Mineralogy and chemistry of bentonite (?) deposits at Minjingu, Lake Manyara, North Tanzania

Olive green clays likely to be bentonitic in composition have been mineralogically and chemically studied. They occur in association with other lacustrine sediments at Lake Manyara. Radiocarbon dates from four diatom horizons indicate ages ranging from 12 Ka to 135 Ka suggesting a Mid-Holocene age. Middle Pleistocene age have been assigned to the ridged oncolites of Lake Manyara. The olive green coloured clays in the Manyara basin are known to occur in association with other lake beds including phosphorite deposits, stromatolites, bioturbated silty clays, partly silicified marls, conglomerates and olive green coloured opal beds. The results presented herein are from the olive green coloured clays. The olive green clays (bentonite?) are a result of devitrification or alteration of volcanic ashes and/or pyroclasts. The green clays occur in different forms as they are separated from each other by other lacustrine sediments. The alteration might have taken place in slightly different environments in terms of salinity and alkalinity. One of the top layer is friable and shows conchoidal fractures when dry. The other beds below in the lacustrine sequence are cemented with calcite and some dolomite as well as zeolites. The lowermost layer in the sequence is friable and shows cracks filled with coarse crystalline calcite. Mineralogically the bentonite is composed of the clay minerals illite, illite-smectite mixed layer clays, and chlorite. Other authigenic minerals include various zeolites (analcime, clinoptilolite, erionite and some traces of mordenite), opal, and fluorapatite. The clays have magnesium contents varying from 3.01% to 7.43%. The calcium contents vary widely due to presence or absence of one of the two minerals calcite or apatite. Trace elements like Ba, Ce, Sr, Zr are equally attributed to the presence of calcite and apatite. The formation of the illite-smectite mixed layer clays in an alternating manner with other lake sediments depicts different episodes of volcanic eruptions in the area. The mineralogical composition of smectites, zeolites, and opal in the green clays suggests a deposition of pyroclasts and volcanic ashes in a closed lake system with fluctuating levels. Due to evaporation alkalinity and salinity levels were fluctuating. The clays might have been bentonite which have undergone illitisation, a phenomena noted in other neighbouring rift basins.     

Ion microprobe baddeleyite and zircon ages for Late Archaean mafic dykes of the Pilbara Craton,Western Australia

Ion microprobe U–Th–Pb analyses of baddeleyite and zircon yield precise ages for several mafic intrusions in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. Baddeleyite was dated from four dolerite dykes of the north‐northeast‐trending Black Range swarm intruded into granitoid‐greenstone basement in the northern part of the craton. The mean ²⁰⁷Pb*/²⁰⁶Pb* age of 2772 ± 2 Ma, interpreted as an unambiguous age of emplacement for the dykes, is within error of previous ion microprobe U–Pb zircon ages for the Mt Roe flood basalts and confirms that the dykes acted as feeders to the volcanic rocks. The Sylvania Inlier, in the southeastern Pilbara Craton, also contains north‐northeast‐trending dykes that were correlated previously with the Black Range swarm. Based on concordant and discordant zircon analyses from samples of two dykes, the best estimate of the age of the Sylvania dykes is 2747 ± 4 Ma. The Sylvania dykes thus appear to be significantly younger than, and hence unrelated to, the Black Range swarm, but may have acted as feeders to younger volcanic units in the Fortescue Group such as the Kylena Formation.     

Grain-size composition of the suspended particulate matter in the marginal filter of the Severnaya Dvina River

The quantitative distribution and grain-size composition of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the marginal filter of the Severnaya Dvina River during the summer low-water periods of 2001–2005 were first analyzed in seawater on board of the vessel immediately after its sampling (without preliminary treatment) using a Coulter counter. This analysis revealed the main regularities in the transformation of the grain-size spectra at successive salinity steps of the marginal filter as well as the boundaries between these steps based on the data obtained by direct complex studies of the SPM dispersion. It is established that the water salinity is the main factor that controls the changes in the grain-size distribution and the composition of the particulate matter in the marginal filter. The concentrations of the pelitic fraction and the salinity demonstrate negative correlations between each other. It is shown that the areas characterized by the mass development of phytoplankton are located along the outer boundary of the marginal filter (at the biological step), where the salinity amounts to 23–24 psu. The content of the suspended forms of some chemical (lithogenic) elements and the C_org indicating the SPM’s genetic composition and their relations with the grain-size composition of the latter and the environments are studied.     

The southern cape conductive belt (South Africa): Its composition, origin and tectonic significance

Magnetometer array studies have led to the discovery and mapping of the Southern Cape Conductive Belt (SCCB) crossing the southern tip of Africa from west to southeast coasts. The SCCB lies just south of the Namaqua-Natal Belt of cratonic rocks remobilized about 1000 m.y. B.P. It is shown that it coincides with a zone of weakness which has been exploited by three major geosynclinal accumulations over some 600 m.y. Relationships between the SCCB and the basement geochronology, geology and tectonics are considered in detail. These relationships support the view that the conductive belt was formed by an accumulation of marine sediments and oceanic lithosphere at the top of a Proterozoic subduction which stopped about 1000 to 800 m.y. B.P. Associated with this subduction we propose a Proterozoic range of Andean mountains, whose roots are now exposed in the Namaqua-Natal Belt. Later subduction further south, near the present south coast, is proposed to account for the intrusion, between the south coast and the SCCB, of the Cape Granites in the time interval 600-500 m.y. B.P. There is some evidence for a third, yet more distant, subduction episode off Permian Gondwanaland. After outlining this tectonic history, the paper turns to a closer examination of the hypothesis that the Southern Cape Conductive Belt consists of partly serpentinized basalt accumulated at the top of a Proterozoic subduction. A large static magnetic anomaly, which correlates with the SCCB over most of its length, is well fitted by a model which strongly supports this hypothesis. Bouguer gravity anomalies along western and central profiles likewise support the hypothesis. A discussion follows of the process of formation of the proposed block of serpentinized marine rocks, beginning with serpentinization of the crust near oceanic ridges by reaction of warm, porous, newly-extruded basalt with seawater convecting through it. The serpentinized basalt is stable at crustal temperatures and pressures and so is transported in the seafloor until it reaches a subduction, where it accumulates because of its low density. Examples of such accumulations are cited. Finally, it is shown that any iron in the olivine and pyroxene in the original basalt precipitates, when these silicates are hydrated to serpentine, as magnetite which is the dominant mineral conferring high electrical conductivity and high magnetic susceptibility on serpentinites. In particular the Beattie static magnetic anomaly requires, in our model calculation, a very high susceptibility readily attainable in basalt at 15–20% serpentinization. The authors know of no other rock able to provide this high susceptibility. A similar percentage of serpentinization provides the density required to model the gravity anomalies.     

Crustal Melting in the Cordilleran Interior: The Mid-Cretaceous White Creek Batholith in the Southern Canadian Cordillera

The mid-Cretaceous White Creek batholith in southeast BritishColumbia is a zoned pluton ranging from quartz monzodioriteon the margin, to hornblende-and biotite-bearing granodioritetowards the interior of the batholith, which are in turn crosscutby two-mica granite. This range in rock type is similar to therange displayed by Mesozoic granitoid suites found in the Cordilleraninterior of western North America. The lithological zones inthe White Creek batholith correlate with distinet jumps in majorelement, trace element, and isotopic compositions, and indicatethat several pulses of magma were emplaced within the WhiteCreek magma chamber. The hornblende-and biotite-bearing granitoidsare metaluminous to weakly peraluminous, have strong light rareearth element (LREE) enrichment, and small negative Eu anomalies.These granitoids have initial _Sr ranging from +32 to +84 (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶SrTfrom 0.7069 to 0.7106), initial _Nd ranging from –5 to–10, and initial ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pbranging from 18.3 to 18.7, 15.58 to 15.65, and 38.3 to 39.0,respectively. The two-mica granites and associated aplites arestrongly peraluminous, and show only moderate LREE enrichmentand strong negative Eu anomalies. These granites have _Sr rangingfrom +174 to + 436 (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_T from 0.7169 to 0.7354), _Nd rangingfrom –12 to –16, and more radiogenic initial Pbisotope ratios than the hornblende-and biotite-bearing granitoids. Oxygen, Sr, Pb, and Nd isotopes, REE modelling, and phase equilibriumconstraints are consistent with crustal anatexis of Precambrianbasement gneisses and Proterozoic metapelites exposed in southeastBritish Columbia, the product being the hornblende-biotite granitoidsand two-mica granites, respectively. The sequence of intrusionin the White Creek batholith constrains the melting sequence.A zone of anatexis proceeded upwards through the crust, firstmelting basement gneisses then melting overlying metapelites.A model for basaltic magmatic underplating as a primary causeof anatexis of the crust during the mid-Cretaceous magmaticepisode is difficult to reconcile with the absence of earlyCretaceous basalt in the southern Canadian Cordillera. A muchmore likely petrogenetic model is that crustal anatexis wasprobably a response to crustal thickening in association withterrane accretion and collision along the western margin ofthe North American continent.     

Chronology of the high-pressure metamorphism of Norwegian garnet peridotites/pyroxenites

Eclogite facies mineral assemblages are variably preserved in mafic and ultramafic rocks within the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway. Mineralogical and microstructural data indicate that some Mg–Cr-rich, Alpine-type peridotites have had a complex metamorphic history. The metamorphic evolution of these rocks has been described in terms of a seven-stage evolutionary model; each stage is characterized by a specific mineral assemblage. Stages II and III both comprise garnet-bearing mineral assemblages. Garnet-bearing assemblages are also present in Fe–Ti-rich peridotites which commonly occur as layers in mafic complexes. Sm–Nd isotopic results are reported for mineral and whole rock samples from both of these types of peridotites and related rocks. The partitioning of Sm and Nd between coexisting garnet and clinopyroxene is used to assess chemical equilibrium. One sample of Mg–Cr-type peridotite shows non-disturbed partitioning of Sm and Nd between Stage II garnet and clinopyroxene pairs and yields a garnet–clinopyroxene–whole-rock date of 1703 ± 29 Ma (I= 0.51069, MSWD = 0.04). This is the best estimate for the age of the Stage II high-P assemblage. Other Stage II garnet–clinopyroxene pairs reflect later disturbance of the Sm–Nd system and yield dates in the range 1303 to 1040 Ma. These dates may not have any geological significance. Stage III garnet–clinopyroxene pairs typically have equilibrated Sm–Nd partitioning and two samples yield dates of 437 ± 58 and 511 ± 18 Ma. This suggests that equilibration of the Stage III high-P assemblage is related to the Caledonian orogeny and is more or less contemporaneous with high-P metamorphism of ‘country-rock’eclogites in the surrounding gneisses. The Sm–Nd mineral data for the Fe–Ti-rich garnet peridotites and for a superferrian eclogite, which occurs as a dyke within the Gurskebotn Mg–Cr-type peridotite, are consistent with a Palaeozoic high-P metamorphism. Finally a synoptic P–T–t path is proposed for the Mg–Cr-type peridotites which is consistent with the petrological and geochronological data.