Archaean greenstone belts: A structaral test of tectonic hypothesis

Tectonic hypotheses for Archaean greenstone belts are tested against structural data from the Agnew belt, Western Australia. This belt shows the following critical features:

1. (1) A sialic infrastructure, formed by semi-concordant tonalitic intrusions, was present before tectonism began.

2. (2) An early deformation formed recumbent folds and a flat-lying schistosity; a second deformation formed major upright folds and steep ductile shear zones that outline the present tectonic belt. Neither deformation caused major disruptions in the stratigraphy. Both were accompanied by metamorph ism under upper greenschist to amphibolite facies conditions and low pressure.

3. (3) The belt is bounded on either side by tonalitic gneiss of unknown age, emplaced along steep shear zones.

Comparison with Phanerozoic orogenic belts representing a subduction complex, a collisional suture zone, and a collapsed marginal basin, indicates that the belt was not formed in any of these plate-tectonic environments.The second deformation in the belt resulted from regional crustal distortion, accomplished by right-lateral ductile wrenching along major N- to NNW-trending shear zones. Associated en-echelon buckle folding formed large granite-cored anticlines and tight synclines. The detailed structural pattern is not consistent with a diapiric origin for these folds. The ductile wrench faults may have been related to mantle flow patterns in a manner analogous to modern transform faults.     

Limnological and Climatic Environments at Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon during the past 45 000 years

Upper Klamath Lake, in south-central Oregon, contains long sediment records with well-preserved diatoms and lithological variations that reflect climate-induced limnological changes. These sediment archives complement and extend high resolution terrestrial records along a north–south transect that includes areas influenced by the Aleutian Low and Subtropical High, which control both marine and continental climates in the western United States. The longest and oldest core collected in this study came from the southwest margin of the lake at Caledonia Marsh, and was dated by radiocarbon and tephrochronology to an age of about 45 ka. Paleolimnological interpretations of this core, based upon geochemical and diatom analyses, have been augmented by data from a short core collected from open water environments at nearby Howards Bay and from a 9-m core extending to 15 ka raised from the center of the northwestern part of Upper Klamath Lake. Pre- and full-glacial intervals of the Caledonia Marsh core are characterized and dominated by lithic detrital material. Planktic diatom taxa characteristic of cold-water habitats (Aulacoseira subarctica and A. islandica) alternate with warm-water planktic diatoms (A. ambigua) between 45 and 23 ka, documenting climate changes at millennial scales during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3. The full-glacial interval contains mostly cold-water planktic, benthic, and reworked Pliocene lacustrine diatoms (from the surrounding Yonna Formation) that document shallow water conditions in a cold, windy environment. After 15 ka, diatom productivity increased. Organic carbon and biogenic silica became significant sediment components and diatoms that live in the lake today, indicative of warm, eutrophic water, became prominent. Lake levels fell during the mid-Holocene and marsh environments extended over the core site. This interval is characterized by high levels of organic carbon from emergent aquatic vegetation (Scirpus) and by the Mazama ash (7.55 ka), generated by the eruption that created nearby Crater Lake. For a brief time the ash increased the salinity of Upper Klamath Lake. High concentrations of molybdenum, arsenic, and vanadium indicate that Caledonia Marsh was anoxic from about 7 to 5 ka. After the mid-Holocene, shallow, but open-water environments returned to the core site. The sediments became dominated (>80%) by biogenic silica. The open-water cores show analogous but less extreme limnological and climatic changes more typical of mid-lake environments. Millennial-scale lake and climate changes during OIS 3 at Upper Klamath Lake contrast with a similar record of variation at Owens Lake, about 750 km south. When Upper Klamath Lake experienced cold-climate episodes during OIS 3, Owens Lake had warm but wet episodes; the reverse occurred during warmer intervals at Upper Klamath Lake. Such climatic alternations apparently reflect the variable position and strength of the Aleutian Low during the mid-Wisconsin.     

Regionally Representative Ozone Monitoring at Cape Arkona

Long Path Different Optical Absorption measurements of theconcentrations of O₃, NO₂, NO₃ andSO₂ were carried out at Cape Arkona, Island Rügen, nearthe well-known long-term ozone registration. A statistical analysis ofdifferent trace gas concentrations for all seasons is presented. Daytimedata, wind speed and sector-classified results are used to estimaterepresentative ozone concentrations. Comparison of the long path ozonemeasurements with point measurements at Cape Arkona shows ozoneconcentration differences.     

Structural history of high-pressure metamorphic rocks in the southern vanoise massif,french alps,and their relation to alpine tectonic events

A nappe of amphibolite-facies metamorphic rocks of pre-Permian age in the southern Vanoise massif (the Arpont schist) has been affected by an Alpine HP/LT metamorphism. The first mesoscopically recognizable deformation (D₁) post-dated the high-pressure peak (jadeitic pyroxene + quartz, glaucophane + ?lawsonite), and was associated with glaucophane + epidote. D₁ produced a flat-lying schistosity and a NW-trending glaucophane lineation, and was probably associated with nappe displacement involving NW-directed subhorizontal shear. D₂ formed small-scale folds and a foliation associated with chlorite + albite. The changing parageneses during the period pre-D₁ to D₁ to D₂ suggest decreasing pressure, so that the deformation appears to have been related to the uplift history, rather than to the process of tectonic burial. D₂ was followed by a static metamorphism (green biotite + chlorite + albite), possibly of Lepontine age. SE-directed backthrusting and folding (D₃), and later differential uplift along steep faults, took place under low-grade conditions.     

Origin of Franciscan blueschist-bearing melange at San Simeon,central California coast

Block-in-matrix melanges at San Simeon have been variously interpreted as deformed olistostromes or as subduction-channel flow melanges. Detailed examination shows that seven types can be distinguished, with transitions among them. All contain exotic clasts of greenstone, chert, and more rarely blueschist, in addition to greywacke; the same materials also occur as blocks metres to tens of metres in diameter immersed in melange. The seven types are (1) bedded conglomerate, (2) structureless conglomerate, (3) mud-matrix conglomerate, (4) sandy block melange, (5) broken formation, (6) mud-matrix melange without deformational fabric, and (7) sheared melange. Types (1)–(3) are clearly sedimentary in origin. Types (4) and (5) were formed from unconsolidated sediment, most likely by down-slope sliding, and transitional types suggest that the mud-matrix melange (6) formed in the same way. Sheared melange (7) was formed by low-temperature post-consolidational deformation of all other types, which produced shear bands and a crude scaly fabric.

Kinematic indicators of shear direction are rare, but assuming the fabric and shear bands are coeval, the shear direction and sense can be determined from the angular relationship between the two planar fabrics. Most shear planes are gently dipping, with normal-sense displacements of a few centimetres to tens of centimetres. Shear directions are highly variable, with the highest concentrations between WNW and S. This suggests that the main phase of shearing took place during a phase of approximately vertical shortening and horizontal extension, rather than during accretion. Post-accretionary dextral shearing on NNW-trending vertical planes, and sinistral shear on a variety of trends, are likely related to Neogene transform tectonics. The simplest interpretation of these relationships is that the disrupted character of the melanges formed primarily by sliding down the trench inner slope of unconsolidated sediment, including clasts and blocks of previously accreted and exhumed greenstone, chert, and blueschist. The deformational fabric is largely unrelated to the disruption, and was formed during late-stage extension in the accretionary wedge.