Late Mississippian bryozoan/microbial build-ups on a drowned karst terrain: Port au Port Peninsula, western Newfoundland

Bryozoan and microbial carbonate build-ups occur within the Late Mississippian (mid-Viséan) Codroy Group on the Port au Port Peninsula, western Newfoundland. Build-ups formed only adjacent to a rocky, cliffed, shoreline filling narrow submerged palaeovalleys of a well-developed Late Devonian-Early Mississippian karst terrain. The nearshore setting was a stressed environment as indicated by (1) the absence of normal marine biota, such as corals, echinoderms, and calcareous algae, (2) high numbers and low species diversity of dominant taxa (bryozoans, brachiopods, and microbial communities), and (3) abundant plant-bearing siliciclastics deposited by the episodic influx of fresh-water from adjacent uplands. Build-up development was terminated by Meramec time, due to falling sea-level and seaward progradation of terrestrial sediments. Preserved structural and constructional fabrics within the build-ups include (1) thickets of bryozoans and microbial microthrombolites, structurally enhanced by probable marine Mg-calcite and aragonite cements, (2) multigeneration internal sediment, and (3) small colonies of serpulid worms and terebratulid brachiopods. Submarine cementation within the build-ups appears to have been abundant during arrested sedimentation, whereas intermound sediments (carbonates and siliciclastics) were lithified only during burial diagenesis. Shallow-burial fracturing, stylolitization, sulphide and sulphate mineralization, and precipitation of phreatic, iron-poor, calcite cement occurred during burial diagenesis. Codroy build-ups are distinct from the more common Mississippian mud mounds. Their internal characteristics and the geologic setting are more like other Late Palaeozoic and Holocene bryozoan-rich build-ups.     

Dissolution of Quartz, Albite, and Orthoclase in H2O-Saturated Haplogranitic Melt at 800{degrees}C and 200 MPa: Diffusive Transport Properties of Granitic Melts at Crustal Anatectic Conditions

We have conducted experiments on dissolution of quartz, albite,orthoclase, and corundum into H₂O-saturated haplogranite meltat 800°C and 200 MPa over a duration of 120–1488 hwith the aim of ascertaining the diffusive transport propertiesof granitic melts at crustal anatectic temperatures. Cylindersof anhydrous starting glass and a single mineral phase (quartzor feldspar) were juxtaposed along flat and polished surfacesinside gold or platinum capsules with 10 wt % added H₂O. Concentrationprofiles in glass (quenched melt) perpendicular to the mineral–glassinterfaces and comparison with relevant phase diagrams suggestthat melts at the interface are saturated in the dissolvingphases after 384 h, and with longer durations the concentrationprofiles are controlled only by diffusion of components in themelt. The evolution of the concentration profiles with timeindicates that uncoupled diffusion in the melt takes place alongthe following four linearly independent directions in oxidecomposition space: SiO₂, Na₂O, and K₂O axes (Si-, Na-, and K-eigenvectors,respectively), and a direction between the Al₂O₃, Na₂O, andK₂O axes (Al-eigenvector), such that the Al/Na molar ratio isequal to that of the bulk melt and the Al/(Na + K) molar ratiois equal to the equilibrium ASI (= mol. Al₂O₃/[Na₂O + K₂O])of the melt. Experiments in which a glass cylinder was sandwichedbetween two mineral cylinders—quartz and albite, quartzand K-feldspar, or albite and corundum—tested the validityof the inferred directions of uncoupled diffusion and exploredlong-range chemical communication in the melt via chemical potentialgradients. The application of available solutions to the diffusionequations for the experimental quartz and feldspar dissolutiondata provides diffusivities along the directions of the Si-eigenvectorand Al-eigenvector of (2·0–2·8) x 10^–15m²/s and (0·6–2·4) x 10^–14 m²/s, respectively.Minimum diffusivities of alkalis [(3–9) x 10^–11m²/s] are orders of magnitude greater than the tetrahedral componentsof the melt. The information provided here determines the rateat which crustal anatexis can occur when sufficient heat issupplied and diffusion is the only mass transport (mixing) processin the melt. The calculated diffusivities imply that a quartzo-feldspathicsource rock with initial grain size of 2–3 mm undergoinghydrostatic, H₂O-saturated melting at 800°C (infinite heatsupply) could produce 20–30 vol. % of homogeneous meltin less than 1–10 years. Slower diffusion in H₂O-undersaturatedmelts will increase this time frame. KEY WORDS: chemical diffusion; haplogranite; mineral dissolution experiments; crustal anatexis     

Sedimentary environments and depositional characteristics of the Middle to Upper Eocene whale‐bearing succession in the Fayum Depression,Egypt

The discovery of whale fossils from Eocene strata in the Fayum Depression has provoked interest in the life and lifestyle of early whales. Excellent outcrop exposure also affords the dataset to develop sedimentological and stratigraphic models within the Eocene strata. Previous work generally asserts that the thick, sand‐rich deposits of the Fayum Depression represent shoreface and barrier island successions with fine‐grained lagoonal and fluvial associations capping progradational successions. However, a complete absence of wave‐generated sedimentary structures, a preponderance of thoroughly bioturbated strata and increasingly proximal sedimentary successions upwards are contrary to accepted models of the local sedimentological and stratigraphic development. This study considers data collected from two Middle to Upper Eocene successions exposed in outcrop in the Wadi El‐Hitan and Qasr El‐Sagha areas of the Fayum Depression to determine the depositional affinities of Fayum strata. Based on sedimentological and ichnological data, five facies associations (Facies Association 1 to Facies Association 5) are identified. The biological and sedimentological characteristics of the reported facies associations indicate that the whale‐bearing sandstones (Facies Association 1) record distal positions in a large, open, quiescent marine bay that is abruptly succeeded by a bay‐margin environment (Facies Association 2). Upwards, marginal‐marine lagoonal and shallow‐bay parasequences (Facies Association 3) are overlain by thick deltaic distributary channel deposits (Facies Association 4). The capping unit (Facies Association 5) represents a transgressive estuarine depositional environment. The general stratigraphic evolution resulted from a regional, tectonically controlled second‐order cycle, associated with northward regression of the Tethys. Subordinate cycles (i.e. third‐order and fourth‐order cycles) are evidenced by several Glossifungites‐ichnofacies demarcated discontinuities, which were emplaced at the base of flooding surfaces. The proposed depositional models recognize the importance of identifying and linking ichnological data with physical–sedimentological observations. As such – with the exception of wave‐generated ravinement surfaces – earlier assertions of wave‐dominated sedimentation can be discarded. Moreover, this study provides important data for the recognition of (rarely reported) completely bioturbated sand‐dominated offshore to nearshore sediments (Facies Association 1) and affords excellent characterization of bioturbated inclined heterolithic stratification of deltaic deposits. Another outcome of the study is the recognition that the whales of the Fayum Depression are restricted to the highstand systems tracts, and lived under conditions of low depositional energy, low to moderate sedimentation rates, and (not surprisingly) in fully marine waters characterized by a high biomass.     

Rates and Processes of Potassic Magma Evolution beneath Sangeang Api Volcano, East Sunda Arc, Indonesia

U-series isotopes can provide unique insights into the physicalprocesses of magma evolution by constraining the time scalesover which they operate. This, however, requires rock suitesthat provide a clear and complete record of the liquid lineof descent. Sangeang Api volcano, in the east Sunda arc, providessuch an opportunity because it erupts potassic lavas (SiO₂     

Halite saltern in the Canning Basin, Western Australia: a sedimentological analysis of drill core from the Ordovician-Silurian Mallowa Salt

The Late Ordovician-Early Silurian Mallowa Salt of the Carribuddy Group, Canning Basin, north-west Australia, is the largest halite deposit known in Australia, attaining thicknesses of 800 m or more within an area of approximately 200 000 km². Study of 675 m of drill core from BHP-Utah Minerals’ Brooke No. 1 well in the Willara Sub-basin indicates that the Mallowa Salt accumulated within a saltern (dominantly subaqueous evaporite water body) that was subject to recurrent freshening, desiccation and exposure. Textures and bromine signatures imply a shallow water to ephemeral hypersaline environment typified by increasing salinity and shallowing into evaporitic mudflat conditions toward the top of halite-mudstone cycles (Type 2) and the less common dolomite/anhydrite-halite-mudstone cycles (Type 1). The borate mineral priceite occurs in the capping mudstones of some cycles, reinforcing the idea of an increasing continental influence toward the top of mudstone-capped halite cycles. The rock salt in both Type 1 and Type 2 cycles typically comprises a mosaic of large, randomly orientated, interlocking halite crystals that formed during early diagenesis. It only partially preserves a primary sedimentary fabric of vertically elongate crystals, some with remnant aligned chevrons. Intraformational hiati, halite karst tubes and solution pits attest to episodic dissolution. Stacked Type 2 cycles dominate; occasional major recharges of less saline, perhaps marine, waters in the same area produced Type I cycles. The envisaged saltern conditions were comparable in many ways to those prevailing during the deposition of halite cycles of the Permian Salado Formation in New Mexico and the Permian San Andres Formation of the Palo Duro Basin area in Texas. However, in the Canning Basin the cycles are characterized by a much lower proportion of anhydrite, implying perhaps a greater degree of continental restriction to the basin. The moderately high level of bromine in the Mallowa Salt (156·5 ± 43·5 ppm Br for primary halite, 146·1 ± 54·7 ppm Br for secondary halite) accords with evolved continental brines, although highly evaporative minerals such as polyhalite and magnesite are absent. The bromine levels suggest little or no dissolution/reprecipitation of primary halite and yet, paradoxically, there is little preservation of the primary depositional fabric. The preservation of early halite cements and replacement textures supports the idea of an early shutdown of brine flow paths, probably at burial depths of no more than a few metres, and the resultant preservation of primary bromine values in the secondary halite.