Search results for "BASAL"
showing 10 items of 920 documents
Bounce Rock-A shergottite-like basalt encountered at Meridiani Planum, Mars
2011
Additional co-authors: Thanasis ECONOMOU, Steven P. GOREVAN, Brian C. HAHN, Gostar KLINGELHOFER, Timothy J. McCOY, Harry Y. McSWEEN Jr, Douglas W. MING, Richard V. MORRIS, Daniel S. RODIONOV, Steven W. SQUYRES, Heinrich WANKE, Shawn P. WRIGHT, Michael B. WYATT, Albert S. YEN
Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy as a tool in astrobiology
2006
The element Fe and Fe-bearing minerals occur ubiquitously throughout the field of astrobiology. Cycling between the various oxidation states of Fe provides a source of energy available for life. Banded iron formations may record the rise of oxygenic photosynthesis. The distribution of Fe between Fe-bearing minerals and its oxidation states can help to characterize and understand ancient environments with respect to the suitability for life by constraining the primary rock type and the redox conditions under which it crystallized, the extent of alteration and weathering, the type of alteration and weathering products, and the processes and environmental conditions for alteration and weatheri…
Trace elements in natural metallic iron from Disko Island, Greenland
1986
The largest occurrence of natural metallic iron on Earth is on the island of Disko, Greenland. Metallic iron is found there in a variety of different types, from small metal particles in basalts to large meter-sized blocks. We have studied three different types of metallic iron: small metal spherules (< 300 μm) in basaltic magma; larger metal grains (300 μm-3 mm), often composed of aggregates of smaller particles, in similar host rocks; and massive iron lumps (up to several tons). Analytical data for 13 siderophile elements in samples from these three types are presented. All metals analysed have a distinctly crustal pattern of siderophile elements. High Co/Ni, Re/Ir or W/Ir ratios clearly …
New stratigraphical data on the Middle-Late Jurassic biosiliceous sediments from the Sicanian basin, Western Sicily (Italy)
2008
The reported data present the stratigraphy of several sections across a Middle–Late Jurassic Radiolaritic Unit, well exposed in different thrust sheets pertaining to the Maghrebian chain of Southwestern Sicily. The aim was to define the chronostratigraphical distribution of the Jurassic biosiliceous sedi- mentation in the Sicanian palaeogeographical zone, a deep water basin belonging to the Southern Tethys continental margin. The radiolarian biostratigraphy indicates that the switching from carbonate to siliceous sedimentation in the Sicanian Basin is referable to the Bajocian, as shown by the section of Campofiorito, near Corleone. The biostratigraphical dataset allows the correlation betw…
Geochemical provenance analyses of Roman lava millstones north of the Alps: a study of their distribution and implications for the beginning of Roman…
2011
Abstract In Roman times, rotary querns and different types of millstones, driven either by horse-capstan or water power, were produced in the lava quarries of the quaternary volcanic Eifel region and exported to many parts of the Empire. The geographic distribution of Roman lava millstones from the Eifel region provides important information about trade patterns and, in cases of well dated millstones, also allows an estimate as to when the Roman lava quarrying in the Eifel region began. Sixty-two millstones from Germany, France and Austria were sampled and analyzed for major and trace elements by X-ray fluorescence. To determine their provenance, the millstone data was evaluated by a combin…
The compositional variability of eudialyte-group minerals
2011
AbstractEudialyte-group minerals (EGM) represent the most important index minerals of persodic agpaitic systems. Results are presented here of a combined EPMA, Mössbauer spectroscopy and LA-ICP-MS study and EGM which crystallized in various fractionation stages from different parental melts and mineral assemblages in silica over- and undersaturated systems are compared. Compositional variability is closely related to texture, allowing for reconstruction of locally acting magmatic to hydrothermal processes. Early-magmatic EGM are invariably dominated by Fe whereas hydrothermal EGM can be virtually Fe-free and form pure Mn end-members. Hence the Mn/Fe ratio is the most suitable fractionation …
Glass-basalt/epoxy hybrid composites for marine applications
2011
Abstract The aim of this work is to evaluate the influence of uniaxial basalt fabric layers on the mechanical performances of a glass mat/epoxy composite used for marine applications. Polymer composites, reinforced by glass mat (GFRP), and hybrid ones, reinforced by glass mat and unidirectional basalt fabric, have been produced by vacuum bagging technique. Three points bending and tensile tests have been carried out in order to evaluate the effect of number and position of basalt layers on the mechanical properties of the investigated structures. The experimental tests have showed that the presence of two external layers of basalt involves the highest increase in mechanical properties of hy…
Trace elements in olivine of ultramafic lamprophyres controlled by phlogopite-rich mineral assemblages in the mantle source
2017
Abstract Carbonate-rich ultramafic lamprophyres (aillikites) and associated rocks characteristically occur during the early stages of thinning and rifting of cratonic mantle lithosphere, prior to the eruption of melilitites, nephelinites and alkali basalts. It is accepted that they require volatile-rich melting conditions, and the presence of phlogopite and carbonate in the source, but the exact source rock assemblages are debated. Melts similar to carbonate-rich ultramafic lamprophyres (aillikites) have been produced by melting of peridotites in the presence of CO2 and H2O, whereas isotopes and trace elements appear to favor distinct phlogopite-bearing rocks. Olivine macrocrysts in ailliki…
Neoproterozoic Ophiolites of the Arabian-Nubian Shield
2004
Publisher Summary Ophiolites of mid-Neoproterozoic age are abundant in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) of NE Africa and Arabia. The ANS ophiolitic mantle was mostly harzburgitic, containing magnesian olivines and spinels that have compositions consistent with extensive melting. Cumulate ultramafics transition upwards into layered gabbro. Several crystallization sequences are inferred from ANS transition zones and cumulate gabbro sections. In all samples studied, olivine and spinel crystallized first, followed by cpx-plag, cpxopx-plag, and opx-cpx-plag. The ANS in NE Africa and W. Arabia is the largest tract of juvenile continental crust of Neoproterozoic age on Earth. The best preserved oph…
Accretion of arc-oceanic lithospheric mantle in the Mediterranean: Evidence from extremely high-Mg olivines and Cr-rich spinel inclusions in lamproit…
2007
Abstract Si-rich Mediterranean type lamproites (48–56 wt.% SiO2) are olivine-phyric, mantle-derived volcanics, in which both phenocrystic and xenocrystic olivine are present. Here we demonstrate the phenocrystic origin of the most extremely NiO–MgO enriched olivine in lamproites with Mg# up to 0.95, that host Cr-rich (Cr# around 0.95) spinels. Our comprehensive study of olivine–spinel pairs from Mediterranean lamproites enables us to constrain the extent of depletion of their mantle source. Olivine–spinel pairs from primitive Mediterranean lamproites plot in the most refractory part of the olivine–spinel mantle array diagram, showing even more refractory character than mineral pairs from bo…