Oxygen isotopic constraints on the origin and parent bodies of eucrites, diogenites, and howardites

A few eucrites have anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions. To help understand their origin and identify additional samples, we have analyzed the oxygen isotopic compositions of 18 eucrites and four diogenites. Except for five eucrites, these meteorites have Δ¹⁷O values that lie within 2σ of their mean value viz., −0.242 ± 0.016‰, consistent with igneous isotopic homogenization of Vesta. The five exceptional eucrites—NWA 1240, Pasamonte (both clast and matrix samples), PCA 91007, A-881394, and Ibitira—have Δ¹⁷O values that lie, respectively, 4σ, 5σ, 5σ, 15σ, and 21σ away from this mean value. NWA 1240 has a δ¹⁸O value that is 5σ below the mean eucrite value. Four of the five outliers are unbrecciated and unshocked basaltic eucrites, like NWA 011, the first eucrite found to have an anomalous oxygen isotopic composition. The fifth outlier, Pasamonte, is composed almost entirely of unequilibrated basaltic clasts. Published chemical data for the six eucrites with anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions (including NWA 011) exclude contamination by chondritic projectiles as a source of the oxygen anomalies. Only NWA 011 has an anomalous Fe/Mn ratio, but several anomalous eucrites have exceptional Na, Ti, or Cr concentrations. We infer that the six anomalous eucrites are probably derived from five distinct Vesta-like parent bodies (Pasamonte and PCA 91007 could come from one body). These anomalous eucrites, like the isotopically normal, unbrecciated eucrites with 4.48 Gyr Ar-Ar ages, are probably deficient in brecciation and shock effects because they were sequestered in small asteroids (10 km diameter) during the Late Heavy Bombardment following ejection from Vesta-like bodies. The preservation of Vesta’s crust and the lack of deeply buried samples from the hypothesized Vesta-like bodies are consistent with the removal of these bodies from the asteroid belt by gravitational perturbations from planets and protoplanets, rather than by collisional grinding.     

Garnet crystal plasticity in the continental crust,new example from south Madagascar

Garnet (10 vol.%; pyrope contents 34–44 mol.%) hosted in quartzofeldspathic rocks within a large vertical shear zone of south Madagascar shows a strong grain‐size reduction (from a few cm to ～300 μm). Electron back‐scattered diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscope imaging coupled with quantitative analysis of digitized images (PolyLX software) have been used in order to understand the deformation mechanisms associated with this grain‐size evolution. The garnet grain‐size reduction trend has been summarized in a typological evolution (from Type I to Type IV). Type I, the original porphyroblasts, form cm‐sized elongated grains that crystallized upon multiple nucleation and coalescence following biotite breakdown: biotite + sillimanite + quartz = garnet + alkali feldspar + rutile + melt. These large garnet grains contain quartz ribbons and sillimanite inclusions. Type I garnet is sheared along preferential planes (sillimanite layers, quartz ribbons and/or suitably oriented garnet crystallographic planes) producing highly elongated Type II garnet grains marked by a single crystallographic orientation. Further deformation leads to the development of a crystallographic misorientation, subgrains and new grains resulting in Type III garnet. Associated grain‐size reduction occurs via subgrain rotation recrystallization accompanied by fast diffusion‐assisted dislocation glide. This plastic deformation of garnet is associated with efficient recovery as shown by the very low dislocation densities (10¹⁰ m^?3 or lower). The rounded Type III garnet experiences rigid body rotation in fine‐grained matrix. In the highly deformed samples, the deformation mechanisms in garnet are grain‐size‐ and shape‐dependent: dislocation creep is dominant for the few large grains left (>1 mm; Type II garnet), rigid body rotation is typical for the smaller rounded grains (300 μm or less; Type III garnet) whereas diffusion creep may affect more elliptic garnet (Type IV garnet). The P–T conditions of garnet plasticity in the continental crust (≥950 °C; 11 kbar) have been identified using two‐feldspar thermometry and GASP conventional barometry. The garnet microstructural and deformation mechanisms evolution, coupled with grain‐size decrease in a fine‐grained steady‐state microstructure of quartz, alkali feldspar and plagioclase, suggests a separate mechanical evolution of garnet with respect to felsic minerals within the shear zone.     

GPR studies over the tsunami affected Karaikal beach,Tamil Nadu,south India

In this study, results of GPR profiling related to mapping of subsurface sedimentary layers at tsunami affected Karaikal beach are presented . A 400 MHz antenna was used for profiling along 262 m stretch of transect from beach to backshore areas with penetration of about 2.0 m depth (50 ns two-way travel time). The velocity analysis was carried out to estimate the depth information along the GPR profile. Based on the significant changes in the reflection amplitude, three different zones are marked and the upper zone is noticed with less moisture compared to other two (saturated) zones. The water table is noticed to vary from 0.5 to 0.75 m depth (12–15 ns) as moving away from the coastline. Buried erosional surface is observed at 1.5 m depth (40–42 ns), which represents the limit up to which the extreme event acted upon. In other words, it is the depth to which the tsunami sediments have been piled up to about 1.5 m thickness. Three field test pits were made along the transect and sedimentary sequences were recorded. The sand layers, especially, heavy mineral layers, recorded in the test pits indicate a positive correlation with the amplitude and velocity changes in the GPR profile. Such interpretation seems to be difficult in the middle zone due to its water saturation condition. But it is fairly clear in the lower zone located just below the erosional surface where the strata is comparatively more compact. The inferences from the GPR profile thus provide a lucid insight to the subsurface sediment sequences of the tsunami sediments in the Karaikal beach.     

Estimation of Regional Evapotranspiration by Combining Aircraftand Ground-Based Measurements

Two methods are examined for combining measurements from instrumented aircraftand towers to estimate regional scale evapotranspiration. Aircraft data provided spatially averaged values of properties of the surface, the evaporative fraction and maximum stomatal conductance. These quantities are less sensitive to meteorological conditions than the turbulent fluxes of heat and water vapour themselves. The methods allowed aircraft data collected over several days to be averaged and thus to reduce the random error associated with the temporal under-sampling inherent in aircraft measurements. Evaporative fraction is estimated directly from the aircraft data, while maximum stomatal conductance is estimated by coupling the Penman–Monteith equation to a simple model relating surface conductance to the incoming shortwave radiation and specific humidity saturation deficit. The spatial averages of evaporative fraction and maximum stomatal conductance can then be used with routine tower data to estimate the regional scale evapotranspiration. Data from aircraft flights and six ground based sites during the OASIS field campaign in south–east New South Wales in 1995 have been used to check the methods. Both the evaporative fraction and the maximum stomatal conductance derived from the aircraft data give information on the spatial variability of the surface energy budget at scales from 10 to 100 km. Daily averaged latent heat fluxes estimated using these methods for the OASIS study region agree with the available observations in quasi-stationary conditions or in weakly non-stationary conditions when the data from several aircraft flights are averaged to reduce the impact of short term imbalances in the surface energy budget.     

Comparison between geodetic and oceanographic approaches to estimate mean dynamic topography for vertical datum unification: evaluation at Australian tide gauges

The direct method of vertical datum unification requires estimates of the ocean’s mean dynamic topography (MDT) at tide gauges, which can be sourced from either geodetic or oceanographic approaches. To assess the suitability of different types of MDT for this purpose, we evaluate 13 physics-based numerical ocean models and six MDTs computed from observed geodetic and/or ocean data at 32 tide gauges around the Australian coast. We focus on the viability of numerical ocean models for vertical datum unification, classifying the 13 ocean models used as either independent (do not contain assimilated geodetic data) or non-independent (do contain assimilated geodetic data). We find that the independent and non-independent ocean models deliver similar results. Maximum differences among ocean models and geodetic MDTs reach >150 mm at several Australian tide gauges and are considered anomalous at the 99% confidence level. These differences appear to be of geodetic origin, but without additional independent information, or formal error estimates for each model, some of these errors remain inseparable. Our results imply that some ocean models have standard deviations of differences with other MDTs (using geodetic and/or ocean observations) at Australian tide gauges, and with levelling between some Australian tide gauges, of \({\sim }\pm 50\,\hbox {mm}\). This indicates that they should be considered as an alternative to geodetic MDTs for the direct unification of vertical datums. They can also be used as diagnostics for errors in geodetic MDT in coastal zones, but the inseparability problem remains, where the error cannot be discriminated between the geoid model or altimeter-derived mean sea surface.     

Geochemistry of the Adamello massif (northern Italy)

The Tertiary Adamello massif, outcropping over an area of more than 550 km² in the southern Alps (northern Italy) is composed mainly of granitoid rocks (granodiorite, tonalite, quartz diorite) with minor amounts of diorite and gabbro. The major and trace element composition of these rocks is comparable to calc-alkaline volcanic rocks of continental margins. The granitoid rocks display spatial and temporal variations in their composition, particularly in Na, P, Sr, La, Nb and Y contents and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios. The variations were probably produced by concurrent contamination/wall-rock assimilation and fractional crystallization of high-alumina basaltic magma.     

Metal sources of the Navan carbonate-hosted base metal deposit, Ireland: Nd and Sr isotope evidence for deep hydrothermal convection

Nd and Sr isotope analyses are presented for gangue mineral samples from the giant carbonate-hosted Navan Zn–Pb deposit, Ireland, and for rocks from which Navan metals may have been derived. Analysis of gangue minerals spanning the Navan paragenetic sequence reveals systematic evolution in the composition of the mineralising fluid. Early fluid represented by replacive dolomite exhibits the lowest initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio (0.7083–0.7086), closest to that of the host limestone and to Lower Carboniferous seawater, and the highest ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio (0.51161–0.51176). Later generations of dolomite, barite and calcite, which encompass sulphide precipitation, have higher initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (maximum 0.7105) and lower initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios (minimum 0.51157). All samples have initial Nd isotope ratios that are too low to have been acquired only from the host limestone. Drill core samples of presumed Ordovician volcanic and sedimentary rocks from beneath the Navan orebody have ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios at the time of mineralisation of 0.51184–0.51217 and 0.7086–0.7138, respectively. The data are interpreted to indicate mixing of sulphide-rich, limestone-buffered brine, with a metal-bearing hydrothermal fluid, which had passed through sub-Carboniferous rocks, consistent with published fluid inclusion and S isotope data. The ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio of this basement-derived fluid is too low to have been imparted by flow through the Devonian Old Red Sandstone, as required in models of regional fluid flow in response to Hercynian uplift. Irrespective of whether such regional fluid flow occurred, the hydrothermal Nd must have been derived from sub-Devonian rocks. These conclusions broadly support the hydrothermal convection cell model in which brines, ultimately of surface origin, penetrated to a depth of several kilometres, leaching metals from the rocks through which they passed. The data also support increasing depth of penetration of convection cells with time. Metals were subsequently precipitated in carbonate rocks at sites of mixing with cooler, sulphide-rich fluids. However, comparison of the Navan hydrothermal gangue Nd–Sr isotope data with data from Lower Palaeozoic rocks strongly suggests that the latter cannot alone account for the “basement” signature. As the Navan deposit lies immediately north of the Iapetus Suture, this suggests that the Laurentian margin includes Precambrian basement.     

On the assessment of maximum earthquakes in the alps and adjacent areas

Strong tectonic earthquakes within the crust always occur on already existing faults, and they have the property of a shear rupture. Such earthquakes with surface-wave magnitudes M < 7 obviously have a geometric similarity. Because of this similarity and the validity of the Gutenberg and Richter's energy—magnitude relation, the expression M = 2 log₁₀ L + const., with L = focal length, is valid.The expression L_maxL^* for the maximum focal length, is also valid if L^* is the length of the rectilinear extent of the seismic line on which the maximum earthquake occurs. The bounds of L^* may be given by sharp bends and/or by traversing deep faults. Thus the maximum imaginable earthquake on a seismic line with the length L^* has the magnitude M_max = 2 log₁₀ L^* + const.For the investigated region — the Alps and adjacent areas — from the data of recent and historical strong earthquakes, it follows that M_max = 2 log₁₀ L^* + 1.7, if L^* is measured in kilometres. These limiting values lie in the centre-field of the magnitude range for maximum earthquakes, published by Shebalin in 1970. By the aid of this equation it is also possible to assess the upper limiting value of the accompanying maximum scale intensity.     

Geological implications of new biostratigraphic data from East and West Kalimantan, Indonesia

This paper presents palaeontological ages based on new nannofossil and foraminiferal studies from a range of sedimentary rocks from the provinces of West and East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The age of sedimentary rocks in Kalimantan, away from the main hydrocarbon exploration areas of the coastal regions, represents a major gap in our basic knowledge of the island of Borneo. The implications of these new results and existing and new correlations are reviewed and suggested. In particular, the base of the Tertiary section in the Kutai Basin is shown to be upper Middle Eocene in age, rather than Late Eocene as originally thought. The limestones of the Batu Belah member of the Ujoh Bilang Formation are dated as NP24–25, Late Oligocene, rather than Early Oligocene as earlier work had suggested. In the western part of the Mangkalihat Peninsula area the base of the Tertiary section is determined to be Late Oligocene. Various basement units from both East and West Kalimantan contained Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous microfossils.     

Holocene and late-Pleistocene sedimentation in the Adriatic Sea

The following paper is a summary of sedimentological data on the Adriatic Sea (with the exception of the areas along the Jugoslavian and Albanian coasts). Because it is difficult to summarize a summary, only a few of the main conclusions will be mentioned here.Geophysical investigations indicate that the top of the limestone series, underlying the clayey and sandy deposits of the Pliocene and the Quaternary in the Adriatic area has a very uneven topography. Its greatest depths (4–6 km) are found a) between Ravenna and Rimini, b) between San Benedetto and Pescara, and c) below the Albanian shelf.Recent sands are mainly limited to the littoral zone; pleistocene sand, originally supplied by rivers, covers the greater part of the deeper shelf. Between these zones a terrace-shaped pro-littoral mud belt is present, where the bulk of the recent terrigenous mud is deposited. The maximum rate of accumulation in this belt is probably about 4 1/2 mm per year.The remaining part of the recent mud is transported in the sea water as floccules of such small size that they remain suspended over the deeper zones of the shelf. Most of it is deposited in the basins of the Central Adriatic (maximum accumulation rate for the Holocene on the average circa 1/2 mm per year) and in the bathyal basin in the southeast. The deepest area of the latter basin is formed by an almost horizontal plain (circa 1218 m deep). The longest core from this plain (240 cm of Holocene and 400 cm of late Pleistocene) is composed for roughly 61% of turbidite material, 5% of volcanic ash (coarser than fine silt), 0,2% of organic carbonate remains (coarser than silt) and 34% of normal terrigenous mud. The ash falls were limited to the central and southeastern parts of the Adriatic.

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Zusammenfassung Eine kurze Übersicht wird gegeben über die sedimentologische Kenntnis der Adria (mit Ausnahme der jugoslawischen und albanischen Küstengewässer).Geophysikalische Untersuchungen zeigen, daß die Kalkstein-Oberfläche unter den tonig-sandigen Ablagerungen des Pliozäns und des Quartärs, ein starkes Relief besitzt. Sie hat ihre größten Tiefen (4–6 km) a) zwischen Ravenna und Rimini; b) zwischen San Benedetto und Pescara und c) im Untergrund des Albanischen Schelfes.Rezente Sande sind in der Hauptsache auf eine schmale Küstenzone beschränkt. Dagegen haben pleistozäne Residual-Sande, ursprünglich von Flüssen herbeigebracht, eine große Ausdehnung auf dem Schelf. Zwischen diesen beiden sandigen Zonen findet man einen pro-littoralen Schlicksaum, wo die Hauptmasse des rezent ins Meer gebrachten terrigenen Schlickes abgelagert wird. Die maximale Akkumulationsgeschwindigkeit in dieser Zone beträgt wahrscheinlich ungefähr 4 1/2 mm pro Jahr.Der Anteil des terrigenen Schlickes, der nicht in diesem prolittoralen Schlicksaum zur Ablagerung kommt, besteht aus Flocken von so kleinen Abmessungen, daß sie während ihres Transportes über den äußeren Schelf-Regionen suspendiert bleiben. Sie sedimentieren größtenteils in den Becken der Zentral-Adria (mittlere Ablagerungsrate während des Holozäns maximal etwa 1/2 mm pro Jahr) und im bathyalen Becken der Südost-Adria.Der tiefste Teil dieses südöstlichen Beckens wird von einer fast horizontalen Ebene (auf etwa 1218 m Tiefe) eingenommen. Der längste Kern, der in dieser Ebene entnommen wurde (640 cm, wovon 240 cm Holozän), hat ungefähr die folgende Zusammensetzung: 61% Turbidit-Material, 5% vulkanische Asche (Sand- und grobe Schluff-Fraktionen), 0,2% organische Kalkreste (gröber als Schluff) und 34% normaler terrigener Schlick. Die Aschenfälle waren auf die mittleren und südöstlichen Teile der Adria beschränkt.

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Résumé L'auteur donne un bref résumé de la connaissance sédimentologique de la Mer Adriatique (à l'exception des parties le long des côtes Jugoslaves et Albanaises).Des recherches géophysiques indiquent que la surface du calcaire couvert par les dépôts argileux-sableux du Pliocène et du Quaternaire a un relief prononcé. Cette surface atteint des profondeurs maximales (4–6 km) a) entre Ravenna et Rimini, b) entre San Benedetto et Pescara et c) au-dessous du plateau continental Albanais.Les dépôts sableux d'âge Holocène sont limités pratiquement à l'étroite zone du littoral. Par contre, des sables pléistocènes résiduels, d'origine fluviale, couvrent de vastes étendues du plateau continental sous-marin. Entre ces deux zones sableuses, on trouve la bande vaseuse «pro-littorale», où se dépose la plus grande partie de la matière vaseuse terrigène, apportée à la mer sous les conditions actuelles. L'accumulation maximale dans cette zone est probablement de l'ordre de 4 1/2 mm par an.La partie de la vase terrigène qui dépasse cette bande pro-littorale est transportée dans la mer à l'état de flocons d'une taille si petite qu'ils restent en suspension au-dessus des parties extérieures du plateau continental. Ils sont déposés surtout dans les bassins de l'Adriatique Centrale (vitesse moyenne d'accumulation pendant l'Holocène au maximum environ 1/2 mm par an), et dans le bassin bathyal du Sud-Est.La partie la plus profonde dans ce dernier bassin est formée par une plaine presqu' horizontale (à environ 1218 m). La carotte la plus longue, tirée de cette plaine (640 cm, dont 240 cm d'Holocène) est constituée approximativement de 61% de matériel turbiditique, de 5% de matière volcanique (fractions de sable et de silt grossier), 0,2% de restes calcaires organiques (plus grossier que du silt) et 34% de vase terrigène normale. Les chutes de matière volcanique étaient limitées aux parties centrales et sud-orientales de l'Adriatique.

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