Provenance and depositional environment of Rhenohercynian synorogenic greywackes from the Giessen Nappe,Germany

The Giessen Nappe of the south-eastern Rhenish Massif can be subdivided into a northern group and southern group of Frasnian-?Lower Carboniferous greywackes that differ slightly in their sedimentology, clast petrography, heavy mineral assemblages and bulk geochemistry. Petrographic and geochemical tectonic setting discrimination diagrams indicate that both the northern and the southern Giessen Greywacke groups were derived from a predominantly acidic continental arc source. However, due to the nature of basin development, generation of significant volumes of acidic arc material as a result of southwards directed subduction of Rhenohercynian oceanic crust is considered unlikely. A large part of the arc source may have been contributed by earlier, predominantly acidic, Precambrian terranes together with minor basic igneous and sedimentary components.     

A combined study of radar facies,lithofacies and three‐dimensional architecture of an alpine alluvial fan (Illgraben fan,Switzerland)

Alluvial fans serve as useful archives that record the history of depositional and erosional processes in mountainous regions and thus can reveal the environmental controls that influenced their development. Economically, they play an important role as groundwater reservoirs as well as host rocks for hydrocarbons in deeply buried systems. The interpretation of these archives and the evaluation of their reservoir architecture, however, are problematic because marked heterogeneity in the distribution of sedimentary facies makes correlation difficult. This problem is compounded because the accumulated sedimentary deposits of modern unconsolidated fan systems tend to be poorly exposed and few such systems have been the focus of investigation using high‐resolution subsurface analytical techniques. To overcome this limitation of standard outcrop–analogue studies, a geophysical survey of an alpine alluvial fan was performed using ground‐penetrating radar to devise a scaled three‐dimensional subsurface model. Radar facies were classified and calibrated to lithofacies within a fan system that provided outcropping walls and these were used to derive a three‐dimensional model of the sedimentary architecture and identify evolutionary fan stages. The Illgraben fan in the Swiss Alps was selected as a case study and a network of ca 60 km sections of ground‐penetrating radar was surveyed. Seven radar facies types could be distinguished, which were grouped into debris‐flow deposits and stream‐flow deposits. Assemblages of these radar facies types show three depositional units, which are separated by continuous, fan‐wide reflectors; they were interpreted as palaeo‐surfaces corresponding to episodes of sediment starvation that affected the entire fan. An overall upward decline in the proportion of debris‐flow deposits from ca 50% to 15% and a corresponding increase in stream‐flow deposits were identified. The uppermost depositional unit is bounded at its base by a significant incision surface up to 700 m wide, which was subsequently filled up mostly by stream‐flow deposits. The pronounced palaeo‐surfaces and depositional trends suggest that allocyclic controls governed the evolution of the Illgraben fan, making this fan a valuable archive from which to reconstruct past sediment fluxes and environmental change in the Alps. The results of the integrated outcrop–geophysical approach encourage similar future studies on fans to retrieve their depositional history as well as their potential reservoir properties.     

Intracrystalline microstructures in alkali feldspars from fluid-deficient felsic granulites: a mineral chemical and TEM study

Samples of essentially “dry” high-pressure felsic granulites from the Bohemian Massif (Variscan belt of Central Europe) contain up to 2-mm-large perthitic alkali feldspars with several generations of plagioclase precipitates in an orthoclase-rich host. The first generation takes the form of lenses homogeneous in size, whereas the size of a second generation of very thin albite-rich precipitates is more variable with comparatively high aspect ratios. In the vicinity of large kyanite, garnet or quartz inclusions, the first generation of plagioclase precipitates is significantly less abundant, the microstructure is coarser than in the remainder of the perthitic grain and the host is a tweed orthoclase. The first generation of precipitates formed at around 850 °C during the high-pressure stage (16–18 kbar) of metamorphism. Primary exsolution was followed by primary coarsening of the plagioclase precipitates, which still took place at high temperatures (850–700 °C). The coarsening was pronounced due to the access of fluids in the outer portions of the perthitic alkali feldspar and in more internal regions around large inclusions. The second generation of albite-rich precipitates was formed at around 570 °C. TEM investigations revealed that the interfaces between the second-generation plagioclase lamellae and the orthoclase-rich host are coherent or semi-coherent. During late evolutionary stages of the perthite, albite linings were formed at phase boundaries, and the perthitic microstructure was partially replaced by irregularly shaped precipitates of pure albite with incoherent interfaces. The albitization occurred below 400 °C and was linked to fluid infiltration in the course of deuteric alteration. Based on size-distribution analysis, it is inferred that the precipitates of the first generation were most probably formed by spinodal decomposition, whereas the precipitates of the second generation rather were formed by nucleation and growth.     

Evidence for xenolith–host basalt interaction from chemical patterns in Fe–Ti-oxides from mafic granulite xenoliths of the Bakony–Balaton Volcanic field (W-Hungary)

We investigate the effects of xenolith–host basalt interaction on lower crustal mafic granulite xenoliths from the Central Pannonian Basin. The xenoliths are devoid of any signs of melting, nevertheless various phenomena are identified, which indicate that the original mineralogy and chemistry of the xenoliths was modified during interaction with the host basalt. The rock-forming silicates are only slightly affected by alteration, but the Fe–Ti-oxides are overprinted to a significant extent. Complex chemical zoning patterns are detected using high-resolution element mapping in ilmenites and in lamellar titanomagnetite–ilmenite intergrowths. The chemical alteration of the Fe–Ti-oxides was diffusion-controlled and, hence, time and temperature dependent. On the basis of diffusion profiles in titanomagnetite we estimate the duration of xenolith–host basalt interaction to be at least 9–20 h. This is comparable to the time necessary for the ascent of the host basalt to the surface. It is too short to reflect alteration during granulite facies metamorphism in the deep crust. The chemical alteration of the titanomagnetite thus reflects the total duration of the xenolith–host basalt interaction.     

Structural evolution and strike-slip tectonics off north-western Sumatra

Based on new multi-channel seismic data, swath bathymetry, and sediment echosounder data we present a model for the interaction between strike-slip faulting and forearc basin evolution off north-western Sumatra between 2°N and 7°N. We examined seismic sequences and sea floor morphology of the Simeulue- and Aceh forearc basins and the adjacent outer arc high. We found that strike-slip faulting has controlled the forearc basin evolution since the Late Miocene. The Mentawai Fault Zone extends up to the north of Simeulue Island and was most probably connected farther northwards to the Sumatran Fault Zone until the end of the Miocene. Since then, this northern branch jumped westwards, initiating the West Andaman Fault in the Aceh area. The connection to the Mentawai Fault Zone is a left-hand step-over. In this transpressional setting the Tuba Ridge developed. We found a right-lateral strike-slip fault running from the conjunction of the West Andaman Fault and the Tuba Ridge in SSW-direction crossing the outer arc high. As a result, extrusion formed a marginal basin north of Simeulue Island which is tilted eastwards by uplift along a thrust fault in the west. The shift of strike-slip movement in the Aceh segment is accompanied by a relocation of the depocenter of the Aceh Basin to the northwest, forming one major Neogene unconformity. The Simeulue Basin bears two major Neogene unconformities, documenting that differences in subsidence evolution along the northern Sumatran margin are linked to both forearc-evolution related to subduction processes and to deformation along major strike-slip faults.     

Hydrostatic pressure tests for the permeability - formation factor relation on crystalline rocks from the KTB drilling project

Transport properties (permeability and electrical conductivity) have been measured at different hydrostatic pressure runs on 7 crystalline rocks (gneisses and amphibolites) sampled from the KTB drilling project. The decrease of permeability by pressure are compared with the pressure-dependent data of the electrical conductivity (formation factor) resulting from complex impedance measurements. According to the equivalent-channel model (ECM), there exists a linear relationship between these parameters by representing both properties on logarithmic scales. The results show that it is possible to extrapolate high-pressure permeability from low-pressure (< 60 MPa) permeability data by using the pressure-dependent electrical conductivity (up to 300 MPa).     

Comment on the BDT-Bianchi type-VI0 stiff matter solution

We wish to point out that the Brans-Dicke-Bianchi type-VI₀ stiff matter solution recently given by Ram and Singh is not the most general solution of the corresponding field equations. Moreover, this solution has no vacuum limit and the general relativistic limit is obtained only after making an asymptotic expansion. In this paper we rediscuss the entire problem in a different way. In the limit =const., , we obtain both the stiff matter and the vacuum relativistic limit first given by Ellis and MacCallum (1969) in analytic form.