electron spin resonance esr techniques applied to mollusc shells from south america chile argentina and implications for palaeo sea level curve esr dating of marine mollusc shells gives no evidence for a so called mid wisconsin sea level high stand in argentina and chile the idea of this high stand around 30 000 40 000 bp is still alive especially in argentina but the evidence for it is in our opinion and that of others solely based on the misinterpretation of 14c dates all esr ages from southern south america belong either to the holocene or the last interglacial or older interglacial periods apart from the regional aspect this paper deals with some methodological problems in esr dating estimates have been improved by using only mollusc shells that are still closed and in living position and by introducing a plateau screening test for the determination of the accumulated dose ad the estimate of the environmental dose has been refined by analysing the infill sediments in the shells for their u th and k contents separately from the embedding matrix special interest has been paid to the debated problem of early or continuous u uptake the u contents of recent holocene molluscs support the early uptake model a probable solution to the problem of age overestimation of holocene shells is also presented present day shells are shown to possess frequently a fully developed signal and to give ad of 2 4 in one case up to 9 gy if the holocene ad values of 14c dated shells are corrected by subtracting these recent and spurious values the resulting age estimates are more consistent with radiocarbon ages

sandstone matrix olistostrome deposited on intra subduction complex serpentinite franciscan complex western marin county california abstract detailed field mapping in the franciscan complex in western marin county california offers insight into the origins and development of melanges as well as accretionary complex architecture from structurally high to low the study area units comprise a structurally high sandstone matrix olistostrome serpentinite a structurally intermediate sandstone matrix olistostrome early cretaceous nicasio reservoir terrane greenstone and coherent cretaceous greywacke all exhibiting prehnite pumpellyite burial metamorphism the structurally high sandstone matrix olistostrome includes volcanic blocks up to 700 m in diameter and chert blocks up to 100 m in diameter whereas the structurally intermediate olistostrome unit comprises a lithic rich sandstone matrix enclosing volcanic blocks 1 20 m in diameter the youngest detrital zircons in the high olistostrome and the coherent greywacke have u pb ages of 20 m y older than the inferred depositional ages of the units themselves suggesting that the bulk of the detritus comprising these units was derived by exposure and sedimentary recycling of significantly older previously accreted sediments the matrix of both olistostrome units exhibits minimal strain with weak local development of pressure solution cleavage these findings demonstrate introduction of franciscan exotic blocks and development of franciscan block in matrix fabrics through sedimentary sliding and support sedimentary interpretations for more highly strained shale and serpentinite matrix melanges additionally these data suggest that sandstone matrix olistostromes melange may constitute a larger part of the franciscan and other accretionary complexes than previously believed the structurally high olistostrome preserves a depositional contact on serpentinite verifying an intra subduction complex origin for the serpentinite the serpentinite lacks block in matrix structure and likely represents a tectonically emplaced unit derived from the subducting plate as a coherent nappe rather than a sedimentary serpentinite deposit multi kilometer scale west vergent overturned folds with subhorizontal fold axes deform the nappes of the field area and a later generation of open northeast trending folds overprints the earlier folds

diagnostic features and field criteria in recognition of tectonic sedimentary and diapiric melanges in orogenic belts and exhumed subduction accretion complexes abstract multiple episodes of deformation during the tectonic evolution of orogenic belts and ancient subduction accretion complexes cause obfuscation of primary block in matrix fabric of melanges and thereby making the recognition of their tectonic sedimentary or diapiric origin difficult here we present a comprehensive overview and synthesis of a diverse set of field based stratigraphic and structural criteria which are at the base of geological mapping rules to differentiate between various melange types developed by disparate geological processes and mechanisms we first define the current concepts of melange and melange nomenclature and describe the most diagnostic features of tectonic sedimentary and diapiric melanges at different scales we discuss some of the main issues complicating the application of these diagnostic criteria such as i similarities between the block in matrix fabric of different melange types formed in partially lithified sediments at shallow structural levels ii transformation of fabric elements with increased depth due to tectonic reworking and recrystallization processes iii significance of exotic versus native blocks in melange matrix and iv age relationships between blocks and matrix in a melange we introduce two additional criteria in approaching these complexities and in recognizing different processes of polygenetic melanges formation in the field when primary diagnostic fabrics were reworked by multiple deformational events these new criteria are based on i the coherence between lithological compositions of melange components blocks and matrix and characteristics and tectonic evolution of the geodynamic setting of their formation tectonic environment criterion and ii specificity and kinematic coherence in the distribution of deformation between blocks and the matrix deformation criterion the discussed diagnostic criteria can be applied to all field based investigations of melanges and broken formations in orogenic belts and exhumed subduction accretion complexes around the world regardless of their location age and tectonic history

detrital zircon evidence for progressive underthrusting in franciscan metagraywackes west central california we present new u pb ages for detrital zircons separated from six quartzose metagraywackes collected from different franciscan complex imbricate nappes around san francisco bay all six rocks contain a broad spread of late jurassic cretaceous grains originating from the klamath sierra nevada volcanic plutonic arc units young structurally downward consistent with models of progressive underplating and offscraping within a subduction complex the youngest specimen is from the structurally lowest san bruno mountain sheet at 52 ma it evidently was deposited during the eocene none of the other metagraywackes yielded zircon ages younger than 83 ma zircons from both el cerrito units are dominated by ca 100 160 ma grains the upper el cerrito also contains several grains in the 1200 1800 ma interval these samples are nearly identical to 97 ma metasedimentary rock from the hunters point shear zone zircon ages from this melange block exhibit a broad distribution ranging from 97 to 200 ma with only a single pre mesozoic age the albany hill specimen has a distribution of pre mesozoic grains from 1300 to 1800 ma generally similar to that of the upper el cerrito sheet however it contains zircons as young as 83 ma suggesting that it is significantly younger than the upper el cerrito unit the skaggs spring schist is the oldest studied unit its youngest analyzed grains were ca 144 ma and it is the only investigated specimen to display a significant paleozoic detrital component sedimentation and subduction accretion of this tract of the trench complex took place along the continental margin during early to early late cretaceous time and perhaps into eocene time franciscan and great valley deposition attests to erosion of an andean arc that was active over the entire span from ca 145 to 80 ma with an associated accretionary prism built by progressive underthrusting we use these new data to demonstrate that the eastern franciscan complex in the northern and central coast ranges is a classic accretionary prism where younger structurally lower allochthons are exposed on the west and older structurally higher allochthons occur to the east in the heavily studied san francisco bay area

determining the burial time of single grains of quartz using optically stimulated luminescence abstract in the optical dating of sediments it is usually assumed that the optically stimulated luminescence osl signal has been completely reset by light exposure prior to burial this assumption is often not valid one approach to testing and perhaps circumventing this assumption is to examine the apparent date of last exposure to daylight of individual sediment grains this paper reports on the application for the first time of 2 new measurement protocols to the estimation of the radiation dose received during burial for individual quartz grains from an aeolian deposit of known age 10 000 year old which is considered likely to have been completely reset by sunlight at deposition additive dose laboratory doses added to the burial dose before osl measurement and regenerative dose doses added after measurement of osl from burial dose single aliquot protocols are applied to 28 and 25 individual grains respectively each grain provides an independent estimate d e of the burial dose the average d e from the additive dose protocol 21 8 1 1 gy is in good agreement with the average from the regenerative dose protocol 23 8 1 0 gy both agree well with 1 13 multiple grain regenerative dose single aliquot measurements each on 1 mg sub samples of 23 9 0 3 gy 2 9 multiple grain additive dose single aliquot measurements also on 1 mg sub samples of 22 4 0 7 gy and 3 one previously published multiple aliquot additive dose estimate of 23 5 0 6 gy using 52 sub samples each of 5 mg the resulting optical ages are in good accord with 14 c and thermoluminescence age determinations the distribution of equivalent doses in the single grains is however unexpectedly large 23 of mean d e given the very likely complete resetting of the osl signal at deposition possible reasons are discussed and it is concluded that heterogeneity in beta dosimetry is the most likely explanation the single grain optical dating protocols reported here allow a detailed examination of the dose distribution in very small samples thus they should enable accurate dates to be obtained for sediments and soils that contain poorly bleached or mixed age components as well as deposits in which quartz grains are present in extremely low abundance

franciscan complex olistostrome at crescent city northern california an olistostrome and bounding turbidites are exposed within the late mesozoic franciscan complex along the crescent city california coastline facies grade in character from mutti ricci lucchi 1978 mixed facies b c and d to f the olistostrome to mixed a b and e progressing upwards within the franciscan stratigraphic section the facies f unit outcrop is up to 600 m thick and extends 12 km along strike it consists of oblate to tabular blocks up to 200 m in maximum dimension of greenstone tonalite radiolarian chert limestone phyllite and greywacke dispersed in a scaly argillite matrix the olistostromal origin of the unit is indicated by depositional contacts with bounding turbidites by the presence of abundant recycled sedimentary clasts within the unit and by the presence of sedimentary breccias and associated dismembered slump folded turbidites both within the olistostrome and among subjacent turbidites sandstones are chiefly feldspathic litharenites that were very likely derived from the partially dissected late mesozoic sierran klamath magmatic are franciscan rocks record an early pervasive layer parallel flattening strain in such features as extensional faults necking and pinch and swell structures several scales of extensional faulting account for the juxtaposition of turbidites of different facies and or with varying degrees of stratal disruption the formation of sandstone lozenges and the formation of scaly foliation in the olistostrome matrix the latter resulted from the juxtaposition of lenticles with varying concentrations of silt and clay these were ultimately derived from the finer divisions of turbidite beds that were incorporated into the olistostrome the presence of gradational contacts between some sandstone olistoliths and the olistostrome matrix and of sandstone dykes that intrude fractures and associated drag folded turbidite beds indicate that franciscan sediments were not lithified during their early deformation these sediments were deposited in either a trench or trench slope basin and were first deformed either by gravity collapse of the trench slope cover or less likely by vertical loading beneath the toe of the accretionary wedge they later were folded during internal shortening of the growing franciscan accretionary prism

interferences encountered in the determination of ad of mollusc samples inflexion points interfere with the radiation growth curve of the dating signal at g 2 0014 for mollusc samples several experiments give evidence that the definition of the dating signal at g 2 0014 has to be reconsidered a reliable ad determination very often seems questionable for esr dating of mollusc samples

comparison of the quaternary travertine sites in the denizli extensional basin based on their depositional and geochemical data abstract in the denizli basin turkey located in the western anatolian extensional province travertine and tufa deposition has been an ongoing process for at least 600 000 years travertine bodies which are 30 to 75 m thick and each covers areas of 1 to 34 km2 are up to 1 km3 in volume today spring waters in this area have temperatures of 19 to 57 c are of the ca mg hco3 so4 type in the pamukkale kelkaya and pinarbasi areas and the ca mg so4 hco3 type at cukurbag thermal waters along the northern margin of the basin are generally hotter than those in the east southeast and south the 18o and d values of the spring waters indicate a meteoric origin the average temperatures of the hydrothermal systems in the denizli basin appear to have decreased from pleistocene to holocene travertine which formed from the hotter water is more widespread than the tufa that formed in the cooler spring waters deposition of the travertine which formed largely on slopes in depressions and along fissure ridges mostly on northern basin margins was controlled by the interplay between various intrinsic and extrinsic parameters the travertines are formed largely of calcite with only minor amounts of aragonite in some of the vertically banded crystalline crust raft and pisoid travertines found in some of the northern sites the aragonitic samples rich in sr are typically found around the spring orifices and along the central axis of the fissure ridges the stable isotope values of the travertine found in the northwest and southeast parts of the basin are different the 13c values of the northern travertine deposits are more positive 3 7 to 11 7 vpbd than those found in the south southeast areas 4 to 5 8 vpdb in contrast the travertine and tufa in the southeastern areas have higher 18o values 15 2 to 7 8 vpdb than those of the northern areas 16 6 to 4 8 vpdb available evidence indicates that spring activity and associated travertine precipitation in the denizli basin were controlled largely by tectonic activity rather than by climatic conditions

thermal evolution of convergent plate margins thermal modeling and reevaluation of isotopic ar ages for blueschists in the franciscan complex of california modeling of heat flow through a wedge shaped accretionary complex emplaced beneath the overriding plate at a convergent plate margin provides insight into the tectonic significance of ar isotopic ages and metamorphic progressions across blueschist belts if convergence rates are maintained at rates of a few centimeters per year or more material recrystallized at depth where the accretionary wedge is narrow can be rapidly heated to high temperatures and then rapidly cooled to the low temperatures where ar loss by diffusion and recrystallization effectively ceases maximum temperatures are lower and the periods of heating and cooling are longer at shallower levels where the wedge is wider because of this difference in thermal history k ar and 40ar 39ar ages from blueschists recrystallized in the upper part of the accretionary wedge can be younger by several tens of million years than ages from material initially recrystallized at the same time but at greater depth application of this thermal modeling to the franciscan subduction complex of northern california indicates that the coherent blueschists in the eastern belt typically with 115 to 125 m y ar isotopic ages and the high grade blueschist blocks in the mud matrix melanges of the western portion of the central belt typically with 140 to 150 m y ar isotopic ages could both have formed during a single prolonged period of continuous convergence

calibration of the calcite water oxygen isotope geothermometer at devils hole nevada a natural laboratory abstract the 18 o of ground water 13 54 0 05 and inorganically precipitated holocene vein calcite 14 56 0 03 from devils hole cave 2 in southcentral nevada yield an oxygen isotopic fractionation factor between calcite and water at 33 7 c of 1 02849 0 00013 1000 ln calcite water 28 09 0 13 using the commonly accepted value of calcite water t of 0 00020 k 1 this corresponds to a 1000 ln calcite water value at 25 c of 29 80 which differs substantially from the current accepted value of 28 3 use of previously published oxygen isotopic fractionation factors would yield a calcite precipitation temperature in devils hole that is 8 c lower than the measured ground water temperature alternatively previously published fractionation factors would yield a 18 o of water from which the calcite precipitated that is too negative by 1 5 using a temperature of 33 7 c several lines of evidence indicate that the geochemical environment of devils hole has been remarkably constant for at least 10 ka accordingly a re evaluation of calcite water oxygen isotopic fractionation factor may be in order assuming the devils hole oxygen isotopic value of calcite water represents thermodynamic equilibrium many marine carbonates are precipitated with a 18 o value that is too low apparently due to a kinetic isotopic fractionation that preferentially enriches 16 o in the solid carbonate over 18 o feigning oxygen isotopic equilibrium

melange diapirs into the cambria slab a franciscan trench slope basin near cambria california near cambria california a franciscan trench slope basin of late cretaceous age is intruded by two diapirs of blueschist block bearing mud matrix melange the rise of the diapirs caused major upturning of the bedded strata within a few hundred meters of the contact and complex interfingering of mud matrix melange with basin sediments near the contacts at one locality a fragment of basin sandstone is observed partially detached from the wall rock the mud matrix melange is highly mobile and the intrusive character during diapirism is clearly analogous to that of magma in igneous intrusions diapirism may be responsible for large scale intercalation of slope and slope basin sediments with subduction generated melange at actively convergent plate margins

the influence of temperature ph and growth rate on the δ18o composition of inorganically precipitated calcite abstract the oxygen isotope composition of carbonate minerals varies with temperature as well as other environmental variables for carbonates that precipitate slowly under conditions that approach thermodynamic equilibrium the temperature dependence of 18 o uptake is the dominant signal and the measured 18 o content can be used as a paleotemperature proxy in the more common case where carbonate minerals grow in a regime where they are not in isotopic equilibrium with their host solution their oxygen isotope compositions are a convolution of multiple environmental variables here we present results from calcite growth experiments demonstrating the occurrence of large 2 non equilibrium oxygen isotope effects under conditions relevant to biogenic calcite growth and many natural inorganic systems we show that these non equilibrium effects vary systematically with ph and crystal growth rate an isotopic ion by ion crystal growth model quantifies the competing roles of temperature ph and growth rate and provides a general description of calcite water oxygen isotope fractionation under non equilibrium conditions the crystal growth model results show that 1 there are both equilibrium and kinetic contributions to calcite oxygen isotopes at biogenic growth rates 2 calcite does not directly inherit the oxygen isotope composition of dic even at fast growth rates 3 there is a kinetically controlled variation of about 1 per ph unit between ph 7 7 and 9 3 at constant growth rate for inorganic calcite as well as biogenic calcite and 4 extreme light isotope enrichments in calcite in alkaline environments are likely due to disequilibrium among dic species in aqueous solution the model can be extended to 13 c uptake into carbonates as well as clumped isotopes but additional data are needed to constrain the kinetic fractionation factors for carbon isotopes the experimental and model results constitute an important step in separating the relative influence of inorganic and biologic processes on isotopic fractionation and may aid the development of new paleoproxies based on non equilibrium effects

single quartz grain electron spin resonance esr dating of a contemporary desert surface deposit eastern desert egypt abstract signal resetting by sunlight prior to burial is a crucial assumption in electron spin resonance esr dating of sediments this resetting process is expected to be completed to a greater extent in arid than in fluvial environments the present paper investigates the natural and artificially irradiated signal intensity of ti related centres in single quartz grains collected from the desert surface eastern desert egypt in order to test this hypothesis the results suggest that in most grains both the ti li and ti h signal are completely reset to zero additive dose curves based on the sum of both ti centres show an anomaly in the low dose region possible causes for this behaviour are briefly discussed three fitting procedures are conducted and each of them shows a different palaeodose distribution with a rather large spread in d e values it is concluded that similar fossil deposits would be datable by single grain esr using q band measurements of the ti li or ti h signals in quartz

temperature limits for preservation of primary calcite clumped isotope paleotemperatures abstract solid state reordering of c o bonds in the calcite lattice can alter the clumped isotope composition of paleotemperature archives such as fossil brachiopod shells without inducing significant changes in shell microstructure and trace element concentrations metrics commonly used to gauge preservation quality to correctly interpret the paleoenvironmental significance of clumped isotope derived paleotemperatures it is necessary to understand the temperature time domain in which solid state c o bond reordering is important we address this question using a combination of laboratory and natural geological experiments on paleozoic brachiopod shells the laboratory experiments involve heating fossil brachiopod calcite at different temperatures and times to directly observe rates of 13 c 18 o bond reordering the resulting arrhenius parameters are indistinguishable from values previously determined for an optical calcite with similar trace element compositions we develop an alternative kinetic model for reordering that accounts for non first order reaction progress observed during the initial several hundred minutes of laboratory heating experiments and show that the simplified first order approximation model passey and henkes 2012 predicts reaction progress equally well for temperatures and timescales relevant to sedimentary basins we evaluate our laboratory based rate predictions by studying brachiopod calcite from several sedimentary basins with independently constrained burial temperature histories specifically we use the laboratory derived arrhenius parameters to predict the evolution of brachiopod calcite clumped isotope compositions during successive one million year time steps reflecting the burial and exhumation temperature paths of each basin while this exercise is limited by the relatively large uncertainties in the temperature histories of these basins we find general correspondence within error between predicted and observed clumped isotope values we present simplified temperature time diagrams for calcite showing domains where primary clumped isotope compositions will be preserved partially reordered and fully reordered in conclusion calcite samples dwelling at 100 c or lower for 10 6 10 8 year timescales should not be affected by solid state c o bond reordering

u pb ages of detrital zircons in pacheco pass metagraywackes sierran klamath source of mid cretaceous and late cretaceous franciscan deposition and underplating 1 using laser ablation icp ms techniques u pb ages are reported for 338 detrital zircons separated from four franciscan metagraywacke samples from imbricate thrust sheets cropping out in the pacheco pass area east central california coast ranges structurally higher slabs are clastic quartz albite bearing rocks typified by neoblastic lawsonite jadeitic pyroxene the lowest exposed slab lacks jadeitic pyroxene but contains traces of newly grown pumpellyite and lawsonite in addition to abundant quartz albite studied specimens contain moderate amounts of phengite titanite chlorite stilpnomelane carbonate iron oxides rock fragments and carbonaceous matter these diablo range clastic sediments were deposited in mid cretaceous and late cretaceous time the highest allochthon unit i was deposited after 102 ma unit iv was deposited after 90 102 ma and unit v was deposited after 86 ma metagraywacke depositional accretionary ages within slab iv young upward but ages of the slabs decrease progressively downward in the four sample aggregate most zircons have igneous ages falling in the 135 170 ma range with a smaller population at 85 120 ma the rocks contain rare zircons of middle proterozoic late archean ages a minor source in northern california and nw nevada seems likely for the pacheco pass metagraywackes but the sierran klamath calcalkaline arc provided most of the clastic debris judging by the volcanic nature of lithic clasts in these eastern belt metagraywackes and because massive sierran plutonism occurred at 85 120 ma the abundant 135 170 ma zircons probably were derived chiefly from the eroding comagmatic volcanic arc rather than from the less voluminous jurassic arc plutons

nappes tectonics of oblique plate convergence and metamorphic evolution related to 140 million years of continuous subduction franciscan complex california this paper presents a new synthesis of franciscan complex tectonics with the emphasis on the pre san andreas fault history of these rocks field relations suggest that the franciscan is characterized by nappe structures that formed during sequential accretion at the trench the presence of these structures along with other field relations including the lack of evidence for large offset of conglomerate suites indicates that strike slip fault systems of large displacement 500 km did not cut the franciscan complex during subduction regional geology and comparisons to modern arc trench systems suggest that strike slip faulting associated with oblique subduction took place inboard east of the franciscan in the vicinity of the magmatic arc the franciscan varies along strike because individual accreted elements packets of trench sediment seamounts etc did not extend the full length of the trench different depths of underplating distribution of post metamorphic faulting and level of erosion pro

carbonate clumped isotope variability in shallow water corals temperature dependence and growth related vital effects geochemical variations in shallow water corals provide a valuable archive of paleoclimatic information however biological effects can complicate the interpretation of these proxies forcing their application to rely on empirical calibrations carbonate clumped isotope thermometry 47 is a novel paleotemperature proxy based on the temperature dependent clumping of 13 c 18 o bonds similar 47 temperature relationships in inorganically precipitated calcite and a suite of biogenic carbonates provide evidence that carbonate clumped isotope variability may record absolute temperature without a biological influence however large departures from expected values in the winter growth of a hermatypic coral provided early evidence for possible 47 vital effects here we present the first systematic survey of 47 in shallow water corals sub annual red sea 47 in two porites corals shows a temperature dependence similar to inorganic precipitation experiments but with a systematic offset toward higher 47 values that consistently underestimate temperature by 8 c additional analyses of porites siderastrea astrangia and caryophyllia corals argue against a number of potential mechanisms as the leading cause for this apparent 47 vital effect including salinity organic matter contamination alteration during sampling the presence or absence of symbionts and interlaboratory differences in analytical protocols however intra and inter coral comparisons suggest that the deviation from expected 47 increases with calcification rate theoretical calculations suggest this apparent link with calcification rate is inconsistent with ph dependent changes in dissolved inorganic carbon speciation and with kinetic effects associated with co 2 diffusion into the calcifying space however the link with calcification rate may be related to fractionation during the hydration hydroxylation of co 2 within the calcifying space although the vital effects we describe will complicate the interpretation of 47 as a paleothermometer in shallow water corals it may still be a valuable paleoclimate proxy particularly when applied as part of a multi proxy approach

stable isotope geochemical study of pamukkale travertines new evidences of low temperature non equilibrium calcite water fractionation abstract in this paper we present the first detailed geochemical study of the world famous actively forming pamukkale and karahayit travertines denizli basin sw turkey and associated thermal waters sampling was performed along downstream sections through different depositional environments vent artificial channel and lake terrace pools and cascades of proximal slope marshy environment of distal slope 13 c travertine values show significant increase from 6 1 to 11 7 pdb with increasing distance from the spring orifice whereas the 18 o travertine values show only slight increase downstream from 10 7 to 9 1 pdb mainly the co 2 outgassing caused the positive downstream shift 6 in the 13 c travertine values the high 13 c values of pamukkale travertines located closest to the spring orifice not affected by secondary processes suggest the contribution of co 2 liberated by thermometamorphic decarbonation besides magmatic sources based on the gradual downstream increase of the concentration of the conservative na k cl evaporation was estimated to be 2 5 which coincides with the moderate effect of evaporation on the water isotope composition stable isotopic compositions of the pamukkale thermal water springs show of meteoric origin and indicate a local meteoric water line of denizli basin to be between the global meteoric water line craig 1961 and western anatolian meteoric water line imsek 2003 detailed evaluation of several major and trace element contents measured in the water and in the precipitated travertine along the pamukkale mm section revealed which elements are precipitated in the carbonate or concentrated in the detrital minerals former studies on the hungarian egerszalok travertine kele et al 2008a b 2009 had shown that the isotopic equilibrium is rarely maintained under natural conditions during calcite precipitation in the temperature range between 41 and 67 c in this paper besides the detailed geochemical analyses along downstream sections we present new evidences of non equilibrium calcite water fractionation in lower temperature range 13 3 to 51 3 c our measurements and calculations on natural hot water travertine precipitations at pamukkale and egerszalok revealed that the 18 o travertine is equal with the 18 o hco3 at the orifice of the thermal springs which means that practically there is no oxygen isotope fractionation between these two phases high rate of co 2 degassing with rapid precipitation of carbonate could be responsible for this as it was theoretically supposed by o neil et al 1969 thus for the determination of the deposition temperature of a fossil travertine deposit we propose to use the water bicarbonate oxygen isotope equilibrium fractionation instead of the water travertine fractionation which can result 8 9 c difference in the calculated values our study is the first detailed empirical proof of o neil s hypothesis on a natural carbonate depositing system the presented observations can be used to identify more precisely the deposition temperature of fossil travertines during paleoclimate studies

laboratory calibration of the calcium carbonate clumped isotope thermometer in the 25 250 c temperature range abstract many fields of earth sciences benefit from the knowledge of mineral formation temperatures for example carbonates are extensively used for reconstruction of the earth s past climatic variations by determining ocean lake and soil paleotemperatures furthermore diagenetic minerals and their formation or alteration temperature may provide information about the burial history of important geological units and can have practical applications for instance for reconstructing the geochemical and thermal histories of hydrocarbon reservoirs carbonate clumped isotope thermometry is a relatively new technique that can provide the formation temperature of carbonate minerals without requiring a priori knowledge of the isotopic composition of the initial solution it is based on the temperature dependent abundance of the rare 13c 18o bonds in carbonate minerals specified as a 47 value the clumped isotope thermometer has been calibrated experimentally from 1 c to 70 c however higher temperatures that are relevant to geological processes have so far not been directly calibrated in the laboratory in order to close this calibration gap and to provide a robust basis for the application of clumped isotopes to high temperature geological processes we precipitated caco3 mainly calcite in the laboratory between 23 and 250 c we used two different precipitation techniques first minerals were precipitated from a caco3 supersaturated solution at atmospheric pressure 23 91 c and second from a solution resulting from the mixing of cacl2 and nahco3 in a pressurized reaction vessel at a pressure of up to 80 bar 25 250 c the calibration lines of both experimental approaches overlap and agree in the slopes with theoretical estimates and with other calibration experiments in which carbonates were reacted with phosphoric acid at temperatures above 70 c our study suggests a universal 47 t calibration t in k 47 in 47 0 98 0 01 3 407 10 9 t 4 2 365 10 7 t 3 2 607 10 3 t 2 5 880 t 0 293 0 004 this new 47 t calibration given in the absolute reference frame that extends the experimentally calibrated temperature range for clumped isotopes to 250 c can be applied to carbonates that grew at intermediate temperatures 20 250 c

petrofacies and provenance of late mesozoic forearc basin northern and central california data from the great valley group sequence represent the most complete information regarding sandstone petrology of sediment derived from a magmatic arc this information is useful in documenting tectonic and magmatic events within the arc and related terranes and forms the basis for the establishment of petrostratigraphic units for mapping and correlation sandstone and conglomerate compositions are controlled by changes in provenance many of which were basinwide and synchronous clay mineral composition is controlled primarily by burial metamorphism careful attention to sample collection sample preparation and petrographic techniques is essential for uniform results seven petrographic parameters p f lv l m qp q q f and l listed in decreasing importance to petrofacies discrimination define eight petrofacies stony creek platina lodoga grabast boxer cortina los gatos and rumsey listed in approximate order of decreasing age the upper jurassic lower cretaceous petrofacies stony creek platina and lodoga contain higher lithic contents supracrustal sources whereas the upper cretaceous petrofacies especially the rumsey contain higher proportions of plutoniclastic components quartz feldspar and micas the proportion of potassium feldspar increases from near zero in the upper jurassic to nearly 50 of all feldspars in the uppermost cretaceous the lower part of the great valley group upper jurassic and lower cretaceous contains significant quantities of sedimentaclastic and metamorphiclastic material eroded from accreted and deformed terranes tectonic highlands formed by the arc arc collision nevadan orogeny that occurred prior to initiation of the franciscan great valley sierra nevada arc trench system the klamath mountains area provided a major proportion of this detritus ophiolite and serpentinite detritus was deposited locally near the base of the great valley group as a result of deformation along the east side of the growing franciscan subduction complex volcaniclastic detritus was fed into the entire forearc basin as magmatism increased in the sierra nevada area during the cretaceous as the volcanic cover was stripped off plutoniclastic and metamorphiclastic detritus from the underlying batholithic terranes was provided in abundance to the forearc basin crustal components were more continental in the southern sierra nevada and more oceanic in the northern sierra nevada as demonstrated by the higher proportions of metamorphiclastic detritus and by the more felsic nature of volcaniclastic detritus to the south by the middle of the late cretaceous extensive batholithic terranes provided potassium feldspar rich arkosic detritus to the entire forearc basin by the paleogene arc magmatism had migrated eastward sufficiently that deeper levels of the california part of the arc were exposed by erosion tectonic activity decreased in the forearc basin and the basin was filled to sea leve in most parts

accuracy of esr dating of small gastropods from loess and fluvial deposits in the bavarian alpine foreland abstract this study focuses on the accuracy of the electron spin resonance esr dating method applied to small land snail shells from eolian loess deposits and from shell bearing clods of sandy loam and marl in fluvial gravel deposits in the bavarian alpine foreland due to the small size of land snail shells and lack of specimens available for esr analysis it was necessary to reduce individual aliquot sample weights to 0 02 0 07 g while the reduction in sample weight inevitably lowers the signal to noise ratio and thus may also negatively influence the precision on the equivalent dose due to even smallest weight variations between the single aliquots the dating results are in good agreement with independent age control in general the esr ages are mostly within the age interval of previous and new luminescence or radiocarbon dating results we show that esr dating of small terrestrial gastropods in most cases allows differentiating between shells of holocene late or middle wurmian last glacial mis 3 2 penultimate glacial mis 6 or penultimate interglacial mis 7 age with errors between c 10 15

depositional facies and aqueous solid geochemistry of travertine depositing hot springs angel terrace mammoth hot springs yellowstone national park u s a petrographic and geochemical analyses of travertine de positing hot springs at angel terrace mammoth hot springs yellow stone national park have been used to define five depositional facies along the spring drainage system spring waters are expelled in the vent facies at 71 to 73 8c and precipitate mounded travertine composed of aragonite needle botryoids the apron and channel facies 43 728c is floored by hollow tubes composed of aragonite needle botryoids that encrust sulfide oxidizing aquificales bacteria the travertine of the pond facies 30 62 8c varies in composition from aragonite needle shrubs formed at higher temperatures to ridged networks of calcite and aragonite at lower temperatures calcite ice sheets calcified bubbles and aggregates of aragonite needles fuzzy dumbbells pre cipitate at the air water interface and settle to pond floors the prox imal slope facies 28 54 8c which forms the margins of terracette pools is composed of arcuate aragonite needle shrubs that create small microterracettes on the steep slope face finally the distal slope facies 28 30 8c is composed of calcite spherules and calcite feather crys tals despite the presence of abundant microbial mat communities and their observed role in providing substrates for mineralization the com positions of spring water and travertine predominantly reflect abiotic physical and chemical processes vigorous co 2 degassing causes a 12 unit increase in spring water ph as well as rayleigh type covariations between the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon and corre sponding d 13 c travertine d 13 c and d 18 o are nearly equivalent to aragonite and calcite equilibrium values calculated from spring water in the higher temperature 50 738c depositional facies conversely

ph control on oxygen isotopic composition of symbiotic corals abstract boron carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions were determined at the micrometre scale by high resolution ion microprobe in a sample of modern coral massive hermatypic coral porites lutea the ion probe data show for b and o much larger isotopic variations at the micrometre scale than those measured at the millimetre scale by conventional techniques 18opdb values range from 10 6 0 9 to 0 2 0 5 and 11b values range from 18 6 1 5 to 30 6 1 6 by contrast 13c values show the same range of variations from 4 6 0 65 to 2 2 0 67 at the micrometre and millimetre scales the range of 11b values indicates that significant ph variations from 7 1 to 9 0 are present at the sites of calcification the largest 18o variations correspond to the highest 11b values i e to the highest phs this measurement of ph allows modelling the oxygen isotopic fractionation occurring during aragonite precipitation taking into account the rate of o isotopic equilibrium between dissolved carbonate species h2co3 hco3 and co32 and water via the two reactions of hydration and hydroxylation the full range of 18o values measured at the micrometre scale can be modelled for residence times of dissolved carbonates in the calcifying fluid ranging between 1 h and at maximum 12 h the ph controls the 18o of the growing carbonate through the relative fractions of dissolved carbonate species and through the kinetics of their isotopic equilibration with water via hydration and hydroxylation the so called vital effect systematically observed for 18o in corals can thus be understood as representing an average of rapid ph variations due to coral biology during coral growth selectively measuring 18o values in the zones of coral skeletons that have low 11b values i e formed at low ph should significantly improve the quality of palaeoclimatic reconstructions based on 18o values

tl analysis of loess samples from achenheim abstract we have investigated four loess samples from achenheim sample j2a and l1 were collected above and below a horizon with a supposed age of 30 ka sample o1 was collected below the last interglacial soil and t1 below the next interglacial soil for the determination of eds the additive dose and regeneration techniques were applied using different filters the additive dose technique was complicated by the observation that the dose response could not be described by a single saturation function we have applied two saturation functions and used only the values below the intercept dose for ed determination nearly all calculated ages are younger than expected given the uncertainties there is not a significant difference between results obtained by the additive dose and the regeneration methods the use of the bg12 and ug11 filters seem to give slightly lower results than the 5 58 filter we have calculated mean lives for the tl signals of samples l1 o2 and t1 assuming the youngest possible estimates 30 130 and 240 ka our measurements imply that the thermal stability of the recorded signals is somewhere in the 100 200 ka region for the 5 58 filter and around 100 ka for the other filters due to the uncertainty of the geological age estimates these values are more likely upper limits of the thermal stability

recognition of ocean plate stratigraphy in accretionary orogens through earth history a record of 3 8billion years of sea floor spreading subduction and accretion abstract ocean plate stratigraphy ops is a term used to describe the sequence of sedimentary and volcanic rocks deposited on oceanic crust substratum from the time it forms at a spreading center to the time it is incorporated into an accretionary prism at a convergent margin in this study we review the major geological characteristics of relict cenozoic to early archean oceanic crust and ops persevered in alaska japan california franciscan complex central asia british isles canada slave province australia pilbara craton and greenland isua and ivisaartoq belts an assessment of ops in accretionary orogens spanning the duration of earth s rock record shows remarkable similarities between ops of all ages in terms of structural style major rock components sequence of accretion and trace element geochemical signatures volcanic rocks preserved in the orogenic belts are characterized predominantly by oceanic island arc basalts island arc picrites mid ocean ridge basalts back arc basalts oceanic plateau basalts ocean island basalts and boninites with extremely rare komatiites this demonstrates that sea floor spreading lateral movement of oceanic plates with accompanying sedimentation over the oceanic substratum and accretion at convergent margins have been major earth processes since at least 3 8 ga ago there have been some secular changes in the rock types in ops such as changes in carbonates and radiolarian cherts whose sources were in the biota in existence in phanerozoic times but absent in the precambrian but overall there have been few changes in the style of ops accretion with time komatiites and banded iron formations occur predominantly in archean orogenic belts reflecting higher mantle temperatures and less oxic seawater composition respectively before 2 5 ga this is clear documentation that plate tectonics including the lateral movement of oceanic lithosphere has been a major heat loss mechanism on earth since the early precambrian

the influence of kinetics on the oxygen isotope composition of calcium carbonate paleotemperature reconstructions rely on knowledge of the equilibrium separation of oxygen isotopes between aqueous solution and calcium carbonate although oxygen isotope separation is expected on theoretical grounds the temperature dependence remains uncertain because other factors such as slow exchange of isotopes between dissolved co2 species and water can obscure the temperature signal this is problematic for crystal growth experiments on laboratory timescales and for interpreting the oxygen isotope composition of crystals formed in natural settings we present results from experiments in which inorganic calcite is precipitated in the presence of 0 25 m dissolved bovine carbonic anhydrase ca the presence of dissolved ca accelerates oxygen isotope equilibration between the dissolved carbon species co2 h2co3 hco3 co32 and water thereby eliminating this source of isotopic disequilibrium during calcite growth the experimental results allow us to isolate for the first time kinetic oxygen isotope effects occurring at the calcite water interface we present a framework of ion by ion growth of calcite that reconciles our new measurements with measurements of natural cave calcites that are the best candidate for having precipitated under near equilibrium conditions our findings suggest that isotopic equilibrium between calcite and water is unlikely to have been established in laboratory experiments or in many natural settings the use of ca in carbonate precipitation experiments offers new opportunities to refine oxygen isotope based geothermometers and to interrogate environmental variables other than temperature that influence calcite growth rates

13c 18o isotope signatures and clumped isotope thermometry in foraminifera and coccoliths accurate constraints on past ocean temperatures and compositions are critical for documenting climate change and resolving its causes most proxies for temperature are not thermodynamically based appear to be subject to biological processes require regional calibrations and or are influenced by fluid composition as a result their interpretation becomes uncertain when they are applied in settings not necessarily resembling those in which they were empirically calibrated independent proxies for past temperature could provide an important means of testing and or expanding on existing reconstructions here we report measurements of abundances of stable isotopologues of calcitic and aragonitic benthic and planktic foraminifera and coccoliths relate those abundances to independently estimated growth temperatures and discuss the possible scope of equilibrium and kinetic isotope effects the proportions of 13c 18o bonds in these samples exhibits a temperature dependence that is generally similar to that previously been reported for inorganic calcite and other biologically precipitated carbonate containing minerals apatite from fish reptile and mammal teeth calcitic brachiopods and molluscs aragonitic coral and mollusks most species that exhibit non equilibrium 18o 16o 18o and 13c 12c 13c ratios are characterized by 13c 18o bond abundances that are similar to inorganic calcite and are generally indistinguishable from apparent equilibrium with possible exceptions among benthic foraminiferal samples from the arctic ocean where temperatures are near freezing observed isotope ratios in biogenic carbonates can be explained if carbonate minerals generally preserve a state of ordering that reflects the extent of isotopic equilibration of the dissolved inorganic carbon species

raised coastal terraces along the ionian sea coast of northern calabria italy suggest space and time variability of tectonic uplift rates abstract a detailed study of uplifted middle late pleistocene marine terraces on the eastern side of northern calabria southern italy provides insights into the temporal and spatial scale variability of vertical displacement rates over a time span of 400 ka calabria is located in the frontal orogen of southern italy above the westerly plunging ionian slab and a combination of lithospheric crustal and surface processes concurred to rapid late quaternary uplift eleven terrace orders and a raised holocene beach were mapped up to 480 m a s l and were correlated between the coastal slopes of pollino and sila mountain ranges across the sibari plain facing the ionian sea side of northeastern calabria precise corrections were applied to the measured shoreline angles in order to account for uncertainty in measurement erosion of marine deposits recent debris shedding and bathymetric range of markers radiometric esr and 14 c dating of shells provides a crono stratigraphic scheme although many samples were found to be resedimented in younger terraces terrace t4 whose inner margin stands at elevations of 94 130 m is assigned to mis 5 5 124 ka based on new esr dating and previous amino acid racemization estimations the underlying terraces t3 t2 and t1 are attributed to mis 5 3 100 ka 5 1 80 ka and 3 60 ka as inferred from their relative position supplemented by esr and 14 c age determinations the age of higher terraces is poorly constrained but conceivably is tracked back to mis 11 400 ka the reconstructed depositional sequence of terraces attributed to mis 5 5 and 7 reveals two regressive marine cycles separated by an alluvial fanglomerate which given the steady uplift regime points to minor sub orbital sea level changes during interstadial highstands based on the terrace chronology uplift in the last 400 ka occurred at an average rate of 1 mm a but was characterized by the alternation of more rapid up to 3 5 mm a and slower down to 0 5 mm a periods of displacement spatial variability in uplift rates is recorded by the deformation profile of terraces parallel to the coast which document the growth of local fold structures

a process based model for non equilibrium clumped isotope effects in carbonates abstract the equilibrium clumped isotope composition of carbonate minerals is independent of the composition of the aqueous solution however many carbonate minerals grow at rates that place them in a non equilibrium regime with respect to carbon and oxygen isotopes with unknown consequences for clumped isotopes we develop a process based model that allows one to calculate the oxygen carbon and clumped isotope composition of calcite as a function of temperature crystal growth rate and solution ph in the model carbon and oxygen isotope fractionation occurs through the mass dependent attachment detachment kinetics of the isotopologues of hco 3 and co2 3 to and from the calcite surface which in turn influence the clumped isotope composition of calcite at experimental and biogenic growth rates the mineral is expected to inherit a clumped isotopic composition that is similar to that of the dic pool which helps to explain 1 why different organisms share the same clumped isotope versus temperature calibration curves 2 why many inorganic calibration curves are slightly different from one another and 3 why foraminifera coccoliths and deep sea corals can have near equilibrium clumped isotope compositions but far from equilibrium carbon and oxygen isotope compositions some aspects of the model can be generalized to other mineral systems and should serve as a useful reference in future efforts to quantify kinetic clumped isotope effects

carbonate clumped isotope bond reordering and geospeedometry carbonate clumped isotope thermometry is based on the preference of 13c and 18o to form bonds with each other at elevated temperatures such bond ordering is susceptible to resetting by diffusion of c and o through the solid mineral lattice this type of bond reordering has the potential to obscure primary paleoclimate information but could also provide a basis for reconstructing shallow crustal temperatures and cooling rates we determined arrhenius parameters for solid state reordering of c o bonds in two different calcites through a series of laboratory heating experiments we find that the calcites have different susceptibilities to solid state reordering reaction progress follows a first order rate law in both calcites but only after an initial period of non first order reaction that we suggest relates to annealing of nonequilibrium defects when the calcites are first heated to experimental temperature we show that the apparent equilibrium temperature equations or closure temperature equations for carbonate clumped isotope reordering are analogous dodson s equations for first order loss of daughter isotopes for each calcite the sensitivity of apparent equilibrium temperature to cooling rate is sufficiently high for inference of cooling rates within a factor of 5 or better for cooling rates ranging from tens of degrees per day to a few degrees per million years however because the calcites have different susceptibilities to reordering each calcite defines its own cooling rate apparent equilibrium temperature relationship the cooling rates of carrara marble inferred from carbonate clumped isotope geospeedometry are 10 6 10 3 degrees per annum and are in broad agreement with rates inferred from thermochronometric methods cooling rates for 13c depleted calcites from the late neoproterozoic doushantou cap carbonates in south china are on the order of 102 104 degrees per annum consistent with rapid cooling following formation of these calcites by a short lived hydrothermal event bristow et al 2011 nature v 474 p 68 71 most of the uncertainty in these estimates relates to uncertainty in arrhenius parameters for different calcites thus while the carbonate clumped isotope geospeedometer shows promise for recording cooling rates in settings and lithologies where other geospeedometers may not be applicable the uncertainty in cooling rate will be large without independent knowledge of the reordering kinetics of each study material thus the full potential of the method will only be realized if reordering kinetics can be accurately determined for each study material or predicted on the basis of mineral composition texture or other observable parameters

esr dating of quaternary shells recent advances abstract this paper deals with the key problems of the esr dating of subfossil mollusc shells the estimation of the stored palaeodose of natural radiation it is shown that the use of the analytical line or peak in the integrated spectrum at g 2 0012 0 0001 with the half width 0 6 mt seems most advisable for the estimation of the relative concentration of radiation defects equivalent to the stored palaeodose in the calcareous shell skeleton optimal esr spectrometer settings have been determined results of esr dating of subfossil mollusc shells from eemian deposits of boreal transgression are discussed

a revised calibration of the clumped isotope thermometer abstract a growing number of materials and environmental settings are studied using the carbonate clumped isotope 47 thermometer the method has been applied in both biogenic and non biogenic carbonate systems in marine and terrestrial settings over a wide range of geological timescales the current 47 temperature calibration gives good temperature estimates for most biogenic materials however systematic biases are commonly observed at low temperatures in this study we report additional calibration data that covers a wider temperature range at more evenly distributed temperatures and are measured at higher analytical precision than the original calibration combining these data with the original calibration yields a 47 t relationship that is similar to the original calibration though slightly less steep 47 0 0526 0 0025 10 6 t 2 0 0520 0 0284 this revised calibration is in better agreement with biogenic carbonates including those grown at low temperatures the difference between the original and revised calibrations is significant for carbonates forming below 16 c or above 49 c 47 values of 0 68 and 0 56 additionally we include a comprehensive analysis of the sources of error associated with 47 measurements and estimated temperatures and recommend measurement strategies for obtaining the desired precision as an illustration we apply the revised calibration and uncertainty analysis to 3 previously published studies at low temperatures the revised calibration results in significant differences from the original calibration and hence affects the interpretation of the environmental signal recorded in light of our 47 errors analysis in cases where the temperature signals are small we find that replicate analyses are critical to identify a temperature signal

correlation between the geologic record and computed plate motions for central california we have attempted to correlate geologic events in part of central california with computed motions of oceanic plates relative to cratonic north america three composite terranes are considered 1 the sierra nevada 2 the coast ranges northeast of the san andreas fault and 3 the salinian block in the sierra nevada jurassic plutonism ending about 147 m y b p and cretaceous plutonism 120 80 m y b p correlate with deduced farallon north america fa na convergence as does the nevadan orogeny 158 153 m y b p however the gap in plutonism 146 121 m y b p outlasted by far an apparent minimum in convergence 145 135 m y b p magmatism ceased in the sierra and uplift slowed during the laramide orogeny 75 45 m y b p when tectonic activity had moved east to the site of the rockies presumably because of a low angle of subduction but volcanisin resumed in the sierra about 33 m y b p indicating that a steeper angle was reestablished apparently east west compression slackened when the pacific north america pa na transform regime developed basalt was erupted in the southern sierra 12 3 m y b p and during this same time the range started its most rapid rise as a normal fault bounded block the coast ranges north east of the san andreas fault are underlain by the franciscan complex the older parts of the complex were probably assembled in a subduction zone far south of their present location but we believe that the same fa na convergence that was cited for sierran plutonism was responsible despite the disparity in latitude as the farallon plate was probably in contact with most of the western margin of north and south america a perceived strong pulse in convergence 100 85 m y b p evidently produced the coast range thrust which on geologic grounds alone most likely originated between 96 and 88 m y b p some of the northwesterly transport of franciscan rocks relative to north america is ascribed to oblique kula north america ku na convergence 85 43 m y b p during which period the coast range thrust was revived about 60 m y b p the farallon plate again influenced the california margin after the kuia plate had moved northward and fa na convergence caused the accretion of the coastal belt and king range terranes of the neo franciscan the advent of pacific north america pa na interaction was marked by local volcanism which advanced from the southeast toward the northwest in consonance with the passage of the mendocino triple junction dickinson and snyder 1978 in the salinian block plutons 107 82 m y old can be ascribed to the same fa na convergence as the contemporary cretaceous plutons of the sierra nevada although the salinian intrusives originated much farther south paleomagnetic results champion et al 1980 from the salinian related pigeon point formation 75 71 m y in age suggest about 2500 km of poleward essentially coastwise movement this postulated large movement during part or all of the last 75 m y poses the greatest dilemma in our study the kuia is the only known plate whose computed obliquely convergent motion is appropriate for the late cretaceous paleogene part of the migration and even this motion is inadequate for the estimated transport within the most likely time window furthermore the farallon plate seems ideally suited for the laramide orogeny 70 45 m y b p both plates could not have been in contact with the same part of the margin at the same time oblique convergence of the kula plate could possibly have caused large coastwise transport and also the laramide orogeny the coast ranges northeast of the san andreas fault and the salinian block both experienced strike slip faulting and en echelon folding correlative with pa na interaction indicating that they were close together by neogene time faulting and folding have been particularly marked since the inception of spreading in the gulf of california and attachment of westernmost california to the pacific plate about 4 m y b p the rise of individual coastal ranges commencing 3 1 m y b p may possibly have been caused by slight convergence which appears in computed pa na relative motions from 5 m y b p to the present

subduction zone infancy examples from the eocene izu bonin mariana and jurassic california arcs a new model for the earliest stages in the evolution of subduction zones is developed from recent geologic studies of the izu bonin mariana ibm arc system and then applied to late jurassic ophiolites of cailfornia the model accounts for several key observations about the earliest stages in the evolution of the ibm system 1 subduction nucleated along an active transform boundary which separated younger less dense lithosphere in the west from older more dense lithosphere to the east 2 initial arc magmatic activity occupied a much broader zone than existed later 3 initial magmatism extended up to the modern trench over a region now characterized by subnormal heat flow 4 early are magmatism was characterized by depleted tholeiitic and ultra depleted boninitic magmas indicating that melting was more extensive and involved more depleted mantle than is found anywhere else on earth 5 early arc magmatism was strongly extensional with crust forming in a manner similar to slow spreading ridges and 6 crust production rates were 120 to 180 km 3 km ma several times greater than for mature arc systems these observations require that the earliest stages of subduction involve rapid retreat of the trench we infer that this resulted from continuous subsidence of denser lithosphere along the transform fault this resulted in strong extension and thinning of younger more buoyant lithosphere to the west this extension was accompanied by the flow of water from the sinking oceanic lithosphere to the base of the extending lithosphere and the underlying asthenosphere addition of water and asthenospheric upwelling led to catastrophic melting which continued until lithosphere subsidence was replaced by lithospheric subduction application of the subduction zone infancy model to the late jurassic ophiolites of california provides a framework in which to understand the rapid formation of oceanic crust with strong arc affinities between the younger sierran magmatic arc and the franciscan subduction complex provides a mechanism for the formation and subsidence of the great valley forearc basin and explains the limited duration of high t high p metamorphism experienced by franciscan melanges

unusual isotopic phenomena in welsh quarry water and carbonate crusts modern terrestrial speleothem like calcareous deposits in streams draining a disused lime quarry on black mountain south wales have anomalously negative d18o and d13c compositions compared with other similar european deposits black mountain water chemistry is unusual only in its locally very high ph 11 5 and carbonate ion concentrations the high ph is caused by dissolution of lime spoil resulting in high oh concentrations this high alkalinity causes uptake of atmospheric co2 and strong fractionation of both carbon and oxygen stable isotopes resulting in calcite precipitates with unusually negative isotopic compositions since shifts in d18o of 1 are highly significant for holocene palaeoclimate reconstructions depletions caused by hyperalkaline waters must be avoided while extreme lime spoil contamination should be obvious less heavily affected sites will record smaller fractionation effects and might escape detection even small depletions from low level contamination will have large effects on palaeotemperatures based on carbonate crust d18o values

criteria helpful in recognizing shear zone and diapiric melanges examples from the hoh accretionary complex olympic peninsula washington a study of the middle miocene hoh melanges exposed on the western olympic peninsula washington provides criteria for differentiating between shear zone and diapiric melanges the shear zone melange is characterized by a consistent foliation orientation throughout the outcrop intense pervasive scaly foliation uniform fold vergence directions exotic clasts predominantly phacoidal clasts and consistent clast long axis lineations the diapiric melange is characterized by radial foliation in map view well developed scaly foliation at the contacts and poorly developed scaly foliation in the center of the melange opposite fold vergence directions across the melange and rare exotic clasts additionally clasts vary in shape from phacoidal at the contacts to angular in the center in the diapiric melange large clasts are found only in the center of the melange and clast long axes vary from tightly clustered at the contacts to near random orientations in the center the systematic variation in clast size in the diapir may be due to increased shear at the margins and or clast migration to the center of the diapir caused by a velocity viscosity contrast interpretation of field data indicates that some clasts rotate continuously in the matrix yet clast long axes have a definite preferred orientation this contradiction may be resolved by theoretical models indicating that clasts rotate fastest at high angles to the shear plane thus although clasts above a critical aspect ratio asymptotically approach stability parallel to the shear plane the long axes of rotating clasts spend a proportionally greater amount of time close to the shear plane parasitic folds in the matrix indicate that clast long axes align parallel to transport direction small scale folds in the matrix clast long axis lineations and the mean foliation indicate that the hogsback section of the hoh melange was emplaced by a high angle oblique thrust directed to n10 e

polygenetic melanges a glimpse on tectonic sedimentary and diapiric recycling in convergent margins a significant part of melanges recognized in exhumed convergent margins around the world has been recently documented to have chiefly originated from masse transport and subsurface remobilization and disruption i e melanges from sedimentary and mud serpentinite diapiric processes and from in situ fluidification disruption tectonic and or sedimentary processes occurring during subsequent multiple deformational events of convergent margin evolution commonly overprint and significantly rework the primary sedimentary or diapiric melange fabric forming polygenetic melanges this ultimately complicates their distinction from true tectonic melanges masking part of the recorded tectono sedimentary evolution of the associated convergent margin the contributions gathered in this thematic collection explore with different approaches from field structural and stratigraphic observations to geophysical analyses different types of polygenetic melange at various scales around the world these studies conclude that the understanding of this type of melange may provide crucial insights for a more detailed interpretation of the evolution of ancient and modern convergent margins and of processes and mechanisms triggering potential natural hazards earthquakes and tsunamis case studies include the apennines in the central mediterranean region the carpathians in central europe and the nankai prism in japan thematic collection this article is part of the polygenetic melanges a glimpse on tectonic sedimentary and diapiric recycling in convergent margins collection available at https www lyellcollection org cc polygenetic melanges

mineralogical assemblages forming at hyperalkaline warm springs hosted on ultramafic rocks a case study of oman and ligurian ophiolites 1 we report on the mineralogical assemblages found in the hyperalkaline springs hosted on liguria and oman ophiolites based on exhaustive x ray diffraction and scanning electron microprobe analyses in liguria hyperalkaline springs produce a thin brownish calcite precipitate that covers the bedrock due to the concomitant atmospheric co2 uptake and neutralization of the hyperalkaline waters no brucite and portlandite minerals are observed the discharge of alkaline waters in oman ophiolite forms white orange precipitates calcium carbonate minerals calcite and or aragonite are the most abundant and ubiquitous precipitates and are produced by the same mechanism as in liguria this process is observed as a thin surface crust made of rhombohedral calcite morphological features of aragonite vary from needle bouquet dumbbell spheroidal like habitus according to the origin of carbon temperature and ionic composition of the hyperalkaline springs and the biochemical and organic compounds brucite is observed both at hyperalkaline springs located at the thrust plane and at the paleo moho the varying mixing proportions between the surface runoff waters and the hyperalkaline ones control brucite precipitation the layered double hydroxide minerals occur solely in the vicinity of hyperalkaline springs emerging within the bedded gabbros finally the dominant mineralogical associations we found in oman ca bearing carbonates and brucite in a serpentinizing environment driven by the meteoric waters are surprisingly the same as those observed at the lost city hydrothermal site in a totally marine environment

speleothem calcite farmed in situ modern calibration of δ18o and δ13c paleoclimate proxies in a continuously monitored natural cave system abstract understanding the relationships between speleothem stable isotopes 13 c 18 o and in situ cave forcing mechanisms is important to interpreting ancient stalagmite paleoclimate records cave studies have demonstrated that the 18 o of inorganically precipitated low temperature speleothem calcite is systematically heavier than the 18 o of laboratory grown calcite for a given temperature to understand this apparent offset rainwater cave drip water groundwater and modern naturally precipitated calcite farmed in situ were grown at multiple locations inside hollow ridge cave in marianna florida high resolution micrometeorological air chemistry time series and ventilation regimes were also monitored continuously at two locations inside the cave supplemented with periodic bi monthly air gas grab sample transects throughout the cave cave air chemistry and isotope monitoring reveal density driven airflow pathways through hollow ridge cave at velocities of up to 1 2 m s 1 in winter and 0 4 m s 1 in summer hollow ridge cave displays a strong ventilation gradient in the front of the cave near the entrances resulting in cave air that is a mixture of soil gas and atmospheric co 2 a clear relationship is found between calcite 13 c and cave air ventilation rates estimated by proxies pco 2 and 222 rn calcite 13 c decreased linearly with distance from the front entrance to the interior of the cave during all seasons with a maximum entrance to interior gradient of 13 c caco3 7 a whole cave hendy test at multiple contemporaneous farming sites reveals that ventilation induces a 1 9 0 96 13 c offset between calcite precipitated in a ventilation flow path and calcite precipitated on the edge or out of flow paths this interpretation of the hendy test has implications for interpreting 13 c records in ancient speleothems calcite 13 c caco3 may be a proxy not only for atmospheric co 2 or overlying vegetation shifts but also for changes in cave ventilation due to dissolution fissures and ceiling collapse creating and plugging ventilation windows farmed calcite 18 o was found to exhibit a 0 82 0 24 offset from values predicted by both theoretical calculations and laboratory grown inorganic calcite unlike 13 c caco3 oxygen isotopes showed no ventilation effects i e 18 o caco3 appears to be a function of growth temperature only although we cannot rule out a small effect of unmeasured gradients in relative humidity evaporation accompanying ventilation our results support the findings of other cave investigators that water calcite fractionation factors observed in speleothem calcite are higher that those measured in laboratory experiments cave and laboratory calcite precipitates may differ mainly in the complex effects of kinetic isotope fractionation combining our data with other recent speleothem studies we find a new empirical relationship for cave specific water calcite oxygen isotope fractionation across a range of temperatures and cave environments 1000 ln 16 1 10 3 t 1 24 6 with a fractionation temperature dependence of 18 o t 0 177 c lower than the currently accepted 0 206 c

franciscan geologic history constrained by tectonic olistostromal high grade metamafic blocks in the iconic california mesozoic cenozoic accretionary complex figure 1 subduction generated a nw trending andean arc along the californian margin beginning at 175 ma coeval high pressure hp transformation of oceanic crust in an east dipping subduction zone probably accompanied plate convergence but recovered franciscan eclogite and garnet blueschist blocks chiefly possess younger recrystallization ages of 165 150 ma these jurassic hp metamafic rocks were sequestered in a low temperature environment well into cretaceous time fragments of actinolitic rinds partially surround many such high grade blocks only slightly younger than the hp metamorphism these rinds reflect metasomatic exchange between metabasalt and serpentinized harzburgite along the dynamic oceanic crust mantle hanging wall during storage of the mafic rocks at moderate depth high grade tectonic blocks later were brought toward the surface in circulating low density sheared mud matrix melange and or in buoyant serpentinite bodies most exotic hp metamafic blocks occur in melanges of the franciscan central belt reflecting tectonic insertion within the subduction zone not near surface additions to the clastic section however rare high grade clasts in feebly recrystallized franciscan conglomerates suggest erosion and sedimentary deposition for some hp blocks the addition of dense metabasaltic olistoliths to the mid and upper cretaceous section requires that these hp material were carried surfaceward first as tectonic fragments perhaps immersed in low density serpentinite or mud matrix melange then eroded and transported into the trench hp rocks are conspicuously lacking in coeval great valley strata whatever the origin of particular high grade rocks widespread post depositional shearing has largely obliterated their original natures but all dense metamafic blocks of jurassic recrystallization age must have been supplied to the cretaceous franciscan accretionary complex by entrainment in a low density circulating muddy matrix or serpentinite body the vast majority of exotic hp blocks resides in central belt melanges and appears to be tectonic rather than olistostromal in origin 1 pending yes

chemical and stable isotope composition of recent hot water travertines and associated thermal waters from egerszalok hungary depositional facies and non equilibrium fractionation abstract combined petrographical mineralogical geochemical and stable isotope analyses were conducted on an actively forming egerszalok travertine mound to determine the factors that govern carbonate precipitation and thus influence the use of travertines in paleoclimate reconstruction stable isotope analyses of oxygen carbon and hydrogen demonstrate both biological and abiological factors to control travertine deposition processes of morphology related outgassing had major effects upon isotopic composition continuous co 2 degassing and temperature change of the thermal water between the spring orifice and distal parts of the system caused stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of the precipitating travertines to increase from 2 7 to 4 3 relative to v pdb and from 10 5 to 14 7 relative to v smow respectively the travertines at the spring orifice t 67 c are composed of almost pure calcite with a 13 c value of 2 7 relative to v pdb enabling classification as intermediate between thermometeogene and thermogene in lower temperature water away from the spring orifice various amounts of aragonite 5 35 with higher sr concentrations precipitate from solution this phenomenon is exceptional in hot spring carbonate deposits and could be explained by fast carbonate precipitation due to the morphology related outgassing oxygen and hydrogen isotope measurements of the thermal water confirmed evaporation to be causing limited kinetic isotope fractionation however 18 o values of the travertine do show isotope shifts away from the equilibrium fractionation curve which is most probably related to the rapid calcite precipitation and transportation along the flow path our data closely follow the temperature 18 o calcite water relationship observed for other travertine localities this is slightly displaced from the experimental curve and determines an empirical travertine curve our study shows that this shift may result in an approximately 8 c difference in paleotemperature calculations depending upon which fractionation curve is used

geochronological and geochemical evidence of amphibolite from the hualong group northwest china implication for the early paleozoic accretionary tectonics of the central qilian belt abstract the hualong group located in the central qilian belt northwest china consists mainly of schist amphibolite quartzite and marble ranging from greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism on the basis of the medium grade metamorphism the group has been considered to comprise proterozoic basement rocks in this study geochemical sr nd isotopic and zircon u pb geochronological analyses were performed on lentoid amphibolites from the hualong group to characterize their age petrogensis and tectonic setting uranium lead zircon dating of amphibolite revealed a formation age of 456 2 ma and a metamorphic age of 440 1 ma major trace and rare earth element data indicate that the amphibolites are predominantly basaltic andesitic to andesitic rocks with island arc affinities the trace element patterns show enrichment in large ion lithophile elements and depletion in high field strength elements relative to the n morb which confirm their island arc signatures obviously enriched light rees la yb n 2 5 16 9 to chondrite normalized ree patterns further support this interpretation the e nd t values for the amphibolites range from 4 6 to 2 1 indicating subducted sediments as a larger endmember in the source geochemical data for these rocks suggest an island arc setting and the rocks were derived from the depleted mantle that was enriched by melts of subducted sediments in an active continental margin setting at ca 456 ma together with regional evidence it suggests that the hualong group is an accretionary complex that was incorporated into the central qilian belt during the 440 400 ma orogenic event

speleothem record of the last 180 ka in villars cave sw france investigation of a large δ18o shift between mis6 and mis5 the vil car 1 flowstone core from villars cave sw france provides one of the first european speleothem records extending back to 180 ka based on ueth tims and mc icp ms measurements the core offers a continuous record of termination ii and the last interglacial the penultimate deglaciation is characterized by a prominent 5 depletion in calcite d 18 o determining which specific environmental factors

multidating studies of batadomba cave sri lanka abstract in order to explore the reliability of dating techniques and to determine which materials are most useful for the establishment of precise chronologies 14 c esr tl and osl analyses were carried out on charcoal bones shells and sediments from the archaeological site of batadomba cave sri lanka the dating techniques were complemented by fourier transform infra red ftir spectrometry x ray diffraction analysis as well as scanning electron microscopy sem compared with the new and existing charcoal 14 c chronology radiocarbon dating of shells luminescence dating of sediments as well as esr dating of shells provided reasonable agreement outliers could be explained by diagenetic alteration of the samples esr dating of bones seems to he fraught with many complications but also provided some reasonable age estimates

calibration and application of the clumped isotope thermometer to foraminifera for high resolution climate reconstructions the reconstruction of past ocean temperatures is fundamental to the study of past climate changes therefore considerable effort has been invested in developing proxies for seawater temperatures one of the most recent and promising new proxy is carbonate clumped isotope thermometry in particular because it is based on thermodynamic equilibrium and not on biogeochemical proxies here we present a new calibration of the clumped isotope thermometer to foraminifera based on seven species of planktic and benthic foraminifera spanning a growth temperature range of 2 28 c we used a newly developed technique for the measurements of small samples to improve the applicability of this method to paleoceanography our data have a comparable precision 0 005 0 013 and confirm previous calibration studies based on biogenic and inorganic calcite we discuss possible sources of uncertainty such as over underestimation of the calcification temperatures species specific vital effects ph variations between the seawater and the vacuole water of the species and possible kinetic effects on the clumped isotope calibration to validate our calibration study and test the applicability of our measuring technique to paleoclimate and paleoceanographic studies we measured the isotope composition of globigerinoides ruber white at high resolution in a sediment core covering the last 700 years in the gulf of taranto mediterranean sea the results show that it is necessary to average a relatively large number of analyses to achieve a consistent temperature signal for the detection of small sea surface temperature changes although with the current analytical system clumped isotope thermometry is only applicable to the analysis of relatively large sst changes in marine sediments further technical improvements may make this a very powerful technique for paleoceanographic studies

block in matrix fabrics that lack shearing but possess composite cleavage planes a sedimentary melange origin for the yuwan accretionary complex in the ryukyu island arc japan while melanges have been taken to be a significant component of accretionary complexes the use of this term has been mostly descriptive given the lack of consensus concerning their genesis however many workers have interpreted asymmetric shear fabrics in melanges as evidence of a tectonic origin i e giving rise to tectonic melanges in contrast to olistostromes which are considered to be purely sedimentary in origin due at least in part to the lack of such shear fabrics it is still uncertain whether accretionary processes include those that involve the intense shearing of oceanic lithologies along with for example the incorporation and entrapment of exotic blocks by muddy matrices during sediment deposition and deformation in axial deep sea trench settings here we argue that the so called block in matrix fabrics that characterize accretionary complexes are primarily sedimentary in origin and are distinct from shear fabrics represented by tectonic melanges we also propose that following their accretion subsequent recycling of such oceanic materials is a common feature within evolving accretionary prisms lastly we draw attention to the observation that d1 pressure solution cleavage planes notably widespread in the lower cretaceous yuwan complex amami oshima island in the ryukyu arc sw japan are absent from the minor asymmetric shear structures that often characterize tectonic melanges in contrast we suggest that the yuwan complex represents the effects of broadly symmetric flattening this scenario is supported by our observation that the number of sedimentary and deformation events differs significantly compared to the single phase of shearing expected in tectonic melanges d minus 1 d 1 pressure solution and axial planar cleavages are only observed in exotic blocks and exhibit older accretionary deformation events within a preexisting accretionary prism of the existing structural associations sd1 is the oldest predating the d 1 sedimentary episode and it represents an oceanic sedimentary phase associated with the formation of a distinct type of block in matrix fabric produced by the accumulation of debris flows at seamount margins sd2 represents a succeeding sedimentary episode characterized by trench axis debris flow including oceanic inclusions derived from collapsed material from an older accretionary prism the resulting sd2 block in matrix fabric is one of the main lithologic components of the amami oshima yuwan complex here the sd2 episode typically includes an igneous fabric consisting of nonexotic intrusive and extrusive basalts within a terrigenous matrix suggesting that the yuwan prism may have also been associated with a trench trench ridge triple junction d1 coaxial deformation is observed to overprint all of the episodes represented although it has not destroyed or significantly sheared their respective fabrics especially in regard to the main sd2 block in matrix structures which are therefore considered to represent original sedimentary structures

unmetamorphosed sedimentary melange with high pressure metamorphic blocks in a nascent forearc basin setting abstract melanges crop out within unmetamorphosed basal great valley group gvg forearc basin strata and between gvg and the underlying coast range ophiolite cro in the san francisco bay region of coastal california these melanges include high pressure hp metamorphic blocks of the franciscan subduction complex that structurally underlies the unmetamorphosed cro as well as blocks of gvg and cro the matrix consists of foliated shale and serpentinite locally interleaved at centimeter scale the melanges strike and dip parallel to bounding gvg sandstones and conglomerates the matrix locally consists of sedimentary breccia and conglomerate made up of clasts of serpentinite and shale gvg sandstones within and bounding the melanges have detrital serpentinite clasts the field relationships indicate a sedimentary origin of the melanges as olistostromal deposits within latest jurassic to earliest cretaceous basal gvg the melanges correlate to units along the eastern margin of the northern coast ranges about 250 km to the north with restoration of post subduction dextral faulting and differ from the latter in the higher proportion of shale stronger matrix foliation and common occurrence of hp blocks similar units may have mistakenly been assigned to the franciscan owing to the foliated nature of the matrix and occurrence of hp blocks this and the broad distribution of localities indicate that these deposits are more widespread than previously believed exhumation rates of coarse grained hp melange blocks may have been 2 to 10 mm yr or higher based on the ages of similar blocks in the coast ranges burial depth of the blocks and depositional age of the enclosing strata exhumation and deposition of franciscan blocks in these gvg melanges predates preserved accretion of similar materials in the adjacent franciscan by at least 30 m y suggesting subduction erosion of previously accreted material or exhumation of the blocks in forearc serpentinite shale diapirs

esr dating of the quaternary deep sea sediment core rc17 177 abstract the deep sea sediment core rc17 177 from the west equatorial pacific was dated with esr using the signal at g 2 0036 of foraminifera the measured dose rate parameters were u th and k concentrations 234u 230th and 231pa excess initial values were assumed to be constant average water content derived from carbonate content and a k factor of 0 1 0 02 own experiment the esr signal growth curves on irradiation have been fitted by single exponential saturation functions however significant deviations from a single exponential form have been observed for larger doses agreement between esr ages from the signal at g 2 0036 and those from an independent 18o stratigraphy was observed up to 800 ka the existence of outliers could be explained by variable initial th excess or water content at different depths on the contrary the signal at g 2 0006 delivered ads and corresponding ages that are far too small due to a low thermal stability

structural styles in mesozoic and cenozoic melanges in the western cordillera of north america the term melange is currently used to describe several different kinds of mudstone rich rocks that are broadly characterized by an obscure stratigraphy stratal disruption or a chaotic block in matrix fabric four types of melange which can be defined in outcrop on the basis of mesoscopic fabric and lithologic composition are particularly widespread and distinctive type i includes sequences of originally interbedded sandstone and mudstone that record incipient to thorough disruption and fragmentation of strata accomplished largely by layer parallel extension type ii consists of similarly deformed thin layers of green tuff radiolarian ribbon chert and minor sandstone originally interbedded with black mudstone disruption in both types i and ii which probably occurred while the sediments were incompletely consolidated has been ascribed to either imbricate faulting in accretionary wedges or gravitationally driven deformation type iii comprises inclusions of diverse shapes sizes and compositions enveloped in a locally scaly pelitic matrix the ultimate source of fragments is obscure because the majority were not derived by either the progressive disruption of interbedded sediments or in situ tectonic plucking and abrasion of adjacent rocks although some type iii melanges may have originated deep within accretionary prisms final emplacement as olistostromes muddy debris flow deposits or mud diapirs seems likely type iii melanges are mechanically analogous to scaly sheared serpentinites many probably have been tectonically remobilized or even intruded into shallow level fault zones type iv consists of lenticular inclusions bounded by an anastomosing network of subparallel faults their fabric records progressive slicing in brittle fault zones each of the four types of melange described here could in theory have formed in a variety of settings on or within an accretionary wedge at an active convergent margin none can yet be singled out as a uniquely diagnostic subduction melange

electron spin resonance esr dating abstract esr dating has been systematically applied in earth sciences and archaeology since 1975 when ikeya dated a stalactite from the akiyoshi cave in japan in the meantime this new technique has been successfully applied to the dating of materials such as speleothems spring deposited travertines mollusc shells corals and tooth enamel the present research focuses on the dating of quartz which allows the age assessment of heated ceramics volcanic rocks intrafault material or windblown sediments esr dating is based on the measurement of the number of paramagnetic centers in a mineral these centers are generated by alpha beta and gamma radiation of the matural radioelements such as u th and k and have accumulated over time two parameters have to be determined the accumulated dose ad and the dose rate d to which the sample was exposed this review comprises three major parts a introduction into esr dating b application of the method and c appendices giving detailed description of dose rate calculation physical basis of electron spin resonance the esr spectrometer and esr lines the major emphasis lies on the outline of the application of esr dating this includes the discussion of the esr signals of the various materials sampling sample preparation and measurement techniques

accounting for kinetic isotope effects in soreq cave israel speleothems abstract there is growing evidence that speleothem calcite grows out of isotopic equilibrium with cave drip water with clumped isotope analysis providing a sensitive indicator for disequilibrium this disequilibrium is primarily the result of co2 degassing from a thin film of water leading to irreversible 13c enrichment and reversible 18o enrichment and 47 depletion here we examine isotopic disequilibrium in soreq cave israel using multiple modern day and late holocene speleothems the variability observed in 47 is small within the analytical uncertainty but the 47 derived temperature is offset from the modern cave temperature by 4 c reflecting degassing related disequilibrium that is fairly constant spatially 18o is more heterogeneous reflecting short term variability in drip water 18ow combined with variability in the speleothem growth rates and related fractionation between dissolved carbonate species and the growing calcite mineral this complexity however is markedly reduced by spatial or temporal averaging enabling an interpretation of the cave paleoclimate record we examine the soreq cave speleothems through a comparison with 2 types of thermometers one is based on caco3 precipitation from a bulk solution and is typically used for calibration of the 47 and 18o thermometers a second that is based on caco3 precipitating at the surface of the solution thus focusing and amplifying the thin film characteristics of speleothem formation soreq cave speleothems are intermediate between these thermometers providing a cave specific thermometer calibration

distribution of displacement on and evolution of a young transform fault system the northern san andreas fault system california this paper presents a working model for the spatial and temporal distribution of dextral slip on the northern san andreas fault system of coastal california based primarily on field relations in the san francisco bay area and offers insight into the evolution of a young transform fault system a fundamental difference between this and previous models of slip distribution is that this model assigns negligible slip to the pilarcitos fault which has been suggested to have 120 to 250 km of post early miocene dextral slip in previous models because separation on the san francisco peninsula reach of the san andreas fault is about 25 km and displacement on the san andreas fault in central california is 310 to 320 km more than 250 km of late cenozoic dextral slip must be accommodated east of the san francisco peninsula the distribution of this dextral slip is constrained by offset late cenozoic and basement units slip distribution combined with ages of offset features and plate boundary kinematic constraints show that the distribution of slip rates on groups of faults along the transform boundary has changed in an irregular fashion through time in contrast to existing models that propose progressive eastward migration of active faulting in the san andreas system in addition to the shifting patterns of displacement a migrating transition zone connecting the eastern faults of the strike slip system to the mendocino triple junction may have resulted in distributed dextral faulting and shortening in the northernmost and youngest part of the transform fault system

radioisotopic and biostratigraphic age relations in the coast range ophiolite northern california implications for the tectonic evolution of the western cordillera the coast range ophiolite cro in northern california includes two distinct remnants the elder creek ophiolite is a classic suprasubduction zone ophiolite with three sequential plutonic suites layered gabbro wehrlite pyroxenite quartz diorite a mafi c to felsic dike complex and mafi c felsic volcanic rocks the entire suite is cut by late mid oceanic ridge basalt morb dikes and overlain by ophiolitic breccia the stonyford volcanic complex sfvc comprises three volcanic series with intercalated chert horizons that form a submarine volcano enclosed in sheared serpentinite structurally below this seamount are melange blocks of cro similar to elder creek u pb zircon ages from plagiogranite and quartz diorites at elder creek range in age from 165 ma to 172 ma u pb zircon ages obtained from cro melange blocks below the sfvc are similar 166 172 ma 40 ar 39 ar ages of alkali basalt glass in the upper sfvc are all younger at 164 ma radiolarians extracted from chert lenses intercalated with basalt in the sfvc indicate that the sedimentary strata range in age from bathonian unitary association zone 6 6 of baumgartner et al 1995a near the base of the complex to late callovian to early kimmeridgian unitary association zones 8 10 in the upper part the sfvc sedimentary record preserves evidence of a major faunal change wherein relatively small sized polytaxic radiolarian faunas were replaced by very robust oligotaxic nassellarian dominated faunas that included praeparvicingula spp we suggest that cro formation began after the early middle jurassic 172 180 ma collision of an exotic or fringing arc with north america and initiation of a new or reconfi gured east dipping subduction zone the data show that the cro formed prior to the late jurassic nevadan orogeny probably by rapid forearc extension above a nascent subduction zone we infer that cro spreading ended with the collision of an oceanic spreading center ca 164 ma coincident with the oldest high grade blocks in the structurally underlying franciscan assemblage we further suggest that the classic nevadan orogeny represents a response to spreading center collision with shallow subduction of young lithosphere causing the initial compressional deformation and with a subsequent change in north american plate motion to rapid northward drift j2 cusp causing sinistral transpression and transtension in the sierra foothills these data are not consistent with models for late jurassic arc collision in the sierra foothills or a back arc origin for the cro

paleoclimate reconstruction using carbonate clumped isotope thermometry carbonate clumped isotope thermometry is a relatively new paleotemperature proxy based on measurements of the degree of ordering of 13 c and 18 o into bonds with each other making the 13 c 18 o 16 o 2 2 ion group in lattices of carbonate minerals this technique has several unusual properties that complement existing methods of paleoclimate reconstruction most importantly it is based on a homogeneous isotope exchange equilibrium and thus constrains temperature independent of the isotopic composition of waters from which carbonates grew this method also appears to be generally insensitive to vital effects that compromise many other paleothermometers based on the chemical properties of biominerals or organic matter at least for those organisms that have been subjected to systematic study to date corals and foraminifera however discrepancies among some calibrations particularly at low temperatures may point toward the existence of vital effects in mollusks and other organisms this review discusses the principles and calibrations of the technique its uses in combination with conventional stable isotope measurements to constrain the 18 o of past waters preservation of paleotemperatures in ancient materials as well as current problems in our understanding of calibrations and interlaboratory data comparisons

progress in esr dating of pleistocene corals a new approach for de determination abstract esr dating has been widely applied for dating of corals of the age up to 500 000 to 600 000 years ago many studies have yielded promising results but the accurate determination of the equivalent dose d e remains a major limitation inflexion points in the dose response curve are shown to hinder correct fitting and limit the reliability of d e values here we present a new approach to obtain more reliable d e values

quantifying kinetic fractionation in bunker cave speleothems using δ47 abstract isotopic signals in speleothems are used for investigating paleoclimate variability on land and are useful to constrain the dating of prominent climate events a quantitative use however is limited by an incomplete understanding of parameters contributing to the carbon and oxygen isotope signals these include external and environmental parameters such as 18 o of cave drip waters as well as internal parameters associated with speleothem formation such as the presence of non equilibrium effects and especially the magnitude of their isotopic shifts we explore the use of clumped isotopes as a new tool for investigating the kinetic isotope effect in speleothems holocene and modern speleothems from bunker cave germany as well as modern material from the adjacent dechen cave are all offset from the equilibrium relationship due to kinetic fractionation this kinetic offset in clumped isotopes is observed in a stalagmite despite mostly negative hendy tests providing a sensitive indicator for kinetic fractionation in cave carbonates the temperature dependence of the clumped isotope values 0 005 per c is low compared to the observed magnitude of kinetic offsets between 0 021 and 0 075 so that the mean offsets in apparent temperatures due to kinetic isotope effects are on the order of 10 c as a result clumped isotopes are useful in identifying temporal variations in the kinetic fractionation in a stalagmite when the temperatures during the speleothem growth period are either relatively constant variations the variations in the kinetic isotope fractionation in bunker cave are associated with changing drip water super saturation with periods of stronger prior calcite precipitation associated with lower kinetic offsets in the speleothem calcite in contrast stalagmite growth rates show no direct correlation with the degree of kinetic fractionation in the investigated range 13 1500 m a

the franciscan complex california usa the model case for return flow in a subduction channel put to the test the model of return flow in a subduction channel rfsc is put to the test by opposing key assumptions of the model to an integrated review of field data petrology geochronology and structures of high p melanges of the franciscan subduction complex fsc to which rfsc has been first applied key assumptions are i the subduction channel sc is a low viscosity zone of finite width restrained by the rigid subducted and overriding plates ii forced return flow in the sc is associated with formation and km scale displacements of small tectonic blocks 1 km in a highly deformable matrix iii this results in apparently random distributions and close associations of blocks exhumed from different depths hence the block in matrix structures and exotic blocks in high p melanges would reflect the structural state at depth of the sc on the basis of the predictions ensuing from the key assumptions of the rfsc model on the rock record it is detailed why the actual record of the high p melanges of the fsc does not comply with this perception the record rather reflects recurring subduction underplating associated decollement erosion and mingling of high p rocks by sedimentary processes in the trench all occurring in an 80 m y lasting period distributed deformation of the melange matrix is unrelated to formation of apparently chaotic block in matrix structures since i creation subduction ascent and cooling of exotic blocks on counterclockwise p t paths predates deposition of the bulk of the metasediments constituting the matrix by 20 40 m y ii deformation of the matrix occurs during a second loop of high p metamorphism postdating creation and ascent of the exotic blocks by at least 20 40 m y iii the magnitudes of distributed deformation of the matrix are too low to cause juxtaposition of blocks different in p t paths against each other from km scale vertical distances instead narrow few tens of metres wide fault shear and decollement zones formed at locally high pore fluid pressures accumulate the major tectonic transport during high p metamorphism they bound several 100s of metres wide tabular tectonic bodies that are coherent sedimentary processes at the active continental margin formed the bulk of the melanges tectonically formed block in matrix structures within the shear and decollement zones are unrelated to juxtaposition of exotic blocks universal diagnostic criteria are developed to identify return rfsc as a mechanism that potentially amalgamates heterogeneous metamorphic terrains by using field data petrology and geochronology

devils hole paleotemperatures and implications for oxygen isotope equilibrium fractionation subaqueous calcite in devils hole nevada was growing continuously from slightly super saturated groundwater providing a 570 kyr long o18 paleoclimate record due to its very slow growth it has been assumed to have grown under conditions of isotopic equilibrium however its holocene o18 value is 1 5 higher than predicted by laboratory precipitation based oxygen isotope thermometer calibrations the suggestion that devils hole calcite anchors the isotope thermometer to more 18o enriched values has stirred a debate as to which paleothermometer calibration is relevant for paleoclimate and casts doubt on the validity of o18 based paleotemperatures we used clumped isotopes to test the assumptions of the devils hole alternative 18o thermometer carbonate clumped isotopes are a temperature proxy that measures the abundance of 13c18o bonds in caco3 this proxy is independent of the water composition and therefore gives independent estimates of temperatures when calcite forms at thermodynamic and isotopic equilibrium we find that devils hole water paleotemperatures were constant at 30 6 2 6 c between 27 and 180 ka similarly to the modern groundwater temperature of 32 8 34 3 c the proximity of the devils hole clumped isotope data to values expected based on modern groundwater temperatures supports the notion that devils hole calcite grew under equilibrium conditions therefore the commonly used laboratory based o18 temperature calibrations should be reconsidered the constant water temperature over the glacial interglacial cycles indicates that the long devils hole o18 record reflects only variations in the groundwater o18 values and as such represents a valuable archive of paleoclimate and isotope paleohydrology

deformation of the eastern franciscan belt northern california abstract the late jurassic and cretaceous eastern franciscan belt of the northern california coast range consists of two multiply deformed blueschist facies terranes the pickett peak and yolla bolly terranes four deformations have been recognized in the pickett peak terrane and three in the yolla bolly terrane the earliest recognized penetrative fabric d1 occurs only in the pickett peak terrane the later penetrative fabrics d2 and d3 occur in both the yolla bolly and pickett peak terranes d1 and d2 apparently represent fabrics that formed during subduction and accretion of the terranes fabrics from both d1 and d2 are consistent with sw ne movement directions with respect to their present geographic positions d3 postdates blueschist facies metamorphism of the terranes and may be related to emplacement of the terranes to higher structural levels a broad regional warping d4 is evident from the map pattern and folding of large metamorphosed thrust sheets d4 folds may be related to deformation associated with oblique convergence along the continental margin in late cretaceous and or early tertiary time

early cretaceous transition from nonaccretionary behavior to strongly accretionary behavior within the franciscan subduction complex 1 during subduction at the franciscan trench beginning at 170 160 ma and continuing to the present marine sedimentary and lesser volcanic rocks have been underthrust accreted and metamorphosed to form the franciscan accretionary wedge the south fork mountain schist sfms forms the eastern margin and structural top of the wedge and so was apparently the first unit of substantial size to accrete into the franciscan new u pb ages of detrital zircons and 40ar 39ar ages of metamorphic white micas indicate that the sfms accreted surprisingly late in the time span of franciscan subduction probably at ca 123 ma at least parts of the valentine spring formation and yolla bolly terrane accreted soon thereafter therefore accretion of the sfms apparently marks a fundamental transition from virtually nonaccretionary behavior to strongly accretionary behavior in the franciscan forearc about 75 of modern forearcs are nonaccretionary so recognition of an early nonaccretionary period is consistent with modern examples the franciscan mafic high grade exotic blocks and related very small slabs which yield ca 132 to 169 ma metamorphic ages are the only well documented rock record of the early 40 m y long nonaccretionary period and represent very sparse accretion during that interval the transition into an accretionary regime at ca 123 ma was essentially synchronous with the end of the late jurassic early cretaceous magmatic lull in the sierra nevada magmatic arc with the waning of early cretaceous faulting and warping within the great valley forearc basin and possibly with changes in motion vectors of the pacific and farallon plates

dynamics of orogenic wedges and the uplift of high pressure metamorphic rocks subduction accretion complexes can be approximated as wedge shaped continua with a rigid buttress behind and a subducting litho spheric slab beneath thick wedges undergoing prograde metamorphism have a negligible long term yield strength and are likely to exhibit a complex nonlinear viscous rheology such a wedge will tend to deform internally until it reaches a stable configuration in which the gravitational forces generated by the wedge geometry balance the traction exerted on its underside by the subducting slab accretion of material at the wedge front will lengthen the wedge and cause it to shorten internally to regain the stable geometry this shortening will be expressed as late out of sequence thrusting backthrusting and folding conversely underplating of sediment or crustal slices will thicken the wedge which may need to extend internally to regain stability extension will cause listric normal faults that may merge downward into zones of ductile extension continued underplating at depth and compensating extension above provides a mechanism for bringing high p low t metamorphic rocks to upper levels in the rear of the wedge where they are commonly observed many major tectonic boundaries in convergent orogens such as the coast range thrust in the franciscan complex major nappe contacts in the alps and the contact between the nevado filabride and higher betic nappe complexes in the betic cordillera show abrupt increases in metamorphic grade downward across them this is consistent with their origin or reactivation as uplift related extensional structures

geochemical evidence for the tectonic setting of the coast range ophiolite a composite island arc oceanic crust terrane in western california the middle to late jurassic age coast range ophiolite cro of california contains two geochemically distinct volcanic rock associations that formed in different tectonic settings volcanic rocks from the southern cro point sal cuesta ridge stanley mountain llanada quinto creek and del puerto and parts of the northern cro healdsburg elder creek are similar to low k tholeiites and calc alkaline rocks of the island arc suite the thin volcanic sections of these ophiolite remnants suggest formation by intra arc rifting in contrast volcanic rocks from stonyford seamount and paskenta in the northern cro are transitional subalkaline metabasalts with geochemical characteristics similar to enriched mid ocean ridge basalts or ocean island tholeiites these rocks are associated with tithonian radiolarian cherts and may be part of the franciscan complex alternatively they may represent a change in tectonic setting within the cro during the late jurassic regardless the cro as currently conceived cannot be considered a single terrane with one mode of origin

four cordilleran paleorivers that connected sevier thrust zones in idaho to depocenters in california washington wyoming and indirectly alaska upper cretaceous sandstones from 17 localities from california to southeastern alaska united states contain unexpectedly large populations of detrital zircons with proterozoic u pb ages with age peaks at 1800 1650 and 1380 ma these peaks are indicative of a sediment source region in the southern part of the proterozoic belt supergoup basin in central idaho which hosts 1800 1650 ma detrital zircons and which was intruded by rift related 1380 ma bimodal plutons and sills belt rocks were strongly uplifted and eroded during late cretaceous sevier shortening and fed four paleoriver systems the lemhi pass hawley creek river system flowed east and sourced the beaverhead harebell pinyon nonmarine megafan in the cordilleran foreland basin the kione river flowed southwest to northern california where it sourced a very large ca 82 80 ma 600 m thick delta and submarine fan complex within the northern great valley forearc basin considerable kione detritus also transited the forearc basin to reach the franciscan trench sourcing a pulse of deposition and subduction accretion in central california and even part of southern california the swakane river flowed northwest out of idaho into washington sourcing the protolith for the high grade swakane gneiss more speculatively a yakutat river may have flowed northwest and deposited yakutat strata in a trench off washington or british columbia before those rocks were translated north to southeastern alaska recognition of a major source area in central idaho for zircons with an uncommon age of 1380 ma helps constrain the ca 85 65 ma paleogeography and paleotectonics of major sectors of the north american convergent margin orogen

glacial interglacial temperature variations in soreq cave speleothems as recorded by clumped isotope thermometry clumped isotope thermometry is based on analyzing mass 47 in co2 extracted from carbonates and uses the tracer mass 47 anomaly 47 47 is defined as the deviation of r47 from that expected for a random distribution of isotopologues and reflects a temperature dependent preference of 13c and 18o to create a bond with each other in co2 or in the carbonate lattice being an internal characteristic of the carbonate mineral it is independent of the isotopic composition of the water in which equilibrium precipitation of the carbonate occurs and can therefore be used to independently determine carbonate growth temperatures this work provides a first examination of the applicability of clumped isotopes thermometry to reconstructing the growth temperatures of speleothems by examining the glacial interglacial variations of the 47 values of speleothem carbonates from soreq cave israel the results indicate that the last glacial maximum temperatures were 6 7 c colder than modern day temperature and a sample at 56 ky bp was 3 c colder than the modern early holocene temperatures were slightly above modern day and late holocene temperatures were slightly below modern day these temperature variations are similar to those previously estimated for eastern mediterranean sea surface water cave water was 18o depleted in the holocene compared to modern day by 0 6 1 and 1 1 more enriched in the last glacial maximum comparison of these cave water 18o values with fluid inclusion d values indicated a late holocene d excess value within the range of modern rainfall implying not vert similar45 relative humidity last glacial maximum and early holocene d excess values were significantly lower suggesting relative humidity of not vert similar60 and not vert similar70 respectively the temperatures reported in this study were empirically corrected for a non equilibrium artifact observed in a modern speleothem the similarity of the temperature variations obtained here to other independent records in the region suggests that the 47 temperature calibration slope observed in inorganic synthetic calcite and marine organisms may also be applied in speleothems but the offset observed in modern temperature suggests that the intercept is different so that a separate calibration is needed for accurate absolute temperature reconstruction using speleothem clumped isotopes similar examination of additional caves would be necessary to determine whether such empirical correction can be generally applied or is it a unique characteristic of soreq cave

subducted sedimentary serpentinite melanges record of multiple burial exhumation cycles and subduction erosion abstract serpentinite matrix melanges give insight into large scale convergent plate margin processes particularly because of the derivation of the serpentinite from oceanic mantle similar to shale matrix melanges a field geologist may easily recognize the sedimentary origins of little deformed serpentinite matrix melanges but melanges within accretionary prisms have undergone significant deformation and recrystallization of matrix serpentinite melanges of the franciscan subduction complex of california have a seemingly intact and foliated matrix such exposures contrast sharply with the granular undeformed sedimentary serpentinite melanges of the coeval great valley group gvg forearc basin deposits that depositionally overlie coast range ophiolite that structurally overlies the franciscan nonetheless franciscan serpentinite melanges display evidence of sedimentary origins including sedimentary breccia composed of exotic block material tolay ridge sedimentary serpentinite breccia panoche pass road basal serpentinite conglomerate with exotic clasts sunol regional wilderness and serpentinite sandstones and conglomerates including a basal conglomerate overlying coherent metagraywacke tiburon peninsula these examples record two burial exhumation cycles to blueschist facies depths in addition a melange breccia in the panoche pass area may have components that record three burial exhumation cycles to blueschist or greater depth exhumation rates for various cycles ranged from about 1 2 to 10 mm year the tiburon peninsula serpentinite melange occupies the structurally highest horizon in the franciscan of the san francisco bay area and regional field relationships indicate deposition at ca 100 ma apparently about 65 ma of subduction erosion non accretion followed initiation of franciscan subduction in this region the oldest franciscan serpentinite melanges are at least 35 ma younger than sedimentary serpentinites of the gvg subduction erosion may have facilitated reworking of forearc sedimentary serpentinite deposits into the trench evidence of multiple burial exhumation cycles indicates reworking of subduction complex material consistent with existence of clastic units that have fossils indicative of significantly older ages than detrital zircon ages

an explanation of the effect of seawater carbonate concentration on foraminiferal oxygen isotopes abstract stable oxygen isotope ratios of foraminiferal calcite are widely used in paleoceanography to provide a chronology of temperature changes during ocean history it was recently demonstrated that the stable oxygen isotope ratios in planktonic foraminifera are affected by changes of the seawater chemistry carbonate system the 18 o of the foraminiferal calcite decreases with increasing co 3 2 concentration or p h this paper provides a simple explanation for seawater chemistry dependent stable oxygen isotope variations in the planktonic foraminifera orbulina universa which is derived from oxygen isotope partitioning during inorganic precipitation the oxygen isotope fractionation between water and the dissolved carbonate species s h 2 co 3 hco 3 co 3 2 decreases with increasing p h provided that calcium carbonate is formed from a mixture of the carbonate species in proportion to their relative contribution to s the oxygen isotopic composition of caco 3 also decreases with increasing p h the slope of shell 18 o vs co 3 2 of orbulina universa observed in culture experiments is 0 0022 mol kg 1 1 spero et al 1997 whereas the slope derived from inorganic precipitation is 0 0024 mol kg 1 the theory also provides an explanation of the nonequilibrium fractionation effects in synthetic carbonates described by kim and o neil 1997 which can be understood in terms of equilibrium fractionation at different p h the results presented here emphasize that the oxygen isotope fractionation between calcium carbonate and water does not only depend on the temperature but also on the p h of the solution from which it is formed

oxygen isotope fractionation between calcite and fluid as a function of growth rate and temperature an in situ study the 18o content of carbonates expressed as 18o is widely used in paleothermometry yet it is clear from comparison of experimental results and natural carbonate samples that chemical isotopic equilibrium is not always achieved in nature this observation underscores the importance of exploring possible effects of growth rate on isotopic fractionation which is the focus of this study in situ secondary ion mass spectrometry sims analyses of 18o were performed on single crystals of experimentally grown calcite the change in growth rate v over time within each crystal was monitored by addition of multiple rare earth element ree spikes into the fluid from which the calcite grew the values of 18o in bulk calcites and experimental fluids were measured by stable isotope ratio mass spectrometers the average sims 18o overlaps with those determined by conventional mass spectrometry within analytical uncertainty the fractionation factor expressed as 18o approaches its equilibrium value in slowly grown calcites v 0 02 nm s and decreases by 1 5 with increasing growth rate from 10 3 to 0 34 nm s here 18o 103 ln 18o and 18o 18o 16o calcite 18o 16o fluid our results provide the first in situ evidence that under equilibrium conditions 18o may be depleted in the near surface region of calcite relative to the bulk crystal lattice and that this 18o depleted zone can be captured during rapid crystal growth crystal growth rate is therefore a potentially important consideration when using 18o in natural carbonates as a proxy for ocean and terrestrial temperature