Ion-microprobe U–Pb zircon dating of lower-crust metasedimentary granulite are reported on samples from two localities in Europe in order to determine (a) how this environment recorded the Variscan and eo-Alpine events, and (b) whether the transition between the two orogenic cycles was continuous or separated by a gap. The samples come from enclaves hosted by Miocene volcanoes at Bournac in the French Massif Central, and from the granulitic metasedimentary basement of the Alpine Santa Lucia nappe in Corsica, on the South European paleomargin of the Ligurian branch of the Tethys Sea. The zircon ages from Bournac range between 630 and 430 Ma and between 380 and 150 Ma with a major frequency peak at 285 Ma; the zircons older than 430 Ma are interpreted as detrital, whereas those younger than 380 Ma are considered to have formed by metamorphic processes after burial in the lower crust. Zircon ages from Santa Lucia range from to 356 to 157 Ma, with exception of one inherited Archean grain, and are interpreted like the younger Bournac zircons as having been formed by metamorphic processes.
In a granulite metamorphic environment, as opposed to an anatectic environment, new zircon growth can occur in the solid state. Once Zr has been incorporated into zircon, however, it is difficult to remobilize without dissolution; thus Zr available for new zircon growth must result from the breakdown of Zr-bearing minerals during prograde and/or retrograde events. In this light, the U–Pb zircon-age probability curves are interpreted as markers for major tectonometamorphic events, as suggested by the close correspondence between peaks in the curve and geological events recorded in the upper-crust, such as magma emplacement and basin subsidence.
Evidence of a tectonometamorphic gap between the Variscan and Alpine orogeneses is provided by the Santa Lucia zircon-age probability curve, which reveals a probable interlude during the Variscan–Alpine transition between 240 and 210 Ma. Here, the peak at 240 Ma is interpreted as the very beginning of crustal extension and the low at 210 Ma as a period of quiescence prior to the formation of an active margin and oceanization. 相似文献
The paragenesis of monazite in metapelitic rocks from the contact aureole of the Harney Peak Granite, Black Hills, South Dakota, was investigated using zoning patterns of monazite and garnet, electron microprobe dating of monazite, bulk-rock compositions, and major phase mineral equilibria. The area is characterized by low-pressure and high-temperature metamorphism with metamorphic zones ranging from garnet to sillimanite zones. Garnet porphyroblasts containing euhedral Y annuli are observed from the garnet to sillimanite zones. Although major phase mineral equilibria predict resorption of garnet at the staurolite isograd and regrowth at the andalusite isograd, textural and mass balance analyses suggest that the formation of the Y annuli is not related to the resorption-and-regrowth of garnet having formed instead during garnet growth in the garnet zone. Monazite grains in Black Hills pelites were divided into two generations on the basis of zoning patterns of Y and U: monazite 1 with low-Y and -U and monazite 2 with high-Y and -U. Monazite 1 occurs in the garnet zone and persists into the sillimanite zone as cores shielded by monazite 2 which starts to form in the andalusite zone. Pelites containing garnet porphyroblasts with Y annuli and monazite 1 with patchy Th zoning are more calcic than those with garnet with no Y annuli and monazite with concentric Th zoning. Monazite 1 is attributed to breakdown of allanite in the garnet zone, additionally giving rise to the Y annuli observed in garnet. Monazite 2 grows in the andalusite zone, probably at the expense of garnet and monazite 1 in the andalusite and sillimanite zones. The ages of the two different generations of monazite are within the precision of chemical dating of electron microprobe. The electron microprobe ages of all monazites from the Black Hills show a single ca. 1713 Ma population, close to the intrusion age of the Harney Peak Granite (1715 Ma). This study demonstrates that Y zoning in garnet and monazite are critical to the interpretation of monazite petrogenesis and therefore monazite ages. 相似文献
Integrated, in situ textural, chemical and electron microprobe age analysis of monazite grains in a migmatitic metapelitic gneiss from the western Musgrave Block, central Australia has identified evidence for multiple events of growth and recrystallisation during poly-metamorphism in the Mesoproterozoic. Garnet + sillimanite-bearing metapelite underwent partial melting and segregation to palaeosome and leucosome during metamorphism between 1330 and 1296 Ma, with monazite grains in leucosome recording crystallisation at 1300 Ma. Monazite breakdown during melting is inferred to have occurred in the palaeosome. During a subsequent granulite facies event at 1200 Ma, deformation and metamorphism of leucosome and palaeosome resulted in partial disturbance of ages and potential minor growth on 1300 Ma monazite in leucosome. Growth of new, high-Y (+HREE) monazite in palaeosome domains occurred during garnet breakdown in the presence of sillimanite to cordierite and spinel, as a result of post-peak isothermal decompression. Diffusive enrichment of resorbed garnet rims in Y + HREE suggests garnet breakdown occurred slower than volume diffusion of REE. Monazite in both palaeosome and leucosome were subsequently partially to penetratively recrystallised during a retrogression event that is suggested to have occurred at 1150–1130 Ma. The intensity of recrystallisation and disturbance of ages appears linked to proximity to retrogressed garnet porphyroblasts and their occurrence in the relatively reactive or ‘fertile’ local environments provided by the palaeosome/mesosome volumes, which caused localised changes in retrogressive fluids towards compositions more aggressive to monazite. Like reaction textures, it is apparent that domainal equilibrium and reaction may control or at least strongly influence monazite REE and U–Th–Pb chemistry and hence ages. 相似文献
Nd and Sr isotope analyses are presented for gangue mineral samples from the giant carbonate-hosted Navan Zn–Pb deposit, Ireland, and for rocks from which Navan metals may have been derived. Analysis of gangue minerals spanning the Navan paragenetic sequence reveals systematic evolution in the composition of the mineralising fluid. Early fluid represented by replacive dolomite exhibits the lowest initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio (0.7083–0.7086), closest to that of the host limestone and to Lower Carboniferous seawater, and the highest 143Nd/144Nd ratio (0.51161–0.51176). Later generations of dolomite, barite and calcite, which encompass sulphide precipitation, have higher initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (maximum 0.7105) and lower initial 143Nd/144Nd ratios (minimum 0.51157). All samples have initial Nd isotope ratios that are too low to have been acquired only from the host limestone. Drill core samples of presumed Ordovician volcanic and sedimentary rocks from beneath the Navan orebody have 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr ratios at the time of mineralisation of 0.51184–0.51217 and 0.7086–0.7138, respectively. The data are interpreted to indicate mixing of sulphide-rich, limestone-buffered brine, with a metal-bearing hydrothermal fluid, which had passed through sub-Carboniferous rocks, consistent with published fluid inclusion and S isotope data. The 143Nd/144Nd ratio of this basement-derived fluid is too low to have been imparted by flow through the Devonian Old Red Sandstone, as required in models of regional fluid flow in response to Hercynian uplift. Irrespective of whether such regional fluid flow occurred, the hydrothermal Nd must have been derived from sub-Devonian rocks. These conclusions broadly support the hydrothermal convection cell model in which brines, ultimately of surface origin, penetrated to a depth of several kilometres, leaching metals from the rocks through which they passed. The data also support increasing depth of penetration of convection cells with time. Metals were subsequently precipitated in carbonate rocks at sites of mixing with cooler, sulphide-rich fluids. However, comparison of the Navan hydrothermal gangue Nd–Sr isotope data with data from Lower Palaeozoic rocks strongly suggests that the latter cannot alone account for the “basement” signature. As the Navan deposit lies immediately north of the Iapetus Suture, this suggests that the Laurentian margin includes Precambrian basement. 相似文献
For more than hundred years it has been debated whether blockfields in mountain summit areas can be used to delimit the vertical extent of Pleistocene ice sheets. In this study the relationship between blockfields, developed in quartzites and sandstones on the Varanger Peninsula, northern Norway, and glacially derived features have been evaluated. Erratics and circular ablation moraines are superimposed on the blockfields and lateral meltwater channels are eroded into them. Glacial striations and other signs of glacial sculpturing are restricted to low-lying areas with channelled ice flow. Relative ages of the blockfields and the features in them are inferred, and the first measurements of in-situ produced cosmogenic nuclides from the Varanger Peninsula are reported. We conclude that the blockfields have survived underneath at least one thick, cold-based ice sheet. Thus, these blockfields cannot be used as indicators of ice-free conditions as previously suggested for southern Norway. Our results have implications for the potential for land surface preservation beneath ice sheets and for glacial reconstructions in northern Fennoscandia. 相似文献
We present 137Cs profiles for three low lying coastal lagoons in Southwest England that show a decline in activity with sediment depth.
137Cs inventories are lower than expected by comparison with local reference inventories despite the fact that sampling was undertaken
in the deep-water zone of each lake where sediment and 137Cs focusing would be expected. At all three locations, lake sediment 7Be and unsupported 210Pb (210Pbun) inventories are not significantly lower than the local reference inventory. 137Cs inventories in the study cores range from 38 to 95% of local reference inventories. The standing water level and mud: water
interface at two sites are below maximum tide level and, at all three sites, salinity increases significantly in the water
columns between low and high tide and in the pore waters of the underlying sediments. We suggest that the difference in hydrostatic
pressure between sea level and standing water levels in the lagoons forces salt water up through the sediment column and that
monovalent cations (especially Na+ and K+) replace 137Cs on exchange sites leading to the upward migration and loss of 137Cs. Rising sea levels may therefore contribute to remobilisation and release of 137Cs to the aquatic environment from the sediments of coastal lagoons. 相似文献
Palaeovariations of the atmospheric 210Pb flux in Northeast China (Long Gang area, Jilin province), quantified by high resolution 210Pb measurements on seasonally laminated sediments of Lake Sihailongwan are presented on decadal scale. The mean flux of unsupported
210Pb between 1790 and 1970 for the centre of the lake basin is 517 Bq m−2 yr−1 with maximum deviations between −23% and +27% of this value. Flux rates above this average were found between 1783 and 1813,
around 1836, and between 1860 and 1901. The mean 210Pbexc flux rates derived were clearly lower around 1821, 1908, 1930, and 1953. The 210Pbexc flux reached its minimum of 344 Bq m−2 yr−1 during the period 1977–1982. The atmospheric flux of unsupported 210Pb is correlated with the precipitation frequency during the summer monsoon and shows coinciding variability with geochemical
proxies that document the groundwater inflow into the lake. Al2O3-rich dust of remote provenance scavenged by wet-deposition in the rainy season is the major carrier of the atmospheric 210Pbexc flux. 相似文献
Reconstructing recent limnological history often relies on lead-210 dating to accurately ascribe a chronology to a sediment
profile. In Lake Okeechobee, Florida, a large, shallow subtropical lake that may experience severe mixing, multiple dating
methods are required to confirm that conformable sedimentation has been preserved and that the assumptions of the 210Pb method are satisfied. This study uses stratigraphic profiles of heavy metals, 137Cs, PCBs and pollen as independent dating markers to validate the sediment chronology as determined by 210Pb for three cores from the central mud zone of the lake. Unsupported 210Pb and most dating markers show distinct concentration/depth profiles, suggesting that the sediments have not been severely
mixed for at least the last 75 years. Onset and maximum activity of the radioisotope 137Cs in the cores coincides with the 210Pb-dated interval of 1945–1970. This agrees well with the known timing of atmospheric deposition of 137Cs that resulted from above-ground nuclear testing during late 1940s until 1963. Sediment core profiles of atmospherically
deposited metals such as Zn and Pb, which reflect regional increases during industrialization and decreases after regulation
in the 1970s, exhibit expected concentration increases and peaks coinciding within 5–15 years of the predicted 210Pb dates. Uranium, a contaminant in some phosphate fertilizers, shows large concentration increases at core depths dated to
be about 1950 by 210Pb, matching the intensification of agriculture after WWII. PCBs, which are expected to peak in the early 1970s, were measured
in one core, and the observed peak corresponds to a 210Pb date of about 1960. Pollen makers were unable to verify specific events, but increases in disturbance taxa and declines
in native types correspond generally with the expected dates assigned by 210Pb dating. Conformity between the 210Pb defined dates and independent markers of < ±15 years confirm that Lake Okeechobee sediments do preserve a sequential and
reliable stratigraphic history of the lake, useful for reconstructing past limnological conditions. 相似文献
Lake Qarun has been profoundly affected by a combination of human activities and climatic changes during the past 5000 years.
Instrumental records available for the 20th century show that during most of this period both lake water level and salinity increased and that by the late 1980s lake water salinity was approximately that of seawater.
Sediment cores (c. 1 m long) were collected from this shallow (Zmax 8.4 m) saline lake in 1998 and the master core (QARU1) was used to examine the potential of paleolimnology for reconstructing
the recent environmental history of the site. According to 137Cs and 210Pb radio-assay, the recent sediment accumulation rate in QARU1 was around 5 mm year−1 during the latter half of the 20th century but radionuclide levels were low. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) were
present in the upper c. 30 cm of QARU1 and indicates contamination by low level particulate pollution, probably beginning
around 1950. The record of exotic pollen (Casuarina) indicated that sediment at 51–52 cm depth dated to around 1930. Otherwise the pollen spectra indicated a strongly disturbed
landscape with high ruderals and increased tree planting particularly since c. 1950. Diatom records were strongly affected
by taphonomic processes including reworking and differential preservation but typical marine diatoms increased after the 1920s.
Instrumental records show that the lake became more saline at this time. Freshwater taxa were present at approximately similar
abundances throughout the core. This distribution probably reflected a combination of processes. Reworking of ancient freshwater
diatomites is one likely source for freshwater diatoms in QARU1 but some taxa must also be contributed via the freshwater
inflows. Overall, the diatom stratigraphy indicated increasingly salinity since the 1920s but provided no firm evidence of
lake eutrophication. Diatom inferred salinity reconstructions were in only partial agreement with instrumental records but
inferred for the lower section of the core (pre 20th century to the 1960s) accord with measured water salinity values. Surficial
sediments of Lake Qarun contain environmental change records for the 20th century period but high sediment accumulation rate
and pollen reflect the high degree of human disturbance in the region. Because of poor preservation and evidence of reworking,
the relationships between diatom records and past water quality changes require careful interpretation, especially in the
upper section of the core. Nevertheless, early to mid 20th century measurements of increasing lake water salinity are well
supported by sediment records, a change that is probably linked to ingress of saline ground water 相似文献
We present a radiocarbon data set of 71 samples of wood and peat material that melted out or sheared out from underneath eight presentday mid‐latitude glaciers in the Central Swiss Alps. Results indicated that in the past several glaciers have been repeatedly less extensive than they were in the 1990s. The periods when glaciers had a smaller volume and shorter length persisted between 320 and 2500 years. This data set provides greater insight into glacier variability than previously possible, especially for the early and middle Holocene. The radiocarbon‐dated periods defined with less extensive glaciers coincide with periods of reduced radio‐production, pointing to a connection between solar activity and glacier melting processes. Measured long‐term series of glacier length variations show significant correlation with the total solar irradiance. Incoming solar irradiance and changing albedo can account for a direct forcing of the glacier mass balances. Long‐term investigations of atmospheric processes that are in interaction with changing solar activity are needed in order to understand the feedback mechanisms with glacier mass balances. 相似文献