Geology of the volcanic-hosted Brockman rare-metals deposit,Halls Creek Mobile Zone,northwest Australia. l. Volcanic environment,geochronology and petrography of the Brockman volcanics

Summary Rare-metals mineralization of the Brockman deposit (Halls Creek Mobile Zone, NW Australia) is hosted in a fluorite-bearing, rhyolitic volcaniclastic unit informally termed the Niobium Tuff. The Tuff, more correctly described as a tuffaceous volcaniclastic deposit, is the lowermost unit of a sequence of trachyte-to-rhyolite lavas, trachyandesite subvolcanic rocks, and volcaniclastic units of the Brockman volcanics located within the Halls Creek Group, a thick, early Proterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence. High precision SHRIMP ion-microprobe zircon dating of the Niobium Tuff gives an eruption age of 1870 ± 4 Ma. Regional geochronological constraints indicate the Niobium Tuff was deposited about 15 Ma before major orogenic activity affected the area. Despite folding, faulting and low-grade metamorphism, the Brockman volcanics show excellent preservation of primary volcanological features, including pillow-lavas and pillow-breccias, that suggest a dominantly subaqueous, below-wave-base emplacement environment. The style of eruption products and magma volume constraints suggest the trachyte-dominated volcanics were erupted from a small shield volcanic complex probably in a rift-related basin in a shallow-marine setting. The tectonic setting was intraplate but differs from most Tertiary to recent trachyte volcanic complexes which are largely subaerial, are built on relatively thick continental crust, and show no post-eruptive orogenic history. Brockman-style rare-metal deposits are characterized by preservation of subaqueous volcanics beneath a thick sedimentary sequence, eruption of early incompatible-element enriched products followed by less differentiated magmas, and fine-grained mineralogy influenced by alteration processes. Prospects exist for discovery of analogous deposits, particularly in early Proterozoic mobile belts and Tertiary intraplate shield volcanic provinces.

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Geologie der an Vulkanite gebundenen Seltene-Metalle-Lagerstätte Brockman, Halls Creek Mobile Zone, Nordwest-Australien. I. Vulkanologie, Geochronologie und Petrographie der Brockman-Vulkanite

Zusammenfassung Selten-Metall-Vererzung der Brockman-Lagerstätten (Halls Creek Mobile Zone, NW Australien) sitzt in einer Fluorit-führenden, rhyolitischen vulkanoklastischen Einheit auf, die informell als der Niob-Tuff bezeichnet wird. Es handelt sich hier um ein vulkanoklastisches Tuff-Sediment; dieses ist die unterste Einheit einer Abfolge vor Trachyt bis Rhyolit-Laven, trachyandesitischen Subvulkaniten and vulkanoklastischen Einheiten der Brockman Vulkanite innerhalb der Halls Creek Gruppe, einer mächtigen frühproterozoischen vulkanosedimentdren Abfolge. Prüzisionsdatierungen des Niob Tuffs mit der SHRIMP Ionen-Mikrosonde ergeben ein Eruptionsalter von 1870 +-4 Millionen Jahren. Regionale geochronologische Zusammenhänge zeigen, daß der Niob Tuff etwa 15 Millionen Jahre vor einer größeren Orogenese, die das Gebiet betroffen hat, abgelagert wurde. Trotz Faltung, Bruchtektonik and niedriggradiger Metamorphose zeigen die Brockman-Vulkanite einen hervorragenden Erhaltungszustand primärer vulkanologischer Erscheinungen. Diese urnfassen auch Kissenlaven und KissenBreckzien, die eine vorwiegend subaquatische Ablagerung in ruhigem Wasser erkennen lassen. Die Art der Eruptionsprodukte and das Magmavolumen zeigen, daß die Trachytdominierten Vulkanite von einem kleinen Schildvulkan stammer, wahrscheinlich in einem Becken in einer Rift-Situation im seichten marinen Milieu. Die tektonische Situation war intraplate, aber unterscheidet sich von den meisten tertiären bis rezenten trachytischen Vulkan-Komplexen, die hauptsächlich subaerisch sind, auf einer relativ mächtigen kontinentalen Kruste aufsitzen, and keine post-eruptive orogene Entwicklung zeigen. Seltene-Metalle-Lagerstatten des Brockman-Typs rind durch die Erhaltung subaquatischer-Vulkanite unterhalb einer machtigen sedimentdren Abfolge gekennzeichnet; welters durch frühe Eruptionsprodukte, die an inkompatiblen Elementen angereichert sind, auf die dann weniger differenzierte Magmen folgten, und schließlich durch einen feinkörnigen Mineralbestand, der vor Umwandlungsprozessen betroffen war. Es besteht die Möglichkeit der Entdeckung analoger Lagerstätten, besonders in frühproterozoischen mobilen Gürteln und in tertidren intraplate Schildvulkan Provinzen.

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The Late Cretaceous Impact of the Trindade Mantle Plume: Evidence from Large-volume, Mafic, Potassic Magmatism in SE Brazil

When the subcontinental lithospheric mantle undergoes heatingand/or extension, some of the earliest mafic melts to be generatedare those rich in volatUes and potassium. In some cases, e.g.when a plume impinges on thick cratonic lithosphere or whenthe amount of extension is very small, K-rich mafic igneousrocks may be the only surface expression of mantle melting.The Alto Paranaiba Igneous Province, in SE Brazil, is one ofthe world's most voluminous mafic potassic provinces (>15000km³),which until recently was relatively unknown. The magmas wereemplaced into a narrow Proterozoic mobile belt close to thesurface margin of the Sao Francisco craton, and it is one ofseveral Cretaceous alkaline igneous provinces that are locatedaround the margin of the Parana sedimentary basin in Braziland Paraguay.Detailed geochemical analyses of samples from throughoutthe Alto Paranaiba Igneous Province show that it is composedof a relatively diverse suite of ultrapotassic-potassic, ultramaficmqfic,silica-undersaturated lavas and hypabyssal intrusions, i.e.kimberlites, madupitic olivine lamproites and kamafugitic rocks.These all have very high concentrations of incompatible traceelements and are all strongly enriched in light rare earth relativeto heavy rare earth elements (e.g. La/Yb=50-230). Wide variationsin major element ratios, which are unrelated to the effectsof crystal fractionation in these magmas (e.g. CaO/Al₂O₃), suggestthat the mafic potassic rocks were derived from a heterogeneousmantle source. They show relatively restricted ranges of initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (070436-070588) and Nd₂₅ values of -4 to -8, intermediatebetween Group I and II South African kimberlites. T_DM Nd isotopemodel ages of 900 Ma suggest that the magmas were derived bythe remobilization of subcontinental lithospheric mantle thathad been enriched by small-volume K-rich melt fractions sincethe Late Proterozoic.New K/Ar ages for mica separates show thatthe kimberlites, madupitic olivine lamproites and kamafugiticrocks were emplaced together with large carbonatite-bearingplutonic complexes at 85 Ma. Reconstructions of plate motionsshow that, at this time, the location of the Alto ParanaibaIgneous Province coincided with the postulated position of thepresent-day Trindade(or Martin Vaz) plume. We propose that thewidespread Late Cretaceous alkaline magmatism in SE Brazil mayhave been caused by impingement of this plume on the base ofthe subcontinental lithosphere. Heat penetrating the lithosphere,both by conduction and advection by asthenospheric-source decompressionmelts, may have caused melting of the readily fusible partsof the lithospheric mantle and the genesis of mafic potassicand (after fractionation) carbonatite magmas. The Proterozoicmobile belt (the Brasilia Belt) appears to have acted as a Hhinspofrelative to the adjacent Sao Francisco craton, allowing greaterupwelling and melting of the asthenosphere. Subsequently, asthe craton passed over the plume, volcanism was switched off'until the Early Tertiary when the plume reemerged from beneaththe westward drifting South America continent and was the magmasource for oceanic-islands and seamounts of the Trindade-Vitriachain. Corresponding author     

Petrology and geochemistry of xenoliths from the Northern Baltic shield: evidence for partial melting and metasomatism in the lower crust beneath an Archaean terrane

Lower crustal xenoliths entrained in a Paleozoic ultramafic lamprophyre breccia pipe on Elovy island, Kola peninsula, Russia, represent some of the oldest lower crustal material yet investigated from Europe. The xenoliths vary from feldspar-poor, garnetrich rocks which resemble eclogites, to feldspar-rich garnet granulites. Quartz-rich felsic granulites, as well as pyroxenites and amphibole-rich rocks are also present.

The mafic granulites/eclogites represent a suite of gabbros and norites that is related by olivine fractionation. The igneous protoliths may have formed in a manner analogous to lower crustal rocks from most other European xenolith localities, i.e. by basaltic underplating, but magmatic cumulates are not in evidence.

The Kola lower crust was subjected to one or more metasomatic events which introduced up to 45% phlogopite and/or amphibole into both eclogites/granulites and pyroxenites. The resulting rocks have strong enrichments in Rb, Ba, and K, indicating that the lower crust is not uniformly depleted in LIL and heat-producing elements. Siliceous (65% SiO₂) and mafic (< 50% SiO₂) lithologies coexist in migmatitic xenoliths, which provide evidence for partial melting processes and restite formation in mafic metaigneous lower crust. The relationship, if any, between partial melting and metasomatism is unclear.     

Efficient generation of conditional simulations by chebyshev matrix polynomial approximations to the symmetric square root of the covariance matrix

Consider the problem of generating a realization y₁ of a Gaussian random field on a dense grid of points ₁ conditioned on field observations y₂ collected on a sparse grid of points ₂. An approach to this is to generate first an unconditional realization y over the grid =_{1 2}, and then to produce y₁ by conditioning y on the data y₂. As standard methods for generating y, such as the turning bands, spectral or Cholesky approaches can have various limitations, it has been proposed by M. W. Davis to generate realizations from a matrix polynomial approximations to the square root of the covariance matrix. In this paper we describe how to generate a direct approximation to the conditional realization y₁, on ₁ using a variant of Davis' approach based on approximation by Chebyshev polynomials. The resulting algorithm is simple to implement, numerically stable, and bounds on the approximation error are readily available. Furthermore we show that the conditional realization y₁ can be generated directly with a lower order polynomial than the unconditional realization y, and that further reductions can be achieved by exploiting a nugget effect if one is present. A pseudocode version of the algorithm is provided that can be implemented using the fast Fourier transform if the field is stationary and the grid ₁ is rectangular. Finally, numerical illustrations are given of the algorithm's performance in generating various 2-D realizations of conditional processes on large sampling grids.     

The S-External pyrenees of Huesca

An Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene series is more or less detached from the Hercynian basement and piled up southward as a Younger Calcareous Chain. A broad belt of Eocene flysch with limestone intercalations terminates eastward against a contemporaneous cross-structure and is affected by a zone of persistent overturning.

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Zusammenfassung Eine Oberkreide-PalÄozÄn-Serie ist teilweise vom herzynischen Untergrund abgeschert und südwÄrts als Jüngere Kalkkette aufgestaucht. Eine breite Zone von EozÄn-Flysch mit Kalkeinlagerungen endet nach Osten an einer gleichaltrigen Querstruktur. Sie enthÄlt einen durchgehend überkippten Streifen.

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Résumé La série néocrétacée-paléocène est plus ou moins décollée du socle hercynien et déversée au sud comme «ChaÎne calcaire postérieure». Une large zone de flysch éocène à intercalations calcaires se termine vers l'est contre un accident transversal contemporain et est affectée d'une bande persistante de renversement.

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Das kristalline Grundgebirge von Anatolien

Zusammenfassung In Anatolien gibt es drei grö\ere Kristallin-Massive — Menderes, Kirehir und Bitlis — neben zahlreichen kleineren. Das Kirehir-Massiv ist ganz aus vordevonischem Altkristallin aufgebaut. Menderes- und Bitlis-Massiv enthalten altkristalline Kerne. Eine intra-mesozoische Metamorphose umgab sie mit Hüllen von palÄozoisch-altmesozoischen Phylliten und Marmoren. Die metamorphe Aureole des Menderes-Massivs lÄ\t sich in die ÄgÄis, die des Bitlis-Massivs nach ZentralIran hinein verfolgen. Die Kristallin-Aufbrüche Nord-Anatoliens sind Bruchstücke einer alten Masse, der Nordanatolischen Schwelle; sie besteht aus Altkristallin. Die Taurus-Geosynkline hat ihre SelbstÄndigkeit durch die Schwellenzone gewonnen, die durch die intramesozoische Metamorphose in ihrem Rücklande geschaffen worden ist.

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In Anatolia there are three large crystalline massifs — Menderes, Kirehir and Bitlis — apart from a number of minor ones. The Kirehir Massif consists entirely of pre-Devonian metamorphites. The Menderes and Bitlis massifs both contain cores of old crystalline rocks. In the course of an intra-Mesozoic metamorphism these cores have been surrounded by envelopes of phyllites and marbles derived from beds of Paleozoic and Older Mesozoic age. The aureoles of young metamorphism can be traced from the Menderes Massif into the Aegean Sea and from the Bitlis Massif into Central Iran. The crystalline domes of northern Anatolia are fragments of the North Anatolian Welt, an ancient block composed of crystalline schists of probably pre-Paleozoic age. The Taurus geosyncline came into virtual existence by the ridge built up in its hinterland by the intra-Mesozoic metamorphism.

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Résumé En Anatolie il y a trois vastes massifs cristallins — Mendérès, Kiréhir et Bitlis — sans parler de nombreux autres moins étendus. Le massif de Kiréhir se compose entièrement de roches cristallines pré-dévoniennes. Les massifs du Mendérès et de Bitlis contiennent des noyaux de cristallin ancien. Au cours d'un métamorphisme intra-mésozoique ces noyaux furent entourés des enveloppes de phyllite et de marbre dérivées des couches du Paléozoique et du Mésozoique inférieur. L'auréole métamorphique du massif du Mendérès se poursuit dans la Mer Egée, celle du massif de Bitlis jusqu'à l'Iran central. Les nombreux bombements cristallins de l'Anatolie du Nord représentent des fragments du Seuil Nord-Anatolien, ancien massif constitué par des schistes métamorphiques probablement précambriens. Le géosynclinal du Taurus a gagné son individualité par le ride cristallin s'étendant dans son arrière-pays et formé par le métamorphisme intramésozoique.

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: Menderes, Kirsehir Bitlis — . Kirsehir — -. Menderes Bitlis , , . Menderes , Bitlis — . - , . . , , . .

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Für förderliche Erörterungen habe ich den Kollegen E.Baarir, Izmir,St. Dürr, Marburg, H.Haude, Hannover, E.Izdar, Izmir, F.Karl, Kiel, K.-O.Kopp, München, W.Niehoff, Hannover, J.Papastamatiou, Athen, J.Stöcklin, Teheran, für Fossil-Bestimmungen dem Kollegen E.Flügel, Darmstadt, zu danken. Der Deutschen Forschungs-Gemeinschaft und dem Aratirma Ileri Kurulu (Nr. 966/11) bin ich für Förderung der Feldarbeiten verpflichtet.     

U-Pb systematics of garnet: dating the growth of garnet in the late Archean Pikwitonei granulite domain at Cauchon and Natawahunan Lakes,Manitoba, Canada

This study considers the potential of using the U-Pb dating of garnet for determining quantitative P-T-t paths for the late Archean metamorphism in the Pikwitonei granulite domain. Garnets for U-Pb dating were selected mainly from samples that also provide information on pressure and temperature. The garnets used for dating were clear and free of any visible inclusions. Pb concentrations range from 63 ppb to 966 ppb and U from 136 ppb to 1143 ppb. The measured ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios range from 52.8 to 529.4. The ages are generally discordant with U/Pb ages that may lie above or below concordia. The discordance is caused by a recent disturbance of the U/Pb ratio in the garnets as indicated by replicate analyses on the same garnet separates that reproduce ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages well within analytical uncertainty and in most cases within ±1.5 Ma at 2600–2750 Ma. High grade metamorphism continued over a period of at least one hundred million years, but the garnet-K-feldspar Pb-Pb ages suggest that, during this time, garnet growth has been favored during three distinct periods in the Cauchon Lake area: 2700–2687 Ma 2660–2637 Ma 2605–2591 Ma The ca. 2695 Ma garnet ages from Cauchon Lake date the time of melting and staurolite breakdown during prograde metamorphism, the ca. 2640 Ma ages date the time of extensive migmatization and the last period of metamorphic garnet growth, the ca. 2600 Ma ages date the time of crystallization of igneous garnet in late granitic intrusions. Peak metamorphism occurred around 2640 Ma followed by the intrusions of pegmatites starting at 2629 Ma. The Pb-Pb ages for garnet are similar to the U-Pb ages for zircon that date a leucocratic mobilizate (2695 Ma), a plagioclaseamphibole mobilizate (2637 Ma) and pegmatite (2598 Ma) (Heaman et al. 1986 a; Krogh et al. 1986; this study). Xenocrysts of garnet from 2600 Ma old graphic granites give minimum ages of 2984 Ma and 2741 Ma which are minima for the times of garnet growth in the source of the granites. The agreement of the zircon and garnet ages suggests that the metamorphism may have been punctuated by events that led to the development of melts or encouraged mineral growth at specific times. If so, the prograde and retrograde paths of metamorphism in the area may have contained minor excursions in pressure, temperature or fluid fugacities. In the Natawahunan Lake area some 50 km northwest of Cauchon Lake, garnet growth associated with the prograde breakdown of staurolite occurred at ca. 2744–2734 Ma. This suggests that a similar style of metamorphism may have occurred earlier in the Natawahunan Lake area than at Cauchon Lake area, or higher grades of metamorphism were reached earlier and were of longer duration associated with the somewhat greater depths in the Natawahunan Lake area. These results indicate the these garnets, which are 0.1–1 cm in diameter, have maintained closed system behavior for U and Pb at peak metamorphic conditions, i.e. temperatures up to 800° C and pressures of 7.5 kb.     

The karst contagion model: Synopsis and environmental implications

The contagion model of karst terrane evolution focuses on the environmental implications for a large karst depression population on the Pennyroyal Plain (southern Kentucky) and the adjacent Western Highland Rim (Tennessee) immediately south of the Mammoth Cave Plateau. In karst terranes where the contagion model applies, there is a well-defined infrastructure comprised of hydrologic, structural geologic and geomorphic interacting elements that result in clustered depressions underlain by a radial conduit system. Clusters tend to be randomly distributed and typically contain a parent depression surrounded by numerous daughters.Groundwater flow is assumed to be turbulent and confined largely to conduits that are 3-dimensionally configured between clusters in a dendritic to trellis network. Parent depressions serve as conduit nodes for collecting groundwater migrating from beneath daughter depressions.Flow velocities in the 3-dimensional cluster-cell conduits exceed those in granular media by several orders of magnitude making pathogen and chemical contaminant migration rapid. Groundwater quality assessment in karst conduit hydrogeologic settings is difficult because monitoring wells are inappropriate. Monitoring wells may have a low probability of intercepting a major conduit and therefore the sampling regime must take into consideration the pulse discharge of pollutants in karst conduits. Representative water quality data must come from springs located near the local base level.     

P-T Conditions and the Influence of Graphite on Pelitic Phase Relations in the Ballachulish Aureole, Scotland

Pressure-temperature conditions of pelites in the Ballachulishaureole, Scotland, have been determined from a calibrated petrogeneticgrid and from published geothermometers and geobarometers. Tocalibrate the mineral reactions in the grid, thermodynamic datafor appropriate end members of Ms, Chi, Qtz, And, Sil, Ky, Crn,Crd, Kfs, and Bt were derived from experimental data. This approachwas hampered by the unknown compositions of many of the mineralsused in the experiments, and by apparent inconsistency betweenthe experiments. A best compromise grid that satisfies mostof the data was obtained, which is applicable to the Ballachulishand other contact aureoles. In this grid, the first developmentof sillimanite is constrained to lie between the Richardsonet al. (1969) and Holdaway (1971) andalusite-sillimanite boundaries. A pressure estimate of 3.0 + 0.5 kb is obtained from the calibratedgrid, within 0.3 kb of estimates from geobarometry and fromtwo other independent petrological studies. Temperatures rangedfrom 560?20?C at the first development of cordierite in theassemblage Ms+Qtz+Chl+Crd+Bt to 750–800?C in Grt+Crd+Hyassemblages in pelitic screens within the igneous complex. In graphitic slates, in contrast to non-graphitic pelites, anentire andalusite-bearing subzone is developed, and initialcordierite development occurs further from the igneous contacts.The presence of graphite lowered a_H2o in the slaters, expandingthe stability field of the andalusite-bearing assemblage And+Qtz+Bt+Ms+Crdrelative to the assemblage Kfs+Qtz+Bt+Ms+Crd developed in non-graphiticunits. Initial development of cordierite in the assemblage Ms+Qtz+Chl+Crd+Btwas also promoted by reduced a_H2o in graphitic slates. The regular sequence and spacing of mineral zones in the aureolesuggests that gross equilibrium was attained during contactmetamorphism, even though the thermal metamorphic pulse is estimatedto have been less than 0.2 Ma (Buntebarth, in press). Thereis no evidence for reaction overstepping in cordierite-producingreactions.