The Regional Research Laboratory initiative A progress report

Abstract

This paper outlines the origins and objectives of the four multidisciplinary Regional Research Laboratories (RRLs) established in Great Britain by the Economic and Social Research Council at Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Newcastle, and describes the work undertaken in the first 6 months of the trial phase. The RRLs will have four main functions, viz., data management, software development, spatial analysis and research training. An example is given of the work undertaken at each RRL, viz., a general purpose system for the display and query of large spatially-referenced data sets, an integrated spatial database for south-east England, a health care planning information system for the County of Avon and a target marketing system. The trial phase of this initiative is then evaluated in terms of its laboratory, research and regional dimensions     

Biotites as Indicators of Fluorine Fugacities in Late-Stage Magmatic Fluids: the Gardar Province of South Greenland

The major element chemistry and fluorine contents of biotitesfrom the Gardar alkaline province of South Greenland providean insight into the F contents of late-stage fluids associatedwith the magmatism. Biotites were taken from composite intrusionsranging from alkali gabbro to syenites, nepheline syenites andalkali granites. In each complex they show a large range ofFe/(Fe+Mg) (from 0•2 to 1) and exhibit strong Fe-F avoidance.There is considerable variation in F for any value of Fe/(Fe+Mg)but for each centre maximum F values plotted against Fe/(Fe+Mg)define a nearly straight line of characteristic slope towardslow or zero F at pure annite. Micas in the SiO₂ undersaturatedcentres have higher F contents than those from oversaturatedcentres. Cl is low (0•69 wt%) except in the Kûngnâtintrusion, where it reaches 1•4 wt%. Phase equilibriumand textural considerations suggest that most or all biotitesgrew subsolidus in a pervasive deuteric fluid. ¹⁸O values suggestthat these fluids were largely magmatic in character and thatextensive reactions with envelope fluids did not occur. Metasomaticresetting of F in biotites in early intrusive units in the aureoleof later units can be demonstrated. Experimental data of Munoz (Mineralogical Society of America,Reviews in Mineralogy 13, 469–494, 1984) were used tocalculate families of curves showing variation in F with Fe/(Fe+Mg)for biotites in equilibrium with fluids of fixed fugacity ratio,f(HF)/f(H₂O), at fixed P and T. The resulting curves cut sharplyacross the maximum fluorine lines observed in the natural examples.As it seems highly unlikely that changes in fluid compositionand T, acting together, could produce the observed linear relationship,we conclude that the partitioning of F between fluid and micain the plutonic environment is not well modelled by the experiments.Possible explanations are short-range order (SRO) of Fe andMg on octahedral sites in biotite (Mason, Canadian Mineralogist30, 343–354, 1992) or effects resulting from differentF speciation in alkaline fluids. If perfect Fe-F avoidance isassumed, Fe-Mg SRO can increase maximum F content. The F levelsseen in the silica-saturated centres are broadly consistentwith a cooling-rate related control. It is possible that thehigher F in biotites in the undersaturated centres reflectsdifferent speciation in the fluid rather than higher F contents,with strongly bound SiF₄° complexes more common. KEY WORDS: biotites; Gardar; fluorine; alkaline rocks; fluids     

Stages in a Precambrian dolomitization, Scotland: cementing versus replacement textures

Dolomitization in member 1 of the Dalradian Bonahaven Formation of Islay was sequential. The sediments studied are siliciclastic tidal flat deposits, which originally contained pebbles of ferroan dolomicrite and sandy dolomicrite (type 1 dolomite). Following burial, both dolomicrite and clay-stone pebbles, and possibly other carbonates, were replaced by coarser, fluid-inclusion-bearing, chemically zoned (type 2) dolomite. Ferroan, inclusion-free, intergranular dolomite (type 3) in sandstones may be synchronous with late zones of type 2 dolomite which it closely resembles. Cathodoluminescence and microprobe analyses of type 2 dolomite characterize four ubiquitous growth stages within which there was considerable fluctuation in Fe and Mn content. There was much variation between and within samples in terms of timing of nucleation, absolute speed of growth and relative growth rate of crystals. Type 2 dolomite displays two types of intracrystalline truncation surfaces explicable by dissolution followed by overgrowth, or by replacement by a moving solution film. Type A is characterized by a single later zone cutting across earlier ones along the line of an irregular truncation surface which developed from the edges of the crystals. In type B truncations it is the interior, rather than the edges of crystals which show truncation, the truncations forming smooth closed surfaces which enclose areas filled centripetally with new zones. In general, dolomite has a pronounced tendency to form crystal faces, and thus compromise crystal boundaries, during replacement as well as during cementation. Thus, if nucleation of crystals is restricted to the margins of an area to be replaced, replacive dolomite is capable of completely mimicking a vug-filling texture.     

The hydrodynamics of particle clusters and sediment entrapment in coarse alluvial channels

ABSTRACT Particles projecting from the bed of an alluvial channel distort the fluid stream to produce a distinctive pressure field. This has considerable significance for both the entrapment and entrainment of other particles and is a primary cause of the widespread occurrence of pebble clusters and boulder shadows. Lift and drag forces are determined on clustered hemispherical particles of varying size. In the wake of an obstructing particle both forces are shown to vary directly with particle separation in a linear fashion. On the stoss side of the cluster, drag is uniform regardless of the separation of the component particles, but lift is shown to increase when particle separation is small, so affecting stability. This mutual interference of neighbouring clustered bed particles is a vital consideration of incipient motion and is shown by field evidence to cause a wide range in transport stage for particles of similar size and shape. On average, 46% of clustered particles are entrained by flood flow compared to 87% of particles in open plane-beds. The influence of clusters is a major determinant of sedimentary sorting.     

Silicic Magma Formation in Overthickened Crust: Melting of Charnockite and Leucogranite at 15, 20 and 25 kbar

Two models of silicic magma formation have been experimentallytested: (1) generation of A-type granite magma by partial meltingof crustal source rocks at depths >50 km; (2) productionof syenite magma by partial melting of quartzofeldspathic rocksat pressures >15 kbar. Melting experiments at 15, 20 and25 kbar were performed on Archaean biotite-bearing charnockiteof opx-bearing granodiorite composition, and on leucogranite.Most experiments were conducted with oxalic acid (OA) to provide2 wt % H₂O and     

Fluid Flow During Contact Metamorphism at Mary Kathleen, Queensland, Australia

Corella marbles in the Mary Kathleen Fold Belt were infiltratedby fluids during low-pressure (200-MPa) contact metamorphismassociated with the intrusion of the Burstall granite at 1730–1740Ma. Fluids emanating from the granite [whole-rock (WR) ¹⁸O=8.1–8.6%]produced Fe-rich massive and banded garnet—clinopyroxeneskarns [¹⁸O(WR)=9.1–11.9%]. Outside the skarn zones, marblemineralogies define an increase in temperature (500 to >575C) and XCO₂ (0.05 to >0.12) towards the granite, andmost marbles contain isobarically univariant or invariant assemblagesin the end-member CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–CO₂system. Marbles have calcite (Cc) ¹⁸O and ¹³C values of 12.3–24.6%and –1.0 to –3.9%, respectively. A lack of down-temperaturemineral reactions in the marbles suggests that pervasive fluidinfiltration did not continue after the thermal peak of contactmetamorphism. The timing of fluid flow probably correspondsto a period of high fluid production and high intrinsic permeabilitiesduring prograde contact metamorphism. The petrology and stableisotope geochemistry of the marbles suggest that these rockswere infiltrated by water-rich fluids. If fluid flow occurredup to the peak of contact metamorphism, the mineralogical andisotopic resetting is best explained by fluids flowing up-temperaturetoward the Burstall granite. However, if fluid flow ceased beforthe peak of regional metamorphism, the fluid flow directioncannot be unambiguously determined. At individual outcrops,marble ¹⁸O(Cc) values vary by several permil over a few squaremetres, suggesting that fluid fluxes varied by at least an orderof magnitude on the metre to tens-of-metre scale. Fluids werefocused across lithological layering; however, mesoscopic fracturesare not recognized. The focusing of fluids was possibly viamicrofractures, and the variation in the degree of resettingmay reflect variations in microcrack density and fracture permeability.The marble—skarn contacts represent a sharp discontinuityin both major element geochemistry and ¹⁸O values, suggestingthat, at least locally, little fluid flow occurred across thesecontacts.     

FLUCTUATIONS OF CRILLON GLACIER SYSTEM,SOUTHEAST ALASKA

Abstract

Crillon Glacier system (Lat. 58° 37′ N, Long. 137° 23′w) consisting of two long feeding arms and a common T-shaped ending along the Fairweather Fault, with two cliffed termini, has been advancing. La Perouse's sketch map in 1786 suggests that North and South Crillon Glaciers were back far enough to have separate termini in Lituya Bay, so they must have advanced at about 30 m/yr for 150 years. More detailed maps and photos show that North Crillon terminus did advance 28 m/yr into open water positions from 1894 to 1933. Some of this 4.5 km advance may well be just the result of consolidation of two long calving ice cliffs into one deep water front.

South Crillon front in the other arm of the “T”, where no junction of fronts is involved, also advanced into Crillon Lake 10 m/yr between 1929 and 1961. This implies that the basic cause was some increased snowfall on the high mountains. At the same time glaciers from lower peaks just to the east of Glacier Bay lost nearly all accumulation by a rising snowline and receded 5 to 11 km.

Since 1926 the Lituya Bay terminus has been more or less stable where it lies in water; however, the land portion has advanced 25 m/yr since 1948. Between about 1920 and 1961 a large gravel delta appeared and grew to 145 × 10⁶ m³, so this slow ice advance on one side of the front may be due to ice shearing over the new land of the fan where ablation is slower than watercliff calving.

Prehistoric advances of Crillon Glacier system are recorded in stratigraphic deposits dated by C-14. Trees buried in the prominent extensive outer moraine system around Crillon Lake and Lituya Bay were annihilated in the maximal push of the Little Ice Age 400 to 1000 years ago. The first advance came 1500 to 1800 years ago when logs became buried in glacial outwash, now under Little Ice Age till. Because it is regional, this was a climatic event involving a lowering snowline due to cooler summers.

Still further back, in hypsithermal time, these Crillon Glacier termini were probably as retracted as today, because many outcrops of buried forest 3000 to 9000 years old occur in alluvial deposits in Lituya Bay. Underneath all these is outwash gravel and till recording the last push of Wisconsin ice, ending at least 9000 years ago. Still earlier Wisconsin advances of North Crillon Glacier carried the Lituya Bay ice tongue a little further to sea, yet all through the pleistocene, unglaciated refugia endured between the ice streams.     

A seasonally ''dry'' interglacial climate in eastern England during the early Middle Pleistocene: palaeopedological and stable isotopic evidence from Pakefield, UK

The pedology and the isotope geochemistry of the early Middle Pleistocene interglacial 'rootlet bed' at Pakefield, eastern England, record the climate when this unit accumulated. Horizons of nodular pedogenic calcrete indicate the existence of a strongly seasonal precipitation regime that produced a pronounced net soil moisture deficit during which secondary carbonate was precipitated. The isotopic composition of these nodules confirms the seasonality of annual precipitation, as this indicates that intense soil moisture evaporation was a major mechanism in secondary carbonate formation. The climatic interpretation is enhanced by the palaeoecology of the unit that indicates average summer temperatures significantly warmer than those of the present. The climate of this period was, therefore, different from that of the present day in terms of both temperature and the seasonality of precipitation. Although it has previously been shown that certain interglacial periods in northwest Europe were warmer than the Holocene, this is the first study to show that the precipitation regime of one such episode may also have been significantly different.     

Geophysical evidence for Holocene lake-level change in southern California (Dry Lake)

Bird, B. W., Kirby, M. E., Howat, I. M. & Tulaczyk, S. 2009: Geophysical evidence for Holocene lake-level change in southern California (Dry Lake). Boreas , 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2009.00114.x. ISSN 0300-9483.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) data are used in combination with previously published sediment cores to develop a Holocene history of basin sedimentation in a small, alpine lake in southern California (Dry Lake). The GPR data identify three depositional sequences spanning the past 9000 calendar years before present (cal. yr BP). Sequence I represents the first phase of an early Holocene highstand. A regression between <8320 and >8120 cal. yr BP separates Sequence I from Sequence II, perhaps associated with the 8200 cal. yr BP cold event. Sequence II represents the second phase of the early-to-mid Holocene highstand. Sequence IIIa represents a permanent shift to predominantly low lake stands beginning ∼5550 cal. yr BP. This mid-Holocene shift was accompanied by a dramatic decrease in sedimentation rate as well as a contraction of the basin's area of sedimentation. By ∼1860 cal. yr BP (Sequence IIIb), the lake was restricted to the modern, central basin. Taken together, the GPR and core data indicate a wet early Holocene followed by a long-term Holocene drying trend. The similarity in ages of the early Holocene highstand across the greater southern California region suggests a common external forcing – perhaps modulation of early Holocene storm activity by insolation. However, regional lake level records are less congruous following the initial early Holocene highstand, which may indicate a change in the spatial domain of climate forcing(s) throughout the Holocene in western North America.