Role of tectonic-sedimentary melange and Permian–Triassic cover units,central southern Turkey in Tethyan continental margin evolution

Melanges play a key role in the interpretation of orogenic belts, including those that have experienced deformation and metamorphism during continental collision. This is exemplified by a Palaeozoic tectonic-sedimentary melange (part of the Konya complex) that is exposed beneath a regionally metamorphosed carbonate platform near the city of Konya in central Anatolia. The Konya complex as a whole comprises three units: a dismembered, latest Silurian–Early Carboniferous carbonate platform, a Carboniferous melange made up of sedimentary and igneous blocks in a sedimentary matrix (also known as the Hal?c? Group or S?zma Group), and an overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?). The Palaeozoic carbonates accumulated on a subsiding carbonate platform that bordered the northern margin of Gondwana, perhaps as an off-margin unit. The matrix of the melange was mainly deposited as turbidites, debris flows and background terrigenous muds. Petrographic evidence shows that the clastic sediments were mostly derived from granitic and psammitic/pelitic metamorphic rocks, typical of upper continental crust. Both extension- and contraction-related origins of the melange can be considered. However, we interpret the melange as a Carboniferous subduction complex that formed along the northern margin of Gondwana, related to partial closure of Palaeotethys. Blocks and slices of Upper Palaeozoic radiolarian chert, basic igneous rocks and shallow-water carbonates were accreted and locally reworked by gravity processes. Large (up to km-sized) blocks and slices of shallow-water limestone were emplaced in response to collision of the Palaeozoic Carbonate Platform with the subduction zone. The overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?) comprises alkaline lava flows, interbedded with volcaniclastic debris flows and turbidites, volcanogenic shales and tuff. The complex as a whole is overlain by shallow-water, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sediments of mainly Late Permian age that accumulated on a regional-scale shelf adjacent to Gondwana. Successions pass transitionally into Lower Triassic rift-related shallow-water carbonates and terrigenous sandstones in the southwest of the area. In contrast, Triassic sediments in the southeast overlie the melange unconformably and pass upwards from non-marine clastic sediments into shallow-marine calcareous sediments of Mid-Triassic age, marking the base of a regional Mesozoic carbonate platform. During the latest Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic the entire assemblage subducted northwards and underwent high pressure/low temperature metamorphism and polyphase folding as a part of the regional Anatolide unit.     

The significance of chemical,isotopic, and detrital components in three coeval stalagmites from the superhumid southernmost Andes (53°S) as high-resolution palaeo-climate proxies

Stalagmites are important palaeo-climatic archives since their chemical and isotopic signatures have the potential to record high-resolution changes in temperature and precipitation over thousands of years. We present three U/Th-dated records of stalagmites (MA1–MA3) in the superhumid southern Andes, Chile (53°S). They grew simultaneously during the last five thousand years (ka BP) in a cave that developed in schist and granodiorite. Major and trace elements as well as the C and O isotope compositions of the stalagmites were analysed at high spatial and temporal resolution as proxies for palaeo-temperature and palaeo-precipitation. Calibrations are based on data from five years of monitoring the climate and hydrology inside and outside the cave and on data from 100 years of regional weather station records.Water-insoluble elements such as Y and HREE in the stalagmites indicate the amount of incorporated siliciclastic detritus. Monitoring shows that the quantity of detritus is controlled by the drip water rate once a threshold level has been exceeded. In general, drip rate variations of the stalagmites depend on the amount of rainfall. However, different drip-water pathways above each drip location gave rise to individual drip rate levels. Only one of the three stalagmites (MA1) had sufficiently high drip rates to record detrital proxies over its complete length. Carbonate-compatible element contents (e.g. U, Sr, Mg), which were measured up to sub-annual resolution, document changes in meteoric precipitation and related drip-water dilution. In addition, these soluble elements are controlled by leaching during weathering of the host rock and soils depending on the pH of acidic pore waters in the peaty soils of the cave’s catchment area. In general, higher rainfall resulted in a lower concentration of these elements and vice versa. The Mg/Ca record of stalagmite MA1 was calibrated against meteoric precipitation records for the last 100 years from two regional weather stations. Carbonate-compatible soluble elements show similar patterns in the three stalagmites with generally high values when drip rates and detrital tracers were low and vice versa. δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values are highly correlated in each stalagmite suggesting a predominantly drip rate dependent kinetic control by evaporation and/or outgassing. Only C and O isotopes from stalagmite MA1 that received the highest drip rates show a good correlation between detrital proxy elements and carbonate-compatible elements. A temperature-related change in rainwater isotope values modified the MA1 record during the Little Ice Age (～0.7–0.1 ka BP) that was ～1.5 °C colder than today. The isotopic composition of the stalagmites MA2 and MA3 that formed at lower drip rates shows a poor correlation with stalagmite MA1 and all other chemical proxies of MA1. ‘Hendy tests’ indicate that the degassing-controlled isotope fractionation of MA2 and MA3 had already started at the cave roof, especially when drip rates were low. Changing pathways and residence times of the seepage water caused a non-climatically controlled isotope fractionation, which may be generally important in ventilated caves during phases of low drip rates. Our proxies indicate that the Neoglacial cold phases from ～3.5 to 2.5 and from ～0.7 to 0.1 ka BP were characterised by 30% lower precipitation compared with the Medieval Warm Period from 1.2 to 0.8 ka BP, which was extremely humid in this region.     

Two-dimensional spectroscopic time series of solar granulation

In this paper we investigate the dynamics of the solar granulation by analyzing time series of 2D spatially highly resolved spectrograms. These were obtained by spatial scans covering a field of 12 8″ × 20″. The advantage of this method is a high spectral resolution, however, the data are not taken simultaneously and to cover the field described above 50 exposures taken sequentially in time are necessary. Therefore, to obtain one map about 2 minutes are required. Plots of the evolution of different line parameters are given as well as the decay of correlation functions. The correlations between the first map of line parameters and successive maps (which are separated by about 2 minutes) were investigated showing a rapid decay down to a correlation coefficient of 0.4 within 4 minutes, the velocity pattern in the field observed varies on smaller time scales. The temporal variation of correlation between the line parameters for the different lines shows a periodic signal related to 5-min oscillations which could not be totally filtered. The evolution of the correlation functions between line parameters is analyzed which gives an error estimate of all correlation values found in the literature. For the first time it is explicitly shown how evolution in a selected photospheric field influences the evolution of granular/intergranular structures.     

Die Farbe des Himmels: II

Zusammenfassung Unter Verwendung der in einer früheren Untersuchung(1) mitgeteilten Formeln werden Farbton, Sättigung und Leuchtdichte des gesamten Himmels unter exakter Berechnung der sekundären Streuung in einer dunstgetrübten Atmosphäre bestimmt. Es zeigt sich dabei, dass der vonWiener undBernhardt gemachte Versuch, die Vielfachstreuung durch Einsetzen und Summieren einer geometrischen Reihe für primäre, sekundäre usw. Streuung zu approximieren, fehlerhafte Ergebnisse liefern muss, weil das Verhältnis sekundär: primär stellenweise>1 wird. In dem durch die Sonne gehenden Horizontalkreis bleiben Farbton und Sättigung konstant und nur die Leuchtdichte ändert sich in den Fällen, dass lediglich die molekulare Streuung (ungetrübte Atmosphäre) oder lediglich die Dunststreuung (grosse Trübung, nahe der Sonne) wirksam ist.—Der Einfluss einer geänderten Grössenverteilung des Aerosols wird untersucht.

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Summary Using formulas given in a former investigation (1), we computed the colour, saturation and brightness of the whole sky. With this, the secondary scattering of a turbid atmosphere was exactly determined. It is shown that wrong values will result by use ofWiener's method of approximating the multiple scattering by a geometrical series of primary, secondary a.s.o. scattering, because at some parts of the sky the proportion of secondary: primary is >1. In the horizontal circle through the sun, colour shade and saturation are constant and only the brightness varies, if either only molecular scattering (unturbid atmosphere) or only haze scattering (strong turbidity, small distance from the sun) dominates. Further, the influence of variations of the seize distribution of the aerosol is investigated.

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Résumé En utilisant les formules communiquées dans une publication antérieure (1) la couleur, la saturation et la luminosité du ciel entier sont calculés en tenant compte de la réfraction secondaire dans une atmosphère brumeuse. On constate que l'essai deWiener etBernhardt d'approcher la réfraction multiple par une progression géométrique pour la réfraction primaire, secondaire etc. doit mener à des faux résultats parce que la proportion de secondaire: primaire devient en partie >1. Dans le plan horizontal passant par le soleil, la couleur et la saturation restent de même; seulement la luminosité change dans le cas ou seul la réfraction moléculaire (atmosphère non troublée) ou seul la réfraction brumeuse (beaucoup de brume, tout près du soleil) sont efficaces. L'influence d'une autre répartition de grandeur de l'aérosole est examinée.