Timing and duration of the Last Interglacial: evidence for a restricted interval of widespread coral reef growth

We report new mass spectrometric U-series ages for eight Last Interglacial fossil reefs along the continental margin of Western Australia. Corals were selected in growth position from localities that are characterized by apparently low levels of diagenesis and relative tectonic stability so that the fossil reefs provide critical information on Last Interglacial sea-levels without requiring corrections for tectonic movements. In addition, we have improved the constraint on the timing of onset of reef growth by recovering drill core coral from the base of the reefs. Uranium and thorium isotopes were measured with high levels of precision, leading to improvements in age resolution and allowing samples which have undergone diagenetic exchange of uranium and thorium to be more easily identified and discarded. These data supplement our previous results for Rottnest Island and Leander Point, leading to more than seventy mass spectrometric U-series ages from which constraints can be placed on the timing, duration and character of the Last Interglacial sea-level highstand. Reliable ages show that reef growth started contemporaneously at 128 ± 1 ka along the entire Western Australian coastline, while relative sea-levels were at least 3 m above the present level. Because Western Australia is located far from the former Penultimate Glacial Maximum ice sheets and are not significantly effected by glacial unloading, these data constrain the timing of onset of the Last Interglacial period to 128 ± 1 ka, assuming reef growth started soon after sea-level approached interglacial levels. A unique regressive reef sequence at Mangrove Bay constrains the timing of termination of the Last Interglacial period to 116 ± 1 ka. The major episode of reef building, however, both globally and locally along the Western Australian coast, is restricted to a very narrow interval occurring from 128 ka and 121 ka, suggesting that global ocean surface temperatures were warm and/or sea-levels were stable enough to allow prolific reef growth only during the earlier part of the Last Interglacial.     

东濮凹陷白庙地区古近系超压成因机理

综合超压成因机理的各种分析方法,从压实不均衡、生烃作用两方面对白庙地区的超压成因机理进行了系统的分析.研究结果表明,泥岩声波时差曲线表现为两段式线性演化,其拐点深度为3 100 m左右.一方面,白庙地区实测超压顶界面深度约为2 800～3 050m,说明是压实不均衡作用导致了该区超压的形成;另一方面,超压顶界面埋深与生烃高峰深度表现出良好的一致性,在3 050 m深度其镜质体反射率R0值为1.0%,说明生烃作用对白庙地区超压的发育亦具有一定的贡献,由此认为,压实不均衡和生烃增压作用是白庙地区超压发育的主要机理.     

Challenges in high-pressure granulite metamorphism in the era of pseudosections: reaction textures, compositional zoning and tectonic interpretation with examples from the Bohemian Massif

High‐pressure granulites are an important record of geodynamic processes in overthickened or subducted continental crust. Orthopyroxene‐free assemblages in granitic (ternary feldspar(s) + quartz + garnet + kyanite + rutile), intermediate (ternary feldspar(s) + quartz + garnet + clinopyroxene ± kyanite ±rutile ± titanite) and basic (garnet + clinopyroxene + plagioclase ± quartz + rutile) compositions indicate formation conditions at mantle depths. Clinopyroxene compositions in Variscan high‐pressure granulites are unusual in that they include omphacite (in plagioclase‐bearing rocks thus not eclogite) and Al‐rich diopside (i.e. indicating high Ca‐Tschermak content), with both yielding temperatures above 900 °C. Problems such as compositional zoning, multiple generations of key phases in reaction domains and unmixing of high‐temperature solid‐solution phases during cooling (ternary feldspars, omphacite) clearly indicate disequilibrium and require very careful interpretation as to which phases and compositions possibly represent a former equilibrium association. Pressure–temperature (P–T) determination by the pseudosection method, although allowing prediction of mineral assemblages, compositions and molar proportions for a fixed bulk composition for modelled P–T conditions, still requires reliable activity–composition information for the key phases feldspar and clinopyroxene as well as an interpretation of former equilibrium compositions in the investigated samples, i.e. the same restrictions applying to conventional thermobarometry. The interpretations of some recently determined pseudosections for the composition of Variscan clinopyroxene‐bearing high‐pressure granulites contradict numerous published P–T paths. However, quantitative information from thermobarometry or pseudosections must be integrated with key petrographic observations. In the case of the Variscan example, it is argued that petrographic observations and published P–T paths are consistent with mineral assemblages predicted in pseudosections and support existing tectonometamorphic models.     

Pressure-Temperature-time Evolution of Metamorphic Rocks from Naxos (Cyclades,Greece): Constraints from Thermobarometry and Rb/Sr dating

The Pressure-Temperature-time paths of metapelites sampled on an east-west transect across the structural dome of Naxos (Greece) have been reconstructed on the basis of new geothermobarometric data and Rb/Sr dating, as well as previously published data. One sample from an intermediate structural level records pressure and temperature conditions of 10 kbar, 500°C, corresponding to its exhumation in a highpressure/low-temperature (HP/LT) setting. The corresponding Rb/Sr exhumation age is 29.3±1.3(2s) Ma. Toward the center of the dome, metamorphic assemblages record an increase in peak-temperature and corresponding pressure (from 500 to 700°C, and from 5 to 8 kbar), in a medium-pressure/medium-temperature (MP/MT) metamorphic field gradient. Whole-rock, muscovite and biotite on two samples from deep structural levels define ages of 5.2 and 7.0 Ma, whereas garnets fall outside the isochrons and retain earlier less radiogenic signatures. Rb/Sr data on these two samples demonstrate open system behaviour coeval with, or subsequent to MP/MT metamorphism. The interpretation of the Pressure-Temperature-time paths indicates a time span of 15-20 Ma for dome formation. It also suggests that the HP/LT to MP/MT transition is due to i) heating of deeper parts of the dome through magma injection or ii) either homogeneous (75 %) or localized thinning during dome formation.     

Dehydration reaction and isotope front transport induced by CO2 infiltration at Nuliyam, South India

The field relations from a quarry at Nuliyam, South India, illustrate dehydration of an amphibolite facies gneiss to granulite facies charnockite by CO₂ influx, over a scale of 30 m. Both the calc-silicate source of the fluids and the full extent of their penetration into the gneiss are preserved in a continuous section. Fluid flow is by a hydraulic fracture mechanism, but is thought to be pervasive. The sharp reaction front predicted by the continuum mechanical theory for advective fluid transport is not observed. The front spreading is on too large a scale for either diffusive or dispersive control and is due to local kinetic disequilibrium between the fluid and rock, although the divariant nature of the reaction may also have a limited effect. The time-integrated fluid flux varies from the instantaneous porosity at the fluid front to 20 vol. % adjacent to the calc-silicate. Carbon isotope budgets suggest that decarbonation of the calc-silicate by a Rayleigh fractionation process provides a sufficient source for the CO₂ influxing into the gneiss. Graphite abundances vary from 0.01 to 0.1% (by weight), it is principally derived by precipitation from the fluid and may be modelled from phase equilibria. Carbon isotope fronts coincide with the reaction front on the scale of sampling, although isotopic disequilibrium between graphite and inclusion-CO₂ also implies local fluid-rock disequilibrium.     

New data on speleothem deposition and palaeoclimate in Britain over the last forty thousand years

²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dates are presented for 26 speleothems from three areas in Britain: Assynt, N.W. Scotland; N.W. Yorkshire; Mendip Hills, Somerset. These dates suggest that speleothem growth was widespread but rare in the period from 40 to 26 Ka, absent from 26 to 15 Ka, and abundant from 15 Ka to the present. The absence of speleothems between 26 and 15 Ka is attributed to glaciation in Yorkshire and Assynt and, tentatively, to continuous permafrost development in the Mendip Hills. The occurrence of speleothems before 26 Ka places restrictions on the extent of any ice sheet which may have been present in Scotland, and indicates that N.W. Scotland was not subjected to continuous permafrost at that time.     

Diffusion control of garnet growth,Harpswell Neck,Maine, USA

A detailed analysis of chemical zoning in two garnet crystals from Harpswell Neck, Maine, forms the basis of an interpretation of garnet nucleation and growth mechanisms. Garnet apparently nucleates initially on crenulations of mica and chlorite and quickly overgrows the entire crenulation, giving rise to complex two‐dimensional zoning patterns depending on the orientation of the thin section cut. Contours of Ca zoning cross those of Mn, Fe and Mg, indicating a lack of equilibrium among these major garnet constituents. Zoning of Fe, Mg and Mn is interpreted to reflect equilibrium with the rock matrix, whereas Ca zoning is interpreted to be controlled by diffusive transport between the matrix and the growing crystal. Image analysis reveals that the growth of garnet is more rapid along triple‐grain intersections than along double‐grain boundaries. Moreover, different minerals are replaced by garnet at different rates. The relative rate of replacement by garnet along double‐grain boundaries is ordered as muscovite > chlorite > plagioclase > quartz. Flux calculations reveal that replacement is limited by diffusion of Si along double‐grain boundaries to or from the local reaction site. It is concluded that multiple diffusive pathways control the bulk replacement of the rock matrix by garnet, with Si and Al transport being rate limiting in these samples.     

Pore pressure assessment from well data and overpressure mechanism: Case study in Eastern Tunisia basins

Abstract

Independent and complementary methods were used for pore pressure assessment in the eastern Tunisian basins. Drilling data and surveys allow settling the pore pressure profile in these basins. The main used parameters are mud weights, formation pressure surveys, drilling parameters, well logs, fluids exchange with formation and borehole issues. In the eastern Tunisia platform, the pore pressure profiles show changes in overpressure magnitude in all the three dimensions of the basin (location and depth/stratigraphy). We highlighted two overpressure intervals form bottom to top: The late Cretaceous in the North-eastern part, and the Tertiary overpressure interval hosted in the Palaeocene to Miocene series. The structural analysis of overpressure location shows that the Tertiary interval is likely to have originated in a disequilibrium compaction in Cenozoic grabens. Pore pressure cross sections and maps confirm the link between active normal faults that segmented the basin to grabens and highs and pore pressure anomalous area. In the Senonian interval, we noted mature source-rocks that can explain the overpressure in the late Cretaceous interval. In addition, the recent to active compressive tectonics may have contributed to both pore pressure anomaly generations. The fluid overpressures characterization in the eastern Tunisian sedimentary basins helps in hydrocarbons exploration. Indeed, the overpressure interval in the reservoir levels stimulates and improves the production in the oilfields and contributes to hydrocarbon trapping. Moreover, the adequate prediction of pore pressure profile contributes to reduce drilling cost and enhance the drilling operations safety.     

Seasonal trends in the uranium-series istopic signatures of lake waters and sediments: Hawes Water, north-west England

Potential seasonal variation in the U-series radioisotopic signatures of lake and input waters was investigated in Hawes Water, north-west England, and the sedimentary record was examined to establish whether any observed seasonality is preserved in the sediment U and Th radioisotopic activity ratios. U-series disequilibrium in the waters is indicative of both surface and shallow sub-surface origins for the dissolved U, and that this supply is influenced by changes in the prevailing hydrological regime. However, the lake is buffered from this seasonality in that the ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio remains constant during the year, and the U content undergoes only a marginal decrease during summer. The change in the mechanism of lake sedimentation from allochthonous organic input during winter to autochthonous carbonate formation during summer has a more significant influence on the U-series radioisotopic characteristics of sedimentary record in that the proportion of organic and carbonate material both exhibit a strong control on the²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratio and U content. In addition, significant proportions of sediment U and Th are associated with ferromanganese oxyhydroxides. Given this seasonality, it is of some significance that the ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios of the bottom sediments preserve a reasonable record of lake U-series disequilibrium and are, therefore, potential indicators of long-term changes in catchment hydrology.     

Multiple,isotopically heterogeneous plagioclase populations in the Bushveld Complex suggest mush intrusion

The Bushveld Complex and other layered intrusions show significant initial isotopic heterogeneity, both between and within co-existing cumulate minerals. Various processes have been proposed to account for this, including (i) intrusion of variably contaminated crystal mushes from deeper staging chambers, (ii) blending of semi-consolidated crystal mushes as a result of subsidence during cooling, (iii) variable infiltration of contaminants into a partially solidified crystal mush, (iv) density-driven mixing of minerals from isotopically distinct magma pulses, (v) contamination of crystals at the roof of the intrusion and mechanical incorporation of such contaminated crystals into the lower crystallisation front as a result of gravitational instability at the upper crystallisation front, and (vi) late-stage metasomatic processes. In order to assess the likely process(es) responsible for initial isotopic heterogeneities within the Bushveld Complex, we analysed core and rim domains of 12 plagioclase crystals from the Main and Upper zones of the Bushveld Complex for their Sr-isotopic compositions. The data show the presence of multiple, isotopically heterogeneous populations of plagioclase occurring within the same rocks. The data presented here are best explained through the intrusion of variably contaminated crystal mushes derived from a sub-compartmentalized, sub-Bushveld staging chamber that underwent different degrees of contamination with crustal rocks of the Kaapvaal craton.