Multiple flow and support mechanisms and the development of inverse grading in a subaquatic glacigenic debris flow

Subaquatic glacigenic debris flows of Late Wisconsinan age occur as lobes within an ice-marginal glaciomarine lithofacies at Victoria, British Columbia. Flow was initiated by release of supraglacial debris during an interval of glacial ablation prior to advance and deposition of lodgement till. Many of the lobes developed a common morphology during deposition, consisting of an outer layer surrounding an inner core of rafted material. In the largest lobe reworking of the sediment during flow produced improved sorting, a coarsening of mean grain size, and a shift in skewness toward the negative. This occurred simultaneously within the core and outer layer as a result of different transformations in mechanisms of flow and support. Normal grading, produced in the outer layer, was conveyed around the nose and buried in an inverse position along the base of the flow. These data enable us to present a model that may be applicable to similar flows elsewhere. The flow studied demonstrates that transformations between flow types and sediment support mechanisms can occur simultaneously and serially in subaquatic debris flows.     

Chironomid-based Lateglacial climatic reconstruction for southeast Scotland

This paper presents the first chironomid-based climatic reconstruction for the UK Lateglacial, obtained from a lake basin in southeast Scotland, Whitrig Bog. Comparison of chironomid, lithological, geochemical, and pollen data reveals a marked vegetation lag behind the warming following deglaciation; warm-water chironomid taxa (e.g. chironomus) had replaced cold-water chironomid taxa (e.g. Paracladius) prior to the arrival of shrubs and trees and when local soils were still poorly developed. In addition to clear evidence for the Younger Dryas Stadial, chironomid data also reveal two short-term cold episodes that punctuate the Lateglacial Interstadial, both of which are also reflected in pollen and lithological data as reversals from open birch scrub/woodland to open herbaceous tundra coinciding with inwash of minerogenic matter into the basin. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prospects at Parys Mountain

Parys Mountain, a small hill in north-east Anglesey, North Wales, has a very long history of copper mining, although exploration from 1955 onwards failed to locate deposits that were economic in modern terms. However, more detailed studies since the early 1980s have revealed a much more promising prospect.     

Formation of Anorthosite-Gabbro Rhythmic Phase Layering: An Example at North Arm Mountain, Bay of Islands Ophiolite

Rhythmically layered anorthosite and gabbro are exposed in a4–10-m thick interval at the base of the layered gabbrounit on North Arm Mountain, one of four massifs that composethe Bay of Islands ophiolite, Newfoundland. Within the rhythmicallylayered interval, up to 37 anorthosite layers 1–2 cm thickalternate with gabbroic layers 7–10 cm thick. Anorthositesare adcumulates (most contain <6ppm Zr) with 98–99%plagioclase (Plag) and 1–2% intergranular clinopyroxene(Cpx), whereas gabbros are adcumulates to mesocumulates (<6–20ppmZr) with 35–55% Plag, and the balance olivine (Ol) + Cpx? orthopyroxene (Opx). Average mineral compositions are: Olmg-number [100 ?Mg/(Mg + Fe)]=84?9, NiO=0?13wt. % Plag An =87?9; Cpx mg-number = 88?3, TiO₂=0?20 wt %; and Opx mg-number= 85?7. Rare earth element (REE) concentrations in clinopyroxeneand plagioclase are low throughout the rhythmically layeredinterval (<5 times chondrites). The rhythmically layeredinterval is sandwiched between thick layers of adcumulate toorthocumulate uniform gabbro with average modal proportionsof 54% Plag-39% Cpx-3% Ol-4% Opx. Average mineral compositionsare: Ol mg-number = 75?5, NiO = 0?08 wt. %; Plag An=69%6; Cpxmg-number = 81?2, TiO₂ =0?53 wt. %, and Opx mg-number = 77?5.Clinopyroxene and plagioclase REE abundances are systematicallyhigher in the uniform gabbro interval than in the rhythmicallylayered interval. Calculated fractional crystallization pathsand correlated cryptic variation patterns suggest that uniformand rhythmically layered gabbros represent 20–30% in situcrystallization of two distinct magma batches, one more evolvedand the other more primitive. When the more primitive magmaentered the crystallization site of the NA300–301 gabbros,it is estimated to have been 40?C hotter than the resident evolvedmagma, and may have been chilled by contact with a magma chambermargin composed of uniform gabbro. In this model, chilling causedthe liquid to become supercooled with respect to plagioclasenucleation temperatures, resulting in crystallization of gabbrodeficient in plagioclase relative to equilibrium cotectic proportions.Subtraction of a plagioclase-poor melagabbro enriched the liquidin normative plagioclase, which in turn led to crystallizationof an anorthosite layer. Alternating anorthosite and gabbrolayers in the rhythmically layered interval built up by coupledand sustained variations in crystal nucleation and growth rates,and associated variations in liquid compositions at the crystallizationfront. Relatively stagnant magma-flow conditions may be requiredto accumulate substantial thicknesses of rhythmically layeredcumulates by sustained oscillatory crystallization. The rarityof anorthosite-gabbro rhythmic phase layering on North Arm Mountainmay indicate that convective magma currents in the Bay of Islandsmagma chamber were too vigorous for oscillatory crystallizationto commonly occur.     

Petrogenesis of Garnet Lherzolite and Megacrystalline Nodules from the Thumb, Navajo Volcanic Field

Garnet Iherzolite and megacrystalline nodules from The Thumbcomprise the deepest mantle sample recovered from the diatremesand intrusions of the Four Corners area. Discrepancies betweenvarious geothermometers applied to these nodules are believedto reflect zoning of Fe in garnets as well as problems in calibrationof the geothermometers. Because the pyroxenes are not zoned,the pyroxene solvus method probably provides more reliable temperatureestimates for this nodule suite than methods based on partitioningof Fe and Mg with garnet. The preferred T-P range of the nodules,950–1230 °C and 32–40 kb, is thought to reflecta localized perturbation of the ambient geotherm by a diapiricor igneous intrusion. Garnet Iherzolites with coarse texture show a trend from fertileto refractory compositions consistent with variable depletionby partial melting. These nodules are interpreted as previouslydepleted mantle rocks, most of which were relatively littleaffected by the thermal perturbation. Garnet Iherzolites withsheared texture are enriched in Fe and Ti relative to the coarseIherzolites and are suggested to have formed by deformationand metasomatism of the coarse lherzolites during intrusionof magma related to the thermal perturbation. The texturallydiverse ‘megacrystalline’ nodules are interpretedas precipitates from this liquid. They are similar to discretenodules from kimberlite pipes, but have unique characteristicsof their own. The above relationships are thought to recordthe process of deep-seated intrusion and partial crystallizationof evolved liquids, possibly related to the host lamprophyre,shortly before the time of eruption.     

Sedimentary evidence for a major glacial oscillation and proglacial lake formation in the Solway Lowlands (Cumbria,UK) during Late Devensian deglaciation

Livingstone, S. J., Ó Cofaigh, C., Evans, D. J. A. & Palmer, A. 2010: Sedimentary evidence for a major glacial oscillation and proglacial lake formation in the Solway Lowlands (Cumbria, UK) during Late Devensian deglaciation. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 505–527. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00149.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. This paper is a sedimentological investigation of Late Devensian glacial deposits from the Solway Lowlands, northwest England, in the central sector of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet. In this region, laminated glaciolacustrine sediments occur, sandwiched between diamictons interpreted as subglacial tills. At one location the laminated sediments are interpreted as varves, and indicate the former presence of a proglacial lake. Correlation of these varves with other laminated sediments indicates that the glacial lake was at least 140 km² in area and probably much larger. Extensive beds of sand, silt and gravel throughout the Solway Basin associated with the lake demonstrate ice‐free conditions over a large area. Based on the number of varves, the lake was in existence for at least 261 years. The stratigraphic sequence of varves bracketed by tills implies a major glacial oscillation prior to the Scottish Re‐advance (16.8 cal. ka BP). This oscillation is tentatively correlated with the Gosforth oscillation at c.19.5 cal. ka BP. Subsequent overriding of these glaciolacustrine sediments during a westward‐moving re‐advance demonstrates rapid ice loss and then gain within the Solway Lowlands from ice‐dispersal centres in the Lake District, Pennines and Southern Uplands. It is speculated that the existence of this and other lakes along the northeastern edge of the Irish Sea Basin would have influenced ice‐sheet dynamics.     

Upper-regime parallel lamination as the result of turbulent sediment transport and low-amplitude bed forms

A series of laboratory experiments has been carried out in which parallel-laminated deposits were produced from an upper-regime plane bed. The laminae had thicknesses of a few mm and could be traced continuously over distances up to the length and width of the depositional area (0–3 m by 1–5m). Fluctuations in bed elevation were measured both during deposition and at equilibrium; much of the bed fluctuation occurs at time scales that are too long to be due directly to turbulence, as most theories for lamina formation would require. We suggest instead that extremely low-amplitude bed forms are present even on apparently flat beds and that the migration of these bed forms produces laterally continuous lamination. All the lamination produced in the laboratory experiments was normally graded. Using high-speed photography it was observed that the normal grading results from rapid deposition of a layer of loosely packed coarse sand several grain-diameters thick followed by the slow sieving-out of a well packed surface layer of finer sand. The initial deposition is the result of small-scale turbulent fluctuations in boundary shear stress. The sieving-out that follows results in a smooth surface whose low friction coefficient temporarily inhibits further deposition; we term this process ‘glazing’. The alignment of small-scale turbulent scour-and-fill structures along the paths traced by migrating bedform troughs produces laterally continuous parallel lamination.     

Magnesite diagenesis in redbeds: a case study from the Permian of the Northern Calcareous Alps (Tyrol, Austria)

The Upper Permian Gröden Formation of the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) is composed of alluvial fan and playa lake sediments that were deposited in intramontane basins. A conspicuous feature of these redbeds is the abundance of magnesite in the form of nodules and discrete layers in mudstones as well as intergranular cement in sandstones. Sedimentological observations indicate that the bulk of these carbonates formed during early diagenesis and were probably syndepositional. Petrographically, most magnesites consist of micrite or, less commonly, microspar. An early non-ferroan magnesite is post-dated by later stage ferroan magnesites. Nodules consisting of recrystallized, sparry magnesite were observed only at one location. The general absence of relics of a non-magnesite precursor mineral and the occurrence of shrinkage features suggest that the fine grained magnesites formed by transformation of a hydrated magnesium carbonate mineral, e.g. hydromagnesite. Carbon, oxygen, sulphur and strontium isotope ratios in conjunction with sedimentological criteria support a model of (hydro)magnesite precipitation in an inland playa lake system, which was fed by run-off from the surrounding hinterland. The scarcity of evaporites and the dominance of magnesite over calcite and dolomite suggest that the playa lake brines were low in sulphate and had high Mg/Ca ratios. The source for the high magnesium concentrations is thought to be the weathering of Devonian dolostones and associated massive magnesite deposits in the catchment area.