Crustal accretion in the Pan African: Nd and Sr isotope evidence from the Arabian Shield

Nd and Sr isotope determinations on late Precambrian to early Palaeozoic igneous and sedimentary rocks from the Arabian Shield are used to investigate the proportion of reworked “older” crust, and the rate at which new crust was generated during the Pan African event. Eight Rb/Sr whole rock isochrons on igneous suites yield ages in the range 770?590 Ma and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of 0.7038?0.7023. These data confirm that magmatism in this area was largely restricted to the period 850-550 Ma, and the initial ratios are sufficiently low to preclude significant contributions from a long-lived upper crustal source. The initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of a variety of lithologies, including several samples of possible “basement”, are all higher than the contemporaneous values for CHUR (ε_Nd = +1.6 to +6.9), suggesting that many were derived directly from the upper mantle, and that any inferred crustal source regions for the remainder could not have separated from likely LREE-depleted mantle reservoirs before 1200 Ma. The Arabian Shield therefore provides an example of rapid crustal growth during the Late Proterozoic, and contrasts with the Damara intracratonic belt of Namibia where Nd and Sr isotopes provide strong evidence for extensive reworking of older continental crust during the same period.     

Concordant late Paleozoic paleomagnetizations from the Atacama Desert: implications for tectonic models of the Chilean Andes

Paleomagnetic results are reported from three formations of late Paleozoic age from the northern Chilean Andes of the Atacama Desert. For the first time primary NRM components are resolved for Paleozoic units along the western flank of the central Andes. Pole positions are calculated for the formations, and compared with APW data for cratonic South America. These comparisons reveal that the collecting sites in the northern Domeyko and Almeida Ranges of the central Andes have undergone no paleomagnetically defined rotations or translation with respect to cratonic South America since the time of NRM acquisition, which is likely to have been in the lower parts of the Kiaman Reverse Interval. If growth of the South American lithosphere has involved accretion of exotic microplates they are either likely to be substantially older than units sampled here, or be restricted to more coastal terranes. The results, taken together with other paleomagnetic data from northern Chile and southern Peru which have showed a wide range of discordance in their declinations when compared to each other or APW data, lead to the conclusion that this region of the Andes during the Mesozoic or Cenozoic has not been affected by simple processes of clockwise oroclinal bending from Peru to Chile, nor regionally consistent patterns of block rotations.     

A review of Indian Phanerozoic palaeomagnetism: Implications for the India-Asia collision

An overview is presented of the Indian apparent polar wander path (APWP) for the Phanerozoic and in particular for post-Late Palaeozoic times. This APWP is compiled on basis of data available at October 1981 from peninsular and extrapeninsular Indo-Pakistan and from DSDP cores from the Indian plate. One of the more important and newly recognized features of this APWP is a large-scale Triassic-Jurassic loop. This loop indicates a changeover from a Late Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic northwards and counter-clockwise rotational movement, with Greater India reaching moderately low southern latitudes, into a southwards and clockwise rotational movement during the Early to Middle Jurassic. Recognizable likewise in APWP's from other Gondwana continents, this loop reflects the opening of the Neotethys.Studies of extrapeninsular regions up to and north of the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone have shown wide-spread presence of magnetic overprints, which delineate two regionally confined age groups. Younger overprints (20–40 m.y.) predominate in the more external thrust zones. Older overprints (50–60 m.y.), in contrast, are found in the more internal zones both north and south of the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone. The latter are interpreted to reflect a late phase of relaxation in the Early Tertiary collision of Greater India with south-central Asia or off-shore island arcs, which occurred at equatorial to low northern palaeolatitudes (0°–10°N). Subsequent northwards movement over 2500–3000 km or more and impingement of Greater India into southern Asia resulted into large-scale underthrusting of Greater India along the Main Central Thrust beneath southern Tibet, and to clockwise rotation of thrust units in the Western Himalaya. A discrepancy between Indian palaeomagnetic data and results available todate from southern Tibet is discussed.     

13C Record of benthic foraminifera in the last interglacial ocean: Implications for the carbon cycle and the global deep water circulation

The ¹³C/¹²C ratios of Upper Holocene benthic foraminiferal tests (genera Cibicides and Uvigerina) of deep sea cores from the various world ocean basins have been compared with those of the modern total carbon dioxide (TCO₂) measured during the GEOSECS program. The δ¹³C difference between benthic foraminifera and TCO₂ is 0.07 ± 0.04‰ for Cibicides and ?0.83 ± 0.07‰ for Uvigerina at the 95% confidence level. δ¹³C analyses of the benthic foraminifera that lived during the last interglaciation (isotopic substage 5e, about 120,000 yr ago) show that the bulk of the TCO₂ in the world ocean had a δ¹³C value 0.15 ± 0.12‰ lower than the modern one at the 95% confidence level, reflecting a depletion, compared to the present value, of the global organic carbon reservoir. Regional differences in δ¹³C between the various oceanic basins are explained by a pattern of deep water circulation different from the modern one: the Antarctic Bottom Water production was higher than today during the last interglaciation, but the eastward transport in the Circumpolar Deep Water was lower.     

Structural deformation and sedimentation in an active Caldera, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Recent seismic and tectonic activity in Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea, suggests that magma is accumulating at a shallow depth beneath this partially submerged structure and that a new volcano may be developing. Changes in onshore elevation since 1971 (as much as 2 m on south Matupit Island) indicate that rapid and large-scale uplifts have occurred on the seafloor near the center of the caldera. The frequency of seismic events within the caldera has also increased during this period. Earthquake locations define an elliptical ring surrounding the center of this uplift within the caldera.A marine geophysical survey in 1982 by the U.S. Geological Survey's R/V “S.P. Lee” in Rabaul Caldera shows the development of a bulge in the seafloor near the center of the caldera. High-resolution seismic reflection profiles show that this bulge consists of two domal uplifts bounded and separated by two major north-south-trending fault zones. Deformed sediments overlie these zones; a prominent slump flanks the area of the bulge.Five major acoustic units were identified in the seismic reflection profiles: an acoustic basement and four sedimentary units consisting of irregularly layered, cross-layered, contorted, and well-layered sequences. The acoustic basement is probably composed of crystalline volcanic rocks, and the layered acoustic units are probably sediments, primarily ash deposited in different environments. The cross-layered, irregularly layered, and contorted units appear to have been deposited in a dynamic environment subjected to strong currents, seismicity, and/or mass wasting, while the well-layered units were deposited in a low-energy environment. Locally, well-layered sequences interfinger with the other sedimentary units, indicating a transitional environment that alternated between high-energy and low-energy depositional processes.A submarine channel cuts most of the acoustic units and appears to be the conduit for sediment transport out of the caldera; it occupies an older buried channel north of the caldera that is presently being exhumed. In the south, active erosion of well-layered sediments is taking place. What are believed to be several young volcanic cones also disrupt the depositional layers.We conclude that the bulge in the seafloor and the associated fault zones are a result of emplacement of magma at a shallow depth. Contorted sediment and slumps adjacent to the bulge are probably the result of uplift and seismic activity. The pattern of seismicity appears to reflect increased magma pressure at depth beneath the caldera floor. This activity may eventually lead to an eruption.     

Loess: The Yellow Earth

A wind-deposited silt forming large deposits in China and middle America, loess is the basis of much grade-one agricultural land.     

Palaeohydraulics revisited: palaeoslope estimation in coarse-grained braided rivers

Methods for estimating palaeoslope from fluvial deposits have been available for some time, but new data and improved understanding of the relevant physical processes afford the possibility of improving existing methods, and the emerging field of quantitative stratigraphy provides a new context for the results. Here we focus on deriving palaeoslope estimates for coarse-grained fluvial deposits. These estimates can be used in basin analyses to constrain the magnitude of the slope change necessary for a given deflection of palaeocurrents, to constrain temporal and spatial variation in basin subsidence rate, and to provide a surface datum for use in sediment-backstripping calculations. The algorithm we derive to estimate palaeoslope applies to rivers that self-adjust through variations in channel width to maintain a temporally and spatially averaged bed shear stress equal to some constant multiple of the critical shear stress for initial motion of bed sediment. Data from modern coarse-grained rivers with minimal bank cohesion and form resistance suggest that this boundary shear stress is equal to about 1.4 times the critical shear stress for movement of the median-sized clast of the surface layer. The key sedimentological criteria for recognition of systems appropriate for this type of analysis are: (1) field relations suggesting that channel banks formed in effectively noncohesive gravel (i.e. free of clay-size sediment and plant roots); (2) absence of significant volumes of dune-derived cross-stratification; and (3) absence of indicators of extremely rapid, flash-flood-type deposition. The basic input data for a palaeoslope calculation are spatially averaged estimates of palaeodepth and median grain size. The most important aspect of data collection is that the depth and grain-size estimates should be determined independently by random sampling over the whole outcrop. Joint analysis of data from appropriate modern rivers and of errors associated with palaeodepth and grain-size estimates indicates that in coarse-grained braided-river deposits, palaeoslope can be estimated to within a factor of 2.     

Ar/Ar illite dating of Late Caledonian (Acadian) metamorphism and cooling of K-bentonites and slates from the Welsh Basin, U.K.

The vacuum-encapsulation laser ⁴⁰Ar³⁹Ar technique allows extremely small (10⁻⁶ g) samples of fine-grained materials such as diagenetic clays to be dated. Here we show that the method can be extended to higher-grade clay minerals. The integration of transmission electron microscopic (TEM) characterization with ⁴⁰Ar³⁹Ar dating of vacuum encapsulated samples permits the resolution of the timing of metamorphic growth/cooling from the time of diagenesis. We have applied this technique to well characterized Lower Paleozoic slates and K-bentonites from the Welsh Basin, which span the transition from anchizonal to epizonal grade, which had been previously studied using RbSr and SmNd dating.

TEM observations of epizonal K-bentonites and slate showed that illite in these samples is of 2M₁ polytype, of muscovite-like composition, and oriented parallel to cleavage, suggesting that they are of metamorphic origin. Total gas ages (equivalent to conventional KAr ages) for encapsulated epizonal K-bentonites and slate (340–408 Ma) are considerably variable. The Ar retention ages (calculated from ³⁹Ar and ⁴⁰Ar atoms retained in the sample after irradiation) are more consistent (383–411 Ma). The ³⁹Ar recoil losses are minor for illites from whole rock samples of epizonal K-bentonites but very significant for clay separates of epizonal slate. Plateaus in age spectra were observed in epizonal K-bentonites and slate. The plateau ages (414–421 Ma) and retention ages (383–411 Ma) can be correlated with the onset of Acadian metamorphism and culmination of uplift and inversion of the Welsh Basin, respectively. These ages are significantly younger than the 450 Ma ages previously reported for diagenetic clays using the same method, suggesting that diagenetic history has been lost in these epizonal K-bentonites and slate.

TEM observations of anchizonal slates showed that there are two modes of illite. The first mode is similar to that observed in epizonal samples, suggesting a metamorphic origin. The second mode consists of the 1M_d polytype, has typical diagenetic illite composition, and is oriented parallel to bedding, suggesting a diagenetic origin. Total gas ages for encapsulated anchizonal slates vary considerably (361–422 Ma). The retention ages are more consistent (413–432 Ma) than the total gas ages. The ³⁹Ar recoil losses are more significant than those for epizonal K-bentonites and slate. Plateaus in age spectra are generally not observed. However, the consistent retention ages for the anchizonal slates correspond to the plateau ages for the epizonal samples, and are inferred to represent the onset of Acadian metamorphism.

These data, when combined with our previously published results for diagenetic shales, suggest that thermal conditions near the boundary of anchizonal and epizonal grades are necessary to completely reset Ar systems in shales and slates.