HIGH POSSIL AND STRATHMORE—A STUDY OF TWO L6 CHONDRITES

High Possil and Strathmore are the first (1804) and last (1917) meteorite falls, respectively, of the three recorded in Scotland. Olivine compositions and total Fe contents in High Possil (Fa_25.2; 21.35 wt %) and Strathmore (Fa_25.3; 20.6 wt %) confirm their classification as L-group chondrites (Mason, 1963), and the presence of abundant plagioclase feldspar shows that both chondrites belong to petrologic type 6. Both chondrites display thermal and mechanical alteration attributable to moderate shock-loading appropriate to facies c (High Possil) and c-d (Strathmore) (Dodd and Jarosewich, 1979). Incipient shock-melting of metal and troilite in both chondrites is the first described from Lc chondrites, and differences in the responses of metallic and silicate minerals to shock-loading are discussed.     

The Port Mouton Shear Zone: intersection of a regional fault with a crystallizing granitoid pluton

The peraluminous tonalite–monzogranite Port Mouton Pluton is a petrological, geochemical, structural, and geochronological anomaly among the many Late Devonian granitoid intrusions of the Meguma Lithotectonic Zone of southern Nova Scotia. The most remarkable structural feature of this pluton is a 4-km-wide zone of strongly foliated (040/subvertical) monzogranites culminating in a narrow (10–30 m), straight, zone of compositionally banded rocks that extends for at least 3 km along strike. The banded monzogranites consist of alternating melanocratic and leucocratic compositions that are complementary to the overall composition of that part of the pluton, suggesting an origin by mineral–melt and mineral–mineral sorting. Biotite and feldspar are strongly foliated in the plane of the compositional bands. These compositional variations and foliations originated by a process of segregation flow during shearing of the main magma with a crystallinity of 55–75%. Subsequent minor brittle fracturing of feldspars, twinning of microcline, development of blocky sub-grains in quartz, and kinking of micas demonstrate overprinting by a high-temperature deformation straddling the monzogranite solidus. Small folds and late sigmoidal dykes indicate dextral movement on the shear zone. This Port Mouton Shear Zone (PMSZ) is approximately co-linear with the only outcrops of Late Devonian mafic intrusions in the area, two of which are syn-plutonic with well-developed mingling textures in the marginal tonalite of the Port Mouton Pluton. Also closely co-linear with the mafic intrusions are a granitoid dyke that extends well beyond the outer contact of the Port Mouton Pluton, a swarm of large aligned angular xenolithic slabs, a zone of thin wispy schlieren banding, a large Be-bearing pegmatite, and a breccia pipe with abundant garnetiferous metapelitic xenoliths. In various ways, the shear zone may control all of these features. The Port Mouton Shear Zone is parallel to many other NE-trending faults and shear zones in the northern Appalachians, probably related to the docking of the Meguma Zone along the Cobequid–Chedabucto Fault system.     

Sediment deposition in the flood plain of Stemple Creek Watershed, northern California

Over the past 150 years, major land use changes have occurred in the Stemple Creek Watershed in northern California that have caused erosion to move soils from the upland to the flood plain, stream channels, and the bay. The purpose of this study is to document the recent (1954 to present) sediment deposition patterns in the flood plain area adjacent to Stemple Creek using the ¹³⁷Cesium technique. Sediment deposition ranged from 0.26 to 1.84 cm year⁻¹ for the period from 1964 to 2002 with an average of 0.85±0.41 cm year⁻¹. Sediment deposition rates were higher for the 1954 to 1964 period with a range of 0.31–3.50 cm year⁻¹ and an average of 1.29±1.04 cm year⁻¹. These data indicate that sediment deposition in the flood plain has decreased since the middle 1950s, probably related to reduction in row crop agriculture and an increase in pasturelands. This study shows that the flood plains in the Stemple Creek Watershed are a significant sink for the soils being eroded from the upland area. Given the significance of the flood plain for trapping eroded materials before they reach the stream channels or the bay, efforts need to be made to manage these flood plain areas to insure that they do not change and become a source rather than a sink for eroded materials as improved management practices on the upland areas reduce sediment input to the flood plain.     

Lower Tropospheric Warm Air Advection Patterns Associated with Heavy Rainfall over the Appalachian Region*

A synoptic climatology of warm season heavy rainfall is developed from patterns of 850 mb thermal advection over the Appalachian region. Heavy rain events are categorized according to the position and orientation of a warm air advection (WAA) ridge, a feature found in nearly two-thirds of the events. Numerous study events occur within the conditionally unstable region of the WAA ridge. In fact, numerous occurrences of heavy rainfall are tied to a superpositioning of a WAA and air mass instability ridge in the vicinity or upstream of the heavy rain area.