<Superscript>18</Superscript>O/<Superscript>16</Superscript>O and V/Cr ratios in gem tsavorites from the Neoproterozoic Mozambique metamorphic belt: a clue towards their origins?

The combination of oxygen isotope composition with V–Cr–Mn trace element concentrations of V-bearing garnets (tsavorites) originating from the main deposits of the Neoproterozoic Mozambique Metamorphic Belt is reported for the first time. The database enables the identification of the geological and geographical sources of the main productive areas from northern and southern Tanzania, Kenya, and Madagascar. Three consistent sets of δ¹⁸O values between 9.5‰ and 11.0‰, 11.6‰ and 14.5‰, and 15.5‰ and 21.1‰ have been recognized for primary deposits hosted in graphitic gneisses related to the Neoproterozic metasedimentary series. The δ¹⁸O value of tsavorite is a good tracer of the environment of its formation; the δ¹⁸O of the fluid in equilibrium with tsavorite was buffered by the host rock during metamorphism and fluid-rock interaction. This study is a first step in characterizing the geochemistry of gem tsavorite from most of the deposits and occurrences worldwide.     

Effectiveness and efficiency of climate change mitigation in a technologically uncertain World

Following a multi-scenario framework based on the technology assumptions proposed by the 27th Energy Modeling Forum (EMF-27), our analysis focuses on analyzing the impacts of key technology assumptions on climate policies, including the interdependencies of different technological options. Each scenario may be considered as either a possible state of nature upon which one has no influence, each scenario thus dictating the availability (or non availability) of some subset of the technology groups, or as an opportunity for society, by its own actions and policies, to influence the availability of said technology group. The main insights obtained from the assessment show the prominent role of bioenergy as a means to abate greenhouse gas emissions, irrespective of other technological developments, while the role of the other technologies (wind and solar, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear) are more dependent of one another. It appears that CCS may play a sort of “backstop” role: it compensates for a lower contribution of solar and wind, or of nuclear. This means that an increased social acceptability of one (or all) of these three sets of technology should be at the heart of future climate policies. The costs caused by the adaptation of electricity networks to accommodate a high fraction of intermittent sources would deserve more attention in future research.     

Origin of micro-layering in a deep magma chamber: Evidence from two ultramafic–mafic layered xenoliths from Puy Beaunit (French Massif Central)

The origin of magmatic layering is still hotly debated. To try to shed some light on this problem, two ultramafic–mafic layered xenoliths from Puy Beaunit (French Massif Central) were investigated in detail. The nodules belong to a stratiform intrusion emplaced in the deep crust during the Permian (257 ± 6 Ma; Féménias, O., Coussaert, N., Bingen, B., Whitehouse, M., Mercier, J.-C., Demaiffe, D., 2003. A Permian underplating event in late- to post-orogenic tectonic setting. Evidence from the mafic–ultramafic layered xenoliths from Beaunit (French Massif Central). Chem. Geol. 199 293–315.). The 3 to 5 cm thick nodules have, in common, a central orthopyroxenite layer; the succession of layers is, respectively, norite–orthopyroxenite–norite (PBN 00-01) and norite–orthopyroxenite–harzburgite (PBN 00-03). The variations of both major (by electron microprobe) and trace, essentially the RE, elements (by LA-ICP-MS) were measured in major mineral phases (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, spinel) along cross-section perpendicular to the layering. Strong grain size, chemical and textural variations occur along these sections: they can be continuous or discontinuous, symmetrical or asymmetrical. Such complex variations cannot be solely related to a single magmatic history (fractional crystallisation, mineral sorting). Other processes such as element enrichment by residual liquid channelling along layer boundaries and/or sub-solidus recrystallisation and element redistribution must be invoked. It appears, in particular, that element distribution in the central orthopyroxenite layer could result from the injection of micro-sills of orthopyroxene-rich liquid between previously consolidated layers.     

Compositional variation and primary water contents of differentiated interstitial and included glasses in boninites

 Interstitial glasses and glasses in small inclusions in Mg-rich phenocrysts of 14 boninites from New Caledonia, the Mariana Trench, Cape Vogel and Chichi-jima were analysed by electron microprobe and the water contents measured in situ by ion microprobe. The glasses are remarkably fresh and abundant (∼30–90 vol.%), and the phenocrysts are often skeletal with glass inclusions. Broad-beam analyses (∼1030) of interstitial glasses and ∼180 point analyses of glass inclusions were carried out, as well as ∼100 hydrogen analyses. Most glasses have low water-free totals, high water contents, very low MgO, and low total iron; they are almost entirely quartzofeldspathic and with few exceptions (Q+or+ab+ an+C) lies in the range 83–96. The interstitial glasses from New Caledonia, the Marianas and most of the glasses from Chichi-jima are dacitic, those from Cape Vogel straddle dacitic and andesitic compositions, whereas the glasses in a highly glassy sample from Chichi-jima are high-Mg andesitic or boninitic with up ∼9 wt% MgO, and are, with the exception of a few high-Ca boninites from Tonga, the most Mg-rich interstitial glasses so far described in boninites. Glasses included in orthopyroxene, olivine or clinoenstatite are boninitic or high-Mg andesitic in the highly glassy rock and dacitic to high-silica dacitic in the others. They are in general slightly more differentiated than the interstitial glasses, because of more-extensive crystallization on the host crystal in small inclusions. The interstitial glass compositions show a direct relationship between silica and Al₂O₃ and, for most glasses, alkalis, and inverse relationships between silica and CaO, FeO and MgO; alkalis and TiO₂ show, however, a broad spread in values in glasses from the Marianas and New Caledonia. Included glasses show similar variations. Water contents in interstitial glasses are ∼2 wt% for the highly glassy high-Mg andesitic glasses from Chichi-jima, ∼5.4 wt% for the more differentiated andesitic to dacitic glasses from Cape Vogel, and ∼6.7–7.0 wt% in the most differentiated dacitic ones from the Marianas and New Caledonia. Water contents in glass inclusions in olivine, orthopyroxene and clinoenstatite are in the range ∼1.9–3.3 wt%. The interstitial glasses are black and not vesicular, showing that the liquids did not reach supersaturation after eruption on or intrusion near the sea floor, or were insufficiently so to allow nucleation of water vapour bubbles. The water is inferred to be primary and to increase strongly with crystallization in the residual liquid down to the glass-transition T. Received: 19 December 1994 / Accepted: 5 October 1995     

Marble-hosted ruby deposits from Central and Southeast Asia: Towards a new genetic model

Marble-hosted ruby deposits represent the most important source of colored gemstones from Central and South East Asia. These deposits are located in the Himalayan mountain belt which developed during Tertiary collision of the Indian plate northward into the Eurasian plate. They are spatially related to granitoid intrusions and are contained in platform carbonates series that underwent high-grade metamorphism. All occurrences are located close to major tectonic features formed during Himalayan orogenesis, directly in suture zones in the Himalayas, or in shear zones that guided extrusion of the Indochina block after the collision in South East Asia. Ar–Ar dating of micas syngenetic with ruby and U–Pb dating of zircon included in ruby gives evidence that these deposits formed during Himalayan orogenesis, and the ages document the extensional tectonics that were active, from Afghanistan to Vietnam, between the Oligocene and the Pliocene.The petrography shows that ruby-bearing marbles formed in the amphibolite facies (T = 610 to 790 °C and P ~ 6 kbar). A fluid inclusion study defines the conditions of gem ruby formation during the retrograde metamorphic path (620 < T < 670 °C and 2.6 < P < 3.3 kbar) for the deposits of Jegdalek, Hunza and northern Vietnam.Whole rock analyses of non-ruby-bearing marbles indicate that they contain enough aluminum and chromiferous elements to produce all the ruby crystals that they contain. In addition, (C, O)-isotopic analyses of carbonates from the marbles lead to the conclusion that the marbles acted as a metamorphic closed fluid system that were not infiltrated by externally-derived fluids. The carbon isotopic composition of graphite in marbles reveals that it is of organic origin and that it exchanged C-isotopes with the carbonates during metamorphism. Moreover, the O-isotopic composition of ruby was buffered by metamorphic CO₂ released during devolatilisation of marble and the H-isotopic composition of mica is consistent with a metamorphic origin for water in equilibrium with the micas. The (C, O, H)-isotopic compositions of minerals associated with marble-hosted ruby are all in agreement with the hypothesis, drawn from the unusual chemistry of CO₂–H₂S–COS–S₈–AlO(OH)-bearing fluids contained in fluid inclusions, that gem ruby formed at P ~ 3 kbar and 620 < T < 670 °C, during thermal reduction of evaporite by organic matter, at high temperature-medium pressure metamorphism of platform carbonates during the Tertiary India–Asia collision. The carbonates were enriched in Al- and chromiferous-bearing detrital minerals, such as clay minerals that were deposited on the platform with the carbonates, and in organic matter. Ruby formed during the retrograde metamorphic path, mainly by destabilization of muscovite or spinel. The metamorphic fluid system was rich in CO₂ released from devolatilisation of carbonates, and in fluorine, chlorine and boron released by molten salts (NaCl, KCl, CaSO₄). Evaporites are key to explaining the formation of these deposits. Molten salts mobilized in situ Al and metal transition elements contained in marbles, leading to crystallization of ruby.     

Na and Cr contents in clinopyroxenes from peridotites: A possible discriminant between “sub-continental” and “sub-oceanic” mantle

The compilation of data available in the literature and new analyses show that clinopyroxenes are significantly richer in Na and poorer in Cr in peridotites associated with high-grade metamorphic rocks than in ultramafites from oceanic environments, considered as “sub-continental” or “sub-oceanic” mantle, respectively. Two distinctive fields can be drawn in the Na-Cr plot. This fact is related to the large amount of basic magma provided by the oceanic mantle along the mid-oceanic ridges.Application of this Na-Cr diagram to clinopyroxenes from peridotites in orogenic belts and appearing as xenoliths in volcanic rocks and kimberlites (“nodules”) allows us to specify their origin, taking into consideration that the clinopyroxene composition is controlled by several factors each of which gives rise to a particular trend:P-T. conditions, mineral facies, partial melting and crystal fractionation, metasomatism. It appears that oceanic-type mantle may be found under continents in extensional areas having evolved towards rift systems, and in ophiolites. The latter exhibit different degree of depletion related to their formation in two main geotectonic situations: mid-oceanic ridges and active margin systems.     

L'aspidolite fluorée : rôle des évaporites dans la genèse du rubis des marbres de Nangimali (Azad-Kashmir,Pakistan)

Ruby-bearing marbles from Nangimali, in the Azad-Kashmir, Pakistan, contain, besides phengite, different mica intergrowths: paragonite, phlogopite and aspidolite (sodium phlogopite). Both phlogopites, intimately linked and coexisting with paragonite, are fluorine rich, contrary to phengite and paragonite. F-enriched aspidolite is described for the first time. Phengite is either associated with phlogopite or could be isolated. The presence of aspidolite in the ruby-bearing marbles, together with other arguments such as salt solid inclusions and presence of anhydrite, suggest the implication of evaporites in the genesis of gem corundums. To cite this article: V. Garnier et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

A Compilation of Silicon and Thirty One Trace Elements Measured in the Natural River Water Reference Material SLRS-4 (NRC-CNRC)

The natural river water certified reference material SLRS-4 (NRC-CNRC, National Research Council-Conseil National de Recherches Canada) has been routinely analysed for major and trace elements by six French laboratories. Most measurements were made using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. For silicon and thirty one trace elements (rare earth elements, Ag, B, Br, Cs, Ga, Ge, Li, P, Pd, Rb, Se, Th, Ti, Tl, W, Y and Zr), no certified values are assigned by NRC-CNRC. We propose some compilation values and related uncertainties according to the results obtained by the different laboratories.     

Geochemistry and mineralogy of lavas from the Arakapas Fault Belt,Cyprus: Consequences for magma chamber evolution

Résumé Résumé L'étude géochimique des laves dans la zone d'Arakapas (AFB) a permis de proposer un modèle génétique pour la formation des laves et des cumulats qui s'est déroulée dans un seul site géotectonique. Cinq types de lave ont été définis dans l'AFB, un dans la séquence axiale (AS) et quatre dans les laves en coussin supérieures (UPL) formés à partir d'un manteau très déprimé dont le degré d'appauvrissement s'est accru avec le temps. La modélisation des processus de fusion partielle et de cristallisation fractionnée implique des coefficients de partage élevés pour Mg et Cr et faibles pour V compatibles avec une fugacité d'oxygène élevée dans la source.Dans les différents types de lave, la cristallisation plus ou moins précoce du plagioclase, du clinopyroxène ou de l'orthopyroxène après l'olivine témoigne de l'existence de magmas parentaux distincts qui ont alimenté des chambres magmatiques évoluant en système fermé. La disparition des grandes chambres magmatiques d'où ont été issues les laves de type A a eu lieu en fin de formation de l'AS. Les chambres magmatiques plus petites liées aux UPL ont été détruites à différents stades de leur évolution.

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Geochemistry and mineralogy of lavas from the Arakapas Fault Belt, Cyprus: Consequences for magma chamber evolution

Summary The results of geochemical investigations in the Arakapas Fault Belt (AFB) in the Cyprus ophiolite are discussed to provide a comprehensive model for the genesis of the ophiolitic intrusive and extrusive rocks which occur in a single but evolutive tectonic environment.On the basis of field and petrographic criteria, five lava types are defined, one in the Axis Sequence (AS) and four in the Upper Pillow Lavas (UPL). The comparison between observed and calculated partial melting and fractional crystallization trends favors high D_Cr and D_Mg and low Dv consistent with high fO₂. Partial melting occurred in a depleted mantle after a prior melting event. The extent of mantle depletion varies with space and increases with time.Different crystallization orders in lavas reflect distinct parental magma compositions and the extent of pre-eruption fractionation dominated by wehrlitic crystallization in closed magma chambers. Long-lived magma chambers disappear at the end of the AS. Small magma chambers occurred during the formation of the UPI, and were destroyed at various degrees of evolution.

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With 6 Figures     

Field and petrological evidence for the development of an ensialic marginal basin related to the Hercynian orogeny in the Massif Central,France

Six lithologic units in tectonic contact with each other have been defined during mapping of the Devonian in the Beaujolais area of the northeastern Massif Central. Five main igneous suites have been recognized:

1. A transitional basaltic suite restricted to a single unit.
2. An acid volcanic-plutonic suite the members of which are related by fractional crystallization and magma mixing.
3. Low-TiO₂ volcanic rocks with calc-alkaline affinities.
4. A TiO₂-rich tholeiitic suite related to an ophiolitic complex.
5. A plutonic suite with close resemblances to Alaskantype intrusions.

The transitional metabasalts (1) form the oldest igneous suite and could represent either an intraplate magmatic forerunner of rifting or tectonic slices of weakly metamorphosed rocks representing a pre-Acadian event. The next three suites may be related to a short-lived ensialic marginal basin that developed between the Acadian and Bretonian orogenies. The basin is asymmetric, with the ophiolite of the central part flanked by an acid ridge on one side and a passive continental margin on the other. Quartz-keratophyres (2) and calc-alkalic basic volcanic rocks (3) were intercalated in varying proportions to form a bimodal volcanic pile before the rifting event that led to the formation of the ophiolites (4). The acid ridge (2) may be due to the reactivation of a continental basement. Cumulate rocks with Alaskan-type affinities occur as olistoliths, emplaced before the formation of the rift basin, supporting a comparison of the Hercynian belt with accreted magmatic arc terranes.