Two-feldspar geothermometry in granulite facies metamorphic rocks

A geothermometric technique based on equilibria between coexisting plagioclase and alkali feldspar was applied to quartzo-feldspathic granulites from Salvador, BA, Brazil. The conditions of metamorphism were determined to be in the range 750 ° C–800 ° C, 4–8 Kb, by comparison with experimental data on the stabilities of sapphirine, phlogopite and other minerals occurring in the associated rocks. Selected feldspar data gives temperatures near, but slightly below, this range. Several variants of the Wood and Banno model, as well as an empirical two-pyroxene geothermometer, were also tested and found to give temperatures which were apparently 50 °–100 ° high. The solubility of Al₂O₃ in orthopyroxene indicates temperatures which are about 200 ° to high, suggesting that Fe in the natural assemblages significantly changes relationships observed experimentally in MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ systems.     

A tertiary lamprophyre dike with high pressure xenoliths and megacrysts from Wiedemanns Fjord,East Greenland

Lamprophyric dikes, mainly of camptonite/monchiquite affinities occur in the Wiedemanns Fjord area. One example contains a complex assemblage of olivine-orthopyroxene-chrome spinel nodules, megacrysts of kaersutite, diopside, strongly reverse-zoned green salite and various spinel phases. Microprobe analyses are presented for all these phases and for the lilac-coloured titansalites and strongly-coloured kaersutites of the groundmass. It is concluded that these minerals record evolution under various P, T and oxidation regimes during the formation of a lamprophyric parent magma. The nodules provide evidence for deep fractures in this area supposedly associated with early rifting in the North Atlantic.     

Rotation history of Alaskan tectonic blocks

Alaska is considered to be tectonically comprised of five elongate blocks separated by transcurrent faults formed prior to rotation which enter the state from the southeast and continue westward to the edge of the Bering Sea continental shelf. We propose an additional, inactive fault, indicated by gravity and magnetic data and other observations, to extend between the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean continental shelf east of the Northwind escarpment, separating northern Alaska from northeast Siberia. Near the center of the state the faults are bent, concave to the south, about the north-south axis of the so-called Alaska orocline. In our reconstruction the blocks have rotated from a position whereby the north slope was adjacent to Banks Island of the Canadian basin. During the rotation the northernmost, or Brooks block, was squeezed, up to 15% in the western end, to its present width. After rotation, when the three southern blocks were in their present position, the Brooks block and the next block to the south were pushed eastward by North America moving against Siberia, forming the bend in the British-Richardson-Ogilvie Mountains we call the Ogilvie orocline.     

Growth defects in metamorphic biotite

Metamorphic biotites examined by transmission electron microscopy contain planar defects on the (001) plane, superlattices, twins and a microstructure causing streaking of k≠3n rows. Analysis of the fringe contrast shows that the fault vectors associated with the planar defects are either R ₁=±1/3 [010], R ₂=±1/6 [310] or R ₃=±1/6 [3 \(\bar 1\) 0]. Structural considerations indicate that a stacking fault R ₁, R ₂ or R ₃ is most likely to exist in the octahedral layer rather than the potassium layer. The result of such a fault on a unit layer of mica is effectively to rotate it through ±120° about c* (equivalent to the common mica twin law). These stacking faults can provide the mechanism for producing the ±120° rotations associated with the common mica polytypes. Furthermore, many of the observed microstructures can be generated by these stacking faults.     

An XPS study of the dissolution kinetics of chrysotile in 0.1 N oxalic acid at different temperatures

The dissolution of chrysotile is studied in regard to the surfaces analysis by photoelectron spectrometry. After leaching of chrysotile (Provenance: Thetford; about 200 mg of fibers of 1 cm length) in nonstirred 0.1 N oxalic conditions, the composition of the mineral surfaces is determined by XPS; kinetic curves of dissolution are given in the range 22–80°C. Two conditions for the rate-limiting step are involved for the explanation of the dissolution: diffusion of Mg²⁺ through the fibrous gel or dissociation of chrysotile. By the former, some values of the diffusion coefficient are proposed: D varies from 5·10^?19 cm²s^?1 to 5·10^?16 cm²s^?1, in the range 22–80°C. By the second model, the leaching rate is estimated from 3 Å (22°C) per h to 250 Å (80°C) per h. For the 2 models, the activation heat energy is in the range 15–20 Kcal.     

Limits to comprehensive planning

This paper postulates that larger more complicated organisms cannot be comprehended completely. Some of their important internal characteristics and dynamics are indeterminate. Certain external conditions and occurrences vitally affecting them cannot be predicted or treated as random events. The internal functioning of complex organisms and their interaction with the external environment cannot therefore be formulated analytically with the completeness, precision, and reliability required for truly comprehensive planning and decision-making. Limitations of rational and collective action by people are also involved in what comprehensive planning can and cannot accomplish, and how it is best conducted.     

Some studies of an unusual eucrite: Ibitira

The Ibitira eucrite is remarkable both for its vesicles and its unbrecciated nature. It consists of ~63 vol. % pyroxene (Wo₁₄En₃₈Fs₄₈), 31% plagioclase (An_95–96), ~2% of nickel-iron, troilite, ilmenite, titanian chromite, and 4% of a silica polymorph. It has a mean track density of 1.8 ± 0.3 × 10⁶ cm^?2, mainly due to cosmic rays. Its pre-atmospheric radius must have been at least 10 cm.The absence of complex radiation effects and presence of vesicles place constraints on the thickness of the Ibitira basalt flow. From the freezing time calculations of Provost and Bottinga, it appears that Ibitira came from a flow no less than 2.5 m and probably no more than 10 or 20 m thick. However, this estimate depends strongly on the viscosity of the melt, which is not well known.     

Biostratigraphy and depositional environment of algal stromatolites from the Mescal Limestone (Proterozoic) of central Arizona

The Apache Group of central Arizona is subdivided into, from base upward, the Pioneer Formation, the Dripping Spring Quartzite and the Mescal Limestone. Radiometric age determinations by Silver, and Livingston and Damon indicate an age of 1.2–1.4 billion years. Within the Mescal Limestone, algal stromatolites form a conspicuous biostrome, commonly 20–25 m thick. The basal 1–5 m of the biostrome consists of up to three zones of digitate stromatolites, which often form discrete bush-like bioherms. These forms are interpreted as Baicalia baicalica, Parmites sp. and Tungussia sp.; the latter form previously reported by Cloud and Semikhatov (1969). The form Parmites is interpreted as a modification of digitate stromatolites probably by decrease in current velocity within the shallow marine environment, which allowed discrete heads to coalesce. Basal digitate forms are replaced upward in the biostrome by domal and undulatory laminated (stratiform) stromatolites, interpreted to represent gradual upward shoaling, with lower intertidal and subtidal forms (digitate morphology) being replaced by upper intertidal and possibly supratidal forms (stratiform types).The digitate form B. baicalica is suggested by Soviet workers to be indicative of Middle Riphean time (1350-950 m.y.). While many empirical data suggest the possibility of gross subdivision of Late Proterozoic time on the basis of algal stromatolite “zones”, the intercontinental applicability and the ultimate validity of this concept in unresolved.