Low-degree partial melting trends recorded in upper mantle minerals

The study of glass inclusions inside mantle minerals provides direct information about the chemistry of naturally occurring mantle-derived melts and the fine-scale complexity of the melting process responsible for their genesis. Minerals in a spinel lherzolite nodule from Grande Comore island contain glass inclusions which, after homogenization by heating, exhibit a continuous suite of chemical compositions clearly distinct from that of the host basanitic lava. The compositions range from silicic, with nepheline–olivine normative, 64 wt% SiO₂ and 11 wt% alkali oxides, to almost basaltic, with quartz normative, 50 wt% SiO₂ and 1–2 wt% alkali oxides. Within a single mineral phase, olivine, the inferred primary melt composition varies from 54 to 64 wt% SiO₂ for MgO content ranging from 8 to 0.8 wt%. An experimental study of the glass and fluid inclusions indicates that trapped melts represent liquids that are in equilibrium with their host phases at moderate temperature and pressure (T≈1230°C and P≈1.0 Gpa for melts trapped in olivine). Quantitative modelling of the compositional trends defined in the suite shows that all of the glasses are part of a cogenetic set of melts formed by fractional melting of spinel lherzolite, with F varying between 0.2 and 5%. The initial highly silicic, alkali-rich melts preserved in Mg-rich olivine become richer in FeO, MgO, CaO and Cr₂O₃ and poorer in SiO₂, K₂O, Na₂O, Al₂O₃ and Cl with increasing melt fractions, evolving toward the basaltic melts found in clinopyroxene. These results confirm the connection between glass inclusions inside mantle minerals and partial mantle melts, and indicate that primary melts with SiO₂ >60 wt%, alkali oxides >11%, FeO <1 wt% and MgO <1 wt% are generated during incipient melting of spinel peridotite. The composition of the primary melts is inferred to be dependent on pressure, and to reflect both the speciation of dissolved CO₂ and the effect of alkali oxides on the silica activity coefficient in the melt. At pressures around 1 GPa, low-degree melts are characterized by alkali and silica-rich compositions, with a limited effect of dissolved CO₂ and a decreased silica activity coefficient caused by the presence of alkali oxides, whereas at higher pressures alkali oxides form complexes with carbonates and, consequently, alkali-rich silica-poor melts will be generated.     

Palynology suggests hydrocarbon mobilization in Ordovician of Kasba Tadla Basin,Morocco

Palynological analysis of twelve wells shows that the metamorphic gradient of the pre-Mesozoic in the Kasba Tadla Basin of Morocco increases rapidly northwest-, southeast-, and eastward, from the center of the Basin. In the center, the Ordovician may still be releasing mobile hydrocarbons.

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Zusammenfassung Eine palynologische Untersuchung von zwölf Bohrungen zeigt, daß der thermale Gradient sich im Premesozoikum des Kasba-Tadla-Beckens in Marokko vom Zentrum des Beckens aus nach Nordwesten, Südosten und Osten schnell vergrößert. Es ist sehr wohl möglich, daß das Ordovizium des Beckenzentrums noch flüssige und gasförmige Kohlenwasserstoffverbindungen abgibt.

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Résumé L'analyse palynologique de 12 sondages montre que le gradient métamorphique du pré-Mésozoïque dans le Basin du Kasba Tadla, au Maroc, augmente à partir du centre du Bassin vers le nordouest, le sudest et vers l'est. Il est possible que l'Ordovicien de la partie centrale du Bassin produise encore des hydrocarbures liquides et gaseux.

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12 , Kasba Tadla -, - . , .

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The authors gratefully acknowledge support of this project through Grant GF-32510-X from the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.     

The Calabrian Stage redefined

The name Calabrian was introduced in the geological literature by the French stratigrapher Maurice Gignoux in 1910, and later described in his important monograph （633 pages） ＂Les formations marines pliocknes et quaternaires de l＇ltalie du sud et de la Sicile ＂published in 1913. Detailed data were provided on several sections （Santa Maria di Catanzaro, Caraffa, Monasterace, Palermo） and on their fossil content. The Calabrian Stage has commonly been used for over fifty years as the oldest subdivision of the Qua- ternary, notably in the time scales of Berggren ＆ van Cou- vering （1974） and Haq ＆ Eysinga （1987）. However, after the GSSP for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary （P/P） was approved by INQUA in 1982 and ratified by lUGS in 1984 at the Vrica section of Calabria, there was a decline in the usage of the stage name, and an increasing tendency by many Quaternary workers to question the boundary stratotype. This was because there was increasing evidence that it did not correspond to the beginning of the ＂ice age＂. In doing so, they were not complying with the recommendations presented at the 18th International Geological Congress （IGC） in London, 1948 （Oakley, 1950）.     

The continental record of Ediacaran volcano‐sedimentary successions in southern Brazil and their global implications

The Ediacaran is one of the most important periods on Earth evolution, including the first appearance of soft‐bodied macrofossils, major climatic changes and a supposed rise in free oxygen. In southernmost Brazil, this period is represented by Camaquã Supergroup, including the Bom Jardim Group and the Acampamento Velho Formation, both of which record continental palaeoenvironmental changes in a more than 5000 m thick stratigraphic succession. Age constraints are given by seven Ar‐Ar and U‐Pb determinations on volcanic rocks, which bracket these units between c. 605 and 574 Ma, revealing the best dated and most continuous documented Ediacaran continental succession to date. Depositional systems evolution supports a Phanerozoic‐type glacial context during the last Neoproterozoic glacial event and presents the Picada das Graças Formation (580 ± 3.6 Ma) as the first dated non‐glacial unit coeval to the Gaskiers Formation.     

Summary of Italian marine stages of the Quaternary

Eight marine stages for the Quaternary have been defined in Italy starting from 1872 （Sicilian of Doderlein） to 1979 （Selinuntian of Ruggieri and Sprovieri）. The definition of all these stages was based essentially on invertebrate paleontology, initially from the study of pelecypods and gastropods, but also of corals, ostracods, benthic foraminifers and, more recently, on planktonic foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils. The 1948 International Geological Congress held in London decided to search for a locality in Italy to define the Neogene/Quaternary boundary in correspondence with the first appearance of the ＂northern guests＂ in the Mediterranean. The Vrica section of Calabria was selected for defining the GSSP of the Pleistocene in 1984.