Intrusion versus inversion—a 3D density model of the southern rim of the Northwest German Basin

An unsolved problem of regional importance for both the evolution and structure of the Northwest German Basin is the existence or non-existence of the so-called Bramsche Massif. Explaining the nature of this massif and the cause of a related strong, positive Bouguer anomaly (Bramsche Anomaly) is critical. In the study described here, we tested an existing “intrusion model” against a newer “inversion model” in the southern Northwest German Basin. In the intrusion model, the strongly-positive Bouguer anomaly represents the gravity effect of an intrusion at depths between 6 and 10 km. More recent interpretations invoke tectonic inversion rather than intrusion to explain increased burial and the low level of hydrocarbon maturity found in boreholes. We tested these different interpretations by constructing 3D forward density models to 15 km depth. The intrusion model was updated and adjusted to incorporate recent data and we also modelled pre-Zechstein structures using different scenarios. The final model has a very good fit between measured and modelled gravity fields. Based on currently available seismic and structural models, as well as borehole density measurements, we show that the positive Bouguer anomaly cannot be modeled without a high-density, intrusive-like body at depth. However, further in-sight into the crustal structures of the Bramsche region requires more detailed investigations. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

New palaeomagnetic data from Central Iran and a Triassic palaeoreconstruction

New pole positions for Triassic and Cretaceous times have been obtained from volcanic and sedimentary sequences in Central Iran. These new results confirm the general trend of the Apparent Polar Wander Path (APWP) of the Central-East-Iran microplate (CEIM) from the Triassic through the Tertiary as published by Soffel and Förster (1983, 1984). Two new palaeopoles for the Triassic of the CEIM have been obtained; limestones and tuffs from the Nakhlak region yield a mean direction of 094.0°/25.0°, N=12, k=4.1,α ₉₅=24.7°, after bedding correction, corresponding to a palaeopole position of 310.8°E; 3.9°S, and volcanic rocks from the Sirjan regions yield a mean direction of 114.5°/35.1°, N=44, k=45.9,α ₉₅=3.2° after bedding correction and a palaeopole position of 295.8°E; 10.3°N. Combining these with the two previously published results yields a new palaeopole position of 317.5°E; 12.7°N, for the Triassic of the CEIM, thus confirming that large counterclockwise rotations of the CEIM have occurred since the Triassic time. New results have also been obtained from Cretaceous limestones from the Saghand region of the CEIM. The mean direction of 340.7°/26.3°, N=33, k=44.3,α ₉₅=3.8°, and the corresponding palaeopole position of 283.1°E; 64.4°N, is in agreement with previously determined Cretaceous palaeopole positions of the CEIM. Furthermore, results have also been obtained from Triassic dolomite, limestone, sandstone and siltstone from the Natanz region, which is located to the west of the CEIM. A total of 161 specimens from 44 cores taken at five sites gave a mean direction of the five sites at 033.3°/25.1°, N=5, k=69.0,α ₉₅=9.3° and a palaeopole position of 167.2°E; 53.7°N. They pass the positive fold test of McElhinny (1964) on the level of 99% confidence. This pole position is in fairly good agreement with the mean Triassic pole position of the Turan Plate (149°E; 49°N). It indicates that the area of Natanz has not undergone the large counterclockwise rotation relative to the Turan plate since the Triassic, which has been shown for the CEIM. A Triassic palaeogeographic reconstruction of Iran, Arabia (Gondwana) and the Turan Plate (Eurasia) is also presented.     

Did Paleogene North Atlantic rift-related eruptions drive early Eocene climate cooling?

The delivery of volcanogenic sulphur into the upper atmosphere by explosive eruptions is known to cause significant temporary climate cooling. Therefore, phreatomagmatic and phreatoplinian eruptions occurring during the final rifting stages of active flood basalt provinces provide a potent mechanism for triggering climate change.

During the early Eocene, the northeast Atlantic margin was subjected to repeated ashfall for 0.5 m.y. This was the result of extensive phreatomagmatic activity along 3000 km of the opening northeast Atlantic rift. These widespread, predominantly basaltic ashes are now preserved in marine sediments of the Balder Formation and its equivalents, and occur over an area extending from the Faroe Islands to Denmark and southern England. These ash-bearing sediments also contain pollen and spore floras derived from low diversity forests that grew in cooler, drier climates than were experienced either before or after these highly explosive eruptions. In addition, coeval plant macrofossil evidence from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, also shows a comparable pattern of vegetation change. The coincidence of the ashes and cooler climate pollen and spore floras in northwest Europe identifies volcanism as the primary cause of climate cooling. Estimates show that whilst relatively few phreatomagmatic eruptive centres along the 3000 km opening rift system could readily generate 0.5–1 °C cooling, on an annual basis, only persistent or repeated volcanic phases would have been able to achieve the long-term cooling effect observed in the floral record. We propose that the cumulative effect of repeated Balder Formation eruptions initiated a biodiversity crisis in the northeast Atlantic margin forests. Only the decline of this persistent volcanic activity, and the subsequent climatic warming at the start of the Eocene Thermal Maximum allowed the growth of subtropical forests to develop across the region.     

The composition of liquids coexisting with dense hydrous magnesium silicates at 11-13.5 GPa and the endpoints of the solidi in the MgO-SiO2-H2O system

High-pressure liquids in the MgO-SiO₂-H₂O (MSH) system have been investigated at 11 and 13.5 GPa and between 1000 and 1350 °C. A bulk composition more magnesian than the tie-line forsterite-H₂O was employed for the study. Rocking multi-anvil experiments were combined with a diamond trap set-up. After termination of the experiments, the liquid trapped in the diamond layer was analysed by laser ablation ICP-MS using the ‘freezing’ technique. At 11 GPa, liquids coexist with one or two of phase A, clinohumite, chondrodite, and forsterite. A marked discontinuity in the evolution of liquid compositions near 1100 °C is observed at 11 GPa. A step of ∼13 wt% H₂O and 13 wt% MgO is interpreted to result from overstepping the fluid-saturated solidus reaction mass balanced to 1.00(18) phase A + 1.07(4) fluid = 0.63(15) chondrodite + 1.44(2) melt. At 13.5 GPa liquids coexist with one or two of hydrous wadsleyite, clinohumite, superhydrous B, phase B, and forsterite. The discontinuity in liquid composition is no longer present, indicating that the second critical endpoint of the solidus has been overstepped. Thus, hydrous melts in the Mg-rich part of the MSH system (molar bulk Mg/Si > 2) are chemically distinct from aqueous fluids at pressure up to 11 GPa. Convergence of fluid and melt compositions along the solidus resulting in a supercritical liquid occurs between 11 and 13.5 GPa, at which pressure the entire MSH system becomes supercritical.     

Brine-pool deposition for the Zn–Pb–Cu massive sulphide deposits of the Bathurst mining camp, New Brunswick, Canada. II. Ocean anoxia during mineralisation

Current models of massive sulphide ore genesis in the Bathurst mining camp, New Brunswick, involve settling of sulphide particles from a stagnating, low-salinity hydrothermal plume spreading laterally in an anoxic ocean layer with minimal sulphate content. There is fragmentary evidence of ocean anoxia in the form of local fine lamination in the shales that host some of the deposits but the total organic carbon, S, Fe, U/Th, Ni/Co, V/Ni and V/Cr relationships indicate deposition under oxic or dysoxic conditions. Vanadium and Mn values range from oxic to anoxic and sulphate-reducing to non-sulphate reducing but Mn may be anomalously low due to derivation by erosion of acidic volcanic rocks. The somewhat equivocal physical and chemical data, combined with the likely disturbing effects of penecontemporaneous volcanism, considerably weaken the case for an anoxic bottom layer in a static ocean. The presence of barite with ambient seawater ³⁴S values in Brunswick no. 12 ore, and the abundance of sulphate in modern euxinic basin waters, make a sulphate-free layer unlikely, even if anoxic. Sulphate-bearing, low-salinity fluids mixing with seawater would lead to growth of barite-bearing chimneys and baritic rubble mounds, which are not observed. A model involving brine-pool deposition better explains the major features of the Bathurst ores.     

Phosphorus oxynitride PON, a silica analogue: structure and compression of the cristobalite-like phase; P –T phase diagram

 The structure of the cristobalite-like polymorph of phosphorus oxynitride PON has been refined using neutron powder diffraction data. It is tetragonal, space group I&4macr;2d, Z=4. The four P–(O,N) distances are equal but the tetrahedron is compressed along c. In AX₂ or ABX₄ compounds, the tetragonal I&4macr;2d or I&4macr; structure is obtained when the average ratio of the cation to anion radius is below 1.186, whereas the tetragonal P4₁2₁2 or orthorhombic C222₁ structure is obtained at low temperatures for larger ratios. The cell parameters of this PON polymorph have been determined as a function of hydrostatic pressure by in situ angle dispersive X-ray powder diffraction in a diamond-anvil cell. Under truly hydrostatic pressure, a strong anisotropic behavior is observed with the c parameter being nearly incompressible. Very slight anisotropic stress strongly modifies the high-pressure behavior. According to the pressure-temperature conditions of treatment, three phases, cristobalite-, moganite-, and quartz-like, have been obtained by quenching experiments, and the P–T phase diagram of PON was derived. The high-pressure behavior of the α-quartz, moganite, and cristobalite-like polymorphs of PON and SiO₂ is discussed. Received: 7 August 2000 / Accepted: 21 January 2001     

Settling and compaction of chromite cumulates employing a centrifuging piston cylinder and application to layered mafic intrusions

The time scales and mechanics of gravitationally driven crystal settling and compaction is investigated through high temperature (1,280–1,500 °C) centrifuge-assisted experiments on a chromite-basalt melt system at 100–1,500g (0.5 GPa). Subsequently, the feasibility of this process for the formation of dense chromite cumulate layers in large layered mafic intrusions (LMIs) is assessed. Centrifugation leads to a single cumulate layer formed at the gravitational bottom of the capsule. The experimentally observed mechanical settling velocity of a suspension of ~24 vol% chromite is calculated to be about half (~0.53) of the Stokes settling velocity, with a sedimentation exponent n of 2.35 (3). Gravitational settling leads to an orthocumulate layer with a porosity of 0.52 (all porosities as fraction). Formation times for such a layer from a magma with initial chromite contents of 0.1–1 vol% are 140–3.5 days, equal to a growth rate of 0.007–0.3 m/day for grain sizes of 1–2 mm. More compacted chromite layers form with increasing centrifugation time and acceleration through chemical compaction: An increase of grain contact areas and grain sizes together with a decrease in porosity is best explained by pressure dissolution at grain contacts, reprecipitation and grain growth into the intergranular space and a concomitant expulsion of intergranular melt. The relation between the porosity in the cumulate pile and effective pressure integrated over time (Δρ · h · a · t) is best fit with a logarithmic function, in fact confirming that a (pressure) dissolution–reprecipitation process is the dominant mechanism of compaction. The experimentally derived equation allows calculating compaction times: 70–80 % chromite at the bottom of a 1-m-thick chromite layer are reached after 9–250 years, whereas equivalent compaction times are 0.2–0.9 years for olivine (both for 2 mm grain size). The experiments allow to determine the bulk viscosities of chromite and olivine cumulates to be of magnitude 10⁹ Pa s, much lower than previously reported. As long as melt escape from the compacting cumulate remains homogeneous, fluidization does not play any role; however, channelized melt flow may lead to suspension and upward movement of cumulate crystals. In LMIs, chromitite layers are typically part of a sequence with layers of mafic minerals, compaction occurs under the additional weight of the overlying layers and can be achieved in a few years to decades.