Sheetflow fluvial processes in a rapidly subsiding basin, Altiplano plateau, Bolivia

Although facies models of braided, meandering and anastomosing rivers have provided the cornerstones of fluvial sedimentology for several decades, the depositional processes and external controls on sheetflow fluvial systems remain poorly understood. Sheetflow fluvial systems represent a volumetrically significant part of the non‐marine sedimentary record and documented here are the lithofacies, depositional processes and possible roles of rapid subsidence and arid climate in generating a sheetflow‐dominated fluvial system in the Cenozoic hinterland of the central Andes. A 6500 m thick succession comprising the Late Eocene–Oligocene Potoco Formation is exposed continuously for >100 km along the eastern limb of the Corque syncline in the high Altiplano plateau of Bolivia. Fluvial sandstone and mudstone units were deposited over an extensive region (>10 000 km²) with remarkably few incised channels or stacked‐channel complexes. The Potoco succession provides an exceptional example of rapid production of accommodation sustained over a prolonged period of time in a non‐marine setting (>0·45 mm year⁻¹ for 14 Myr). The lower ≈4000 m of the succession coarsens upward and consists of fine‐grained to medium‐grained sandstone, mudstone and gypsum deposits with palaeocurrent indicators demonstrating eastward transport. The upper 2500 m also coarsens upward, but contains mostly fine‐grained to medium‐grained sandstone that exhibits westward palaeoflow. Three facies associations were identified from the Potoco Formation and are interpreted to represent different depositional environments in a sheetflow‐dominated system. (i) Playa lake deposits confined to the lower 750 m are composed of interbedded gypsum, gypsiferous mudstone and sandstone. (ii) Floodplain deposits occur throughout the succession and include laterally extensive (>200 m) laminated to massive mudstone and horizontally stratified and ripple cross‐stratified sandstone. Pedogenic alteration and root casts are common. (iii) Poorly confined channel and unconfined sheet sandstone deposits include laterally continuous beds (50 to >200 m) that are defined primarily by horizontally stratified and ripple cross‐stratified sandstone encased in mudstone‐rich floodplain deposits. The ubiquitous thin‐sheet geometry and spatial distribution of individual facies within channel sandstone and floodplain deposits suggest that confined to unconfined, episodic (flash) flood events were the primary mode of deposition. The laterally extensive deposition and possible distributary nature of this sheetflow‐dominated system are attributed to fluvial fan conditions in an arid to semi‐arid, possibly seasonal, environment. High rates of sediment accumulation and tectonic subsidence during early Andean orogenesis may have favoured the development and long‐term maintenance of a sheetflow system rather than a braided, meandering or anastomosing fluvial style. It is suggested here that rapidly produced accommodation space and a relatively arid, seasonal climate are critical conditions promoting the generation of sheetflow‐dominated fluvial systems.     

New Chilean iron meteorites: Medium octahedrites from Northern Chile are unique

Abstract— We report data on three new iron meteorites from Northern Chile and propose names. All are unnamed iron meteorites from the meteorite collection at the Universidad de La Serena. For two, the provenance is unknown; for the third, the presumed discovery site is in the countryside east of Iquique. The three meteorites have been analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and their structures examined with a binocular microscope. La Serena is a complete 663 g iron, a new member of group IIICD; it is not paired with any other iron. Elqui has a mass of 260 g; two faces are fractures, possibly produced by human actions, but fusion crust appears to be present on some of the remaining surface. It is a hexahedrite and a member of group IIAB, but its composition differs from that of all other Chilean hexahedrites. The third iron, Pozo Almonte, is a medium octahedrite member of group IIIAB, one of the most common meteorite groups. To find out whether it is paired, we assembled a full set of IIIAB iron meteorites from Northern Chile. Our compositional data show that Pozo Almonte is not paired with any other IIIAB iron, and that there are no pairings within the full set with the possible exception of Joel's Iron and Sierra Sandon, which differ only in their contents of Ir, 0.39 and 0.34 μg/g, respectively. However, Buchwald's (1975) structural observations rule out this possible pairing. We find appreciable differences in Cu, As and Au between the previously paired IIIAB irons Chañaral and Ilimaës and conclude that these should not be paired.     

MORAL GEOGRAPHY IN HIGH PLAINS HISTORY

ABSTRACT. When American society, through deliberate government action, intervenes to preserve the family farm as the locus of “good” human values and “authentic” environmental conditions, the result can be described as a moral geography. Nowhere is this clearer than in the protection of traditional farming on the High, or Great, Plains through federal funding and programs. Protection began during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; federal support came to a close with the passage of the 1996 farm bill. These shifts deserve assessment of historic American interests in the protection of an agricultural institution and of a region at risk.     

Thermal Emplacement Model for the Alpine Lherzolite Massif at Balmuccia, Italy

The spinel lherzolite massif at Balmuccia, northwest Italy,forms an elongate north-south trending lens (4.5 x 0.5 x 1.1km) within the pre-Alpine granulite basement complex of theIvrea zone. The western contact is a mylonite fault zone formedduring late emplacement cataclastic flow near the Insubric line;to the east the lherzolite massif is separated from the granulitesby a magmatic sheath of layered pyroxenites, pyroxene pegmatitesand meta-gabbros. Pyroxene reaction zones on gabbro dikes indunite pods which lie east of the main lherzolite massif showthat emplacement occurred at pressures >9 kb, based on peridotiteequilibria studies. Phase chemistry calculations on pyroxenitesand granulites show ambient P–T conditions to have been850 °C (Cpx–Opx equilibria) and 10–13 kb (Opx–Gt;Plg–Gt–Sill–Qtz) during emplacement of thelherzolite massif. Temperature calculations on 12 peridotitesfrom throughout the massif suggest an earlier high-T stage (1200°C; Ol–Px–Sp) followed by partial re-equilibrationat lower T (850–950 °C; Cpx–Opx). The areaswithin the lherzolite massif with the highest calculated Ol–Px–Sptemperatures have the lowest Cpx–Opx temperatures, suggestingthat the apparent Cpx–Opx temperatures are due to re-equilibrationduring emplacement. The spinel lherzolite probably originatedat 12 and 20 kb, based on the mineral assemblage Ol + Opx +Cpx + Sp + Hnbd. The inferred P–T ranges put both themassif and the granulites on a geotherm that is high for continentalcrust and implies a high surface heat flow at the time of emplacement(2.2 µcal/cm² sec). The Balmuccia area later became thelocus of early Mesozoic rifting between the North and SouthAlpine plates. These relationships at Balmuccia are similarto the Great Basin of the western United States, where mantlexenoliths in young basalts that show P–T conditions of1100–1300 °C at 17–20 kb, occur in an area ofhigh heat flow (2.0 µCal/cm² sec average) and extension.This suggests an association between up-welling of mantle peridotitesbelow continents and ensialic tensional tectonics.     

Description and hydraulic interpretation of grain size cumulative curves from the Platte River system

Log-probability plots of grain-size distribution from the Platte, North Platte, and South Platte rivers are composed of four or five straight line segments. The line segments are grouped, dividing each curve into three regions. These regions are interpreted as subpopulations moved by different transport mechanisms. Consideration of the criterion for suspension and calculation of shear velocities associated with dominant discharges support this interpretation. The grain size cumulative curves are similar to each other but distinct from curves of fluvial systems transporting only fine-grained material, the difference being the presence of a subpopulation of grains moved in traction transport. One of two possible relationships seems to exist between the grain-size distributions and flow conditions within the Platte River system. Estimated shear velocities derived by varying flow conditions within reasonable limits predict a range of grain sizes within which the break between the intermittent suspension and traction loads should occur. This break appears to be associated with intermediate shear velocities if truncated normal distributions are assumed; but if overlapping distributions are assumed, the ‘break'is associated with estimated maximum shear velocities.     

A simulation model of alluvial stratigraphy

The quantitative model presented simulates the development of a two-dimensional alluvial sedimentary succession beneath a floodplain traversed by a single major river. Several inter-related effects which influence the distribution of channel-belt sand and gravel bodies within overbank fines are accounted for. These are (a) laterally variable aggradation, (b) compaction of fine sediment, (c) tectonic movement at floodplain margins, and (d) channel avulsion. Selected experiments with the model show how the interconnectedness and areal density of channel-belt deposits decrease with increasing floodplain width/channel-belt size, mean avulsion period, and channel-belt aggradation rate. Separation of stream patterns based on interconnectedness and channel deposit density is difficult. Tectonic movements do not have a significant influence upon the successions unless a preferred direction of tilting is maintained (half-graben). Then channel-belt deposits showing offlap tendencies tend to cluster adjacent to the active floodplain margin, leaving dominantly fine-grained alluvium to accumulate on the inactive side. Individual channel-belt deposits thicken during aggradation, although a self-regulating limit to such thickening is likely to operate. ‘Multistorey’features resulting from aggradation may be difficult to tell apart from those arising through superposition of distinct channel-belt deposits of avulsive origin.     

Holocene (Neoglacial) moraine and proglacial lake chronology, Barnes Ice Cap, Canada

Lichen diameters and radiocarbon dates from the western and southern margins of the Barnes Ice Cap yield a growth curve similar to that from southeastern Baffin Island. As a consequence, the moraine chronology of the northern and western Barnes Ice Cap needs revision, as does the chronology of the large proglacial lakes that existed north of the present Barnes Ice Cap. The revised chronology indicates that moraines were formed along the western margin of the Barnes Ice Cap during the following intervals: (1) less than 100 years ago; (2) 400–500 B.P.; (3) ca. 750 B.P.; (4) ca. 1000 B.P.; (5) ca. 1600 B.P.; (6) ca. 2100 B.P.; and (7) 2800 to 3100 B.P. As the western margin of the Barnes Ice Cap retreated, punctuated by stillstands and readvances, the northern margin of the Barnes Ice Cap lay athwart a series of westerly draining valleys, and a complex of proglacial lakes were dammed between the ice margin and the height of land. This sequence is traced by means of well-developed shorelines, lacustrine deltas, and spillways; specific lake levels are dated by lichenometry.
The Barnes Ice Cap moraine sequence is more complex than other Neoglacial records fringing mountain glaciers in Colorado, Alaska and Lappland. However, the chronology for the western Barnes Ice Cap closely resembles independent moraine chronology of mountain glaciers in Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, and thus indicates that the difference between the Baffin Island climatic record and the general Neoglacial/Holocene climatic record (Denton & Karlén, Quaternary Research 7 , 1977) is real. Comparison of specific data from Swedish Lappland and Baffin Island shows substantial agreement. Although Neoglacial records may be globally synchronous, the case for a 2500 year periodicity of glacial fluctuations is not proven: a 300 to 600 year return interval is suggested for the period between 0 and 3000 B.P.     

Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Of French Geochemical Reference Samples

Instrumental neutron activation analytical data, for eighteen trace elements (Ba, Co, Cr, Cs, Hf, Rb), Sb, Sc, Ta, Th, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb, Lu), Hd₂O and Fe₂0₃ in eleven French geoche-mical reference samples are presented and discussed briefly.     

The mineralogy and geochemistry of the sediments of northwestern Lake Victoria

In the nearshore area of northwestern Lake Victoria a thin strip of quartzarenite sand occurs which grades lakeward into silty clay consisting of quartz with subordinate amounts of K-feldspar, plagioclase, kaolinite, illite, vermiculite and organic matter. Varimax matrix determinations of the element concentrations in the lake-bottom sediments extractable by aqua regia indicate that: (1) there is a strong association of Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni; (2) there is a strong association of Fe, Mn and Co; (3) Cu and Ni show moderate to slight associations with organic matter; (4) Ca is relatively independent of the other elements. The general decrease in the pH values of the surface and bottom waters outward from the lake shore, with consistently higher values for the surface water relative to the bottom waters, results from decreasing levels of photosynthetic activity.     

Till body morphology and structure related to glacier flow

Tills are described which occur in ridges and mounds arranged both parallel and transverse to the flow direction of the depositing glacier. Field localities are drawn from the English Midlands, Western Canada, and South Victoria Land, Antarctica. The tills retain textural and structural properties associated with glacial transport, and have suffered a minimum of redistribution suhsequent to their release from glacier ice. It is shown that ridges and mounds cannot he explained in terms of preferential till accretion. An alternative mechanism is presented in which form and structurc are a result of redistribution of debris in transport by secondary flows in ice.
Flutings are longitudinal forms which are related to helicoidal flow cells. Fabric distributions, patterns of till thickness, and internal structure support the helicoidal flow hypothesis.
Debris entrainment by Antarctic cold-based glaciers is explained by consideration of the morphology and sedimentology of the ice margin and the pattern of glacier flow. Deposition by sublimation and melt-out produces an upwards succession of (1) undisturbed proglacial deposits; (2) a complex of poorly sorted flow deposits intercalated with sorted and stratified water-lain deposits; (3) foliated till with sub-horizantal jointing and isolated clasts. A section shobbing this succession is described from Taylor Valley, Antarctica.
Transverse asymmetric ridges are related to till stacking by over-folding in the marginal compressive zone of cold-based glaciers. Plastic deformation of the debris-laden ice may be enhanced by incorporated salts. The folding process is illustrated by structures within Taylor glacier, and is used to explain Pleistocene landforms and structures in Shropshirc, England and Taylor Valley, Antarctica.