Magma Genesis and Mantle Dynamics at the Harrat Ash Shamah Volcanic Field (Southern Syria)

A geochemical and petrological study of Miocene to recent alkalibasalts, basanites, hawaiites, mugearites, trachytes, and phonoliteserupted within the Harrat Ash Shamah volcanic field was performedto reconstruct the magmatic evolution of southern Syria. Themajor element composition of the investigated lavas is mainlycontrolled by fractional crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene,± Fe–Ti oxides and ± apatite; feldspar fractionationis restricted to the most evolved lavas. Na₂O and SiO₂ variationswithin uncontaminated, primitive lavas as well as variably fractionatedheavy rare earth element ratios suggest a formation by variabledegrees of partial melting of different garnet peridotite sourcestriggered, probably, by changes in mantle temperature. The isotopicrange as well as the variable trace element enrichment observedin the lavas imply derivation from both a volatile- and incompatibleelement-enriched asthenosphere and from a plume component. Inaddition, some lavas have been affected by crustal contamination.This effect is most prominent in evolved lavas older than 3·5Ma, which assimilated 30–40% of crustal material. In general,the periodicity of volcanism in conjunction with temporal changesin lava composition and melting regime suggest that the Syrianvolcanism was triggered by a pulsing mantle plume located underneathnorthwestern Arabia. KEY WORDS: ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages; intraplate volcanism; mantle plume; partial melting; Syria     

The problem of underpowered rivers

This study has hypothesized that for many rivers the trade-off between flow accumulation and the decrease in slope along channel length means that stream power increases downstream and, moreover, that given the low slope angles in headwater and low-order streams, they would have insufficient stream power to erode let alone transport sediment. The study considered the stream power profile, the particle travel distances and the application of the Hjulström curve based on the velocity profile of nine, large UK catchments. The study showed that:

1. Some rivers never showed a maximum in their longitudinal stream power profile, implying that some rivers never develop a deposition zone before they discharge at the tidal limit.
2. Particle travel distances during a bankfull discharge event showed that for some rivers 91% of the upper main channel would not be cleared of sediment. Furthermore, while some rivers could transport a 2 mm particle their entire length in one bankfull event, for another river it would take 89 such events.
3. The Hjulström curve shows that for three of the study rivers the upper 20 km of the river was not capable of eroding a 2 μm particle.
4. The study has shown that for all rivers studied, erosion is focused downstream and deposition upstream. Many UK rivers have a dead zone where, on time scales of the order of centuries, no erosion or transport occurs and erosion only occurs in the lower courses of the channel where discharge rather than slope dominates – we propose these as underpowered rivers.

© 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

辽北地区早石炭世变质火山岩年代学和地球化学特征:对华北板块北缘东段构造演化的启示

华北板块北缘东段分布的构造混杂岩带为研究古亚洲洋的演化提供了重要的依据,"下二台岩群"作为该构造混杂岩带的重要组成部分,其形成时代和构造属性仍存在争议。详细的研究表明下二台地区变质火山岩原岩包括流纹岩、英安岩、安山岩,为一套钙碱性火山岩,属于准铝质-弱过铝质岩石,根据岩相学和地球化学特征将其分为变质酸性火山岩和变质中性火山岩;二者均相对富集轻稀土元素,亏损重稀土元素,轻重稀土元素分馏明显,Eu负异常不明显,但变质中性火山岩稀土总量低于变质酸性火山岩,变质酸性火山岩明显亏损Sr、P元素,结合野外产出面积和高场强元素相关性特征,认为二者不是同一基性岩浆分异的产物。变质火山岩锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb年龄为341～348Ma,代表其原岩结晶年龄。变质酸性火山岩原始岩浆来自于地壳物质的部分熔融,变质中性火山岩原始岩浆来自于俯冲带附近岩石圈地幔,并遭受了地壳物质的混染,二者均形成于活动大陆边缘火山弧环境。最新研究成果表明"下二台岩群"由不同时代、不同构造环境下形成的地质单元叠置混杂而成,称其为"下二台"构造杂岩更为准确。下二台地区变质火山岩表明在早石炭世初,古亚洲洋板块已经南向俯冲,在华北板块北缘形成活动大陆边缘弧环境,早石炭世变质火山岩原岩为这一俯冲阶段的产物。     

东南极拉斯曼丘陵石榴斜长角闪岩中角闪石的~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar年龄及其地质意义

本文对东南极拉斯曼丘陵出露的石榴斜长角闪岩中的角闪石进行了４０Ａｒ－３９Ａｒ年龄测定,分别得到角闪石视年龄１５８６Ｍａ、１０１１～１０８０Ｍａ、７６１Ｍａ和５２９～５８２Ｍａ,角闪石坪年龄１０３６Ｍａ和５５４Ｍａ,角闪石Ａｒ－Ａｒ等时线年龄１０１０Ｍａ,这些同位素年龄证据,首次完整地记录了该区所经历的几乎所有构造变质热事件,为近几年国内外地质学家关于该区构造变质热事件争论的焦点问题,即晚元古代的１０００Ｍａ格林维尔事件（Ｇｒｅｎｖｉｌｉａｎ）与早古生代的５００Ｍａ泛非事件（Ｐａｎ－Ａｆｒｉｃａｎ）孰轻孰重以及前者是否存在,提供了答案。角闪石的４０Ａｒ－３９Ａｒ年龄测定结果表明,拉斯曼丘陵地区经历了复杂的多期变质演化历史,其原岩可能形成于早－中元古代,占主导地位的应该是晚元古代的１０００Ｍａ格林维尔事件,而５００Ｍａ泛非事件则是晚期较强烈的变质热事件。     

K–Ar ages from seamount chains in the back-arc region of the Izu–Ogasawara arc

The Izu–Ogasawara arc contains, from east to west, a volcanic front, a back-arc extensional zone (back-arc knolls zone), and a series of across-arc seamount chains that cross the extensional zone in an east-northeast and west-southwest direction and extend into the Shikoku Basin. K–Ar ages of dredged volcanic rocks from these across-arc seamount chains and extension-related edifices in the back-arc region of the Izu–Ogasawara arc were measured to constrain the volcanic and tectonic history of the arc since the termination of spreading in the Shikoku Basin. K–Ar ages range between 12.5 and 1 Ma. Andesitic to dacitic rocks of 12.5–2.9 Ma occur mainly on the western part of the chains. The western part of the chains are the locus of volcanism behind the front which erupted mainly calc-alkaline andesitic lavas. The youngest rocks (< 2.8 Ma), characterized by cpx-ol basalt, occur along the western margin of the back-arc knolls zone. Basaltic rocks of 12.5–2.9 Ma have relatively high concentrations of Na₂O (> 2.0 wt%), Zr (> 50 p.p.m.) and Y (> 20 p.p.m.) and low CaO (< 12 wt%). On the other hand, basalts of 2.8–1 Ma have lower Na₂O (< 1.8 wt%), Zr (< 50 p.p.m.) and Y (< 20 p.p.m.), but significantly higher CaO (> 12 wt%). The age inferred for the initiation of back-arc rifting (∼ 2.35–2.9 Ma: Taylor 1992 ) behind the current volcanic arc coincides with the time that basalt chemistry changed drastically (eruption of the low-Na₂O and high-CaO basalt). This implies that post-2.8 Ma volcanism in the back-arc knolls zone is associated with rifting. Similarly, the change in chemical composition might be explained by a different type of source mantle following rift initiation. Volcanism in the western seamounts ceased after the onset of rifting at ∼ 2.8 Ma.     

P–T–t paths and post-metamorphic exhumation of the Day Nui Con Voi shear zone in Vietnam

The Day Nui Con Voi belt in Vietnam is the southeasternmost part of the Red River shear zone in Asia. It is a narrow high-grade metamorphic core complex consisting of garnet–sillimanite–biotite gneisses, mylonite bands, amphibolite layers and migmatites. Geothermobarometric study of the complex revealed that the peak metamorphism took place under amphibolite-facies conditions of 690₋₆₀⁺³⁰°C and 0.65±0.15 GPa and the subsequent mylonitization occurred under greenschist-facies conditions of 480°C and under 0.3 GPa. Fifteen synkinematic hornblende and biotite separates from gneisses, amphibolites and mylonites were dated with the K/Ar method. Hornblende separates from the Day Nui Con Voi give K–Ar ages of 26.4–28.5 Ma, and the biotite separates do give 24.5–24.7 Ma. Combination of thermobarometric and geochronological data yields the cooling history of 500°C at 28 Ma and 300°C at 24 Ma with a cooling rate of 70–110°C Ma⁻¹, and 23 km post-metamorphic exhumation of the core complex. The first 16 km exhumation from the peak of metamorphism (at probably 31 Ma) to 28 Ma was triggered by the left-lateral strike-slip displacement of the Red River shear zone.     

K–Ar ages of the basaltic rocks from Far East Russia: Constraints on the tectono-magmatism associated with the Japan Sea opening

K–Ar ages of the Cenozoic basaltic rocks from the Far East region of Russia (comprising Sikhote-Alin and Sakhalin) are determined to obtain constraints on the tectono-magmatic evolution of the Eurasian margin by comparison with the Japanese Islands, Northeast China, and the formation of the back-arc basin. In the early Tertiary stage (54–26 Ma), the northwestward subduction of the Pacific Plate produced the active continental margin volcanism of Sikhote-Alin and Sakhalin, whereas the rift-type volcanism of Northeast China, inland part of the continent began to develop under a northeast–southwest-trending deep fault system. In the early Neogene (24–17 Ma), a large number of subduction-related volcanic rocks were erupted in connection with the Japan Sea opening. After an inactive interval of the volcanism ∼ 20–13 Ma ago, the late Neogene (12–5 Ma) volcanism of Sikhote-Alin and Sakhalin became distinct from those of the preceding stages and indicated within-plate geochemical features similar to those of Northeast China, in contrast to the Japan Arc which produces island arc volcanism. During the Japan Sea opening, the northeastern Eurasian margin detached and became a continental island arc system, and an integral part of continental eastern Asia comprising Sikhote-Alin, Sakhalin and Northeast China, and the Japan Arc with a back-arc basin. The convergence between the Eurasian Plate, the Pacific Plate and the Indian Plate may have contributed to the Cenozoic tectono-magmatism of the northeastern Eurasian continent.     

The role of anthropogenic activities in karst spring discharge volatility

The traditional hydrological time series methods tend to focus on the mean of whichever variable is analysed but neglect its time‐varying variance (i.e. assuming the variance remains constant). The variances of hydrological time series vary with time under anthropogenic influence. There is evidence that extensive well drilling and groundwater pumping can intercept groundwater run‐off and consequently induce spring discharge volatility or variance varying with time (i.e. heteroskedasticity). To investigate the time‐varying variance or heteroskedasticity of spring discharge, this paper presents a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average with general autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (SARIMA‐GARCH) model, whose the SARIMA model is used to estimate the mean of hydrological time series, and the GARCH model estimates its time‐varying variance. The SARIMA‐GARCH model was then applied to the Xin'an Springs Basin, China, where extensive groundwater development has occurred since 1978 (e.g. the average annual groundwater pumping rates were less than 0.20 m³/s in the 1970s, reached 1.20 m³/s at the end of the 1980s, surpassed 2.0 m³/s in the 1990s and exceeded 3.0 m³/s by 2007). To identify whether human activities or natural stressors caused the heteroskedasticity of Xin'an Springs discharge, we segmented the spring discharge sequence into two periods: a predevelopment stage (i.e. 1956–1977) and a developed stage (i.e. 1978–2012), and set up the SARIMA‐GARCH model for the two stages, respectively. By comparing the models, we detected the role of human activities in spring discharge volatility. The results showed that human activities caused the heteroskedasticity of the Xin'an Spring discharge. The predicted Xin'an Springs discharge by the SARIMA‐GARCH model showed that the mean monthly spring discharge is predicted to continue to decline to 0.93 m³/s in 2013, 0.67 m³/s in 2014 and 0.73 m³/s in 2015. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling flow resistance in vegetated streams: review and development of new theory

Aquatic macrophytes are often the dominant factor influencing flow conditions within the channels they occupy. Existing knowledge of how stream plants affect the flow is outlined, and the different scales at which vegetation resistance operates are proposed. Resistance is shown to be a function of the size of the plants, their structural properties, location in the channel, and the local flow conditions. Current models to calculate this composite resistance effect are assessed in the light of theoretical considerations of the nature of vegetation resistance. New theory is also presented, which demonstrates the non‐linear relationship between channel resistance and the proportion of the channel occupied by vegetation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Cretaceous blueschist facies metamorphism in southern Thrace (Turkey) and its geodynamic implications

A blueschist facies tectonic sliver, 9 km long and 1 km wide, crops out within the Miocene clastic rocks bounded by the strands of the North Anatolian Fault zone in southern Thrace, NW Turkey. Two types of blueschist facies rock assemblages occur in the sliver: (i) A serpentinite body with numerous dykes of incipient blueschist facies metadiabase (ii) a well‐foliated and thoroughly recrystallized rock assemblage consisting of blueschist, marble and metachert. Both are partially enveloped by an Upper Eocene wildflysch, which includes olistoliths of serpentinite–metadiabase, Upper Cretaceous and Palaeogene pelagic limestone, Upper Eocene reefal limestone, radiolarian chert, quartzite and minor greenschist. Field relations in combination with the bore core data suggest that the tectonic sliver forms a positive flower structure within the Miocene clastic rocks in a transpressional strike–slip setting, and represents an uplifted part of the pre‐Eocene basement. The blueschists are represented by lawsonite–glaucophane‐bearing assemblages equilibrated at 270–310 °C and ～0.8 GPa. The metadiabase dykes in the serpentinite, on the other hand, are represented by pumpellyite–glaucophane–lawsonite‐assemblages that most probably equilibrated below 290 °C and at 0.75 GPa. One metadiabase olistolith in the Upper Eocene flysch sequence contains the mineral assemblage epidote + pumpellyite + glaucophane, recording P–T conditions of 290–350 °C and 0.65–0.78 GPa, indicative of slightly lower depths and different thermal setting. Timing of the blueschist facies metamorphism is constrained to c. 86 Ma (Coniacian/Santonian) by Rb–Sr phengite–whole rock and incremental ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar phengite dating on blueschists. The activity of the strike–slip fault post‐dates the blueschist facies metamorphism and exhumation, and is only responsible for the present outcrop pattern and post‐Miocene exhumation (～2 km). The high‐P/T metamorphic rocks of southern Thrace and the Biga Peninsula are located to the southeast of the Circum Rhodope Belt and indicate Late Cretaceous subduction and accretion under the northern continent, i.e. the Rhodope Massif, enveloped by the Circum Rhodope Belt. The Late Cretaceous is therefore a time of continued accretionary growth of this continental domain.