Calc-Silicate Diffusion Zones between Marble and Pelitic Schist

Four distinct calc-silicate zones are observed between interlayeredmarble and pelite in a roof-pendant (Gile Mountain Fm.) of agranitic intrusive at Lake Willoughby in northern Vermont. Thezones are characterized by garnet, coarse diopside-clinozoisite,fine clinozoisite-diopside and amphibole-plagioclase. The bulkcompositions of the zones, calculated from modal data and microprobeanalyses, deviate significantly from a gradational mixture ofmarble and pelite. The observed zonal sequence is close to thatpredicted by a simple model of cation diffusion metasomatism.Possible locations of the initial marble-pelite boundary aresuggested on the basis of bulk compositional data and petrographicevidence. Calculated mass balance relations for the formationof the zones by diffusion at constant volume are unrealisticfor reasonable locations of the initial boundary. Calculatedmass balance relations at constant Al₂O₃ suggest a volume decreaseof about one third during formation of the diffusion zones whollyfrom the pelite. In addition the data suggest that nearly equalvolumes of initial marble and pelite have disappeared, leadingto a total volume decrease of near 50 percent. The observationssuggest that diffusion of calcium was dominant and that diffusionof aluminium, iron and magnesium was relatively unimportant.Evaluation of relative diffusional mobilities is shown to bepossible but intractable with the quality of available thermochemicaldata and activity-concentration relations of crystalline solutions.     

1979年加州凯奥蒂湖地震序列震源机制分析:美国加州地震比中国大陆地震破裂过程简单的证据

本文详细分析了1979年美国加利福尼亚凯奥蒂湖地震序列在时间和空间之中发展的非常有序的过程.对凯奥蒂湖地震序列,在三种情况下分别做出34次地震的断层面解.分析了美国地质调查局观测报告中地震初动的可信性.论证了伯克利加利福尼亚大学的地壳模型与美国地质调查局的地壳模型对于求断层面解的等效性.与唐山地震序列相比,凯奥蒂湖地震序列表现出4个主要特点:1.震中分布呈规则的狭长条带,与断层的关系密切;2.断层面解中出现的矛盾初动少;3.断层面解之间的一致性好;4.断层面解随时间没有明显的变化.这些都表明,凯奥蒂湖地震序列比唐山地震序列特征简单,前者基本上是沿卡拉维拉斯断层发生的面破裂,而后者却是在一定震源区中发生的体破裂.唐山地震序列的特征在中国大陆是有代表性的.若凯奥蒂湖地震序列的这些特点,在加州也具有代表性,则这两个地震序列的差别,可以作为美国加州地震比中国大陆地震发生环境和发生过程都简单的一个证据.     

Pressure Increases, the Formation of Chromite Seams, and the Development of the Ultramafic Series in the Stillwater Complex, Montana

This paper explores the hypothesis that chromite seams in theStillwater Complex formed in response to periodic increasesin total pressure in the chamber. Total pressure increased becauseof the positive V of nucleation of CO₂ bubbles in the melt andtheir subsequent rise through the magma chamber, during whichthe bubbles increased in volume by a factor of 4–6. Byanalogy with the pressure changes in the summit chambers ofKilauea and Krafla volcanoes, the maximum variation was 0•2–0•25kbar, or 5–10% of the total pressure in the Stillwaterchamber. An evaluation of the likelihood of fountaining andmixing of a new, primitive liquid that entered the chamber withthe somewhat more evolved liquid already in the chamber is basedupon calculations using observed and inferred velocities andflow rates of basaltic magmas moving through volcanic fissures.The calculations indicate that hot, dense magma would have oozed,rather than fountained into the chamber, and early mixing ofthe new and residual magmas that could have resulted in chromitecrystallizing alone did not take place. Mixing was an important process in the Stillwater magma chamber,however. After the new magma in the chamber underwent {smalltilde}5% fractional crystallization, its composition, temperature,and density approached those of the overlying liquid in thechamber and the liquids then mixed. If this process occurredmany times over the course of the development of the Ultramaficseries, a thick column of magma with orthopyroxene on its liquiduswould have been the result. Thus, the sequence of multiple injections,fractionation, and mixing with previously fractionated magmacould have been the mechanism that produced the thick bronzitecumulate layer (the Bronzitite zone) above the cyclic units.     

Lithospheric flexure as a control on stratal geometry and fades distribution in Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Alberta foreland basin

Facies distributions, stratal geometry and regional erosional bevelling surfaces in Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Santonian) strata of the Alberta foreland basin are interpreted in terms of high-frequency (probably eustatic) relative changes in sea level, superimposed on longer-term basin-floor warping, related to episodic tectonic loading. Thick marine shales correspond to periods of rapid subsidence whereas thin but extensive strandplain sandstones record rapid progradation during slow subsidence. Westward-thickening wedges of coastal plain strata were deposited during initial downwarping of a near-horizontal strandplain, prior to marine transgression. Surfaces of erosional bevelling beneath which between 40 and >160m of strata have been removed extend at least 300 km from the present deformation front and are interpreted to reflect forebulge uplift in the east. Uplift appears to have lagged about 0.25-0.5 Myr behind the onset of accelerated loading. Thin marine sandstones which grade westward into mudstone are interpreted as material winnowed from the crest of the rising forebulge. Subsidence and/or westward migration of the forebulge allowed the sea to flood westward across the eastern flank of the eroded forebulge. The transgressive shoreface cut asymmetric notches which were later blanketed by marine shales which lap out from east to west. The two unconformities which embody the largest erosional vacuity are veneered locally with oolitic ironstone which accumulated in a shallow, sediment-starved setting on the crest of the forebulge. The consistent pattern of erosional bevelling and lap-out of transgressive shales might be interpreted as evidence that the forebulge migrated towards the thrust load over a period of <1 Myr.     

Identifying Accessory Mineral Saturation during Differentiation in Granitoid Magmas: an Integrated Approach

Numerical reconstructions of processes that may have operatedduring igneous petrogenesis often model the behaviour of importanttrace elements. The geochemistry of these trace elements maybe controlled by accessory mineral saturation and fractionation.Determination of the saturation point of accessory mineralsin granitoid rocks is ambiguous because assumptions about crystalmorphology and melt compositions do not always hold. An integratedapproach to identifying accessory mineral saturation involvingpetrography, whole-rock geochemical trends, saturation calculationsand mineral chemistry changes is demonstrated here for a compositionallyzoned pluton. Within and between whole-rock samples of the BoggyPlain zoned pluton, eastern Australia, the rare earth element(REE)-enriched accessory minerals zircon, apatite and titaniteexhibit compositional variations that are related to saturationin the bulk magma, localized saturation in intercumulus meltpools and fractionation of other mineral phases. Apatite isidentified as having been an early crystallizing phase overnearly the whole duration of magma cooling, with zircon (andallanite) only saturating in more felsic zones. Titanite andmonazite did not saturate in the bulk magma at any stage ofdifferentiation. Although some trace elements (P, Ca, Sc, Nb,Hf, Ta) in zircon exhibit compositional variation progressingfrom mafic to more felsic whole-rock samples, normalized REEpatterns and abundances (except Ce) do not vary with progressivedifferentiation. This is interpreted to be a result of limitationsto both simple ‘xenotime’ and complex xenotime-typecoupled substitutions. Our data indicate that zircon REE characteristicsare not as useful as those of other REE-rich accessory mineralsas a petrogenetic indicator. KEY WORDS: saturation; zircon; apatite; titanite; magma differentiation; trace elements; REE patterns     

Calc--Silicate Diffusion Zones between Marble and Pelitic Schist

Four distinct calc-silicate zones are observed between interlayeredmarble and pelite in roof-pendant (Gile Mountain Fm.) of a graniticintrusive at Lake Willoughby in northern Vermont. The zonesare characterized by garnet, coarse diopside-clinozoisite, fineclinozoisitediopside and amphibole-plagioclase. The bulk compositionsof the zones, calculated from modal data and microprobe analyses,deviate significantly from a gradational mixture marble andpelite. The observed zonal sequence is close to that predictedby a simple model of cation diffusion metasomatism. Possiblelocations of the initial marble-pelite boundary are suggestedon the basis of bulk compositional data and petrographic evidence.Calculated mass balance relations for the formation of the zonesby diffusion at constant volume are unrealistic for reasonablelocations of the initial boundary. Calculated mass balance relationsat constant AL₂O₃ suggest a volume decrease of about one thirdduring formation of the diffusion zones wholly from the pelite.In addition the data suggest that nearly equal volumes of initialmarble and pelite have disappeared, leading to a total volumedecrease of near 50 percent. The observations suggest that diffusionof calcium was dominant and that diffusion of aluminium, ironand magnesium was relatively unimportant. Evaluation relativediffusional mobilities is shown to be possible but intractablewith the quality available thermochemical data and activity-concentrationrelations of crystalline solutions.     

The Effects of GPS Carrier Phase Ambiguity Resolution on Jason-1

We have used GPS carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution to investigate improvements in the orbit determination for the Jason-1 satellite altimeter mission. The technique has been implemented in the GIPSY orbit determination software developed by JPL. The radial accuracy of the Jason-1 orbits is already near 1 cm, and thus it is difficult to detect the improvements gained when the carrier phase ambiguities are resolved. Nevertheless, each of the metrics we use to evaluate the orbit accuracy (orbit overlaps, orbit comparisons, satellite laser ranging residuals, altimeter crossover residuals, orbit centering) show modest improvement when the ambiguities are resolved. We conservatively estimate the improvement in the radial orbit accuracy is at the 10–20% level.     

A modern oceanic hardground on the Carnegie Ridge in the eastern Equatorial Pacific

Fossil surfaces of erosion and non-deposition are common in limestone sequences from the Mesozoic in western Europe and in the Tethys and have been described under the name ‘hardgrounds’. They are of shallow water as well as of oceanic origin. A modern example in the Pacific is described in this paper. The Carnegie Ridge, an east-west trending shallow ridge between South America and the Galapagos Islands, has a central, deeper saddle where erosion has removed most of the sediment cover down to a hard chalk and chert bed (acoustic basement), and has cut intricate channel patterns on the south flank and two deep canyons on the north. The erosion has produced a karst-like relief of steep-walled channels, cliffs, and corroded chalk remnants. The floors of the channels are covered with ferromanganese oxide crusts or crust fragments over which loose sediment is being transported. In the two canyons on the north flank, this sediment consists of foraminiferal sand travelling downslope in the form of barchan dunes. All sediment down to acoustic basement has been stripped from the Carnegie Ridge crest except where it is protected behind basement ridges and pinnacles. Surface features of the eroded chalk are strongly reminiscent of features observed in Mesozoic hardgrounds. Current measurements over several days indicate a net northward movement, slow but possibly adequate to keep the sea floor free of fresh deposits. The rates, however, seem inadequate to explain the formation of the deep channels, and there is no evidence for the southward flow which is implied by the southern channel system. A process of combined carbonate dissolution and removal by the current of fresh sediment and dissolution residues can account for the required erosion in about two million years. Regional unconformities identifiable in seismic reflection profiles and dated in cores are of middle to late Pliocene age, suggesting that the formation of the erosion surface began 2-3 million years ago. Buried Miocene unconformities of local extent show that the present erosion period had minor precursors possibly related to short-lived increases in current action and carbonate dissolution.     

Peat-marl deposition in a Holocene paludal-lacustrine basin—Sucker Lake, Michigan

Exceptionally thick (over 15 m) deposits of peat which fill the northern end of Sucker Lake basin in northcentral Michigan document the volumetric importance of allochthonous organic material in a modern coal-forming environment. Organic debris that originates in, and is derived from, a highly vegetated floodplain immediately upstream is deposited as a lakeward-prograding lobe that exhibits features typical of most lacustrine Gilbert deltas, but is composed almost entirely of organic material. This system overlies an additional 7 m of nearly pure, brecciated lacustrine carbonate, deposited as shallow lake-margin benches and emplaced into the deep basin centre by gravity sliding prior to deltaic progradation. In the southern end of the basin, bottomset beds of fine silt-size organic phytoclasts onlap distal facies of progradational bench carbonates, which originate (in shallow water) through calcite encrustation about stems of the dominant macrophyte Chara. With continued sedimentation, a stratigraphic succession in which allochthonous organics will overlie pure, allochthonous lacustrine carbonates and in part be overlain by autochthonous carbonates will characterize the northern end of this Holocene system. In the southern end around the basin margins, however, autochthonous carbonates will entirely underlie allochthonous organics. Numerous continuous cores (up to 22 m) through these units document: (1) the importance of sources of allochthonous organic debris in modern coal-forming complexes, (2) the genetic relationship between nearly pure calcareous and nearly pure carbonaceous facies within these paludal-lacustrine settings, and (3) the complexity of interrelationships between the several component facies within such continental sedimentary systems.