ALBERT

Notes: Temporary array deployments of short-period seismometers in northern Australia have been used to build up composite record sections for waves interacting with the upper mantle. Stable measures of the seismic wavefield are provided by stacking the complex envelopes of all the seismic waveforms falling in a 10km distance interval away from the source.Two groups of sources (a) along the Flores Arc, Indonesia with propagation under northwestern Australia, and (b) in New Guinea with paths to the NNE of the array, have been used to construct composite record sections for both P and SV waves over the distance range 1300–2800 km. the timing and amplitude distributions for P waves from the two regions show noticeable differences. Detailed modelling of the record sections yields velocity models with significant variation in velocity for the two sets of propagation paths for which the midpoints are separated by about 1000km.The short-period SV-wave sections indicate efficient propagation of highfrequency S waves in a lithosphere extending down to 210km. Arrivals from the deeper mantle cannot be correlated with confidence because of a loss in high-frequency content revealed by broad-band observations. This requires a significant attenuation zone for S beneath 210 km.

Notes: A large array of short-period, portable seismographs was operated in the Northern Territory of Australia for 3 months in 1986 in order to record earthquakes in the island arcs to the north and east of Australia. The array consisted of 18 digital recorders, 28 analogue tape recorders and the 20 stations of the permanent Warramunga (WRA) seismic array. An unusual aspect of this experiment was the variable station spacing and apertures of the different elements of the hybrid array. The WRA and portable digital arrays had station spacing of 2.2 km and 5–13 km, respectively, and allowed confident identification of phases returned from the upper mantle, whilst the analogue array had station spacing of 40 km and allowed us to track mantle phases across its 500 km aperture.Seismograms from 17 shallow earthquakes (mb 4.3–5.1) in the Indonesian arc are used to investigate the P-wave velocity structure of the upper mantle beneath NW Australia. We combine seismograms from these events into a composite record section covering ranges from 1000 to 2600 km. Strong phases following the first P-wave arrivals in this composite record section clearly indicate the presence of significant structure in the upper mantle. Lateral heterogeneity in the upper mantle causes the timing and amplitudes of mantle phases to vary across the array and among earthquakes. In order to minimize the effects of lateral heterogeneity, we filter and stack the data and concentrate on features in the data that are seen for many individual seismograms and for several earthquakes. We calculate WKBJ and reflectivity seismograms in order to construct a vertical velocity profile that fits the observed traveltimes and waveforms in an average sense. Our preferred model NWB-1 includes second-order velocity discontinuities of 3.7 per cent near a depth of 200 km, 6.1 per cent near 400 km and 3.7 per cent near 620 km in order to reproduce the amplitudes of the later phases. The low amplitudes of the first arrivals in the range from 1600 to 2200 km require either a low-velocity zone below 230 km depth or a low velocity gradient between 230 km and the 400 km discontinuity. Model NWB-1 is smoother than some models that have been previously proposed for this region which may have mapped lateral heterogeneity into vertical velocity profiles.

Notes: Abstract Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses have been made of coexisting quartz, ilmenite, muscovite, and biotite from Late Precambrian metapelitic rocks, staurolite-kyanite to K-feldspar-muscovite-sillimanite zones, from Mica Creek, British Columbia. The δ18O and †D values of these minerals are generally uniform and do not decrease significantly with increasing metamorphic grade. This implies that there has not been significant infiltration of deep crustal, possibly magmatic, fluids into the metapelites that has been suggested for other high-grade metamorphic terranes. The uniformity of oxygen isotope compositions of the Mica Creek metapelite rocks may reflect isotopic uniformity in the sedimentary protolith rather than widespread exchange with an isotopically homogeneous metamorphic pore fluid.Temperature estimates based upon 18O exchange thermometry for samples below the sillimanite zone are in reasonable agreement with the results of garnet-biotite Fe–Mg exchange thermometry. In the higher grade rocks, the oxygen isotope and garnet-biotite thermometry yield results which disagree by about 100°C. The highest temperatures recorded by oxygen isotope thermometry, 595°C, are at least 60°C below the minimum temperatures required by phase equilibria. These discrepancies appear to result from pervasive equilibrium retrograde exchange of oxygen isotopes between coexisting minerals. In addition, there are problems with calibration of garnet-biotite thermometry at higher temperatures. Retrograde oxygen isotope exchange may be a general characteristic of high-grade metamorphic rocks and oxygen isotope thermometry may not usually record peak metamorphic temperatures if they significantly exceed 600°C.

Notes: Abstract Chemical analysis (including H2, F2, FeO, Fe2O3) of a Mg-vesuvianite from Georgetown, Calif., USA, yields a formula, Ca18.92Mg1.88Fe3+0.40Al10.97Si17.81- O69.0.1(OH)8.84F0.14, in good agreement on a cation basis with the analysis reported by Pabst (1936). X-ray and electron diffraction reveal sharp reflections violating the space group P4/nnc as consistent with domains having space groups P4/n and P4nc. Refinement of the average crystal structure in space group P4/nnc is consistent with occupancy of the A site with Al, of the half-occupied B site by 0.8 Mg and 0.2 Fe, of the half-occupied C site by Ca, of the Ca (1,2,3) sites by Ca, and the OH and O(10) sites by OH and O. We infer an idealized formula for Mg-vesuvianite to be Ca19Mg(MgAl7)Al4Si18O69(OH)9, which is related to Fe3+-vesuvianite by the substitutions Mg + OH = Fe3++ O in the B and O(10) sites and Fe3+= Al in the AlFe site.Thermodynamic calculations using this formula for Mg-vesuvianite are consistent with the phase equilibria of Hochella, Liou, Keskinen & Kim (1982) but inconsistent with those of Olesch (1978). Further work is needed in determining the composition and entropy of synthetic vs natural vesuvianite before quantitative phase equilibria can be dependably generated. A qualitative analysis of reactions in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-CO2 shows that assemblages with Mg-vesuvianite are stable to high T in the absence of quartz and require water-rich conditions (XH2O 〉 0.8). In the presence of wollastonite, Mg-vesuvianite requires very water-rich conditions (XH2O 〉 0.97).

Notes: [Auszug] Stable carbon isotopes in pedogenic carbonate1'4 and soil organic matter5'6 can be used as palaeoecological indicators. A critical assumption, however, in the use of pedogenic carbonate is that of isotopic equilibrium between the carbon species-soil CO2, dissolved carbonate species, and solid ...

Notes: Abstract The initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of twelve basalt flows of Jurassic age on Storm Peak in the Queen Alexandra Range are anomalously high and range from 0.7094–0.7133. The average value is 0.7112±0.0013 (1σ). The concentrations of rubidium and strontium have arithmetic means of 60.6±19.4 ppm and 128.8±11.9 ppm, respectively. The corresponding average Rb/Sr ratio is 0.47 which is also anomalously high for rocks of basaltic composition. In addition, these rocks have high concentrations of SiO2 (56.50%) and K2O (1.29%) and are depleted in Al2O3 (12.92%), MgO (3.44%) and CaO (7.91%) compared to average continental tholeiites. They are nevertheless classified as basalts on the basis of the composition of microphenocrysts. The initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and all of the chemical parameters of the flows exhibit systematic stratigraphic variations. These are interpreted as indicating the occurrence of four eruptive cycles. In a typical cycle the initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of successive flows and their concentrations of SiO2, FeO (total iron), Na2O, K2O, P2O5, Rb and Sr decrease in ascending stratigraphic sequence while the concentrations of TiO2, Al2O3, MgO, CaO and MnO increase upward. The initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the flows show a strong positive correlation with the strontium concentration. Similar correlations are observed between the initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and all of the major oxide components. These relationships are incompatible with the hypothesis that these flows are the products of crystal fractionation of a-34 magma at depth under closed-system conditions. It is suggested that the flows resulted from the hybridization of a normal tholeiite basalt magma by assimilation of varying amounts of granitic rocks in the Precambrian basement which underlies the entire Transantarctic Mountain chain. Mixtures of two components having different 87Sr/86Sr ratios and differing strontium concentrations are related to each other by hyperbolic mixing equation. Such an equation was fitted by least squares regression of data points to a straight line in coordinates of initial 87Sr/86Sr and the reciprocals of the concentrations of strontium. This equation and plots of strontium versus other oxides were then used to estimate the chemical composition of the parent basalt magma and of the granitic contaminant by substituting reasonable estimates of their 87Sr/86Sr ratios. The chemical composition of the parent basalt (87Sr/86Sr=0.706) is generally compatible with that of average continental tholeiite, but is distinctive by having a low concentration of strontium (117 ppm). The chemical composition of the contaminant (87Sr/86Sr=0.720) is enriched in strontium (173 ppm), SiO2, FeO (total iron) and the alkalies but is depleted in Al2O3, MgO and CaO. The data for strontium indicate that the lava flows on Storm Peak contain between 20 and 40% of this granitic contaminant. The contamination of basalt magma is not a local event but is characteristic of the Jurassic basalt flows and diabase sills throughout the Transantarctic Mountains and in Tasmania.