Large-scale karst features and open taliks at Vardeborgsletta, outer Isfjorden, Svalbard

Ground temperature measurements show that open taliks occurring at Vardeborgsletta are probably caused by the heat of circulating water from great depths. The absence of permafrost has allowed the ground water to circulate, and large-scale karst features have developed in a limestone area. Karst processes are also active today, and dolines and ponds with sinking drainage occur.     

Crystal-Mush Compaction and the Origin of Pegmatitic Segregation Sheets in a Thick Flood-Basalt Flow in the Mesozoic Hartford Basin, Connecticut

Where the Holyoke flood-basalt flow in the Mesozoic HartfordBasin in Connecticut is thick and contains coarse-grained, horizontalsegregation sheets in its central part, the lower part of theflow is strongly depleted in incompatible elements; where theflow is thin and contains no segregation sheets it is homogeneousthroughout. This chemical variation can be explained only throughcompaction of the partly crystallized basalt. The compositionof the segregation sheets shows that they separated from thebasalt following only 33% crystallization. The segregation sheets,however, are clearly intrusive into the basalt, which must thereforehave already formed a crystal mush with finite strength at thislow degree of crystallinity. The incompatible element concentrationsindicate that the partly crystallized basalt underwent as muchas 28% compaction in the lowest 60 m of the flow. Between 60and 130 m above the base of the flow, the crystal mush becamedilated, and eventually ruptured with formation of the segregationsheets. No segregation sheet has a composition indicating separationafter more than 33% crystallization of the basalt. This is interpretedto indicate that compaction ceased at this stage because ofthe increasing strength of the mush and the increasing densityof the fractionating interstitial liquid KEY WORDS: crystal-mush compaction; segregation shtets; flood basalt; tholeiitie; Connecticut ^*e-mail: philpotts{at}geol.uconn.edu     

RADON DEPTH MIGRATION1

A depth migration method is presented that uses Radon-transformed common-source seismograms as input. It is shown that the Radon depth migration method can be extended to spatially varying velocity depth models by using asymptotic ray theory (ART) to construct wavefield continuation operators. These operators downward continue an incident receiver-array plane wave and an assumed point-source wavefield into the subsurface. The migration velocity model is constrained to have longer characteristic wavelengths than the dominant source wavelength such that the ART approximations for the continuation operators are valid. This method is used successfully to migrate two synthetic data examples:

• 1 a point diffractor, and
• 2 a dipping layer and syncline interface model.

It is shown that the Radon migration method has a computational advantage over the standard Kirchhoff migration method in that fewer rays are computed in a main memory implementation.     

The Panafrican Stratoid Granites of Madagascar: Alkaline Magmatism in a Post-Collisional Extensional Setting

A major alkali province of late Panafrican age occupies centralMadagascar and takes the form of a thick sequence of ‘stratoid’(sheet-like)granites emplaced in a mid-crustal gneissic basement This alkalinemagmatism has been interpreted as a consequence of extensionaltectonics accompanying the collapse of the Mozambique belt.The rocks belong to three petrographic types: subsolvus granites,hypersolvus alkaline granites and syenites. Major and traceelement analyses have typical A-type characteristics. Two distinctmagmatic suites are recognized: a mildly alkaline suite includingall the subsolvus granites and a strongly alkaline suite includingthe hypersolvus alkaline granites and the syenites. We proposethat the mildly alkaline suite was derived from a granodioriticcrustal protolith. Some of the strongly alkaline granites andthe quartz syenites display low ¹⁸O isotopic signatures of around+6.The parental magmas for this suite are most probably of mantlederivation. The more evolved compositions are consistent withcrystal fractionation processes. Contemporaneous alkaline silicicplutonismoccurs in many parts of the Panafrican belt of Eastern Africa;however, sheet-like intrusions have rarely been described. Asa large-scale province, the nearest analogues of the stratoidgranites of Madagascar are the rapakivi granites of earlierProterozoic age in Scandinavia and Greenland. KEY WORDS: alkaline granite; Madagascar; Panafrican; pastcollisional magmatism ^*Corresponding author     

Geochemistry and Intrusive History of the Ashland Pluton, Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon

The Ashland pluton is a calc-alkaline plutonic complex thatintruded the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt of the KlamathMountains in late Middle Jurassic time. The pluton comprisesa series of compositionally distinct magma pulses. The oldestrocks are hornblende gabbro and two-pyroxene quartz gabbro withinitial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0{dot}7044, ¹⁸O = 8{dot}7%, and REE patternswith chondrite normalized La/Lu = 7. These units were followedby a suite of tonalitic rocks (La_N/Lu_N = 7) and then by a suiteof K₂O- and P₂O₅ rocks of quartz monzodioritic affinity (La_N/Lu_N= 13–21; La_N/Sm_N = 2{dot}4–3{dot}) The quartz monzodioriticrocks were then intruded by biotite granodiorite and granitewith lower REE abundances but more fractionated LREE(La_N/Lu_N= 13–19; La_N/Sm_N = 4{dot}3–6 and they, in turn,were host to dikes and bosses of hornblende diorite. The latestintrusive activity consisted of aplitic and granitic dikes.Combined phase equilibria and mineral composition data, indicateemplacement conditions of approximately P_total = 2{dot}3kb,P_H2O between 1{dot}5 and 2{dot}2 kb, and f_O2 between the nickel-nickeloxide and hematite-magnetite buffers. Successive pulses of magma display increasing SiO₂ togetherwith increasing ¹⁸O and decreasing initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. The isotopicdata are consistent with either (1) combined fractional crystallizationof andesitic magma and concurrent assimilation of crustal materialcharacterized by low Sr₁ and high (¹⁸O or, more probably, (2)a series of partial melting events in which sources were successivelyless radiogenic but richer in ¹⁸O Each intrusive stage displaysevidence for some degree of crystal accumulation and/or fractionalcrystallization but neither process adequately accounts fortheir compositional differences. Consequently, each stage appearsto represent a distinct partial melting or assimilation event. The P₂O₅-rich nature of the quartz monzodiorite suite suggestsaccumulation of apatite. However, the suite contains abundantmafic microgranitoid enclaves and most apatite in the suiteis acicular. These observations suggest that magma mixing affectedthe compositional variation of the quartz monzodiorite suite.Mass balance calculations are consistent with a simple mixingprocess in which P₂O₅-rich alkalic basalt magma (representedby the mafic microgranitoid enclaves) was combined with a crystal-poorfelsic magma (represented by the tonalite suite), yielding aquartz monzodioritic magma that then underwent differentiationby crystal fractionation and accumulation.     

Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway,with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region

Krüger, L. C., Paus, A., Svendsen, J. I. & Bjune, A. E. 2011: Lateglacial vegetation and palaeoenvironment in W Norway, with new pollen data from the Sunnmøre region. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00213.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Two sediment sequences from Sunnmøre, northern W Norway, were pollen‐analytically studied to reconstruct the Lateglacial vegetation history and climate. The coastal Dimnamyra was deglaciated around 15.3 ka BP, whereas Løkjingsmyra, further inland, became ice‐free around 14 ka BP. The pioneer vegetation dominated by snow‐bed communities was gradually replaced by grassland and sparse heath vegetation. A pronounced peak in Poaceae around 12.9 ka BP may reflect warmer and/or drier conditions. The Younger Dryas (YD) cooling phase shows increasing snow‐bed vegetation and the local establishment of Artemisia norvegica. A subsequent vegetation closure from grassland to heath signals the Holocene warming. Birch forests were established 500–600 years after the YD–Holocene transition. This development follows the pattern of the Sunnmøre region, which is clearly different from the Empetrum dominance in the Lateglacial interstadial further south in W Norway. The Lateglacial oscillations GI‐1d (Older Dryas) and GI‐1b (Gerzensee) are hardly traceable in the north, in contrast to southern W Norway. The southern vegetation was probably closer to an ecotone and more susceptible to climate changes.     

Developing a modern pollen–climate calibration data set for Norway

Bjune, A. E., Birks, H. J. B., Peglar, S. M. & Odland, A. 2010: Developing a modern pollen–climate calibration data set for Norway. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 674–688. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00158.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Modern pollen–climate data sets consisting of modern pollen assemblages and modern climate data (mean July temperature and mean annual precipitation) have been developed for Norway based on 191 lakes and 321 lakes. The original 191‐lake data set was designed to optimize the distribution of the lakes sampled along the mean July temperature gradient, thereby fulfilling one of the most critical assumptions of weighted‐averaging regression and calibration and its relative, weighted‐averaging partial least‐squares regression. A further 130 surface samples of comparable taphonomy, taxonomic detail and analyst became available as a result of other projects. These 130 samples, all from new lakes, were added to the 191‐lake data set to create the 321‐lake data set. The collection and construction of these data sets are outlined. Numerical analyses involving generalized linear modelling, constrained ordination techniques, weighted‐averaging partial least‐squares regression, and two different cross‐validation procedures are used to asses the effects of increasing the size of the calibration data set from 191 to 321 lakes. The two data sets are used to reconstruct mean July temperature and mean annual precipitation for a Holocene site in northwest Norway and a Lateglacial site in west‐central Norway. Overall, little is to be gained by increasing the modern data set beyond about 200 lakes in terms of modern model performance statistics, but the down‐core reconstructions show less between‐sample variability and are thus potentially more plausible and realistic when based on the 321‐lake data set.     

MULTIPARAMETER GEOPHYSICAL LOGGING AT THE YAVA LEAD DEPOSIT: A STATISTICAL APPROACH1

The present study describes multiparameter geophysical logging carried out at the Yava sandstone lead deposit, Nova Scotia, Canada. Statistical analysis of the multiparameter data set shows that the spectral gamma-gamma ratio log (SGG ratio) is the most useful technique for characterizing the disseminated sulphide mineralization. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicates that the apparent chargeability (IP parameter) responds to the presence of clay minerals in the sandstone in addition to disseminated sulphides, so that the induced polarization method (IP) does not accurately delineate the disseminated galena content as was originally assumed in the preliminary log interpretation. PCA has also confirmed that the SGG ratio and density are related to lead content and that lithological variations can be delineated with natural radioactivity and resistivity. The zinc content of the deposit was poorly characterized by geophysical logs. Sphalerite occurrences seem to be localized as narrow bands (< 1 cm) which were not geophysically detectable.