Mars: simply red?

Ernst Hauber and Gerhard Neukum present a new perspective on the martian surface on the basis of two years of observations by the High resolution Stereo Camera, part of ESA's Mars Express mission.
All HRSC images shown are copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G Neukum).     

Rifting-related volcanism in an oceanic post-collisional setting: the Tabar–Lihir–Tanga–Feni (TLTF) island chain, Papua New Guinea

The Tabar–Lihir–Tanga–Feni (TLTF) volcanic island chain occurs in a zone of lithospheric extension superimposed on a post-collisonal tectonic setting along the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates northeast of Papua New Guinea. We present geochemical and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope data for volcanic rocks from these islands and three recently discovered seamounts located at Lihir island. Major element data document an alkalic affinity of the sample suite and trachybasalts as the predominant rock type. Negative Nb-anomalies in extended trace element patterns, enrichment of the light rare earth elements, and Ce/Pb ratios of about 4 are typical of the values in calc alkaline island arc volcanics and support an origin from subduction-modified mantle. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of 0.7037 to 0.7044 and _Nd values of +5.6 to +6.8 indicate that the upper mantle evolved with a time-integrated depletion in LREE, however, not as severe as that recorded in basalts from the East Pacific Rise. Variable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios at less variable ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios suggest that ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the melts were modified by secondary processes, such as assimilation of seawater Sr from crustal rocks. The Pb isotope ratios are uniform, moderately radiogenic (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ca. 18.7 to 18.8), and similar to those reported for the active Mariana arc. Elevated ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios relative to Pacific MORB suggest melting of small amounts of subducted sediments (ca. 1–2 wt.%). An important control of subducted sediment on the chemistry of the melts can also be inferred from the ratios of highly incompatible trace elements (e.g., Th, U, Pb, La, and Nb). Additional mantle enrichment by subduction derived fluids is reflected in high values of highly incompatible trace element ratios between fluid mobile (e.g., Ba) and fluid immobile elements (e.g., Th, Nb). The results of this study document that the chemical composition of igneous rocks from post-collisional tectonic settings are strongly influenced by previous plate tectonics. This conclusion implies that the information conveyed by tectonic discrimination diagrams for these rocks must be interpreted with care.     

Mars as never seen before

Images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express reveal the surface of the Red Planet in unprecedented detail – and should have the whole planet mapped at high resolution in just two years. Over the next six pages, Ernst Hauber and Gerhard Neukum set the scene and reveal some of the spectacular images already captured.
(All images are courtesy of ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/G Neukum unless otherwise credited.)     

Oceanic ridge metamorphism of the East Taiwan Ophiolite

Brecciated mafic+ultramafic plutonic rocks of the East Taiwan Ophiolite occur as detritus and slide blocks in the Pliocene Lichi Mélange. These plutonic rocks have been subjected to two stages of post-magmatic recrystallization: (I) pre-brecciation ridge-type metamorphism attended by high-grade greenschist and rare amphibolite facies physical conditions; and (II) later off-axis metamorphism under zeolite to lowest greenschist facies conditions that postdated brecciation, submarine talus accumulation and deposition of associated pelagic sediments. The effects of the earlier ridge metamorphism are the main concern of this paper. (I) Dominant antigorite together with chlorite and talc in some ultramafics suggests that these rocks recrystallized at T>350 ° C. The primary compositions of gabbroic calcic plagioclase have been modified from An 45–70 to An 13–38, and the igneous clinopyroxenes and hornblendes partly replaced by actinolite+chlorite. Stable mineral assemblages in the metagabbros are thus ∼oligoclase+actinolite+chlorite±very rare epidote+sphene, and intermediate plagioclase +actinolite+chlorite+sphene. Amphibolites are less common and consist of more calcic plagioclase (An 25–49)+hornblende. The presence of assemblages transitional between greenschist and amphibolite facies for basaltic compositions is suggestive of very low-pressure thermal metamorphism such as would be appropriate to the crustal portions of an oceanic spreading center. (II) The occurrence of vein albite+actinolite+ chlorite near the base of the brecciated plutonic sequence and vein prehnite+laumontite in the upper part suggests that the brecciated plutonic rocks were later feebly retrograded under conditions of the greenschist and zeolite facies respectively-probably some distance removed from the thermal regime of a mid-oceanic ridge. The East Taiwan Ophiolite probably represents the western termination of the Philippine Sea lithospheric plate. Portions of this oceanic crust and underlying mantle were incorporated in the Lichi Mélange of the Coastal Range of eastern Taiwan as a consequence of antithetic faulting and erosion. This process evidently accompanied east-directed underflow of the Asiatic (South China Sea) plate.     

Sweden

Four invertebrate and one fish species (Cerastoderma edule, Mya arenaria, Arenicola marina, Crangon crangon, Solea solea) from a single area of the German Wadden sea were investigated for concentrations of ten organochlorine pollutants in 1976. PCB concentrations (wet tissue basis) were predominating with 10–200 ng g^?1, while p,p′-DDD, dieldrin, α-HCH, γ-HCH and p,p′-DDE generally ranged between 1 and 10 ng g^?1. Values of α-endosulfan were even lower; p,p′-DDT, endrin and heptachlor epoxide could not be detected. Residue levels in shrimps were close to the lower range of values which have been found in this species from other areas of the North Sea since 1974. The patterns of residue concentrations in the five aquatic species were remarkably different indicating species- and compound-specific bioaccumulation. Trophic level and lipid content were shown to be responsible for PCB concentrations increasing from bivalves to fish.     

Petrogenesis of some Ligurian peridotites—II. Rare earth element chemistry

REE compositions of nine partially serpentinized Iherzolitic rocks from Liguria have been investigated: eight samples are from the Erro-Tobbio thrust sheet of the Gruppo di Voltri (western Liguria); one sample is from an allochthonous eastern Liguria mass within the External Ligurides. As previously described (Ernst and Piccardo, 1979, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta43, 219–237), all specimens are spinel (±plagioclase) Iherzolites. They possess major element bulk rock chemistries which are more or less ‘primitive’ or only slightly depleted compared to estimated upper mantle compositions. Mineral chemistries, varying insignificantly from rock to rock, evidently reflect mantle equilibration in the range 1000–1150°C and 14–16 kbar; pervasive retrograde effects testify to later decompression at shallower levels characterized by temperatures exceeding a typical intraplate oceanic geothermal gradient.The investigated lherzolitic samples show concordant REE patterns, LREE-depleted with respect to chondrites. A wide range in values is observed among the LREE: the observed depletion of LREE in most of the samples is accompanied by a Ce-negative anomaly. Inasmuch as the analyzed samples have been affected to a variable extent by serpentinization, REE mobility during hydrous alteration is treated employing both a theoretical approach and natural evidence.Effects of partial melting prior to serpentinization (resulting chiefly in depletion in LREE) can be rationalized by postulating a two-times chondritic REE abundance in the original unaltered peridotitic material and by considering the HREE contents to have been unaffected by hydrous alteration. When comparison is made with REE compositions for residual material after different degrees of partial melting (computed using an equilibrium, non-modal partial melting model and selected REE partition values), the analyzed Ligurian samples show effects of incipient melting on only a small scale, i.e. 1–5%. Judging from their major and REE compositions, the investigated lherzolites cannot have produced substantial amounts of tholeiitic melt, hence they cannot have provided the primary magmas for the oceanic crustal sequences so widespread within the Northern Apennine and Gruppo di Voltri ophiolitic terranes.     

Strain and rotation in a multilayered fold

Strain was estimated in a fold of Cambrian interlayered siltstones and pelites by determining the preferred orientation of chlorite grains with an X-ray goniometer. Strains so obtained and the postulate that continuity be preserved allowed unfolding of the fold and the determination of rigid body rotations that accompanied the strain. Petrologic investigation showed no sign of major differential volume changes in the siltstones, and this in conjunction with measured strains led to the conclusion that one of the silty layers making up the fold was not, originally, a bed of uniform thickness but a lenticular body, probably representing a single ripple on a ripple-marked tidal flat.Unfolding by piecemeal fitting of unstrained domains shows that none of the principal axes of strain lie consistently parallel to or at right angles to the fold axis. Rock material was displaced with components orthogonal to the profile plane as well as parallel to it. Strain due to compaction during an early history of increasing sediment overburden cannot be separated from strain during tectonic deformation. Its influence is most clearly seen in differential volume change between siltstones and pelites. Additional differential volume changes within pelite beds could have occurred at any time of the deformational history.A comparison of the orientation of strain and rotation axes in the two limbs of the fold, and also comparison of the same orientations in Eulerian coordinates (Cartesian coordinates in the observed fold) and in Lagrangean coordinates (Cartesian in the unfolded fold) make it probable that episodes of relatively uniform strain both preceded and followed the buckling episode that produced the sharp hinge in the competent silt-stone. The siltstone may have been less indurated and thus no more competent than the pelite during early deformation.     

Tritium and90Sr in North Atlantic surface water

Areal distributions and complete time histories since 1952 are presented of the tritium and⁹⁰Sr concentrations in North Atlantic surface water. The distributions are based on a compilation of measured North Atlantic surface water tritium concentrations which is part of this paper and includes hitherto unpublished measurements, and on available⁹⁰Sr compilations. To reconstruct the insufficiently represented early concentrations, a two-box North Atlantic mixing model with tropospheric input is employed, for which the input is specified (on relative scales), and which is fitted to the available surface water observations. This procedure gives a natural tritium concentration of 0.2 TU (±30%), and furthermore suggests that part of the old oceanic tritium and⁹⁰Sr measurements are high. The fit requires characteristic model mixing times of 2.5 years (exchange with an intermediate-depth reservoir about three times the size of the surface box) and 30 years (loss into the deep ocean), and a tritium/⁹⁰Sr input ratio of 310 Ci/Ci. The areal distributions and time histories can serve as boundary value data for evaluations of subsurface tritium and⁹⁰Sr measurements.