The importance of different types of magmatism in VHMS mineralisation: evidence from the geochemistry of the host volcanic rocks to the Benambra massive sulphide deposits, Victoria, Australia

Summary The Wilga and Currawong Cu-Zn massive sulphide deposits in southeastern Australia are hosted by a deformed sequence of Upper Silurian basaltic to rhyolitic volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The syn-volcanic mineralisation occurs immediately above a thick package of rhyolitic volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic rocks (Thorkidaan Volcanics), and is overlain by relatively thin intercalated sills, intrusive domes and flows of basalt, andesite and dacite (Gibson's Folly Formation). The Thorkidaan Volcanics haveNd(420Ma) = -2.2 to - 9.8 and are considered to have been derived by partial melting of older crustal rocks, whereas the basalt-andesite-dacite hangingwall sequence has(Nd(415Ma) = -0.5 to + 2.0 suggesting derivation from a relatively undepleted mantle source. Relatively high-Ti andesitic to dacitic rocks from the Bumble Creek area haveNd(415Ma) = +5.2 to +5.9 suggesting affinities with Ordovician volcanic rocks elsewhere in the Lachlan Fold Belt. The Thorkidaan Volcanics display a limited silica range (73 to 79 wt.%), but have distinctive minor and trace element variations indicating a substantial fractionation history involving feldspar and several accessory phases. Major and trace element compositions of the basalt-andesite-dacite suite display regular variations consistent with a cogenetic relationship by fractional crystallisation. The basaltic rocks mostly have low TiO₂ (< 0.8 wt.%) and other chemical characteristics such as high Zr/Nb and La/Nb which suggest formation in a subduction-related setting; probably an embryonic back-arc basin developed on stretched continental lithosphere, or in small pull-apart basins developed adjacent to a transtensional margin. The magmatic history and paleogeography reflect an extensional tectonic and magmatic cycle comprising uplift, rhyolitic magmatism from crustal melting, extension, subsidence, and penetration of a mantle-derived basalt-andesite-dacite suite up extensional faults to the sea floor. Massive sulphide ores are located exactly at the stratigraphic change from rhyolitic to more mafic mantle-derived magma types. Consideration of the types of mineralisation associated with crustal, S-type granitoids, coupled with thermal constraints limiting the capacity of small bodies of silicic magma to initiate and sustain hydrothermal convection cells of reasonable size, suggests that in the absence of coeval mafic magmatism, S-type crustal-derived silicic volcanic packages are likely to be barren of VHMS deposits. Mineralisation occurs in association with mantle-derived basalt-andesite-dacite suites that either provide the necessary heat to facilitate leaching of the footwall volcanic rocks, or contribute metal-rich hydrothermal solutions during fractional crystallisation, or both.

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Die Bedeutung verschiedener Typen von Magmatismus für VHMS Mineralisationen: Die Geochemie der vulkanischen Nebengesteine der massiven Sulfid-Lagerstätte von Benambra, Victoria, Australien

Zusammenfassung Die massiven Cu-Zn-Sulfid-Lagerstätten von Wilga und Currawong in Südostaustralien treten in einer tektonisch beanspruchten Abfolge von obersilurischen, basaltischen bis rhyolitischen Vulkaniten und Sedimenten auf. Die syn-vulkanische Vererzung ist unmittelbar oberhalb einer mächtigen Abfolge von rhyolitischen Vulkaniten und Vulkanoklastiten (Thorkidaan Vulkanite) zu finden, darüber folgen relativ dünne wechsellagernde Ge, Intrusiv-Dome und Ergüsse von Basalt, Andesit und Dacit (Gibson's Folly Formation). Die Thorkidaan Vulkanite habenNd(420Ma) =-2,2 bis - 9,8 und dürften durch partielle Aufschmelzung älterer krustaler Gesteine entstanden sein. Die Basalt-Andesit-Dacit-Abfolge im Hangenden hat jedochNd(415Ma) = -0,5 bis + 2,0, was auf Herkunft aus einer relativ wenig verarmten Mantelquelle hinweist. Relativ Ti-reiche andesitische bis dacitische Gesteine aus dem Gebiet vom Bumble Creek zeigenNd(415) = +5,2 bis + 5,9. Dies weist auf Beziehungen mit Ordovicischen Vulkaniten in anderen Teilen des Lachlan-Gürtels hin. Die Thorkidaan Vulkanite zeigen SiO₂-Gehalte von 73 bis 79 Gew. %, und charakteristische Variationen der Haupt- und Spurenelementgehalte. Diese lassen eine signifikante Fraktionierung erkennen, an der Feldspäte und verschiedene andere Nebengemengteile beteiligt waren. Die Haupt- und Spurenelementzusammensetzungen der Basalt-Andesit-Decit-Abfolge zeigt normale Variationen, die auf co-genetische Beziehungen mit fraktionierter Kristallisation hinweisen. Die basaltischen Gesteine haben niedrige Gehalte an TiO₂ (< 0, 8 gew. %) sowie hohe Zr/Nb und La/Nb Verhältnisse, die auf Bildung in einem Subduktionsbereich, wahrscheinlich in einem embryonischen Back-Arc Becken, das sich auf ausgedünnter kontinentaler Lithosphäre oder in einem kleinen Pull-Apart Becken in der Nähe eines transtensionalen Randes entwickelt hat, hinweisen. Die magmatische Entwicklungsgeschichte und die Palägeographie weisen auf Dehnungs-Tektonik und auf einen magmatischen Zyklus hin, der Hebung,rhyolitischen Vulkanismus infolge von Krustenaufschmelzung, Extension, Absenkung und Durchdringung mit einer vom Mantel bezogenen Basalt-Andesit-Dacit-Suite entlang von Verwerfungen auf den Meeresboden erkennen läßt. Massive Sulfiderze kommen genau an der stratigraphischen Grenze von rhyolitschen zu mafischen Magmatypen mit Mantel-Ursprung vor. Hier ist es erforderlich, die Vererzungstypen, die zusammen mit krustalen S-Typ Granitoiden vorkommen, ebenso zu erwägen, wie die thermalen Aspekte, die die Fähigkeit kleiner saurer Magmenkörper limitieren, hydrothermale Konvektionszellen ausreichender Größe in Gang zu setzen und zu erhalten. Das weist darauf hin, daß bei Fehlen von gleichaltrigem mafischem Magmatismus saure vulkanische Abfolgen mit Krustenherkunft sehr wahrscheinlich keine VHMS-Lagerstätten führen können. Diese Vererzungen sind an Basalt-Andesit-Dacit-Abfolgen mit Mantelherkunft gebunden, die entweder die notwendige Wärmequelle für die Auslaugung vulkanischer Gesteine im Liegenden lieferten und/oder metallreiche hydrothermale Lösungen während fraktionierter Kristallisation verfügbar machten.

     

SPATIAL ANALYSIS A NON-EVENT? THE CASE OF ZIMBABWE'S DEVELOPMENT PLANNING *

Development planning in Zimbabwe reveals little application of formal spatial analysis because of failures to apply available relevant research and because of the inapplicability of much spatial analysis itself for developing countries in Africa. Comparative studies of spatial analysis applied within the practice of development planning could provide some insights. If spatial analysis is indeed a non-event, the matter should concern academic geography.     

Basalt basement from the Kerguelen Plateau and the trail of a Dupal plume

The first samples of volcanic basement recovered from the Kerguelen Plateau are Lower Cretaceous transitional tholeiites. Isotope and incompatible element abundance ratios for these rocks are similar to ocean island basalts from the southern hemisphere Dupal anomaly region, and geochemical, geological and geophysical data are consistent with volcanic activity associated with a mantle plume. A reconstruction of plate motions suggests that the Kerguelen Plateau formed above a mantle plume in the interval 118-95 Ma, during the opening of the Indian Ocean between India and Australia-Antarctica. This plume was the source of other plateaus and ridges of the eastern Indian Ocean and possibly the Bunbury Basalt of southwestern Australia, and is now beneath Heard Island.     

Ice sheet extent and early deglacial history of the southwestern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet

The offshore and coastal geomorphology of southwest Greenland records evidence for the advance and decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. Regional ice flow patterns in the vicinity of Sisimiut show an enlarged ice sheet that extended southwestwards on to the shelf, with an ice stream centred over Holsteinsborg dyb. High level periglacial terrain composed of blockfield and tors is dated to between 101 and 142 ka using ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be cosmogenic exposure ages. These limit the maximum surface elevation of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet in this part of southwest Greenland to ca 750–810 m asl, and demonstrate that terrain above this level has been ice free since MIS 6. Last Glacial Maximum ice thickness on the coast of ca 700 m implies that the ice sheet reached the mid to outer continental shelf edge to form the Outer Hellefisk moraines. Exposure dates record ice surface thinning from 21.0 to 9.8 ka, with downwasting rates varying from 0.06 to 0.12 m yr⁻¹. This reflects strong surface ablation associated with increased air temperatures running up to the Bølling Interstadial (GIS1e) at ca 14 ka, and later marine calving under high sea levels. The relatively late retreat of the Itilleq ice stream inland of the present coastline is similar to the pattern observed at Jakobshavn Isbræ, located 250 km north in Disko Bugt, which also retreated from the continental shelf after ca 10 ka. We hypothesise that the ice streams of West Greenland persisted on the inner shelf until the early Holocene because of their considerable ice thickness and greater ice discharge compared with the adjacent ice sheet.     

The timing and extent of the eruption of the Siberian Traps large igneous province: Implications for the end-Permian environmental crisis

We present new high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages on feldspar and biotite separates to establish the age, duration and extent of the larger Siberian Traps volcanic province. Samples include basalts and gabbros from Noril'sk, the Lower Tunguska area on the Siberian craton, the Taimyr Peninsula, the Kuznetsk Basin, Vorkuta in the Polar Urals, and from Chelyabinsk in the southern Urals. Most of the ages, except for those from Chelyabinsk, are indistinguishable from those found at Noril'sk. Cessation of activity at Noril'sk is constrained by a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 250.3 ± 1.1 Ma for the uppermost Kumginsky Suite.The new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data confirm that the bulk of Siberian volcanism occurred at 250 Ma during a period of less than 2 Ma, extending over an area of up to 5 million km². The resolution of the data allows us to confidently conclude that the main stage of volcanism either immediately predates, or is synchronous with, the end-Permian mass extinction, further strengthening an association between volcanism and the end-Permian crisis. A sanidine age of 249.25 ± 0.14 Ma from Bed 28 tuff at the global section and stratotype at Meishan, China, allows us to bracket the P–Tr boundary to 0.58 ± 0.21 myr, and enables a direct comparison between the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of the Traps and the Permo–Triassic boundary section.Younger ages (243 Ma) obtained for basalts from Chelyabinsk indicate that volcanism in at least the southern part of the province continued into the Triassic.     

Deriving the normalised ion-neutral collision frequency from EISCAT observations

Common programme observations by the EISCAT UHF radar revealed an extended interval, post geomagnetic local noon on 03 April 1992, during which the F-region ion velocity orthogonal to the geomagnetic field was significantly enhanced, to values exceeding 2 km s⁻¹ corresponding to a perpendicular electric field of some 100 mV m⁻¹. Observations from this interval are used to illustrate a method by which estimates of the E-region ion-neutral collision frequency may be derived in the presence of enhanced electric field. From both the rotation of the ion velocity vector and the reduction in the ion velocity magnitude relative to that in the F-region, independent estimates of the normalised ion-neutral collision frequency are made at the UHF E-region tristatic altitudes; the derived values are, in general, lower than model predictions. Although initial calculations assume a stationary neutral atmosphere, first-order estimates of the E-region neutral wind are subsequently employed to calculate revised estimates of the normalised ion-neutral collision frequency; these neutral winds are derived by attributing the difference between predicted and observed enhancements in field-parallel ion temperature to thermospheric motion. The inclusion of neutral winds, which are themselves not inconsiderable, appears to have only a limited effect on the normalised collision frequencies derived.     

Origin and karst geomorphological significance of the enigmatic Australian Nullarbor Plain ‘blowholes’

The Australian Nullarbor Plain, one of the world's largest limestone platforms (~200 000 km²), has few distinctive surface karst features for its size, but is known for its enigmatic ‘blowholes’, which can display strong barometric draughts. Thousands of these vertical tubes with decimetre–metre (dm–m) scale diameter puncture the largely featureless terrain. The cause and distribution of these has remained unclear, but they have been thought to originate from downward dissolution and/or salt weathering. To elucidate blowhole distribution and mode of formation we (i) correlated existing location data with Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data, which distinguishes the subtle undulations (< 10 m per km) of the landscape, (ii) surveyed blowhole morphology and (iii) determined their rock surface hardness. Over a sampled area of 4200 km², the distribution of 615 known blowholes is not correlated with present topography. Blowholes are often connected to small or, in some cases extensive, but typically shallow cavities, which exhibit numerous ‘cupolas’ (dome‐shaped pockets) in their ceilings. Statistical arguments suggest that cavities with cupolas are common, but in only a few cases do these puncture the surface. Hardness measurements indicate that salt weathering is not their main cause. Our observations suggest that blowholes do not develop downwards, but occur where a cupola breaks through the surface. Lowering of the land surface is suggested to be the main cause for this breakthrough. Although cupolas may undergo some modification under the current climate, they, as well as the shallow caves they are formed in, are likely to be palaeokarst features formed under a shallower water table and wetter conditions in the past. The findings presented have implications for theories of dissolutional forms development in caves worldwide. The environmental history of the Nullarbor platform allows testing of such theories, because many other factors, which complicate karst evolution elsewhere, have not interfered with landform evolution here. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Surface albedo at a tower site in Lake Ontario

Measurements of incoming global, diffuse and reflected radiation at a tower site in Lake Ontario are used to evaluate components of surface albedo. Albedo for diffuse radiation lies between 0.074 and 0.082 and a coefficient for backscatter from sub-surface water layers shows little deviation from a mean of 0.017. Direct beam albedo for a calm surface follows the Fresnel law. Waves increase direct-beam albedo particularly at higher solar zenith angles. A pronounced dependence of albedo upon zenith angle for clear skies decreases with increasing cloud amount and becomes undetectable in overcast conditions. On a daily basis, albedo ranged between 0.07 in early July to 0.11 in mid-November. Day-to-day scatter is within ±1% of the mean seasonal trend.