Redistriution of Major Elements in the Alteration of Some Basic Lavas during Burial Metamorphism

An Ordovician geanticlinal marine sequence is exposed in theCentral West of New South Wales, Australia. The sequence containingbasic lavas, labile sedimentary, and proclastic rocks, has undergoneextensive adjustment during regional burial metamorphism. Thebasic lavas have a patchy coloration due to the formation ofalternation minerals of the prehnite-pumpellyite facies whichapperar to have formed during the metamorphism. The hererogeneousappearance of the basic lavas reflects a pronouced chemicaland mineralogical departure from the original composition. Twodiverging trends result. One leads to the production of a Ca-enrichedlithology, the other, which by far dominates in area at eachouterop, leads to a ‘spilitic’ lithology. The alterationdomains in many cases cross–cut all primary textural featureand their chemical variation does not correspond to likely variationsin the original lava composition.     

Phase Equilibria in the Metamorphic Rocks of St. Paul Island and Cape North, Nova Scotia

A suite of schists—one from the garnet zone, 19 from thestaurolite zone, 2 from the kyanite isograd, and one from thekyanite zone—were separated into their constituent minerals.Chemical analyses of one chlorite and of 23 sets of coexistingbiotites and garnets were carried out by photometric and titrametricprocedures. Plots of garnet-biotite tie-lines from divariantassemblages on appropriate phase diagrams result in intersectingtie-lines which cannot be ascribed to experimental error. Theoreticalconsiderations argue that at equilibrium, at the same pressureand temperature or at constant pressure and varying temperature,tie-lines of divariant assemblages should not intersect. Possibleexplanations require that diffusion equilibrium of Fe and Mgbe restricted to volumes smaller than that of a hand specimenor that P as well as T varies considerably. Emission spectrographicdeterminations of Fe and Mg in biotite indicate that the Fe/Mgratio varies among biotites little more than a centimeter apart.Such a variation would argue more in favor of a lack of diffusionequilibrium.     

Trace Element and Isotope Geochemistry of the Volcanic Rocks of Bequia, Grenadine Islands, Lesser Antilles Arc: a Study of Subduction Enrichment and Intra-crustal Contamination

Pliocene volcanics on the island of Bequia comprise two interbeddedsuites of basalts and andesites. The isotopically homogeneoussuite (IHS) has a limited range of Sr—Nd—Pb isotopes(⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr 0.7040–0.7046, ¹⁴³ Nd/¹⁴⁴ Nd 0.5130 and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb 19.36–19.51), and mantle-like ¹⁸O values (5.5in clinopyroxene). The isotopically diverse suite (IDS) is characterizedby much wider ranges of radiogenic isotopes (⁸⁷ Sr/⁸⁶Sr 0.7048–0.7077,¹⁴³ Nd/¹⁴⁴ Nd 0.5128–0.5123 and ²⁰⁶ Pb/²⁰⁴ Pb 19.7–20.2),in which all of the Sr and Pb ratios are higher and Nd ratiosare lower than those of the IHS. The IDS is also characterizedby high ¹⁸ O values, up to 7.6 in clinopyroxene. The Sr andPb isotope ratios are too high, and the Nd isotope ratios aretoo low in the IDS for any of these lavas to be derived fromunmodified depleted mantle. Both suites are petrologically very similar and their majorelement compositions and phenocryst contents suggest that theywere formed largely by fractional crystallization of a hydroustholeiitic melt at pressures <3 kbar. The isotopic ratiosand enrichments in large ion lithophile elements (LILE), andto some extent light rare earth elements (LREE), as comparedwith mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), of the IHS lavas suggestthat they were derived from a depleted mantle source which hadbeen re-enriched by the addition of 1–4% of a subductioncomponent. This component probably comprised a mixture of dehydrationfluids, and perhaps minor siliceous melts, released from subductingsediments and mafic crust. The extreme isotopic ranges, largeenrichments in incompatible elements, more fractionated LREEpatterns and higher ¹⁸ O values of the IDS lavas are interpretedas resulting from 10–55% assimilation—fractionalcrystallization of sediments, derived from the Guyana Shield,which are present in the arc crust, by IHS type melts. KEY WORDS: trace elements; radiogenic isotopes; arc lavas; Lesser Antilles ^*Corresponding author.     

Chertification in the Mississippian Lake Valley Formation, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico

Chert distribution in the Lake Valley rocks is selective to mud-supported facies; it is not related to proximity to unconformities. The facies selectivity of the chertification is believed to be a function of the depositional distribution of indigenous silica as sponge spicules, an interpretation that is supported by high positive qualitative correlation of chert with spiculitic rocks. Petrography indicates that the spicules were all originally siliceous, and that they all went through a moldic stage during which many molds were compactively destroyed and distorted. Remaining molds were subsequently cemented by calcite or chalcedony. Chert distribution and spicule petrography argue for an intraformational source for much of the silica. Chert micro-fabrics are dominated by microquartz, a replacement of grains and lime mud; length-fast chalcedony, a pore-filling cement; and megaquartz, a post-chalcedony pore-filling cement. Petrography of compaction features within chert masses indicates that chertification occurred after some burial. Based on stratigraphic reconstruction this burial depth was a maximum of about 215 m. and was most likely a few metres to a few tens of metres. Petrography of chert-calcite cement relationships indicates that chertification occurred before and during first generation, pre-Pennsylvanian non-ferroan calcite cementation, and was completed before late-stage, post-Mississippian ferroan calcite precipitation. Petrography of chert clasts in basal Rancheria (Meramecian) and basal Pennsylvanian conglomerates proves these clasts derived from the Lake Valley Formation and were chertified before redeposition. Thus, some cherts in the Lake Valley are pre-Meramecian in age, but all are pre-Pennsylvanian in age. Furthermore, association of the cherts with the non-ferroan cements indicates the cherts were probably precipitated in meteoric phreatic lens established beneath the pre-Meramecian and pre-Pennsylvanian subaerial unconformities.     

Man-made turbidity currents in Lake Superior

The discharge of taconite tailings into Lake Superior at Silver Bay, Minnesota, produces turbidity current flow. The silty fine-sand tailings fraction transported to the deepest part of the lake has formed a small fan with valleys similar in gross morphology to a submarine fan. Current meters anchored 5 m above the lake floor over the wall and over the levee of a distributary valley on the fan recorded intermittent turbidity current flows during 30 weeks in 1972–73. At least twenty-five discrete periods of observation of turbidity current flow were obtained; single episodes lasted 4?328+ h. Only flows thick enough to overflow the eastern levee of the valley could be observed, and this accounts for the intermittent nature of our observations, as flow within the valleys is expected to be continuous as long as tailings are discharged. Flow velocities were higher near the valley axis where the flow is thicker. Velocities measured over the valley wall averaged 10.8 cm/s for eleven episodes; velocities measured over the levee, more than 1/2 km from the valley axis, only 3.3 cm/s. The maximum velocity during 1300 h of observation did not exceed 31 cm/s. This agrees reasonably well with velocities calculated from channel properties, as commonly done for turbidity currents on deep-sea fans. Current meters tethered above the bottom meters indicate that lake currents normally parallel the shore throughout the water column. With the onset of a turbidity current, currents higher in the water column remain unchanged but velocities near the bottom go to zero, currents then change azimuth by 90° to parallel the downslope (down-valley) direction of the fan, then increase in velocity. During a turbidity current episode, the direction of bottom flow stays relatively constant (± 20° of the down-valley trend) but the velocity oscillates (commonly with 10 cm/s amplitude), periods being of 1/2 h or less to several hours. Turbidity currents generated on Reserve Mining Company's delta are effective in carrying essentially all tailings discharged into the lake into deeper water, where they are deposited.     

Evolution of Crystallizing Interstitial Liquid in an Arc-Related Cumulate Determined by LA ICP-MS Mapping of a Large Amphibole Oikocryst

High-resolution chemical mapping of a large, single, oikocrysticamphibole grain from the Eriksberg gabbro, by laser ablationinductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA ICP-MS), documentsthe progressive evolution of interstitial liquid in a hydrousbasaltic system. The amphibole has a nearly constant mg-numberand only minor variations in most major elements, in part becauseof the resorption of olivine buffering the liquid composition.However, non-buffered trace elements including Sc, V, Nb, Zr,Th, U, and the rare earth elements (REE) show at least an orderof magnitude variation. For example, V varies from <1 to>1000 ppm, Zr from 4·3 to >1000 ppm, Nb from 0·14to 12·3 ppm, and the REE patterns range from bowed upwith a negative Eu anomaly to bowed down with a positive Euanomaly—all within a single crystal. The distributionof amphibole compositions indicates that the interstitial liquidwas not uniformly distributed as crystallization proceeded.Rather, the compositional variations reflect progressively morechannelized flow of interstitial liquid during compaction. Whenthe interstitial liquid evolved so that the crystallizing amphibolehad     

RURAL PLACE ATTACHMENT IN HISPANO URBAN CENTERS*

ABSTRACT. Continued rural‐to‐urban migration has helped motivate cultural geographers, long suspected of having a rural bias, to include urban areas in their purview. Patterns of gender, class, ethnicity, and commercialization have proved to be fertile subjects for research, but the elastic links between rural and urban places are not yet well understood. Hispanos, despite intense feelings of loyalty to their rural villages, moved en masse to cities in the 1940s. By the 1950s a majority of Hispanos were living in regional urban centers of the upper Rio Grande country, where wages were higher and employment was secure. This Hispano experience is a crucible for examining how urbanites' attachment to rural places is manifested in various cultural expressions brought from country to city: painted murals, burial preferences, popular music, and irrigation ditches. Understanding threads of rural culture that have been incorporated into the urban fabric in turn leads to clearer comprehension of the emotional attachment that urbanites have for rural areas and a better appreciation of the complexity of the urban cultural environment.     

Spillover models for axial rivers in regions of continental extension: the Rio Mimbres and Rio Grande in the southern Rio Grande rift, USA

The Pliocene-early Pleistocene history of the ancestral Rio Grande and Quaternary history of the Rio Mimbres in the southern Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, illustrate how axial rivers may alternately spill into and subsequently abandon extensional basins. Three types of spillover basins are recognized, based on the angle at which the axial river enters the basin and whether it descends the hanging wall dip slope or footwall scarp to reach the basin floor. In the Mimbres basin type, the axial river enters and flows through the spillover basin nearly parallel to the footwall scarp, resulting in a narrow belt of basin-axis-parallel channel sand bodies located near the footwall scarp. In contrast, an axial river may enter a spillover basin at a high angle to its axis, either descending the hanging wall dip slope (Columbus basin type) or footwall scarp (Tularosa basin type), and construct a fluvial fan, consisting of radiating distributary channels orientated nearly perpendicular to the basin axis. Faulting exerts significant control on river spillover by creating the topographic gaps through which the axial river moves and by terminating spillover by subsequently uplifting or tilting the gap. Spillover may also be autocyclic in origin as a result of aggradation to the level of a pre-existing gap, headward erosion creating and/or intersecting a gap, or simple river avulsion upstream of a gap. Predicting facies architecture in the three types of spillover basins is critical to successful subsurface exploration for hydrocarbon reservoirs, groundwater aquifers or placer mineral deposits.