La theorie des deux magmas fondamentaux dans le volcanisme intracontinental et l'evolution geochimique des laves du Mont-Dore (France)

Résumé Les auteurs utilisent toutes les données chimiques, volcanologiques, chronologiques et tectonophysiques fournies pour un certain nombre de massif continentaux (Mont-Dore et autres). La synthèse de toutes ces études montre qu'il existe deux magmas continentaux indépendants: le magma basaltique venant du manteau (sima) et le magma rhyolitique fourni par la croûte supérieure (sial). Le mélange de ces deux magmas et l'action secondaire de la' gravité et de la pneumatolyse expliquent logiquement la totalité des phénomènes géochimiques des volcans continentaux.

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The authors used all the chemical, volcanological, chronological and tectonophysical data supplied for a certain number of continental mountain massifs (Mont-Dore and others). The synthesis of these studies shows that there are two independent continental magmas: the basaltic magma coming from the mantle (sima) and the rhyolitic magma supplied by the upper crust (sial). The mixing of these two magmas, with the secondary action of gravity and pneumatolysis logically explains the totality of the geochemical phenomena in continental volcanoes.

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Zusammenfassung Die Autoren benutzten alle chemischen, vulkanologischen, chronologischen und tektonisch-physikalischen Daten, die von einer bestimmten Anzahl von kontinentalen Massiven (Mont-Dore und andere) entnommen wurden.Das Ergebnis dieser Studien zeigt, daß es zwei voneinander unabhängige kontinentale Magmen gibt.Das basaltische Magma, vom Sima stammend, und das rhyolitische Magma aus der oberen Sial-Kruste. Die Vermischung dieser beiden Magmen und die zusätzliche Wirkung der Gravitation und Pneumatolyse erklären auf natürliche Weise die Gesamtheit der geochemischen Phänomene des kontinentalen Vulkanismus.

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Upper Limit of Iodine Oxide in the Lower Stratosphere

It has been suggested that iodine oxides, IOx, could play a significant role in the ozone destruction in the lower stratosphere. To investigate this suggestion, spectra from nine SAOZ uv-visible spectrometer balloon flights were examined for the IO absorption signature between 405 and 450 nm. IO was not detected, either at mid- or high latitude, in the morning or the evening, in summer or winter. An upper limit of 0.2 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) at 20 km and 0.1 pptv at 15 km at the 95% confidence level (2), was derived from the best measurements at 90° SZA at sunset and sunrise. Since a photochemical model shows that 70% of inorganic iodine should be in the form IO at that time, it is concluded that unless iodine chemistry is different from that assumed at the moment, the role of iodine in stratospheric ozone depletion is small.     

Decadal time scale variability recorded in the Quelccaya summit ice core δ18O isotopic ratio series and its relation with the sea surface temperature

 The spectral characteristics of the δ¹⁸O isotopic ratio time series of the Quelccaya ice cap summit core are investigated with the multi taper method (MTM), the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) and the wavelet transform (WT) techniques for the 500 y long 1485–1984 period. The most significant (at the 99.8% level) cycle according to the MTM F-test has a period centered at 14.4 y while the largest variance explaining oscillation according to the SSA technique has a period centered at 12.9 y. The stability over time of these periods is investigated by performing evolutive MTM and SSA on the 500 y long δ¹⁸O series with a 100 y wide moving window. It is shown that the cycles with largest amplitude and that the oscillations with largest extracting variance have corresponding periods aggregated around 13.5 y that are very stable over the period between 1485 and 1984. The WT of the same isotopic time series reveals the existence of a main oscillation around 12 y which are also very stable in time. The relation between the isotopic data at Quelccaya and the annual sea surface temperature (SST) field anomalies is then evaluated for the overlapping 1919–1984 period. Significant global correlation and significant coherency at 12.1 y are found between the isotopic series and the annual global sea surface temperature (GSST) series. Moreover, the correlation between the low (over 8 y) frequency component of the isotopic time series and the annual SST field point out significant values in the tropical North Atlantic. This region is characterized by a main SST variability at 12.8 y. The Quelccaya δ¹⁸O isotopic ratio series may therefore be considered as a good recorder of the tropical North Atlantic SSTs. This may be explained by the following mechanism: the water vapor amount evaporated by the tropical North Atlantic is function of the SST. So is the water vapor δ¹⁸O isotopic ratio. This water vapor is advected during the rainy season by northeast winds and precipitates at the Quelccaya summit with its tropical North Atlantic isotopic signature. It is also suggested from this described stability of the decadal time scale variability observed in the Quelccaya isotopic series, that the decadal time scale GSST variability was also stable during the last five centuries. Received: 12 February 1997 / Accepted: 9 September 1997     

An island arc origin for the Canyon Mountain ophiolite complex,eastern Oregon,U.S.A.

The Canyon Mountain ophiolite, Oregon, is exceptional in lacking sheeted dikes, basaltic pillow lavas, and sediments that are characteristic of many other ophiolites. Instead, the uppermost portion of the complex consists of a significant volume of plagiogranites, which, in addition to minor basalts, intrude a large section of keratophyres believed to be of volcanic origin. The trend of intrusive rocks and of bedding in the keratophyres is mostly parallel to layering in the underlying gabbroic cumulates and to contacts between units in the remainder of the ophiolite. It is suggested that the plagiogranites, basalts, and keratophyres comprise a sill complex. Both the plagiogranites and the keratophyres are similar, respectively, to low-K₂O plutonic and extrusive rocks of island arcs. The mineralogy and penetrative deformation structures of the ultramafic and some of the gabbroic rocks of the ophiolite indicate greater depth of formation, related to magmatism and diapirism above a Benioff zone. Radiometric age dates of plagiogranites confine the minimum age of the complex to the Early Permian. The Canyon Mountain ophiolite may thus be correlative with other fragments of a Lower Permian arc terrane throughout northeastern Oregon which were chaotically mixed during renewed subduction in middle to late Triassic time.     

Experimental study of silica diffusion during metasomatic reactions in the presence of water at 550°C and 1000 bars

Metasomatic reactions between quartz and incompatible oxides or hydroxides were experimentally studied at 550°C and 1000 bars water pressure. Two porous pellets of the initial reagents pressed one against the other were used. Reaction rims in the millimeter range develop at the initial boundary in the oxide pellet. All the experiments show that an important transfer of silica occurs by diffusion in the stationary intergranular solution.The chemical transfer of silica through the intergranular fluid is quantitatively determined by studying the kinetics of growth of the forsterite rim in the system quartz-brucite. The kinetics limiting stage being silica transfer, the experiments allow the determination of the diffusion coefficient of silica through the solution. At 550°C and 1000 bars, a value of 2.4 × 10^?1cm² s¹ is found.This high value shows the importance of chemical diffusion in the intergranular fluid of rocks during metamorphic processes.     

Radiocarbon dates and late-Quaternary stratigraphy from Mamontova Gora,unglaciated central Yakutia,Siberia, U.S.S.R.

A fine exposure of perennially frozen ice-rich silt and associated flora and vertebrate fauna of late-Quaternary age exists at Mamontova Gora along the Aldan River in central Yakutia, Siberia, U.S.S.R. The silt deposit caps a 50-m-high terrace and consists of three units. An upper layer 1–2 m thick overlies a 10–15-m-thick brownish to black silt layer. The lower silt layer is greenish to gray and about 15 m thick. All the silt is well sorted with 60% of the particles falling between 0.005 and 0.5 mm in diameter and is generally chemically and mineralogically homogeneous. The middle unit contains may extinct vertebrate mammal remains and ice wedges. The lower unit contains little vegetation and no ice wedges. The silt is widespread and exists as a loamy blanket on terraces at various elevations on both sides of the lower Aldan River. The origin of the silt blanket of late-Quaternary age in central Yakutia has long been controversial. Various hypotheses have been suggested, including lacustrine and alluvial, as well as frost-action origins. It is sometimes referred to as loess-like loam. Péwé believes the silt at Mamontova Gora is loess, some of which has been retransported very short distances by water. The silt probably was blown from wide, braided, unvegetated flood plains of rivers draining nearby glaciers. The silt deposits are late Quaternary in age and probably associated with the Maximum glaciation (Samarov) and Sartan and Syryan glaciations of Wisconsinan age. On the basis of biostratigraphy, 10 radiocarbon dates, and their relation to the nearby glacial record, it is felt that the upper unit at Mamontova Gora is Holocene and the middle unit is Wisconsinan. The youngest date available from the middle unit at this particular location is 26,000 years. Dates greater than 56,000 years were obtained in the lower part of the middle unit. The lower unit is definitely beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and probably is older than the last interglacial. The sediment, fauna, ice wedges, stratigraphy, and age of perennially frozen slit deposits in central Alaska are remarkably similar to those of the deposits exposed in central Yakutia. Both areas consist of unglaciated rolling lowlands and river terraces surrounded by high mountains that were extensively glaciated in Pleistocene time. The glaciers extended from the high mountains to the edges of the ranges. In both regions, extensively braided, silt-charged rivers drained the mountains and flowed through the lowlands on their way to the sea. It follows that there should be a similar late-Quaternary history.