Internal anatomy of a mixed siliciclastic–carbonate platform: the Late Cenomanian–Mid Turonian at the southern margin of the Spanish Central System

The Late Cenomanian–Mid Turonian succession in central Spain is composed of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks deposited in a variety of coastal and marine shelf environments (alluvial plain–estuarine, lagoon, shoreface, offshore‐hemipelagic and carbonate ramp). Three depositional sequences (third order) are recognized: the Atienza, Patones and El Molar sequences. The Patones sequence contains five fourth‐order parasequence sets, while a single parasequence set is recognized in the Atienza and El Molar sequences. Systems tracts can be recognized both in the sequences and parasequence sets. The lowstand systems tracts (only recognized for Atienza and Patones sequences) are related to erosion and sequence boundary formation. Transgressive systems tracts are related to marine transgression and shoreface retreat. The highstand systems tracts are related to shoreface extension and progradation, and to carbonate production and ramp progradation. Sequences are bounded by erosion or emergence surfaces, whose locations are supported by mineralogical analyses and suggest source area reactivation probably due to a fall in relative sea‐level. Transgressive surfaces are subordinate erosion and/or omission surfaces with a landward facies shift, interpreted as parasequence set boundaries. The co‐existence of siliciclastic and carbonate sediments and environments occurred as facies mixing or as distinct facies belts along the basin. Mixed facies of coastal areas are composed of detrital quartz and clays derived from the hinterland, and dolomite probably derived from bioclastic material. Siliciclastic flux to coastal areas is highly variable, the maximum flux postdates relative sea‐level falls. Carbonate production in these areas may be constant, but the final content is a function of changing inputs in terrigenous sediments and carbonate content diminishes through a dilution effect. Carbonate ramps were detached from the coastal system and separated by a fringe of offshore, fine‐grained muds and silts as distinct facies belts. The growth of carbonate ramp deposits was related to the highstand systems tracts of the fourth‐order parasequence sets. During the growth of these ramps, some sediment starvation occurred basinwards. Progradation and retrogradation of the different belts occur simultaneously, suggesting a sea‐level control on sedimentation. In the study area, the co‐existence of carbonate and siliciclastic facies belts depended on the superimposition of different orders of relative sea‐level cycles, and occurred mainly when the second‐order, third‐order and fourth‐order cycles showed highstand conditions.     

Karst subsidence as a control on the accumulation and preservation of aeolian deposits: A Pleistocene example from a proglacial outwash setting,Ebro Basin,Spain

Meltwater flows emanating from the Pyrenees during the Pleistocene constructed a braided outwash plain in the Ebro Basin and led to the karstification of the Neogene gypsum bedrock. Synsedimentary evaporite dissolution locally increased subsidence rates and generated dolines and collapses that enabled the accumulation and preservation of outwash gravels and associated windblown deposits that were protected from erosion by later meltwater flows. In these localized depocentres, maximum rates of wind deceleration resulted from airflow expansion, enabling the accumulation of cross‐stratified sets of aeolian strata climbing at steep angles and thereby preserving up to 5 m thick sets. The outwash plain was characterized by longitudinal and transverse fluvial gravel bars, channels and windblown facies organized into aeolian sand sheets, transverse and complex aeolian dunes, and loess accumulations. Flat‐lying aeolian deposits merge laterally to partly deformed aeolian deposits encased in dolines and collapses. Synsedimentary evaporite dissolution caused gravels and aeolian sand deposits to subside, such that formerly near‐horizontal strata became inclined and generated multiple internal angular unconformities. During episodes when the wind was undersaturated with respect to its potential sand transporting capacity, deflation occurred over the outwash plain and coarse‐grained lags with ventifacts developed. Subsequent high‐energy flows episodically reached the aeolian dune field, leading to dune destruction and the generation of hyperconcentrated flow deposits composed in part of reworked aeolian sands. Lacustrine deposits in the distal part of the outwash plain preserve rhythmically laminated lutites and associated Gilbert‐type gravel deltas, which developed when fluvial streams reached proglacial lakes. This study documents the first evidence of an extensive Pleistocene proglacial aeolian dune field located in the Ebro Basin (41˙50° N), south of what has hitherto been considered to be the southern boundary of Pleistocene aeolian deposits in Europe. A non‐conventional mechanism (evaporite karst‐related subsidence) for the preservation of aeolian sands in the stratigraphic record is proposed.     

Trends and discontinuities in regional rainfall of West and Central Africa: 1951–1989

Abstract

Standardized regional mean annual rainfall series are analysed over the period 1951–1989 from a data set of 891 rainfall stations which covers 23 countries of West and Central Africa. Missing values are estimated by using regionalized indexes computed on the basis of a morpho-climatic delimitation of 44 homogeneous climatic units. Searches for statistical discontinuities in rainfall series show no discontinuity for most units of Central Africa. For several units of West Africa the first discontinuity occurs at the end of the 1950s. The main discontinuity period occurs between 1968 and 1970, followed by a second one at the beginning of the 1980s. Rainfall deficit is greater north of 10°N, and is also important in the Guinean Mountains and on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, west of the Atakora Mountains. Regions leeward of mountainous areas experienced moderate rainfall decrease.     

Glauberite–halite association of the Zaragoza Gypsum Formation (Lower Miocene, Ebro Basin, NE Spain)

Glauberite is the most common mineral in the ancient sodium sulphate deposits in the Mediterranean region, although its origin, primary or diagenetic, continues to be a matter of debate. A number of glauberite deposits of Oligocene–Miocene age in Spain display facies characteristics of sedimentologic significance, in particular those in which a glauberite–halite association is predominant. In this context, a log study of four boreholes in the Zaragoza Gypsum Formation (Lower Miocene, Ebro Basin, NE Spain) was carried out. Two glauberite–halite lithofacies associations, A and B, are distinguished: association (A) is composed of bedded cloudy halite and minor amounts of massive and clastic glauberite; association (B) is made up of laminated to thin‐bedded, clear macrocrystalline, massive, clastic and contorted lithofacies of glauberite, and small amounts of bedded cloudy halite. Transparent glauberite cemented by clear halite as well as normal‐graded and reverse‐graded glauberite textures are common. This type of transparent glauberite is interpreted as a primary, subaqueous precipitate. Gypsum, thenardite or mirabilite are absent in the two associations. The depositional environment is interpreted as a shallow perennial saline lake system, in which chloride brines (association A) and sulphate–(chloride) brines (association B) are developed. The geochemical study of halite crystals (bromine contents and fluid inclusion compositions) demonstrates that conditions for co‐precipitation of halite and glauberite, or for precipitation of Na‐sulphates (mirabilite, thenardite) were never fulfilled in the saline lake system.     

Lateritized tephric palaeosols from Central Patagonia,Argentina: a southern high‐latitude archive of Palaeogene global greenhouse conditions

Palaeosols of the Koluel‐Kaike Formation, a red colour‐banded, pyroclastic succession from southern Argentina, constitute a proxy for Eocene climate changes. Reticulated and vertically elongated ferric mottles, along with iron and manganese nodules are the most significant climate indicators, which originated by alternating cycles of waterlogging and drying conditions causing Fe‐Mn mobilization and fixation. Clay minerals vary from a kaolinite > smectite suite in the lower and middle sections, to a smectite > kaolinite one in the upper part. High concentrations of iron oxides/hydroxides and kaolinite, lack of exchangeable bases, absence of carbonate cement, presence of ironstone and redness of hue in most of the palaeosols suggest intense chemical weathering related to leaching and lateritization processes. Five pedotypes, ordered in a stratigraphic sense, were identified. Strongly developed, red to orange Chornk (Fragiaquult) and Kápenk (Plinthaquult) pedotypes display argillic horizons, abundant ferric nodules and slickensides; they are dominant in the lower and middle sections, and formed in seasonal humid and megathermic (tropical) conditions with a mean annual precipitation of 1200 to 1300 mm and a mean annual temperature of 15 °C. Weakly developed, less structured Ornek (Vitrand) and Pólnek (Placaquand) pedotypes occur in the middle and upper sections, and originated in sub‐humid and mesic‐megathermic conditions with a mean annual precipitation around 1000 mm and a mean annual temperature around 12 °C. The brownish Soorsh (Argialboll) pedotype exhibits a granular structure and is present at the uppermost part of the unit. It developed in sub‐humid/semi‐arid and mesic conditions, with a mean annual precipitation of 600 to 700 mm and a mean annual temperature around 10 °C. This pedotype succession and clay mineral distribution indicates a decrease in chemical weathering and degree of soil development with time. Koluel‐Kaike palaeosols from Central Patagonia are some of the first continental non‐palaeobiological data linked to the Early Palaeogene global warming in South America; they show an especially close relationship with the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and the following long‐term cooling and drying initiated by Middle to Late Eocene time.     

Genesis of Pyroxenite-rich Peridotite at Cabo Ortegal (NW Spain): Geochemical and Pb-Sr-Nd Isotope Data

Petrographic and field data indicate the existence of four mainrock types within the allochthonous Cabo Ortegal ultramaficunits: (1) harzburgites; (2) dunites; (3) massive, occasionallygarnet-bearing, pyroxenites; (4) less abundant mafic rocks withvariable amounts of garnet-rich pyroxenite. The major and traceelement compositions of the analysed ultramafic rocks definewell-delimited fields in binary variation diagrams. Normalizedtrace element patterns, however, exhibit large ion lithophileelement (LILE) and light rare earth element (LREE) enrichmentthat do not correlate with the main rock types distinguished.NiO contents and fo-number of olivine in the harzburgites matchthose of the mantle olivine array, whereas a fractional crystallizationtrend is observed from dunites to pyroxenites. Spinel and olivinein the harzburgites have residual characteristics comparablewith those of abyssal peridotites or peridotites from arc settings,whereas in most of the dunites and pyroxenites the range offo-number and Cr/(Cr + Al) ratio suggests crystallization fromprimitive subduction-related magmas. Whole-rock major and traceelement and Pb–Sr–Nd isotope data suggest that regional-scalemassive pyroxenites from Cabo Ortegal originated from relativelyhomogeneous parental melts. Fractional crystallization processes,coeval with intense deformation, might result in the formationof cumulate layers (clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, olivine, chromite,etc.). Some less abundant mafic rocks and associated pyroxenitesare also homogeneous but have different chemical and isotopicsignatures suggesting a different parental melt from that ofthe massive pyroxenites. Although some differences exist inthe major element and isotopic composition of the clinopyroxenes,their initial isotopic ratios (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 17·845–18·305,²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb = 15·433–15·634; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr =0·70330–0·70476; ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0·512539–0·512916)suggest involvement of an enriched component in their mantlesource, which may be related to the subduction of terrigenoussediments (i.e. EMI). The new data obtained confirm that ultramaficunits of Cabo Ortegal experienced a complex tectonothermal historysimilar to that of other units of the same area and allow usto distinguish at least two different events. Sm–Nd whole-rock–clinopyroxeneages suggest formation of the ultramafic units at     

Hercynian blueschist metamorphism in North Portugal: tectonothermal implications

Abstract Aegirine–jadeite clinopyroxene (>60 mol% jadeite) locally occurs within blueschists of the 'Lower Allochthon'exposed in the Trás-os-Montes region of northern Portugal. Peak conditions attained during blueschist facies metamorphism are estimated to have been c. 420° C and >11 kbar. Porphyroblastic white mica (paragonite/phengite) within the blueschist assemblage records a ³⁶Ar/⁴⁰Ar versus ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar isotope correlation age of 329.4 ± 1.6 Ma. In view of the relatively low- T nature of the metamorphism, the c. 330-Ma age is interpreted to date closely the high- P recrystallization. This tectonothermal activity is interpreted to have resulted from structural emplacement of a previously assembled crystalline nappe complex ('Upper Allochthon/Ophiolite Nappe') onto Iberian protoliths of the Lower Allochthon during terminal stages of the Hercynian orogeny.