Evidence for lithium-aluminosilicate supersaturation of pegmatite-forming melts

New experimental data on the solubility of lithium (Li) at spodumene (LiAlSi₂O₆) and petalite (LiAlSi₄O₁₀) saturation at 500 MPa and 550–750 °C reveal evidence for lithium supersaturation of pegmatite-forming melts before the formation of Li-aluminosilicates. The degree of Li enrichment in granitic melts can reach ~11,000 ppm above the saturation value before the crystallization of Li-aluminosilicate minerals at lower temperatures. Comparison of the experimental results with the spodumene-rich Moblan pegmatite (Quebec) is consistent with extreme Li enrichment of the pegmatite-forming melt prior to emplacement, which cannot be explained with equilibrium crystallization of Li-aluminosilicates from a common granitic melt. The results of this study support the model of disequilibrium fractional crystallization through liquidus undercooling as the most plausible mechanism for the generation of such Li-rich ore resources.     

Comments on: “The partitioning of nickel between olivine and silicate melt” by S.R. Hart and K.E. Davis

We study a set of very high-quality records of first-order overtone Rayleigh waves from the deep-focus earthquake of September 29, 1973, in the Japan Sea. Standard surface wave techniques are used with these overtones, treated as individual seismic phases, to retrieve radiation pattern, Q, moment and phase velocity. A figure of M₀ = (6.7 ± 1.4) × 10²⁷dyn-cm is obtained, in total agreement with published values computed from either P waves, or fundamental Rayleigh waves. We also demonstrate the feasibility of using overtones as individual seismic phases in order to investigate their dispersion and attenuation properties.     

西藏拉萨地块西部扎布耶茶卡火山岩的成因与意义

近年来在青藏高原南部拉萨地块不断发现的碰撞后钾质和超钾质岩石,对于揭示印度与亚洲大陆碰撞以来高原岩石圈的深部作用与过程发挥了重要作用。分布在拉萨地块西部扎布耶茶卡东岸的钾质和超钾质火山岩主体喷发时代为中新世（约16Ma）,出露面积约为400km2,火山岩持续喷发0.45Ma,估算的喷发速率约为0.26×10-3km3/a。岩石包括3种类型,第一类（约16Ma）为超钾质的粗面安山岩,SiO2低（55%~58 %）,高Fe2O3、MgO、TiO2;第二类（约27Ma）为钾玄质的响岩和粗面岩;第三类是高SiO2的钾玄质—超钾质粗面岩（SiO2＝59%~64％）和流纹岩（SiO2＝69％）。岩石显示轻稀土元素、大离子亲石元素高度富集和部分高场强元素亏损的特征,部分中酸性岩石显示高Sr低Y的埃达克岩的属性。岩石的Sr-Nd-Pb-O同位素组成与拉萨地块典型的超钾质岩石明显不同,显示亲青藏高原北部地球化学省的地球化学特征。扎布耶茶卡不同类型的岩浆代表了碰撞后高原南部岩石圈减薄作用导致的岩石圈不同层次的岩石部分熔融的产物。     

Multichannel analysis of surface wave method with the autojuggie

The shear (S)-wave velocity of near-surface materials and its effect on seismic-wave propagation are of fundamental interest in many engineering, environmental, and groundwater studies. The multichannel analysis of surface wave (MASW) method provides a robust, efficient, and accurate tool to observe near-surface S-wave velocity. A recently developed device used to place large numbers of closely spaced geophones simultaneously and automatically (the ‘autojuggie’) is shown here to be applicable to the collection of MASW data. In order to demonstrate the use of the autojuggie in the MASW method, we compared high-frequency surface-wave data acquired from conventionally planted geophones (control line) to data collected in parallel with the automatically planted geophones attached to steel bars (test line). The results demonstrate that the autojuggie can be applied in the MASW method. Implementation of the autojuggie in very shallow MASW surveys could drastically reduce the time required and costs incurred in such surveys.     

Experimental study of liquid evolution in an Fe-rich,layered mafic intrusion: constraints of Fe-Ti oxide precipitation on the T-fO 2 and T-ϱ paths of tholeiitic magmas

The Newark Island layered intrusion, a composite intrusion displaying a similar fractionation sequence to the Skaergaard, has both dikes which preserved liquids fed into the intrusion and chilled pillows of liquids resident in the chamber. This study reports experimentally determined one atmosphere liquid lines of descent of these compositions as a function of oxygen fugacity which varies from QFM (quartz-fayalite-magnetite) to 0.5 log₁₀ units above IW (iron-wustite). These experiments reveal a strong oxygen fugacity dependence on the order of appearance and relative abundances of the Fe–Ti oxide minerals. Titanomagnetite saturates prior to ilmenite at QFM, but the order is reversed at lower oxygen fugacities. In the layered series of the Newark Island intrusion, ilmenite arrives shortly before titanomagnetite and the titanomagnetite/ilmenite ratio decreases monotonically after the cumulus appearance of titanomagnetite. Comparison of the crystallization sequence in the intrusion with that of the experiments requires that the oxygen fugacity in the intrusion increased relative to QFM before titanomagnetite saturation and decreased afterward, but always remained between the QFM and IW buffers. Similar trends in the modes of the Fe–Ti oxides (ilmenite and titanomagnetite) in the Skaergaard, Kiglapait, and Somerset Dam intrusions along with Fe₂O₃/FeO ratios in MORBs suggest that such a temperature-oxygen fugacity path may be typical of tholeiitic magma differentiation. Calculations of the temperature-density paths of the experimental liquids indicate that, at all possible oxygen fugacities, the density must have decreased abruptly after Fe–Ti oxide saturation. Accordingly, liquids replenishing the intrusion after Fe–Ti oxide saturation should pond at the bottom of the chamber, quenching against older cumulates. Field observation at the Newark Island intrusion confirm this prediction. The similarities in the fractionation paths of several other layered intrusions to that of the Newark Island intrusion suggest that the density of the liquids in these intrusions also decreased after Fe–Ti oxide saturation. Experiments on a suggested initial Skaergaard liquid are consistent with this model.