Sedimentology and Reservoir Characteristics of Early Cretaceous Fluvio-Deltaic and Lacustrine Deposits, Upper Abu Gabra Formation, Sufyan Sub-basin, Muglad Rift Basin, Sudan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yassin, Mohamed; Abdullatif, Osman; Hariri, Mustafa

2017-04-01

Sufyan Sub-basin is an East-West trending Sub-basin located in the northwestern part of the Muglad Basin (Sudan), in the eastern extension of the West and Central Africa Rift System (WCARS). The Early Cretaceous Abu Gabra Formation considered as the main source rock in the Muglad Basin. In Sufyan Sub-basin the Early Cretaceous Upper Abu Gabra Formation is the main oil-producing reservoir. It is dominated by sandstone and shales deposited in fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine environment during the first rift cycle in the basin. Depositional and post-depositional processes highly influenced the reservoir quality and architecture. This study investigates different scales of reservoir heterogeneities from macro to micro scale. Subsurface facies analysis was analyzed based on the description of six conventional cores from two wells. Approaches include well log analysis, thin sections and scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations, grain-size, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the Abu Gabra sandstone. The cores and well logs analyses revealed six lithofacies representing fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine depositional environment. The sandstone is medium to coarse-grained, poorly to moderately sorted and sub-angular to subrounded, Sub-feldspathic arenite to quartz arenite. On macro-scale, reservoir quality varies within Abu Gabra reservoir where it shows progressive coarsening upward tendencies with different degrees of connectivity. The upper part of the reservoir showed well connected and amalgamated sandstone bodies, the middle to lower parts, however, have moderate to low sandstone bodies' connectivity and amalgamation. On micro-scale, sandstone reservoir quality is directly affected by textures and diagenesis.The XRD and SEM analyses show that kaolinite and chlorite clay are the common clay minerals in the studied samples. Clay matrix and quartz overgrowth have significantly reduced the reservoir porosity and permeability, while the dissolution of feldspars during the diagenetic process increase it. The estimated porosity in Abu Gabra Formation ranges from 10 to 21% with an average of 15%; while permeability varies from 200 to 400 md. The results of this study might contribute to better understanding of reservoir heterogeneities and help in reservoir quality prediction, therefore enhancing the hydrocarbon productivity.

U-Pb age constraints for the La Tuna Granite and Montevideo Formation (Paleoproterozoic, Uruguay): Unravelling the structure of the Río de la Plata Craton

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pamoukaghlián, Karina; Gaucher, Claudio; Frei, Robert; Poiré, Daniel G.; Chemale, Farid; Frei, Dirk; Will, Thomas M.

2017-11-01

The Río de la Plata Craton is a continental block that crops out in Uruguay, eastern Argentina, southernmost Brazil and Paraguay. It comprises in Uruguay the Piedra Alta, Tandilia and Nico Pérez terranes, separated by the Colonia and the Sarandí del Yí megashears. The La Tuna Granite, which intrudes the Araminda metasandstones in the Tandilia Terrane, was considered Cambrian in age and the intruded sandstones were assigned to the Neoproterozoic Piedras de Afilar Formation. We show that the granite is Paleoproterozoic in age and that the host metasandstones do not belong to the Piedras de Afilar Formation, but to the Paleoproterozoic Montevideo Formation. U-Pb LA ICP-MS of zircon ages for the La Tuna Granite yielded a concordant crystallization age of 2156 ± 26 Ma. Furthermore a metamorphic event at 2010 ± 9 Ma is revealed by Pb stepwise leaching dating of monazites. U-Pb detrital zircon ages of the host Araminda metasandstone yield an upper intercept discordia age of 2152 ± 29 Ma, which marks the intrusion of the La Tuna pluton, and which is in accordance with the zircon U-Pb LA ICP MS constraints. A concordant U-Pb detrital zircon age of 2465 ± 40 Ma provides a maximum depositional age constraint for the metapsammites. Comparing quartz arenites of the Ediacaran Piedras de Afilar Formation with the Araminda metaquartzites, we conclude that they are very similar regarding petrology but they differ in age and metamorphic overprint. Detrital zircons in quartz arenites of the Piedras de Afilar Formation show youngest ages of 1.0 Ga. On the other hand, detrital zircons recovered from the Araminda metasandstones and the age of the intruding granite allow interpreting a depositional age between 2465 and 2150 Ma. Nd model ages show crustal residence times in average more than 200 myr older for the Tandilia Terrane both in Uruguay and Argentina, with a significant Neoarchean component, which is lacking in the Piedra Alta Terrane. Whereas the Piedra Alta Terrane was formed rapidly from a juvenile source, the Tandilia Terrane shows a more protracted history. Our data support the interpretation of the Tandilia Terrane as a separate tectonostratigraphic unit.

Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental summary of the south-east Georgia Embayment: a correlation of exploratory wells

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poppe, L.J.; Popenoe, P.; Poag, C.W.; Swift, B.A.

1995-01-01

A Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST) well and six exploratory wells have been drilled in the south-east Georgia embayment. The oldest rocks penetrated are weakly metamorphosed Lower Ordovician quartz arenites and Silurian shales and argillites in the Transco 1005-1 well and Upper Devonian argillites in the COST GE-1 well. The Palaeozoic strata are unconformably overlain by interbedded non-marine Jurassic sandstones and shales and marginal marine Lower Cretaceous rocks. Together, these rocks are stratigraphically equivalent to the onshore Fort Pierce and Cotton Valley(?) Formations and rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Comanchean Provincial Series. The Upper Cretaceous part of the section is composed mainly of neritic calcareous shales and shaley limestones stratigraphically equivalent to the primarily marginal marine facies of the onshore Atkinson, Cape Fear and Middendorf Formations and Black Creek Group, and to limestones and shales of the Lawson Limestone and Peedee Formations. Cenozoic strata are also described. -from Authors

Devonian-Carboniferous boundary succession in Eastern Taurides, Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atakul-Özdemir, Ayşe; Altıner, Demir; Özkan-Altıner, Sevinç

2015-04-01

The succession covering the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in Eastern Taurides comprises mainly limestones, shales and siltstones. The studied section starts at the base with bioturbated limestones alternating with shales and is followed upwards by platy limestones, and continues with the alternations of bioturbated and platy limestones. Towards the upper part of the succession the alternations of limestone, shales and siltstones reappear again and the top of the section is capped by quartz arenitic sandstone. The studied section spanning the Uppermost Devonian-Lower Carboniferous interval yields a not very abundant, but quite important assemblage of conodont taxa including species of Bispathodus, Polygnathus, Palmatolepis, Spathognathodus and Vogelgnathus. The uppermost Devonian part of the succession is characterized by the presence of Bispathodus costatus, Bispathodus aculeatus aculeatus, Polygnathus communis communis, Palmatolepis gracilis gracilis and Spathognathodus sp.. The Lower Carboniferous in the studied section is represented by the appearance of Polygnathus inornatus and Polygnathus communis communis. Based on the recovered conodont assemblages, Devonian-Carboniferous boundary in Eastern Turides has been determined by the appearance and disappearance of major conodont species.

Mechanism of concave ``tafoni'' and convex ``domal shape'' formation on TRIASSIC red sandstone of some old buildings, Chester City, UK, Case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamh, G. M. E.

2005-08-01

The weathering factors act on the recent and archaeological sites through different processes based on the dominant environmental conditions. The net result of weathering is deformation of the original form of construction rock. In the current case study, the main aim is to find out the mechanism of formation of two different weathering forms recorded on many old buildings taking Chester City as a case study. The construction rock in the case study is arenitic sandstone with carbonate content ranging from 0.0 to 15.6%. The sandstone blocks are cemented together by hydraulic lime mortar that can easily be altered chemically to salts by acid rain that dominates at the study area. In case of mortar with worse geotechnical limits than the sandstone blocks, the net result is convex “domal” shape blocks, but in case of mortar with better geotechnical limits than the construction sandstone, the net result of weathering is tafoni “concave” weathering form.

The tectonic significance of K/Ar illite fine-fraction ages from the San Luis Formation (Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wemmer, Klaus; Steenken, André; Müller, Stefan; de Luchi, Mónica G. López; Siegesmund, Siegfried

2011-04-01

The Sierra de San Luis forms the southern tip of the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas in central Argentina. Two narrow belts of low-grade phyllites and quartz arenites, i.e. the San Luis Formation, have accommodated part of the strain-related differential exhumation of the medium- to high-grade metamorphic domains that constitute to the basement complex of the sierra. Eleven phyllite samples were subjected to the K/Ar fine-fraction dating technique. Results are interpreted in relation to the Kübler index of the illites, which indicate epimetamorphic conditions for the majority of the samples. Obtained ages between 330 and 290 Ma cover a period of compressional tectonics in the late Mississippian (Visean/Serpukhovian boundary) followed by the subsidence during the formation of the Paganzo Basin in the provinces of La Rioja and San Luis. These tectonic movements are coincident with the Toco orogeny in northern Chile and southern Bolivia. This suggests that the older K/Ar ages document the compressional stage and that younger ages record the cooling of the basement during the subsequent extensional uplift of the basement.

Provenance of the Walash-Naopurdan back-arc-arc clastic sequences in the Iraqi Zagros Suture Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Sarmad A.; Sleabi, Rajaa S.; Talabani, Mohammad J. A.; Jones, Brian G.

2017-01-01

Marine clastic rocks occurring in the Walash and Naopurdan Groups in the Hasanbag and Qalander areas, Kurdistan region, Iraqi Zagros Suture Zone, are lithic arenites with high proportions of volcanic rock fragments. Geochemical classification of the Eocene Walash and Oligocene Naopurdan clastic rocks indicates that they were mainly derived from associated sub-alkaline basalt and andesitic basalt in back-arc and island arc tectonic settings. Major and trace element geochemical data reveal that the Naopurdan samples are chemically less mature than the Walash samples and both were subjected to moderate weathering. The seaway in the southern Neotethys Ocean was shallow during both Eocene and Oligocene permitting mixing of sediment from the volcanic arcs with sediment derived from the Arabian continental margin. The Walash and Naopurdan clastic rocks enhance an earlier tectonic model of the Zagros Suture Zone with their deposition occurring during the Eocene Walash calc-alkaline back-arc magmatism and Early Oligocene Naopurdan island arc magmatism in the final stages of intra-oceanic subduction before the Miocene closure and obduction of the Neotethys basin.

Sedimentologic and reservoir characteristics under the tectono-sequence stratigraphic framework: A case study from the Early Cretaceous, upper Abu Gabra sandstones, Sufyan Sub-basin, Muglad Basin, Sudan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yassin, Mohamed A.; Hariri, Mustafa M.; Abdullatif, Osman M.; Makkawi, M.; Bertotti, G.; Kaminski, Michael A.

2018-06-01

The Sufyan Sub-basin is an east-west trending Sub-basin located in the northwestern part of the Muglad Basin, in the eastern extension of the West and Central Africa Rift System (WCARS). Exploration results showed the occurrence of accumulations of hydrocarbon. The source rock for these hydrocarbons is believed to be the lacustrine shale of the Abu Gabra Formation. Fluvio-deltaic sandstones within the Abu Gabra Formation represent the primary reservoir. Depositional and post-depositional processes influence reservoir heterogeneity, quality, and architecture. This study investigates different scales of reservoir heterogeneities from basin to micro scale and discusses the impact of depositional facies and diagenesis on reservoir quality. Approaches include seismic interpretation, seismic attribute analysis, well log analysis, thin sections and scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the Abu Gabra Formation. Sedimentologic interpretation in this study was performed based on core cuttings, well logs, and seismic data. Subsurface facies analysis was analyzed based on the description of six conventional cores from two wells. Seven lithofacies in Abu Gabra Formation are identified. Four types of depositional systems are identified in the studied succession. These are braided delta, fan delta, sublacustrine fan, and lacustrine systems. The sandstone is medium to coarse-grained, poorly to moderately sorted and sub-angular to sub-rounded, sub-feldspathic arenite to quartz arenite. At the basin scale, the Abu Gabra Formation showed different sandstone bodies thickness, geometry, and architecture and are ascribed to different depositional systems. At macro and meso-scales, reservoir quality varies within the Abu Gabra reservoir where it shows progressive coarsening upward tendencies with different degrees of connectivity. The upper part of the reservoir is well connected with amalgamated sandstone bodies, however, the middle to lower parts have moderate to low sandstone body connectivity and amalgamation. At a micro-scale, sandstone reservoir quality is directly affected by texture and diagenesis. The XRD and SEM analyses show that kaolinite and chlorite clay are the common clay minerals in the studied samples. Clay matrix and quartz overgrowth have significantly reduced the reservoir porosity and permeability, while the dissolution of feldspars during the diagenetic process increase it. The estimated porosity in Abu Gabra Formation ranges from 5 to 21% with an average of 13%; while permeability varies from 0.22 to 732 mD with an average of 240 mD. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of reservoir heterogeneities and help in reservoir quality prediction, therefore enhancing the hydrocarbon productivity.

Detrital zircon provenance of Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian arenites in the Western United States and Northwestern Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stewart, John H.; Gehrels, G.E.; Barth, A.P.; Link, P.K.; Christie-Blick, N.; Wrucke, C.T.

2001-01-01

U-Pb isotopic dating of detrital zircon from supracrustal Proterozoic and Cambrian arenites from the western United States and northern Mexico reveal three main age groups, 1.90 to 1.62 Ga, 1.45 to 1.40 Ga, and 1.2 to 1.0 Ga. Small amounts of zircons with ages of 3.1 to 2.5 Ga, 1.57 Ga, 1.32 Ga, 1.26 Ga, 0.7 Ga, and 0.5 Ga are also present. Detrital zircons ranging in age from 1.90 to 1.62 Ga and from 1.45 to 1.40 Ga are considered to have been derived from Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks of these known ages, and probably in part from reworked Proterozoic supracrustal sedimentary rocks, of the western United States. The 1.2 to 1.0 Ga detrital zircon ages from California, Arizona, and Sonora are characterized by distinct spikes (1.11 Ga, in particular) in the age-probability plots. These spikes are interpreted to indicate the influx of zircon from major silicic volcanic fields. Igneous rocks such as the Pikes Peak Granite (1.093 Ga) of Colorado, and the Aibo Granite (1.110 Ga) of Sonora, Mexico, may represent the deeply eroded roots of such volcanic fields. Samples from farther north along the Cordilleran margin that contain abundant 1.2-1.0 Ga detrital zircons do not show spikes in the age distribution, but rather ages spread out across the entire 1.2-1.0 Ga range. These age spectra resemble those for detrital zircons from the Grenville province, which is considered their source. Less common detrital zircons had a variety of sources. Zircons ranging in age from 3.36 to 2.31 Ga were apparently derived from inland parts of the North American continent from Wyoming to Canada. Zircons of about 1.577 Ga are highly unusual and may have had an exotic source; they may have come from Australia and been deposited in North America when Australia and North America were juxtaposed as part of the hypothetical Rodinian supercontinent. Detrital zircon of ??1.320 Ga apparently had the same source as that for tuff (1.320 Ga) in the Pioneer Shale of the Apache Group in Arizona. Detrital zircons of about 1.26 Ga in the Apache Group and Troy Quartzite appear to be related to local, approximately coeval volcanic fields. Zircons of about 0.7 Ga may have had a source in igneous rocks related to rifting of the Proterozoic supercontinent of Rodinia, and 0.5 Ga zircons a source in relatively small areas of granitic rocks of this known, or inferred, age in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Hematite-Rich Spherules: Implications for Diagenesis and Hematite Spherule Formation in Outcrops at Meridiani Planum, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golden, D. C.; Ming, D. W.; Morris, R. V.; Graff, T. G.

2007-01-01

The Athena science payload onboard the Opportunity rover identified hematite-rich spherules (mean diameter of 4.2 +/- 0.8 mm) embedded in outcrops and occurring as lag deposits at Meridiani Planum. They have formed as diagenetic concretions from the rapid breakdown of pre-existing jarosite and other iron sulfates when chemically distinct groundwater passed through the sediments. Diagenetic, Fe-cemented concretions found in the Jurassic Navajo Formation, Utah and hematite-rich spherules found within sulfate-rich volcanic breccia on Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii are possible terrestrial analogues for Meridiani spherules. The Navajo Formation concretions form in porous quartz arenite from the dissolution of iron oxides by reducing fluids and subsequent Fe precipitation to form spherical Fe- and Si-rich concretions. The Mauna Kea spherules form by hydrothermal, acid-sulfate alteration of basaltic tephra. The formation of hematite-rich spherules with similar chemical, mineralogical, and morphological properties to the Meridiani spherules is rare on Earth, so little is known about their formation conditions. In this study, we have synthesized in the laboratory hematite-rich spherules that are analogous in nearly all respects to the Meridiani spherules.

Sedimentary and petrofacies analyses of the Amasiri Sandstone, southern Benue Trough, Nigeria: Implications for depositional environment and tectonic provenance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okoro, A. U.; Igwe, E. O.; Nwajide, C. S.

2016-11-01

This study was undertaken to determine the depositional environment, provenance and tectonic setting for the Turonian Amasiri Sandstone, southern Benue Trough, Nigeria, using lithofacies analysis and re-appraisal of petrography of the sandstones. Local stratigraphy and field relationships show a thick succession of shales alternating with elongate/parallel sandstone ridges extending eastwards from Akpoha to Amasiri through Itigidi and Ugep to Apiapum areas. Lithofacies analysis reveals 9 lithofacies suggestive of storm (mass flow) and tidal shelf processes. These include dark grey to black laminated shale/silty mudstones, bioturbated mudstones, coquinoid limestones, very fine-grained bioturbated sandstones with shell hash/debris in places and limestone rip-up clasts, massive and chaotic sandy conglomerate with rip - up clasts, fine to medium-grained, parallel laminated sandstone, hummocky cross-stratified, massive, medium to coarse-grained sandstones, medium to very coarse-grained, planar cross-bedded sandstone, with clay-draped foresets and Ophiomorpha burrows, and coarse-grained trough cross-bedded sandstone. Petrofacies analysis identifies the sandstones as feldspathic and arkosic arenites. Ternary plot of framework mineralogy indicates derivation from an uplifted continental block related to the nearby Oban Massif and Cameroon Basement Complex.

QUANTIFYING THE MICROMECHANICAL EFFECTS OF VARIABLE CEMENT IN GRANULAR POROUS MEDIA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boutt, David F; Goodwin, Laurel B

2010-03-01

The mechanical and hydrologic behavior of clastic rocks and sediments is fundamentally controlled by variables such as grain size and shape, sorting, grain and cement mineralogy, porosity, and %cement - parameters that are not used directly in field-scale models of coupled flow and deformation. To improve our understanding of the relationship between these micromechanical properties and bulk behavior we focused on (1) relating detailed, quantitative characterization of the grain-pore systems to both hydrologic and mechanical properties of a suite of variably quartz-cemented quartz arenite samples and (2) the use of a combination of discrete element method (DEM) and poroelastic modelsmore » parameterized by data from the natural samples to isolate and compare the influence of changes in the mechanical and hydrologic properties of granular porous media due to changes in degree of cementation. Quartz overgrowths, the most common form of authigenic cements in sandstones, are responsible for significant porosity and permeability reduction. The distribution of quartz overgrowths is controlled by available pore space and the crystallographic orientations of individual quartz grains. Study of the St. Peter Sandstone allowed evaluation of the relative effects of quartz cementation and compaction on final grain and pore morphology, showing that progressive quartz cementation modifies the grain framework in consistent, predictable ways. Detailed microstructural characterization and multiple regression analyses show that with progressive diagenesis, the number and length of grain contacts increases as the number of pores increases, the number of large, well-connected pores decreases, and pores become rounder. These changes cause a decrease in pore size variability that leads to a decrease in bulk permeability and both stiffening and strengthening of the grain framework. The consistent nature of these changes allows us to predict variations in hydrologic and mechanical properties with progressive diagenesis, and explore the impact of these changes on aquifer behavior. Several examples of this predictive capability are offered. In one application, data from natural sandstones are used to calibrate the proportionality constant of the Kozeny- Carman relationship, improving the ability to predict permeability in quartz-cemented quartz arenites. In another, the bond-to-grain ratio (BGR) is used to parameterize a discrete element model with data acquired from sandstone samples. The DEM results provide input to poroelastic models used to explore the hydrologic, mechanical, and coupled hydrologic and mechanical response of the sandstone to pumping stresses. This modeling exercise shows that at the macroscale, changes in mechanical and hydrologic properties directly influence the magnitude and area of aquifer deformation. The significant difference in sensitivity of the system to the mechanical properties alone versus its sensitivity to coupled mechanical and hydrologic properties demonstrates the importance of including hydrologic properties that are adjusted for changes in cementation in fluid storage and deformation studies. The large magnitude of radial deformation compared to vertical deformation in these models emphasizes the importance of considering three dimensional deformation in fluid flow and deformation studies.« less

Digenetic Changes in Macro- to Nano-Scale Porosity in the St. Peter Sandstone:L An (Ultra) Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Backscattered Electron Imagining Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anovitz, Lawrence; Cole, David; Rother, Gernot

2013-01-01

Small- and Ultra-Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS and USANS) provide powerful tools for quantitative analysis of porous rocks, yielding bulk statistical information over a wide range of length scales. This study utilized (U)SANS to characterize shallowly buried quartz arenites from the St. Peter Sandstone. Backscattered electron imaging was also used to extend the data to larger scales. These samples contain significant volumes of large-scale porosity, modified by quartz overgrowths, and neutron scattering results show significant sub-micron porosity. While previous scattering data from sandstones suggest scattering is dominated by surface fractal behavior over many orders of magnitude, careful analysis of ourmore » data shows both fractal and pseudo-fractal behavior. The scattering curves are composed of subtle steps, modeled as polydispersed assemblages of pores with log-normal distributions. However, in some samples an additional surface-fractal overprint is present, while in others there is no such structure, and scattering can be explained by summation of non-fractal structures. Combined with our work on other rock-types, these data suggest that microporosity is more prevalent, and may play a much more important role than previously thought in fluid/rock interactions.« less

Optically continuous silcrete quartz cements of the St. Peter Sandstone: High precision oxygen isotope analysis by ion microprobe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, Jacque L.; Fu, Bin; Kita, Noriko T.; Valley, John W.

2007-08-01

A detailed oxygen isotope study of detrital quartz and authigenic quartz overgrowths from shallowly buried (<1 km) quartz arenites of the St. Peter Sandstone (in SW Wisconsin) constrains temperature and fluid sources during diagenesis. Quartz overgrowths are syntaxial (optically continuous) and show complex luminescent zonation by cathodoluminescence. Detrital quartz grains were separated from 53 rocks and analyzed for oxygen isotope ratio by laser fluorination, resulting in an average δ 18O of 10.0 ± 0.2‰ (1SD, n = 109). Twelve thin sections were analyzed by CAMECA-1280 ion microprobe (6-10 μm spot size, analytical precision better than ±0.2‰, 1SD). Detrital quartz grains have an average δ 18O of 10.0 ± 1.4‰ (1SD, n = 91) identical to the data obtained by laser fluorination. The ion microprobe data reveal true variability that is otherwise lost by homogenization of powdered samples necessary for laser fluorination. Laser fluorination uses samples that are one million times larger than the ion microprobe. Whole rock (WR) samples from the 53 rocks were analyzed by laser fluorination, giving δ 18O between 9.8‰ and 16.7‰ ( n = 110). Quartz overgrowths in thin sections from 10 rocks were analyzed by ion microprobe and average δ 18O = 29.3 ± 1.0‰ (1SD, n = 161). Given the similarity, on average, of δ 18O for all detrital quartz grains and for all quartz overgrowths, samples with higher δ 18O(WR) values can be shown to have more cement. The quartz cement in the 53 rocks, calculated by mass balance, varies from <1 to 21 vol.% cement, with one outlier at 33 vol.% cement. Eolian samples have an average of 11% cement compared to marine samples, which average 4% cement. Two models for quartz cementation have been investigated: high temperature (50-110 °C) formation from ore-forming brines related to Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) mineralization and formation as silcretes at low temperature (10-30 °C). The homogeneity of δ 18O for quartz overgrowths determined by ion microprobe rules out a systematic regional variation of temperature as predicted for MVT brines and there are no other known heating events in these sediments that were never buried to depths >1 km. The data in this study suggest that quartz overgrowths formed as silcretes in the St. Peter Sandstone from meteoric water with δ 18O values of -10‰ to -5‰ at 10-30 °C. This interpretation runs counter to conventional wisdom based on fibrous or opaline silica cements suggesting that the formation of syntaxial quartz overgrowths requires higher temperatures. While metastable silica cements commonly form at high degrees of silica oversaturation following rapid break-down reactions of materials such as of feldspars or glass, the weathering of a clean quartz arenite is slower facilitating chemical equilibrium and precipitation of crystallographically oriented overgrowths of α-quartz.

Provenance analysis and tectonic setting of the Triassic clastic deposits in Western Chukotka, Northeast Russia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuchkova, M. I.; Sokolov, S.; Kravchenko-Berezhnoy, I. R.

2009-09-01

The study area is part of the Anyui subterrane of the Chukotka microplate, a key element in the evolution of the Amerasia Basin, located in Western Chukotka, Northeast Russia. The subterrane contains variably deformed, folded and cleaved rhythmic Triassic terrigenous deposits which represent the youngest stage of widespread marine deposition which form three different complexes: Lower-Middle Triassic, Upper Triassic (Carnian) and Upper Triassic (Norian). All of the complexes are represented by rhythmic interbeds of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. Macrofaunas are not numerous, and in some cases deposits are dated by analogy to, or by their relationship with, other units dated with macrofaunas. The deposits are composed of pelagic sediments, low-density flows, high-density flows, and shelf facies associations suggesting that sedimentation was controlled by deltaic progradation on a continental shelf and subsequent submarine fan sedimentation at the base of the continental slope. Petrographic study of the mineral composition indicates that the sandstones are lithic arenites. Although the Triassic sandstones appear similar in outcrop and by classification, the constituent rock fragments are of diverse lithologies, and change in composition from lower grade metamorphic rocks in the Lower-Middle Triassic to higher grade metamorphic rocks in the Upper Triassic. This change suggests that the Triassic deposits represent an unroofing sequence as the source of the clastic material came from more deeply buried rocks with time.

Early Cambrian wave-formed shoreline deposits: the Hardeberga Formation, Bornholm, Denmark

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clemmensen, Lars B.; Glad, Aslaug C.; Pedersen, Gunver K.

2017-09-01

During the early Cambrian, the Danish island Bornholm was situated on the northern edge of the continent Baltica with palaeolatitudes of about 35°S. An early Cambrian (Terreneuvian) transgression inundated large areas of Baltica including Bornholm creating shallow marine and coastline environments. During this period, wave-formed shoreline sediments (the Vik Member, Hardeberga Formation) were deposited on Bornholm and are presently exposed at Strøby quarry. The sediments consist of fine- and medium-grained quartz-cemented arenites in association with a few silt-rich mudstones. The presence of well-preserved subaqueous dunes and wave ripples indicates deposition in a wave-dominated upper shoreface (littoral zone) environment, and the presence of interference ripples indicates that the littoral zone environment experienced water level fluctuations due to tides and/or changing meteorological conditions. Discoidal structures (medusoids) are present in the quarry, but due to the relative poor preservation of their fine-scale structures it is difficult to determine if the discoids represent true medusae imprints or inorganic structures. The preservation of the shallow-water bedforms as well as the possible medusae imprints is related to either the formation of thin mud layers, formed during a period of calm water when winds blew offshore for a longer period, or to the growth of bacterial mats. The orientation of the wave-formed bedforms indicates a local palaeoshoreline trending NE-SW and facing a large ocean to the north.

Stratigraphy and facies development of the marine Late Devonian near the Boulongour Reservoir, northwest Xinjiang, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suttner, Thomas J.; Kido, Erika; Chen, Xiuqin; Mawson, Ruth; Waters, Johnny A.; Frýda, Jiří; Mathieson, David; Molloy, Peter D.; Pickett, John; Webster, Gary D.; Frýdová, Barbora

2014-02-01

Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous stratigraphic units within the 'Zhulumute' Formation, Hongguleleng Formation (stratotype), 'Hebukehe' Formation and the Heishantou Formation near the Boulongour Reservoir in northwestern Xinjiang are fossil-rich. The Hongguleleng and 'Hebukehe' formations are biostratigraphically well constrained by microfossils from the latest Frasnian linguiformis to mid-Famennian trachytera conodont biozones. The Hongguleleng Formation (96.8 m) is characterized by bioclastic argillaceous limestones and marls (the dominant facies) intercalated with green spiculitic calcareous shales. It yields abundant and highly diverse faunas of bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids with subordinate solitary rugose corals, ostracods, trilobites, conodonts and other fish teeth. The succeeding 'Hebukehe' Formation (95.7 m) consists of siltstones, mudstones, arenites and intervals of bioclastic limestone (e.g. 'Blastoid Hill') and cherts with radiolarians. A diverse ichnofauna, phacopid trilobites, echinoderms (crinoids and blastoids) together with brachiopods, ostracods, bryozoans and rare cephalopods have been collected from this interval. Analysis of geochemical data, microfacies and especially the distribution of marine organisms, which are not described in detail here, but used for facies analysis, indicate a deepening of the depositional environment at the Boulongour Reservoir section. Results presented here concern mainly the sedimentological and stratigraphical context of the investigated section. Additionally, one Late Devonian palaeo-oceanic and biotic event, the Upper Kellwasser Event is recognized near the section base.

Rainy Lake wrench zone: An example of an Archaean subprovince boundary in northwestern Ontario

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poulsen, K. H.

1986-01-01

The Superior Province of the Canadian Shield comprises an alternation of subprovinces with contrasting lithological, structural and metamorphic styles. Rocks of the Rainly Lake area form a fault bounded wedge between two of these subprovinces, the Wabigoon granite-greenstone terrain to the north and the Quetico metasedimentary terrain to the south. The Quetico and Seine River-Rainy Lake Faults bound this wedge within which interpretation of the stratigraphy has been historically contentious. In the eastern part of the wedge, volcanic rocks and coeval tonalitic sills are unconformably overlain by fluviatile conglomerate and arenite of the Seine Group; in the western part of the wedge, metamorphosed wacke and mudstone of the Coutchiching Group are cut by granodioritic plutons. The Coutchiching Group has previously been correlated with the Seine Group and with the turbiditic Quetico metasediments of the Quetico Subprovince and these correlations are the cornerstone of earlier tectonic models which relate the subprovinces. The structural geology of the Rainy Lake area is characterized by attributes which compare favourably with the known characteristics of dextral wrench or 'transpressive zones based both on experimental data and natural examples. Much of this deformation involved the Seine Group, the youngest stratigraphic unit in the area, and predates the emplacement of late-to-post-tectonic granodioritic plutons for which radiometric data indicate a Late Archean age.

Multidisciplinary approach for the characterization of a new Late Cretaceous continental arc in the Central Pontides (Northern Turkey)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellero, Alessandro; Ottria, Giuseppe; Sayit, Kaan; Catanzariti, Rita; Frassi, Chiara; Cemal Göncüoǧlu, M.; Marroni, Michele; Pandolfi, Luca

2016-04-01

In the Central Pontides (Northern Turkey), south of Tosya, a tectonic unit consisting of not-metamorphic volcanic rocks and overlying sedimentary succession is exposed inside a fault-bounded elongated block. It is restrained within a wide shear zone, where the Intra-Pontide suture zone, the Sakarya terrane and the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone are juxtaposed as result of strike-slip activity of the North Anatolian shear zone. The volcanic rocks are mainly basalts and basaltic andesites (with their pyroclastic equivalents) associated with a volcaniclastic formation made up of breccias and sandstones that are stratigraphically overlain by a Marly-calcareous turbidite formation. The calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy points to a late Santonian-middle Campanian age (CC17-CC21 Zones) for the sedimentary succession. The geochemistry of the volcanic rocks reveals an active continental margin setting as evidenced by the enrichment in Th and LREE over HFSE, and the Nb-enriched nature of these lavas relative to N-MORB. As highlighted by the performed arenite petrography, the occurrence of continent-derived clastics in the sedimentary succession supports the hypothesis of a continental arc-derived volcanic succession. Alternative geodynamic reconstructions are proposed, where this tectonic unit could represent a slice derived from the northern continental margin of the Intra- Pontide or Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan oceanic basins.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Winn, R.D. Jr.; Steinmetz, J.C.; Kerekgyarto, W.L.

Lithological and compositional relationships, thicknesses, and palynological data from drilling cuttings from five wells in the Anza rift, Kenya, indicate active rifting during the Late Cretaceous and Eocene-Oligocene. The earlier rifting possibly started in the Santonian-Coniacian, primarily occurred in the Campanian, and probably extended into the Maastrichtian. Anza rift sedimentation was in lacustrine, lacustrine-deltaic, fluvial, and flood-basin environments. Inferred synrift intervals in wells are shalier, thicker, more compositionally immature, and more poorly sorted than Lower Cretaceous ( )-lower Upper Cretaceous and upper Oligocene( )-Miocene interrift deposits. Synrift sandstone is mostly feldspathic or arkosic wacke. Sandstone deposited in the Anza basinmore » during nonrift periods is mostly quartz arenite, and is coarser and has a high proportion of probable fluvial deposits relative to other facies. Volcanic debris is absent in sedimentary strata older than Pliocene-Holocene, although small Cretaceous intrusions are present in the basin. Cretaceous sandstone is cemented in places by laumontite, possibly recording Campanian extension. Early Cretaceous history of the Anza basin is poorly known because of the limited strata sampled; Jurassic units were not reached. Cretaceous rifting in the Anza basin was synchronous with rifting in Sudan and with the breakup and separation of South America and Africa; these events likely were related. Eocene-Oligocene extension in the Anza basin reflects different stresses. The transition from active rifting to passive subsidence in the Anza basin at the end of the Neogene, in turn, records a reconfigured response of east African plates to stresses and is correlated with formation of the East Africa rift.« less

Subdivision of the Cambrian-Ordovician Upper Sandstone Aquifer'' in the Fox Cities area, east-central Wisconsin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Erikson, K.A.; Smith, G.L.

The informally-named Upper Sandstone Aquifer,'' a lithologically heterogeneous unit, has been subdivided into three thinner hydrostratigraphic units, the Upper Cambrian Jordan Formation (sandstone), the Lower Ordovician Prairie du Chien Group (dolomite), and the Middle Ordovician St. Peter Formation (mostly sandstone). Reevaluation of the Upper Sandstone Aquifer'' in the Fox Cities area (Appleton, Neenah, Menasha) was based on detailed analysis of 125 geologic well logs and 200 well-construction reports. Isopach maps and geologic cross-sections of these units in the Fox Cities area show extreme variations in thickness over short lateral distances. Although the Jordan Formation has a uniform thickness of 13more » m (40 ft), the Prairie du Chien Group varies from 0--88 m (0--275 ft). The St. Peter Formation varies in thickness from 0--108 m (0--335 ft). The Prairie du Chien Group is relatively thin or absent in the Fox Cities area in locations where the overlying St. Peter Formation is relatively thick. St Peter can be further subdivided into Readstown, Tonti, and Glenwood Members. The Readstown Member is a lithologically heterogeneous unit of variable thickness and distribution. The Tonti Member is a poorly cemented, fine-medium quartz arenite with which is lumped the Glenwood Member, a conglomeratic, silty medium-coarse sandstone. Maximum St. Peter thicknesses represent filled paleokarst depressions developed on top of the Prairie du Chien Group, with profound implications for estimates of hydraulic conductivity.« less

Geohydrology of the High Energy Laser System Test Facility site, White Sands Missile Range, Tularosa Basin, south-central New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Basabilvazo, G.T.; Nickerson, E.L.; Myers, R.G.

1994-01-01

The Yesum-HoHoman and Gypsum land (hummocky) soils at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility (HELSTF) represent wind deposits from recently desiccated lacustrine deposits and deposits from the ancestral Lake Otero. The upper 15-20 feet of the subsurface consists of varved gypsiferous clay and silt. Below these surfidai deposits the lithology consists of interbedded clay units, silty-clay units, and fine- to medium-grained quartz arenite units in continuous and discontinuous horizons. Clay horizons can cause perched water above the water table. Analyses of selected clay samples indicate that clay units are composed chiefly of kaolinire and mixed-layer illite/ smectite. The main aquifer is representative of a leaky-confined aquifer. Estimated aquifer properties are: transmissivity (T) = 780 feet squared per day, storage coefficient (S) = 3.1 x 10-3, and hydraulic conductivity (K) = 6.0 feet per day. Ground water flows south and southwest; the estimated hydraulic gradient is 5.3 feet per mile. Analyses of water samples indicate that ground water at the HELSTF site is brackish to slightly saline at the top of the main aquifer. Dissolved-solids concentration near the top of the main aquifer ranges from 5,940 to 11,800 milligrams per liter. Predominant ions are sodium and sulfate. At 815 feet below land surface, the largest dissolved-solids concentration measured is 111,000 milligrams per liter, which indicates increasing salinity with depth. Predominant ions are sodium and chloride.

Petrography and geochemistry of Jurassic sandstones from the Jhuran Formation of Jara dome, Kachchh basin, India: Implications for provenance and tectonic setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Periasamy, V.; Venkateshwarlu, M.

2017-06-01

Sandstones of Jhuran Formation from Jara dome, western Kachchh, Gujarat, India were studied for major, trace and rare earth element (REE) geochemistry to deduce their paleo-weathering, tectonic setting, source rock characteristics and provenance. Petrographic analysis shows that sandstones are having quartz grains with minor amount of K-feldspar and lithic fragments in the modal ratio of Q 89:F 7:L 4. On the basis of geochemical results, sandstones are classified into arkose, sub-litharenite, wacke and quartz arenite. The corrected CIA values indicate that the weathering at source region was moderate to intense. The distribution of major and REE elements in the samples normalized to upper continental crust (UCC) and chondrite values indicate similar pattern of UCC. The tectonic discrimination diagram based on the elemental concentrations and elemental ratios of Fe2O3 + MgO vs. TiO2, SiO2 vs. log(K2O/Na2O), Sc/Cr vs. La/Y, Th-Sc-Zr/10, La-Th-Sc plots Jhuran Formation samples in continental rift and collision settings. The plots of Ni against TiO2, La/Sc vs. Th/Co and V-Ni-Th ∗10 reveals that the sediments of Jhuran Formation were derived from felsic rock sources. Additionally, the diagram of (Gd/Yb) N against Eu/Eu ∗ suggest the post-Archean provenance as source possibly Nagar Parkar complex for the studied samples.

An integrated study of geochemistry and mineralogy of the Upper Tukau Formation, Borneo Island (East Malaysia): Sediment provenance, depositional setting and tectonic implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagarajan, Ramasamy; Roy, Priyadarsi D.; Kessler, Franz L.; Jong, John; Dayong, Vivian; Jonathan, M. P.

2017-08-01

An integrated study using bulk chemical composition, mineralogy and mineral chemistry of sedimentary rocks from the Tukau Formation of Borneo Island (Sarawak, Malaysia) is presented in order to understand the depositional and tectonic settings during the Neogene. Sedimentary rocks are chemically classified as shale, wacke, arkose, litharenite and quartz arenite and consist of quartz, illite, feldspar, rutile and anatase, zircon, tourmaline, chromite and monazite. All of them are highly matured and were derived from a moderate to intensively weathered source. Bulk and mineral chemistries suggest that these rocks were recycled from sedimentary to metasedimentary source regions with some input from granitoids and mafic-ultramafic rocks. The chondrite normalized REE signature indicates the presence of felsic rocks in the source region. Zircon geochronology shows that the samples were of Cretaceous and Triassic age. Comparable ages of zircon from the Tukau Formation sedimentary rocks, granitoids of the Schwaner Mountains (southern Borneo) and Tin Belt of the Malaysia Peninsular suggest that the principal provenance for the Rajang Group were further uplifted and eroded during the Neogene. Additionally, presence of chromian spinels and their chemistry indicate a minor influence of mafic and ultramafic rocks present in the Rajang Group. From a tectonic standpoint, the Tukau Formation sedimentary rocks were deposited in a passive margin with passive collisional and rift settings. Our key geochemical observation on tectonic setting is comparable to the regional geological setting of northwestern Borneo as described in the literature.

Water pollution in relation to mineral exploration: a case study from Alayi-Ovim area of southeastern Nigeria.

PubMed

Ibe, Kalu K; Akaolisa, Casmir C Zanders

2012-05-01

Water samples from rivers, streams, springs, and shallow wells in Alayi-Ovim area of southeast Nigeria have been analyzed for Pb, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mg, PO(4), NO(3), CO(3), SO(4), Cl, and pH. The analyses were carried out using atomic absorption spectrometer and Hach Direct Reading Equipment. Results of the analyses from the area conform to the WHO (1995) standards for drinking water. However, the results show relative enrichment of Ca, pH, Mg, CO(3), and Cl. Low values were obtained for Fe, SO(4), and NO(3). While the Cl and Pb enrichment in the area north of Alayi-Ovim axis is attributed to proximity to the lead-zinc and chloride-rich formations of the Turonian Eze-Aku and the Albian Asu River; the Ca, Mg, SO(4), and CO(3) enrichment in Southern part of Alayi-Ovim is due to the limestone-bearing Late Maastrichtian Nsukka Formation. Furthermore, the very low values of less than 5 ppm for these characters in water in the central region correlate well with the relatively clean Maastrichtian quartz arenite Ajali Sandstone Formation. The Pb-Zn and Cl incursions into the water system from the Older Albian Asu River/Turonian Eze-Aku Formations in the northern part of Alayi-Ovim area and the leaching of Mg, and Ca into the water system in the Maastrichtian limestone area in the south thus constitute geochemical indices for chemical pollution and mineral exploration for brine and dolomitic limestone in the area.

Mixed siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentation within Spar Mountain Member of Ste. Genevieve Limestone, Hamilton County, Illinois

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roberts, M.J.; Pryor, W.A.

1985-02-01

The Spar Mountain Member of the Ste. Genevieve Limestone (middle Mississippian) in Hamilton County, Illinois, consists of 40-60 ft (12-18 m) of interbedded limestones, shales, and sandstones. Five cores and 1400 electric logs were used to delineate two shallowing-upward carbonate cycles and 2 major clastic pulses within the Spar Mountain. Eight lithofacies representing 6 depositional environments were identified. They are: (A) echinoderm-brachiopod dolostone to packstone (outer ramp), (B) ooid-peloidal grainstone (intermediate ramp), (C) skeletal grainstone (intermediate ramp), (D) ooid-molluscan-intraclastic wackestone to grainstone (inner ramp), (E) pelletal-skeletal wackestone (inner ramp), (F) quartzarenite (channelized nearshore), (G) quartz-sublithic arenite to wacke (delta platform),more » and (H) quartz mudstone (prodelta, delta platform). Deposition occurred on a southwest-dipping carbonate ramp, with siliciclastic sediments originating from the northeast. The sequence of facies and their inferred depositional environments record 2 major progradational episodes. Oolitic facies are interpreted to be of tidal-bar belt origin and quartzarenite facies are interpreted to be of delta-distributary channel origin. Their distribution is partially controlled by antecedent and syndepositional topography. Many of these paleotopographic highes are positive features today and yield pinch-out stratigraphic relationships. Paleogeographic reconstructions demonstrate that the primary control on facies distribution was the position of the delta proper along strike. However, depositional topography also influenced sedimentation, particularly in the sand-sized fraction. Using this concept, better prediction of underlying porous buildups (ooid shoals) is possible if thickness of the overlying siliciclastic is known. Within buildups, a complex diagenetic history complicates the distribution of porosity.« less

The evolution of the Piedemonte Llanero petroleum system, Cordillera Oriental, Colombia (2) Reservoir petrography & petroleum geochemistry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piggott, N.; Vear, A.; Warren, E.A.

1996-08-01

Detailed quantification of cements and rock texture, fluid inclusion microthermometry, thermal maturity data, oil-source rock correlations and structural restorations have been integrated to reveal the porosity and hydrocarbon charge evolution of reservoirs in the Piedemonte Llanero thrustbelt of Colombia. Active exploration of deeply buried structures in different thrust sheets of the Piedemonte Llanero has encountered quartz arenites of widely varying average porosities (4-15%). Porosity has been reduced by mechanical compaction and quartz cementation during burial, and by pressure solution during structural deformation. The relative importance and timing of these processes varies between thrust sheets controlling the observed porosity variation. Thermalmore » maturity data indicate that all thrust sheets have been deeply buried and uplifted in several stages of compression. Detailed structural restorations indicate significant differences in the burial histories of individual thrust sheets. Oil-source rock correlations suggest two major hydrocarbon components in the thrustbelt: a Late Cretaceous oil-prone source and a Tertiary oil- and gas-prone source. Initial generation charged early structures leading to partial inhibition of quartz cementation. For most structures quartz cementation predated major hydrocarbon migration. Average quartz cementation temperature is uniform within a structure, but varies between thrust sheets. These variations appear to reflect differences in burial depths during quartz cementation rather than variations in timing. Integration of all data reveals a complex but predictable evolution of porosity and hydrocarbon charge in both space and time which is being applied to current exploration in the Piedemonte Llanero and is relevant to thrustbelt exploration elsewhere.« less

Reservoir performance of Late Eocene incised valley fills, Cusiana Field, Llanos Foothills, Eastern Colombia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pulham, A.; Edward, W.; App, J.

1996-12-31

The Cusiana Field is located in the Llanos Foothills of Eastern Colombia. The principal reservoir is the late Eocene Mirador Formation which comprises >50% of reserves. Currently the Mirador reservoir is providing nearly all of the 150,00bopd of production from the Cusiana Field. The Mirador reservoir comprises a stack of incised valley deposits. The fills of the valleys are dominated by quartz arenite sandstones. The average porosity of the valley sandstones is 8% which reflects abundant quartz cement ({approximately}14%) and significant compaction during deep burial ({approximately}20,000feet). Single valleys are up to 70 feet thick and exhibit a distinctive bipartite fillmore » that reflects changing energy conditions during filling. Bases of valleys have the coarsest grain size and have sedimentological and trace fossil evidence for deposition in highly stressed, brackish water environments. The upper parts of the valleys are typically finer grained and were deposited in more saline settings. Despite the low porosity of the Mirador valleys, drill stem tests and production log data show that they have phenomenal performance characteristics. Rates of {ge}10,000bopd are achieved from single valleys. Bases of the valley fills are the key contributors to flow. Integration of detailed core and pore system analysis with the reservoir performance data shows that the permeability fabric of the Mirador can be explained by original depositional architecture and simple loss of primary porosity. Comparison of Cusiana with other quartz-rich sandstones from around the world suggests that it`s low porosity/high performance is predictable.« less

Sedimentology of the Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic (?) Mosolotsane Formation (Karoo Supergroup), Kalahari Karoo Basin, Botswana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordy, Emese M.; Segwabe, Tebogo; Makuke, Bonno

2010-08-01

The Mosolotsane Formation (Lebung Group, Karoo Supergroup) in the Kalahari Karoo Basin of Botswana is a scantly exposed, terrestrial red bed succession which is lithologically correlated with the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Molteno and Elliot Formations (Karoo Supergroup) in South Africa. New evidence derived from field observations and borehole data via sedimentary facies analysis allowed the assessment of the facies characteristics, distribution and thickness variation as well as palaeo-current directions and sediment composition, and resulted in the palaeo-environmental reconstruction of this poorly known unit. Our results show that the Mosolotsane Formation was deposited in a relatively low-sinuosity meandering river system that drained in a possibly semi-arid environment. Sandstone petrography revealed mainly quartz-rich arenites that were derived from a continental block provenance dominated by metamorphic and/or igneous rocks. Palaeo-flow measurements indicate reasonably strong, unidirectional current patterns with mean flow directions from southeast and east-southeast to northwest and west-northwest. Regional thickness and facies distributions as well as palaeo-drainage indicators suggest that the main depocenter of the Mosolotsane Formation was in the central part of the Kalahari Karoo Basin. Separated from this main depocenter by a west-northwest - east-southeast trending elevated area, an additional depocenter was situated in the north-northeast part of the basin and probably formed part of the Mid-Zambezi Karoo Basin. In addition, data also suggests that further northeast-southwest trending uplands probably existed in the northwest and east, the latter separating the main Kalahari Karoo depocenter from the Tuli Basin.

Depositional environment of downdip Yegua (Eocene) sandstones, Jackson County, Texas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whitten, C.J.; Berg, R.R.

Yegua sandstones at a depth of 8300-8580 ft (2530-2615 m) were partly cored in the Arco Jansky 1 dry hole. Total thickness of the sandstone section is approximately 240 ft (73 m). The sandstones are enclosed in thick marine shales and are about 20 mi (32 km) downdip from thicker and more abundant sandstones in the Yegua Formation. The section is similar to reservoirs recently discovered in the area at the Toro Grande (1984), Lost Bridge (1984), and El Torito (1985) fields. The sandstones are fine to very fine grained and occur in thin beds that are 0.5-9 ft (0.15-2.7more » m) thick. Sedimentary structures within the beds range from a lower massive division to a laminated or rippled upper division. Grain size within beds fines upward from 0.18 mm at the base to 0.05 mm at the top. The sandstones are interpreted to be turbidites of the AB type that were deposited within channels. The sandstones contain an average of 50% quartz and are classified as volcanic-arenites to feldspathic litharenites. Carbonate cement ranges from 0 to 27%. Average porosity is 29% and permeabilities are in the range of 60-1600 md in the clean sandstones. Much of the porosity is secondary and is the result of the dissolution of cements, volcanic rock fragments, and feldspar grains. Yegua sandstones produce gas and condensate at nearby Toro Grande field on a gentle, faulted anticline. The local trend of reservoir sandstones may be controlled in part by faulting that was contemporaneous with deposition.« less

Early Triassic change in the erosional level in the eastern part of the Bohemian Massif revealed by detrital garnet assemblages from the Buntsandstein siliciclastics of southern Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowal-Linka, Monika; Walczak, Klaudia

2017-04-01

Garnets, as constituents of various magmatic and metamorphic rocks, show different chemical compositions depending on the type of magma or primary rock, the temperature, and the pressure. This diversity of chemical compositions makes detrital garnets a very useful tool for provenance analysis and deciphering changes in erosional levels of source areas. Preliminary works reveal that the Lower and Middle Buntsandstein terrigenous and marine sandstones cropping out in southern Poland (50˚ 28'20"N, 18˚ 04'33"E and 50˚ 27'35"N, 18˚ 07'23"E) are characterized by very different heavy mineral assemblages (HMA) and types of detrital garnets. The aim of the research is to recognize the source areas and causes of these distinct variations using petrographic analysis, heavy mineral analysis, and electron probe microanalysis. During the Early Triassic, the area under study was located between two landmasses: the eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif (BM) to the west and Pre-Carpathian Land (PCL) to the east. Presently, the sampled area is situated ˜50 km from the NE margin of the BM, which consists of many garnet-bearing rocks and is a presumable source area for the examined grains. The PCL was hidden under the Carpathians during the Alpine orogeny and knowledge of its composition is very limited. Petrographic analysis shows that the older sandstones are red to rusty quartz arenites with a hematite-rich matrix and well-rounded grains (aeolian deposits). The younger sandstones are bicolored quartz wackes (dirty pink with grey patches) with a calcite matrix and angular to rounded grains (shallow marine deposits). The arenites contain zircon, tourmaline, and rutile grains accompanied by garnet, staurolite, apatite, and topaz. The opaque heavy minerals include ilmenite, ilmenite-rutile aggregates, magnetite and rarely chromian spinel. In contrast, the HMA from the wackes consist mostly of garnets, while the minerals listed above occur in subordinate amounts. The garnets from the older sandstones are rich in pyrope molecule. They include peridotite-derived pyropes (Prp(62)66-73Alm4-21(23)Grs(1)4-9(14)Uv(1)2-9(14)Sps1And<1), which are accompanied by pyrope-almandine-grossular garnets with a wide range of compositions (Prp(11)18-62Alm17-49Grs10-38(44)Uv<1-3Sps1-2And<1-1), derived from garnet pyroxenites and eclogites. By contrast, the garnets occurring in the wackes reveal definitely higher content of almandine molecule. The most abundant are the HP felsic granulite-derived almandine-pyrope garnets with low content of grossular molecule (Prp(25)27-49(54)Alm(42)45-65(68)Grs1-15Uv<1Sps1-2And<1). They are accompanied by almandine-pyrope-grossular garnets derived from mafic granulites, amphibolites, and eclogites. The other types of garnets occur with lower frequency. The examined HMA and garnet assemblages show different compositions in comparison with all the previously investigated Carboniferous, Permian, and Early Triassic HMA from the nearby areas in Poland and the Czech Republic. Detailed comparative analysis indicated the Moldanubian Zone as the most probable and important source area for the majority of the detrital garnets. The differences between the HMA and the garnet assemblages suggest a distinct change in the erosional level of the eastern part of the Moldanubian Zone during the Early Triassic. Combined tectonic and surficial process likely caused the change in the types of the exhumed rocks subjected to erosion. M. Kowal-Linka is supported by NCN grant 2014/13/B/ST10/02102.

Stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental summary of the south-east Georgia embayment: a correlation of exploratory wells

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poppe, Lawrence J.; Popenoe, Peter; Poag, C. Wylie; Swift, B. Ann

1995-01-01

A Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST) well and six exploratory wells have been drilled in the south-east Georgia embayment. The oldest rocks penetrated are weakly metamorphosed Lower Ordovician quartz arenites and Silurian shales and argillites in the Transco 1005-1 well and Upper Devonian argillites in the COST GE-1 well. These marine strata, which are equivalent to the Tippecanoe sequence in Florida, underlie the post-rift unconformity and represent part of a disjunct fragment of Gondwana that was sutured to the North American craton during the late Palaeozoic Alleghanian orogeny. The Palaeozoic strata are unconformably overlain by interbedded non-marine Jurassic (Bajocian and younger) sandstones and shales and marginal marine Lower Cretaceous sandstones, calcareous shales and carbonates, which contain scattered beds of coal and evaporite. Together, these rocks are stratigraphically equivalent to the onshore Fort Pierce and Cotton Valley(?) Formations and rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Comanchean Provincial Series. The abundance of carbonates and evaporites in this interval, which reflects marine influences within the embayment, increases upwards, eastwards and southwards. The Upper Cretaceous part of the section is composed mainly of neritic calcareous shales and shaley limestones stratigraphically equivalent to the primarily marginal marine facies of the onshore Atkinson, Cape Fear and Middendorf Formations and Black Creek Group, and to limestones and shales of the Lawson Limestone and Peedee Formations. Cenozoic strata are primarily semiconsolidated marine carbonates. Palaeocene to middle Eocene strata are commonly cherty; middle Miocene to Pliocene strata are massive and locally phosphatic and glauconitic; Quaternary sediments are dominated by unconsolidated carbonate sands. The effects of eustatic changes and shifts in the palaeocirculation are recorded in the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary strata.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ethridge, F.G.; Saracino, A.M.; Burns, L.K.

The encompassing sandstones, siltstones, shales and thin conglomerates of the gasified G Coal seam at the North Knobs SDB-UCG site were deposited mainly in fluvial and poorly-drained swamp environments. These beds dip at 65/sup 0/ at the North Knobs site. Thin section and SEM analyses of the sandstones and coarse siltstones show that they are sublithic to subarkosic arenites cemented with clay minerals, calcite hematite, siderite and silica. The sandstones of Unit D directly above the coal seam have the highest concentration of calcite cement, the lowest mean grain size, and are best sorted in terms of quartz grain sizemore » variations; however, they are the worst sorted in terms of sieve size variations. Clay minerals in the sandstones are dominantly kaolinite and smectite with lesser amounts of illite and chlorite. These clays are of secondary origin. Heat alteration is present only in coals and overburden rock from cores that penetrated the cavity. Thermally altered rocks including hornfels, buchite, paralava rock and paralava breccia were found in the bottom of the dipping cavity near the injection well. The high temperature minerals of tridymite, cristobalite, mullite, cordierite, monoclinic pyroxene and high temperature plagioclase indicate that temperatures of at least 1200/sup 0/C to 1400/sup 0/C were attained in the lower part of the burn cavity. The mechanical test on the unaltered and altered overburden rock show that the most important lithologic property controlling rock strength and seismic wave velocity is the amount and type of cement in the rock. Other parameters measured were grain size, amount of clay cement, and porosity; sorting had a secondary effect on the rock strength and seismic wave velocity. There is a non-linear and direct relationship between mechanical strength and ultrasonic wave velocities for the rock tests. 30 references.« less

Evaluation of bacterial diversity recovered from petroleum samples using different physical matrices.

PubMed

Dellagnezze, Bruna Martins; Vasconcellos, Suzan Pantaroto de; Melo, Itamar Soares de; Santos Neto, Eugênio Vaz Dos; Oliveira, Valéria Maia de

2016-01-01

Unraveling the microbial diversity and its complexity in petroleum reservoir environments has been a challenge throughout the years. Despite the techniques developed in order to improve methodologies involving DNA extraction from crude oil, microbial enrichments using different culture conditions can be applied as a way to increase the recovery of DNA from environments with low cellular density for further microbiological analyses. This work aimed at the evaluation of different matrices (arenite, shale and polyurethane foam) as support materials for microbial growth and biofilm formation in enrichments using a biodegraded petroleum sample as inoculum in sulfate reducing condition. Subsequent microbial diversity characterization was carried out using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM), Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) and 16S rRNA gene libraries in order to compare the microbial biomass yield, DNA recovery efficiency and diversity among the enrichments. The DNA from microbial communities in petroleum enrichments was purified according to a protocol established in this work and used for 16S rRNA amplification with bacterial generic primers. The PCR products were cloned, and positive clones were screened by Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA). Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the bacterial community was mostly represented by members of the genera Petrotoga, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Geobacillus and Rahnella. The use of different support materials in the enrichments yielded an increase in microbial biomass and biofilm formation, indicating that these materials may be employed for efficient biomass recovery from petroleum reservoir samples. Nonetheless, the most diverse microbiota were recovered from the biodegraded petroleum sample using polyurethane foam cubes as support material. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Cusiana trend exploration, Llanos foothills, Colombia - The opening of a new hydrocarbon province

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hayward, A.B.; Addison, F.T.; O`Leary, J.

1996-08-01

The discovery of the Cusiana field in 1992 followed 30 years of exploration in the Llanos fold and thrust belt of Colombia. Early exploration activity focused on large surface anticlines that were all fresh water flushed - a consequence of along strike exposure of the reservoir rocks. The potential for deeper, subthrust, trapping geometries was recognized in the early 1970s however, exploration at the time was hindered by very poor quality seismic data and significant drilling difficulties. The 1980s exploration effort was characterized by continued poor quality seismic data and drilling difficulties combined with a geological perception that there wasmore » no effective reservoir and the majority of the structures post dated the major period of hydrocarbon generation and migration. The Cusiana discovery with a gross hydrocarbon column in excess of 1500{prime} reservoired within the Mirador (Eocene), Barco (Palaeocene) and Guadalupe (Upper Cretaceous) Formations in a large thrust anticline demonstrated the presence of a working hydrocarbon system. Subsequent exploration of the trend to the north has resulted in the discovery of four further giant oil and gas fields, Cupiagua (500 MMBBLs, 1-2 tcf) and the Florena/Pauto/Volcanera complex with estimated reserves of 1 billion barrels and 10 tcf. Key to this success has been the seismic imaging of the trapping geometries resulting from a significant improvement in the quality of the seismic data - a consequence of improvements in both acquisition and processing technology, combined with a recognition that pure quartz arenites retain reservoir quality at significant depths of burial-and that despite original depths of burial of greater than 18,000 ft, reservoir quality was not a major risk for further exploration success.« less

Giant weathering pits in the Entrada Sandstone, southeastern Utah: Preliminary findings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Netoff, D.I.; Shroba, R.R.

Giant weathering pits formed in outcrops of the lower Entrada Sandstone slickrock of Jurassic age are present in two areas in the Glen Canyon region of arid southeastern Utah. The pits are far larger than any previously described in the geologic literature. The pits near Cookie Jar Butte are commonly cylindrical, typically have low width-to-depth ratios (1.5--3.6), and have a depth of closure of as much as 18 m. There are no obvious lithologic or structural controls that determine their shape or location. Many of the pits at Rock Creek Bay are elongate; several of them have long axes inmore » excess of 53 m, and the longest one is 74 m. Many of the pit walls are breached at the top, and the depth of closure is generally less than 6 m. The shapes of these pits are influenced by point orientation and pit coalescence. Thin-section analyses of near-surface sandstone cores taken near Cookie Jar Butte from pit walls, floors, and rims reveal no significant diagenetic alteration of the fine-grained to very fine frained quartzose sandstone (quartz arenite). Quartz grains appear fresh, and feldspar grains are only slightly weathered. The cement between the grains is mostly CaCO[sub 3]. In several of the pits in both areas sandy sediment veneers the bedrock floor. This sediment is similar in character to the adjacent sandstone and is probably locally derived. Possible origins of the giant pits include various physical, chemical, and biological weathering processes that initiate pit development, followed by excavation by plunge-pool action, wind deflation, dissolution, and piping. Preliminary field and laboratory data do not clearly identify and single process of group of processes that account for pit development.« less

Petrographic and reservoir features of Hauterivian (Lower Cretaceous) Shatlyk horizon in the Malay gas field, Amu-Darya basin, east Turkmenia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Naz, H.; Ersan, A.

1996-08-01

Malay gas field in Amu-Darya basin, eastern Turkmenia, is located on the structural high that is on the Malay-Bagadzha arch north of the Repetek-Kelif structure zone. With 500 km{sup 2} areal coverage, 16 producing wells and 200 billion m{sup 3} estimated reserves, the field was discovered in 1978 and production began in 1987 from 2400-m-deep Hauterivian-age (Early Cretaceous) Shatlyk horizon. The Shatlyk elastic sequence shows various thickness up to 100 m in the Malay structural closure and is studied through E-log, core, petrographic data and reservoir characteristics. The Shatlyk consists of poorly indurated, reddish-brown and gray sandstones, and sandy graymore » shales. The overall sand-shale ratio increases up and the shales interleave between the sand packages. The reservoir sandstones are very fine to medium grained, moderately sorted, compositionally immature, subarkosic arenites. The framework grains include quartz, feldspar and volcanic lithic fragments. Quartz grains are monocrystalline in type and most are volcanic in origin. Feldspars consist of K- Feldspar and plagioclase. The orthoclases are affected by preferential alteration. The sandstones show high primary intergranular porosity and variations in permeability. Patch-like evaporate cement and the iron-rich grain coatings are reducing effects in permeability. The coats are pervasive in reddish-brown sandstones but are not observed in the gray sandstones. The evaporate cement is present in all the sandstone samples examined and, in places, follows the oxidation coats. The petrographic evidences and the regional facies studies suggest the deposition in intersection area from continental to marine nearshore deltaic environment.« less

Mixing of biogenic siliceous and terrigenous clastic sediments: South Belridge field and Beta field, California

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schwartz, D.E.

1990-05-01

The intermixing and interbedding of biogenically derived siliceous sediment with terrigenous clastic sediment in reservoirs of upper Miocene age provides both reservoir rock and seal and influences productivity by affecting porosity and permeability. Miocene reservoirs commonly contain either biogenic-dominated cyclic diatomite, porcelanite, or chert (classic Monterey Formation) or clastic-dominated submarine fan sequences with interbedded or intermixed siliceous members of biogenic origin. Biogenic-clastic cycles, 30-180 ft thick, at South Belridge field were formed by episodic influx of clastic sediment from distant submarine fans mixing with slowly accumulating diatomaceous ooze. The cycles consist of basal silt and pelletized massive diatomaceous mudstone, overlainmore » by burrowed, faintly bedded clayey diatomite and topped by laminated diatomite. Cycle tops have higher porosity and permeability, lower grain density, and higher oil saturation than clay and silt-rich portions of the cycles. Submarine fan sediments forming reservoirs at the Beta field are comprised of interbedded sands and silts deposited in a channelized middle fan to outer fan setting. Individual turbidites display fining-upward sequences, with oil-bearing sands capped by wet micaceous silts. Average sands are moderately to poorly sorted, fine- to medium-grained arkosic arenites. Sands contain pore-filling carbonate and porcelaneous cements. Porcelaneous cement consists of a mixture of opal-A, opal-CT, and chert with montmorillonite and minor zeolite. This cement is an authigenic material precipitated in intergranular pore space. The origin of the opal is biogenic, with recrystallization of diatom frustules (opal-A) into opal-CT lepispheres and quartz crystals. Porcelaneous cement comprises 4-21% of the bulk volume of the rock. Seventy percent of the bulk volume of the cement is micropore space.« less

Carbonate deposition during the late Proterozoic Era: an example from Spitsbergen

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knoll, A. H.; Swett, K.

1990-01-01

Carbonate sediments reflect the physico-chemical and biological circumstances of their formation; thus, features of limestones and dolomites may provide insights into both environmental and evolutionary change through geological time. The Upper Proterozoic (approx 800-700 Ma) Akademikerbreen Group, Spitsbergen, comprises 2000 m of carbonates, with only minor intercalations of quartz arenite and shale. Although Proterozoic carbonates are often seen as predominantly dolomitic, the Akademikerbreen Group is about 45 percent limestone. Stromatolites are conspicuous in outcrop but constitute only 25 percent of the total section. Micrites and coarser intraclastic carbonates derived mainly from micritric precursors comprise 60 percent of the group, while oolites make up the remaining 15 percent. Distinctive sedimentary features of the group include giant (up to 16 mm) ooids, very early diagenetic calcite nodules and cements, micrites containing subaqueous shrinkage cracks filled with equant microspar cement, and strong 13C enrichment in both carbonates and co-occurring organic matter. The principal features of Akademikerbreen carbonates are widely distributed in coeval successions. However, these rocks appear to differ from older limestones and dolomites in their relative abundance of grainstones and, perhaps, micrites, as well as their paucity of tufa-like laminates and columnar or coniform stromatolites that preserve petrographic evidence of in situ precipitation as a dominant means of carbonate accretion. Upper Proterozoic carbonates also differ from Paleozoic accumulations, but the transition is not abrupt. Most changes accompanying the Proterozoic/Phanerozoic transition can be interpreted in terms of the consequences rather than the causes of metazoan and metaphyte evolution, including the evolution of biomineralization. Carbonate sedimentology reinforces data from other sources which indicate the last 200 to 300 Ma of the Proterozoic Eon was a distinctive interval of Earth history.

A new hydrogeologic model to predict anthropogenic uplift of Venice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teatini, P.; Castelletto, N.; Ferronato, M.; Gambolati, G.; Tosi, L.

2011-12-01

Recent numerical studies based on a simplified lithostratigraphy of the Venice subsurface suggest that the city may be raised by pumping seawater into deep aquifers through 12 wells located on a 10 km diameter circle. Using an updated 3-D reconstruction of the Quaternary deposits, developed very recently from about 1050 km of multichannel seismic profiles and eight exploration wells, along with a more accurate representation of the injection boreholes, novel finite-element predictions are performed. The new model simulates the lithostratigraphy of the lagoon subsurface and allows for a reliable assessment of the water volumes injected into the geologic formations based on the actual bottom hole overpressure that can vary both in space and time. Pumping occurs into two Pleistocene sequences that are originated from the Alps and Apennine sedimentation and terminate just south and north of Venice, respectively, and the shelf portion of a Pliocene sequence that is rather continuous below the central lagoon with arenite layers to depths as much as 1000 m below mean sea level. With a proper tuning of the injection pressure the new hydrogeologic model allows for a prediction of a quite uniform 25-30 cm uplift over 10 years after the inception of injection. The gradient of the vertical displacement ξz does not exceed 5 × 10-5 and 1 × 10-5 in the whole lagoon and Venice, respectively, i.e., well below the most conservative bound recommended for the safety of the structures. If ad hoc calibrated injection overpressures are implemented in each single well, ξz may be reduced to as much as 0.1 × 10-5 throughout the city.

Ferric iron-bearing sediments as a mineral trap for CO2 sequestration: Iron reduction using sulfur-bearing waste gas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Palandri, J.L.; Kharaka, Y.K.

2005-01-01

We present a novel method for geologic sequestration of anthropogenic CO2 in ferrous carbonate, using ferric iron present in widespread redbeds and other sediments. Iron can be reduced by SO2 that is commonly a component of flue gas produced by combustion of fossil fuel, or by adding SO2 or H2S derived from other industrial processes to the injected waste gas stream. Equilibrium and kinetically controlled geochemical simulations at 120 bar and 50 and 100 ??C with SO2 or H2S show that iron can be transformed almost entirely to siderite thereby trapping CO2, and simultaneously, that sulfur can be converted predominantly to dissolved sulfate. If there is an insufficient amount of sulfur-bearing gas relative to CO2 as for typical flue gas, then some of the iron is not reduced, and some of the CO2 is not sequestered. If there is an excess of sulfur-bearing gas, then complete iron reduction is ensured, and some of the iron precipitates as pyrite or other solid iron sulfide, depending on their relative precipitation kinetics. Gas mixtures with insufficient sulfur relative to CO2 can be used in sediments containing Ca, Mg, or other divalent metals capable of precipitating carbonate minerals. For quartz arenite with an initial porosity of 21% and containing 0.25 wt.% Fe2O3, approximately 0.7 g of CO2 is sequestered per kg of rock, and the porosity decrease is less than 0.03%. Sequestration of CO2 using ferric iron has the advantage of disposing of SO2 that may already be present in the combustion gas. ?? 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Provenance and U-Pb geochronology of the Upper Cretaceous El Chanate Group, northwest Sonora, Mexico, and its tectonic significance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacques-Ayala, C.; Barth, A.P.; Wooden, J.L.; Jacobson, C.E.

2009-01-01

The Upper Cretaceous El Chanate Group, northwest Sonora, Mexico, is a 2.8km thick clastic sedimentary sequence deposited in a continental basin closely related to volcanic activity. It consists of three formations: the Pozo Duro (oldest), the Anita, and the Escalante (youngest). Petrographic study, conglomerate pebble counts, and U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons were performed to determine the source and age of this sequence, and to interpret its tectonic setting. In the sandstones of all three formations, the most abundant grains are those of volcanic composition (Q38F22L 40, Q35F19L46, and Q 31F22L47, respectively). The Pozo Duro Formation includes well-rounded quartz-arenite clast conglomerates, whereas conglomerates of the two upper units have clasts predominantly of andesitic and rhyolitic composition. The most likely source for these sediments was the Jurassic volcanic arc exposed in northern Sonora and southern Arizona. Zircons from five sandstone samples define two main age groups, Proterozoic and Mesozoic. The first ranges mostly from 1000 to 1800Ma, which suggests the influence of a cratonic source. This zircon suite is interpreted to be recycled and derived from the same source area as the quartz-rich sandstone clasts in the basal part of the section. Mesozoic zircons range from Triassic to Late Cretaceous, which confirms the proposed Late Cretaceous age for the sequence, and also corroborates Jurassic felsic source rocks. Another possible source was the Alisitos volcanic arc, exposed along the western margin of the Baja California Peninsula. Of regional significance is the great similarity between the El Chanate Group and the McCoy Mountains Formation of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona. Both are Cretaceous, were deposited in continental environments, and have similar zircon-age patterns. Also, both exhibit intense deformation and locally display penetrative foliation. These features strongly suggest that both units underwent similar tectonic histories.

Contrasting cratonal provenances for upper Cretaceous Valle Group quartzite clasts, Baja California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kimbrough, D.L.; Abbott, G.; Smith, D.P.; Mahoney, J.B.; Moore, Thomas E.; Gehrels, G.E.; Girty, G.H.; Cooper, John D.

2006-01-01

Late Cretaceous Valle Group forearcbasin deposits on the Vizcaino Peninsula of Baja California Sur are dominated by firstcycle arc-derived volcanic-plutonic detritus derived from the adjacent Peninsular Ranges batholith. Craton-derived quartzite clasts are a minor but ubiquitous component in Valle Group conglomerates. The source of these clasts has implications for tectonic reconstructions and sediment-dispersal paths along the paleo-North American margin. Three strongly contrasting types of quartzite are recognized based on petrology and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology. The first type is ultramature quartz arenite with well-rounded, highly spherical zircon grains. Detrital zircon ages from this type are nearly all >1.8 Ga with age distributions that closely match the distinctive Middle-Late Ordovician Peace River arch detrital signature of the Cordilleran margin. This type has been previously recognized from prebatholithic rocks in northeast Baja California (San Felipe quartzite). A second quartzite type is subarkosic sandstone with strong affinity to southwestern North America; important features of the age spectra are ~1.0-1.2 Ga, 1.42 and 1.66 Ga peaks representing cratonal basement, 500-300 Ma grains interpreted as recycled Appalachian-derived grains, and 284- 232 Ma zircon potentially derived from the Early Permian-Middle Triassic east Mexico arc. This quartzite type could have been carried to the continental margin during Jurassic time as outboard equivalents of Colorado Plateau eolianites. The third quartzite type is quartz pebble conglomerate with significant ~900- 1400 Ma and ~450-650 Ma zircon components, as well as mid- and late Paleozoic grains. The source of this type of quartzite is more problematic but could match either upper Paleozoic strata in the Oaxaca terrane of southern Mexico or a southwestern North America source. The similarity of detrital 98 zircon spectra in all three Valle Group quartzite types to rocks of the adjacent Cordilleran margin support previous interpretations that Valle Group forearc basin sediments were deposited in proximity to rocks on the mainland of northwest Mexico and southwestern United States.

Paleoproterozoic mojaveprovince in northwestern Mexico? Isotopic and U-Pb zircon geochronologic studies of precambrian and Cambrian crystalline and sedimentary rocks, Caborca, Sonora

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lang, Farmer G.; Bowring, S.A.; Matzel, J.; Maldonado, G.E.; Fedo, C.; Wooden, J.

2005-01-01

Whole-rock Nd isotopic data and U-Pb zircon geochronology from Precambrian crystalline rocks in the Caborca area, northern Sonora, reveal that these rocks are most likely a segment of the Paleoproterozoic Mojave province. Supporting this conclusion are the observations that paragneiss from the ??? 1.75 Ga Bamori Complex has a 2.4 Ga Nd model age and contains detrital zircons ranging in age from Paleo- proterozoic (1.75 Ga) to Archean (3.2 Ga). Paragneisses with similar age and isotopic characteristics occur in the Mojave province in southern California. In addition, "A-type" granite exposed at the southern end of Cerro Rajon has ca 2.0 Ga Nd model age and a U-Pb zircon age of 1.71 Ga, which are similar to those of Paleoproterozoic granites in the Mojave province. Unlike the U.S. Mojave province, the Caborcan crust contains ca. 1.1 Ga granite (Aibo Granite), which our new Nd isotopic data suggest is largely the product of anatexis of the local Precambrian basement. Detrital zircons from Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian miogeoclinal arenites at Caborca show dominant populations ca. 1.7 Ga, ca. 1.4 Ga, and ca. 1.1 Ga, with subordinate Early Cambrian and Archean zircons. These zircons were likely derived predominately from North American crust to the east and northeast, and not from the underlying Caborcan basement. The general age and isotopic similarities between Mojave province basement and overlying miogeoclinal sedimentary rocks in Sonora and southern California is necessary, but not sufficient, proof of the hypothesis that Sonoran crust is allochthonous and was transported to its current position during the Mesozoic along the proposed Mojave-Sonora megashear. One viable alternative model is that the Caborcan Precambrian crust is an isolated, autochthonous segment of Mojave province crust that shares a similar, but not identical, Proterozoic geological history with Mojave province crust found in the southwest United States ?? 2005 Geological Society of America.

Seep carbonates and chemosynthetic coral communities in the Early Paleocene alpine accretionary wedge: evidences from the Bocco Shale (Internal Liguride ophiolitic sequence, Northern Apennine, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandolfi, Luca; Boschi, Chiara; Luvisi, Edoardo; Alessandro, Ellero; Marroni, Michele; Meneghini, Francesca

2014-05-01

In Northern Apennines, the Internal Liguride units are characterized by an ophiolite sequence that represents the stratigraphic base of a Late Jurassic-Early Paleocene sedimentary cover. The Bocco Shale represents the youngest deposit recognized in the sedimentary cover of the ophiolite sequence, sedimented just before the inception of subduction-related deformation history. The Bocco Shale has been interpreted as a fossil example of deposits related to the frontal tectonic erosion of the alpine accretionary wedge slope. The frontal tectonic erosion resulted in a large removal of material from the accretionary wedge front reworked as debris flows and slide deposits sedimented on the lower plate above the trench deposits. These trench-slope deposits may have been successively deformed and metamorphosed during the following accretion processes. The frontal tectonic erosion can be envisaged as a common process during the convergence-related evolution of the Ligure-Piemontese oceanic basin in the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary time span. In the uppermost Internal Liguride tectonic unit (Portello Unit of Pandolfi and Marroni. 1997), that crops-out in Trebbia Valley, several isolated blocks of authigenic carbonates, unidentificated corals and intrabasinal carbonatic arenites have been recognized inside the fine-grained sediments that dominate the Early Paleocene Lavagnola Fm. (cfr. Bocco Shale Auctt.). The preliminary data on stable isotopes from blocks of authigenic carbonates (up to 1 m thick and 3 m across) and associated corals archive a methane signatures in their depleted carbon isotope pattern (up to δ13C -30‰ PDB) and suggest the presence of chemosynthetic paleocommunities. The seep-carbonates recognized at the top of Internal Liguride succession (cfr. Bocco Shale Auctt.) occur predominantly as blocks in very thick mudstone-dominated deposits and probably developed in an environment dominated by the expulsion of large volume of cold methane-bearing fluids focused in the frontal part of the Early Paleocene alpine accretionary wedge.

A conceptual review of regional-scale controls on the composition of clastic sediment and the co-evolution of continental blocks and their sedimentary cover.

PubMed

Cox, R; Lowe, D R

1995-01-02

Both sediment recycling and first-cycle input influence the composition of clastic material in sedimentary systems. This paper examines conceptually the roles played by these processes in governing the composition of clastic sediment on a regional scale by outlining the expected effects on sediment composition of protracted sediment recycling and of continuous first-cycle input on a maturing continental block. Generally speaking, long-term recycling tends to enrich sediments in the most chemically and mechanically stable components: quartz in the sand and silt size fractions, and illite among the clay minerals. Sandstones trend towards pure quartz arenites, and mudrocks become more potassic and aluminous. The average grain size of clastic sediment decreases by a combination of progressive attrition of sand grains and ongoing breakdown of primary silicate minerals to finer-grained clay minerals and oxides. Sandstones derived by continuous first-cycle input from an evolving continental crustal source also become increasingly rich in quartz, but in addition become more feldspathic as the proportion of granitic material in the upper continental crust increases during crustal stabilization. Associated mudrocks also become richer in potassium and aluminum, but will have higher K2O/Al2O3 ratios than recycled muds. The average grain size of the sediment may increase with time as the proportion of sand-prone granitic source rocks increases at the expense of more mud-prone volcanic sources. In general, except in instances where chemical weathering is extreme, first-cycle sediments lack the compositional maturity of recycled detritus, and are characterized by the presence of a variety of primary silicate minerals. Sedimentary systems are not usually completely dominated by either recycling or first-cycle detritus. Generally, however, sedimentary systems associated with the earliest phases of formation and accretion of continental crust are characterized by first-cycle input from igneous and metamorphic rocks, whereas those associated with more mature cratons tend to be dominated by recycled sedimentary material.

Fe-oxide grain coatings support bacterial Fe-reducing metabolisms in 1.7−2.0 km-deep subsurface quartz arenite sandstone reservoirs of the Illinois Basin (USA)

PubMed Central

Dong, Yiran; Sanford, Robert A.; Locke, Randall A.; Cann, Isaac K.; Mackie, Roderick I.; Fouke, Bruce W.

2014-01-01

The Cambrian-age Mt. Simon Sandstone, deeply buried within the Illinois Basin of the midcontinent of North America, contains quartz sand grains ubiquitously encrusted with iron-oxide cements and dissolved ferrous iron in pore-water. Although microbial iron reduction has previously been documented in the deep terrestrial subsurface, the potential for diagenetic mineral cementation to drive microbial activity has not been well studied. In this study, two subsurface formation water samples were collected at 1.72 and 2.02 km, respectively, from the Mt. Simon Sandstone in Decatur, Illinois. Low-diversity microbial communities were detected from both horizons and were dominated by Halanaerobiales of Phylum Firmicutes. Iron-reducing enrichment cultures fed with ferric citrate were successfully established using the formation water. Phylogenetic classification identified the enriched species to be related to Vulcanibacillus from the 1.72 km depth sample, while Orenia dominated the communities at 2.02 km of burial depth. Species-specific quantitative analyses of the enriched organisms in the microbial communities suggest that they are indigenous to the Mt. Simon Sandstone. Optimal iron reduction by the 1.72 km enrichment culture occurred at a temperature of 40°C (range 20–60°C) and a salinity of 25 parts per thousand (range 25–75 ppt). This culture also mediated fermentation and nitrate reduction. In contrast, the 2.02 km enrichment culture exclusively utilized hydrogen and pyruvate as the electron donors for iron reduction, tolerated a wider range of salinities (25–200 ppt), and exhibited only minimal nitrate- and sulfate-reduction. In addition, the 2.02 km depth community actively reduces the more crystalline ferric iron minerals goethite and hematite. The results suggest evolutionary adaptation of the autochthonous microbial communities to the Mt. Simon Sandstone and carries potentially important implications for future utilization of this reservoir for CO2 injection. PMID:25324834

Pore water evolution in sandstones of the Groundhog Coalfield, northern Bowser Basin, British Columbia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cookenboo, H. O.; Bustin, R. M.

1999-01-01

The succession of sandstone cements in chert and volcanic lithic arenites and wackes from the northern Bowser Basin of British Columbia comprises a record of diagenesis in shallow marine, deltaic, and coastal plain siliciclastic sediments that pass through the oil window and reach temperatures near the onset of metamorphism. The succession of cements is consistent with seawater in the sandstones mixing with acid waters derived from dewatering of interbedded organic rich muds. Sandstone cement paragenesis includes seven discrete cement stages. From earliest to latest the cement stages are: (1) pore-lining chlorite; (2) pore-lining to pore-filling illite; (3) pore-filling kaolinite; (4) oil migration through some of the remaining connected pores; (5) chlorite dissolution; (6) quartz cement; and (7) calcite cement. These seven cement stages are interpreted as a record of the evolution of pore waters circulating through the sandstones after burial. The earliest cement stages, as well as the depositional environments, are compatible with seawater as the initial pore fluid. Seawater composition changed during transport through the sandstones, first by loss of Mg 2+ and Fe 2+ during chlorite precipitation (stage 1). Dewatering of interbedded organic-rich mudstones probably added Mg 2+ and Fe 2+ to partially buffer the loss of these cations to chlorite. Acids produced during breakdown of organic matter are presumed to have mixed into sandstone pore fluids due to further compaction of the muds, leading to reduction of initial alkalinity. Reduction in alkalinity, in turn, favours change from chlorite to illite precipitation (stage 2), and finally to kaolinite (stage 3). Pore waters likely reached their peak acidity at the time of oil migration (stage 4). Chlorite dissolution (stage 5) and quartz precipitation (stage 6) occurred when pores were filled by these hydrocarbon-bearing and presumably acidic fluids. Fluid inclusions in fracture-filling quartz cements contain petroleum, high-pressure methane, and methane-rich aqueous solutions. Homogenization temperatures from primary two-phase inclusions are consistent with quartz cementation during progressive heating between approximately 100 and 200°C. Following quartz precipitation, alkaline pore waters were re-established, as evidenced by late-stage calcite cement (stage 7).

Divergent response of the neritic carbonate factory to environmental changes during the Early Bajocian Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bodin, Stephane; Hönig, Martin; Krencker, Francois-Nicolas; Danisch, Jan; Kabiri, Lahcen

2017-04-01

The Early Bajocian witnessed a global environmental perturbation, characterized by faunal and floral turnovers and a positive carbon isotope excursion. In Italy, this environmental perturbation coincided with an eutrophication event and a carbonate crisis, but this has so far not been adequately reported from other settings, leaving doubt about the extent and nature of these phenomena. Here, we are reporting on an extensive neritic carbonate factory demise that occurs in the upper Lower Bajocian of the Central High Atlas of Morocco, more precisely in the upper Propinquans - lower Humphriesianum Zones. This demise coincided with the acme of the global carbon isotope perturbation, recorded by a 3‰ positive carbon isotope excursion in the bulk organic matter of Morocco. Recovery of the neritic carbonate system occurs during the Early to Late Bajocian transition. The duration of the neritic carbonate factory demise was therefore in the order of 1 Myr. Furthermore, we observe that the Lower Bajocian of Morocco is relatively enriched in arenitic siliciclastic deposits, suggesting increased weathering and nutrient levels along the northwestern margin of Africa during the Early Bajocian. However, comparison with neighboring European basins highlights the non-uniqueness and different timing of the response of shallow-water carbonates to the Early Bajocian environmental perturbations, as some regions present no sign of carbonate factory crisis. Hence, we postulate that local factors were important in mediating the response of neritic carbonate factories to this global environmental perturbation. We notably highlight the role of large Early Bajocian sea-level fluctuation as a trigger for carbonate factory change and demise in Morocco. Indeed, in the Central High Atlas Basin, transgressive intervals are seeing the development of a mud-dominated carbonate factory whereas regressive intervals are associated with grain-dominated carbonate factory. We speculate that the combination of high subsidence rates in the Central High Atlas Basin with large eustatic sea-level rise and high nutrient levels during the Early Bajocian stressed the mud-dominated benthic carbonate factory beyond a critical threshold, explaining the regional demise event.

Early Diagenesis of Subseafloor Sandy Sediments Closely Related to Gas Hydrate Occurrences and Their Provenances in the Eastern Margin of Japan Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchida, T.; Sakai, H.; Horiuchi, S.; Matsumoto, R.

2015-12-01

A lot of effort have been put into recovering gas hydrate, methane induced carbonate, and associated sediments in order to develop the geologic model of gas hydrate accumulation and evaluate its possible environmental impact for the last glacial-interglacial cycles. Having investigated gas hydrate occurrences in the eastern margin of Japan Sea revealed wide distributions of chimney-shape gas hydrate concentrations beneath the seafloor, confirmed off Shimane and off Akita/Yamagata as well as off Joetsu (Niigata), which are quite different from the occurrences of pore space hydrate filling intergranular pore systems of sands recognized in Nankai Trough, Mallik and other sites. Many sediment samples have been obtained below from the Umitaka Spur, Joetsu Channel, Toyama Trough, Mogami Trough and Okushiri Ridge areas. Small amounts of sandy sediment have been retrieved as thin intercalations in Holocene and Pleistocene silty/muddy layers, where trace fossils and strong bioturbations are commonly observed. Sandy sediments consist of very fine- to fine-grained sand grains, and are sometimes tuffaceous. Pore-size distribution measurements and thin-section observations of these sands were carried out, which indicate that porosities of silty sediments are around 50 % but those of arenites range from 42 to 52 %, of which mean pore sizes and permeabilities are larger than those of silty sediments. These coarser sediments might have been transported approximately around 3 to 30 ka due to the tephra ages, where supplying sediments might be abundant due to sea level fluctuation during the Pleistocene ice age. Sandy sediments contain not only detrital quartz and feldspar but mafic minerals (pyroxene, amphibole and mica), contents of which may indicate their provenances. Silty/muddy sediments usually contain diatom tests, foraminifers and framboidal pyrites, and, in particular, the shapes of diatom are usually various, dominantly fragmental and infrequently preserved. It is remarked that physical diagenesis proceeds first due to mechanical compaction, whereas chemical diagenesis advances very slowly in early diagenesis. This study was performed as a part of the MH21 Research Consortium on methane hydrate in Japan and the METI project entitled "FY2014 promoting research and development on methane hydrate."

Reconnaissance geology of the Jabal Shaqran Quadrangle, sheet 17/44 B, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sable, Edward G.

1982-01-01

The Jabal Shaqran quadrangle lies in the southeastern Asir province, mostly within the westernmost part of the Rub al Khali desert, and is largely covered by Quaternary deposits. Proterozoic crystalline rocks are exposed as inselbergs or rock pediment surfaces along the western border of the quadrangle. The crystalline basement is metavolcanic rock intruded by plutonic to hypabyssal rocks consisting of diorite and gabbro, biotite tonalite gneiss, biotite-hornblende monzogranite, biotite-sodic amphibole granite, and syenogranite to quartz syenite, listed in the inferred order of emplacement. Rhyolite-dacite fels, associated with andesitic to basaltic metavolcanic flow rocks and minor amphibolite, is interpreted to have resulted from metasomatic alteration of the flow rocks during emplacement of granitic plutons. The Wajid Sandstone, of Cambrian to Ordovician age, is largely a coarse-grained quartz arenite with pebbly phases; common crossbedds indicate north-northwest to north-northeast directions of sand transport. Beds are cemented by iron oxide, carbonate, and minor quartz. The Wajid Sandstone is exposed only in the northwestern and northern parts of the quadrangle. Quaternary deposits record a climate that became increasingly more arid. They include Holocene and Pleistocene(?) alluvial and fluvial deposits of sand, gravel, and silt, minor carbonate crusts, and eolian sand and silt. Gravel terraces and gravel plains less than 10 m above the present major wadi channels are widespread and commonly are overlain by marly silt along the wadis. Between major wadis, which discharge into the Rub al Khali basin, gravel-topped surfaces are partly covered by a complex of low, sinuous, discontinuous, generally northwest trending transverse sand dunes. Normal to this trend, higher and more extensive linear dunes and dune complexes, including seif (irq) dunes as high as 50 m, have encroached southwestward. The transverse and linear dunes may represent two stages of advance separated by a pluvial cycle. Studies of aerial photographs indicate that the dunes have not changed appreciably in shape or size between 1951 and 1959, although some seif dunes have advanced their leading edges 15 to 25 m. No potentially economic mineral resources other than sand and gravel were found.

Modern sands of South America: composition, provenance and global significance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potter, P. E.

1994-03-01

Standard petrographic methods were used to study 604 modern sands from South America, of which 351 came from rivers and 253 from beaches. In spite of the wide geomorphic contrasts, these sands belong to only three great families: (1) an immature Andean family of lithic arenites rich in volcanic and metamorphic grains that covers about 30% of South America; (2) a cratonic association rich in quartz that covers about 62% of the continent; and (3) a transitional, molasse association, which occurs between these two and covers only about 8% of the continent. The grand arithmetic average Q:F: Rf ratio for the entire continent is 60:11:29 and the area-weighted, carbonate-free average Qa:Fa:Rfa is 68:10:22, a superior continental estimate, and the first ever for an entire continent. Rock fragments are the most informative of all the provenance indicators and in South America they range from tropical alterites of the cratonic family through the dominant volcanic and metamorphic grains of the Andean family to biogenic carbonate in beach sands. Carbonate grains are almost totally absent in modern South American rivers because of present day tropical weathering and a long geological evolution that has favored sand production. They are present in many of the beach sands, however, and are most abundant along the tropical Brazilian and Caribbean coasts. Metamorphic grains rival volcanics as earmarks of the Andean family and survive tropical weathering far better than volcanic grains. There is a strong association between continental soil types and the composition of river sand, but the ultimate controls are tectonic history — the ancient landscapes preserved on the Gondwana shields of South America versus the tectonically young landscapes of the Andes — and climate. Climate can either cause ‘leaks’ to a far distant ocean where weathering is retarded by aridity or it can serve as a barrier to continental sand dispersion, where tropical weathering eliminates unstable grains in transit to the sea. When provenance studies are conducted across an entire, unglaciated continent, events in the far distant past need to be considered when seeking fundamental explanations of its contemporary, surficial sands.

Deformation of Aztec Sandstone at Valley of Fire of Nevada: failure modes, sequence of deformation, structural products and their interplay with paleo fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aydin, A.

2014-12-01

The Valley of Fire State Park, 60 km NE of Las Vegas, is a beacon of knowledge for deformation of Aztec Sandstone, a cross-bedded quartz arenite deposited in the Aztec-Navajo-Nugget erg in early Jurassic. It displays great diversity of physical properties, different localization types and micromechanics. The two deformation episodes, the Sevier folding & thrusting and the Basin & Range extension affected the area. The appearance of compaction bands marks the earliest deformation structure and their distribution, orientation, and dimension are controlled by the depositional architecture and loading. The earliest shear structures in the area are the Muddy Mountain, Summit, and Willow Tank thrusts and numerous small-scale bed-parallel faults. They altogether produced several kilometers of E-SE transport and shortening in the late Cretaceous and display numerous shear bands in its damage zone within the Aztec Sandstone. Shear bands also occur along dune boundaries and cross-bed interfaces. These observations indicate that the early deformation of the sandstone was accommodated by strain localization with various kinematics. The younger generation of faults in the area is of mid-Miocene age, and crops out pervasively. It includes a series of small offset normal faults (less than a few ten meters) which can be identified at steep cliff faces. These faults are highly segmented and are surrounded by a dense population of splay fractures. A large number of these splays were later sheared sequentially resulting in a well-defined network of left- and right-lateral strike-slip faults with slip magnitudes up to a few kilometers in the Park. The formation mechanisms of both the normal and strike-slip faults can be characterized as the sliding along planes of initial weaknesses and the accompanying cataclastic deformation. Some of the initial weak planes are associated with the depositional elements such as interdune boundaries and cross-bed interfaces while others are joint zones apparently not physically connected to any observable normal fault or dune boundary fault, but consistent with the earlier extension direction. The specific kinematics of this latter period of faulting is thought to be dictated by the orientation of the depositional and structural weaknesses and the orientation and rotation of the driving stresses.

Experimental Study of the Roles of Mechanical and Hydrologic Properties in the Initiation of Natural Hydraulic Fractures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, M. E.; Goodwin, L. B.; Boutt, D. F.; Lilydahl, H.

2008-12-01

Natural hydraulic fractures (NHFs) are inferred to form where pore fluid pressure exceeds the least compressive stress; i.e., where the hydraulic fracture criterion is met. Although it has been shown that mechanical heterogeneities serve as nuclei for NHFs, the relative roles of mechanical anisotropy and hydrologic properties in initiating NHFs in porous granular media have not been fully explored. We designed an experimental protocol that produces a pore fluid pressure high enough to exceed the hydraulic fracture criterion, allowing us to initiate NHFs in the laboratory. Initially, cylindrical samples 13 cm long and 5 cm in diameter are saturated, σ1 is radial, and σ3 is axial. By dropping the end load (σ3) and pore fluid pressure simultaneously at the end caps, we produce a large pore fluid pressure gradient parallel to the long axis of the sample. This allows us to meet the hydraulic fracture criterion without separating the sample from its end caps. The time over which the pore fluid remains elevated is a function of hydraulic diffusivity. An initial test with a low diffusivity sandstone produced NHFs parallel to bedding laminae that were optimally oriented for failure. To evaluate the relative importance of mechanical heterogeneities such as bedding versus hydraulic properties, we are currently investigating variably cemented St. Peter sandstone. This quartz arenite exhibits a wide range of primary structures, from well developed bedding laminae to locally massive sandstone. Diagenesis has locally accentuated these structures, causing degree of cementation to vary with bedding, and the sandstone locally exhibits concretions that form elliptical rather than tabular heterogeneities. Bulk permeability varies from k=10-12 m2 to k=10-15 m2 and porosity varies from 5% to 28% in this suite of samples. Variations in a single sample are smaller, with permeability varying no more than an order of magnitude within a single core. Air minipermeameter and tracer tests document this variability at the cm scale. Experiments will be performed with σ3 and the pore pressure gradient both perpendicular and parallel to sub-cm scale bedding. The results of these tests will be compared to those of structurally homogeneous samples and samples with elliptical heterogeneities.

Boulder coastal deposits at Favignana Island rocky coast (Sicily, Italy): Litho-structural and hydrodynamic control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pepe, Fabrizio; Corradino, Marta; Parrino, Nicolò; Besio, Giovanni; Presti, Valeria Lo; Renda, Pietro; Calcagnile, Lucio; Quarta, Gianluca; Sulli, Attilio; Antonioli, Fabrizio

2018-02-01

Boulders are frequently dislodged from rock platforms, transported and deposited along coastal zones by high-magnitude storm waves or tsunamis. Their size and shape are often controlled by the thickness of bedding planes as well as by high-angle to bedding fracture network. We investigate these processes along two coastal areas of Favignana Island by integrating geological data for 81 boulders, 49 rupture surfaces (called sockets) and fracture orientation and spacing with four radiocarbon dates, numerical hydrodynamic analysis, and hindcast numerical simulation data. Boulders are scattered along the carbonate platform as isolated blocks or in small groups, which form, as a whole, a discontinuous berm. Underwater surveys also highlight free boulders with sharp edges and sockets carved out in the rock platform. Boulders are composed of ruditic- to arenitic-size clastic carbonates. Their size ranges from 0.6 to 3.7 m, 0.55 to 2.4 m, and 0.2 to 1 m on the major (A), medium (B), and minor (C) axes, respectively. The highest value of mass estimation is 12.5 t. Almost all of boulders and sockets are characterized by a tabular or bladed shape. The comparisons between a) the fractures spacing and the length of A- and B-axes, and b) the frequency peaks of C-axis with the recurrent thickness of beds measured along the coastal zone demonstrate the litho-structural control in the size and shape of joint-bounded boulders. These comparisons, together with the similarity between the shapes of the boulders and those of the sockets as well as between the lithology of boulders and the areas surrounding the sockets, suggest that blocks originate by detachment from the platform edge. Thus, the most common pre-transport setting is the joint-bounded scenario. Hydrodynamic equations estimate that the storm wave heights necessary to initiate the transport of blocks diverge from 2 m to 8 m for joint-bounded boulders and from few tens of centimeters up to 11 m for submerged boulders. The comparison between the wave heights at the breaking point of the coastal zones with the results of hydrodynamic equations shows that waves approaching the coastline are able to transport all surveyed boulders. Our data suggest that boulders have been transported by several storm events, even in very recent times.

Formation of the Archean crust of the ancient Vodlozero domain (Baltic shield)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arestova, N. A.; Chekulaev, V. P.; Lobach-Zhuchenko, S. B.; Kucherovskii, G. A.

2015-03-01

The available geological, petrological, and isotopic data on Archean rocks of the Baltic shield are used to analyze the formation of the crust of the ancient Vodlozero domain. This made it possible to reveal the succession of endogenic processes in different parts of the domain and correlate them between each other. Several stages of magmatic processes reflecting changes in magma-generation environments are definable in the crust formation. The earliest stages of magmatism (3.24 and 3.13-3.15 Ga) are mostly represented by rocks of the tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite association. The next stage of endogenic activity (3020-2900 Ma) was marked by the formation of volcanics of the komatiite-basalt and andesite-dacite associations constituting greenstone belts in marginal parts of the Vodlozero domain and basic dikes accompanied by layered pyroxenite-norite-diorite intrusion in its central part. These basic bodies crossing earlier tonalities were formed in extension settings related to the formation of the mantle plume, which is confirmed by the rock composition. This stage culminated in the formation of trondhjemites at margins of greenstone structure. The next stage of endogenic activity commenced at 2890-2840 Ma by the emplacement of high-magnesian gabbro and diorite dikes in the western margin of the domain, where they cross rocks of the tonalitetrondhjemite association. This stage was marked by the formation of intermediate-acid subvolcanic bodies and dikes as well as basite intrusions including the layered and differentiated Semch intrusion, the largest one in the Vodlozero domain. The stage culminated at approximately 2850 Ma in the emplacement of tonalities of the limited distribution being represented by the Shilos massif in the north of the domain and Shal'skii massif on the eastern shore of Lake Onega. The important stage in the geological history of the Vodlozero domain is the formation of the intracratonic Matkalakhta greenstone belt at approximately 2.8 Ga, which includes arenite quartzite and graywackes and polymictic conglomerates developed in the Lake Oster area in addition to volcanics. These rocks indicate a stable tectonic regime, which resulted in deep erosion of the crust. The emplacement of sanukitoids (2.73-2.74 Ga) as well as subsequent two-feldspar granites (2.68-2.70 Ga) and basite dikes (2.61-2.65 Ga) may be considered as resulting from the plume influence on the relatively stabilized sialic crust of the Baltic shield.

Stable isotope and noble gas constraints on the source and residence time of spring water from the Table Mountain Group Aquifer, Paarl, South Africa and implications for large scale abstraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, J. A.; Dunford, A. J.; Swana, K. A.; Palcsu, L.; Butler, M.; Clarke, C. E.

2017-08-01

Large scale groundwater abstraction is increasingly being used to support large urban centres especially in areas of low rainfall but presents particular challenges in the management and sustainability of the groundwater system. The Table Mountain Group (TMG) Aquifer is one of the largest and most important aquifer systems in South Africa and is currently being considered as an alternative source of potable water for the City of Cape Town, a metropolis of over four million people. The TMG aquifer is a fractured rock aquifer hosted primarily in super mature sandstones, quartzites and quartz arenites. The groundwater naturally emanates from numerous springs throughout the cape region. One set of springs were examined to assess the source and residence time of the spring water. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes indicate that the spring water has not been subject to evaporation and in combination with Na/Cl ratios implies that recharge to the spring systems is via coastal precipitation. Although rainfall in the Cape is usually modelled on orographic rainfall, δ18O and δ2H values of some rainfall samples are strongly positive indicating a stratiform component as well. Comparing the spring water δ18O and δ2H values with that of local rainfall, indicates that the springs are likely derived from continuous bulk recharge over the immediate hinterland to the springs and not through large and/or heavy downpours. Noble gas concentrations, combined with tritium and radiocarbon activities indicate that the residence time of the TMG groundwater in this area is decadal in age with a probable maximum upper limit of ∼40 years. This residence time is probably a reflection of the slow flow rate through the fractured rock aquifer and hence indicates that the interconnectedness of the fractures is the most important factor controlling groundwater flow. The short residence time of the groundwater suggest that recharge to the springs and the Table Mountain Group Aquifer as a whole is vulnerable to climate change and reductions in regional precipitation. Any plans for large scale abstraction to supplement the City of Cape Town water supply would need to factor this into models of maximum sustainable yield.

Gold-bearing fluvial and associated tidal marine sediments of Proterozoic age in the Mporokoso Basin, northern Zambia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrews-Speed, C. P.

1986-07-01

The structurally defined Mporokoso Basin contains up to 5000 m of continental and marine clastic sediments and minor silicic volcanics which together form the Mporokoso Group. These rocks overlie unconformably a basement of silicic-intermediate igneous rocks and accumulated within the interval 1830-1130 Ma. This sedimentological study was restricted to the eastern end of the basin and was part of an assessment of the potential for palaeoplacer gold in the Mporokoso Group. At the base of the Mporokoso Group, the Mbala Formation consists of 1000-1500 m of purple sandstones and conglomerates deposited in a braided-stream system overlain by 500-1000 m of mature quartz arenites deposited in a tidal marine setting. A general coarsening-upward trend exists within the fluvial sediments. Sandy, distal braided-stream facies passes upwards into more proximal conglomeratic facies. In proximal sections, poorly sorted conglomerates form the top of the coarsening-up sequence which is 500-700 m thick. The overlying fluvial sediments fine upwards. The tidal marine sandstones at the top of the Mbala Formation resulted from reworking of fluvial sediments during a marine transgression. Well-exposed sections with fluvial conglomerates were studied in detail. Individual conglomerate bodies form sheets extending for hundreds of metres downstream and at least one hundred metres across stream, with little sign of deep scouring or channelling. They are generally matrix-supported. The whole fluvial sequence is characterised by a paucity of mud or silt. These conglomerates were deposited by large velocity, sheet flows of water which transported a bed-load of pebbles and sand. Most fine material settling out from suspension was eroded by the next flow. The great lateral and vertical extent and the uniformity of the fluvial sediments suggest that the sediments accumulated over an unconfined alluvial plain and that the tectonic evolution of the source area was relatively continuous and not episodic. These features are characteristic of other Proterozoic fluvial sequences. There are no distinctly channelised fluvial conglomerates nor angular unconformities within the fluvial sequence, both of which would have been potential sites for economic gold concentrations. Reworking of the fluvial sands during the marine transgression may have concentrated gold locally within the marine sandstones.

Three dimensional modeling of depositional geometries. A case study from Tofane Group (Dolomites, Italy).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gattolin, G.; Franceschi, M.; Breda, A.; Teza, G.; Preto, N.

2012-04-01

At the end of the Early Carnian, the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) resulted in a major crisis of carbonate factories. The sharp change in carbonate production lead to a dramatic modifications in depositional geometries. Steep clinoforms of the high-relief pre-crisis carbonate platforms were replaced by low-angle ramps. Spatial characters of depositional geometries can be decisive in identifying the genesis of geological bodies. We here show how 3D modeling techniques can be applied to help in quantifying and highlighting their variations. As case study we considered two outcrops in the Tofane Group (Dolomites, Italy). The first outcrop (bottom of southern walls of Tofana di Rozes) exposes a platform-to-basin transect of pre- and post-crisis platforms, the second (Dibona hut) a clinostratified carbonate body deposited during the Carnian crisis. Outcrop conditions at both sites, with vertical and hardly accessible walls, make the field tracing of depositional geometries particularly challenging. Line drawing on high resolution pictures can help (e.g. for clinoforms), but its use for quantification is hampered by perspective deformation. Three dimensional acquisition and modeling allow to retrieve the true spatial characters of sedimentary bodies in these outcrops. The geometry of the carbonate body at Dibona (~ 15000 sqm) was acquired with terrestrial LiDAR, while for Tofana photogrammetric techniques were applied because of the extension of the outcrop itself (~ 240000 sqm) and the lack of suitable points of view for terrestrial laser scanning. At Tofana, field observations reveal the presence of tens-hundreds m large carbonate mounds grown on a pre-existing inclined surface, intercalated with skeletal carbonates and siltites-arenites. This system rapidly evolves into a carbonate-clastic ramp. Photogrammetric topography acquisition permitted to place and visualize geological features in a three dimensional frame, thus obtaining a conceptual sedimentological model. A 3D model of the clinostratified body at Dibona was then realized to test if it fits in the larger scale conceptual model. Modeling was coupled with microfacies analysis. The original inclination of clinoforms (~ 25°) and amplitude (~ 30 m) point to a deltaic environment, deposited in a narrow passage between mounds. Facies (mainly mixed carbonate siliciclastic grainstones) are in agreement with this interpretation. Finally, 3D modeling allows to precisely describe the provenance and fine geometries of the delta body, despite its partial exposure.

Middle Jurassic Topawa group, Baboquivari Mountains, south-central Arizona: Volcanic and sedimentary record of deep basins within the Jurassic magmatic arc

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haxel, G.B.; Wright, J.E.; Riggs, N.R.; Tosdal, R.M.; May, D.J.

2005-01-01

Among supracrustal sequences of the Jurassic magmatic arc of the southwestern Cordillera, the Middle Jurassic Topawa Group, Baboquivari Mountains, south-central Arizona, is remarkable for its lithologic diversity and substantial stratigraphic thickness, ???8 km. The Topawa Group comprises four units (in order of decreasing age): (1) Ali Molina Formation-largely pyroclastic rhyolite with interlayered eolian and fluvial arenite, and overlying conglomerate and sandstone; (2) Pitoikam Formation-conglomerate, sedimentary breccia, and sandstone overlain by interbedded silt- stone and sandstone; (3) Mulberry Wash Formation-rhyolite lava flows, flow breccias, and mass-flow breccias, with intercalated intraformational conglomerate, sedimentary breccia, and sandstone, plus sparse within-plate alkali basalt and comendite in the upper part; and (4) Tinaja Spring Porphyry-intrusive rhyolite. The Mulberry Wash alkali basalt and comendite are genetically unrelated to the dominant calcalkaline rhyolite. U-Pb isotopic analyses of zircon from volcanic and intrusive rocks indicate the Topawa Group, despite its considerable thickness, represents only several million years of Middle Jurassic time, between approximately 170 and 165 Ma. Sedimentary rocks of the Topawa Group record mixing of detritus from a minimum of three sources: a dominant local source of porphyritic silicic volcanic and subvolcanic rocks, identical or similar to those of the Topawa Group itself; Meso- proterozoic or Cambrian conglomerates in central or southeast Arizona, which contributed well-rounded, highly durable, polycyclic quartzite pebbles; and eolian sand fields, related to Middle Jurassic ergs that lay to the north of the magmatic arc and are now preserved on the Colorado Plateau. As the Topawa Group evidently represents only a relatively short interval of time, it does not record long-term evolution of the Jurassic magmatic arc, but rather represents a Middle Jurassic "stratigraphic snapshot" of the arc. This particular view of the arc has been preserved primarily because the Topawa Group accumulated in deep intra-arc basins. These nonmarine basins were fundamentally tectonic and extensional, rather than volcano-tectonic, in origin. Evidence from the Topawa Group supports two previous paleogeographic inferences: the Middle Jurassic magmatic arc in southern Arizona was relatively low standing, and externally derived sediment was introduced into the arc from the continent (northeast) side, without appreciable travel along the arc. We speculate that because the Topawa Group intra-arc basins were deep and rapidly subsiding, they became the locus of a major (though probably intermittent) fluvial system, which flowed into the low-standing magmatic arc from its northeast flank. ?? 2005 Geological Society of America.

Surficial sediments on the western Canadian continental shelf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bornhold, Brian D.; Barrie, J. Vaughn

1991-08-01

The active continental margin off western Canada is characterized in the south by convergence between the Explorer and Juan de Fuca Plates and the America Plate, and in the north by transform fault motion between the Pacific and America Plates along the Queen Charlotte Fault. Except in some of the deepest troughs and basins shelf sediments are dominated by immature lithic arenites reflecting this tectonic setting. The Vancouver Island shelf is from 5 to 75 km wide and displays complex topography on the inner shelf and a relatively featureless mid- and outer shelf. An exception is the area off southwestern Vancouver Island where large basins bounded by morainal deposits extend more than two-thirds of the distance across the shelf. The shelf edge varies from 180 to 225 m depth and is indented by numerous canyons. Nearshore sediments consist mainly of gravels and boulders and become finer offshore such that muds are slowly accumulating in depths greater than 100 m. Off northwestern Vancouver Island calcareous sediments are abundant with carbonate values often exceeding 75%. High wave and current energies and efficient sediment trapping in coastal fiords have resulted in low rates of accumulation. Olive, glauconitic, Holocene muds and muddy sands are generally less than 0.3 m thick and accumulate only on the outer shelf over an extensive stiff, gray, glaciomarine sandy mud. Queen Charlotte Sound exhibits three broad, shallow, glacially scoured troughs, filled mainly with clayey silts and fine sands and separated by sand and gravel covered banks. Hecate Strait, between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland, consists of a prominent southward-opening trough along the east side of the Strait bounded by Dogfish and Laskeek Banks on the west adjacent to Graham and Moresby Islands, respectively. The trough below 200 m is filled by silts. The banks are covered by discontinuous sands and gravels of variable calcareous content. The bank edges often display megaripples and sand waves. Shore-parallel and oblique sand and gravel ridges occur along northernmost Dogfish Bank. Except for the inshore area (less than 100 m) off northern Graham Island little is known of the sediment distribution in Dixon Entrance. Off northwestern Graham Island the near shore zone is dominated by bedrock and discontinuous sands and gravels made up of up to 90% skeletal carbonate. Off northeastern Graham Island sandy sediments predominate in the nearshore. No studies have been undertaken on the narrow shelf off the western Queen Charlotte Islands.

Lithofacies Associations and Depositional Environments of the Neogene Molasse succession, Pishin Belt, northwestern Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasi, A.; Kassi, A.; Friis, H.; Umar, M.

2013-12-01

The Pishin Belt is a NE-SW trending mixed flysch and molasse basin, situated at the northwestern part of Pakistan, bordered by Afghan Block of the Eurasian Plate in the west and Indian Plate in the east. Western boundary of the belt is marked by the well-known Chaman Transform Fault, whereas the Zhob Valley Thrust and Muslim Bagh-Zhob Ophiolite mark the eastern boundary. The Belt is divisible into six tectono-stratigraphic zones bounded by major thrusts. Muslim Bagh-Zhob Ophiolite is the base and Zone-I of this belt. Zone-II comprises shallow marine and flysch successions of the Eocene Nisai Formation and Oligocene Khojak Formation. The Early to Middle Miocene Dasht Murgha group comprises Zone-III, the Late Miocene-Pliocene Malthanai formation comprises Zone-IV, the Pleistocene Bostan Formation makes Zone-V, and the flat-laying Holocene deposits of the Zhob Valley comprise Zone-VI. The Neogene molasse successions of the Pishin Belt include the Dasht Murgha group, Malthanai formation and Bostan Formation; these are mostly composed of sandstone, claystone and conglomerate lithologies. Sandstones have been classified as lithic arenites and their QFL values suggest quartzolithic composition. Twelve distinct lithofacies have been recognized in the succession and thus grouped into four types of facies associations. Lithofacies include clast-supported massive gravel (Gcm), clast-supported crudely bedded gravel (Gh), cross-stratified conglomerate (Gt and Gp), trough cross-stratified sandstone (St), planar cross-stratified sandstone (Sp), ripple cross-laminated sandstone (Sr), horizontally stratified sandstone (Sh), low-angle cross-stratified sandstone (Sl), massive sandstones (Sm), massive mudstone and siltstone (Fm) and paleosol carbonate (P). The lithofacies associations include channel facies association (CHA), crevasse-splay facies association (CSA), natural-levee facies association (LVA) and floodplain facies association (FPA). The lithofacies associations suggest that the Dasht Murgha group was deposited by a sandy braided to mixed-load high-sinuosity fluvial system, the Malthanai formation by a mixed-load high-sinuosity fluvial system and Bostan Formation by gravelly braided channels of a coalescing alluvial fan system. We propose that prolonged and continued collision of the Indian Plate with the Afghan Block of the Eurasian Plate resulted in the closure of the Katawaz Remnant Ocean (the southwestern extension of the Neo-Tethys) in the Early Miocene. Uplifted orogens of the Muslim Bagh-Zhob Ophiolite and marine successions of the Nisai and Khojak formations served as the major source terrains for the Miocene through Holocene molasse succession in the south and southeast verging successive thrust-bound foreland basins at the outer most extremity of the Pishin Belt.

Glacial Ordovician new evidence in the Pakhuis Formation, South Africa : sedimentological investigation and palaeo-environnemental reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Portier, E.; Buoncristiani, Jf.; Deronzier, Jf.

2009-04-01

During the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) an ice sheet covered a great part of the Gondwana. In Africa, several studies present the stratigraphy and the complexity of these glacial records. The different glacial landsystems correspond to several glacial cycles, related to rapid ice front oscillations and are grouped into two major ice-sheet advances, separated by a major ice sheet recession. The study was performed on three well outcropping Late Ordovician sections in South Africa. The Ordovician IV is described as the Pakhuis Rm, and is divided into three different lithological members (known as Sneekop, Oskop and Sternbras Mb) that could be related to two major glacial cycles. In the first cycle (pool the two first Mb), facies association indicate continental environment, with : massive sandy tillites with facetted and striated erratics, subaerial outwash plain to glaciolacustrine cross bedded sands and laminated silts. Near Clanwilliam, the outcrops exhibit a high lateral variability in facies and thickness, ranging from a few meters to several tens of meters. The second cycle is dominated by clear marine sedimentation and may be interpreted as a transgressive sequence, quite different from what occurred in North Gondwana. Typical facies define shoreface environment, and periglacial evidence such as dropstones at base are encountered, passing progressively to a clear offshore environment at top of the series, likely Silurian aged, and known as Cederberg fm. Two glacial pavements were also described. The most spectacular one was firstly described by Visser et al. 1974 and should be interpreted as an intra-formational glacial pavement, with striae indicating a flow from East to West. This pavement is overlying a newly discovered glacial floor which exhibits grooves, crescents marks, en echelon fractures, with the same E-W general orientation, and shaped as ‘roches moutonnées', which are typical evidences of glacial erosion on indurated substratum. Reconstructing paleoenvironment suggests a clear structural paleo-topography controlling the erosion and distribution of paelo-valleys, lakes and glacial lobes. The glaciogenic Ordovician deposits constitute a proven oil and gas bearing reservoir on the North Gondwana margin, also known for their sharp and rapid facies changes. Also, such a study provides an excellent opportunity to understand and appraise the complex architecture and geometries of the sands bodies, the structural control of the glacial erosion and infill of this promising play. Visser, 1974 J.N.J. Visser, The Table Mountain Group: a study in the deposition of quartz arenites on a stable shelf, Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. 77 (1974), pp. 229-237.

Identification and cause of decay of building materials used in the architectural heritage of Bizerte city (Tunisia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoghlami, Karima; Lopez-Arce, Paula; Navarro, Antonia; Zornoza-Indart, Ainara; Gómez, David

2017-04-01

Monuments and historical buildings of Bizerte show a disturbing state of degradation. In order to propose a compatible materials for the restauration works such as stone of substitution and restauration mortars, a geological context was analysed with the objectif to localize historical quarries accompanied by a sedimentological study to identify the exploited geological formations. Petrophysical and chemical caracterisation of both stone and mortars have been carried out. With the aim to determine the origin of the erosion and the degree of stone decay, a combination of micro-destructive and non-destructive techniques have been used on-site and in-lab. Moisture measurements, ultrasonic velocity propagation and water absorption by Karsten pipe test together with polarized light and fluorescence optical microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry and ion chromatography analyses were carried out to perform petrophysical characterization of stone samples and determination of soluble salts. For the characterization of mortars, granulometric study was performed to determine the nature of components and their grain size distribution. Thin sections of mortar samples were examined for the petrographical and mineralogical characterization. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of finely pulverized samples was performed in order to identify the mineral crystalline phases of the mortars. Thermal analyses [thermogravimetry (TG)] were performed in order to determine the nature of the binder and its properties. Porosity was determined following UNE-EN 1936 (2007) standart test. Geological and petrographical study showed that historical buildings are essentially built with high porous bioclastic calcarenite partially cemented by calcite which is Würm in age and outcrops all along the northern coast of Bizerte where several historical quarries were identified. Occasionally, two other types of lithologies were used as building stones and they correspond to two varieties of oligocene sandstones (brown quartz-arenite cemented by iron oxide and ochre-green colored sandstone cemented by calcite) and an eocene white limestone corresponding to a fine-grained globigerine wackstone according to Dunham classification. Results of the petrophysical study show that small variations in the petrographic characteristics of the building geomaterials, such as type and degree of cementation, porous network configuration and presence or absence of soluble salts leads to differential stone weathering. Results of study's mortars show that original and restoration mortars have similar mineralogical composition but different grain size distribution and proportion of binder/agregats. They differ equally by the nature of raw materials as demonstrated by the thermal analyses. The study show that little variation of these parameters can affect the durability and the performance of mortars and can accelerate the degradation process of the building stones, especially the oligocene and eocene lithotypes.

Sedimentology and tectonics of the collision complex in the east arm of Sulawesi Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simandjuntak, Tohap Oculair

An imbricated Mesozoic to Palaeogene continental margin sequence is juxtaposed with ophiolitic rocks in the East Arm of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The two tectonic terranes are bounded by the Batui Thrust and Balantak Fault System, which are considered to be the surface expression of the collision zone between the Banggai-Sula Platform and the Eastern Sulawesi Ophiolite Belt. The collision complex contains three distinctive sedimentary sequences : 1) Triassic-Palaeogene continental margin sediments, ii) Cretaceous pelagic sediments and iii) Neogene coarse clastic sediments and volcanogenic turbidites. (i) Late Triassic Lemo Beds consisting largely of carbonate-slope deposits and subsidiary clastics including quartz-rich lithic sandstones and lensoidal pebbly mudstone and conglomeratic breccia. The hemipelagic limestones are rich in micro-fossils. Some beds of the limestone contain bivalves and ammonites, including Misolia, which typifies the Triassic-Jurassic sequence of eastern Indonesia. The Jurassic Kapali Beds are dominated by quartzose arenites containing significant amounts of plant remains and lumps of coal. The Late Jurassic sediments consist of neritic carbonate deposits (Nambo Beds and Sinsidik Beds) containing ammonites and belemnites, including Belemnopsis uhligi Stevens, of Late Jurassic age. The Jurassic sediments are overlain unconformably by Late Cretaceous Luok Beds which are predominantly calcilutite with chert nodules rich in microfossils. The Luok Beds are unconformably overlain by the Palaeogene Salodik Limestones which consist of carbonate platform sediments rich in both benthic and planktonic foraminifera of Eocene to Early Miocene age. These sediments were deposited on the continental margin of the Banggai-Sula Platform. (ii) Deep-sea sediments (Boba Beds) consist largely of chert and subsidiary calcilutite rich in radiolaria of Cretaceous age. These rocks are part of an ophiolite suite. (iii) Coarse clastic sediments (Kolo Beds and Biak Conglomerates) are typical post-orogenic clastic rocks deposited on top of the collision complex. They are composed of material derived from both the continental margin sequence and ophiolite suite. Volcanogenic Lonsuit Turbidites occur in the northern part of the East Arm in Poh Head and unconformably overlie the ophiolite suite. Late Miocene to Pliocene planktonic foraminifera occur in the intercalated marlstone and marly sandstone beds within these rocks. The collision zone is marked by the occurrence of Kolokolo Melange, which contain exotic fragments detached from both the ophiolite suite and the continental margin sequence and a matrix of calcareous mudstone and marlstone rich in planktonic foraminifera of late Middle Miocene to Pliocene age. The melange is believed to have been formed during and after the collision of the Banggai-Sula Platform with the Eastern Sulawesi Ophiolite Belt. Hence, the collision event took place in Middle Miocene time. The occurrence of at least three terraces of Quaternary coraline reefs on the south coast of the East Arm of Sulawesi testifies to the rapid uplift of the region. Seismic data suggest that the collision might still be in progress at the present time.

New quantitative, in-situ characterization of weathering in geomaterials.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scrivano, Simona; Gaggero, Laura; Gisbert Aguilar, Josep; Yus Gonzalez, Adrian

2016-04-01

The mineralogical and microtextural analyses of weathered rocks and mortars are the main diagnostic tools to address the materials exposed under different environmental conditions in order to enucleate and mitigate the decay factors. The characterization of weathering intensity is mostly descriptive and non-quantitative (ICOMOS Glossary, 2008); the Fitzner indexes in arenites (Fitzner et al., 2002) and more recently applied to marbles (Scrivano et al., 2013) provide an operator dependent method. The current diagnostic of decay (Drdàcky & Slìzkovà, 2014) based on a scotch tape tearing off the surface was improved by a specifically adapted pocket penetrometer, and a joint gravimetric + minero-chemical analysis under SEM of ablational decay products. The steps are the following: i) Preparation of stubs for SEM with adherent conductive carbon tape (surface area 1.3 cm2) ii) Weighing of stub + tape + its plastic envelope at 0.001 g precision iii) Connecting the stub to a pocket penetrometer iv) Non invasive sampling of the incoherent dust applying a constant pressure of 2 kgf for 1 minute, and then packing away the stub without loosing grains v) Weighing of stub + tape + weathering products + their plastic envelope at 0.001 g precision vi) Recast the weight of removed material vii) Addressing the weathering products to SEM - EDS. Our quantitative peeling test was applied on a 96m long cladded wall in the Staglieno Monumental Cemetery in Genoa. The wall shows weathering gradients due to a neighbouring interred stream and to different insulation. Slabs of ophicalcite marble were tested from three different areas (5 samples were collected to the E, 5 samples at the centre, 5 samples to the W). The results highlighted capillary rise up to 2 meters height and a more weathered central area. On the whole, our protocol allows a delicate, virtually not impacting and reproducible factual sampling. Moreover, if carried out on a statistically significant population, the decay intensity results are defined and categorized. Drdàcky M. & Slìzkovà Z., 2014. In situ peeling tests for assessing the cohesion and consolidation characteristics of historic plasters and render surfaces. Studies in conservation, vol 0. Fitzner B. & Heinrichs K., 2002. Damage diagnosis on stone monuments weathering forms, damage categories and damage indices. - In: Prikryl R. and Viles H.A. (eds.): Understanding and managing stone decay. - Proceedings Internat. Conf. "Stone weathering and atmospheric pollution network (SWAPNET)": 11-56, Charles Univ. Prague (Karolinum Press). ICOMOS.ISCS, 2008 Illustrated glossary on stone deterioration patterns, 78 pp. Scrivano S., Gaggero L. & Taddei A., 2013. Alteration patterns of marble under different environmental exposures: a systematic approach from the Staglieno Monumental cemetery and museum collections in Genoa (Italy). In: Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, New York, 22-26 October 2012. In press.

Palaeoenvironments and palaeotectonics of the arid to hyperarid intracontinental latest Permian- late Triassic Solway basin (U.K.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brookfield, Michael E.

2008-10-01

The late Permian to late Triassic sediments of the Solway Basin consist of an originally flat-lying, laterally persistent and consistent succession of mature, dominantly fine-grained red clastics laid down in part of a very large intracontinental basin. The complete absence of body or trace fossils or palaeosols indicates a very arid (hyperarid) depositional environment for most of the sediments. At the base of the succession, thin regolith breccias and sandstones rest unconformably on basement and early Permian rift clastics. Overlying gypsiferous red silty mudstones, very fine sandstones and thick gypsum were deposited in either a playa lake or in a hypersaline estuary, and their margins. These pass upwards into thick-bedded, multi-storied, fine- to very fine-grained red quartzo-felspathic and sublithic arenites in which even medium sand is rare despite channels with clay pebbles up to 30 cm in diameter. Above, thick trough cross-bedded and parallel laminated fine-grained aeolian sandstones (deposited in extensive barchanoid dune complexes) pass up into very thick, multicoloured mudstones, and gypsum deposited in marginal marine or lacustrine sabkha environments. The latter pass up into marine Lower Jurassic shales and limestones. Thirteen non-marine clastic lithofacies are arranged into five main lithofacies associations whose facies architecture is reconstructed where possible by analysis of large exposures. The five associations can be compared with the desert pavement, arid ephemeral stream, sabkha, saline lake and aeolian sand dune environments of the arid to hyperarid areas of existing intracontinental basins such as Lake Eyre and Lake Chad. The accommodation space in such basins is controlled by gradual tectonic subsidence moderated by large fluctuations in shallow lake extent (caused by climatic change and local variation) and this promotes a large-scale layer-cake stratigraphy as exemplified in the Solway basin. Here, the dominant fine-grained mature sandstones above the local basal reg breccias suggest water-reworking of wind-transported sediment, as in the northern part of the Lake Chad basin. Growth faulting occurs in places in the Solway basin, caused by underlying evaporite movement, but these faults did not significantly affect pre-late Triassic sedimentation and did not expose pre-Permian units above the basal breccias. There is no evidence of post-early Permian rifting anywhere during deposition of the late Permian to middle Triassic British succession although the succession is often interpreted with a rift-basin model. The arid to hyperarid palaeoclimate changed little during deposition of the Solway basin succession, in contrast to Lakes Eyre and Chad: and this is attributed to tectonic and palaeolatitude stability. Unlike the later Mesozoic- Cenozoic, only limited plate movements took place during the Triassic in western Europe, palaeolatitude changed little, and the Solway Basin remained in the northern latitudinal desert belt from early to mid-Triassic times. However, the influence of the early Triassic impoverished biota on environmental interpretations needs further study.

Tectono-metamorphic evolution and magmatic processes in the thermo-metamorphic aureole of the Monte Capanne pluton (Elba Island, Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morelli, M.; Pandeli, E.; Principi, G.

2003-04-01

Introduction In this work we present new structural and petrographic data collected in the thermo-metamorphic aureole of Monte Capanne (western Elba Island) and its metamorphic evolution. In the western Elba Island the Monte Capanne monzogranitic body (ca. 7 Ma) and its thermo-metamorphic aureole crop out. At least two different tectonic units can be distinguished: the Punta Le Tombe Unit, weak re-crystallized, and the Punta Nera Unit. In the latter one the re-crystallization is strong and a pre-intrusion tectono-metamorphic framework is evident (Morelli et al., 2002). The latter is mainly constituted by thermo-metamorphosed meta-ophiolites and meta-sedimentary successions previously correlated by Barberi et al. (1969) with the un-metamorphic ones (Complex IV and V of Trevisan, 1950) cropping out in the central-eastern Elba. According to Perrin (1975) and Reutter &Spohn (1982) a pre-intrusion tectono-metamorphic framework was recognized into such rocks. As suggested by Daniel &Jolivet (1995) complex relationships between metamorphic evolution and magmatic events are also recognizable. Geological Data The Punta Nera Unit crops out all around the Monte Capanne magmatic body and the primary contact with the underlying granitoid is somewhere preserved. This unit, strongly re-crystallized and locally crosscut by aplitic and porphyritic dikes, is represented by (Coli &Pandeli, 1997; Morelli, 2000) tectonized meta-serpentinites, meta-gabbros with rodingitic dikes, rare meta-basalts and meta-ophicalcites, meta-cherts, marbles, cherty meta-limestones, phyllites and meta-limestones with rare meta-arenites intercalations. A "pre-magmatic" tectono-metamorphic framework of this unit is well evident only in its meta-sedimentary portion. The meta-sediments are deformed by syn-metamorphic isoclinal folds caractherized by N-S trending axes, west dipping axial planes and easternward vergence. A later folding and flattening event clearly post-dated the above said folds and associated main foliation. Both at the meso- and micro-scale few generations of syn-/inter-kinematic and static thermo-metamorphic blasteses (e.g. biotite, wollastonite, garnet, epidote etc.) are evident. Finally weak local folding and faulting affected the Monte Capanne thermo-metamorphic aureole during the uplift of the cooled pluton. Along the coast of Spartaia (north-eastern side of Monte Capanne) the meta-sedimentary upper portion of the Punta Nera Unit crops out and it is represented by alternating marbles and phyllites with rare meta-arenites. Here, the relationships between tectono-metamorphic and thermo-metamorphic structures, and intrusive magmatic bodies are particularly evident. D_1M_1: is recognizable at the meso-scale only as rare relics of intrafolial isoclinal rootless hinges and locally as a transposed foliation (S1). At the microscope a relic fine-spaced foliation, locally preserved by the following re-crystallization and parallel to the original lithological partitions, is evident. The original mineral associations is often replaced by HT/LP mimetic and syn-kinematic or static blasteses. D_2M_2 is the most evident structural fabric pre-dating the thermo-metamorphic events. It is represented by tight to isoclinal folds with N-S trending axes and easternward vergence. At the microscope the S2 foliation deformed the previously S1 and at the fold hinges a variously penetrative discrete crenulation cleavage (S2) is recognizable. M_3 is the first thermo-metamorphic event. It is associated to the intrusions of the Capo Bianco, San Martino and Portoferraio laccoliths (between ca. 8 and 7.2 Ma, Rocchi et alii, 2002) along pre-existing tectonic and lithological discontinuity. The laccoliths clearly crosscut the tectono-metamorphic fabric of the Punta Nera Unit. At this first magmatic event is associated a HT/LP blastesis of static garnet, wollastonite and epidote. Close to the contact between the magmatic intrusive bodies the country rocks are strongly re-crystallized and the original structure is oblitered. D_3M_4: is linked to the intrusion of the Monte Capanne pluton (6.9 Ma). Because of the flattening of the country rocks a penetrative foliation, sub-parallel to the surface of the plutonic body, developed during its intrusion and the uplift. Fluidal structures and discharge folding also developed. This structures affected both the country rocks and the laccoliths intruded in. At the meso-scale are also evident fractures, filled by calcite, cutting the garnet/wollastonite aggregate and later flattened and-or partially transposed. Late felsic products associated with the Monte Capanne pluton partly are deformed by the flattening and partly cut the flattening structures. The contact between the pluton and the country rocks itself is locally deformed by flattening structures. At the microscope the growth of HT/LP minerals, mimetic on the previous associations, or syn-kinematic or static, is evident. M_5: finally, during the last intrusive event (Orano porphyries, 6.8 Ma) a static thermo-metamorphic blastesis locally occurs post-dating the structures previously described. Only gentle folding, veins and fractures formation, and faulting processes followed the tectono-metamorphic and thermo-metamorphic deformation events. Conclusions The Punta Nera Unit represents another important element to understand the relationships between Alps and Apennines. In fact, the evidences of a pre-granitoid polyphased tectono-metamorphic framework in this metamorphic oceanic unit allow to correlate it to the Schistes Lustrés of the Alpine Corsica (e.g. Inzecca Massif, Duran Delga, 1984) and of the Northern Tyrrhenian area (e.g. the outcrops of oceanic metamorphic units in the Gorgona Island, Giglio Island and eastern Elba Island: Bortolotti et al., 2001; Pandeli et alii, 2001; Rossetti et al., 2001; Orti et al., 2002). References Barberi et al. (1969). F.126. Isola d'Elba. Note Ill. Carta Geol. It., 1:100.000. Ser. Geol. d'It. Bortolotti V. et al. (2001), Ofioliti, 26, 2001. Coli &Pandeli, (2001), Ofioliti, 26, 2001. Daniel &Jolivet, (1995), Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 166(4), 341--354. Durand-Delga M. (1984), Mem. Soc. Geol. It., 28, 285--329. Morelli M. et alii, (2002), Proceedings of Eurogranites 2002, 15th--21th Sept. 2002. Orti et alii, (2002), Ofioliti, 27, 2002. Pandeli et alii, (2001), Ofioliti, 26, 2001. Perrin M. (1975), Boll. Soc. Geol. It., 94, pp.1929--1955. Reutter K.J. and Spohn A., (1982), Ofioliti, 7, 467--478. Rocchi et alii, (2002), in Eurogranites 2002 Field Meeting Guide. 15th--21th Sept. 2002 Rossetti et al., (2001), Ofioliti, 26, 2001. Trevisan L., (1950), Mem. Ist. Geol. Univ. Padova, 16, 2--39.

Mapping argillic and advanced argillic alteration in volcanic rocks, quartzites, and quartz arenites in the western Richfield 1° x 2 ° quadrangle, southwestern Utah, using ASTER satellite data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rockwell, Barnaby W.; Hofstra, Albert H.

2012-01-01

The Richfield quadrangle in southwestern Utah is known to contain a variety of porphyry Mo, skarn, polymetallic replacement and vein, alunite, and kaolin resources associated with 27-32 Ma calc-alkaline or 12-23 Ma bimodal volcano-plutonic centers in Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks. Four scenes of visible to shortwave-infrared image data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor were analyzed to generate maps of exposed clay, sulfate, mica, and carbonate minerals, and ASTER thermal infrared data were analyzed to identify quartz and carbonate minerals. Argillic and advanced argillic alteration minerals including alunite, pyrophyllite, dickite, and kaolinite were identified in both undocumented (U) and known (K) areas, including in the southern Paradise Mtns. (U); in calc-alkaline volcanic rocks in the Wah Wah Mtns. between Broken Ridge and the NG area (U/K); at Wah Wah Summit in a small zone adjacent to 33.1 Ma diorite and marble (U); in fractures cutting quartzites surrounding the 20-22 Ma Pine Grove Mo deposit (U); in volcanic rocks in the Shauntie Hills (U/K); in quartzites in the west-central San Francisco Mtns. (U); in volcanic rocks in the Black Mtns. (K); and in mainly 12-13 Ma rhyolitic rocks along a 20 km E-W belt that includes the Bible Spring fault zone west of Broken Ridge, with several small centers in the Escalante Desert to the south (U/K). Argillized Navajo Sandstone with kaolinite and (or) dickite ± alunite was mapped adjacent to calc-alkaline intrusions in the Star Range (U). Intense quartz-sericite alteration (K) with local kaolinite was identified in andesite adjacent to calc-alkaline intrusions in the Beaver Lake Mountains. Mo-bearing phyllic alteration was identified in 22.2 Ma rhyolite plugs at the center of the NG alunite area. Limestones, dolomites, and marbles were differentiated, and quartz and sericite were identified in most unaltered quartzites. Halos of argillically-altered rock ≈12 km in diameter surround the Pine Grove deposit, the central rhyolites at NG, and the North Peaks just south of the Bible Spring fault zone. A southward shift from 22-23 Ma alunite at NG in the northeast to the 12-13 Ma alunite near Broken Ridge in the southwest mirrors a shift in the locus of bimodal magmatism and is similar to the southward shift of activity from the Antelope Range to Alunite Ridge (porphyry Mo potential) in the Marysvale volcanic field farther east. The poster provided in this report compares mineral maps generated from analysis of combined visible-near infrared (VNIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) data and thermal infrared (TIR) ASTER data to a previously published regional geologic map. Such comparisons are used to identify and differentiate rock-forming and hydrothermal alteration-related minerals, which aids in lithologic mapping and alteration characterization over an 11,245 square kilometer area.

A Glimpse at Late Mesozoic to Early Tertiary Offshore Stratigraphy from Wilkes Land, East Antarctica: Results of Strategic Dredging of the Mertz-Ninnis Trough

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrum, H.; Domack, E.; Desantis, L.; Leventer, A.; McMullen, K.; Escutia, C.

2004-12-01

As early as 1912 Sir Douglas Mawson demonstrated that pre-glacial sedimentary successions could be recovered by seafloor dredging of erosional troughs found offshore, East Antarctica. Since then, little systematic dredging has been undertaken in Antarctica despite indications of outcropping strata exposed along seaward flanks of glacially excavated troughs and the dire need to resolve the nature of preglacial and synglacial strata in this region. During cruise NB Palmer 01-01, three dredges were collected in echelon along the seaward flank of the Mertz-Ninnis Trough, parallel to the Mertz Ice Tongue, in water depths of 900 to 450 m. We combine biostratigraphic (palynologic) and lithologic analyses on sedimentary clasts with multi- and single-channel seismic reflection data collected by the WEGA cruise in 2000. 1359 pebble to cobble sized clasts were collected from three dredges. Of these 15% to 43%, within each dredge, were of sedimentary character, including carbonaceous sandstones with plant macrofossils, black sulfide-rich mudstones, siltstones, lignites, red quartz arenites, arkoses, and diamictites in various states of lithification. Palynomorphs were separated from these sedimentary rocks. We examined eleven individual lithologies, nine of which yielded useful palynological detritus. Of these samples, five yielded palynomorphs distinctive to the Paleogene (i.e. Nothofagus flemingii, Tricolporites spp., Proteacidites spp.); two samples contained only Lower Cretaceous palynomorphs, while three samples provided no stratigraphically useful palynomorph kerogen. We combine these results with multi-channel seismic and multibeam swath mapping to demonstrate that dredged materials represent seafloor outcrop or shallow subcrop of strata beneath a thin glacial till. Our stratigraphic model for these samples is consistent with 62 km of multichannel seismic reflection data (WEGA line W02) showing seaward dipping strata onlapping the basement to the southwest and partly infilling a rifted basin of late Cretaceous age. Seaward dipping reflectors above the syn-rift strata represent post-rift deposits ranging from Paleogene to Quaternary. Included within this stratigraphy are lithified diamictites containing Mesozoic palynomorphs in addition to palynomorphs of Early Tertiary age (including dinoflagellates). Seaward dipping reflectors in the deep axis of the Mertz-Ninnis Trough were not sampled directly by our dredges, but are believed to be Lower Cretaceous siltstones by extrapolation to core DF-79-38, 100 km along strike to the southeast (Domack et al., 1980). Furthermore, the thermal maturity of the lignite samples recovered in our collections suggests that the coal is of Early Tertiary age, as are numerous organic-rich mudstones, which contain Paleogene palynomorphs. These results indicate that sedimentary strata in this portion of the Wilkes Land Margin contain significantly thick (greater than 2.7 km) post-rift (drift phase) marine sequences of both pre- and synglacial character. Strategic dredging is a promising methodology by which to sample stratigraphic succession in a cost effective manner along the East Antarctic margin in the absence of, or preparation for, International Ocean Drilling Projects on the shelf. Domack, E. W., Fairchild, W. W., and Anderson, J. B. (1980) Lower Cretaceous sediment from the East Antarctic continental shelf, Nature, 287, 625-626.

Sedimentological Properties of Natural Gas Hydrates-Bearing Sands in the Nankai Trough and Mallik Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchida, T.; Tsuji, T.; Waseda, A.

2009-12-01

The Nankai Trough parallels the Japanese Island, where extensive BSRs have been interpreted from seismic reflection records. High resolution seismic surveys have definitely indicated gas hydrate distributions, and drilling the MITI Nankai Trough wells in 2000 and the METI Tokai-oki to Kumano-nada wells in 2004 have revealed subsurface gas hydrate in the eastern part of Nankai Trough. In 1998 and 2002 Mallik wells were drilled at Mackenzie Delta in the Canadian Arctic that also clarified the characteristics of gas hydrate-dominant sandy layers at depths from 890 to 1110 m beneath the permafrost zone. During the field operations, the LWD and wire-line well log data were continuously obtained and plenty of gas hydrate-bearing sand cores were recovered. Subsequence sedimentological and geochemical analyses performed on those core samples revealed the crucial geologic controls on the formation and preservation of natural gas hydrate in sediments. Pore-space gas hydrates reside in sandy sediments mostly filling intergranular porosity. Pore waters chloride anomalies, core temperature depression and core observations on visible gas hydrates confirm the presence of pore-space gas hydrates within moderate to thick sandy layers, typically 10 cm to a meter thick. Sediment porosities and pore-size distributions were obtained by mercury porosimetry, which indicate that porosities of gas hydrate-bearing sandy strata are approximately 45 %. According to grain size distribution curves, gas hydrate is dominant in fine- to very fine-grained sandy strata. Gas hydrate saturations are typically up to 80 % in pore volume throughout most of the hydrate-dominant sandy layers, which are estimated by well log analyses as well as pore water chloride anomalies. It is necessary for investigating subsurface fluid flow behaviors to evaluate both porosity and permeability of gas hydrate-bearing sandy sediments, and the measurements of water permeability for them indicated that highly saturated sands should have permeability of 1 x 10-15 to 5 x 10-15 m2 (1 to 5 millidarcies). Most of gas hydrates fill the intergranular pore systems of sandy layers, which are derived from the sedimentary facies such as channels and crevasse splay/levee deposits. It is remarked that those sandy strata are usually composed of arenite sands with matrix-free intergranular pore systems. Gas hydrates are less frequently found in fine-grained sediments such as siltstone and mudstone from overbank deposits. Methane gas accumulation and original pore space large enough to occur within host sediments may be required for forming highly saturated gas hydrate in pore system. The distribution of a porous and coarser-grained host rock should be one of the important factors to control the occurrence of gas hydrate, as well as physicochemical conditions. This appears to be a similar mode for conventional oil and gas accumulations, and this knowledge is important to predicting the location of other hydrate deposits and their eventual energy resource. This study was performed as a part of the MH21 Research Consortium on methane hydrate in Japan.

A detrital zircon provenance study of the Lower Carboniferous sequences in the East Fife section of the Midland Valley of Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murchie, Sean; Robinson, Ruth, ,, Dr; Lancaster, Penelope, ,, Dr

2014-05-01

Detrital zircons from the Lower Carboniferous clastic rocks of the Midland Valley of Scotland have been dated using U-Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to determine which source areas contributed sediment to the basin during its development, and to investigate whether provenance changed during deposition of these units. Specific provenance detection using U/Pb dating of zircons has never been attempted in these rocks, and there are uncertainties remaining about the regional paleogeographic setting for the Midland Valley. Four samples from the Dinantian Strathclyde Group have been analysed, and the units are locally known as the Fife Ness, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Sandy Craig, and Pathhead formations. The formations are composed of shallow marine, deltaic, fluvial and floodplain deposits and these predominantly siliciclastic sedimentary rocks are interbedded with thin fossiliferous carbonate bands. The samples are quartz arenitic, sub-arkosic and lithic arkosic medium-grained sandstones, predominantly from a fluvial origin. The British Geological Survey developed a lithostratigraphy which is the most used framework for the Strathclyde Group (Browne et al., 1997), but a different biostratigraphical framework based on palynology has been proposed by Owens et al. (2005). In addition to identifying provenance, the zircon age populations for each formation are compared to test which stratigraphic framework is correct. More broadly, the provenance data provides a way to improve the regional palaeogeographic setting for the Midland Valley. Zircon ages in the Strathclyde Group are dominated by Late Mesoproterozoic to Late Palaeoproterozoic (0.9 - 2.0 Ga) and Early Palaeozoic (350 - 450 Ma) ages which reflect Caledonide (Laurentian-Baltica margin including Scotland, Scandinavia, Greenland, Newfoundland), Grampian and internal Midland Valley source areas. Notable peaks occur at 400 Ma, 1.0 --1.1 Ga, 1.3 Ga, 1.6 - 1.7 Ga, and 2.7 Ga, and the Proterozoic age peaks are consistent with a Dalradian source. Although the age spectra for each formation are broadly similar, the proportions of age populations differ and age peaks present in the Anstruther Formation are absent in other formations. For instance, the Anstruther Formation has a significantly larger proportion of Archaean-aged zircons compared to the Pittenweem Formation, and contains a 1.3 Ga peak which is absent in the other formations. This suggests that source areas evolved throughout the deposition of the Strathclyde Group. The dominance of Mesoproterozoic and Palaeoproterozoic ages relative to Palaeozoic ages contrasts to similar ages units in the Pennine Basin and offshore North Sea, where the latter dominate the age spectra (Hallsworth et al., 2000; Morton et al., 2001). This may reflect the proximity of the Dalradian terrane and organisation of river systems draining into the Fife section of the Midland Valley during the Dinantian. References: Browne, M.A. et al. (1997). A lithostratigraphical framework for the Carboniferous rocks of the Midland Valley of Scotland. BGS Technical Report WA/96/29 Owens, B. et al. (2005). Reappraisal of the Mississippian palynostratigraphy of the East Fife coast, Scotland, United Kingdom. Palynology, 29, 23-47 Hallsworth et al (2000). Carboniferous sand provenance in the Pennine Basin. Sedimentary Geology, 137, 137-145 Morton et al (2001). Zircon age and heavy mineral constraints on provenance of North Sea Carboniferous sandstones. Marine and petroleum geology, 18, 319-337

Geochemistry and metamorphism of the Paleozoic metasedimentary basement of the Sierra Madre Oriental, NE Mexico. Possible paths from their depositional environment?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres Sanchez, Sonia Alejandra; Augustsson, Carita; Alonso Ramirez Fernandez, Juan; Rafael Barboza Gudiño, Jose; Jenchen, Uwe; Abratis, Michael

2013-04-01

We present depositional conditions and possible protholits for Late Paleozoic metasediment in Mexico that were related to the Laurentia-Gondwana collision in Carboniferous time, during Pangea amalgamation. The study aims to reconstruct the depositional and metamorphic evolution of the Granjeno Schist in northeastern Mexico to get a better control on the timing of subduction and collision processes involving the two supercontinents. Remnants of the Mexican Paleozoic continental configuration are present in the Granjeno Schist, the metamorphic basement of the Sierra Madre Oriental in northeastern Mexico. We apply field mapping, petrographic investigations, whole-rock and mineral chemical analysis, as well as U-Pb zircon dating of both metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. Field work and petrographic analysis reveal that the Granjeno Schist comprises intercalations of metamorphic rocks with both sedimentary (psammite, pelite, turbidite, conglomerate, black shale) and volcanic (tuff, lava flows, pillow lava and ultramafic bodies) protoliths. The chlorite geothermometer and the presence of phengite in the metasedimentary units as well as U-Pb zircon ages on metapsammite indicate that the Granjeno Schist was metamorphosed under sub-greenschist to greenschist facies with temperatures ranging from 250-345°C during the Carboniferous time (330±30 Ma). The geochemical composition of the metasedimentary rocks is in accordance with iron shale, wacke and quartz arenite protoliths. Some of the variations can be explained by the grain sizes (e. g., 69-74% and 78-96% SiO2 and 10-15% and 3-9% Al2O3 in metapelite and metapsammite, respectively). Our data suggest that the Granjeno Schist metasedimentary units represent a wide variety of clastic sediments derived from mixed felsic basic sources compositions (e. g., Ti/Nb 200-400). Furthermore, the trace element characteristics point to a continental island arc or active continental margin setting due to e. g., Th/Sc and Zr/Sc ratios of 5-8 and 0.3-0.5, respectively, both for metapelite and metapsammite. The metavolcanic rocks are associated with ocean-island basalt (OIB) or mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) due to the immobile trace element ratios Zr/Nb and Y/Nb in the ranges 4.91-8.06 and 0.74-1 for the IOB and >9.2 and >1.25 for the MORB, respectively. Detrital zircon ages for three metapsammites reveal that the major sources mainly are Grenvillian (1250-920 Ma) rocks. Such rocks can be found in the ca. 1 Ga Oaxaquia Complex in NE Mexico (Novillo Gneiss). Hence, short transport can be assumed. Maximum depositional ages are Neoproterozoic, Silurian and Devonian. They indicate that the volcanosedimentary deposition probably took place during Devonian time. Based on our results we suggest a plate-tectonic frame for Oaxaquia which is a modification of accepted models. Most models suggest that Oaxaquia was situated between Laurentia and Gondwana during collision in Carboniferous time. The zircon data indicate that the Granjeno Schist was deposited before the collision of Laurentia and Gondwana. The presence of ocean basalt floor, lava flows and serpentinite lenses intercalated with tuff and active continental margin sedimentary rocks necessitates a near-continental environment, such as a back-arc basin. Hence, we present the first evidence of a subduction zone predating the collision of Laurentia and Gondwana.

On the formation, growth, and shapes of solution pipes - insights from numerical modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szymczak, Piotr; Tredak, Hanna; Upadhyay, Virat; Kondratiuk, Paweł; Ladd, Anthony J. C.

2015-04-01

Cylindrical, vertical structures called solution pipes are a characteristic feature of epikarst, encountered in different parts of the world, both in relatively cold areas such as England and Poland (where their formation is linked to glacial processes) [1] and in coastal areas in tropical or subtropical climate (Bermuda, Australia, South Africa, Caribbean, Mediterranean) [2,3]. They are invariably associated with weakly cemented, porous limestones and relatively high groundwater fluxes. Many of them develop under the colluvial sandy cover and contain the fill of clayey silt. Although it is widely accepted that they are solutional in origin, the exact mechanism by which the flow becomes focused is still under debate. The hypotheses include the concentration of acidified water around stems and roots of plants, or the presence of pre-existing fractures or steeply dipping bedding planes, which would determine the points of entry for the focused groundwater flows. However, there are field sites where neither of this mechanisms was apparently at play and yet the pipes are formed in large quantities [1]. In this communication we show that the systems of solution pipes can develop spontaneously in nearly uniform matrix due to the reactive-infiltration instability: a homogeneous porous matrix is unstable with respect to small variations in local permeability; regions of high permeability dissolve faster because of enhanced transport of reactants, which leads to increased rippling of the front. This leads to the formation of a system of solution pipes which then advance into the matrix. We study this process numerically, by a combination of 2d- and 3d-simulations, solving the coupled flow and transport equations at the Darcy scale. The relative simplicity of this system (pipes developing in a uniform porous matrix, without any pre-existing structure) makes it very attractive from the modeling standpoint. We quantify the factors which control the pipe diameters and the distances between the pipes as well as their growth rates. The most interesting result is the existence of two different regimes of the piped growth, depending on the flow rate. At high flow rates, well-separated, cyllindrical shafts are formed, of a nearly uniform diameter all along their lengths. They advance quickly into the matrix, with velocities several times larger than that of a unperturbed, planar dissolution front. Conversely, for small flow rates, the pipes are funnel-shaped with parabolic tips and their advancement velocity is of the same order as that of a planar front. The transition between the two forms is abrupt, with no intermediate forms observed. The simulation results are compared with field evidence from limestone quarries in Smerdyna, Poland, where several hundred of solution pipes have been exposed. Interestingly, both forms (shaft-like and tunnel-like) are found in the field, sometimes in close proximity to each other. [1] P. Walsh and I. Morawiecka-Zacharz, A dissolution pipe palaeokarst of mid-Pleistocene age preserved in Miocene limestones near Staszow, Poland, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 174 (2001), pp. 327-350. [2] K. G. Grimes, Solution pipes and pinnacles in syngenetic karst. In: Gines A., Knez M., Slabe T., Dreybrodt W. (Eds.), Karst Rock Features: Karren Sculpturing. Ljubljana, ZRC Publishing, (2009), pp. 513-523. [3] J. De Waele, S. E. Lauritzen and M. Parise On the formation of dissolution pipes in Quaternary coastal calcareous arenites in Mediterranean settings. Earth. Surf. Proc. Land" 36, (2011), pp. 143-157.

Metamorphic belts of Anatolia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oberhänsli, Roland; Prouteau, Amaury; Candan, Osman; Bousquet, Romain

2015-04-01

Investigating metamorphic rocks from high-pressure/low-temperature (HP/LT) belts that formed during the closure of several oceanic branches, building up the present Anatolia continental micro-plate gives insight to the palaeogeography of the Neotethys Ocean in Anatolia. Two coherent HP/LT metamorphic belts, the Tavşanlı Zone (distal Gondwana margin) and the Ören-Afyon-Bolkardağ Zone (proximal Gondwana margin), parallel their non-metamorphosed equivalent (the Tauride Carbonate Platform) from the Aegean coast in NW Anatolia to southern Central Anatolia. P-T conditions and timing of metamorphism in the Ören-Afyon-Bolkardağ Zone (>70?-65 Ma; 0.8-1.2 GPa/330-420°C) contrast those published for the overlying Tavşanlı Zone (88-78 Ma; 2.4 GPa/500 °C). These belts trace the southern Neotethys suture connecting the Vardar suture in the Hellenides to the Inner Tauride suture along the southern border of the Kirşehir Complex in Central Anatolia. Eastwards, these belts are capped by the Oligo-Miocene Sivas Basin. Another HP/LT metamorphic belt, in the Alanya and Bitlis regions, outlines the southern flank of the Tauride Carbonate Platform. In the Alanya Nappes, south of the Taurides, eclogites and blueschists yielded metamorphic ages around 82-80 Ma (zircon U-Pb and phengite Ar-Ar data). The Alanya-Bitlis HP belt testifies an additional suture not comparable to the northerly Tavşanlı and Ören-Afyon belts, thus implying an additional oceanic branch of the Neotethys. The most likely eastern lateral continuation of this HP belt is the Bitlis Massif, in SE Turkey. There, eclogites (1.9-2.4 GPa/480-540°C) occur within calc-arenitic meta-sediments and in gneisses of the metamorphic (Barrovian-type) basement. Zircon U-Pb ages revealed 84.4-82.4 Ma for peak metamorphism. Carpholite-bearing HP/LT metasediments representing the stratigraphic cover of the Bitlis Massif underwent 0.8-1.2 GPa/340-400°C at 79-74 Ma (Ar-Ar on white mica). These conditions compares to the Tavşanlı-Afyon realm. However the differences in time and P-T conditions (eclogite- vs. blueschist-facies units) in the Bitlis Massif indicate that the different metamorphic peak conditions were reached at different times in a single subduction zone. Exhumation from approx. 65 to 35 km depth occurred within <10 myr. The special relations between eclogite-blueschist are due to the fact that collision with the Arabian plate was and still is on going in the Bitlis area. The Bitlis HP rocks represent a subduction realm that separated the Bitlis-Pütürge(-Bistun?) continental block from the South-Armenian (Tauride?) block, further north. Post-Eocene blueschists south of the Bitlis Massif witness the separation of the Bitlis-Pütüre block from the Arabian plate, and the southward migration of the subduction zone from the Late Cretaceous to the Oligocene. Continuous convergence of Africa and Eurasia engendered the simultaneous consumption of several, separated branches of the Neotethys Ocean and amalgamation of different terranes. The rise of the Eastern Anatolia Plateau is related to this complex geodynamic setting. Reduced seismic velocities inferred from geophysical observations, which are interpreted as complete replacement of lithospheric- by asthenospheric mantle, can be explained by thermodynamic modelling as partial hydration of the lithospheric mantle wedge during protracted subduction. Hydrated lithospheric mantle is interpreted as result of the complex geodynamic setting in Anatolia with multiple simultaneous subduction zones.

Extensional Late Paleozoic deformation on the western margin of Pangea, Patlanoaya area, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramos-Arias, M. A.; Keppie, J. D.; Ortega-Rivera, A.; Lee, J. W. K.

2008-02-01

New mapping in the northern part of the Paleozoic Acatlán Complex (Patlanoaya area) records several ductile shear zones and brittle faults with normal kinematics (previously thought to be thrusts). These movement zones separate a variety of units that pass structurally upwards from: (i) blueschist-eclogitic metamorphic rocks (Piaxtla Suite) and mylonitic megacrystic granites (Columpio del Diablo granite ≡ Ordovician granites elsewhere in the complex); (ii) a gently E-dipping, listric, normal shear zone with top to the east kinematic indicators that formed under upper greenschist to lower amphibolite conditions; (iii) the Middle-Late Ordovician Las Minas quartzite (upper greenschist facies psammites with minor interbedded pelites intruded by mafic dikes and a leucogranite dike from the Columpio del Diablo granite) unconformably overlain by the Otate meta-arenite (lower greenschist facies psammites and pelites): roughly temporal equivalents are the Middle-Late Ordovician Mal Paso and Ojo de Agua units (interbedded metasandstone and slate, and metapelite and mafic minor intrusions, respectively) — some of these units are intruded by the massive, 461 ± 2 Ma, Palo Liso megacrystic granite: decussate, contact metamorphic muscovite yielded a 40Ar/ 39Ar plateau age of 440 ± 4 Ma; (iv) a steeply-moderately, E-dipping normal fault; (v) latest Devonian-Middle Permian sedimentary rocks (Patlanoaya Group: here elevated from formation status). The upward decrease in metamorphic grade is paralleled by a decrease in the number of penetrative fabrics, which varies from (i) three in the Piaxtla Suite, through (ii) two in the Las Minas unit (E-trending sheath folds deformed by NE-trending, subhorizontal folds with top to the southeast asymmetry, both associated with a solution cleavage), (iii) one in the Otate, Mal Paso, and Ojo de Agua units (steeply SE-dipping, NE-SW plunging, open-close folds), to (iv) none in the Patlanoaya Group. 40Ar/ 39Ar analyses of muscovite from the earliest cleavage in the Las Minas unit yielded a plateau age of 347 ± 3 Ma and show low temperature ages of ˜ 260 Ma. Post-dating all of these structures and the Patlanoaya Group are NE-plunging, subvertical folds and kink bands. An E-W, vertical normal fault juxtaposes the low-grade rocks against the Anacahuite amphibolite that is cut by megacrystic granite sheets, both of which were deformed by two penetrative fabrics. Amphibole from this unit has yielded a 40Ar/ 39Ar plateau age of 299 ± 6 Ma, which records cooling through ˜ 490 °C and is probably related to a Permo-Carboniferous reheating event during exhumation. The extensional deformation is inferred to have started in the latest Devonian (˜ 360 Ma) during deposition of the basal Patlanoaya Group, lasting through the rapid exhumation of the Piaxtla Suite at ˜ 350-340 Ma synchronous with cleavage development in the Las Minas unit, deposition of the Patlanoaya Group with active fault-related exhumation suggested by Mississippian and Early Permian conglomerates (˜ 340 and 300 Ma, respectively), and continuing at least into the Middle Permian (≡ 260 Ma muscovite ages). The continuity of Mid-Continent Mississippian fauna from the USA to southern Mexico suggests that this extensional deformation occurred on the western margin of Pangea after closure of the Rheic Ocean.

Investigations on alluvial deposits through borehole stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and passive seismic technique (Carnic Alps, NE Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viero, Alessia; Marchi, Lorenzo; Cavalli, Marco; Crema, Stefano; Fontana, Alessandro; Mozzi, Paolo; Venturini, Corrado

2016-04-01

Alluvial sediment investigations provide fundamental tools to infer the processes that control geomorphological evolution of mountain environments. By analyzing sediment stratigraphy in depth, it is possible to retrieve the source, the geology, the time of deposition, the relative distance travelled by material as well as to distinguish among different type of transport (i.e., gravitational, fluvial or glacial). In this work, we present a combination of log stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and geophysical surveys carried out on the valley floor of the But River (Carnic Alps, North East Italy). The But River basin drains an area of 326 km2 with a range in elevation from 2769 to 323 m a.s.l.; the bedrock mainly consists of carbonates and quartz arenites with minor inclusions of effusive rocks. After Pleistocene the gravitational deposits from mountain slopes have impounded the But River several times. In particular, we analyzed a sector of the upper portion of the But valley close to the confluence of the Moscardo Torrent, frequently affected by debris flows. A borehole was drilled in the But River floodplain, at the intersection with the Moscardo Torrent alluvial fan, down to a depth of 80 m. The analysis of the core samples allowed discerning three sedimentary levels rich in clay and organic materials, which testify the presence of small dam lakes, originated from the Moscardo debris-flow deposits. Three samples of wood and plant debris were collected from 13, 14 and 23 m of depth, respectively. They were analyzed through radiocarbon dating in order to determine the age of the lakes and, thus, to infer the activity of the debris flows building the Moscardo cone. The calibrated ages of the 3 samples are close to the younger limit of the radiocarbon method indicating a fast aggradation of the valley floor, starting from a period ranging between 1450 - 1632 AD. Historical maps and documents confirm the presence of the lakes until 19th century and they permit to assess their extent and the maximum depths. Two passive seismic campaigns were carried out near the borehole site and along the But valley at different elevations. The aim was to investigate the depth of the buried bedrock and therefore to indirectly characterize the thickness of alluvial deposits. We calibrated the fundamental frequency of each site by constraining average shear velocity of the alluvial sediments close to the borehole site with known stratigraphy. Eight HVSR (Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio, Nakamura, 1989) were carried out, and thus a first sketch of the buried valley floor along a longitudinal profile of about 5 km was depicted. The values of the derived bedrock depth allow to quantify the differences in thickness between the alluvial deposits and the Moscardo Torrent fan deposits. This information helps to address the contribution of the debris-flow processes in damming the upper But River during the last five centuries. The results confirm the role of debris-flow deposits from the Moscardo Torrent in shaping the morphology of the valley floor of But River and show suitability of an integrated approach, encompassing log stratigraphy, geophysical surveys and analysis of historical documents, for gaining insights on the evolution of alpine valleys. Reference Nakamura, Y., 1989. A method for dynamic characteristic estimation of subsurface using microtremor on the ground surface. Quarterly Report of Railway Technical Research Institute, 30(1): 25-33.

Sedimentological and geochimical features of chaotic deposits in the Ventimiglia Flysch (Roya-Argentina valley- NW Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perotti, Elena; Bertok, Carlo; D'Atri, Anna; Martire, Luca; Musso, Alessia; Piana, Fabrizio; Varrone, Dario

2010-05-01

The Ventimiglia Flysch is a Upper Eocene turbidite succession deposited in the SE part of the Eocene Alpine foreland basin, truncated at the top by the basal thrust of the Helminthoides Flysch, a Ligurian tectonic unit that presently covers part of the Dauphinois and Briançonnais successions of Western Ligurian Alps. The Ventimiglia Flysch is made of alternations of sandstones and shales. The upper part is characterized by chaotic deposits. The chaotic deposits are constituted by: - km to hm-sized intrabasinal blocks (Ventimiglia Flysch) and extrabasinal blocks (Cretaceous sediments of Dauphinois Domain, Nummulite Limestone of the Alpine foreland basin and Helminthoides Flysch ); - conglomerates with block-in-matrix fabric interpreted as debris flow deposits. They occur as m-thick beds interbedded with the normal turbidite succession or locally as matrix of the larger blocks. Debris flow clasts show: - different sizes, ranging from metre to centimetre; - different shapes, from rounded to subangular; - different lithologies, such as fine-grained quartz-arenites, marls, dark shales and fine-grained calcisiltites. They may be referred to both coeval, intrabasinal lithologies (Ventimiglia Flysch), and extrabasinal formations (Nummulite Limestone, Globigerina Marl and Helminthoides Flysch). The clasts are disposed randomly into a chaotic matrix that consists of a dark mudstone in which submillimetre- to millimetre-sized lithic grains, with the same compositions of larger clasts, are present. Locally matrix consists of sandstones with quartz and feldspar grains and fragments of nummulitids that suggest reworking of unlithified Eocene sediments. Cathodoluminescence observations allow the distinction of two kinds of clasts: dull clasts that underwent a cementation before the formation of conglomerates, and clasts with the same orange luminescence as the matrix that may be interpreted as soft mud clasts that were cemented together with the matrix. Debris flow deposits are cross-cut by a network of crumpled and broken veins, 10's mm to cm-large, filled with orange luminescing calcite and locally with quartz. Their complex cross-cutting relationships with clasts and matrix show that several systems of veins are present, that may be referred to different fracturing events. Some clasts are crossed or bordered by veins that end at the edge of the clasts. These veins show the same features as those that crosscut the whole rock. This indicates reworking of plastic sediments crossed by calcite-filled veins by mass gravity flows. Polyphase debris flow processes, proceeding along with fluid expulsion and veining, are thus documented. Ellipsoidal, dm-large concretions of cemented pelites also occur. They represent a previous phase of concretionary growth within homogenous pelites subsequently involved in the mass gravity flow. Stable O and C isotope analyses, performed on matrix, clasts, concretions and veins, show: - δ13C close to normal marine values (-3 to 0 δ13C ‰ PDB) - δ18O markedly negative (-9 to -7 δ18O ‰ PDB) that could be related to precipitation from relatively hot waters (60-70 ° C). The block-in-matrix fabric and the variable composition and size of blocks show that these sediments are a sedimentary mélange related to mass wasting processes involving both extrabasinal and intrabasinal sediments. These gravitational movements took place along slopes of submarine tectonic ridges created by transpressional faults (Piana et al., 2009) that juxtaposed tectonic slices of different paleogeographic domains (Dauphinois, Briançonnais, Ligurian Units) in Late Eocene times, and involved both rock fall processes of huge blocks of lithified, older formations, and debris flows of unlithified intrabasinal sediment. Faults also acted as conduits for an upward flow of hot fluids supersaturated in calcium carbonate. These fluids crossed unlithified sediments close to the sea floor resulting in localized concretionary cementation and formation of vein swarms within unlithified sediments prone to subsequent mass wasting.

Geology of the Blue Mountains region of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington; stratigraphy, physiography, and mineral resources of the Blue Mountains region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vallier, T. L.; Brooks, H.C.

1994-01-01

PART 1: Stratigraphic and sedimentological analysis of sedimentary sequences from the Wallowa terrane of northeastern Oregon has provided a unique insight into the paleogeography and depositional history of the terrane, as well as establishing important constraints on its tectonic evolution and accretionary history. Its Late Triassic history is considered here by examining the two most important sedimentary units in the Wallowa terrane-the Martin Bridge Limestone and the Hurwal Formation. Conformably overlying epiclastic volcanic rocks of the Seven Devils Group, the Martin Bridge Limestone comprises shallow-water platform carbonate rocks and deeper water, off-platform slope and basin facies. Regional stratigraphic and tectonic relations suggest that the Martin Bridge was deposited in a narrow, carbonate-dominated (forearc?) basin during a lull in volcanic activity. The northern Wallowa platform was a narrow, rimmed shelf delineated by carbonate sand shoals. Interior parts of the shelf were characterized by supratidal to shallow subtidal carbonates and evaporites, which were deposited in a restricted basin. In the southern Wallowa Mountains, lithofacies of the Martin Bridge are primarily carbonate turbidites and debris flow deposits, which accumulated on a carbonate slope apron adjacent to the northern Wallowa rimmed shelf from which they were derived. Drowning of the platform in the latest Triassic, coupled with a renewed influx of volcanically derived sediments, resulted in the progradation of fine-grained turbidites of the Hurwal Formation over the carbonate platform. Within the Hurwal, Norian conglomerates of the Excelsior Gulch unit contain exotic clasts of radiolarian chert, which were probably derived from the Bakei terrane. Such a provenance provides evidence of a tectonic link between the Baker and Wallowa terranes as early as the Late Triassic, and offers support for the theory that both terranes were part of a more extensive and complex Blue Mountains island-arc terrane. PART 2: Mesozoic rocks exposed along the Snake River in the northern Wallowa terrane represent a volcanic island and its associated sedimentary basins within the Blue Mountains island arc of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In the northern part of the Wallowa terrane, rock units include the Wild Sheep Creek, Doyle Creek, and Coon Hollow Formations, the (informal) Imnaha intrusion, and the (informal) Dry Creek stock. The volcanic rocks of the Ladinian to Karnian Wild Sheep Creek Formation show two stages of evolution-an early dacitic phase Gower volcanic faciesY and a late mafic phase (upper volcanic facies). The two volcanic facies are separated by eruption-generated turbidites of siliceous argillites and arkosic arenites (argillitesandstone facies). The two magmatic phases of the Wild Sheep Creek Formation may be recorded by the compositional zoning from older quartz diorite and diorite to younger gabbro in the Imnaha intrusion. Although the Late Triassic Imnaha intrusion is in fault contact with the Wild Sheep Creek Formation, it may be a subduction-related pluton and was the likely magma source for the Wild Sheep Creek Formation. Interbedded with the upper volcanic facies are eruption-generated turbidite and debris flow deposits (sandstone-breccia facies) and thick carbonate units (limestone facies). The limestone facies consists of two marker units, which may represent carbonate platform environments. Clast imbrication, fossil orientation, and cross-stratification in the Wild Sheep Creek Formation indicate a shoaling to subaerial volcanic island to the south and southeast; sediment was transported to the north and northwest. The Karnian Doyle Creek Formation consists largely of epiclastic conglomerate, sandstone, and shale that were deposited in welloxygenated basins. Vitric tuffs interbedded with these sediments suggest shallow or subaerial pyroclastic eruptions. Quartz diorite clasts in this formation may indicate uplift

The geology of the northern tip of the Arabian-Nubian Shield

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beyth, M.; Eyal, Y.; Garfunkel, Z.

2014-11-01

Recently, a detailed (1:50,000) geological map of the Elat area, southern Israel was published. Attached to this map is a stratigraphic table of the Neoproterozoic metamorphic-magmatic complex of the study area. The Neoproterozoic basement in the Elat area encapsulates the Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS) geologic evolution. Uranium-Lead and Lead-Lead zircon ages, included in previous studies and referred to in this paper, reveal that these rocks were formed during more than 300 million years of Neoproterozoic time. The major process controlling the formation of the ANS as part of the East African Orogen is the closure of the Mozambique Ocean. The first orogenic phase in the Elat area, represented by the metamorphic rocks, includes the development of an island arc, erosion of the islands and deposition, and metamorphism. This event took place between ∼950 Ma and 780-790 Ma. Elat Schist, the oldest metamorphic rock in the area, was deformed and then intruded by quartz dioritic and granitic plutons that were later deformed and metamorphosed. The amphibolite metamorphic rock facies indicate metamorphic conditions of up to 650 °C and between 4 and 5 kbar. The peak of the metamorphic event was most probably before 750 Ma. A gradual change from compressional to extensional stress regime is evidenced by emplacement andesitic magnesium-rich dykes dated to 705 Ma that were later metamorphosed to schistose dykes at a greenschist metamorphic facies. The second orogenic phase (terrane amalgamation, main shaping of crust) was associated with the emplacement of large volumes (>50% of area) of calc-alkaline intrusions in a post-collision setting. These very last stages of metamorphism and deformation are characterized by intrusion of ∼630 Ma granitoids exhibiting some foliation. Pluton emplacement continued also after the end of deformation. Exhumation and transition to an extensional regime is recorded by the intrusion of shallow alkaline granites in ∼608 Ma which were accompanied in ∼609 Ma by rhyolite, andesite and composite dykes. The last magmatic event in the Elat area is represented by the volcano-conglomeratic series comprising rhyolites, basalts, andesites, hypabyssal intrusions of monzonite and syenite and conglomerates. The conglomerates, dated to about 590 Ma, are the products of a major erosion phase in which about 12,000 m of the section were removed. These conglomerates were intruded by 585 Ma rhyolite, andesite and composite dykes. The Neoproterozoic basement is truncated by a peneplain whose age, post 532 Ma, is constrained by the age of the youngest eroded dolerite dykes. This Early Cambrian peneplain was associated with erosion of 2000 m of the section and by chemical weathering. Three major breaks in Neoproterozoic magmatic activity are recognized: the first, occurred in Cryogenian time, lasted ∼60 million years after the amphibolite facies metamorphism and before emplacement of the calc alkaline plutons, separating the first and the second orogenic phases; the second break between the orogenic and the extensional phases occurred in early Ediacaran time, encompassed ∼20 million years between the emplacement of the calc-alkaline and alkaline plutonic rocks and rhyolite, andesite and the composite dykes; and the third, ∼50 Ma break, occurred between the emplacement of the last felsic intrusions at ∼585 Ma and intrusion of the dolerite dykes in 532 Ma, before the Early Cambrian peneplain developed. The great lateral extension of the Cambrian to Eocene sedimentary rocks and their slow facies and thickness changes suggest a stable flat platform area at the northern tip of the ANS. Early Cambrian sedimentation began with fluviatile subarkoses of the Amudei Shlomo Formation. It was overlain by an Early to Middle Cambrian transgressive-regressive lagoonal cycle of dolostones, sandstones, and siltstones of the Timna Formation. Then Middle Cambrian subarkoses and siltstones of the Shehoret Formation and the quartz arenite of the Netafim Formation were deposited in a coastal, intertidal environment representing the southern transgression of a Cambrian ocean.

The 3.26-3.24 Ga Barberton asteroid impact cluster: Tests of tectonic and magmatic consequences, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glikson, Andrew; Vickers, John

2006-01-01

The location in the Barberton Greenstone Belt (Kaapvaal Craton) of ∼3.26-3.24 Ga asteroid impact ejecta units at, and immediately above, a sharp break between a > 12 km-thick mafic-ultramafic volcanic crust (Onverwacht Group ∼3.55-3.26 Ga, including the ∼3.298 > 3.258 Ga Mendon Formation) and a turbidite-felsic volcanic rift-facies association (Fig Tree Group ∼3.258-3.225 Ga), potentially represents the first documented example of cause-effect relations between extraterrestrial bombardment and major tectonic and igneous events [D.R. Lowe, G.R. Byerly, F. Asaro, F.T. Kyte, Geological and geochemical record of 3400 Ma old terrestrial meteorite impacts, Science 245 (1989) 959-962; D.R. Lowe, G.R. Byerly, F.T. Kyte, A. Shukolyukov, F. Asaro, A. Krull, Spherule beds 3.47-3.34 Ga-old in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa: a record of large meteorite impacts and their influence on early crustal and biological evolution, Astrobiology 3 (2003) 7-48; A.Y. Glikson, The astronomical connection of terrestrial evolution: crustal effects of post-3.8 Ga mega-impact clusters and evidence for major 3.2 ± 0.1 Ga bombardment of the Earth-Moon system, J. Geodyn. 32 (2001) 205-229]. Here we correlate this boundary with a contemporaneous break and peak magmatic and faulting events in the Pilbara Craton, represented by the truncation of a 3.255-3.235 Ga-old volcanic sequence (Sulphur Springs Group-SSG) by a turbidite-banded iron formation-felsic volcanic association (Pincunah Hill Formation, basal Gorge Creek Group). These events are accompanied by ∼3.252-3.235 Ga granitoids (Cleland plutonic suite). The top of the komatiite-tholeiite-rhyolite sequence of the SSG is associated with a marker chert defined at 3.238 ± 3-3.235 ± 3 Ga, abruptly overlain by an olistostrome consisting of mega-clasts of felsic volcanics, chert and siltstone up to 250 × 150 m-large, intercalated with siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and felsic volcanics (Pincunah Hill Formation-basal Gorge Creek Group-GCG [R. M. Hill, Stratigraphy, structure and alteration of hanging wall sedimentary rocks at the Sulphur Springs volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) prospect, east Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. B.Sc Hon. Thesis, University of Western Australia (1997) 67 pp.; M.J. Van Kranendonk, A.H. Hickman, R.H. Smithies, D.R. Nelson, Geology and tectonic evolution of the Archaean north Pilbara terrain, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, Econ. Geol. 97 (2002) 695-732; M.J. Van Kranendonk, Geology of the North Shaw 1 : 100 000 Sheet. Geological Survey Western Australia 1 : 100 000 Geological Series (2000) 86 pp., R. Buick, C.A.W. Brauhart, P. Morant, J.R. Thornett, J.G. Maniew, J.G. Archibald, M.G. Doepel, I.R. Fletcher, A.L. Pickard, J.B. Smith, M.B. Barley, N.J. McNaughton, D.I. Groves, Geochronology and stratigraphic relations of the Sulphur Springs Group and Strelley Granite: a temporally distinct igneous province in the Archaean Pilbara Craton, Australia, Precambrian Res. 114 (2002) 87-120]). The structure and scale of the olistostrome, not seen elsewhere in the Pilbara Craton, is interpreted in terms of intense faulting and rifting, supported by topographic relief represented by deep incision of overlying arenites (Corboy Formation) into underlying units [M.J. Van Kranendonk, Geology of the North Shaw 1 : 100 000 Sheet. Geological Survey Western Australia 1 : 100 000 Geological Series (2000) 86 pp.]. The age overlaps between (1) 3.255 ± 4-3.235 ± 3 Ga peak igneous activity represented by the SSG and the Cleland plutonic suite (Pilbara Craton) and the 3.258 ± 3 Ga S2 Barberton impact unit, and (2) 3.235 ± 3 Ga top SSG break and associated faulting and the 3.243 ± 4 S3-S4 Barberton impact units may not be accidental. Should correlations between the Barberton S2-S4 impact units and magmatic and tectonic events in the Pilbara Craton be confirmed, they would imply impact-triggered reactivation of mantle convection, crustal anatexis, faulting and strong vertical movements in Archaean granite-greenstone terrains associated with large asteroid impacts, culminating in transformation from sima-dominated crust to continental rift environments.

Geology of ultra-high-pressure rocks from the Dabie Shan, Eastern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, Robert

2001-02-01

A multidisciplinary study has been carried out to contribute to the understanding of the geologic evolution of the largest known occurrence of ultra-high-pressure (UHP) rocks on Earth, the Dabie Shan of eastern China. Geophysical data, collected along a ca. 20 km E-W trending seismic line in the eastern Dabie Shan, indicate that the crust comprises three layers. The upper crust has a homogeneously low reflectivity and exhibits roughly subhorizontal reflectors down to ca. 15 km. It is therefore interpreted to portray a crustal UHP slab thrust over non-UHP crust. An aprubt change in intensity and geometry of observed reflectors marks the boundary of a mid- to lower crustal zone which is present down to ca. 33 km. This crustal zone likely represents cratonal Yangtze crust that was unaffected by the Triassic UHP event and which has acted as the footwall during exhumation of the crustal wedge. Strong and continuous reflectors occurring at ca. 33-40 km depth most likely trace the Moho at the base of the crust. Any trace of a crustal root, that may have formed in response to collision tectonics, is therefore not preserved. A shollow tomographic velocity modell based on inversion of the first arrivals is constructed additionally. This model clearly images the distinct lithologies on both sides of the Tan Lu fault. Sediments to the east exhibit velocities of about 3.4 - 5.0 km* s^-1, whereas the gneisses have 5.2 - 6.0 km*s^-1. Geometry of velocity isolines may trace the structures present in the rocks. Thus the sediments dip shallowly towards the fault, whereas isoclinal folds are imaged to occur in the gneisses. Field data from the UHP unit of the Dabie Shan enables definition of basement-cover sequences that represent sections of the former passive margin of the Yangtze craton. One of the cover sequences, the Changpu unit, still displays a stratigraphic contact with basement gneisses, while the other, the Ganghe unit, includes no relative basement exposure. The latter unit is in tectonic contact with the basement of the former unit via a greenschist-facies blastomylonite. The Changpu unit is chiefly constituted by calc-arenitic metasediments intercalated with meta-basalts, whereas the Ganghe unit contains arenitic-volcanoclastic metasediments that are likewise associated with meta-basalts. The basement comprises a variety of felsic gneisses, ranging from preserved eclogitic- to greenschist-facies paragenesis, and locally contains mafic-ultramafic meta-plutons in addition to minor basaltic rocks. Metabasites of all lithologies are eclogite-facies or are retrogressed equivalents, which, with the exception of those from the Ganghe unit, bear coesite and thus testify to an UHP metamorphic overprint. Mineral chemistry of the analysed samples reveal large compositional variations among the main minerals, i.e. garnet and omphacite, indicating either distinct protoliths or different degrees of interaction with their host-rocks. Contents of ferric iron in low Fetot omphacites are determined by wet chemical titration and found to be rather high, i.e. 30-40 %. However, a even more conservative estimate of 50% is applied in the corresponding calculations, in order to be comparable with previous studies. Textural constraints and compositional zonation pattern are compatible with equilibrium conditions during peak metamorphism followed by a retrogressive overprint. P-T data are calculated with special focus on the application of the garnet-omphacite-phengite barometer, combined with Fe-Mg exchange thermometers. Maximum pressures range from 42-48 kbar (for the Changpu unit) to ~37 kbar (for the Ganghe unit and basement rocks). Temperatures during the eclogite metamorphism reached ca. 750 °C. Although the sample suite reveals variable peak-pressures, temperatures are in reasonable agreement. Pressure differences are interpreted to be due to strongly Ca-dominated garnet (up to 50 mol % grossular in the Changpu unit) and modification of peak-compositions during retrogressive metamorphism. The integrated geological data presented in this thesis allow it to be concluded that, i) basement and cover rocks are present in the Dabie Shan and both experienced UHP conditions ii) the Dabie Shan is the metamorphic equivalent of the former passive margin of the Yangtze craton iii) felsic gneisses undergoing UHP metamorphism are affected by volume changes due to phase transitions (qtz coe), which directly influence the tectono-metamorphic processes iv) initial differences in temperature may account for the general lack of lower crustal rocks in UHP-facies Um das Verständnis der geologischen Entwicklung des größten bekannten Vorkommens von ultra-hochdruck (UHP) Gesteinen auf der Erde, des Dabie Shan im östlichen China, zu erhöhen, wurde eine multidisziplinäre Studie durchgeführt. Geophysikalische Daten wurden entlang einer ca. 20 km langen seismischen Linie im östlichen Dabie Shan gesammelt. Diese reflektionsseismischen Daten zeigen, dass die Kruste aus drei Lagen besteht. Die Oberkruste besitzt eine durchgehend niedrige Reflektivität und meist subhorizontale Reflektoren bis in eine Tiefe von ca. 15 km. Aufgrund dieser Charakteristika wird diese Zone als UHP-bezogener krustaler Keil interpretiert, der auf nicht UHP Kruste überschoben wurde. Ein abrupter Wechsel in der Geometrie aber auch Intensität der Reflektoren markiert die Grenze zu einer mittel- bis unterkrustalen Zone, die sich bis ca. 33 km Tiefe erstreckt. Diese Zone repräsentiert wahrscheinlich kratonale Yangtze Kruste, die von der triassischen UHP-Orogenese nicht erfasst wurde, aber während der Exhumierung das Liegende relativ zum UHP Keil war. Starke und kontinuierliche Reflektoren im Tiefenintervall von 33-40 km bilden höchstwahrscheinlich die Moho an der Basis der Kruste ab. Relikte einer Krustenwurzel, die sich wahrscheinlich während der Kollisionstektonik gebildet hatte, sind nicht sichtbar. Ein flaches tomographisches Geschwindigkeitsmodell, das auf der Inversion der Ersteinsätze gründet, konnte zusätzlich erstellt werden. Dieses Modell bildet deutlich die unterschiedlichen Lithologien auf beiden Seiten der Tan Lu Störung ab. Sedimente östlich der Störung zeigen Geschwindigkeiten von 3.4 - 5.0 km* s^-1, wohingegen die Gneise im Westen 5.2 - 6.0 km*s^-1 aufweisen. Die Geometrie der Geschwindigkeits-Isolinien kann als Ausdruck der Strukturen der Gesteine angenommen werden. Somit zeigen die Sedimente ein nordwestliches Einfallen zur Störung hin, wohingegen isoklinale Falten in den Gneisen abgebildet werden. Geländedaten aus der UHP Einheit des Dabie Shan ermöglichen die Definition von Grundgebirgs- und Deckeinheiten, die Teile des ehemaligen passiven Kontinentalrandes des Yangtze Kratons repräsentieren. Eine der Deckeinheiten, die Changpu Einheit, besitzt nach wie vor einen stratigraphischen Kontakt zu den Grundgebirgs-Gneisen. Der anderen Einheit hingegen, der Ganghe Einheit, fehlt ein entsprechendes Grundgebirge. Diese Einheit steht vielmehr über einen Blasto-Mylonit in tektonischem Kontakt zum Grundgebirge der vorherigen. Die Changpu Einheit baut sich aus kalk-arenitischen Metasedimenten auf, die mit Metabasalten assoziiert sind. Die Ganghe Einheit wird von arenitisch-vulkanoklastischen Metasedimenten, die ebenfalls mit metabasaltischen Gesteinen vergesellschaftet sind, dominiert. Das Grundgebirge baut sich aus diversen felsischen Gneisen auf, die von reliktisch eklogitfaziell bis grünschieferfaziell ausgeprägt sind, und in denen, zusätzlich zu Metabasalten, sporadisch mafisch-ultramafische Meta-Plutone auftreten. Mit Ausnahme der Ganghe Einheit, führen die Metabasite Coesit und belegen somit das UHP Ereignis. Die Mineralchemie der analysierten Proben dokumentiert deutliche Variationen in der Zusammensetzung der Hauptminerale, Granat und Omphazit, was entweder unterschiedliche Protolithe oder unterschiedliche Grade von Stoffaustausch mit den Wirtsgesteinen reflektiert. Gehalte von dreiwertigem Eisen in Omphaziten mit geringen Gesamteisengehalten, wurden mittels Titration bestimmt, wobei sich Werte von 30-40 % ergaben. Dennoch wurde ein noch konservativerer Wert von 50% dreiwertigem Eisen in den entsprechenden Berechnungen angenommen, hauptsächlich, um mit anderen Arbeiten vergleichbar zu sein. Texturen und chemische Zonierungen in den Mineralen sind kompatibel mit Gleichgewichtsbedingungen während dem Höhepunkt der Metamorphose, der retrograd überprägt wird. P-T Daten wurden mit deutlicher Betonung auf das Granat-Omphazit-Phengit Barometer, das mit Fe-Mg Austausch-Thermometern kombiniert wurde, berechnet. Höchstdrucke reichen von 42-48 kbar (für die Changpu Einheit) bis ca. 37 kbar (für das Grundgebirge und die Ganghe Einheit). Während der eklogitfaziellen Metamorphose wurden Temperaturen von ca. 750 °C erreicht. Obwohl die maximalen Drucke deutlich schwanken, sind die Temperaturbestimmungen in guter Übereinstimmung. Die Druckschwankungen können zum einen durch deutlich Ca-dominierte Granate (bis zu 50 mol% Grossular in der Changpu Einheit) und/oder zum anderen durch Modifikationen der Mineralzusammensetzungen während der retrograden Metamorphose erklärt werden. Die präsentierten integrativen geologischen Daten ermöglichen die folgenden Schlussfolgerungen i) Grundgebirgs- und Deckeinheiten treten im Dabie Shan auf und wurden beide UHP metamorph überprägt ii) Der Dabie Shan ist das metamorphe Äquivalent des früheren passiven Kontinentalrandes des Yangtze Kratons iii) felsische Gneise, die eine UHP Metamorphose durchlaufen, sind von Volumenver-änderungen betroffen, die durch großräumige Phasenumwandlungen (Quarz Coesit) hervorgerufen werden, was direkt die tektono-metamorphen Prozesse beeinflusst iv) Initiale Unterschiede in der Temperatur sind möglicherweise dafür verantwortlich, dass generell Unterkrustengesteine in UHP Fazies fehlen