Assimilation of continental crust by komatiites in the Precambrian basement of the Carswell structure (Saskatchewan,Canada)

The isotope geochemistry (Sm-Nd, Pb-Pb and Rb-Sr) of mafic gneisses from the basement of the Carswell structure (Saskatchewan, Canada), rich both in Mg and incompatible elements (K, Rb, REE) has been investigated. A good Sm-Nd alignment gives a slope corresponding to an age of 3.7 Ga. However, comparison with major elements data strongly suggests that this alignment is a mixing line between Mg-rich, high CaO/Al₂O₃ magmas and the local felsic crust older than 2.9 Ga. The mafic magmas were probably of komatiitic affinity (MgO > 20 percent) but, nevertheless, were extracted from a source with nearly chondritic to slightly enriched light REE distribution. The age of the komatiite emplacement (1.9–2.9 Ga) is only loosely constrained by the oldest crustal residence age in the series and the subsequent metamorphic events. The granulite facies climax is dated at ca. 1.9 Ga by concordant whole rock Pb-Pb and Sm-Nd garnet-whole rock isochrons. The Rb-Sr systematics have been disturbed by later event(s) younger than 1.5–1.7 Ga, but do not permit a more precise assessment of the perturbation age.     

Formation of phyllosilicates in a fault zone affecting deeply buried arkosic sandstones: their influence on petrophysic properties (Annot sandstones, French external Alps)

The Restefond fault, located in the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene Alpine foreland basin, affects the well lithified and low porosity Grès d??Annot. The fault core zone is characterized by the occurrence of highly deformed sandstone lenses. Deformation inside the lenses corresponds to mm to sub-mm-spaced cleavage planes rich in phyllosilicates and up to cm-thick and dm-long quartz-calcite pure extensional veins. The cleavages are mostly composed of newly-formed synkinematic white mica and chlorite. By using thermodynamic thermometers based on the chemical composition of chlorite, a temperature of 200?±?20?°C of fault activity was computed. This temperature shows that the Restefond fault was active at burial conditions comprised between 6.5 and 8?km, assuming a mean geothermal gradient between 25 and 30?°Ckm^?1. The petrophysic properties of sandstones from the core zone and in the hanging and foot wall of the fault were determined on drilled plugs following three spacial directions. The permeability of the highly deformed sandstone from the core zone is about one order of magnitude higher than in the host rock. This increase in permeability occurs in the direction parallel to the S?CC structures and is explained by the occurrence of well-connected micropores localized between platy phyllosilicates. This study shows that the fault petrophysic properties are mostly controlled by the precipitation of synkinematic phyllosilicates under deep burial conditions.     

Static displacement fields due to a seismic source in a nonhomogeneous (dimorphic) medium. Geophysical applications

A new method for finding static displacement fields due to seismic sources (forces or dislocations) in a nonhomogeneous medium (called “dimorphic”) is presented. Previously known results can be easily calculated, as well as new results for sources located at the interface between two media with different elastic properties. The ratio of displacement magnitudes in homogeneous and dimorphic media, which can be as great as 15%, is calculated. Consequences for the seismic moment and some other geophysical applications are discussed.     

Pre-orogenic volcanic assemblages and structure in the Western Cordillera of Ecuador between l°40'S and 2°20'S

A major reverse fault with a separation of at least a few thousand meters is exposed in the western Cordillera of Ecuador near 2°S.Ree and other incompatible elements patterns show (i) that the rocks exposed in the upthrust block to the east of the fault areMorb that had not yet been identified and (ii) that a volcanic island-arc assemblage extensively outcrops in the downthrust block west of the fault.The fault therefore bounds a steeply east-dipping thrustsheet comprising the arc and its basement. Thrustsheets of the same type are known farther north in Ecuador. They were stacked in a presently inactive subduction-zone during the early Tertiary when the island-arc, drifting from the west, finally collided with continental south America.The large dextral-slip Guayaquil-Dolores fault system, traditionally but possibly erroneously thought to be the suture-zone between continental south America and the oceanic allochthone blocks collided during the Cretaceous and Tertiary, subsequently disrupted most of that structural arrangement.

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Zusammenfassung Die Gesteine einer bei 2° Südlicher Breite in der Westkordillere Ecuadors zu Tage tretenden und um mehrere tausend Meter versetzten Verwerfung wurden in geochemischer Hinsicht untersucht. Die Verteilung der seltenen Erden und der anderen inkompatiblen Elemente in den Proben zeigte östlich dieser Verwerfung das Vorkommen von Tholeiiten desMorb-Typs auf, deren Auftreten hier bis jetzt unbekannt war. Außerdem konnten die westlich der Verwerfung auftretenden Diabase, Andesite und Rhyolite dem Typ eines Inselbogens zugeordnet werden.Diese Verwerfung begrenzt infolgedessen eine stark nach Osten einfallende Schuppe des Sockels. Andere Schuppen dieser Art treten weiter im Norden Ecuadors auf, wo sie zu Beginn des Tertiärs während des Zusammentreffens des von Westen ankommenden, aus der Kreidezeit stammenden Inselbogens mit dem südamerikanischen Kontinent in eine Paläosubduktionszone eingebettet worden sind.Dieses Strukturgefüge ist anschließend zum größten Teil durch das System der rechtsseitigen Verwerfungen von Guayaquil — Dolores verdeckt worden. Dieses System wird für gewöhnlich — aber wahrscheinlich zu Unrecht — für die Nahtstelle des kontinentalen Südamerikas und der während der Kreidezeit und des Tertiärs gegen den Kontinent sto– Benden und/oder obduzierten allochtonen Blöcke ozeanischen Substrats gehalten.

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Résumé Une faille inverse exposée dans la cordillère occidentale de l'Equateur vers 2°S a un rejet de plusieurs milliers de mètres. L'étude géochimique des terres rares et autres éléments incompatibles permet de reconnaître à l'est de la faille des tholéiites de ride médio-océanique jusqu'alors non identifiées, alors que les diabases, andésites et rhyolites présentes à l'ouest de la faille appartiennent à une formation d'arc insulaire.Cette faille délimite donc une écaille de socle à fort pendage vers l'est. D'autres écailles de ce type sont connues plus au nord en Equateur. Elles se sont imbriquées au début du Tertiaire dans une paléozone de subduction, lors de la collision de l'arc insulaire, venu de l'ouest, avec le continent sud-américain.Ce dispositif structural a été ensuite oblitéré en majeure partie par le systême faillé dextre de Guayaquil-Dolores, qui passe classiquement, mais probablement à tort, pour être la suture entre l'Amérique du sud continentale et les blocs allochtones à substratum océanique collés au continent et/ou obductés durant le Crétacé et le Tertiaire.

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Cristallisation et Deformation des Orbicules de Chromite

Résumé Les orbicules de chromites, structures typiques des corps podiformes de chromite des ophiolites, sont décrites en détail. Elles correspondent à des concrétions magmatiques en milieu turbulent soumises en fin de cristallisation à un allongement et un cisaillement contemporains de la déformation plastique de l'olivine. Les autres types de minerai des corps podiformes sont affectés d'un plan de "pull-apart" marqué par des feuillets lenticulaires et parallèles à remplissage d'olivine. Ultérieurement, un réseau de diaclases à remplissage serpentineux se développera. Ces observations sont cohérentes avec l'hypothèse de la formation des corps podiformes dans des conduits magmatiques au sein des péridotites mantelliques.

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The chromite orbicules, a typical ore from chromite pods of ophiolites, are described. These are considered as magmatic concretions having suffered deformations at the end of the crystallization state, during the plastic deformation of olivine. Other ore textures display a pull-apart plane marked by lenticular olivine sheets. Later joint planes, with serpentine filling up, are developped. Our observations are in good agreement with the hypothesis of the generation of the chromite pods within magmatic pipes in the mantle peridotites.

     

The influence of fluid unmixing on cation exchange between plagioclases and aqueous chloride solutions at 700° C, 1 kbar

Experimental exchanges between plagioclases (synthesized from gels) and aqueous solutions (0.5N–8N) were carried out according to the reaction $$\begin{gathered} 2NaA1Si_3 O_8 + CaC1_2 \hfill \\ \leftrightarrow CaA1_2 Si_2 O_8 + 4SiO_2 + 2NaC1. \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$ Distribution coefficients defined by $$K_D = \frac{{X_{An} }}{{(X_{Ab} )^2 }}\frac{{(X_{NaC1} )^2 }}{{X_{CaC1_2 } }}$$ were determined at 700° C and 1 kbar. From previous studies it is known that variations in the concentration of the aqueous solutions have no influence upon K _D if the fluid is a single phase. In this study, variation of K _D with the concentration of the solutions is interpreted as the result of fluid unmixing to vapour and brine phases. This implies boiling of CaCl₂-NaCl-H₂O fluids analogous to that known for the system NaCl-H₂O. Experimental data permit calculation of the compositions of vapours and estimation of those of the brines for fluids in which Ca/Na<0.5. Boiling has an effect upon the exchange between feldspars and solutions (metasomatism) and must be considered when determining the activity coefficients.     

Phillipsite formation in nephelinitic rocks in response to hydrothermal alteration at Mount Etinde,Cameroon

Fresh nephelinitic rocks and hydrothermally altered rocks at Mount Etinde (Cameroon Volcanic Line, West Africa) have been studied by combined whole rock geochemistry (ICP-MS), mineralogy and mineral chemistry (SEM-EDS, WDS, XRD) techniques. The nephelinites have feldspathoids, clinopyroxene, perovskite and titanomagnetite as the principal minerals in the mode with subsidiary apatite and sphene. The mineralogy of their hydrothermally altered counterparts includes phillipsite, calcite and analcime which are secondary phases developed in response to hydrothermal fluid events. Correspondingly, the bulk rock geochemical data show elevated SiO₂, CaO, Na₂O and K₂O concentrations with increasing alteration and Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ depletion while MgO, MnO and TiO₂ concentrations are largely unaffected. The nephelinites also have high concentrations of LILLE, HFSE and REE and upon hydrothermal alteration they show an enrichment of LREE and MREE over HREE. Phillipsite is the principal alteration mineral in the rocks and it occurs along cracks, vesicles and also forms alteromorphs after feldspathoids. The Ce content of these categories of phillipsite varies. Phillipsite along cracks is richer in Ce while phillipsite associated with calcite has lower Ce concentration and the phillipsite alteromorphs very little or no Ce. Various stages of fluid circulation are proposed hereby to explain the variations in phillipsite generation and composition.     

Desalination of a sedimentary rock aquifer system invaded by Pleistocene Champlain Sea water and processes controlling groundwater geochemistry

The objective of this study was to identify geochemical processes and Quaternary geological events responsible for the variations in groundwater geochemistry observed in a sedimentary rock aquifer system, including brackish to saline groundwater. Inorganic constituents and environmental isotopes were analyzed for 146 groundwater samples. Dissolution of carbonates dominates in recharge areas, resulting in Ca-, Mg-HCO₃ groundwater. Further along flow paths, under confined conditions, Ca²⁺–Na⁺ ion exchange causes groundwater evolution to Na-HCO₃ type. Na-Cl groundwater is also found and it falls on a seawater mixing line. Using conservative tracers, Cl⁻ and Br⁻, the original Champlain Sea water is shown to have been, in the region, a mixture of about 34% seawater and 66% freshwater, a composition still retained by some groundwater. Na-Cl groundwater thus results from mixing with former Champlain Sea water and also from solute diffusion from overlying marine clay. The system is thus found to be at different stages of desalinization, from the original Champlain Sea water still present in hydraulically stagnant areas of the aquifer to fully flushed conditions in parts, where more flow occurs, especially in recharge zones. The geochemical processes are integrated within the hydrogeological context to produce a conceptual geochemical evolution model for groundwater of the aquifer system.     

Physical and chemical control of the phytoplankton of Ahe lagoon, French Polynesia

The environmental characteristics of Ahe deep lagoon (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) were studied over 3 years with the aim of explaining the spatial and temporal variability of the natural food available for pearl oysters with a special focus on phytoplankton biomass and global photosynthesis/respiration ratio of the lagoon. Chlorophyll averaged 0.34±0.01 μg L(-1) and our findings did not confirm increased phytoplankton biomass in deep lagoonal waters. Phytoplankton production appears to be limited firstly by nitrogen and respiratory processes overpass photosynthetic processes at least in the north-eastern edge of the atoll. Grazing by pearl oysters in culture seems to decrease the POC concentration but not the phytoplankton biomass. Oysters graze mainly on non chlorophyllian particles.