Zircon M257 ‐ a Homogeneous Natural Reference Material for the Ion Microprobe U‐Pb Analysis of Zircon

We introduce and propose zircon M257 as a future reference material for the determination of zircon U‐Pb ages by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. This light brownish, flawless, cut gemstone specimen from Sri Lanka weighed 5.14 g (25.7 carats). Zircon M257 has TIMS‐determined, mean isotopic ratios (2s uncertainties) of 0.09100 ± 0.00003 for ²⁰⁶pb/²³⁸U and 0.7392 ± 0.0003 for ²⁰⁷pb/²³⁵U. Its ²⁰⁶pb/²³⁸U age is 561.3 ± 0.3 Ma (unweighted mean, uncertainty quoted at the 95% confidence level); the U‐Pb system is concordant within uncertainty of decay constants. Zircon M257 contains ～ 840 μg g^?1 U (Th/U ～ 0.27). The material exhibits remarkably low heterogeneity, with a virtual absence of any internal textures even in cathodoluminescence images. The uniform, moderate degree of radiation damage (estimated from the expansion of unit‐cell parameters, broadening of Raman spectral parameters and density) corresponds well, within the “Sri Lankan trends”, with actinide concentrations, U‐Pb age, and the calculated alpha fluence of 1.66 × 10¹⁸ g^?1. This, and a (U+Th)/He age of 419 ± 9 Ma (2s), enables us to exclude any unusual thermal history or heat treatment, which could potentially have affected the retention of radiogenic Pb. The oxygen isotope ratio of this zircon is 13.9%o VSMOW suggesting a metamorphic genesis in a marble or calc‐silicate skarn.     

Provenance of the Bosnian Flysch

Sandwiched between the Adriatic Carbonate Platform and the Dinaride Ophiolite Zone, the Bosnian Flysch forms a c. 3000 m thick, intensely folded stack of Upper Jurassic to Cretaceous mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sediments in the Dinarides. New petrographic, heavy mineral, zircon U/Pb and fission-track data as well as biostratigraphic evidence allow us to reconstruct the palaeogeology of the source areas of the Bosnian Flysch basin in late Mesozoic times. Middle Jurassic intraoceanic subduction of the Neotethys was shortly followed by exhumation of the overriding oceanic plate. Trench sedimentation was controlled by a dual sediment supply from the sub-ophiolitic high-grade metamorphic soles and from the distal continental margin of the Adriatic plate. Following obduction onto Adria, from the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition onwards a vast clastic wedge (Vranduk Formation) was developed in front of the leading edge, fed by continental basement units of Adria that experienced Early Cretaceous synsedimentary cooling, by the overlying ophiolitic thrust sheets and by redeposited elements of coeval Urgonian facies reefs grown on the thrust wedge complex. Following mid-Cretaceous deformation and thermal overprint of the Vranduk Formation, the depozone migrated further towards SW and received increasing amounts of redeposited carbonate detritus released from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform margin (Ugar Formation). Subordinate siliciclastic source components indicate changing source rocks on the upper plate, with ophiolites becoming subordinate. The zone of the continental basement previously affected by the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous thermal imprint has been removed; instead, the basement mostly supplied detritus with a wide range of pre-Jurassic cooling ages. However, a c. 80 Ma, largely synsedimentary cooling event is also recorded by the Ugar Formation, that contrasts the predominantly Early Cretaceous cooling of the Adriatic basement and suggests, at least locally, a fast exhumation.     

The Mesoproterozoic Midsommersø dolerites and associated high-silica intrusions, North Greenland: crustal melting, contamination and hydrothermal alteration

The Midsommersø dolerites and the flood basalts of the Zig-Zag Dal Basalt Formation, eastern North Greenland, represent a major Mesoproterozoic (∼1,380 Ma) igneous event. The intrusive rocks form large sheets within a succession of feldspathic sandstones which underlie the basalts. The geochemistry of the basalts has recently been re-investigated and reported elsewhere in this Journal; here we present new trace element and Nd-, Sr- and Pb-isotopic data for the intrusive rocks. Unlike the basalts, the intrusions yield evidence of considerable interaction and contamination with upper crustal rocks, especially the sandstones. High-silica rocks (80–90 wt% SiO₂) occur in sheets, up to 60 m thick. They were formed by mobilisation of sandstones, and indicate a very high rate of emplacement of hot basic magma into the sandstones at depth. These mobilised sandstones (‘rheopsammites’) are among the most SiO₂-rich intrusive rocks on earth. Sheets of remobilised granitoid rocks from the crystalline basement (∼70% SiO₂) are also present. Hydrothermal activity, associated with the igneous event, significantly changed the compositions of the silicic rocks as well as that of many dolerites. Sheets of hydrothermally altered (‘red’) dolerites and silicic rocks invariably have borders of dark, fresh dolerite; this is interpreted to be the result of intrusion from zoned magma chambers. Nd isotope data confirm the crustal origin of the silicic rocks as well as the contamination of some dolerites by components derived from crustal sources, while Sr- and Pb-isotopic systems are strongly affected by the hydrothermal alteration, and give little information on the petrogenesis of the rocks. Recent loss of Sr from hydrothermally altered rocks further affected the Sr isotope systems, and earlier age determinations by the Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron method (1,230 Ma) have proved to be in error. The dolerites and the basalts are geochemically very similar, but most dolerites have moderately negative Eu anomalies that are not observed in the basalts. Eu anomalies in the dolerites could be related to contamination by sandstone at depth, but it is not clear why the basalts escaped a similar contamination.     

Anthropogenic contributions to atmospheric Hg, Pb and As accumulation recorded by peat cores from southern Greenland and Denmark dated using the C “bomb pulse curve”

Mercury concentrations are clearly elevated in the surface and sub-surface layers of peat cores collected from a minerotrophic (“groundwater-fed”) fen in southern Greenland (GL) and an ombrotrophic (“rainwater-fed”) bog in Denmark (DK). Using ¹⁴C to precisely date samples since ca. AD 1950 using the “atmospheric bomb pulse,” the chronology of Hg accumulation in GL is remarkably similar to the bog in DK where Hg was supplied only by atmospheric deposition: this suggests not only that Hg has been supplied to the surface layers of the minerotrophic core (GL) primarily by atmospheric inputs, but also that the peat cores have preserved a consistent record of the changing rates of atmospheric Hg accumulation. The lowest Hg fluxes in the GL core (0.3 to 0.5 μg/m²/yr) were found in peats dating from AD 550 to AD 975, compared to the maximum of 164 μg/m²/yr in AD 1953. Atmospheric Hg accumulation rates have since declined, with the value for 1995 (14 μg/m²/yr) comparable to the value for 1995 obtained by published studies of atmospheric transport modelling (12 μg/m²/yr).The greatest rates of atmospheric Hg accumulation in the DK core are also found in the sample dating from AD 1953 and are comparable in magnitude (184 μg/m²/yr) to the GL core; again, the fluxes have since gone into strong decline. The accumulation rates recorded by the peat core for AD 1994 (14 μg/m²/yr) are also comparable to the value for 1995 obtained by atmospheric transport modelling (18 μg/m²/yr). Comparing the Pb/Ti and As/Ti ratios of the DK samples with the corresponding crustal ratios (or “natural background values” for preanthropogenic peat) shows that the samples dating from 1953 also contain the maximum concentration of “excess” Pb and As. The synchroneity of the enrichments of all three elements (Hg, Pb, and As) suggests a common source, with coal-burning the most likely candidate. Independent support for this interpretation was obtained from the Pb isotope data (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.1481 ± 0.0002 in the leached fraction and 1.1505 ± 0.0002 in the residual fraction) which is too radiogenic to be explained in terms of gasoline lead alone, but compares well with values for U.K. coals. In contrast, the lowest values for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb in the DK profile (1.1370 ± 0.0003 in the leached fraction and 1.1408 ± 0.0003 in the residual fraction) are found in the sample dating from AD 1979: this shows that the maximum contribution of leaded gasoline occurred approximately 25 yr after the zenith in total anthropogenic Pb deposition.     

Detrital zircon geochronology of Palaeozoic Novaya Zemlya – a key to understanding the basement of the Barents Shelf

The Novaya Zemlya fold‐and‐thrust‐belt is the northern continuation of the late Palaeozoic Uralide Orogen. Little is known about its deeper structure and the basement history of the adjacent Barents and Kara shelves. Based on geological evidence and detrital zircon analysis of 28 samples from the northeastern and stratigraphically deepest part of the archipelago, we demonstrate that Cambro‐Ordovician turbidite‐dominated deposition was almost exclusively sourced from rocks consolidated during the Timanian orogeny (Timanian basement). A profound change in provenance occurred near the end of the Ordovician. Over 90% of the zircons from Silurian and about 80% from Devonian strata have ages characteristic of the Sveconorwegian Orogen, implying uplift of these rocks in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya. The presence of Sveconorwegian and Grenvillian rocks in the high Arctic suggests revision of recent reconstructions of the Rodinia supercontinent, its break‐up and subsequent Caledonian orogeny.     

Post-collisional transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline magmatism during transcurrent deformation in the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt (Braziliano–Pan-African, Uruguay)

In the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt of Uruguay, highly fractionated calc-alkaline granites, mildly alkaline granites, shoshonitic volcanics, and peralkaline intrusions and volcanics are spatially and temporal associated with the evolution of shear zones. Four representative magmatic unites of this diverse association were petrographic and geochemically investigated: the Solís de Mataojo Complex, a medium to high K2O calc-alkaline granite with signature typical of mature continental arcs and post-collisional settings; the Maldonado granite, highly fractionated calc-alkaline to alkaline, with characteristics that are transitional between both types of series; the Pan de Azúcar Pluton, with characteristics typical of post-collisional alkaline granites and the Las Flores shoshonitic basalts.

Geochemistry and geotectonic setting point out that slab breakoff was most likely the mechanism associated with the generation of high-K calc-alkaline magmas (Solís de Mataojo and Maldonado) shortly after collision. Extension associated to the formation of molassic basins and emplacement of dolerites and basalt flows with shoshonitic affinity (Las Flores) 15and finally a shift to magmas with alkaline signatures (Pan de Azúcar) simultaneous with a second transpressional phase were probably linked with lithospheric thinning through delamination. This evolution took place between 615 and 575 Ma, according to available data. Contrary to previous proposals, which considered this magmatism to represent the root of a continental magmatic arc, a post-collisional environment, transitional from orogenic to anorogenic, during transcurrent deformation is proposed.     

The processes that control leucosome compositions in metasedimentary granulites: perspectives from the Southern Marginal Zone migmatites,Limpopo Belt,South Africa

Anatexis of metapelitic rocks at the Bandelierkop Quarry (BQ) locality in the Southern Marginal Zone of the Limpopo Belt occurred via muscovite and biotite breakdown reactions which, in order of increasing temperature, can be modelled as: (1) Muscovite + quartz + plagioclase = sillimanite + melt; (2) Biotite + sillimanite + quartz + plagioclase = garnet + melt; (3) Biotite + quartz + plagioclase = orthopyroxene ± cordierite ± garnet + melt. Reactions 1 and 2 produced stromatic leucosomes, which underwent solid‐state deformation before the formation of undeformed nebulitic leucosomes by reaction 3. The zircon U–Pb ages for both leucosomes are within error identical. Thus, the melt or magma formed by the first two reactions segregated and formed mechanically solid stromatic veins whilst temperature was increasing. As might be predicted from the deformational history and sequence of melting reactions, the compositions of the stromatic leucosomes depart markedly from those of melts from metapelitic sources. Despite having similar Si contents to melts, the leucosomes are strongly K‐depleted, have Ca:Na ratios similar to the residua from which their magmas segregated and are characterized by a strong positive Eu anomaly, whilst the associated residua has no pronounced Eu anomaly. In addition, within the leucosomes and their wall rocks, peritectic garnet and orthopyroxene are very well preserved. This collective evidence suggests that melt loss from the stromatic leucosome structures whilst the rocks were still undergoing heating is the dominant process that shaped the chemistry of these leucosomes and produced solid leucosomes. Two alternative scenarios are evaluated as generalized petrogenetic models for producing Si‐rich, yet markedly K‐depleted and Ca‐enriched leucosomes from metapelitic sources. The first process involves the mechanical concentration of entrained peritectic plagioclase and garnet in the leucosomes. In this scenario, the volume of quartz in the leucosome must reflect the remaining melt fraction with resultant positive correlation between Si and K in the leucosomes. No such correlation exists in the BQ leucosomes and in similar leucosomes from elsewhere. Consequently, we suggest disequilibrium congruent melting of plagioclase in the source and consequential crystallization of peritectic plagioclase in the melt transfer and accumulation structures rather than at the sites of biotite melting. This induces co‐precipitation of quartz in the structures by increasing SiO₂ content of the melt. This process is characterized by an absence of plagioclase‐induced fractionation of Eu on melting, and the formation of Eu‐enriched, quartz + plagioclase + garnet leucosomes. From these findings, we argue that melt leaves the source rapidly and that the leucosomes form incrementally as melt or magma leaving the source dumps its disequilibrium Ca load, as well as quartz and entrained ferromagnesian peritectic minerals, in sites of magma accumulation and escape. This is consistent with evidence from S‐type granites suggesting rapid magma transfer from source to high level plutons. These findings also suggest that leucosomes of this type should be regarded as constituting part of the residuum from partial melting.     

Vertikale und zeitliche Verteilung der Leitfähigkeit in einem eutrophen Gewässer während der Sommerstagnation

Summary Data are given of the vertical distribution of temperature, conductivity and alkalinity of an eutrophic lake (Rotsee near Lucerne) measured at short intervals during the summer stratification. We were able to prove in a limited measure only the expected day's periodicity from the conductivity of the CO₂-assimilation of the phytoplankton. We found pronounced internal ‘seiches’ in the hypolimnion; their mathematical interpretation is given only in the order of size.Rodhe's diagram andNümann's method make it possible to determine quantitative relations; from the chemical point of view the lake (depth 16,5 m) shows a four-layered type during the summer.