A revised stratigraphic framework for later Cenozoic sequences in the northeastern Mediterranean region

This study describes the lithostratigraphic character of mid-Cenozoic (Oligocene-Pliocene) sequences in different parts of the northeastern Mediterranean area and offers a detailed stratigraphic correlation for this region. The sequences concerned are drawn from the Camardi area (south-central Anatolia), the Adana Basin, the Misis Mountains and the Kyrenia Range (northern Cyprus) and the submerged Florence Rise (west of Cyprus). The stratigraphic relationships identified here indicate the following: (a) Following the middle Eocene (Lutetian) regression there was uplift throughout the entire region; (b) Episodes of fluvial and lacustrine deposition in intramontane settings ensued in most of this region during the late Eocene/early Miocene interval; (c) Following a regionally extensive phase of tectonic compression, major marine transgression commenced in the late Oligocene in northern Cyprus and in the early Miocene in adjacent southern Turkey, with the exception of the Ecemi§ Fault Zone where continental deposition continued; (d) These Oligo-Miocene transgressive sequences comprise a broadly diachronous complex of both shallow and deeper marine facies, including reefal carbonates, littoral clastics, basinal shales and fan-turbidites; (e) Deeper marine Miocene facies persisted longer in the Misis area and in northern Cyprus; (f) A regional regression occurred throughout most of the area during the late Serravallian to Tortonian interval and is marked by the abrupt, locally discordant appearance of extensive shallow marine, deltaic and fluvial deposits; (g) Continued regression in the Messinian led to the formation of significant evaporite deposits in the western and southern parts of the region, but localized uplift of the Misis area is attested by the initial deformation of the Neogene rocks there and the absence of Messinian sediments from this area; (h) In the Pliocene there was extensive emergence of the northern parts of the region interrupted by brief marine incursions. The present-day drainage pattern was established at this time; (i) Marine conditions persisted longer in northern Cyprus, where emergence occurred only in the latest Pliocene.     

Amorce de la Sédimentation Synorogénique dans les PyrénéesVarisques. Données Chronologiques; Implications Paléogéographiques

Conodont associations and recent macrofaunal discoveries, allow us to date the beginning of detrital deposits going with the Variscan uplift in the Pyrenean marine basins during the Lower Carboniferous. Thus, the establishing of synorogenic conditions seems to have progressed from the East to the West; there appears the picture of a kind of north-Pyrenean axis already individualized in the wide Cantabrico-Pyrenean foreland.     

Oligocene deposits of the Zara-Hafik region (Sivas,Central Turkey): evolution from storm-influenced shelf to evaporitic basin

New stratigraphical and micropalaeontological data, supplemented by detailed sedimentological and petrographical observations, have been obtained from an almost completely exposed Oligocene-Miocene succession near Celalli in the Zara-Hafik basin, which forms part of a long-lived zone of subsidence associated with the North Anatolian Fault system. Four laterally extensive lithostratigraphical units have been distinguished and ostracod microfaunas indicate that the lower two units are of Middle Oligocene age, while bivalve/brachiopod faunas from the third unit are also Oligocene. The status of the uppermost unit of redbeds remains equivocal, but microfaunas from the capping marls are of lowermost Miocene age.The basal brown sandstone unit was formed in a shallow marine environment dominated by southwards transport of sand by offshore-directed storm-surges, with associated east-west longshore movement also important. The discordantly succeeding limestone unit records a phase of carbonate bar migration across the basin while the third formation (in which medium-scale facies cyclicity is prominent) was formed in a southwards-prograding coastal plain complex, following a renewal of terrigenous supply to this region. The late Oligocene-Miocene redbed unit resulted from continued terrestrial progradation and is characterised by alluvial deposits formed by small, southwards-flowing streams of high sinuosity, ultimately succeeded by carbonate and evaporitic deposits marking the early Miocene marine transgression.Stratigraphical analysis of sandstone petrography reveals a gradual change in provenance through the Oligocene, from sources of »oceanic« character (rich in ophiolitic rocks) to those of »continental« nature (with silicic metamorphics and sedimentary cover-rocks prominent), and the compositional data thus accord with models suggesting closure of a small oceanic or arc-related basin in this region during the late Palaeogene.

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Zusammenfassung Aus einer nahezu vollständig aufgeschlossenen Schichtenfolge des Oligozän und Miozän im Gebiet von Celalli im Zara-Hafik-Becken/Türkei werden neue Daten zur Stratigraphie und Mikropaläontologie vorgestellt. Diese werden ergänzt durch sedimentologische und petrographische Beobachtungen. Das Becken ist Teil einer Zone mit lange anhaltender Subsidenz, die mit dem System des Nordanatolischen Lineaments in Verbindung steht. Es lassen sich vier lateral aushaltende lithostratigraphische Einheiten unterscheiden, von denen die beiden unteren mit Ostracoden-Mikrofaunen in das Mittel-Oligozän eingestuft werden. Nach Muschel- und Brachiopoden-Faunen ist die dritte Einheit ebenfalls oligozänen Alters. Das Alter der obersten Einheit von Rotsedimenten ist nicht genau bekannt, doch besitzen die Mikrofaunen der hangenden Mergel ein tiefstmiozänes Alter.Der basale braune Sandstein wurde in einem flachmarinem Milieu gebildet, das von einem südwärts gerichteten Sandtransport durch ablandige Sturmwellen beherrscht wird. Zusätzlich ist eine ost-west-gerichtete Küsten-Längsdrift von Bedeutung. Die diskordant darüber lagernde Kalkfolge wurd durch eine Phase von durch das Becken wandernden karbonatischen Bänken aufgebaut. Die dritte Einheit (in der eine Fazies-Zyklizität mittlerer Größe vorherrscht) baute sich in dem südwärts vorschreitenden Komplex einer Küstenebene auf, die einer neuerlichen terrigenen Schüttung in diesem Gebiet folgt. Die spätoligozän-miozäne Einheit von Rotsedimenten ist das Ergebnis weiter voranschreitender terrestrischer Sedimente. Sie besteht aus alluvialen Ablagerungen von kleinen nach Süden fließenden Flüssen mit hoher Sinuosität, gefolgt von karbonatischen und evaporitischen Bildungen, die die frühmiozäne Transgression anzeigen.Die stratigraphische Analyse der Sandstein-Petrographie offenbart einen allmählichen Wandel der Provenienz im Oligozän, der von »ozeanischem« Liefergebiet (reich an ophiolithischen Gesteinen) zu »kontinentalem« (mit vorherrschend kieseligen Metamorphiten und sedimentärer Bedeckung) überwechselt. Die Zusammensetzung stimmt mit Modellen überein, die die Schließung eines kleinen ozeanischen oder inselbogen-artigen Beckens während des späten Paläogens nahelegen.

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Résumé De nouvelles données stratigraphiques et micropaléontologiques, associées à des observations sédimentologiques et pétrographiques détaillées ont été recueillies dans une série oligocène-miocène exposée de manière presque complète près de Celalli dans le bassin de Zara-Hafik, lequel fait partie d'une zone de subsidence de longue durée associée au système de failles de l'Anatolie du Nord. Quatre unités lithostratigraphiques d'extension latérale notable ont été distinguées. Les deux unités inférieures sont datées de l'Oligocène moyen par une microfaune à Ostracodes, et la troisième de l'Oligocène par une faune à brachiopodes et autres bivalves; l'âge de l'unité supérieure reste incertain, mais les marnes terminales renferment une microfaune éo-miocène.L'unité inférieure, constituée de grès bruns, s'est formée dans un milieu marin peu profond dans lequel le sable était transporté à la fois vers le large (vers le Sud), par des vagues de tempête, et vers l'Ouest parallèlement au rivage. La deuxième unité, discordante et de nature calcaire, témoigne de la migration d'une barre carbonatée à travers le bassin. La troisième unité, caractérisée par une disposition cyclique des faciès à moyenne échelle, a été élaborée dans un complexe de plaine côtière progressant vers le Sud, comme suite à de nouveaux apports terrigènes. La quatrième unité (Oligocène tardif-Miocène), formée de couches rouges, résulte d'une sédimentation continentale continue et consiste en alluvions déposées par de petits cours d'eau très sinueux coulant vers le Sud; ces couches sont surmontées finalement de dépôts carbonates et évaporitiques marquant la transgression éo-miocène.L'analyse pétrographique du grès, opérée en fonction de la stratigraphie, révèle au cours de l'Oligocène un changement graduel de provenance, depuis un domaine nourricier de type »océanique« (riche en ophiolites) jusqu'à un domaine de type »continental« (à dominance de roches métamorphiques et sédimentaires siliceuses). Ces données sont en accord avec un modèle suggérant la fermeture d'un petit bassin océanique ou d'arc insulaire pendant le Paléogène tardif.

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Rare earth element evidence concerning the origin of voluminous mid-Tertiary rhyolitic ignimbrites and related volcanic rocks,Sierra Madre Occidental,Chihuahua, Mexico

The mid-Tertiary volcanic sequence of the central Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua, Mexico, is about one kilometer thick and is composed predominantly of rhyolitic ignimbrites. Basaltic andesite to dacitic lavas are interbedded with the rhyolites, but they are of minor volumetric importance. Rare earth element (REE) data are used to constrain a crustal anatexis model for the origin of the voluminous ignimbrites and to test a fractional crystallization model. The REE patterns indicate that if the rhyolites were formed by direct crustal anatexis, the residue from partial melting could contain no more than a few percent garnet or about 20% hornblende. This eliminates residues with the mineralogy of amphibolite, eclogite, or garnet granulite, but melting of a garnet-free granulite source is permitted. The crustal anatexis model is difficult to evaluate critically because of a lack of knowledge concerning the mid-Tertiary geothermal gradient and the composition of the crust beneath the Sierra Madre Occidental.In contrast, the fractional crystallization model can be tested rigorously. Rayleigh fractionation calculations are used to closely model REE patterns in the basaltic andesite to rhyolite series. The minerals involved are those occurring as phenocryst phases, and the mineral proportions were generated by leastsquares major element calculations. The results of the calculations are consistent with the hypothesis that the voluminous rhyolites originated by plagioclase-dominated crystal fractionation.     

40Ar/39Ar ages for the alkaline volcanism and the basement of Gorringe Bank,North Atlantic ocean

Gorringe Bank is situated on the Europe-Africa plate boundary at the eastern end of the Azores-Gibraltar fracture zone. It has two summits, Gettysburg Bank to the Southwest and Ormonde Bank to the northeast.We applied the⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar stepwise heating method to date six samples of the alkaline volcanic rocks, two gabbros from the Ormonde Bank and a dolerite from the Gettysburg Bank. The results that the alkaline volcanism lasted probably for less than 6 Ma(66-60 Ma).Although the nature of this volcanism precludes any subduction feature during its setting, the alkaline volcanism of Ormonde is probably linked to Upper Cretaceous/Eocene compressive tectonic events.The basement rocks of Gorringe Bank reveal distrubed⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age spectra. One plagioclase and one biotite from a gabbro give evidence for a thermic event whose age is tentatively estimated at about 75 Ma, and related to a variation in the direction of the relative movement between Europe and Africa. The more probable age given by a plagioclase of another gabbro and by a dolerite (110 Ma) corresponds to tilting northeastward of the Gorringe massif.     

Age et croissance de la truite lacustre (Salmo trutta lacustris L.) du Léman

The age and growth of adult Lake Geneva trout (Salmo trutta lacustris L.) caught from 1964 to 1974 for mark-and-recapture experiments was studied by scale analysis. The median lengths of 3 years and older fish were fitted to Von Bertalanffy growth curves. Their growth rates are higher than those of the fish younger than 3 years. It is conculded that this increase of growth rate concides with beginning of life in the lake, after the downstream migration of the juvenile trout which probably takes place in the second and third summer. No general increase of growth rates between cohorts could be detected from the beginning to the end of the period studied, in spite of a serious increase of eutrophication of Lake Geneva during the same time.      

Particulate dispersion into and within a forest

Particulate dispersion into and within a 10- to 13-m tall pine forest was studied experimentally at Brookhaven National Laboratory using stained ragweed pollen and other tracers ranging from 14 to 54 m in diam. Seventy-two continuous point source releases lasting 20 to 40 min were made at various distances from within the forest edge to 60 m upwind and at heights of 1.75 to 14.0 m. In most experiments, differently colored ragweed pollen was released simultaneously from three locations. Thirty-six longer tests were made using pollen from area sources of ragweed and three with pollen from distant sources. All tests were made during the day with steady winds and unstable lapse rates outside the forest. The sampling network consisted of 119 rotoslide samplers mounted at heights from 0.5 to 21.0 m at 57 positions extending 100 m into the forest. Deposition was sampled by greased microscope slides at each sampling position. Meteorological measurements were taken in and near the forest.Data were classified by particle characteristics; by source type, distance and height; and by meteorological parameters. Isopleths were drawn on scale diagrams of the sampling grid to illustrate concentration patterns. Changes in centerline concentration, crosswind integrated concentration, mass flux, plume width, plume height, deposition, and deposition velocity were related to distance within the forest and other variables. Results were compared to those of similar releases over open terrain and those of previous forest dispersion studies elsewhere.The plume approaching the forest is broadened both vertically and horizontally by increased turbulence at the forest edge and flows mainly into the trunk space and above the forest. Lateral spread is slow within the forest, but vertical spreading beyond the entrance region is greater than in the open. Particles become mixed uniformly below the canopy while appreciable interchange takes place through this layer. Concentration within the forest decreases at a faster rate than in the open, but change in total mass flux within and above the forest is not significantly different. Loss of material takes place by impaction near the forest edge and in the tree tops and by deposition within the forest. Most loss takes place to the foliage rather than the ground, and larger particles are lost faster than smaller ones.This research was carried out under the auspices of the New York State Museum and Science Service and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and was partially supported by Research Grant No. R-800677 from the Division of Meteorology, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.     

Graded limestones and limestone-quartzite couplets: Possible storm-deposits from the Moroccan Carboniferous

The Lower Carboniferous (Visean) successions of the Meseta region of central Morocco are dominated by mixed marine carbonate and terrigenous facies bearing the biological and sedimentological hallmarks of deposition in a neritic environment. This study concerns two inter-related types of sedimentary unit, relatively uncommon but displaying features not readily compatible with the depositional mechanisms conventionally envisaged for such an environment. They are described with reference to three sections in which they are well represented.Graded limestones are texturally immature, broadly lenticular or channel-fill units of calcarenite and calcirudite of variable thickness, exhibiting a general upwards diminution in modal or maximum grain size and a somewhat irregular sequence of internal structures, often including large-scale cross-stratification. The compound units, here termed limestone-quartzite couplets, generally comprise a lower calcarenite member, frequently graded, succeeded by more quartzose arenite, often but not invariably finer in grain size. Six main types of couplet are distinguished primarily on the nature of the contact between the carbonate and terrigenous members.From a review of published data on modern and ancient shelf deposits it is concluded that periodic storm-generated mechanisms of transportation and deposition are of considerable geological importance. Two main categories of storm-induced modification of “normal” sedimentation processes are recognised: (1) storm-stirring and erosion; and (2) lateral transfer of storm-mobilised sediment. A process-response model is developed which involves the introduction of coarse sediment by storms on to a substrate of finer indigenous sediment. Comparison of the theoretical sequences produced with the types of couplets and graded limestones commonly encountered in the field strongly indicates that these anomalous associations result from rapid, storm-induced addition of coarse carbonate detritus (from local elevations such as reefs and shell-banks) to slightly deeper environments in which muds and quartzose sands were being deposited by more protracted processes.     

Seasonal variation in standing crop of the seagrassSyringodium filiforme and associated macrophytes in the Northern Indian River,Florida

Seasonal variation in the standing crop of the seagrassSyringodium filiforme and its associated macrophytes was studied in a northern basin of the Indian River, a large mesohaline lagoon in central Florida, near the northern distributional limit ofS. filiforme. The minimum standing crop occurred from February through April and the maximum in September. Two other seagrasses,Halodule wrightii andHalophila engelmannii, together with a drift algal community, occurred in the study quadrat, but were not major components of the macrophytic system. The formation of sizeable sandy patches within Indian River seagrass beds is partially due to the burrowing activities ofLimulus polyphemus. Thermal stresses associated with the northern geographicalS. filiforme range may contribute to this phenomenon by restricting annual production, hence limiting patch regrowth.     

Breaking recent global temperature records

Global surface temperature was a record in 1988. What is the probability that this record will be surpassed in the next few years? Answers are provided given a variety of simple statistical models for temperature. The answers illustrate how record breaking is influenced by alternative model specifications. Estimates for the probability of a record are shown to range widely. If annual temperature is independent and identically distributed then a new record is unlikely. But probabilities increase rapidly if there is a trend or autocorrelation. Estimates of the probability of a record using data on global temperature suggest that another record in the next few years would not be a rare event.