A Reconnaisance Study of Phase Boundaries in Low-Alkali Basaltic Liquids

New data, derived from microprobe analyses of melting experiments,are presented in the form of sub-projections in the model basaltsystem, Ol-Pl-Wo-SiO₂, to illustrate the shifts in the liquidusfields of olivine, plagioclase, spinel, pyroxene, and silicain low-alkali liquids as functions of variable Wo componentand Mg. The projections are calculated in terms of oxygen unitsto avoid the ‘non conservative’ properties of moleunits and to provide a better representation of the volume proportionsof minerals. These projections show that over a wide range ofcomposition the complex, natural basalt system has liquidusboundaries that resemble many of those in the simpler CaO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂system. One important feature of the natural system is the progressivechange in the dominant low-Ca pyroxene along the olivine liquidussurface from protoenstatite to orthoenstatite to pigeonite asMg decreases. Another notable feature is the expansion of theplagioclase liquid field at the expense of the olivine and low-Capyroxene fields as Mg decreases in low-alkali liquids. Increasingalkali concentration has almost exactly the opposite effectso that evolved terrestrial basalts have higher proportionsof feldspar components than their lunar and eucritic counterparts. The new phase diagrams indicate that low-alkali liquids residualto those that produced the ancient, ferroan lunar anorthositesshould have crystallized an amount of ferro-quartz-gabbro equivalentto 10 per cent of the volumes of their parents. The scarcityof such rocks among the returned lunar samples poses a problemfor simple models of lunar petrogenesis.     

A Biotite Isograd in South-Central Maine, U.S.A.: Mineral Reactions, Fluid Transfer, and Heat Transfer

The biotite isograd in pelitic schists of the Waterville Formationinvolved reaction of muscovite + ankerite + rutile + pyrite+graphite + siderite or calcite to form biotite + plagioclase+ ilmenite. There was no single reaction in all pelites; eachrock experienced a unique reaction depending on the mineralogyand proportions of minerals in the chlorite-zone equivalentfrom which it evolved. Quartz, chlorite, and pyrrhotite werereactants in some rocks and products in others. All inferredbiotite-forming reactions involved decarbonation and desulfidation;some were dehydration reactions and others were hydration reactions.P-T conditions at the biotite isograd were near 3500 bars and400 °C. C-O-H-S fluids in equilibrium with the pelitic rockswere close to binary CO₂-H₂O mixtures with X_CO2 = 0.02–0.04.During the biotite-forming reaction, pelitic rocks (a) decreasedby 2–5 percent in volume, (b) performed – (4–11)kcal/liter P-V work on their surroundings, (c) absorbed 38–85kcal/liter heat from their surroundings, and (d) were infiltratedby at least 0.9–2.2 rock volumes H₂O fluid. The biotite isograd sharply marks the limit of a decarbonationfront that passed through the terrane during regional metamorphism.Decarbonation converted meta-shales with 6–10 per centcarbonate to carbonate-free pelitic schists. One essential causeof the decarbonation event was pervasive infiltration of theterrane by at least 1–2 rock volumes H₂O fluid early inthe metamorphic event under P-T conditions of the biotite isograd.Average shale contains 4–13 per cent siderite, ankerite,and/or calcite, but average pelitic schist is devoid of carbonateminerals. If the Waterville Formation serves as a general modelfor the metamorphism of pelitic rocks, it is likely that worldwidemany pelitic schists developed by decarbonation of shale caused,in part, by pervasive infiltration of metamorphic terranes byseveral rock volumes of aqueous fluid during an early stageof the metamorphic event.     

Thermal Emplacement Model for the Alpine Lherzolite Massif at Balmuccia, Italy

The spinel lherzolite massif at Balmuccia, northwest Italy,forms an elongate north-south trending lens (4.5 x 0.5 x 1.1km) within the pre-Alpine granulite basement complex of theIvrea zone. The western contact is a mylonite fault zone formedduring late emplacement cataclastic flow near the Insubric line;to the east the lherzolite massif is separated from the granulitesby a magmatic sheath of layered pyroxenites, pyroxene pegmatitesand meta-gabbros. Pyroxene reaction zones on gabbro dikes indunite pods which lie east of the main lherzolite massif showthat emplacement occurred at pressures >9 kb, based on peridotiteequilibria studies. Phase chemistry calculations on pyroxenitesand granulites show ambient P–T conditions to have been850 °C (Cpx–Opx equilibria) and 10–13 kb (Opx–Gt;Plg–Gt–Sill–Qtz) during emplacement of thelherzolite massif. Temperature calculations on 12 peridotitesfrom throughout the massif suggest an earlier high-T stage (1200°C; Ol–Px–Sp) followed by partial re-equilibrationat lower T (850–950 °C; Cpx–Opx). The areaswithin the lherzolite massif with the highest calculated Ol–Px–Sptemperatures have the lowest Cpx–Opx temperatures, suggestingthat the apparent Cpx–Opx temperatures are due to re-equilibrationduring emplacement. The spinel lherzolite probably originatedat 12 and 20 kb, based on the mineral assemblage Ol + Opx +Cpx + Sp + Hnbd. The inferred P–T ranges put both themassif and the granulites on a geotherm that is high for continentalcrust and implies a high surface heat flow at the time of emplacement(2.2 µcal/cm² sec). The Balmuccia area later became thelocus of early Mesozoic rifting between the North and SouthAlpine plates. These relationships at Balmuccia are similarto the Great Basin of the western United States, where mantlexenoliths in young basalts that show P–T conditions of1100–1300 °C at 17–20 kb, occur in an area ofhigh heat flow (2.0 µCal/cm² sec average) and extension.This suggests an association between up-welling of mantle peridotitesbelow continents and ensialic tensional tectonics.     

The Scots Bay formation, Nova Scotia, Canada, a Jurassic carbonate lake with Silica-rich hydrothermal springs

During Early Jurassic time, the Scots Bay Formation accumulated in an aerobic lake on the floor of the subtropical Fundy rift valley. A diverse biota flourished in the lake as evidenced by algal stromatolites, oncolites, charophytes, ostracods, gastropods, conchostracans, fish bones, calcispheres and logs. Carbonate wackestone and packstone were deposited in the littoral zone and lime mudstone accumulated offshore on a proximal slope. Silica-rich hydrothermal springs and seeps around and on the floor of the lake precipitated siliceous tufa and silicified adjacent carbonate strata. The tufa is characterized by the progressive sequence: (1) open-framework, porous substrate of goethite spheres, (2) encrusting chalcedony spherulites where goethite inclusions decrease in size and number outwards towards the surfaces of the spherulites, (3) a fringe of quartz on the chalcedony spherulites and (4) coarsening inwards mosaics of quartz that filled the remaining voids. Carbonate diagenesis included conversion of low-Mg calcite ooze to micrite and microspar-pseudospar, and local dissolution and reprecipitation of calcite cement. At times the lake shrank in size, concentrating silica in increasingly alkaline lake water which then silicified some of the carbonate strata and logs. The latest cements were calcite, zeolites and celadonite.     

The Holocene fossil marine macrofauna of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica

The Holocene (< 10,000 years old) fossil marine macrofauna (molluscs, polychaetes, mammals and birds) of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica (68°30'S, 78°00'E) is described. All species are extant, with circumantarctic or wider distributions and wide depth ranges. At Heidemann Bay, Pleistocene-age (> 30 ky old) shell fragments occur in a Holocene moraine. These are interpreted as being glacially reworked fossil shells. Holocene benthic estuarine and coastal molluses and serpulid worm tubes are abundant on the flanks of terraces above saline and hypersaline lakes. Extensive radiocarbon dating gives a chronology of these deposits which were not synchronous. Mummies of seals and penguins, which are concentrated on the shores of the saline lakes and scattered across the Hills, are of no use in dating geomorphological events. Marine fossils in moraines are difficult to interpret because they can be glacially-transported live or fossil shells, or deposited after wind transport. The fossil fauna has such a wide ecological range that it indicates only in general terms that for part of the Pleistocene and most of the Holocene, climatic conditions were broadly similar to the present.