Tectonic significance of syn-rift sediment packages across the Gabon-Cabinda continental margin

The tectonic development of a continental margin is recorded in the stratigraphic successions preserved along and across the margin in terms of stratal relationships (e.g., onlap, downlap, truncation), lithofacies, biostratigraphy, and paleo-water depths. By using these observations coupled to a kinematic and flexural model for the deformation of the lithosphere, we have elucidated the tectonic significance of the preserved stratigraphy that comprises the Gabon-Cabinda margin of west Africa. Two hinge zones, an Eastern and Atlantic, formed along the Gabon-Cabinda margin in response to three discrete extensional events occuring from Berriasian to Aptian time. The Eastern hinge zone demarcates the eastern limit of a broadly distributed Berriasian extension that resulted in the formation of deep anoxic, lacustrine systems as evidenced by the silts and shales of the Sialivakou and lower Djeno Formations and the regressive packages of the upper Djeno Formation. Approximately 1.5 to 2 km of asymmetric footwall uplift was induced across the Eastern hinge zone in response to the mechanical unloading of the lithosphere during this first phase of rifting. In contrast, the Atlantic hinge, located approximately 90 km west of the Eastern hinge, marks the eastern limit of a second phase of extension that began in the Hauterivian. Footwall uplift and rotation exposed earlier syn-rift and pre-rift sediments to at least wavebase causing varying amounts of erosional truncation across the Atlantic hinge zone along much of the Gabon-Cabinda margins. We interpret the thickness variations of reworked clastic sediment of this age (e.g. the Melania Formation) between the hinge zones as indicative of variations in the degree of uplift and erosional truncation of the Atlantic hinge. For example, the absence of Melania Formation across the Congo margin implies that uplift of the Atlantic hinge was relatively minor compared to that across the Cabinda and Gabon margins, the latter being characterized by significant thicknesses of Melania Formation (or equivalent). Material eroded from the Cabinda and Gabon Atlantic hinge zone may in part account for the thick wedge of sediment deposited seaward of the Gabon-Cabinda Atlantic hinge (the Erva Formation). Our modelling suggests that this wedge of reworked elastics represents deposition by along-axis gravity flows within a deep water (≈2 km) environment. A third and final phase of extension in the late Barremian-early Aptian was responsible for breaching the continental lithosphere to form the ocean/continent boundary and thus the installation of open marine conditions. Elsewhere, the environments will tend to be marginal marine to brackish, depending on the efficiency of the Atlantic hinge zone to act as a barrier to marine enchroachment. This third rift phase reactivated both the Eastern and Atlantic hinge0zones thereby creating accomodation for the Marnes Noires Formation (and equivalent) source rock deposition between the hinges and the Falcão source rock equivalent seaward of the Atlantic hinge. Two possible scenarios exist for the lateral distribution of the Marnes Noires Formation. If the reactivated rift flank topography across the Atlantic hinge was significant, then sedimentation would be restricted between the hinge zones within discrete lacustrine settings (e.g., Congo margin). Alternatively, if hinge zone uplift was relatively minor, then a coral-rimmed archipelago may have developed parallel to the margin with restricted communication across the Atlantic hinge zone (e.g., Cabinda margin). In this latter scenario, dilution of the Marnes Noires source rocks by terrigenous input from the eroding Atlantic hinge zone should be relatively minor thereby enhancing source rock quality. Furthermore, potential marine upwelling outboard of the Atlantic hinge zone is likely the cause for the production and accumulation of organic-rich material associated with the Falcão source rock of the Kwanza basin. By late Aptian time, the remaining accomodation between the hinge zones was partially filled by across- and along-axis prograding deltaic systems of the Argilles Vertes and Tchibota Formations. The progradation and interaction of the Argilles Vertes depositional lobes resulted in the formation of residual paleo-relief. Subsequent marine incursions and flooding of this paleo-relief led to the development of basal conglomerates (the Chela ‘lag’ unconformity) grading upward into fine-grained sands and evaporites. Consequently, an inverse relationship should exist betweeb evaporite thickness (in particular, the lower members) and the thickness of the underlying Argilles Vertes and Tchibota Formations. Variations in Loeme evaporite thickness is a consequence of stratigraphic and structural control with salt instability influencing local variability.Our modelling suggests the occurrence of two distinct evaporite sequences on the Congo margin, an earlier evaporite deposited seaward (west) of the Atlantic hinge during the second and third rift phases and the late Aptian Loeme Formation deposited between the hinge zones. An evaporite sequence seaward of the Atlantic hinge is inferred on the basis of extensive diapirs and salt tectonic structures observed in seismic data. In order to match the distribution and thickness of the observed post-salt stratigraphy across the basin, however, we require large paleowater depths west of the Atlantic hinge during the later Aptian. The existence of large paleowater depths precludes the formation of thick evaporite sequences within the outer basin. Consequently, we propose that the evaporites seaward of the Atlantic hinge were formed during the syn-rift development of the margin and are not contemporaneous with the post-rift Loeme salts deposited between the hinge zones. This double salt hypothesis is consistent with observations from the conjugate Brazilian margin.     

The supernova trigger for formation of the solar system

It is suggested that the explosion of a Type II supernova triggered the collapse of a nearby interstellar cloud and led to the formation of the solar system. Estimates of the abundances resulting from nuclear processing of the supernova ejecta are presented. It appears promising that nucleosynthesis in this single supernova event can account for most isotopic anomalies and traces of extinct radioactivities in solar system material.     

3D Numerical Simulations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>-Mode Propagation Through Magnetic Flux Tubes

Three-dimensional numerical simulations have been used to study the scattering of a surface-gravity wave packet by vertical magnetic-flux tubes, with radii from 200 km to 3 Mm, embedded in stratified polytropic atmosphere. The scattered wave has been found to consist primarily of m=0 (axisymmetric) and m=1 modes. The ratio of the amplitude of these two modes was found to be strongly dependent on the radius of the flux tube. The kink mode is the dominant mode excited in tubes with a small radius, while the sausage mode is dominant for large tubes. Simulations of this type provide a simple, efficient, and robust way to start to understand the seismic signature of flux tubes, which have recently begun to be observed.     

Early Ipswichian (last interglacial) sea level rise in the channel region: Stone Point Site of Special Scientific Interest,Hampshire, England

Constraining the speed of sea level rise at the start of an interglacial is important to understanding the size of the ‘window of opportunity’ available for hominin migration. This is particularly important during the last interglacial when there is no evidence for significant hominin occupation anywhere in Britain. There are very few finer grained fossiliferous sequences in the Channel region that can be used to constrain sea level rise and they are preserved only to the north of the Channel, in England. Of these, the sequence at Stone Point SSSI is by far the most complete. Data from this sequence has been previously reported, and discussed at a Quaternary Research Association Field Meeting, where a number of further questions were raised that necessitated further data generation. In this paper, we report new data from this sequence – thin section analysis, isotopic determinations on ostracod shells, new Optical Stimulated Luminescence ages and Amino Acid Recem analyses. These show early sea level rise in this sequence, starting during the pre-temperate vegetation zone IpI, but no early warming. The implications of this almost certainly last interglacial sequence for the human colonisation of Britain and our understanding of the stratigraphic relationship of interglacial estuarine deposits with their related fluvial terrace sequences is explored.     

Holocene alluvial environments at Barking,Lower Thames Valley (London,UK)

Deposit modelling based on archived borehole logs supplemented by a small number of dedicated boreholes is used to reconstruct the main boundary surfaces and the thickness of the main sediment units within the succession of Holocene alluvial deposits underlying the floodplain in the Barking Reach of the Lower Thames Valley. The basis of the modelling exercise is discussed and the models are used to assess the significance of floodplain relief in determining patterns of sedimentation. This evidence is combined with the results of biostratigraphical and geochronological investigations to reconstruct the environmental conditions associated with each successive stage of floodplain aggradation. The two main factors affecting the history and spatial pattern of Holocene sedimentation are shown to be the regional behaviour of relative sea level and the pattern of relief on the surface of the sub-alluvial, Late Devensian Shepperton Gravel. As is generally the case in the Lower Thames Valley, three main stratigraphic units are recognised, the Lower Alluvium, a peat bed broadly equivalent to the Tilbury III peat of Devoy (1979) and an Upper Alluvium. There is no evidence to suggest that the floodplain was substantially re-shaped by erosion during the Holocene. Instead, the relief inherited from the Shepperton Gravel surface was gradually buried either by the accumulation of peat or by deposition of fine-grained sediment from suspension in standing or slow-moving water. The palaeoenvironmental record from Barking confirms important details of the Holocene record observed elsewhere in the Lower Thames Valley, including the presence of Taxus in the valley-floor fen carr woodland between about 5000 and 4000 cal BP, and the subsequent growth of Ulmus on the peat surface.     

The development of a non-linear autoregressive model with exogenous input (NARX) to model climate-water clarity relationships: reconstructing a historical water clarity index for the coastal waters of the southeastern USA

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The coastal waters of the southeastern USA contain important protected habitats and natural resources that are vulnerable to climate variability and singular...     

Olivine-matrix reactions in thermally metamorphosed Apollo 14 breccias

Olivine clasts, which have mantles formed by reaction of the olivine with the breccia matrix, are present in the high-grade thermally metamorphosed Apollo 14 breccias. The mantled olivine clasts are most abundant in 14311, but they are also present in 14304 and 14319. Typically the mantles consist of two zones: an inner corona containing pyroxene, ilmenite and commonly plagioclase, and an outer light-colored halo where the matrix is depleted in ilmenite. The growth of the coronas involved matrix-to-corona diffusion of TiO₂ and corona-to-matrix diffusion of MgO and FeO. These diffusive fluxes can be attributed to chemical potential gradients developed between mineral assemblages in local equilibrium at the olivine-corona boundary and the matrix.