Convergent flow of ice within the Astrolabe subglacial basin, Trre Adélie, East Antarctica: an hypothesis derived from nummerical modelling experiments

The existence of a large subglacial lake beneath the antarctic Ice Sheet at Terre Adélie indicates the presence of basal ice at its pressure-melting temperature. A numerical model of the ice-sheet thermal regime is employed using the balance velocity of the ice sheet as an initial model input in order to calculate ice-sheet basal temperatures. However, the results from this model show the Terre Adélie area to be characterised by basal freezing. Heat in addition to that accounted for in the model is thus required at the ice-sheet base in order for pressure melting temperatures to be attained. The sources for such heat are (1) an enhanced geothermal heat flux and (2) an increase in frictional heating caused by the flow of ice. In this paper the latter possibility is expanded by hypothesising that subglacial topography induces convergent ice flow around Terre Adélie, causing enhanced basal ice velocities. Model experiments indicate that an increase in ice velocity (from 7 to at least 42 m yr⁻¹) is required to raise the temperature of the basal ice to the pressure melting value. Increased ice velocity, and consequent frictional heat production due to convergent ice flow, may therefore be important in explaining the location of the subglacial lake in this region. These results allow the process of convergent ice flow within a contemporary ice sheet to be quantified. A verification (or otherwise) of the model results may be possible if ice surface velocity measurements from modem GPS methods are made.     

Anaerobic diagenesis within Recent, Pleistocene, and Eocene marine carbonate frameworks

Porewaters from a variety of Recent, Pleistocene, and Eocene lithified marine carbonate frameworks displayed similar chemical characteristics: highly depleted concentrations of dissolved oxygen (>20 μM), elevated levels of dissolved methane (25-5000 nM), and near-seawater sulphate levels. These porewaters also had low pH values (7·5-7·9), and contained elevated concentrations of sulphide (4–10 μM), dissolved inorganic carbon (2·05–2·46 mM), and inorganic nutrients. Hydrocarbon composition data indicate that the methane is biogenic, whereas the methane δ¹³C values (–47·4 ± 2·7%0) suggest that it has been subject to oxidation. The porewater dissolved inorganic carbon δ¹³C values varied from –0·6 to –39%0, suggesting input of carbon dioxide from organic matter oxidation. We conclude that anaerobic diagenesis involving bacterial degradation of organic matter is a common process in lithified marine carbonates and hypothesize that it may be an important factor controlling their carbonate geochemistry.     

An Ion and Electron Microprobe Study of the Mineralogy of Enclaves and Host Syenites of the Red Hill Complex, New Hampshire, USA

The Red Hill complex of New Hampshire is unusual for the WhiteMountain Magma Series of northern New England because it consistsof both silica-undersaturated and -saturated to -oversaturatedsyenites. Amphibole, pyroxene, and apatite in two of the saturatedunits, the Outer Coarse Syenite (OCS) and the Garland Peak Syenite(GPS), and in the undersaturated Nepheline Sodalite Syenite(NSS), were analyzed to determine the relationship between coexistingunder-saturated and saturated magmas. Mafic enclaves in theNSS and the GPS were also studied to elucidate their relationshipswith the host syenites. In addition to mafic enclaves, the NSS contains later emplacedcamptonitic dikes and associated pipe-like benmoreites. Thebenmoreites contain amphibole that is compositionally continuouswith amphibole in the NSS. However, REE and other trace elementabundances in apatite from the benmoreites and the NSS are notcompatible with a genetic relationship between the two. Maficenclaves within the NSS contain amphibole and pyroxene thatare compositionally continuous with the NSS. Bulk-rock compositionsof the enclaves plot along trends defined by the NSS. Furthermore,chondrite-normalized REE patterns for apatite in both the enclavesand the NSS are parallel, and REE abundances increase systematicallyfrom the enclaves to the NSS. We therefore suggest that theenclaves represent magmas similar to the NSS parent that intrudedup into its daughter products. These magmas appear to have beentephritic to phonotephritic in composition. Abundances of REE in apatite in the Nepheline Sodalite Syenite(NSS) are distinct from those in apatite in the silica-saturatedOCS. OCS apatites have LREE abundances up to 26 000 times chondritesand La/Yb ratios of 16–27. NSS apatites have comparableLREE concentrations, but HREE abundances are considerably lowerthan those of the OCS; La/Yb ratios range from 68 to 104. Theseobserved differences in both the REE and other trace elementabundances between apatite in the two rocks present difficultieswith a common parental magma hypothesis for the NSS and OCS.Hence it is suggested that, although the OCS and NSS are contemporaneousin time and space, they are probably not consanguineous. The silica-saturated GPS is a fine-grained syenite containingstrongly zoned amphiboles with kaersutite to hastingsite coresrimmed by hastingsitic hornblende and ferro-hornblende. Discretegrains of hastingsitic hornblende and ferro-hornblende occurin a feldspar-quartz groundmass. Coarser-grained, quartz-richpatches, containing feldspars and ferro-hornblende and ferroedenite,are also found in the GPS. The kaersutite cores are identicalto the amphibole in the GPS enclaves and the NSS suite. TheseGPS enclaves are silica undersaturated; the kaersutite coresin the GPS host rocks are probably xenocrysts derived from disaggregatedundersaturated magmas similar to that represented by the enclaves.     

Late Weichselian ice-sheet sensitivity over Franz Josef Land, Russian High Arctic, from numerical modelling experiments

A numerical ice-sheet model was run in order to produce reconstructions of the Late Weichselian ice coverage of Franz Josef Land, Russian High Arctic. The model grid covers the archipelago and surrounding shelf, but does not include the whole Barents-Kara region or the extensive ice cover that may have built up there. One experiment, where rates of iceberg calving at the grounded margin were curtailed because of the assumed presence of permanent thick sea ice, yielded a single I.8 km-thick ice dome which covered the entire archipelago and surrounding sea. If, however, iceberg calving were included in the model's environmental input, the extent of the ice sheet would be limited to the periphery of the archipelago. If a large ice sheet existed over Franz Josef Land, the deglaciation of the islands may have been linked to the decay of the adjacent Barents-Kara Sea Ice Sheet, permitting iceberg calving (enhanced by relative sea-level rise) to occur. The introduction of a water-depth-related iceberg calving function at 15 000 yr ago forced an initial rapid rate of ice-sheet decay of 30 000 km³ 1000 yr'. However, as the ice sheet thinned, and isostatic rebound began, the calculated rate of iceberg calving was reduced such that ice remained over the archipelago at 8000 yr ago. The model's failure to simulate complete ice-sheet decay by 8000 yr ago is at variance with radiocarbon-dated raised terraces on Franz Josef Land, which indicates the complete deglaciation of the islands at this time.     

A collection of papers by Björn Kurtén

A collection of papers by Bjorn Kurth, CHRISTINE JANIS
BJORN KURTEN 1924 11 19-1988 1228     

Maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheets in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Weichselian

Based on field investigations in northern Russia and interpretation of offshore seismic data, we have made a preliminary reconstruction of the maximum ice-sheet extent in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Early/Middle Weichselian and the Late Weichselian. Our investigations indicate that the Barents and Kara ice sheets attained their maximum Weichselian positions in northern Russia prior to 50 000 yr BP, whereas the northeastern flank of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet advanced to a maximum position shortly after 17 000 calendar years ago. During the Late Weichselian (25 000-10 000 yr BP), much of the Russian Arctic remained ice-free. According to our reconstruction, the extent of the ice sheets in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Late Weichselian glacial maximum was less than half that of the maximum model which, up to now, has been widely used as a boundary condition for testing and refining General Circulation Models (GCMs). Preliminary numerical-modelling experiments predict Late Weichselian ice sheets which are larger than the ice extent implied for the Kara Sea region from dated geological evidence, suggesting very low precipitation.     

Metamorphic Evolution of Iron-rich Mafic Cumulates from the Otztal-Stubai Crystalline Complex, Eastern Alps, Austria

Olivine-rich rocks containing olivine + orthopyroxene + spinel+ Ca-amphibole ± clinopyroxene ± garnet are presentin the central Ötztal–Stubai crystalline basementassociated with eclogites of tholeiitic affinity. These rockscontain centimetre-sized garnet layers and lenses with garnet+ clinopyroxene ± corundum. Protoliths of the olivine-richrocks are thought to be olivine + orthopyroxene + spinel dominatedcumulates generated from an already differentiated Fe-rich () tholeiitic magma that was emplaced into shallowcontinental crust. Protoliths of the garnet-rich rocks are interpretedas layers enriched in plagioclase and spinel intercalated ina cumulate rock sequence that is devoid of, or poor in, plagioclase.U–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating ofzircons from a garnet layer indicates that emplacement of thecumulates took place no later than 517 ± 7 Myr ago. Aftertheir emplacement, the cumulates were subjected to progressivemetamorphism, reaching eclogite-facies conditions around 800°Cand >2 GPa during a Variscan metamorphic event between 350and 360 Ma. Progressive high-P metamorphism induced breakdownof spinel to form garnet in the olivine-rich rocks and of plagioclase+ spinel to form garnet + clinopyroxene ± corundum inthe garnet layers. Retrogressive metamorphism at T 650–680°Cled to the formation of Ca-amphibole, chlorite and talc in theolivine-rich rocks. In the garnet layers, högbomite formedfrom corundum + spinel along with Al-rich spinel, Ca-amphibole,chlorite, aspidolite–preiswerkite, magnetite, ilmeniteand apatite at the interface between olivine-rich rocks andgarnet layers at P < 0·8 GPa. Progressive desiccationof retrogade fluids through crystallization of hydrous phasesled to a local formation of saline brines in the garnet layers.The presence of these brines resulted in a late-stage formationof Fe- and K-rich Ca-amphibole and Sr-rich apatite, both characterizedby extremely high Cl contents of up to 3·5 and 6·5wt % Cl, respectively. KEY WORDS: cumulates; Variscan metamorphism; SHRIMP dating; högbomite; saline brines