apatite feldspar u pb thermochronometer a reliable mid range 450 c diffusion controlled system the u pb systematics of apatite are commonly dominated by simple volume diffusion without secondary growth and recrystallization that can affect u pb systematics of sphene monazite and zircon although apatite is a relatively low u mineral both u and pb are lattice bound and thus the u pb systematics are not controlled by micro inclusions as appears to be the case for other low u minerals such as garnet and staurolite closure temperature estimates from both experimental and empirical studies range from 425 c to as high as 500 c for typical diffusion radii 25 m and cooling rates 2 100 c ma respectively this range can be exploited to constrain cooling and exhumation histories of both igneous and metamorphic rocks in addition the closure temperature for pb diffusion in apatite fills a gap between that for pb diffusion in sphene 650 c and diffusion of ar in hornblende 500 c muscovite 350 c and biotite 300 325 c apatite is a common accessory phase in many rock types and u pb apatite dating can be a reliable and powerful thermochronometer as it combines mid range cooling ages with the strength of the u pb system in testing for isotopic closure precisions of u pb apatite dates can range from 1 2 to as low as 0 3 for proterozoic or archean dates the main limitation to accuracy of u pb apatite dates is a moderate to low ratio of u to pb and corresponding dependence of concordia coordinates on the choice of initial pb isotopic composition for proterozoic aged samples with measured 206pb 204pb of 100 the range of geologically reasonable initial pb isotopic compositions can shift the calculated u pb age by 60 ma fortunately even though the diffusion rate of pb in alkali feldspar is less than in apatite it appears that the isotopic composition of pb in coexisting feldspar is a good approximation of the initial isotopic composition in apatite for many geologic settings examples are given from an archean terrane in se wyoming that was unroofed and cooled during proterozoic uplift and from proterozoic terranes in sw us that have contrasting thermal histories

use of surface controlled ree sectoral zoning in apatite from llallagua bolivia to determine a single crystal smnd age abstract surface structure controlled partitioning of rees between symmetrically nonequivalent crystal faces leads to sectoral zoning between the 0001 and 1010 sectors of vein filling apatites from llallagua bolivia absolute differences in the concentration of the analyzed rees between these sectors range from a factor of 9 5 in the case of la to a factor of 1 4 for yb the two sectors have different concentrations of sm and nd as well as significantly different sm nd ratios 147 sm 144 nd 0 3558 a sm nd isochron determined from petrographically constrained coeval portions of different sectors gives an age of 43 8 4 7 ma 95 confidence limits we believe that this calculated age represents the time of crystallization of the apatite the application of intracrystalline heterogeneities that formed due to differential partitioning at the crystal surface to dating of minerals is germane for any mineral in which sectoral or intrasectoral zoning is exhibited and may be used with other isotopic systems in which sufficient segregation of parent and daughter nuclides occurs and in which concentrations are sufficient for analysis of small intracrystalline samples

u pb geochronology of zircon and polygenetic titanite from the glastonbury complex connecticut usa an integrated sem empa tims and shrimp study abstract u pb ages for zircon and titanite from a granodioritic gneiss in the glastonbury complex connecticut have been determined using both isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry tims and the sensitive high resolution ion microprobe shrimp zircons occur in three morphologic populations 1 equant to stubby multifaceted colorless 2 prismatic dark brown with numerous cracks and 3 elongate prismatic light tan to colorless cathodoluminescence cl imaging of the three populations shows simple concentric oscillatory zoning the zircon tims age weighted average of 207pb 206pb ages from group 3 grains 450 5 1 6 ma mswd 1 11 and shrimp age composite of 206pb 238 u age data from all three groups 448 2 2 7 ma mswd 1 3 are interpreted to suggest a relatively simple crystallization history titanite from the granodioritic gneiss occurs as both brown and colorless varieties scanning electron microscope backscatter bse images of brown grains show multiple cross cutting oscillatory zones of variable brightness and dark overgrowths colorless grains are unzoned or contain subtle wispy or very faint oscillatory zoning electron microprobe analysis empa clearly distinguishes the two populations brown grains contain relatively high concentrations of fe2o3 ce2o3 up to 1 5 wt nb2o5 and zr cerium concentration is positively correlated with total ree y concentration which together can exceed 3 5 wt oscillatory zoning in brown titanite is correlated with variations in ree concentrations in contrast colorless titanite both as discrete grains and overgrowths on brown titanite contains lower concentrations of y ree fe2o3 and zr but somewhat higher al2o3 and nb2o5 uranium concentrations and th u discriminate between brown grains typically 200 400 ppm u all analyses but one have th u between about 0 8 and 2 and colorless grains 10 60 ppm u th u of 0 0 17 in contrast to the zircon u pb age results shrimp u pb data from titanite indicate multiple growth episodes in brown grains oscillatory zoned cores formed at 443 6 ma whereas white in bse cross cutting zones are 425 9 ma colorless grains and overgrowths on brown grains yield an age of 265 8 ma using the total pb method or 265 5 ma using the weighted average of the 206pb 238u ages however empa chemical data identify zoning that suggests that this colorless titanite may preserve three growth events oscillatory zoned portions of brown titanite grains are igneous in origin white cross cutting zones probably formed during a previously unrecognized event that caused partial dissolution of earlier titanite and reprecipitation of a slightly younger generation of brown titanite colorless titanite replaced and grew over the magmatic titanite during the permian alleghanian orogeny these isotopic data indicate that titanite like zircon can contain multiple age components coupling shrimp microanalysis with empa and sem results on dated zones as presented in this study is an efficient and effective technique to extract additional chronologic data to reveal the complexities of igneous crystallization and metamorphic growth

determining accurate temperature time paths from u pb thermochronology an example from the kaapvaal craton southern africa thermochronology has revolutionized our understanding of the establishment and evolution of lithospheric thermal structure however many potential benefits provided by the application of diffusion theory to thermochronology have yet to be fully exploited this study uses apatite tc 450 550 c and titanite tc 550 650 c u pb id tims thermochronology at the single to sub grain scale to separate the variable effects of volume diffusion of pb from metamorphic over growth above and below the tc of a mineral data are presented from two ca 3227 ma tonalite samples from north and south of the barberton greenstone belt bgb southern africa two distinct populations of apatite from a sample north of the bgb record fast cooling followed by metamorphic growth 10 myr later both apatite and titanite dates from south of the bgb show a strong correlation with the grain size and record 100 myr of post emplacement cooling complex core rim zoning observed in cathodoluminescence images of apatite is interpreted to reflect metamorphic overgrowth above the tc the age and topology of grain size versus date curves from titanite and apatite are used in combination with a finite difference numerical model to show that slow non linear cooling and not thermal resetting is responsible for the observed distribution the thermal histories from either side of the bgb are very different and provide unique insight into the bgb s tectonic evolution a 70 myr period of apparent stability after ca 3 2 ga terrane assembly was followed by fast exhumation south of the bgb that led to lower crustal melting and intrusion of granitic batholiths ca 3 14 3 10 ga

new insights into thermal history from single grain 40ar 39ar analysis of biotite single grains of biotite extracted from two hand samples of two granitoid rocks from the red lake greenstone belt of northwestern ontario were examined using a high sensitivity 40ar 39ar laser dating system for variations in age for small grains a striking correlation is seen between the ages and the grain sizes as measured by the cylindrical radii with smaller samples yielding younger ages this effect saturates at a radius of about 225 m above which the integrated age is independent of grain size by combining this grain size effect with biotite diffusion parameters taken from the literature continuous cooling curves were derived for the region these curves suggest the region cooled at a rate of about 0 3 c myr between 2635 and 2570 ma with its ability to define a grain size effect the laser probe mass spectrometer system provides new insight into thermal history

pre 3000 ma thermal history of the archean kaap valley puton south africa the kaap valley pluton is one of several early archean 3200 3500 ma tonalitetrondhjemite plutons that surround the barberton greenstone belt southern africa precise dating using single grain 207 pb 206 pb evaporation of zircon and 40 ar 39 ar laser step heating of hornblende and biotite indicates that in its interior the kaap valley pluton preserves a memory of its initial intrusion and cooling which spanned a time from 3225 to 3142 ma the pluton also records the effect of a low temperature thermal event at its margin as seen by a 40 ar 39 ar biotite age of 3035 ma which is perhaps related to hydrothermal activity and gold mineralization in the adjacent barberton greenstone belt these pre 3000 ma ages are not in agreement with results of dating studies from sedimentary rocks in the barberton greenstone belt and plutons south of the belt which show evidence of having been overprinted by late archean events 2650 2700 ma and the bushveld complex intrusion 2050 ma these events have been interpreted as affecting most of the kaapvaal craton that the kaap valley pluton has escaped these and all other events since 3035 ma with temperatures never reaching 250 c implies that these large scale events did not affect the entire craton and the overprinting seen elsewhere is of a more local nature thus it is possible to determine the intrusive and cooling history of the pluton these data can be used in developing models of heat flow paleomagnetic remanence acquisition and deformation events

growth of early archaean crust in the ancient gneiss complex of swaziland as revealed by single zircon dating abstract we present new single grain zircon ages derived from ion microprobe and evaporation analysis for rocks of the ancient gneiss complex agc of swaziland southern africa that enable us to document a more extended history of early archaean crustal growth in the eastern kaapvaal craton than previously documented the oldest rocks appear to be strongly flattened tonalitic trondhjemitic orthogneisses dated as 3644 4 ma compston and kroner 1988 which are in faulted contact with rocks of the barberton greenstone belt bgb in an agc enclave in northwest swaziland and which also record subsequent thermal metamorphic plutonic events at 3580 3500 3430 3200 and 3000 ma these rocks are tectonically interbanded with 3200 ma old granodiorites and k rich leucogranites thereby providing evidence for a severe and important post 3 2 ga deformation event that is also inferred for 3500 to 3200 ma old tonalitic to trondhjemitic gneisses in the agc of northeast swaziland in central swaziland zircons from the oldest tonalitic gneiss of the agc have an age of 3560 ma whereas younger additions of granitoid which also intrude the dwalile greenstone enclave in the agc record ages of 3450 3460 ma intense ductile deformation has repeatedly obliterated original intrusive contacts so that preserved field relationships often cannot resolve the above chronology chemical and whole rock isotopic data are consistent with derivation of some agc gneisses from mantle sources and thus imply very short crustal residence times for their granitoid precursors but this is not generally true for the entire agc we suggest that at least some gneisses resulted from intracrustal melting perhaps during crustal thickening events as recorded in granulite parageneses within the agc documentation of 3 5 ga or older granitoid crust in all major regions of the agc now exposed suggests the presence of continental terrains of up to at least 100 km in diameter before the barberton greenstone succession was deposited the combined geochronologic and structural metamorphic data for the agc and bgb reveal a complex history of growth and deformation for the eastern kaapvaal craton that lasted for at least 600 ma from 3 64 to about 3 ga ago the magmatic and tectonic evolution of the agc was broadly similar to that of the bgb and suggests that early archaean greenstone and gneiss terrains were coeval but formed and evolved in different settings and at different crustal levels our age data and the structural metamorphic evolution of the eastern kaapvaal craton are compatible with models suggesting crustal growth through vertical magmatic underplating and early crustal thickening uplift and erosion as a result of tectonic interleaving due to repeated horizontal shortening

prolonged magmatism and time constraints for sediment deposition in the early archean barberton greenstone belt evidence from the upper onverwacht and fig tree groups the single zircon evaporation shrimp ion microprobe and conventional dissolution techniques were used to determine 207pb 206pb and u pb ages on samples from the upper onverwacht and fig tree groups of the early archean barberton greenstone belt south africa zircons from dacitic rocks of the upper hooggenoeg formation yield ages of 3445 3452 ma a tuff in the basal kromberg formation has a mean age of 3416 5 ma a tuffaceous band 5 cm thick in the uppermost kromberg formation contains igneous zircons with a mean age of 3334 3 ma the 1700 m section of kromberg formation between these two samples is composed of basaltic lavas minor komatiites and cherty metasediments the overlying mendon formation is composed of interbedded komatiitic lavas and metasediments with a minimum thickness of 600 m a cherty stromatolitic metasediment 300 m above the base contains several thin ash layers with a mean zircon age of 3298 3 ma the basal fig tree group has units as old as 3259 3 ma and upper units in the fig tree are as young as 3225 3 ma xenocrystic zircons in the upper onverwacht and overlying fig tree group samples suggest that successive igneous units inherited zircons from underlying units and that over several hundred million years episodes of intermediate to felsic igneous activity took place at 20 40 ma intervals structural repetition by isoclinal folding and thrust faulting are important components of late greenstone belt evolution but should not obscure the importance of the prolonged interval of magmatic evolution represented by the thick pile of volcanic rocks observed in the barberton greenstone belt

pleistocene shoreline ridges from tide dominated and wave dominated coasts northern gulf of california and western baja california mexico abstract the arid climate of northwestern mexico preserves pleistocene beach deposits forming linear shoreline parallel ridges on the coastal plains of sonora northern gulf of california and the vizcaino peninsula of baja california beach deposits represent both cheniers northern gulf and beach ridges vizcaino peninsula they formed during pleistocene sea level highstands most commonly during oxygen isotope stage 5e 125 ka the ridges are 0 5 to 5 0 m thick 100 m wide and 1000 m long coarse grained with common low to high angle cross stratification and are dominated by bivalve shells ridges from the tide dominated northern gulf of california and the wave dominated western vizcaino peninsula differ in underlying lithology size profile and shell fragmentation northern gulf ridges progradationally overlie deltaic or marsh deposits are smaller median thickness 1 4 m median width 25 m median length 300 m typically have a seaward dipping upper surface and a linear crest on the landward side and have low levels of fragmentation of large bivalve shells in contrast vizcaino ridges disconformably overlie bedrock on wave cut terraces are larger median thickness 3 3 m median width 100 m median length 2000 m typically have a landward dipping upper surface and a linear crest on the seaward side and contain beds of extensively fragmented large bivalve shells these differences are interpreted to reflect contrasting processes of ridge formation in the two regions the ridges of the tide dominated northern gulf are true cheniers transgressive beach deposits produced during episodes of clastic starvation associated with shifts in colorado river delta deposition they are modified primarily through episodic washover processes during high tides and storms the ridges of the wave dominated vizcaino peninsula are regressive beach ridges developed on highstand wave cut terraces they are modified primarily through continuous wave accretion to the beach face and secondarily by washover processes

multiple zircon growth within early archaean tonalitic gneiss from the ancient gneiss complex swaziland abstract u pb age determinations by ion microprobe reveal multiple episodes of zircon growth and recrystallization within a single sample of tonalitic gneiss from the ancient gneiss complex the oldest episode at3644 4ma 2 produced the dominant type of zircon characteristically purplish brown and massive in texture this probably constitutes unaltered zircon precipitated from the original magma recrystallization accompanied and obscured by early pb loss took place within the oldest grains at3504 6ma and3433 8ma whole new grains grew at these times also we interpret the post 3644 ma growth as due to episodic deformational and metamorphic events that transformed the tonalite pluton into foliated banded gneiss in addition many grains are visibly overgrown by two layers of younger zircon of different colour and texture dated at2986 20ma and2867 30ma euhedral finely zoned whole grains having the 2986 ma age are present also evidently contributed by very thin felsic veins associated with the nearby lochiel granite the age of3644 4ma combined with precise zircon u pb dating of volcanics from the onverwacht group reported elsewhere demonstrates that at least part of the ancient gneiss complex is older than the barberton greenstone belt

the steady state thermal structure of eroding orogenic belts and accretionary prisms an analytical expression derived in this paper for the steady state thermal structure of thrust belts and subduction systems shows that surface erosion rate basal accretion rate and upper plate heat production are extremely important in controlling the temperature and metamorphic history of orogenic belts and accretionary prisms especially where upper plate thickness h is large for example even at rapid erosion and accretion rates and with large upper plate heat productions temperatures near the toe of a thrust wedge e g at h 5 km are nearly the same as those that would be present in the absence of erosion accretion and upper plate heat production in thicker parts of the same wedge e g at h 30 km the combined effects of erosion accretion and upper plate heat production can be dramatic for sufficiently large magnitudes of upper plate heat production or sufficiently rapid erosion rates inverted negative geothermal gradients are produced in the lower part of the upper plate and the upper part of the lower plate although it is difficult to produce inverted geotherms where h 20 km the potential importance of erosion and accretion can be illustrated through two examples 1 beneath the himalayas increasing the upper plate radiogenic heat production from 0 to 2 5 mw m3 and increasing the rate of surface erosion from 0 to 1 mm yr raises the computed steady state temperatures on the main central thrust at h 30 km from 265 c to 600 c and produces a local temperature maximum of 635 c located 6 km above the fault and 2 within the upper plate of the peru trench increasing the rate of surface erosion and basal accretion from 0 to 2 4 mm yr or increasing the upper plate radiogenic heat production from 0 to 1 3 mw m3 increases the computed steady state surface heat flow at h 30 km from 10 to 33 mw m3 but only increases temperatures at the fault surface from 125 c to 170 c shear heating along thrust faults or subduction boundaries is not necessary to produce the high metamorphic temperatures or surface heat flows observed in these two examples and the generation of large amounts of heat by shear stresses on the faults more than a few tens of bars appears to be inconsistent with some of the observations made in these areas this study indicates that many of the major discrepancies between existing thermal models of overthrust belts and observed temperatures as inferred from field data can be attributed to neglect of horizontal and vertical advection of heat caused by surface erosion and by accretion of material from lower plate to upper plate across the fault surface

u pb sphene dating of metamorphism the importance of sphene growth in the contact aureole of the red mountain pluton laramie mountains wyoming the relative importance of thermal diffusion versus new growth or recrystallization on u pb isotopic data from sphene is assessed through a study of amphibolites and granite gneisses within the contact aureole of the red mountain pluton laramie anorthosite complex wyoming samples were collected along a traverse approximately perpendicular to the margin of the intrusion over a distance of 0 13 to 2 65 km from the contact the 207pb 206pb ages of sphene from amphibolite samples range between 1 43 ga the intrusive age of the red mountain pluton to 1 78 ga the age of regional metamorphism the 207pb 206pb ages of sphene in rocks metamorphosed above 700 c are within error of the intrusive age of the pluton and appear to have resulted from diffusional resetting of preexisting sphene and the metamorphic growth of additional sphene at 1 43 ga at greater distance from the contact the 207pb 206pb ages range from 1 45 to 1 72 ga this 300 million year spread in ages is interpreted to result from two periods of sphene growth one produced during regional metamorphism at 1 78 ga and another generation of newly grown or recrystallized sphene that formed during contact metamorphism at 1 43 ga these two age populations may be identified on the basis of petrographic textures the morphologies and color differences of grain separates as well as by the u pb systematics in rocks metamorphosed to temperatures less than 700 c sphene growth was the dominant process controlling the response of the u pb isotope system to contact metamorphism sphene grew well outside the zone of obvious contact metamorphism the u pb sphene ages were reset by diffusion only at high temperatures supporting the experimentally determined closure temperature estimates for the u pb system in sphene of around 650 c cherniak 1993 this study demonstrates that u pb ages of sphene can be used to date metamorphism not only in areas with a simple geologic history such as igneous intrusion or single metamorphic or deformational events but also to date multiple events so long as different generations of sphene can be identified and separated

field geochemical and u pb isotopic constraints from hypabyssal felsic intrusions within the barberton greenstone belt south africa implications for tectonics and the timing of gold mineralization abstract field mapping geochemical and u pb zircon isotopic data are reported for two undeformed feldspar quartz porphyries from within the central region of the barberton greenstone belt 3450 ma and from a porphyry at the deepest level of one of the largest gold mines in the barberton area fairview mine one porphyry the mudpools porphyry has an age of circa 3230 ma and provides a minimum age on unusual bif ferruginous shale hosted mudpool structures field mapping constraints and similar geochemical signatures between the mudpools porphyry and a second porphyry the ironstone pod porphyry suggest that 3230 ma can also be considered the minimum age of the equally unusual ironstone pods the two porphyries cross cut fig tree sediments which are regionally deformed d 2 and intrude up a thrust fault s suggesting pre 3230 ma ages for d 2 deformation and thrusting geochemical data trace elements ree indicate that these two porphyries are high level co magmatic equivalents of the nearby 3227 ma kaap valley tonalite which in part intrudes the lower sequences of the greenstone bell since the edge of the kaap valley pluton is also deformed by the d 2 deformational event either d 2 is diachronous or d 2 in the center of the belt is not equal to d 2 at the edge of the greenstone belt zircon from the fairview mine porphyry indicates a maximum age of 3126 21 ma 2 a gold mineralized shear which cross cuts the fairview porphyryl is responsible for hydrothermal alteration of the porphyry u pb analysis of hydrothermal rutile associated with gold from the porphyry gives an age of 3084 18 ma 2 and may represent the age of gold mineralization associated with this late shearing it appears that 3230 ma is a important age in early barberton greenstone belt history signifying intrusion of the kaap valley tonalite adjacent to the greenstone belt together with the emplacement of high level co magmatic equivalents porphyries of the kaap valley tonalite along regional thrust faults shear zones within the greenstone belt gold bearing hydrothermal fluids have utilized similar shear zones 150 ma after emplacement of both the porphyries in the central region of the greenstone belt and the kaap valley tonalite

transcurrent shearing granite sheeting and the incremental construction of the tabular 3 1 ga mpuluzi batholith barberton granite greenstone terrane south africa structural petrographic and geochronological studies show that the tabular 3 1 ga mpuluzi batholith in the barberton granite gneiss terrane in south africa was emplaced via a combination of external and internal processes external structural controls are indicated by systematic variations in intrusive relationships and strain along the margins of the mpuluzi batholith and are consistent with an emplacement of the granite in a dilational jog within a ne ene trending system of dextral transcurrent synmagmatic shear zones internally the mpuluzi batholith is essentially made up of granite sheets the structurally higher parts of the granite are made up of shallowly dipping sheets that are underlain by an anastomosing network of steeply dipping variably deformed dykes and sheets these granite sheets at lower structural levels intruded either into the actively deforming shear zones or into extensional sectors between and along the bounding shear zones multiple intrusive relationships and geochronological evidence suggests that granite sheeting and the assembly of the pluton occurred over a period of 3 13 ma the spatial and temporal relationship between deformation and magma emplacement reflects episodes of incremental dilation related to deformation along the bounding shear zones and granite sheeting the transition to the mainly subhorizontal granite sheets at higher structural levels of the tabular mpuluzi batholith indicates the intrusion of the granites during subhorizontal regional shortening where the reorientation of the minimum normal stress to vertical attitudes at the shallow levels of emplacement allowed for vertical dilation and subhorizontal emplacement of the granite sheets

redistribution of rare earth elements thorium and uranium over accessory minerals in the course of amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism the role of apatite and monazite in orthogneisses from southwestern norway the amphibolite to granulite facies transition has been studied in a high k calc alkaline hornblende biotite k feldspar megacrystic augen gneiss series from the rogaland vest agder rog va sector of the sveconorwegian province southwest norway hornblende begins to break down mainly to clinopyroxene at the cpx in isograd and biotite mainly to orthopyroxene at the opx in isograd abbreviations for minerals following kretz 1983 the magmatic accessory mineral association comprises titanite and allanite which begin to break down before the cpx in isograd titanite is preserved as relict inclusions in other minerals at higher grade monazite and thorite formed in the breakdown of allanite monazite abundance reaches a maximum between the cpx in and opx in isograds the middle and heavy rare earth element m hrees except eu content of apatite steeply increases with increasing metamorphic grade and is directly correlated to the decrease of the modal abundances of titanite hornblende and biotite the u contents of apatite are low and do not increase with metamorphic grade the light rare earth elements lrees and th content of apatite are not correlated to the breakdown of allanite around the cpx in isograd but increase around the opx in isograd a simplified equation is proposed for monazite crystallisation in the vicinity of the cpx in isograd that accounts for the allanite titanite and hornblende breakdowns and the m hree substitution in apatite 3 m hree 2o3in hornblende and litanite 3 lree 2in allaniteo3 2ca5 po4 3apatite f oh 6sio2quartz 6 lree pmonaziteo4 2ca2 m hree 3 sio4 3 f oh lessingite in apatite 6caoin plagioclase at the opx in isograd the increase of lrees and th content of apatite results either from the breakdown of some monazite 3 lree po4monazite 3sio2quartz 4caoin plagioclase f2 h2o fluid ca5 po4 3 f oh apatiteca2 lree 3 sio4 3 f oh less ingite in apatite or the breakdown of the remaining allanite 3 lree 2o3in allanite 6sio2quartz 4caoin plagioclase f2 h2o fluid 2ca2 lree 3 sio4 3 f oh lessingite in apatite the release of fluorine from the breakdown of biotite at the opx in isograd may increase apatite stability relatively to monazite in the granulite facies when compared to amphibolite facies the granulite facies augen gneisses do not show any u or th depletion this means that changes in the accessory mineral associations and the simultaneous breakdown of hydrous minerals at the amphibolite granulite facies transition do not inevitably result in depleted granulite facies rocks but rather to an isochemical element redistribution the coexistence of small amounts of metamorphic monazite and of relict inclusions of titanite in upper amphibolite facies augen gneisses suggests that high k calc alkaline orthogneisses are a suitable material to date with the u pb method prograde path of amphibolite facies regional metamorphism on monazite and the cooling path on titanite

an evaluation of models of apatite compositional variability using apatite from the middle banded series of the stillwater complex montana apatite is a relatively common accessory mineral in the olivine bearing zones ob iii and ob iv of the middle banded series of the stillwater complex occurring interstitial to cumulus grains as monomineralic inclusions in cumulus grains and in polymineralic clusters which may or may not be included in the cumulus grains eighty nine of 185 samples examined were found to contain some apatite the f cl oh content of the apatite show distinct stratigraphic variations xclap mole fraction cl in apatite of interstitial apatite increases upsection in both ob iii and ob iv with average values ranging from 0 15 to 0 85 in ob iii and from 0 03 to 0 60 in ob iv xfap varies inversely with xclapwith average values ranging from 0 00 to 0 70 while xohap remains relatively constant near 0 40 or decreases slightly with height these variations are remarkable given that no appreciable stratigraphic variations in either the major or trace element compositions of any of the cumulus minerals are found in the 800 m of section that comprise ob iii and ob iv within sample variation of xclap for samples containing cl rich apatite is substantially larger up to 0 65 xclap than for samples with more f rich apatite xclap varies by approximately 0 15 although interstitial apatite is found throughout ob iii and ob iv apatite occurring as monomineralic inclusion in cumulus grains or in polymineralic clusters is almost exclusively found in samples with cl rich apatite the data are best explained by a model involving the degassing of a cl rich volatile phase from the crystallizing interstitial liquid the up section migration of this fluid resulted in the crystallization of f rich apatite in the lower portion and progressive cl enrichment in the apatite with height the presence of hornblende bearing dikes veins and pegmatoids at the level of maximum cl enrichment is consistent with a fluid migration model

gliding and overthrust nappe tectonics in the barberton greenstone belt abstract regional recumbent folds inverted stratigraphy nappes and olistostromes are described from the southern part of the 3 3 3 5 ga barberton greenstone belt overthrusting of thin rigid silicified slabs with minimum dimensions of 25 km2 and up to 500 m in thickness occurred over minimum distances of 86 km more ductile and coherent units were overfolded up to at least 2 km during their emplacement the glide planes on which these nappes travelled were zones of high fluid pressures related to hydrothermal fluid circulation patterns driven by heat sources from igneous intrusions the upwelling areas of the geothermal convection cells were sites of mud pools and hydrothermal vents which may mark the trailing edges pull aparts of the overthrust units progressive silica and carbonate precipitation due to decreasing temperatures within the zones of fluid migration distant from the areas of high heat flow probably acted as built in braking systems below the travelling slabs active sedimentation and metasomatism during this tectonism indicates a protracted history for the evolution of the greenstone belt the recognition of nappe and overthrust tectonics in the barberton belt processes which may have been commonplace in archaean terrains necessitates a re evaluation of the stratigraphy of this belt

the interdependence of deformational and thermal processes in mountain belts crustal temperatures within collisional orogens are anomalously high compared with temperatures at comparable depths in stable continents which is evidence of thermal processes that are fundamental to orogenesis these temperatures can be explained by the redistribution of crust enriched in heat producing elements through the accretion of crust from the down going plate to the upper plate and surface erosion with the use of geologically reasonable rates the model results predict high temperatures over 600 c and inverted upper plate geotherms about 100 c over 20 kilometers at shallow depths 20 to 40 kilometers by 25 to 35 million years after collision this study emphasizes the interdependence of deformational surficial and thermal processes

emplacement features of archaean ttg plutons along the southern margin of the barberton greenstone belt south africa abstract the barberton greenstone belt in south africa and its surrounding granitoid terrane represents one of the type localities for archaean granite greenstone tectonics contact relationships between early archaean granitoids and greenstone sequences along the southern margin of the greenstone belt illustrate multiple simultaneously operating emplacement mechanisms for the plutons these emplacement mechanism which can be identified in individual plutons comprise ductile wall rock deformation stoping assimilation and the intrusion of ring dykes the interaction between these various mechanisms is interpreted to be responsible for the complex and highly variable discordant and concordant contact relationships observed in the granite greenstone terrane as well as the deformation observed within wall rocks and country rock xenoliths the absence of regionally consistent fabrics within the plutons suggests considerable competence contrasts between the tonalitic trondhjemitic plutons and in many cases the hydrated greenstone cover sequence during later subhorizontal crustal shortening which occurred parallel to the greenstone granitoid interface this competence contrast is interpreted to have resulted in the accentuation of cuspate lobate folds along the granitoid greenstone interface being partly responsible for the typical arcuate dome and keel geometry of the barberton greenstone belt

late syndepositional deformation and detachment tectonics in the barberton greenstone belt south africa the thick bedded competent quartzose sandstones conglomerates and siltstones of the moodies group 3 225 ma influence structural style in the 3 1 3 5 ga barberton greenstone belt moodies group rocks are folded into a train of tight subparallel doubly plunging overturned synclines separated by narrow strike parallel fault zones structural analysis along a transect across the central part of the greenstone belt suggests that much of the volcanic sedimentary greenstone sequence was buckle folded above a detachment within altered ultramafic rocks located at a depth of 3 6 km early development of brittle structures concentrated shortening and displacement near the fold hinges and in the anticlinal fault zones penetrative strain during folding was low the sense of displacement along faults the original fold vergence and the provenance of moodies group sandstone and conglomerate suggest that tectonic transport was directed toward the interior of the belt from its northwestern and southeastern margins orogenic contraction due to folding alone was at least 56 and subsequent ductile shortening strain accounted for an additional contraction of approximately 10 buoyant rise of the kaap valley tonalite to the north at approximately 3 22 ga and lateral intrusions of sheetlike granitic plutons along both sides of the preserved greenstone belt at 3 1 and 3 0 ga respectively imposed significant ductile strain on the greenstone belt margins and obscured or displaced the orogenic hinterlands of the facing fold and thrust belts the syn and post moodies tectonic history of the central barberton greenstone belt involves the formation and deformation of several shortlived alluvial to shallow marine sedimentary basins on unstable protocontinental crust the probable extensional origin of at least some of these basins and their subsequent shortening buckle folding and displacement above a subhorizontal detachment emphasizes the dominance of horizontal tectonics in the late stage deformation of this archean greenstone belt

a crystal chemical basis for pb retention and fission track annealing systematics in u bearing minerals with implications for geochronology this study develops an empirical crystal chemical framework for systematizing the kinetics of pb loss and fission track annealing in u bearing minerals ionic porosity z the fraction of a mineral s unit cell volume not occupied by ions potentially accounts for kinetic behavior by monitoring mean metal oxygen bond length strength various tests of a general kinetics porosity relationship are presented based upon diverse mineral data including 1 pb diffusion parameters 2 measured closure temperatures tc for fission track annealing and 3 retentivities of both pb and fission tracks from apparent age data every kinetic parameter including tc and mineral age for both the u pb and fission track systems is inversely correlated with z within the sub assemblage zircon z 29 titanite 34 and apatite 38 assuming a diffusional closure model pb isotopic transport phenomena are described by a tc z scale calibrated with field based tc data for titanite 680 20 c and apatite 500 c extrapolation of this scale yields tc estimates for the following minerals staurolite tc 1060 c z 25 garnet 1010 c 26 5 zircon 900 c monazite xenotime and epidote 750 c 32 and ca clinopyroxene 670 30 c 34 1 depending on composition these empirical results imply that a u pb pb date for staurolite or garnet records the time of mineral growth not post growth isotopic closure as also concluded in recent field studies because z systematizes fission track annealing this recrystallization process like volume diffusion must also be rate limited by the strength of chemical bonds the extent to which other recrystallization processes are likewise rate limited is important to u pb geochronology because they potentially compete with diffusion as mechanisms for pb isotopic resetting in nature

inter and intra crystal ree variations in apatite from the bob ingersoll pegmatite black hills south dakota abstract concentrations of rare earth elements ree have been measured on a suite of apatite crystals from an internally zoned granitic pegmatite enriched in li b be f nb ta sn and u with a cameca ims 3f ion microprobe using energy filtering an apatite specimen from the tin mountain pegmatite analyzed previously by isotope dilution was used as a standard the chondrite normalized pattern determined with the ion microprobe closely matches the pattern determined by isotope dilution with maxima at sm and dy and minima at nd and er apatite samples from the bob ingersoll pegmatite show a large range of ree patterns and concentrations in one case apatite crystals within millimeters show differences in ree concentrations and pattern shapes including a switch from positive to negative eu anomalies samples from several mineral assemblages show patchy individual crystal zoning with respect to the ree that is not mirrored by major element zoning this indicates disequilibrium conditions on a small scale consistent with rapid growth from a melt fluid system that was either of locally heterogeneous melt structure or in which the melt structure fluctuated rapidly as volatile rich minerals such as tourmaline crystallized these effects may be coupled with non ideal partitioning of ree in a heterogeneous mixture of melt aqueous fluid and crystals ree concentrations in apatite samples from the different pegmatite zones indicate a large variation in outer zones 10 500x chondrite high concentrations 100 1000x chondrite near the pegmatite core and very low concentration in the core 2 20x chondrite patterns are flat to slightly inclined ce yb 1 to 5 and most samples have positive eu anomalies the magnitude of positive eu anomalies decreases with inward position in the pegmatite possibly indicating a progressive increase in o 2 and a sharp increase may be indicated by systematic ce depletion in apatite from the pegmatite core ree specific volatile complexes may contribute to variations including unusual kinks observed in ree patterns of apatite from mineral assemblages in upper parts of the pegmatite

differential response of u pb systems in coexisting accessory minerals winnipeg river subprovince canadian shield implications for archean crustal growth and stabilization the u pb isotopic systems of zircon monazite titanite and some apatite and the pb isotopic composition of k feldspar have been investigated in three areas of the winnipeg river subprovince wrs of the superior province canada in order to define the timing of magmatic and metamorphic processes in this archean gneissic granitoid terrain

absolute ages aren t exactly the time scales of important events and processes in geology and archaeology are ascertained through measurements of radioisotopes the accuracy of the dating depends critically on how well known the radioactive decay constants are in their perspective renne karner and ludwig discuss the role that discrepancies in decay constants play in the accuracy of radioisotope dating as dating measurements become increasingly precise geochronologists will have to confront these kinds of systematic errors

a 40ar39ar geochronological study of komatiites and komatiitic basalts from the lower onverwacht volcanics barberton mountain land south africa abstract 40 ar 39 ar step heating analyses have been carried out on domatiites and komatiitic basalts from the komati formation the uppermost formation of the tjakastad subgroup in the barberton greenstone belt the results for the komatiites fall into two groups which have integrated ages either greater than 3 3 ga or less than 3 0 ga the most precise plateau ages in the first group correspond to an age of 3 49 ga which we take to be the age of metamorphism since the whole rocks analysed are composed of metamorphic minerals other samples in the first group appear to preserve a record of a later event at 3 43 ga evidence of this younger age is also seen in the only komatiitic basalt displaying a stable age spectrum the second group of komatiites integrated ages less than 3 0 ga on a 40 ar 39 ar correlation diagram suggest that a 3 3 ga event may have introduced paleoatmospheric argon with a 40 ar 39 ar ratio of 190 into some of the komatiites comparison of the results of detailed electron microprobe analyses with the ca k spectra obtained in the step runs suggests that tremolite is the mineral tenaciously recording the great ages of the komatiites while hornblende is the dominant argon retainer in the komatiitic basalts the argon ages are completely consistent with recently published u pb ages of zircons from the barberton greenstone belt and suggest that the original metamorphism of the komatiites occurred shortly after their eruption

u pb monazite xenotime and titanite geochronological constraints on the prograde to post peak metamorphic thermal history of paleoproterozoic migmatites from the grand canyon arizona the petrology and u pb geochronology of pelitic migmatite and calc silicate gneiss reveal a detailed prograde to post peak metamorphic thermal history for a single outcrop of paleoproterozoic supracrustal rocks in the eastern part of the grand canyon metamorphic monazite from paleosomal pelitic schist grew on the prograde path beginning at about 1708 ma and continued to grow until about 1697 ma the u pb dates for magmatic xenotime and monazite from peraluminous granite and pegmatite leucosomes indicate that partial melting which involved the breakdown of muscovite to sillimanite commenced at about 1702 ma prior to the metamorphic peak partial melting continued until about 1690 ma the youngest u pb date from magmatic monazite in the leucosomes field and petrographic evidence as well as inheritance patterns in monazites from the leucosomes suggest that some of the leucosomes appear to represent in situ partial melts that did not escape the source region between 1702 and 1690 ma the migmatite package heated to peak metamorphic conditions of about 720 c and 6 kbar cooled to about 675 c at a cooling rate 30 c million years and decompressed to about 4 kbar the u pb geochronological data for metamorphic titanite from a calc silicate gneiss exhibit a clear relationship between grain size and the 207pb 206pb date indicating that the titanite crystals record cooling ages these data combined with the titanite pb diffusion data of cherniak 1993 yield a cooling rate of 5 4 0 9 1 7 c million years integrated over the interval 1690 to 1676 ma and suggest that by 1675 ma the cooling rate slowed to less than 2 c million years the rapid decompression during the peak of metamorphism and the change in cooling rate immediately following peak metamorphism are interpreted to reflect large scale tectonic processes associated with the accretion of juvenile crust to the margin of laurentia juvenile arc crust appears to have been assembled accreted and stabilized into laurentian lithosphere in less than 30 million years

pb diffusion in zircon abstract chemical diffusion of ti under anhydrous conditions at 1 atm and under fluid present elevated pressure 1 1 1 2 gpa conditions has been measured in natural zircon the source of diffusant for 1 atm experiments was a zro2 tio2 zircon mixture with experiments run in crimped pt capsules diffusion experiments done in the presence of h2o co2 fluid were run in a piston cylinder apparatus using a source of ground tio2 zrsio4 and sio2 with oxalic acid added to produce h2o co2 vapor and partially melt the solid source material yielding an assemblage of rutile zircon melt vapor nuclear reaction analysis nra with the resonant nuclear reaction 48ti p 49v was used to measure diffusion profiles for both sets of experiments the following arrhenius parameters were obtained for ti diffusion normal to cover the temperature range 1350 1550 c at 1 atm d ti 3 33 10 2 exp 754 56 kj mol 1 r t m 2 s 1 ti diffusivities were found to be similar for experiments run under fluid present conditions a fit to all of the data yields the arrhenius relation d 1 34 102 exp 741 46 kj mol 1 rt m2 s 1 these data suggest that zircon should be extremely retentive of ti chemical signatures indicating that the recently developed ti in zircon crystallization geothermometer watson e b harrison t m 2005 zircon thermometer reveals minimum melting conditions on earliest earth science 308 841 844 will be quite robust in preserving temperatures of zircon crystallization titanium diffuses somewhat faster in zircon than larger tetravalent cations u th and hf but considerably more slowly than pb the ree and oxygen hence ti crystallization temperatures may be retained under circumstances when radiometric ages or other types of geochemical information are lost

inherited zircon and titanite upb systems in an archaean syenite from southwestern australia implications for upb stability of titanite abstract inherited zircon and titanite have been identified in a syenite from the archaean of southwestern australia conventional and shrimp analyses on euhedral zoned zircon and zoned rims on complex grains define a crystallisation age of 2654 5 ma for the syenite in addition shrimp analyses on zircon cores and unzoned subhedral zircons show that zircon has a ca 3250 ma inherited component conventional u pb ages on titanite also fall between ca 3250 ma and ca 2650 ma demonstrating that inherited titanite as well as zircon is present in the syenite the syenite has been affected by regional upper amphibolite facies metamorphism at an estimated temperature of 625 650 c retention of the inherited radiogenic pb in the titanite is evidence that the closure temperature for titanite is greater than 650 c the presence of inherited titanite and zircon also demonstrates a crustal source component for the syenite and indicates it originated by partial assimilation of crustal rocks by a potassic magma at

iib trioctahedral chlorite from the barberton greenstone belt crystal structure and rock composition constraints with implications to geothermometry iib trioctahedral chlorite in the barberton greenstone belt bgb metavolcanic rocks was formed during pervasive greenschist metamorphism the chem ical composition of the chlorite is highly variable with the fe fe mg ratio ranging from 0 12 to 0 8 among 53 samples the chemical variation of the chlorite results from the chemical diversity of the host rock especially the mgo content of the rock but major details of the variation pattern of the chlorite are due to the crystal structure of the chlorite all major cation abundances in the chlorite are strongly correlated with each other sil icon increases with mg and decreases with fe while aliv and alvi decrease with mg and increase with fe2 a complex exchange vector explains over 90 of the chlorite compositional variation mg4sife2 3alvi 1 aliv 1 which has 3 parts fe mg substitution coupled with one part tschermakite substitution this ratio is required to maintain the charge and site balances and the dimensional fit between the tetrahedral and octahedral sheets the subtle change in al substitution in chlorite implies that alvi is preferentially ordered in the m 4 site and about 84 of the alvi present is in the m 4 sites when they are nearly filled with alvi based on 47 analyzed chlorite bearing rock samples chlorite chl composition is strongly correlated with the mgo content of the host rock calculated correlation coefficients are 0 91 for sio2chl mgorock 0 87 for al2o3chl mgorock 0 89 for mgochl mgorock and 0 85 for feochl mgorock only weak correlations have been found between chlorite oxides and other oxides of rock between same oxides in chlorite and rock sio2 0 67 al2o3 0 59 feo 0 41 however mgochl is saturated at about 36 wt in rocks that have mgo above 22 wt the mgochl is about 5 wt when the host rock approaches 0 wt of mgo this implies that mg substituting into the chlorite is approximately limited to 1 5 9 2 mg atoms per formula unit and 1 0 3 2 aliv chlorite geothermometers can not be applied to all bgb samples however the empirical chlorite geothermometer based on aliv of chlorite may be applicable to chlorites formed under metamorphic conditions because it can predict the chemical composition of the chlorite from basaltic and dacitic samples in this study an estimated temperature of about 320 c for the greenschist metamorphism of the greenstone belt through this geothermometer is consistent with that obtained by other geothermometers

isostatic constraints on the assembly stabilization and preservation of cratonic lithosphere cratonic uplift or subsidence as recorded geologically by erosion or deposition indicates the net change in lithospheric buoyancy density change is primarily controlled by temperature change such that the geologic record reveals the net lithospheric heating or cooling our modeling shows that thermal stabilization of lithosphere can occur in 100 m y largely determined by the time for crustal radioactivity to warm the entire lithosphere longer term thermal evolution 350 400 m y is controlled by the feedback between isostatic and thermal responses crustal heat production is the dominant factor for evolution of crustal geo therms whereas the detailed initial thermal structure is less important the fact that many cratons are eroded to only modest depths indicates that they have a history of warming slightly since their formation implying a rather cool 700 1000 c for initial lithospheric mantle this is consistent with the growth of cratonic lithosphere by progressive thickening during continental assembly and or subduction stacking of oceanic lithosphere relatively warm early lithosphere due to elevated crustal heat production or higher initial lithospheric mantle temperatures may have had a lower preservation potential due to preferential deformation and destruction study of the proterozoic orogen of the southwestern united states indicates that the distinct thermal and isostatic records of adjacent crustal blocks are compatible with observed differences in crustal heat production but also with similar initial lithospheric mantle temperatures

early archean foredeep sedimentation related to crustal shortening a reinterpretation of the barberton sequence southern africa abstract the upper dominantly terrigenous sedimentary successions of the early archean barberton sequence kaapvaal province record an evolution similar to that of phanerozoic foredeeps and may represent the oldest known foredeep sequence rather than a passive continental margin sequence as previously proposed pre foredeep ocean crust the 3 5 ga old onverwacht group consists of bimodal volcanics with intercalated shallow water sediments gravity modeling and boundary shear zones indicate that deformed onverwacht crust was obducted northward onto sialic continental crust immediately before during or after burial by the synorogenic terrigenous clastic fill foredeep basin deepening due to crustal loading from the south is recorded by basinal iron formation chert and mudstone of the basal fig tree group which accumulated paraconformably on the onverwacht overlying sediments of the fig tree group consist of 2 km of submarine fan greywackes and mudstones shoaling of the basin is indicated by the transition to the overlying braided alluvial and shallow marine sediments of the ca 3 3 ga old moodies group 3 km thick changing ree patterns and relative abundances of ni cr sr th and ur in the sediments of the fig tree and moodies groups indicate a significant ultramafic mafic volcanic component diluted upward in the stratigraphic sequence by an increasing granitic contribution a similar trend is reflected in sandstone petrography in which the ratio of extrusive to intrusive rock fragments decreases upwards in the fig tree group whereas the moodies group sediments are enriched in quartz and potassium feldspar a persistent chert component in both units suggests that the tectonic setting of the basin is analogous to that of phanerozoic recycled orogens the distribution of facies in the fig tree and moodies groups and paleocurrent petrographic and geochemical data indicate progressive unroofing of a southerly source terrane consisting of the onverwacht volcanics and intercalated sediments and the 3 5 3 2 ga old ancient gneiss complex agc in addition older components of the fig tree group were recycled into overlying stratigraphie units the agc consists of mantle derived 3 5 ga old bimodal metavolcanics and metasediments a tonalite gneiss batholith metabasite dikes and meta anorthosites its structures record progressive northwestward uplift beginning around 3 4 ga ago intense homogeneous ductile strains were overprinted by northwest verging major folds rotated by large scale northwestward simple shear followed by imbricate faulting and pseudotachylite formation by 3 3 ga ago the fig tree and moodies groups had also shortened with similar kinematics to those of the agc by partly syndepositional folding and volume loss during the formation of transecting cleavage further folding and slide formation followed during subsolidus diapiric rise of the initially tabular kaap valley tonalite by 3 2 ga and emplacement of trondhjemite plutons from 3 3 to 3 0 ga ago

accessory minerals and the geochemical evolution of crustal magmatic systems a summary and prospectus of experimental approaches it has recently been recognized that accessory minerals in continental rocks may contain a substantial fraction of the whole rock complement of trace elements and geochemically important isotopes this observation is in itself interesting but its importance is magnified many fold when one considers the possible consequences to the geochemical rearrangement that accompanies crustal melting if for example an accessory phase is insoluble in early formed partial melts it may effectively retain in the residue many incompatible elements e g ree and daughter isotopes e g radiogenic pb that would otherwise be partitioned into the melt in addition should an unmelted accessory mineral e g zircon be entrained in a departing melt fraction it may carry with it radiogenic components pb nd143 hf176 characteristic of the source region the effectiveness of phases such as zircon apatite sphene allanite epidote and monazite in the roles noted above can only be gauged from knowledge of the three fundamental accessory phase parameters i e 1 the solubilities of the accessory minerals in crustal melts 2 the equilibrium mineral liquid partition coefficients for the trace element and isotopes of interest and 3 the diffusivities that govern the rates at which equilibrium will be approached in general these parameters can only be measured in laboratory experiments and relatively few data have been accumulated to date it does seem clear however that apatite generally is residual insoluble during crustal melting and zircon can be depending on melting conditions and abundance of zircon in the source petrographic and geochemical studies indicate that monazite allanite and epidote may also be highly insoluble in some cases but the specific circumstances that promote insolubility remain unknown the few experimentally determined partition coefficients now available for apatite and zircon agree qualitatively with natural rock data on mineral separates however preliminary diffusion measurements and inferences from natural systems suggest that trace element and isotopic equilibrium between undissolved accessories and crustal melts is in fact rarely approached ironically it is this very disequilibrium in the form of preserved diffusion profiles that may afford the most information on time temperature histories of melting events continued experimental interest in the fundamental accessory phase parameters will eventually provide the tools that will enable rigorous assessment not only of the timing and duration of crustal melting episodes but also of the extent of melting and re distribution of trace elements and radiogenic isotopes

timing of high grade metamorphism early palaeozoic u pb formation ages of titanite indicate long standing high t conditions at the western margin of gondwana argentina 26 29 s concordant u pb ages of c 530 510 ma and c 470 420 ma on titanite from calcsilicate orthogneiss and amphibolite rocks constrain the age of high t metamorphism in the early palaeozoic mobile belt at the western margin of proterozoic gondwana argentina 26 29 s the u pb ages document the time of titanite formation at high t conditions according to the stable mineral paragenesis and occurrence of titanite in the metamorphic fabric the presence of migmatite at all sample sites indicates temperatures were c 650 c titanite formed at similar metamorphic conditions at different times on the regional and on the outcrop scale the titanite crystals preserved their u pb isotopic signatures and chemical composition under ongoing upper amphibolite to granulite facies temperatures different thermal peaks or deformations are only detected by the different u pb ages and not by changes in the mineral paragenesis or metamorphic fabric of the samples the range of u pb ages e g in the ordovician and silurian c 470 460 440 430 420 ma is interpreted as the effect polyphase deformation with deformation enhanced recrystallization of titanite and or different thermal peaks during a long standing geographically fixed high t regime in the mid crust of a continental magmatic arc a clear correlation of the different ages with distinct tectonic events e g collision of terranes is not possible based on the present knowledge of the region

gelatins as rock analogs a systematic study of their rheological and physical properties abstract in a laboratory model the behavior of the selected analog material must be properly scaled to nature here we systematically investigate both rheological and physical properties of a wide range of gelatins as functions of temperature composition concentration ageing and applied strain rate results show that gelatins behavior changes gradually from purely elastic to visco elasto brittle to purely viscous nonlinear rheology going from the gel to the sol state the rheological variability of gelatins appears promising for the potential use of these analog materials to simulate crustal and lithospheric rheological behavior in particular we found that pig skin 2 5 wt at 10 c has the required rheological properties for a suitable experimental set up to model crustal deformation

u pb zircon and titanite systematics of the fish canyon tuff an assessment of high precision u pb geochronology and its application to young volcanic rocks a large data set of single and multi grain zircon and titanite analyses from a sample of the oligocene fish canyon tuff fct a voluminous ash flow from the san juan mountains of colorado and widely used 40ar 39ar geochronological standard has been used to evaluate the influence of various sources of analytical and geological uncertainty on the calculated age of this tuff by the isotope dilution u pb zircon method twenty three single zircon grains and seven small multi grain fractions of the fct yield an inverse variance weighted mean 206pb 238u date of 28 402 0 023 ma 2 mswd 0 93 and a slightly older weighted mean 207pb 235u date of 28 529 0 030 ma mswd 0 74 which are insensitive to common pb corrections initial 230th disequilibria calculated from a newly measured th u 2 2 for fct pumice shards indicate th deficiency for these zircons its correction brings the weighted mean 206pb 238u date to 28 478 0 024 mswd 0 97 minimizing the discordance of the fct zircon analyses these calculations culminate in concordia ages ludwig 1998 for the crystallization of the fct zircons of 28 476 0 029 ma mswd 1 50 without propagating decay constant errors or 28 498 0 035 ma mswd 1 03 with propagated decay constant errors these results are in close agreement with a previous single grain 206pb 238u zircon date of 28 41 0 05 ma for the fct oberli et al 1990 however they do not corroborate the discordia lower intercept date of 27 52 0 09 put forth by lanphere and baadsgard 2001 the 28 476 0 064 ma concordia age for fct zircons including systematic decay constant errors and uncertainty in pb u tracer calibration is substantially older than all published 40ar 39ar sanidine ages which range from 27 5 to 28 05 ma lanphere and baadsgaard 1997 renne et al 1998 a lengthy period 400 k y of zircon residence in the magma chamber before eruption is commonly called upon to explain the age discrepancy however fct titanite which may remain open to pb diffusive exchange until quenching upon eruption yield a minimum 230th disequilibrium corrected weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 28 395 0 049 ma 0 078 with tracer uncertainty weakening residence time arguments and supporting recent calls for re evaluation of the 40k decay constant and the accepted ages for commonly used 40ar 39ar mineral standards the fct zircon concordia age also provides an empirical constraint on the decay constants of the u isotopes indicating the relative accuracy of the currently accepted decay constants to within the original counting statistic errors of jaffey et al 1971

lead isotopic heterogeneities within alkali feldspars implications for the determination of initial lead isotopic compositions abstract the mobility of uranium during metamorphism and alteration places constraints on the use of lead isotopic compositions as petrogenetic tracers in older rocks the problem of uranium mobility may be partially circumvented by analysis of alkali feldspar which because of its low u pb ratio should have a lead isotopic composition similar to the initial lead isotopic composition of the rock previous leaching and volatilization experiments however have demonstrated that alkali feldspars contain radio genic lead which can be removed preferentially to nonradiogenic lead this paper reports on the results of progressive acid leaching of a single alkali feldspar phenocryst and on albitic perthites separated from the phenocryst this experiment suggests that a number of distinct lead isotopic reservoirs are present within the alkali feldspar including a nonradiogenic reservoir approximating the initial lead isotopic composition of the system a radiogenic reservoir corresponding to albitic exsolution lamellae within the alkali feldspar loosely bound labile lead presumably associated with uranium and thorium occupying fractures and finally a radiogenic component corresponding to unidentified uranium thorium rich phases the commonly observed decrease in radiogenicity with progressive leaching of alkali feldspars is interpreted to be largely the result of preferential leaching of the albitic perthites relative to the host alkali feldspar containing the nonradiogenic reservoir the results of this experiment confirm that initial lead isotopic compositions may be estimated from alkali feldspars through severe acid leaching however this experiment also illustrates the complexity of the lead isotopic systematics of alkali feldspars the determination of the initial lead isotopic composition of an alkali feldspar requires experimental procedures which recognize and compensate for the presence of multiple lead reservoirs within typical alkali feldspars

sm nd dating of spatially controlled domains of garnet single crystals a new method of high temperature thermochronology ganguly and tirone meteorit planet sci 36 2001 167 175 recently presented a method of determining the cooling rates of rocks from the difference between the core and bulk ages of a crystal as determined by a single decay system here we present the first application of the method using the core and bulk ages of garnet single crystals according to the sm nd decay system in two rock samples with contrasting cooling rates which can be constrained independently the samples belong to the metamorphic core complex valhalla british columbia and the mid crustal magmatic arc exposure of the salinian terrane california we have micro sampled the garnet crystals over specific radial dimensions and measured the nd isotopes of these small sample masses as ndo via solid source mass spectrometry to determine the sm nd age difference between the core and bulk crystals using a peak metamorphic p t condition of 8 1 kbar 820 30 c spear and parrish j petrol 37 1996 733 765 the core 67 3 2 3 ma and bulk 60 9 2 1 ma ages of the british columbian garnet sample yield a cooling rate of 2 13 c myr which is in very good agreement with the cooling rates that we have derived by modeling the retrograde fe mg zoning in the same garnet and assuming the same peak metamorphic p t condition considering earlier cooling rate data derived from closure temperature vs age relation of multiple geochronological systems spear and parrish j petrol 37 1996 733 765 a cooling rate of v15 20 c myr seems most reasonable for the valhalla complex diffusion kinetic analysis shows that the sm nd core age of the selected garnet crystal could not have been disturbed during cooling consequently the core age of the garnet crystal 67 3 2 3 ma corresponds to the peak metamorphic age of the valhalla complex the salinian sample on the other hand yields indistinguishable core 78 2 2 7 ma and bulk 77 9 2 9 ma ages as expected from its fast cooling history which can be constrained by the results of earlier studies the sm nd decay system in garnet has relatively high closure temperature usually s 650 c therefore the technique developed in this paper fills an important gap in thermochronology since the commonly used thermochronometers are applicable only at lower temperatures simultaneous modeling of the retrograde fe mg zoning in garnet spatially resolved sm nd ages of garnet single crystals and resetting of the bulk garnet sm nd age

apparent argon diffusive loss 40ar 39ar age spectra in amphiboles detailed investigations have been made of two amphibole samples where 40ar 39ar age spectra have been interpreted to show argon diffusive loss both samples display complex compositional zoning that reflects partial major and minor element chemical re equilibration during later thermal events that is associated with the loss of radiogenic 40ar the apparent diffusive loss age spectra in these samples are an artefact of this chemical re equilibration process one sample additionally shows the effect of potassium gain and contamination with a potassium rich phase biotite the resulting ages in this sample are geologically meaningless and the apparent fit to a theoretical diffusive loss curve is coincidental this study shows that volume diffusive loss of argon appears to operate at slower rates than argon loss by chemical re equilibration in amphiboles

the significance of titanite and apatite u pb ages constraints for the post magmatic thermal hydrothermal evolution of a batholithic complex berens river area northwestern superior province canada abstract titanite apatite and in one case rutile from a suite of twenty seven samples representing the major phases of an extensive and well dated archean plutonic domain of the northwestern superior province have been dated by u pb to determine the temporal progress of thermal and hydrothermal events accompanying and following major plutonism and to assess the isotopic behaviour of these geochronometers most samples contain 1 dark brown titanite with 350 20 ppm u showing shapes and textural relationships indicative of a primary magmatic origin and yielding ages corresponding either to the time of magmatic crystallization or to that of secondary metamorphic or magmatic events known in the area 2 pale titanite with 30 2 ppm u showing textural evidence for a secondary origin by breakdown of biotite hornblende oxide or older titanite and yielding ages that in general post date the major plutonic and metamorphic events in the area 3 apatite containing 30 5 ppm u occasionally up to 150 ppm u showing igneous shapes and textural relationships but yielding post magmatic ages similar to those of coexisting pale titanite 4 rutile in one sample postdating the ages of coexisting titanite and apatite the common coexistence of two noncoeval titanite generations demonstrates that the often invoked mechanism of pb diffusion during slow cooling in this case has no general validity the distribution of primary dark titanite ages however could be explained by late closure to diffusion or alternatively as the result of resetting by the thermal or hydrothermal effects caused by younger plutonic activity the ages of the secondary pale titanites probably reflect crystallization during discrete retrogressive events promoted by moderate heating or enhanced fluid activity the correspondence between pale titanite and apatite ages suggests that the same processes also caused the isotopic resetting of apatite on a regional scale the data pattern permits the identification of domains characterized by differences in the length and intensity of the thermal and hydrothermal processes the most protracted activity is recorded in northern domains of the berens river area whereas the gold mineralized red lake area in the south underwent a very rapid decline of the thermal hydrothermal activity these data also highlight important differences between the red lake and other gold camps of the superior province such as hemlo and val d or where hydrothermal activity locally associated with mineralization occurred as much as 30 80 m y after the major orogenic developments

lead diffusion in apatite and zircon using ion implantation and rutherford backscattering techniques abstract ion implantation was used to introduce pb into the minerals zircon and apatite diffusion profiles were obtained using rutherford backscattering and the results were fitted with a model to determine the diffusion coefficients this approach is both simple and useful in studying diffusion over a temperature range of geologic interest without inordinate annealing times results for apatite over the temperature range 600 900 c are in good agreement with earlier results obtained for higher temperatures watson et al 1985 and are described by the following arrhenius law d 1 27 10 4 cm 2 s 1 exp 54 6 1 7 kcl mol 1 rt this suggests that radiation damage induced by ion implantation has little effect on pb diffusion in this case due to rapid annealing of induced damage at low temperatures the activation energy stated above is somewhat smaller than that previously determined 70 kcal mol 1 reflecting the larger range in 1 t sampled by the present results closure temperatures calculated with these diffusion parameters are in good agreement with those inferred from geochronologic data diffusion coefficients for pb in zircon determined in this study are greater than those obtained from a single experimental measurement and estimates of pb diffusion based on geochronologic data and u pb zoning in natural zircons the differing results for zircon and apatite obtained in this study appear to be related to each mineral s ability to anneal the radiation damage induced by ion implantation

apatite monazite and xenotime in metamorphic rocks this chapter focuses on phosphates that are significant in metamorphic rocks a quick survey of phosphate mineral descriptions at a commercial mineral web site revealed over 500 phosphate mineral names remarkably only three are common in metamorphic rocks apatite monazite and xenotime and this chapter is restricted to discussion of these minerals apatite monazite and to a lesser extent xenotime have enjoyed intensive study during the previous half century following world war ii considerable study was made of minerals that contain fissionable materials and the sometimes large concentrations of u and th in monazite culminated in a number of seminal papers on the occurrence of that mineral e g overstreet 1967 during the 1970s and early 1980s the study of apatite and monazite turned towards their role as a sink for rees and other trace elements in rocks e g watson 1980 watson and capobianco 1981 throughout this period monazite and to some extent xenotime enjoyed attention as a geochronometer e g parrish 1990 and through today this attention has continued to grow accessory minerals such as monazite xenotime and apatite have come to the forefront of research in metamorphic petrology in recent years for two reasons first it has recently been recognized that trace elements in metamorphic rocks and especially trace element zoning in garnet and other major phases contain considerable detailed information about the reaction history a rock has experienced coupled with the fact that diffusion of many trace elements in metamorphic minerals is in general considerably slower than diffusion of major elements in those same minerals the possibility has recently emerged of recovering details of metamorphic petrogenesis that were previously unattainable inasmuch as accessory minerals play a dominant role in the mass budget of many trace elements attention has naturally turned to their paragenesis it has also recently been discovered that

petrography and mineral chemistry of the composite deboullie pluton northern maine u s a implications for the genesis of cumo mineralization abstract biotite and apatite mineral chemistry particularly halogen abundances and ratios are used to investigate the relation of the two contrasting parts of the deboullie composite pluton syenite granodiorite located in northern maine biotite mineral chemistry helps to classify the weakly developed porphyry style mineralization cu mo associated with syenitic rocks of the deboullie pluton unmineralized syenite consists of k feldspar plagioclase quartz biotite hornblende clinopyroxene and minor amounts of apatite titanite magnetite zircon and allanite biotite and apatite occur within the matrix of the rocks and within small multiphase inclusions hosted by clinopyroxene the inclusions are interpreted to be crystallized melt inclusions rather than solid inclusions that were trapped by clinopyroxene during growth the multiphase inclusions consist of k feldspar quartz biotite apatite magnetite the f contents of biotite display a strong positive correlation with the phlogopite component or xphl xphl mg sum octahedral cations biotites from the multiphase inclusions have higher f contents and higher values of f f cl oh and xphl than biotites in the matrix that presumably formed later during crystallization and or re equilibrated with late stage fluids contents of tio2 largely overlap for the inclusion and matrix biotite apatite compositions plot within the fluorapatite field f f cl oh 0 57 0 99 apatites in the multiphase inclusions have higher cl contents than apatites in the matrix or those enclosed in biotite biotite apatite geothermometry for the multiphase inclusions yields magmatic or near magmatic temperatures 725 850 c biotite apatite pairs outside the inclusions yield temperatures that range from near magmatic 600 775 c to much lower x f x cl and xphl was used to infer hf hcl fugacity ratios in associated hydrothermal fluids and indicates that biotite from the deboullie pluton is strikingly similar to biotite from the porphyry cu deposit at santa rita new mexico but distinctly different from biotite from the porphyry mo deposit at henderson colorado the assemblage quartz magnetite titanite implies an oxidation state for the deboullie pluton well above the quartz magnetite fayalite buffer which is also consistent with magmas associated with porphyry cu deposits on a regional scale biotite compositions from granitic plutons in maine do not vary in a systematic manner this implies that biotite compositions no longer directly reflect source compositions finally biotite and apatite compositions of the syenite and granodiorite are different compositional ranges in the granodiorite are more restricted than those in the syenite this provides evidence that the two parts of this composite pluton had different origins and are not related by crystal fractionation

the stratigraphy of the 3 5 3 2 ga barberton greenstone belt revisited a single zircon ion microprobe study abstract recent field and geochemical studies indicate a need to test the stratigraphy of the ca 3 5 ga barberton greenstone belt as it is presently adopted 1 2 this work uses the ion microprobe shrimp to attempt such a test results show that 1 volcaniclastic sediments of the theespruit formation