composition and origin of intermediate solid solutions in the system thorite xenotime zircon coffinite abstract a comprehensive survey of the accessory mineral assemblages in variscan granites of the german erzgebirge and pan african granites from jordan revealed the occurrence of intermediate solid solutions of the tetragonal thorite xenotime zircon coffinite mineral group with partially novel compositions these solid solutions preferentially formed in evolved and metasomatically altered p poor leucogranites of either i or a type affinity thorite from the erzgebirge contained up to 18 8 wt y2o3 16 1 wt zro2 and 23 3 wt uo2 xenotime and zircon have incorporated th in abundances up to 36 3 wt and 41 8 wt tho2 respectively extended compositional gradation with only minor gaps is confined to hydrated members of this mineral group and is observed to exist between thorite and xenotime thorite and coffinite and y hree bearing thorite and zircon complex hydrous solid solutions containing elevated abundances of three or more of the endmembers are subordinate previously reported intermediate solid solutions between anhydrous zircon and xenotime and anhydrous zircon and thorite are not observed and are in conflict with experimental work demonstrating very limited miscibility between anhydrous species of endmember composition the majority of hydrous intermediate solid solutions in the th y zr u system are likely thermodynamically unstable instead they are probably metastable responses to unusual physico chemical conditions involving various parameters and conditions the relative importance of which is incompletely known leaching and dissolution of preexisting accessory phases during interaction with f bearing hydrous fluids enriched in th y hree zr and or u and common deposition of the various elements at disequilibrium supersaturation seems to play a key role but other processes may be of similar importance experimental work involving hydrous conditions and complex systems composed of more than two endmembers are needed to shed light into the stability relations of the chemically uncommon compositions treated in this study

run out distance and erosion of debris flows in the nile deep sea fan system evidence from lithofacies and micropalaeontological analyses abstract debrites with different volumes depositional periods and setting are observed in the nile deep sea fan system here we present debrites from four late quaternary environments i within the rosetta submarine channel at 1700 m ii within small basins created by salt tectonics in the eastern province at 1300 m iii on the open slope outside of channels at 2600 m and iv in the distal part of the fan fringe beyond channel terminations at 3050 m water depth the debrites comprise mud clasts in a generally ungraded muddy sand matrix they are relatively thin 20 150 cm in fan fringe in channel and salt tectonic basin settings and somewhat thicker 8 m in the open slope setting benthic foraminiferal assemblages and variation in the planktonic benthic foraminiferal ratios are considered as a useful tool for tentatively evaluating the origin of sediment in these debris flows and estimation of their run out distance similar microfaunal contents of clast matrix combinations document that the debrites in the rosetta channel and salt tectonic basin were locally sourced the debrite from the open slope travelled farther up to 150 km three separate debrites in a fan fringe core were deposited by debris flows that originated over 200 km away in water depths shallower than 1000 m these far travelled debris flows appear to have eroded remarkably little sediment as they travelled for 200 km across low 0 8 1 2 gradient seafloor this lack of erosion is attributed to hydroplaning or increasing pore fluid pressure at the base of debris flows this study confirms that remarkably mobile debris flows can travel long distances to produce thin debrites in the distal fringes of submarine fans

mediterranean sea surface radiocarbon reservoir age changes since the last glacial maximum sea surface reservoir ages must be known to establish a common chronological framework for marine continental and cryospheric paleoproxies and are crucial for understanding ocean continent climatic relationships and the paleoventilation of the ocean radiocarbon dates of planktonic foraminifera and tephra contemporaneously deposited over mediterranean marine and terrestrial regions reveal that the reservoir ages were similar to the modern one 400 years during most of the past 18 000 carbon 14 years however reservoir ages increased by a factor of 2 at the beginning of the last deglaciation this is attributed to changes of the north atlantic thermohaline circulation during the massive ice discharge event heinrich 1

sedimentary response to milankovitch type climatic oscillations and formation of sediment undulations evidence from a shallow shelf setting at gela basin on the sicilian continental margin abstract a multi proxy chronological framework along with sequence stratigraphic interpretations unveils composite milankovitch cyclicity in the sedimentary records of the last glacial interglacial cycle at ne gela basin on the sicilian continental margin chronostratigraphic data including foraminifera based eco biostratigraphy and 18 o records tephrochronological markers and 14 c ams radiometric datings was derived from the shallow shelf drill sites geob14403 54 6 m recovery and geob14414 27 5 m collected with both gravity and drilled mebo cores in 193 m and 146 m water depth respectively the recovered intervals record marine isotope stages and substages mis from mis 5 to mis 1 thus comprising major stratigraphic parts of the progradational deposits that form the last 100 ka depositional sequence calibration of shelf sedimentary units with borehole stratigraphies indicates the impact of higher frequency 20 ka sea level cycles punctuating this 100 ka cycle this becomes most evident in the alternation of thick interstadial highstand hst wedges and thinner glacial forced regression fsst units mirroring seaward shifts in coastal progradation albeit their relatively short lived depositional phase these subordinate hst units form the bulk of the 100 ka depositional sequence two mechanisms are proposed that likely account for enhanced sediment accumulation ratios sar of up to 200 cm ka during these intervals 1 intensified activity of deep and intermediate levantine intermediate water liw associated to the drowning of mediterranean shelves and 2 amplified sediment flux along the flooded shelf in response to hyperpycnal plumes that generate through extreme precipitation events during overall arid conditions equally the latter mechanism is thought to be at the origin of undulated features resolved in the acoustic records of mis 5 interstadials which bear a striking resemblance to modern equivalents forming on late holocene prodeltas of other mediterranean shallow shelf settings

marine geologic evidence for a levantine sinai plate a new piece of the mediterranean puzzle marine geophysical data recorded offshore egypt illustrate the presence of an active fault belt trending n145 e that obliquely transects the eastern nile deep sea fan this belt more than 150 km long consists of a series of linear transtensive faults with an apparent right lateral horizontal component these fault zones bound thick sediment filled grabens where linear salt ridges and diapirs represent likely messinian salt reactive response to regional transcurrent geodynamics we infer that this tectonic belt might correspond to an offshore extension of the gulf of suez rift system if our hypothesis is correct this fault belt might represent the western boundary of a levantine sinai microplate locked between the major arabia and africa plates and the anatolian aegean microplate

long and short term carbon fluctuations in the eastern mediterranean during the late holocene a high resolution record of carbon isotope changes during the late holocene was obtained in core ga 112 from the easternmost mediterranean over the past 3600 yr a gradual 13 c depletion trend shown by both planktonic and benthic foraminifera corresponds to a global rise in atmospheric co 2 the global and local trends suggest that aridification and biomass destruction in the nile basin played a major role in the global co 2 rise in the late holocene superimposed on the general 13 c trend are four mirror image cycles in 13 c of planktonic and benthic foraminifera higher planktonic 13 c values reflect periods of high productivity off the coast of israel simultaneously decrease in the benthic 13 c values occurred because of degradation of higher organic matter fluxes to the sediment therefore large differences between the two records indicate periods of high productivity the eastern mediterranean productivity fluctuations respond to a periodical replenishment of nutrients to the mixed layer via nile runoff historical data of the nile flood fluctuations for the past 1400 yr show a remarkable coincidence between high and low nile floods and high and low eastern mediterranean productivity levels which are correlated with the periodic monsoonal activity over the nile headwaters

menes caldera a highly active site of brine seepage in the eastern mediterranean sea in situ observations from the nautinil expedition 2003 abstract this paper reports the first in situ seafloor observations of fluid escape structures in a fault controlled caldera type depression of about 8 km diameter named the menes caldera in the eastern mediterranean sea off egypt western province of the nile deep sea fan a detailed analysis of seven nautile dives performed during the nautinil cruise in 2003 focused on determining the nature origin importance mechanisms and environmental impacts of the fluid escape processes from the geological observations seafloor maps constructed from direct visual observations and video records made from the submersible and sampling results for three mud volcanoes of the caldera cheops chephren and mykerinos show differences in activity but many common characteristics the three volcanoes show a crater like depression the study reveals a strong contrast between mykerinos where no seepage activity was found and the craters of cheops and chephren where an intense activity of brine seepage was discovered on cheops a dome of dark grey mud raises slightly above the brine surface in the central part of the brine lake and shows numerous circular vents of 1 2 m diameter that become gradually colonized by microbial mats chephren hosts a deep 200 m and warm 45 c brine lake alternations of areas void of or covered with microbial mats at the surface of the chephren brine lake indicate large surface disturbances that may result from the occurrence of several active vents at the bottom of the lake a special feature at chephren is a brine overflow at the western edge of the crater also indicative of the very high activity of brine seepage the nautinil observations indicate that the menes caldera in the eastern mediterranean is a highly active site of brine seepage growth faults rooted in pre messinian sediment layers provide pathways for warm fluids to escape pressurized source levels below the messinian salt

observations and controls on the occurrence of inherited zircon in concord type granitoids new hampshire u pb analyses of zircons separated from two concord type plutons near sunapee and dixville notch new hampshire reveal differences in the pattern and magnitude of zircon inheritance which are related to differences in melt chemistry the sunapee pluton contains only slightly more zr than required to saturate the melt at the peak temperature of 700 30 sup 0 c traces of inherited zircon in this separate are inferred to be present as small largely resorbed grains in contrast the long mountain pluton near dixville notch contains about 240 more zr than required to saturate the melt thus more than half of the zr existed as stable inherited zircon crystals during the partial fusion event consistent with the observation of substantial inheritance in all grain size fractions ion probe intra grain analyses of zircon from the long mountain pluton indicate a complex pattern of inheritance with contributions from at least two proterozoic terranes and caution against simple interpretations of upper and lower intercepts of chords containing an inherited component ion probe analyses of zircons from the sunapee pluton reveal clear evidence of u loss which results in incorrect apparent conventional u pb ages ages of crystallization for the long mountain and sunapee pluton are approx more 350 and 354 5 ma respectively a sm nd measurement for the long mountain pluton yields a depleted mantle model age of 1 5 ga consistent with the observed inheritance pattern in contrast a sm nd model age for the sunapee pluton is improbably old due to minor monazite fractionation less

comments to dawson a g and stewart i 2007 tsunami deposits in the geological record sedimentary geology 200 166 183

foraminiferal ecozones a high resolution proxy for the late quaternary biochronology in the central mediterranean sea the planktic foraminiferal distribution identified in 60 cores collected in different basins of the mediterranean sea allowed to establish an ecostratigraphical scheme which provides a very important tool for the biochronological subdivision of the uppermost quaternary we identified a succession of ten ecozones during the last 23 ka in the tyrrhenian basin and eight ecozones in the adriatic sea during the last 15 ka the ecozones boundaries have been calibrated by 14c ams radiometric data and by the stable oxygen isotope record the chronological framework defined by the successive bioevents shows a very high resolution millenary scale and evidences that the changes in the planktic microfauna occurred more or less synchronously throughout the central mediterranean sea differences due to different oceanographic settings of the basins do not affect the general distributional pattern of planktic foraminifera

marine tephra from the cape riva eruption 22 ka of santorini in the sea of marmara abstract a discrete tephra layer has been discovered in three marine sediment cores from the sea of marmara eastern mediterranean the rhyodacitic glass chemistry and the stratigraphical position suggest a santorini provenance and in particular a correlation with the marine y 2 tephra that is known from the southern aegean sea and eastern levantine basin this tephra represents the distal facies of the cape riva eruption of santorini which has been dated by 14c on land at 21 950 cal yr bp hitherto the y 2 tephra has been detected only in marine sediment cores recovered south to southeast of its volcanic source the new occurrence in the sea of marmara approximately 530 km nne of the santorini eruptive centre suggests a more north easterly dispersal of fallout products of the cape riva eruption than previously supposed

100 000 years of african monsoon variability recorded in sediments of the nile margin abstract multiproxy analyses were performed on core ms27pt recovered in hemipelagic sediments deposited on the nile margin in order to reconstruct nile river palaeohydrological fluctuations during the last 100 000 years the strontium and neodymium isotope composition of the terrigenous fraction and the major element distribution reveal large and abrupt changes in source oscillating between a dominant aeolian saharan contribution during arid periods and a dominant nile river contribution during pluvial periods iron content shows a strong correlation with strontium and neodymium isotopes this allows the use of a high resolution continuous fe record as a proxy of blue nile sediment input over the last 100 000 years the detailed fe record with approximately 10 years resolution during pluvial periods is consistent with subtropical african records of well dated lake level fluctuations and thus constitutes a first continuous high resolution record of the east african monsoon regime intensity over ethiopia the detailed fe record shows the two main known pluvial periods attributed to strengthening of the african monsoon over ethiopia the nabtian period from 14 to 8 ka cal bp and the saharan period from 98 to 72 ka bp for the first time the last glacial period marine isotope stage mis 2 3 and 4 is documented with a continuous record showing large oscillations between high and low east african palaeo monsoon regimes the end of the nabtian period occurred at 8 ka in core ms27pt i e much earlier than on the east equatorial african region where it ended around 5 5 ka we interpret this as evidence that the southward shift of the rain belt occurred 3000 years earlier over the eastern ethiopian highland and propose that the gradual southward migration of the rain belt was associated with highly variable intensity and longer rainy seasons from 8 to 5 ka during the last glacial period two wet periods are present around 60 50 ka bp and 38 30 ka bp these two humid periods are in phase with the rise of atmospheric ch4 concentrations suggesting that wetland tropical african area was one of the sources of the atmospheric ch4 during the mis 3 during the last glacial maximum and mis 4 high saharan aeolian influxes in phase with records of aeolian dust deposited in east antarctica are documented this study highlights the importance of reconstructions of monsoon rainfall fluctuation at high temporal resolution to better understand the link between low and high latitude climate variability at millennial timescales

zirconolite allanite and hoegbomite in a marble skarn from the bergell contact aureole implications for mobility of ti zr and ree zirconolite allanite and hoegbomite are present as accessory phases in a metasomatically altered spinel calcite marble from the contact with the bergell intrusives switzerland italy textural relationships indicate a step wise alteration of spinel to 1 hoegbomite or corundum magnetite 2 margarite and 3 chlorite replacement of spinel by hoegbomite can be described by the substitution 1 94 mg2 fe2 zn2 mn2 ca2 ti4 0 12 oh where al3 and fe3 are held constant the average composition of the bergell hoegbomites is given by the formula fe 0 97 2 mg0 69zn0 04ti0 17al3 94fe 0 06 3 o7 98 oh 0 02 and seems to be imposed by the composition of pre existing spinel during the first two steps of spinel alteration calcite was replaced by anorthite phlogopite and the rare earth element ree bearing minerals zirconolite allanite and sphene were formed allanites have characteristic chondrite normalized ree patterns with enrichment in the light ree the zirconolite patterns show a marked increase in concentration from la to ce followed by an almost constant section sphene lacks detectable la and its ree patterns vary from grain to grain contemporaneous formation of phlogopite ree bearing minerals and hoegbomite during replacement of the spinel calcite marble indicates that the metamorphic fluid introduced potassium along with ree and other high valence cations ti4 zr4 u4 th4a3804265 nb5a3804265 y3a3804265 possibly as polynuclear complexes the abundance of fluorine bearing phlogopite and fluor apatite as well as their close association with ree bearing minerals and hoegbomite suggests f and po 4 3 as likely ligands for complexing of the above mentioned elements

radiation effects in zircon the widespread distribution of zircon in the continental crust its tendency to concentrate trace elements particularly lanthanides and actinides its use in age dating and its resistance to chemical and physical degradation have made zircon the most important accessory mineral in geologic studies because zircon is highly refractory it also has important industrial applications including its use as a lining material in high temperature furnaces however during the past decade zircon has also been proposed for advanced technology applications such as a durable material for the immobilization of plutonium or when modified by ion beam irradiation as an optic waveguide material in all of these applications the change in properties as a function of increasing radiation dose is of critical importance in this chapter we summarize the state of knowledge on the radiation damage accumulation process in zircon

geodetic determination of the kinematics of central greece with respect to europe implications for eastern mediterranean tectonics we use a new satellite laser ranging global positioning system slr gps solution at seven sites in anatolia and aegea to obtain a better definition of the extrusion motion of the anatolian aegean block with respect to europe we show that this motion can be described in a first approximation by a counterclockwise rotation which transfers most of the motion of arabia to anatolia we combine 78 displacement vectors obtained at common points of two triangulation nets measured in central greece in 1895 and 1975 with the slr gps measurements to compute the velocity field over greece with respect to europe these measurements indicate that central greece is a zone of extension between the anatolian aegean counterclockwise rotation to the south and the northern greece clockwise rotation to the north this extension is principally localized within the gulf of corinth to the east but is distributed to the west we then extrapolate this velocity field to the whole aegea and western anatolia using recently published gps results as well as the slr results the narrow dextral north anatolian fault which limits the velocity field to the north progressively gives way to a much wider boundary zone where extension becomes dominant we show that the collision between the mediterranean ridge and africa began 3 6 ma and we describe the modifications that this collision has produced on the kinematic pattern both in aegea and on the mediterranean ridge

mud volcanoes along the inner deformation front of the calabrian arc accretionary wedge ionian sea abstract we present geophysical data integrated with the analysis of well targeted sediment samples in order to contribute to a better understanding of fluid circulation in the calabrian arc accretionary wedge two cores bs81 ii 5 and bs81 ii 10 collected on a swell in the hangingwall of the inner deformation front show upper pleistocene mud breccias that include cretaceous to late miocene rock fragments mechanically incorporated into the eruption deposit by the upward transport of overpressured fluids an additional core cala 21 came from the summit of a topographic high in the footwall of the inner deformation front of the accretionary wedge and contains a mud breccia patchy cloudy facies where sediment disturbance is caused by fluid expulsion integration of the entire data set provides evidences of the interplay among tectonics fluid emissions and sedimentation and enables the identification of two new volcanoes in the accretionary prism where overpressuring due to pliocene and pleistocene sediment accumulation and the evolution of active fault systems triggered fluid circulation and the formation of those structures

newly recognized eastern extension of the nile deep sea fan a previously unreported easternmost segment of the nile river deep sea fan complex has been identified in the deep levant basin offshore israel based mainly on a recently released high quality three dimensional seismic data set this segment is characterized by densely spaced seabed and subseabed turbidite channel complexes generally fed from the region of the historically active northeastern damietta and pelusian branches of the nile this pattern suggests a previously unnoticeable symmetry in the modern channel distribution between the eastern and western branches of the deep sea fan the base of the nile9s eastern deep sea fan is determined by a nw trending system of pre nile turbidite slope channels at the top of the messinian evaporites the overlying pliocene holocene fan complex is further divided into two distinct stratigraphic units a lower stratified sand rich unit deposited in a basin floor setting and an upper heterogeneous mud rich unit consisting of downslope mass transport and hemipelagic sediments with encased slope channel complexes richer in sand due to gravity gliding and spreading above the underlying thick mobile messinian salt both stratigraphic units as well as the upper part of the messinian salt layer are faulted and folded

internal structures and dating of complex zircons from meissen massif monzonites saxony abstract u pb zircon ages were determined for accessory zircons from two monzonites from the meissen massif northern bohemian massif germany by shrimp ion microprobe bse and cl imaging revealed that the monzonite zircons showing oscillatory growth zoning often contain inherited cores raman microprobe measurements showed that zoned rims u 277 1426 ppm th 144 910 ppm are slightly disordered to moderately metamict whereas cores have a wide spectrum of structural states from well crystallized to highly metamict the radionuclide u th content of cores varies from a few hundred to more than 20 000 ppm shrimp ion probe measurements on zoned rims interpreted as zircon growth during crystallization of the monzonite magma gave concordant carboniferous 206 pb 238 u ages of 326 6 ma monzonite from leuben and 330 5 ma monzonite from heidenschanze 95 confidence respectively these ages are consistent with recently published 40 ar 39 ar ages of 329 1 2 8 to 330 4 2 8 ma 2 on amphiboles from the same rocks in contrast shrimp measurements on cores range from slightly discordant proterozoic relic ages in low u and th cores to highly discordant data in the most metamict cores previously obtained 207 pb 206 pb ages single zircon evaporation technique in the range 340 16 to 357 16 ma 1 are probably mixed ages between magmatic and inherited zircon components the u pb ages of the monzonite zircons postdate the upper devonian lower carboniferous subduction and collision events in the area by about 20 ma due to their shoshonitic chemical signature which is typical of rocks from destructive plate boundary settings the meissen massif monzonites might be interpreted as originating during these 350 ma events and the earlier 207 pb 206 pb ages appeared to confirm this interpretation however both the 40 ar 39 ar ages and our current results show that only the enrichment of the lithospheric mantle source but not the monzonite intrusion itself was directly related to these events the monzonite intrusion itself took place 330 ma ago in the framework of strike slip tectonics in the elbe valley zone widely occurring zircon cores are indicative of crustal contamination of the magma causing considerable modification of chemical signatures trace element content of the monzonites

nature and origin of sedimentary clasts associated with mud volcanoes in the nile deep sea fan relationships with fluid venting abstract during the last 10 years several marine geological geophysical surveys conducted on the nile deep sea fan have provided much new information about the large fluid seepage phenomenon which characterizes this passive margin segment among the data more than 60 sediment cores have been recovered in this area rock clasts were collected from eight of them as well as during deep sea dives notably in the area of isis osiris and amon mud volcanoes in few areas especially in the western and the north eastern provinces of the nile fan some clasts consist of crust fragments resulting from cementation of muddy sediment by precipitation of high mg calcite these clasts correspond to a simple cementation of the mud by precipitation of high mg calcite as a consequence no obvious textural or faunal difference with the ambient matrix mud can be observed these clasts are made of autochthonous crusts derived from microbial anaerobic oxidation of methane and release of bicarbonate and sulphide in the surrounding pore water these clasts also lack aragonite in most of the other cases menes caldera isis osiris and amon mud volcanoes allochthonous clasts characterized by low mg calcite cement siderite or dolomite mixed with expelled mud outcrop on the seafloor nannofossils have allowed us to date some of these clasts most of the ages range from pliocene to pleistocene one clast is lower cretaceous in age the lithological facies often indicate coastal or deltaic environments some clasts are closely linked to an evaporite rich environment halite gypsum and analcime they all provide useful information on the nature of buried sedimentary series covering the margin their presence on the seafloor is due to the expulsion of a pressurized mixture of sediment water and gas this process is believed to have used pre existing tectonic conduits

the hydrothermal stability of zircon preliminary experimental and isotopic studies experimental investigations of the stability of the u pb isotopic system in nonmetamict zircons show that appreciable losses of pb and u can be induced at amphibolite grade conditions 400 c to 600 c 4 to 6 kb in 2 m nacl and 2 hno sub 3 solutions the severity of u loss and to a lesser extent pb loss varies with solution composition in this case the 2 m nacl solution induced more pb and u loss than the 2 hno sub 3 solution at the same p t conditions scanning electron microscopy of the run products also revealed a range of corrosion related surface features which suggests that some of the observed trends in pb and u loss must be attributed to zircon dissolution backscattered electron bse imaging of the run products further suggests that partial homogenization of chemical zoning patterns occurred during the experiments microprobe analyses of treated and untreated grain show that both populations have a similar range of hf contents thus the apparent loss of sharp well defined zoning features is most likely due to small scale smearing out of formerly sharp chemical gradients and is perhaps related to the annealing of lattice defects caused by alpha recoil damage thus experimentally induced u pb isotopicmore discordance in zircon is a complex function of zircon stability and annealing effects less

recrystallization and hydrothermal growth of high u th zircon in the weondong deposit korea record of post magmatic alteration abstract in this study we investigate zircons with high u and th contents of 12 000 24 000 and 11 000 40 000 ppm respectively from leucocratic granite in the weondong region of south korea hydrothermally epitaxial growth textures are observed in addition to four distinct textures with different backscattered electron bse intensities within single zircon crystals we describe the internal textures of the zircon crystals and define the chemical characteristics of each textural domain the zircon crystals show internally recrystallized and externally crystallized textures supporting the concept of post magmatic fluid control after crystallization of the primary zircon by late magmatism four types of secondary textures were developed the type i domain shows patchy forms within the primary domain due to the structural and chemical recrystallization of self irradiated zircon by a fluid dominated diffusion reaction process the type ii domain is characterized by a pure zircon composition mineral inclusions mainly thorite and micropores due to chemical recrystallization by a coupled dissolution reprecipitation process during interaction with aqueous fluids the type iii domain is the purest zircon is interconnected with type ii and formed by a second coupled dissolution reprecipitation process the type iv domain is the hydrothermal recrystallization overgrowth texture formed by the direct crystallization process from fluorine enriched zircon saturated aqueous fluid these results indicate that the zircon crystals were formed sequentially or intermittently through multi genetic processes by post magmatic fluids furthermore we conclude that f enriched post magmatic fluid migrated large amounts of zirconium resulting in the typical overgrowth texture of zircon

evidence for fluid migration following pockmark formation examples from the nile deep sea fan a large number of pockmarks have been identified in the rosetta region of the western nile deep sea fan co located high resolution 2d and chirp datasets have been used to identify seabed and buried pockmarks which are interpreted to span the holocene to pleistocene period the pockmarks range in size and stratigraphic position from large buried pockmarks to small unit seabed pockmarks clusters of small unit pockmarks are stratigraphically positioned above the centre of large buried pleistocene pockmarks and are used to infer 1 rejuvenation of the larger pockmark conduit once burial has occurred and 2 a change in the frequency and magnitude of pockmark formation events

the mobility of zirconium and other immobile elements during hydrothermal alteration abstract development of zircon and other zr phases in hydrothermal deposits indicates that zr can be highly mobile in these systems mobility is most common in but not restricted to f rich hydrothermal systems related to alkalic f rich igneous suites these suites can range from peralkaline through metaluminous to peraluminous a few examples are neither alkalic nor f rich three locations in the trans pecos magmatic province texas u s a demonstrate this hydrothermal zr mobility all three igneous systems are alkalic and f rich but vary in alkali al ratios peralkaline rhyolites and trachytes in the christmas mountains contain as much as 2100 ppm zr mostly in aegirine or arfvedsonite zircon is rare or absent fluorspar replacement deposits in limestone at contacts with the rhyolites contain as much as 38 000 ppm zr occurring as small disseminated zircons the deposits also are enriched in a variety of incompatible elements including be rare earth elements ree y nb mo hf pb th and u the sierra blanca intrusions a series of mildly peraluminous f rich rhyolite laccoliths contain as much as 1000 ppm zr mostly as zircon hydrothermal zircon occurs as overgrowths on magmatic grains as veinlets connected to overgrowths and in fluorspar replacement bodies in adjacent limestone the highest zr concentrations in fluorspar are 200 ppm metaluminous quartz monzonite from the infiernito caldera contains 400 600 ppm zr mostly as zircon euhedral zircon in quartz fluorite veins in the quartz monzonite indicates mobility of zr zirconium concentrations in the veins are unknown but the paucity of zircon suggests little zr enrichment relative to the host zircon and more rarely zirconolite occur in skarn in the ertsberg district of irian jaya indonesia unlike in texas related igneous rocks are metaluminous and the hydrothermal system was f poor worldwide hydrothermal zircon other zr phases and ti and al bearing phases occur in skarn epithermal precious metal veins volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits and mylonites we propose that differences in zr mineralogy of igneous source rocks is an important factor in determining the availability of zr to hydrothermal fluids although zr concentrations in the sierra blanca and christmas mountains rhyolites are similar zr enrichment in fluorspar was much greater in the christmas mountains we suggest that hydrothermal solutions could easily break down aegirine and arfvedsonite to release zr but that zircon was only moderately attacked therefore far more zr was available for transport and subsequent deposition in the christmas mountains than at sierra blanca availability of other trace elements probably is also governed by their mineral host although zr mobility is most common in f rich hydrothermal systems related to alkalic and f rich igneous systems mobility at ertsberg may have been promoted by sulfate complexing

bathymetry of the levant basin interaction of salt tectonics and surficial mass movements abstract a new high resolution bathymetric map of the levant basin between israel and the eratosthenes seamount reveals previously undetected folds faults and channels the map facilitates a regional map view analysis of structures that were previously examined only in cross section the systematic mapping of morpho structural elements in the entire basin is followed by a kinematic interpretation that distinguished between two main processes sculpting the seabed from bottom and top salt tectonics and sediment transport we show that the contractional domain related to salt tectonics is far more complex than previously thought ridges previously interpreted as contractional folds are in fact surficial undulations of the seabed reminiscent of sediment waves moreover other folds previously interpreted as downdip contraction of the westward gliding plio quaternary section are in some parts of the basin caused by updip climbing of this section eastwards as a result of the regional pattern of salt flow away from the nile cone in the context of sediment transport we show that the northern sinai continental slope is covered by a dense net of turbidite channels whereas the levant slope has no channels at all particularly interesting is the levant turbidite channel described and named here for the first time this feature begins at the southeastern corner of the mediterranean at water depths of 1100 m continues along the valley between the sinai and levant slopes and reaches the deepest part of the basin in water depths of 2500 m northeast of the eratosthenes seamount however this prominent feature cannot be explained by the current drainage consisting of two minor rivers that enter the basin at that point and thus most likely reflects periods of wetter climate and or lower sea level when these rivers were more active and possibly connected to the submarine channel system

pb u and th diffusion in natural zircon zircon zrsio4 is one of the most widely used minerals for determining the age origin and thermal history of rocks by u th pb geochronology but the parameters describing the solid state volume diffusion rates of these elements in natural zircon which are themselves important for establishing the limits on the applicability of zircon for geochronological studies have remained poorly quantified1 this is because of the measurement difficulties associated with the low p p m concentrations and low diffusion rates of these elements in natural zircon and the chemical and physical heterogeneity present in most crystals here we present direct measurements of the uranium thorium and lead loss from a thermally treated gem quality natural zircon and show that lead diffuses much faster than uranium or thorium we find that the u th pb isotopic system in natural zircon will typically have a closure temperature greater than 900 c which explains why zircon is apparently such a robust geochrometer and is capable of remaining isotopically closed through extended periods of high grade metamorphism and partial melting of the host rock

multiproxy late quaternary stratigraphy of the nile deep sea turbidite system towards a chronology of deep sea terrigeneous systems abstract understanding the recent formation of a sedimentary system such as a deep sea turbidite system dsts requires an accurate stratigraphic control on deposits due to the important terrigeneous input which disrupts the sedimentary record dsts is an environment where stratigraphic control is difficult to assess most of the time traditional stratigraphic tools are not accurate enough this has led to a rather limited number of studies concerning stratigraphy in dsts in this study we examine several hemipelagic long piston cores collected from the nile dsts eastern mediterranean in order to understand the recent evolution of the complex sedimentary system in this area the first aim of this study is to show how to obtain a reliable timeframe in dsts indeed we provided a detailed ecostratigraphical scheme based on planktonic foraminiferal distribution oxygen isotope records and lithostratigraphy sapropels and tephra of three cores where the sedimentation is least disturbed we have identified 29 foraminiferal ecozones during the last 250 000 years bp with an approximately 2000 year time resolution the time span of each ecozone was constrained by the oxygen isotope record 14 c ams radiometric data tephrochronology and the sapropel chronology these high resolution ecostratigraphical time subdivisions have been applied in discontinuous mixed hemipelagic turbiditic sequences of a levee record this example shows how to date gravity events formation and time periods of sedimentary accumulations

the intercept is a poor estimate of a calibrated radiocarbon age intercept based methods of generating a point estimate of a calibrated radiocarbon date are very popular but exhibit undesirable behaviour they are highly sensitive to the mean of the radiocarbon date and to adjustments of the calibration curve other methods give more stable results the weighted average of the probability distribution function is recommended as the best central point estimate but more consideration should be given to using the full probability distribution rather than a point estimate in developing age depth models

rare earth elements in synthetic zircon part 1 synthesis and rare earth element and phosphorus doping zircon crystals were grown from a li mo flux 7 5 mol li2moo4 86 5 mol moo3 to which equal molar proportions zro2 and li2sio3 were added 3 mol each the crystals were initially grown undoped but later dy was added to the flux without any other charge compensating species with dy and p added in equal molar proportions the zircon crystals incorporated 1 37 mol 6 99 wt dy and 1 36 mol 1 33 wt p a factor of 5 3 increase in dy over the crystals grown without p intentionally added to the flux the other p ree doped zircon crystals displayed an approximately 1000 fold increase in ree and p from la through lu a result of decreasing ionic radii the incorporation of p5 allowed in a general sense the xenotime type coupled substitution of ree3 y3 p5 zr4 si4 from la to nd however p exceeds ree from sm to gd the ree are generally equal to p and from tb to lu the ree exceed p the y and p doped zircon behaved more like middle ree mree doped zircon than heavy ree hree doped zircon crystals in their ability to incorporate y and p and to maintain charge neutrality to investigate the incorporation of dy with no p added to the flux the p to lree excess and the hree to p excess in the doped zircon secondary ion mass spectrometry sims analyses were completed on selected crystals in the dy doped crystals the sims analyses revealed minor amounts of p li and mo in the crystals these elements contributed to charge balance required by the excess dy in ree and p doped zircon the sims analyses detected li and mo and the li and mo may also provide charge balance for excess ree in the hree p doped crystals

the role of the nile in initiating a massive dust influx to the negev late in the middle pleistocene the late middle pleistocene initiation of loess accretion in the negev desert israel resulted from a chain of events starting with the exposure of shallow offshore nile delta sands beginning 180 ka during a period of glacially lowered eustatic sea level this exposure allowed the formation of the dunes of the sinai negev erg and the eastward movement of the dunes under the gusty glacial time winds in northern sinai this eastward dune advance occurred by eolian saltation that generated the coarse silts that accumulated downwind as loess we postulate that the absence of earlier negev loess is not a result of interglacial erosion as previously proposed but is due to the relatively recent convergence of the above conditions necessary for loess formation we based our interpretation on analyses of two long term natural dust traps and the association of coarse quartz silt production with the advancing quartz rich dunes over this carbonate terrain although the nile delta is considered an early to middle pleistocene feature and therefore could have been the source of sand throughout the quaternary it attained the shallow depth range of glacial interglacial sea level changes only during late marine oxygen isotope stage 7 to early stage 6 allowing its wide exposure in quaternary times prior to erg formation negev dust was finer composed of silt and clays derived from distal sources in the sahara and arabian deserts

geochronology and geochemical and nd sr isotopic characteristics of triassic plutonic rocks in the gyeonggi massif south korea constraints on triassic post collisional magmatism abstract sensitive high resolution ion microprobe shrimp zircon u pb ages and whole rock chemical and isotopic sr nd compositions have been measured on some middle triassic plutonic rocks associated with post collisional magmatism in the gyeonggi massif hongseong namyang and yangpyeong areas south korea plutonic rocks from the southwest hongseong and central yangpyeong gyeonggi massif and central okcheon belt cheongsan have ages of ca 227 226 231 and 225 ma respectively the plutonic rocks from hongseong are dominated by granite and quartz syenite from namyang by granite and from yangpyeong by quartz monzonite to quartz syenite and gabbro three rocks from the gyeonggi massif have the depletions in ta nb p and ti and enrichment in large ion lithophile elements lile characteristic of plutonic rocks that are subduction related or derived from an arc related crustal source the hongseong quartz syenite and yangpyeong quartz monzonite to quartz syenite have features of shoshonitic and high ba sr granitoids with lree enrichment and no significant eu anomaly the plutonic rocks from the gyeonggi massif have high initial 87 sr 86 sr ratios 0 7083 0 7144 and strongly negative e nd t 20 3 to 10 4 indicating derivation of the magmas from sources in the middle to upper crust these high k calc alkaline and shoshonitic plutonic rocks formed during periods of relaxation that separated the culminations of post orogenic uplift collapse in the transitions from orogenic to anorogenic events after the early middle triassic continent continent collision 249 229 ma between the north and south china blocks in south korea the plutonic rocks of the gyeonggi massif support therefore a possible eastern extension of the early middle triassic dabie sulu collision belt in china

biostratigraphy of the last 50 kyr in the contourite depositional system of the gulf of cadiz abstract this paper proposes a biostratigraphic framework for the last 50 kyr in the contourite depositional system cds of the gulf of cadiz with a solid and independent age control and tests the reliability of faunal based analyses in a bottom current dominated environment related to high current velocities the distribution of planktonic foraminifera and pteropods has been studied in twenty two piston cores of the holocene and late pleistocene age from the gulf of cadiz a detailed correlation between the cores has been made possible by a large radiocarbon and isotopic data set and a high degree of similarity of frequency changes within several species by coiling direction changes of globorotalia truncatulinoides and globorotalia hirsuta and by occurrences of the polar species neogloboquadrina pachyderma and limacina retroversa occurrences of these polar species are clearly related to paleoclimatic oscillations and reflect rapidly changing surface water conditions in the gulf of cadiz during the latest pleistocene that have been observed regardless of sedimentation rates and sedimentary environments contouritic drifts vs slope without bottom current influence

distribution and chemical composition of tephra layers from eastern mediterranean abyssal sediments abstract most cores of late quaternary sediments from the eastern mediterranean sea contain many ash layers glass shards from discrete layers have been analysed chemically for major elements the layers from different cores have been correlated and unambiguously related to known volcanic events on the basis of the chemical data most of the layers are derived from explosive eruptions of the santorini volcanic complex other layers have their source in other volcanoes of the hellenic arc yali nisyros kos one layer originated from the campanian area italy

alteration hfse mineralisation and hydrocarbon formation in peralkaline igneous systems insights from the strange lake pluton canada abstract two characteristics of peralkaline igneous rocks that are poorly understood are the extreme enrichment in hfse notably zr nb y and ree and the occurrence of fluid inclusions dominated by methane and higher hydrocarbons although much of the hfse enrichment can be explained by magmatic processes the common intense alteration of the parts of the peralkaline intrusions most enriched in these elements suggests that hydrothermal processes also play an important role in hfse enrichment likewise although the origin of the higher order hydrocarbons that occur as inclusions in these rocks is still debated there is strong evidence that at least in some cases their formation involved hydrothermal processes the issues of hfse enrichment and hydrocarbon formation in peralkaline intrusions are examined using data from the strange lake pluton a small middle proterozoic intrusion of peralkaline granite in northeast canada this pluton contains some of the highest concentrations of zr ree and y ever reported in an igneous body and is characterised by abundant hydrocarbon dominated fluid inclusions in rocks that have been hydrothermally altered including those that form a potential hfse ore zone we show that hfse at strange lake were partly concentrated to near exploitable levels as a result of their transport in a high salinity magmatic aqueous liquid and that this fluid coexisted immiscibly with a carbonic phase which reacted with hydrogen and iron oxides generated during the associated hydrothermal alteration to produce hydrocarbons via a fischer tropsch synthesis as a result hydrocarbons and hfse mineralization are intimately associated we then go on to show that hydrothermal alteration hfse mineralisation and hydrocarbons are also spatially associated in other peralkaline complexes and present a model to explain this association which we believe may be applicable to any peralkaline intrusion where hfse enrichment was accompanied by calcium metasomatism hematisation and hydrothermal fluorite we also suggest that even where these criteria are not satisfied hydrothermally enriched hfse and hydrocarbons will be intimately associated simply because they are products of the same initial magmatic fluid finally we speculate that the association of hfse and hydrocarbons may in some cases actually be genetic if as seems possible unmixing or effervescence of a reduced carbonic fluid from the original magmatic fluid caused changes in temperature ph f o 2 or the activity of volatile ligands sufficient to induce the deposition of hfse minerals

integrated stratigraphic reconstruction for the last 80 kyr in a deep sector of the sardinia channel western mediterranean abstract a quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminifera coupled with petrophysical and paleomagnetic measurements and 14 c ams calibrations was carried out on a deep core recovered in the sardinia channel western mediterranean sea during the ciesm sub2 survey providing an integrated stratigraphic time framework over the last 80 kyr significant changes in the quantitative distribution of planktonic foraminifera allowed the identification of several eco bioevents useful to accurately mark the boundaries of the eco biozones widely recognized in the western mediterranean records and used for large scale correlations namely 10 eco biozones were identified based on the relative abundance of selected climate sensitive planktonic foraminiferal species sixteen codified eco bioevents were correlated with alboran sea planktonic foraminiferal data and several climatic global events sapropel s1 younger dryas greenland isotope interstadial 1 greenland isotope stadial 2 heinrich event h1 h6 were recognized the eco bioevents together with the 14 c ams calibrations allowed us to define an accurate age model spanning between 2 and 83 kyr the reliability of the age model was confirmed by comparing the colour reflectance 550 nm data of the studied record with the astronomically tuned record from the ionian sea odp site 964 a mean sedimentation rate of about 7 cm kyr included three turbidite event beds that were chronologically constrained within the relative low stand and regressive sea level phases of mis 4 and 3 the deep sea sedimentary record includes a distinct tephra occurring at the base of the core that dates 78 ka cal bp the paleomagnetic data provide a well defined record of the characteristic remanent magnetization that may be used to reconstruct the geomagnetic paleosecular variation for the mediterranean back to 83 kyr

variability of the large scale general circulation of the mediterranean sea from observations and modelling a review abstract in this paper we present an overview of the most recent findings about the mediterranean sea present day circulation structure both historical observations and numerical model simulations are presented outlining the differences and agreement the model simulations are presented for both an eddy resolving and a coarse resolution numerical model and the results are intercompared the importance of the mesoscales in modifying the large scale flow field is elucidated the critical point is the discovery of the large amplitude interannual variability of the circulation and water mass structure associated with the anomalies of atmospheric forcing over the basin the seasonal variability can be strictly related to changes in heat and momentum fluxes while the interannual variability has a component which is related to the mesoscale field the latter is very intense in the algerian current region and levantine basin but different in structure in the two regions results are shown which confirm the importance of wind driving in establishing the kinetic energy of the flow field by comparing the current transport at the strait of corsica with observations in conclusion the essential characteristics of the present day circulation are associated with the atmospheric forcing and the basin topographic structure results from palaeoceanographic simulations for the last 20 000 years show that changing the atmospheric forcing can cause large changes in the circulation structure which may have affected sapropel formation

internal structures of zircons from archaean granites from the darling range batholith implications for zircon stability and the interpretation of zircon u pb ages internal structures in zircons from granitoids from the late archaean darling range batholith show secondary features revealed by hf etching which record reconstitution of the zircons and modification of the distribution of trace elements during post crystallisation cooling of the granitoid zircons from the granites commonly contain unzoned to weakly zoned cores surrounded by rims showing oscillatory zoning which has been modified by recrystallisation the most striking feature is the development of high trace element concentration areas found in zircons from a number of granites these structures range from enhanced trace element concentrations in primary zones to a single accumulation of most trace elements in one band about half way between the outer edge and the centre of the zircon in any zircon the extent of the concentration of trace elements towards the formation of a single trace element band appears to be inversely related to the fading and broadening of primary oscillatory zones in the outer rim this suggests that the trace element bands formed by migration of trace elements from the outer primary zones to new concentration sites on an inner set of primary zones this explanation is supported by the formation of multiple curved trace element bands that transgress primary zoning and the determination of younger shrimp ages on depleted zircon outer rims compared to remnant primary oscillatory zoned areas of the zircon and unzoned centres also observed in some granite zircons is a finely convoluted zoning which overprints oscillatory zoning in parts of a zoned zircon and in rare cases occurs throughout the zircon this structure is explained in terms of secondary migration and reconcentration of trace elements in curved bands all structures can be transgressed by generally rounded lobes and patches of low u weakly nebulously zoned zircon this is interpreted as a late stage interaction between the zircon and fluids formed during cooling and crystallisation of the granitoid resulting in recrystallisation of affected parts of the zircon with accompanying loss of trace elements from the zircon

multi disciplinary investigation of fluid seepage on an unstable margin the case of the central nile deep sea fan we report on a multidisciplinary study of cold seeps explored in the central nile deep sea fan of the egyptian margin our approach combines in situ seafloor observation geophysics sedimentological data measurement of bottom water methane anomalies pore water and sediment geochemistry and 230 th u dating of authigenic carbonates two areas were investigated which correspond to different sedimentary provinces the lower slope at 2100 m water depth indicates deformation of sediments by gravitational processes exhibiting slope parallel elongated ridges and seafloor depressions in contrast the middle slope at not vert 1650 m water depth exhibits a series of debris flow deposits not remobilized by post depositional gravity processes significant differences exist between fluid escape structures from the two studied areas at the lower slope methane anomalies were detected in bottom waters above the depressions whereas the adjacent ridges show a frequent coverage of fractured carbonate pavements associated with chemosynthetic vent communities carbonate u th age dates 8 kyr bp pore water sulphate and solid phase sediment data suggest that seepage activity at those carbonate ridges has decreased over the recent past in contrast large 1 km2 carbonate paved areas were discovered in the middle slope with u th isotope evidence for ongoing carbonate precipitation during the late holocene since 5 kyr bp at least our results suggest that fluid venting is closely related to sediment deformation in the central nile margin it is proposed that slope instability leads to focused fluid flow in the lower slope and exposure of fossil carbonate ridges whereas pervasive diffuse flow prevails at the unfailed middle slope

the spatial pattern and drainage cell characteristics of a pockmark field nile deep sea fan over 25 300 seabed pockmarks were mapped from the rosetta channel region of the western niledeepseafan ndsf using concurrent high resolution 2d chirp profiler and multibeam bathymetry data which spans the holocene pleistocene period within the region apockmarkfield containing 13 800 pockmarks was analysed using spatial statistics to determine the distribution of pockmarks within the field pockmarks within the field are small 16 m diameter shallow 0 5 m deep circular depressions which formed within the last 6500 years the fluid source for the field is identified as an accumulation generation of gas beneath a hemipelagic seal c 20 40 ms beneath the seabed the position of the pockmarks is shown to be unrelated to the depth to the fluid source and an irregular high amplitude acoustic anomaly which is tentatively interpreted as a possible carbonate precipitate of biogenic microbial activity statistical spatial analysis of the field confirms the distribution of pockmarks is not random an exclusion zone surrounding each individual pockmark is identified the exclusion zone is a unique minimum radius around each pockmark which is not penetrated by any other pockmark the exclusion zone works in unison with self organised criticality soc in determining the spatial distribution of pockmarks within the field the exclusion zone is interpreted as apockmark drainagecell a conceptual model for apockmarkdrainagecell is proposed whereby pockmark formation dissipates a radius area of fluid and overpressure thereby preventing the formation of another pockmark within that cell consequently pockmarks are observed to separate or produce anti clustering tendencies within the field

review and new aspects concerning the formation of eastern mediterranean sapropels abstract in this paper it is proposed that the formation of eastern mediterranean sapropels occurred in an anti estuarine type of circulation which was to some degree weakened relative to the present in response to reduction of the eastern mediterranean excess of evaporation over freshwater input this reduction of excess evaporation would have been imposed by intensifications of 1 the indian ocean summer sw monsoon influencing the eastern mediterranean via increased nile discharge and 2 the system of mediterranean depressions an element of the westerly atlantic system causing increased precipitation and decreased evaporation both the indian ocean summer monsoon and the westerly atlantic system would be intensified in response to the occurrence of distinct minima in the cycle of precession it is demonstrated that reduced excess evaporation whether or not coinciding with global phases of deglaciation would lead to reduction of surface water salinities in the eastern mediterranean causing isolation of previously formed high salinity cooler deep water thus mixing was severely reduced possibly even restricted to eddy diffusion with only occasional convective events that because of the existing density gradient hardly ever would reach the deepest parts of the basin the consequently diminished oxygen advection down from a few hundred meters in the water column favoured preservation of the sinking organic matter this would however suffice only to enable the formation of sapropels with low organic carbon contents the high organic carbon contents observed in various sapropels are argued to reflect superimposed increases of export production the described scenario accounts for previously reported 1 increases of organic carbon content with increasing depth of deposition within individual sapropels and 2 asymmetrical sequences of sapropel deposition characterized by gradual build up and rather abrupt ending it is furthermore in agreement with 3 isotopic and faunal reconstructions of the history of exchange transports through both the strait of sicily and the strait of gibraltar and 4 faunal and floral reflections of the presence or absence of a distinct deep chlorophyll maximum with its associated increases in export production indicating the presence or absence of a shallow pycnocline within the euphotic layer moreover the described scenario 5 is in no way conflicting with the reports of sapropels in the western mediterranean and 6 seems to be endorsed by occasionally intercalated intervals suggestive of somewhat improved oxygenation amidst anoxic benthic desert levels a situation that has been observed in a few quaternary and pliocene sapropels

a dynamic concept for eastern mediterranean circulation and oxygenation during sapropel formation we propose that intermittent bottom water ventilation occurred throughout periods of sapropel deposition and that the recently reported sapropel interruptions represent centennial scale episodes of enhanced frequency intensity of that process in essence the modern high frequency variability in deep water formation affected by climatic variability over the northern basins on seasonal to longer time scales prevailed also at times of sapropel deposition although the overall ventilation state was much reduced this concept is supported by detailed multiple species isotope records for three aegean cores the presence of abundant globorotalia truncatulinoides within especially sapropels s7 and s8 in the western levantine basin observations of three rapid benthic repopulations within sapropel s6 in the deep western levantine basin a report of continuous benthic presence through sapropel s1 at intermediate deep locations offshore libya and further supporting information from the literature in the aegean records concomitant abundance of low oxygen tolerant benthic foraminifera and presence of the more oxyphilic benthic foraminifer uvigerina mediterranea with surface similar 13c values indicate repeated deep water re oxygenation events throughout the deposition of s1 the observations of a continuous benthic presence through s1 offshore from libya imply that no persistent anoxia developed at mid depth levels in that region which is far removed from direct deep ventilation influences the abundance of deep mesopelagic g truncatulinoides through several sapropels from the western levantine basin also suggests the presence of bio available oxygen at many hundreds of meters of depth moreover the rapid intermittent benthic repopulations within sapropels from the deep eastern mediterranean imply that bottom water anoxia was spatially restricted and or of a highly intermittent nature the short time scales of these repopulation events are incompatible with titration of an extensively anoxic water column and subsequent re establishment of water column anoxia we suggest that where anoxic azoic conditions were present they most likely were restricted to a veneer at the sediment water interface the extent of such an anoxic blanket depends on the balance between advective oxygen supply into the deep sea and biological and chemical oxygen demand the demand functions imply a decoupling of oxygenation from water mass advection allowing export production and corg posting rates to the sea floor to delimit the extent of the anoxic blanket in both space and time low productivity regions would develop no anoxic blanket allowing for the observed persistence of deep dwelling planktonic and bottom dwelling benthic faunas

geomorphology co evolution of rivers and plants river systems have changed through time the sinuous stable channels common today developed relatively late in earth s history the rock record suggests that a specific type of fixed channel river system arose after the expansion of arborescence

nile floods recorded in deep mediterranean sediments clastic mud beds rich in continental organic matter are observed recurrently in the nile deep sea turbidite system they formed during flooding periods of the river similar to those that induce sapropel formation and occurred during periods of increased density stratification of the eastern mediterranean the very fine grained flood deposits are intercalated within pelagic sediments sapropels and bouma type turbidites these flood deposits form by the successive reconcentrations of surface hypopycnal plumes by convective sedimentation which in turn generate a fine grained low energy hyperpycnal flow sea level high stands seem also to favor hypopycnal plume formation and increase clastic mud bed formation consequently these muddy clastic beds provide a direct link between deep marine sedimentary records and continental climatic change through flood frequency and magnitude

neogene sapropels in the mediterranean a review for 50 years the existence of sapropels organic carbon rich sediments deposited within plio pleistocene sediments of the mediterranean sea has been known initially research concentrated on material recovered in relatively short gravity piston cores taken from the eastern basins where sequences were found to be well developed preserved and had extensive spatial coverage in the main previous studies concentrated upon establishing a workable stratigraphy spatial correlation of individual layers and determining the probable depositional mechanisms however despite a plethora of research papers some issues still remain unresolved this is in part due to a lack of agreement between investigators sampling and analytical short comings restricted sample size and the fact that in many instances like was not being compared with like recently the limit of sapropels in the western basin has been further extended as a result the palaeoceanographic palaeoclimate models which had previously been developed for deposition of sapropels in the eastern basin have been modified most recently strong links have been established between astronomical cyclicity and sapropel formation this review paper provides a summary of sapropel research to date and ongoing sapropel research in the mediterranean some of which appears in this thematic issue of marine geology it is fitting that this thematic issue of marine geology be dedicated to the memory of colette vergnaud grazzini and rob kidd who in many ways helped to initiate the resurgence in sapropel studies in the 1970s in the mediterranean perhaps in 50 more years we will know all of the answers 1999 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

frequency of exceptional nile flood events as an indicator of holocene hydro climatic changes in the ethiopian highlands abstract climate conditions in africa have varied substantially during the late quaternary with alternating humid and arid periods controlled mainly by the african monsoonal regime however the duration and termination of the last african humid period 14 6 ka bp and its internal climatic variability are still debated using a laminated sequence from the nile deep sea fan we reconstruct for the first time the monsoon induced frequency of exceptional nile floods at centennial resolution during the african humid period by combining sedimentological geochemical and microscopic tools and comparing our record with two proximal piston cores and with regional paleoclimatic records we show a the occurrence of recurrent high energy floods between 10 1 and 9 ka bp during the height of the african humid period b a shift in the hydro climatic regime as early as 9 ka bp with a progressive reduction in flood frequency and magnitude until 8 2 ka bp likely related to a southward migration of the monsoon rainfall belt c a drastic reduction of flood activity between 8 2 and 7 8 ka bp d an unstable ethiopian nile hydrological system from 7 8 ka bp followed by a further decrease in river runoff until 4 ka bp the occurrence of a stepwise hydro climatic deterioration over the ethiopian highlands from 9 ka bp brings into question the climatic linkages and feedbacks between low and high latitudes during the early to mid holocene and in particular around the 8 2 ka bp north atlantic cooling event our unique record of flood frequency at centennial resolution therefore allows us to draw new insights on fluvial and geomorphic feedbacks of the nile hydrologic system to monsoonal regimes during a period of major environmental shifts

dissolution reprecipitation of igneous zircon in mid ocean ridge gabbro atlantis bank southwest indian ridge abstract zircons recovered from oceanic gabbro exposed on atlantis bank southwest indian ridge typically display oscillatory and sector zoning consistent with igneous crystallization from mafic magmas in one rock of twenty investigated weak oscillatory zonation patterns are overprinted by secondary textural features characterized by mottled convoluted and wavy internal zonation patterns that are frequently associated with secondary micron to submicron scale micro porosity these zircons are hosted in a felsic vein that intruded an oxide gabbro both of which are cross cut by monomineralic amphibole and quartz rich veinlets zircons with weak oscillatory zonation patterns record a weighted average 206pb 238u age of 12 76 0 20 ma mswd 1 5 and have high trace element concentrations e g rees 0 4 2 2 wt y 0 6 2 8 wt p 0 4 0 9 wt and th u 0 1 0 5 these zircons are anomalously old 1 myr relative to the magnetic age for this portion of oceanic crust 11 75 ma in contrast zircons with non igneous secondary textures have a younger weighted average 206pb 238u age of 12 00 0 16 ma mswd 1 7 and have lower trace element concentrations e g rees 0 2 0 8 wt y 0 3 1 0 wt p 0 1 0 3 wt and slightly lower th u 0 1 0 3 the weighted average age of these zircons is similar to the magnetic anomaly age and other 206pb 238u ages of nearby rocks we do not observe a correlation between crystallographic misorientation internal texture or trace element chemistry we suggest that the decrease in trace element concentrations associated with the development of non igneous alteration textures is attributed to the purging of non essential structural constituent cations from the zircon crystal lattice at amphibolite facies conditions the mechanism of alteration re equilibration was likely an interface coupled dissolution reprecipitation processes that affected pre existing anomalously old zircons during shallow level magmatic construction of atlantis bank at 12 0 ma

diversion and morphology of submarine channels in response to regional slopes and localized salt tectonics levant basin abstract in the levant basin submarine channels are abundant around the nile deep sea fan ndsf an area which is also affected by salt tectonics related to the messinian salt giant here we focus on the relationship between submarine channels and obstacles formed by salt tectonics initially we use methods developed for terrestrial morphological analysis and quantify channel sinuosity width and slope in search for consistent relationships between morphometric parameters and channel response to obstacles however this traditional analysis did not yield robust conclusions then we apply two new morphometric parameters suggested here to express the distortion of channels by obstacles incident angle defined as the acute angle between the regionally influenced channel direction and the strike of the tectonic obstacle and diversion angle defined as the angle between the direction of the regional bathymetric slope and the average direction of the channel these parameters illustrate the influence of the regional scale basin geometry and the superimposed tectonic influenced seabed patterns on channel development we found hyperbolic relationships between incident angle and diversion angle in which channels flowing approximately parallel 0 to tectonic folds are obviously not diverted channels nearly orthogonal 90 to obstacles crosscut them right through and again not diverted much in contrast channels with a general direction diagonal to the obstacles 40 are diverted by ten degrees 10 this diversion accumulates along large distances and significantly influences the regional development of channels around the ndsf noteworthy this phenomenon of channel diversion indirectly deteriorate normal slope sinuosity relationships known from terrestrial studies in light of these findings we suggest that these new parameters can be applied to other basins where submarine channels interact with seabed obstacles

the peralkaline granite related khaldzan buregtey rare metal zr nb ree deposit western mongolia the khaldzan buregtey rare metal nb zr ree etc deposit in peralkaline granitoids is located in western mongolia 45 km northeast of the town of kobdo the deposit which was discovered by the authors is composed of dome shaped stocks of rare metal peralkaline granite covering 0 85 km and represents the late plutonic phases of the devonian 380 390 ma multiphase khaldzan buregtey peralkaline granite massif the formation of the massif took place during tectonic extension as shown by the development of a major dike complex synchronous with granite emplacement the massif consists of peralkaline granitoids as well as gabbro and basalt and is characterized by a radial circular shape eight intrusive phases are recognized and consist of 1 nordmarkite 2 peralkaline granite 3 dikes of fine grained peralkaline granite 4 dikes of pantellerite 5 rare metal peralkaline granite 6 gabbroids 7 miarolitic peralkaline rare metal granite and 8 syenite and leucite basalt field relationships of the rare metal peralkaline granite bodies indicate an intrusive igneous origin the rare metal peralkaline granites consist of k na feldspar quartz albite arfvedsonite aegirine fluorite and diverse rare metal minerals ranging up to 25 vol percent ore minerals are represented by elpidite gittinsite and zircon pyrochlore nb rare metal flurocarbonate and monazite ree and polylithionite li the zirconium minerals often occur in the endocontact and apical parts of rare metal granite bodies and are reflected in the negative correlation of zr and nb contents in the seventh phase granites the rare metal peralkaline granites of the deposit differ from those of other massifs by their high and variable ca and f contents the granites are rich in zr up to 5 3 wt nb up to 0 8 wt ree up to 0 4 wt y up to 0 3 wt be sn rb and sometimes li pb zn hf and ta they are depleted in sr and ba and have an almost flat ree distribution pattern with a small negative eu anomaly the initial 87 sr 86 sr ratio of fluorite from rare metal peralkaline granite is 0 70433 or 7 the end value for these rocks at 386 ma ranges from 4 3 to 5 7

the age of the giant golden mile deposit kalgoorlie western australia ion microprobe zircon and monazite u pb geochronology of a synmineralization lamprophyre dike open pit and underground mines in the golden mile at kalgoorlie western australia have produced more than 1 475 metric tons t of gold since 1893 despite the economic importance of the deposit the age of the mineralized shear zone array and its temporal relationship to other structures and to porphyry intrusions in the host greenstone terrane are poorly constrained in this study the shrimp ion microprobe has been used to date zircons and monazites recovered from a chlorite carbonate altered synmineralization lamprophyre dike intruded into sericite ankerite altered paringa basalt below the high grade oroya hanging wall shear zone analyses of magmatic hydrothermal zircons define a weighted mean 207 pb 206 pb age of 2642 6 ma n 37 mswd 0 88 analyses of cogenetic hydrothermal monazites yield a concordant 207 pb 206 pb age of 2637 20 ma n 9 mswd 1 8 the two alteration and or mineralization ages determined independently in two different minerals are inconsistent with recent structural models relating mineralization to the early compressional events of the d 1 to d 4 deformation sequence for the terrane instead they confirm earlier structural models relating mineralization to the postfolding wrench tectonic regime which generated regional sinistral faults d 3 coeval with mantle derived lamprophyric and initial felsic magmatism in the middle to lower archean crust

zircons from syros cyclades greece recrystallization and mobilization of zircon during high pressure metamorphism zircons were studied from high pressure low temperature metamorphosed meta igneous lithologies from syros these rocks carry several zircon generations related to each other by dissolution reprecipitation processes one generation is pristine zircon that shows growth zoning relatively elevated contents of trivalent cations and high th u ratios the other end member is a skeletal zircon generation with negligible trivalent cation contents and low th u ratios 0 1 texturally between these two there is a range of zircon crystals with complex inclusion populations of y hree th phases and fluid inclusions showing variable progress of replacement recrystallization both end members yield distinct sensitive high resolution ion microprobe shrimp u pb ages the pristine generation has an age of 80 2 1 6ma from a metagabbro and 76 4 2 1ma from a meta plagiogranite dyke the skeletal low th u zircon generation yields an age of 52 4 0 8ma the older late cretaceous zircons are interpreted to date emplacement of the magmatic protoliths in a small segment of oceanic crust the younger eocene age however dates a zircon recrystallization event which possibly coincides with high solubility and mobility of high field strength elements in a high pressure aqueous fluid phase intergrowth relations between zircon and peak metamorphic garnet and excellent agreement of the u pb ages with white mica ar ar ages for the same samples support the conclusion that eocene is the true age of high pressure metamorphism on syros

geochemical and geophysical implications of the radiocarbon calibration abstract a precise and accurate chronological framework is crucial to study the dynamics of a variety of phenomena which occurred during the last 45 000 years although the 14 c dating method has been widely applied since the 1950s it is recognized that the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio has not been stable during the past in order to calculate accurate ages these fluctuations have to be corrected by means of a calibration curve obtained by comparing raw 14 c measurements with true calendar ages provided by independent dating methods the calibration curve obtained so far is characterized by a long term trend with raw 14 c ages being significantly younger than calendar ages during most of the last 45 000 years abrupt 14 c shifts which occurred over centuries to millennia are superimposed on this long term trend of decreasing atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio to a certain extent it is possible to outline the different causes of atmospheric 14 c variations by considering complementary information obtained from other cosmogenic nuclides studied at different latitudes 1 most high frequency changes in the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio are linked to magnetic fluctuations of solar origin as revealed by studying the last three centuries for which direct observations of the sun are available a similar conclusion is derived by comparing 14 c 12 c events with 10 be and 36 cl concentration maxima in polar ice cores 2 the long term trend shift of 14 c ages is due to a long period of decreased shielding effect of the geomagnetic dipole field which occurred over the interval between 10 000 and 40 000 years bp this interpretation is supported by paleomagnetic measurements performed on volcanic and sedimentary rocks and by 10 be and 36 cl analysed in low and high latitude records 3 a prominent and rapid atmospheric 14 c 12 c excursion occurred between 13 000 and 11 500 cal yr bp thus corresponding to the younger dryas cold period by contrast with the 14 c variability mentioned above which is linked to 14 c production changes this so called 14 c age plateau is probably due to an abrupt variation in the rates of exchange within the global carbon cycle this interpretation is supported by independent geochemical proxies and by numerical modelling of the carbon cycle

mediterranean functioning and sapropel formation respective influences of climate and hydrological changes in the atlantic and the mediterranean abstract during ocean drilling program odp legs 160 and 161 sapropels were recovered both in the western and eastern mediterranean this obliges to a reassessment of the previous studies focused on sapropels from only the eastern mediterranean and to consider the changes which occurred in the mediterranean climate but also in the water characteristics both in the atlantic and in the western mediterranean in the north atlantic the position of the polar front which migrated southwards during glacial times and the melting of northern ice caps during interglacial periods together with the convection in the labrador and norwegian seas appear essential to control the salinities of the waters facing the strait of gibraltar the salinities of the surface and intermediate layers constitute the first driving force of the mediterranean dynamics the second driving force being the mediterranean climate the stagnation of deep waters leading to sapropel deposition in the western mediterranean may be explained by a drastic weakening of the density difference between mediterranean outflow and atlantic intermediate waters facing the strait of gibraltar this weakening was induced primarily by the salinity decrease of atlantic surface water and secondly by a rather high salinity in the atlantic intermediate layer rather than by a drastic deterioration of the mediterranean climate this scenario probably concerns most of the sapropel events and it may be used for the knowledge of atlantic and mediterranean functioning over climatic changes

20 000 years of nile river dynamics and environmental changes in the nile catchment area as inferred from nile upper continental slope sediments multi proxy analysis of two marine sediment cores ms27pt and md04 2726 from the nile continental slope provides evidence of changes in nile sediment discharge related to changes in ethiopian african monsoon eam precipitation and allows us to reconstruct changes in nile river runoff vegetation and erosion in the nile headwaters sediment element composition and neodymium isotopic composition reveal significant changes in clastic sediment provenance with sources oscillating between a saharan aeolian contribution during the last glacial maximum deglacial transition and during the late holocene and a blue atbara nile fluvial contribution during the african humid period ahp this study provides a new understanding of past environmental changes between 14 6 and 14 13 ka there was a major input of sediments from the ethiopian highlands consistent with a stronger eam at that time climate in the nile basin was wetter between 14 8 and 8 4 ka with a corresponding increase in blue nile water and sediment discharge via the main nile into the eastern mediterranean the gradual climatic transition from the ahp to the present day dry climate was reflected in a decrease in blue nile sediment deposition and flood discharge between 8 4 and 3 7 ka with aridity at a maximum between 3 7 and 2 6 ka the onset of drier conditions in the blue nile basin seems to have begun before the 8 2 ka cooling event in the north atlantic we speculate that the climatic change from the wet ahp to the dry late holocene may have been a result of a break in the low latitude dynamic equilibrium between climate vegetation and erosion which may in turn have affected the climate in higher latitudes reduced nile flow may also have had an impact on levantine intermediate water originating in the eastern mediterranean through an increase in intermediate water formation

dissolution reprecipitation of zircon at low temperature high pressure conditions lanzo massif italy abst r a c t an eclogite facies meta plagiogranite from the lanzo massif western alps italy contains crystals of zircon intimately associated with allanite zircon displays different microtextures ranging from pristine euhedral and magmatic to fractured porous varieties with mosaic zoning and pervasive recrystallization into euhedral microcrystals fractures and voids in the recrystallized zircon microcrystals are mainly filled by high pressure na rich pyroxene electron backscattered diffraction analysis revealed a similar crystallographic orientation for primary magmatic zircon crystals and microcrystals with less than 2 misorientation among neighboring microdomains the textural change is coupled with chemical and isotopic modifications recrystallized zircon domains contain significantly less th and light to mid ree but are richer in sr than magmatic zircon crystals magmatic zircon preserves the protolith u pb age of 163 5 1 7 ma whereas zircon microcrystals have a mean age of 55 1 ma the coexisting allanite also contains inclusions of na rich pyroxene and has chemical features elevated sr and ni contents and lack of eu anomaly indicating formation at high pressure despite being associated texturally with zircon allanite yields a younger th pb age of 46 5 3 0 ma suggesting that the lanzo unit remained at relatively high pressure conditions for 8 m y zircon recrystallization proceeded with volume reduction and loss of material to an alkaline metamorphic fluid that acted as the agent for a coupled dissolution reprecipitation process recrystallization occurred with minimum transport in a low strain environment and was not significantly enhanced by metamictization the source of the fluid for zircon recrystallization is most probably related to prograde devolatilization reactions in the surrounding serpentinite

low temperature zr mobility an in situ synchrotron radiation xrf study of the effect of radiation damage in zircon on the element release in h2o hcl sio2 fluids the release of zr u and pb from nearly metamict zircon and its recrystallized analog and of zr from fully crystalline and slightly radiation damaged zircon in h 2 o hcl sio 2 fluids was investigated in situ at temperatures between 200 and 500 c using a hydrothermal diamond anvil cell and time resolved synchrotron radiation xrf analyses dissolution of nearly metamict zircon proceeded much faster than that of zircon with little or no radiation damage and resulted in a 1 5 to 2 log units higher zr molality in 6 to 7 m hcl fluids extensive recrystallization of the almost fully amorphous material started at 260 to 300 c in h 2 o hcl and at about 360 c if quartz was added and was coupled with a decrease of the zr concentration in the fluid by more than an order of magnitude re crystallization in 7 m hcl had little effect on the aqueous u and pb concentrations whereas addition of quartz caused a more sluggish decrease of the zr concentration in the fluid upon recrystallization and lowered the release of u the data presented here support the interpretation that enhanced zr mobility in low grade metamorphic rocks may be related to dissolution of metamict zircon by aqueous fluids and illustrate the significance of the silica activity on the kinetics of dissolution and recrystallization during zircon fluid interaction

direct dating of fe oxide cu au mineralization by u pb zircon geochronology we present results for direct dating of fe oxide cu au iron oxide copper gold iocg mineralization by u pb zircon geochronology constraining the timing of mineralization has important geodynamic implications for the processes involved in the genesis of these types of deposits and the tectonic evolution of rocks associated with these deposits hydrothermal zircon crystals were separated from four iocg type ore deposits associated with the lyon mountain granite in the adirondack mountains united states zircon grains from these low ti magnetite deposits reveal at least two periods of mineralization one episode ca 1039 ma and a second between ca 1015 and 1000 ma previous age determinations of these deposits were constrained by the age of the altered host granitoids and the assumption that fe mineralization was directly related to pluton emplacement zircon crystals extracted from the ore yield ages that show that ore mineralization was episodic and younger than pluton emplacement

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

global positioning system constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern mediterranean and caucasus we present and interpret global positioning system gps measurements of crustal motions for the period 1988 1997 at 189 sites extending east west from the caucasus mountains to the adriatic sea and north south from the southern edge of the eurasian plate to the northern edge of the african plate sites on the northern arabian platform move 18 2 mm yr at n25 5 w relative to eurasia less than the nuvel 1a circuit closure rate 25 1 mm yr at n21 7 w preliminary motion estimates 1994 1997 for stations located in egypt on the northeastern part of africa show northward motion at 5 6 2 mm yr also slower than nuvel ia estimates 10 1 mm yr at n2 4 e eastern turkey is characterized by distributed deformation while central turkey is characterized by coherent plate motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr involving westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of the anatolian plate the anatolian plate is de coupled from eurasia along the right lateral strike slip north anatolian fault naf we derive a best fitting euler vector for anatolia eurasia motion of 30 7 0 8 n 32 6 0 4 e 1 2 0 1 myr the euler vector gives an upper bound for naf slip rate of 24 1 mm yr we determine a preliminary gps arabia anatolia euler vector of 32 9 1 2 n 40 3 1 1 e 0 8 0 2 myr and an upper bound on left lateral slip on the east anatolian fault eaf of 9 1 mm yr the central and southern aegean is characterized by coherent motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr toward the sw at 30 1 mm yr relative to eurasia stations in the se aegean deviate significantly from the overall motion of the southern aegean showing increasing velocities toward the trench and reaching 10 1 mm yr relative to the southern aegean as a whole

magmatic vs hydrothermal origins for zircon associated with tantalum mineralization in the tanco pegmatite manitoba canada complex textures in zircon associated with ta oxides have been used to assess the processes at the origin of zircon crystallization and associated ta mineralization in pegmatites in particular the role of magmatic vs hydrothermal processes the tanco pegmatite is used as an example because its zircon is devoid of post magmatic alteration and its petrogenesis is well constrained zircon in primary units is metamict with high u pb th contents by contrast in secondary assemblages affected by late magmatic micaceous alteration zircon is devoid of radiogenic elements but it may contain abundant ta2o5 up to 4 7 wt the incorporation of ta into zircon may occur through coupled substitution mechanisms involving other minor elements such as p al mn or li the presence of ta accounts for the distorted structures in the ta rich zircon as revealed in high resolution tem images four zircon types occur sequentially in single zircon crystals which permits a new model for zircon growth and evolution in rare element pegmatites to be advanced 1 zircon z1 is ta rich and crystallized possibly before discrete ta phases 2 z1 was overgrown by regularly zoned zircon z2 and z3 which show lower ta and extreme zr hf fractionation hfo2 up to 38 9 wt suggesting crystallization from a highly fractionated melt possibly at the onset of ta mineralization and 3 close to the solidus the aqueous fluid at the origin of micaceous alteration corroded the distorted structure of z1 and a low ta zircon z4 replaced z1 by dissolution reprecipitation whereas z2 and z3 resisted this alteration tantalum was no longer stable in the zircon structure and crystallized as ta oxide inclusions in the reequilibrated zircon z4

revised tuning of ocean drilling program site 964 and kc01b mediterranean and implications for the δ18o tephra calcareous nannofossil and geomagnetic reversal chronologies of the past 1 1 myr 1 high resolution color reflectance records of kc01 and kc01b calabrian ridge ionian sea are presented and compared with a modified spliced high resolution color reflectance record of ocean drilling program odp site 964 this comparison revealed that kc01b is characterized by intensive deformation between 27 and 28 5 m piston depth and that some sapropels are tectonically reduced in thickness moreover the piston coring has caused considerable stretching in the top of kc01 and kc01b using a new splice of odp site 964 as guide previous astronomical tuned timescales of kc01b and odp site 964 were evaluated this evaluation resulted in a new sapropel based astronomical timescale for the last 1 1 myr the new timescale implies a much more uniform change in sedimentation rate for the ionian sea cores two prominent excursions to lighter values in the 18o record of the planktonic foraminiferal species globigerinoides ruber occur during marine isotopic stages 12 and 16 applying the new timescale these shifts correspond with maxima in obliquity and are punctuated by minima in the precession cycle they are absent in global ice volume records and are interpreted as reflecting a summer low salinity surface water lens that floats on top of extremely saline intermediate and deep waters at times of the very low sea levels during these glacial periods all biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events found in kc01b and odp site 964 were re dated according to the new timescale and the ages of 33 tephra layers were reviewed the new ages for the calabrian ridge 2 and 3 magnetic events in the brunhes are concordant with minima in the global sint800 composite record derived from worldwide deep sea records of relative paleointensity and have been attributed to the big lost and la palma excursions respectively

unsupported radiogenic pb in zircon a cause of anomalously high pb pb u pb and th pb ages ion microprobe u th pb isotopic analyses of zircons from a granodioritic orthogneiss from the napier complex mount sones enderby land antarctica have identified an unambiguous example of unsupported radiogenic pb in a 3 950 ma old crystal at one 40 m spot on the crystal an unusually large heterogeneity in pb content was found the concentration of radiogenic pb ranging from 5 to 50 percent higher than could have been generated in 3 950 ma by radioactive decay of the co existing u and th this relative excess of radiogenic pb is attributed to pb gain rather than to u and th loss because first the pb content varied by more than the u or th contents and secondly changes in the pb u pb th and pb isotopic composition correlated directly with changes in the pb concentration the individual 207pb 206pb apparent ages ranged from 4 000 ma to 4 145 ma all greater than the inferred age of the crystal a correlation between 207pb 206pb and pb u shows that the pb excess has not resulted from recent pb movement the spot apparently gained radiogenic pb about 2 500 ma ago at the same time as the majority of the other zircons in the rock suffered substantial pb loss the pb movement occurred in response to a discrete geologic event reverse discordance is a phenomenon that must be considered when interpreting zircon u pb ages especially 207pb 206pb ages of single crystals or portions of crystals

mediterranean quaternary sapropels an immediate response of the african monsoon to variation of insolation abstract in the subsurface of the east mediterranean sea eleven discrete basin wide organic rich black sapropels were deposited during the last 465 000 years they are dated by oxygen isotopic chronostratigraphy the most recent sapropel has been shown to be the consequence of heavy nile river summer floods due to increased monsoonal summer precipitation over ethiopia and not of scandinavian ice sheet meltwater influx into the east mediterranean sea as was previously believed while most sapropels were deposited during interglacials two thick sapropels formed during glacial periods as shown by their position in the oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and by their pollen record in core rc9 181 the new evidence presented here is that the sapropel sequence in this core including the two glacial sapropels correlates on a one to one basis with the highest values of an index of insolation on top of the atmosphere the concept of this index derives from an analysis of the african monsoon process the index variation is computed for the last 465 000 years from the caloric northern summer insolation in the tropical latitudes controlled by variations of the earth s orbital parameters it is conjectured that this index might be linked through the climate system to the monsoonal precipitation which in africa produces the nile river summer flood

zircon morphology geochronology and trace element geochemistry of the granites from the huangshaping polymetallic deposit south china implications for the magmatic evolution and mineralization processes abstract the huangshaping polymetallic deposit is a large scale deposit located in the central nanling region south china different types of mineralization have been classified in the area which are attributed to three types of granitoids from the composite granitic pluton quartz porphyry granophyre and granite porphyry in order to study the magmatic genesis and evolutionary process as well as constrain the crystallization and mineralization events 100 zircon separates from different intrusive stages of the pluton have been analyzed for trace element contents and u pb isotopic concentrations the results show that zircons from the huangshaping granitoids are enriched in th u hf ti ree and other trace elements indicating hydrothermal fluid alteration and transformation additionally there is a large variation between different types of granitoids in terms of trace element concentrations compared to the zircons from the quartz porphyry and the granophyre zircons from the granite porphyry are more enriched in th u hf ti and p but strongly depleted in eu this suggests that the magma that formed the granite porphyry possessed higher temperatures possibly experienced stronger crystal fractionation and originated from a more evolved complex magmatic source region with higher degree of crustal maturity combined with characteristics of crystal morphology and internal texture hydrothermal zircons were distinguished from magmatic zircons in each granitoid to reveal mineralization processes the u pb geochronology results show that there are two major stages of mineralization 190 ma weak cu pb zn mineralization related to the quartz porphyry and the granophyre and 155 ma strong w sn mo pb zn mineralization associated with the granite porphyry compositions of these hydrothermal zircons suggest that the earlier stage mineralization could be close to single relatively cold reduced and quickly ascended fluids whereas the later stage might be related to hot oxidized strongly fractionated and highly evolved mixed fluids this study also indicates that hydrothermal zircons from typical composite granitic plutons could be a good tool to reveal the multi stage magmatic and mineralization process in middle to late jurassic south china

benthic foraminiferal successions across late quaternary mediterranean sapropels abstract benthic foraminiferal records across late quaternary mediterranean sapropels s6 s5 and s1 are reviewed and re considered in the light of recent advances in foraminiferal ecology it is suggested that the main factor controlling the foraminiferal successions that occur immediately before and after sapropel deposition is the amount of time involved in the onset of anoxic conditions and in the re oxygenation of the benthic environment faunas dominated by deep infaunal taxa such as globobulimina and chilostomella reflect a very gradual decrease or increase of bottom water oxygenation post sapropel faunas dominated by small biconvex trochospiral taxa which are inferred to have a much more opportunistic life strategy are typical of a very rapid re oxygenation of the benthic environment after sapropel deposition the time involved in re oxygenation depends upon the mechanism causing sapropel formation the faunal succession found above sapropel s5 suggests a basin with a strong density gradient in the upper part of the water column during sapropel deposition followed by a rapid turnover of the following column and quick re oxygenation of the benthic environment in contrast the faunal succession above sapropel s6 suggests a water column with a more gradual density gradient deeper in the basin a progressive deepening of the halocline and a very slow increase of bottom water oxygenation

mediterranean pluvial periods and sapropel formation over the last 200 000 years abstract three mediterranean deep sea cores have been studied to reconstruct the hydrological conditions at the time of deposition of interglacial and glacial sapropels during the time interval 200 60 kyr bp the isotopic and sea surface temperature records of planktonic foraminifera were used to estimate the oxygen isotopic composition of surface water w in the tyrrhenian sea and levantine basin our results show a strong w salinity decrease in both basins associated with each sapropel these w decreases reflect a drastic change in the local freshwater budget and were comparable to that observed during the last sapropel s 1 centred at ca 8 kyr bp a strong precipitation increase transformed the whole mediterranean sea into a non concentration basin the low surface salinity was responsible for the water column stratification while nutrients brought in by the runoff enhanced productivity it resulted in a significant reduction in the rate of deep water oxygenation and sapropel formation in the eastern basin in addition the mediterranean sea 18 o record is very similar to that of the bay of bengal as the latter is very sensitive to the summer monsoon rain this similarity suggests that both glacial and interglacial sapropels result from enhanced monsoon like precipitation due to an increase in summer insolation driven by precession variations

magmatic to hydrothermal crystallization in the w sn mineralized mole granite nsw australia part i crystallization of zircon and ree phosphates over three million years a geochemical and u pb geochronological study abstract zircon monazite and xenotime crystallized over a temperature interval of several hundred degrees at the magmatic to hydrothermal transition of the sn and w mineralized mole granite magmatic zircon and monazite thought to have crystallized from hydrous silicate melt were dated by conventional u pb techniques at an age of 247 6 0 4 and 247 7 0 5 ma respectively xenotime occurring in hydrothermal quartz is found to be significantly younger at 246 2 0 5 ma and is interpreted to represent hydrothermal growth from associated fluid inclusions it is concluded that it precipitated from a hydrothermal brine 600 c which is below the accepted closure temperature for u pb in this mineral these data are compatible with a two stage crystallization process precipitation of zircon and monazite as magmatic liquidus phases in deep crustal magma followed by complete crystallization and intimately associated sn w mineralization after intrusion of the shallow sill like body of the mole granite later hydrothermal formation of monazite in a biotite fluorite topaz reaction rim around a mineralized vein was dated at 244 4 1 4 ma which distinctly postdates the mole granite and is possibly related to a younger hidden intrusion and its hydrothermal fluid system obtaining precise age data for magmatic and hydrothermal minerals of the mole granite is hampered by uncertainties introduced by different corrections required for multiple highly radiogenic minerals crystallising from evolved hydrous granites including 230 th disequilibrium due to th u fractionation during monazite and possibly xenotime crystallization variable th u ratios of the fluids from which xenotime was precipitating elevated contents of common lead and post crystallization lead loss in zircon enhanced by the fluid saturated environment the data imply that monazite can also survive as a liquidus phase in protracted magmatic systems over periods of 10 6 years the outlined model is in agreement with prominent chemical core rim variation of the zircon

age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages development of a high resolution 0 to 300 000 year chronostratigraphy using the concept of orbital tuning a continuous high resolution deep sea chronostratigraphy has been developed spanning the last 300 000 yr the chronology is developed using a stacked oxygen isotope stratigraphy and four different orbital tuning approaches each of which is based upon a different assumption concerning the response of the orbital signal recorded in the data each approach yields a separate chronology the error measured by the standard deviation about the average of these four results which represents the best chronology has an average magnitude of only 2500 yr this small value indicates that the chronology produced is insensitive to the specific orbital tuning technique used excellent convergence between chronologies developed using each of five different paleoclimatological indicators from a single core is also obtained the resultant chronology is also insensitive to the specific indicator used the error associated with each tuning approach is estimated independently and propagated through to the average result the resulting error estimate is independent of that associated with the degree of convergence and has an average magnitude of 3500 yr in excellent agreement with the 2500 yr estimate transfer of the final chronology to the stacked record leads to an estimated error of 1500 yr thus the final chronology has an average error of 5000 yr