lower crustal deformation beneath the central transverse ranges southern california results from the los angeles region seismic experiment 1 we present a p wave velocity model derived from active source seismic data collected during the 1994 los angeles region seismic experiment our model extends previously published upper crustal velocity models to mantle depths our model was developed by both ray tracing through a layered model and calculating travel times through a gridded model it includes an 8 km thick crustal root centered beneath the surface trace of the san andreas fault north of the highest topography in the san gabriel mountains a simple mass balance calculation suggests that 36 km of north south shortening across the san andreas fault in the central transverse ranges could have formed this root if north south compression began when the big bend in the san andreas fault formed at 5 ma 36 km of shortening implies a north south contraction rate of 7 1 mm yr across the central transverse ranges if instead north south compression began when the transverse ranges formed at 3 4 3 9 ma 36 km of shortening implies a contraction rate of 9 2 10 6 mm yr north of the san andreas fault the mojave desert crust has a low velocity 6 3 km s mid and lower crust and a 28 km deep moho south of the san andreas fault beneath the los angeles and san gabriel valley basins there is a fast 6 6 6 8 km s thick 10 12 km lower crust with a 27 km deep moho farther south still the lower crust of the continental borderland is fast 6 6 6 8 km s and thin 5 km with a shallow 22 km deep moho

dolostones from grand cayman british west indies abstract pervasively dolomitized tertiary strata on grand cayman are dominated by heterogeneous dolostones that are composed of both low ca calcium dolomite lcd 55 mol caco3 homogeneous dolostones formed of either lcd or hcd are rare some dolostones contain dolomite crystals that are characterized by oscillatory zones 1 10 m thick of lcd and hcd whereas others have rims of lcd surrounding cores of hcd in some dolostones bioclasts formed of lcd are embedded in a matrix of hcd an 1 18o difference between the lcd and hcd can be attributed to the natural covariance that exists between the 18o and mol caco3 in dolomite there are no significant differences in the 87sr 86sr ratios of the lcd and hcd there is no consistent vertical or lateral pattern to the distribution of lcd and hcd in the cayman dolostones even in closely spaced sampling sites such variability is more consistent with growth of individual dolomite crystals being controlled by processes that operated around the surfaces of individual crystals rather than by large scale changes in the dolomitizing fluids this interpretation is consistent with the development of oscillatory zoning which is attributed to precipitation of different phases or minerals from the same parent fluid because of competition between interface controlled and diffusion controlled growth kinetics dolomitization of the tertiary strata on grand cayman was probably mediated by seawater or modified seawater nevertheless small scale intrinsic factors controlled the incorporation of ca in the dolomite lattice and accordingly the geochemical parameters that are intimately linked to the mol caco3 these small scale intrinsic controls must be factored into any model to explain the formation of tertiary island dolostones

crustal structure of the diablo and gabilan ranges central california a reinterpretation of existing data the compressional wave velocity structure of the crust of the coast ranges of central california was modeled from seismic refraction data reported previously for both the diablo range east of the san andreas fault and the gabilan range west of the fault two alternative velocity models were derived for each range by iterative two dimensional ray tracing each pair of models shows a sedimentary layer and an underlying crust composed of three or four layers for the diablo range the velocities in the sediments range from 2 9 to 4 8 km sec and the depth to basement varies from 0 2 km within the central diablo range to a maximum of 3 4 km north of the livermore valley in the gabilan range the velocities in the sediments overlying the granitic basement are higher north of the gabilan range 3 6 to 4 6 km sec than to the south 2 2 to 3 8 km sec and the depth to basement both north and south of the range is less than 2 km below the sediments and fractured near surface material a resolvable difference in the crustal velocity structure on opposite sides of the san andreas fault indicates compositional differences at depth the upper crust has an average velocity of 5 7 km sec at depths between 3 and 16 3 km in the diablo range and an average velocity of 6 1 km sec at depths between 2 and 9 1 km in the gabilan range the lower crust has an average velocity of 6 9 km sec at depths between 16 3 and 30 km in the diablo range and an average velocity of 6 5 km sec at depths between 10 and 24 km in the gabilan range the models also show that the depth to moho differs by several kilometers between the two ranges in the diablo range models the crust mantle boundary becomes shallower from south to north rising from a depth of 30 to 26 km in the gabilan range models the moho is at a depth of 24 to 26 km depending on the velocity assumed at the base of the crust laboratory measurements of rock velocities and the mapped surface geology allow us to interpret the velocity models in terms of crustal composition we conclude that the diablo range probably consists largely of metagraywacke to a depth of 16 3 km and gabbroic material below this depth the crust of the gabilan range probably consists of granitic material to a depth of 9 1 km and gneissic material below this depth franciscan rocks are not regionally present in the crust of the gabilan range if the gneissic lower crust consists of the same rocks as are found at the surface in the gabilan range then the presumed large scale lateral motion of the salinian block has taken place at or below the crust mantle boundary rather than along a mid crustal slip plane

carbon isotope stratigraphy across the permian triassic boundary a review abstract the palaeozoic mesozoic transition is marked by distinct perturbations in the global carbon cycle resulting in a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion at the permian triassic p t boundary well known from a plethora of marine and continental sediments potential causes for this negative 13 c trend and their links to the latest permian mass extinction have been intensively debated in the literature in order to draw conclusions regarding causation a general 13 c curve was defined after consideration of all available datasets and with due reference to the biostratigraphic background the most important features of the p t carbon isotope trend are the following the 4 7 13 c decline lasting 500 000 years is gradual and began in the changhsingian at the stratigraphic level of the c bachmanni zone the decreasing trend is interrupted by a short term positive event that starts at about the latest permian low latitude marine main extinction event horizon eh indicating that the extinction itself cannot have caused the negative carbon isotope excursion after this short term positive excursion the 13 c decline continues to a first minimum at about the p t boundary a subsequent slight increase is followed by a second occasionally two peaked minimum in the lower and middle i isarcica zone the negative carbon isotope excursion was most likely a consequence of a combination of different causes that may include 1 direct and indirect effects of the siberian trap and contemporaneous volcanism and 2 anoxic deep waters occasionally reaching very shallow sea levels a sudden release of isotopically light methane from oceanic sediment piles or permafrost soils as a source for the negative carbon isotope trend is questionable at least for the time span a little below the eh and somewhat above the p t boundary

diagenetic origin of carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of permian triassic boundary strata bulk carbonate 13 c and 18 o compositions of profiles across permian triassic p t boundary sections in china italy austria and iran show wide varieties of trends the 13 c depletions occur in all sections and range from 2 to 8 pdb in magnitude these excursions take place over intervals ranging from less than 0 1 to more than 40 m the 18 o values may increase or decrease toward the p t boundary but decrease sharply by 2 9 pdb at or above the boundary cross plots of 13 c and 18 o values from all sections show positive covariance wide differences in magnitudes trends and position of the excursions relative to the boundary as well as the covariance patterns suggest that p t boundary 18 o and 13 c values are partially or entirely diagenetic in origin formed in association with exposure surfaces this interpretation implies that p t boundary sections studied till date were subaerially exposed before during and after the mass extinction resulting in the removal of strata containing key information about the extinction mechanism this inference is consistent with the paleontological studies that have shown the presence of gaps at the boundary and further supported by the sharp lithologic changes observed at virtually all p t boundary sections subaerial exposures are documented by detailed sedimentologic and isotopic studies from central tethyan sections in abadeh and shah reza in iran proposed p t boundary extinction models are based on isotopic values that are diagenetic in origin and stratigraphic sections that are incomplete leading to extinction mechanisms with little physical supporting evidence

an alternative model for positive shifts in shallow marine carbonate 13c and 18o positive shifts in global seawater d 13 cdic are related to changes in the ratio of organic relative to inorganic carbon burial in oceanic basins whereas factors such as climatic cooling and the accumulation of polar ice are known to cause positive shifts in d 18 o here an alternative model is proposed for the formation of local positive isotope shifts in shallow marine settings the model involves geochemically altered platform top water masses and the effects of early meteoric diagenesis on carbonate isotopic composition both mechanisms are active on modern sub tropical carbonate platforms and result in low carbonate d 13 ca ndd 18 o relative to typical oceanic values during high amplitude transgressive events the impact of isotopically light meteoric fluids on the carbonate geochemistry is much reduced and 13 c depleted platform top water mixes with open oceanic water masses having higher isotope values both factors are recorded as a transient increase in carbonate 13 c and 18 o relative to low background values these processes must be taken into consideration when interpreting the geochemical record of ancient epeiric seas

geology of the point arguello discovery chevron as operator for its partners phillips champlin and impkemix discovered the point arguello oil field in 1981 the discovery well the chevron et al p 0316 1 was drilled in federal waters 8 5 mi 13 7 km south of point arguello california delineation drilling has confirmed the discovery of a giant oil field with estimated recoverable reserves in excess of 300 million bbl of oil the oil field is located within a small depocenter at the southern edge of the offshore santa maria basin this local depocenter may contain over 15 000 ft 4 600 m of neogene rocks the point arguello accumulation is trapped in a large north northwest trending anticlinal complex the primary reservoir is the middle and upper miocene monterey formation composed of fractured cherts porcellanites siliceous mudstones and dolostones calculated fracture permeabilities range up to 3 darcys crestal wells have indicated productivities after acid of approximately 6 000 bopd

evidence for a weak and overpressured decollement beneath sediment dominated accretionary prisms we present structural data from several underthrust sequences in southwest alaska that suggest that the deformation regime beneath accretionary prisms is characterized by a subvertical 1 and regionally extensive layer parallel shearing these results contrast markedly with the results obtained from the more shallow parts of accretionary prisms and fold and thrust belts where 1 plunges gently seaward or toward the deformation front on the basis of mohr circle diagrams we propose that these different stress directions are consistent only with a model in which the two regimes are separated by a very weak decollement and calculate coefficient of friction values that range from 0 25 to 0 08 these values are significantly lower than coefficient of friction values calculated for the basal decollement in the taiwan fold and thrust belt e g 0 2 barr and dahlen 1989a and they are also lower than laboratory friction measurements for most rocks e g 0 6 0 8 byerlee 1978 consequently these low values suggest the presence of rocks with unusual material properties e g montmorillonite logan and rauenzahn 1987 or anomalous fluid pressures along the decollement on the basis of the occurrence of shale diapirs the distribution of early veins and the absence of montmorillonite in the underthrust sequences we propose that there was an anomalously high fluid pressure along the decollement fault instead of there being such a low coefficient of friction these results emphasize the importance of dewatering and fluid flow in controlling the position of the decollement which in turn determines how the accretionary prism grows in essence it is the development of a weak overpressured decollement within a thick sediment pile that allows plate convergence to be partitioned into offscraping and underthrusting regimes

crustal structure along the strike of the offshore santa maria basin california abstract the geology of the central california offshore region contains the record of the early miocene transition of the western north american continental margin from a site of subduction to one of transform motion the fundamental elements of crustal structure and composition within the margin are defined by the seismic reflection image on the marine profile pge b 10 12 km of franciscan basement rocks c a 7 10 km thickness of oceanic crust seismic sequence analysis provides a foundation for interpreting the evolution of the offshore santa maria basin results indicate that the basin fill is predominantly miocene to pliocene in age and that subsidence began in early miocene times a late miocene to early pliocene shortening event led to faulting and folding of basin strata and to uplift of basement blocks the franciscan complex an accretionary wedge assemblage which floors the basin reveals little internal seismic structure however reflections from the franciscan oceanic crust boundary at 12 15 km depth supply evidence for the existence of an antiform with 2 3 km relief within the oceanic crustal layer this antiform probably formed during early miocene shortening of the oceanic crust alternatively the antiform could represent primary oceanic crustal topography such as seamounts or a fracture zone

evidence for rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate in south china at the beginning of early triassic abstract anachronistic facies are sedimentary features and fabrics that are very common in the early history of the earth but mainly occur following mass extinctions during the phanerozoic anachronistic facies are typically found in carbonates commonly have a microbial origin and reflect an unusual oceanic chemistry the aftermath of the end permian mass extinction is one of the periods when anachronistic facies were common and occur in sedimentary rocks from around the world in south china different types of anachronistic facies appear in an orderly succession over time microbialites are often the first anachronistic sediments that formed after the end permian mass extinction in shallow platform settings and are subsequently followed by oolites and oncolites which are sometimes intercalated with vermicular limestones because different types of anachronistic facies represent different depositional environments this succession pattern in the strata records the evolution of marine environments following the end permian mass extinction based on sedimentological analysis of the yangjiawan section hunan province south china this study suggests that the transition from microbialite to oolitic limestone was associated with a rise of sea level and an increase in hydrodynamic energy the shift from oolite to oncolite reflects a sustained rapid rise of sea level the occurrence of vermicular limestone is considered to be the product of an ephemeral restricted environment anachronistic facies reach a thickness of 75 m at the yangjiawan section while over nearly the same time interval argillaceous limestone reaches a thickness of only 40 cm of beds 27 29 at the global stratotype section and point gssp section at meishan in zhejiang province this difference in thickness indicates strongly elevated sedimentation rates in shallow water platform settings after the end permian mass extinction high rates of carbonate precipitation are indicative of calcium carbonate supersaturation within shallow watermasses which may have resulted from the upwelling of alkaline anoxic deep waters accompanied by high rates of evaporation as a consequence of extremely high temperatures at the time nevertheless it is the global sea level rise in the early triassic that provided the accommodation space necessary for the precipitation of the great thickness of anachronistic carbonate sediments at the yangjiawan section

ocean chemistry during glacial time abstract measurements of co2 to air ratios in the gas trapped in bubbles in ice of glacial age suggest that the co2 content of the atmosphere was considerably lower during peak glacial time than during holocene time the purpose of this paper is to show that such a change must in all likelihood be the result of alterations in the nutrient element chemistry of sea water two possible scenarios are presented one involves alternate storage and erosion of phosphorous leaving residues from shelf sediments the other involves changes in the c p ratio in the organic debris falling to the deep sea means of verifying the nutrient cycle hypothesis are also given it is shown that the 13c record as we know it in planktonic and benthic foraminifera the oxygen record as inferred from benthic foraminifera species distributions and the early post glacial caco3 preservation event as recorded by aragonitic pteropods are consistent with both of the hypotheses presented only if an early post glacial spike in the 13c record for planktonic shells could be found would it be possible to eliminate one of these hypotheses i e that involving shelf storage the implications of these nutrient hypotheses to climate theory are as follows if shelf storage is responsible for the glacial to interglacial co2 increase then the co2 change must be considered an amplifier of some primary cause the reason is that sea level changes are needed to drive deposition on and erosion from the shelves on the other hand if changes in the c p ratio for falling debris are responsible then the co2 change could either be an amplifier or a primary cause for the major glacial to interglacial climatic cycle the latter is possible as self sustained oscillations in ocean chemistry might be driven by interactions between ocean ecology and ocean nutrient chemistry

tracing the subducted oceanic crust beneath the central california continental margin results from ocean bottom seismometers deployed during the 1986 pacific gas and electric edge experiment large aperture seismic data were collected on several ocean bottom seismometers obs deployed along a deep crustal seismic profile that was shot across the central california continental margin the line of shots extends from the oceanic crust seaward of the santa lucia escarpment to the california coast near morro bay and crosses the santa lucia basin santa lucia bank santa maria basin and hosgri fault zone the obs data permit us to trace the subducted oceanic crust from seaward of the santa lucia escarpment to beneath the central part of the santa maria basin a complementary study using onshore recordings of the same shots extends the crustal model onshore just seaward of the santa lucia escarpment the oceanic crust is subhorizontal and covered by a thin layer of low velocity sediment the velocity 4 5 km s and gradient 1 20 1 25 km s km of the upper oceanic crust in this region are well determined and agree with earlier determinations of the crustal structure of the eastern pacific beneath the santa lucia escarpment and santa lucia basin the oceanic crust dips approximately 16 to the east it is overlain by material with a velocity that increases from 4 8 to 6 4 km s at a depth of 1 7 5 5 km below the seafloor beneath the santa lucia basin a low velocity zone may be sandwiched between the subducted crust and this shallow high velocity material which we interpret to represent obducted oceanic crustal material beneath the eastern edge of santa lucia basin the dip of the subducted oceanic crust decreases to less than 2 the configuration of the subducted crust in this region is consistent with imbrication of the subducted crust as suggested by others based on common midpoint reflection data beneath the central santa maria basin the top of the subducted oceanic crust is at a depth of about 14 16 km and the moho is at 19 21 km

chemostratigraphy indicates a relatively complete late permian to early triassic sequence in the western united states although the latest permian mass extinction and associated 13 c excursion are well documented from the tethys ocean carbonate rocks preserving these events in the eastern panthalassic ocean western pangea are unknown we present 13 c carb from the gerster and thaynes permian and triassic formations in the western united states and document a negative excursion with no evidence for major breaks in continuity to further constrain the age of the 13 c carb excursion in the absence of index fossils we analyzed the same samples for 87 sr 86 sr when examining our new carbon and sr data in the context of biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy we conclude that parts of the western united states may preserve carbonate successions that span the latest permian extinction

the crustal structure of the axis of the great valley california from seismic refraction measurements abstract in 1982 the u s geological survey collected six seismic refraction profiles in the great valley of california three axial profiles with a maximum shot to receiver offset of 160 km and three shorter profiles perpendicular to the valley axis this paper presents the results of two dimensional raytracing and synthetic seismogram modeling of the central axial profile the crust of the central great valley is laterally heterogeneous along its axis but generally consists of a sedimentary section overlying distinct upper middle and lower crustal units the sedimentary rocks are 3 5 km thick along the profile with velocities increasing with depth from 1 6 to 4 0 km s the basement upper crust consists of four units 1 1 a 1 0 1 5 km thick layer of velocity 5 4 5 8 km s 2 2 a 3 4 km thick layer of velocity 6 0 6 3 km s 3 3 a 1 5 3 0 km thick layer of velocity 6 5 6 6 km s and 4 4 a laterally discontinuous 1 5 km thick layer of velocity 6 8 7 0 km s the mid crust lies at 11 14 km depth is 5 8 km thick and has a velocity of 6 6 6 7 km s on the northwest side of our profile the mid crust is a low velocity zone beneath the 6 8 7 0 km s lid the lower crust lies at 16 19 km depth is 7 13 km thick and has a velocity of 6 9 7 2 km s crustal thickness increases from 26 to 29 km from nw to se in the model although an unequivocal determination of crustal composition is not possible from p wave velocities alone our model has several geological and tectonic implications we interpret the upper 7 km of basement on the northwest side of the profile as an ophiolitic fragment since its thickness and velocity structure are consistent with that of oceanic crust this fragment which is not present 10 15 km to the west of the refraction profile is probably at least partially responsible for the great valley gravity and magnetic anomalies whose peaks lie about 10 km east of our profile the middle and lower crust are probably gabbroic and the product of magmatic or tectonic underplating or both the crustal structure of the great valley is dissimilar to that of the adjacent diablo range suggesting the existence of a fault or suture zone throughout the crust between these provinces

marine deep seismic reflection profiles off central california a strong reflection horizon at two way travel time of approximately 6 s is observed in a deep seismic profile across the outer continental shelf of central california it is interpreted as the seismic image of subducted oceanic crust emplaced prior to the change from principally convergent to principally transcurrent motion between the pacific and north american plates during the late paleogene the reflector dips landward at a very shallow angle and is at a depth of 14 15 km under santa lucia bank the reflection is not observed or at best is very discontinuous under the inner shelf santa maria basin this suggests that tectonic or other processes have produced significantly different structural styles or compositions on the two sides of the santa lucia bank fault under the outer shelf a prominent apparently deeper later arrival time horizon dips more steeply and diverges from the 6 s reflector the deep horizon is at least partially composed of diffracted energy but is nearly linear after migration possible interpretations are that the horizon indicates crustal imbrication or out of plane diffractions alternatively it is a relict feature imparted to the crust at the now inactive pacific farallon spreading ridge reflective zones at intermediate depths are observed in apparently accreted sediments in parts of the santa lucia and santa maria basins these features could represent technically induced fabrics within the accretionary complex or they could be coherent depositional sequences

deciphering the impact of diagenesis overprint on negative δ13c excursions using rock magnetism case study of ediacaran carbonates yangjiaping section south china rock magnetism is used here to investigate the genesis of one of the puzzling negative carbon isotopic excursions of the neoproterozoic in the yangtze platform south china a detailed characterization of the magnetic mineralogy which includes low temperature and high field magnetometry and classical magnetic measurement arm irm susceptibility was therefore performed along upper doushantuo and lower dengying formations outcropping in the yangjiaping section the derived magnetic parameters show variations that can be interpreted as variations in magnetic grains size and in oxide contents they show that the magnetic content is significantly reduced in samples presenting negative 13ccalcite values we interpret this as a result of magnetite dissolution and secondary carbonate precipitation during early diagenesis bacterial sulfate reduction combined with c and o isotopic data paleomagnetic techniques thus show that the upper doushantuo lower dengying negative excursion of the yangjiaping section is largely due to diagenesis although the preservation of a genuine 13c excursion of lower magnitude from 7 down to 0 instead of down to 9 as usually considered cannot be ruled out a corrected 13ccarbonate chemostratigraphic curve is therefore proposed the unambiguous identification of a strong diagenetic component for this excursion casts doubts on the primary nature of other potentially time equivalent negative excursions of the yangtze platform and thus to its correlation to negative excursions in other cratons i e shuram excursion more generally this study illustrates the potential of magnetic mineralogy characterization a low cost time efficient and non destructive technique as screening tool for diagenetic overprints of 13c and 18o

cenozoic dolomites of carbonate islands their attributes and origin abstract dolomites found on and below carbonate islands atolls and oceanic platforms provide useful insights into the origin of dolomite insights that may not be attainable from the study of more ancient cratonic dolomites for this reason they have been the subject of study for decades a critical mass of case studies now exist and some significant conclusions can be drawn from the cumulative data in most cases the association with an island is causal and not genetic nevertheless these dolomite occurrences are referred to herein as island dolomites one type of dolomite on carbonate islands is penecontemporaneous dolomite a phase that forms while the host sediment is in its original depositional setting island examples are holocene in age occur in holocene sediments and originate as a direct precipitate from either normal or evaporated seawater these are microcrystalline poorly ordered ca rich 18o enriched and geochemically unstable phases that are susceptible to recrystallization in the setting in which they formed post depositional dolomite is the other type of dolomite associated with carbonate islands this type of dolomite replaces older precursors and forms as cement distinctive characteristics include a dominance of fabric preserving texture pore lining cement rims that may exhibit micron scale banding with low mg calcite and formation in association with precursor dissolution sr isotopic dating indicates that all examples are neogene or quaternary in age those formed during the middle miocene through pliocene are massive laterally continuous and often multigenerational in contrast younger examples tend to be localized partial replacements of a single generation sr isotope ages also suggest global synchroneity in many dolomitization events which suggests a connection between dolomitization global eustacy and or global climatic factors geochemical attributes of post depositional island dolomites are ca enrichment positive 18o and 13c low sr contents 150 300 ppm and low fe global similarity in petrography and geochemistry of replacive island dolomites argues for a similar origin inferred origins however depend primarily on how 18o and sr data are interpreted values for 18o and dsr must be assumed due to uncertainties in oxygen isotope fractionation and sr partitioning there is no consensus or uniformity in those assumptions thus interpretations can vary and be biased to a desired result covariant trends in 13c and 18o some negative 13c values and high sr all favor a mixing zone origin but examples with these attributes are few lack of covariance in the isotopes mean 18o of 2 0 to 3 5 and low sr future studies should standardize the type of data collected and the analytical techniques employed multiple geochemical attributes should be measured on microsampled components and quantitative modeling should be employed in order to constraint interpretations as much as possible also needed are a better understanding of the kinetic processes that form these dolomites more careful assessment of their recrystallization status and an improved understanding of dsr and 18o at low temperature

heterogeneous diagenetic patterns in the pleistocene ironshore formation of grand cayman british west indies abstract the ironshore formation on grand cayman consists of six unconformity bounded units a to f that developed in response to repeated transgressive regressive cycles during the middle to late pleistocene corals and matrices in limestones from the rogers wreck point rwp offshore george town gt and western onshore wo areas are characterized by complex diagenetic fabrics that reflect marine bioerosion micrite envelopes internal sediments fibrous high mg calcite acicular aragonite isopachous prismatic calcite cements freshwater phreatic circumgranular cements even random blocky calcite cements and vadose meniscus calcite cements blocky calcite cements diagenesis throughout these limestones the matrices have undergone more meteoric diagenetic alteration than the corals overall however no systematic stratigraphic patterns exist to the distribution of these diagenetic fabrics and it is generally impossible to link the different phases of diagenesis with specific unconformities that cap each unit these heterogenous patterns of diagenetic features can be attributed to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors including the original compositions of the different components in the limestones the porosity and permeability of the substrate the nature of the diagenetic fluids climate and the duration of exposure during each lowstand integration of available data however indicates that maximum diagenesis took place during the lowstands denoted by the unconformities at the top of unit c marine isotope stage 7 and unit d marine isotope stage 5e when long periods of exposure were accompanied by wet climates with high annual rainfalls

depositional conditions and revised age of the permo triassic microbialites at gaohua section cili county hunan province south china abstract in many tropical shallow water regions the end permian mass extinction event occurs at the top fossiliferous packstone beds and is immediately followed by the development of microbialite facies both the age and redox conditions of the microbialite have been debated and both factors are addressed here in a study of the gaohua section cili county hunan province china specifically the size distribution of pyrite framboids and high resolution conodont biostratigraphy the framboids populations show a broad size range with examples up to 30 microns in diameter and indicating dysoxic but not anoxic depositional conditions more intense dysoxia is recorded in interbedded laminated micrites but not beds of giant ooids both the hindeodus parvus zone and isarcicella isarcica zones were established with the microbialite beds being confined to the h parvus zone therefore the formation of microbialite postdates the end permian main mass extinction and records oxygen poor conditions even in a shallow water setting such as gaohua section at cili

climate controlled fabric destructive reflux dolomitization and stabilization via marine and synorogenic mixed fluids an example from a large mesozoic calcite sea platform croatia the jurassic cretaceous dolomites adriatic platform croatia resulted from climate influenced post depositional reflux dolomitization as opposed to synsedimentary peritidal and deeper burial dolomitization and subsequent stabilization within a mesozoic calcite sea isolated platform the dolomites are stratiform 10 to 200 m thick fabric destructive 20 to over 500 m crystals nonluminescent and zoned with respect to ca bulk dolomites have low mn 10 to 30 ppm moderate sr 60 to over 200 ppm positive 13c and 18o values only moderate ordering 0 25 to 0 6 and single phase fluid inclusions temperatures 3 vpdb and sr 100 ppm composes most jurassic and 40 of cretaceous dolomites making up turbid dolomite cores and initial clear dolomite rims a first generation of low ca dolomite lcd 1 50 to 53 mol ca 18o 1 to 3 vpdb 100 180 ppm sr forms cement and variably replaces stabilizes earlier hcd cores hcd and lcd 1 formed in refluxing marine dominated pore waters under semi arid climate 55 mol phases a second generation of much younger low ca dolomite lcd 2 fracture associated more negative 18o from 1 4 to 1 vpdb sr 100 ppm enriched in radiogenic 87sr overgrows and variably replaces earlier cretaceous dolomites it formed during eocene oligocene deformation and uplift to 1 km burial depths 50 c from synorogenic mixed marine meteoric pore fluids circulating via faults fractures and local permeable zones porosity loss by dolomite cementation coupled with localized rapid cenozoic uplift variably arrested stabilization to lcd

shortening within underplated oceanic crust beneath the central california margin structures within a tectonically underplated layer of early miocene age oceanic crust indicate that the lower crust of offshore central california has been deformed under compression prior to the inception of the san andreas transform system along the continental margin shortening in the lower crust is inferred from the geometry of two structures the santa lucia monocline and the santa maria antiform delineated by an integrated interpretation of multichannel and wide angle seismic reflection data in conjunction with regional gravity data and teleseismic receiver functions the 700 km of multichannel seismic data and 300 km of wide angle seismic data from the 1986 pacific gas and electric edge seismic experiment form the primary data base used to establish the northwesterly trend and extent of the monocline and the wnw trend of the antiform in cross sectional view the santa lucia monocline is a 30 kink in the oceanic crust while the santa maria antiform is characterized by local thickening of the oceanic crust these structures are probably the result of convergence between the monterey and arguello microplates that took place as subduction along the margin waned the multichannel seismic reflection data image two miocene age shelf basins the santa lucia and offshore santa maria basins that formed within a transtensional stress regime the offshore santa maria basin directly overlies the santa maria antiform suggesting that either the upper and lower crustal stress regimes were completely decoupled in miocene time or that the two features formed in different places differential slip between the upper crust and lower crust may have been accommodated along a detachment zone located above oceanic crust convergence within the oceanic crust and apparent differential motion between upper and lower crust are indicative of the processes that can affect the transition from subduction to an oceanic continental transform zone

structural analysis of late neogene deformation in the central offshore santa maria basin california structural analysis of the queenie structure a topographically prominent southwest vergent asymmetric fold located 35 km west of point sal constrains the timing and nature of late neogene deformation in a transect across the central offshore santa maria basin analysis of post miocene sediments mantling the fold indicates that the queenie structure was formed in a relatively brief episode of ne sw directed shortening between 5 and 3 ma apparently in response to the onset of compression normal to the north american pacific plate boundary retrodeformation of depth corrected cross sections constructed from an extensive set of common depth point seismic data demonstrates that the queenie structure overprints a miocene extensional basin and is a fault propagation fold that formed as compression changed the normal slip on the basin margin shear zone to reverse slip geometric constraints and seismic data suggest that the controlling shear zone dips moderately 30 to 50 to the northeast and is essentially nonlistric to the base of the brittle crust at a depth of about 12 km structural analysis of cross sections further shows that average total post miocene ne sw shortening across the queenie structure is about 3 0 39 km across the 13 km wide zone of folding and that related shortening across the 40 km wide central reach of the offshore santa maria basin between the hosgri fault and the santa lucia bank fault during the same period is roughly 1 2 0 4 0 8 km high resolution seismic reflection data show small folds structural relief less than 10 of the primary queenie structure in post early late pliocene sediments on the southwestern flank of the queenie structure these folds exhibit minor coaxial deformation along the flank of the structure suggesting that very low rates of tectonic folding of the order of 0 005 mm shortening per year may continue to the present the transient nature of the pliocene compressional event that formed the primary queenie structure and the relatively low rates of recent seismic activity in the central offshore santa maria basin suggest that postearly late pliocene interplate shortening at this latitude has been largely accommodated outside the basin

complete biotic and sedimentary records of the permian triassic transition from meishan section south china ecologically assessing mass extinction and its aftermath abstract the meishan section south china is the global stratotype section and point gssp for the permian triassic boundary ptb and is also well known for the best record demonstrating the permian triassic mass extinction ptme all over the world this section has also been studied using multidisciplinary approaches to reveal the possible causes for the greatest phanerozoic biocrisis of life on earth many important scenarios interpreting the great dying have been proposed on the basis of data from meishan nevertheless debates on biotic extinction patterns and possible killers still continue this paper reviews all fossil and sedimentary records from the permo triassic p tr transition based on previously published data and our newly obtained data from meishan and assesses ecologically the ptme and its aftermath to determine the biotic response to climatic and environmental extremes associated with the biocrisis eight updated conodont zones clarkina yini clarkina meishanensis hindeodus changxingensis clarkina taylorae hindeodus parvus isarcicella staeschei isarcicella isarcica and clarkina planata zones are proposed for the ptb beds at meishan major turnover in fossil fragment contents and ichnodiversity occurs across the boundary between bed 24e 5 and bed 24e 6 suggesting an extinction horizon in a thin stratigraphic interval the irregular surface in the middle of bed 27 is re interpreted as a firmground of glossifungites ichnofacies rather than the previously proposed submarine dissolution surface or hardground surface both fossil fragment contents and ichnodiversity underwent dramatic declines in beds 25 26a coinciding with metazoan mass extinction fossil fragment content ichnodiversity and all ichnofabric proxies including burrow size tiering level bioturbation level indicate that the p tr ecologic crisis comprises two discrete stages coinciding with the first and second phases of the ptme in meishan ecologic crisis lagged behind biodiversity decline during the ptme pyrite framboid size variations suggest that depositional redox condition was anoxic to euxinic in the latest changhsingian became euxinic in beds 25 26a turned dysoxic in bed 27 then varied from euxinic to anoxic through most of the griesbachian the 9 c increase in seawater surface temperature from bed 24e to bed 27 at meishan seems to result in dramatic declines in biodiversity and fossil fragment contents in beds 25 26a but had little effect on all ecologic proxies both metazoans and infauna seem not to have been affected by the pre extinction anoxic euxinic condition the anoxic event associated with the ptme may have occurred in a much shorter period than previously thought and is only recorded in beds 25 26a at meishan fossil fragment contents ichnofaunas ichnofabrics and pyrite framboid size all show that no signs of oceanic acidification and anoxia existed in bed 27 the early griesbachian anoxia may have resulted in rarity of ichnofauna and metazoans in the lower yinkeng formation in which the ichnofauna is characterized by small simple horizontal burrows of planolites and metazoan faunas are characterized by low diversity high abundance opportunist dominated communities the rapid increase of 9 c in sea surface temperature and a short anoxia or acidification coincided with the first pulse biocrisis while a prolonged and widespread anoxia probably due to a long period of high seawater temperate condition may be crucial in mortality of most organisms in the second pulse ptme marine ecosystems started to recover coupled with environmental amelioration in the late griesbachian

receiver function and geometric tomography along the monterey microplate to test slab delamination or lithospheric drip models of the isabella anomaly california abstract two hypotheses were tested for the origin of the isabella tomographic anomaly which has been interpreted as either a lithospheric drip jones et al 1994 ducea and saleeby 1998 or a remnant of the farallon plate possibly attached to the monterey microplate wang et al 2013 p wave receiver functions and travel time residuals based on teleseismic events recorded by 41 stations were used to construct simple geometric tomography models of the isabella anomaly and to test whether the monterey microplate or a similar fragment of the farallon slab can be connected with the location of the anomaly the travel time residual pattern was modeled with a slab geometry composed of a high velocity rectangular block and a lithospheric drip was modeled as a dipping cylindrical anomaly both gave statistically similar fits but the cylindrical block appears less well constrained than the rectangular block the top surface of the best fit rectangular block was located at 50 km below the great valley and dips 65 northeast toward the sierra nevada with 100 km thickness west of the isabella anomaly receiver function p to s converted phases from the top and bottom surfaces of the oceanic crust of the monterey microplate were modeled as late arriving negative positive dipole signals such dipoles are observed at times that place their origin at 10 km below the moho at the coast ranges these converted phases from the oceanic crust could also be traced from the coast ranges to the great valley where the top surface of the slab model is located the combined result of the receiver functions and a geometric tomography model is consistent with the fossil slab hypothesis which initiated as a flat subduction system that later went through a delamination process online material figures of receiver functions sorted by back azimuth and ray parameter at 31 stations

rare earth element geochemistry of late devonian reefal carbonates canning basin western australia confirmation of a seawater ree proxy in ancient limestones rare earth element and yttrium ree y concentrations were determined in 49 late devonian reefal carbonates from the lennard shelf canning basin western australia shale normalized sn ree y patterns of the late devonian samples display features consistent with the geochemistry of well oxygenated shallow seawater a variety of different ancient limestone components including microbialites some skeletal carbonates stromatoporoids and cements record seawater like ree y signatures contamination associated with phosphate fe oxides and shale was tested quantitatively and can be discounted as the source of the ree y patterns co occurring carbonate components that presumably precipitated from the same seawater have different relative ree concentrations but consistent ree y patterns clean devonian early marine cements n 3 display ree y signatures most like that of modern open ocean seawater and the highest y ho ratios e g 59 and greatest light ree lree depletion average nd sn yb sn 0 413 sd 0 076 however synsedimentary cements have the lowest ree concentrations e g 405 ppb non contaminated devonian microbialite samples containing a mixture of the calcimicrobe renalcis and micritic thrombolite aggregates in early marine cement n 11 have the highest relative ree concentrations of tested carbonates average total ree 11 3 ppm stromatoporoid skeletons unlike modern corals algae and molluscs also contain well developed seawater like ree patterns samples from an estuarine fringing reef have very different ree y patterns with lree enrichment nd sn yb sn 1 possibly reflecting inclusion of estuarine colloidal material that contained preferentially scavenged lree from a nearby riverine input source hence devonian limestones provide a proxy for marine ree geochemistry and allow the differentiation of co occurring water masses on the ancient lennard shelf although appropriate partition coefficients for quantification of devonian seawater ree concentrations from out data are unknown hypothetical devonian canning basin seawater ree patterns were obtained with coefficients derived from modern natural proxies and experimental values resulting devonian seawater patterns are slightly enriched in lree compared to most modem seawaters and suggest higher overall ree concentrations but are very similar to seawaters from regions with high terrigenous inputs our results suggest that most limestones should record important aspects of the ree geochemistry of the waters in which they precipitated provided they are relatively free of terrigenous contamination and major diagenetic alteration from fluids with high non seawater like ree contents hence we expect that many other ancient limestones will serve as seawater ree proxies and thereby provide information on paleoceanography paleogeography and geochemical evolution of the oceans copyright c 2004 elsevier ltd

discerning primary versus diagenetic signals in carbonate carbon and oxygen isotope records an example from the permian triassic boundary of iran abstract sedimentary successions across the permian triassic boundary ptb are marked by a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion this excursion found in both fossil e g brachiopod and bulk carbonate at many sites around the world is generally considered to be related to a global carbon cycle perturbation oxygen isotopes also show a negative excursion across the ptb but because 18o is more prone to diagenetic overprint especially in bulk carbonate these data are often not used in palaeoenvironmental analyses in the present study bulk rock and brachiopod 13c and 18o as well as conodont 18o were analyzed in ptb successions at kuh e ali bashi and zal nw iran in order to evaluate diagenetic overprints on primary marine isotopic signals the results show that the use of paired c o isotopes and mn sr concentrations is not sufficient to identify diagenetic alteration in bulk materials because 13c 18o covariation can be due to environmental factors rather than diagenesis and sr ca and mn ca ratios can vary as a function of bulk rock lithology comparison of 13c profiles shows that all bulk carbonate is altered to some degree although the general bulk rock trend mimics that of the brachiopod data with a systematic offset of 1 2 0 4 this suggests that the first order 13c trend in bulk carbonate is generally robust but that the significance of small scale carbon isotope fluctuations is uncertain especially when such fluctuations are linked to lithologic variation the ptb interval which is marked by a low carbonate boundary clay in the study sections may be especially prone to diagenetic alteration e g via late stage dolomitization comparison of oxygen isotope profiles for bulk rock and well preserved fossils both brachiopods and conodonts shows that the former are offset by 2 1 0 4 diagenetic modeling suggests that these offsets were the product mainly of early diagenesis at burial temperatures of 50 80 c and water rock ratios of

physico chemical environment of pedogenic carbonate formation in devonian vertic palaeosols central appalachians usa the morphology and geochemistry of pedogenic carbonate found in vertic claystone palaeosols in the devonian catskill formation in central pennsylvania preserve a record of the physical and chemical environment of carbonate precipitation the carbonate is characterized by three distinct petrographic generations pedogenic rhizoliths and nodules are the earliest precipitated generation and typically consist of dull red brown luminescent micrite clear equant calcite spar cement fills voids in the centres of rhizoliths as well as circumgranular cracks and septarian voids in nodules early spar cements are nonluminescent to dull luminescent whereas later spar cements exhibit bright yellow orange luminescence late stage pedogenic fractures are always occluded with very bright yellow orange luminescent spar cements the incorporation of progressively higher concentrations of mn up to 34 000 ppm into successively younger calcite spar cements without concomitant increases in fe suggests carbonate precipitation from an evolving meteoric water in which mn2 became increasingly mobile over time the increased mobility is possibly due to decreasing eh resulting from oxidation of organic matter after rapid soil burial on the floodplain the amount of fe2 available for incorporation into calcite was limited because most iron was immobile having been earlier oxidized and bound to the palaeosol clay matrix as a poorly crystallized ferric oxide or oxyhydroxide mineral carbon isotope compositions of pedogenic carbonate correlate with the inferred depth of carbonate precipitation rhizoliths preserved below the lowest stratigraphic occurrences of pedogenic slickensides are consistently depleted in 3c relative to nodules which formed stratigraphically higher within the zone of active soil shrink and swell processes nodular carbonate precipitated in proximity to deep cracks in the soil is enriched due to increased gas exchange with isotopically heavy atmospheric c02 accordingly rhizolith compositions will most accurately estimate palaeoatmospheric levels of c02 the use of nodule compositions may result in overestimation of pco by as much as 30

origin of dolomite in the third member of feixianguan formation lower triassic in the jiannan area sichuan basin china abstract the third member of feixianguan formation jiannan area consists of marine carbonates parts of which were dolomitized to form high quality reservoirs based on petrographical features three types of dolomite phases are distinguished including very finely finely crystalline dolomite type d1 medium crystalline dolomite type d2 and coarse crystalline saddle dolomite type d3 type d1 dolomite has characteristics of micritic to fine crystals 18 o values imply partly diagenetic stabilitization during burial type d2 dolomite has characteristics of mainly medium 100 250 m subhedral crystals with zoned to uniform dull red cl the estimates from 18 o values suggest precipitation at depths of 760 1100 m values of 13 c and 87 sr 86 sr of type d2 are similar to values of host limestone suggesting that dolomitization was mediated by t 1 f 3 seawater like fluids type d3 is strictly associated with type d2 high homogenization temperatures and limited distributions indicate that type d3 formed in a deep closed environment dolostone made of type d1 dolomite is volumetrically minor and is characterized by micropores and low permeability while type d3 as a void filling cement slightly reduces the reservoir porosity high quality reservoirs are only intimately associated with dolostone made of type d2 a burial compaction model is proposed for type d2 mg 2 was derived from seawater derived compaction fluid that was expelled from the trough strata the potential high quality reservoirs are likely to occur in opposing margin shoals

a burial diagenesis origin for the ediacaran shuram wonoka carbon isotope anomaly marked negative 13c excursions in ediacaran age carbonate sediments have been identified in several sections globally but are not recognized in all sections of similar age the presence of 13ccarb values as low as 12 has been interpreted as recording fundamentally different processes in the global carbon cycle than those recognized today the 13ccarb anomalies are strongly correlated with 18ocarb values but are not represented in 13corg records while no primary depositional processes have been identified that can produce the correlated 18o 13c arrays simulations show that fluid rock interaction with high pco2 fluids is capable of producing such arrays at geologically reasonable pco2 and water rock ratios variations in the mg ca ratio and sulfate concentration of the altering fluid determine the extent of dolomite vs calcite and anhydrite in the resulting mineral assemblage incorporation of an initially aragonitic mineralogy demonstrates that high sr low mn sr and modest alteration of 87sr 86sr in ancient carbonates are all compatible with a burial diagenesis mechanism for generation of the 13c anomalies and do not necessarily imply preservation of primary values the profound ediacaran negative 13c anomalies can be adequately explained by well understood diagenetic processes conflated with the difficulty of correlating precambrian sections independently of chemostratigraphy they are not a record of primary seawater variations and need not have independent stratigraphic significance

deciphering the diagenetic alteration degree in thrombolites across the permian triassic boundary and the evaluation of rey as a proxy of palaeoseawater abstract the thrombolites across the permian triassic boundary ptb are widely distributed in south china in order to examine the utility of rare earth element and yttrium rey in the thrombolites as a proxy of palaeoseawater the petrographic and geochemical sr mn fe rey 13 c 18 o features of thrombolites from cili and taiping sections are comparatively studied to determine the diagenetic alteration degrees of the thrombolites and the impact of diagenesis on rey concentrations and distribution patterns the thrombolites from cili section digitate in mesoscopic morphology are latest permian in age in contrast most of the thrombolites in taiping section are mottled and formed in the earliest triassic the variation in thrombolite morphology across the ptb is probably related to increasing amount of metazoan and increasing intensity of bioturbation after the end permian mass extinction compared to the thrombolites from taiping section those from cili section underwent more extensive diagenetic alteration which are characterized by more dolomitic content lower sr concentrations more negative 18 o values and higher mn sr ratios the rey concentrations are higher in the thrombolites from taiping section 5 303 ppm average 48 ppm than in the thrombolites from cili section 17 34 ppm average 25 ppm shale normalized rey distribution patterns of the thrombolites from both sites are similar to those of oxygenated seawater which are characterized by positive la anomalies pr pr 1 1 1 5 negative ce anomalies ce ce 0 2 0 9 and light rare earth element lree depletion the preserved seawater like rey distribution pattern indicates that diagenesis did not alter the rey distribution patterns the thrombolite samples from cili section compared to the counterparts from taiping have less positive la anomaly and less negative ce anomaly for the thrombolites from cili section a positive correlation exists between ce anomaly and siliciclastic content suggesting contamination of ce anomaly by terrigenous input the results suggest that ancient thrombolites that are isolated from terrigenous inputs are better proxy candidates of palaeoseawater redox condition than thrombolites located closer to land sources

late cenozoic tectonic evolution of southwestern california we synthesize available geologic and geophysical data from southern california and adjoining areas in order to develop a reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the southern coast ranges western transverse ranges and borderland regions of california since 30 ma premises include specified relative plate motions for times prior to 10 5 ma and after 3 ma a mid tertiary bight in the continental margin of southern california midcrustal detachment faults under much of california and adjoining regions rotation of the western transverse ranges about an eastern pivot and specified fault displacement histories prior to 18 ma about 90 of the tangential component of pacific north america relative motion was accommodated on an offshore dextral fault system near the toe of the continental slope from 18 ma to 5 5 ma dextral slip was accommodated predominantly on the offshore system but also on a second inboard system that included the san andreas fault fault bounded crustal blocks between the offshore and inboard fault systems underwent translation rotation and extension from 18 ma to 11 5 ma but not from 11 5 ma to 5 5 ma since 5 5 ma dextral slip has been accommodated predominantly on the inboard fault system dextral slip ceased on the offshore fault system north of the transverse ranges but continues on faults west of or within baja california the san gregorio san simeon hosgri fault system has accommodated less than 5 km of the late cenozoic dextral slip the distribution of dextral displacement in the plate boundary zone has been controlled by abrupt jumps of the position of a southern triple junction and to a lesser degree changes in magnitude of pacific north america relative motion based on our reconstuction the tangential component of pacific north america relative motion was 90mm yr for the period 10 5 ma to 5 5 ma and 60mm yr for the period 5 5 ma to 3 ma

late tertiary tectonic evolution of the seafloor spreading system off the coast of california between the mendocino and murray fracture zones a forward modeling program of two plate spreading on a sphere was utilized to reconstruct the late tertiary tectonic evolutionary history of the seafloor spreading system off the coast of california between the mendocino and murray fracture zones this analytical technique was applied to a unique set of magnetic anomaly data consisting principally of a new digital data set the original raff mason data from one of the most significant marine geophysical surveys the 1955 1956 uscgs pioneer survey all the data critical for the development of seafloor spreading and plate tectonic theory were digitized 32 to 52 n however only the southern half was analyzed in this study investigation of the raff mason data supplemented by additional magnetic anomaly data indicates that the primary mechanism for reorganization of this part of the pacific farallon ridge as the spreading center migrated toward and arrived at the north american trench was rift propagation the model presented here containing a total of 21 propagation episodes from 36 ma to 19 8 ma initiation time of the last propagator shows generally excellent agreement with the isochrons identified from the magnetic anomaly pattern although minor exceptions exist locally in complex areas a step by step evolution of the model is presented in a series of reconstructions documenting the history of spreading between the pacific plate and five smaller plates created from the breakup of the large ancestral farallon plate these plates include the vancouver plate north of the pioneer the farallon plate existing between the murray and pioneer transforms prior to the major reorganization at chron 10 30 33 ma and the arguello monterey and reyes microplates with northwest southeast spreading existing after chron 10

δ13c and δ18o values of triassic brachiopods and carbonate rocks as proxies for coeval seawater and palaeotemperature abstract a dataset of 160 isotope 13c and 18o values from anisian ladinian carnian and rhaetian articulate brachiopod shells complemented by 158 carbon and oxygen isotope values from whole rock carbonates define the first continuous stable isotope baseline trends for the triassic seawater the carbon isotope data suggest the existence of several short term high amplitude excursions in the early triassic followed by a predominance of values around 0 5 1 during the middle triassic a rise to 3 5 during the carnian plateau at this level during the late carnian to early norian and a 1 5 decline in the middle norian to values around 2 during the late norian rhaetian interval the causation scenarios for these rapid oscillations are at present equivocal but may in part reflect a biological instability of the carbon cycle following the recovery from the end permian extinction event and or an input of mantle derived co2 from enhanced volcanic activity the 18o values from well preserved brachiopods from the tethyan realm range from 3 9 to 0 6 v pdb these values require open marine triassic seawater 18o values close to 0 v smow for the calculated temperatures to be within the range of tolerance of the coexisting reef building corals a 2 18o increase within the uppermost cordevolian and early julian suggests either a distinct temperature decline in the southern alps during that time interval an increase in seawater salinity or their combination oxygen isotope values for the muschelkalk brachiopods range between 6 2 and 2 0 and likely reflect a strong influx of meteoric waters into the germanic basin that shifted the oxygen isotopes to more negative values

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

multiple episodes of dolomitization and dolomite recrystallization during shallow burial in upper jurassic shelf carbonates eastern swabian alb southern germany abstract the upper jurassic of the eastern swabian alb is composed of oolitic platform sands with associated microbe siliceous sponge mounds at the platform margins they are surrounded by argillaceous or calcareous mudstones and marl limestone alternations deposited in adjacent marl basins partial to complete dolomitization is predominantly confined to the mound facies six types of dolomite as well as one type of ankerite document a complex diagenetic history during shallow burial with multiple episodes of dolomite formation and recrystallization the earliest massive matrix dolomitization is ca rich has slightly depleted oxygen isotope values relative to late jurassic seawater and carbon isotopic values in equilibrium with late jurassic seawater this initial massive matrix dolomitization occurred during latest jurassic to earliest cretaceous and is related to pressure dissolution during very shallow burial at temperatures of at least 50 c hydrologic conditions and mass balance calculations indicate that burial compaction provided sufficient fluids for dolomitization mg is derived from negligibly modified seawater that was expelled from the adjacent off reef strata into the mound facies position of the mounds along the platform margins controlled the distribution of the shallow burial dolomite covariant trends between textural modification increasing stoichiometry partial changes in trace element content mn fe sr and depletion in stable isotopes as well as distinctive cl pattern illustrate two recrystallization phases of the precursor matrix dolomite during further burial at elevated temperatures strong sr enrichment of the second phase of recrystallized dolomite is ascribed to sr rich meteoric waters descending from overlying aragonite bearing reef limestones or evaporite bearing peritidal carbonates late stage coarsely crystalline dolomite cements occur as vug and fracture fillings and formed during burial ankerite associated with sulphide and sulphate minerals and saddle dolomite are assumed to have formed from hydrothermal waters that moved to higher stratigraphic levels along fracture conduit systems that developed during late cretaceous to tertiary alpine orogenesis

carbonate platform flanks slope angle and sediment fabric more than 20 examples of fossil carbonate platform systems were compared for slope angle and sediment fabric plots of slope angle versus sediment fabric show that grainy non cohesive mud free sediments build steeper slopes than muddy cohesive sediments examples near the end members of grainy and muddy carbonate platform flanks are found in the triassic of the dolomites in northern italy and in the bahamas respectively they document the flank geometry and the processes readjusting the slope profile once the limiting slope angle is exceeded the grainy flank sediments in the dolomites modified by shearing and avalanching produce straight slope profiles with declivities up to 35 whereas the muddy bahamian flank sediments modified by large scale creep and rotational to translational sliding and slumping produce a concave upwards slope profile inclined at less than 4 the comparison between slope angle and sediment fabric indicates that the physical behaviour of sediments in the gravity field angle of shearing and mode of readjustment processes is linked to the composition of the slope sediment among the variables such as sea level subsidence climate plate motion and oceanographic setting windward leeward sediment fabric is suggested to be a major if not the major control on slope angle and slope curvature of carbonate platform flanks besides the recently documented tendency of carbonate sediments to build steeper slopes than siliciclastics this proposed relation sheds new light on the analysis and quantification of the variables influencing the geometry and depositional evolution of carbonate systems furthermore it provides an opportunity to deduce sediment composition from seismic lines and predict lithology prior to drilling

δ18o and δ13c of permian brachiopods a record of seawater evolution and continental glaciation abstract two hundred sixty four 18 o and 13 c values of permian articulate brachiopod shells were analyzed and 81 of these values were characterized as well preserved and biostratigraphically well defined these were then utilized for construction of baseline oxygen and carbon isotope curves for the permian interval in addition 21 13 c whole rock values are reported for the wordian and capitanian the early permian asselian to artinskian times are characterized by 2 5 decrease in oxygen isotope values from 0 7 to 3 3 v pdb this is attributed to a 4 7 c increase in temperature in the southern urals concomitant with the retreat of the permo carboniferous ice sheets and return of the 18 o depleted melt water into the oceans the late permian samples from iran jolfa at kuh e ali bashi and china meishan yield 18 o values and presumably temperatures similar to those that followed the termination of the large scale glaciation in the lower permian in between the upper kungurian to capitanian samples from the delaware basin guadalupe mountains are enriched in 18 o at 1 5 to 3 we have no definitive explanation for these data but tentatively suggest that the anomaly can potentially be a result of evaporative enrichment of seawater in 18 o due to intracratonic arid setting of the basin the 18 o enriched nature of the zechstein samples 1 2 to 2 5 on the other hand is in all probability a reflection of the high evaporation rates in the zechstein sea the permian interval is characterized by a relatively constant 13 c at about 4 the exceptions are again the brachiopods from the delaware basin guadalupe mountains which show 1 6 increase in the guadalupian to values of up to 5 9 in the wordian a tentative explanation as in the case of oxygen is based on the proposition that the semi enclosed delaware basin was likely stratified with sequestration of the 13 c depleted carbon to the deeper water layers and a complementary 13 c enrichment in the upper oxygenated layer the coeval open ocean water dic may have been similar to that of the remainder of the permian interval at 4 as indicated by whole rock carbonate samples from oman sicily and iran in the latest permian the trend mimics the well known 13 c drop at the permian triassic boundary

a kinematic model for the evolution of the gorda plate the magnetic lineation pattern produced by the gorda rise reflects a complex tectonic history marked by propagating ridges and nonrigid deformation of the gorda plate the pacific side lineation pattern is matched using a kinematic model which incorporates northward and southward propagating ridge segments and ridge rotation by superimposing flexural slip style deformation on the resulting gorda side lineations and allowing convergent motion at the mendocino fracture zone the gorda magnetic pattern is also successfully predicted a similar model but one which does not allow convergence at the mendocino fracture zone fails to produce the observed lineation pattern model predictions of the amount of material that would be obducted at the mendocino due to convergence between the gorda and pacific agree with bathymetric and density estimates of the amount of material located along the mendocino ridge

carbon isotope variability across the ediacaran yangtze platform in south china implications for a large surface to deep ocean δ13c gradient new isotope data obtained from relatively conformable carbonate rich strata of the ediacaran yangtze platform in south china reveal substantial 13 c variability in platform sections four negative 13 c anomalies with a nadir down to 8 pdb are present in the interval between the cap carbonate level 635 ma and the precambrian cambrian boundary 542 ma while in slope and basinal sections 13 c values are negative through the entire doushantuo formation 635 551 ma if these 13 c values are close to their primary seawater signature they imply a strong 10 surface to deep ocean 13 c gradient that is consistent with long term deep ocean anoxia and the presence of a large dissolved organic carbon doc reservoir the two prominent negative 13 c excursions within the doushantuo formation above the cap carbonate level are associated with shoaling and local exposure of the platform the anomalies may thus record remineralization of a large oceanic doc pool via sulfate reduction that transferred 13 c depleted carbon from the oceanic doc reservoir to the surface ocean during regression inconsistencies in ediacaran 13 c profiles globally and variations in south china in particular highlight the need for further evaluation of local departures in 13 c from an inferred average seawater signature

late neogene motion of the pacific plate oceanic crust between 38 s and 65 s along the pacific antarctic ridge records a complete history of neogene pacific antarctic motion we have modeled magnetic stages corresponding to portions of isochrons 1 2 2a 3 3a 4 and 5 from 17 high quality marine magnetic traverses of the ridge to determine the neogene finite rotation poles for this plate pair we chose to model velocities over time intervals of about 0 5 m y because this greatly increased the number of estimates of pacific antarctic plate velocity our analysis shows that a change in pacific antarctic relative motion occurred between chron 2a 3 40 ma and the beginning of chron 3 time 3 86 ma we used 203 estimates of pacific antarctic spreading velocity to calculate a 0 3 4 ma and 3 86 10 3 ma euler pole combined with tracks of seamounts that record the passage of the pacific plate over mantle plumes our data show that this change in relative motion corresponds to a change in the absolute motion of the pacific plate with respect to the hotspot frame of reference using these euler poles to calculate pacific antarctic africa north america circuit euler poles show that this recent change in pacific plate absolute motion corresponds to a change from strike slip to transpressive motion along the coastal california pacific north america plate boundary interestingly this age of increased tectonism agrees in time with deformation in new zealand and northern japan

deep crustal reflection profiling offshore southern central california deep crustal reflection profiling offshore southern central california shows that the offshore santa maria basin and adjacent shelf and slope are underlain by oceanic crust which underthrusts the margin on common midpoint cmp sections the top of the oceanic crust appears as a strong coherent reflection occurring at 6 s two way time twt the reflection can be traced continuously more than 50 km from the deep ocean basin eastward beneath the continental shelf depth conversion places the top of oceanic crust at 6 16 km depth with a dip of 8 toward the coast beneath the santa lucia high the crustal reflection breaks up into several east dipping segments above the oceanic crust an accretionary wedge increases in thickness from 3 km at the base of the slope to over 12 km beneath the santa lucia high the neogene sedimentary section above the accretionary prism exhibits relatively little deformation implying that most of the accretion occurred during pre neogene convergence between the north american plate and oceanic plates located to the west the offshore santa maria basin exhibits at least two periods of neogene deformation an early extensional phase accompanied by strike slip faulting occurred in the lower to middle miocene followed by compression and basin inversion in the upper miocene lower pliocene the development of structures in the basin began in the northwest and is progressively younger to the southeast faults identified in the offshore sedimentary column offset acoustic basement but are not imaged in the franciscan basement material below 2 3 s twt and do not extend to or offset the deep reflections we suggest that the oceanic crust served as a detachment surface above which the shallow deformation occurred neogene sediments in the offshore basins show only 1 3 km of shortening this implies that shortening due to neogene oblique plate motion between the pacific and north american plates extends east of the offshore santa maria basin and is distributed across the entire transform margin

depletion of 13c in seawater σc02 on modern carbonate platforms significance for the carbon isotopic record of carbonates seawater co2 from modern carbonate platforms bahama banks and florida is depleted in 13c by as much as 4 relative to open ocean water depletion in 13c is caused by isotopically light co2 input from respiration of marine and terrestrial organic matter during water mass residence on the bank as such depletion in 13c is related to changes in water chemistry driven by evaporation freshwater discharge and caco3 withdrawal deviation of modern platform seawater 13c values away from those of surface seawater suggests that 13c values of ancient cratonic carbonate must be cautiously interpreted initial depositional environment as well as alteration during diagenesis must be considered in extracting valid secular trends for oceanic 13c variation

high resolution δ13ccarb chemostratigraphy from latest guadalupian through earliest triassic in south china and iran large carbon cycle perturbations are associated with the end permian mass extinction and subsequent recovery but late permian lopingian carbon cycle dynamics prior to the mass extinction event remain poorly documented here we present a high resolution 13ccarb chemostratigraphic framework from latest guadalupian to earliest triassic time calibrated with high resolution conodont biostratigraphy and high precision geochronology we observe two large negative excursions in 13ccarb the first in uppermost guadalupian strata and the second at the end of the changhsingian stage and between these events distinctive excursions from the middle wuchiapingian to the early changhsingian the end changhsingian excursion represents a major reorganization of the global carbon cycle associated with the end permian mass extinction however the extent to which the end guadalupian and wuchiapingian changhsingian boundary excursions result from local versus global controls remains unresolved regardless of their underlying causes these three excursions provide chemostratigraphic markers for global correlation of lopingian strata

subsidence and thermal history of queen charlotte basin a tectonic model for the formation subsidence and thermal history of queen charlotte basin is developed based upon regional geological and geophysical data subsidence data from offshore wells in hecate strait and queen charlotte sound and thermal criteria derived from present heat flow and vitrinite reflectance information queen charlotte basin is seen to have resulted from two distinct mechanisms 1 during a period of broad regional uplift rifting and crustal extension occurred in queen charlotte sound up to about 17 ma ago and the queen charlotte islands were displaced northwards toward their present position by transcurrent motion along the louscoone inlet sandspit fault system the rifting generated a significant thermal anomaly and a restricted deep basin as a consequence of crustal thinning and subsequent thermal cooling 2 beginning about 6 ma ago oblique underthrusting commenced along the margin resulting in flexural uplift of the western part of the queen charlotte islands and comp

petrography and geochemistry of the permian triassic boundary interval yangou section south china implications for early griesbachian seawater δ 13 c dic gradient with depth abstract the carbon isotopic composition 13 c carb recorded in shelf carbonates has been widely used as a proxy for the isotopic composition 13 c dic of surface ocean water to establish paleocean chemistry and circulation patterns however 13 c carb values do not necessarily preserve the 13 c dic due to post depositional diagenetic alteration in order to examine the early griesbachian surface to deep 13 c dic gradient with depth the diagenetic features of the permian triassic boundary interval beds 18 to 35 from yangou section located in the yangtze carbonate platform interior south china are delineated to compare with those of the slope gssp meishan section the petrographic and geochemical observations show that the early griesbachian carbonates in the yangou section underwent pervasive dolomitization in its early diagenetic history three types of early replacement dolomites and one type of dolomite cement are present the dolomite crystals display internal zonation with high ca calcian dolomite hcd core being encased successively by calcite and an outermost fe rich hcd cortex the initial dolomitization took place in anoxic seawater and underwent subsequent diagenetic system involved with meteoric water the two most negative 13 c values in claystones of beds 21 3 and 35 are probably related to meteoric diagenesis above and or below the meteorically influenced beds the dolomite and calcite have uniformly positive 13 c values the primary carbon isotopic compositions are probably preserved in the early griesbachian carbonate from the platform yangou section which could probably be related to the poor formation of the outermost fe rich hcd cortex compared to the slope carbonate from the meishan section the platform carbonate from the yangou section has lower primary 13 c carb values it is estimated that the 13 c dic gradient with depth between yangou and meishan is less than the previously suggested the results highlight the need for evaluation of local 13 c carb as record of 13 c dic in paleoseawater and carry important implications for understanding the permian triassic carbonate successions throughout the world

rare earth elements in pore waters of marine sediments abstract the rare earth elements rees were measured in pore waters of the upper 25 cm of sediment from one site off peru and three sites on the california margin the pore water ree concentrations are higher than sea water and show systematic down core variations in both concentration and normalized pattern from these analyses and from comparison to other chemical species measured dissolved fe mn ba oxygen nitrate phosphate it is suggested that pore water rees can be grouped into three categories those that are from an fe source those that are from a poc source and cerium oxide rees from the fe source appear where anoxia is reached they have a distinctive middle ree mree enriched pattern the concentrations in this source are so elevated that they dominate ree trends in the fe oxide reduction zone the net result of flux from the poc source is relative enrichment of heavy rees hrees over light rees lrees reflecting remineralizing poc and complexation with doc a common linear ree pattern seen in both oxic and anoxic sediments is associated with this poc source as well as a hree enriched pattern that is seen in surficial sediments at the peru site overall the pore water results indicate that mn oxides are not an important carrier of rees in the oceans a ree biogeochemical model is presented which attempts to reconcile ree behavior in the water and sediment columns of the oceans the model proposes that poc fe oxide and ce oxide sources can explain the ree concentration profiles and relative abundance patterns in environments ranging from oxic sea water to anoxic pore water the model is also consistent with our observation that the ce anomaly of pore water does not exceed unity under any redox condition

the origin of common dolomite fabrics clues from the pliocene abstract characteristic features common to dolomites of all ages are found in pliocene dolomites from the netherlands antilles these features include 1 pseudomorphic replacement 2 selective replacement 3 fossil moldic porosity 4 cloudy centered clear rimmed dolomite 5 sucrosic dolomite and 6 dolomite cement the development of a particular feature is controlled by 1 mineralogy of the material being replaced 2 the degree of saturation of the bulk solution with respect to the mineral being replaced and 3 the availability of dolomite nucleation sites low mg calcite lmc cement and fossils were often neither replaced by dolomite nor dissolved but aragonite and high mg calcite hmc were both replaced and dissolved the resistence of lmc to dolomitization was due to solutions saturated with respect to lmc and the lack of nucleation sites cryptocrystalline lmc was more readily replaced by dolomite because it provides more nucleation sites cloudy centered clear rimmed dolomite and sucrosic dolomite formed in sediments with abundant lmc and few nucleation sites fossil moldic porosity developed concurrent with pseudomorphic replacement suggesting that the dolomitizing solution was undersaturated with respect to the mineral being replaced dolomite cement commonly lines pores and fills intraparticle pore space dolomite cement occasionally has inclusions of a precursor lmc cement dolomite cement crystals are larger than replacement crystals because there are fewer nucleation sites for the cement crystals

geochemistry of brachiopods oxygen and carbon isotopic records of paleozoic oceans abstract combined trace element and isotope studies of 319 brachiopods covering the ordovician to permian time span show that 13c and 18o in well preserved specimens varied during the paleozoic the overall 13c secular trend is in accord with the previously published observations but its details are obscured by vital isotopic fractionation effects at generic level nonetheless the results suggest that the negative correlation between marine 13ccarbonate and 34ssulphate deteriorates at time scales of 106 years due to the long residence time and thus slow response of so42 in the ocean for oxygen isotopes all devonian and older specimens have 18o of 4 while the well preserved permian samples have near present day 18o of about 1 pdb this isotopic dichotomy is probably not due to post depositional phenomena salinity or biogenic fractionation effects this leaves open the perennial arguments for a change in 18 o 16 o of sea water versus warmer ancient oceans the present data are difficult to explain solely by the temperature alternative the coincidence of the proposed shift in 18o with the large late paleozoic changes in marine 87 sr 86 sr 13 c 12 c 34 s 32 s and sea level stands argues for a tectonic cause and for a change in 18 o 16 o of sea water although such explanation is difficult to reconcile with global balance considerations and with isotopic patterns observed in alteration products of ancient basalts and ophiolites whatever the precise cause or combination of causes the implications for tectonism and or paleoclimatology are of first order significance

shallow structure effects on broadband teleseismic p waveforms the first 5 sec of source equalized p wave receiver functions from an array of broadband portable instruments located about 50 km from the coast in western washington are strongly influenced by very shallow structure depths less than 3 km these data display behavior associated with a dipping high velocity contrast interface at shallow depths the direct p wave and the p to s converted phase vary strongly with backazimuth producing an apparent delay in first arriving energy at western backazimuths these patterns are attributed to a shallow contact between low velocity sandstones at the surface and an underlying high velocity volcanic unit this shallow structure influences even the original unprocessed teleseismic p waves suggesting that such shallow structure could affect other studies such as seismic source analysis utilizing broadband data

pattern of marine mass extinction near the permian triassic boundary in south china the meishan section across the permian triassic boundary in south china is the most thoroughly investigated in the world a statistical analysis of the occurrences of 162 genera and 333 species confirms a sudden extinction event at 251 4 million years ago coincident with a dramatic depletion of 13ccarbonate and an increase in microspherules

the end permian regression in south china and its implication on mass extinction abstract records of more than 20 permian triassic boundary ptb sections from south china show that widespread end permian regression took place in whole south china timing of the low ebb of this regression was pinpointed to the clarkina meishanensis and hindeodus changxingensis zones biostratigraphic and paleogeographic studies at conodont zonation level reveal that the yangtze carbonate platform and isolated small carbonate platforms in the hunan guizhou guangxi hgg basin experienced sedimentary hiatus during these two zones which lasted about 50 100 kya meanwhile the basinal areas namely the northern marginal basin of yangtze platform and the hunan guizhou guangxi basin have continuous conodont zonation with silicious and ashbed deposits the basinal areas show two negative 13c shifts during the ptb interval from clarkina yini zone to isarcicella isarcica zone while on the platforms there is usually only one negative shift because the early shift at c meishanensis zone was lost during hiatus the end permian regression and successive rapid transgression taking place at the ptb casted important effects to the pattern and process of the ptb mass extinction the depositional hiatus hitherto underestimated will necessitate reassessment of some interpretations on the causes and results of that extinction

uncertainties and implications of the late cretaceous and tertiary position of north america relative to the farallon kula and pacific plates we present updated global plate reconstructions and calculated uncertainties of the pacific kula and farallon vancouver plates relative to north america for selected times since 68 ma improved magnetic data from the indian ocean decrease the uncertainties in the global plate circuit approach these uncertainties are now considerably smaller than those inherent in equivalent reconstructions based on the assumption of fixed hotspots major differences between these results and those of others are due to our use of more detailed africa north america reconstructions separate vancouver and farallon plate reconstructions and the assumption of a rigid antarctica plate during cenozoic time the uncertainties in the relative positions of the pacific and north america plates since the time of anomaly 7 26 ma range up to 100 km in position or from 1 to 3 m y in time if the mendocino triple junction initiated at about 28 5 ma its position would have been at 31 3 n 130 km relative to fixed north america unacceptable overlap of oceanic crust of the pacific plate with continental crust of western north america in the anomaly 10 30 ma reconstruction is a minimum of 340 200 km along an azimuth of n60 e and may be accounted for by basin and range extension pacific north america displacement in the past 20 ma is found to be considerably less than that calculated by fixed hotspot reconstructions farallon vancouver north america convergence velocity decreased greatly between the times of anomalies 24 and 21 56 to 50 ma prior to the 43 ma age of the hawaiian emperor bend and the often quoted 40 ma end of the laramide orogeny a change in direction of farallon north america convergence occurred sometime between 50 and 42 ma and also may not correlate with the time of the hawaiian emperor bend the lack of data from subducted parts of the farallon and kula plates permits many possibilities regarding the position of the kula farallon ridge the age of subducted crust or the position of oceanic plateaus during the laramide orogeny leaving open the question of the relationship between plate tectonic scenarios and tectonic style during laramide time displacements of points on the various oceanic plates along the west coast of an arbitrarily fixed north america during the interval between anomalies 30 31 and 18 68 to 42 ma are found to be pacific plate 1700 200 km northward farallon plate 3200 400 km northeastward vancouver plate 3000 400 km northeastward kula plate if attached to the pacific plate after a24 time 2500 400 km northward

dolomitization of the pedro castle formation pliocene cayman brac british west indies abstract the pedro castle formation pliocene on cayman brac is variably dolomitized by texture preserving but non mimetic and texture destructive replacive dolomite mimetic replacement of skeletal grains is limited to echinoderm plates and with few rare exceptions there is no mimetic replacement of red algae foraminifera green algae or any other type of skeletal grain the lack of mimetic dolomite is atypical of island dolostones found in the caribbean sea and the pacific ocean dolostones in the pedro castle formation are formed entirely of high ca calcian dolomite average of 57 4 mol caco 3 oxygen isotopes mean 1 25 pdb from the dolomite indicate that dolomitization was mediated by seawater or modified seawater carbon isotopes in the dolomite which range from 1 81 to 1 42 pdb were probably inherited from the precursor limestone the average sr content in the dolomite 360 ppm is higher than that found in most other island dolomites the sediments that now form the pedro castle formation were deposited in shallow water on an open bank during the early pliocene pre dolomitization diagenesis of those sediments included syntaxial overgrowths around echinoderm fragments dissolution of aragonitic bioclasts stabilization to low magnesium calcite and local precipitation of vadose cements thus the limestones had been extensively stabilized by the time that dolomitization took place during the late pliocene the general paucity of mimetic replacement in these dolostones can probably be attributed to the calcite stabilization that took place before dolomitization

a unique geochemical record at the permian triassic boundary a 330 metre core drilled through the marine permian triassic boundary in the carnic alps of austria allows closely correlated studies of geochemistry petrography and palaeontology across the boundary the isotope shifts and metal concentrations are extended multiple and complex and do not resemble those seen at the cretaceous tertiary boundary both the carbon isotope shifts and the chemical events including an indium anomaly may have causes related to a major regression of the sea

climatic and oceanographic isotopic signals from the carbonate rock record and their preservation stable isotopic data from marine limestones and their constituent fossils and marine cements can provide quantitative evidence for changes in global climate and ocean circulation oxygen isotopic data can indicate changes in temperature and ocean composition whereas stratigraphic variation in carbon isotope ratios may reflect changes in the carbon cycle that can be linked to changes in oceanic productivity and atmospheric greenhouse gases terrestrial carbonates meteoric cements calcretes and speleothems similarly offer significant potential for understanding the evolution of terrestrial climates by providing evidence for the composition of rainwater and the nature of vegetative cover primary environmental isotopic signals may be obscured by the effects of post depositional diagenetic alteration cementation and replacement reactions can take place in a wide range of diagenetic environments the diagenetic history of an individual limestone is determined by a combination of its mineralogical diagenetic potential and depositional setting together with subsequent changes in relative sea level and burial history carbon isotopic values are less prone to alteration during diagenesis than oxygen values but shifts can be significant where organogenic carbon is incorporated linear covariation of carbon and oxygen values is not a reliable indicator of diagenetic alteration water rock interaction and fluid mixing may produce non linear distributions attempts to determine long term changes in climatic and oceanographie conditions through isotope stratigraphy of shallow water limestones must include an assessment of the diagenetic history of the materials analysed petrographic examination using conventional microscopy backed up where appropriate by cathodoluminescence and scanning electron microscopy together with elemental and strontium isotopic analysis can help to identify the effects of diagenetic alteration where material with a range of different degrees of alteration is preserved in the same sediment it may be possible to compare patterns of isotopic and elemental variation and to attempt to unravel the effects of diagenesis in order to determine primary environmental isotopic signals recent research has shown that these techniques can be successfully employed in both phanerozoic and precambrian sediments

stable isotopes in late pennsylvanian brachiopods from the united states implications for carboniferous paleoceanography stable isotopic analyses have been performed on nearly 500 nonluminescent brachiopod shells from kansas new mexico and texas to evaluate temporal and geographic variability in the carbon and oxygen isotopic record for late pennsylvanian time brachiopod specimens were collected from missourian and virgilian shales and examined in thin section for preservation of microstructure and absence of cathodoluminescence as a primary test for shell preservation regional variations are observed in the 18o and 13c values of nonluminescent brachiopod shells of the same genera average 18o values for the three genera analyzed crurithyris composita and neospirifer are highest in kansas 1 9 intermediate in texas 2 3 and lowest in new mexico 3 6 vital effect on the 18o of these genera appears minimal 18o data and other evidence suggest warmer temperatures for the shallow new mexico localities and slightly higher salinity for the kansas sea relative to the texas sea the 13c values of composita average about 1 higher than those of co occurring crurithyris and neospirifer suggesting microhabitat differences or vital effects preservation of this species effect argues for preservation of original 13c values average 13c values are highest in texas intermediate in kansas and lowest in new mexico although these values range from 2 6 to 4 9 for individual genera the regional variation in 13c averages less than 1 data for nonluminescent brachiopods and marine cements reveal a mid carboniferous 13c increase of 2 in paleotethyan sea water this increase is not seen in samples from the north american epicontinental seas which opened to the panthalassa ocean this regional difference in 13c appears to be due to changes in ocean circulation associated with the closing of the equatorial seaway and formation of pangea

deep structure and structural inversion along the central california continental margin from edge seismic profile ru 3 deep penetration seismic reflection profile ru 3 crosses the central california continental margin revealing a subducted oceanic plate a modified accretionary prism and complex structures of the overlying sedimentary basins this structural framework was established by subduction processes during paleogene and earlier time and subsequently was modified by neogene transform motion combined with apparent components of extension and compression subducted rocks are indicated by deep gently dipping reflectors that extend beneath the continental margin for at least 38 km at a depth of about 15 km we interpret the subducted crust as either a part of the pacific plate or more likely a subducted fragment derived from the farallon plate a set of more steeply dipping deep events may indicate faulting within the subducted plate or its boundary with a no slab zone the overlying largely nonreflective layer of accreted material rapidly reaches 10 km in thickness landward of the paleotrench and increases to 15 km in thickness near the coast the santa lucia basin landward of the steep continental slope originated as a slope basin during paleogene subduction the lower strata of this basin were deposited onto and partially incorporated into the accretionary complex the offshore santa maria basin exhibits a variety of compressional structures that formed in the last 3 5 m y and whose locations correspond to an earlier framework of extensional faults structural inversion has occurred in miocene depocenters adjacent to the santa lucia bank fault and at the queenie structure miocene and lower pliocene strata also thicken toward the hosgri fault zone where subsequent compression is characterized by low angle thrusts and folding

diagenetic evaluation of a pennsylvanian carbonate succession bird spring formation arrow canyon nevada u s a 1 brachiopod and whole rock comparison abstract diagenetic evaluation of the pennsylvanian bird spring formation arrow canyon nevada u s a involved the detailed petrographic and geochemical examination of its brachiopod and whole rock components 13 c 18 o and 87 sr 86 sr of whole rock wr statistically p 0 0001 do not agree with isotope values of coeval brachiopod low mg calcite lmc more importantly a detailed investigation of the best preserved fine grained whole rock material demonstrates that it does not universally preserve its carbon isotope values in contrast with hypothetical predictions furthermore lumped trace chemistry or stable isotope tests do not unequivocally identify brachiopod or whole rock fine to coarse grained samples that carry an original seawater signal instead diagenetic evaluation involving as many screening tests as possible on a horizon by horizon level to compensate for spatial and temporal variations is necessary to identify the sample s that carries an original seawater signature many brachiopods from the bird spring formation are blue to non luminescent and carry microstructures and trace element contents similar to those of their modern tropical counterparts concurrence of chemical results between well preserved brachiopods and whole rock if originally low mg calcite is achieved in 22 of coeval samples for 13 c blmc wr with natural limits of 0 25 in 20 of samples for 18 o blmc wr with natural limits of 0 25 and in 9 of samples for 87 sr blmc wr with global limits of 0 000025 after an adjustment for mineralogical fractionation if whole rock is considered originally aragonite the concurrence of 13 c blmc wr drops to 0 and for 18 o blmc wr it drops to 6 furthermore comparison of stable isotopes of our well preserved brachiopods with those of preserved whole rock from the literature suggests that they are significantly different p 0 0001 with results of the latter dataset being more negative by about 0 77 2 57 with mineralogical adjustment for 13 c pdb and 1 31 2 11 for 18 o pdb thus our integrated screening and comparative tests indicate that 1 an overwhelming number of the whole rock samples from the bird spring formation carry a diagenetic instead of a primary signal for both carbon and oxygen isotopes and 2 many of the biogenic low mg calcite brachiopods in this succession carry an original chemical signal suitable for the reconstruction of high resolution seawater isotope curves representative of the pennsylvanian north american epeiric sea and potentially of the global oceans

does the global stratigraphic reproducibility of δ13c in neoproterozoic carbonates require a marine origin a pliocene pleistocene comparison the large and systematic negative shifts in the 13 c values 12 of carbonate dominated rocks that preceded neoproterozoic glacial successions have been interpreted to record a dramatic series of global environmental and evolutionary events these values are widely considered to be marine rather than diagenetic in origin because stratigraphic patterns of change are systematic and reproducible from basin to basin distinct in magnitude and associated with recognizable stratigraphic markers such as glacial deposits in contrast diagenetic systems are commonly considered to have a more local and stochastic influence on 13 c values cores taken in quaternary carbonate platform sediments however reveal a curious similarity in magnitude thickness and core to core reproducibility where diagenetic alteration has occurred in response to sea level fall sea level changes produced similar 13 c and 18 o stratigraphic records at globally disparate locations which are unrelated to the global marine 13 c signal and bear no relation to the global carbon cycle by analogy with the pliocene pleistocene we propose that spatial reproducibility of 13 c in some neoproterozoic successions might be attributed to causes other than secular variation of the global carbon cycle including diagenesis this observation does not negate the stratigraphic utility of the carbon isotopic values only the origin of the signal

the nature of the δ13c of periplatform sediments implications for stratigraphy and the global carbon cycle the carbon isotopic composition y 13 c of bulk carbonates obtained from a transect of sites drilled through platform and periplatform sediments of holocene to early miocene age has been compared to ascertain whether changes in the y 13 c can be correlated between sediments of equivalent ages and whether such changes can be related to global changes in the y 13 c of the dissolved inorganic carbon in the oceans over this time period five of the sites were drilled during leg 166 of the ocean drilling project 1003 1007 in a transect ranging from five km to 25 km away from the platform margin and penetrating sediments of holocene to oligocene age that are contained in 17 depositional sequences a q two shallow water sites clino and unda were situated on a extension of the same transect on great bahama bank in a water depth of 10 15 m with the exception of unda and clino the y 13 c of the carbonates ranges from 5x in the younger sequences to 1x in the early miocene in each of the sites the y 13 c is strongly positively correlated with the percentage of aragonite as a consequence the y 13 c of sequences a through f is strongly correlated reflecting the decreasing amount of aragonite with increasing depth in the two platform sites the y 13 c is significantly lower in the younger portions of the cores as a result of the influences of meteoric diagenesis during repeated exposure during the pleistocene although the y 13 c of the individual sequences can be correlated in most instances between the odp holes the changes are not related to global changes in the y 13 c of the oceans which in contrast to the y 13 c of the platform sediments become isotopically lower towards the present day instead variations in the y 13 c appear to be related to varying mixtures of y 13 c rich banktop sediments and pelagic material

the queen charlotte islands refraction project part ii structural model for transition from pacific plate to north american plate discussion the oceanic continental boundary west of the queen charlotte islands is marked by the active queen charlotte fault zone motion along the fault is predominantly dextral strike slip but relative plate motion and other studies indicate that a component of convergence between the oceanic pacific plate and the continental north american plate presently exists this convergence could be manifest through different types of deformation oblique subduction crustal thickening or lateral distortion of the plates in 1983 a 330 km offshore onshore seismic refraction profile extending from the deep ocean across the islands to the mainland of british columbia was recorded to investigate i structure of the fault zone and associated oceanic continental boundary and ii lithospheric structure beneath the islands and hecate strait to define the regional transition from pacific plate to north american plate and thus the nature of the convergence two dimensional ray tracing and synthetic seismogram modelling of many

a new high resolution δ13c record for the early triassic insights from the arabian platform a new carbon isotope record with conodont biostratigraphy is presented for the entire early triassic from the musandam peninsula united arab emirates uae this is a near continuous and exclusively shallow marine carbonate succession that allows analysis of a high resolution primary carbon cycling signature in the absence of significant depth dependent or lithologic controls the musandam carbon isotope record can be broadly correlated with global isotopic events but also resolves additional features including the presence of significant negative events during the previously identified positive excursions at both the dienerian smithian and smithian spathian boundaries a further positive event is revealed during the development of the mid spathian negative excursion a feature not previously reported in any other section these new short lived events are probably related to the occurrence of the more widely recognized early triassic excursions and may represent fluctuations in the driving mechanisms superimposed on the continued instability of the global carbon cycle in the aftermath of the end permian extinction together these features highlight additional complexities to the early triassic carbon cycle perturbations than previously documented

west margin of north america a synthesis of recent seismic transects abstract a comparison of the deep structure along nine recent transects of the west margin of north america shows many important similarities and differences common tectonic elements identified in the deep structure along these transects include actively subducting oceanic crust accreted oceanic arc or oceanic like lithosphere of mesozoic through cenozoic ages cenozoic accretionary prisms mesozoic accretionary prisms backstops to the mesozoic prisms and undivided lower crust not all of these elements are present along all transects in this study nine transects including four crossing subduction zones and five crossing transform faults are plotted at the same scale and vertical exaggeration v e 1 1 using the above scheme for identifying tectonic elements the four subduction zone transects contain actively subducting oceanic crust cenozoic accretionary prisms and bodies of basaltic rocks accreted in the cenozoic including remnants of a large oceanic plateau in the oregon and vancouver island transects rocks of age and composition eocene basalt similar to the oceanic plateau are currently subducting in southern alaska where they are doubled up on top of pacific oceanic crust and have apparently created a giant asperity or impediment to subduction most of the subduction zone transects also contain mesozoic accretionary prisms and two of them vancouver island and alaska also contain thick tectonically underplated bodies of late mesozoic early cenozoic oceanic lithosphere interpreted as fragments of the extinct kula plate in the upper crust most of the five transform fault transects all in california reflect 1 tectonic wedging of a mesozoic accretionary prism into a backstop which includes mesozoic early cenozoic forearc rocks and mesozoic ophiolitic arc basement rocks and 2 shuffling of the subduction margin of california by strike slip faulting in the lower crust they may reflect migration of the mendocino triple junction northward seen in rocks east of the san andreas fault and cessation of farallon plate subduction seen in rocks west of the san andreas fault in northern california lower crustal rocks east of the san andreas fault have oceanic crustal velocity and thickness and contain patches of high reflectivity they may represent basaltic rocks magmatically underplated in the wake of the migration of the mendocino triple junction or they may represent stalled subducted fragments of the farallon gorda plate the latter alternative does not fit the accepted slabless window model for the migration of the triple junction this lower crustal layer and the moho are offset at the san andreas and maacama faults in central california a similar lower crustal layer is observed west of the san andreas fault west of the continental slope it is pacific oceanic crust but beneath the continent it may represent either pacific oceanic crust stalled subducted fragments microplates of the farallon plate or basaltic rocks magmatically underplated during subduction of the pacific farallon ridge or during breakup of the subducted farallon plate the transect in southern california is only partly representative of regional structure as the structure here is 3 dimensional in the upper crust a mesozoic prism has been thrust beneath crystalline basement rocks of the san gabriel mountains and mojave desert in the mid crust a bright reflective zone is interpreted as a possible master decollement that can be traced from the fold and thrust belt of the los angeles basin northward to at least the san andreas fault a moho depression beneath the san gabriel mountains is consistent with downwelling of lithospheric mantle beneath the transverse ranges that appears to be driving the compression across the transverse ranges and los angeles basin

geophysical evidence for miocene extension and mafic magmatic addition in the california continental borderland the california continental borderland is a key region for understanding the effect on crustal structure of tectonic processes associated with the initiation and elongation of the san andreas transform system because the borderland lies near the point where the pacific farallon spreading system first encountered the north american plate margin whereas the central and northern california margins have been extensively investigated by geophysical surveys in recent years the crustal structure of the borderland particularly the outer borderland has received relatively little attention this paper presents three gravity models that stretch from the pacific ocean floor to shore they provide new evidence that the crust of the entire california continental borderland has been extended and infiltrated by mafic melt since early miocene time the gravity models were constructed from interpretations of nearly 750 km of seismic reflection data seismic refraction studies and geologic maps thus minimizing the nonuniqueness of the method the evidence for extension in the models is that the crust of the accretionary complex and forearc basin that make up the borderland is only 22 km thick 35 thinner than comparable crustal sections in central and northern california extension could well have been accommodated by eastward flow of accretionary complex material during middle miocene formation of a metamorphic core complex in the inner borderland the gravity models also show that the accretionary complex is 100 200 kg m 3 more dense than commonly observed to the north this density difference may result from influx of basaltic melts due to mantle upwelling at the rivera triple junction and beneath the highly extended inner borderland the borderland models permit the occurrence of a discrete mafic layer that forms the base of the crust as is seen along the central and northern california coast but do not require such a layer9s presence anywhere except immediately inland of the shelf slope break

three dimensional shear wave velocity structure revealed with ambient noise tomography in the parkfield california region abstract knowledge of the shear wave velocity structure in the parkfield california region is a key factor for obtaining accurate earthquake locations and improving wave propagation simulations but it has been poorly resolved in previous studies we have conducted an ambient noise tomography study using continuous waveform data from available seismic stations and higher resolution was achieved the shear wave velocity structure in the crust was inverted from rayleigh wave dispersion curves between 1 and 16 s the new shear wave velocity structure correlates well with an existing compressional wave velocity model obtained from body wave arrival time tomography a low velocity zone lvz in the lower crust was revealed on the southwest side of the san andreas fault which is opposite to the pattern in the shallow crust two lvzs in the mid and lower crust were revealed whose locations correlate with a high conductivity body which supports the existence of fluid channels from depth into the saf velocity variations at depth near the saf also suggest a correlation with changes of the amplitude of low frequency earthquakes and with the resistivity structure

change in motion of pacific plate at 5 myr bp alignments of volcanoes such as the hawaiian seamount chain record the passage of oceanic plates over mantle plumes or hot spots and changes in the orientation of a seamount chain may indicate changes in the direction of motion of the plate within the hotspot frame of reference1 this hypothesis can be tested for the pacific plate by comparing data from the hawaiian volcanoes with tectonic movements inferred from the geology of adjacent plates we have now found that the motion of the pacific plate changed to a more northerly direction 5 myr ago probably as a result of the detachment of a piece of pacific sea floor which had been subducted beneath the fiji plateau during the tertiary

the queen charlotte islands refraction project part i the queen charlotte fault zone the active margin between the continental north american plate and oceanic pacific plate west of the queen charlotte islands was the site of an extensive onshore offshore seismic refraction project

diagenetic overprint on negative δ13c excursions across the permian triassic boundary a case study from meishan section china the meishan section d from china is the global stratotype section and point gssp of the permian triassic boundary ptb the succession has been divided into 115 beds with the ptb being placed in the middle of bed 27 in this section and the laterally equivalent section a the diagenetic features of beds 24 to 62 are examined in this study to determine if the negative shift in 13ccarb across the permian triassic boundary is diagenetic in origin or not bed 24 is formed of skeletal packstones whereas beds 25 to 62 are formed of claystones or argillaceous dolomitic limestones the dolomite crystals are typically 30 m long subhedral to euhedral and held in a very fine groundmass formed of calcite and clay minerals the cathodoluminescent features and backscattered images show that the dolomite crystals are zoned with a non luminescent low calcium calcian dolomite lcd core being encased successively by an irregular dull orange calcite zone a euhedral bright orange high calcium calcian dolomite hcd cortex and an outermost ferroan hcd zone available evidence indicates that the zoned dolomite crystals formed episodically the dolomite crystals following their initial syndepositional formation with euhedral lcd cores and hcd cortices were subsequently modified by calcitization mediated by meteoric water and overgrowth of fe rich hcd during burial the limestones in bed 24 display 13c values ranging from 1 72 to 2 92 18o values from 7 74 to 4 84 in beds 25 to 62 the bulk samples have 13c values from 0 76 to 1 28 and 18o values from 8 58 to 3 99 there is a positive correlation between these isotopic compositions and dolomite content it is estimated that the first formed dolomite and the precursor limestones have 13c value of 2 19 and 18o value of 1 14 the dramatic negative 13c excursions of calcite in beds 26 and 28 are related to meteoric diagenesis whereas the negative 13c excursions of bulk samples in the dolomite bearing beds are ascribed to the diagenetic modifications that post dated the initial formation of dolomite the results show that the 13c signals recorded in the gssp that spans the ptb are a mixture of original and diagenetic signals for the dolomite bearing bulk samples diagenesis contributes 1 7 to the negative shift in the 13c hence diagenetic alteration needs to be considered before using 13ccarb to estimate the dissolved inorganic carbon in the ancient oceans and to calculate the global carbon cycle

origin and significance of isotope shifts in pennsylvanian carbonates asturias nw spain abstract the primary variability of the composition and properties of seawater is much greater in the shallow coastal zones than in the main body of ocean water an inadequate understanding of this variability as well as different diagenetic environments severely limit the interpretation of the stable isotope record of shoalwater carbonates in order to investigate this primary and diagenetic variability along a bashkirian moscovian platform to basin transect 13c and 18o analyses have been performed on more than 1000 matrix micrite carbonate cement and brachiopod shell samples in isotope analysis these different carbonate materials tend to complement each other inasmuch as they have different advantages and shortcomings the resulting data reveal spatial trends in 13c and 18o signatures from platform top lower values to basin higher values in the case of 13c from pristine brachiopods this trend can be explained by the long residence time aging of platform top water masses in the case of brachiopod 18o this variance is interpreted to reflect temperature differences between warm surface and colder bottom water separated by a permanent thermocline at about 150 to 200 m beneath the shelf break micrite and marine cement isotopic values from the platform interior were reset lowered during pervasive early meteoric diagenesis in contrast micrite and marine cement isotopic values from the outer platform slope and basin show higher values close to the assumed pennsylvanian seawater isotopic composition this implies that isotopic data from shoalwater carbonates including pristine brachiopod shells might not necessarily reflect paleoceanographic trends of the open ocean water masses because of changes in coastal water mass isotope signature and interaction with early meteoric fluids

crustal structure of the offshore southern santa maria basin and transverse ranges southern california from deep seismic reflection data seismic reflection data from the 1986 edge pacific gas and electric experiment together with refraction and gravity data are used to construct an integrated north south geophysical cross section along the offshore santa maria basin and across the offshore extension of the transverse ranges thrust faults offsetting acoustic basement and folding miocene sediments root in a midcrustal detachment at 12 13 km depth the detachment coincides with an increase in reflectivity seen on the seismic reflection section and the maximum depth of earthquakes a high velocity oceanic crustal layer at the base of the crust 17 22 km and moho 25 km is offset by a low angle thrust fault with an apparent dip 10 to the north offshore point arguello gravity models indicate crustal thickening and a change in the depth to moho from 25 to 30 km in this region however the contribution of elastic flexure from loading of the transverse ranges is considered to be minor in this part of the borderland the cross section constrains neogene shortening to less than 3 based on faulting and folding of the sedimentary section shortening of the upper crust is balanced by a combination of ductile flow and subduction of the oceanic crust beneath the midcrustal detachment

evaluation of carbonate diagenesis a comparative study of minor elements trace elements and rare earth elements ree y between pleistocene corals and matrices from grand cayman british west indies abstract on grand cayman the pleistocene ironshore formation consists of six unconformity bounded units of limestones that have been partially or completely altered to calcite by post depositional meteoric diagenesis in order to examine the diagenetic history from the perspective of geochemical elements the concentrations of minor element sr na mg trace elements ba fe mn al si and rare earth elements ree and yttrium y were determined for 105 corals and 84 matrices collected from the rogers wreck point rwp western onshore area wo and offshore george town gt areas with the transformation of aragonite to calcite the sr na and ba values decreased but mg increased which are indicative of diagenetic alteration in an open water system due to intrinsic vital effects and the extrinsic diagenetic environment the variations of sr na ba and mg concentrations between acropora and montastrea from the gt area are different to those of their counterparts from rwp and wo the signatures of sr na ba and mg are in good agreement with the diagenetic history as determined from petrographic and stable isotopic criteria the ree y rey concentrations rey are higher in the matrices 0 2 6 9 ppm average 2 6 ppm than in the associated corals 0 1 5 4 ppm average 0 6 ppm shale normalized rey patterns of the pleistocene ironshore formation are similar to those of oxygenated seawater which are characterized by 1 light ree depletion relative to heavy ree average dy sn sm sn 1 7 n 35 2 positive la anomalies average pr pr 1 17 n 53 and 3 negative ce anomalies average ce ce 0 49 n 53 the preserved seawater like rey distribution pattern the lack of correlation between rey and mineralogy and the lack of correlation between rey and diagenesis sensitive stable oxygen isotope 18 o indicate that meteoric diagenesis did not have a major impact on the rey distribution patterns the matrices and corals in the gt area compared to their counterparts from rwp and wo have relatively less depleted lree and lower y in rey distribution pattern suggesting contamination by minor amounts of detrital sediments this is supported by the fact that limestones from the gt area contain abnormally high contents of detrital elements al si the variations in rey in carbonate rocks from locality to locality probably reflect variations that existed in the local depositional environments where these deposits originally formed

dolomitization of gas reservoirs the upper permian changxing and lower triassic feixianguan formations northeast sichuan basin china abstract the lower triassic feixianguan formation and to a lesser extent the upper permian changxing formation contain more than ten giant recently discovered dolomite gas fields on either side of a paleo embayment kaijiang liangping bay sichuan basin china this study documents the origin of the dolomite using a combination of petrology fluid inclusion trace element geochemistry and stable isotope and radiogenic isotope analysis of samples from outcrop and core samples from producing gas fields three stages of dolomitization are revealed dolomicrite from the lagoon facies in the feixianguan formation and minor fabric retentive dolomite from reef facies in the changxing formation on the northeast side of kaijiang liangping bay represent the initial dolomite phase caused by reflux of feixianguan brine with salinity close to gypsum saturation 18 wt salinity during the first stage of diagenesis at 30 c the second and dominant dolomite phase fabric retentive dolomite in both the feixianguan and changxing formations on the both sides of kaijiang liangping bay is the result of reflux of diagenetic fluids with salinity ranging from normal feixianguan seawater 3 5 salinity up to mesohaline water 6 5 salinity during early burial diagenesis at about 35 40 c as shown by the dominance of single phase aqueous inclusions shallow formed stylolites that cut the second phase of dolomite and the early triassic marine carbon oxygen and strontium isotope and rare earth element and yttrium ree y signals the subordinate third dolomite phase fabric obliterative dolomite and dolomite cement was due to burial diagenetic recrystallization between 80 and 140 c in the feixianguan and changxing formations on both sides of kaijiang liangping bay the third phase of dolomitization involved water expelled from the slightly younger lower triassic jialingjiang formation marine evaporites and carbonates on the northeast side of kaijiang liangping bay revealed by the high salinity of the aqueous inclusions that homogenize at 80 to 140 c and elevated strontium isotope data the carbon isotope and ree y signals of the third phase of dolomite are similar to earlier dolomite cements confirming the lack of exotic input future exploration should be focused on dolomitized high energy sediments e g reef and oolitic shoal and bank in similar triassic tethyan paleogeographic settings that are associated with restricted facies but underlying dolomitized high energy permian strata may also be good exploration targets

three dimensional numerical experiments of strain partitioning at oblique plate boundaries implications for contrasting tectonic styles in the southern coast ranges california and central south island new zealand a three dimensional numerical model is used to investigate the nature and distribution of crustal scale deformation and strain partitioning across obliquely convergent transpressive plate boundaries a uniform elastic plastic crustal layer obeying murrell s extension to three dimensions of the griffith failure criterion was deformed under basal kinematic boundary conditions that correspond to the oblique convergence between two mantle lithospheres one of which detaches and subducts beneath the other the results show deformation concentrated in relatively narrow shear zones the character planar versus curved and dip of these shear zones or crustal scale faults depend on the relative amount of convergence versus transcurrent motion imposed across the plate boundary in models dominated by transcurrent boundary conditions two separate sets of coexisting structures develop 1 a pair of planar relatively shallow dipping thrust zones arranged in a v structure that accommodate convergent motion and 2 a set of curved near vertical strike slip zones arranged in a flower structure that accommodates the transcurrent motion in models dominated by convergence both contractional and transcurrent deformations are accommodated by oblique slip across a single pair of structures that have the same geometry as the thrust shear zones there is a gradational behavior between these end member partitioned and nonpartitioned modes for intermediate boundary conditions in all cases the dip of the shear zones predicted by the numerical model is in good agreement with the dip of ideal faults predicted by mohr s incipient faulting hypothesis the two basic modes are interpreted to underlie the contrasting tectonic styles of the southern coast ranges california and central south island new zealand factors other than obliquity of convergence which play a role in strain partitioning are discussed

near field investigations of the landers earthquake sequence april to july 1992 the landers earthquake which had a moment magnitude m w of 7 3 was the largest earthquake to strike the contiguous united states in 40 years this earthquake resulted from the rupture of five major and many minor right lateral faults near the southern end of the eastern california shear zone just north of the san andreas fault its m w 6 1 preshock and m w 6 2 aftershock had their own aftershocks and foreshocks surficial geological observations are consistent with local and far field seismologic observations of the earthquake large surficial offsets as great as 6 meters and a relatively short rupture length 85 kilometers are consistent with seismological calculations of a high stress drop 200 bars which is in turn consistent with an apparently long recurrence interval for these faults