The Himalayas

After splitting from Gondwanaland, India drifted northwards to collide with the Asian landmass about 40 million years ago. The intervening Tethys ocean was closed by northwards subduction beneath southern Tibet, and the collision created the Himalayan orogenic belt. Continuing northward movement of India at a rate of about 5 cm per year over the last 40 million years has caused it to indent Asia, and the resultant massive shortening is expressed by thrusting of the northern margin of India, by faulting and earthquakes in the Himalayas and China, by rifting and faulting in Tibet, and by the uplift of the Himalayas which is still continuing at rates of up to several millimetres per year.     

Morphology and growth of aragonite crystals in hot-spring travertines at Lake Bogoria, Kenya Rift Valley

Pseudohexagonal aragonite crystals are common components in some hot-spring travertines at Chemurkeu on the western shore of Lake Bogoria, Kenya. Beds, lenses and pods of aragonite crystals are intercalated with beds of white non-crystallographic calcite dendrites. The pseudohexagonal aragonite crystals, which are up to 4 cm long and 4 mm wide, are formed of nested skeletal crystals. Each skeletal crystal is formed of cyclical twinned crystals that are constructed of stacked subcrystals. The latter are inclined at a consistent angle of 40° to the long axis of the pseudohexagonal aragonite crystal. Intense competition for space during growth modified the crystal morphology with the result that many of the pseudohexagonal crystals are distorted. Intercrystalline and intracrystalline pores are filled or partly filled by epitaxial aragonite overgrowths and/or reticulate microbial coatings that have a high concentration of Si and Mg. In places, this extracellular mucus induced etching of the underlying aragonite crystal. Today the hot (T>95 °C) Na-HCO₃-Cl spring waters at Chemurkeu have a salinity of 5–6 g L^?1 TDS, a pH of 8·1–9·1, Ca²⁺ concentrations of <2 mg L^?1 and Mg²⁺ concentrations of <0·7 mg L^?1, The springs of the Lake Bogoria Geothermal Field are fed by a shallow aquifer (T～100 °C) and a deeper aquifer (T～170 °C). Springs at Chemurkeu derive from meteoric groundwater, lake water and condensed steam, and are fed mainly from the shallow thermal aquifer. Much of the aragonite may have formed when the spring waters contained more dissolved Ca²⁺ than today, possibly under more humid conditions during the Holocene.     

URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND REDEVELOPMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO*

ABSTRACT. San Francisco has arisen as an “instant city” not once but three times: after the California Gold Rush (1849–1875), following the 1906 earthquake and fire (1906–1930), and with the modern high-rise city (1960–1985). These pivotal periods of intense city building, each about twenty-five years in duration, have been separated by a generation of relative stability. Current redevelopment activity raises an intriguing historical-geographical question: Is a fourth instant city in the making?     

DEVELOPING A PROXY CLIMATE RECORD FOR THE LAST 300 YEARS IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES – SOME PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Available meteorological, dendrochronological and glacier area change data are reviewed for the central Canadian Rockies. Limited glacier inventory studies indicate a loss of ca 25% of glacier area (greater for smaller glaciers) since the Little Ice Age maximum 130–150 years ago. The few available long climacte records are from widely spaced, valley floor sites, well below treeline. Available gridded or regional climate data sets similarly contain no high elevation sites. The five long (75 yr) station records contain a strong common signal but show differences in the relative amplitude and timing of temperature variations indicating links to either prairie or pacific stations. However the station network is too sparse to define the spatial extent of these patterns. Tree-ring chronologies from a network of Picea engelmannii (21), Larix lyallii (17) and Pinus albicaulis (2) treeline sites are presented and reviewed. Residual chronologies show stronger intercorrelation than standard chronologies and the larix chronologies are more highly correlated than picea, probably because of the narrower range of sites sampled. Many standard chronologies show a strong common regional signal of above average growth in the late 17th, late 18th and mid-20th centuries and reduced growth in the early 17th, early 18th and for most of the 19th centuries. However, examination of individual chronologies shows strong local or sub-regional divergence from this pattern that reflects smaller scale climate or non-climatic influences. Differences in the density and location of sites between the climate and tree-ring networks will create problems in resolving climate variation at the sub-regional scale.     

THE PRESENT STATUS OF ZIRCON

Saxena (1966a) proposed that zircon could be authigenic and low-grade metamorphic, as well as magmatic in origin. He questioned the mechanical and chemical stability of zircon, the use of crystal morphology in correlation, and the use of roundness as a criterion of detrital origin. In so doing, he challenged the role of zircon in problems of stratigraphy, pedogenesis, and sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic petrology. SAXENA'S(1966a, b) evidence for authigenic and low-grade metamorphic zircon is unconvincing, since conventional explanations adequately encompass his obser- vations, and do not conflict with established knowledge of zircon behaviour. During weathering, authigenesis, and metamorphism, zircon is shown to conform with the concepts that: (1) its removal and transport in solution is minimal, (2) zircon formation during authigenesis and low-grade metamorphism is insignificant. Rare occurrences of hydrozircon confirm this paucity of authigenic zirconium minerals. At high metamorphic grades zircon-transformation is favoured by the “wet” metasomatic processes of the amphibolite facies and impaired by the “dryness” of the granulite facies. The occurrence of zircon transformation in the granulite facies may also be prevented by incorporation of zirconium in the lattice of newly-formed pyroxene. Release of this zirconium during diaphthoresis of pyroxene-bearing granulites could give rise to new zircon. The formation of zircon during authigenesis, and its formation and transfor- mation during low-grade metamorphism, would diversify initially homogeneous assemblages; but Saxena has failed to prove that either process does in fact occur. It is contended that, since the positive correlation of zircon assemblages from co-eval sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Kingsbridge area is opposed to Saxena's views regarding the origin and behaviour of zircon, the roles of authigenesis in the formation of zircon, and of low-grade metamorphism in its formation and transformation, are insignificant or non-existent.     

Pellets, ooids, sepiolite and silica in three calcretes of the southwestern United States

Pellets and ooids are widespread and locally abundant in mature calcrete profiles in the Argus Range, California; near Wickieup, Arizona; and in Kyle Canyon, Nevada. Most concentrations of pellets and ooids either overlie laminar calcrete at various levels in the calcrete profile or fill subhorizontal fractures in the petrocalcic horizon. In all three profiles the petrocalcic horizon has been thickened by the pelletal, chemically deposited fracture fillings. Pellets range from 0.02 to 8.0 mm in diameter and consist principally of micritic calcite and sepiolite. Ooid coatings are chiefly calcite and opal or calcite and sepiolite. The pellets represent small concretions, some of which grew by accretion, either in void space or by displacing adjacent sediment, and the others of which were formed by cementation of pellet-shaped bodies of porous micrite. Ooid coatings with opal or sepiolite may have been deposited as a gel with sufficient strength for surface tension to thin the coatings over angular corners of nuclei so as to increase the roundness and sphericity of the particles. Major problems in calcrete genesis are (1) the cause of subhorizontal fractures and the mechanism for widening a fracture as sediment accumulates in it and (2) what determines the deposition of calcite, sepiolite, and opal as pellets and ooid coatings or as laminar layers.     

Late-glacial marine erosion in Scotland

A pronouaced raised reck platform and cliff that occur on part of the west coast of Scotland ale generally considered to have been formed before the last glaciation. It is argued in this paper that they were formed in late-glacial times, mainly during the Loch Lomond (Upper Dryas) Readvance. The features arc correlated with an extensive buried and/or submerged marine erosion feature in South-East Scotland. It is also suggested that the Scottish features correlate with the 'Main line' (P₁₂ shoreline) of northern Norway.     

A box model for non-entraining, suspension-driven gravity surges on horizontal surfaces

The propagation of and the deposition from a turbulent gravity current generated by the release of a finite volume of a dense particle suspension is described by a box model. The approximate model consists of a set of simple equations, a predetermined, depth-dependent leading boundary condition and one experimentally determined parameter describing the trailing boundary condition. It yields predictions that agree well with existing laboratory observations and more complex theoretical models of non-eroding, non-entraining, suspension-driven flows on horizontal surfaces. The essential features of gravity-surge behaviour have been observed and are captured accurately by the box model. These include the increased rate of downstream loss of flow momentum with increased particle setting velocity, the existence of maxima in the thickness of proximal deposits, and the downstream thinning of distal deposits. Our approximation for the final run-out distance, x_r, of a surge in deep water is given by x_r3(g'_oq³_o/w²_s)^1/5, where g'_o is the initial reduced gravity of the surge, q_o the initial two-dimensional volume, and w_s the average settling velocity of the particles in the suspension. A characteristic thickness of the resulting deposit is given by φ_oq_o/x_r'where ø_o is the initial volumetric fraction of sediment suspended in the surge. Our analysis provides additional insight into other features of gravity-surge dynamics and deposits, including the potential for the thickening of currents with time, the maintenance of inertial conditions and the potential for strong feedback in the sorting of particle sizes in the downstream direction at travel distances approaching x_r. Box-model approximations for the evolution of gravity surges thus provide a useful starting point for analyses of some naturally occurring turbidity surges and their deposits.     

Late Quaternary mass movement on the lower continental rise and abyssal plain off Western Sahara

The late Quaternary development of part of the lower continental rise off Western Sahara has been determined from an investigation of short (< 2 m) gravity cores collected from a deep-sea channel, the interchannel areas and an abyssal hill, between 30 and 33°N. Stratigraphic analysis is based on systematic variations in abundances of particular coccolith species and pelagic sediment types, referenced to the oxygen isotope time-scale. During the last 73 000 years deposition in the channel has included volcaniclastic sand/silt turbidites and minor marl turbidites as well as pelagic sediments. The interchannel area has fewer turbidites, and the sands present were probably deposited from turbidity currents which spilt over the channel sides. The last‘event’ to give rise to sands in the channel and interchannel area occurred about 45 000 years ago. Although the channel has been inactive as an area of turbidity current deposition for the last 20 000 years, sands were deposited elsewhere on the lower rise, indicating that turbidity current transport routes have varied in time. Turbidity current deposition on the abyssal plain and low-lying continental rise appears to be related to distinct sliding events involving transport of material from various sources. Thin marl turbidites are interbedded with pelagic sediments in the area of sediment drape. There is a strong correlation between these and the thick marl turbidites on the abyssal plain, suggesting that the same turbidity current‘events’, occurring about once every 25 000 years, gave rise to both sets of deposits. The thinner units probably represent deposition from the outer parts or tails of the large turbidity flows. The turbidites occur at glacial/interglacial transitions, suggesting that the slides that created them were triggered by mechanisms related to climatic change. Several volcaniclastic sand/silt units within the channel and in interchannel areas occupy mid-stage stratigraphic positions, perhaps indicating a different triggering mechanism for slides around volcanic islands. A debris flow deposit (debrite), between 30°N, 21°W and 31°N, 24°W, is related to the Saharan Sediment Slide, a major mass movement feature on the continental slope over 1000 km to the southeast. Stratigraphic correlations indicate that this slide produced a large turbidity current as well as a debris flow.