CHANGES IN ICE-MARGIN PROCESSES AND SEDIMENT ROUTING DURING ICE-SHEET ADVANCE ACROSS A MARGINAL MORAINE

Advance of part of the margin of the Greenland ice sheet across a proglacial moraine ridge between 1968 and 2002 caused progressive changes in moraine morphology, basal ice formation, debris release, ice‐marginal sediment storage, and sediment transfer to the distal proglacial zone. When the ice margin is behind the moraine, most of the sediment released from the glacier is stored close to the ice margin. As the margin advances across the moraine the potential for ice‐proximal sediment storage decreases and distal sediment flux is augmented by reactivation of moraine sediment. For six stages of advance associated with distinctive glacial and sedimentary processes we describe the ice margin, the debris‐rich basal ice, debris release from the glacier, sediment routing into the proglacial zone, and geomorphic processes on the moraine. The overtopping of a moraine ridge is a significant glaciological, geomorphological and sedimentological threshold in glacier advance, likely to cause a distinctive pulse in distal sediment accumulation rates that should be taken into account when glacial sediments are interpreted to reconstruct glacier fluctuations.     

Crystallization of Podiform Chromitites from Silicate Magmas and the Formation of Nodular Textures

Abstract: Podiform chromite deposits consist of numerous individual accumulations of chromite in the mantle sequences of ophiolites, suggesting formation in separate, mini-magma conduits in the upper mantle. They may show unique nodular and orbicular textures. Simple mixing of two distinct magmas, invoked for chromite deposits in layered intrusions, is inadequate to explain the formation of podiform chromite deposits. More likely, melt/rock interaction triggers the precipitation of chromite by addition of newly-formed droplets of melt to the main body of magma passing through a conduit, a process similar to that of magma mingling but involving a turbulent, moving magma so that newly-formed melt droplets behave like snowballs. These droplets concentrate chromite to form an outer shell and, while the magma is moving upwards, less dense silicate melts are squeezed out of the droplets as the shell collapses to form a nodule. Upon cooling, both orbicular and nodular textures are preserved in the chromitite.     

蛇绿岩型金刚石和铬铁矿深部成因

地球上的原生金刚石主要有3种产出类型,分别来自大陆克拉通下的深部地幔金伯利岩型金刚石、板块边界深俯冲变质岩中超高压变质型金刚石,和陨石坑中的陨石撞击型金刚石。在全球5个造山带的10处蛇绿岩的地幔橄榄岩或铬铁矿中均发现金刚石和其他超高压矿物的基础上,我们提出地球上一种新的天然金刚石产出类型,命名为蛇绿岩型金刚石。认为蛇绿岩型金刚石普遍存在于大洋岩石圈的地幔橄榄岩中,并提出蛇绿岩型金刚石和铬铁矿的深部成因模式。认为早期俯冲的地壳物质到达地幔过渡带(410~660 km深度)后被肢解,加入到周围的强还原流体和熔体中,当熔融物质向上运移到地幔过渡带顶部,铬铁矿和周围的地幔岩石以及流体中的金刚石等深部矿物一并结晶,之后,携带金刚石的铬铁矿和地幔岩石被上涌的地幔柱带至浅部,经历了洋盆的拉张和俯冲阶段,最终在板块边缘就位。     

Apparent OSL ages of modern deposits from Fåbergstølsdalen,Norway: implications for sampling glacial sediments

The application of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating within glacial settings can be limited where sediments have not had their OSL signal fully reset by sunlight exposure. Heterogeneous bleaching can result in age overestimations, and although it is recognized that certain depositional settings are more likely to have experienced sufficient sunlight exposure to bleach the OSL signal, no comprehensive study has empirically investigated the processes of sediment bleaching, or the variability in bleaching between deposits of the same type and within the same glacial catchment. A suite of modern glacial and glaciofluvial sediments from Fåbergstølsdalen, southern Norway, have been analysed to explore the controls that sedimentary processes and depositional setting have on bleaching of the OSL signal of quartz. There is considerable variability in the residual OSL ages of similar modern deposits, which reflects high sensitivity of the OSL signal to sediment source, sedimentary process, transport distance and depositional setting. Overdispersion values are greatest for the sediments which have been most heterogeneously bleached and these sediments have the lowest residual ages. Sampling strategies that incorporate sufficient consideration of the depositional framework of sample settings can minimize the effects of unbleached residuals on OSL age determinations.     

Multiple partial melting events in the Sulu UHP terrane: zircon U–Pb dating of granitic leucosomes within amphibolite and gneiss

Thin layers and lenses of granitic leucosome are widely distributed within amphibolites, paragneisses and orthogneisses of the Sulu UHP terrane. They are parallel to, or cross‐cut, foliations in the host rocks at different scales and show evidence of coalescence and migration to form centimetre‐ to decimetre‐scale segregations. Variously migmatized rocks extend at least 350 km from SW Sulu (Maobei) to NE Sulu (Weihai), in a band at least 50 km wide. A combined study of mineral inclusions, cathoduluminescence (CL) images, U–Pb LA‐ICP‐MS dates, and in‐situ trace element compositions of zircon provide clear evidence on the nature and timing of partial melting in these UHP rocks. Most zircon from the granitic leucosomes occurs as distinct overgrowths around inherited (igneous or metamorphic) cores or as new, euhedral crystals. The overgrowths and new crystals commonly show perfectly euhedral shapes, have pronounced oscillatory zoning and contain felsic mineral inclusions, such as Kfs + Pl + Qtz ± Ilm ± monazite (Mon). In contrast, the inherited igneous or metamorphic cores are rounded or irregular, contain low‐P or UHP mineral inclusions and show clear dissolution textures. These data suggest that the new zircon is anatectic in origin and that it grew during partial melting of the UHP rocks. The REE patterns of the anatectic zircon show steep slopes from the HREE to LREE with strongly to moderately negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.31–0.72) and pronounced positive Ce anomalies (Ce/Ce* = 6.8–26.5). Abundant U–Pb spot analyses of the anatectic zircon reveal two discrete and meaningful ages of partial melting within the Sulu UHP terrane. Anatectic zircon from 12 granitic leucosomes within amphibolites, paragneisses, and orthogneisses from Sulu UHP slices II and III yields consistent mean U–Pb ages of 219.0 ± 1.2 to 218.3 ± 1.6 Ma, 218.8 ± 2.0 to 217.3 ± 1.7 Ma and 218.2 ± 1.4 to 215.0 ± 1.5 Ma, respectively. In contrast, anatectic zircon from six granitic leucosomes within paragneisses and orthogneisses from Sulu UHP slice III records younger mean U–Pb ages of 151.9 ± 1.3 to 151.1 ± 1.8 Ma and 155.9 ± 1.8 to 153.7 ± 1.7 Ma, respectively. These data imply that the Sulu UHP terrane experienced two Mesozoic partial melting events. The first partial melting event (219–215 Ma) was probably associated with a Late Triassic granulite facies stage of ‘hot’ exhumation, whereas the second (156–151 Ma) is interpreted as the result of Middle‐Late Jurassic extension and thinning of the previously thickened crust of the Sulu UHP terrane. Both partial melting events induced extensive retrograde metamorphism of the eclogites and their country rocks.     

Discovery of coesite–eclogite from the Nordøyane UHP domain,Western Gneiss Region,Norway: field relations,metamorphic history,and tectonic significance

Ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) rocks from the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway record subduction of Baltican continental crust during the Silurian to Devonian Scandian continental collision. Here, we report a new coesite locality from the island of Harøya in the Nordøyane UHP domain, the most northerly yet documented in the WGR, and reconstruct the P–T history of the host eclogite. The coesite–eclogite lies within migmatitic orthogneiss, interpreted as Baltica basement, that underwent multiple stages of deformation and partial melting during exhumation. Two stages of metamorphism have been deduced from petrography and mineral chemistry. The early (M1) assemblage comprises garnet (Pyr_38–41Alm_35–37Grs_23–26Spss₁) and omphacite (Na_0.35–0.40Ca_0.57–0.60Fe²⁺_0.08–0.10Mg_0.53Fe³⁺_0.01Al^VI_0.40–0.42)₂(Al^IV_0.03–0.06Si_1.94–1.97)₂O₆, with subordinate phengite, kyanite, rutile, coesite and apatite, all present as inclusions in garnet. The later (M2) assemblage comprises retrograde rims on garnet (Pyr_38–40Alm_40–44Grs_16–21Spss₁), diopside rims on omphacite (Na_0.04–0.06Ca_0.88–0.91Fe²⁺_0.09–0.13Mg_0.81–83Fe³⁺_0.08Al^VI_0.03)₂(Al^IV_0.07–0.08Si_1.92–1.93)₂O₆, plagioclase, biotite, pargasite, orthopyroxene and ilmenite. Metamorphic P–T conditions estimated using thermocalc are ～3 GPa and 760 °C for M1, consistent with the presence of coesite, and ～1 GPa and 813 °C for M2, consistent with possible phengite dehydration melting during decompression. Comparison with other WGR eclogites containing the same assemblage shows a broad similarity in peak (M1) P–T conditions, confirming suggestions that large portions of the WGR were buried to depths of ～100 km during Scandian subduction. Field relations suggest that exhumation, accompanied by widespread partial melting, involved an early phase of top‐northwest shearing, followed by subhorizontal sinistral shearing along northwest‐dipping foliations, related to regional transtension. The present results add to the growing body of data on the distribution, maximum P–T conditions, and exhumation paths of WGR coesite–eclogites and their host rocks that is required to constrain quantitative models for the formation and exhumation of UHP metamorphic rocks during the Scandian collision.