The age of the Kara impact structure,Russia

Abstract— For the ～65 km sized Kara impact structure close to the polar Ural, we report an age of 70.3 ± 2.2 Ma (2s?), defined by the mean of ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar plateau ages for three glassy or crystalline impact melt rocks cleaned from mineral and rock clasts. The fine structure of the age spectra of these samples can quantitatively be simulated by modeling taking into account ³⁹Ar recoil effects, without assuming the presence of excess Ar. The calculations corroborate our age results by showing that ³⁹Ar recoil does not affect the plateau fractions. Previously, Kara has been proposed as a probable K/T impact site or was related to the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary at 73 Ma. At the 2s? level, both suggestions are ruled out by the well-constrained age for the Kara impact structure.     

Late Quaternary deposition and facies model for karstic Lake Estanya (North-eastern Spain)

Lake Estanya is a small (19 ha), freshwater to brackish, monomictic lake formed by the coalescence of two karstic sinkholes with maximum water depths of 12 and 20 m, located in the Pre‐Pyrenean Ranges (North‐eastern Spain). The lake is hydrologically closed and the water balance is controlled mostly by groundwater input and evaporation. Three main modern depositional sub‐environments can be recognized as: (i) a carbonate‐producing ‘littoral platform’; (ii) a steep ‘talus’ dominated by reworking of littoral sediments and mass‐wasting processes; and (iii) an ‘offshore, distal area’, seasonally affected by anoxia with fine‐grained, clastic sediment deposition. A seismic survey identified up to 15 m thick sedimentary infill comprising: (i) a ‘basal unit’, seismically transparent and restricted to the depocentres of both sub‐basins; (ii) an ‘intermediate unit’ characterized by continuous high‐amplitude reflections; and (iii) an ‘upper unit’ with strong parallel reflectors. Several mass‐wasting deposits occur in both sub‐basins. Five sediment cores were analysed using sedimentological, microscopic, geochemical and physical techniques. The chronological model for the sediment sequence is based on 17 accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C dates. Five depositional environments were characterized by their respective sedimentary facies associations. The depositional history of Lake Estanya during the last ca 21 kyr comprises five stages: (i) a brackish, shallow, calcite‐producing lake during full glacial times (21 to 17·3 kyr bp ); (ii) a saline, permanent, relatively deep lake during the late glacial (17·3 to 11·6 kyr bp ); (iii) an ephemeral, saline lake and saline mudflat complex during the transition to the Holocene (11·6 to 9·4 kyr bp ); (iv) a saline lake with gypsum‐rich, laminated facies and abundant microbial mats punctuated by periods of more frequent flooding episodes and clastic‐dominated deposition during the Holocene (9·4 to 0·8 kyr bp ); and (v) a deep, freshwater to brackish lake with high clastic input during the last 800 years. Climate‐driven hydrological fluctuations are the main internal control in the evolution of the lake during the last 21 kyr, affecting water salinity, lake‐level changes and water stratification. However, external factors, such as karstic processes, clastic input and the occurrence of mass‐flows, are also significant. The facies model defined for Lake Estanya is an essential tool for deciphering the main factors influencing lake deposition and to evaluate the most suitable proxies for lake level, climate and environmental reconstructions, and it is applicable to modern karstic lakes and to ancient lacustrine formations.     

Transport de matières dissoutes et particulaires des Andes vers le Rio de La Plata par les tributaires boliviens (rios Pilcomayo et Bermejo) du Rio Paraguay

Résumé

Les données recueillies à 13 stations hydromètriques des réseaux du SENAMHI et de ENDE, de 1975 à 1983, permettent d'estimer les flux de matières particulaires et dissoutes dans les bassins andins des rios Pilcomayo et Bermejo, formateurs du Rio Paraguay. Les résultats obtenus en Bolivie sur le bassin versant du Rio Pilcomayo, montrent que l'essentiel de l'exportation est le fait des matières en suspension (90%). Le flux de sédiments mesuré à la sortie des Andes sur le Rio Pilcomayo (80 × 10⁶ t an^?1) est du même ordre de grandeur que Celui observé 2000 kilomètres à l'aval sur le Moyen Parana.     

Active synsedimentary tectonism on a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic continental margin: third‐order sequence stratigraphy of a ramp to basin transition,lower Sekwi Formation,Selwyn Basin,Northwest Territories,Canada

The lower part of the Early Cambrian Sekwi Formation in the Selwyn Basin of the Northwest Territories, Canada, is composed of two regional, unconformity‐bounded sequences, S0 and S1, which record the first widespread carbonate deposition during the initial Palaeozoic transgression onto the western margin of Laurentia. These Early Cambrian sequences are unique to the western North American Cordillera, representing the only record of primarily deep‐water deposition on a tectonically active, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic ramp during this period. More specifically, the geometry of the Sekwi ramp changed during deposition of S0 and S1, from a shallowly dipping homoclinal ramp during the S0 transgressive systems tract to a steeply dipping tectonically modified ramp during the early highstand systems tract of S0. The steeply dipping ramp profile of S0 was preserved into the early transgressive systems tract of S1. The Sekwi ramp returned to a gently sloping ramp during the late highstand systems tract of S1 and remained so throughout the remainder of Sekwi deposition. The evolving shape of the Sekwi ramp is attributed to syndepositional ‘down to the basin’ faulting during deposition of both S0 and S1 and is recorded by: (i) the westward thickening, irregular geometries of S0 and S1; (ii) geographical restriction of deep‐water facies (including sediment gravity flow deposits); (iii) the presence of large allochthonous blocks; and (iv) the clast composition of sediment gravity flow deposits. Sediment gravity flow deposits play an unusually important role in the sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the lower Sekwi Formation, as they delineate depositional packages, including the maximum flooding zone, the transitions between portions of systems tracts, and the inferred locations of syntectonic extensional faults. Syntectonic faults increased accommodation basinward of an extensive ooid‐shoal complex that developed along the Sekwi ramp crest, greatly influencing sequence geometry and initiating the downslope motion of sediment gravity flows. The syndepositional faulting probably was a continuation of extension that began during the latest Neoproterozoic rifting of western Laurentia. The composition of sediment gravity flow deposits track changing accommodation space on the lower Sekwi ramp and can be used to differentiate systems tracts that probably were related more to tectonism than eustasy.     

CROSS-VALIDATION, INFLUENTIAL OBSERVATIONS AND SELECTION OF VARIABLES IN CHEMOMETRIC STUDIES OF WINES BY PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS

Cross-validatory estimation of the bilinear model based on principal components is reviewed andKrzanowski's modification of Wold's procedure is described. Two different types of residuals useful forchecking model adequacy are defined and indices measuring the influence of each observed unit on theestimates of the parameters are discussed. A method for the selection of variables derived from Procrustesanalysis is described. Results arising from the study of two sets of enological data are given.     

Hydrological Sciences Journal Countents 1994

Abstract

Since eroded sediments are produced from different sources distributed throughout a basin, sediment delivery processes at basin scale have to be modelled by a spatially distributed approach. In this paper a new theoretically based relationship is proposed for evaluating the sediment delivery ratio, SDR_i, of each morphological unit, i, into which a basin is divided. Then, using the sediment balance equation written for the basin outlet, a relationship between the basin sediment delivery ratio, SDR_W and the SDR_i is deduced. This relationship is shown to be independent of the soil erosion model used. Finally, a morphological criterion for estimating a coefficient, β, is proposed.     

Cooling rates of diogenites: A study of Fe2+-Mg ordering in orthopyroxene by single-crystal x-ray diffraction

Abstract— The iron-magnesium exchange between M1 and M2 sites in orthopyroxene is a reversible reaction that records the latest event in the thermal evolution of the host rock. A kinetic analysis of this process has been applied to 16 orthopyroxene single crystals from 7 different diogenites to constrain the cooling history of their parent body. The Fe²⁺-Mg ordering degrees have been determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction. The Fe²⁺-Mg ordering closure temperatures were very homogeneous within each sample and ranged, for all diogenites studied, between 311 ± 29 °C and 408 ± 10 °C. Cooling rates at these closure temperatures were calculated using a numerical method developed by Ganguly (1982). These ranged between ～5 °C/10⁴ year in Johnstown and ～0.8 °C/year in Roda. A comparison with other achondrites studied with the same method showed that increasing closure temperatures correspond to increasing cooling rates and that meteorites from a same parent body exhibit similar closure temperature and cooling rate values. The cooling rates obtained for these diogenites, at their low closure temperatures, should probably be ascribed to a complex thermal history of their parent body, thus confirming Miyamoto and Takeda's theory (1994a) of excavation of deep crustal material due to impact events. The differences on cooling rate values for different diogenites could be due to different burial depths in the fragment ejected from the parent body.