Carbonaceous chondrites—I. Characterization and significance of carbonaceous chondrite (CM) xenoliths in the Jodzie howardite

Mineralogical, chemical, textural, and isotopic studies of the abundant carbonaceous inclusions in the Jodzie howardite are consistent with CM characteristics. These CM xenoliths show regolith alteration on a level comparable to the Murray and Murchison meteorites but less than Nogoya, flow-oriented development of phyllosilicates and ‘poorly characterized phases’, and partial oxidation of sulfides. Temperature-programmed pyrolysis mass spectrometry (25°–1400°C) indicates that gas release patterns of volatiles and hydrocarbon components and percent contents of N(0.15), C(2.3) and S(2.4) are typical of CM meteorites. Release of significant amounts of SO₂ is attributed to the thermal breakdown of ‘poorly characterized phases’ (Fe-Ni-C-S-O) that formed during low temperature aqueous alteration in the CM parent body.Noble gas abundances are well within the reported range of CM meteorites. The fact that the Ne composition is typical for ‘solar’ values and the isotopic structure of Xe is ‘planetary’ argues that these gases were entrapped by different mechanisms. Cosmic ray exposure ages for the xenoliths (³He, 5 × 10⁶; ²¹Ne, 6.7 × 10⁶; ³⁸Ar, 6.9 × 10⁶ yr) agree with the reported exposure age for the eucritic host. Volatile abundances, presence of intact organic molecules, and phyllosilicates in the CM xenoliths preclude regolith temperatures in excess of 200°C after CM incorporation. Mixing of the host and xenoliths probably occurred during a low-velocity collision of main belt asteroids.     

Organic chemical characterization of sediment-trap particulates from San Nicolas,Santa Barbara,Santa Monica and San Pedro Basins,California

Particulate matter was collected during September–October, 1977, in particle traps suspended 30–60 m above the floor of San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and San Pedro Basins, off the coast of southern California. The trap particulates were analyzed for C₁₅–C₃₅ hydrocarbons using gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. Kerogens and humic acids were characterized by H/C, N/C, δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and δ³⁴S ratios, and by electron-spin resonance. Hydrocarbons arising from fresh and weathered petroleum, marine autochthonous and terrestrial sources were identified. The rates of petroleum deposition during the collection period followed the order: San Nicolas Basin < Santa Barbara Basin ~ Santa Monica Basin < San Pedro Basin, with the largest amount of weathered petroleum being deposited in San Pedro Basin. The rates of petroleum deposition are correlated more strongly with human activities such as shipping, and the discharge of municipal and industrial wastes, than with natural submarine oil seepage. Analyses of kerogens and humic acids indicate that the majority of the organic matter in the trap particulates is of marine origin. The water column overlying Santa Barbara Basin appears to have the highest marine productivity of the four basins studied.     

Determination par activation neutronique des rapports Cl/Br des inclusions fluides de divers gypses. Correlation avec les donnees de la microcryoscopie et interpretations genetiques

Gypsum contains liquid inclusions which fill mainly primary cavities. Analysis of inclusions may give some information about the mineral formation process. In places, diagenetic solutions have filled secondary cavities along cleavage planes or replaced initial liquid inclusions in primary cavities; the presence of such secondary inclusions must, therefore, be taken into consideration. This study presents our results on the Cl/Br ratio of liquid inclusions in gypsum. The Cl/Br ratio is practically constant in present sea water, and has been measured in many different types of waters. The Br content of halite has also been extensively studied to trace the compositional changes of a salt-depositing brine. In gypsum Br is present only in microscopic fluid inclusions. For this reason we used the neutron-activation method. We adopted the technique in order to prevent any contamination and obtain directly Cl/Br ratio within 10% accuracy. In order to ascertain that liquid inclusions reside mainly in primary cavities of gypsum, we selected our samples only after microscopic observation. Fifty-eight samples from different types of gypsum were analysed. The salinities of the inclusions, obtained through the data on freezing, and the Cl/Br ratio, obtained through activation-analysis, give us clues as to the nature of the fluids depositing the gypsum. Recent gypsum deposits from French salt-pans of Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts were sampled. The latter has apparently been diagenetically altered by meteoric water; the salinity of many inclusions having been changed while the Cl/Br ratio (315 and 350) in both remains close to the value of present sea water (#300). Liquid inclusions of Recent crystals from New Caledonia, deposited in mangrove swamps are enriched in Br (Cl/Br = 150 and 200). The enrichment might be related to the presence of abundant organic materials. Inclusions in crystals from Sebkha el Melah (Tunisia) also show high Br content (Cl/Br = 194). In this case, the brine was highly concentrated and was saturated with NaCl. The Upper Miocene gypsum from Sicily was studied to test the various models for the genesis of this important evaporite formation of the Mediterranean. Freezing data show some decrease of salinities, probably by groundwater diagenesis, but the Br content is high. The Cl/Br ratio is 175, and this value is similar to that of Sebkha el Melah. Samples from three thick Eocene and Oligocene sequences near Paris and in the South of France were studied. Freezing data and Cl/Br ratio of their inclusions indicate that those gypsum deposits have crystallized in marine environments receiving considerable influx of river-waters.     

Sea floor basalt alteration: Some chemical and Sr isotopic effects

Major element, Sr isotope and trace element data for 16 elements are reported for various weathered zones in three submarine basalt pillows. During the initial stages of alteration, it appears that SiO₂, Al₂O₃, CaO, S, and Ga are lost from the basalt, whereas Fe₂O₃, total Fe, MnO, K₂O, H₂O, Cl, B, Rb, and Cs increase. Sr⁸⁷/Sr⁸⁶ ratios also increase during weathering. MgO, Na₂O, P₂O₅, Ba, Ni and Cu show significant (10–50%) but less consistent changes. TiO₂, Zr, Sr and V show only minor changes (<7%). Zn, Cr, Co, Y and Nb show no changes outside experimental error.     

Geological implications of new biostratigraphic data from East and West Kalimantan, Indonesia

This paper presents palaeontological ages based on new nannofossil and foraminiferal studies from a range of sedimentary rocks from the provinces of West and East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The age of sedimentary rocks in Kalimantan, away from the main hydrocarbon exploration areas of the coastal regions, represents a major gap in our basic knowledge of the island of Borneo. The implications of these new results and existing and new correlations are reviewed and suggested. In particular, the base of the Tertiary section in the Kutai Basin is shown to be upper Middle Eocene in age, rather than Late Eocene as originally thought. The limestones of the Batu Belah member of the Ujoh Bilang Formation are dated as NP24–25, Late Oligocene, rather than Early Oligocene as earlier work had suggested. In the western part of the Mangkalihat Peninsula area the base of the Tertiary section is determined to be Late Oligocene. Various basement units from both East and West Kalimantan contained Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous microfossils.     

Radiocarbon Ages and Environments of Deposition of the Wono and Trego Hot Springs Tephra Layers in the Pyramid Lake Subbasin, Nevada

Uncalibrated radiocarbon data from core PLC92B taken from Wizards Cove in the Pyramid Lake subbasin indicate that the Trego Hot Springs and Wono tephra layers were deposited 23,200 ± 300 and 27,300 ± 300¹⁴C yr B.P. (uncorrected for reservoir effect). Sedimentological data from sites in the Pyramid Lake and Smoke Creek–Black Rock Desert subbasins indicate that the Trego Hot Springs tephra layer was deposited during a relatively dry period when Pyramid Lake was at or below its spill point (1177 m) to the Winnemucca Lake subbasin. The Wono tephra layer was deposited when lake depth was controlled by spill across Emerson Pass sill (1207 m) to the Smoke Creek–Black Rock Desert subbasin.¹⁸O data from core PLC92B also support the concept that the Trego Hot Springs tephra fell into a relatively shallow Pyramid Lake and that the Wono tephra fell into a deeper spilling lake.     

Cycle anatomy and variability in the storm-dominated type cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician): coming to grips with cycle delineation and genesis

Although parasequence and sequence are scale-independent terms, they are frequently applied only to specific scales of cycles. For example, meter-scale cycles are commonly assumed to be parasequences or PACs. In the Upper Ordovician Kope and Fairview Formations of northern Kentucky, we examined a succession of 50 meter-scale cycles that have been variously interpreted as deepening-upward, shallowing-upward, or showing no relationship with water depth. Our analysis shows that these cycles, characterized by shifts in storm-bed proximality, are highly variable in their thickness and internal construction. Most cycles are best considered high-frequency sequences, because deepening-upward intervals are common, and many cycles contain evidence of abrupt basinward shifts in facies as expected at sequence boundaries. A minority fit the parasequence model of shallowing-upward cycles bounded by flooding surfaces. Larger, 20 m scale cycles are defined by systematic thickening and thinning trends of meter-scale cycles. However, meter-scale cycles do not display any systematic trends in cycle anatomy as a function of position within the 20 m cycles or position within the Kope and Fairview Formations. The high cycle variability and the lack of systematic stratigraphic organization with respect to longer-term cyclicity reflect either the irregularity of relative sea-level changes, the poor recording of sea-level changes in this deep-water setting, or the generation of these cycles by climate-induced cyclicity in storm intensity. These three mechanisms would generate similar patterns at the outcrop scale, so it is not possible at the present to distinguish between them.     

Compressibility and crystal structure of sillimanite, Al2SiO5, at high pressure

The unit-cell dimensions and crystal structure of sillimanite at various pressures up to 5.29 GPa have been refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. As pressure increases, a and b decrease linearly, whereas c decreases nonlinearly with a slightly positive curvature. The axial compression ratios at room pressure are β_a:β_b:β_c=1.22:1.63:1.00. Sillimanite exhibits the least compressibility along c, but the least thermal expansivity along a (Skinner et al. 1961; Winter and Ghose 1979). The bulk modulus of sillimanite is 171(1) GPa with K′=4 (3), larger than that of andalusite (151 GPa), but smaller than that of kyanite (193 GPa). The bulk moduli of the [Al1O₆], [Al2O₄], and [SiO₄] polyhedra are 162(8), 269(33), and 367(89) GPa, respectively. Comparison of high-pressure data for Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs reveals that the [SiO₄] tetrahedra are the most rigid units in all these polymorphic structures, whereas the [AlO₆] octahedra are most compressible. Furthermore, [AlO₆] octahedral compressibilities decrease from kyanite to sillimanite, to andalusite, the same order as their bulk moduli, suggesting that [AlO₆] octahedra control the compression of the Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs. The compression of the [Al1O₆] octahedron in sillimanite is anisotropic with the longest Al1-OD bond shortening by ～1.9% between room pressure and 5.29 GPa and the shortest Al1-OB bond by only 0.3%. The compression anisotropy of sillimanite is primarily a consequence of its topological anisotropy, coupled with the compression anisotropy of the Al-O bonds within the [Al1O₆] octahedron.     

The chemistry of orthophosphate uptake from seawater on to calcite and aragonite

The chemistry of orthophosphate uptake from synthetic seawater onto the surfaces of synthetic calcite, aragonite and low-magnesium biogenic calcite has been studied, in order to elucidate the kinetics of the process (generally believed to be the major control of dissolved reactive phosphate in carbonate-rich marine sediments). Our results differ from those obtained by others, who have studied orthophosphate uptake in low ionic strength solutions and at much higher supersaturations relative to apatite.In both ‘free drift’ and chemostat experiments, Mg and F have only a minor effect on the reaction rate. Even at constant solution composition the rate of orthophosphate uptake was found to decrease by 10⁶ over a two week period. The data from the ‘free drift’ experiments can be fitted to the Elovich equation. This indicates that the kinetics observed for this reaction can be explained by an exponential decrease in available surface reaction sites and/or a linear increase in the activation energy associated with chemisorption as the reaction proceeds.     

Lapis lazuli from Baffin island — a precambrian meta-evaporite

On Baffin Island, the major minerals in lapis lazuli are calcite, lazurite, diopside, nepheline and phlogopite in the Main Occurrence and calcite, lazurite, diopside, plagioclase and scapolite in the North Occurrence. The abundances of Na, K, S, Cl, Br, F and Fe, the well-developed layering parallel to the regional foliation, and the scarcity of intrusive rocks, support the hypothesis that the deposit evolved from an evaporite parent during regional metamorphism. After sedimentation, considerable reduction of sulfur was effected by CO, perhaps aided by H₂, Cl^? and anaerobic bacteria. Chemographic analysis suggests that the observed phase assemblages represent local equilibrium within small volumes, where SiO₂-Al₂O₃-MgO-Na₂O-K₂O behaved as inert components at the peak of metamorphism. The lack of systematic zoning of phase assemblages, and the uniformity of mineral compositions within the deposit, also argue against a metasomatic origin. Most phases equilibrated at or near the peak of metamorphism (granulite facies).