global events across the mesoproterozoic neoproterozoic boundary c and sr isotopic evidence from siberia thick unmetamorphosed successions of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks in eastern and western siberia preserve a record of middle riphean to early upper riphean sedimentary environments and geochemistry consistent with data from other continents our studies in the uchur maya region in southeastern siberia and the turukhansk uplift in northwestern siberia suggest a first order shift in 13 c from values near 0 in the early mesoproterozoic to values near 3 5 after about 1300 ma over this same interval primary 87 sr 86 sr values decrease from 0 7060 to 0 7053 combining lithologic biostratigraphic and geochemical data sets with available geochronologic constraints we present a refined correlation between these two key proterozoic successions in siberia and add this dataset to a growing body of c and sr isotopic data from this time interval carbon isotope chemostratigraphy from these regions supports the occurrence and timing of a first order 3 5 positive shift ca 1250 1300 ma approximately coeval with the onset of active margin activity that predates the main phase of rodinia assembly sr isotopic data may also be interpreted within the context of the evolving mesoproterozoic tectonic regime available data suggest that no dramatic rise in 87 sr 86 sr heralds the main phase of rodinia assembly in the terminal mesoproterozoic suggesting that significant juvenile crust was involved in mountain building that relative hydrothermal flux from mid ocean ridges remained high throughout the assembly of rodinia and or that increased continental runoff related to intense erosion of grenvillian mountain belts terminated shortly after orogeny 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

a carbon isotope reference curve for ca 1700 1575 ma mcarthur and mount isa basins northern australia abstract shallow marine paleo and mesoproterozoic sedimentary successions are widely distributed in several major basins across northern australia the successions are only gently deformed and their stratigraphy is relatively continuous thus offering an ideal opportunity to document secular variations in carbon isotopes marine carbonate intervals from two of these major basins the mcarthur and mount isa basins have been sampled to document secular variation in 13ccarb from approximately 1700 to 1575 ma in all cases the samples have been tied to a well established sequence stratigraphy which along with u pb shrimp zircon dates provides a time resolution of the order of 1 m y the data presented here thus provide the most comprehensive and best dated 13ccarb stratigraphy yet obtained from such ancient rocks diagenesis occurred early in the carbonate rocks from both basins with the result that fluid movements were restricted and primary carbon isotopic signatures were retained the 13ccarb values from both basins vary within a very narrow range around a mean of 0 6 with extreme values seldom lying further than 1 from the mean that is the curves are essentially flat the results of this study combined with earlier studies on younger rocks imply that the global ocean reached a state of equilibrium in the mid paleoproterozoic and remained stable for much of the following billion years current models of the ocean suggest that to maintain the carbon mass balance relatively low levels of tectonic activity would be required which in turn suggests that the availability of nutrients such as phosphorus was stable and low prolonged nutrient stability may therefore have exerted a major influence upon the evolution of the biosphere over this time interval

extreme 13ccarb enrichment in ca 2 0 ga magnesite stromatolite dolomite red beds association in a global context a case for the world wide signal enhanced by a local environment abstract the palaeoproterozoic positive excursion of 13 c carb is now considered as three positive shifts of 13 c carb separated by returns to 0 which all occurred between 2 40 and 2 06 ma this isotopic event is unique in terms of both duration 300 ma and 13 c enrichment up to 18 the mechanism responsible for one of the most significant carbon isotopic shifts in earth history remains highly debatable to date 13 c of 10 to 15 cannot be balanced by organic carbon burial forg as there is no geological evidence for an enhanced corg accumulation prior to or synchronous with the excursion instead termination of these excursions is followed by formation of a vast reservoir of 13 c depleted organic material 45 at shunga and by one of the earliest known oil generation episodes at 2 0 ga none of the three positive excursions of 13 c carb is followed by a negative isotopic shift significantly below 0 as has always been observed in younger isotopic events reflecting an overturn of a major marine carbon reservoirs this may indicate that forg was constant implying that the mechanism involved in the production of corg was different onset of intensive methane cycling resulting in c change is another possibility the majority of sampled 13 c carb rich localities represents shallow water stromatolitic dolostones red beds and evaporites formed in restricted intracratonic basins and may not reflect global 13 c carb values closely spaced drill core samples n 73 of stromatolitic dolostones from the 1980 27 ma tulomozerskaya formation in the onega palaeobasin russian karelia have been analysed for 13 c carb and 18 o carb in order to demonstrate that different processes were involved in the formation of 13 c carb rich carbonates the 800 m thick magnesite stromatolite dolomite red beds succession formed in a complex combination of environments on the karelian craton peritidal shallow marine low energy protected bights barred basins evaporative ephemeral ponds coastal sabkhas and playa lakes the carbonate rocks exhibit extreme 13 c enrichment with 13 c values ranging from 5 7 to 17 2 vs v pdb mean 9 9 2 3 and 18 o from 18 6 to 26 0 vs v smow mean 22 0 1 6 the tulomozerskaya isotopic excursion is characteristic of the global 2 4 2 06 ga positive shifts of carbonate 13 c 12 c although it reveals the greatest enrichment in 13 c known from this interval an external basin s is considered to have provided an enhanced corg burial and global seawater enrichment in 13 c the global background value for the isotopic shift at tulomozero time ca 2 0 ga is roughly estimated at around 5 an explosion of stromatolite forming microbial communities in shallow water basins evaporative and partly restricted environments high bioproductivity enhanced uptake of 12 c and pene contemporaneous recycling of organic material in cyanobacterial mats with the production and consequent loss of co2 and ch4 are believed to be additional local factors which may have enhanced 13 c from 5 up to 17 such factors should be taken into account when interpreting carbon isotopic data and attempting to discriminate between the local enrichment in 13 c and globally enhanced 13 c values we propose that many previously reported 13 c values from other localities where environmental interpretations are not available or have not been taken into account may not represent the global 13 c values

isotopic evidence for the paleoenvironmental evolution of the mesoproterozoic helena formation belt supergroup montana usa high resolution isotopic and geochemical data constrain long debated marine vs lacustrine depositional models for the helena formation a carbonate unit within the mesoproterozoic belt supergroup montana paired carbon and oxygen isotope and minor element analyses of microsamples from a diverse array of petrographic components effectively distinguish between primary and secondary isotopic signatures 13c values reflecting primary depositional conditions increase progressively from an average of 0 near the base of the helena formation to an average of 1 4 near the top over a stratigraphic thickness of 100 200 m because the base of this 1 6 shift coincides with a basin wide facies change marked by the appearance of stromatolitic units and an increased occurrence of features indicative of evaporative conditions and subaerial exposure the shift toward more positive 13c values is interpreted to reflect an increase in biologic productivity coupled with increasingly evaporative conditions in the eastern part of the belt basin 13c values from the lower part of the helena formation are similar to those from other marine carbonates of similar age and suggest that the belt basin was marine during deposition of the helena formation taken as a whole these relations suggest that helena sediments were deposited in a shallow marine basin that was increasingly isolated from the open mesoproterozoic ocean original 13o values have been retained only in syndepositional and early diagenetic intergranular cements in oolitic grainstones that occur in the upper part of the helena formation the most positive 13o values derived from these cements 6 1 pdb are up to 3 higher than previous estimates for the 13o value of mesoproterozoic marine calcite however because these phases are associated with facies deposited under restricted marine conditions interpretation of 13o values from these cements with regard to the composition of the open mesoproterozoic ocean awaits study of additional coeval marine carbonate successions

isotopic evolution of the biogeochemical carbon cycle during the proterozoic eon abstract time related changes in the proterozoic sedimentary isotopic record of organic carbon and carbonates are consistent with the following 1 an increase in the oxidation state of the environment 2 a transition towards microbial populations dominated by producers and utilizers of o 2 and so 4 2 and 3 a relatively minor increase in organic 13 c during postdepositional thermal alteration 13 c increased 3 as h c declined from 0 8 to 0 1 the progressive oxidation of the environment was episodic for example between 2 2 and 1 9 ga crustal and atmospheric reservoirs of o 2 fe 3 and so 4 2 increased relatively rapidly and this increase was too large to be attributed solely to the declining rate of oxidant consumption by volcanic and hydrothermal fluxes of reduced species additional fundamental changes seem to be required in the tectonic style of organic sedimentation and preservation episodic changes in both the biogeochemical c cycle and atmospheric o 2 levels during the proterozoic eon likely influenced the evolution of eukarya

sr isotope evolution of seawater the role of tectonics we use a high resolution seawater sr isotopic evolution curve for the last 100 m y in conjunction with modern riverine sr flux measurements and also geologic tectonic and geochronological data to make the case for a close relationship between seawater sr isotopic composition and the india asia continental collision using a simple seawater sr budget model we begin by showing that the sr flux associated with alteration of seafloor basalts is too small and does not have the right time evolution to account for much of the seawater sr isotopic curve of the last 100 m y the flux of dissolved sr carried by rivers originating in the himalaya tibet region on the other hand is presently a significant fraction of the global sr budget we calculate how this riverine flux would have had to change with time in order to match the observed seawater sr isotopic curve and find that the riverine flux remains relatively constant prior to the collision of india with asia but then increases very significantly after collision we note that the period of most rapid change in seawater sr isotopic ratio from 20 ma to 15 ma is also a period of exceptionally high erosion in parts of the himalayas and the tibetan plateau as further evidence that sr derived from the collision of india with asia plays a major role in the sr isotopic evolution of seawater we show that the total amount erosion of the himalaya tibetan plateau since collision which we calculate separately represents a total amount of sr that is very nearly the same as the cumulative amount required by the sr isotopic change of seawater since collision the relationship between erosion and riverine sr flux allows us to use the sr isotopic evolution of seawater to reconstruct a history of erosion since collision and we find that the erosion rate accelerates with time since collision with the present having the largest rate when we apply the sr budget model to the entire phanerozoic using a new compilation of deformed continental area versus time we find that we can account for the large scale structure of the seawater sr isotopic curve but fail to reproduce several local maxima and minima especially in the period 100 300 ma the present high s7sr s6sr of seawater and similar highs in the devonian and cambrian do correlate with extensive deformation on the continents

transvaal supergroup carbonates implications for paleoproterozoic δ18o and δ13c records abstract the paleoproterozoic interval is characterized by the first evidence for incontrovertibly free oxygen in the ocean atmosphere system in this study carbonates from the transvaal group the silverton lucknow rooinekke and particularly the duitschland formations were analyzed for isotopes of carbon oxygen and strontium in order to constrain models dealing with the patterns of seawater evolution although the trace element data showed variable alteration of the carbonate samples selected samples with a lesser degree of alteration yielded interpretable results the best measured 87sr 86sr isotope value of 0 7031 at 2 35 ga ago fits well with the published curve for precambrian seawater confirming that paleoproterozoic budget of sr was dominated by input from continental sources during the paleoproterozoic times carbonates with 13c values of about 10 are known to have been present worldwide and they have been studied also during this research the observation that in the duitschland formation such high isotope values and normal marine values were both present within a single formation indeed within its single beds suggested that the large spread of 13c values reflects local or regional rather than global phenomena the oxygen isotope data show a large spread of values from 3 to 16 while their corresponding 13c signals are almost unchanged over this entire range with the lucknow and silverton formations clustering around 10 and the rooinekke formation around 2 the duitschland formation has a bimodal distribution with both 13c populations present the last formation also contains samples with 18o as low as 20 particularly in the vicinity of the bushveld intrusive body these highly 18o depleted samples show homogenization of 13c values towards 5 modelling suggests that the trends could have resulted from post depositional alteration by basinal fluids at near surface to about 50 c temperatures in a rock buffered system the duitschland formation samples particularly at duitschland farm the locality closest to the bushveld complex were then further altered at temperatures up to about 80 c in response to this intrusion

carbon isotopes and the rise of atmospheric oxygen new data for the isotopic composition of carbon in carbonate sediments deposited between 2 6 and 1 6 ga indicate that the value of 13c in these sediments underwent a very large positive excursion between 2 22 and 2 06 ga a reassessment of the earlier 13c data for carbonate sediments shows that this excursion was probably worldwide and that it was preceded and followed by several hundred million years during which the 13c of carbonate sediments differed little from that of modern carbonates the large 13c excursion between 2 22 and 2 06 ga was probably related to an abnormally high rate of organic carbon deposition which generated an abnormally high rate of o2 production we estimate that the total excess o2 produced during the excursion was between 12 and 22 times the present atmospheric o2 inventory the 13c data therefore suggest that the o2 content of the atmosphere increased very significantly between 2 22 and 2 06 ga this inference is supported strongly by several other lines of evidence

overview of the meso to neoproterozoic evolution of the vindhyan basin central india abstract despite its origin in a stable intracratonic basin the vindhyan supergroup central india embodies tectonic driven depositional cycles of various orders a marked change in sedimentation pattern was coupled with a transient plate margin compression in the otherwise extensional regime an unconformity laterally correlatable with a conformity that divides the supergroup in two sequences arose in consequence maximum flooding surfaces mfs within the sequences can generally be correlated with intrabasinal volcanism that drastically diminished through the initial rift to later sag stage of basin evolution concomitantly with the change in tectonic milieu paleoseismic deformation structures and related deposits also became drastically reduced in scale nevertheless metre and decametre scale depositional cycles correlate well with the subtle record of paleoseismicity intermittent tilting of the depositional substratum is demonstrable in systematic bed dip changes in metre scale fining upward depositional cycles in the rift stage in the sag stage it is reflected merely in consistent deflection of paleocurrent directions at the top of the decametre scale parasequence sets towards the top of the supergroup progressive thickening and decreasing frequency of parasequences indicates a declining rate of basin subsidence progradation despite punctuation thus resulted in basin filling

did global tectonics drive early biosphere evolution carbon isotope record from 2 6 to 1 9 ga carbonates of western australian basins the 13 ccarb record of well preserved carbonates in outcrop and core is here examined from the 2 6 to 1 9 ga old basins of western australia these data which are constrained by a well defined stratigraphic and tectonic framework and by u pb zircon ages provide an insight into the variables coincident with the evolution of an oxidative atmosphere and the evolution of the early biosphere in the latest archaean ca 2 6 ga the secular 13 ccarb curve is flat much like that seen in the later palaeoproterozoic basins of northern australia 1 8 ga this implies that photosynthesis was a major component of the biosphere at that time and that the carbon mass balance was stable in the early palaeoproterozoic beginning after 2 5 ga and continuing until at least 1 9 ga the 13 ccarb the curve is much more dynamic with significant positive and negative excursions including a major positive excursion 9 pdb close to 2 2 ga these excursions can be correlated with the lomagundi event identified in africa europe and north america previously published studies of the overlying meso to palaeoproterozoic bangemall basin and of 1 8 1 5 ga old basins in northern australia suggest that the 13 ccarb curve became relatively monotonic again after ca 1 8 ga and remained so for most of the following mesoproterozoic comparisons with data from other ancient cratons especially africa suggest that the secular carbon curve may be even more complex than presently understood and probably comparable to the major excursions seen in the neoproterozoic when the western australian data are placed in their stratigraphic and tectonic framework we find that the monotonic latest archaean curve coincides with a tectonically quiescent period in which carbonates formed in an basinal setting on a craton surrounded by passive margins the data are consistent with an earth in which the carbon mass balance was in equilibrium the 13 ccarb curve began to oscillate following the onset of glaciation as the pilbara and yilgarn cratons began to converge during the capricorn orogeny suggesting periods of rapid carbon burial during continental dispersal however the major positive excursion is preserved in carbonates from back arc basins formed as the ocean closed and subduction began since similar tectonic processes can be recognised not only in northern australia but also on other early cratons it can be argued that the carbon excursions relate to supercontinent cycles and to major periods of mantle overturn and superplume development we explain this coincidence of carbon isotopic excursions

a billion years of environmental stability and the emergence of eukaryotes new data from northern australia carbon isotopes through 6km of fully cored drill holes in 1 7 to 1 5 ga carbonates of the mount isa and mcarthur basins australia which host the earliest known eukaryote biomarkers provide the most comprehensive and best dated delta 13c stratigraphy yet obtained from such ancient rocks both basins reveal remarkably stable temporal delta 13c trends mean of 0 6 2 pdb peedee belemnite and confirm the impression of delta 13c stasis between 2 0 and 1 0 ga which together with other evidence suggest a prolonged period of stability in crustal dynamics redox state of surface environments and planetary climate this delta 13c stasis is consistent with great stability in the carbon cycle controlled we suggest by p limitation of primary productivity recent evidence shows that p depletion is a major factor in obligate associations between photosymbionts and host cells we argue that a billion years of stability in the carbon and nutrient cycles may have been the driving force that propelled prokaryotes toward photosymbiosis and the emergence of the autotrophic eukaryote cell

application of the trace element and isotope geochemistry of strontium to studies of carbonate diagenesis carbonate rocks and natural waters exhibit a wide range in the concentration and isotopic composition of strontium this wide range and the quantifiable covariation of these parameters can provide diagnostic tools for understanding processes of fluid rock interaction careful consideration of the uncertainties associated with trace element partitioning sample heterogeneity and fluid rock interaction mechanisms is required to advance the application of the trace element and isotope geochemistry of strontium to studies of diagenesis goundwater evolution ancient seawater chemistry and isotope stratigraphy a principal uncertainty involved in the application of sr concentration variations to carbonate systems is the large range of experimental and empirical results for trace element partitioning of sr between mineral and solution this variation may be a function of precipitation rate mineral stoichiometry crystal growth mechanism fluid composition and temperature calcite and dolomite in ancient limestones commonly have significantly lower sr concentrations 20 70 p p m than would be expected from published trace element distribution coefficient values and sr ca ratios of most modern sedimentary pore waters this discrepancy probably reflects the uncertainties associated with determining distribution coefficient values as techniques improve for the analytical measurement and theoretical modelling of sr concentration and isotopic variations the petrological analysis of carbonate samples becomes increasingly important the presence of even small percentages of non carbonate phases with high rb concentrations and high 87 sr86 sr values such as clay minerals can have significant effects on the measured 87 sr 86 sr values of carbonate rocks due to the decay of 87rb to 87 sr for example a permian marine limestone with 50 p p m sr and 1 p p m rb will have a present day 87 sr 86 sr value that is 2 10 4 higher than its original value this difference is an order of magnitude greater than the analytical uncertainty and illustrates the importance of assessing the need for and accuracy of such corrections a quantitative evaluation of the effects of water rock interaction on sr concentrations and isotope compositions in carbonates strengthens the application of these geochemical tracers geochemical modelling that combines the use of trace elements and isotopes can be used to distinguish between different mechanisms of water rock interaction including diffusive and advective transport of diagenetic constituents in meteoric pore fluids during the recrystallization of carbonate minerals quantitative modelling may also be used to construct diagnostic fluid rock interaction trends that are independent of distribution coefficient values and to distinguish between mixing of mineral end members and fluid rock interaction

theoretical constraints on oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the precambrian atmosphere simple one dimensional climate models suggest that carbon dioxide concentrations during the archean must have been at least 100 1000 times the present level to keep the earth s surface temperature above freezing in the face of decreased solar luminosity such models provide only lower bounds on co2 so it is possible that co2 levels were substantially higher than this and that the archean climate was much warmer than today periods of extensive glaciation during the early and late proterozoic on the other hand indicate that the climate at these times was relatively cool to be consistent with climate models co2 partial pressures must have declined from approximately 0 03 to 0 3 bar around 2 5 ga ago to between 10 3 and 10 2 bar at 0 8 ga ago this steep decrease in carbon dioxide concentrations may be inconsistent with paleosol data which implies that pco2 did not change appreciably during that time oxygen was essentially absent from the earth s atmosphere and oceans prior to the emergence of a photosynthetic source probably during the late archean during the early proterozoic the atmosphere and surface ocean were apparently oxidizing while the deep ocean remained reducing an upper limit of 6 x 10 3 bar for po2 at this time can be derived by balancing the burial rate of organic carbon with the rate of oxidation of ferrous iron in the deep ocean the establishment of oxidizing conditions in the deep ocean marked by the disappearance of banded iron formations approximately 1 7 ga ago permitted atmospheric oxygen to climb to its present level o2 concentrations may have remained substantially lower than today however until well into the phanerozoic

the carbon isotopic composition of proterozoic carbonates riphean successions from northwestern siberia anabar massif turukhansk uplift thick carbonate dominated successions in northwestern siberia document secular variations in the c isotopic composition of seawater through mesoproterozoic and early neoproterozoic early to early late riphean time mesoproterozoic dolomites of the billyakh group anabar massif have delta 13c values that fall between 0 and 1 9 permil versus pdb with values in the upper part of the succession yusmastakh formation consistently higher than those of the lower ust il ya and kotuikan formations consistent with available biostratigraphic and radiometric data delta 13c values for billyakh carbonates compare closely with those characterizing early mesoproterozoic carbonates about 1600 1200 ma worldwide in contrast late mesoproterozoic to early neoproterozoic limestones and dolomites in the turukhansk uplift exhibit moderate levels of secular variation only the lowermost carbonates in the turukhansk succession linok formation have delta 13c values that approximate billyakh values higher in the turukhansk succession delta 13c values vary from 2 7 to 4 6 permil with outliers as low as 5 0 permil interpreted as diagentically altered again consistent with paleontological and radiometric data these values compare well with isotopic values from 1200 to 850 ma successions elsewhere five sections measured in different parts of the turukhansk basin show nearly identical patterns of variation confirming that carbonate delta 13c correlates primarily with time and not facies the siberian sections illustrate the potential of integrated biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data in the intra and interbasinal correlation of mesoproterozoic and early neoproterozoic rocks

c o sr and pb isotope systematics of carbonate sequences of the vindhyan supergroup india age diagenesis correlations and implications for global events abstract the vindhyan supergroup of central india records a substantial portion of proterozoic time and contains some of the most disputed precambrian cambrian fossil discoveries despite the significance of these fossil finds many issues including reliable geochronology remained unresolved similarly the geochemical aspects of the sedimentary sequences and their implications to the evolution of proterozoic oceans have been studied only at a reconnaissance level here we report the results of the pb pb dating for the rohtasgarh limestone from the lower vindhyan supergroup giving an age of 1601 130 ma an estimate that is in accord with the recent u pb zircon dating of the lower vindhyan supergroup by rasmussen et al geology 30 2002 103 and ray et al geology 30 2002 131 sr isotope stratigraphy of carbonates from the upper vindhyan supergroup suggests a mid neoproterozoic 750 650 ma age for these formations this in turn argues for a long hiatus between the deposition of the lower and upper vindhyan supergroups our results conflict with the reports of cambrian age small shelly fossils and ediacaran fossils from the upper vindhyan rocks at the same time they suggest that the alleged trace fossils in the lower vindhyan rocks must be of paleoproterozoic age the most common 18 o values for calcitic components from limestone formations of the supergroup range from 10 to 7 similar to paleo neoproterozoic carbonates worldwide the modes of 13 c in the lower and upper vindhyan supergroups are 0 2 and 3 2 respectively again consistent with the worldwide dataset the secular patterns of carbon isotope trends do not support the earlier assumptions that the carbonate sequences at the southern margin correlate with those at the western or northern margins of the vindhyan basin c and sr isotope data provide new calibration points for the seawater evolutionary curves particularly for the paleoproterozoic for strontium isotopes the data from the lower vindhyan supergroup suggest that seawater departed probably less rapidly from mantle values than was previously believed

copper mining and smelting technology in the northern lowveld south africa ca 1000 ce to ca 1880 ce we report chemical petrographic and metallographic studies of copper ores and slags recovered during sporadic surface surveys and excavations over the past fifty years in the phalaborwa and murchison range areas of the northern lowveld of south africa the copper slags around phalaborwa have unusual mineral assemblages attributable to the unique geochemistry of the main ore body the phalaborwa complex where copper minerals were mined from a carbonatite composed of magnetite calcite and apatite strongly reducing conditions had to be avoided to minimise contamination of the copper with iron and phosphorus as the copper ores contain almost no silicates silica alumina flux was added to produce slag the precambrian zinc copper ores of the murchison range were also smelted but during smelting any zinc that was not volatilised was taken up by minerals in the slag so brass was not produced

geochemistry of precambrian carbonates vii belt supergroup montana and idaho usa carbonates from the 1100 1450 ma old proterozoic belt supergroup were collected from stratigraphic sections throughout montana and idaho usa the sampled sequences in ascending stratigraphic order include the newland altyn spokane greyson transition empire wallace helena siyeh snowslip shepard and libby formations an increase in the degree of postdepositional alteration of belt limestones is reflected in a diminution of sr and mg contents an increase in mn and depletion in 13c and 18o two diagenetic trends can be resolved for the limestones one affecting the presumed originally aragonite rich sediments includes carbonates from the lower belt newland formation in contrast the middle belt carbonate wallace helena siyeh formations may have been originally of high mg calcitic mineralogy projection of the alteration trends for the lower and middle belt limestones suggest 21 smow and 2 5 to 1 0 pdb as the best preserved values for the 18o and 13c of seawater respectively both comparable to results from other mesoproterozoic carbonate sequences the oxygen isotope data for limestones show a regional westward depletion of 8 in 18o possibly reflecting a higher temperature of postdepositional alteration in the western belt basin this depletion in 18o is accompanied by a comparable decrease in 13c values most likely because a higher proportion of carbon was incorporated from co2 generated by thermal cracking of hydrocarbons at depth dolostones in the belt basin are dominantly micritic with good preservation of depositional textures chemically and isotopically their alteration trends mimic those of limestones leading to comparable projected best values for 13c 87sr 86sr values of belt carbonates range between 0 70484 and 0 74991 progressive diagenesis as indexed by decreasing concentrations of sr and depletions in 18o and 13c results in an increase in 87sr 86sr values the least radiogenic measurement from a lower belt newland limestone sample appears to fit reasonably well into the general trend for proterozoic seawater as discussed in mirota and veizer 1994 this and the consistency of 18o and 13c in limestones with other coeval sequences suggests that the lower and middle belt carbonate sections are marine deposited in an environment that was not continuously separated from the open ocean

petrogenesis of 1 9 ga limestones and dolostones and their record of paleoproterozoic environments abstract fibrous calcite cements from limestones of the paleoproterozoic pethei group in northwest canada have relatively constant 13 c values near 1 that indicate the c exogenic cycle of ca 1 9 ga ago had similar balances between oxidized and reduced reservoirs of carbon as has existed throughout most of the phanerozoic 87 sr 86 sr ratios of these cements are near 0 7051 and support a progressively increasing influx of radiogenic sr from continental weathering into the paleoproterozoic oceans 18 o values of the cements vary from 14 to 8 5 although the original values of the cements were probably higher because the cements have been subseqently altered as evidenced by their variable trace element contents proposed higher temperatures or substantially lower 18 o values of ancient seawater based on such values may be in error fabric retentive dolomites generally regarded as syndepositional also have variable 18 o values the highest of which are ca 30 greater than the highest values of the fibrous calcite cements the dolomites have more radiogenic sr isotopic compositions indicating that they formed from fluids that interacted with rocks such as those of the clastic sediments which underlie the limestones these fluids may have partially altered the 18 o values and chemical compositions of the fibrous calcite cements late stage calcitic and dolomitic cements that formed from late diagenetic fluids have similar 18 o values and radiogenic sr isotopic ratios as the fabric retentive dolomites if these potentially syndepositional dolomites have had their primary isotopic compositions reset through interaction with diagenetic fluids this would have significant implications to other studies using early dolomite to constrain ancient environmental conditions

rbsr ages of proterozoic kimberlites of india evidence for contemporaneous emplacement abstract rb sr analyses of leached phlogopite macrocrysts from kimberlite pipes 1 2 5 and 7 in south india give concordant ages of 1091 20 1092 15 1093 20 and 1091 10 ma respectively indicating contemporaneous emplacement of these pipes the present results are in contradiction with earlier measurements groundmass mineral assemblages with low rb sr ratios give a tight set of initial sr ratios at 0 7029 2 0 7019 2 0 7029 2 and 0 7030 4 suggesting derivation of the primary kimberlite magma from a relatively uniform and depleted mantle source a similar age and initial sr isotopic ratio of one sample of the majhgawan lamproite from central india imply that the proterozoic kimberlite lamproite activities in india though widely separated in space were nearly contemporaneous

dissolution methods for strontium isotope stratigraphy whole rock analysis the preparation of samples for strontium isotope stratigraphy sis by whole rock dissolution results in contributions of sr from contaminant phases as well as from the target carbonate phase here we highlight and quantify the errors in 87sr 86sr values that might result when calcium carbonate is dissolved using an inappropriate method we report the variation in 87sr 86sr value of sr released from four samples of differing calcite content and degrees of cementation when subject to different methods of dissolution we show that errors of up to 0 000076 in 87sr 86sr which correspond to errors of 3 68 ma in age can be avoided by careful preleaching of the samples

anatomy of a submerged archipelago in the sicilian channel central mediterranean sea the sicilian channel is a broad and shallow shelf which is geologically part of the african plate its nw sector the adventure plateau where water depths rarely exceed 100 m is punctuated by several kilometre sized morphological highs these elevations formed by both sedimentary and volcanic rocks emerged around middle holocene time or earlier when they constituted a large archipelago high resolution single channel and multichannel seismic reflection profiles along with stratigraphic and lithological information derived from exploration wells and rock samplings are analysed to derive the shallow and deep structural setting of these banks and identify their geological nature the sedimentary banks talbot ante talbot panope nereo and pantelleria vecchia presently located at water depths 8 40 m are composed of miocene rocks severely deformed by a late miocene compressional phase which produced the external sector of the sicilian maghrebian thrust belt tortonian aged rock samples from the pantelleria vecchia bank represent patch reefs that have mostly formed on structural highs sedimentary analogies suggest that other sedimentary banks of the adventure plateau may have the same origin galatea anfitrite and tetide represent submarine volcanic edifices emplaced on major extensional faults formed during early pliocene quaternary continental rifting of the sicilian channel the present day morphology of the banks is the result of repeated phases of subaerial exposure and drowning especially since the last glacial maximum

the specific case of the mid proterozoic rapakivi granites and associated suite within the context of the columbia supercontinent abstract rapakivi granites and the associated suite anorthosite mangerite and charnockite that developed during the mid proterozoic escape the global rules that control usual granitic magma formation about 40 points that characterise the proterozoic magmatism confirm the originality of the magmatism rapakivi granites developed without a global orogenic context within the supercontinent columbia the intrusions extend from the east european shield to the western us through fennoscandia greenland and labrador other occurrences in the amazonian shield australia or south china are less well documented they show no definite trend in age or chemistry that would explain large scale mantle plume effects a mantle upwelling of material is contradictory with the re assembly of a supercontinent because it occurred before this magmatic episode 1 9 1 8 ga at 1 7 ga the supercontinent columbia amalgamated with the collision of the yapavai and mazatzal provinces a model is suggested that takes into account the supercontinent re assembly defining a downwelling flow in the mantle that anchors the continent above it in contrast to a material flow heat is still delivered to the base of the continental lithosphere and is focused toward the juvenile suture zone the base of the crust must reach 1200 1300 c before producing anorthosite magmas under such a high temperature gradient lasting over a long time magmas are transferred toward the upper crust giving the thin 5 km and square shape 100 km that the intrusions presently have heat delivery is essentially conductive leading to long time spans for intrusions the presence of the supercontinent immobile over a descending cell poloidal mode of convection developed a tangential force toroidal mode of convection that partly split the continent through strike slip deformation due to plate rotation it developed progressively between 1 57 and 1 3 ga starting from fennoscandia and then passing to amazonia western us and labrador in a clockwise sense the associated rotation induced sinistral shear manifested by small scale shear zones and the orientation of late magmatic facies topaz bearing granites in each province the proterozoic magmatism appears to be unique because it requires a supercontinent with a zone of juvenile crust surrounded by older cratons the present moho still shows remnants of this process having bumpy undulations that may reach 22 km in amplitude over a distance of 200 km

geochemistry of precambrian carbonates v late paleoproterozoic seawater in an effort to obtain better constrained data for the first and second order variations in the isotopic composition of late paleoproterozoic 1 8 0 2 ga seawater we report a study of mineralogy chemistry and isotopic composition of the coronation supergroup 1 9 ga nwt canada and the mcarthur group 1 65 ga nt australia petrologically both carbonate sequences are mostly dolostones the mcarthur population however contains more abundant textural features that attest to the former presence of sulfates and halite and the facies investigated herein probably represent ancient equivalents of modern evaporitic sabkhas and lacustrine playa lakes this is reflected in 18 o enrichment up to 2 9 pdb and high mn fe and sr concentrations nonetheless the available 18 o data indicate that the best estimate for the archean to late paleoproterozoic limestones is about 7 pdb with dolostones some 3 2 heavier the observed 18 o doiomitc calcite is thus within the range of the proposed fractionation factor for a cogenetic mineral pair this together with the consistency of isotopic patterns for sedimentological facies over almost 2 billion years from the late paleoproterozoic to the present suggest that dolomitization was an early diagenetic event and that the 18 o depletion of the archean to late paleoproterozoic carbonates is not an artefact ofpost depositional alteration the 13 c although within the range of other precambrian and phanerozoic carbonates indicates a possible secular evolution from 0 2 pdb at 1 9 ga ago to 1 1 5 at 1 65 ga ago the secular evolution for reflects the 87 sr increase from 0 7031 0 0008 at 3 5 0 1 ga ago through 0 7025 0 0015 at 2 8 0 2 ga 0 7033 at 2 5 ga 0 7050 at 2 25 0 25 ga 0 7047 at 1 91 to 0 706 at 1 65 ga ago

carbon oxygen and strontium isotope geochemistry of proterozoic carbonate rocks of the vindhyan basin central india abstract carbon oxygen and strontium isotope compositions of carbonate rocks of the proterozoic vindhyan supergroup central india suggest that they can be correlated with the isotope evolution curves of marine carbonates during the latter proterozoic the carbonate rocks of the lower vindhyan supergroup from eastern son valley and central vindhyan sections show 13c values of 0 v pdb and those from rajasthan section are enriched up to 2 8 in contrast the carbonate rocks of the upper vindhyan succession record both positive and negative shifts in 13c compositions in the central vindhyan section the carbonates exhibit positive 13c values up to 5 7 and those from rajasthan show negative values down to 5 2 the 18o values of most of the carbonate rocks from the vindhyan supergroup show a narrow range between 10 and 5 v pdb and are similar to the best preserved 18o compositions of the proterozoic carbonate rocks in the central vindhyan and eastern son valley sections carbonates from the lower vindhyan exhibit best preserved 87sr 86sr compositions of 0 7059 6 which are lower compared to those from rajasthan 0 7068 4 the carbonates with positive 13c values from upper vindhyan are characterized by lower 87sr 86sr values 0 7068 2 than those with negative 13c values 0 7082 6 a comparison of c and sr isotope data of carbonate rocks of the vindhyan supergroup with isotope evolution curves of the latter proterozoic along with available geochronological data suggest that the lower vindhyan sediments were deposited during the mesoproterozoic eon and those from the upper vindhyan represent a neoproterozoic interval of deposition