River Warren boulders, Minnesota, USA: catastrophic paleoflow indicators in the southern spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz

Boulders resting on meltwater-sculpted and striated-granite bedrock near the head of the southern outlet spillway of glacial Lake Agassiz are used to generate paleodischarge calculations. The rounded nature of many boulders suggests fluvial transport and a corestone origin. The distribution of boulders in clusters and linear trains records the interaction of clasts during transport and deposition. The geomorphology of the spillway with streamlined erosional remnant hills is characteristic of other large flood spillways. Using the Manning equation and a variety of empirical equations to determine paleovelocity, preferred discharges between 0.364 and 0.102 Sv are calculated. These discharges agree well with flood discharges using modeling methodologies, and most likely represent ephemeral and catastrophic flood events linked to either episodic incision at the outlet or the result of rapid inputs of meltwater to Lake Agassiz.     

The Burnwell,Kentucky, low iron oxide chondrite fall: Description,classification and origin

Abstract— The Burnwell, Kentucky, meteorite fell as a single stone on 1990 September 4. The Burnwell meteorite has lower Fa in olivine (15.8 mol%), Fs in orthopyroxene (13.4 mol%), Co in kamacite (0.36 wt%), FeO from bulk chemical analysis (9.43 wt%), and Δ¹⁷O (0.51 ± 0.02%), and higher Fe, Ni, Co metal (19.75 wt% from bulk wet chemical analysis) than observed in H chondrites. The Burnwell meteorite plots on extensions of H-L-LL chondrite trends for each of these properties towards more reducing compositions than in H chondrites. Extensions of this trend have been previously suggested in the case of other low-FeO chondrites or silicate inclusions in the HE iron Netschaëvo, but interpretation of the evidence in these meteorites is complicated by terrestrial weathering, chemical disequilibrium or reduction. In contrast, the Burn-well meteorite is an equilibrated fall that exhibits no evidence for reduction. As such, it provides the first definitive evidence for extension of the H-L-LL ordinary chondrite trend beyond typical H values towards more reducing compositions.     

NEW 10BE COSMOGENIC AGES FROM THE VIMMERBY MORAINE CONFIRM THE TIMING OF SCANDINAVIAN ICE SHEET DEGLACIATION IN SOUTHERN SWEDEN

The overall pattern of deglaciation of the southern part of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet has been considered established, although details of the chronology and ice sheet dynamics are less well known. Even less is known for the south Swedish Upland because the area was deglaciated mostly by stagnation. Within this area lies the conspicuous Vimmerby moraine, for which we have used the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (¹⁰Be) exposure dating technique to derive the exposure age of six glacially transported boulders. The six ¹⁰Be cosmogenic ages are internally consistent, ranging from 14.9 ± 1.5 to 12.4 ± 1.3 ka with a mean of 13.6 ±0.9 ka. Adjusting for the effects of surface erosion, snow burial and glacio-isostatic rebound causes the mean age to increase only by c. 6% to c. 14.4± 0.9 ka. The ¹⁰Be derived age for the Vimmerby moraine is in agreement with previous estimates forthe timing of deglaciation based on radiocarbon dating and varve chronology. This result shows promise for further terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide exposure studies in southern Sweden.     

Pilgrimstad revisited – a multi‐proxy reconstruction of Early/Middle Weichselian climate and environment at a key site in central Sweden

Wohlfarth, B., Alexanderson, H., Ampel, L., Bennike, O., Engels, S., Johnsen, T., Lundqvist, J. & Reimer, P. 2010: Pilgrimstad revisited – a multi‐proxy reconstruction of Early/Middle Weichselian climate and environment at a key site in central Sweden. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00192.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The site Pilgrimstad in central Sweden has often been cited as a key locality for discussions of ice‐free/ice‐covered intervals during the Early and Middle Weichselian. Multi‐proxy investigations of a recently excavated section at Pilgrimstad now provide a revised picture of the climatic and environmental development between ～80 and 36 ka ago. The combination of sedimentology, geochemistry, OSL and ¹⁴C dating, and macrofossil, siliceous microfossil and chironomid analyses shows: (i) a lower succession of glaciofluvial/fluvial, lacustrine and glaciolacustrine sediments; (ii) an upper lacustrine sediment sequence; and (iii) Last Glacial Maximum till cover. Microfossils in the upper lacustrine sediments are initially characteristic for oligo‐ to mesotrophic lakes, and macrofossils indicate arctic/sub‐arctic environments and mean July temperatures >8 °C. These conditions were, however, followed by a return to a low‐nutrient lake and a cold and dry climate. The sequence contains several hiatuses, as shown by the often sharp contacts between individual units, which suggests that ice‐free intervals alternated with possible ice advances during certain parts of the Early and Middle Weichselian.     

High-Temperature Fluid-Rock Interaction and Scapolitization in an Extension-Related Hydrothermal System, Mary Kathleen, Australia

In the polymetamorphic Mary Kathleen Fold Belt, at the centreof the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier, Queensland, an early phaseof extension (1760–1730 Ma) resulted in intrusion of voluminousgranitic and doleritic magmas into the carbonate-evaporite-dominatedCorella Formation at 5–10 km depths. Widespread high-temperaturemetasomatism ensued, involving scapolitization in dolerite,formation of albite-scapolite shear zones in granite, exo- andendoskarn formation, and a zone of K–Na–Ca alterationin the lowermost Corella Formation. Granites and dolerites werealtered to an unusual Na–Ca-rich bulk composition, reflectinghigh-temperature infiltration of highly saline, chemically reactiveexternally derived fluid. The alteration products and theirdistribution suggest not only reaction of magmatic/aqueous fluidswith the country rocks but also extensive halite dissolutionand recirculation of saline fluids back into the intrusive bodies.The bulk of fluid flow occurred at high temperatures (500–700C), and major element and isotopic fronts were generally notsmoothed out by the effects of temperature gradients, with theexception of one part of the system which shows evidence forup-temperature fluid flow. Analysis of oxygen isotopic dataand the position of isotopic and geochemical fronts revealstime-integrated fluid fluxes of up to 2 10⁴ m³/m² for themetasomatism. Although very high salinities (up to 50 mol% NaCl)were attained by evaporite dissolution, ¹⁸O values of most alterationproducts are in the range 7–12%, reflecting a predominanceof oxygen derived from an igneous fluid. The position and interrelationshipsof metasomatic and isotopic fronts indicate an earlier stageof infiltration dominated by fluid released from crystallizinggranite (with ¹⁸O 10–12%), and a later stage (¹⁸O 7–9%)in which fluid had already interacted with halite and a mixedmafic-felsic igneous source or was repeatedly circulated betweenthese rock types during alteration. The data reflect only aminimal contribution from fluids produced by devolatilizationof the abundant carbonate-bearing rocks in the Corella Formation,and there are substantial areas of Corella Formation rocks thathave escaped metasomatism during this phase of intrusion-relatedhydrothermal activity and during the subsequent regional metamorphicoverprint. Along with the requirement that the fluids dissolvedlarge amounts of halite from the same sequence, and the structuralobservations, we favour a model where fluid was preferentiallychannelled along specific permeable conduits, including formerevaporite layers, before interaction with the now exposed alteredrocks. Fluid was probably driven by both convective circulationand dilatancy-related deformation accompanying emplacement ofmagmas into a major crustal extensional dcollement.