Basalts from Leg 6 of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project

Basalt was successfully cored at Site 54 in the Parace VelaBasin of the Philippine Sea, and at Site 57 on the CarolineRidge as part of Leg 6 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Site54 basalts are altered, but selected major and trace elements,particularly REE allow their characterization as high-aluminaolivine tholeiites, with flat REE patterns, no Eu anomalies,and low dispersed trace-element contents. Basalt from Site 57is distinctly different, with higher TiO₂, P₂O₅, Fe/Mg ratio,and dispersed trace elements, low Ni, Mg, and a strongly fractionatedREE pattern. Derivation by fractionation of transitional basaltis suggested. Varying degrees of alteration of Site 54 basalts has causeddepletion in MgO and addition of Rb, Sr, Ba, Ka₂O, and Na₂O.Mineralogically these changes have resulted in alteration ofolivine and pyroxene, but plagioclase and iron-titanium oxidesremain unaffected. Microprobe data are presented for olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase,Fe-Ti oxides, and chrome-spinel in all three basalts. In 54–4,54–8 pyroxenes are zoned from salite to ferroaugite, andshow erratic decrease in A1₂O₃ and TiO₂ with increasing ironcontent. In 57–2, pyroxenes are more magnesian than thosein site 54 basalts, and show an increase in A1₂O₃ and TiO₂ withiron-enrichment. The anomalous behaviour of Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ insome clinopyroxenes, and the close textural relationship ofpyroxene and magnesian olivine in 57–2 basalt, suggestthese minerals are xenocrystic, and were incorporated duringmagma ascent. Spinels of picotite composition in early-formed,and possibly xenocrystic, olivine, and plagioclase crystallizedprior to magma eruption, and may have begun crystallizationwithin the mantle. Site 54 basalts add further confirmation that inter-are basaltsclosely resemble ocean ridge tholeiites, although there is apaucity of data from inter-are environments. Site 57 basaltis chemically and mineralogically distinct from ocean ridgebasalts and may be related to similar volcanics erupted on theCaroline Islands.     

DELTAIC SEDIMENTATION UNITS IN THE UPPER CARBONIFEROUS OF NORTHERN ENGLAND

In the Kinderscout Grit (Namurian, R₁c) of the southern half of the Central Pennine Basin, England, there occur tabular, isolated, cross-bedded sets of coarse sandstone, between 4 and 40 m thick. The sets are up to 1 km wide and the foresets, in plan, are convex in the direction of dip. The sets interfere laterally to form extensive sheets. Foresets dip at up to 27° and are sometimes themselves internally cross-bedded in trough-shaped sets, here termed “intrasets”. The large sets are thought to be deltaic sedimentation units rather than sandwaves. In the delta top environment in which these sets were deposited, a high rate of bed-load sediment supply and a sudden deepening were required to initiate the sets. Medium-scale cross-bedding, thought to have been laid down in migrating, fluviatile channels overlies the large-scale sets and represents the topset member of the sedimentation units. From the spatial arrangement of the large- and medium-scale cross-bedding, it is possible to distinguish those areas where deposition took place during the deepening, from those where it took place essentially after the deepening. The causes of the deepening, which must have been on at least a basinal scale, may have been eustatic or tectonic.     

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ABSTRACT

Assistance to developing nations in the area of water resources has shown mixed successes and failures. A major factor is the capacity of the receiving nations to make good use of the resources provided at their stage of development—their “absorptive capacity”. Programmes must be tailored to the situations. This requires planning that is specific to the national and cultural context, as well as careful sensitivity to positive interaction with those who will be expected to implement programmes whose real purpose should be to allow the entire population, especially its very poor, to become socially effective and self-aware as well as more productive and comfortable. It also requires careful preparation in the way of education, science and institutional responsiveness. Experts and government leaders must reconsider their approaches to the problems so that the nations can learn and think for themselves.     

Flora, vegetation and climate at Sokli, northeastern Fennoscandia, during the Weichselian Middle Pleniglacial

A 2 m thick laminated lacustrine deposit of silt and clay recovered from the high-latitudinal site at Sokli (northern Finland) provides a unique mid-Weichselian fossil record for Fennoscandia. High-resolution botanical and zoological analyses of the lacustrine deposit allow detailed reconstruction of the regional vegetational development and of the history of the lake and the wetland ecosystem within the Sokli basin during the early part of the Weichselian Middle Pleniglacial (=equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3). The inferred terrestrial vegetation represented by the Sokli MIS 3 sequence (so-called Tulppio Interstadial) was probably low-arctic tundra, treeless but with shrub elements including juniper, willow, dwarf birch, ericoids, lycopods and a rich herb flora with a variety of arctic–alpine taxa and heliophilous, pioneer elements. The presence of herbs such as Rubus chamaemorus, Epilobium palustre, Potentilla palustris and Sphagnum, Drepanocladus and other mosses suggests that the lake was fringed by wet meadows and peatlands or peaty telmatic communities. The distributional ranges of pine and tree birch were probably only a few hundred kilometres south or southeast of Sokli. This is concordant with evidence for the presence of boreal tree taxa during the MIS 3 in the Baltic countries and further east in Europe, but contradicts with the commonly inferred treeless tundra or grass-dominated steppe conditions in central Europe.     

Pleistocene explosions and pyroclastic currents in west-central Anatolia

The discovery of unexpectedly young tephra, with K-Ar dates of 1.50 ± 0.18 and 1.38 ± 0.13 Ma BP, in the Lake Eirdir area sheds new light on the time-span and magnitude of explosive volcanism in west-central Anatolia and on the physical behaviour of pyroclastic currents. The Gölcük maar near Isparta, widely thought to have ceased its activity in Pliocene time, was apparently still erupting with strong explosions in the Early Pleistocene. The Eirdir tephra, 34 km NE from the volcano, indicate deposition from powerful pyroclastic surges directed by the topography. The depositing currents were fully turbulent and carried unusually large lithic clasts, up to 2–3 cm in diameter, in suspension, which is incompatible with the existing physical model for pyroclastic currents. Based on the tephra characteristics, a conceptual model of the pyroclastic current's segmentation, or lateral dynamic partition, is suggested and used further to explain the current's specific response to an encountered topographic barrier. The widely held concept of a pyroclastic current's vertical separation, or sharp rheological decoupling, is thought to describe a common secondary phenomenon.