slow but not fast global expansion may explain the surface dichotomy of earth abstract various fast and slow earth expansion hypotheses are reviewed principal objectives are 1 1 to aid geologists to overcome their current mysticism in rejecting accepting or sympathising with earth expansion hypotheses without distinction and 2 2 to stimulate geophysicists into taking full account of the possibility that slow earth expansion by core mantle interaction may have occurred inward migration of the core mantle boundary due to the differentiation and progressive solidification of the liquid outer core might have caused expansion of the earth s radius at a slow mean rate of 0 5 mm a 1 a slowly expanding earth is attractive since it could explain why two distinct types of lithosphere exist oceanic and continental

comparison between the hot spot and geomagnetic field reference frames hot spots are located on the earth s surface and are caused by hot plumes of upwelling mantle material they manifest themselves by volcanic activity which changes its location in response to the movement of the lithosphere over the mantle plume it has been suggested1 3 that hot spots are relatively stationary with respect to each other and also that they represent a frame of reference with which to measure the absolute movement of the lithospheric plates over the surface of the earth another frame of reference can be partially defined by the position of the mean magnetic dipole field of the earth as the dipolar field is believed to be closely related to the spin axis this frame of reference automatically gives information about the palaeolatitude and orientation of the lithospheric plates but since the position of the ancient dipole field of the earth does not give any information about palaeolongitude and since in many cases the definition of the field is relatively poor due to less than adequate rock collections during the time of interest hot spot reference frames have been favoured by many people we now report a comparison of the two frames of reference and show that over the past 200 myr there has been relative movement between the two frames of reference of about 20 and that this motion has not been constant with time

an integrated model of extrusive sand injectites in cohesionless sediments clastic injection and surface expression of subsurface sediment remobilization is a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly recognized however understanding of the physical mechanisms that control these features remains limited dominated by inference from outcrop and seismic studies here this limitation is addressed through a set of experiments focused on the development and evolution of fluidization features in non cohesive bedded sequences fluidization and the onset of piping are shown to occur progressively through a sequence of discrete phases with initial void formation development of infiltration horizons rupture and finally pipe formation critically the style of piping the stability of piping and the temporal evolution of venting are shown to exhibit considerable variability in particular pipes may either be stable or very mobile migrating laterally over large distances these produce deposits that are typically interpreted in outcrop as being the product of en masse liquefaction rather than localized dynamic fluidization these differing elements are synthesized to produce a model of sand extrudites in addition the implications of this model are explored

sedimentary structures tentatively attributed to seismic events abstract fingerprints of earthquakes in the sedimentary record are as yet difficult to identify this is particularly true for failure phenomena dewatering slumping fault graded and turbidite structures that could have been triggered also by other kinds of energy input other promising candidates are strange biostratinomic features convex down stacking of shells current orientation in wave ripple accumulations as well as certain preservational features found in geosynclinal pelagic limestones but in every case verification of the seismic origin is still needed

discussion on large sea small tides the late carboniferous seaway of nw europe roger higgs writes wells et al 2005 a b produced an innovative and thought provoking numerical model of tides in the late carboniferous seaway of nw europe predicting very low tidal ranges 1 m consistent with the scarcity of sedimentary evidence for weak tides reported in the corresponding rocks based on the model wells et al 2005 a argued intuitively that tidal range was minimum during glacioeustatic highstands and maximum during lowstands and transgressions i would argue the converse during highstands not only was the water volume mass greater leading potentially to larger tides but also any tide in the adjacent ocean would necessarily be passed into the seaway adding to the locally generated tide this is a weakness of the model the oceanic tidal influence was not incorporated for simplicity wells et al 2005 a p 418 in contrast during lowstands the seaway became a freshwater lake or chain of lakes perched at the level of the outflow sill and bordered by incised highstand prograded deltas and alluvial plains lake bude of higgs 1991 2004 disconnected from the global ocean the lake would have had an extremely low tidal range 5 cm as in all lakes because of the relatively small water volume talbot allen 1996 indeed no evidence for tides has been reported in lake bude deposits ross crackington and bude formations of ireland and england higgs 1991 2004 and references therein however given the scarce evidence reported elsewhere in the seaway sedimentary structures indicative of weak tidal currents e g ripples with foreset slack water mud drapes rhythmic lamination opposed ripples may eventually be discovered in the lake bude formations probably associated with the volumetrically minor shale bands with brackish and marine fossils higgs 1991 2004 representing transgressions and highstands when

deep water facies processes and models a review and classification scheme for modern and ancient sediments abstract a review of previous work on modern and ancient deep water facies processes and models is presented with a new classification scheme involving 40 distinct facies related to 15 conceptually distinct facies groups these facies are fixed points in a spectrum of facies generated in a process continuum from resedimentation processes through semi permanent bottom currents to pelagic settling in essence the scheme is descriptive of the sedimentary attributes of sediments although it is designed to aid interpretation of possible sediment transport deposition processes the classification scheme is three tier with facies classes groups and constituent facies and is hierarchical to allow flexibility in its use there are seven facies classes with classes a e defined largely on the basis of grain size differences class f on the basis of internal organization and class g on composition the facies classes are class a gravels muddy gravels gravelly muds and pebbly sands with 5 gravel grade class b sands with 80 sand grade and 80 mud 40 silt and 0 20 sand class e muds and clays with 95 mud grade for the purpose of large scale mapping or reconnaissance fieldwork either the level of facies classes or groups may be appropriate whereas for more detailed sedimentology the more detailed facies level will be necessary

the unlikelihood of an expanding earth l c king 1983 wandering continents and spreading sea floors on an expanding earth xi 232 p john wiley sons price 15 75 isbn 0 471 90156 3 h g owen 1983 atlas of continental displacement 200 million years to the present x 159 p cambridge university press price 15 00 isbn 0 521 25817 0

rock magnetic criteria for the detection of biogenic magnetite abstract we report results on the magnetic properties of magnetites produced by magnetotactic and dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria magnetotactic bacterial mtb strains ms1 mv1 and mv2 and dissimilatory iron reducing bacterium strain gs 15 grown in pure cultures were used in this study our results suggest that a combination of room temperature coercivity analysis and low temperature remanence measurements provides a characteristic magnetic signature for intact chains of single domain sd particles of magnetite from mtbs the most useful magnetic property measurements include 1 acquisition and demagnetization of isothermal remanent magnetization irm using static pulse and alternating fields 2 acquisition of anhysteretic remanent magnetization arm and 3 thermal dependence of low temperature 20 k saturation irm after cooling in zero field zfc or in a 2 5 t field fc from 300 k however potentially the most diagnostic magnetic parameter for magnetosome chain identification in bulk sediment samples is related to the difference between low temperature zero field and field cooled sirms on warming through the verwey transition t 100 k intact chains of unoxidized magnetite magnetosomes have ratios of fc zfc greater than 2 where the parameter is a measure of the amount of remanence lost by warming through the verwey transition disruption of the chain structure or conversion of the magnetosomes to maghemite reduces the fc zfc ratio to around 1 similar to values observed for some inorganic magnetite maghemite greigite and gs 15 particles numerical simulations of fc zfc ratios for simple binary mixtures of magnetosome chains and inorganic magnetic fractions suggest that the fc zfc parameter can be a sensitive indicator of biogenic magnetite in the form of intact chains of magnetite magnetosomes and can be a useful magnetic technique for identifying them in whole sediment samples the strength of our approach lies in the comparative ease and rapidity with which magnetic measurements can be made compared to techniques such as electron microscopy

the earth s early hydrosphere the date at which the earth s hydrosphere came into existence is unknown although all current geological models for the very early precambrian predict or suppose a hydrosphere1 4 there are difficulties in reconciling this with geological and astronomical theories of planetary formation furthermore the effect of a substantial hydrosphere on the precambrian climatic environment is difficult to determine recent developments make it possible to synthesize a picture of this environment during the 700 myr preceding the deposition of the oldest known sediments5 we attempt such a synthesis here drawing together work on the dynamics of accretion from the proto planetary nebula6 7 and of planetary differentiation7 on the role of volatiles in impact cratering8 10 and on the composition11 22 isotope systematics23 25 and radiation climatology26 29 of the early hydrosphere we can reconcile these diverse contributions if the hydrosphere the inventory of excess volatiles1 is allowed to differentiate during accretion with most of the h2o and co2 going rapidly into oceans and sediments both gradual outgassing30 and a massive co2 atmosphere2 are unlikely and a reduced mantle beneath a neutral hydrosphere is not paradoxical1 3 17 results from both a one dimensional radiative convective 1d rc model and a general circulation model suggest that self regulating mechanisms are important in the climate of this early hydrosphere

plate tectonics and orogenic research after 25 years a tethyan perspective abstract orogeny the process by which the earth s prominent mountain ranges are constructed has been a central topic of interest in the earth sciences since at least the end of the 18th century the recognition that strains and displacements of very considerable magnitude occur along all of the three dimensions within an orogenic belt during its evolution has grown gradually during the last two centuries emphasis on primary vertical movements dominated the ideas on the nature of orogeny during the first half of the 19th century whereas compression and consequent uplift across mountain belts were believed to be the main cause for their origin during the subsequent one hundred years or so that were spent under the dominance of the fixist contraction theory mobilist tectonicians realised that continental drift in places also required motion along the trend of orogenic belts but this view did not gain general acceptance recognition of significant strike slip motion parallel or subparallel with mountain ranges evolved independently and mostly within the fixist camp by the 1960 s presence of important motions both along and across mountain belts had become common knowledge but no theoretical basis existed to account for them all

tectonics of the bude formation north cornwall the recognition of northerly directed decollement the upper carboniferous bude formation of north cornwall and devon underwent deformation beginning shortly after its deposition which resulted in a complex geometry of folding and thrusting the deformation initially exploited slumped beds as decollement horizons and resulted in a significant northerly translation of thrust sheets the development of chevron folds for which the area is famous commenced at this stage but continued causing folding of thrust planes and cleavages during the deformation the dominant sense of thrust movement switched from a northerly to a southerly direction and this is interpreted as the effect of backthrusting associated with the northwards migration of the deformation front

the fan that never was discussion of upper carboniferous fine grained turbiditic sandstone from southwest england a model for growth in an ancient delta fed subsea fan discussion and reply

the polar spirals of mars may be due to glacier surges deflected by coriolis forces abstract all previous accounts of the spiral patterns at the martian poles emphasize that the north polar spiral is centered about the geographic pole whereas that of the south polar region is off set by about 4 this paper demonstrates that the patterns near both poles are centered on topographic highs rather than the spin poles themselves this is circumstantial evidence in favour of the relatively unexplored mechanism of radial outflow of viscous rock by gravity spreading the hypothesis developed here is that the spiral patterns are essentially due to crevasse patterns formed perpendicular to flow lines which are perturbed by coriolis forces in order to account for a crevasse pattern that has a form concave to the east the angular deflection of an hypothetical ice flow emanating from the topographic high centered about the geographical north pole must be about 40 or 0 7 radians in a westward direction at 85 n latitude the polar cap rock has previously been assumed to consist mainly of either frozen carbondioxide or water ice corresponding viscosities at 190 k allow for the occurrence of radial outflow or gravity driven tectonics at a maximum rate of 1 cm a 1 but the flow pattern remains unaffected by coriolis forces the spiral patterns of the martian poles can be explained if the flowing mass has an occasional effective kinematic viscosity as low as about 7 10 6 m 2 s 1 because gravity tectonics will then be deflected by coriolis forces resulting in appropriately curved flowlines a tensile fracture pattern resembling an anticlockwise spiral pattern perpendicular to the clockwise deflected flowlines may subsequently form by local brittle failure the occasional kinematic viscosity 7 10 6 m 2 s 1 would cause flow rates of 0 2 m s 1 along the slopes of the topographic highs this velocity and the corresponding viscosity is tentatively thought to be possible when thermal and pressure runaway occurs in the polar layered deposits this would mean glacier surges on the martian poles are two orders of magnitude faster than those hitherto observed on earth

linked debrites in sand rich turbidite systems origin and significance abstract the outer parts of a number of small late jurassic sandy deep water fans in the northern north sea are dominated by the stacked deposits of co genetic sandy and muddy gravity flows sharp based structureless and dewatered sandstone beds are directly overlain by mudclast breccias that are often rich in terrestrial plant fragments and capped by thin laminated sandstones pseudonodular siltstones and mudstones the contacts between the clast rich breccias and the underlying sandstones are typically highly irregular with evidence for liquefaction and upward sand injection the breccias contain fragments up to metre scale of exotic lithologies surrounded by a matrix that is extremely heterogeneous and strewn with multiphase and variably sheared sand injections and scattered coarse and very coarse sand grains often coarser than in the immediately underlying sand bed markov chain analysis establishes that the breccias consistently overlie sandstones and the character of the breccias and their external contacts rule out a post depositional origin via in situ liquefaction intrastratal flowage or bed amalgamation and disruption the breccias are interpreted as debrites that rode on a water rich sand bed just deposited by a co genetic concentrated gravity current as such they are referred to as linked debrites to distinguish them from debrites emplaced in the absence of a precursor sand bed the distinction is important because these linked debris flows can achieve significant mobility through entrainment of both water and sediment from beneath and they ride on a low friction carpet of liquefied sand this explains the paradox presented by fan fringes in which there are common debrites when conventional thinking might predict that deposits of low concentration gravity currents should be more important here in fact evidence for transport by low concentration turbidity currents is rare in these systems several possible mechanisms might explain the formation of linked flows but the ultimate source of both sandy and clast rich flow components must be in shallower water on the basin margin the debrites are not triggered from distal slopes flow partitioning may have occurred by upslope erosion and retardation of the mudclast charged portion of an erosional sandy density current partial flow transformation of a precursor debris flow and or hydraulic segregation and reconcentration of the flaky clasts and carbonaceous matter during transport linked debrites are not restricted to small sand rich fans and similar mechanisms may be responsible for the long runout of debris flows in other systems the recognition of a distinct class of linked debrites is of wider importance for facies prediction reservoir heterogeneity and even carbon fluxes and sequestration on continental margins

environmental magnetism a practical guide j walden f oldfield j and smith eds technical guide no 6 quaternary research association london 1999 243 pp price 17 00 9 00 to qra members isbn 0 907780 42 3

return of the fan that never was westphalian turbidite systems in the variscan culm basin bude formation south west england thirty ve years ago harold reading stated 1963 p 69 the precise depositional environment of the bude sandstones is not easy to establish appropriately two of his former students are still arguing whether the environment was a storm affected shelf higgs 1986a 1987 1991 or a deep water fan burne 1969 1995 the paper by burne 1995 questions my shelf interpretation prompting this discussion burne and i agree that deposition took place offshore in a large westphalian lake with occasional marine connections based on faunal aspects and on the lack of evidence for emergence goldring seilacher 1971 lake bude of higgs 1986b 1994 we also agree that the majority of the sandstone beds are turbidites but whereas i argued for river fed turbidites on a shelf with storms accounting for both catastrophic rainfall hence sandy under ows and accompanying waves burne 1995 invokes slump generated turbidites on a deep water fan below storm wavebase the tectonic setting was the northern passive margin of a foreland basin higgs 1991 burne 1995 burne 1995 argues that all of the sedimentary structures interpreted by higgs 1991 as indicating shallow water deposition above storm wavebase can also occur in deep water turbidite settings these structures are quasi symmetrical ripples irregular cross lamination hummocky cross strati cation multidirectional tool marks and mud draped scours rare symmetrical wave ripples occur in the bude formation although burne 1995 p 130 points out that no convincing illustration of them has been published to date his italics in the following discussion i shall sequentially address these and other contentious issues raised by burne 1995 my intentions are threefold 1 to question the basis of burne s fan model 2 to reiterate evidence for my lake shelf model and 3 to explain that the shelf origin has been masked for decades by certain unusual facies characteristics including slurried and slumped beds formed in situ as seismites but widely misinterpreted as debris ows and slumps the shelf vs fan debate is not only interesting academically but also important economically because the easily accessible cliffs of bude are a magni cent natural laboratory in which to gather data for petroleum reservoir models

comments on hybrid sediment gravity flows classification origin and significance from haughton davis mccaffrey and barker marine and petroleum geology 2009 26 1900 1918

global tectonics and eustasy for the past 2 billion years abstract continental freeboard and eustasy as gauged by the relative position of the world shelf break with respect to sea level have varied by 250 m from today s ice free shelf break depth of 200 m during the past 600 ma assuming constant or uniformly accreting continental crust and ocean water volume in an ice free world sea level fluctuations can be attributed to variation in the world ocean basin volume caused by changes in either its area or its depth relative to the world shelf break an increase in volume and lowering of sea level occur as 1 the world ocean floor ages cools and subsides 2 accreting continents collide thicken and decrease in area and 3 poorly conductive continental platforms become thermally elevated due to a size induced stasis over the mantle conversely a decrease in the age of the world ocean floor attenuation of continental crust during rifting and an increase in continent number and mobility will reduce the world ocean basin volume and raise sea level theoretical sea level calculated from these principles correlates well with calibrated first order cycles of eustatic sea level change for the phanerozoic the record closely fits a simple model of retardation and acceleration of terrestrial heat loss during alternating periods of supercontinent accretion and fragmentation calibrated to sea level highstands successive first order marine transgressions and orogenic pangea regressions characterize a self sustaining 440 ma plate tectonic cycle for the late precambrian and phanerozoic the cycle can be recognized as far back as 2 ga from the tectonic evidence of continental collision and rifting recorded in global orogenic peaks and mafic dike swarms and may be related to major episodes of glaciation and evolutional biogenesis

sediment flow and deformation sfd layers evidence for intrastratal flow in laminated muddy sediments of the triassic osawa formation northeast japan abstract thin chaotic layers containing abundant intraformational mud clasts are found in the offshore laminated mudstone of the triassic osawa formation in northeast japan the geometry and internal structures of the layers are somewhat similar to those of slump slide or debris flow deposits however the layers have both upper and lower erosional contacts projections of host sediments and mud clasts with planed surfaces are identified beneath the upper contact of the layers closely packed sheet form or ellipsoidal mud clasts are embedded in a poorly sorted fine to coarse grained sandy matrix some mud clasts are tightly folded or show imbricated stacking internal layering structures are also well developed in the layers the above features strongly suggest soft sediment deformation as horizontal displacement of sand and mud under buried conditions here we term these layers sediment flow and deformation sfd layers deformation layers with similar attributes have been identified by some prior authors as in the case of flow of liquefied and or fluidized host sand and clastic sill intrusion however the sfd layers described herein have more complex structure indicating advanced deformation occurrence of the sfd layers is stratigraphically limited to the uppermost part of the osawa formation which is overlain by sand rich submarine fan deposits the fukkoshi formation it suggests that the stress field caused by differential loading of overlying deposits facilitated intrastratal flow and sill intrusions of sand the vertical confinement was also controlled by the anisotropy in physical properties such as tensile strength of laminated mud and or conditions of gentle slope

the bude formation lower westphalian sw england siliciclastic shelf sedimentation in a large equatorial lake the 1300 m thick turbiditic bude formation was deposited in a lake lake bude but disagreement persists over whether the environment was a deltaic or deep water fan the tectonic setting of the lake was the northern flank of a northerly advancing variscan foreland basin close to the westphalian palaeo equator palaeocurrents indicate sediment sourcing from all quadrants except the south there is a dm m scale cyclicity whereby sandstone bodies comprising amalgamated event beds alternate with mudstone intervals containing non amalgamated event beds the ideal cycle is a symmetrical coarsening up fining up cycle consisting of three facies i 2 and 3 arranged in 12321 order facies 3 in the middle of the cycle is an amalgamated sandstone body up to 10 m thick which interfingers laterally with thin cm mudstone layers the sandstone body comprises amalgamated beds of very fine sandstone which are largely massive and up to 0 4 m thick channels are absent except for scours up to 0 2 m deep which truncate the interfingering mudstone layers sandstone bodies are inferred to be tongue shaped in three dimensions facies 1 and 2 completing the 12321 cycle are respectively dark grey fine and light grey coarse varved mudstone containing thin 0 4 m sandstone event beds fossils and burrows indicate that facies 1 and 2 were deposited respectively in brackish rarely marine and fresh water hence the ideal cycle 12321 reflects an upward decrease then increase in salinity brackish fresh brackish this is attributed to the lake sill being periodically overtopped by the sea due to glacio euitatic sea level oscillations the resulting oscillations in lake depth produced the coarsening up fining up regressivetransgressive cyclicity the central sandstone body representing the regressive maximum event beds are interpreted as river fed turbidites deposited during catastrophic storm floods combinedflow ripples and other wave influenced structures occur in event beds throughout the ideal cycle suggesting deposition of the entire bude formation above storm wave base the proposed environment is a shelf of continental shelf dimensions but lacustrine instead of marine sandstone bodies are interpreted to be river connected tongues or lobes the absence of cycles containing nearshore or emergent facies is attributed to i the lake sill preventing the water level from falling below sill level thereby insulating the lake floor from eustatically forced emergence and ii relatively distal deposition beyond the reach of shoreline progradations the lack of palaeoflow from the south is attributed to a now eroded deep water trough lying to the south in front of the northerly advancing orogen some facies 2 laminated mudstone beds grade laterally into massive and or contorted beds interpreted as in situ seismites facies 4 consistent with an active foreland basin setting development of seismites was possibly facilitated by gas bubbles and or weak cohesion in the fresh water bottom mud the late quaternary black sea with its broad northwestern shelf is probably a good physiographical analogue of lake bude and was likewise fresh at times

evolution of the freshwater ecosystem the fossil record abstract the freshwater ecosystem may be as old as most life although freshwater life is taxonomically impoverished in comparison with marine and terrestrial biotas and ultimately derived from them it cannot be assumed that freshwater communities have necessarily been less complex in the geologic past than they are today although it is clear they have undergone a number of major changes freshwaters contain not only their own ancient and peculiar groups some with ancestries as far back as the middle paleozoic but they have been a theater for adaptive radiation of more recent immigrants from the land or sea and a way station for still other groups that passed through both from sea to land and the reverse this review summarizes first fossil records in freshwaters for many of these organisms and examines the question of the changing complexity of the freshwater ecosystem through time by looking at the fossil record of continental aquatic habitats

hotspots in the southern oceans an absolute frame of reference for motion of the gondwana continents abstract the geometry and geochronology of aseismic ridges and oceanic islands in the southern oceans provide a good test of the proposition that hotspots remain fixed over long periods of time that is motion of an order of magnitude less than the relative motion between plate pairs in most cases it is concluded that inter hotspot movement cannot be discerned for the period 100 m y to present and that widely distributed hotspots in the atlantic and indian oceans provide a frame of reference for plate motions following the disintegration of gondwanaland which is independent of paleomagnetism this frame of reference is absolute in that it gives the motion of the lithosphere with respect to the mantle hotspots the absolute motion model indicates that africa and antarctica are now moving only very slowly that there has been significant relative movement between east and west antarctica since the cretaceous and prescribes the relative motion between the somali and african plates

constraints on geological strain rates arguments from finite strain states of naturally deformed rocks a summary of known finite strain states is presented longitudinal strains 1 e as measured in many rocks often range from 1 to 40 and 1 to 0 025 the time span available to produce such measureable strains in young orogenic zones seems to be less than 10 m y possibly less than 1 m y which constrains conventional strain rates into the range of 10 sup 13 s sup 1 to 10 sup 15 s sup 1 for both pure and simple shear the most efficient way and much less efficient way to accumulate incremental strains respectively the ellipticity of the finite strain ellipse increases in a nonlinear manner finite strain variations in adjacent layers which give rise to features such as cleavage refraction arise with only slight differences in the strain rates within these layers

mineral magnetism and geomagnetic secular variation of marine and lacustrine sediments from central italy timing and nature of local and regional holocene environmental change abstract sediment core palaeomagnetic and mineral magnetic records from two crater lakes in central italy and from the western margin of the adriatic sea have been used to evaluate local and regional responses to holocene environmental change in all cores sediment magnetism reflects the interplay between catchment material and the in situ production of bacterial magnetite magnetotactic bacteria in the lakes the earliest holocene sediments record a waning catchment input that we attribute to rising lake levels and increased tree cover in the catchment from 9000 to 5000 yr bp both lakes become anoxic a consequence of water mass stratification driven by high lake levels bottom water anoxia also developed in the adriatic with sapropel s1 produced between 9000 and 7000 yr bp subsequently the lake and adriatic mineral magnetic records show evidence for increased catchment delivery consistent with pollen evidence for bronze age deforestation in the lakes this evidence is first recorded at 4300 yr bp and a number of distinct clearance events are recorded in comparison at adriatic site rf93 30 lithogenic input increases abruptly at 3500 yr bp and is followed by a slowly changing record of waxing and waning sediment delivery inter site comparisons of palaeomagnetic data point to a possible link between the magnitude of the bacterial magnetite component and the recorded magnetic inclination the sites are at near identical latitudes and have similar sediment accumulation rates but the adriatic sites have a core average magnetic inclination that is some 10 steeper than the lake average values we suggest that the large dipole moment of the magnetosome chains which in life produce the passive alignment of the bacterium along the local geomagnetic field line produce a more faithful albeit smoothed record of the geomagnetic field

sirte basin north central libya cretaceous rifting above a fixed mantle hotspot the complex pattern of horsts and grabens in the sirte basin may have developed when mesozoic drift of the african plate put north central libya over a fixed mantle hotspot in early cretaceous time 140 to 100 m y ago significant change in the motion of the plate during the prolonged residence above a hypothetical cameroon plume may have produced stress that fragmented thinned and weakened lithosphere successive uplift and subsidence along a reconstructed track of the plume as well as in the sirte basin are compatible with predicted effects of the drift of northern africa over a fixed mantle hotspot this speculation suggests a plausible alternative to the possibility that rifting throughout northern africa in early cretaceous time may have been produced along a wide zone of extension between two african plates when they were at rest relative to underlying plumes

shallow water gravity flow deposits chapel island formation southeast newfoundland canada a remarkable suite of shallow water gravity flow deposits are found within very thinly bedded siltstones and storm generated sandstones of member 2 of the chapel island formation in southeast newfoundland medium to thick siltstone beds termed unifites range from non graded and structureless type 1 to slightly graded with poorly developed lamination type 2 to well graded with lamination similar to that described for fine grained turbidites type 3 unifite beds record deposition from a continuum of flow types from liquefied flows type 1 to turbidity currents type 3 calculations of time for pore fluid pressure dissipation support the feasibility of such transitions raft bearing beds consist of siltstone with large blocks or rafts of thinly bedded strata derived from the underlying and adjacent substrate characteristics suggest deposition from debris flows of variable strength estimates of debris strength and depositional slope are calculated for a pebbly mudstone bed using measurable and assumed parameters an assumed density of 2 0 g cm 1 and a compaction estimate of 50 gives a strength estimate of 79 7 dyn cm 2 and a depositional slope estimate of 0 77 the lithologies and sedimentary structures in member 2 indicate an overall grain size distribution susceptible to liquefaction inferred high sediment accumulation rates created underconsolidated sediments metastable packing types of sediment failure included in situ liquefaction disturbed bedding sliding and slumping raft bearing debrites resulted from sliding and incorporation of water locally hummocky cross stratified sandstone directly overlies slide deposits and raft bearing beds linking sediment failure to the cyclical wave loading associated with large storms the gravity flows of the chapel island formation closely resemble those described from the surfaces of modern mud rich marine deltas details of deltaic gravity flow deposition from this and other outcrop studies further our understanding of modern deposits by adding a third dimension to studies primarily carried out with side scan sonar

combined tectonic sediment supply driven cycles in a lower carboniferous deep marine foreland basin moravice formation czech republic the lower carboniferous moravian silesian culm basin mscb represents the easternmost part of the rhenohercynian system of collision related deep water foreland basins culm facies the upper visean moravice formation mf of the mscb shows a distinct cyclic stratigraphic arrangement two major asymmetric megacycles bounded by basal sequence boundary each about 500 to 900 m thick have been revealed the megacycles start with 50 to 250 m thick basal segments of erosive channels overbank successions and slope apron deposits interpreted as lowstand turbidite systems up section they pass into hundred metre thick fine grained low efficiency turbidite systems palaeocurrent data show two prominent directions basin axis parallel ssw nne directions which are abundant in the whole mf and basin axis perpendicular to oblique w e to nw se directions which tend to be confined to the basal parts of the megacycles or channel lobe transition systems in their upper parts based on the facies characteristics palaeocurrent data sandstone composition data and trace fossil distribution data we suggest a combined tectonics sediment supply driven model for the mf basin fill periods of increased tectonic activity resulted in slope oversteepening probably combined with increased rate of lateral w e sediment supply into the basin producing the basal sequence boundary and the subsequent lowstand turbidite systems during subsequent periods of tectonic quiescence the system was filled mainly from a distant southern point source producing the thick low efficiency turbidite systems consistently with the previous models our own sediment composition data indicate a progressively increasing sediment input from high grade metamorphic and magmatic sources up section most probably related to an uplift in the source area and progressive unroofing of its structurally deeper crustal parts the first occurrence of the cruziana nereites ichnofacies in sand rich turbidite systems in the youngest parts of the mf go el to go spi zone supported by rapidly increasing quartz concentrations in sandstones is thought to indicate a transition from generally underfilled to generally overfilled phase in evolution of the mscb basin this transition may be linked to the onset of upper visean phase of northward basin fill progradation assumed by previous authors

beds comprising debrite sandwiched within co genetic turbidite origin and widespread occurrence in distal depositional environments co genetic debrite turbidite beds occur in a variety of modern and ancient turbidite systems their basic character is distinctive an ungraded muddy sandstone interval is encased within mud poor graded sandstone siltstone and mudstone the muddy sandstone interval preserves evidence of en masse deposition and is thus termed a debrite the mud poor sandstone siltstone and mudstone show features indicating progressive layer by layer deposition and are thus called a turbidite palaeocurrent indicators ubiquitous stratigraphic association and the position of hemipelagic intervals demonstrate that debrite and enclosing turbidite originate in the same event detailed field observations are presented for co genetic debrite turbidite beds in three widespread sequences of variable age the miocene marnoso arenacea formation in the italian apennines the silurian aberystwyth grits in wales and quaternary deposits of the agadir basin offshore morocco deposition of these sequences occurred in similar unchannellized basin plain settings co genetic debrite turbidite beds were deposited from longitudinally segregated flow events comprising both debris flow and forerunning turbidity current it is most likely that the debris flow was generated by relatively shallow few tens of centimetres erosion of mud rich sea floor sediment changes in the settling behaviour of sand grains from a muddy fluid as flows decelerated may also have contributed to debrite deposition the association with distal settings results from the ubiquitous presence of muddy deposits in such locations which may be eroded and disaggregated to form a cohesive debris flow debrite intervals may be extensive 26 x 10 km in the marnoso arenacea formation and are not restricted to basin margins such long debris flow run out on low gradient sea floor 0 1 may simply be due to low yield strength 50 pa of the debris water mixture this study emphasizes that multiple flow types and transformations between flow types can occur within the distal parts of submarine flow events

global tectonics since the breakup of pangea 180 million years ago evolution maps and lithospheric budget abstract pangea the earth s youngest single supercontinent broke up 180 million years ago tectonic plates were subsequently formed by dispersal of the continental fragments and accretion of new oceanic lithosphere the configurations of all the major lithospheric plates at 0 20 65 95 140 180 ma bp are reconstructed on six globes of the earth each with a radius of 10 cm it appears that plate boundaries maintain a remarkably close fit on model globes of constant radii if the reconstructions include the recovery of subducted spreading patterns this is illustrated with maps in equatorial orthographic oblique orthographic and transverse hammer aitoff projections the snug fit of the tectonic plates at every tested time since the breakup of pangea 180 ma bp is consistent with the theory of plate tectonics on a non expanding earth and contradicts rapidly expanding earth models the areas of oceanic lithosphere produced and consumed during the past 180 ma bp are estimated from surface measurements of the globes reconstructed on the basis of particular assumptions these measurements suggest a consistent increase in the production rate of oceanic lithosphere during the past 140 ma it was decided to revise the assumptions and see if alternative reconstructions of the ancient spreading patterns on the floors of the tethys and eo pacific oceans could avoid implying an increase of lithospheric production rates with time this appeared to be possible the revised maps suggest that ophiolites older than 180 ma bp may have been obducted in cenozoic collision zones of the himalayas andes rockies and the western part of the banda arc timor new guinea estimates of the ocean floor production and consumption budget appear to be quite similar for both map series and only the possible ranges are summarized here time averaged for the past 180 ma world wide production and consumption of oceanic lithosphere appears to have varied between 2 6 and 3 5 km2 a 1 at most the mean of world wide spreading velocities ranges between 2 4 and 3 5 cm a 1 and world wide means of subduction velocities lie between 4 2 and 6 3 cm a 1 more accurate estimates are possible on the basis of particular assumptions and have been specified for the various time intervals distinguished i e the neogene 0 20 ma bp palaeogene 20 65 ma bp upper cretaceous 65 95 ma bp lower cretaceous 95 140 ma bp and middle and upper jurassic 140 180 ma bp

the role of wave reworking on the architecture of storm sandstone facies bell island group lower ordovician eastern newfoundland stacked shallow marine cycles in the lower ordovician bell island group of bell island newfoundland show upward thickening and upward coarsening sequences which were deposited on a storm affected shelf in the beach formation each cycle has a facies sequence comprised from base to top of dark grey mudstones light grey mudstones tabular sandstones and mudstones lenticular sandstones and mudstones and thick bedded lenticular sandstones reflecting a progressive increase of wave orbital velocities at the sediment surface the mudstones and tabular sandstones reflect an environment in which the sea floor lay in the lower part of the wave orbital velocity field and in which tempestites were deposited as widespread sheets from weak combined flow currents the lenticular sandstones in the succeeding facies are wave reworked sands commonly lying in erosional hollows and having erosional tops and internal hummocky cross stratification planar lamination is relatively uncommon and sole marks are mainly absent in this facies oscillatory currents were dominant and accumulated sand in patches generally 10 30 m in diameter the facies formed on the inner shelf where the oscillatory currents generated by storm waves had powerful erosional effects and also determined the depositional bedforms mud partings and second order set boundaries within sandstone beds are believed to separate the products of individual storms so that many lenticular sandstone beds represent the amalgamation of several event beds this interpretation has important implications for attempts to estimate event frequency by counting sandstone beds within a sequence and for estimates of sand budgets during storm events the thick bedded lenticular facies appears to have been formed by erosion of the mud beds between the lenticular sands leading to nearly complete amalgamation of several lenticular sand bodies except for residual mud partings in the overlying redmans formation the process of amalgamation progressed even further so that nearly all the mud partings were removed resulting in the formation of thick bedded tabular sandstones sequence stratigraphic analysis of the cyclical sequence suggests that the cycles were eustatically controlled the rising limb of the sea level curve produced only the dark grey mudstone part of the cycle while the remainder of the cycle was deposited on the falling limb there is a gradational but rapid facies transition from the tabular to the lenticular sandstone facies which is interpreted as occurring at the inflexion point on the falling limb the thick bedded facies of the beach formation and the thick bedded tabular facies of the redmans formation represent periods of maximum sea level fall the stacked cycles in the beach formation are interpreted as an aggradational high frequency sequence or parasequence set bounded at the top by a sequence boundary and succeeded by the three aggradational parasequences of the redmans formation the recognition of storm facies with sandstone beds of very different bed length has important implications for the reservoir modelling of such facies

toward the discrimination of fine grained ferrimagnets by magnetic measurements in lake and near shore marine sediments the magnetic properties of low field susceptibility frequency dependent susceptibility fd and susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetisation arm are used to define sets of natural soil and sediment samples within which by the criteria of king et al 1982 and maher 1988 the modal ferrimagnetic grain diameter is less than 0 07 0 1 m within this sample set two distinct groups with low and high values respectively for the quotients arm and arm fd are defined the first group includes sediment samples from sites where published studies propose a detrital origin for the fine grained ferrimagnetic content where catchment samples are available for comparison they fall within the same envelope as do clays from palaeosol samples within chinese loess this envelope of low quotient values also overlaps with the values for the fine grained synthetic magnetite samples within maher s 1988 new mt series the high quotient envelope of values includes sediments from the adriatic sea and clays from saltmarsh and shallow water marine sediments in nw britain in these cases no catchment source is postulated for the fine grained magnetite the size range of magnetite in this set appears to be almost exclusively stable single domain ssd and a bacterial origin seems likely sample sets from estuarine environments between river inflow sites and the open sea show intermediate values which in the case of the potomac are ordered by distance down river although at this stage magnetic measurements alone cannot discriminate between bacterial and fine grained detrital ferrimagnets in sediments they hold out some promise of doing so provided the distinctions proposed here can be substantiated by transmission electron microscopy

velocity and turbulence structure of density currents and internal solitary waves potential sediment transport and the formation of wave ripples in deep water abstract laser doppler anemometry lda was used to measure the instantaneous downstream and vertical velocities in a series of simple and reflected saline density currents in a lock exchange flume tank all the currents were turbulent and subcritical mean downstream fluid velocities were in excess of the head velocity by up to 30 and instantaneous velocities were greater by up to 50 turbulence intensities were highest within the head and generally greatest in the middle part of the current but did not correspond with the level of highest mean velocities the maximum reynolds stress also occurred within the head large negative values were associated with shear along the upper boundary of the current peaks of turbulence reynolds stress and shear velocity occurred in association with the arrival of reflections in large scale turbidity currents such reflections would be capable of re entraining and resuspending sediment deposited by the forward current some reflections take the form of solitary waves within a residual flow with a velocity vector in the opposite direction in nature these could produce symmetrical ripples in environments below storm wave base

pre quaternary sea level changes while the paramount importance of global sea level changes has been widely accepted by quaternary geologists throughout this century it is only within the last decade that such changes in the rest of the phanerozoic have received much attention there are two principal reasons for this arousal of interest first increased exploration of the stratigraphic record across the earth both on land and under the sea and significant improvement in biostratigraphic correlation have drawn attention to what appear to have been globally synchronous events second oceanographic research has demonstrated the importance of tectonically controlled changes in the cubic capacity of the ocean basins notably variations in ridge volume which provide a ready mechanism for sea level changes even at nonglacial times the adjective eustatic was first proposed for global changes of sea level by suess 1906 in his great treatise the face of the earth the corresponding noun is eustasy not eustacy as it is commonly misspelt the unconvinced reader need only think of ecstasy eustatic sea level changes can be inferred as suess recognized by a plotting the temporal spread of marine sediments over the continents and b estimating the depositional depth variations in marine stratal sequences which can be correlated across and between continents to these methods can be added seismic stratigraphy in which biostratigraphically age determined seismic sequences on the con tinental margins are analyzed in terms of cycles of coastal onlap and offiap when the results of these methods are broadly in accord confidence in a eustatic interpretation is increased but the range of confidence can vary considerably it is widely accepted that there was an exceptionally high sea

subaqueous sediment gravity flow deposits practical criteria for their field description and classification a new method for the description and classification of subaqueous sediment gravity flow deposits is proposed the classification scheme employs a convenient letter code and divides deposits individual beds into descriptive categories of two hierarchical levels facies and subfacies facies as the higher rank categories are distinguished chiefly on the basis of sediment type i e bed grain size texture a total of 13 facies have been distinguished g gravel gs gravel sand couplet gys gravelly sand s sand sm sand mud couplet ms mud sand couplet tm silt mud couplet mt mud silt couplet m mud mys muddy sand sym sandy mud myg muddy gravel gym gravelly mud subfacies as the lower rank categories are distinguished within the individual facies on the basis of the bed s internal structures the number of subfacies is unlimited and their labelling code includes particular facies symbols see above preceded by lower case letters denoting specific sedimentary structures and their vertical arrangement subfacies thus refer to the bed s intervals or divisions which are labelled as follows m massive unstratified and ungraded g graded unstratified and graded s plane stratified x cross stratified 1 parallel and or cross laminated q liquefied for example subfacies gsg graded to plane stratified gravel are gravel beds that have a lower graded interval and an upper plane stratified interval subfacies xg cross stratified gravel are gravel beds that are cross stratified throughout subfacies sls plane stratified to laminated sand are sand beds that have a lower plane stratified interval and an upper laminated parallel and or cross laminated interval

lake sediment records of atmospheric pollution in the romanian carpathians abstract short lake sediment cores from ten lakes in the romanian carpathians have been characterised both mineral magnetically and geochemically providing an assessment of the potential of these mountain lakes sediment records as a retrospective indicator of atmospheric pollution mineral magnetic characteristics suggests that recent sediments have been affected by atmospheric particulate pollution associated with fossil fuel combustion and vehicle emissions although the properties may also reflect within lake processes metal enrichment factors for contemporary sediments reveal that remote mountain lakes in this region appear to have been impacted by the long range atmospheric transport of metallic pollutants the results suggest that sites in the southern mountains are most impacted although trace metal levels are relatively modest initial findings suggest that some sites have the potential to provide lake sediment based pollution histories that will thereby contribute to a fuller europe wide understanding of the impact of atmospheric pollutants in upland regions

late carboniferous tectonic subsidence in south wales implications for variscan basin evolution and tectonic history in sw britain detailed stratigraphic data have been used to backstrip seven sections from the carboniferous south wales coal basin resulting tectonic subsidence curves for the interval 319 305 ma namurian westphalian d are convex up indicating increasing subsidence rate with time with rates between 130 and 250 m ma 1 suggesting a foreland basin setting forward modelling of subsidence due to flexural loading in front of a propagating orogenic wedge shows that an orogenic load migrating in a north northeasterly direction across sw england between 319 and 305 ma could have generated the backstripped subsidence patterns sensitivity tests show that while many of the forward model parameters are poorly constrained and the model results non unique backstripped subsidence patterns allow reasonable constraint on the different model cases so that model predictions can be treated as one possibility in a limited range the predicted load evolution is consistent with current knowledge of tectonic and stratigraphic features of sw england these results suggest that subsidence in other late carboniferous uk basins may also have been influenced by flexure due to a propagating orogenic load

evidence of across shelf transport of fine grained sediments turbidite filled shelf channels in the campanian aberdeen member book cliffs utah usa the shore normal transport of fine grained sediments by shelf turbidity currents has been the focus of intense debate over the last 20 years many have argued that turbidity currents are unlikely to be a major depositional agent on the shelf however sedimentological architectural stratigraphic and palaeogeographic data from the campanian aberdeen member book cliffs eastern utah suggests otherwise and clearly demonstrates that storm generated and river flood generated underflows can transport a significant volume of fine grained sediments across the shelf these across shelf flowing turbidity currents cut large subaqueous channel complexes up to 7 m deep tens of kilometres basinward of their time equivalent shoreface the shelf channels were filled with organic rich siltstones mudstones and very fine to fine grained bouma like sandstone beds including wave modified turbidites hyperpycnites and classical turbidites deposition was above storm wave base palaeocurrent data reveal an overwhelmingly dominant across shelf east south east offshore directed transport trend tectonic activity and or concomitant palaeogeographic reorganization of the basin may favour the generation of these turbidite rich shelf deposits by altering the relative balance of wave versus fluvial energy increased erosion and sediment supply rates because of tectonic uplift of the hinterland may have increased the probability of fluvial dominance along the coastline and hence the possibility of submarine channelization in front of the river mouths additionally the coastline may have become more sheltered from direct wave energy thus allowing the fluvial processes to dominate seasonal increases in rainfall and storm activity may also favour the generation of across shelf underflows on wave dominated shorelines isolated shelf channels and lobes are most likely to be found down dip of fluvial feeder systems in relatively high sediment supply settings these features are also most likely to occur in systems tracts that straddle a sequence boundary especially those which are tectonically generated as these would enhance the potential for altering basin morphology and hence the balance of fluvial and wave energy isolated shelf channels are recognized in older and younger strata in the book cliffs region implying that wave supported gravity flows were a recurrent phenomena in the campanian of utah it is probable that isolated shelf bodies are preserved in other stratigraphic intervals in the cretaceous western interior of north america and other basins worldwide and are currently being overlooked or misidentified shoreface to shelf facies models should be revised to incorporate turbidite rich shelf deposits in some shelf settings

a flume study on the development and equilibrium morphology of current ripples in very fine sand an empirical model is constructed for the development and equilibrium dimensions of small scale unidirectional bedforms in sand with a median grain size of 0 095 mm based on a series of steady flow experiments in a flume current ripples always attain a linguoid plan morphology with constant average height 13 1 mm and wavelength 115 7 mm provided that sufficient time is allowed for their formation the development pattern of these ripples on a flat bed is independent of flow velocity and involves four stages 1 incipient ripples 2 straight and sinuous ripples 3 non equilibrium linguoid ripples and 4 equilibrium linguoid ripples straight and sinuous ripples are non equilibrium bedforms at all flow velocities the time needed to reach equilibrium dimensions is related to the inverse power of flow velocity and ranges from several minutes to more than hundreds of hours at flow velocities where washed ripples are stable the equilibrium wavelength is similar to that of equilibrium linguoid ripples but the equilibrium height rapidly decreases from 13 1 mm to zero towards upper stage plane bed conditions the results of the flume experiments correspond reasonably well with those of previous studies provided that various complicating factors such as different experimental methods different sediment characteristics shallow flow depths and non equilibrium runs are accounted for

bacterial magnetite in lake sediments late glacial to holocene climate and sedimentary changes in northern norway magnetic properties of sediments retrieved from a small lake in northern norway spanning the last f14500 cal years have been analyzed in detail the high resolution core with its ability to detect sub centurial variability records the rapid retreat of the fennoscandian ice sheet fis in northern lyngen and subsequently the establishment of a stable allerod to younger dryas watershed from early holocene and to the present magnetotactic bacteria mb producing stable single domain ssb magnetite become the dominating magnetic carrier the small low relief catchment area with its quartzite bedrock scattered till and vegetated surface generates a negligible contribution of detrital magnetic minerals this allows for the opportunity to follow the presence and changes of the magnetosomes during the last 10000 years a strong positive statistical relationship r 2 0 83 between the anhysteretic remanent magnetisation susceptibility varm and loss on ignition loi suggests an environmental control over the bacteria magnitude quart int 88 2002 13 that most likely is related to summer climate a comparison between the magnetic mineralogy as evident from the s ratio jirm100mt jsirm3t and the reconstructed summer temperatures from a nearby lake shows a close covariation between cooler summers and harder s ratios for a series of climatic events intervariability of loi data and other proxies such as august sea surface temperatures sst from the nordic sea suggests land ocean connections during converging phases of cooler climate where the most prominent in phase periods are approximately 1 6500 5000 2 3500 2400 and 3 1700 1000 cal years bp the most significant change in the holocene magnetic signal is initiated at f3700 cal years bp which we refer to here as the holocene turnover d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

comment on a paper by zou et al 2017 entitled an integrated chemo and sequence stratigraphic framework of the early pennsylvanian deepwater outcrops near kirby arkansas usa and its implications on remnant basin tectonics