvin equation and Fletcher theory including the effect of line tension. It was found that heterogeneous nucleation of n-nonane seems to be independent of seed particle composition and starts well below the Kelvin curve. Good agreement was achieved with Fletcher theory including the effect of line tension.     

Revision and necessary correction of the long-term temperature series of Hohenpeissenberg, 1781–2006

Having been in use at Hohenpeissenberg from 1781–1841, the Palatina thermometer was found to suffer from a positive bias of 0.5°R (or 0.63°C) as discovered by Lamont following a re-calibration made in 1842. The main reason was due to the composition of the glass used during the early instrumental period. Glass of this period tended to contract over many years due to thermal aftereffects, resulting in a gradual rise of the freezing point position in consequence of the shrinking bulb forming the mercury reservoir. While the problem of the gradually rising zero point was recognised relatively early, the reason was attributed to wrong causes. Around 1880, scientists recognised that the chemical composition of glass might be responsible for the drift of the zero point. New glass types were developed which were free from such effects. Although these facts became known, no correction was applied to the Hohenpeissenberg temperature series when in 1981, the complete 200-year series was published. Most probably this bias is also relevant for other stations, at least those of the network of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina that were supplied with thermometers manufactured in Mannheim. Another problem originates from the different observing times for the period 1879–1900, which were set to 0800, 1400 and 2000 hours instead of 0700, 1400 and 2100 hours before and afterwards. In addition, a new formula to calculate the daily mean was established resulting in the temperature being too low by 0.5°C in that period. The overall trend changes after application of the two necessary corrections. There remain two biases that cannot be quantified without a major detailed study being made: (1) At the start of the observations, the window of the observation room was always kept “open during dry weather”. It is not known how long this practice was remained in use. (2) Lamont also employed an easily melting glass to construct his thermometers which in use between 1841 and 1878. An analysis of the glass composition seems to be necessary to find out whether it also suffered from a rising freezing point. Lamont replaced the Hohenpeissenberg thermometer in 1842 by a new instrument produced in his own workshop. One still existing Lamont thermometer, but not that one of Hohenpeissenberg, was re-calibrated and the zero point found to have lowered by ?1.4°C. Since the opposite drift had been expected and the original Lamont-type Hohenpeissenberg thermometer is no longer available, no correction is justified for the period in which this thermometer was in use.     

Struktur und Polymorphie des Eukryptits (Tief-LiAlSiO4). (Betrachtungen zur Polymorphie II.)

Ohne ZusammenfassungHerrn Professor Dr.Carl W. Correns zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Stabilitätsbeziehungen zwischen Chlorit,Cordierit und Almandin bei der Metamorphose

The stability relations between cordierite and almandite in rocks, having a composition of CaO poor argillaceous rocks, were experimentally investigated. The starting material consisted of a mixture of chlorite, muscovite, and quartz. Systems with widely varying Fe²⁺/Fe²⁺+Mg ratios were investigated by using two different chlorites, thuringite or ripidolite, in the starting mixture. Cordierite is formed according to the following reaction: $${\text{Chlorite + muscovite + quartz}} \rightleftharpoons {\text{cordierite + biotite + Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{SiO}}_{\text{5}} + {\text{H}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}$$ . At low pressures this reaction characterizes the facies boundary between the albite-epidotehornfels facies and the hornblende-hornfels facies, at medium pressures the beginning of the cordierite-amphibolite facies. Experiments were carried out reversibly and gave the following equilibrium data: 505±10°C at 500 bars H₂O pressure, 513±10°C at 1000 bars H₂O pressure, 527±10°C at 2000 bars H₂O pressure, and 557±10°C at 4000 bars H₂O pressure. These equilibrium data are valid for the Fe-rich starting material, using thuringite as the chlorite, as well as for the Mg-rich starting mixture with ripidolite. At 6000 bars the equilibrium temperature for the Mg-rich mixture is 587±10°C. In the Fe-rich mixture almandite was formed instead of cordierite at 6000 bars. The following reaction was observed: $${\text{Thuringite + muscovite + quartz}} \rightleftharpoons {\text{almandite + biotite + Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{SiO}}_{\text{5}} {\text{ + H}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}$$ . Experiments with the Fe-rich mixture, containing Fe²⁺/Fe²⁺+Mg in the ratio 8∶10, yielded three stability fields in a P,T-diagram (Fig.1):

1. Above 600°C/5.25 kb and 700°C/6.5 kb almandite+biotite+Al₂SiO₅ coexist stably, cordierite being unstable.
2. The field, in which almandite, biotite and Al₂SiO₅ are stable together with cordierite, is restricted by two curves, passing through the following points:
   1. 625°C/5.5 kb and 700°C/6.5 kb,
   2. 625°C/5.5 kb and 700°C/4.0 kb.
3. At conditions below curves 1 and 2b, cordierite, biotite, and Al₂SiO₅ are formed, but no garnet.

An appreciable MnO-content in the system lowers the pressures needed for the formation of almandite garnet, but the quantitative influence of the spessartite-component on the formation of almandite could not yet be determined. the Mg-rich system with Fe²⁺/Fe²⁺+Mg=0.4 garnet did not form at pressures up to 7 kb in the temperature range investigated. Experiments at unspecified higher pressures (in a simple squeezer-type apparatus) yielded the reaction: $${\text{Ripidolite + muscovite + quartz}} \rightleftharpoons {\text{almandite + biotite + Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{SiO}}_{\text{5}} {\text{ + H}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}$$ . Further experiments are needed to determine the equilibrium data. The occurence of garnet in metamorphic rocks is discussed in the light of the experimental results.     

Anthophyllit und Hornblende in einigen metamorphen Reaktionen

Reactions which occur at the lower boundary of the hornblende-hornfels facies and in the so-called pyroxene-hornfels facies were experimentally investigated for an ultrabasic rock at 500, 1000 and 2000 bars H₂O pressure.The starting material used was a mixture of natural chlorite, talc, tremolite and quartz such that its composition, except for surplus quartz, corresponded to that of an ultrabasic rock. The atomic ratio Fe²⁺+Fe²⁺/Mg+Fe³⁺+Fe³⁺ in the system was 0.16.The lower boundary of the hornblende-hornfels facies was defined by the formation of the orthorhombic amphibole anthophyllite and hornblende according to the following idealized reaction: chlorite+talc+tremolite+quartz hornblende+anthophyllite+H₂O In effect, this reaction consists of the two bivariant reactions: chlorite+tremolite+quartz hornblende+anthophyllite+H₂O talc+chlorite anthophyllite+quartz+H₂OThe equilibrium temperatures obtained for the two reactions in the given system are practically the same and are as follows: 535±10°C at 500 bars H₂O pressure 550±20°C at 1000 bars H₂O pressure 560±10°C at 2000 bars H₂O pressure 580±10°C at 4000 bars H₂O pressureAt 2000 bars and higher temperatures within the hornblende-hornfels facies, anorthite is formed in addition to hornblende and anthophyllite, probably according to the following reaction: hornblende₁+quartz hornblende₂+anthophyllite+anorthite+H₂O; because of the formation of anorthite it is to be expected that the hornblende in this case is poorer in aluminium than the hornblende at 500 and 1000 bars. Winkler (1967) suggests renaming the pyroxene-hornfels facies as K-feldspar-cordierite-hornfels facies which, in turn, is subdivided into a lower-temperature orthoamphibole subfacies without orthopyroxene and a higher-temperature orthopyroxene subfacies without orthoamphibole. The orthopyroxene subfacies itself may in its lower temperature part still carry hornblende which finally disappears in the higher temperature part.The appearance of orthopyroxene characterizes the transition from the orthoamphibole to the orthopyroxene subfacies of the K-feldspar-cordierite hornfels facies. The following reaction takes place at pressures lower than 2000 bars: hornblende₁+anthophyllite hornblende₂+enstatite+anorthite+H₂OSince at 2000 bars an Al-poor hornblende already exists in the hornblende-hornfels facies, it is very likely that here only anthophyllite breaks down to give enstatite+quartz+H₂O.The equilibrium temperatures for these reactions which give rise to enstatite are: 650±10°C at 250 bars H₂O pressure 690±10°C at 500 bars H₂O pressure 715±10°C at 1000 bars H₂O pressure 770±10°C at 2000 bars H₂O pressureOnly after an increase in temperature to about 710°C at 500 bars and about 770°C at 1000 bars does hornblende in the system investigated here break down completely according to the reaction: hornblende = enstatite+anorthite+diopside+H₂OExcept at very small H₂O-pressures (see Fig. 3), there exists, therefore, a region within the orthopyroxene subfacies where hornblende, enstatite and anorthite coexist. As a result we have, as mentioned above, a lower-temperature and a higher-temperature part of the orthopyroxene subfacies, and it is only in the latter part that the parageneses correspond to the pyroxene-hornfels facies as stated by Eskola (1939).Summing up, the starting material consisting of chlorite, talc, tremolite plus quartz remains unchanged in the albite-epidote-hornfels facies; this gives rise in the hornblende-hornfels facies to the paragenesis hornblende+anthophyllite, or — at higher pressures — to hornblende+anthophyllite+anorthite. For the particular composition of the starting material, however, no reactions take place at the transition of the hornblende-hornfels facies to the orthoamphibole subfacies of the K-feldspar-cordierite-hornfels facies as this transition is typified by the breakdown of muscovite in the presence of quartz. However, at the end of the orthoamphibole subfacies the breakdown of anthophyllite, by which orthopyroxene is formed, heralds the onset of the orthopyroxene subfacies. In this subfacies — at greater than about 300 bars — hornblende is still present and coexists with enstatite and anorthite, but with rising temperature hornblende breaks down to give way to the paragenesis enstatite+anorthite+diopside. The experimentally determined parageneses confirm known petrographic occurrences.

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Für die Förderung dieser Arbeit danken wir der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft vielmals. Der Dank von Choudhuri gilt dem Akademischen Auslandsamt der Universität Göttingen für ein Stipendium, das ihm den Abschluß seiner Studien an der Universität Göttingen ermöglichte.