stabilization of the coupled oxygen and phosphorus cycles by the evolution of bioturbation animal burrowing and sediment mixing bioturbation began during the run up to the ediacaran cambrian boundary1 2 3 initiating a transition4 5 between the stratified precambrian6 and more well mixed phanerozoic7 sedimentary records against the backdrop of a variable8 9 global oxygen reservoir probably smaller in size than present10 11 phosphorus is the long term12 limiting nutrient for oxygen production via burial of organic carbon13 and its retention relative to carbon within organic matter in marine sediments is enhanced by bioturbation14 15 16 17 18 here we explore the biogeochemical implications of a bioturbation induced organic phosphorus sink in a simple model we show that increased bioturbation robustly triggers a net decrease in the size of the global oxygen reservoir the magnitude of which is contingent upon the prescribed difference in carbon to phosphorus ratios between bioturbated and laminated sediments bioturbation also reduces steady state marine phosphate levels but this effect is offset by the decline in iron adsorbed phosphate burial that results from a decrease in oxygen concentrations the introduction of oxygen sensitive bioturbation to dynamical model runs is sufficient to trigger a negative feedback loop the intensity of bioturbation is limited by the oxygen decrease it initially causes the onset of this feedback is consistent with redox variations observed during the early cambrian rise of bioturbation leading us to suggest that bioturbation helped to regulate early oxygen and phosphorus cycles

coupled oceanic oxygenation and metazoan diversification during the early middle cambrian the early middle cambrian fortunian to age 4 is characterized by a significant increase in metazoan diversification furthermore this interval is marked by a prominent environmental and ecological expansion of arthropod and echinoderm rich biotas recent redox work has suggested that this shift occurred during stable or decreasing marine oxygen levels suggesting that these paleobiological and paleoecological transformations were decoupled from a redox control we tested this idea by conducting new paleoredox analyses on age 2 age 4 cambrian outer shelf jiuqunao wangjiaping slope wuhe geyi and basinal zhalagou sections of the south china craton multiple sections indicate that mid depth waters transitioned from anoxic conditions during cambrian age 2 to stable oxic conditions during cambrian age 4 these findings suggest a stepwise expansion of oxic waters from shallow to deep settings during the early middle cambrian consistent with a redox control of metazoan diversification and ecological expansion more broadly despite the surge in redox work over the past decade this study highlights the need for continued coupled redox and paleontological studies to directly test models about the links between the evolution of animals ecosystems and marine redox conditions

marine oxygenation lithistid sponges and the early history of paleozoic skeletal reefs abstract microbial carbonates were major components of early paleozoic reefs until coral stromatoporoid bryozoan reefs appeared in the mid ordovician microbial reefs were augmented by archaeocyath sponges for 15 myr in the early cambrian by lithistid sponges for the remaining 25 myr of the cambrian and then by lithistid calathiid and pulchrilaminid sponges for the first 25 myr of the ordovician the factors responsible for mid late cambrian microbial lithistid sponge reef dominance remain unclear although oxygen increase appears to have significantly contributed to the early cambrian explosion of marine animal life it was followed by a prolonged period dominated by greenhouse conditions as sea level rose and co2 increased the mid late cambrian was unusually warm and these elevated temperatures can be expected to have lowered oxygen solubility and to have promoted widespread thermal stratification resulting in marine dysoxia and hypoxia greenhouse conditions would also have stimulated carbonate platform development locally further limiting shallow water circulation low marine oxygenation has been linked to episodic extinctions of phytoplankton trilobites and other metazoans during the mid late cambrian we propose that this tendency to dysoxia hypoxia in shallow marine environments also limited many metazoan reef builders in contrast during the mid late cambrian the ability of lithistid sponges to withstand low oxygen levels allowed them to create a benthic association with microbial carbonates that dominated global reefs these conditions ameliorated during the ordovician as temperature decline promoted ocean ventilation the prolonged time gap occupied by low diversity reefs between the cambrian explosion and the great ordovician biodiversification event reflects elevated temperatures and reduced marine oxygenation that limited metazoan diversification in shallow marine environments

a model for microbial phosphorus cycling in bioturbated marine sediments significance for phosphorus burial in the early paleozoic abstract a diagenetic model is used to simulate the diagenesis and burial of particulate organic carbon c org and phosphorus p in marine sediments underlying anoxic versus oxic bottom waters the latter are physically mixed by animals moving through the surface sediment bioturbation and ventilated by burrowing tube dwelling organisms bioirrigation the model is constrained using an empirical database including burial ratios of c org with respect to organic p c org p org and total reactive p c org p reac burial efficiencies of c org and p org and inorganic carbon to phosphorus regeneration ratios if p org is preferentially mineralized relative to c org during aerobic respiration as many previous studies suggest then the simulated p org pool is found to be completely depleted a modified model that incorporates the redox dependent microbial synthesis of polyphosphates and p org termed the microbial p pump allows preferential mineralization of the bulk p org pool relative to c org during both aerobic and anaerobic respiration and is consistent with the database results with this model show that p burial is strongly enhanced in sediments hosting fauna animals mix highly labile p org away from the aerobic sediment layers where mineralization rates are highest thereby mitigating diffusive po 4 3 fluxes to the bottom water they also expand the redox niche where microbial p uptake occurs the model was applied to a hypothetical shelf setting in the early paleozoic a time of the first radiation of benthic fauna results show that even shallow bioturbation at that time may have had a significant impact on p burial our model provides support for a recent study that proposed that faunal radiation in ocean sediments led to enhanced p burial and possibly a stabilization of atmospheric o 2 levels the results also help to explain c org p org ratios in the geological record and the persistence of p org in ancient marine sediments

the essence of time fertile skarn formation in the variscan orogenic belt abstract extending from northern america to central china the variscan belt is a paleozoic orogen exceptionally well endowed in magmatic hydrothermal ore deposits including skarn deposits yet the genesis of fertile skarns and their distinction from barren equivalents in orogenic zones is only poorly constrained here we present innovative u pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry geochronology of garnet from different skarns in the erzgebirge a classic metallogenic province in central europe garnet ages obtained not only constrain the timing of fertile skarn formation and associated sn w fe zn cu and in mineralization but also clearly distinguish these from barren skarn bodies we show that barren skarns formed during times of peak regional metamorphism at 340 ma whereas mineralized skarns are temporally associated with late orogenic magmatism at 325 313 ma as well as post orogenic magmatism at 308 295 ma the recognition of discrete mineralization events associated with the largest and economically most important skarn deposits provides valuable insight into the punctuated evolution of magmatic hydrothermal systems in ancient collisional orogens on a regional scale this has important implications to direct future mineral exploration

mesozoic cenozoic tectonic evolution and metallogeny in myanmar evidence from zircon cassiterite u pb and molybdenite re os geochronology abstract it is well known that there are many sn w mo and cu au metal resources in myanmar however the absence of precise mineralization ages for these deposits significantly hinders to understand the close genetic relationship among metallogeny ore bearing intrusions and tectonic evolution in this study two groups of consistent molybdenite re os and zircon u pb ages indicate that the dapingba mo w deposit in northern myanmar tengchong terrane formed at early cretaceous 119 ma and 114 ma the dapingba ore bearing granitic magmas were mainly derived from melting of ancient tengchong crust on the basis of zircon hf isotopic compositions ehf t 9 3 to 2 5 moreover the first reported cassiterite u pb ages of 60 ma for the bawapin and kalonta sn w deposits in southern myanmar western sibumasu terrane suggest that the two deposits formed at paleocene whereas the precise molybdenite re os age for the shangalon porphyry cu au deposit in the west burma terrane indicates that this deposit formed at eocene 39 ma importantly combined with previous studies on tectonic evolution and magmatic petrogenesis in myanmar and southwest china a comprehensive mesozoic cenozoic tectono magmatic and metallogenic model are proposed two periods of early cretaceous 120 114 ma and late cretaceous 75 70 ma crust derived felsic melts and related mo sn w deposits from the tengchong and western sibumasu terranes likely formed in a continental arc during subduction of the meso and neo tethys oceanic lithosphere respectively subsequently paleocene eocene 60 50 ma sn w deposits and coeval ore bearing granites in the western sibumasu terrane possibly formed during roll back of the neo tethys oceanic slab after 50 ma india asia collision eocene 41 39 ma porphyry cu au west burma terrane and sn w deposits western sibumasu terrane likely formed during the neo tethys oceanic slab tear and break off in a collisional setting whereas miocene 19 14 ma high sulfidation epithermal cu deposit in the west burma terrane possibly formed in an arc setting during oblique subduction of the indian oceanic lithosphere

dating multiply overprinted granites the effect of protracted magmatism and fluid flow on dating systems zircon u pb shrimp sims la icp ms ca id tims and rb sr ar ar granites from the western erzgebirge bohemian massif germany abstract the variscan granites from the western erzgebirge were repeatedly dated by various methods but no consensus has been reached about their exact intrusion ages this study presents a multi dating approach for the four largest intrusions from the western erzgebirge aue schwarzenberg bergen eibenstock kirchberg we analysed several samples from each pluton suite with zircon u pb ca id tims chemical abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry to obtain robust temporal information on their age and tempo of intrusion these data enable us for the first time to define three intrusive episodes of 1 2 ma each separated by quiet periods of several ma the aue schwarzenberg suite represents the oldest granites that intruded at 323 322 ma followed by the granites from bergen and kirchberg 2 4 ma later the highly evolved ore bearing granites from the eibenstock pluton intruded after a time lag of 5 ma at 315 314 ma the new data show that there is a resolvable age difference between the two known granite groups granite group 2 also assigned as younger igneous complex represented by the eibenstock pluton is 5 ma younger than granite group 1 assigned as older igneous complex represented by granites from aue schwarzenberg bergen and kirchberg protracted magmatism and late post magmatic fluid flow partly reset the u pb system of these granites to variable degrees making a precise and accurate dating of their intrusion ages challenging pb loss in zircons is often combined with high common pb pbc shrimp sims sensitive high mass resolution ion microprobe secondary ion mass spectrometry and la icp ms laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry on non ca zircons document that pb loss and high pbc is quite variable within zircon grains and may be located in micro fractures we demonstrate that chemical abrasion ca clearly minimizes or removes both pb loss and pbc results from prior la icp ms and shrimp dating on non ca zircons from the same samples considerably helped the interpretation of the ca id tims data when pb loss was not completely erased by ca in such cases we often had to choose the oldest analyses for mean age calculation in contrast to the common practice of the ca id tims community to choose the youngest dates rb sr and ar ar dating systems revealed age differences between the older group and the younger ore bearing granites albeit with diverging absolute ages most ar ar ages are identical with ca id tims ages and would imply rapid cooling however samples from the older group have excess ar that could have led to too old ages in contrast rb sr ages for the older granites are 0 7 ma younger than their intrusions fluid induced alteration led to the formation of li mica fluorite and cassiterite greisenization for the youngest granite eibenstock li mica was used to date the first greisenization samples without visible hydrothermal overprint yielded identical ar ar and rb sr ages as severely greisenized samples this implies re equilibration due to the hydrothermal overprint for all ar ar and rb sr ages from the eibenstock pluton according to ar ar dating the first ore formation 315 ma is coeval with the ca id tims intrusion age of the eibenstock granite while it is delayed by 6 3 ma according to rb sr dating 308 3 ma

zone of metal driven anaerobic oxidation of methane is an important sink for phosphorus in the taixinan basin south china sea abstract phosphorus p is an important nutrient and has an important impact on global primary productivity presently the dynamics of the p cycle in low sulfate anoxic settings are largely unknown in this study the adsorption desorption behavior of fe bound p organic p loosely bund p detrital apatite p and refractory p was described in the sulfate and methane transition zone smtz at site 973 4 in the cold seep area of the taixinan basin south china sea results showed that the fe bound p and organic p were influenced by sulfate driven anaerobic oxidation of methane sd aom and metal driven anaerobic oxidation of methane md aom and subsequently the fe bound p and organic p were released as hpo42 into the pore water meanwhile significant increases were detected in authigenic carbonate fluorapatite pcfa and vivianite within the md aom zone which indicate that this zone is an important p sink area the md aom plays an important role in the formation of pcfa and vivianite because md aom provide the necessary hpo42 and fe2 for the formation of these minerals our findings have major implications for understanding the p cycle in low sulfate anoxic settings and are important for understanding the influence of md aom on the phosphate cycle

an integrated stratinomic model for the genesis and concentration of small shelly fossil style phosphatic microsteinkerns in not so exceptional conditions abstract carbonate fluorapatite filled millimeter scale microsteinkerns are a key element of the small shelly fossil ssf fauna generally associated with the late proterozoic cambrian the purported disappearance of these fossils and this style of phosphatic preservation during the cambrian stage 2 botomian extinction has been linked to changes in ocean chemistry and or changes to the physical environment due to the evolution of metazoans as well to the changing role of metazoans in the marine environment through a qualitative meta analysis of existing literature we document a broader temporal distribution for ssf style preservation than previously recognized we examine these occurrences for common patterns of depositional conditions and we offer a conceptual model for both the origin of the phosphatic microsteinkerns and their eventual concentration in certain sediments based on known biogeochemical diagenetic processes of authigenic calcium fluorapatite precipitation phosphogenesis and subsequent concentration of phosphatic sedimentary particles this polycyclic phosphogenic condensation ppc model makes predictions as to how and where this form of preservation might occur in cambrian and non cambrian marine strata alike

development of a modified sedex phosphorus speciation method for ancient rocks and modern iron rich sediments abstract we report the development of a modified method for evaluating different reservoirs of sedimentary phosphorus p in ancient marine sedimentary rocks and in modern fe rich sediments utilising the existing sedex scheme for p partitioning in modern sediments we initially demonstrate limitations in the application of the original scheme to sediments and rocks containing crystalline hematite and magnetite we tested additional extractions for these crystalline fe phases using both synthetic minerals and modern and ancient sediments the addition of 6 h oxalate and 6 h citrate dithionate acetate extractions considerably enhanced the total recovery of synthetic magnetite and hematite to 88 7 1 1 and 76 9 3 8 respectively in addition application of the 6 h oxalate extraction to synthetic p containing magnetite recovered 93 9 1 7 of the fe present and 88 2 12 8 of the co precipitated p based upon these results we developed a modified sedex extraction scheme the modified scheme was applied to modern fe rich sediments from golfo dulce costa rica which resulted in 16 higher fe bound p recovery application of the scheme to a variety of ancient marine rocks increased the recovery of fe bound p by up to 22 we also highlight the potential for authigenic carbonate fluorapatite to convert to more crystalline apatite in ancient rocks during deep burial and metamorphism we suggest that in such systems minimum and maximum estimates of the total reactive p pool may be calculated with and without the inclusion of crystalline p it is noted that the application of the revised method may have important implications for understanding the cycling of p in ancient marine environments

martin brasier s contribution to the palaeobiology of the ediacaran cambrian transition martin brasier s work spanned almost the entire geological column but the origin of animals and the nature of the cambrian explosion were areas of particular interest to him martin adopted a holistic approach to the study of these topics that considered the interplay between multiple geological and biological phenomena and he sought to interpret the fossil record within the broad context of geological biogeochemical and ecological changes in the earth system here we summarize martin s main contributions to this area of research and assess the impact of his findings on the development of this field karl popper would have said that palaeontology is not real science because you can t go out and sample it i think absolutely the opposite i think this is actually where science is it s trying to guess what lies over the hill and map terra incognita when people come in and colonize that s just technology martin brasier 2013 excerpt from a phone interview in moor 2016

petrogenesis of the lijiagou spodumene pegmatites in songpan garze fold belt west sichuan china evidence from geochemistry zircon cassiterite and coltan u pb geochronology and hf isotopic compositions abstract spodumene and other pegmatites in the lijiagou area are located in the central songpan garze fold belt sgfb west sichuan these pegmatites are hosted within the giant songpan garze polymetallic belt a lack of precise geochronological constraints on the magmatic crystallization of the pegmatite suite and nearby plutonic granitoids has precluded definitive statements on genetic links between spodumene ore formation and the magmatic suite systematic zircon cassiterite and coltan u pb dating hf isotope and whole rock geochemical analysis were undertaken two mica granite and muscovite albite granite have s type granite affinities and chemical compositions suggesting a post orogenic setting and the albite spodumene pegmatites belong to the lct li cs ta group of pegmatites zircon la mc icp ms u pb dating of the two mica granite muscovite albite granite albite pegmatite and albite spodumene pegmatite give crystallization ages of 219 2 2 3 ma mswd 0 55 217 2 8 ma mswd 0 47 202 8 4 9 ma mswd 3 9 and 200 1 4 6 ma mswd 3 1 respectively zircons from the same units yield ehf t values of 39 17 to 6 81 22 73 to 2 83 11 17 to 8 14 and 4 92 to 2 4 respectively consistent with mixed crustal sources for the pegmatite and granite magmas cassiterite from albite spodumene pegmatite yields a concordia intercept age of 211 4 3 3 ma mswd 2 9 while coltan yields a weighted mean age of 211 1 1 0 ma mswd 0 97 the u pb zircon ages of the two mica granite and muscovite albite granite are interpreted as ages of magmatic crystallization metamictization of zircon in both albite and albite spodumene pegmatites makes their u pb zircon ages liable to inaccuracy due to pb loss the coltan u pb age is regarded as an accurate measure of the magmatic crystallization age of the albite spodumene pegmatite given the differences in magmatic ages and ehf t ranges between albite spodumene pegmatite and both the two mica granite and the muscovite albite granite the albite spodumene pegmatites probably represent anatectic melts and not fractionation products of either of the granitic magmas u pb coltan and u pb cassiterite dating are more likely to provide accurate crystallization ages of albite spodumene pegmatites than u pb zircon ages

rhenium behavior in molybdenite in hypogene and near surface environments implications for re os geochronometry abstract rhenium is concentrated mainly in molybdenite mos2 and occurs as a major cation in only a few rare minerals this affinity makes molybdenite an ideal mineral for re os geochronometry but research on the behavior of re in molybdenite is limited infrared microscope xrd back scattered electron bse and microprobe techniques have been used in this study to document re behavior in molybdenite affected by hypogene and near surface processes in the hypogene environment both 3r and 2h molybdenite can experience re loss during hydrothermal alteration which also causes increased infrared transparency ir alteration at temperatures as low as 150 c can cause re loss in the presence of advecting fluids and will affect re os dating if it occurs long after primary mineralization re loss in 3r and 2h molybdenite under supergene conditions does not increase ir transparency rhenium is not incorporated into supergene ferrimolybdite but is enriched in k al silicate intergrowths which may be illite these minute intergrowths are present in several samples and would not be detected in a simple optical examination in the supergene environment elemental os is stable whereas re is not rhenium in molybdenite may be removed by supergene fluids after some has decayed to 187os causing erroneously old ages or it may be adsorbed into the illite intergrowths creating ages which are too young in the weathering environment proterozoic molybdenites have altered to re enriched powellite which can be detected using back scattered electron imagery combined microprobe xrd bse and infrared microscopy can be successfully used to detect alteration in molybdenite prior to dating these techniques are non destructive and should be performed before any molybdenite is dated by the re os system

carbon to phosphorus ratios in sediments implications for nutrient cycling defining the transformations of phosphorus p in sediments is critical to assessing the geochemical behavior of sedimentary p and the behavior of reactive p preactive poxide associated pauthigenic porganic relative to organic carbon corganic this study includes the determination of p components and corganic concentrations on samples from sites in the california current region ocean drilling program odp leg 167 sites 1010 1011 1012 1014 1016 and 1021 in the benguela current region odp leg 175 sites 1082 1084 and 1085 and on blake nose in the western atlantic odp leg 17 1b sites 1050 and 1052 sample depths range up to 650 m and ages range up to 65 ma our data demonstrate the transformation of labile forms of p porganic and poxide associated to pauthigenic throughout the sediment column in all redox states and at all sedimentation rates investigated until a substantial portion of reactive p is in the authigenic form 80 c p organic ratios are always greater than or equal to the redfield ratio in all of the sediments we studied sediments with corganic concentrations 2 wt have corganic preactive ratios less than the redfield ratio and corganic preactive ratios increase linearly with corganic consistent with degradation of corganic with age in general corganic preactive ratios for sediments with corganic concentrations 2 wt from a variety of redox states and sedimentation rates center around the redfield ratio although some ratios are as high as 3 times the redfield ratio however corganic preactive ratios up to 400 do not approach the high ratios observed for c p organic ratios up to 4500 because of the efficient transfer of labile forms of p to pauthigenic corganic preactive ratios better describe the geochemical behavior of sedimentary p

effects of dispersed particulates on the rheology of water ice at planetary conditions we have investigated the effects of initial grain size and hard particulate impurities on the transient and steady state flow of water ice i at laboratory conditions selected to provide more quantitative constraints on the thermomechanical evolution of the giant icy moons of the outer solar system our samples were molded with particulate volume fractions of 0 001 to 0 56 and particle sizes of 1 to 150 m deformation experiments were conducted at constant shortening rates of 4 4 10 7 to 4 9 10 4 s 1 at pressures of 50 and 100 mpa and temperatures 77 to 223 k for the pure ice samples initial grain sizes were 0 2 0 6 mm 0 75 1 75 mm and 1 25 2 5 mm stress strain curves of pure ice i under these conditions display a strength maximum u at plastic strains e 0 01 after initial yield followed by strain softening and achievement of steady state levels of stress ss at e 0 1 to 0 2 finer starting grain size in pure ice generally raises the level of u petrography indicates that the initial transient flow behavior is associated with the nucleation and growth of recrystallized ice grains and the approach to ss evidently corresponds to the development of a steady state grain texture effects of particulate concentrations 0 1 are slight at these concentrations a small but significant reduction in u with respect to that for pure water ice occurs mixed phase ice with 0 1 is significantly stronger than pure ice the strength of samples with 0 56 approaches that of dry confined sand the magnitude of the strengthening effect is far greater than expected from homogeneous strain rate enhancement in the ice fraction or from pinning of dislocations orowan hardening this result suggests viscous drag occurs in the ice as it flows around the hard particulates mixed phase ice is also tougher than pure ice extending the range of bulk plastic deformation versus faulting to lower temperatures and higher strain rates the high pressure phase ice ii formed in 0 56 mixed phase ice during deformation at high stresses bulk planetary compositions of ice rock 0 4 0 5 are roughly 2 orders of magnitude more viscous than pure ice promoting the likelihood of thermal instability inside giant icy moons and possibly explaining the retention of crater topography on icy planetary surfaces

geochemical evidence for widespread euxinia in the later cambrian ocean it has been suggested that the cambrian ocean was oxygen deficient but physical evidence for widespread anoxia has been lacking gill et al present sulphur isotope data from cambrian rocks at six different locations around the world and find a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with a large excursion in the marine carbon isotope record which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation at the time a prolonged period of anoxia during the cambrian may explain the previously enigmatic peculiarities seen in the fossil record it has been suggested that the cambrian ocean was oxygen deficient but physical evidence for widespread anoxia has been lacking now sulphur isotope data from cambrian rocks at six different locations around the world is presented with the finding of a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with a large excursion in the marine carbon isotope record which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation at the time with the help of a box model these isotope shifts support the idea of large scale anoxic and sulphidic conditions in the later cambrian ocean widespread anoxia in the ocean is frequently invoked as a primary driver of mass extinction as well as a long term inhibitor of evolutionary radiation on early earth in recent biogeochemical studies it has been hypothesized that oxygen deficiency was widespread in subsurface water masses of later cambrian oceans1 2 possibly influencing evolutionary events during this time1 2 3 physical evidence of widespread anoxia in cambrian oceans has remained elusive and thus its potential relationship to the palaeontological record remains largely unexplored here we present sulphur isotope records from six globally distributed stratigraphic sections of later cambrian marine rocks about 499 million years old we find a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with the steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion spice a large and rapid excursion in the marine carbon isotope record which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation4 5 numerical box modelling of the paired carbon sulphur isotope data indicates that these isotope shifts reflect transient increases in the burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulphur in sediments deposited under large scale anoxic and sulphidic euxinic conditions independently molybdenum abundances in a coeval black shale point convincingly to the transient spread of anoxia these results identify the spice interval as the best characterized ocean anoxic event in the pre mesozoic ocean and an extreme example of oxygen deficiency in the later cambrian ocean thus a redox structure similar to those in proterozoic oceans6 7 8 may have persisted or returned in the oceans of the early phanerozoic eon indeed the environmental challenges presented by widespread anoxia may have been a prevalent if not dominant influence on animal evolution in cambrian oceans

controls on phosphorus regeneration and burial during formation of eastern mediterranean sapropels the carbon c and phosphorus p geochemistry of sapropels from four sites in the eastern mediterranean sea was determined to obtain more insight into the role of differences in sediment accumulation rates and bottom water anoxia on p regeneration and burial in sediments sediment corg porg with org organic ratios above redfield indicate enhanced regeneration of p relative to c from organic matter during formation of the most recent sapropel s1 and a pliocene sapropel odp site 969e i 282c release of p from fe oxides was relatively unimportant increased burial of ca p authigenic carbonate fluorapatite and or biogenic hydroxyapatite occurred but was of minor importance compared to the enhanced p release from organic matter for sapropel s1 corg porg and corg preac with reac reactive defined as the sum of organic fe bound authigenic and biogenic ca p ratios decreased with increasing sedimentation rate and oxygen exposure and decreasing water depth whether the water column in the deep basin was dysoxic semi euxinic s1 or euxinic pliocene does not appear to affect the estimated burial efficiencies of porg and preac enhanced corg burial under the euxinic water column explains the much higher corg porg and corg preac ratios in the pliocene sapropel on average 2860 and 760 respectively compared to sapropel s1 on average 530 and 160 respectively

effects of bioturbation on carbon and sulfur cycling across the ediacaran cambrian transition at the gssp in newfoundland canada the initiation of widespread penetrative bioturbation in the earliest phanerozoic is regarded as such a significant geobiological event that the boundary between ediacaran and cambrian strata is de

late collisional granites in the variscan erzgebirge germany the late collisional erzgebirge granites 325 318 ma were introduction emplaced at shallow crustal levels in the variscan metamorphic the erzgebirge is a ne sw trending antiformal structure basement shortly after large scale extension caused by orogenic exposing variscan crystalline basement rocks at the northcollapse these granites comprise mildly peraluminous transitional ern margin of the bohemian massif the region is famous i s types and strongly peraluminous s type rocks which can be among economic geologists for its extensive and highly subdivided into three major groups low f biotite granites low f variable metallic ore deposits which have been mined two mica granites and high f high p2o5 li mica granites the since the middle ages e g stemprok seltmann 1994 highest degree of differentiation is reached in the li mica granites tischendorf forster 1994 and for the classic studies which exhibit strongly elevated concentrations of p f li rb cs in the fields of economic geology mining and metallurgy ta sn w and u but very low ti mg co ni sr ba y zr chemistry and mineralogy e g werner 1791 breithaupt hf th and rare earth elements crystal melt fractionation is the 1849 agricola 1974 dominant process controlling the bulk composition of all groups of as in many of the other variscan provinces in central granites however metasomatic processes involving late stage residual europe granitic rocks make up a large proportion of the melts and high t orthomagmatic fluids became increasingly more exposed rocks in the erzgebirge and a great variety of important in highly evolved units and have modified the abundances compositional and textural types occur fig 1 knowof mobile elements p f li rb cs ba sr in the li mica ledge of the processes involved in the generation and granites particularly isotopic and geochemical characteristics suggest evolution of these silicic magmas is essential for underthat the three granite groups cannot be derived from a common standing heat and mass transport during the variscan precursor magma their discrete compositions are source related orogeny and also for the formation of metallic ore and are attributed to melting of quartzo feldspathic and pelitic deposits several lines of evidence indicate that early crustal lithologies in different proportions granites are common in high temperature sn w deposits are associated with the the central european variscides but the erzgebirge is unusual for emplacement of highly evolved volatile rich granitic the predominance of evolved li mica granites associated with melts tischendorf 1986 forster tischendorf 1992 economically important sn w and u deposits the abundance of stemprok 1993 the role of the granites in formation of li mica granites is attributed to a combination of favourable factors later permian u pb zn and younger ore mineralization 1 low degrees of anatectic melting of crustal protoliths 2 wide f ba is controversial but good evidence exists that the distribution of fertile lithologies rich in large ion lithophile elements vein type u deposits owe their uranium to leaching from and ore elements 3 extended magmatic differentiation by crystal the uraninite rich granites e g tischendorf forster melt fractionation and subsequent autometasomatism 1994

neoproterozoic peritidal phosphorite from the sete lagoas formation brazil and the precambrian phosphorus cycle the neoproterozoic sete lagoas formation ca 610 ma of the sao francisco basin brazil is a succession of siltstone limestone and phosphorite phosphorite forms part of a previously unrecognized 150 to 200 m thick unconformity bounded depositional sequence lithofacies stacking patterns indicate that deposition was punctuated by higher order fluctuations in base level that produced aggradational parasequences these shallowing upward cycles record the progradation of phosphate rich intertidal flats over shallow subtidal deposits as accommodation filled the presence of mudcracks authigenic chert nodules lack of coarse terrigenous clastics and the abundance of silt with fine abraded quartz grains suggests accumulation along an arid coastline with significant aeolian input delivery of phosphorus adsorbed on aeolian fe oxyhydr oxide and clay is interpreted as having stimulated phosphogenesis in peritidal environments lithofacies associations indicate that windblown phosphorus promoted the establishment of cyanobacterial communities along the coast which produced photosynthetic oxygen and the suboxic conditions necessary for the precipitation of authigenic carbonate fluorapatite as in other precambrian phosphatic systems nearshore oxygen oases were a prerequisite for phosphorite accumulation because redox sensitive phosphogenic processes were pushed into the sediment to concentrate phosphorus in more distal anoxic environments phosphorite could not form because these biotic and abiotic processes were suspended in the water column which cycled phosphorus in sea water rather than at the sediment water interface such shallow water phosphorite is unlike larger younger neoproterozoic phanerozoic phosphatic deposits inferred to have formed in deeper upwelling related environments the increasing size of phosphatic deposits through the latest precambrian is interpreted as reflecting the progressive ventilation of the oceans during the neoproterozoic oxygenation event and resultant expansion of phosphogenic environments into distal settings the widespread cycling of bioavailable phosphorus at the sea floor not only produced the first true phosphorite giants but may have also been an important precondition for the evolution of multicellular animals

alpha recoil in u pb geochronology effective sample size matters displacement of the daughter isotope by recoil results in an open system on the nanoscale for a heterogeneous distribution of u and th this redistribution of intermediate and stable daughter isotopes results in subvolumes with a deficit of pb and others with an excess of pb whether such heterogeneities affect the analyzed u pb system depends on 1 the volume of the analyzed sample 2 the degree and scale of heterogeneity in the u and th distribution and 3 the analytical procedure spatial separation of parent and daughter through recoil affects the u pb systematics of leached samples where leaching gives access to domains less than 1 m wide anomalous data patterns originating from recoil induced parent to daughter fractionation are more important if there are strong heterogeneities in the u and th distribution whereby pb excess appears more pronounced than pb deficit fractionation of parent and daughter elements through selective dissolution of u ree rich growth zones in zircon and u inclusions in columbite as well as the presence of u th rich micro inclusions in silicates dated using a step leaching scheme may result in anomalous 207pbrad 206pbrad scattered 206pbrad 238u and 207pbrad 235u and reverse discordance the accumulated structural damage controls the leaching and dissolution behavior but may also influence the non stoichiometric element mobilization during sputtering or ablation in the analysis of u rich samples by shrimp and la mc icp ms

tectonics and plate tectonics model for the variscan belt of europe abstract a plate tectonics model is presented to explain the tectonometamorphic characteristics of the european variscides after the closing of two oceanic domains by two sided subduction 500 420 ma and obduction 420 380 ma collision of the european and african continental plates occurred we propose that the subsequent complex intracontinental deformation 380 290 ma is the result of a double subduction of the continental lithosphere accompanied by crust mantle decollement this mechanism explains the progressive crustal thickening and migration of the deformation through time from the sutures toward the external parts of the variscan belt accounting for this model and for the relationships between the european variscides and the other paleozoic peri atlantic belts caledonides appalachian mauritanides and morocco we infer the relative positions of africa america and europe between the silurian and the permian

temporal evolution of mineralization events in the bohemian massif inferred from the re os geochronology of molybdenite molybdenite is a common mineral accompanying sn w au and base metal mineralizations located in different geotectonic units of the bohemian massif but it is also widespread in granitoids and or related quartz veins pegmatites forming disseminated mo mineralization thirty re os ages were obtained for molybdenite samples from the bohemian massif to provide constraints on the timing and duration of mineralization event s within the framework of previously published geochronological data for the host and or associated rocks the obtained data for sn w li deposits in the erzgebirge metallogenetic province indicate the predominance of one and or multiple short time mineralization events taking place between 319 and 323 ma with the exception of the krupka deposit associated with the altenberg teplice caldera where the data may suggest prolonged activity until 315 ma the ages of the pb zn au mo h rky u rakovnika and fe cu as ob i d l mineralizations from the exocontacts of the cista pluton and krkonose jizera plutonic complex respectively provide evidence for synchronous emplacement of the ore and the associated granitic rocks in contrast the padr fe as mo mineralization postdates the age of the associated padr granite disseminated mo mineralization in cadomian and variscan granitoids and or related to quartz veins pegmatites provides re os ages that overlap with the previously published geochronological data for the host rocks suggesting coeval evolution molybdenite samples from the sazava suite granites of the central bohemian plutonic complex cbpc have resolvable younger ages than their host granites but similar to the age of spatially related au mineralization which is associated with the latest evolution of the cbpc

topography of valles marineris implications for erosional and structural history compilation of a simplified geologic geomorphic map onto digital terrain models of the valles marineris permitted an evaluation of elevations in the vicinity of the troughs and the calculation of depth of troughs below surrounding plateaus thickness of deposits inside the troughs volumes of void spaces above geologic geomorphic units and volumes of deposits the central troughs north ophir north and central candor and north melas chasmata lie as much as 11 km below the adjacent plateaus in ophir and candor chasmata interior layered deposits reach 8 km in elevation if the deposits are lacustrine and if all troughs were interconnected lake waters standing 8 km high would have spilled out of coprates chasma onto the surrounding plateaus having surface elevations of only 4 5 km in this case interior deposits above about 4 km in the central troughs would not be lacustrine they could be volcanic on the other hand the troughs may not have been interconnected at the time of interior deposit emplacement they may have formed isolated ancestral basins the existence of such basins is supported by independent structural and stratigraphic evidence the ancestral basins may have eventually merged perhaps through renewed faulting to form northern subsidiary troughs in ophir and candor chasmata and the coprates north melas ius graben system the peripheral troughs are only 2 5 km deep shallower than the central troughs they may have formed from a combination of erosional collapse and structural activity chaotic terrain is seen in the peripheral troughs near a common contour level of about 4 km on the adjacent plateaus which supports the idea of release of water under artesian pressure from confined aquifers the layered deposits in the peripheral troughs may have formed in isolated depressions that harbored lakes and predated the formation of the deep outflow channels if these layered deposits are of volcanic origin they may have been emplaced beneath ice in the manner of table mountains areal and volumetric computations show that erosion widened the troughs by about one third and that deposits occupy one sixth of the interior space even though the volume eroded is larger than the volume deposited topographic and geologic considerations imply that material eroded from trough walls was probably part of the interior layered deposits but not their sole source additional material may have come from subterranean piping from reworking of local disintegration products on the floors such as chaotic materials or from eolian influx but overall it is likely that the additional material is volcanic and that it forms mostly the upper more diversely bedded layers of the interior deposits

evidence for cnidaria like behavior in ca 560 ma ediacaran aspidella the first appearance of animals in the geological record is a matter of continuing debate how deep were the roots of the cambrian explosion molecular clock estimates indicate that the deepest divergences of the metazoa had occurred by the ediacaran period 635 541 ma yet evidence of animal activity from well below the ediacaran cambrian boundary has been rare and often questionable meanwhile the ediacaran macrobiota has remained enigmatic as emphasized by recent controversial claims that south australia ediacaran forms were not marine animals at all but land based lichens and microbial colonies here we report evidence for animal like behavior in a submerged setting in a key ediacaran form aspidella terranovica billings 1872 a discoidal fossil from the ca 560 ma fermeuse formation of newfoundland canada we describe sedimentary fabrics indicating progressive vertical movement of an organism through sediment in response to an aggrading sediment water interface such equilibrium traces are familiar from the phanerozoic and are observed in partially buried marine animals such as tube anemones today furthermore horizontal trails closely comparable to trails previously described from 565 m y old mistaken point newfoundland are now linked to aspidella our findings constitute evidence of both vertical and horizontal movement in a key ediacaran taxon consistent with an animal of cnidarian grade moreover because aspidella is also reported from the rawnsley quartzite of south australia our evidence conflicts with the proposed radical interpretation of that ediacaran fossil assemblage we demonstrate that at least some ediacaran forms were probably early animals and that they lived underwater

mass wasting and ground collapse in terrains of volatile rich deposits as a solar system wide geological process the pre galileo view the polar terrains of mars are covered in many places with irregular pits and retreating scarps as are some of the surfaces of the outer planet satellites these features are interpreted by us as diagnostic of exogenic degradation due to the loss of a volatile rock forming matrix or cement in this study we propose that sublimation degradation is a plausible solar system wide geological process candidate examples have been identified on mars io and triton and possibly europa and ganymede we envision this process as having two end member expressions pits and scarps for which we hypothesize two end member mechanisms massive localized lenses and areally extensive basal layers in this study we focus on the role this process may play on the surfaces of the galilean satellites our principle modeling results are that for these satellites h2s co2 and nh3are the only viable candidate volatiles for sublimation degradation of landforms in light of galilean satellite cosmochemistry for io s polar regions only h2s and then only from slopes that face the sun and have thin lags is volatile enough to cause the observed sublimation induced erosion at those latitudes so2is not a viable candidate as an agent of erosion especially for these polar landforms in the case of europa only co2and h2s are viable candidates given surface age constraints both species could be efficient eroders in nonpolar regions h2s could generate erosion within the polar regions if the deposition and erosion conditions were essentially identical as those we invoked for io s polar regions for ganymede and callisto nh3might be an agent of erosion in equatorial terrains of great age the sublimation of co2and h2s is much more robust than nh3 the much slower rate of sublimation degradation from nh3might be detectable by galileo and used as a compositional indicator

the stability of ground ice in the equatorial region of mars consideration of the partial pressure of h2o in the martian atmosphere and the range of mean annual temperatures at the martian surface suggests that the occurrence of ground ice in equilibrium with the atmosphere is restricted to latitudes poleward of 40 however there is a growing body of morphologic evidence that indicates that substantial quantities of ground ice may have been present in the equatorial regolith throughout martian geologic time the accepted explanation for this apparent contradiction has been that the h2o found near the equator is a relic emplaced very early in martian geologic history 3 5 b y ago and under substantially different climatic conditions it is generally believed that this fossil ground ice layer has been preserved to the present day by the diffusion limiting properties of a relatively shallow layer 10 m of fine grained regolith to evaluate this hypothesis the lifetime of a 200 m layer of ground ice buried below 100 m of ice free regolith has been examined for the latitudes between 30 on mars twelve model pore size distributions representative of silt and clay type soils found on earth were selected to simulate the pore structure of the martian regolith the parallel pore model of gaseous diffusion was then used to calculate the flux of escaping h2o molecules from the buried ground ice layer the potential effects of such factors as depth of burial the martian geothermal gradient regolith porosity adsorption surface diffusion and climatic change were also considered based on our analysis the most important factors affecting the stability of equatorial ground ice appear to be 1 soil structure 2 the magnitude of the geothermal gradient and 3 the climatic desorption of co2 from the regolith we conclude that while the conditions necessary for the long term survival of ground ice may exist in isolated regions within the equatorial regolith on the global scale it appears unlikely that a fossil ground ice layer has been preserved throughout martian geologic history if massive ground ice does presently exist in the equatorial regolith then its presence may imply the existence of some continuous or periodic process of replenishment

stability of rock slopes in valles marineris mars 1 new slope measurements from the mars orbiter laser altimeter mola in conjunction with the rock mass rating system rmr permit inversions of slope height and angle from wallrock and interior deposits within valles marineris troughs for strength and lithology wallrock 50 rmr 65 is stronger than interior deposits 30 rmr 55 these values are consistent with layered igneous rock beneath wallrock slopes with interior deposits consistent with partially indurated sedimentary or volcaniclastic rocks larger volumes of landslide debris relative to terrestrial slides are related to the reduced martian gravity seismicity along trough bounding normal faults likely triggered the landslides in the adjacent wallrock the weaker interior deposits are located sufficiently far from a border fault and on its hangingwall to have remained stable during the seismogenic faulting in valles marineris

autometasomatic rb enrichments in highly evolved granites causing lowered rbsr isochron intercepts abstract whole rock samples of the younger members of a suite of the erzgebirge granites yield rb sr isochrons with remarkably low intercepts 0 689 0 702 whereas the older granites yield initial sr isotope ratios which are higher and rather uniform 0 70677 22 a model is proposed to explain this observation by a two stage evolution of the younger granites after a time span t 1 following the intrusion autometasomatic processes caused by residual magmatic solutions increase the rb contents of the younger granites by more or less the same amount this rb addition lowers the intercepts of the isochrons but it leaves their slopes undisturbed the rb amounts added during autometasomatosis can be derived by a petrogenetic model of fractional crystallization the time t 1 may be calculated approximately on the basis that the true initial ratio is at least as high as those of the older granite suite t 1 is in the order of 10 ma and agrees well with the difference in age between whole rock data and the rb sr mineral ages of metasomatically formed dark micas in the rocks 10 20 ma and with k ar data it is concluded that decreased granite isochron intercepts may be more common than hitherto expected

the relationship between ductile shear zone and mineralization in the jiufeng sn deposit northern guangxi south china evidence from structural analysis and cassiterite u pb dating abstract the jiufeng sn deposit is located in the outer contact zone southwest of the neoproterozoic motianling granitic pluton in northern guangxi south china the deposit is characterized by a nne striking 30 200 m wide ductile shear zone named the jiufeng ductile shear zone majority of the sn orebodies including four large ones are hosted by the shear zone field and microstructural observations electron backscatter diffraction measurements and magnetic fabric analyses show that the shear zone is characterized by sinistral thrust shearing the shear zone has also slightly modified the sn orebodies quartz in the shear zone exhibits core mantle structure and undulose extinction quartz has experienced significant sub grain rotation and grain boundary migration recrystallization lattice preferred orientation analysis reveals primarily basal rhomb and prism slips cassiterite grains in the shear zone however demonstrate brittle deformation therefore the deformation temperature during the ductile shearing is estimated lower than 650 c and below u pb closure temperature of cassiterite as such the u pb isotopic composition of the cassiterite was not disturbed by the shearing and the u pb age of the cassiterite could be used for the age of the sn mineralization la icp ms u pb dating of cassiterite grains selected from a cassiterite bearing tourmalinite sample performed in this study yielded a tera wasserburg u pb lower intercept age of 832 3 5 3 ma this age is consistent within error with that of the neighboring neoproterozoic motianling granitic pluton which suggests a close genetic relationship between the sn mineralization and the granitic magmatism studies show that the jiufeng ductile shear zone was produced by a widespread caledonian or kwangsian tectonic event in south china indicating that the shearing was much later than the sn mineralization and has no generic relationship to the sn deposit

sedimentology digging deeper the cambrian evolution of burrowing species is thought to have facilitated sediment mixing however sediment fabrics suggest that bioturbation remained insignificant until the appearance of more efficient sediment mixers in the silurian

discontinuities in the shallow martian crust at lunae syria and sinai plana detailed photoclinometric profiles across 125 erosional features and 141 grabens in the western equatorial region of mars indicate the presence of three discontinuities within the shallow crust pits troughs and wall valleys tributary canyons within noctis labyrinthus and valles marineris and escarpments within the fretted terrain of sacra fossae and kasei valles show distinct erosional base levels at depths of 0 3 0 6 km 1 km and 2 3 km the shallowest discontinuity corresponds to thickness estimates for the ridged plains unit in this region and thus the discontinuity probably is the contact between a sequence of layered rock making up this unit and the underlying megaregolith the 1 km discontinuity is reflected in the base levels of erosion of all the features studied and it may correspond to the base of the proposed layer of ground ice model calculations using photoclinometric profiles of simple grabens corrected for the effects of mass wasting and the 60 dip of bounding faults measured from the exposed traces of faults on trough walls show that graben bounding faults consistently intersect at the mechanical discontinuity at about 1 km depth this discontinuity may represent an interface between ice laden and dry regolith ice laden and water laden regolith or pristine and cemented regolith a correlation between wall valley head depth and local thickness of the faulted layer suggests that the 1 km discontinuity also controlled the depth of the heads of sapping canyons there is no apparent relation between the pit and trough depths and the local thickness of the faulted layer which can be explained if pits and troughs developed by subsidence into underlying tension cracks that disrupted the 1 km discontinuity the data do suggest however that erosion of shallow pits and troughs was influenced by the 1 km discontinuity the third discontinuity at a depth of 2 3 km corresponds to the proposed base of the martian megaregolith and is probably the interface between overlying ejected breccia and in situ fractured basement rocks

sedimentary corg p ratios paleocean ventilation and phanerozoic atmospheric po2 the corg p ratios of organic rich facies tocn1 exhibit considerable variation through the phanerozoic from b10 1 in the permian phosphoria formation to n1000 1 in some devonian black shales relative to the composition of phytoplankton c p 106 1 which provide the bulk of organic c and p to organic rich marine sediments the range of phanerozoic sedimentary corg p ratios largely reflects the influence of benthic redox conditions on diagenetic pathways of c and p remobilization enhanced preservationoforganiccatlowerredoxpotentials combinedwithenhancedsedimentaryretentionofremineralizedorganicpathigher redox potentials results in a strong relationship between benthic redox conditions and sedimentary corg p ratios the strong secular coherence of the phanerozoic corg p record i e limited variation within narrow time slices suggests that these ratios are controlled primarily by factors influencing benthic redox conditions on a global scale such as atmospheric po2 inversion and scaling of the phanerozoic corg p record yields a new atmospheric po2 model that has strong similarities to existing models based on elemental and isotopic mass balances yet differs in some potentially significant respects in particular the new model suggests that atmospheric po2 wasmarkedlylowerduringtheearlytomiddlepaleozoicthanpreviouslyinferred duringmostofthedevonian atmospherico2levels mayhavebeensufficientlylow b13 astopreventthesustainedcombustionofplantmaterial thisfeatureofthemodelmayaccount for ananomalous gapinthefossilcharcoalrecordduringthedevonian theredox dependentburialofpintheoceanresults inpositive and negative feedback mechanisms that tend to stabilize atmospheric oxygen concentrations on geologic timescales temporal variations in the burial of p relative to c suggest that the strength of these feedback mechanisms varied over the phanerozoic 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

structural development of coprates chasma and western ophir planum valles marineris rift mars a portion of valles marineris was mapped in detail in order to clarify the dominant processes responsible for the formation of coprates chasma new crater counts indicate that the caprock on western ophir planum plateau has a late hesperian crater age whereas trough floor preserved in western coprates chasma has an early to late hesperian crater age caprock on western ophir planum correlates in relative age with the syria planum formation and the caprock may overlie lower hesperian ridged plains material the conspicuous absence of wrinkle ridges on ophir planum may reflect burial by this later material trough floor material in coprates chasma correlates in relative age with ridged plains material on the adjacent lunae planum and coprates plateaus and represents a structurally coherent block displaced downward by normal faulting the crater counts and detailed structural relationships demonstrate the commonly accepted view that coprates chasma occupies a graben the floor of this graben is only thinly mantled by intratrough deposits and is relatively intact the trough shows no evidence for a chaotically broken and jumbled floor as required by genesis models of collapse and subsurface drainage formation of coprates chasma by keystone collapse of locally elevated topography is not supported by available topographic data but a general association between the trough and volcanotectonic activity in the tharsis region is considered to be a likely explanation for the trough forming stresses subtle asymmetries in topography and boundary fault development across coprates chasma may imply a gentle down to the north half graben geometry for the trough normal faults that define the northern margin of western coprates chasma and those that deform the adjacent ophir planum plateau change trend systematically with position implying a 30 rotation of the local horizontal principal stresses in this region during trough growth faulting on ophir planum appears related to the faulting that created the coprates chasma trough the geology and structure of coprates chasma are comparable to those of other troughs such as melas ius and perhaps candor chasmata suggesting that these troughs may also have formed as grabens the revised crater age for western ophir planum indicates that the initiation of trough faulting and subsidence in the valles marineris system is early late hesperian and may have been synchronous across the system relative to the prevailing cratering rate

a precise u pb age on cassiterite from the xianghualing tin polymetallic deposit hunan south china we report the first precise u pb isotope data on cassiterite from the large xianghualing tin polymetallic deposit in the central nanling district south china the results show that four separates from sample xf 51 have a relatively narrow range of 206pb 238u apparent ages varying from 152 to 157 ma and the three 206pb 238u apparent ages yield a weighted average value of 156 4 ma mswd 0 32 separates from two other cassiterite samples do not have sufficient radiogenic pb to generate a reliable 206pb 238u age seven separates from the above three cassiterite samples define a well constrained 238u 206pb isochron corresponding to an age of 157 6 ma mswd 34 a comparison of the u pb cassiterite ages with published ar ar dates on muscovite from this deposit and k ar age data on biotite from the pluton genetically related to the tin mineralization in this area demonstrates that the u pb isotope system of cassiterite is a potential geochronometer combined with the ar ar dates of muscovite from this deposit we can constrain the absolute age of tin polymetallic mineralization in xianghualing at 154 157 ma the dates obtained in this study consistent with the published geochronological results from other important deposits in this region reveal that the large scale tungsten tin mineralization in the central nanling region was predominantly emplaced during 150 161 ma

geochronology and geochemistry of the late cretaceous xinpeng granitic intrusion south china implication for sn w mineralization abstract large scale late cretaceous granitic intrusions are developed in the southernmost margin of south china block they constitute an ew trending magmatic rock and mineralization belt from guangdong to yunnan province some of these late cretaceous granitic intrusions are associated with sn w mineralization but the mineralization potential of other intrusions in this belt remains unclear due to intensive weathering and thick sediment covers the xinpeng intrusion is the largest late cretaceous granitic intrusion in the yangchun basin situated in guangdong province which mainly comprises of medium to coarse grained biotite granite previous geological surveys showed that the xinpeng intrusion has undergone extensive alteration stream sediments around the xinpeng intrusion displayed sn and w geochemical anomalies in addition greisen type and quartz vein type tin occurrences have been discovered in the xinpeng intrusion which preliminarily shows a certain mineralization potential of tin and tungsten however little information is known about the geochronological and geochemical characteristics of the xinpeng intrusion and this limits our further assessment of its sn w mineralization potential here we summarize the geochemical characteristics of late cretaceous ore forming granites in south china and report the geochronological and geochemical characteristics of the xinpeng granitic intrusion for the first time la icp ms zircon u pb dating yielded a weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 77 4 0 8 ma for the xinpeng granitic intrusion linking it with the late cretaceous magma activity the xinpeng intrusion is high k calc alkaline and slightly peraluminous chondrite normalized ree elements of the xinpeng intrusion show seagull like patterns with strong negative eu anomaly high rb sr ratios and low nb ta zr hf ratios indicate the xinpeng granitic intrusion experienced highly magmatic differentiation attributed to high volatile f contents that can dramatically reduce the viscosity and solidus of magma the intrusion shows whole rock initial sr isotope of 0 717703 0 718420 and nd isotope of 5 6 5 7 and zircon hf isotope of 3 28 0 62 indicating crust derived source with some input of mantle materials taking into account all the characteristics the xinpeng intrusion agrees well with the common geochemical characteristics of late cretaceous sn w bearing granites in the yangchun basin indicating that the xinpeng granitic intrusion has a great potential of sn w mineralization

dating multiply overprinted sn mineralized granites examples from the erzgebirge germany granites and primary tin mineralization in the erzgebirge were dated using 1 conventional u pb dating of uraninite inclusions in mica 2 rb sr dating of inclusions in quartz that represent highly evolved melts 3 re os dating of magmatic hydrothermal molybdenite and 4 chemical th u pb dating of uraninite conventional isotope dilution and thermal ion mass spectrometry and chemical th u pb dating of uraninite in granites from the ehrenfriedersdorf mining district provide ages of 323 9 3 5 ma 2 greifenstein granite and 320 6 1 9 and 319 7 3 4 ma 2 both sauberg mine in agreement with u pb apatite ages of 323 9 2 9 and 317 3 1 6 ms 2 both sauberg mine rb sr analysis of melt inclusions from zinnwald gives highly radiogenic sr isotopic compositions that with an assumed initial sr isotopic composition permit calculation of precise ages from single inclusions the scatter of the data indicates that some quartz hosted melt inclusions have been affected by partial loss of fluid exsolved from the melt inclusion re os dating of two molybdenite samples from altenberg provides ages of 323 9 2 5 and 317 9 2 4 ma 2 together with age data from the literature our new ages demonstrate that primary tin mineralization and the emplacement of the large sn specialized granites in the erzgebirge fall in a narrow range between 318 and 323 ma primary sn mineralization occurred within a short interval during post collisional collapse of the variscan orogen and was essentially synchronous over the entire erzgebirge in contrast to earlier claims no systematic age difference between granites of the eastern and western erzgebirge was established furthermore our data do not support a large age range for late variscan granites of the erzgebirge 330 290 ma as has been previously suggested

variscan silicic magmatism and related tin tungsten mineralization in the erzgebirge slavkovský les metallogenic province integration of geochemical mineralogical isotopic and geochronological data with geodynamic considerations suggests that the variscan granites in the erzgebirge slavkovsk les domain originated from repeated melting events and were emplaced over a period of about 40 ma 330 290 ma several lines of evidence exist supporting the idea that erzgebirge granites assigned to different types biotite granites two mica granites strongly peraluminous p rich li mica granites and slightly peraluminous p poor granites are in most cases not genetically related via continuous fractional crystallization from a common magmatic reservoir the genesis of the slavkovsky les granites however might be discussed in terms of an uninterrupted fractionation series geological models of sn w deposits based upon geochemical and structural results imply that the main ore depositional events followed immediately the emplacement and solidification processes of melt via fluid melt immiscibility breccia pipe formation and or pervasive rock fluid interactions

carboniferous permian volcanic evolution in central europe u pb ages of volcanic rocks in saxony germany and northern bohemia czech republic nine shrimp u pb ages on zircon and two pb pb single zircon ages have been determined from late paleozoic volcanic rocks from saxony and northern bohemia samples came from the teplice altenberg volcanic complex the meissen volcanic complex the chemnitz basin the dohlen basin the brandov olbernhau basin and the north saxon volcanic complex the teplice altenberg volcanic complex is subdivided into an early namurian phase mikulov ignimbrite 326 8 4 3 ma thus older than assumed by previous studies and a late caldera forming phase teplice ignimbrite 308 8 4 9 ma the age of the latter however is not well constrained due to a large population of inherited zircon and possible hydrothermal overprint the leutewitz ignimbrite product of an early explosive volcanic episode of the meissen volcanic complex yielded an age of 302 9 2 5 ma stephanian a volcanic rocks intercalated in the brandov olbernhau basin bob 302 2 8 ma chemnitz basin cb 296 6 3 0 ma dohlen basin db 296 3 0 ma and the north saxon volcanic complex nsvc c 300 290 ma yielded well constrained stephanian to sakmarian ages the largest late paleozoic ignimbrite forming eruption in central europe the rochlitz ignimbrite has a well defined middle asselian age of 294 4 1 8 ma ages of palingenic zircon revealed that the namurian westphalian magmatism assimilated larger amounts of crystalline basement that formed during previous paleozoic geodynamic phases the precambrian inherited ages support the chronostratigraphic structure assumed for the saxo thuringian zone of the variscan orogen the present results help to improve the chronostratigraphic allocation of the late paleozoic volcanic zones in central europe at the same time the radiometric ages have implications for the interbasinal correlation and for the geodynamic evolution of the variscan orogeny

first evidence for locomotion in the ediacara biota from the 565 ma mistaken point formation newfoundland evidence for locomotion in the precambrian fossil record is scant reliable ediacaran trace fossils are all younger than 560 ma and consist of relatively simple horizontal burrows and trails from shallow water deposits here we describe an assemblage of macroscopic locomotory traces from deep water environments at mistaken point southeastern newfoundland canada dated to ca 565 ma these trails extend the record of complex trace fossils back into the earliest avalonian biota our new evidence for large motile organisms on the seafloor at this time suggests that at least some of these early ediacaran organisms whose biological affinities are widely debated could have been muscular and of metazoan grade

trends in depth and extent of bioturbation in cambrian carbonate marine environments western united states cambrian carbonate strata of the great basin deposited below fairweather wave base but above mean storm wave base inner shelf and below mean storm wave base but above maximum storm wave base middle shelf were examined for extent and depth of bioturbation data indicate that initial extensive colonization of marine infaunal habitats occurred between tommotian and atdabanian time throughout the remaining 65 m y of cambrian time bioturbation increased although depth of bioturbation remained relatively constant at less than 6 cm during this time the amount of bioturbation in the inner shelf was greater than that in the middle shelf

valles marineris mars wet debris flows and ground ice abstract detailed study of the valles marineris equatorial troughs suggests that the landslides in that area contained water and probably were gigantic wet debris flows one landslide complex generated a channel that has several bends and extends for 250 km further support for water or ice in debris masses includes rounded flow lobes and transport of some slide masses in the direction of the local topographic slope differences in speed and emplacement efficiency between martian and terrestrial landslides can be attributed to the entrainment of volatiles on mars but they can also be explained by other mechanisms support that the wall rock contained water comes from the following observations 1 the water within the landslide debris must have been derived from wall rock 2 debris appears to have been transported through tributary canyons 3 locally channels emerged from the canyons 4 the wall rock apprarently disintegrated and flowed easily and 5 fault zones within the troughs are unusually resistant to erosion the study further suggests that in the equatorial region of mars material below depths of 400 800 m was not desiccated during the time of landslide activity within the last billion years of martian history therefore the martian ground water or groundice reservoir if not a relic from ancient times must have been replenished

rheological constraints on martian landslides we use a dynamic finite difference model to simulate martian landslides in the valles marineris canyon system and olympus mons aureole using three different modal rheologies frictional bingham and power law the frictional and bingham modes are applied individually fluidized rheology is treated as a combination of frictional and power law modes general fluidization can include pore pressure contributions whereas acoustic fluidization does not we find that general fluidization most often produces slides that best match landslide geometry in the valles marineris this implies that some amount of supporting liquid or gas was present in the material during failure the profile of the olympus mons aureole is not well matched by any landslide model suggesting an alternative genesis in contrast acoustic fluidization produces the best match for a lunar slide a result anticipated for dry crust with no overlying atmosphere the presence of pressurized fluid during valles marineris landsliding may be due to liquid water beneath a thin cryosphere 1 2 km or flash sublimation of co2

widespread delayed mixing in early to middle cambrian marine shelfal settings abstract the radiation of burrowing metazoans in the early phanerozoic dramatically altered the properties of marine sediment an event commonly referred to as the cambrian substrate revolution or agronomic revolution the advent of infaunalization and especially biogenically mediated sediment mixing profoundly impacted the development of phanerozoic biogeochemical cycling including nutrient fluxes organic carbon burial seafloor oxygenation and sediment ecology however the timing of the development of mixed seafloor sediment has historically not been well constrained mixing has been assumed in the absence of data to occur at the precambrian cambrian boundary with the appearance of the index fossil and three dimensional burrow treptichnus pedum herein we present new ichnological stratigraphic and taphonomic data suggesting that although significant developments in infaunalization paleobiologically complex animal substrate interactions particularly burrow construction occurred during the early and middle cambrian mixing remained suppressed throughout this interval we demonstrate using a novel multi proxy approach that shelfal sediment in the earliest cambrian was essentially unmixed moreover our findings indicate that even as late as the middle cambrian 30 million years after the precambrian cambrian transition and well after the appearance of supposedly deposit feeding trilobites seafloor heterolithic shelfal sediment remained largely unmixed on a global scale these findings challenge the current assumption that mixing occurred with the first appearance of three dimensional burrows and hold important implications for the advent and development of modern style biogeochemical cycling

evidence for enhanced hydration on the northern flank of olympus mons mars in this paper we report about a small region on the northern scarp of olympus mons showing an increase of the 3 m hydration band in the omega spectra together with low superficial temperatures although water ice clouds can occurs on the flank of big martian volcanoes radiative transfer modeling indicates that atmospheric water ice alone cannot justify the shape of the observed band a fit of the 1 9 3 m absorption features is obtained by hypothesizing that the study region consists of a mixture of dust and water ice covered by an optically thin 0 08 at 3 m layer of dust thermal modeling also suggests that water ice in this region may be stable during most of the martian year due to the saturation of the atmosphere if water ice is responsible for the observed spectral behavior it might consist of a number of ice or snow patches possibly deposited in small depressions

uranium and molybdenum isotope evidence for an episode of widespread ocean oxygenation during the late ediacaran period abstract to improve estimates of the extent of ocean oxygenation during the late ediacaran period we measured the u and mo isotope compositions of euxinic anoxic and sulfidic organic rich mudrocks orm of member iv upper doushantuo formation south china the average 238 u of most samples is 0 24 0 16 2sd relative to standard crm145 which is slightly higher than the average 238 u of 0 02 0 12 for restricted black sea deep water unit i euxinic sediments and is similar to a modeled 238 u value of 0 2 for open ocean euxinic sediments in the modern well oxygenated oceans because 238 u is preferentially removed to euxinic sediments compared to 235 u expanded ocean anoxia will deplete seawater of 238 u relative to 235 u ultimately leading to deposition of orm with low 238 u hence the high 238 u of member iv orm points to a common occurrence of extensive ocean oxygenation ca 560 to 551 myr ago the mo isotope composition of sediments deposited from strongly euxinic bottom waters h 2 s aq 11 m either directly records the global seawater mo isotope composition if mo removal from deep waters is quantitative or represents a minimum value for seawater if mo removal is not quantitative near the top of member iv 98 mo approaches the modern seawater value of 2 34 0 10 high 98 mo points to widespread ocean oxygenation because the preferential removal of isotopically light mo to sediments occurs to a greater extent in o 2 rich compared to o 2 deficient marine environments however the 98 mo value for most member iv orm is near 0 relative to standard nist srm 3134 0 25 suggesting extensive anoxia the low 98 mo is at odds with the high mo concentrations of member iv orm which suggest a large seawater mo inventory in well oxygenated oceans and the high 238 u hence we propose that the low 98 mo of most member iv orm was fractionated from contemporaneous seawater possible mechanisms driving this isotope fractionation include 1 inadequate dissolved sulfide for quantitative thiomolybdate formation and capture of a seawater like 98 mo signature in sediments or 2 delivery of isotopically light mo to sediments via a particulate fe mn oxyhydroxide shuttle a compilation of mo isotope data from euxinic orm suggests that there were transient episodes of extensive ocean oxygenation that break up intervals of less oxygenated oceans during late neoproterozoic and early paleozoic time hence member iv does not capture irreversible deep ocean oxygenation instead complex ocean redox variations likely marked the transition from o 2 deficient proterozoic oceans to widely oxygenated later phanerozoic oceans

pb pb and u pb zircon dating of subvolcanic rhyolite as a time marker for hercynian granite magmatism and sn mineralisation in the eibenstock granite erzgebirge germany considering effects of zircon alteration tin mineralisation is closely related to rhyolite stocks and dykes which occur in the endo and exocontact of the eibenstock granite erzgebirge germany the same structures which cut the granite control the rhyolite emplacement and the location of ore bearing greisen bodies albitisation and greisenisation related to tin mineralisation as well as sericitisation and argillic alteration may be traced by changes in chemical and mineralogical composition of both rhyolite and granite wall rock comprehensive zircon studies by scanning electron microscopy secondary and backscattered electron as well as cathodoluminescence imaging edx measurements reveal that zircon from rhyolite and from the enclosing granite shows significant changes in chemical composition and crystallinity including distortion of the u pb isotope system when affected by greisenisation single evaporation analysis of zircon from rhyolite with little or no greisenisation gave a 207pb 206pb age of 290 5 ma whereas zircon from little altered granite gave a 207pb 206pb age of 320 8 ma the single evaporation age of zircon from rhyolite is confirmed by 238u 206pb shrimp ages of 297 8 ma the significant time gap of at least 20 ma between granite intrusion and rhyolite formation suggests that the late magmatic evolution of the eibenstock granite cannot be regarded as a source for tin ore forming fluids as previously assumed

morphology evolution and tectonics of valles marineris wallslopes mars abstract hillslopes up to 11 km in height can be found along the walls of the valles marineris troughs the widest and deepest troughs are grabens in which tectonics probably exerted the primary control on the wall morphology geographical variations in the wall morphology and profiles show that they result from complex persistent tectonic influences and that significant changes in erosional processes occurred during this evolution from late hesperian to late amazonian preliminary calculations suggest that about 85 95 of the fault controlled wall relief probably formed in an ancient stage prior to this transitional period a study of the volatile content of the wall rocks based upon the morphology and distribution of impact craters on the surrounding plateaus shows that extreme erosional widening of the central valles marineris troughs occurred during the ancient stage of high ground ice content during the subsequent recent stage of tectonic and morphological evolution the wall materials were partly desiccated

biogeochemistry oxygen burrowed away multicellular animals probably evolved at the seafloor after a rise in oceanic oxygen levels biogeochemical model simulations suggest that as these animals started to rework the seafloor they triggered a negative feedback that reduced global oxygen

global distribution and migration of subsurface ice on mars a thermal diffusive model of h2o kinetics and equilibrium was developed to investigate the long term evolution and depth distribution of subsurface ice on mars the model quantitatively takes into account 1 obliquity variations 2 eccentricity variations 3 long term changes in the solar luminosity 4 variations in the argument of subsolar meridian in planetocentric equatorial coordinates 5 albedo changes at higher latitudes due to seasonal phase changes of co2 and the varying extent of co2 ice cover 6 planetary internal heat flow 7 temperature variations in the regolith as a function of depth time and latitude due to the above factors 8 atmospheric pressure variations over a 104 year time scale 9 the effects of factors 1 through 5 on seasonal polar cap temperatures and 10 knudsen and molecular diffusion of h2o through the regolith the migration of h2o into or out of the regolith is determined by two boundary conditions the h2o vapor pressure at the subsurface ice boundary and the annual average h2o concentration at the base of the atmosphere these are controlled respectively by the annual average regolith temperature at the given depth and seasonal temperatures at the polar cap starting from an arbitrary initial uniform depth distribution of subsurface ice h2o fluxes into or out of the regolith are calculated for 100 selected obliquity cycles each representing a different epoch in mars history the h2o fluxes are translated into ice thicknesses and extrapolated over time to give the subsurface ice depth as a function of latitude and time the results show that obliquity variations influence annual average regolith temperatures in varying degrees depending on latitude with the greatest effect at the poles and almost no effect at 40 lat insolation changes at the pole due to obliquity argument of subsolar meridian and eccentricity variations can produce enormous atmospheric h2o concentration variations of 6 orders of magnitude over an obliquity cycle superimposed on these cyclic variations is a slow monotonic change due to the increasing solar luminosity albedo changes at the polar cap due to seasonal phase changes of co2 and the varying thickness of the co2 ice cover are critically important in determining annual average atmospheric h2o concentrations despite the strongly oscillating character of the boundary conditions only small amounts of h2o are exchanged between the regolith and the atmosphere per obliquity cycle 10 g cm2 the net result of h2o migration is that the regolith below 30 40 lat is depleted of subsurface ice while the regolith above 30 40 lat contains permanent ice due to the depth of penetration of the annual thermal wave this result is supported by recent morphological studies the rate of migration of h2o is strongly dependent on average pore capillary radius for which we have assumed values of 1 and 10 m we estimate that the h2o ice removed from the regolith would produce a permanent ice cap with a volume between 2 106 and 6 106 km3 this generally agrees with estimates deduced from deflationary features at lower latitudes depositional features at higher latitudes and the mass of the polar caps

rock glaciers and protalus landforms analogous forms and ice sources on earth and mars 1 the basic features and terminology of terrestrial rock glaciers are reviewed together with associated forms termed protalus lobes and protalus ramparts two basic models of rock glacier formation and flow invoke either the creep of ice derived from permafrost or glacial former glacial activity a third possible mechanism invokes landslide emplacement observations on terrestrial rock glaciers and similar forms suggest that the ice component can be produced via ground ice or from a glacier system finite element modeling of simple slope systems containing 1 a continuous ice layer buried by debris and 2 a mixture of ice and rigid blocks can both show creep but with very low rates especially at low temperatures possible martian examples of rock glacier and protalus lobe features are identified from candor chasma by wide angle mars orbiter camera moc imagery although the topography does not allow unambiguous interpretation some possible ways in which moc and mars orbiter laser altimeter mola and other mars orbiter data could help future interpretation of rock glaciers related protalus landforms and ice presence are discussed

the early paleozoic development of bioturbation evolutionary and geobiological consequences abstract bioturbation the physical and chemical mixing of sediments by burrowing animals is a critical engineering process in modern seafloor environments and exerts an important control on not only benthic ecology and sediment properties but also ocean wide biogeochemical cycling well mixed sediments have long been assumed to appear at the precambrian cambrian boundary with the first occurrence of the index fossil and three dimensional burrow treptichnus pedum however field based analyses synthesizing ichnological stratigraphic sedimentological and taphonomic data collected from lower paleozoic successions worldwide indicate that sediment mixing in marine shelf environments remained limited until at least the late silurian 120 million years after the precambrian cambrian transition in spite of early advances in complex modes of infaunalization mixed layer development had a much more gradual trajectory and did not occur in step with the first appearance of three dimensional burrows the delayed appearance of modern style intensities of sediment reworking postdating both the cambrian explosion and the great ordovician biodiversification event may be due to the late stage radiation of mobile infaunal deposit feeders biological bulldozers the organisms which are in modern marine settings the most efficient bioturbators the protracted development of the sediment mixed layer holds important implications for contemporaneous biogeochemical cycling and oxygenation of the ocean atmosphere system the delayed development of intensive sediment mixing may have also mediated exceptional preservation of both fossilized soft tissues and shallow tier trace fossils and may therefore have contributed to the anomalous preponderance of konservat lagerstatten and exceptionally preserved shallow tier trace fossils and bioglyphs characteristic of the lower paleozoic stratigraphic record

a topographic test for the existence of ground ice in the walls of coprates chasma mars 1 evidence for the former presence of ground ice and its possible role in the erosion of valles marineris trough walls is equivocal this study aims to determine whether variations in the topographic slope angle of the walls of the trough coprates chasma are consistent with predicted temperature driven differences in the distribution thermal condition and strength of ground ice within its walls using mars orbiter laser altimeter topographic data 247 profiles were made rim to rim across the trough and measurements made of wall slope angle mean annual surface temperature and trough geometry wall height rim elevation and trough width variations in these parameters along each trough wall and differences between the two trough walls were established the results indicate that the predicted variations along and differences between the walls in the three dimensional distribution of ground ice and in its thermal condition and strength are unlikely to have caused the measured variations in trough wall slope angle these observations imply that ground ice has been absent within the trough walls since the age of formation of the spur and gully wall morphology the results preclude the spur and gully morphology having developed by dry mass wasting of material above an ice rich cryosphere and indicate the action of liquid water to be a more likely origin the inferred absence of ice within the walls precludes any role of ice in initiating or mobilizing landslides where they have eroded the spur and gully morphology

ages of rampart craters in equatorial regions on mars implications for the past and present distribution of ground ice we are testing the idea of squyres et al 1992 that rampart craters on mars may have formed over a significant time period and therefore the onset diameter minimum diameter of a rampart crater only reflects the ground ice depth at a given time we measured crater size frequencies on the layered ejecta of rampart craters in three equatorial regions to derive absolute model ages and to constrain the regional volatile history nearly all rampart craters in the xanthe terra region are 3 8 gyr old this corresponds to the noachian fluvial activity that region rampart crater formation declines in the hesperian whereas onset diameters minimum diameter increase no new rampart craters formed after the end of the hesperian 3 gyr this indicates a lowering of the ground ice table with time in the xanthe terra region most rampart craters in the valles marineris region are around 3 6 gyr old only one large probably amazonian aged 2 5 gyr rampart crater exists these ages indicate a volatile rich period in the early hesperian and a lowering of the ground ice table with time in the valles marineris study region rampart craters in southern chryse planitia which are partly eroded by fluvial activity show ages around 3 9 gyr rampart craters superposed on channels have ages between 1 5 and 0 6 gyr the onset diameter 3 km at 1 5 gyr in this region may indicate a relatively shallow ground ice table loss of volatiles due to diffusion and sublimation might have lowered the ground ice table even in the southern chryse planitia region afterwards in general our study implies a formation of the smallest rampart craters within and or shortly after periods of fluvial activity and a subsequent lowering of the ground ice table indicated by increasing onset diameter to the present these results question the method to derive present equatorial ground ice depths from the onset diameter of rampart craters without information about their formation time

cassiterite potential for direct dating of mineral deposits and a precise age for the bushveld complex granites u pb and pb isotopic measurements of cassiterite from the 200 ma tin deposits of belitung indonesia and 2100 ma zaaiplaats deposit in south africa demonstrate that cassiterite can be used to directly date mineral deposits rather than associated minerals such as zircon and rutile a precise u pb age of 2099 3 ma has been determined for cassiterites hosted in granites from the bushveld complex on conventional 207 pb 204 pb 206 pb 204 pb plots the data for the indonesian deposits give an age apparently older than that obtained from u pb plots perhaps indicative of inheritance of pb from an older source

stratigraphy and erosional landforms of layered deposits in valles marineris mars the complex stratigraphy of layered deposits suggests a diversity of origins ages and post depositional modification histories the complexities within some layered deposits indicate changes in the dominant source materials in space and time the stratigraphy of layered deposits in the isolated martian chasmata hebes juventae and gangis is not well correlated this indicates that at least these chasmata had isolated depositional environments resulting in different stratigraphic sequences separated layered deposits in ophir candor and melas chasmata might have been a single continuous deposit in each chasma chaotic terrains are found in conjunction with layered deposits in juventae gangis and capri eos chasmata in these chasmata layered deposits unconformably overlie chaotic terrains chaotic terrain formation may have provided water to form paleolakes and lacustrine deposition of thick layered deposits may have occurred if the canyons were closed a very thick sequence of the layered deposits has been exposed by erosion a combination of gradual processes such as evaporation of ice and eolian and fluvial transport in addition to structural processes may be responsible for this erosion another alternative is that catastrophic water release under the layered deposits disrupted and initiated erosion of the layered deposits newly identified units of anomalous color are confined to the depressions or reentrants in western candor chasma the difference in color between these units and the surrounding terrain is most consistent with a somewhat greater content of bulk crystalline hematite in these anomalous units the presence of the candor units is a result of original and or secondary deposition which is different from the primary and dominant formation of the layered deposits

multiple sulfur isotope records at the end guadalupian permian at chaotian china implications for a role of bioturbation in the phanerozoic sulfur cycle abstract a recent study on quadruple sulfur isotopes 32s 33s 34s and 36s of sedimentary pyrite suggested that the end guadalupian extinction was caused by shoaling of the sulfidic deep water this scenario is based on the assumption that sulfur isotopic compositions of pyrite from hosting sediments were controlled by benthos activities thus by the redox conditions of the sedimentary environments nonetheless the relationship between the sulfur isotope records and redox conditions reconstructed from litho and bio facies are poorly known in order to examine the effect of bioturbation in sediments quadruple sulfur isotopic compositions of sedimentary pyrite from the end guadalupian succession in chaotian south china were analyzed black mudstones of deep water facies immediately below the extinction horizon have consistently high 33s values of ca 0 079 clearly suggesting a sulfate reduction in the anoxic water column our new data are consistent with the emergence of a sulfidic deep water mass prior to the end guadalupian extinction the upwelling of the toxic deep water may have contributed to the extinction in contrast shallow marine bioclastic limestones with burrows deposited under oxic conditions have negative 33s values this anomalous isotopic signal indicates the mixing of two distinct types of pyrite one generated during the sulfate reduction in an open system and the other in a closed system we interpret that bioturbation supplied sulfate in the sediments and promoted sulfate reduction and in situ sulfide precipitation within the sediments the negative 33s values of oxic sediments in chaotian are inconsistent with the previous model and demonstrate that the sedimentary sulfur cycle associated with bioturbation was more complicated than previously thought our study also implies that more generally the role of bioturbation in increasing seawater sulfate concentration in the phanerozoic may have been overestimated in the previous studies because bioturbation may have enhanced sulfide burial or sulfur output from the oceans

variscan sn w mo metallogeny in the gravity picture of the krusne hory erzgebirge granite batholith central europe abstract late variscan wolframite molybdenite and cassiterite wolframite greisen skarn and vein deposits occur in a close spatial association with the granites of the krusne hory erzgebirge batholith kheb in central europe we examined the distribution of the deposits in relation to the gravity field affected by late variscan granites using the data from previous gravity and metallogenic studies late variscan granites are differentiated into earlier biotite monzogranites low f granites and later biotite or lithium mica syenogranites high f granites in accordance with the previous classifications all the outcrops of granites in the kheb region and their hidden continuation are confined to the bouguer anomaly contour of 20 mgal the sn w mo rare metal deposits and occurrences are within the gravity contour of 30 mgal with the exception of the grossschirma stratiform tin deposit in the freiberg polymetallic ore district we constructed a geological model based on the gravity data along two profiles across the kheb showing the position of some rare metal deposits and of outcropping and hidden granite bodies the models show that the overlapping of earlier and later granites is in the areas of the most intense regional gravity minima these coincide with the eastern volcano plutonic complex altenberg minimum which encloses large volumes of felsic extrusives microgranite dikes and granites and the western plutonic complex eibenstock minimum with small volumes of felsic dikes and predominance of earlier and later granites with no extrusives preserved there is no distinct relationship between the masses of late variscan granites and the distribution and the sizes of associated w mo and sn w deposits we prefer the idea that rare metal mineralization was formed by hydrothermal fluids derived from outside of presently outcropping granites it originated in two cycles one connected with the formation of earlier granites producing w mo associations and the other one associated with later granites connected with sn w mineralization mineralizing fluids were probably generated by mantle crustal interaction in the crust near the mantle crust boundary as also indicated by lamprophyric intrusions coeval with the late variscan granitic magmatism

economic phosphorite from the ediacaran doushantuo formation south china and the neoproterozoic cambrian phosphogenic event abstract phosphorite of the ediacaran doushantuo formation accumulated in the central guizhou province during the neoproterozoic cambrian phosphogenic event producing the first true phosphorite giant in earth history deposition is interpreted to have occurred on a wave dominated epeiric platform along the northern margin of the qianzhong uplift lithofacies stacking patterns and two paleokarst surfaces record phosphogenesis through at least two sea level cycles as in younger phanerozoic epeiric sea phosphorites the delivery of upwelled phosphorus is interpreted to have stimulated phosphogenesis in a range of shallow water environments ten phosphatic and associated lithofacies are recognized in the doushantuo formation wavy and horizontal laminated pristine facies were the locus of phosphogenesis and reflect the authigenic precipitation of francolite in accumulating fine sediment granular cross stratified phosphorite is interpreted to have been produced through storm wave winnowing of pristine facies and the subsequent transport redeposition and concentration of phosphatic peloids into economic beds beds with the highest concentration of phosphorus formed in shallow wave agitated environments around paleo topographic highs paragenetic analysis suggests that secondary meteoric processes further enriched the phosphorus content 35 wt of these granular beds during sea level lowstands such aerially extensive upwelling related phosphorite contrasts paleoproterozoic and neoproterozoic phosphatic deposits throughout much the proterozoic francolite precipitation was restricted to shallow water photosynthetic oxygen oases where redox sensitive phosphogenic processes were focused in the sediment the doushantuo formation is interpreted to record the oxygenation of the water column and concomitant expansion of phosphogenic environments during the neoproterozoic oxygenation event this progressive ventilation of the deep ocean forever changed the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the marine realm and set the stage for the deposition of phosphorite giants that punctuate the phanerozoic stratigraphic record

cassiterite u pb geochronology constrains magmatic hydrothermal evolution in complex evolved granite systems the classic erzgebirge tin province saxony and bohemia

mobility of large rock avalanches evidence from valles marineris mars measurements of h l height of drop length of runout vs volume for landslides in valles marineris on mars show a trend of decreasing h l with increasing volume this trend which is linear on a log log plot is parallel to but lies above the trend for terrestrial dry rock avalanches this result and estimates of 10 4 to 10 5 pa yield strength suggest that the landslides were not water saturated as suggested by previous workers the offset between the h l vs volume trends shows that a typical martian avalanche must be nearly two orders of magnitude more voluminous than a typical terrestrial avalanche in order to achieve the same mobility this offset might be explained by the effects of gravity on flows with high yield strengths these results should prove useful to future efforts to resolve the controversy over the mechan ics of long runout avalanches

complex tunnel systems of early fortunian macroscopic endobenthos in the ediacaran cambrian transitional strata of the olenek uplift ne siberian platform abstract a progressive colonisation of marine sediments by vagile benthos in the late ediacaran and early cambrian led to a series of dramatic transformations in marine ecosystems nevertheless the fortunian ichnoassemblages reveal unprecedented development of behavioural strategies and architectural designs as a result of the scarcity of vertical bioturbators only the few uppermost centimetres of sediment were affected by infaunal mixing multifaceted study of the trace fossil olenichnus irregularis from the type locality early fortunian strata of the olenek uplift northeastern siberian platform originally interpreted as subhorizontal network burrows demonstrates that these burrows represent complex three dimensional tunnel systems produced by infaunal bilaterians together with helicoidal burrows gyrolithes the trace fossil olenichnus comprises one of the earliest evidence of active vertical sediment reworking by bilaterians taphonomy of the topotype olenichnus and its spatial position related to other associated ichnotaxa reveal that origin of endobenthic tiering and multi stage colonisation of bottom substrates by macroscopic bilaterians appeared at the very beginning of the cambrian period olenichnus compose the oldest mid tier ichnoguild associated with oxygen depleted sediments below the redox discontinuity surface located closely to the sediment water interface in the fortunian

preferential dissolution of 234u and radiogenic pb from α recoil damaged lattice sites in zircon implications for thermal histories and pb isotopic fractionation in the near surface environment abstract zircons from two archean samples a 2732 ma trondhjemite and a 2728 ma dacite both from the western superior province were washed in hydrofluoric acid hf at moderate temperatures zircon residues and hf wash solutions were analyzed for u pb isotope systematics and 234u 238u ratios in an attempt to study the effect of hf washing on selective dissolution of radiogenic isotopes in areas damaged by recoil on a conventional concordia diagram the datum from one analyzed wash solution plots below concordia near the array of discordant data from magnetic unabraded zircon fractions which record a lower concordia intersection of about 230 ma data points from hf wash residues of two different zircon fractions from the trondhjemite are also discordant and collinear with near concordant data from abraded unleached fractions which record the true age of crystallization however this array has a negative lower concordia intercept of 749 ma the residue and wash from hf treatment of a single zircon fraction from the dacite are collinear with the crystallization age of the sample as defined by near concordant data from unleached fractions this line has a lower concordia intersection of 1388 ma also negative but distinct from the trondhjemite residue line the discordance of strongly washed residues is proportional to the calculated recoil dosage of the grains leach residues show negative 234u 238u anomalies while the leaches themselves show 234u excess on the order of 10 these results can be explained by the bulk dissolution of altered and metamict crystal domains during the hf wash accompanied by leaching of 234u and radiogenic pb from recoil damaged lattice sites in alteration free zircon residues studies were also carried out on zircons washed in nitric acid these show small ca 0 5 negative 234u anomalies this suggests that small amounts of radiogenic pb can be leached from damaged lattice sites by nitric acid the negative age lower concordia intercepts of pb loss lines defined by hf leach residues can be explained if early radiation damage has been annealed so that only more recently formed radiogenic pb atoms are in damaged crystal lattice sites and are susceptible to leaching since this pb fraction is relatively young the residue pb is biased toward anomalously old values a model is proposed for early burial and heating of the rocks above the annealing temperature for recoil damage followed by uplift and cooling several hundred million years after crystallization this model predicts a cooling time of 2500 20 ma for the trondhjemite and 2295 35 ma for the rhyolite comparison with metamorphic and cooling histories from ar ar studies suggest that the long term annealing temperature for low levels of recoil damage in zircon is in the range 250 300 c approximately the same as for fission tracks these results demonstrate that hf and possibly to a small extent hno3 can preferentially leach radioactive daughter elements from damaged zircon lattice sites in addition to dissolving metamict domains the threshold recoil dosage for dissolution of damaged zircon appears to be slightly in excess of 1 5 1015 decay events mg the isotopic composition of the leached pb is sensitive to the annealing history of the zircon thus in addition to supplying the magmatic crystallization age of the sample the hf leaching of zircon might be useful for constraining its later low temperature thermal history leaching from recoil damaged sites also occurs in the natural environment and this may lead to significant enhancement of 206pb 204pb in groundwater

gyrolithes from the ediacaran cambrian boundary section in fortune head newfoundland canada exploring the onset of complex burrowing abstract the beginning of the cambrian explosion is characterized by the onset of infaunalization and the appearance of systematic patterns of burrowing the trace fossil gyrolithes is common in the ediacaran cambrian global stratotype section and point where it shows a higher diversity and burrow depth than previously reported from any cambrian spiral vertical burrows two ichnospecies are present g scintillus isp nov exhibits a small burrow radius to whorl radius ratio whereas g gyratus hofmann exhibits an exceptionally large ratio that formerly led to its identification as an aberrant ichnospecies of skolithos the helical morphology of these cambrian gyrolithes is interpreted as having served two purposes as an anchor in a relatively high energy environment and as an optimal shape for maximizing surface area for bacterial gardening these shallow marine gardening burrows share a similar feeding strategy as graphoglyptids suggesting that shallow early cambrian sediments may have been relatively poor in organics and thus further supporting the model for onshore offshore migration of gardening burrows

benthic phosphorus regeneration net primary production and ocean anoxia a model of the coupled marine biogeochemical cycles of carbon and phosphorus we examine the relationships between ocean ventilation primary production water column anoxia and benthic regeneration of phosphorus using a mass balance model of the coupled marine biogeochemical cycles of carbon c and phosphorus p the elemental cycles are coupled via the redfield c p ratio of marine phytoplankton and the c p ratio of organic matter preserved in marine sediments the model assumes that on geologic timescales net primary production in the oceans is limited by the upwelling of dissolved phosphorus to the photic zone the model incorporates the dependence on bottom water oxygenation of the regeneration of nutrient phosphorus from particulate matter deposited at the water sediment interface evidence from marine and lacustrine settings modern and ancient demonstrates that sedimentary burial of phosphorus associated with organic matter and ferric oxyhydroxides decreases when bottom water anoxia dysoxia expands steady state simulations show that a reduction in the rate of thermohaline circulation or a decrease of the oxygen content of downwelling water masses intensifies water column anoxia dysoxia and at the same time increases surface water productivity the first effect reflects the declining supply of oxygen to the deeper parts of the ocean the second effect is caused by the enhanced benthic regeneration of phosphorus from organic matter and ferric oxyhydroxides sedimentary burial of organic carbon and authigenic calcium phosphate mineral francolite on the other hand is promoted by reduced ocean ventilation according to the model global scale anoxia dysoxia leads to a more efficient recycling of reactive phosphorus within the ocean system consequently higher rates of primary production and organic carbon burial can be achieved even when the continental supply of reactive phosphorus to the oceans remains unchanged

ground ice on mars inventory distribution and resulting landforms abstract most 90 of the estimated original volume of outgassed water on mars cannot be satisfactorily accounted for by exospheric escape or storage in the atmosphere as frost or in the permanent north polar ice cap the balance may be stored as ground ice in the martian cryosphere a zone of permanently frozen ground that is protected from the atmosphere by a debris cover ground ice can exist throughout the entire cryosphere but it need not fill it if the ground ice does fill the cryosphere then excess water can exist in a confined aquifer the theoretical distribution of ground ice can be tested by identification of forms on the martian surface that may be related to the presence of subsurface ice the observed features that are most likely to reflect ground ice are thermokarst like pits and debris flows landforms with ambivalent origins include polygonally patterned ground lobate ejecta blankets craters with central pits and curvilinear features the most persuasive morphologic evidence for ground ice is thermokarst pits and debris flows the thermokarst pits are primarily located in the volcanic regions of tharsis and elysium the association of ice related features with these volcanic areas suggests that these forms are not directly latitude dependent activation by orbital variations could produce periodic multiple episodes of melting that are dependent upon latitude the presence of ice related features in both hemispheres and the equatorial region of mars indicates that ground ice may be or have been present over the entire planet as predicted by the cryosphere model

influence of water column anoxia on the burial and preservation of carbon and phosphorus in marine shales abstract organic p and organic c concentrations were measured in several well characterized phanerozoic marine shale sequences with the primary focus being the camp run member of the devonian mississippian new albany shale sequences were selected with close spatial association of bioturbated and laminated sediments which reflect deposition from oxic and anoxic waters respectively average organic c p mole ratios calculated from the data are 150 for bioturbated shales and 3900 for the laminated shales of the new albany differences in the extent and mechanisms of early diagenesis related to the oxygenation of waters at the sediment water interface can account for the c p ratios of buried organic matter low c p ratios of bioturbated sediments are attributed to 1 1 the increased ability of bacteria to store p in well oxygenated environments which leads to the production of low c p ratio bacterial biomass and 2 2 the extensive oxidation of sedimentary organic matter resulting in the formation of residual organic phases with low c p ratios high organic c p ratios of laminated sediments are explained by a combination of 1 1 the limited ability of bacteria to store p under anoxic conditions 2 2 extensive p regeneration from sedimentary organic matter 3 3 enhanced c preservation relative to the bioturbated shales it is also shown that relative to organic c laminated shales are not as effective a p sink as are bioturbated shales this provides a mechanism in anoxic environments for burying large quantities of organic matter without simultaneously sequestering the p needed to sustain further productivity

small rampart craters in an equatorial region on mars implications for near surface water or ice small onset diameters 1 km of rampart craters were identified in high resolution stereo camera hrsc imagery in the equatorial region of the valles marineris plateaus this is in contrast to previous global studies based on viking imagery which showed onset diameters in the range of 4 km to 7 km in equatorial regions the observed small rampart craters show morphologically eroded ejecta blankets this indicates a formation in the early martian history when erosion rates were higher volatile rich target material might have been available shortly after the formation of the hesperian aged plateaus surrounding valles marineris and this is in agreement with the reported hesperian fluvial activity in this region the lack of fresh small rampart craters indicates a lowering of the ground ice table with time

phosphogenesis associated with the shuram excursion petrographic and geochemical observations from the ediacaran doushantuo formation of south china abstract the ediacaran period witnessed one of the largest phosphogenic events in earth s history coincidently some phosphorite deposits in south china are associated with the largest known carbon isotope negative excursion i e shuram excursion suggesting an intimate coupling of the biogeochemical carbon and phosphorous cycles however the geomicrobiological linkage between these anomalies remain poorly understood in this study we investigated the phosphorite samples from the uppermost doushantuo formation in south china carbon isotope compositions of authigenic calcite cements and nodules in the phosphorites are as low as 34 vpdb petrographic and geochemical investigations indicate that the 13 c depleted carbonates likely formed as the result of microbial sulfate and iron reduction that released phosphorous from iron oxyhydroxide concentrating phosphorous in pore waters and thereby promoting phosphate mineralization the timing of this event appears to coincide with enhanced sulfate delivery to seawater through continental weathering the basin scale distribution of doushantuo phosphorites suggests a redox control on the availability of iron oxyhydroxide and the recycling of pore water phosphorous both inner and outer shelf regions were likely characterized by an oxic water column and were the main loci for phosphogenesis on the contrary intra shelf and slope regions which are lean in phosphorite were subjected to euxinic or ferruginous water column conditions the intimate coupling between ediacaran phosphogenesis and the shuram excursion suggests strong links among seawater redox conditions c s p fe cycling and fossil phosphatization increased microbial sulfate reduction driven by enhanced sulfate reservoir in the ediacaran ocean may have played an essential role on these biogeochemical events

loss of the sedimentary mixed layer as a result of the end permian extinction abstract the end permian mass extinction resulted in the most dramatic degradation of marine bottom communities during the phanerozoic one result of this extinction was the long recognized extreme reduction in bioturbation of the early triassic seafloor several lines of evidence i e preferential preservation of epifaunal and very shallow tier infaunal trace fossils paucity of mid and deep tier trace fossils absence of mottled bioturbation textures dominance of cohesive substrates widespread occurrence of microbially induced sedimentary structures in open marine environments ecological composition of early triassic communities show that the reduction in bioturbation was so extreme that the sedimentary mixed layer was eradicated at an interregional scale for the only time since it was established in the early palaeozoic the consequences of this for ecosystem function and geochemical cycling must have been profound and yet they have received little consideration biogenic mixing of sediments is fundamental to geochemical cycling in extant marine ecosystems and it also governs ecologically limiting factors such as nutrient fluxes benthic primary production and availability of ecospace the collapse of biogenic sediment mixing during the early triassic must have affected geochemical properties of sediments and the seawater as reflected in the geologic record of the sulphur cycle additionally many of the proxies traditionally used to infer early triassic seawater anoxia may rather reflect poor sediment oxygenation arising from the extinction of bioturbators because of its impact on seawater and sediment chemistry the loss of the mixed layer may have been an important but hitherto little considered constraint on the recovery from the end permian mass extinction

the cambrian revolutions trace fossil record timing links and geobiological impact several concepts pertaining to the dramatic changes that occurred during the cambrian have been proposed namely the agronomic revolution ar the cambrian substrate revolution csr and the cambrian information revolution cir the original concept of the ar refers to the replacement of precambrian type substrates matgrounds by phanerozoic type ones mixgrounds the csr highlights the evolutionary and ecological effects of cambrian substrate changes on epifaunal sessile metazoans the cir involves the distribution of signals in an environment that an organism can potentially respond to underscoring an increased complexity and heterogeneity of marine ecosystems which may have played a major role as a driving force of further evolutionary change during the cambrian a systematic review of the ediacaran cambrian ichnofossil record allows to provide some temporal resolution for these cambrian revolutions and to explore the synergies among these evolutionary breakthroughs and possible geobiological outcomes the ar is not coincident with the ediacaran cambrian boundary but rather it is manifested by cambrian age 2 because the csr focuses on the response of the epifauna to newly evolved mixgrounds and the late cambrian appearance of hardgrounds it may be understood at least in part as a consequence of the ar in contrast the cir involved the appearance of sophisticated innovative feeding strategies that allowed benthic organisms to successfully exploit resources in an increasingly more heterogeneous sea bottom the occurrence in the fortunian of highly patterned grazing trails reflects the establishment of efficient navigational devices although the cir signals the appearance of novel body plans and novel ways of animal substrate interactions strategies involving matground exploitation were still widespread in the fortunian more dramatic changes took place in cambrian age 2 as revealed by the onset of the ar and later the effects on epifaunal sessile organisms and communities during the csr signalling to the transition to shallow marine ecosystems of modern aspect

granite related tin metallogenic events and key controlling factors in peninsular malaysia southeast asia new insights from cassiterite u pb dating and zircon geochemistry

evidence for enhanced phosphorus regeneration from marine sediments overlain by oxygen depleted waters phosphorus regeneration and burial fluxes determined from in situ benthic flux chamber and solid phase measurements at sites on the californian continental margin peruvian continental slope north carolina continental slope and from the santa monica basin california are reported comparison of these sites indicates that o2 depleted bottomwaters enhance p regeneration from sediments diminishing overall phosphorus burial efficiency based on these observations a positive feedback linking ocean anoxia enhanced benthic phosphorus regeneration and marine productivity is proposed on shorter timescales these results also suggest that o2 depletion in coastal regions caused by eutrophication may enhance p regeneration from sediments thereby providing additional p necessary for increased biological productivity

global distribution of neutrons from mars results from mars odyssey global distributions of thermal epithermal and fast neutron fluxes have been mapped during late southern summer northern winter using the mars odyssey neutron spectrometer these fluxes are selectively sensitive to the vertical and lateral spatial distributions of h and co 2 in the uppermost meter of the martian surface poleward of 60 latitude is terrain rich in hydrogen probably h 2 o ice buried beneath tens of centimeter thick hydrogen poor soil the central portion of the north polar cap is covered by a thick co 2 layer as is the residual south polar cap portions of the low to middle latitudes indicate subsurface deposits of chemically and or physically bound h 2 o and or oh