sills associated with the bushveld complex south africa an estimate of the parental magma composition abstract four distinct ages of sills intrude the floor rocks under the bushveld complex the first is a metadolerite and pre dates the bushveld complex the middle two are generally related to the complex itself one has quench textured olivine and orthopyroxene crystals and chemically equates to the parental magma of the bushveld complex the second suite is a hypersthene microgabbro representative of the second major injection of magma into the complex the last is doleritic and does not obviously correlate with any portion of the layered sequence the sills genetically related to the complex display several features 1 lack of chilled margins coarse grain size ability to melt country rock xenoliths extreme heterogeneity 2 atypical of normal sills but explicable in their present context

sr nd and pb isotope compositions of hemipelagic sediment in the shikoku basin implications for sediment transport by the kuroshio and philippine sea plate motion in the late cenozoic abstract the provenance of hemipelagic sediments in the shikoku basin during late cenozoic time was studied through the temporal variations in the sr nd pb isotopic compositions of detrital sediments from integrated ocean drilling program site c0011 from the late miocene 7 ma to the present detrital sediments at site c0011 are interpreted as a mixture of sediments originating from the southwest japan arc and lands around the east china sea sediments from the east china sea were transported by the kuroshio while japanese sediments were transported by turbidity currents bottom currents and ocean surface currents the isotopic evidence suggests that the main source of hemipelagic sediments gradually changed from the east china sea to japan from 4 4 to 2 9 ma in accordance with the northward movement of site c0011 with the philippine sea plate in this period a contemporaneous increase in grain size also supports this interpretation the beginning period of these changes 4 4 ma conforms closely to the postulated advent or acceleration of trench normal subduction of the shikoku basin lithosphere

characterization of late glacial continental dust in the greenland ice core project ice core twelve glacial dust samples extracted from the greenland ice core project ice core have been characterized in terms of mineralogy sr and nd isotopic composition and rare earth element concentrations the ice samples are taken from the younger dryas the bolling the last glacial maximum and both cold and mild glacial periods back to 44 kyr b p a comparison with samples from possible dust source areas determines eastern asia as being the main source area at all times hereby confirming and extending earlier results biscaye et al 1997 this finding is partly in agreement with recent atmospheric general circulation model simulations of glacial atmospheric dust transport andersen et al 1998 mahowald et al 1999 a low intersample variability in tracer characteristics is discussed in the context of a volcanogenic influence grain size dependence and variability in the conti nental dust source areas the clay mineralogy of the ice core dust shows a weak climatic de pendence while the isotopic composition of sr and nd does not correlate with climate this is interpreted as a geographical variation of source areas on a regional scale within asia two ice dust samples were size fractionated at 2 gm and the grain size dependence on tracer characteristics is in accordance with the literature

filling the bushveld complex magma chamber lateral expansion roof and floor interaction magmatic unconformities and the formation of giant chromitite pge and ti v magnetitite deposits his mind was like a soup dish wide and shallow irving stone on william jennings bryan a compilation of the sr isotopic stratigraphy of the bushveld complex shows that the evolution of the magma chamber occurred in two major stages during the lower open system integration stage lower critical and lower main zone there were numerous influxes of magma of contrasting isotopic composition with concomitant mixing crystallisation and deposition of cumulates larger influxes correspond to the boundaries of the zones and sub zones and are marked by sustained isotopic shifts major changes in mineral assemblages and development of unconformities during the upper closed system differentiation stage upper main zone and upper zone there were no major magma additions other than that which initiated the upper zone and the thick magma layers evolved by fractional crystallisation the lower and lower critical zones are restricted to a belt that runs from steelpoort and burgersfort in the northeast to rustenburg and northam in the west and an outlier of the lower and lower critical zone up to the lg4 chromitite layer in the far western extension north of zeerust it is only in these areas that thick harzburgite and pyroxenite layers are developed and where chromitites of the lower critical zone occur these chromitites include the economically important c 1 m thick lg6 and mg1 layers exposed around both the eastern and western lobes of the bushveld complex the upper critical zone has a greater lateral extent than the lower critical zone and overlies but also onlaps the floor rocks to the south of the steelpoort area the source of the magmas also appears to have been towards the south as the mg chromitite layers degrade and thin northward whereas the lg layers are very well represented in the north and degrade southward sr and os isotope data indicate that the major chromitite layers including the lg6 mg1 and ug2 originated in a similar way extremely abrupt and stratigraphically restricted increases in the sr isotope ratio imply that there was massive contamination of intruding melt which hit the roof of the chamber and incorporated floating granophyric liquid which forced the precipitation of chromite kruger 1999 kinnaird et al 2002 therefore each chromitite layer represents the point at which the magma chamber expanded and eroded and deformed its floor nevertheless this was achieved by in situ contamination by roof rock melt of the intruding critical zone liquids that had an orthopyroxenitic to noritic lineage the main zone is present in the eastern and western lobes of the bushveld complex where it overlies the critical zone and onlaps the floor rocks to the south and the north where it is also the basal zone in the northern lobe the new magma first intruded the northern lobe north of the thabazimbi murchison lineament interacted with the floor rocks incorporated sulphur and precipitated the platreef along the floor rock contact before flowing south into the main chamber this exceptionally large influx of new magma then eroded an unconformity on the critical zone cumulate pile and initiated the main zone in the main chamber by precipitating the merensky reef on the unconformity the upper zone magma flowed into the chamber from the southern bethal lobe as well as the tml this gigantic influx eroded the main zone rocks and caused very large scale unconformable relationships clearly evident as the gap areas in the western bushveld complex the base of this influx which is also coincident with the pyroxenite marker and a troctolitic layer in the northern lobe is the petrological and stratigraphic base of the upper zone sr isotope data show that all the pge rich ores including chromitites are related to influxes of magma and are thus related to the expansion and filling of the magma chamber dominantly by lateral expansion with associated transgressive disconformities onto the floor rocks coincident with major zone changes these positions in the stratigraphy are marked by abrupt changes in lithology and erosional features over which succeeding lithologies are draped the outcrop patterns and the concordance of geochemical isotopic and mineralogical stratigraphy indicate that during crystallisation the bushveld complex was a wide and shallow lobate sill like sheet and the rock strata and mineral deposits are quasi continuous over the whole intrusion

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

strontium isotopes as tracers of ecosystem processes theory and methods abstract the strontium sr isotope method can be a powerful tool in studies of chemical weathering and soil genesis cation provenance and mobility and the chronostratigraphic correlation of marine sediments it is a sensitive geochemical tracer applicable to large scale ecosystem studies as well as to centimeter scaled examination of cation mobility within a soil profile the 87sr 86sr ratios of natural materials reflect the sources of strontium available during their formation isotopically distinct inputs from precipitation dryfall soil parent material and surface or groundwater allow determination of the relative proportions of those materials entering or leaving an ecosystem the isotopic compositions of labile soil exchange complex and soil solution strontium and sr in vegetation reflect the sources of cations available to plants strontium isotopes can be used to track the biogeochemical cycling of nutrient cations such as calcium the extent of cation contributions from in situ weathering and external additions to soil from dust and rain can also be resolved with this method in this paper we review the geochemistry and isotopic systematics of strontium and discuss the use of this method as a tracer of earth surface processes

structure and formation process of cryoconite granules on urumqi glacier no 1 tien shan china cryoconite granules are dark colored spherical aggregates of organic and inorganic material on glacier ice and are commonly observed on glaciers the world over the structure of cryoconite granules on urumqi glacier no 1 tien shan china was analyzed granules were distributed over the entire ice surface of the ablation area and ranged in size from 0 26 to 3 5 mm mean 1 1 mm the granule surface was densely covered with filamentous cyanobacteria microscopy of a thin section revealed various inner structures most granules had concentric layers of dense organic matter which are probably derived from annual growth of the granules by the activity of cyanobacteria the number of layers averaged 3 5 and ranged up to 7 which is likely to indicate their mean and maximum growth ages respectively some granules contained two or more subgranules showing that small granules had combined and enlarged such structures suggest that granule formation was mainly due to the activity of filamentous cyanobacteria and that the granules repeatedly grew and disintegrated over a cycle of several years on the glacier

the geochemical cycle of rhenium a reconnaissance rhenium re is one of a suite of elements including uranium and molybdenum that display conservative behavior in seawater and are enriched in anoxic sediments the decay of187re to187os provides a geochronometer in ancient sedimentary rocks and gives rise to os isotopic variations in nature in order to better characterize its sources to seawater re was measured in three major rivers amazon orinoco ganges brahmaputra and some of their tributaries re concentrations span four orders of magnitude from 0 02 to 400 pmol kg with the highest concentrations found in rivers draining black shales in the venezuelan andes mainstream re levels in the three rivers are between 1 and 10 pmol kg with a flux weighted average of 2 3 pmol kg the residence time for re in the oceans is estimated to be 750 000 yr with respect to river inputs re profiles from the atlantic and pacific oceans confirm that re behaves conservatively in seawater with no significant uptake onto particles and or recycling within the water column this is also true in the anoxic water column of the black sea re removal into anoxic sediments occurs at or below the sediment water interface as demonstrated in sediment pore waters from chesapeake bay in oxic sediments re is not cycled with manganese oxides and it is not enriched in very slowly accumulating pelagic sediments with a large hydrogenous iron and manganese component or in manganese nodules burial of re in anoxic sediments which accumulate on 0 3 of the ocean floor removes approximately 50 of the riverine re flux to the oceans hence oceanic re concentrations may be very sensitive to changes in the area of anoxic sedimentation

cumulative deformation and original geometry of the bushveld complex abstract a structural review and re interpretation of the bushveld complex based on 254 georeferenced maps from research technical reports and geophysical surveys suggests that its current geometry differs markedly from its original geometry broadly n s flattening left lateral transpressional shearing along an interconnected fault network steepening of cumulate layering and 10 km of uplift to the north of the northern margin of the complex s main chamber were accompanied by an eastward verging escape structure burgersfort bulge and syn cooling gap areas on its western limb southward verging deformation was transmitted from the villa nora fragment via thrusting in the rooiberg area generating 50 70 km of southward displacement uplift and erosional loss of the northern limb s western portion a string of anomalous occurrences of bushveld complex units and dense areas outlined by unconstrained gravity isoshells suggest a further 170 km southward displacement through the center of the main chamber the southern limb underwent predominantly right lateral ductile offset from the western limb along the crocodile river and rustenburg faults expressed by an in line series of nnw trending magnetic highs to the south of their mapped terminations left lateral shearing and progressive splaying of a nne trending dyke swarm to the west of an inflection point provides strain markers for this offset and 35 anticlockwise rotation of the burgersfort bulge and central parts of the main chamber although recent work suggests that the complex cooled within 1 myr late intrusion syn cooling sse wards movement of its deeper ductile central parts within at least 5 10 myr after its initial intrusion the transvaalide fold and thrust event and the expulsion of fluids to form the high ti igneous suite hitis and related bodies appear to have closely post dated the complex s intrusion removal of the effects of cumulative strain produces a more equant complex shortly after its intrusion occupying an orthogonal network of normal faults and perpendicular strike slip transverse faults

stratigraphic record of the early mesozoic breakup of pangea in the laurasia gondwana rift system rift basins of the central atlantic margins cam of north america and morocco preserve largely continental sequences of sedimentary strata and less important minor basalt flows spanning much of the early mesozoic the best known is the newark basin of new jersey new york and pennsylvania where an astronomically calibrated magnetic polarity time scale is developed lacustrine cycles of milankovitch origin are commonly present in cam basins with the period changing from 10 ky paleoequator with coals to 20 ky 4 10n to perhaps 40 ky northward with evaporites cycles of100 ky 413 ky and2 my are also important four mostly unconformity bounded tectonostratigraphic sequences are present the anisian ts i is fluvial and eolian ts ii ts iv late triassic to early jurassic consist of tripartite lacustrine sequences caused by extension pulses the newark basin accumulation rate history allows comparison with quantitative rift basin models the north american plate s slow northward drift resulted in a relative shift of climate although the rapid humidification during the latest triassic and early jurassic is associated with a sea level rise the triassic jurassic mass extinction is of independent origin plausibly impact related

the osmium isotopic composition change of cenozoic sea water as inferred from a deep sea core corrected for meteoritic contributions a detailed study was made of the oceanic 187os 186os variation through the cenozoic by using a hydrogen peroxide leaching procedure on a pelagic clay core from the north pacific long lines 44 gpc3 a 6 h2o2 solution was used the range of 187os 186os obtained by this procedure was between 2 and 8 2 a milder leach 0 15 h2o2 in three out of four samples yielded a slightly higher 187os 186os value than the stronger leach implying that the stronger leach released some meteoritic os with 187os 186os of 1 using published 3he concentrations in gpc3 and cosmic dust 3he and os fluxes to deep sea sediments the extraterrestrial os concentration was estimated for each core segment and subtracted to yield corrected values of 187os 186os the results based on the milder leaching protocol and the 3he correction protocol yield similar values the corrected ocean water 187os 186os pattern for the past 25 million years is similar to that obtained by other workers and is compatible with other results for the entire cenozoic the variation with time in gpc3 uniquely provides a statigraphic signature for the paleogene

petrology and mineralisation of the southern platreef northern limb of the bushveld complex south africa the platreef the putative local analogue of the merensky reef forms the floor to the mafic succession in the northern limb of the bushveld complex we define the platreef as the lithologically variable unit dominated by pyroxenite which is irregularly mineralised with pge cu and ni between the transvaal metasedimentary footwall or archaean basement and the overlying main zone gabbronorite we define the mineralisation around calcsilicate xenoliths within the main zone in the far north of the limb as a platreef style mineralisation the platreef ss has a strike extent of 30 km whereas platreef style mineralisation occurs over a strike length of 110 km the platreef varies from 400 m thick in the s to 30 modal in some intersections these are dominated by pyrrhotite with lesser pentlandite and chalcopyrite minor pyrite and traces of a wide compositional range of sulphides in the southern sector mineralised zones have cu grades of 0 1 0 25 and ni 0 15 0 36 massive sulphides are localised commonly but not exclusively towards the contact with footwall metasedimentary rocks magmatic sulphides are disseminated or net textured ranging from a few microns to 2 cm grains of pyrrhotite and pentlandite with chalcopyrite and minor pyrite much of the sulphide is associated with intergranular plagioclase or quartz feldspar symplectites along the margins of rounded cumulus orthopyroxenes the pges in the southern sector occur as tellurides bismuthides arsenides antimonides bismuthoantimonides and complex bismuthotellurides pgm are rarely included in the sulphides but occur as micron sized satellite grains around interstitial sulphides and within alteration assemblages in serpentinised zones the pt pd ratio 1 and pge grade may be decoupled from s and base metal abundance

the nature and origin of bed parallel slip in kardia mine ptolemais basin greece abstract normal faulting in kardia lignite mine within the pliocene quaternary ptolemais basin northern greece was associated with broadly contemporaneous top to the north bed parallel slip arising from hangingwall rollover on a km scale displacement normal fault outside the mine the direction of bed parallel slip is perpendicular to the strike of minor normal faults bed parallel slip gradients lie within the range of fault displacement gradients observed in global datasets but are lower than the gradients developed on normal faults in kardia mine bed parallel slip surfaces are segmented both parallel and normal to the slip direction and form both soft and hard linked relay zones on a wide range of scales zones of layer bound minor normal faults forming extensional duplexes or arrays of bookshelf faults between bounding slip surfaces accommodate the transfer of slip across associated releasing relay zones

tracing the distribution of erosion in the brahmaputra watershed from isotopic compositions of stream sediments bank sediments and suspended loads of the brahmaputra river and its important tributaries were collected from the himalayan front to bangladesh along with most of the important tributaries chemical and isotopic compositions of the sediments are used to trace sediment provenance and to understand erosion patterns in the basin overall isotopic compositions range from 0 7053 to 0 8250 for sr and nd from 20 5 to 6 9 this large range derives from the variable proportions of sediments from himalayan formations with high sr isotopic ratios and low nd and transhimalayan plutonic belt with lower sr isotopic ratios and higher nd the latter are exposed to erosion in the tsangpo and in the eastern tributary drainages overall erosion of the himalayan rocks is dominant representing ca 70 of the detrital influx compositions of the brahmaputra main channel are rather stable between 0 7177 and 0 7284 for sr and between 14 4 and 12 5 for nd throughout its course in the plain from the siang tsangpo at the foot of the himalayan range down to the delta this stability despite the input of large himalayan rivers suggests that the siang tsangpo river represents the major source of sediment to the whole brahmaputra geochemical budget implies that erosion of the namche barwa zone represents about 45 of the total flux at its outflow before confluence with the ganga from only 20 of the mountain area higher erosion rates in the eastern syntaxis compared to the other himalayan ranges is related to the rapid exhumation rates of this region possibly triggered by higher precipitation over the far eastern himalaya and the high incision potential of the tsangpo river due to its very high water discharge

mineralogical variation of sr nd isotopic and elemental compositions in loess and desert sand from the central loess plateau in china as a provenance tracer of wet and dry deposition in the northwestern pacific we determined sr and nd isotopic compositions and major trace and rare earth element ree compositions of evaporite and detrital minerals in loess and desert sand from the central loess plateau clp where 80 of the loess deposits in china are found the loess exhibited a narrow range of variation in 87sr 86sr 0 715 0 001 a sequential extraction experiment on the loess however showed that water and acetic acid hoac soluble minerals mainly halite and calcite hydrochloric acid hcl soluble minerals chlorite and phosphate and hcl insoluble minerals illite kaolinite smectite vermiculite feldspar and quartz have distinct 87sr 86sr ratios approximately 0 7111 0 0004 0 7141 0 0004 and 0 7195 0 0010 respectively the water and hoac soluble ratios were regionally uniform and were close to the 87sr 86sr value of river water from the huanghe yellow river and the maximum 87sr 86sr value of spring rainwater in japan suggesting selective solution of eolian halite and calcite into the chinese river water and into the japanese rainwater the mineralogical elemental and sr nd isotopic compositions of hcl soluble and insoluble minerals in the clp loess were different from those of the northern desert sand but were indistinguishable from those of its fine grained fraction supporting the view that the loess is composed of the fine grained fraction of desert sand that was transported to the southeast in the atmosphere the 87sr 86sr end and gd yb values of hcl insoluble minerals in the clp loess were almost identical to those of airborne dust soil minerals and deep sea sediments in the northwestern pacific considered to be of eolian origin suggesting dissolution of the loess evaporite minerals during atmospheric transportation these relationships demonstrate the usefulness of sr isotopes of water and hoac soluble minerals and sr and nd isotope ratios and ree compositions of acid insoluble minerals in loess as provenance markers for wet and dry deposition respectively

a mesozoic time scale we present an integrated geomagnetic polarity and stratigraphic time scale for the triassic jurassic and cretaceous periods of the mesozoic era with age estimates and uncertainty limits for stage boundaries the time scale uses a suite of 324 radiomenc dates including high resolution 40 ar 39 ar age estimates this framework involves the observed ties between 1 radiometric dates biozones and stage boundaries and 2 between biozones and magnetic reversals on the seafloor and in sediments interpolation techniques include maximum likelihood estimation smoothing cubic spline fitting and magnetochronology

provenance of loess material and formation of loess deposits on the chinese loess plateau abstract results of a multiple isotopic chemical and mineralogical analysis of loess from the three northwestern inland basins the junggar basin the tarim basin and the qaidam basin and the loess plateau region of china are summarized they suggest a qualification of the conventional views that the three northwestern basins were the important source areas of the loess plateau and that the sand deserts were the primary single source of the chinese loess it is argued that the gobi stony desert in southern mongolia and the adjoining gobi and sand deserts the badain jaran desert tengger desert ulan buh desert hobq desert and mu us desert in china rather than the three inland basins are the dominant source areas of the loess plateau however although these gobi and sand deserts are regarded as the main source regions they serve as dust and silt holding areas rather than dominant producers the mountain processes including glacial grinding frost weathering salt weathering tectonic processes and some fluvial comminution in the gobi altay mts hangayn mts and the qilian mts have played an important role in producing the vast amounts of loess sized material for forming the loess plateau

jurassic sequence stratigraphy in the hebrides basin nw scotland abstract stratigraphical analysis of the triassic jurassic succession outcropping in the hebrides in terms of genetic sequences has identified seven major sequences and seven minor sequences the major sequence boundaries are defined at abrupt facies changes which usually represent deepening events often associated with a hiatus they are dated as 1 late triassic 2 mid sinemurian birchi subzone turneri zone diachronous to oxynotum zone 3 early toarcian exaratum subzone falciferum zone 4 latest toarcian aalensis subzone levesquei zone 5 late bajocian dichotoma subzone garantiana zone 6 late bathonian discus zone 7 early callovian medea subzone jason zone integrating stratigraphical with subsidence history analyses enables identification of basin tectonics as the causal mechanism for sequence boundaries 1 2 4 and 5 eustatic rises of sea level during toarcian and callovian phases of relative tectonic quiessence were the causes of sequence boundaries 3 6 and 7 late jurassic tectonic events are not reflected in the sequence stratigraphy on the basis of available data

the role of fluid pressure in the formation of bedding parallel thrust hosted gold deposits sabie pilgrim s rest goldfield eastern transvaal abstract shallowly dipping thrust hosted gold veins occur within the paleoproterozoic transvaal supergroup rocks in the eastern transvaal of south africa internally the veins record episodic events of fluid infiltration and subsequent mineral deposition within discrete local scale thrust faults evidence also exists for subvertical dilation within the individual veins and textures which record open space filling are preserved the probable depth of formation suggests lithostatic pressures in excess of 2 2 kbar and the vein textures indicate numerous reactivation events associated with individual thrust faults occurring in a terrain characterised by low levels of preserved strain fault reactivation may have occurred under conditions of low differential stress in the presence of high pressure fluids with p fluid approaching or exceeding lithostatic levels

a snow algal community on akkem glacier in the russian altai mountains snow algae are cold tolerant algae growing on snow and ice and have been reported on glaciers in many parts of the world blooms of snow algae can reduce the surface albedo of snow and ice and significantly affect their melting in addition snow algae found in ice cores can be potential indicators of the paleo environment making them of great interest both to the biology and the geophysics of glaciers a snow algal community was investigated in 2002 and 2003 on akkem glacier in the russian altai mountains where no information on its biological community has previously been available five species of snow algae including green algae and cyanobacteria were observed on the glacier red snow due to a bloom of algae chloromonas sp was visually apparent in the snow area during our study periods the total algal cell volume biomass on the glacier ranged from 97 to 1156 m lm 2 which is equivalent to that reported previously on glaciers in the himalaya and alaska the community structure showed that mesotaenium berggrenii and or ancylonema nordenskioeldii which are common species on glaciers in the northern hemisphere were dominant in the ice area while chloromonas sp was dominant in the snow area such community structures are similar to those on alaskan and arctic glaciers but differ from those on himalayan and tibetan glaciers even though the altai mountains are geographically closer to the himalaya and tibet than to alaska the difference in algal communities between the altaic and other glaciers is discussed together with physical and chemical conditions affecting the algae

sr nd and pb stable isotopes of surface dust on urumqi glacier no 1 in western china stable isotopic ratios of strontium sr neodymium nd and lead pb provide a means of identifying a geological source of substances and are used as tracers of elements in biological and geochemical processes we analyzed these isotopic ratios of surface dust cryoconite collected on urumqi glacier no 1 tien shan china the dust was separated chemically into five fractions four minerals and organic matter and the isotopic ratios of each fraction were measured the sr and nd isotopic ratios in the fractions extracted with ultrapure water saline minerals hydrogen peroxide solution organic matter and acetic acid carbonate minerals were low and invariable whereas those extracted by hydrochloric acid phosphate minerals and the residual fraction silicate minerals were higher the difference was likely due to the original source of each fraction the isotopic ratios of the surface dust collected from different sites showed no significant difference suggesting that they were spatially uniform across the glacier the isotopic ratios of the silicate fraction were closer to those of desert sand reported in china than those of the soil and bedrock around the glacier this suggests that the silicate minerals on the glacier were derived from distant deserts the isotopic ratios in saline carbonate and phosphate fractions were also close to those of evaporites and apatite in that desert region suggesting that these minerals were also derived from that source the sr isotopic ratios in the organic fraction were closer to ratios in the saline and carbonate fractions rather than the silicate or phosphate fractions and may therefore reflect the isotopic ratios of the elements when they are incorporated into living microbes on the glacier

flexural slip structures in the bushveld complex south africa this paper investigates structures in the layered critical zone of the bushveld complex in south africa that have detrimentally affected mining operations the common structures are layer parallel faults with reverse dip slip and ramp faults with curved slip planes and prominent striations geometric variations include duplex ramps contained within floor and roof layer parallel faults and linking ramps connecting separate layer parallel faults hidden in the footwall and hangingwall the orientations geometries displacements and shear senses of the layer parallel faults and ramp faults are interpreted to be flexural slip structures formed during bending of the originally horizontal bushveld complex into a basin fold geometry during crustal loading

bryozoan paleoecology indicates mid phanerozoic extinctions were the product of long term environmental stress we compiled the global onshore offshore distribution of marine bryozoans within 396 permian early jurassic bryozoan assemblages and show that bryozoan assemblage generic richness declined significantly in advance of the end permian and end triassic mass extinctions starting as early as the capitanian prior to the end permian and the norian prior to the end triassic we also show that offshore settings were affected first prior to both extinctions suggesting that environmental stress resulted from the gradual encroachment of some deep water phenomenon onto the shelves these patterns support long term oceanographic rather than extraterrestrial extinction mechanisms such as widespread euxinia triggered by massive volcanism and global warming tracking the onshore offshore environmental distribution of these marine invertebrates provides a unique approach to assessing prolonged environmentally induced stress through this 120 m y time interval

spatial variations of sr nd isotopic ratios mineralogical and elemental compositions of cryoconite in an alaskan glacier to understand the geological origins of minerals in cryoconite and the nutrients sources for microbes on glaciers we analyzed the sr nd isotopic ratios of the four mineral fractions in cryoconites including saline carbonate phosphate silicate and the organic fraction obtained from gulkana glacier in alaska the isotopes in the silicate mineral fraction exhibited spatial variation within the glacier 87sr 86sr 0 704533 0 709563 end 0 16 0 to 0 5 which can be explained by the different mixing ratios of the two distinct sources one of the sources is lateral and terminal moraines or soil and the other is the medial moraine of the glacier the minerals in the cryoconite at the lower sites in the glacier are likely derived from the former source whereas those at the upper sites are from latter sources the mineralogical and elemental compositions also support mixing of the silicate minerals from the two local sources the sr isotopic ratios of the organic fraction also showed spatial variation on the glacier in the middle sites a trend similar to those of the phosphate fraction the results suggest that the organic matter is mostly the byproducts of microbes using the phosphate minerals as a nutrient source

does large igneous province volcanism always perturb the mercury cycle comparing the records of oceanic anoxic event 2 and the end cretaceous to other mesozoic events mercury hg is increasingly being used as a sedimentary tracer of large igneous province lip volcanism and supports hypotheses of a coincidence between the formation of several lips and episodes of mass extinction and major environmental perturbation however numerous important questions remain to be answered before hg can be claimed as an unequivocal fingerprint of lip volcanism as well as an understanding of why some sedimentary records document clear hg enrichment signals whilst others do not of particular importance is evaluating the impact of different volcanic styles on the global mercury cycle as well as the role played by depositional processes in recording global hg cycle perturbations here new mercury records of cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2 oae 2 94 ma and the latest cretaceous 67 66 0 ma are presented oae 2 is associated with the emplacement of multiple predominantly submarine lips the latest cretaceous with subaerial volcanism of the deccan traps both of these connections are strongly supported by previously published trends towards unradiogenic osmium os isotope values in globally distributed sedimentary records hg data from both events show considerable variation between different locations attributed to the effectiveness of different sediment types in registering the hg signal with lithologically homogeneous records documenting more clear hg enrichments than sections with major changes in lithology such as limestones to claystones or organic rich shales crucially there is no geographically consistent signal of sedimentary hg enrichment in stratigraphic records of either oae 2 or the latest cretaceous that matches os isotope evidence for lip emplacement indicating that volcanism did not cause a global hg perturbation throughout the entire eruptive history of the lips formed at those times it is suggested that the discrepancy between os isotope and hg trends in records of oae 2 is caused by the limited dispersal range of hg emitted from submarine volcanoes compared to the global scale distribution of os a similar lack of correlation between these two proxies in uppermost cretaceous strata indicates that although subaerial volcanism can perturb the global hg cycle not all subaerial eruptions will do so these results highlight the variable impact of different volcanogenic processes on the efficiency of hg dispersal across the globe factors that could influence the impact of lip eruptions on the global mercury cycle include submarine versus subaerial volcanism volcanic intensity or explosivity and the potential contribution of thermogenic mercury from reactions between ascending magma and surrounding organic rich sediments

geochemistry of the rare metal bearing pegmatite no 3 vein and related granites in the keketuohai region altay mountains northwest china abstract the chemical composition of a barren biotite granite a two mica granite and a rare metal bearing pegmatite the no 3 vein in keketuohai altay mountains northwest china along with mineral separates of apatite and mica were analyzed and compared in the present work bulk chemistries of biotite granite two mica granite and pegmatite rim are consistent with fractional crystallization trend from granites toward pegmatite changes in pegmatite composition can be explained mainly by fractional crystallization of biotite rb sr isochrons yield 248 8 7 5 ma for the biotite granite 247 8 6 3 ma for the two mica granite and 218 4 5 8 ma for the pegmatite rim similar geochemical characteristics including initial e nd t values ranging from 0 76 to 3 04 for apatites similar initial e nd t values for whole rock samples of studied granites and pegmatite ranged from 1 40 to 3 21 and for biotites from granites ranged from 2 75 to 3 15 suggest that these rocks were derived from a common magma source old continental crust may have played a significant role in magma generation based on these data we interpret the evolution of the keketuohai granite pegmatite by magma differentiation from a common source biotite granite was the first to crystallize followed by two mica granites the residual melt was probably stored in a granitic batholith the pegmatite veins were injected 30 m y later during another episodic tectono magmatic event in the altay mountains

connectivity between the western and eastern limbs of the bushveld complex abstract the mafic layered rocks of the bushveld complex are 6 8 km thick and crop out over an area of 65 000 km 2 previous interpretations of the bouguer gravity anomalies suggested that the intrusion consisted of two totally separate bodies however the mafic sequences in these arcuate western and eastern limbs are remarkably similar with at least six petrologically distinctive layers and sequences being recognisable in both limbs such similarity of sequences in two totally discrete bodies 200 300 km apart is petrologically implausible and it is suggested that they formed within a single lopolithic intrusion all previous bouguer gravity models failed to consider the isostatic response of the crust to emplacement of this huge mass of mafic magma isostatic adjustment as a result of this intrusion would have caused the base of the crust to be depressed by as much as 6 km with this revised whole crustal model it becomes possible to construct a gravity model consistent with observed data which includes a 6 km thick sequence of mafic rocks connecting the western and eastern limbs of the bushveld complex the exact depth at which the mafic rocks of the bushveld complex lie in the centre of the structure cannot be constrained by the gravity data such a first order model is an approximation because there have been subsequent deformation and structural readjustments in the crust some of them probably related to the emplacement of the bushveld complex specifically the observed geometry of the rocks around the crocodile river dennilton marble hall and malope domes suggests that major upwarping of the crust occurred on a variety of scales triggered by emplacement of the bushveld complex

thrust controlled gold mineralisation at the elandshoogte mine sabie pilgrim s rest goldfield south africa stratiform quartz sulphide gold veins locally termed reefs are hosted within the proterozoic transvaal sequence sedimentary succession in the sabie pilgrim s rest goldfield eastern transvaal these deposits have produced about 180 tonnes of gold and share many characteristics with those of telfer western australia detailed examination of the elandshoogte mine shows that gold deposition occurred in two stages both linked to bedding parallel thrust faulting within the sedimentary pile deformation being concentrated within incompetent shale beds interlayered within more competent units the majority of gold was introduced in the second stage of mineralisation and occurs within fractures in early formed sulphide minerals deposition of competent quartz veins accompanying early sulphide and gold mineralisation resulted in a change in deformation style within the reef zone from early shearing in shales to later duplex faulting of the quartz reef fluids accompanying faulting are implied to have transported gold and a magmatic source of mineralisation is suggested

the flexural slip mechanism abstract detailed field studies of turbiditic sequences from south georgia south atlantic north devon england and cardigan bay wales show that flexural slip occurs on discrete movement horizons between rock packets in which the beds have welded contacts stair stepping displacements of sedimentary dykes and of early quartz veins show that the movement horizons generally have a decimetre to metre spacing and are marked by bedding parallel quartz veins these veins are from 1 mm to several cm thick and can be used to identify movement horizons in the absence of displaced markers they consist of several sheets of quartz fibres which each carry a slickenfibre lineation and which together preserve a record of the displacements on an individual surface complex slickenfibre patterns and departures from ideal behaviour in which slip occurs orthogonal to the fold hinge probably result from changes in slip vector on the limbs of growing non cylindrical folds movement horizons show many of the features associated with large scale thrusting such as ramps duplexes and imbricate structures and the shear sense given by fibre steps on these surfaces and by duplexes within stratigraphically restricted packages changes across fold hinges chevron folds are thought to develop mainly by flexural flow in the early stages with flexural slip becoming dominant later as the beds become lithified new slip surfaces are generated as the dip of the fold limbs increases

antarctic dome c ice core dust at 18 k y b p isotopic constraints on origins we have determined the source area from which dusts from the last glacial maximum lgm section of the dome c ice core were derived by comparing their strontium and neodymium isotopic ratios with those of samples from potential source areas the87sr 86sr and143nd 144nd isotope ratios of the dusts deposited 18 k y b p at the east antarctic dome c site were compared with potential antarctic australian southern african and south american sources the isotope ratios clearly define the patagonian provenance of the dust with the other potential source areas being at most minor contributors contributions by volcanic ash and tephra to the dust sample were also determined to be minimal based on the patterns of rare earth elements knowing the source of the dusts places constraints on the aeolian trajectory by which it was transported to antarctica and this serves as a test of the simulation of southern hemispheric circulation by atmospheric global circulation models during the lgm

strontium isotopes in early jurassic seawater abstract the analysis of well preserved well dated belemnites and oysters from the jurassic of great britain has resulted in a well constrained detailed seawater strontium isotope curve for the early jurassic the preservation of fossil low mg calcite was monitored using mn fe 13 c and 18 o iron was the most useful indicator with about 75 of the samples containing more than 150 ppm fe showing 87 sr 86 sr ratios elevated relative to adjacent points on the curve high mn concentrations less often correlated with elevated 87 sr 86 sr ratios however low mn concentrations 87 sr 86 sr 13 c and 18 o proved to be insensitive to diagenesis as it affects 87 sr 86 sr the principal features of the strontium isotope curve include a rise to about 0 70772 in the latest triassic and earliest jurassic hettangian from the hettangian the curve begins a roughly linear descent through the sinemurian and pliensbachian following a small levelling off and increase in the late pliensbachian the curve falls rapidly to its early jurassic minimum of 0 70706 it then gently increases through the toarcian until the falciferum zone where it shows an apparently abrupt increase to 0 70719 before continuing its slow increase to 0 70728 in the aalenian bajocian middle jurassic this reversal of the downwards trend established in the sinemurian and pliensbachian had not been previously identified the sinemurian and pliensbachian section of the curve potentially allows correlation and dating to within 1 or 2 ammonite subzones 0 5 to 1 ma

optical characteristics of cryoconite surface dust on glaciers the relationship between light absorbency and the property of organic matter contained in the cryoconite

the osmium isotopic composition of the continental crust osmium isotopic compositions and concentrations have been determined for deltaic and continental shelf sediments from three major rivers the amazon changjiang and mississippi and for two loesses from the upper mississippi river valley the loesses have heavy mineral and clay compositions characteristic of mississippi river and delta sediment concentrations range from 15 to 120 pg os g and 187os 186os ratios range from 8 2 to 10 9 sediments which are polluted surface sediment from the changjiang estuary or which have scavenged metals from seawater gulf of mexico slope surface sediment and distal amazon shelf sediment have high osmium concentrations and less radiogenic isotopic compositions purely terrigenous sediments have 15 90 pg os g and 187os 186os 10 0 10 9 north american loess and mississippi delta sediment osmium isotopic compositions are indistinguishable we believe that 187os 186os 10 11 is a good average for currently eroding upper continental crust these sediments have neodymium isotopic compositions close to the global mean for river sediment terrigenous 187os 186os is significantly more radiogenic than seawater 187os 186os 8 6 requiring a nonriverine source of osmium to seawater terrigenous osmium is also significantly more radiogenic than bulk pelagic clay osmium we use the improved estimate of terrigenous 187os 186os to recalculate the flux of extraterrestrial osmium to pacific marine sediment if the residence age of osmium in an upper crustal region is similar to the neodymium model age of a sediment derived from that region a model dependent upper crustal 187re 186os ratio can be calculated for the model ages of the sediments analyzed in this study tdm 1 5 1 7 ga model 187re 186os ratios are 340 360 and can be used to correct for bias resulting from the preferential erosion of young crust the 187os 186os ratio of 2 2 ga crust with 187re 186os 400 is 14 2 we have also used the data from this study to estimate upper crustal osmium and rhenium concentrations of 50 pg g and 390 pg g respectively

natural vs anthropogenic sources supply aeolian dust to the miaoergou glacier evidence from sr pb isotopes in the eastern tienshan ice core abstract the compositions of sr and pb isotopes in the soluble and insoluble dust in six samples from the miaoergou ice core in eastern tienshan china were measured the six samples were dated from top to bottom as follows 2000 ad 1991 ad 1983 ad 1977 ad 1962 ad and 1958 ad the 87sr 86sr ratios in the soluble fraction ranged from 0 709984 to 0 711031 the isotopic ratios of pb in the soluble and insoluble dust were between 17 962 18 182 and 18 198 18 409 for 206pb 207pb 15 540 15 606 and 15 560 15 581 for 208pb 207pb and 37 994 38 173 and 38 179 38 384 for 208pb 204pb respectively these isotopic results for insoluble dust allowed us to document the origins of the dust in the miaoergou glacier in eastern tienshan the major sources of the natural aeolian deposits were the taklamakan and gobi deserts natural and anthropogenic pb sources were assessed using a simple ternary model in which deserts lead ore and coal served as the primary sources of insoluble dust lead ore coal combustion and the use of leaded gasoline in the surrounding area may represent additional anthropogenic sources of soluble dust thus anthropogenic sources could be further investigated by using the dust free soluble fractions the pb concentration and pb isotopic compositions from the high asia ice cores provided distinct evidence of the positive influences of anthropogenic factors associated with industrial development and the prevailing atmospheric circulation patterns in these regions

asian provenance of glacial dust stage 2 in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core summit greenland samples of dust from the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core summit greenland dated within marine isotope stage 2 between 23 340 and 26 180 calendar years b p around the time of the coldest local last glacial temperatures have been analyzed to determine their provenance to accomplish this we have compared them with approximately coeval aeolian sediments mostly loesses sampled in possible source areas psas from around the northern hemisphere the 5 m grain size fraction of these samples was analyzed on the basis that it corresponds to the atmospheric dust component of that time and locale which was sufficiently fine grained to be transported over long distances on the basis of comparison of the clay mineralogy and sr nd and pb isotope composition with ice dust and psas and assuming that we have sampled the most important psas we have determined that the probable source area of these gisp2 dusts was in eastern asia the dust was not derived from either the midcontinental united states or the sahara two more proximal areas that have been suggested as potential sources based on atmospheric circulation modeling except for a brief period during an interstadial when dust transport was exceptionally low for glacial times and had a mineralogical composition indicative of a slightly more southern provenance the source area of the dust did not change significantly during times of variably higher fluxes of dust with larger mean grain size or lower fluxes of dust with smaller mean grain size this includes the high dust period that correlates with the heinrich 2 period of major iceberg discharge into the north atlantic variable wind strengths must therefore be invoked to account for these abrupt and significant changes in dust flux and grain size

nd and sr isotopic characteristics of chinese deserts implications for the provenances of asian dust silicate nd sr isotopes of the fine grained fractions of the 10 major deserts and sandy lands in north china and the loess in chinese loess plateau were systematically investigated wide ranges in nd sr isotopic compositions have been observed the results of the 7 0 b the deserts on the northern margin of tibetan plateau with end 0 ranging from 11 9 to 7 4 and c the deserts on the ordos plateau with the lowest end 0 11 5 the distribution of the threes isotopic regions is controlled by the tectonic setting in north china which implies that the materials of the deserts are derived from the locally eroded rocks from the surrounding mountains and the nd sr isotopic signatures of these deserts could be quit stable over the past million years on the sub tectonic time scales if there is any desert at those times the nd sr isotopic compositions of the loess are mostly close to those of the deserts in isotopic region b suggesting that the main source regions of the last glacial loess in the chinese loess plateau are badain jaran desert tengger desert and qaidam desert also the comparison between the nd sr isotopes of the 5 lm silicate fractions of the deserts and the ancient dust falls in the north pacific and greenland show that the asian end members of these dust falls are derived most from the deserts in the isotopic region b and less from those in the isotopic region c

geochemical and isotopic studies of aeolian sediments in china the sr and nd isotopic rare earth element ree and major element compositions together with mineral and grain size proportions are reported for aeolian loess deposits and desert sands from several chinese localities the study was carried out in order to examine regional variations in the isotopic and geochemical features of these aeolian sediments and to constrain the provenance of chinese loess samples include loesses from the tarim and junggar basins and desert sands from the taklimakan desert in north west china loess from the ordos area and desert sands from the tengger and mu us deserts in north central china as well as loess and desert sands from the naiman area north east china ree distributions show minimal variation among the chinese loess deposits whereas those for the desert sands show regional variations new isotopic data document a latitudinal variation in sr and nd isotopic features for the loesses and desert sands the naiman and junggar loesses have distinctly lower 87sr 86sr ratios and higher end 0 values than the loesses from the tarim basin the ordos area and the loess plateau among the desert sands the naiman samples have higher end 0 values than the taklimakan tengger and mu us samples isotopic data suggest that loesses of the loess plateau were supplied from the tarim basin loesses and taklimakan desert sand and that the naiman loesses were supplied from the junggar basin loesses the latitudinal variation in the loesses and desert sands may be partly explained by isotopic variations reported previously for moraines from the tianshan and west kunlun mountains which are possible sources for the loesses and desert sands these inferences on the provenance of the loesses and desert sands are consistent with the dust transport pattern over east asia

characteristics and occurrence of bedding parallel slip surfaces and laminated veins in chevron folds from the bendigo castlemaine goldfields implications for flexural slip folding the occurrence of bedding slip planes and associated slip striated laminated quartz veins in the bendigo castlemaine goldfields southeastern australia was investigated bedding slip planes are concentrated in thin siltstone layers data from surface stratigraphic sections on the limbs of five major anticlines gave a mean slip plane spacing of 8 9 m n 96 and a mean laminated vein thickness of 19 mm most laminated veins are 20 mm thick and discontinuous along strike and around fold hinges thicker veins are correspondingly more continuous and are traceable around fold hinges the mean thickness of laminated veins from individual fold limbs increases with increasing mean spacing of slip planes on each limb suggesting a sympathetic relationship between vein thickness and net slip however there is no such correlation between individual vein thickness and spacing these relations are explained using a model for the progressive generation of bedding slip planes via shear failure at competent incompetent layer interfaces as a result of shear strain rate incompatibilities between competent and incompetent beds during fold limb steepening the model predicts flexural slip activity continuing well into the stage of homogeneous flattening of the folds and gives rise to a population of slip planes dominated by those with low net slip

flexural slip folding in the meguma group nova scotia canada abstract flexural slip folding has been established for two anticlines in the meguma group nova scotia flexural slip postdates the main acadian episode of flexural flow fold growth and represents a late brittle ductile reactivation of the fold belt flexural slip structures are dominated by bedding parallel movement horizons but include a linked system of frontal and lateral ramps and conjugate movement horizons slip amount calculated from displacement of discordant quartz veins combined with vein spacing indicates an average local shear strain of approximately 0 5 however because flexural slip occurred when the fold limbs were steep the shear strain accounts for a small change in limb dip 4 8 variation of slip amount with spacing of movement horizons suggests progressive flexural slip was accommodated by continuous initiation of new movement horizons as well as continuing slip on existing movement horizons the presence of quartz veins along flexural slip structures together with evidence for ductile deformation coeval with flexural slip suggests that slip episodes were fluid assisted and intermittent separated by periods of ductile deformation and build up of fluid pressure flexural slip veins in the ovens anticline are auriferous and a flexural slip model may be appropriate for other similar meguma gold deposits thrust sheets up to 10 m thick occurring on a fold limb are interpreted to have originated in flat box fold hinges and to have been placed onto the steep limbs of the chevron folds during the flexural slip episode thrusting may have assisted the transformation of a box fold into a chevron

a chronostratigraphic framework for the north central kaapvaal craton the bushveld complex and the vredefort structure abstract sufficient geochronological data are available pertaining to the north central part of the kaapvaal craton to construct a chronostratigraphic framework for the rock units involved in the vredefort event from the basement rocks at 3170 ma to the waterberg soutpansberg groups deposited between 2025 and 1425 ma the resulting framework forms a convenient chronological guide to the geological evolution of this area and the timing of events such as that at vredefort the basement on which the supracrustal rocks were deposited stabilised from 3170 to 3060 ma but metamorphism and metasomatism of these rocks occurred up to 2800 m y ago in different parts of the craton the first unit of the wits triad the volcaniclastic dominion group was deposited at 3060 ma on the stabilising basement this was followed by the dominantly clastic witwatersrand supergroup and the overlying ventersdorp supergroup the dominantly volcanic ventersdorp rocks are 2700 m y old and form the last unit of the wits triad a considerable time gap of 200 300 ma separates the triad from the lowermost units of the overlying transvaal sequence the age of these volcanic and clastic protobasinal rocks is poorly constrained between 2500 and 2300 ma they may in fact represent eroded remnants of a more extensive depositional cycle the mainly clastic sedimentary part of the transvaal sequence pretoria group has been dated at 2224 ma the upper part of the transvaal sequence rooiberg group is only constrained by the age of the intrusive bushveld complex the bushveld basic layered rocks are well dated at 2060 ma as are the subsequent granites at 2050 ma the vredefort event which post dates the bushveld complex is reasonably well constrained by the age of the bronzite granophyre at 2000 ma deposition of the waterberg and soutpansberg groups which post date the bushveld complex is poorly constrained between the age of the bushveld granites and younger alkaline intrusives at 1425 ma but these sediments and volcanics were probably formed between 2025 and 1752 ma the waterberg group may therefore contain debris from the vredefort structure

organic facies variations in the westbury formation rhaetic bristol channel sw england abstract despite their dark colour laminated fabric and dysoxic character the thermally immature shales of the rhaetic westbury formation of the bristol channel area typically have total organic carbon toc values of only 1 0 1 5 and hydrogen indices hi 200 variations in toc and hi are correlated with the amorphous organic matter aom fluorescence but not the aom suggesting that redox related variations in aom preservation control the organic facies the diameter of equidimensional black wood phytoclasts decreases in intervals with higher toc and hi suggesting an association with lower energy depositional conditions such intervals also show a relative increase in light brown wood probably a reflection of more humid onshore conditions and lower phytoclast oxidation at source phytoc values suggest the input of terrestrial om was relatively low and stable during westbury deposition indicating a distal setting removed from fluviodeltaic sediment sources

eolian inputs of lead to the north pacific we evaluate the importance of natural eolian pb to the dissolved oceanic pb budget by measuring the isotopic composition of pb in 35 holocene and late quaternary sediment samples from the north pacific and in 10 samples of chinese loess when the pacific is divided into sediments provinces based on published end and sedimentological data pb from the central north pacific tends to be the most radiogenic and homogeneous due to the dominance of eolian chinese loess lead from the marginal north pacific and the sparsely sampled regions south of 5 n are less radiogenic and more variable owing to hemipelagic inputs from various volcanic arcs and older continental crust located around the pacific rim 208pb 204pb ratios provide the most distinctive provenance information due to the relatively high ratios in chinese loess the chinese loess samples come from 3 localities and span up to 2 myr of time acetic acid leachate bulk loess and loess silicate fractions were analyzed separately leachate pb is considerably less radiogenic than silicate pb the isotopic composition of the silicate component closely matches the sediment data from the central north pacific confirming the dominance of eolian loess in this region we divided up a suite of published hydrogenous pb isotope data from the pacific ocean according to their locations within the three independently defined sediment provinces these data define three distinct fields differentiated primarily by their 206pb 204pb ratios which increase going from the central to southern to marginal provinces this relationship with sediment province strongly suggests that natural eolian and probably hemipelagic inputs significantly impact the seawater pb budget direct support for the dominance of eolian chinese loess in the central north pacific dissolved pb budget comes from the close match between loess leachate pb and the central province hydrogenous pb data eolian inputs are likely to dominate local seawater pb budgets only where eolian pb fluxes are high relative to hemipelagic pb fluxes and where the flux of pb carried by deep water advection is low

timing the end triassic mass extinction first on land then in the sea the end triassic marks one of the five biggest mass extinctions but current geologic time scales are inadequate for understanding its dynamics a tuff layer in marine sedimentary rocks encompassing the triassic jurassic transition yielded a u pb zircon age of 199 6 0 3 ma the dated level is immediately below a prominent change in radiolarian faunas and the last occurrence of conodonts additional recently obtained u pb ages integrated with ammonoid biochronology confirm that the triassic period ended ca 200 ma several million years later than suggested by previous time scales published dating of continental sections suggests that the extinction peak of terrestrial plants and vertebrates occurred before 200 6 ma the end triassic biotic crisis on land therefore appears to have preceded that in the sea by at least several hundred thousand years

geochemical evolution of the rooiberg silicic lavas in the loskop dam area southeastern bushveld the rooiberg felsite is the voluminous volcanic precursor to the plutonic episodes of bushveld magmatism in the area north of the loskop dam a 3 520 m thickness of felsite is dominated by flows of dacitic and rhyodacitic lava occasional silicic andesites are developed near the base whereas true rhyolites become overwhelmingly dominant toward the top of the sequence nine major stratigraphic units of lava are present these are usually separated by and sometimes include volumetrically minor pyroclastic and sedimentary deposits whole rock chemical data on 165 lava samples embracing the entire stratigraphy suggest that nonuniform alteration processes have been most effective in the upper units nevertheless field petrographic and chemical criteria enable identification of three felsite magma types a high mg type mgo 1 7 containing low zr and y contents is present only within the lowermost 1 400 m of section a low mg type mgo 2 asymp 1 p 2 o 5 asymp 0 35 type which only occurs in the lower part of the succession the high mg lavas exhibit a systematic eruptive progression from more to less evolved compositions apparently reflecting continuous tapping of successively deeper levels of a normally zoned magma chamber during the early volcanism the low mg lavas were erupted intermittently with the high mg types probably from a separate and much larger chamber pronounced differentiation of this magma is only evident in the youngest volcanic units where several element profiles display conspicuous steplike variations across the prominent ash flow horizons the steps reflect upward enrichments in nb zr and y and corresponding incremental depletions in ti p and sc such trends imply the existence of a discontinuous but reversed compositional zonation in the evolved low mg chamber the high fe ti p lavas were also erupted from the low mg chamber this may indicate the development of an early type of chemical stratification that was markedly different from the compositional layering in the evolved system

flexural slip during visco elastic buckle folding abstract flexural slip is considered as an important mechanism during folding and a general conceptual and qualitative understanding has been provided by various field studies however quantitative evidence of the importance of the flexural slip mechanism during fold evolution is sparse due to the lack of suitable strain markers in this study 2d finite element analysis is used to overcome these disadvantages and to simulate flexural slip during visco elastic buckle folding variations of single and multilayer layer fold configurations are investigated showing that flexural slip is most likely to occur in effective single layer buckle folds where slip occurs between contacts of competent layers based on effective single layer buckle folds the influence of the number of slip surfaces the degree of mechanical coupling based on the friction coefficient and layer thickness on the resulting slip distribution are investigated the results are in agreement with the conceptual flexural slip model and show that slip is initiated sequentially during the deformation history and is maximum along the central slip surface of the fold limb the cumulative amount of slip increases as the number of slip surfaces is increased for a lower degree of mechanical coupling increased slip results in different fold shapes such as box folds during buckling in comparison with laboratory experiments geometrical relationships and field observations the numerical modeling results show similar slip magnitudes it is concluded that flexural slip should represent a significant contribution during buckle folding affecting the resulting fold shape for increased amounts of slip

genetic aspects of the granophyric rocks of the bushveld complex this study of the granophyric rocks of the bushveld complex was undertaken in order to distinguish the different types of granophyre and to determine their probable origin aspects of the granophyre and associated rock types that were studied include their field relations geochemistry and rb sr isotope chemistry thermal modeling of causal mechanisms was also carried out the results obtained demonstrate that a number of genetically different types of granophyre exist in the bushveld complex two types the diepkloof granophyre and the zwartbank pseudogranophyre were formed by metamorphic processes related to the intrusion of the bushveld basic rocks a third type the stavoren granophyre was formed by magmatic processes it is also concluded that the stavoren granophyre is genetically related to the volcanic pre bushveld rooiberg group and forms the shallow intrusive equivalent thereof

the base of the jurassic system new data on the first appearance of psiloceras planorbis in southwest britain recent collecting in the lower lias of localities at st audrie s bay north somerset sedbury cliff gloucester and lavernock point south glamorgan has yielded psiloceras planorbis j de c sowerby in beds considered by some to be of rhaetian triassic age these are the earliest records of this ammonite to date in southwest britain evidence is provided of a major facies change at the top of the pre planorbis beds followed by the diachronous first occurrence of psiloceras planorbis these new data have implications for the use of earliest occurrence of psiloceras planorbis as a chronostratigraphic marker in defining the base of the jurassic system and for the definition of the base of the hettangian stage in the recently proposed candidate global stratotype section at st audrie s bay

the marine187os 186os record of the past 80 million years we report new187os 186os data and re and os concentrations in metalliferous sediments from the pacific to construct a composite os isotope seawater evolution curve over the past 80 m y analyses of four samples of upper cretaceous age yield187os 186os values of between 3 and 6 5 and187re 186os values below 55 mass balance calculations indicate that the pronounced minimum of about 2 in the os isotope ratio of seawater at the k t boundary probably reflects the enormous input of cosmogenic material into the oceans by the k t impactor s following a rapid recovery to187os 186os of 3 5 at 63 ma data for the early and middle part of the cenozoic show an increase in187os 186os to about 6 at 15 ma variations in the isotopic composition of leachable os from slowly accumulating metalliferous sediments show large fluctuations over short time spans in contrast analyses of rapidly accumulating metalliferous carbonates do not exhibit the large oscillations observed in the pelagic clay leach data these results together with sediment leaching experiments indicate that dissolution of non hydrogenous os can occur during the hydrogen peroxide leach and demonstrate that os data from pelagic clay leachates do not always reflect the os isotopic composition of seawater new data for the late cenozoic further substantiate the rapid increase in the187os 186os of seawater during the past 15 ma we interpret the correlation between the marine sr and os isotope records during this time period as evidence that weathering within the drainage basin of the ganges brahmaputra river system is responsible for driving seawater sr and os toward more radiogenic isotopic compositions the positive correlation between87sr 86sr and u concentration the covariation of u and re concentrations and the high dissolved re u and sr concentrations found in the ganges brahmaputra river waters supports this interpretation accelerating uplift of many orogens worldwide over the past 15 ma especially during the last 5 ma could have contributed to the rapid increase in187os 186os from 6 to 8 5 over the past 15 ma prior to 15 ma the marine sr and os record are not tightly coupled the heterogeneous distribution of different lithologies within eroding terrains may play an important role in decoupling the supplies of radiogenic os and sr to the oceans and account for the periods of decoupling of the marine sr and os isotope records

precise re os ages of organic rich mudrocks and the os isotope composition of jurassic seawater rhenium and osmium isotope and abundance data have been obtained on precisely located samples from three suites of immature organic rich mudrocks from jurassic coastal outcrops in england the data provide accurate whole rock ages of 207 12 ma 181 13 ma and 155 4 3 ma for suites of hettangian toarcian exaratum subzone and kimmeridgian sensu anglico wheatleyensis subzone samples these new re os ages are indistinguishable within the assigned analytical uncertainties from interpolated depositional ages estimated from published geological timescales and establish the importance of the re os dating technique for chronostratigraphic studies early diagenetic pyrite nodules possess levels of re and os which are 1 2 orders of magnitude lower than in the enclosing organic rich mudrocks indicating that these elements had already been removed from sediment pore waters at the time of nodule formation thus the re os isotope system in these organic rich mudrocks has been closed since or from very soon after the time of sediment deposition because most of the re 98 and os 95 99 8 in the mudrocks is shown to be hydrogenous the 187os 188os i of the samples is interpreted to be that of contemporaneous seawater the data thereby provide the first estimates of the os isotope composition of jurassic seawater during the earliest jurassic hettangian the seawater 187os 188os ratio was extremely unradiogenic 0 15 it had increased to 0 8 at the end of the early jurassic toarcian 20 ma later while in the late jurassic kimmeridgian the seawater 187os 188os ratio was 0 59 the most likely explanation for the unradiogenic os isotope composition of hettangian seawater is that the contribution of unradiogenic os to the oceans from the hydrothermal alteration of oceanic crust greatly exceeded the input of radiogenic os from the continents at that time this interpretation is in line with observations suggesting that global weathering rates were low in the hettangian and that increased hydrothermal and volcanic activity preceded the break up of pangea the re os ratios of hettangian mudrocks and by inference of contemporaneous seawater are similar to those of mudrocks deposited at later times during the jurassic and argues against the unradiogenic os in hettangian seawater being derived from extraterrestrial meteoritic sources

transfer of displacement from multiple slip zones to a major detachment in an extensional regime example from the dead sea rift israel fabric development and block rotation related to flexural slip were examined in sedimentary strata draped over a basement normal fault at the western margin of the dead sea rift in southern israel in addition to documenting differences in deformation style as a function of lithology this study focuses on the progressive development of flexural slip horizons and fabric development in extensional settings deformation in the intercalated shale siltstone carbonate and gypsum beds of the turonian ora formation is dominated by extension bedding plane slip and block rotation which occur at different scales and magnitudes throughout the approximately 12 m section extension appears as boudinage in carbonate beds and fibrous sigmoidal gypsum veins in shale whereas strong foliation highly deformed gypsum veins and asymmetric folds characterize slip and adjacent drag zones magnitude of extension in individual beds is directly related to relative magnitude of adjacent bedding plane slip horizons implying a common origin initial flexural slip was lithologically controlled with displacement occurring along numerous narrow zones throughout shale and siltstone horizons continued top to the west bedding plane slip however led to antithetic block rotation within competent beds which in turn resulted in the termination of slip along zones abutting block bounding faults as block size increased during progressive development of flexural slip so did the spacing between active slip zones therefore rigid block rotation within subhorizontal simple shear zones provided the mechanism for concentrating flexural slip along several major detachments during extension of the ora formation above a basin bounding normal fault

dinosteranes 4 23 24 trimethylsteranes and other biological markers in dinoglagellate rich marine sediments of rhaetian age abstract alkane biological marker distributions and concentrations have been determined in 18 samples from a section of rhaetian age from the bristol trough and a quantitative micropalaeontological analysis carried out taking into account previous geological investigations of the sequence three end member depositional settings have been recognised from changes in total organic carbon content the biological markers and the micropalaeontological composition these depositional environments are attributed as follows the first which occurs in the lower part of the section corresponds to deposition in a supratidal sabkha type setting with the major organic input being of allochthonous origin the second also in the lower part of the section indicates the occurrence of periods of marine incursion with enhanced salinity resulting from evaporation in the upper part of the section marginal marine conditions are apparent with higher organic carbon biological marker and amorphous organic matter contents at the top suggesting the establishment of more stable conditions of oxygen depletion some sediments in the sequence are notable for containing an abundance of cysts of rhaetogonyaulax rhaetica one of the oldest marine dinoflagellates comparison of microfossil abundances with hydrocarbon abundances extends the circumstantial evidence for the dinophyceae being the major biological source of dinosteranes 4 23 24 trimethylcholestanes and some other 4 methyl steranes in marine sediments the presence of dinosteranes and their 24 ethyl counterparts extends the stratigraphic range of occurrence of such components back to the rhaetian c 31 methyl steranes in the sediments from the second depositional setting are tentatively assigned a 4 22 23 24 tetramethyl sterane skeleton and a dinoflagellate origin

new geochemical evidence for the onset of volcanism in the central atlantic magmatic province and environmental change at the triassic jurassic boundary the late triassic early jurassic was a time of major global change however the fundamental processes driving these changes are less than clear we have determined the re and os abundances and os isotope compositions of marine mudrock samples that span the triassic jurassic boundary in the uk and have established that major isotopic and geochemical shifts in the composition of seawater took place in the latest triassic we argue that these shifts were caused by the sudden initiation of widespread igneous activity within the central atlantic magmatic province associated with rifting of the supercontinent pangea the os isotope composition of seawater responded rapidly to these events demonstrating that the seawater os isotope system has great potential in identifying the nature and precise timing of major environmental change

morphology and geometry of duplexes formed during flexural slip folding abstract bedding parallel slip on the limbs of chevron style folds during flexural slip folding results occasionally in the formation of small scale duplexes the duplexes described here from upper carboniferous turbidites in sw england generally range in thickness from 0 3 to 30 cm and are up to 2 4 m long they have smooth nearly flat roofs and both the internal thrusts and the slickenfibres on them are commonly oblique to the mean transport direction as indicated by slickenfibres on the floor and roof thrusts the morphology of the duplexes suggests that they developed between active floor and roof thrusts and they show a characteristic lack of hangingwall anticlines on the link thrusts their shear sense always corresponds to that required by flexural slip and the total bedding parallel displacement across each is commensurate with that predicted by the flexural slip model all thrust surfaces in the duplexes are marked by quartz fibre veins a feature which distinguishes them from soft sediment and other pre folding duplexes and carry slickenfibres whose mean orientation and complex variations in slip direction on different fibre sheets on the same slip surface are identical to those on flexural slip movement horizons from the same fold limb the duplexes form either as a result of resistance to thrust propagation by local facies or bed thickness changes or develop as transfer structures between the tips of movement horizons propagating along adjacent slip surfaces late stage duplexes develop from imbricated fibre veins and also form on slip surfaces oblique to the axial planes of major folds