Search results for "Conti"
showing 10 items of 3486 documents
Metamorphism and melting of picritic crust in the early Earth
2014
Abstract Partial melting experiments with models of Archean oceanic crust (MAOC; with 11, 13 and 15 wt.% MgO) are used to investigate the role of metamorphism and melting of primary picritic compositions in the formation of TTG-like melts and continental crust on the early Earth. The approach investigates the possibility that the average early crust composition was comparatively MgO-rich and evolved to lower magnesium content during the secular cooling of the Earth. High-pressure partial melting experiments indicate a transition of melt compositions from aluminous basaltic melts in MAOC 15 to predominantly tonalitic melts in MAOC 11 and higher melting temperatures with increasing magnesium …
Petrology of mafic lavas within the Onega plateau, central Karelia: evidence for 2.0 Ga plume-related continental crustal growth in the Baltic Shield
1998
The Onega plateau constitutes part of a vast continental flood basalt province in the SE Baltic Shield. It consists of Jatulian-Ludikovian submarine volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary sequences attaining in places 4.5 km in thickness. The parental magmas of the lavas contained ∼10% MgO and were derived from melts generated in the garnet stability field at depths 80–100 km. The Sm-Nd mineral and Pb-Pb whole-rock isochron ages of 1975 ± 24 and 1980 ± 57 Ma for the upper part of the plateau and a SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 1976 ± 9 Ma for its lower part imply the formation of the entire sequence within a short time span. These ages coincide with those of picrites in the Pechenga-Imandra b…
Geochemistry, petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the Samothraki mafic suite, NE Greece: Trace-element, isotopic and zircon age constraints
2009
Abstract The Samothraki mafic suite in the north-eastern Aegean Sea, Greece, is an ‘in situ’ magmatic complex comprising gabbros, sparse dykes and basalt flows and pillows cut by late dolerite dykes. We have determined the age of the complex by SHRIMP zircon geochronology of a gabbro as 159.9 ± 4.5 Ma (i.e. Oxfordian; early Late Jurassic), which precludes any correlation with the so-called Lesvos ophiolite further south (253.1 ± 5.6 Ma; Latest Permian). Six distinct, hitherto unrecognised, geochemical groups have been identified among the basalts and dolerites of the Samothraki mafic suite on the basis of trace-element and Nd–Sr isotopic characteristics. All groups show the presence of an e…
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…
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…
Mobility and fluxes of major, minor and trace metals during basalt weathering and groundwater transport at Mt. Etna volcano (Sicily)
2000
Abstract The concentrations and fluxes of major, minor and trace metals were determined in 53 samples of groundwaters from around Mt Etna, in order to evaluate the conditions and extent of alkali basalt weathering by waters enriched in magma-derived CO 2 and the contribution of aqueous transport to the overall metal discharge of the volcano. We show that gaseous input of magmatic volatile metals into the Etnean aquifer is small or negligible, being limited by cooling of the rising fluids. Basalt leaching by weakly acidic, CO 2 -charged water is the overwhelming source of metals and appears to be more extensive in two sectors of the S-SW (Paterno) and E (Zafferana) volcano flanks, where out …
Geochemical mapping of magmatic gas–water–rock interactions in the aquifer of Mount Etna volcano
2001
Abstract Systematic analysis of major and minor elements in groundwaters from springs and wells on the slopes of Mt. Etna in 1995–1998 provides a detailed geochemical mapping of the aquifer of the volcano and of the interactions between magmatic gas, water bodies and their host rocks. Strong spatial correlations between the largest anomalies in pCO2 (pH and alkalinity) K, Rb, Mg, Ca and Sr suggest a dominating control by magmatic gas (CO2) and consequent basalt leaching by acidified waters of the shallow (meteoric) Etnean aquifer. Most groundwaters displaying this magmatic-type interaction discharge within active faulted zones on the S–SW and E lower flanks of the volcanic pile, but also in…
Hafnium-Neodymium isotope, trace element and U-Pb zircon age constraints on the petrogenesis of the 3.44–3.46 Ga Dwalile greenstone remnant, Ancient …
2020
Abstract The geodynamic setting of the 3.44–3.46 Ga Dwalile greenstone remnant (DGR) of the Ancient Gneiss Complex (Swaziland) and its relationship to other Greenstone belts of similar age is investigated in this contribution. We present Hf-Nd isotope, major and trace element data for komatiites, komatiitic basalts, basalts, basaltic andesites as well as felsic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, all metamorphosed at amphibolite-facies grade. Major and trace element compositions of metabasalts and metakomatiites indicate crustal contamination. The best-preserved samples yield 176Lu-176Hf and 147Sm-143Nd isochron ages of ca. 3500 and 3460 Ma, respectively, in line with U-Pb zircon ages of interl…
Age and tectonic setting of granitoid gneisses in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and south-west Sinai
1994
Strongly deformed and locally migmatized gneisses occur at several places in the southern Eastern Desert of Egypt and in Sinai and have variously been interpreted as a basement to Pan-african (≈900 to 600 Ma) supracrustal and intrusive assemblages. A suite of grabbroic to granitic gneisses was investigated in the Hafafit area, which constitutes an I-type calc-alkaline intrusive assemblage whose chemistry suggests emplacement along an active continental margin and whose granitoid members can be correlated with the so-called ‘Older Granites’ of Egypt. 207Pb/206Pb single zircon evaporation from three samples of the Hafafit gneisses yielded protolith emplacement ages between 677 ± 9 and 700 ± 1…
Geochemical data and zircon ages for rocks in a high-pressure belt of Chu-Yili Mountains, southern Kazakhstan: Implications for the earliest stages o…
2011
Abstract The mechanism and age of Palaeozoic accretion in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt remain poorly constrained. One of the most complex belts extends from the Kokchetav area in northern Kazakhstan to the Kyrgyz northern Tianshan. It represents an assemblage of small blocks with Palaeoproterozoic continental crust, intervening slivers containing early Palaeozoic ophiolites and/or deep-marine sediments, and a number of HP and UHP metamorphic complexes. The HP–LT metamorphic rocks provide important clues for reconstructions of the overall structure and evolution of the accretionary collage. This study is aimed to constrain the metamorphic age and tectonic implications of HP garnet pyroxen…