Search results for "Basalt"
showing 10 items of 223 documents
Indication of drier periods on Mars from the chemistry and mineralogy of atmospheric dust
2005
The cover shows part of the Larry's Lookout panorama, seen from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit during its drive up Husband Hill: the summit is about 200 metres from the rover. Six papers this week report in detail on the MER mission. An Analysis compares predictions used to select a landing site with the conditions actually encountered. This ‘ground truth’ will be invaluable for interpreting future remote-sensing data. Surface chemistry suggests that the upper layer of soil may contain 1% meteoritic material. MER provides a unique glimpse of solar transits of the moons Phobos and Deimos. Rover Opportunity examined wind-related processes, and spectroscopy indicates a dry origin for …
Understanding melt generation beneath the slow-spreading Kolbeinsey Ridge using 238U, 230Th, and 231Pa excesses
2011
International audience; To examine the petrogenesis and sources of basalts from the Kolbeinsey Ridge, one of the shallowest locations along the global ridge system, we present new measurements of Nd, Sr, Hf, and Pb isotopes and U-series disequilibria on 32 axial basalts. Young Kolbeinsey basalts (full-spreading rate = 1.8 cm/yr; 67 degrees 05'-70 degrees 26'N) display ((230)Th/(238)U) 1 with ((230)Th/(238)U) from 0.95 to 1.30 and have low U (11.3-65.6 ppb) and Th (33.0 ppb-2.40 ppm) concentrations. Except for characteristic isotopic enrichment near the Jan Mayen region, the otherwise depleted Kolbeinsey basalts (e. g. (87)Sr/(86)Sr = 0.70272-0.70301, epsilon(Nd) = 8.4-10.5, epsilon(Hf) = 15…
Origin and crystallization history of Permian tholeiites from the Saar-Nahe trough, SW Germany
1973
The Hirschberg and Rodern diatremes, within the Permian Saar-Nahe trough, SW Germany, are composed chiefly of basaltic tuffs, with associated small intrusions of K-rich tholeiites. Several tholeiite bodies carry 2–20 mm crystals of magnesian clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene, the latter containing up to 5.5% Al2O3 and often extensively resorbed and rimmed by fine-grained olivine and clinopyroxene. Experimental duplication of these pyroxenes has been achieved under conditions of Pload=6–10 kb, T=1280–1080° C and 2–4 wt.-% H2O, confirming that they represent a rare occurence of high pressure phenocrysts in tholeiitic basalts. These conditions of pyroxene crystallization also place constraints o…
Melt evolution beneath a rifted craton edge: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotope systematics of primitive alkaline basalts and lamprophyr…
2016
A new high-precision Ar-40/Ar-39 anorthoclase feldspar age of 176.7 +/- 0.5 Ma (2-sigma) reveals that small-volume alkaline basaltic magmatism occurred at the rifted SW margin of the Baltic Shield in Scania (southern Sweden), at a time of global plate reorganization associated with the inception of Pangea supercontinent break-up. Our combined elemental and Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotope dataset for representative basanite and nephelinite samples (>8 wt.% MgO) from 16 subvolcanic necks of the 30 by 40 km large Jurassic volcanic field suggests magma derivation from a moderately depleted mantle source (Sr-87/(86)Sri = 0.7034-0.7048; epsilon Nd-i = +4.4 to +5.2; epsilon Hf-i = +4.7 to +8.1; Pb-206/(204)Pb…
Traces of ancient mafic layers in the Tethys oceanic mantle
2014
Abstract Oceanic basalts are formed by melting of a chemically and isotopically heterogeneous mantle source. The oceanic mantle probably resembles a marble cake containing layers of mafic rock – perhaps recycled ocean crust – stored in the mantle for >1 billion years. Many questions about the nature and distribution of these mantle heterogeneities remain. Here we show that lithological and isotopic traces of ancient mafic layers can still be seen in mantle rocks that have melted to form oceanic crust at a spreading centre in the Tethys Ocean. We have found centimetre-scale heterogeneity in initial osmium isotope ratios in mantle rocks from the Pindos Ophiolite. Deformed pyroxenite layers ha…
Patterns and origin of igneous activity around the Tanzanian craton
2012
Abstract Tertiary and later igneous activity is common on and around the Tanzanian craton, with primitive magma compositions ranging from kimberlites and varieties of picrites through nephelinites, basanites and alkali basalts. This review focuses on elucidating the conditions of origin of the melts, addressing the question of the state and involvement of the Tanzanian cratonic lithosphere in magma genesis. The Tanzanian craton is anomalous with a surface elevation of >1100 m reflecting buoyancy supported by a subcratonic plume whose effects are seen in the volcanics of both western and eastern rift branches. Magmatism on the craton and at its edge has high K/Na and primitive melts show fra…
The Quaternary Eifel Volcanic Fields
1983
The Quaternary (ca. 0.7 Ma) volcanic fields in the western central part of the Rhenish Massif (West Eifel and East Eifel) have formed roughly synchronously with the main Quaternary phase of uplift The fields are 50 and 30 km long, elongated in NW-SE direction, contain ca. 240 and 90 volcanoes and are dominantly made of K-rich nephelinitic-leucititic-basanitic scoria cones. The larger West Eifel differs from the East Eifel field by more mafic and silica-undersaturated magmas, greater abundance and larger size of peridotite xenoliths and near absence of highly differentiated magmas contrasted with the occurrence of four highly differentiated phonolite volcanoes in the smaller East Eifel field…
Potassic dyke swarm in the Sapucai Graben, Eastern Paraguay: Petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical outlines.
1992
Abstract The western side of the Parana Basin of Brazil extends to central Paraguay, where repeated and widespread magmatic activity developed from Lower Cretaceous to Oligocene, associated with late Mesozoic crustal extension trending NE-SW. In central Paraguay this trend is characterized by a zone of NW-SE normal faults which formed the Asuncion-Sapucai graben, up to 45 km wide and 200 km long, where alkaline rocks occur as volcanic domes, complexes, lava-flows and dykes. These rocks, 128 Ma aged, are dominantly potassic and ne-normative. A swarm of at least 200, mainley NW-SE trending, dykes occurs in the Sapucai region and seems to be formed by two main lineages: tephrite to phonolite (…
Durability of basalt/hemp hybrid composites
2017
This study focused on the performance of injection-molded short hemp fibre and hemp/basalt fibre hybrid high density polyethylene composites. Results showed that hybridization with basalt fibre enhanced the performance properties. Analysis of fiber length distribution in the composite and fracture surface was performed to study the fiber breakage and fracture mechanism. Prolonged moisture absorption and accelerated ageing of short hemp fibre and hemp-basalt hybrid reinforced thermoplastic composites was addressed. Ageing in water did not result in a reduction of the strength of the composite samples, while it was found to decrease stiffness of hemp fibre reinforced composites. Mechanical pr…
Effect of external basalt layers on durability behaviour of flax reinforced composites
2016
Abstract Aim of this work is to evaluate the influence of external layers of basalt-mat on the durability behaviour of flax reinforced epoxy composites. To this scope, long-term ageing tests were performed on two different laminates in critical environmental conditions. The first laminate, named Flax, was constituted by stacking ten layers of bidirectional flax fabrics. The second one, named Flax–Basalt, was produced by replacing two external flax layers with two layers of basalt mat for each side of the laminate. Both laminates were exposed to salt-fog environmental conditions, according to ASTM B 117 standard, for 60 days. Five samples per laminate were removed from salt-fog spray chamber…