Shock and annealing in the amphibole‐ and mica‐bearing R chondrites

MIL 11207 (R6) and LAP 04840 (R6) contain hornblende and phlogopite; MIL 07440 (R6) contains accessory titan‐phlogopite and no hornblende. All three meteorites have been shocked: MIL 11207 contains extensive sulfide veins, pyroxene that formed from dehydrated hornblende, and an extensive network of plagioclase glass; MIL 07440 contains chromite‐plagioclase assemblages, chromite veinlets and blebs, pincer‐shaped plagioclase patches, but no sulfide veins; LAP 04840 contains olivine grains with chromite‐bleb‐laden cores and opaque‐free rims, rare grains of pyroxene that formed from dehydrated hornblende, and no sulfide veins. These meteorites appear to have been heated to maximum temperatures of approximately 700–900 °C under conditions of moderately high PH₂O (perhaps 250–500 bars). All three samples underwent postshock annealing. During this process, olivine crystal lattices healed (giving the rocks the appearance of shock‐stage S1), and diffusion of Fe and S from thin sulfide veins to coarse sulfide grains caused the veins to disappear in MIL 07440 and LAP 04840. This latter process apparently also occurred in most S1–S2 ordinary chondrites of high petrologic type. The pressure–temperature conditions responsible for forming the amphibole and mica in these rocks may have been present at depths of a few tens of kilometers (as suggested in the literature). A giant impact or a series of smaller impacts would then have been required to excavate the hornblende‐ and biotite‐bearing rocks and bring them closer to the surface. It was in that latter location where the samples were shocked, deposited in a hot ejecta blanket of low thermal diffusivity, and annealed.     

The importance of experiments: Constraints on chondrule formation models

Abstract— We review a number of constraints that have been placed on the formation of chondrules and show how these can be used to test chondrule formation models. Four models in particular are examined: the “X‐wind” model (sudden exposure to sunlight <0.1 AU from the proto‐Sun, with subsequent launching in a magnetocentrifugal outflow); solar nebula lightning; nebular shocks driven by eccentric planetesimals; and nebular shocks driven by diskwide gravitational instabilities. We show that constraints on the thermal histories of chondrules during their melting and crystallization are the most powerful constraints and provide the least ambiguous tests of the chondrule formation models. Such constraints strongly favor melting of chondrules in nebular shocks. Shocks driven by gravitational instabilities are somewhat favored over planetesimal bow shocks.     

Re–Os geochronology of a Mesoproterozoic sedimentary succession,Taoudeni basin,Mauritania: Implications for basin-wide correlations and Re–Os organic-rich sediments systematics

The exceptionally well-preserved sedimentary rocks of the Taoudeni basin, NW Africa represent one of the world's most widespread (> 1 M km²) Proterozoic successions. Hitherto, the sedimentary rocks were considered to be Mid Tonian based on Rb–Sr illite and glauconite geochronology of the Atar Group. However, new Re–Os organic-rich sediment (ORS) geochronology from two drill cores indicates that the Proterozoic Atar Group is ～ 200 Ma older (1107 ± 12 Ma, 1109 ± 22 Ma and 1105 ± 37 Ma). The Re–Os geochronology suggests that the Rb–Sr geochronology records the age of diagenetic events possibly associated with the Pan African collision.The new Re–Os geochronology data provide absolute age constraints for recent carbon isotope chemostratigraphy which suggests that the Atar Group is Mesoproterozoic and not Neoproterozoic.The new Re–Os ORS geochronology supports previous studies that suggest that rapid hydrocarbon generation (flash pyrolysis) from contact metamorphism of a dolerite sill does not significantly disturb the Re–Os ORS systematics. Modelled contact conditions suggest that the Re–Os ORS systematics remain undisturbed at ～ 650 °C at the sill/shale contact and ≥ 280 °C 20 m from the sill/shale contact.Moreover, the Re–Os geochronology indicates that the West African craton has a depositional history that predates 1100 Ma and that ORS can be correlated on a basin-wide scale. In addition, the Re–Os depositional ages for the ORS of the Taoudeni basin are comparable to those of ORS from the São Francisco craton, suggesting that these cratons are correlatable. This postulate is further supported by identical Os_i values for the Atar Group and the Vazante Group of the São Francisco craton.     

Relationship between water-soluble cations and palaeosalinity

Finely ground shale samples from a Carboniferous borehole sequence were shaken in water and the concentration of the water-soluble Na, K, Ca and Mg determined. The marine shales in the sequence were characterized by low concentrations of Na and K, and high concentrations of Ca and Mg. The reverse situation was found for the non-marine and brackish shales. The electrical conductivity of the water extract was higher for the marine shales than for the non-marine/brackish shales. It is suggested that the water-soluble cations were present in the sediment at the time of deposition as exchangeable cations which were released into the pore water during diagenesis as some of the exchange sites were eliminated.     

Benthic-pelagic coupling and export of organic carbon from a tropical Atlantic continental shelf—Sierra Leone

An approximate carbon budget for the Sierra Leone River Estuary and adjacent inner continental shelf indicates that phytoplankton production is balanced by grazers only in the wet season estuary; on the continental shelf, and in the dry season estuary, phytoplankton production exceeds demand of consumer populations by 70–90%. Regional production is dominated by the dry season estuary where diatom blooms support large population of the phytophagous clupeid fish Ethmalosa fimbriata. It is suggested that as well as what is used in bacterial respiration, not quantified in the study, important amounts of inshore organic carbon production are available for export, or burial, or both, either in inshore mudbanks or at the shelf edge by slumping. This carbon budget for a tropical continental shelf having neither coral-reefs nor coastal upwelling appears to correspond with what is emerging as a generic distinction between shelves and open ocean ecosystems: surplus production on shelves, balance between producers and consumers in the open ocean.     

First-order drainage basin morphology—definition and distribution

First-order drainage basin morphology consists of two complementary regions: a headwater region, the valley head; and a stream region, the channelway (Figure 1). Each subbasin's morphology is represented by a set of principal components factors that include the properties of area, length, slope, relief, elongation, and plan curvature. The channelway region is a highly-integrated morphological unit that is dominated by a size-shape factor, indicative of an organized flow system and the presence of a permanent channel. The valley head region shows little integration of its morphological factor set, and this is reflected by its lack of a permanent channel. The valley head-channelway definition is utilized to classify first-order basins into three morphological groups or types. Basin type is related to basin location within the larger drainage network, and this relation helps to explain variations in subbasin morphology. The channelway's morphologic properties are influenced by the location of the first-order basin's bifurcation or junction within the higher-ordered network; and valley head morphology is related to the location of the basin's divide position within the drainage net.