Definition and character of the Regency Interglacial and Early-Middle Pleistocene stratigraphy in the King Valley, western Tasmania, Australia

Interpretation of weathered glacial and interglacial deposits in the lower King Valley suggests that the Early Pleistocene Thureau Formation is conformably overlain by the Regency Formation. Pollen analysis of the Regency Formation provides evidence of a new climatic stage, the Regency Interglacial. The interglacial deposit consists of humified peat overlain by drifted wood and leaves. The pollen analysis shows a transition from montane scrub rainforest to lowland temperate rainforest dominated by Lagarostrobos franklinii, Nothofagus cunninghamii and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius. Trace quantities of the species Quintinia psi-latispora and Gothanipollis perplexus , now both extinct in Tasmania, were also recorded. On the basis of intense chemical weathering and correlation with sediments that have a reversed magnetization the weathered glacial deposits of the Thureau Formation are thought to be older than 730,000 B.P. The eroded interglacial deposit rests on the weathered deposits and is buried by outwash gravels of the David Formation, which was deposited during an ice advance of the Middle Pleistocene Henty Glaciation (c. 150,000 B.P.). Comparison of the Regency site with a site 2 km to the south at Baxter Rivulet shows that the unconformity between the interglacial deposit and the overlying outwash gravel represents the erosion of the evidence for the Middle Pleistocene Moore Glaciation.     

Effects of waste disposal on groundwater and surface water

ABSTRACT

Remote sensing has great, but largely unrealized, potential in operational hydrology especially in countries where conventional data are not adequate even to meet existing needs. It is argued in this paper, and illustrated with special reference to the monitoring of rainfall, that organizational, not physical, problems have been the most significant in limiting the spread of satellite remote sensing applications within the developing world. Looking to the future, the relative merits of tactical (“bottom up”) and strategic (“top down”) approaches for the promotion of satellite remote sensing for hydrology in such areas are outlined and discussed. It is concluded that existing and proposed IHP projects may proffer some suitable channels through which significant progress could be made.     

Melt Enrichment of Shallow Depleted Mantle: a Detailed Petrological, Trace Element and Isotopic Study of Mantle-Derived Xenoliths and Megacrysts from the Cameroon Line

Major element, trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopiccompositions of ultramafic xenoliths and megacrysts from thecontinental Cameroon line provide evidence for metasomatismof the upper most lithospheric mantle by enriched melts duringthe Mesozoic The megacrysts probably crystallized within thelower continental crust from melts similar to the host magmas.All the xenoliths originated as depleted residues after theextraction of basaltic melts, but some indicate evidence ofinteraction with enriched partial melts before entrainment.The U–Pb isotopic data on garnet are consistent with coolingthrough >900C at >300 Ma. The Sm–Nd isotope systematicsin constituent phases appear to have been in equilibrium ona xenolith scale at the time of entrainment, indicating derivationfrom mantle that remained at temperatures >600C until eruption.Spinel therzolies that show simple light rare earth element(LREE) depletions are characterized by isotopic compositionsthat are comparable with, but slightly more depleted than AtlanticN-MORB, suggesting that the unmetasomatized sub-continentallithosphere of the Cameroon line may be isotopically similarto that of sub-oceanic lithosphere. The Nd-depleted mantle modelages of these xenoliths are consistent with late Proterozoicdepletion, similar in age to much of the overlying continentalcrust. In contrast, samples that have LREE-enriched clinopyr-oxenes(La/Yb =4.7–9.4) contain trace amounts of amphibole, areenriched in U and have more radiogenic Pb and Sr. These xenolithsyield U–Pb and Sm–Nd model ages consistent withMesozoic enrichment, in agreement with the age of enrichmentof the source regions of the basalts, as deduced from Pb isotopiccompositions. Clinopyroxenes record three orders of magnitudeenrichment in U and LREE accompanied by progressive K depletionassociated with the growth of trace amphibole, with K/U ratiosthat range from 12000 to 1. The ratios of the trace elementsthought to have similar bulk D in mantle melting, Ce/Pb, Ba/Rband Nd/Sr ratios, display regional variations related to thetime integrated history of enrichments indicated by Nd isotopiccompositions. Mass balance calculations suggest that the meltsresponsible for the most recent enrichment of the lithospherehad higher La/Yb and U/Pb than Cameroon line host magmas, andwere probably the product of small degrees of partial meltingassociated with the earliest stages of the breakup of Pangea. KEY WORDS: Cameroon line; mantle xenoliths; megacrysts; REE; isotopic composition; trace element     

Freshwater organisms that build stromatolites: a synopsis of biocrystallization by prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae

In freshwater environments such as river and stream bottoms, rocks and submerged vegetation are covered with a biological felt (also called a periphyton, microbial mat, biofilm, etc.) that is susceptible to calcification. Compilation of an extensive bibliography and our own observations have allowed the identification of 44 species of Coccogonophyceae, 122 Hormogonophyceae, 2 Chrysophyceae, 35 Chlorophyceae, 3 Xanthophyceae, 2 diatoms, and 3 Rhodophyceae that grow on calcareous tufa and coat vegetation. Diverse genera include species that are also calcified but impossible to determine because they lack reproductive organs. Crystals have been described from 74 species in the literature and we have observed 53 others. They can be classified into 10 groups: (1) platelets on cell walls (Volvocales, analogues of coccolithophorids) (2) crystals in mucilage (Synechococcus, diatoms, Hydrurus) and calcified stalks (Oocardium) (3) sheaths containing crystals in the form of simple or three-branched needles, dendritic crystals, and crystals with box-work fabric (Geitleria, Scytonema) (4) sheaths containing calcite spherulites (5) stalks intersecting a large crystal (Cymbella) (6) micrite tubes (Phormidium, Schizothrix) (7) isolated rhombohedra (Zygnema, Scytonema), rhombohedra in clusters or chains (Nostoc parmelioides) (8) sparite platelets (Vaucheria) or isodiametric crystals (Scytonema, Chaetophora) (9) large crystals crosscut by many parallel filaments (Rivularia, Batrachospermum), and (10) fan-like crystals (Phormidium). These crystals can be arranged in clusters or form regular laminations. They can transform into isodiametric sparite crystals to form fan-like or radial palisadic structures. Knowledge of primary crystals and their diagenetic transformations is necessary to correctly interpret freshwater stromatolites. The latter always result from intense calcification and are a diagenetic transformation of a biological felt made of many prokaryotic and eukaryotic algal species, small invertebrates, and organic and mineral debris.     

Calcite–dolomite geothermometry in the system CaCO3–MgCO3–FeCO3: an experimental study

Abstract An experimental study of the system CaCO₃–MgCO₃–FeCO₃ was undertaken in order to calibrate the iron correction to the calcite–dolomite geothermometer, which is based on the solubility of magnesium in calcite in the assemblage calcite + dolomite. The experiments, at 450°C and lower temperatures, resulted in products with a very small grain size and incomplete equilibration. However, application of a carefully-devised automatic data processing algorithm to analyses of the phases in experimental charges, combined with a thermodynamic analysis, results in geothermometer diagrams which should be preferred to previous theoretical predictions.