Mineralogy and pressure–temperature–time path of Cretaceous granulite gneisses, south-eastern San Gabriel Mountains, southern California

Mid-Cretaceous granulite gneisses crop out in a narrow belt in the Cucamonga region of the south-eastern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, southern California. Interlayered mafic granulites and pelitic, carbonate, calc-silicate and quartzofeldspathic metasediments record hornblende granulite subfacies metamorphism at approximately 8 kbar and 700–800°C. Regional deformation and formation of banded gneisses ceased by c. 108 Ma. although mafic-intermediate magmatism and high-grade metamorphism continued locally as late as c. 88 Ma. Garnet zoning in metapelitic gneisses suggests that peak metamorphism was followed locally by a period of near-isobaric cooling, but this interpretation requires diachronous cooling of the granulite belt which cannot be demonstrated without detailed thermo-chronological data. It is more likely that the entire terrane remained at granulite facies P–T conditions until 88 Ma, followed by rapid uplift associated with juxtaposition against adjacent middle and upper crustal arc terranes. Uplift occurred between c. 88 and 78 Ma at rates of approximately 1–2 km Ma^-1. The geotectonic evolution of the Cucamonga granulites is similar to mid-Cretaceous high- P granulites in the Sierra Nevada and Salinian block of central California. Late Cretaceous uplift common to these granulites may provide an important tectonic link between dismembered Mesozoic batholithic terranes in the California Cordillera.     

Selective transport of heavy minerals by shoaling waves

A model to account for the occurrence of heavy mineral concentrations as discrete lamina on beaches is presented. The model is based on the shoreward variation in the distribution of bottom fluid velocities due to shoaling, progressive, gravity, water waves. This variation causes certain portions of the sediment population to be transported shoreward at a faster rate than other portions. On moderate energy shorelines composed of sand-sized sediment the selectively transported portion may include the relatively hard-to-move heavy mineral fraction. Wave tank experiments with artificially prepared sediment populations provide empirical support for the proposed model. Under certain wave conditions it was found that the heavy mineral fraction of the sediment population moved shoreward at a faster rate than did the light mineral fraction.     

THE DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGICAL-BIOLOGICAL FEATURES OF CREPIDULA ONYX IN HONG KONG

C. onyx, originally distributed in California, was found in great quantities in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong in 1982 and was identified according to the study of its morphology and the radula teeth. Lots of the individuals of the species lived in overlapping colony, with the female at the lower, and the male in the upper while the sex-transforming individual at the middle. They attached on the shells of Perna viridis in a high density of 715 ind./m2. Studies have been carried out on its population structure, individual size, age and sex composition and on reproductive biology, such as sex transformation, change of the length of penis and fecundity.     

Petrology of the Vandfaldsdalen Macrodike, Skaergaard Region, East Greenland

The Vandfaldsdalen macrodike is a layered and differentiatedgabbroic dike approximately 3?5 km long and from 200 to 500m wide. It appears to cut the eastern margin of the Skaergaardintrusion and may have served as a feeder for the Basistoppensill. The macrodike can be divided into three series of rocks:a marginal series of differentiated gabbros adjacent to thewalls of the dike; a central series of differentiated and subhorizontallylayered gabbros and ferrodiorites in the interior of the dike;and an upper felsic series of granophyric rocks with abundantquartzo-feldspathic xenoliths. The mineral and bulk-rock compositionsthrough both the marginal series and central series show progressiveiron enrichment. The most Ca-rich plagioclase (An₆₉) and mostmagnesian pyroxene (Wo₄₂ En₄₆ Fs₁₂) occur in olivine-bearingrocks of the marginal series about 5 m from the contact withwall rocks. The most Na-rich plagioclase (An₃₉) and Fe-richpyroxene (Wo₃₈ En₂₄ Fs₃₈) are in olivine-free ferrodiorite ofthe central series, about 20 m below the contact with the felsicseries. Evidence from field observations, bulk-rock chemical compositions,and Sr and Nd isotopic data indicate the felsic series formedas a mixture of the initial macrodike magma and granitic countryrock. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of specimens from the felsic series rangebetween 0?7129 and 0?7294. ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios vary between 0?51208and 0?51118. Both ratios vary serially with the SiO₂ contentsof the specimens. We suggest that the felsic series evolvedas a separate body of low density liquid which floated on thedenser gabbroic magma of the central series. Heat from crystallizationof the gabbroic magma must have diffused into the felsic layer,enabling extensive assimilation of the granitic xenoliths, butour data indicate there was very little exchange of chemicalcomponents between the two liquids.     

The formation and significance of irregularly shaped quartz grains in till

Thin sections and scanning electron microscopy of quartz sand grains from till show clearly that a number of grains have been modified in place. The irregular grains result from the action of circulating alkaline groundwater, episodically concentrated by evaporation on fracture surfaces within grains and on concave surfaces produced by fracture during glacial transport. Evaporation increases the pH of the pore water and localizes its effect in small pores with a high capillary potential. Subsequent dilution by rainwater or snow meltwater flushes the system so that evaporation can repeat the process again. Solution rounding in terrigenous sediments has a number of ramifications for any interpretation based on textural maturity of the sediment.     

Genesis of Peraluminous Granites I. Experimental Investigation of Melt Compositions at 3 and 5 kb and Various H2O Activities

Melting experiments have been performed on a peraluminous quartzo-feldspathicgneiss from Northern Portugal. This gneiss occurs as xenolithsin the Tourem anatectic complex and is the most probable sourcerock for the surrounding anatectic granites. On the basis offield, petrological, and geochemical data, it can be shown thatanatexis took place in the stability field of cordierite + biotiteand that the evolution of magmas is the result of processesinvolving segregation of partial melt and separation of restiteminerals. Experiments were performed at 700, 750, and 800 ?C, 3 and 5kb, and various H₂O activities (aH₂O) to clarify the influenceof aH₂O and melt fraction on the composition of the generatedmelts. Biotite and cordierite are the two main ferromagnesianphases observed in the run products. Cordierite is formed byincongment melting of biotite. For relatively low melt fractions (< 30–35 wt. %),the partial melts coexisting with quartz, alkali feldspar, andplagioclase have a minimum or near-minimum melt composition.The melts become richer in potassium with decreasing aH₂O. Thisresult using a natural rock as starting material is in goodagreement with results achieved in the synthetic Qz-Ab-Or system.In the stability field of biotite and cordierite, the influenceof aH₂O on melt composition is at least as important as theeffect of changing P and/or T. For higher melt fractions the composition of the melt is stronglycontrolled by the disappearance of alkali feldspar and the meltsbecome richer in An and poorer in Or with increasing degreeof melting. The wide range of compositions (especially for K₂O, which variesfrom 3.5 to 5.4%) observed in the experimental peraluminousmelts demonstrates that a wide variety of granitoid magmas maybe produced from the same source rocks. The application of theexperimental results to the Tourem anatectic complex shows thatmelting occurred at H2O-undersaturated conditions (4–5wt. % H₂O in the melts, corresponding to aH₂O of {small tilde}0.5at 5 kb). Experimental melts similar in composition to the mostleucocratic granite of the Tourem anatectic complex (consideredto approximate the composition of the generated melt) were obtainedaround 800 ?C, suggesting that this temperature was attainedduring the peak of anatexis.     

The anthropogenic influence on carbonaceous aerosol in the European background

To constrain the relatively uncertain anthropogenic impact on the organic aerosol load, radiocarbon analyses were performed on aerosol samples, collected year-round, at six non-urban sites including a maritime background and three remote mountain stations, lying on a west-east transect over Western Europe. From a crude three component model supported by TOC and levoglucosan filter data, the fossil fuel, biomass burning and biogenic TOC fraction are estimated, showing at all stations year-round, a relatively constant fossil fuel fraction of around  (26 ± 6)%  , a dominant biogenic contribution of on average  (73 ± 7)%  in summer and the continental as well as the maritime background TOC to be only about 50% biogenic. Assuming biomass burning as completely anthropogenic, the carbonaceous aerosol concentration at the mountain sites was found to have increased by a factor of up to  (1.4 ± 0.2)  in summer and up to  (2.5 ± 1.0)  in winter. This figure is significantly lower, however, than the respective TOC change since pre-industrial times seen in an Alpine ice core. Reconciling both observations would require an increase, since pre-industrial times, of the background biogenic aerosol load, which is estimated at a factor of 1.3–1.7.     

ON THE MAGNESIAN CONTENT OF THE PRE-GAMBRIAN MARBLE IN NORTH CHINA.

The senior author has, since several years,~1 pointed out the high magnesian content in the upper Wutai formation in which frequently occur