ALBERT

Notes: [Auszug] A terrestrial stratigraphic record covering a large portion of the Pleistocene is found in several sedimentary basins in the eastern Rift zone of East Africa. We have examined the stable isotope variations through the Pleistocene at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania and in the sediments ...

Notes: Abstract The oxygen isotope ratios of various minerals were measured in a granulite-grade iron formation in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Estimates of temperature and pressure for the terrane using well calibrated geothermometers and geobarometers are 730±50° C and 5.5±0.5 kbar. The mineral constraints on fluid compositions in the iron formation during retrogression require either very CO2-rich fluids or no fluid at all. In the iron formation, isotopic temperature estimates from quartz-magnetite fractionations are controlled by the proximity to the enclosing granitic gneiss, and range from 500° C (Δ qz − mt=10.0‰) within 2–3 meters of the orthogneiss contact to 600° C (Δ qz − mt=8.0‰) farther from the contact. Temperature estimates from other isotopic thermometers are in good agreement with those derived from the quartz-magnetite fractionations. During prograde metamorphism, the isotopic composition of the iron formation was lowered by the infiltration of an external fluid. Equilibrium was achieved over tens of meters. Closed-system retrograde exchange is consistent with the nearly constant whole-rock δ 18Owr value of 8.0±0.6‰. The greater Δ qz-mt values in the iron formation near the orthogneiss contact are most likely due to a lower oxygen blocking temperature related to greater exchange-ability of deformed minerals at the contact. Cooling rates required to preserve the quartz-magnetite fractionations in the central portion of the iron formation are unreasonably high (∼800° C/Ma). In order to preserve the 600° C isotopic temperature, the diffusion coefficient D (for α-quartz) should be two orders of magnitude lower than the experimentally determined value of 2.5×10−16 cm2/s at 833 K. There are no values for the activation energy (Q) and pre-exponential diffusion coefficient (D 0), consistent with the experimentally determined values, that will result in reasonable cooling rates for the Wind River iron formation. The discrepancy between the diffusion coefficient inferred from the Wind River terrane and that measured experimentally is almost certainly due to the enhancement of exchange by the presence of water in the laboratory experiments. Cooling rate estimates were also determined for iron formation retrograded under water-rich conditions. Application of the experimentally determined data to these rocks results in a reasonable cooling rate estimate, supporting the conclusion that the presence of water greatly enhances oxygen diffusion.

Notes: Abstract Metamorphic temperatures of 330°–400° C are inferred for rocks from the Shuksan blueschist terrane in the North Cascades, Washington. The temperatures are calculated from 18O fractionations between coexisting quartz and magnetite using the equations of Bottinga and Javoy (1973). Pressures of approximately 7 kilobars are indicated by the Jadeite content of clinopyroxene coexisting with quartz+albite. Published experimental and theoretical studies of the stability of lawsonite and pumpellyite are consistent with the oxygen isotope temperatures and occurrence of these minerals in the Shuksan Suite.

Notes: [Auszug] The Koloula Igneous Complex, on the island of Guadalcanal, consists of a low-K calc-alkaline sequence of 26 different intrusive phases. The major intrusions are characterized by K/Rb〉400, Rb/Sr〈0.06, δ18O of 5.7 to 7.2 and uniform 87Sr/86Sr ...

Notes: [Auszug] SIR - Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) underwent dramatic changes during their evolutionary transformation from four-footed land animals to obligate swimmers. The morphological aspects of this transition have only recently been documented with fossils1'2 and provide a striking example of ...

Notes: Abstract Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies of a number of granite suites and mineral separates from the New England Batholith indicate that δO18 can be used to discriminate the major granite protoliths. The granite suites previously subdivided on the basis of mineralogical and geochemical criteria into S-type (sedimentary) and I-type (igneous) have δO18 values consistently higher in the S-type granites (10.4–12.5) than in the spatially related I-type plutons (7.7–9.9). There appears to be a systematic variation in δO18 from the most S-type to the most I-type granites, the dividing point between the two occuring at δO18 equal to 10. A group of leucocratic granites that form about half of the batholith and difficult to classify mineralogically and geochemically is found to have low δO18 values (6.4–8.1), suggesting an affinity to the most I-type granites. A single leucogranite pluton with minor muscovite has a δO18 of 9.6 which is significantly higher than other leucogranites indicating a different origin perhaps involving amphibole fractionation. The behavior of δD in the plutonic rocks is much less systematic than δO18. Excluding samples collected adjacent to major faults, the δD values show a rough positive correlation with water content similar to, but less pronounced than, the trend previously observed in the Berridale Batholith, southeastern Australia. This relation is considered to reflect an interaction between meteoric water and the granites, the largest effect being observed in samples with the least amount of water. Of note is the generally lower δD values of the upper Paleozoic New England Batholith compared with the Silurian Berridale Batholith. This difference may be related to a near equatorial paleolatitude of 22 °S in the Silurian and near polar paleolatitudes in the late Carboniferous that have been inferred for these regions. Granite samples collected from near major faults, and one ignimbrite sample of rhyodacite composition, have very low δD values (less than −120) suggesting a much greater degree of interaction with meteoric water.

Notes: Abstract The Jurassic Notch Peak granitic stock, western Utah, discordantly intrudes Cambrian interbedded pure limestones and calcareous argillites. Contact metamorphosed argillite and limestone samples, collected along traverses away from the intrusion, were analyzed for δ 18O, δ 13C, and δD. The δ 13C and δ 18O values for the limestones remain constant at about 0.5 (PDB) and 20 (SMOW), respectively, with increasing metamorphic grade. The whole rock δ 18O values of the argillites systematically decrease from 19 to as low as 8.1, and the δ 13C values of the carbonate fraction from 0.5 to −11.8. The change in δ 13C values can be explained by Rayleigh decarbonation during calcsilicate reactions, where calculated $$\Delta ^{13} {\text{C}}_{\left( {{\text{CO}}_{\text{2}} - {\text{cc}}} \right)}$$ is about 4.5 permil for the high-grade samples and less for medium and low-grade samples suggesting a range in temperatures at which most decarbonation occurred. However, the amount of CO2 released was not anough to decrease the whole rock δ 18O to the values observed in the argillites. The low δ 18O values close to the intrusion suggest interaction with magmatic water that had a δ 18O value of 8.5. The extreme lowering of δ 13C by fractional devolatilization and the lowering of δ 18O in argillites close to the intrusion indicates oxgen-equivalent fluid/rock ratios in excess of 1.0 and X(CO2)F of the fluid less than 0.2. Mineral assemblages in conjunction with the isotopic data indicate a strong influence of water infiltration on the reaction relations in the argillites and separate fluid and thermal fronts moving thru the argillites. The different stable isotope relations in limestones and argillites attest to the importance of decarbonation in the enhancement of permeability. The flow of fluids was confined to the argillite beds (argillite aquifers) whereas the limestones prevented vertical fluid flow and convective cooling of the stock.

Notes: Abstract Carbonatite lava and tephra are now well known. The only modern eruptive carbonatites, from Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania, are of alkali carbonatite, whereas all of the pre-modern examples are of calcite or dolomite. Chemical and stable isotope analyses were made of separate phases of Pliocene carbonatite tuffs of the Laetolil Beds in Tanzania and of Miocene carbonatite tuffs of the Kaiserstuhl in Germany in order to understand the reasons for this major difference. The Laetolil Beds contain numerous carbonatite and melilitite-carbonatite tuffs. It is proposed that the carbonatite ash was originally of alkali carbonate composition and that the alkali component was dissolved, leaving a residuum of calcium carbonate. The least recrystallized melilitite-carbonatite tuff contains early-deposited calcite cement and calcite pseudomorphs after nyerereite (?) that have contents of strontium and barium and δ 18O and δ 13C values suggestive of incomplete chemical and isotopic exchange during alteration and replacement of alkali carbonatite ash. Carbonatite tuffs of the Kaiserstuhl contain globules composed of calcite phenocrysts and microphenocrysts in a groundmass of calcite with a small amount of clay, apatite, and magnetite. The SrO contents of phenocrysts, microphenocrysts, and groundmass calcite average 0.90, 1.42, and 0.59 percent, respectively. The average δ 18O and δ 13C values of globules (+14.3 and −9.0, respectively) fall between those of coarse-grained intrusive Kaiserstuhl carbonatite (avg. +6.6, −5.8) and those of low-temperature calcite cement in the carbonatite tuffs (+21.8, −14.9). The phenocrysts and microphenocrysts are primary magmatic calcite, but several features indicate that the groundmass has been recrystallized and altered in contact with meteoric water, resulting in weathering of silicate to clay, leaching of strontium, and isotopic exchange. The weight of evidence favors an original high content of alkali carbonatite in the groundmass, with recrystallization following leaching of the alkalies.

Notes: Abstract  Hydrogen and oxygen isotope analyses have been made of hydrous minerals in gabbros and basaltic xenoliths from the Eocene Kap Edvard Holm intrusive complex of East Greenland. The analyzed samples are of three types: (1) primary igneous hornblendes and phlogopites that crystallized from partial melts of hydrothermally altered basaltic xenoliths, (2) primary igneous hornblendes that formed during late–magmatic recrystallization of layered gabbroic cumulates, and (3) secondary actinolite, epidote and chlorite that formed during subsolidus alteration of both xenoliths and gabbros. Secondary actinolite has a δ18O value of −5.8‰ and a δD value of −158‰. These low values reflect subsolidus alteration by low–δ18O, low–δD hydrothermal fluids of meteoric origin. The δD value is lower than the −146 to −112‰ values previously reported for amphiboles from other early Tertiary meteoric–hydrothermal systems in East Greenland and Scotland, indicating that the meteoric waters at Kap Edvard Holm were isotopically lighter than typical early Tertiary meteoric waters in the North Atlantic region. This probably reflects local climatic variations caused by formation of a major topographic dome at about the time of plutonism and hydrothermal activity. The calculated isotopic composition of the meteoric water is δD=−110 ± 10‰, δ18O ≈−15‰. Igneous hornblendes and phlogopites from pegmatitic pods in hornfelsed basaltic xenoliths have δ18O values between −6.0 and −3.8‰ and δD values between −155 and −140‰. These are both much lower than typical values of fresh basalts. The oxygen isotope fractionations between pegmatitic hornblendes and surrounding hornfelsic minerals are close to equilibrium fractionations for magmatic temperatures, indicating that the pegmatites crystallized from low–δ18O partial melts of xenoliths that had been hydrothermally altered and depleted in 18O prior to stoping. The pegmatitic minerals may have crystallized with low primary δD values inherited from the altered country rocks, but these values were probably overprinted extensively by subsolidus isotopic exchange with low–δD meteoric–hydrothermal fluids. This exchange was facilitated by rapid self–diffusion of hydrogen through the crystal structures. Primary igneous hornblendes from the plutonic rocks have δ18O values between +2.0 and +3.2‰ and δD values between −166 and −146‰. The 18O fractionations between hornblendes and coexisting augites are close to equilibrium fractionations for magmatic temperatures, indicating that the hornblendes crystallized directly from the magma and subsequently underwent little or no oxygen exchange. The hornblendes may have crystallized with low primary δD values, due to contamination of the magma with altered xenolithic material, but the final δD values were probably controlled largely by subsolidus isotopic exchange. This inference is based partly on the observation that coexisting plagioclase has been extensively depleted in 18O via a mineral–fluid exchange reaction that is much slower than the hydrogen exchange reaction in hornblende. It is concluded that all hydrous minerals in the study area, whether igneous or secondary, have δD values that reflect extensive subsolidus isotopic equilibration with meteoric–hydrothermal fluids.

Notes: Abstract Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen isotope variations have been measured in samples from the epithermal fluorite vein deposit at Monte delle Fate, Latium. The ranges in δ 13C and δ18O of calcite are −1.3 to 3.4 and 9.5 to 17.3, respectively. δD values of water extracted from fluid inclusions are −49 to −39 for calcite and −41 to −34 for fluorite. Fluid inclusion filling temperatures (225°–240°C) and salinites (3.75) are nearly the same for both fluorite and sparry calcite. An elongated form of calcite, of minor abundance, precipitated at lower temperatures. The data indicate that (1) the CO2 involved in the mineralization was provided by the local marine limestones, (2) the waters were meteoric in origin and underwent an 18O shift of ∼ 10 permil by exchange with marine country rocks, and (3) all geochemical features can be explained by the action of two hydrothermal fluids. Hot brines recently discovered in the Cesano geothermal area, 30 km to the east, have temperatures and some chemical characteristics similar to the hydrothermal fluids at Monte delle Fate.