yield strength and critical state behavior of a tropical saturated soil the paper reports laboratory investigations carried out on a tropical soil profile to study its compressibility strength critical state and limit state conditions and their variation with depth the soil profile comprises a reddish lateritic layer horizon b underlain by a saprolitic soil horizon c from which a number of block samples were taken a series of isotropic and anisotropic compression tests and drained and undrained triaxial tests were conducted on specimens sampled at depths between 1 0 and 7 0 m and also in the exposed saprolitic soil special triaxial tests with the pore pressure increased to induce failure were performed to investigate the failure at low stress levels on this basis a tensile cutoff on the failure envelope was defined in order to assess the influence of the natural soil structure drained and undrained triaxial tests were carried out on compacted samples obtained from depths of 1 0 and 5 0 m higher strength parameters were measured for the horizon c soil which

latitudinal temperature gradient during the cretaceous upper campanian middle maastrichtian y18o record of continental vertebrates latitudinal variations in model biogenic apatite d18o values were calculated using fractionation equations of vertebrates and weighted rainfall y18o values along with mean annual air temperatures provided by iaea wmo meteorological stations the reference equation obtained was used to compute a continental temperature gradient for the late campanian middle maastrichtian interval by using published and new d18o values of phosphate from vertebrates samples are mainly tooth enamel from crocodilians and dinosaurs that lived at paleolatitudes ranging from 83 4 n alaska to 32 3 s madagascar the temperature gradient was less steep 0 4 0 1 c latitude than the present day one 0 6 c latitude with temperatures that decreased from about 30 c near the equator to about 5 c at the poles above 30 of paleolatitude air temperatures were higher than at present the validity of these results is discussed by comparison with climatic criteria inferred from paleontological paleobotanical and sedimentological data the latitudinal distribution of oxygen isotope compositions of continental vertebrates is potentially a powerful tool for quantifying mesozoic terrestrial climates

combined laboratory and numerical studies of the interaction between buoyant and plate driven upwelling beneath segmented spreading centers a combination of laboratory and numerical models are used to examine the mantle flow beneath a segmented ridge generated by the interaction of a linear buoyant upwelling source with plate driven flow in the absence of plate spreading the linear buoyant source creates a very narrow across axis two dimensional upwelling pattern the plate driven flow consists of a quasi linear sheet like upwelling that cuts beneath ridge transform inside corners and is not centered beneath the spreading segments when buoyant and plate driven flows are combined material rises beneath the inside corners and flows away from the axis asymmetrically near the ends of segments this results in a geometrical misfit between the center of mantle upwelling and the ridge axis if a similar pattern of mantle flow occurs beneath a segmented mid ocean ridge the result will be a thinner crust toward segment ends and possibly a negative correlation between extent of mantle melting and average depth of melting these results indicate that even with an essentially two dimensional source in cases where it is oblique to the actual spreading segments the upwelling beneath a segmented ridge will appear to be three dimensional along axis since slow spreading ridges are generally more segmented than fast spreading ridges this effect is likely to be more important at slow spreading ridges

mesozoic radiolarites accumulation as a function of sea surface fertility on tethyan margins and in ocean basins radiolarites commonly comprising chert shale couplets feature prominently in the mesozoic stratigraphy of the neotethyan realm the origin and significance of these deposits especially with regard to understanding palaeoproductivity in that region remains controversial this study examines transport processes and accumulation rates of radiolarians radiolarites as well as the chronology of radiolarite sedimentation based on revised data from the southern alps and new data from the balagne nappes alpine corsica results suggest that the spatio temporal distribution of carbonate and silica on tethyan margins was governed by extensive lateral transport of radiolarian tests from topographic highs to basins palaeoclimatic rather than palaeotectonic changes seem to have triggered changes in surface fertility which in turn brought about major facies changes observed in tethyan marginal basins regional platform demise possibly due to eutrophication and onset of radiolarite deposition in the early bajocian can be correlated with a positive shift in the carbon isotope curve whereas platform recovery and the end of radiolarite accumulation correlates with a gradual decline in 13c values the existence of a vigorous trans pangaean equatorial current system that could have produced regional upwelling is questioned because of evidence for middle jurassic to early cretaceous oligotrophic conditions in the proto caribbean and the central atlantic the caribbean river plume model is proposed as a possible alternative to upwelling in the jurassic western tethys dissolved nutrients may have been dispersed in low salinity lids that originated from river plumes of rivers from tropical africa and warm temperate eurasia vast areas of the pre late cretaceous world ocean must have accumulated radiolarites at low rates 50 myr radiolarite sections observed in many circumpacific terranes radiolarian chert and claystone could be the normal pelagic sediment during ordovician to early cretaceous time in far offshore open oceanic settings where dilution by terrigenous material and periplatform shallow water carbonates was absent

influence of reconstitution method on the behaviour of completely decomposed granite reconstituting soil is common in construction yet the method used can affect the mechanical behaviour of the reconstituted soil when the soil contains a significant amount of fines a completely decomposed granite was reconstituted following different methods namely dry deposition moist tamping slurrying and reconstituting after separating fines by washing then it was tested in compression and shearing the test results highlight the sensitivity of the soil behaviour to the method of preparation used for reconstitution it was found that preparation methods involving large amounts of water such as slurrying s or reconstitution after washing the fines f can lead to a release of fines with effect to change the grading and change the mineralogy differences between dry deposited d moist tamped mt specimens and slurried s washed reconstituted f specimens were observed mainly in the volumetric response two different normal compression and critical state lines were obtained for the two main

geotechnical characterization of macau marine deposits abstract samples of marine deposits retrieved at an onshore old reclamation site on the north coast of taipa macau were studied samples located from 6 m to 17 m below the existing ground were retrieved from three boreholes where field vane shear tests were performed close to one of them the soil is very soft and the results reveal that the deposits are normally consolidated in addition to common geotechnical classification tests x ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope analyses were carried out oedometer tests k 0 compression and undrained triaxial shear tests were performed on intact as well as laboratory remolded specimens the deposits resemble typical soft clay behavior in terms of compressibility and permeability however the soils exhibit a surprisingly high k 0 value which is believed to be caused by the presence of salts during the sedimentation process critical state of the soil is presented and two unique critical state lines in the e ln p space are found for the deposits at different depths

secular variation in the isotopic composition of nd in tethys seawater abstract this preliminary nd isotopic study of authigenic glauconites that are mineralogically chemically isotopically rb sr k ar and stratigraphically well characterized suggests that these minerals can be used to determine the nd isotopic evolution of ancient ocean water generally glauconites indicate the same evolutionary history of nd in tethys seawater as published data for marine phosphates e g fish remains mn ores and fossil debris the initial nd values define a smooth curve with lowest values of 9 to 10 for the cretaceous and lower tertiary highest nd values have been found for 150 200 ma tethys seawater that was influenced by both a nonradiogenic continental component and a greater input of young mantle derived material

water mass exchange and variations in seawater temperature in the nw tethys during the early jurassic evidence from neodymium and oxygen isotopes of fish teeth and belemnites article i nfo oxygen and neodymium isotope analyses performed on biostratigraphically well dated fish remains recovered from the hettangian to toarcian of the paris basin were used to reconstruct variations of early jurassic seawater temperature and to track oceanographic changes in the nw tethys our results indicate a strong correlation between 18 o trends recorded by fish remains and belemnites confirming the paleoenvironmental origin of oxygen isotope variations interestingly temperatures recorded by pelagic fishes and nektobenthic belemnites and bottom dwelling fishes are comparable during the late pliensbachian sea level lowstand but gradually differ during the early toarcian transgressive episode recording a difference in water temperatures of 6 c during the bifrons zone this could suggest that the surface bottom water temperature difference was not large enough during regressive phases to be recorded by organisms living near the lower and upper part of the water column the globally unradiogenic nd budget of euro boreal waters through the early jurassic suggests that these waters were strongly affected by continental neodymium input from surrounding emerged areas and that exchange with more radiogenic waters from the tethys and panthalassa oceans remained limited this supports the existence of a southward directed current in the euro boreal area for most of the early jurassic the only exception is observed at the early late pliensbachian transition where a positive end excursion is recorded suggesting northward influx of low latitude tethyan or panthalassan waters which may have contributed to the warming of nw tethyan seawater recorded at this time the absence of a marked negative excursion in end concomitant with a negative 18 o shift recorded during the falciferum zone exaratum subzone argues against the influence of less radiogenic arctic water influxes with low 18 o values during this interval instead we suggest that

protracted diagenetic alteration of ree contents in fossil bioapatites direct evidence from lu hf isotope systematics abstract fossil bones and teeth are potentially important repository for geochemical proxy data and a target for radiometric dating the concentration of many trace elements in bones and teeth increases by orders of magnitude after death and it is this diagenetic incorporation that forms the basis for several areas of geochemical study the use of bones and teeth in this context relies on two assumptions first that target metal ions are incorporated rapidly after death reflecting a known environmental signal and second that after early incorporation the bone or tooth remains as an essentially closed system resistant to later diagenetic change a wide literature has developed exploring these assumptions but relatively little direct evidence has been used to assess the long term diagenetic stability of trace elements within bones and teeth in this study we use the lu hf isotope system to show that bones and teeth of cretaceous and triassic age from both terrestrial and marine settings experience continued long term diagenetic change most likely through gradual addition of trace elements modelling suggests that diagenetic addition after initial recrystallisation may account for 50 of the total ree content in the sampled bones the extent depending on initial uptake conditions tooth enamel and enameloid may be more resistant to late diagenetic changes but dentine is probably altered to the same extent as bone these results have significant implications for the use of bones and teeth as hosts of chronological palaeoceanographic palaeoenvironmental and taphonomic information particularly in mesozoic and palaeozoic contexts

a lead isotopic study of circum antarctic manganese nodules abstract lead isotope ratios in manganese nodules from the circum antarctic ocean display systematic geographical variations eastward in the direction of current movement from south of australia they progressively decrease in the pacific sector and into the western atlantic sector until 30 w from this longitude lead isotope ratios increase in the eastern atlantic sector and reach their highest values in the indian sector near 110 e south of western australia they abruptly decrease these two lead isotope domains correspond closely to the circum antarctic neodymium isotope domains previously recognized by albarede and goldstein 1992 however the intraocean isotopic variations are much clearer for pb than nd reflecting the shorter oceanic residence time of pb 102 y compared with nd 103 y and confirming that pb is a much more sensitive marine tracer throughout the circum antarctic ocean the lead isotopic changes follow the pattern of present day oceanic circulation the pb shows an overall continental signature which is strongest in the indian sector the most probable candidate as the source of the continental signal is north atlantic deep water nadw which enters the circum antarctic in the south atlantic as nadw mixes with circumpolar water lead isotope ratios increase eastward in the indian sector reflecting progressive loss of the pacific derived pb signal the abrupt decrease of lead isotope ratios between the indian and pacific sectors appears to be a consequence of addition of pacific seawater through the pacific lead isotope ratios gradually decrease eastward approaching values of east pacific rise metalliferous sediments ocean ridge basalts and south pacific mn nodules this trend results from an increasing influence of pacific ocean water containing a component derived from pacific volcanism the pacific signature persists into the argentine basin in the southwest atlantic ocean reflecting significant input of water from the drake passage northward into the atlantic the pacific pb component is seen in the atlantic and indian oceans near southern africa as well as in the atlantic and indian sectors of the circum antarctic lead and neodymium isotopes correlate in the atlantic indian sectors but not in the pacific sector reflecting differences in residence times and modes of water mass mixing the renewal of circum antarctic water occurs on a timescale which is short compared to the residence time of nd but long compared to pb as a result dissolved pb is subject to considerable changes over the timescale of circumpolar current movement while nd is less easily affected nadw is added locally in the south atlantic and moves eastward as a water mass as nadw mixes with circumpolar water cpw through the indian sector changes affecting nd pb in nadw and cpw occur in tandem and neodymium and lead isotopes are correlated through the pacific sector gradual addition of pacific seawater occurs over a large region and nd pb relationships are not coupled because simple isotopic mixing systematics are not conserved there neodymium and lead isotopes vary independently the consistency of lead isotope variations with present day ocean bottom water circulation is remarkable considering that the mn nodules as sampled reflect the integrated flux of pb over 105 106 y the oceanic mixing time is 103 y the residence time for pb is 102 y and the circulation time of the circumantarctic ocean is 30 y processes occurring over such different timescales can show such a relationship only if the system is stable over the longest time interval thus on average element sources and ocean circulation through the pleistocene have been similar to the present day despite significant perturbations during glacial periods

three dimensional mantle convection beneath a segmented spreading center implications for along axis variations in crustal thickness and gravity segmentation and along axis variations within individual segments indicate the inherently three dimensional nature of mantle up welling and melting beneath oceanic spreading centers numerical convection experiments are used to explore the effects of local buoyancy forces on upwelling and melt production beneath a segmented spreading center the experiments are conducted in a region consisting of a thermally defined rigid lithosphere and a uniform viscosity asthenosphere overlying a higher viscosity mantle half space a periodic plate boundary geometry is imposed consisting of spreading segments and transform offsets buoyancy forces are caused by thermal expansion and the compositional density reduction due to the extraction of partial melt the relative magnitudes of the buoyant and plate driven components of mantle flow are controlled by the spreading rate and mantle viscosity with buoyant flow more important at lower spreading rates and viscosities buoyant flow beneath the spreading axis amplifies along axis variations in upwelling near a ridge transform intersection and distributes the variations along the entire spreading axis buoyant flow may thus be responsible for the more three dimensional character of slow spreading centers away from the spreading axis thermal buoyancy drives convective rolls that align with the direction of plate motion and which have an along axis wavelength controlled by the prescribed thickness of the asthenosphere however the position and stability of rolls are influenced by the segmentation geometry in cases where the spreading center geometry does not allow a stable configuration of rolls the flow is time dependent along axis variations in upwelling cause variations in melt production which imply large variations in crustal thickness that dominate the surface gravity signal the crustal thickness distributions implied by these numerical experiments produce bulls eye shaped negative mantle bouguer anomalies centered over spreading segments as observed at several spreading centers the amplitude of the anomaly increases with decreasing spreading rate

the role of mantle depletion and melt retention buoyancy in spreading center segmentation abstract numerical experiments are used to examine the structure of mantle flow beneath the axis of a spreading center buoyancy results from the depletion of residual mantle in iron relative to magnesium as melt is extracted mantle depletion buoyancy and from the presence of low density melt melt retention buoyancy 3 d buoyant mantle flow arises spontaneously from an initially 2 d solution for low mantle viscosity and low spreading rate at high viscosity and high spreading rate initially 2 d solutions remain 2 d this may explain the fundamentally different structure of fast and slow spreading centers in a uniform viscosity halfspace the along axis wavelength of 3 d buoyant upwelling scales with the maximum depth of melting the only length scale in this system for reasonable maximum depths of melting 60 90 km along axis wavelengths of 200 300 km are preferred longer than the 50 100 km segmentation length of slow spreading centers in a viscosity layered halfspace the thickness of the asthenosphere introduces another length scale a wavelength of segmentation comparable to the asthenosphere thickness also develops in our numerical experiments this suggests the possibility that a wavelength corresponding to the spacing between gravity lows may be controlled by the asthenosphere thickness while the spacing of major fracture zones corresponds to the longer wavelength 3 times the maximum depth of melting intrinsic to the melting region the along axis structure of 3 d flow varies from narrow focused upwellings at low spreading rates and mantle viscosities to broad regions of upwelling at high spreading rates and mantle viscosity to allow an along axis crustal thickness variation no larger than that which is observed 3 4 km the highly focused upwelling and crustal production predicted at slow spreading rates requires appreciable along axis transport of melt

geochemical decoupling of water masses in the variscan oceanic system during late devonian times abstract neodymium isotope data obtained from conodonts collected in morocco and poland attest a geochemical decoupling of seawater in the variscan realm during the late devonian the water masses on the shelves were characterized by unradiogenic e nd values from about 7 to 12 the surface water in the bordering oceans the rheic ocean and the variscan sea yielded more radiogenic e nd values ranging from about 1 to 6 a compilation of nd and c isotope signatures from the moroccan meseta suggests that the shelf and the surface oceanic water differed also in their carbon isotope evolution the geochemical decoupling constrains a restricted water exchange between shelves and the ocean oceanic waters entered far into the shelf areas only during the semichatovae transgression in the frasnian zone 11 sea level fluctuations constituted the major force that modified circulation and thus controlled the mixing of shelf and surface oceanic seawater the nd conodont data reveal that the surface water of the variscan oceanic water resembled the seawater of the modern pacific ocean rather than those of the atlantic and indian oceans the geochemical character of the variscan oceanic water is consistent with the geotectonic regime of the variscan realm in late devonian and carboniferous times

nd sr isotope evidence for dramatic changes of paleocurrents in the atlantic ocean during the past 80 m y nd isotopic variations in atlantic seawater during the past 80 m y as deduced from both nd and sr isotopic compositions of marine deposits are strongly related to major plate motions involving openings of the south atlantic and the drake passage and closure of the tethys seaway changes in the proportions of two main fluxes to the atlantic the admixture of pacific seawater with radiogenic neodymium and continental components with nonradiogenic nd average river flux north atlantic bottom water controlled the secular variation of nd

behavior of a loosely compacted unsaturated volcanic soil in this paper the stress strain relationsihp and volumetric behavior of a loosely compacted unsaturated decomposed volcanic soil fill were studied by conducting three series of triaxial stress path tests 1 consolidated undrained on the saturated fill 2 constant water content and 3 a reducing suction under constant deviator stress on the unsaturated fill the last two series of tests were designed to simulate the effects of undrained response and rainfall infiltration in initially unsaturated slopes respectively it was found that the saturated loose volcanic soil behaves like clay under isotropic compression but it resembles sand behavior when it was subjected to undrained shear for isotropically consolidated unsaturated specimens sheared under a constant water content a hardening stress strain and a nonlinear shear strength suction relationship are observed at relatively high suctions both angle of friction and apparent cohesion appear to be independent of suction volumetric contraction during shear is observed in this series of tests on the other hand anisotropically consolidated loose unsaturated specimens subjected to a reducing suction change from contractive to dilative behavior as the net mean stress increases this observed volumetric behavior unlike the shear strength is stress path dependent and cannot be explained by using the existing elastoplastic critical state theoretical framework extended for unsaturated soils

ree and nd isotope stratigraphy of a late jurassic carbonate platform eastern paris basin france abstract rare earth elements ree and nd isotopes on the labile fraction of the callovian oxfordian to tithonian jurassic carbonate platform of the eastern paris basin were used to reconstruct the composition of the contemporaneous waters from which the labile fraction may have originated this sedimentary record shows a remarkable change in the manganese content between the clayey deposits at the top and bottom of the succession and the carbonate platform deposits the combined analyses of ree and nd isotope ratios record the influence of emerged land and the tethys ocean the ree patterns are similar to those of seawater in the middle part of the sedimentary record suggesting ree removal by marine carbonate while bell shaped ree patterns are observed above and below reflecting continent derived ree carried by fe mn coatings on detrital particles therefore the ree patterns and their evolution through the sedimentary record highlight the roles played in the ree budget by fe mn coatings on detrital particles and by marine carbonates the predominant sources of nd during platform evolution are characterized by the nd isotope variations in the sediments the nonradiogenic values end t between 12 and 10 strongly suggest that the predominant source of nd on the platform was the continental crust through weathering and river inputs whereas some more radiogenic nd end t 5 values are more typical of the tethys seawater signature

miocene deepwater oceanography a global synthesis of miocene benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotopic and faunal abundance data indicates that miocene thermohaline circulation evolved through three regimes corresponding approximately to early middle and late miocene times there is evidence for major qualitative differences between the circulation of the modern ocean and the miocene ocean prior to 11 ma the 13c 12c ratios of the benthic foraminifera cibicidoides are interpreted in terms of water mass aging i e the progressive depletion of dissolved o2 and lowering of 13c values as the result of oxidation of organic matter as water flows further from its sources at the surface of the oceans both isotopic and faunal data indicate that the early miocene regime from 22 to 15 ma was the most different from today s during that interval intermediate and deep waters of both the atlantic and the pacific oceans aged in a northward direction and the intermediate waters of the indian the south atlantic and the south pacific oceans were consistently the youngest in the global ocean we speculate that early miocene global thermohaline circulation may have been strongly influenced by the influx of warm saline water tethyan indian saline water from the tethys into the northern indian ocean the isotopic and faunal data suggest that flow from the tethyan region into the indian ocean diminished or terminated at about 14 ma isotopic and faunal data give no evidence for north atlantic deep water nadw formation prior to about 14 5 ma with the exception of a brief episode in the early miocene from 14 5 to 11 ma nadw formation was weak and circumpolar and antarctic water flooded the deep south atlantic and south pacific as the antarctic ice cap grew from about 10 ma to the end of the miocene thermohaline circulation resembled the modern circulation in many ways in latest miocene time 6 to 5 ma circulation patterns were very similar to today s except that nadw formation was greatly diminished the distribution pattern of siliceous oozes in miocene sediments is consistent with our proposed reconstruction of thermohaline circulation major changes which occurred in circulation during the middle miocene were probably related to the closing of the tethys and may have contributed to rapid middle miocene growth of the antarctic ice cap appendices 1 4 6 and 7 are available withentire article on microfiche order fromamerican geophysical union 2000 floridaavenue n w washington dc 20009 document 88p 002 5 00 payment mustaccompany order

isotopic evidence for open system processes within the campanian ignimbrite campi flegrei italy magma chamber new sr and nd isotope data for whole rocks glasses and minerals are combined to reconstruct the nature and origin of mixing end members of the 200 km3 trachytic to phonolitic campanian ignimbrite campi flegrei italy magmatic system the least evolved magmatic end member shows equilibrium between host glass and the majority of the phenocrysts and is less radiogenic in sr and nd than the most evolved magma on the contrary only the fe rich pyroxene from the most evolved erupted magma is in equilibrium with the matrix glass while all other minerals are in isotopic disequilibrium these magmas mixed prior to and during the campanian ignimbrite eruption and minerals were freely exchanged between the magma batches combining the results of the geochemical investigations on magma end members with geophysical and geological data we develop the following scenario in stage 1 a parental less differentiated magma rose into the middle crust and evolved through combined crustal assimilation and crystal fractionation in stage 2 the differentiated magma rose to shallower depth fed the pre campanian ignimbrite activity and evolved by further open system processes into the most evolved and most radiogenic campanian ignimbrite end member magma in stage 3 new trachytic magma isotopically distinct from the pre campanian ignimbrite magmas rose from ca 6 km to shallower depth recharged the most evolved pre campanian ignimbrite magma chamber and formed the large and stratified campanian ignimbrite magmatic system during the course of the campanian ignimbrite eruption the two layers were tapped separately and or simultaneously and gave rise to the range of chemical and isotopic values displayed by the campanian ignimbrite pumices glasses and minerals

three dimensional mantle flow beneath mid ocean ridges we have studied the development of multiscalar mantle flow beneath mid ocean ridges using a three dimensional numerical technique modeling includes various modes of heating and the shear flow induced by plate motion away from a spreading center with and without transform offsets the computational box consists of two layers differing in their viscosities it is shown than when flow is generated by heat sources located for the most part in the lower layer convective cells have horizontal dimensions proportional to the entire thickness of the box it is only when flow is driven by buoyancy forces in the top layer or by transient cooling along the top interface that transverse rolls are found to be confined within the lop low viscosity layer these rolls remain generally located far from the ridge plane except in the case of a viscosity contrast of 3 orders of magnitude between the bottom and top layers we conclude that segmentation beneath mid ocean ridges requires both strong viscosity contrasts and the lack of deep convective flow marine geophysical observations suggest that mantle upwelling beneath mid ocean ridges is two dimensional sheetlike beneath intermediate fast and hotspot influenced spreading centers and three dimensional plumelike beneath slow spreading centers and ridges overlying cold regions of the mantle such as the australian antarctic discordance we propose that these observations can be explained by variations in the viscosity structure and temperature of the mantle along the mid ocean ridge system models including a transform offset show that the active portion of the transform is a region of mantle downwelling the toroidal flow induced by the offset shifts the plumes away from the ridge crests the effects of the toroidal field are strongly magnified when the return flow cannot penetrate in the lower layer due to a large viscosity contrast stresses generated by the flow partly explains the development of inside corner highs and the evolution of transform faults

gravity anomalies and crustal thickness variations along the mid atlantic ridge between 33 n and 40 n multibeam bathymetry and gravity data have been obtained along an 800 km long section of the mid atlantic ridge from just south of the hayes fracture zone at 33 n to the northern edge of the azores platform near 40 n a three dimensional analysis of these gravity and topography data combined with results from earlier seismic refraction studies in this area reveal two different scales of crustal heterogeneity a systematic along axis segment scale 8 9 km near the middle of spreading segments and the thinnest crust 3 4 km near segment offsets the magnitude of this along axis variation in crustal thickness is proportional to the length of the spreading segment and the size of the adjacent ridge offset there also is a distinct asymmetry in crustal structure across the rift valley near large segment offsets with gravity highs inferred to be thinner crust beneath the inside corner highs adjacent to these offsets this segment scale crustal heterogeneity is similar to that reported from the kane to atlantis section of the mid atlantic ridge and from parts of the intermediate spreading southern mid atlantic ridge it is superimposed on a second longer wavelength variation in gravity and crustal thickness associated with the azores hot spot the most pronounced effect of the azores hot spot on the mid atlantic ridge occurs between 38 n and 40 n where the ridge axis rapidly shoals by more than 1000 m the crust thickens by over 2 km and the rift valley largely disappears the absence of a deep axial rift valley on the azores platform and near the midpoints of some ridge segments along the mid atlantic ridge to the south agrees well with the predictions of recent ridge crest thermal and rheological models that suggest a dependence of axial morphology on both crustal thickness and spreading rate the transition from a rift valley to an axial high morphology at these spreading rates 11 mm yr half rate occurs at a crustal thickness of about 9 1km

oxygen strontium and neodymium isotope composition of fossil shark teeth as a proxy for the palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology of the miocene northern alpine paratethys the upper marine molasse sediments of southern germany were deposited during the early to middle miocene a period of significant change for the global miocene palaeoceanography palaeoclimate and the regional palaeogeography because of the ongoing alpine himalayan orogeny to address the influence of the alpine uplift on climate and oceanography of the northern alpine molasse basin a combined o sr and nd isotope study was undertaken on fossil teeth from sharks synodontaspis sp galeocerdo cf aduncus chaenogaleus sp and button like teeth from the bony fish of the upper marine molasse chrysophrys molassica average 18o values for hydroxyapatite of teeth from two sites are 20 3 1 0 6 and 21 2 1 0 5 while their average 87sr 86sr and 143nd 144nd ratios are 0 70850 0 00001 2 and 0 70882 0 00003 2 and 0 51220 and 0 51223 both at 0 00001 2 respectively by comparison to the sr evolution curve for the global ocean the sr isotope compositions suggest ages of about 22 and 17 ma for the teeth these ages are in good agreement with the depositional ages which suggests open marine conditions open marine conditions are also compatible with 1 lower average 18o values and 87sr 86sr ratios for the one site compared to higher 18o values and higher 87sr 86sr ratios for the other site 2 estimates for seawater temperatures which are similar to other estimates from deposits of similar latitude and age 3 a comparison of seawater temperatures with average ambient air temperature estimates deduced from continental palaeoclimate indicators nd isotope compositions are compatible with an influence of the north atlantic on the paratethys assuming constant salinity and seawater oxygen isotope composition a 4 c cooling can be inferred from average 18o values of the teeth between 22 and 17 ma this is similar to trends observed for foraminiferal records from the mediterranean tethys but different from foraminiferal and molluscan records of the north atlantic and the north sea during this period and allows for the possibility that the alpine orogeny had an influence on the regional circum alpine climate

late jurassic climate and its impact on carbon cycling abstract the climate of the late jurassic has been characterized by high atmospheric co2 levels and by a monsoonal rainfall pattern in this study we traced the evolution of the global carbon cycle through the late jurassic with the help of carbonate carbon isotope stratigraphy the oxfordian tithonian 13c curve is marked by one major positive carbon isotope excursion with an amplitude 13 c 1 0 middle to late oxfordian and a second minor positive excursion with an amplitude 13 c late kimmeridgian the early kimmeridgian and early tithonian 13c values fluctuate around 13 c 2 0 3 and contrast with the less positive 13c values of early oxfordian and late tithonian age 13 c 1 0 5 a comparison of the late jurassic carbonate carbon isotope curve with the occurrence of organic rich sediments suggests that not only fluctuations in organic carbon burial but also in carbonate carbon burial had an impact on the c isotope record the oxfordian c isotope excursion appears to correspond to a time of overall increased organic carbon burial triggered by increased nutrient transfer from continents to oceans during a time of rising global sea level however episodes of enhanced organic carbon burial during the kimmeridgian and early tithonian are not reflected by prominent spikes in the c isotope record favourable conditions for carbonate platform growth at a time of high global sealevel may have resulted in the stabilisation of the c org c carb burial ratio and hence maintained the 13c record at steady but relatively positive values the middle and late tithonian c isotope values drop below 13 c 1 5 a similar shift to less positive c isotope values was recognized in other c isotope records from the tethys and atlantic oceans and reflects a decrease in the c org c carb burial ratio possibly related to a reorganisation of the global climate system globally widespread marine black shale mature quartzose sandstone assemblages suggest that the relative efficiency of the late jurassic carbon pumps was controlled by weathering erosion and runoff causing widespread marine eutrophication eutrophication favoured the organic carbon pump but it diminished the carbonate platform growth potential the monsoonal rainfall distribution pattern may explain why late jurassic carbonate platforms experienced less severe growth crises than early cretaceous carbonate platforms

sm nd in marine carbonates and phosphates implications for nd isotopes in seawater and crustal ages this study explores the possibility of establishing nd isotopic variations in seawater over geologic time calcite aragonite and apatite are examined as possible phases recording seawater values of nd modern biogenic and inorganically precipitated calcite and aragonite from marine environments were found to have nd concentrations of from 0 2 to 70 ppb showing that primary marine caco 3 contains little ree and that nd ca is not greatly enhanced relative to seawater during carbonate precipitation very young marine limestone and dolomite containing no continental detritus have 200 ppb nd all the carbonates are lree enriched 0 16 sm nd 0 45 modern and very young atlantic and pacific carbonates have nd in the range of shallow atlantic and pacific seawater respectively implying that they derive their ree from local seawater the nd in well preserved carbonate fossils is 4 10 4 ppb much greater than in their modern counterparts but like the high values found for carbonates in other studies we believe the high ree contents at the 500 ppb level in some detritusfree carbonates are due to ree rich fe hydroxide in on the carbonate in favorable cases such material may record seawater nd values however introduction of extraneous ree may obscure the original isotopic composition of pure caco 3 because of its very low intrinsic primary ree abundance modern biogenic apatite is also shown to have very low ree content 150 ppb nd but appears to quickly scavenge ree from seawater inorganically precipitated apatite from phosphorites has high concentrations of seawater derived ree young phosphorite apatite from the atlantic and pacific oceans has nd in the range of the seawater from these oceans older apatite samples of similar age from different localities bordering common oceans record similar values of nd t sedimentary apatite has sr t values in good agreement with the curves for 87 sr 86 sr of seawater as a function of time individual conodonts from a single formation yield the same sr t and nd t other workers have shown that sedimentary apatite preserves seawater ree patterns these characteristics suggest that sedimentary apatite can be used to determine nd t in ancient seawater the seawater values so inferred range between 1 7 and 8 9 over the last 700 my and lie in the range of modern seawater showing no evidence for drastic changes high values of seawater nd t in the triassic and latest precambrian may correlate with the breakup of large continental landmasses the initial nd t 15 0 of a 2 ae old phosphorite implies the presence of 1 5 ae old continental crust at 2 ae ago the approach outlined here can be used to constrain the age of the exposed crust as a function of time

spreading rate dependence of three dimensional structure in oceanic spreading centres segmentation by transform faults and other types of along axis discontinuity1 is a well described but poorly explained characteristic of oceanic spreading centres here we use numerical experiments to explore the dynamics of mantle flow and melting beneath a mid ocean ridge buoyant upwelling driven by compositional density variations resulting from the extraction of the melt that forms the ocean crust exhibits a spreading rate dependent transition between two dimensional and three dimensional upwelling structures for low spreading rates and mantle viscosities an initial two dimensional structure transforms into a three dimensional one at high spreading rates an initially two dimensional structure remains two dimensional these results suggest that the origin of spreading centre segmentation may be different at fast and slow spreading rates

a mechanism for magmatic accretion under spreading centres the most active volcanic zone on earth occurs along the global mid ocean ridge system where the lithosphere is pulled apart and new oceanic crust is created at rates between 10 and 200 km myr 1 this volcanism is segmented and is concentrated along the axial valleys and highs of slow and fast spreading ridges respectively with transform fault zones separating and generally offsetting each active ridge segment volcanic activity may be nearly absent at the ridge transform intersection where a slow spreading ridge is offset and greatly reduced where a fast spreading ridge is offset implying thinner crust in these regions1 the source of magmas erupted along ocean ridges is the underlying mantle which undergoes decompression melting when rising to fill the gap between the spreading plates the resulting magma aggregates in the upper mantle and ascends to the crust due to its low density compared with the parent mantle rock the melt is believed to pool in crustal magma chambers whence it periodically erupts to the surface typically the formation ascent and aggregation of magmas along the mid ocean ridges is regarded two dimensionally and modelled in a section through the crust and mantle across the strike of the ridges see ref 2 here however we consider the problem with a three dimensional model for which we provide supporting geological evidence in which the magmas rise as a result of a gravitational instability modified rayleigh taylor in the underlying partial melt zone

a different pattern of ridge segmentation and mantle bouguer gravity anomalies along the ultra slow spreading southwest indian ridge 15 30 e to 25 e abstract the results of a recent bathymetric and geophysical investigation of a 650 km long portion of the very slowly opening 16 mm yr full rate southwest indian ridge swir between 15 30 e and 25 e are presented bathymetry and mantle bouguer gravity anomalies mba caused by variations in crustal thickness and or crustal and upper mantle densities show different characteristics from those observed at faster spreading centers like the mid atlantic ridge mar 20 30 mm yr full rate with the exception of the du toit transform none of the ridge axis discontinuities have offsets greater than 10 km and few of the discontinuities have clearly defined off axis traces the mba patterns associated with individual segments are much more complex than the simple circular bull s eyes lows reported along the mar while the short wavelength ridge segment length is comparable to that of the mar there is little correlation with mba amplitude and segment length and axial relief furthermore an eastward propagating magma source and an 84 km long zone of oblique spreading appears to define a fundamental boundary along the swir between two 250 300 km long sections characterized by distinctly different axial morphology and gravity signatures we interpret these results to indicate a long wavelength segmentation pattern of the underlying upwelling mantle melt separates from the upwelling mantle at the base of the lithosphere and is channeled to the surface along dikes fissure eruptions within the rift valley build linear ridges defining a short wavelength spatial pattern of ridge segmentation that is not directly related to the segmentation pattern of the upwelling mantle our results and interpretation are quite different than that predicted by extending current models of the faster spreading mar to these ultra slow spreading rates

slow ridge hotspot interactions from global gravity seismic tomography and 87sr 86sr isotope data summary among the mantle hotspots present under oceanic areas a large number are located on or close to active oceanic ridges this is especially true in the slow spreading atlantic and indian oceans the recent availability of worldwide gravity grids and the increasing coverage of geochemical data sets along active spreading centres allow a fruitful comparison of these data with global geoid and seismic tomography models and allow one to study interactions between mantle plumes and active slow spreading ridges the observed correlations allow us to draw preliminary conclusions on the general links between surficial processes which shape the detailed morphology of the ridge axes and deeper processes active in the upper mantle below the ridge axial domains as a whole the interactions are first studied at the scale of the atlantic the mid atlantic ridge from iceland to bouvet island from the correlation between the zero age free air gravity anomaly which reflects the zero age depth of the ridge axis and sr isotopic ratios of ridge axis basalts the study is then extended to a more global scale the slow ridges from iceland to the gulf of aden by including geoid and uppermantle tomography models the interactions appear complex ranging from the evect of large and very productive plumes almost totally overprinting the long wavelength segmentation pattern of the ridge to that of weaker hotspots barely marking some of the observables in the ridge axial domain intermediate cases are observed in which hotspots of medium activity or whose activity has gradually decreased located at some distance from the ridge axis produce geophysical or geochemical signals whose variation along the axis can be correlated with the geometry of the plume head in the upper mantle such observations tend to preclude the use of a single hotspot ridge interaction model and stress the need for additional observations in various plume ridge configurations

variations in the nd isotopic composition of foraminifera from atlantic ocean sediments 143nd 144nd ratios have been measured in recent core top foraminifera from 25 sites throughout the atlantic ocean the average nd 0 value from this study agrees well with previous estimates of the average nd isotopic composition of the atlantic based on analyses of ferromanganese deposits and seawater samples however the larger data base and the nature of the samples have allowed us to identify distinct provenances of nd isotopes in the atlantic

the structure of three dimensional convection beneath oceanic spreading centres summary buoyant flow beneath oceanic spreading centres can be driven by density gradients due to thermal expansion and compositional gradients arising from the extraction of melt numerical experiments are used to examine the pattern of mantle flow and melting produced by these two sources of buoyancy compositional buoyancy leads to three dimensional flow beneath the spreading axis with along axis variations in upwelling and melt production thermal buoyancy drives axis parallel circulation and convective rolls aligned perpendicular to the spreading axis that originate at a distance off axis controlled by the spreading rate and mantle viscosity hie distance from the axis to the onset of observed sea floor gravity lineations may show a similar dependence on spreading rate compositional density stratification suppresses the formation of thermally driven rolls near the axis and when it is large causes the thermal rolls to become unstable leading to time dependent behaviour the amount of crust produced is less sensitive to spreading rate than in passive flow models however it has a maximum at intermediate spreading rates due to the presence of thermally driven upwelling in the melting region along axis variations in upwelling and melt production suggest that buoyant flow may have an important effect on the segmentation of spreading centres particularly at slow spreading rates

cemented sands under static loading cemented sands are found in many areas of the world one of their distinguishing characteristics is their ability to stand in steep natural slopes large deposits are located along the california coast and in a number of areas intense urban development has occurred near the crest of high steep slopes because of the hazards posed by slope failures in the cemented sands a test program was undertaken to define the nature of the cementation and its effect on behavior of the soils a total of 137 laboratory compression and tension load tests were performed on undisturbed samples of naturally cemented sands and artificially prepared cemented sands the materials exhibited friction angles similar to uncemented sands but had a cementation strength intercept and a tensile strength the primary cementing agents of the sands tested were silicates and iron oxides the strength of the cemented sands were found to be a function of density amount of cementing agent grain shape and grain arrangement

the existence of a thin low viscosity layer beneath the lithosphere the horizontal temperature gradient at the base of the lithosphere at an oceanic fracture zone where plate of different ages is juxtaposed is expected to drive a local circulation the characteristics of which can be constrained by the amplitude wavelength and age dependence of the geoid two dimensional numerical models of convection in a fluid layer overlain by a solid conducting lid have been used to generate theoretical geoid profiles at right angles to the fracture zone only a thin low viscosity layer provides a reasonable fit to the data the best model so far obtained has a fluid layer 150 km thick with viscosity 1 5 1019 pa s under a 75 km lid such a layer which is incapable of transmitting strong horizontal shear stresses could provide the decoupling mechanism between plate and deep mantle flow required to balance the forces on the plates

thermal and exhumation history of the coastal cordillera arc of northern chile revealed by thermochronological dating abstract the thermal and erosional history of convergent plate boundaries is important for understanding the links between subduction arc magmatism genesis of ore deposits topography and climate of orogenic belts unlike the continent continent collision that formed many of the largest orogenic belts known today the central andes of south america is a unique case where an oceanic continent collision has given rise to the earth s longest and second tallest orogenic belt over the last thirty years a plethora of models have been suggested in an attempt to explain how a plateau type orogen formed at the leading edge of western south america in the central andes most research have focussed attention on the study of the evolution of the arc and backarc since continuous subduction erosion of the forearc has left little trace of the interplate dynamics that initiated the orogenic belt in this article we present a new insight into the thermal and exhumation history of the forearc along the coastal cordillera of northern chile based on biotite k ar apatite fission track and apatite zircon u th he dating we collected diorite samples in a 2 km thick crustal section at the coastal cliff 22 s and a sea level isoelevation profile between 21 and 27 s results from all three dating methods show that the cooling of coastal cordillera took place shortly after emplacement during a period of rifting in jurassic times cooling took place in two episodes mainly in late jurassic early cretaceous 118 152 ma but also during late cretaceous 60 80 ma due to the resumption of compression rift closure arc uplift exhumation eastward migration of magmatic arc activity and thermal relaxation the youngest apatite u th he ages reveal a cooling event never reported previously between 40 and 50 ma eocene this thermal event affected a 500 km long and 1 km thick section of the coastal cordillera in northern chile rock cooling recorded in the eocene cannot be explained by the thermal effect of the magmatic arc we explore two scenarios that can provide an explanation for the observed cooling 1 forearc uplift and exhumation and 2 changes in plate subduction dynamics erosion rates of 0 24 to 0 36 km myr for a period of 10 myr are necessary to explain the cooling event alternatively the subduction of a ridge could explain significant cooling by flat slab dewatering based on recent sea floor spreading reconstruction we suggest the subduction of the farallon phoenix ridge as a possible candidate the subduction of this ridge can account for the cooling event at 40 50 ma but also for some important aspects of the eocene development of the central andes notably the onset of uplift an abrupt decrease in magmatic activity and porphyry copper mineralization

the relative importance of plate driven and buoyancy driven flow at mid ocean ridges the dynamical interaction between three dimensional 3 d buoyant flow and plate driven mantle flow beneath a mid ocean ridge is examined using a combination of laboratory and numerical experiments in a unique laboratory setup a layer of strongly temperature dependent viscous fluid is heated from below and cooled from above to drive thermal convection forced plate driven flow is modeled by dragging mylar sheeting in opposite directions across the fluid surface uniform viscosity 3 d numerical models have been designed to simulate the laboratory runs to provide additional information on the flow and to attempt to isolate the effects of variable viscosity in one type of experiment we modeled buoyancy on the scale of the partial melting region with a linear heat source beneath the spreading axis in a second set of experiments the entire base of the tank is heated in order to investigate the interaction between plate driven flow and larger scale upper mantle convection the pattern of segment scale 100 150 km convection beneath a spreading center is found to be a strong function of the spreading rate and the rayleigh number ra of the buoyant flow purely two dimensional 2 d flow exists only in the case of low ra 105 and faster spreading rates 4 6 cm yr half rate three dimensionality is strongly enhanced during transient pulses of upwelling convection on the scale of the upper mantle can contribute significant long wavelength spatial 600 1000 km and temporal 20 40 m y variability in upwelling rates and temperatures at spreading centers and may provide an alternative model for plume ridge interaction for a given ra the upwelling near the spreading axis can essentially be described by three regimes weakly 3 d at the slow spreading rates strongly 3 d at slow to intermediate rates and 2 d at fast spreading rates the regime boundaries shift toward higher plate velocities with increasing ra comparison of the laboratory and numerical experiments indicates that temperature dependent viscosity may strengthen the position of focused upwelling centers and cause a sharper transition between 2 d and 3 d upwelling patterns taken together these results suggest that buoyancy driven dynamic flow is an important element in the geodynamics of mid ocean ridges

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

rare earth element evolution of phanerozoic seawater recorded in biogenic apatites rare earth element ree contents of marine biogenic apatites have been shown to record seawater compositions a data base of available and newly acquired rare earth element ree contents of marine biogenic apatites has been created to assess the past seawater ree compositions to ensure that this data base contains only the pristine ree signals altered samples characterized by very low la sm n ratios where n stands for ree ratios normalized to the nasc composition gromet et al 1984 geochim cosmochim acta 48 1984 2469 acquired during apatite recrystallization are not included in the database these data reveal a change in the tethyan seawater composition between 110 and 80 ma after the end of the cretaceous the ree chemistry of seawater remains constant until present day this seawater composition change is likely due to concurrent changes in ree scavenging processes a strong correlation between decreasing sm yb n ratios and increasing ce anomalies for samples deposited during the 80 110 ma period is observed as ce anomalies are attributed to ocean water redox conditions changes in ree scavenging could reflect an evolution from stratified and poorly oxygenated waters towards well mixed and oxygenated waters this could have resulted from changing current patterns stemming from the contemporaneous opening of the atlantic ocean a major change in middle and late cretaceous oceanic circulation linked to plate tectonics would have favored the colonization of pelagic environments

experimental investigation of both the disturbed and undisturbed granitic saprolite soil granitic saprolites are abundant in many regions around the world and they are widely employed in various engineering projects behavior of such kinds of soils is not sufficiently understood and our knowledge about the fundamental behavior of saprolites is to a far less extent than the sedimentary soils owing to the limited knowledge many problems occurred in the engineering applications that used saprolites as a construction material this study presents results of a set of conventional drained and undrained triaxial compression shearing tests on the granitic saprolites in both the disturbed and undisturbed conditions this study showed that the soil fabric was the paramount factor governing on the soil stress strain response rather than the soil bonds under the drained shearing condition the undisturbed soil revealed a strain softening behavior with a dilative response at the low consolidation stress level while a contractive response was present at the high consolidation stress levels however the disturbed soil showed a strain hardening behavior with a contractive response regardless of the consolidation stress levels during the drained shearing the undrained response was complicated as the soil showed both the contractive and dilative responses with phase transformation points regardless of the soil condition i e disturbed or undisturbed and the consolidation stress levels the bond effect of the intact soil persisted during the consolidation stage however its effect did not extend to the large strain controlled shearing stage where the tangential stiffness suddenly decreased at the axial strain of 1 5

a study of the effects of weathering on soils derived from decomposed volcanic rocks a comprehensive investigation was made of the effects of weathering on the nature and mechanics of volcanic saprolites from hong kong few such studies have been conducted in volcanic weathered soils and the application of a critical state type of framework that accounts for the effects of structure as has been used here is especially novel the investigation examined the effects of spatial variations of the effects of weathering both vertically as the weathering degree alters and horizontally through comparing data from different sites in addition to index tests sem and xrd an extensive series of oedometer triaxial and multi directional bender elements tests was carried out comparing the behaviour of samples from different locations and depths in both intact and reconstituted states this meant that the changes to the intrinsic reconstituted behaviour could be traced throughout different degrees of weathering along with the effects of changing structure on the mechanical behaviour of the intact soils the intrinsic properties changed in a manner that was broadly consistent with the increasing of fines content and plasticity due to weathering the effects of meso structure were small to medium in compression and in shearing they were generally even less evident both at small strains and failure the degrees of anisotropy of stiffness for both intact and reconstituted samples were mostly quite small

nd isotope composition of seep carbonates towards a new approach for constraining subseafloor fluid circulation at hydrocarbon seeps abstract the carbonates forming at deep sea hydrocarbon seeps provide an archive for the source and migration pathways of the seeping fluids interpretation of the archived isotopic and elemental signatures is however not straightforward because of mixing between the signals of fluids and ambient seawater limited understanding of subseafloor fluid circulation and effects of diagenetic alteration the nd isotope system is among the most widely used tracers of circulation patterns in modern and past oceans but to date nd isotopes have been rarely used in investigations of fluid migration pathways at hydrocarbon seeps to test the sensitivity of nd isotope signals of seep carbonates to record past interactions between the seeping fluids and 143nd enriched volcanic derived mineral components we performed nd sr and stable isotope analyses of the lower cretaceous barremian seep carbonates found in baska czech carpathians these seep deposits are directly underlain by a complex of mafic igneous rocks which the methane charged fluids must have passed through on their way to the seafloor the end t values measured in the seep carbonates are significantly more radiogenic than the inferred signal of contemporaneous local seawater and shifted towards the composition typical of the underlying basaltoids this is in agreement with the 87sr 86sr ratios which are markedly lower that the coeval seawater signature consistent co variance trends are observed among the measured end t 87sr 86sr and 13c values attesting increasing role of the volcanic derived fluid component with increasing contribution of methane derived carbon the results of the present approach reveal the potential of nd isotopes to fingerprint exotic fluid end members present in plumbing systems of both fossil and modern methane discharges the method can be of particular use in studies of seeps associated with plate margins where 143nd enriched igneous materials are commonly encountered in the basement or in the sediment column

plate tectonics radiogenic isotopic tracers and paleoceanography the case of the manganese crusts in the pacific abstract hydrogenous ferromanganese crust deposits on seafloor and volcanic seamounts are archives of past isotopic compositions of the ocean isotopic compositions of long life radiogenic isotopes that are dissolved in the ocean such as nd and pb are mixtures of different erosion products continents volcanics arcs ridges etc transported by oceanic currents or winds isotopic studies on mn crusts are thus potential paleogeographic and paleoceanographic tracers however global paleogeography can drastically evolve over the period of growth of crust as well as the latitude longitude and water depth of the mn crust thus each crust sampled a succession of geographic sites related to its spatial evolution through time for this reason valid information about the past ocean isotopic composition can only be extracted from mn crust under the condition that the successive paleogeographic and paleodepth positions can be reconstructed for each mn crust we followed this approach for six hydrogenous mn crusts from the pacific ocean that have recorded pb and nd isotopic signals for the past 80 myr the evolution of the isotopic data was considered within a proper geodynamical framework that takes into account the paleopositions of the pacific plate and surrounding continents of the hot spots and ridges as well as the paths of the six crusts the differences and similarities between the pb and nd revealed by our analysis emphasize their complementarity as paleoceanographic tracers the nd isotopes are strongly influenced by the exchange between indian and pacific waters specifically by the progressive closure of the indonesian gateway the closed central pacific characteristics are defined from the extrapolation of the isotopic trend this highlights the important role played by erosion of volcanic arcs in the nd isotopic value of seawater our approach also stresses the influence of local volcanic activity ridges or active hot spot for lead isotopes

paleoceanographic model of neogene phosphorite deposition u s atlantic continental margin the neogene stratigraphic section of the southeastern u s continental shelf coastal plain system is characterized by i a series of major regional phosphogenic episodes ii a strong spatial relationship between the structural or topographic framework and phosphate deposition and iii distinct cyclical and regional patterns of deposition of the terrigenous carbonate and phosphate lithofacies the complex depositional patterns are explained by a paleoceanographic model based upon the interaction of glacial eustatic sea level fluctuations associated changes in climate and the dynamics of the gulf stream in response to the bathymetric configurations of the continental margin during the past 20 million years

the spreading rate dependence of three dimensional mid ocean ridge gravity structure we analyze over 1300 km of high resolution along axis gravity profiles at ridges with half spreading rates ranging from 1 2 to 5 5 cm yr the results show consistently higher along axis gradients of mantle bouguer anomaly at the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge mar 0 3 1 2 mgal km than at the intermediate to fast spreading cocos nazca ridge and east pacific rise epr 0 1 0 2 mgal km the regional peak to trough amplitude of mantle bouguer anomaly is also greater along the mar 30 60 mgal than the cocos nazca ridge and the epr 10 20 mgal with increasing spreading rate the regional peak to trough amplitude of axial seafloor depth decreases from 1000 1700 m to 200 700 m 3 d numerical experiments suggest that mantle contributions to the gravity can be significant only near large offset transforms at the more commonly observed non transform offsets gravity anomalies will reflect crustal thickness variations the along axis gravity data thus indicate that the amplitude of along axis crustal thickness variation decreases with increasing spreading rate we propose that this spreading rate dependent crustal accretion style may originate in the mantle finite amplitude mantle upwelling is intrinsically plume like 3 d beneath a slow spreading ridge but more sheet like 2 d beneath a fast spreading ridge such a transition in mantle upwelling may occur if the relative importance of passive upwelling over buoyant upwelling increases with increasing spreading rate small amplitude 3 d upwellings may occur at a fast spreading ridge but their effects on crustal thickness variations will be significantly reduced by along axis melt flows along a persistent low viscosity crustal magma chamber in contrast the large crustal thickness variations due to 3 d mantle upwellings will be maintained at a slow spreading ridge because less along axis melt flows can occur in the colder and more rigid crust there

the general and congruent effects of structure in natural soils and weak rocks the engineering properties of naturally occurring sedimentary and residual deposits which are usually treated in geotechnical engineering as soils are reviewed and it is shown that usually they have characteristics due to bonded structure which are similar to those of porous weak rock while this structure can arise from many causes its effects follow a simple general pattern that involves stiff behaviour followed by yield this yield can be described in a similar way to that occurring due to overconsolidation although it is a separate phenomenon the effects of structure are as important in determining engineering behaviour as are the effects of initial porosity and stress history which are the basic concepts of soil mechanics as it can be described in a general way it is concluded that structure and its effects should be treated as a further basic concept of equal importance l article passe en revue les proprietes des depots sedimentaires et residuels naturels qui sont nor malement traites comm

variations in the strontium isotopic composition of seawater during the neogene the authors report 261 strontium isotopic analyses of well preserved planktonic foraminifers from three deep sea drilling project sites 519 588 and 607 these samples cover the period from 24 ma to present with an average of approximately one sample per 100 ka the combination of high sample density and uniformity of analytical procedures has produced a well defined record of changes in the sup 87 sr sup 86 sr of seawater during the neogene the record can be viewed as a series of essentially linear segments with slopes ranging from as high as 6 times 10 sup minus 5 m y to as low as 0 m y the times associated with major inflections in the curve do not appear to correspond to simple geologic phenomena such as eustatic cycles but are probably controlled by a combination of tectonic and climatic factors that influenced the abundance and isotopic composition of terrestrial strontium input to the oceans the strontium isotopic data are consistent with a progressive increase in the chemical weathering rates of the continents during the neogene probably related to repeated glaciations increased exposure of continents by lowered sea level and increased continental relief resulting from high rates of tectonic uplift

world map of nd isotopes in sea floor ferromanganese deposits the nd isotopic compositions of hydrogenous ferromanganese encrustations and nodules largely reflect those of the overlying seawater integrated over the few millions of years over which they grow available nd isotope data on ocean floor hydrogenous deposits suggest control by nd from particulates blown from the continents and released by volcanic activity associated with subduction zones and midocean ridges the regional nd isotope variations display a marked similarity to the broad patterns of present day deep ocean circulation suggesting that the particulates that are the sources of oceanic nd travel along with water masses despite rapid 10 100 ka perturbations during glacial periods the long term patterns of water mass movements and oceanic fluxes of particulates have remained essentially stable over the last few million years

nd isotope evidence for the evolution of the paleocurrents in the atlantic and tethys oceans during the past 180 ma the nd isotopic composition of atlantic and tethys seawater as deduced from marine phosphorites varied considerably during the past 180 ma the early tethys and central atlantic seawater from 180 to 160 ma ago early middle jurassic had a nd isotopic signature identical to that of the pacific end 6 suggesting that pacific seawater entered the newly forming tethys basin however with time continental runoff draining into the young basin became more important and led to a decrease in the nd isotopic composition and finally a decoupling from the pacific ocean during the late early cretaceous 120 90 ma ago atlantic and tethys seawater reached continental crust like nd isotopic composition values end 10 which could reflect high weathering rates induced by the warm and humid climate at that time in the time span between 80 and 50 ma late cretaceous early tertiary the nd isotopic composition of both tethys and atlantic seawater strongly increased towards pacific seawater values in the case of the atlantic ocean this change has been correlated with the opening of the south atlantic which enabled the more radiogenic pacific seawater to travel westwards around the southern edge of africa into the south and finally the north atlantic in the case of tethys seawater we have to assume that during this period large masses of pacific seawater entered the tethys again directly through the indian tethys seaway the renewed importance of this seaway might be related to the late cretaceous early tertiary first order global sea level highstand the most abrupt change towards lower more crust like values occurred in the early miocene 25 17 ma ago in the south and north atlantic as well as in the tethys during this period the143nd 144nd isotope ratios dropped from 0 5124 end 4 2 down to 0 5122 end 8 this change indicates a diminishing influx of pacif seawater into the atlantic and tethys oceans and can be correlated with the breakdown of the circum equatorial circulation patterns of the world oceans due to plate tectonics from 20 to 17 ma ago miocene the nd isotopic composition of the atlantic ocean increased again and reached values as high as 0 5123 end 6 6 whereas tethys seawater remained at low values this decoupling can be correlated with the incipient complete isolation of the tethys the nd isotopic composition was henceforth controlled by the continental runoff from surrounding land masses the major increase in the nd isotopic composition observed in the atlantic can be related to the opening of the drake passage and establishment of the circum antarctic current system this allowed pacific seawater to enter directly the south atlantic around antarctica a renewed drop in the nd isotopic composition of atlantic seawater during the late miocene can be related to the onset of north atlantic bottom water formation and its subsequent upwelling

how does the initial configuration of oceanic ridge segments affect their interaction insights from analogue models 1 oceanic ridge segments interact forming different types of structures of which transform faults and overlapping spreading centers represent the most common end members this study uses analogue models for testing the role of the initial configuration of the ridges on the geometry and kinematics of the resulting interaction zones the models run in a centrifuge consist of a lighter silicone lds rising within a denser silicone hds below a brittle layer simulating the oceanic lithosphere precut fractures in the brittle layer simulate the initial configuration of oceanic ridges the rise and lateral spreading of the lds induce the propagation widening interaction and linkage of the fractures we varied the offset and overlap between the fractures obtaining 10 distinctive types of interaction variations in fracture overlap and offset define several interaction types increase of fracture overlap leads to interaction zones of lower aspect ratio with fractures propagating at lower angles to the mean extension direction increase of offset leads to the elongation of the interaction zones with the new fractures propagating subparallel to the extension direction the comparison with several examples of natural ridges shows close geometric similarities confirming the existence of predominant types of ridge interaction among these ridges with smaller offsets develop interactions similar to overlapping spreading centers whereas ridges with larger offsets have geometries reminiscent of transform zones the comparison between experimental and natural examples suggests that the observed wide spectrum of ridge interaction types in nature results from the initial configuration of the divergent plate boundary

phosphorites co rich mn nodules and fe mn crusts from galicia bank ne atlantic reflections of cenozoic tectonics and paleoceanography a wide variety of marine mineral deposits were recovered from 750 to 1400 m water depths on galicia bank iberian margin mineral deposits include 1 carbonate fluorapatite phosphorite slabs and nodules that replaced limestone and preserved original protolith fabric 2 ferromanganese vernadite crusts with high mn and fe mn fe 1 contents and thick stratabound layers consisting mainly of mn up to 27 mno and fe 15 fe2o3 which impregnated and replaced the phosphorite 3 co rich mn nodules are composed of romanechite and todorokite laminae mn rich layers up to 58 mno contain up to 1 8 co 4 goethite nodules with fe up to 67 fe2o3 have low mn and trace metals we interpret this mineralization paragenesis to be related to major changes in oceanographic and tectonic regimes three phosphatization generations formed hardgrounds dated by 87sr 86sr isotopes as late oligocene early miocene and latest early miocene during the latest early miocene the hardground was fractured and breached due to regional intraplate tectonism which was coeval with a widespread regional erosional unconformity the stratabound layers and co rich manganese nodules were derived from low temperature geothermally driven hydrothermal fluids with fluid conduits along reactivated faults during middle and late miocene the introduction of vigorous deep water flow from the arctic generated growth of hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts finally growth of diagenetic fe rich nodules late pliocene was promoted by the introduction of hypersaline mediterranean outflow water into the atlantic ocean

nd isotopic variations of phanerozoic paleoceans abstract the size of various phanerozoic paleoceans determined from paleogeographic maps provides a framework for assigningend measurements of primary authigenic marine minerals to individual paleoceans and for establishing theirend versus age curves we report newend data in the range from 80 to 750 ma for the largest phanerozoic and late precambrian paleocean the pacific panthalassa ocean ppo and limited data on some small paleozoic paleoceans these new data and all other published data on paleoceanend values are used to determine the trends through time ofend in seven phanerozoic paleoceans the variations in paleoceanend curves are due to changes in the rate of crustal additions and in paleoceanic geometry from these data we can calculate a meanend curve and a mean nd model age curve for phanerozoic seawater these curves show large variations with age and reflect the variations ofend in erosion products from the continents as a function of age the high erosion rates of young uplifted areas enhanceend and nd model age variations of phanerozoic seawater this makes it difficult to quantitatively recover crustal addition rates from these curves however it makes the episodic nature of continental additions more evident

causes and consequences of variations in faulting style at the mid atlantic ridge both volcanism and faulting contribute to the rugged topography that is created at the mid atlantic ridge mar and preserved off axis in atlantic abyssal hill terrain distinguishing volcanic from fault generated topography is essential to understanding the variations in these processes and how these variations are affected by the three dimensional pattern of mantle upwelling ridge segmentation and offsets here we describe a new quantitative method for identifying fault generated topography in swath bathymetry data by measuring topographic curvature the curvature method can distinguish large normal faults from volcanic features whereas slope methods cannot because both faults and volcanic constructs can produce steep slopes the combination of curvature and slope information allows inward and outward facing fault faces to be mapped we apply the method to sea beam data collected along the mar between 28 and 29 30 n the fault styles mapped in this way are strongly correlated with their location within the ridge segmentation framework long linear small throw faults occur toward segment centers while shorter larger throw curved faults occur toward ends these variations reflect those of active faults within the axial valley we investigate two different physical mechanisms that could affect fault interactions and thus underlie variations in abyssal hill topography at the mar in the first model only one fault is active at a time on each side of the rift valley each fault grows while migrating away from the volcanic center due to dike injection extension across the fault causes a flexural rotation of nearby inactive faults the amount of stress necessary to displace the fault increases as the fault grows when reaching a critical size the fault stops growing as fault activity jumps inward as a new fault starts its growth near the rift valley this model yields a realistic terracelike morphology from the rift valley floor into the rift mountains the relief is caused by the net rotation accumulated in the lithosphere from the active faults e g 10 reached 20 km from the active fault fault spacing is controlled by lithospheric thickness fault angle and the ratio of amagmatic to magmatic extension we hypothesize that this mechanism may be dominant toward ridge segment offsets an alternative model considers multiple active faults each fault relieves stresses as it grows and inhibits the growth of nearby faults causing a characteristic fault spacing such fault interactions would occur in a region of necking instability involving deformation over an extended area this mode of extension would drive a feedback mechanism that would act to regulate the size of nearby faults we hypothesize that this mechanism may be active in the relatively weak regions of strong mantle upwelling near segment midpoints causing the homogeneous abyssal hill fabric in these regions

influence of the mediterranean outflow on the isotopic composition of neodymium in waters of the north atlantic the isotopic composition of neodymium in the water column of the eastern north atlantic near the strait of gibraltar has been determined for several depths the data show that the mediterranean outflow results in a significant shift in e nd 0 toward more radiogenic values of 143 nd 144 nd in the water column at a 1000 m depth this corresponds to a depth in the neighborhood of the salinity maximum associated with the mediterranean outflow the core of the mediterranean outflow gives e nd 0 9 8 as compared to e nd 0 12 in overlying and underlying waters demonstrating that the mediterranean waters are distinct from the atlantic from mixing considerations we estimate that pure mediterranean waters have e nd 0 6 possible sources of this relatively radiogenic nd could be from drainage of young continental terranes or the injection of remobilized nd from deep sea sediments that have a young radiogenic volcanic component new data from a depth profile in the western atlantic is presented comparison of nd data for the eastern north atlantic with that for the western north atlantic shows fundamental differences in the water column structures for e nd 0 while both regions show a pronounced maximum in e nd 0 the western basin maximum occurs at the near surface rather than at 1000 m in addition deep waters of the eastern basin are found to be more radiogenic than the western basin these differences indicate several sources of isotopically distinct nd in the north atlantic the deep waters of the north atlantic 1000 m have the lowest values of e nd 0 measured in the oceans we believe that the source of these low e nd 0 values which we associate with north atlantic deep water is either from freshwater drainage off the precambrian shields of north america and asia into the arctic ocean or from the injection of older continentally derived ree from deep sea sediments sm and nd concentrations are found to increase with depth and e nd 0 changes with depth indicating both vertical and lateral transport processes from different sources this suggests a surface source of nd and injection of ree into the water column from deep sea sediments or large scale bottom currents with high ree concentrations

trace element and isotopic evidence for ree migration and fractionation in salts next to a basalt dyke abstract neodymium and sr isotopic compositions and the rare earth elements ree distribution patterns have been determined in salts adjacent to a basaltic dyke along 2 parallel horizontal profiles the salts originally consisting of carnallite kmgcl 3 6h 2 o have been transformed during basalt intrusion mainly into halite nacl and sylvite kcl by fluids saturated in nacl the sr isotope data suggests that much more fluid penetrated the upper than the lower horizon the nd isotope data shows that in the upper horizon where fluid flow was stronger nd is essentially derived from the basalt in contrast in the lower horizon a strong salt nd component is present the ree data document in both horizons is a strong depletion of ce pr nd sm and eu with increasing distance from the basalt this depletion of the light rare earths lree is stronger in the upper horizon where fluid flow was stronger the authors suggest that this ree fractionation is more likely due to precipitation of lree enriched accessory minerals such as apatite than to differential ree solubility caused by selective ree complexation this finding is of interest for ree behaviour in brines in general and for the behaviour of radioactive ree and actinides in a salt repository for high level nuclear waste in particular

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

relationships between chemical weathering indices and physical and mechanical properties of decomposed granite abstract chemical weathering is one of the dominant mechanisms for weathering of granite in subtropical and tropical regions resulting in modifications of its chemical physical and mechanical properties thus the changes in chemical properties may provide insight about the changes in physical and mechanical properties of weathered granite in this paper three quantitative chemical weathering indices are correlated to the dry density of decomposed granite a linear relationship is found between each chemical weathering index and dry density for granitic saprolites mobiles index i mob gives the highest coefficient of correlation among the three chemical weathering indices further investigations were conducted to establish the relationships between i mob and other physical and mechanical properties of granitic saprolites the test results showed that fines content increases with increasing i mob but peak strength increases with decreasing i mob the peak states of granitic saprolites are consistent with rowe s stress dilatancy relationship dilatancy increases with decreasing i mob that contributes to a higher peak strength based on some test results presented in this study it seems that i mob could be a good indicator to quantify the effects of chemical weathering on physical and mechanical properties of granitic saprolites

origin of the oligocene manganese deposit at obrochishte bulgaria insights from c o fe sr nd and pb isotopes abstract the large manganese mn deposit at obrochishte ne bulgaria is part of a cluster of similar early oligocene deposits located around present day black sea they collectively constitute the earth s second largest endowment of mn after the kalahari manganese field in africa we have employed a battery of isotopic techniques c o fe sr nd pb to help understand the genesis of this deposit carbon isotope data indicates that some sections of the mn ore layer have diagenetic mnco3 mineralization formed by reaction of mn oxides with organic carbon corg whereas other sections have mnco3 precipitated directly from the seawater column oxygen isotopes show that the high grade mn mineralization had seawater as the fluid source whereas some lower grade sections had a mix of ground water and seawater as fluid sources sr and nd isotope values of ore leachates also indicate that the mn deposition occurred in normal early oligocene seawater nd and pb isotope values suggest that the clastic host sediments were sourced from continental bedrock rather than younger arc volcanic rocks to the west iron isotope composition of the mn ore implies deposition in a redox stratified basin similar to the modern black sea with much of the fe sequestered in deep anoxic euxinic water as sulfides similar to the modern black sea most of the detrital fe was transferred from shallow oxic sediments into deep anoxic euxinic water by an iron shuttle and remobilized mn sequestered in the upper suboxic water layer however during the oligocene the iron shuttle operated intermittently due to the chemocline falling mostly below the shelf break thereby limiting the efficiency of the shuttle mechanism we propose a model for the lower oligocene strata in which intense weathering during the eocene weathering phase produced a thick lateritic crust on the southern european continent the drastic sea level drop at the end of the eocene initiated downcutting of streams through this weathered material transferring fe and mn oxides to the redox stratified western black sea here these oxides were partly or entirely dissolved in the suboxic mn oxides partly fe oxyhydroxides entirely dissolved and anoxic euxinic mn oxides entirely dissolved dissolved fe2 re precipitated water layers eventually fe was re precipitated as sulfide in the deep anoxic euxinic water while mn accumulated in the suboxic water layer transgression in the early oligocene brought this mn rich water onto the shallow shelf where it precipitated as mn oxide then converted to mn carbonates during early diagenesis some mn was also contributed by submarine groundwater discharge further transgression brought lower oxygen water onto the shelf and mn carbonate precipitated directly from the water column the findings from this work provide insights about the unique oligocene geochemical event in the region that lead to the formation of the 2nd largest cluster of mn deposits in the world

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

laboratory study on soil behavior in loess slope subjected to infiltration abstract in recent years heifangtai plateau in gansu province china has received significant attention as a loess region in which landslides frequently occur this study aims to examine the soil behavior and failure mechanism s of loess slopes subjected to water infiltration high quality samples were retrieved behind the failure plane of a landslide in heifangtai three sets of stress path tests were conducted to mimic the process of loess slope failures these tests include undrained compression on anisotropically consolidated saturated samples drained shear by decreasing mean effective stress at constant axial load on saturated samples and wetting by decreasing matric suction at constant axial load on unsaturated samples loess behavior was evaluated in terms of shear strength deformation upon shearing critical state state parameter and soil water characteristic curve three major observations were drawn from the test results first the anisotropically consolidated saturated loess exhibits a noticeable strain softening behavior upon undrained compression the peak shear strength is mobilized at less than 1 axial strain the ultimate shear strength is only 20 30 of the peak value second when subjected to shear by decreasing mean effective stress at constant axial load the saturated loess exhibits sudden failure when the confining stress is low at higher stresses the soil exhibits progressive failure third unsaturated loess deforms progressively when subjected to a reduction in matric suction i e wetting at constant axial load the failure mechanisms of the loess slopes are discussed based on the experimental findings

gravity anomalies isostasy and mantle flow at the east pacific rise crest bathymetry and gravity data obtained during a detailed hydrosweep survey of the southern east pacific rise from 7 s to 9 s are used to investigate isostasy at the axis of a fast spreading mid ocean ridge in particular we examine the manner in which the bathymetric crestal high is supported and how this support varies along the axis within the 160 km long 7 12 s 8 38 s ridge segment the crestal high stands about 400 m above the adjacent ridge flanks and has a nearly constant minimum axial depth for a distance of 140 km the summit is broad and flat and an axial summit caldera is present for the entire length of the ridge segment however the width and cross sectional shape of the crestal high vary systematically along the axis it is broad with gentle slopes in the center of the segment but becomes progressively narrower and steeper toward the ends of the ridge segment the ridge crest is marked by a free air gravity anomaly high about 15 20 km wide with an amplitude of 10 15 mgal relative to the ridge flanks mantle bouguer anomalies vary systematically along the axis with minimum values found near the center of the segment the axial mantle bouguer anomalies thus do not reflect the axial depth but are correlated with changes in the cross sectional area of the crestal bathymetric high the effects of cooling and subsidence away from the axis were removed from the bathymetry and free air anomalies to isolate residual topographic and gravity anomalies associated with the ridge crest the residual crestal bathymetric high was modeled as a flexural feature resulting from the upward buoyant load of a region of low density material centered beneath the axis the lithosphere was treated as a broken plate either with a constant flexural rigidity or an effective elastic thickness te which grows at a rate proportional to the square root of distance from the axis the best fitting values of te for the constant rigidity case are in the range of 0 3 0 6 km for the growing plate model te increases at a rate of 0 2 0 3 km the gravity constrains the mass deficiency to extend to a depth of 20 30 km for both lithospheric models we interpret this low density material as a region of partial melt feeding magma to the ridge axis the best fitting density anomalies imply that a 4 9 melt fraction is present beneath the crestal high upwelling of melt to the axis is thus confined to a narrow zone within about 10 km of the axis the mass deficiency and thus the upwelling partial melt are not distributed evenly along the ridge axis but rather are concentrated in the central portion of the ridge segment it thus appears that differences between the along axis gravity and depth patterns observed at slow spreading and at fast spreading ridges are not the result of a change from three dimensional focused upwelling at slow spreading ridges to two dimensional sheetlike upwelling at fast spreading ridges rather the differences in axial gravity and depth between fast and slow spreading ridges reflect differences in the efficiency of the shallow along axis magma distribution

laboratory investigation of the interaction of off axis mantle plumes and spreading centres mantle plumes and mid ocean ridge spreading centres are the dominant phenomena through which mass and heat are transported from the mantle to the earth s surface it now seems that the dispersion of near ridge plumes beneath the lithosphere is modulated strongly by mid ocean ridges in particular geochemical and geophysical observations have suggested that rising plumes are diverted towards and feed nearby ridges 1 7 here we confirm the feasibility of this model with laboratory experiments that incorporate the essential physical and fluid dynamic aspects of a plume ridge upper mantle system our results indicate that an off axis plume may communicate thermally and chemically with a spreading ridge through a narrow sub horizontal conduit instead of a broader radially spreading plume head a necessary condition for this communication is the presence of a lithospheric or rheological boundary layer that thickens away from the ridge axis owing to conductive cooling interestingly we find that for high plume temperatures increasing the plume thermal buoyancy may inhibit rather than enhance plume ridge interaction as a result of increased erosion of the overlying lithosphere

sm nd isochron age and provenance of the argillites of the gunflint iron formation in ontario canada abstract sm nd rb sr and k ar isotope analyses were made on argillaceous sediments from the gunflint iron formation in the lake superior region in order to provide new information on their sedimentation age and evolutionary history the investigations indicate that it might be possible to date the time of sedimentation by the sm nd method by studying specific material such as argillaceous whole rocks enriched in organic matter and clay fractions the spread in the sm nd ratios seems here to have been favoured by the incorporation of organic material in the argillites the sm nd isotope data yield an isochron age of 2 08 0 25 ga which seems to be a fair estimation of deposition age model calculations indicate that the main source supplying the animikie seawater with ree was located at the northern border of the basin the argillites and their clay minerals did not behave as closed systems with regard to the rb sr and k ar systems during further diagenetic evolution

a dual layer chicxulub ejecta sequence with shocked carbonates from the cretaceous paleogene k pg boundary demerara rise western atlantic abstract an up to 2 cm thick chicxulub ejecta deposit marking the cretaceous paleogene k pg boundary the k t boundary was recovered in six holes drilled during odp leg 207 demerara rise tropical western atlantic stunning features of this deposit are its uniformity over an area of 30 km2 and the total absence of bioturbation allowing documentation of the original sedimentary sequence high resolution mineralogical petrological elemental isotopic sr nd and rock magnetic data reveal a distinct microstratigraphy and a range of ejecta components the deposit is normally graded and composed predominantly of rounded 0 1 to max 1 mm sized spherules spherules are altered to dioctahedral aluminous smectite though occasionally relict si al rich hydrated glass is also present suggesting acidic precursor lithologies spherule textures vary from hollow to vesicle rich to massive some show in situ collapse others include distinct fe mg ca ti rich melt globules and lath shaped al rich quench crystals both altered glass spherules and the clay matrix site 1259b display strongly negative e nd t 65 ma values 17 indicating uptake of nd from contemporaneous ocean water during alteration finally fe mg rich spherules shocked quartz and feldspar grains few lithic clasts as well as abundant accretionary and porous carbonate clasts are concentrated in the uppermost 0 5 0 7 mm of the deposit the carbonate clasts display in part very unusual textures which are interpreted to be of shock metamorphic origin the preservation of delicate spherule textures normal grading with lack of evidence for traction transport and sub millimeter scale compositional trends provide evidence for this spherule deposit representing a primary air fall deposit not affected by significant reworking the odp leg 207 spherule deposit is the first known dual layer k pg boundary in marine settings it incorporates compositional and stratigraphic aspects of both proximal and distal marine sites its stratigraphy strongly resembles the dual layer k pg boundary deposits in the terrestrial western interior of north america although there carbonate phases are not preserved the occurrence of a dual ejecta layer in these quite different sedimentary environments separated by several thousands of kilometers provides additional evidence for an original sedimentary sequence therefore the layered nature of the deposit may document compositional differences between ballistic chicxulub ejecta forming the majority of the spherule deposit and material falling out from the vapor ejecta plume which is concentrated in the uppermost part

the maastrichtian record from shatsky rise northwest pacific a tropical perspective on global ecological and oceanographic changes we present new isotopic and micropaleontological data from a depth transect on shatsky rise that record the response of the tropical pacific to global biotic and oceanographic shifts during the mid maastrichtian results reveal a coupling between the upper ocean characterized by a weak thermocline and low to intermediate productivity and intermediate waters during the earliest maastrichtian oxygen and neodymium isotope data suggest a significant contribution of relatively warm intermediate water from the north pacific isotopic shifts through the early maastrichtian suggest that this warmer water mass was gradually replaced by cooler waters originating in the southern ocean although the cooler water mass remained dominant through the remainder of the maastrichtian it was displaced intermittently at shallow intermediate depths by north pacific intermediate water the globally recognized mid maastrichtian event similar to 69 ma manifested by the brief appearance of abundant inoceramid bivalves over shallow portions of shatsky rise is characterized by an abrupt increase similar to 2degrees 3degrees c in sea surface temperatures a greater flux of organic matter out of the surface ocean and warmer similar to 4degrees c intermediate waters results implicate simultaneous changes in surface waters and the sources distribution patterns of intermediate water masses as an underlying cause for widespread biotic and oceanographic changes during mid maastrichtian time

ridge segmentation faulting and crustal thickness in the atlantic ocean the mid atlantic ridge mar between the kane and atlantis fracture zones consists of segments 20 85 km in length1 bull s eye patterns in the mantle bouguer gravity anomaly field2 centred on several segments associated with narrow rift valleys3 have been interpreted as centres of strong mantle upwelling and thick crust here i present a map of normal faults inferred from 5 104 km2of sea beam bathymetry4 along the mar between 28 n and the atlantis fracture zone faults are mapped both on and off ridge using a criterion that distinguishes them from volcanic topography abyssal hill lineations seem to form at the rift valley walls through the growth of the normal faults towards ridge segment ends these faults are more widely spaced with larger throws than those at segment centres and often define the boundaries of the gravity bull s eyes these two different faulting styles which probably reflect changes in lithospheric strength are preserved into the rift mountains large throw faults are highly correlated with the mantle bouguer highs suggesting that amagmatic extension on the large faults contributes to the crustal thinning inferred towards the segment ends

contourite drifts on early passive margins as an indicator of established lithospheric breakup the albian cenomanian breakup sequence bs offshore northwest iberia is mapped described and characterised for the first time in terms of its seismic and depositional facies the interpreted dataset comprises a large grid of regional 2d seismic reflection profiles complemented by industry and odp dsdp borehole data within the bs are observed distinct seismic facies that reflect the presence of a black shales and fine grained turbidites b mass transport deposits mtds and coarse grained turbidites and c contourite drifts borehole data show that these depositional systems developed as mixed carbonate siliciclastic sediments proximally and as organic carbon rich mudstones black shales distally on the northwest iberia margin mtds and turbidites tend to occur on the continental slope frequently in association with large scale olistostromes distally these change into interbedded fine grained turbidites and black shales showing widespread evidence of deep water current activity towards the top of the bs current activity is expressed by intra bs erosional surfaces and sediment drifts the results in this paper are important as they demonstrate that contourite drifts are ubiquitous features in the study area after aptian albian lithospheric breakup therefore we interpret the recognition of contourite drifts in northwest iberia as having significant palaeogeographic implications contourite drifts materialise the onset of important deep water circulation marking the establishment of oceanic gateways between two fully separated continental margins as a corollary we postulate the generation of deep water geostrophic currents to have had significant impact on north atlantic climate and ocean circulation during the albian cenomanian with the record of such impacts being preserved in the contourite drifts analysed in this work

the assessment of ree patterns and 143nd 144nd ratios in fish remains abstract the ree content and isotopic composition of sr and nd have been determined in fish teeth ranging in age from the trias to the present and from various localities mostly around the atlantic these measurements have been carried out on selachian and teleost remains from the same locality in togo and show no appreciable difference which suggests with the help of a mass balance calculation of the ce anomaly that diagenetic effects are not responsible for the ree enrichment of biogenic phosphates one group of fossil teeth has about 3 times the ree abundances of shale and a shale normalized pattern with a minimum at sm it is thought to reflect deposition in the open sea environment a second group has ree concentration about 10 times higher than the first group with either a regular light ree enrichment or more frequently a maximum in the middle ree both being probably indicative of deposition in estuarine or near shore conditions the shape of the ree spectra and the size of the ce anomaly can be used semi quantitatively to determine the depth of deposition the results presented here on late cretaceous eocene fish teeth samples from morocco reflect an increasing influx of deep waters with a lowla yb ratio and strong negative ce anomaly which agrees well with the evolution of sediment chemistry and microfauna associations in contrast nd is typical of the water mass in which the fish debris decayed examples of nearly isolated basins identified with nd isotopes include the south atlantic prior to the lutetian nd 13 5 the miocene persian gulf nd 3 1 and bolivia during the late cretaceous nd 12 8 togo and guinea bissau results suggest that in the south atlantic the meridional oceanic circulation had not started before 45 ma ago combination of ree and nd data suggests that the assignment of jurassic cretaceous samples measured so far to open sea water masses is still ambiguous

experiments on the interaction of thermal convection and compositional layering at the base of the mantle accumulation and survival of compositional heterogeneity at the base of the convecting mantle is investigated using laboratory experiments with temperature dependent viscous fluids two models of heterogeneity in the d layer are considered 1 a reservoir of dense material above the core mantle boundary and 2 continuous recharge of the d layer by subduction of cold negatively buoyant high viscosity slabs of oceanic lithosphere survival of a dense reservoir depends on rp the ratio of stabilizing compositional buoyancy to destabilizing thermal buoyancy rapid mixing occurs for rp 1 for rp 1 mixing occurs by slow entrainment only the reservoir model predicts d layer heterogeneity is concentrated beneath lower mantle upwellings differentiation of composite slabs consisting of dense crustal and light depleted components occurs in a hot thermal boundary layer composite slabs pile up in the basal thermal boundary layer and upon heating the light component is ejected by rayleigh taylor instabilities the dense component accumulates in the boundary layer arrayed in a pattern of interconnected spokes and is slowly entrained into thermal plumes according to these experiments the time required for conversion of slabs to plumes in d is 1 2 gyr the correlation between lateral variations in d layer thickness and lateral variations in lower mantle seismic velocity suggests that d may consist of dense material perhaps former oceanic lithosphere which has sunk through the lower mantle

modeling of dilative shear failure medium to dense sand sheared under undrained or essentially undrained conditions shows a dilative hardening response when the stress crosses a phase transformation state and gets into the dilative zone when the stress finally reaches a failure surface the deviatoric stress as well as the mean normal stress may continuously develop along the surface accompanied by an excessive but finite deviatoric strain this behavior is termed as dilative shear failure in this text properly modeling this behavior has its significance in predicting the large deformations of many geotechnical structures at or near failure this includes quantitative predictions of postliquefaction ground deformations during and after earthquakes this paper points out that dilative shear failure is no more than a combination of neutral loading and perfect plasticity however under which the stress strain relationship is still well defined this paper presents a general framework in modeling this failure mode identifies dilatancy as

extremely thin oceanic crust in the proto indian ocean evidence from the masirah ophiolite sultanate of oman the masirah ophiolite is a good example of thin oceanic crust below pillow lavas and a sheeted dike complex with a relatively normal thickness of 1 1 5 km the gabbroic lower crust barely exceeds 500 m in thickness in spite of this reduced thickness the oceanic crust preserves all members of a model ophiolite in a coherent lithostratigraphic sequence the crust was formed during the uppermost jurassic circa 150 ma when the indian madagascar plate separated from the african arabian plate and is therefore related to the opening of the coeval somali basin geological relationships indicate that this portion of oceanic crust was formed at a ridge transform intersect the peculiarly reduced thickness of the gabbro layer is interpreted as the result of a weak magma supply at the edge of a ridge segment rather than the consequence of a tectonic thinning the cooling effect due to the vicinity of two large continental lithospheric blocks indian madagascar and african arabian plates during this initial stage of the oceanization might have been an additional factor contributing to the reduction of the crustal thickness

segmentation of mid ocean ridges with an axial valley induced by small scale mantle convection the small scale segmentation of mid ocean ridges with an axial rise has been modelled by considering each ridge segment as a giant crack in the lithosphere with a tip propagating along the ridge axis1 2 for ridges with an axial valley however this type of model fails because the lithosphere is too thick to tear3 yet such ridges are clearly segmented as defined by morphology gravity and structure at the 50 100 km length scale the ridge offsets are large4 5 and vary dramatically with time this type of segmentation is commonly related to a three dimensional small scale mantle flow occurring in the partially molten asthenosphere below the ridge6 8 here we propose a model for segmentation in such ridges in which the convective flow below the ridge favours an asymmetrical breaking of the axial valley lithosphere this leads to the development and separation of ridge segments in a pattern that mimics the observed geometry and temporal evolution of the segmentation of most ridges with an axial valley if our model is correct it implies that coupling of oceanic lithosphere to small scale convection controls the dynamics of mid ocean ridges

sr and nd isotopic analysis of phosphorite sedimentation through one miocene high frequency depositional cycle on the north carolina continental shelf abstract a well developed seismic litho and biostratigraphic data base with good models for the formation and deposition of phosphate rich sediments exist for the upper cenozoic sediments on the north carolina continental margin this provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the potential of utilizing strontium and neodymium isotopic analyses to help unravel a complex genetic history of phosphate formation and deposition thirty one samples from three vibracores in onslow bay supplied hand picked concentrate subsamples of five phosphate grain types and thirty one concentrate subsamples of phosphate peloids for stratigraphic analysis all subsamples were analyzed for their sr isotope composition while only thirteen were analyzed for nd isotopes the 31 peloid samples represent three different stratigraphic units and include 1 holocene surficial sands with highly variable concentrations and types of reworked phosphate 2 pleistocene moldic carbonates with minor concentrations of black peloidal phosphate and 3 miocene mid burdigalian frying pan sequence unit 1 fps 1 of the pungo river formation with very high concentrations of multiple types of phosphate grains that decrease upsection and change grain types with changing lithofacies the latter unit represents deposition during one high frequency sea level cycle stratigraphic analysis utilized one grain type phosphate peloids for comparative purposes with the depositional model of riggs and mallette 1990 the sr and nd data cluster into significant categories that are coincident with these three major stratigraphic units sr and nd isotope compositions of selected phosphate grains from three phosphate rich depositional sequences are utilized to 1 date the initial miocene transgression of unit fps 1 of the pungo river formation 2 decipher processes of formation and deposition of major phosphate grain types through one miocene sea level cycle including the processes of in situ formation versus reworking 3 develop a sr and nd chronostratigraphy for evaluating changing patterns of continental margin sedimentation through high frequency depositional cycles 4 determine effects of reworking and weathering on the isotope signals between miocene pleistocene and holocene sediments 5 evaluate the suitability of utilizing sr and nd isotopes for detailed chronostratigraphic analysis of phosphorite sedimentation and 6 refine our understanding of the upper cenozoic evolutionary history of north carolina s continental margin

radiogenic isotopes systematics and applications to earth surface processes and chemical stratigraphy radiogenic isotopes have wide application to chemical stratigraphy geochronology provenance studies and studies of temporal changes in earth surface processes this paper briefly reviews the principles of radiogenic isotope geochemistry and the distribution of a number of elements of interest in the environment and then uses this information to explore the range of applications to chemical stratigraphy and other fundamental subjects of sedimentary geology many of these applications center on the reconstruction of secular variations in paleoseawater isotope signals these seawater isotope curves can be used for stratigraphic correlation and to assess changes through earth history in processes such as tectonic uplift climate change biogeochemical cycling ocean circulation crustal growth and surface water evolution understanding the modern biogeochemical cycle of the element isotope system of interest is essential for gaining the maximum information regarding the operation of ancient cycles the main sources of uncertainty for reconstructing seawater isotope curves involve diagenetic alteration sample impurities and errors in age assignments rigorous sample selection criteria and pretreatment methods are keys to reconstructing the most accurate seawater isotope curves applications are discussed for the rb sr sm nd la ce lu hf re os u th pb k ar and cosmogenic isotope systems d 2003 elsevier b v all rights reserved

hydrothermal mn deposits of the franciscan assemblage ii isotope and trace element geochemistry and implications for hydrothermal convection at spreading centers abstract major element trace element and sr nd pb and o isotopic data for a franciscan mn deposit suggest an origin by seafloor hydrothermal circulation based on q mode factor analysis the cherts and mn lenses of the blue jay mine formed from a combination of 4 components representing 1 biogenic 1 hydrothermal and 2 detrital sources rb sr u th pb and o isotopic systematics in the mn lenses were affected by input from the hydrothermal circulation of material leached from the underlying basalts nd isotopic compositions in both cherts and mn lenses are identical and within the range measured for pacific ocean water suggesting the ree were not mobilized by hydrothermal activity correlation of 18 o with sio 2 and mno 2 in the mn lenses implies the lenses formed by simple mixing of hydrothermally derived mn oxides with seawater and biogenic silica 18 o of the cherts is both uniform and depleted relative to dsdp jurassic cherts but similar to microquartz bearing cherts of the monterey formation this suggests that diagenetic activity exerted more control on oxygen isotope compositions then hydrothermal alteration or metamorphism finally a well defined rb sr isochron of 158 5myr was obtained for these cherts and opens the possibility of determining absolute radiometric ages for similar cherts throughout the geologic record

laboratory studies of two common saprolitic soils in hong kong two commonly encountered saprolitic soils in hong kong weathered volcanic tuff wt and weathered granite wg were studied using high quality intact samples the intact samples exhibited quasi preconsolidation pressure or yield stress under isotropic compression due to their bonded structures but the yield was progressive and not abrupt as the stress increased significant volumetric changes were measured these changes resembled clay type behavior the soils also exhibited anisotropic deformation under isotropic loading and unloading which was associated with the features of their parent rocks during the drained tests shearing at the in situ stress state produced peak strength and volumetric dilation undrained shearing showed complicated stress paths and dilatancy behavior in these soils phase transformation states and dilative shear failure were readily seen which resembles typical sand type behavior distinct shear band s appeared in the wt specimens during shearing whereas a bulging type of failure appeared in the wg specimens the soils ultimately approached the corresponding state guided by a unique critical state line regardless of their complex initial states in relation to the bonded structure and drainage conditions

paleoceanographic implications of miocene deep sea hiatuses miocene paleoceanographic evolution exhibits major changes resulting from the opening and closing of passages the subsequent changes in oceanic circulation and development of major antarctic glaciation the consequences and timing of these events can be observed in variations in the distribution of deep sea hiatuses sedimentation patterns and biogeographic distribution of planktic organisms the opening of the drake passage in the latest oligocene to early miocene 25 20 ma resulted in the establishment of the deep circumpolar current which led to thermal isolation of antarctica and increased global cooling this development was associated with a major turnover in planktic organisms resulting in the evolution of neogene assemblages and the eventual extinction of paleogene assemblages the erosive patterns of two widespread hiatuses ph 23 0 22 5 ma and nh 1 20 18 ma indicate that a deep circumequatorial circulation existed at this time characterized by a broad band of carbonate ooze deposition siliceous sedimentation was restricted to the north atlantic and a narrow band around antarctica a major reorganization in deep sea sedimentation and hiatus distribution patterns occurred near the early middle miocene boundary apparently resulting from changes in oceanic circulation beginning at this time deep sea erosion occurred throughout the caribbean hiatus nh 2 16 15 ma suggesting disruption of the deep circumequatorial circulation and northward deflection of deep currents and or intensification of the gulf stream sediment distribution patterns changed dramatically with the sudden appearance of siliceous ooze deposition in the marginal and east equatorial north pacific by 16 0 to 15 5 ma coincident with the decline of siliceous sedimentation in the north atlantic this silica switch may have been caused by the introduction of norwegian overflow water into the north atlantic acting as a barrier to outcropping of silica rich antarctic bottom water the main aspects of the present oceanic circulation system and sediment distribution pattern were established by 13 5 to 12 5 ma hiatus nh 3 coincident with the establishment of a major east antarctic ice cap antarctic glaciation resulted in a broadening belt of siliceous ooze deposition around antarctica increased siliceous sedimentation in the marginal and east equatorial north pacific and indian oceans and further northward restriction of siliceous sediments in the north atlantic periodic cool climatic events were accompanied by lower eustatic sea levels and widespread deep sea erosion at 12 to 11 ma nh 4 10 to 9 ma nh 5 7 5 to 6 2 ma nh 6 and 5 2 to 4 7 ma nh 7

evidence from gravity data for focused magmatic accretion along the mid atlantic ridge gravity data from the mid atlantic ridge between latitudes 27 50 n and 30 40 n show that the accretion of magma at the ridge is focused at discrete centres along the spreading axis large positive gravity anomalies equivalent to reductions of almost 50 in crustal thickness are observed over non transform discontinuities bounding spreading segments

the geochemical balance of the rare earth elements and neodymium isotopes in the oceans profiles of ree concentrations and neodymium isotope measurements in the western indian ocean are consistent with published data from the other major oceans ree concentrations show a strong hydrographic control the influence of intermediate water masses is particularly significant surface water concentrations vary with salinity paniculate rees are less than 5 of dissolved concentration except for ce where up to 20 of total rees are present as 0 4 m particles in contrast to dissolved profiles concentration profiles of paniculate rees including ce all increase with depth ree concentrations correlate with silica over all but the deepest waters although in detail correlations are complex the neodymium isotopic composition of indian ocean seawater avg nd 0 8 3 is intermediate between that for the atlantic and pacific oceans comparison of ree data from the major oceans shows that the hrees behave more like si than do the lrees sm nd ratios are near constant for all oceans whereas ernd ratios vary between the atlantic indian and pacific oceans the fractionation of the rees in surface seawaters can be explained by fractionation factors relative to silica from 0 12 for la to 0 05 for er use of a seven box model shows that the interoceanic variations in neodymium isotopic compositions and nd concentrations cannot be reconciled unless particle water exchange is invoked the degree of exchange required is consistent with particle residence times of 1 10 yr

nd isotopic composition of jurassic tethys seawater and the genesis of alpine mn deposits evidence from sr nd isotope data jurassic metabasalts metasediments and mn ores from the pennine realm of the alps were examined in order to establish the nd isotopic composition of the jurassic tethys seawater and to elucidate the genesis of the mn deposits the highly positive initial epsilon sub nd values 7 to 9 8 of the metabasalts and their low sup 87 sr sup 86 sr ratios 0 7028 to 0 7049 indicate that they originated from a depleted mantle the initial epsilon sub nd values of the cherts range between minus 5 and minus 9 the sm nd isotope data indicate that they are primary mixtures of basalt and continental detritus the smaller than 2 mu m fractions of the cherts and of a marble which probably represent the formerly authigenic material show initial epsilon sub nd values ranging between minus 5 9 and minus 6 6 the average initial sr isotopic composition of five mn ores is 0 70730 plus minus 22 identical to that of contemporaneous jurassic seawater the initial nd isotopic composition values of the mn ores are very homogeneous the average value of five ores a leachate and residue of one of them calculated for an age of 170 ma is 0 512082 plus minus 19 it is suggested that the ores together with the smaller than 2 mu mmore fractions of the sediments define the jurassic tethys seawater isotopic composition the resulting average sup 143 nd sup 144 nd initial value is 0 512089 plus minus 17 epsilon sub nd minus 6 5 plus minus 0 6 less

variations in sub tropical deep weathering profiles over the kowloon granite hong kong variations in the physical characteristics of the weathering profile over the kowloon granite in hong kong have been established using borehole records supported by field mapping there is a strong correlation between topography of the weathered profile base and the main structural trends linear zones of deep weathering have been preferentially eroded to create valleys which subsequently became sites of alluvial and colluvial accumulation variations in weathering patterns are primarily a function of the geometry and infilling of relict jointing which together determine local hydrogeology and hence intensity of weathering magnetic susceptibility is a reliable indicator of material weathering grade in the kowloon granite corestones are generally restricted to weathered profiles over topographically high areas the locations of which are controlled by regional joint spacing and orientation corestone bearing profiles are rare and more commonly deeply weathered granite without corestones passes abruptly into relatively fresh rock this has important implications for engineering ground models derived from borehole interpretation