Late Quaternary palaeoenvironment of northern Guatemala: evidence from deep drill cores and seismic stratigraphy of Lake Petén Itzá

Long sediment cores were collected in spring 2006 from Lake Petén Itzá, northern Guatemala, in water depths ranging from 30 to 150 m, as part of an International Continental Scientific Drilling Program project. The sediment records from deep water consist mainly of alternating clay, gypsum and carbonate units and, in at least two drill sites, extend back >200 kyr. Most of the lithostratigraphic units are traceable throughout the basin along seismic reflections that serve as seismic stratigraphic boundaries and suggest that the lithostratigraphy can be used to infer regional palaeoenvironmental changes. A revised seismic stratigraphy was established on the basis of integrated lithological and seismic reflection data from the basin. From ca 200 to ca 85 ka, sediments are dominated by carbonate‐clay silt, often interbedded with sandy turbidites, indicating a sediment regime dominated by detrital sedimentation in a relatively humid climate. At ca 85 ka, an exposure horizon consisting of gravels, coarse sand and terrestrial gastropods marks a lake lowstand or partial basin desiccation, indicating dry climate conditions. From ca 85 to ca 48 ka, transgressive carbonate‐clay sediments, overlain by deep‐water clays, suggest a lake level rise and subsequent stabilization at high stage. From ca 48 ka to present, the lithology is characterized by alternating clay and gypsum units. Gypsum deposition correlates with Heinrich Events (i.e. dry climate), whereas clay units coincide with more humid interstadials.     

Bedload abrasion and the in situ fragmentation of bivalve shells

The aim of this study was to determine how Unio bivalve shells fragment within the channel of the Sakmara River (southern Urals, Russia). The Sakmara River has an abundant bivalve population and a highly variable flow regime which, at low flow, allowed much of the channel bed to be examined. A large data set of 1013 shells (Unio sp.) was examined and these were shown to have consistent patterns of orientation, aspect, shell abrasion, perforation and fracture. The close spatial relationship between areas of shell abrasion, shell perforation and shell fracture showed that they form part of a continuum whereby areas of abrasion evolve into perforations and perforations coalesce and enlarge into fractures. The mechanism of shell damage proposed is one of abrasion in place, whereby the shell remains stationary on the surface of the point bar and is impacted by bedload. Underpinning this process are the hydrodynamic properties of the bivalve shell, with consistency in the orientation and aspect of the valve in a flowing current producing consistency in the distribution of damage on the shell surface. Valves preferentially lie in a convex‐up position and orientate in the flow such that the umbo faces upstream. The elevated, upstream‐facing umbo region is exposed to particle impact and is the first to be abraded and perforated. The vulnerability of the umbo to perforation is greatly increased by the thinness of the shell at the umbo cavity. The in situ abrasion process is enhanced by the development of an armoured gravel bed which restricts valve mobility and maintains shells within the abrasion zone at the sediment–water interface. The in situ abrasion process shows that broken shells are not a reliable indicator of long distance transport. The study also raises the issue that tumbling barrel experiments, which are generally used to simulate shell abrasion, will not replicate the type of directionally focused sand‐blasting which appears to be the principal cause of shell fragmentation in the Sakmara River.     

On the Use of Changes in Dihedral Angle to Decode Late-stage Textural Evolution in Cumulates

The melt-filled pore structure in the final stages of solidificationof cumulates must lie somewhere between the two end-membersof impingement (in which pore topology is controlled entirelyby the juxtaposition of growth faces of adjacent grains) andtextural equilibrium (in which pore topology is controlled bythe minimization of internal energies). The exact position betweenthese two end-members is controlled by the relative rates ofcrystal growth and textural equilibration. For samples in whichgrowth has stopped, or is very slow, textural equilibrium willprevail. A close examination of dihedral angles in natural examplesdemonstrates that these two end-member textures can be distinguished.The impingement end-member results in a population of apparentsolid–melt dihedral angles with a median of 60° anda standard deviation of 25–30°, whereas the texturallyequilibrated end-member population has a median of 28° anda standard deviation of 14°. For the specific case of cumulatesin the Rum Layered Intrusion, residual porosity in troctoliticcumulates was close to the impingement end-member, whereas thatin peridotites was close to melt-bearing textural equilibrium.Suites of glass-bearing samples from small, or frequently disturbed,magma systems show modification of initial impingement textures.These modifications may be a consequence of textural equilibrationor of diffusion-limited growth during quenching. Distinctioncan be made between these two processes by a consideration ofgrain shape. The geometry of interstitial phases in suites offully solidified cumulates from the Rum Layered Intrusion showsvariable approach to sub-solidus textural equilibrium from aninitial state inherited by pseudmorphing of the last melt. Texturalequilibration at pore corners occurs as a continuous process,with a gradual movement of the entire dihedral angle populationtowards the equilibrium final state. If the initial, pseudomorphedstate is one of disequilibrium (i.e. a melt-present impingementtexture) this change is accompanied by a reduction in the spreadof the population. If it is one of equilibrium, the change isaccompanied by an initial increase in the spread of the population,followed by a decrease. These observations demonstrate thatpreviously published models of dihedral angle change involvingthe instantaneous establishment of the equilibrium angle inthe immediate vicinity of the pore corner are incorrect. KEY WORDS: cumulate; dihedral angle; textural evolution; Rum intrusion; Kula; Santorini     

Interaction of Continental Lithosphere and Asthenospheric Melts below the Geronimo Volcanic Field, Arizona, U.S.A

Spinel lherzolite and pyroxenite inclusions from the Geronimovolcanic field, Arizona (and Dish Hill, California) record,in their constituent minerals, a chronology of diverse mantledepletion and enrichment events. Certain portions of the lithosphericmantle have remained relatively isolated for considerable periodsof time(1–4 b.y.) while wall rock adjacent to conduitsof basanite has been recently (< 0-2 b.y.) modified. Evidenceexists for a widespread ancient (1–4 b.y.) partial meltingresidue, now recognizable as MORB-like mantle below the southwesternU.S.A. Trace element enrichment (0?9 b.y.) has increased thelight rare earth element (LREE) and Sr content of many refractoryperidotites without any mineralogical changes to the host rock.The fluids/melt responsible for this enrichment have a complexhistory involving heterogeneous mantle sources. In contrast,modal metasomatism of the mantle (< 0.2 b.y.) in aureolesaround evolved derivatives of basanite has petrographicallyand chemically transformed this ancient partial melting residue.The metasomatic fluids responsible for such metasomatism havean asthenospheric mantle source identical to the host magma.It is proposed that modal metasomatism occurs in contact metamorphicaureoles that surround apophyses of basanitic silicate meltin the lithospheric mantle. The gradient in CO₂/(CO₂ ? H₂O)ratio that must surround such veins in the upper mantle (<20 kb) may encourage the development of enrichment fronts. Immediatelyadjacent to the vein, a wet zone with a relatively low CO₂/(CO₂? H₂O) ratio would allow a precipitation of mica ? amphibole.Beyond this a dry zone with a higher CO₂/(CO₂ ? H₂O) ratio wouldhasten chemical but not petrographic transformation of the wallrock.     

The Effect of Mn on the Phase Relations of Medium-Grade Pelites: Constraints from Natural Assemblages on Petrogenetic Grid Topology

The phase relations of muscovite-quartz-bearing pelitic schistscontaining combinations of garnet (Grt), staurolite (St), chloritoid(Cld), biotitt (Bt) and chlorite (Chl) are examined (1) to assessthe influence of manganese on natural assemblages, and (2) toconstrain the topologies of petrogenetic grids, particularlywith respect to the controversial assemblage Cld +Bt. Two fieldareas were studied: Stonehaven, NE Scotland (p 4•5 kbar)and the SE Tauern Window, Austria (P 7 kbar), both characterizedby the up-grade progression from typical ‘garnet-zone’Grt+Chl assemblages to ‘staurolite-zone’ St+Bt±Grtassemblages via a narrow, complex zone containing Cld+Bt assemblages.In both areas, the following commonly observed chemographicrelations hold: Mg/(Mg+Fe): Grt<St<Cld<<Bt<Chl;Mn/(Mn+Fe+Mg): Chl Bt<<St<Cld<<Grt. These compositionsyield the MnAFM-discontinuous reaction (Ms+Qtz+H₂O in excess):Cld+Chl = Grt+St+Bt. The distributions of mineral assemblages in both areas are moreconsistent with the operation of MnAFM reactions than of traditionalAFM reactions. Clear correlations exist between Mn content andassemblage in rocks that crystallized at the same P and T. In the SE Tauern, low-grade Grt+Chl assemblages show a widerange of Mn contents. The crystallization of low-Mn Grt+Chlassemblages down-grade of, but at similar pressures to, low-MnGrt+Cld+Bt+Chl assemblages implies that the right-hand sideof the reaction Grt+Chl = Cld+Bt (Fe, Mg) is stabilized by increasingT. The distributions of assemblages in the areas studied alsoshow differences that are ascribed to P effects. The assemblageGrt+St+Cld+Chl is common in the SE Tauern but absent from Stonehaven.Mn contents of respective minerals in the assemblage Grt+St+Cld+Bt+Chlare higher at Stonehaven than in the SE Tauern, implying thatthe Cld+Chl = Grt+St+Bt (Mn, Fe, Mg) reaction boundary extendsto the low-P side of the [AIs, Crd] invariant point in the Mn-freesystem. Schreincmakcrs' rules are used to construct two KFMnMASH grids,in which the Cld+Bt assemblage has markedly different stabilitylimits; one is based on the KFMASH grid of Harte & Hudson(Geological Society Special Publication 8, 323–337, 1979),in which Cld+Bt is stable over a narrow T interval at relativelylow P, and the other on the KFMASH grids of Spear & Cheney(Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 101, 149–164,1989) and Wang & Spear (Contributions to Mineralogy andPetrology 106, 217–235, 1991), in which Cld+Bt is stableover wide ranges of P and T. It is argued that available natural-rockdata are more compatible with the former. KEY WORDS: pelites; KFMnMASH petrogenetic grid; chloritoid + biotite; Stonehaven; Tauern Window