Palaeo-ice streaming in the central sector of the British—Irish Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum: evidence from the northern Irish Sea Basin

Late Devensian glacial sediments and landforms of the Isle of Man record the advance and deglacial signature of the central sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet. Evidence from the area, gathered from striae, erratic trains and drift limits, show ice was routed over and around the island in two flow phases post-36 kyr BP. In the south of the island, streamlined depositional bedforms with low elongation ratios suggest low ice-flow velocities resulting from one or more of (i) the up-ice location of the island within a regional onset zone, (ii) flow retardation of ice interacting with the margins of the island and (iii) localized drainage of the deforming bed. The deglacial landform assemblage of lateral marginal sandurs and drainage diversions, coupled with a lack of dead-ice features, suggests ice did not downwaste in situ but retreated intact along the coastal margins as Manx Upland ice thinned. In the north of the island, however, the Bride Moraine complex indicates a change in deglacial ice-sheet dynamics, with temporary re-advance and marginal oscillation causing proglacial tectonism and thrusting of the glacial sediment pile, possibly during the Killard Point Stadial event (18.8-16.4 cal. kyr BP). From a basin-wide perspective, the Irish Sea Basin sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet had many of the characteristics of an ice stream, such as a zone of flow convergence up-ice, a grounding line in the southern Celtic Sea and recessional limits characterized by proglacially tectonized and thrust dead-ice landscapes indicative of a rapidly oscillating ice margin.     

THE PEATLAND/ICE AGE HYPOTHESIS REVISED, ADDING A POSSIBLE GLACIAL PULSE TRIGGER

Carbon sequestering in peatlands is believed to be a major climate‐regulating mechanism throughout the late Phanerozoic. Since plant life first evolved on land, peatlands have been significant carbon sinks, which could explain significant parts of the large variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide observed in various records. The result is peat in different degrees of metamorphosis, i.e. lignite, hard coal and graphite. During phases of extensive glaciations such as the 330–240 Ma Pangea Ice Age, atmospheric carbon dioxide was critically low. This pattern repeats itself during the Pleistocene when carbon dioxide oscillates with an amplitude of c. 200–300 ppmv. This paper suggests that the ice age cycles during the Pleistocene are generated by the interglacial growth of peatlands and the subsequent sequestering of carbon into this terrestrial pool. The final initiation of ice age pulses towards the end of inter‐glacials, on the other hand, is attributed to the cyclic influx of cosmic dust to the Earth surface, which in turn regulates cloud formation and the incoming shortwave radiation. These shorter cycles have a frequency of c. 1000‐1250 years and might be connected to sunspot or other low frequency solar variations. In a wider context the ice age cycling could be regarded as an interplay between terrestrial life on the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and the marine subsurface life in the southeast. If the results presented here are correct, the present global warming might just be the early part of a new warm period such as the Bronze Age and the Roman and Medieval Warm periods. This could be caused by entry into another phase of decreasing influx rates of cosmic dust. The increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide might have contributed to this warming but, most important of all, it might temporarily have saved us from a new ice age pulse.     

Petrology and Geochemistry of Intraplate Basalts in the South Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand: Evidence for Two Coeval Magma Suites from Distinct Sources

The South Auckland Volcanic Field is a Pleistocene (1·59–0·51Ma) basaltic intraplate, monogenetic field situated south ofAuckland City, North Island, New Zealand. Two groups of basaltsare distinguished based on mineralogy and geochemical compositions,but no temporal or spatial patterns exist in the distributionof various lava types forming each group within the field: GroupA basalts are silica-undersaturated transitional to quartz-tholeiiticbasalts with relatively low total alkalis (3·0–4·6wt %), Nb (7–29 ppm), and (La/Yb)_N (3·4–7·6);Group B basalts are strongly silica-undersaturated basanitesto nepheline-hawaiites with high total alkalis (3·3–7·9wt %), Nb (32–102 ppm), and (La/Yb)_N (12–47). GroupA has slightly higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, similar _Nd, and lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pbvalues compared with Group B. Contrasting geochemical trendsand incompatible element ratios (e.g. K/Nb, Zr/Nb, Ce/Pb) areconsistent with separate evolution of Groups A and B from dissimilarparental magmas derived from distinct sub-continental lithosphericmantle sources. Differentiation within each group was controlledby olivine and clinopyroxene fractionation. Group B magmas weregenerated by <8% melting of an ocean island basalt (OIB)-likegarnet peridotite source with high ²³⁸U/²⁰⁴Pb mantle (HIMU)and enriched mantle (EMII) characteristics possibly inheritedfrom recycled oceanic crust. Group A magmas were generated by<12% melting of a spinel peridotite source also with HIMUand EMII signatures. This source type may have resulted fromsubduction-related metasomatism of the sub-continental lithospheremodified by a HIMU plume. These events were associated withMesozoic or earlier subduction- and plume-related magmatismwhen New Zealand was at the eastern margin of the Gondwana supercontinent. KEY WORDS: continental intraplate basalts; geochemistry; HIMU, EMII; Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes; South Auckland; sub-continental lithospheric sources     

Thermal and baric evolution of garnet granulites from Sri Lanka

Abstract Garnet granulites from Sri Lanka preserve textural and chemical evidence for prograde equilibration at temperatures of at least 700–750°C and pressures in the vicinity of 6–8 kbar. Associated strain patterns suggest prograde metamorphism occurred during and immediately following an episode of crustal thickening, with the prograde P–T conditions probably reflecting a combination of the conductive and advective transport of heat at the mid-levels of tectonically thickened crust. The occurrence of prograde wollastonite provides evidence for internally buffered fluid compositions, or fluid absent conditions, during peak metamorphism and precludes pervasive advection of a CO₂-rich fluid. The advective heat component is therefore likely to have been provided by the transport of silicate melt. Intricate symplectitic textures record partial re-equilibration of the garnet granulites to lower pressures (˜ 4–6 kbar) at high temperatures (600–750°C), and testify either to the erosional denudation of the overthick crust prior to significant cooling (i.e. quasi-isothermal decompression) or to a subsequent static heating possibly of early Palaeozoic age (Pan-African). The metamorphic history of the Sri Lankan granulites is compared with high grade terrains in the neighbouring fragments of Gondwana, with the emphasis on similarities with Proterozoic granulites of the East Antarctic craton.     

When downhole logging turns to geochemistry

The procedure of lowering geophysical instruments down boreholes on a wire has, over the past 60 years, been a useful aid in defining the physical nature of the rock formations through which the borehole passes. Current developments, however, herald the advent of the use of such techniques for the measurement of geochemical concentrations in a quantitative way. This opens the door to a whole new series of applications in a wide range of geological disciplines.     

Garnet–orthopyroxene geothermometry and geobarometry: error propagation and equilibration effects

Garnet–orthopyroxene geothermometry and geobarometry are widely used in high-grade metamorphic terranes. These techniques may provide an insight into pressure–temperature ( P–T   ) paths followed by such terranes, provided various sources of uncertainty are taken into consideration. Analytical uncertainties, particularly with regard to their effect on ferric iron estimation in orthopyroxene, can contribute to the overall uncertainty on the calculated P–T  . Additionally, retrograde cation diffusion can affect the Fe–Mg distribution between coexisting garnet and orthopyroxene, consequently affecting P–T  estimates. Recognizing the importance of these effects, and care with both the choice of the grains analysed and analytical techniques, may lead to more reliable P–T  estimation.