dissolved constituents and sr isotopes in river waters from a mountainous island the danshuei drainage system in northern taiwan abstract taiwan is a typical active orogenic belt situated at the collision boundary between the eurasian continental plate and the philippine sea plate dissolved major and trace constituents as well as sr and sr isotopes in river waters collected from the danshuei river basin in northern taiwan have been studied to evaluate chemical weathering processes the results of principal component analysis show that the ion sources in these river waters can be categorized into 3 major components chemical weathering seasalt contribution and local anthropogenic input the chemical weathering is the most dominant factor that contributes about 85 of total variances significantly increased na cl and ca cl as well 87 sr 86 sr were observed in most upper stream samples the na cl and ca cl ratios in the dahan stream however are much higher than the shindien stream even though average rainfall is stronger in the shindien drainage basin chemical evidence from river waters supports less intense weathering in the region selective dissolution of secondary calcites explains the observed high ca cl sr cl and ca na in the dahan stream these results highlight the potential importance of tectonic factors such as uplift and physical erosion in studying chemical weathering in an active orogenic belt the variations of 87 sr 86 sr in the danshuei river are quite large reflecting some strata that released sr most of the upstream waters exhibit more radiogenic 87 sr 86 sr 0 713243 0 714338 due to weathering of ambient low grade metamorphic rocks 0 71678 0 72216 the distributions of cl sr and 87 sr 86 sr in the main stream were affected by somewhat conservative mixing with sources varing between ambient rocks and seasalt in the upper dahan stream heavy 87 sr 86 sr ratios were coincident with large deviations of na cl from the average seawater value as high as 40 the degree of chemical weathering in ambient rocks plays a dominant role in affecting the distribution of sr and 87 sr 86 sr in the danshuei river this isotopic characteristic makes 87 sr 86 sr an invaluable tracer for studying source mixing migration pathways and chemical weathering in an active orogenic belt

the record of sea water 187os 186os variation through the cenozoic the variation of sea water 187os 186os during the cenozoic has been determined by analyzing the hydrogenous os released by acidic hydrogen peroxide leaching of layers in an abyssal north pacific pelagic clay core overall sea water 187os 186os has increased from 3 2 at 58 ma to the present day value of 8 6 this pattern is similar to the well known 87sr 86sr evolution of sea water the increase in the proportion of continental os 187os 186os 10 could be due to enhanced weathering rates of black shales associated with the uplift of the himalayas other elements associated with black shale weathering such as u and p should show effects in the sedimentary record

influence of late cenozoic mountain building on ocean geochemical cycles in a steady state ocean input fluxes of dissolved salts to the sea must be balanced in mass and isotopic value by output fluxes for the elements strontium calcium and carbon rivers provide the primary input whereas marine biogenic sedimentation dominates removal dissolved fluxes in rivers are related to rates of continental weathering which in turn are strongly dependent on rates of uplift the largest dissolved fluxes today arise in the himalayan and andean mountain ranges and the tibetan plateau during the past 5 m y uplift rates in these areas have increased significantly this suggests that weathering rates and river fluxes may have increased also the oceanic records of carbonate sedimentation level of the calcite compensation depth and delta sup 13 c and delta sup 87 sr in biogenic sediments are consistent with a global increase in river fluxes since the late miocene the cooling of global climate over the past few million years may be linked to a decrease in atmospheric co sub 2 driven by enhanced continental weathering in these tectonically active regions

high resolution strontium isotope stratigraphy across the cambrian ordovician transition we have analyzed 214 fossil apatite samples from nine stratigraphic sections worldwide that cover the lower cambrian to lower ordovician for their strontium isotope ratios of these samples 180 from six sections that cover the cambrian ordovician transition 5 ma reveal how the extent of isotopic alteration can differ greatly according to lithology and sample type from three limestone sections 126 euconodont samples yield the most consistent 87sr 86sr ratios and are used in this article to constrain seawater 87sr 86sr across the cambrian ordovician boundary by contrast protoconodonts paraconodonts and inarticulate brachiopods are far less likely to retain a primary 87sr 86sr signature and appear to be of only limited value for chemostratigraphy seawater 87sr 86sr fell from maximum values for the phanerozoic of more than 0 7092 during the early late cambrian to 0 7090 by the earliest ordovician high resolution sampling has permitted the recognition of sinusoidal variations with a wavelength on the order of 1 ma that are superimposed on the overall fall in 87sr 86sr these variations may be caused by high order cycles in seawater 87sr 86sr or diagenetic alteration

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

87sr 86sr chemostratigraphy of neoproterozoic dalradian carbonates below the port askaig glaciogenic formation scotland abstract the neoproterozoic cambrian dalradian supergroup of scotland contains three glaciogenic sedimentary units the port askaig formation the stralinchy reelan formation and the loch na cille boulder bed in ascending order although the idea that relatively cold climates occurred during the latest proterozoic is widely accepted the cause of the onset of glaciation is still controversial we use new carbonate 87 sr 86 sr data to better constrain this environmental change some dalradian limestones have high strontium contents 1000 ppm low manganese contents and mn sr ratios 87 sr 86 sr values of paleoseawater in the neoproterozoic the 87 sr 86 sr values of limestones of the islay formation ca 0 7067 sampled on the island of islay are similar to the values of previous studies however the 87 sr 86 sr values of limestones just below the port askaig formation ca 0 7064 collected on the island of garbh eileach have the lowest values recorded in the dalradian supergroup comparing these 87 sr 86 sr values with coeval 87 sr 86 sr values of other regions in the world such low 87 sr 86 sr i87 sr 86 sr ratio from the tonian through the cryogenian and ediacaran to the earliest cambrian the results show that the 87 sr 86 sr ratio of seawater decreased just before the older cryogenian glaciation that it increased by two steps in the early and middle ediacaran and that there were at least two abrupt positive excursions in the middle ediacaran and at the precambrian cambrian boundary the decline of the 87 sr 86 sr ratio of seawater just before the older cryogenian sturtian glaciation suggests that enhancement of weathering related to break up of the rodinia supercontinent and continental flood basalt volcanism was a likely driver for generating global cooling for the snowball earth conditions godderis et al 2003 donnadieu et al 2004

strontium isotopic variations in jurassic and cretaceous seawater a high resolution seawater strontium isotope curve has been generated through the analysis of well dated and well preserved belemnites and oysters from the middle and upper jurassic and the lower cretaceous of great britain analysis of fe and mn concentrations in these fossils has yielded criteria for eliminating samples that are diagenetically altered the strontium isotope curve remains relatively flat through the aalenian and early bajocian rapidly descends through the late bajocian and bathonian and reaches a minimum in the callovian and oxfordian it then begins a rapid increase in the kimmeridgian and portlandian that continues through much of the early cretaceous the curve levels off in the barremian suddenly dips downwards in the aptian and recovers gradually through the albian the strontium isotopic variations are sufficiently large and the data are presented with sufficient stratigraphic detail to allow precise correlation to the classic ammonite zones and lithologic sections of great britain using the techniques of strontium isotope stratigraphy model results indicate that much of the variation in seawater 87sr86sr between 120 and 40 ma can be explained by changing the intensity of mid ocean ridge hydrothermal fluxes proportionally to estimated mid ocean ridge crustal generation rates it is also possible that the variations during the rest of the mesozoic and the permian are primarily reflections of changing hydrothermal inputs the model results have several important implications first they provide an example in which the variations in the strontium isotope curve are not necessarily driven by changes in fluvial inputs second they suggest that from at least the aptian through the eocene variations in continental weathering were minimal this heightens the importance of the rapid rise in seawater 87sr86sr beginning 40 ma as a significant transition to an extended period of increasing fluvial 87sr fluxes continuing to the present finally the results suggest that several documented short term excursions towards lower 87sr86sr in the latest triassic pliensbachian toarcian callovian oxfordian aptian albian and cenomanian turonian are interpretable as pulses of seafloor hydrothermal activity if so the strontium isotope record offers a means of constraining the timing duration and magnitude of known or proposed hydrothermal events in the geological record

the detrital record of orogenesis a review of approaches and techniques used in the himalayan sedimentary basins the sediment archive of material eroded from an active tectonic region and stored in adjacent basins can provide a valuable record of hinterland tectonism especially when information in the source region itself is obscured by later metamorphism or removed by tectonism or erosion using the sediment record to document tectonism is a well established approach but more recently there has been a burgeoning of the number of isotopic techniques which can be applied to detrital material in particular single grain analyses thus the scope for application of detrital studies to a number of different tectonic problems has widened considerably in this review the example of sediments eroded from the himalayan orogen and preserved in the suture zone basin foreland basin remnant ocean basins and deep sea fans is used to illustrate the approach techniques as diverse as petrography heavy mineral xrf and sr nd studies single grain dating by ar ar u pb and fission track methodologies and single grain sm nd and pb isotopic analyses are described the paper documents how the sediment record can be used to determine the thermal and tectonic evolution of the orogen constrain mechanisms of continental deformation exhumation rates and palaeodrainage

high resolution stratigraphy with strontium isotopes the isotopic ratio of strontium 87 to strontium 86 shows no detectable variation in present day ocean water but changes slowly over millions of years the strontium contained in carbonate shells of marine organisms records the ratio of strontium 87 to strontium 86 of the oceans at the time that the shells form sedimentary rocks composed of accumulated fossil carbonate shells can be dated and correlated with the use of high precision measurements of the ratio of strontium 87 to strontium 86 with a resolution that is similar to that of other techniques used in age correlation this method may prove valuable for many geological paleontological paleooceanographic and geochemical problems

tibetan tectonics from 40ar 39ar analysis of a single k feldspar sample ar 39ar data on an alkali feldspar sample from the quxu pluton gangdese batholith southern tibet allow a detailed assessment of unroofing and uplift history between 35 and 18 ma the 39ar arrhenius plot for this sample shows departures from a linear relationship between the effective diffusion parameter log d r2 and reciprocal temperature which we interpret to be the result of a distribution of distinct diffusion domain sizes we use an alternative way of plotting the arrhenius data that exhibits domain size versus cumulative 39ar released during step heating the 4 ar 39ar age spectrum of the sample has features such as local age plateaus that are most easily explained in terms of the distinctive closure age of particular domains the fact that the same distribution of diffusion domain sizes explains both the arrhenius data and the age spectrum is an indication that the diffusion properties operating in the laboratory are those of the sample while it was in its natural environment modelling of the age spectrum with a distribution of domain sizes results in the recovery of a continuous cooling history segment rather than a single time temperature datum we demonstrate the robustness of the cooling curve determination by showing the large misfits to the age spectrum that arise from relatively small changes in the cooling history the best fit cooling curve for the quxu sample shows a decreasing rate of cooling in the time interval 35 18 ma followed by a very rapid cooling beginning at about 18 ma we have used a thermal model for the conductive cooling of an unroofing pluton to estimate the rate of unroofing required to explain the quxu cooling curve and find that in the 35 20 ma time interval the primary control of the thermal evolution is the conductive loss of magmatic heat with little or no unroofing unroofing rates of approximately 0 05 mm yr followed by a brief period 5 ma of very rapid unroofing with rates of order 2 mm yr

direct impact of el nino on east asian summer precipitation in the observation this study investigates the direct impact of el nino in the tropical pacific on the east asian summer precipitation generalized equilibrium feedback assessment is used to isolate this direct impact from interrelated ocean forcings in the observations results indicate that the el nino can directly influence the summer precipitation in east china significantly the precipitation response presents a tri pole pattern with anomalous wet in the southeast and the northeast china and anomalous dry in the northern china amplitude of the precipitation response is around 20 of the total precipitation for 1 c el nino forcing in most area of the east china with maximal response up to 30 c the tri pole precipitation response is attributed to an el nino induced cyclonic anomaly in the northeast asia and an anticyclonic anomaly in the western north pacific wnp the anomalous cyclone deepens the east asian trough southwestward favoring an air ascending in front of the trough in the southeast and the northeast china and an air descending at the rear of the trough in the northern china the anomalous anticyclone in the wnp strengthens the wnp subtropical high northeastward providing adequate water vapor to the southeast china the anomalous cyclone and anomalous anticyclone work together to generate the tri pole precipitation response pattern in the east china further investigation suggests that these two key anomalous circulations are part of a northwestward propagating rossby wave which is excited by the el nino warming induced convection over the subtropical west central pacific this study can serve as a reference for the prediction of the east asian precipitation in both the developing and decaying summer of el nino

the himalayas organic carbon burial and climate in the miocene cooling ages of rock in the himalayas imply that rapid exhumation between the main central thrust system and the south tibetan detachment system occurred between 21 and 17 ma the generation of relief and enhanced weathering which followed this event may have resulted in a pronounced increase in the delivery of dissolved strontium carbon phosphorus and other chemical weathering products to the ocean richter et al 1992 the increased supply of nutrients stimulated productivity in oceanic upwelling zones and expansion of the oxygen minimum zone leading to enhanced burial and preservation of organic matter in the monterey formation and other deposits from this interval a downdraw of atmospheric co2 associated with enhanced chemical weathering rates and organic matter burial may have led to global cooling and the expansion of the antarctic ice sheet by 15 ma the above scenario differs from the monterey hypothesis of vincent and berger in that co2 downdraw is primarily via silicate weathering rather than organic carbon burial and that organic carbon burial is driven by increased delivery of nutrients to the ocean rather than by stronger upwelling a carbon mass balance calculation which assumes that river fluxes have been increasing over the last 40 ma predicts that absolute organic carbon burial increased over this interval while at the same time the fraction of carbon buried as organic matter versus carbonate decreased this implies that the organic carbon cycle has acted as a net source of co2 to the atmosphere over the late cenozoic

finite strain calculations of continental deformation 2 comparison with the india asia collision zone numerical experiments on a thin viscous sheet model for deformation of continental lithosphere subjected to an indenting boundary condition yield distributions of crustal thickness of stress and strain rate and of latitudinal displacements that may be compared with observations in the india asia collision zone a simple indenting boundary condition applied to initially laterally homogeneous sheets obeying a power law rheology produces results that are in broad agreement with the observations provided that the power law exponent is three or greater and the sheet can support vertically integrated stress differences of 2 1013 5 1012 n m 1 in regions in front of the indenter under these conditions the calculated deformation shows accommodation of convergence primarily by crustal thickening to produce a plateau in front of the indenter palaeomagnetic data from india and tibet and the observed distribution of topography suggest that much of the post eocene convergence of india with asia has been taken up by deformation within asia that involved crustal thickening the principal difference between calculation and observation is the absence from the calculated strain rate fields of east west extension of the plateau in front of the indenting boundary the calculations show that once such a plateau is formed the buoyancy force associated with the crustal thickness contrast inhibits further thickening and the plateau strains at less than half the rate of its immediate surroundings seismically determined regional strain rates exhibit a similar distribution with the tibetan plateau straining at about one quarter the rate of the tien shan and ningxia gansu regions calculated principal compressive stress orientations and regional strain rates agree with the seismically determined quantities in the mongolia baikal tien shan tibet and ningxia gansu regions of asia to within the uncertainty of the latter the vertically integrated stresses that are calculated for the viscous sheet are comparable with those that can be supported by a theologically stratified continental lithosphere obeying laboratory determined flow laws we suggest that the thin viscous sheet model described in this paper and its companion gives a simple and physically plausible description of the observed deformation in central asia in this description the predominant mechanism of accommodation of continental convergence is diffuse crustal thickening with shear on vertical planes playing a subsidiary role once large crustal thickness contrasts have been established

rb sr and k ar systems of biotite in surface environments regulated by weathering processes with implications for isotopic dating and hydrological cycles of sr isotopes abstract biotite is widely used for rb sr and k ar isotopic dating and influences sr isotope geochemistry of hydrological regimes the isotopic system of biotite behaves diversely in response to surface weathering i e the complete preservation of original rb sr and k ar isotopic ages or dramatic reduction in this study we have explored the relation between the behavior of isotopic systems and complex weathering processes of biotites in the weathering profiles distributed on the mesozoic granitoids in south korea in the lower parts of the profiles biotite in the early stages of weathering was transformed into either oxidized biotite or hydrobiotite with a mass release of 87 sr and 40 ar forced by the rapid oxidation of ferrous iron during the transformation to oxidized biotite 87 sr and 40 ar were preferentially released relative to rb and k respectively via solid state diffusion through the biotite lattice resulting in a drastic reduction of original isotopic age the reduction of rb sr age was greater than that of k ar age because k was preferentially released over rb whereas 87 sr and 40 ar were released proportionally to each other however during the transformation of biotite to hydrobiotite i e to regularly interstratified biotite vermiculite 87 sr rb 40 ar and k were completely retained in the alternating biotite interlayer and thus the original isotopic age can be preserved in the upper parts of the profiles where iron oxidation was almost completed 87 sr rb 40 ar and k were gradually and proportionally released with no further significant change in isotopic age during the gradual transformation of the early formed oxidized biotite into hydrobiotite and vermiculite or during their final decomposition to kaolinite the ratios and amounts of isotopes released from weathered biotites are dependent upon the degree of iron oxidation and the pathways of mineralogical transformation regional and local variations in isotopic systems affected by particular weathering processes should be considered when dating biotite or biotite bearing rocks in weathering environments modeling the transfer of sr isotopes to hydrologic regimes and tracking the provenance of sediments

cooling history of the nw himalaya pakistan fission track and 40ar 39ar cooling ages indicate that the late tertiary cooling history of the himalayan ranges of northern pakistan is largely a function of uplift and erosion interpretation of cooling ages which range from under 0 5 ma to over 80 ma suggests that during the late tertiary long term uplift rates at least doubled from under 0 2 mm yr to in some cases well over 0 5 mm yr uplift rates show strong and systematic regional variations as well which reflect the greater uplift of eastern and northern regions the association of very rapid uplift and erosion with the nanga parbat haramosh massif can be explained by a locally vigorous collision of india with eurasia near a promontory of indian crust the resultant rapid uplift of the nanga parbat haramosh massif reactivated the main mantle thrust melange zone with a reversed sense of motion discontinuities in the coolingage distribution along the main mantle thrust in the southern swat hazara region may be the result of the thermal effects of overthrusting

rock varnish evidence for a younger dryas wet period in the dead sea basin 1 rock varnish from 14 6 to 13 2 ka recessional shorelines of late glacial lake lisan and fan delta surfaces between 280 and 365 m bmsl meters below mean sea level along the western margins of the dead sea contains replicable layering patterns characterized by a low mn and ba orange yellow surface layer and a high mn and ba dark basal layer the deposition of the dark basal layers immediately after the lake recession represents a wet period coinciding with the younger dryas yd cooling 12 9 11 6 ka manifesting the influence of midlatitude westerly winds in the eastern mediterranean central levant em cl in contrast varnish from the distal base of fan deltas contains only orange yellow surface layers diagnostic of the holocene relatively dry climate the absence of the dark basal layers in the varnish further indicates a yd high stand at 365 m bmsl and a lake level rise of at least 100 m from its bolling allerod lowstand this rise stands in contrast to the abrupt drop of the lake level during the heinrich h1 cold event illustrating the opposite response of the em cl climate to changes in the north atlantic climate the yd wet event most likely reflects a southward shift of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation modulated midlatitude westerly wind belt in the em cl region

the oligocene marine microfossil record age assessments using strontium isotopes a strontium isotope record for the latest eocene to earliest miocene has been produced for two well preserved deep sea sequences from the atlantic deep sea drilling project sites 516f and 563 which have magnetostratigraphic age control and four sequences from the pacific sites 77b 292 and 593 and atlantic site 529 which lack magnetostratigraphy the composite 87sr 86sr age record of sites 516f and 563 forms a comprehensive composite standard for the oligocene against which other sequences can be correlated unlike previously published 87sr 86sr oligocene sea water curves which have suggested that the sea water isotopic composition changed monotonically during the latest paleogene we note a distinct change in slope between the early oligocene 36 to 27 ma and the late oligocene to earliest miocene 27 to 20 ma the slope of the early oligocene segment is less steep than that of the late oligocene to earliest miocene we have fit two linear regression curves to the oligocene to early miocene seawater 87sr data of sites 516f and 563 which we use to establish sr isotope age relationships for the oligocene the 87sr age equations were used to evaluate the synchroneity of specific planktonic and calcareous nannofossil datum levels used to correlate oligocene sections although some datum levels appear to be synchronous between the atlantic and pacific our results show that others are diachronous along longitudinal gradients this is most evident in several last appearance datums that occurred earlier in the western equatorial pacific than in the eastern equatorial pacific this diachroneity extends into the atlantic where last occurrences were later than in the eastern equatorial pacific

re os isotope systematics in black shales from the lesser himalaya their chronology and role in the 187os 188os evolution of seawater abstract re and os abundances and os isotope systematics have been measured in a number of black shales sampled from outcrops and two underground phosphorite mines maldeota and durmala in the lesser himalaya the re and os concentrations in these samples exhibit wide range 0 2 to 264 ng g and 0 02 to 13 5 ng g respectively with a mean re os of 25 the 187 os 188 os of these samples also show a broad range 1 02 to 11 6 with many of them far more radiogenic than the currently eroding continental crust the black shales from the maldeota and durmala mines collected a few meters above the krol tal pc c boundary and occurring in the same stratigraphic horizon yield 187 re 187 os isochron ages of 554 16 and 552 22 ma respectively consistent with fossil evidences and those assigned for the pc c boundary at various other locations these results indicate closed system behaviour of re and os in these mine samples and reaffirm the validity of 187 re 187 os pair to date organic rich sediments the age of these mine samples from the outer belt seems to be a few hundred millions of years younger than the preliminary re os age of 839 138 ma for black shales from theog collected from the inner belt these initial results lean toward the hypothesis that the inner belt sediments were deposited earlier than the outer belt however more analyses of black shales are needed to confirm this the role of weathering black shales from the himalaya in contributing to the os isotope evolution of seawater over the past 25 ma was assessed using a simple budget model for seawater os and assuming values for os fluxes and 187 os 188 os based on the available limited data on os concentration and its 187 os 188 os in rivers and oceans these calculations indicate that the required contributions from black shale weathering to account for the entire increase in oceanic 187 os 188 os over the past 16 ma is difficult to satisfy by varying only the os flux from htp rivers 187 os 188 os kept constant at 1 324 or their 187 os 188 os 188 os flux constant at today s value 131 moles yr the requirements to balance os isotope budget in ocean through weathering of black shales however is easier to accommodate if both the os flux from htp himalayan tibetan plateau rivers and their 187 os 188 os are allowed to vary measurements of os abundance in htp rivers and its isotopic composition are needed to test the validity of the model results

large scale subduction of continental crust implied by india asia mass balance calculation continental crust is buoyant compared with its oceanic counterpart and resists subduction into the mantle when two continents collide the mass balance for the continental crust is therefore assumed to be maintained here we use estimates of pre collisional crustal thickness and convergence history derived from plate kinematic models to calculate the crustal mass balance in the india asia collisional system using the current best estimates for the timing of the diachronous onset of collision between india and eurasia we find that about 50 of the pre collisional continental crustal mass cannot be accounted for in the crustal reservoir preserved at earth s surface today represented by the mass preserved in the thickened crust that makes up the himalaya tibet and much of adjacent asia as well as southeast asian tectonic escape and exported eroded sediments this implies large scale subduction of continental crust during the collision with a mass equivalent to about 15 of the total oceanic crustal subduction flux since 56 million years ago we suggest that similar contamination of the mantle by direct input of radiogenic continental crustal materials during past continent continent collisions is reflected in some ocean crust and ocean island basalt geochemistry the subduction of continental crust may therefore contribute significantly to the evolution of mantle geochemistry buoyant continental crust is thought to resist subduction calculation of the crustal mass balance during the collision between india and eurasia indicates that about 50 of pre collisional continental crust has been subducted into the mantle

himalayan uplift and osmium isotopes in oceans and rivers previous studies have shown that 187 os 188 os in seawater has become increasingly radiogenic over the last 40 ma in a manner analogous to strontium this rapid rise in the marine 187 os 188 os over the last 17 ma has been attributed to an increase in the bulk silicate weathering rates resulting from the rise of the himalayas and or selective weathering and erosion of highly radiogenic organic rich ancient sediments the key test of this hypothesis is the 187 os 188 os and the total osmium concentration of the himalayan rivers we report the concentration and isotopic composition of osmium in the ganges the brahmaputra and the indus rivers the 187 os 188 os of the ganges close to its source at kaudiyal 30 05 n 78 50 e is 2 65 and os 45 fm kg a second sample of the lower reaches of the ganges at patna 25 30 n 85 10 e gives 187 os 188 os 1 59 and os 171 fm kg the 187 os 188 os of the brahmaputra at guwahati 26 10 n 91 58 e is 1 07 and os 52 fm kg a sample of the indus besham 34 55 n 72 51 e has a 187 os 188 os of 1 2 and os 59 fm kg we infer that the himalayas do not provide either a high flow of osmium or a highly radiogenic osmium component to the oceans the overall trend for osmium and strontium could be explained by a regularly increasing input of global continental weathering sources but the himalayas themselves appear not to be the dominant source

late cretaceous evolution of the coqen basin lhasa terrane and implications for early topographic growth on the tibetan plateau the tectonic evolution of the lhasa terrane southern tibetan plateau played a fundamental role in the formation of the tibetan plateau however many uncertainties remain with regard to the tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of the lhasa terrane prior to the india asia collision to determine the early tectonic processes that controlled the topographic evolution of the lhasa terrane we analyze the cretaceous strata exposed in the coqen basin northern lhasa subterrane which comprises the langshan and daxiong formations the langshan formation unconformably overlies the volcanic rocks of the lower cretaceous zelong group and consists of similar to 80 m of orbitolina bearing limestones which were deposited in a low energy shallow marine environment micropaleontological analysis indicates that the langshan formation in the coqen basin was deposited from late aptian to early cenomanian times ca 113 96 ma the overlying daxiong formation similar to 1700 m thick consists of conglomerate coarse sandstone and siltstone with interbedded mudstone and represents deposits of alluvial fans and braided rivers the daxiong formation was deposited after the early cenomanian ca 96 ma and accumulated until at least ca 91 ma indicating accumulation rates of greater than 0 3 km m y 1 by combining paleocurrent data sandstone petrology detrital zircon u pb ages and hf isotope analysis we demonstrate that the daxiong formation was derived from lower cretaceous volcanic rocks and pre cretaceous strata in the northern lhasa subterrane during late cretaceous time two thrust systems with opposite vergence were responsible for transforming the northern lhasa subterrane into an elevated mountain range this process resulted in the evolution from a shallow marine environment langshan formation into a terrestrial depositional environment daxiong formation on the southern margin of the northern lhasa subterrane given the regional paleogeographic context we conclude that the daxiong formation in the coqen basin records local crustal shortening and flexure resulting in foreland basin development on the southern margin of the northern lhasa subterrane which implies early topographic growth of the northern lhasa subterrane in southern tibet prior to the india asia collision

diagenesis and sr isotopic evolution of seawater using data from dsdp 590b and 575 new sr isotopic and concentration analyses of bulk carbonate and porewaters from a carbonate rich miocene section sampled at dsdp site 575 are reported and used along with our earlier data from a section of similar age at dsdp site 590b in a numerical model to determine for each site the rate of sr exchange during diagenesis and the degree to which this amount of exchange has shifted the87sr86sr of the bulk carbonate from the ratio each increment of sediment had when first deposited despite the fact that the two sites have very different water depth 4536 m at 575 vs 1299 m at 590b different sedimentation rate 10 m my at 575 vs 40 m my at 590b and significantly different porewater sr2 gradients we find that the rate of sr exchange as a function of sediment age is almost indistinguishable between the two sites the rate of sr exchange determined at the two sites is such that the resulting shift in bulk carbonate87sr86sr due to diagenesis is small compared to the total range of87sr86sr values measured but large compared to the analytical uncertainty of the individual isotopic ratio measurements by taking this shift into account we reconstruct the original87sr86sr of each increment of carbonate sampled which when plotted as a function of age becomes our best estimate of the sr isotopic evolution of seawater because sr is very well mixed in the ocean at any given time there is a single worldwide value of seawater87sr86sr therefore if we are quantitatively accounting for the effect sr exchange we should find the same seawater evolution curve regardless of what dsdp site is used when we compare the observed bulk carbonate87sr86sr vs age at the two sites they are seen to differ by amounts that are sometimes large compared to the analytical uncertainties of the measurements however when these data are corrected for the post depositional sr isotopic shifts predicted by our diagenetic model we find almost perfect agreement this agreement suggests that we have made a realistic determination of the rate of sr exchange and its consequences in terms of shifting the87sr86sr of the bulk carbonate and more importantly that sr isotopes can be used to correlate marine sediments with an accuracy comparable to the very small analytical uncertainties of modern isotopic measurements

rapid early miocene acceleration of uplift in the gangdese belt xizang southern tibet and its bearing on accommodation mechanisms of the india asia collision abstract five samples from a biotite hornblende granodiorite phase of the 42 5 ma quxu pluton gangdese batholith southern tibet have been collected at 250 m vertical intervals biotite from these rocks yields monotonically decreasing40ar 39ar isochron ages with decreasing elevation of 26 8 0 2 23 3 0 5 19 7 0 3 18 4 0 4 and17 8 0 1ma tc 335 c coexisting k feldspars have virtually identical minimum apparent40ar 39ar ages of 17 0 0 4ma tc 285 c these data indicate parts of southern tibet experienced a pulse of uplift in the early miocene with the rate of uplift rising from 0 07 to 4 4 mm year in the interval 20 to 17 ma an apatite fission track age of 9 9 0 9ma from this locality constrains the average uplift rate at this site to about 0 81 mm year between 17 and 9 9 ma and 0 30 mm year from 9 9 ma to present k feldspar from the dagze granite 30 km to the east near lhasa yields a minimum apparent40ar 39ar age of 35 9 0 9ma tc 227 c which indicates an average uplift rate there of 0 21 mm year since then the marked pulse of uplift of the quxu granodiorite and the difference in uplift history between the dagze and quxu plutons suggests southern tibet has experienced discrete pulses of uplift variable in both space and time these data are not consistent with models which require a large proportion of uplift of the tibetan plateau to have occurred in the last 2 ma the data support the suggestion that convergence between india and asia was largely accommodated by tectonic escape during the opening of the south china sea 32 to 17 ma ago and permit distributed shortening as a mechanism for crustal thickening and uplift of this part of the tibetan plateau subsequent to 20 ma

geological evolution of seawater boron isotopic composition recorded in evaporites the abundance of boron isotopes in ancient marine carbonates can be used to estimate oceanic ph that reflects atmospheric co 2 levels this proxy requires that the boron isotopic composition of seawater at the time the carbonate has formed is known and thus the past changes in seawater chemistry here we report the boron isotopic composition of selected ancient marine halites and modern sea salts the signal interpreted as marine reveals a clear evolution of the boron isotopic composition of seawater to 8 variations over the cenozoic comparison between this reconstructed curve and the mg ca ratio reveals a high level of consistency that will help to better define oceanic geochemical cycles

rates of continental erosion and mountain building the first objective of this work was to obtain values for the rates at which continental erosion can smooth out or remove the topographic expression produced by orogeny the dominant part is played by mechanical erosion which acts most strongly in regions of large topographic expression chemical erosion depends strongly on precipitation or runoff in individual river drainage basins but because most continents have very similar average rainfall chemical erosion is fairly uniform for continental sized areas and will succeed in planing down all continents to a level peneplain if given enough time the exception to this rule is australia which has a very low chemical erosion rate because of its dryness the time constants for mechanical and chemical erosion so obtained vary between about 30 and 300 my depending on the continent and the assumptions made mountain building occurs throughout the geological time scale but at a non uniform rate although there will not be a balance between erosion and mountain building over a short time scale due to the non uniform rate of mountain building the long term situation must be that the two phenomena should balance out it is shown that the freeboard of continents will respond to the long term balance between mountain building and erosion an expression has been derived for the average continental elevation in which the rate of mountain building depends on the rate of radiogenic heat production within the earth it is shown that relatively small changes in average elevation above sea level of a few hundred metres are predicted to have occurred since the beginning of the proterozoic as mountain building is predicted to decrease on average with time because of the reduction in internal heat generation and as erosion is dependent on the average elevation this average elevation will decrease slowly through time the opposite of what some workers have predicted a more complicated model of mountain building is then investigated in which one component of mountain building has a sinusoidal signal the oscillations in average elevation depend on the period of the sinusoid being smaller for shorter periods finally an average continental elevation is derived using a list of real orogenic events although this list of orogenies is incomplete there is some indication that the actual continental elevation as seen in the flooding history of the continents is similar to that derived in this paper

episodic rapid uplift in the himalaya revealed by 40ar 39ar analysis of detrital k feldspar and muscovite bengal fan detrital k feldspar and muscovite samples from ocean drilling program leg 116 cores have been dated by the sup 40 ar sup 39 ar technique and have depositional ages from 0 to 18 ma from 4 to 13 individual k feldspars and 1 to 12 individual muscovites have been dated from 7 stratigraphic levels in every level at least one k feldspar and one muscovite yielded a minimum age identical within uncertainty to the age of deposition these results indicate that a significant portion of the material in the bengal fan is first cycle detritus derived from the himalaya therefore the substantial amount of sediment deposited in the distal fan in early to middle miocene time can be ascribed to a significant pulse of uplift and erosion in the collision zone at this time moreover these data indicate that throughout the neogene some part of the himalayan orogen was undergoing rapid erosion 1 to 10 mm yr this erosion must have been less than or equal to uplift relative to sea level the lack of granulite facies rocks in the eastern himalaya and tibetan plateau suggests to us that very rapid uplift must have been distributed in brief pulses over different parts of the mountain belt these datamore are incompatible with tectonic models in which the himalaya and tibetan plateau are uplifted either uniformly over the past 40 m y or mostly within the past 2 to 5 m y less

a plate kinematic framework for models of caribbean evolution abstract we define the former relative positions and motions of the plates whose motions have controlled the geological evolution of the caribbean region newly determined poles of rotation defining the approximate spreading histories of the central north and the south atlantic oceans are given for the late jurassic early cretaceous anomaly sequence of the central north atlantic we have used previously published definitions of fracture zone traces and magnetic anomaly picks redetermining the pole positions and angular rotations for various isochrons on an evans and sutherland interactive graphics system for magnetic anomalies younger than the cretaceous quiet period in both oceans we 1 used seasat altimeter data to help define fracture zone traces and 2 identified and used marine magnetic anomalies to determine the positions of spreading isochrons along the flowlines indicated by the fracture zones by the finite difference method the relative paleopositions and the relative motion history between north and south america were computed this analysis defines the size and shape and the rate at which the size and shape changed of the interplate region between north and south america since the middle jurassic thus a plate kinematic framework is provided for the larger plates pertaining to the caribbean region in which can be derived more detailed scenarios for gulf of mexico and caribbean evolution north and south america diverged to approximately their present relative positions from late triassic to early campanian about 84 m y ago time this is the period during which the gulf of mexico and a proto caribbean seaway were formed since the campanian only minor relative motion has occurred from early campanian through to middle eocene times south america diverged only another 200 km and since the middle eocene minor n s convergence has occurred these very minor post early campanian motions have probably been accommodated by imperfect shear and compression along the atlantic fracture zones to the east of the lesser antilles and along the northern and southern borders of the caribbean plate accordingly it is suggested that from campanian time to the present the relative motions between the north and south american plates have had only minor effects on the structural development of the caribbean region primarily using the data of engebretson et al the convergence history of pacific plates with north america was calculated for two points near the western caribbean by completing finite difference solutions the convergence history of the pacific plates with the caribbean and south american plates can be approximated the direction and rate of convergence of the pacific plates with the americas may have controlled the style of subduction and possible microplate migration along the north american south american and western caribbean boundaries that define the eastern pacific plate margin