Sedimentology and depositional model for glaciolacustrine deposits in an ice-dammed tributary valley, western Tasmania, Australia

Quaternary sedimentary successions are described from the Linda Valley, a small valley in western Tasmania that was dammed by ice during Early and Middle Pleistocene glaciations. Mapping and logging of exposures suggest that an orderly sequence of deposits formed during ice incursion, occupation and withdrawal from tributary valleys. Four principal sediment assemblages record different stages of ice occupation in the valley. As the glacier advanced, a proglacial, lacustrine sediment assemblage dominated by laminated silts and muds deposited from suspension accumulated in front of the glacier. A subglacial sediment assemblage consisting of deformed lacustrine deposits and lodgement till records the overriding of lake-bottom sediments as the glacier advanced up the valley into the proglacial lake. As the glacier withdrew from the valley, a supraglacial sediment assemblage of diamict, gravel, sand and silt facies formed on melting ice in the upper part of the valley. A lacustrine regression in the supraglacial assemblage is inferred on the basis of a change from deposits mainly resulting from suspension in a subaqueous setting to relatively thin and laterally discontinuous laminated sediments, occurrence of clastic dykes, and increasing complexity of the geometry of deposits that indicate deposition in a subaerial setting. A deltaic sediment assemblage deposited during the final stage of ice withdrawal from the valley consists of steeply dipping diamict and normally graded gravel facies formed on delta foresets by subaqueous sediment gravity flows. The sediment source for the delta, which prograded toward the retreating ice margin, was the supraglacial sediment assemblage previously deposited in the upper part of the valley. A depositional model developed from the study of the Linda Valley may be applicable to other alpine glaciated areas where glaciers flowed through or terminated in medium- to high-relief topography.     

Development of sediment–landform associations at cold glacier margins,Dry Valleys,Antarctica

The impact of modern cold glaciers on arid periglacial landscapes has received little attention compared with other glacial regimes, and there is a widely held assumption that cold glaciers are not effective geomorphological agents, despite recent studies to the contrary. This paper focuses on the processes operating at the margins of a number of glaciers in the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, notably the Wright Lower Glacier. The glaciers are entraining primarily older drift deposits and highly weathered regolith which texturally are sandy gravels, as well as well‐sorted sands of fluvial origin. Despite basal temperatures of the order of ?16°C, frozen layers and blocks of sand and gravel are being incorporated into the base of the glaciers by folding and thrusting. The sedimentary products are ridges and aprons several metres high within which the principal lithofacies are sand, gravel, foliated glacier ice, lake ice and snow. These facies are glaciotectonized strongly. Draped over these landforms is a veneer of well‐sorted aeolian sand up to half a metre thick. Supraglacial streams flowing off the glaciers incise these landforms and the sediment is redeposited as alluvial fans, lake deltas and lake‐bottomset deposits. Overall the sediment/landform association differs markedly from those of other glacial regimes, with sand and gravel being the dominant facies, while the usual indicators of glacier working (such as facets and striations on clasts) are lacking. The preservation potential for these landforms on a thousand‐year time scale is high, as modification in this arid regime by slope processes and running water is limited. Sublimation of buried ice is so slow that ridge features are likely to remain ice‐cored almost indefinitely, modified only by wind transport and weathering.     

Bulk chemical control on metamorphic monazite growth in pelitic schists and implications for U–Pb age data

Several petrographic studies have linked accessory monazite growth in pelitic schist to metamorphic reactions involving major rock‐forming minerals, but little attention has been paid to the control that bulk composition might have on these reactions. In this study we use chemographic projections and pseudosections to argue that discrepant monazite ages from the Mount Barren Group of the Albany–Fraser Orogen, Western Australia, reflect differing bulk compositions. A new Sensitive High‐mass Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb monazite age of 1027 ± 8 Ma for pelitic schist from the Mount Barren Group contrasts markedly with previously published SHRIMP U–Pb monazite and xenotime ages of c. 1200 Ma for the same area. All dated samples experienced identical metamorphic conditions, but preserve different mineral assemblages due to variable bulk composition. Monazite grains dated at c. 1200 Ma are from relatively magnesian rocks dominated by biotite, kyanite and/or staurolite, whilst c. 1027 Ma grains are from a ferroan rock dominated by garnet and staurolite. The latter monazite population is likely to have grown when staurolite was produced at the expense of garnet and chlorite, but this reaction was not intersected by more magnesian compositions, which are instead dominated by monazite that grew during an earlier, greenschist facies metamorphic event. These results imply that monazite ages from pelitic schist can vary depending on the bulk composition of the host rock. Samples containing both garnet and staurolite are the most likely to yield monazite ages that approximate the timing of peak metamorphism in amphibolite facies terranes. Samples too magnesian to ever grow garnet, or too iron‐rich to undergo garnet breakdown, are likely to yield older monazite, and the age difference can be significant in terranes with a polymetamorphic history.     

Definition and character of the Regency Interglacial and Early-Middle Pleistocene stratigraphy in the King Valley, western Tasmania, Australia

Interpretation of weathered glacial and interglacial deposits in the lower King Valley suggests that the Early Pleistocene Thureau Formation is conformably overlain by the Regency Formation. Pollen analysis of the Regency Formation provides evidence of a new climatic stage, the Regency Interglacial. The interglacial deposit consists of humified peat overlain by drifted wood and leaves. The pollen analysis shows a transition from montane scrub rainforest to lowland temperate rainforest dominated by Lagarostrobos franklinii, Nothofagus cunninghamii and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius. Trace quantities of the species Quintinia psi-latispora and Gothanipollis perplexus , now both extinct in Tasmania, were also recorded. On the basis of intense chemical weathering and correlation with sediments that have a reversed magnetization the weathered glacial deposits of the Thureau Formation are thought to be older than 730,000 B.P. The eroded interglacial deposit rests on the weathered deposits and is buried by outwash gravels of the David Formation, which was deposited during an ice advance of the Middle Pleistocene Henty Glaciation (c. 150,000 B.P.). Comparison of the Regency site with a site 2 km to the south at Baxter Rivulet shows that the unconformity between the interglacial deposit and the overlying outwash gravel represents the erosion of the evidence for the Middle Pleistocene Moore Glaciation.     

The Influence of Retrograde Cation Exchange on Granulite P-T Estimates and a Convergence Technique for the Recovery of Peak Metamorphic Conditions

Chemical relationships in garnet-orthopyroxene-plagioclase-quartzrocks are governed principally by three equilibria: the Fe-Mgexchange reaction between garnet and orthopyroxene, the solubilityof alumina in orthopyroxene coexisting with garnet, and thereaction of garnet and quartz to form orthopyroxene and plagioclase.Various thermobarometric calibrations of these equilibria havebeen applied to granulite-facies gneisses from two areas ofthe Proterozoic Complex of East Antarctica, and a wide rangeof P-T estimates is obtained for each area. Some of this P-Tvariation reflects the different thermodynamic data and mineralmixing models used by each calibration, but other differencesare attributed to the effects of retrograde Fe-Mg exchange.An inter-specimen spread of temperatures in each area, obtainedfor mineral core compositions with a single calibration of thegarnet-orthopyroxene exchange reaction, is attributed to a variableextent of Fe-Mg exchange on cooling from peak metamorphic conditions.A similar spread of pressures from the garnet-orthopyroxenealumina solubility barometer indicates that this calibrationis also reset by retrograde Fe-Mg exchange. In contrast, pressuresfrom the garnet-orthopyroxene-plagioclase-quartz barometer formineral cores show little variation between specimens from thesame area, indicating that this equilibrium is relatively insensitiveto changes in the Fe-Mg distribution coefficient and that derivedpressures are more likely to reflect peak metamorphic conditionsthan those from the alumina solubility barometer. Temperaturescan be corrected for Fe-Mg exchange using the Fe-Mg distributioncoefficient required to bring pressures from the exchange-sensitivealumina solubility barometer into agreement with reference pressurescalculated from the exchange-insensitive garnet-orthopyroxene-plagioclase-quartzbarometer. These corrected temperatures are closure temperaturesfor Al diffusion, which in many cases are likely to be goodestimates for the peak metamorphic temperature. The extent oftemperature correction in these specimens is 0–140C,and can be qualitatively related to textural features such asgrain size and mutual proximity of garnet and orthopyroxenegrains. Retrograde Fe-Mg exchange has clearly been significantin these rocks, with major consequences for thermobarometry.It is likely that Fe-Mg exchange during cooling is more widespreadthan currently recognized, and that the suggested convergencemethod for retrieving peak metamorphic conditions is applicableto other granulite terrains.     

Pressure–temperature evolution of metapelitic granulites in a polymetamorphic terrane: the Rauer Group, East Antarctica

Distinctive lithological associations and geological relationships, and initial geochronological results indicate the presence of an areally extensive region of reworked Archaean basement containing polymetamorphic granulites in the Rauer Group, East Antarctica.
Structurally early metapelites from within this reworked region preserve complex and varied metamorphic histories which largely pre-date and bear no relation to a Late Proterozoic metamorphism generally recognized in this part of East Antarctica. In particular, magnesian metapelite rafts from Long Point record extreme peak P–T conditions of 10–12 kbar and 100–1050°C, and an initial decompression to 8 kbar at temperatures of greater than 900°C. Initial garnet–orthopyroxene–sillimanite assemblages contain the most magnesian (and pyrope-rich) garnets ( X _Mg= 0.71) yet found in granulite facies rocks. A high-temperature decompressional P–T history is consistent with reaction textures in which the phase assemblages produced through garnet breakdown vary systematically with the initial garnet X _Mg composition, reflecting the intersection of different divariant reactions in rocks of varied composition as pressures decreased. This history is thought to relate to Archaean events, whereas a lower-temperature ( c. 750–800°C) decompression to 5 kbar reflects Late Proterozoic reworking of these relict assemblages.
The major Late Proterozoic ( c. 1000 Ma) granulite facies metamorphism is recorded in a suite of younger Fe-rich metapelites and associated paragneisses in which syn- to post-deformational decompression, through 2–4 kbar from maximum recorded P–T conditions of 7–9 kbar and 800–850°C, is constrained by geothermobarometry and reaction textures. This P–T evolution is thought to reflect rapid tectonic collapse of crust previously thickened through collision.     

Lithological stratification in supraglacial sediments: an example from western Tasmania, Australia

Pebble counts of the lithology of glacial sediments in the King Valley show that the content of distantly derived erratics of many sections decreases upwards in near surface sediments. Two factors that contribute to this lithological stratification are dilution of the erratic content of surface sediments by locally derived rocks and lithological stratification of debris within the Pleistocene King Glacier. The common diluting mechanism appears to have been slope detritus derived from the valley sides and small hills that crop out on the valley floor. Lithological stratification of debris in the King Glacier resulted from the altitude of the equilibrium line of the King Glacier relative to the position and altitude of the rock source areas and the thermal regime at the ice-bed interface. The Jurassic dolerite and Permian sediments that crop out above the equilibrium line altitude were transported in subglacial and englacial positions. In contrast, below the equilibrium line sediments that accumulated and were transported in a supraglacial position contained no erratic lithologies. When deposited, the supraglacial sediments formed a siliceous, non-erratic cover over sediments that were transported in subglacial and englacial positions. The model of the mode of sediment transport in the King Valley may have application to areas of alpine glaciation where the distribution of some rock types is restricted to areas above the equilibrium lines of glaciers.     

Metapelitic Migmatites from Brattstrand Bluffs, East Antarctica--Metamorphism, Melting and Exhumation of the Mid Crust

Metapelitic migmatites at Brattstrand Bluffs, East Antarctica,preserve granulite assemblages and a complex deformational history.Crystallized granitic melt accounts for 25% of exposed rocks,and was produced by biotite dehydration-melting reactions inthe host metapelite. Variable degrees of melt production andextraction resulted in a range of bulk compositions in the residualmetapelite, from quartz-rich migmatites to restitic quartz-absentpelite. Decompressional reaction textures indicate 11 km ofexhumation after peak metamorphism at P—T conditions of6 kbar and 860C Decompression occurred during a single cycleof partial melting and melt crystallization at 500 Ma, and wassynchronous with tectonic unroofing of the Brattstrand Bluffsmigmatites along ductile shear zones. Exhumation has been proposedas a cause of dehydration melting in the Himalaya and elsewhere,but melting at Brattstrand Bluffs was ultimately driven by thetectonic perturbation and subsequent thermal relaxation responsiblefor high metamorphic temperatures. Exhumation did not drivemelting reactions, but it is likely that the presence of meltfocused deformation in the migmatites and thus promoted exhumation. KEY WORDS: decompression; exhumation; granulite; melting; migmalite ^*Corresponding author.     

Garnet coronas in scapolite-wollastonite calc-silicates from East Antarctica: the application and limitations of activity-corrected grids

Calc-silicate boudins within Proterozoic granulite facies gneisses of the northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, preserve a number of reaction textures including garnet coronas between calcite and scapolite; garnet-quartz coronas between scapolite and wollastonite and between plagioclase and wollastonite; calcite-quartz intergrowths in wollastonite; and calcite-plagioclase symplectites in scapolite. These textures have been modelled using petrogenetic grids for reactions in the CaO-Al₂,O₃-SiO₂-CO₂ system, but with reduced mineral activities to account for additional components in real mineral compositions. Such fixed-composition reduced-activity grids are strictly valid only at the point in P-T-a_CO2 space where an assemblage last equilibrated, and do not show the true positions of reactions away from this point because mineral compositions change with reaction progress. In this case, however, mineral compositions close to end-member values and low extents of reaction progress mean that compositional change was limited and the grids are good approximations to true pseudosections over the entire P-T-a_co2 range of interest. The grids show that the textures are consistent with near-isobaric cooling from about 850 to 700d? C at 7 kbar, a P-T path compatible with thermobarometric studies of other lithologies from the area. Phase relationships indicate that CO₂ activities were buffered by the local mineral assemblage during peak and retrograde metamorphism, either under fluid-absent conditions or within a non-pervasive fluid phase. Previous studies of garnet coronas in scapolite-wollastonite calc-silicates have used qualitative grids based on limited experimental data to invoke garnet growth during water infiltration at high temperature, but the grids used here show that garnet coronas can form on cooling, without any need for water influx.