Late Quaternary primary tephras in Sacred Lake sediments, northeast Mount Kenya, Kenya

In this paper, a sequence of five Late Quaternary tephras occurring as discrete, well-preserved horizons in lake sediments on the northeastern flank of Mount Kenya are characterised and their ages determined by a combination of high-resolution indirect radiocarbon dating and direct dating. The grain size characteristics suggest that the tephras are of fairly local origin. These Na---K-rich alkali pyroclasts with a trachytic chemical composition have a highly correlated chemistry and mineralogy, suggesting that they were probably derived from the same genetic series and possibly erupted from a single source vent. Morphological differences are attributed to the peculiar characteristics of each eruption episode. The magma source was probably a small, highly differentiated magma chamber following the olivine basalt-trachyandesite-trachyte-phonolite series, which broadly reflects the Quaternary rock suite of Mount Kenya.     

Carbonatites from Eastern Paraguay and genetic relationships with potassic magmatism: C, O, Sr and Nd Isotopes

Summary Geochemical characteristics were systematically determined for Early Cretaceous samples of carbonatitic rocks from Eastern Paraguay (Rio Apa, Amambay and Central Provinces). The data show that all the occurrences have an enriched isotopic signature and that the carbonatites have negligible or absent crustal signature. A petrogenetic model (parent liquids, fractional crystallization, hydrothermal interactions and weathering) is proposed as a function of incompatible trace element, stable (O-C) and radiogenic (Sr-Nd) isotope variations with the aim to test the significance of carbonatitic complexes as a marker of the metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The results indicate that the carbonatites and primary carbonates from eastern Paraguay, and those from the north eastern Paraná Basin (SE Brazil), were affected by metasomatic events distinct in time and composition.

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Karbonatite aus Ost-Paraguay und ihre genetische Beziehung zu Kalium-Magmatismus: C O, Sr und Nd isotope

Zusammenfassung Die geochemischen Charakteristika von frühkretazischen Karbonatitproben aus Ostparaguay (Rio Alpa, Amambay und Zentrale Provinzen) wurden untersucht. Die Daten belegen, daß alle Vorkommen eine isotopische Anreicherungssignatur zeigen und daß ihnen eine entsprechende Krustensignatur fehlt. Ein Petrologisches Modell (Ausgangsschmelze, fraktionierte Kristallisation, hydrothermale Interaktion und Verwitterung) wird auf Grund der Verteilung der inkompatiblen Spurenelemente, der stabilen (C-O) und radiogenen (Sr-Nd) Isotope vorgeschlagen. Es versucht die Bedeutung der Karbonatitkomplexe als Markerhorizonte des metasomatischen subkontinentalen Mantels zu überprüfen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die Karbonatite und die primären Karbonate in Ostparaguay, und jene aus dem Paraná Becken SüdostBrasiliens durch zeitlich und zusammensetzungsmäßig unterschiedliche metasomatische Prozesse erfaßt wurden.

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With 10 Figures     

Transmission electron microscopy of subsolidus oxidation and weathering of olivine

Olivine crystals in basaltic andesites which crop out in the Abert Rim, south-central Oregon have been studied by high-resolution and analytical transmission electron microscopy. The observations reveal three distinct assemblages of alteration products that seem to correspond to three episodes of olivine oxidation. The olivine crystals contain rare, dense arrays of coherently intergrown Ti-free magnetite and inclusions of a phase inferred to be amorphous silica. We interpret this first assemblage to be the product of an early subsolidus oxidation event in the lava. The second olivine alteration assemblage contains complex ordered intergrowths on (001) of forsterite-rich olivine and laihunite (distorted olivine structure with Fe³⁺ charge balanced by vacancies). Based on experimental results for laihunite synthesis (Kondoh et al. 1985), these intergrowths probably formed by olivine oxidation between 400 and 800°C. The third episode of alteration involves the destruction of olivine by low-temperature hydrothermal alteration and weathering. Elongate etch-pits and channels in the margins of fresh olivine crystals contain semi-oriented bands of smectite. Olivine weathers to smectite and hematite, and subsequently to arrays of oriented hematite crystals. The textures resemble those reported by Eggleton (1984) and Smith et al. (1987). We find no evidence for a metastable phase intermediate between olivine and smectite (M — Eggleton 1984). The presence of laihunite exerts a strong control on the geometry of olivine weathering. Single laihunite layers and laihunite-forsteritic olivine intergrowths increase the resistance of crystals to weathering. Preferential development of channels between laihunite layers occurs where growth of laihunite produced compositional variations in olivine, rather than where coherency-strain is associated with laihunite-olivine interfaces.     

The System CaO-CO2-H2O and the Origin of Carbonatites

The ternary isobaric (TX) prism for the system CaO–CO₂–H₂Owas determined at 1,000 bars pressure between 600? C and 1,320?C. At this pressure, calcite melts incongruently at 1,310? C,portlandite (Ca(OH)₂) melts congruently at 835? C, a binaryeutectic exists between calcite and portlandite at 685? C, meltingbegins at 740? C on the join calcite-water and the univariant(isobaric invariant) equilibria lime?calcite?portlandite?liquidand calcite?portlandite?liquid?vapour occur at 683? C and 675?C, respectively. The latter is the minimum liquidus temperaturein the TX prism, and the composition of this liquid is 65CaO,19CO₂, 16H₂O (in weight per cent). PT curves were determinedfor several univariant equilibria. In the binary system CaO-H₂O,four univariant curves meet at an invariant point, at 810? Cand 100 bars pressure. Portlandite dissociates only at pressuresbelow this point. The minimum liquidus temperature in the ternarysystem varies between 685? C and 640? C in the pressure interval27 bars to 4, 000 bars. Liquids in the system are regarded as simplified carbonatitemagmas in which CaO represents the basic oxides, and CO₂ andH₂O the volatile constituents. The liquids have low viscosityas indicated by the rapid attainment of equilibrium and theobservation that crystal settling takes place in 15-min runs.The existence of such liquids at moderate temperatures througha wide pressure range leaves little reason to doubt a magmaticorigin for those carbonatites which appear to be intrusive.Differentiation could occur in multicomponent magmas by separationof the successive liquid fractions produced by crystallizationof calcite, dolomite, and siderite. The determined phase relationsdo not favour an origin by gas transfer. The results also suggestthat partial melting of limestones is likely at igneous contacts,and that impure limestones may be partially melted during high-graderegional metamorphism.     

Unscrambling the stratigraphy of an Archean greenstone belt; a U---Pb geochronological study of the Favourable Lake belt, northwestern Ontario, Canada

New zircon and baddeleyite U---Pb ages show that the major units of the Archean Favourable Lake greenstone belt in the northern Superior Province were formed by episodic magmatism spanning more than 250 Ma and demonstrate that the original stratigraphy is disrupted by thrusts that juxtaposed older supracrustal rocks on top of younger ones. The oldest rocks of the area are a 2950 Ma gneissic tonalite and a 3000-2960 Ma granodiorite clast from a ca. 2725 Ma conglomerate. Five distinct volcanic (and sedimentary) groups formed during presumably short-lived episodes at 2925 Ma (I), 2870 Ma (II), 2858 Ma (III), 2734 Ma (IV), and 2725 Ma (V). The youngest group contains the thickest sedimentary unit, a turbiditic and alluvial-fluvial sequence. Compression caused thrusting that placed Groups I and V on top of IV, III on V, and II on III. The thrust complex was subsequently isoclinally folded. Compression was accompanied by major plutonism that emplaced the bulk of the bounding batholiths between 2732 and 2711 Ma ago. The late tectonic, Mo-mineralized Setting Net Lake Stock in the centre of the belt has an age of about 2708 Ma and was overprinted by younger hydrothermal events that produced monazite (2706 Ma), titanite (ca. 2695-2690 Ma) and rutile (the youngest rutile at 2657 Ma). Similar late hydrothermal pulses are recorded by secondary titanite elsewhere in the belt and within the batholiths. The protracted magmatic evolution of the belt is typical of that observed in a number of greenstone belts of the northern Superior Province but is uncommon farther to the south. In contrast, the structural complications and put-of-sequence stratigraphy appear to be a quite common tectonic characteristic of greenstone belts of the whole Superior Province.     

Convection driven by centrifugal bouyancy in a rotating annulus

Abstract

Drift rates and amplitudes of convection columns driven by centrifugal bouyancy in a cylindrical fluid annulus rotating about a vertical axis have been measured by thermistor probes. Conical top and bottom boundaries of the annular fluid region are responsible for the prograde Rossby wave like dynamics of the convection columns. A constant positive temperature difference between the outer and the inner cylindrical boundaries is generated by the circulation of thermostatically controled water. Mercury and water have been used as converting fluids. The measurements extend the earlier visual observations of Busse and Carrigan (1974) and provide quantitative data for an eventual comparison with nonlinear theories of thermal Rossby waves. The measured drift frequencies are in general agreement with linear theory. Of particular interest is the decline of the amplitude of convection with increasing Rayleigh number in a region beyond the onset of convection.     

Abundance and seasonality of infauna and epifauna inhabiting a Halodule wrightii meadow in Apalachicola Bay,Florida

The fauna inhabiting a Halodule wrightii meadow in Apalachicola Bay, Florida, was studied from March 1975 through Feburary 1976. The infaunal community was sampled by monthly coring. Fifty-eight species were recorded, averaging 35 species per month. A maximum faunal abundance of 104,338 organisms per m² in April was one of the highest infaunal densities recorded in the literature. Sixteen species accounted for 84% of the total numbers and 80% of the total biomass over the study period. Numerical dominants were Hargeria rapax, Heteromastus filiformis, Ampelisca vadorum, Aricidea fragilis, and oligochaetes. Biomass dominants were Tagelus plebeius, Neritina reclivata, Ensis minor, and Haploscoloplos fragilis. Life history notes are given for several dominant species. Epibenthic fishes and macroinvertebrates were sampled by monthly trawling. Twenty-three species of fishes (mostly juveniles) were collected near the coring site, with most species and individuals recorded during the months May through September. Bairdiella chrysoura, Orthopristis chrysoptera, and Lagodon rhomboides comprised 76% of the total fish numbers. Eleven species of macroinvertebrates were collected mainly in June and July. Callinectes sapidus comprised 61% of the total invertebrate numbers. It is postulated that the influx of juvenile fishes and crabs into the Halodule meadow in summer months leads to a coincident decline in infaunal population densities (number per m²) through predation. Infaunal biomasses are largely unaffected by these predators since the biomass dominants are large or deep-burrowing species.     

Paleomagnetic and palynologic analyses of Albian to Santonian strata at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant, and Khuren Dukh, eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Cretaceous terrestrial sediments deposited in a series of intracratonic basins across the Gobi Desert region of southern Mongolia and northern China contain a unique and diverse vertebrate fauna. In 1996 an expedition jointly sponsored by the Mongolian Paleontological Center and the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences revisited a number of famous vertebrate fossil localities in the eastern Gobi region of Mongolia and, as part of a broad geological and paleontological study, collected a series of paleomagnetic samples from measured sections at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant and Khuren Dukh, as well as from an unmeasured locality adjacent to Khuren Dukh. Expedition members also collected palynologic samples from Khuren Dukh and the adjacent locality. Paleomagnetic analysis shows that all the sites from which samples were collected display detrital remnant magnetization that is consistently normal in polarity. The measured Cretaceous magnetic directions are oriented to the east or northeast of the present day expected direction (declination 356.2°, inclination 65.2°), and they are wholly concordant with that expected for a mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere sampling locality, and with the directions for this period reported by other workers. These results, when considered in tandem with the known biostratigraphy, strongly suggest that the sedimentary deposits at all four localities in the eastern Gobi correlate to the normal polarity chron 34 (the Cretaceous Long Normal), which ranges in age from approximately 121 to 83.5 million years. Previous vertebrate, invertebrate and palynological data from Khuren Dukh suggest that the lower and middle parts of the stratigraphic interval exposed there (which have been assigned to the Shinekhudag Formation) are ‘Khukhtekian’ in age and correspond to the Aptian–Albian interval that can be broadly correlated to the older, Early Cretaceous part of the Cretaceous Long Normal, C34n. New palynologic data presented here indicate that these strata are no older than middle to late Albian. The rocks at Bayn Shireh (the Bayn Shireh Formation) have been assigned a ‘Baynshirenian’ biostratigraphic age that may range from Cenomanian to early Campanian. The magnetostratigraphy results presented here indicate that the strata at both the Bayn Shireh and Burkhant localities do not cross the Santonian/Campanian Stage boundary, however, as this is believed to lie at, or very near, the C34n/C33r reversal boundary. Thus, the Bayn Shireh Formation was most likely deposited near the end of the Cretaceous Long Normal Interval, no later than the latest Santonian.