New insight into the evolution of large-volume turbidity currents: comparison of turbidite shape and previous modelling results

The Marnoso Arenacea Formation provides the most extensive correlation of individual flow deposits (beds) yet documented in an ancient turbidite system. These correlations provide unusually detailed constraints on bed shape, which is used to deduce flow evolution and assess the validity of numerical and laboratory models. Bed volumes have an approximately log‐normal frequency distribution; a small number of flows dominated sediment supply to this non‐channelized basin plain. Turbidite sandstone within small‐volume (<0·7 km³) beds thins downflow in an approximately exponential fashion. This shape is a property of spatially depletive flows, and has been reproduced by previous mathematical models and laboratory experiments. Sandstone intervals in larger‐volume (0·7–7 km³) beds have a broad thickness maximum in their proximal part. Grain‐size trends within this broad thickness maximum indicate spatially near‐uniform flow for distances of ∼30 km, although the flow was temporally unsteady. Previous mathematical models and laboratory experiments have not reproduced this type of deposit shape. This may be because models fail to simulate the way in which near bed sediment concentration tends towards a constant value (saturates) in powerful flows. Alternatively, the discrepancy may be the result of relatively high ratios of flow thickness and sediment settling velocity in submarine flows, together with very gradual changes in sea‐floor gradient. Intra‐bed erosion, temporally varying discharge, and reworking of suspension fallout as bedload could also help to explain the discrepancy in deposit shape. Most large‐volume beds contain an internal erosion surface underlain by inversely graded sandstone, recording waxing and waning flow. It has been inferred previously that these characteristics are diagnostic of turbidites generated by hyperpycnal flood discharge. These turbidites are too voluminous to have been formed by hyperpycnal flows, unless such flows are capable of eroding cubic kilometres of sea‐floor sediment. It is more likely that these flows originated from submarine slope failure. Two beds comprise multiple sandstone intervals separated only by turbidite mudstone. These features suggest that the submarine slope failures occurred as either a waxing and waning event, or in a number of stages.     

Rates and Processes of Potassic Magma Evolution beneath Sangeang Api Volcano, East Sunda Arc, Indonesia

U-series isotopes can provide unique insights into the physicalprocesses of magma evolution by constraining the time scalesover which they operate. This, however, requires rock suitesthat provide a clear and complete record of the liquid lineof descent. Sangeang Api volcano, in the east Sunda arc, providessuch an opportunity because it erupts potassic lavas (SiO₂     

Heating experiments simulating atmospheric entry heating of micrometeorites: Clues to their parent body sources

Abstract— Depending on their velocity, entry angle and mass, extraterrestrial dust particles suffer certain degrees of heating during entry into Earth's atmosphere, and the mineralogy and chemical composition of these dust particles are significantly changed. In the present study, pulse-heating experiments simulating the atmospheric entry heating of micrometeoroids were carried out in order to understand the mineralogical and chemical changes quantitatively as well as to estimate the peak temperature experienced by the particles during entry heating. Fragments of the CI chondrites Orgueil and Alais as well as pyrrhotites from Orgueil were used as analogue material. The experiments show that the volatile elements S, Zn, Ga, Ge, and Se can be lost from 50 to 100 μm sized CI meteorite fragments at temperatures and heating times applicable to the entry heating of similar sized cosmic dust particles. It is concluded that depletions of these elements relative to CI as observed in micrometeorites are mainly caused by atmospheric entry heating. Besides explaining the element abundances in micrometeorites, the experimentally obtained release patterns can also be used as indicators to estimate the peak heating of dust particles during entry. Using the abundances of Zn and Ge and assuming their original concentrations close to CI, a maximum heating of 1100–1200 °C is obtained for previously analyzed Antarctic micrometeroites. Thermal alteration also strongly influenced the mineralogy of the meteorite fragments. While the unheated samples mainly consisted of phyllosilicates, these phases almost completely transformed into olivine and pyroxene in the fragments heated to ≥800 °C. Therefore, dust particles that still contain hydrous minerals were probably never heated to temperatures ≥800 °C in the atmosphere. During continued heating, the grain size of the newly formed silicates increased and the composition of the olivines equilibrated. Applying these results quantitatively to Antarctic micrometeorites, typical peak temperatures in the range of 1100–1200 °C during atmospheric entry heating are deduced. This temperature range corresponds to the one obtained from the volatile element concentrations measured in these micrometeorites and points to an asteroidal origin of the particles.     

The Substitution of Al and F in Titanite at High Pressure and Temperature: Experimental Constraints on Phase Relations and Solid Solution Properties

Experimental studies were carried out to evaluate phase relationsinvolving titanite–F–Al-titanite solid solutionin the system CaSiO₃–Al₂SiO₅–TiO₂–CaF₂. Theexperiments were conducted at 900–1000°C and 1·1–4·0GPa. The average F/Al ratio in titanite solid solution in theexperimental run products is 1·01 ± 0·06,and X_Al ranges from 0·33 ± 0·02 to 0·91± 0·05, consistent with the substitution [TiO²⁺]_–1[AlF²⁺]₁.Analysis of the phase relations indicates that titanite solidsolutions coexisting with rutile are always low in X_Al, whereasthe maximum X_Al of titanite solid solution occurs with fluoriteand either anorthite or Al₂SiO₅. Reaction displacement experimentswere performed by adding fluorite to the assemblage anorthite+ rutile = titanite + kyanite. The reaction shifts from 1·60GPa to 1·15 ± 0·05 GPa at 900°C, from1·79 GPa to 1·375 ± 0·025 GPa at1000°C, and from 1·98 GPa to 1·575 ±0·025 GPa at 1100°C. The data show that the activityof CaTiSiO₄O is very close to the ideal molecular activity model(X_Ti) at 1100°C, but shows a negative deviation at 1000°Cand 900°C. The results constrain     

The formation of ooids

Field and laboratory studies suggest that different types of ooids form during quiet and agitated water conditions. Both types have been synthesized in the laboratory. Quiet water types exhibit a radial orientation of carbonate crystals, whereas in those formed in agitated conditions, a tangential orientation is prevalent. Successful laboratory formation of quiet water ooids was accomplished in supersaturated seawater solutions containing humic acids. Negative results were obtained from strictly inorganic solutions, and from those containing simple amino acids, single proteins, mixtures of proteins or mucopolysaccharides, soil and sediment extracts. Partly successful results were obtained using an organic extract from Bahamian ooids. The organic parameters most important in quiet water ooid formation are molecular weight, the presence of carboxyl groups and an ability to participate in hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions, all of which are critical to membrane formation. Membranes form concentric shells which act as growth surfaces for carbonate and also induce the periodicity in carbonate precipitation. Ooids exhibiting a tangential orientation of batten-like crystals have been synthesized under conditions of agitation, supersaturation and without the intervention of organic processes during the precipitation. Complete growth may be divided into agitation, resting and sleeping stages In the agitation stage, quartz nuclei induce an inorganic, heterogeneous nucleation from a supersaturated solution, which finally ceases as a result of Mg²⁺ and possibly H⁺ poisoning of the carbonate surfaces. No further precipitation occurs until the crystal surfaces are reactivated by removal of Mg²⁺ and H⁺ during the resting stage. Following a series of agitation and resting stages, precipitation is inhibited by a degree of poisoning which is not totally removed during the resting stage. For further growth, a new substrate is required and is provided by the development of organic membranes around the grains. This occurs when the grains are buried in the subsurface, the period of organic growth constituting the sleeping stage. Only 2% of an ooid's life is spent growing in the agitated environment, while 95% of its life is spent accreting organic membranes in the subsurface. Our experimental work indicates that ooids of Bahamian type are inorganic precipitates. The tangential arrangement of battens is the result of suspension in an environment where the degree of turbulence is sufficient to induce grain to grain contact of sufficient strength and frequency to inhibit any crystal growth other than tangential. The role of organics is to provide a substrate for further growth after precipitation has slowed to a point when no further accretion is occurring.     

Pollen analysis of the Husterbaach peat (Luxembourg): its significance for the study of subrecent geomorphological events

Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating of a core section from the valley head of the Husterbaach near Hosingen (Oesling) provides a very detailed record of the successive vegetations from 1200 A. D. until today. This palynological record agrees largely with the consecutive events known from the agricultural history of that area. Particularly significant are the curves obtained of several cultivated and ruderal plants. In this section it could be demonstrated that the interruption of peat growth by deposition of minerogenic material corresponds with a comparatively high arable land/pasture ratio. As well as being intrinsically interesting for assessing which features of the present landscape are due to former human activities, a detailed knowledge of the Subatlantic evolution of the vegetation and land use in the Oesling is indispensable, as its geomorphological development in the immediate past has largely been influenced by man.     

Glacitectonites in till stratigraphy

By analogy with hard rock myloniles it is suggested that the base of a glacial, litho-structural, stratigraphical unit should he taken at the lower limit of penetrative structures in (soft) bedrock. Reference is made to mylonites in the NW Basal Gneiss Complex of South Norway and to the Marly Drift of Norfolk, England.     

Synthesis and Stability Relations of Mg--Al Pumpellyite, Ca4Al5MgSi6O21(OH)7

Hydrothermal synthesis and investigations of stability relationsof Mg—Al pumpellyite were conducted using high-pressurecold-seal apparatus over the temperature range 250–600°C and 2–8 kb P_fluid. Mg—Al pumpellyite Ca₄Al₅MgSi₆O₂₁(OH)₇was synthesized from partially crystalline gel mixtures of stoichiometriccomposition at 275–410 °C, 6–9 kb P_fluid, andruns of 7–90 days. Pure monomineralic synthetic Mg—Alpumpellyite has refractive index n_ß = 1.624 (2) andcell dimensions = 8.825 (8) Á, b = 5.875 (5) Á,c = 19.10 (1) Á, and ß = 97.39 (7)°. The high temperature assemblage of the equivalent bulk compositionconsists of clinozoisite, hydrogrossular/grossular, aluminousseptechlorite/chlorite, quartz, and H₂O. Hydrogrossular wassynthesized in the presence of quartz at 8 kb from 400–500°C, and hydrogrossular + quartz are unstable with respectto grossular + H₂O at 400 °C and 8 kb P_fluid. At 8 kb P_fluid,aluminous septechlorite forms at temperatures below 500 °Cwhereas aluminous 14 Á chlorite crystallizes at 500–600°C. The equilibrium relations of Mg—Al pumpellyite were determinedusing subequal mixtures of synthetic Mg—Al pumpellyiteand its high temperature assemblage. The reaction 9 Mg—Alpumpellyite = 9 clinozoisite + 6 grossular + 2 chlorite + 4quartz + 19 H₂O occurs at temperatures of 390 °C at 8 kb,368 °C at 5 kb, and near 325 °C at 2 kb P_fluid. Thereversal data yield an approximate value of –3141 joules/mole°K for the standard entropy of formation for the syntheticMg—Al pumpellyite. The Schreinemakers' relations for pumpellyite, prehnite, clinozoisite,tremolite, grossular, and amesite in the presence of excessquartz and fluid were constructed in the pseudo-ternary systemCaO–Al₂O₃–MgO(SiO₂–H₂O). The results, togetherwith reconnaissance experiments on the reaction 4 Mg—Alpumpellyite + 2 quartz = 8 prehnite + aluminous septechlorite+ 2 H₂O, locate the invariant point [TR] at approximately 5.7kb P_fluid and 375 °C. The results of the present study arenot compatible with previous experimental data on the invariantpoint [GR]. The P–T oriented phase relations are used to interpretsome natural parageneses developed in low-grade metabasalticrocks recrystallized under conditions of low _co2. The high-temperaturestability relations of Mg—Al pumpellyite are useful todenote the onset of greenschist facies metamorphism in rocksof basaltic composition.