The thickest development of Carboniferous Limestone in Great Britain (about 1200 m) is in the Pembroke Peninsula of SW Wales. In various places, the regularity of the normally well‐stratified limestone is broken by zones of disturbance, which are spectacularly displayed in magnificent near‐vertical cliff sections. The zones generally occupy the whole of the 50 m‐high cliffs and are up to 300 m wide. The chief component of these zones is a chaotic, clast‐supported breccia, composed of angular limestone fragments welded together with varying degrees of firmness by sparry calcite veining or a normally sparse, red‐pink sandy or silty matrix. The breccias are very easy to distinguish and form a striking contrast to the grey cliff scenery hereabouts ( Figs 1, 2 ), yet they have not been discussed much—until now. Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Location map, showing localities mentioned in the text, the outcrop of the Carboniferous Limestone, the chief synclinal axes and the distribution envelope of the Gash Breccias (after Thomas 1971 ). 1. Flimston Bay; 2. Bullslaughter Bay (west); 3. Bullslaughter bay (east); 4. Trevallen; 5. Box Bay; 6. Draught; 7. Whitesheet Rock; 8. Lydstep Point; 9. St Margaret's Point; 10. Den Point; 11. Valleyfield Top; 12. Pembroke Castle. 相似文献
High-Fe and low-Fe sphalerite samples were reacted under controlled pH conditions to determine nonoxidative rates of release of Zn and trace metals from the solid-phase. The release (solubilization) of trace metals from dissolving sphalerite to the aqueous phase can be characterized by a kinetic distribution coefficient, (Dtr), which is defined as [(Rtr/X(tr)Sph)/(RZn/X(Zn)Sph)], where R is the trace metal or Zn release rate, and X is the mole fraction of the trace metal or Zn in sphalerite. This coefficient describes the relationship of the sphalerite dissolution rate to the trace metal mole fraction in the solid and its aqueous concentration. The distribution was used to determine some controls on metal release during the dissolution of sphalerite. Departures from the ideal Dtr of 1.0 suggest that some trace metals may be released via different pathways or that other processes (e.g., adsorption, solubility of trace minerals such as galena) affect the observed concentration of metals. 相似文献
Abstract— We present a textural comparison of localized shock melt pockets in Martian meteorites and glass pockets in terrestrial, mantle‐derived peridotites. Specific textures such as the development of sieve texture on spinel and pyroxene, and melt migration and reaction with the host rock are identical between these two apparently disparate sample sets. Based on petrographic and compositional observations it is concluded that void collapse/variable shock impedance is able to account for the occurrence of pre‐terrestrial sulfate‐bearing secondary minerals in the melts, high gas emplacement efficiencies, and S, Al, Ca, and Na enrichments and Fe and Mg depletion of shock melt compositions compared to the host rock; previously used as arguments against such a formation mechanism. Recent experimental studies of xenoliths are also reviewed to show how these data further our understanding of texture development and can be used to shed light on the petrogenesis of shock melts in Martian meteorites. 相似文献
The effect of Alpine (40 my) low amphibolite facies metamorphism on strontium isotopes in the Variscan (250–300 my) granitic complex of the Zentralgneis was investigated by analysing samples of a leucogranite which forms small intrusions into a tonalite. The leucogranite has Rb/Sr ratios up to 30.Two muscovites and three biotites underwent complete reequilibration during the metamorphism. The ages of 12–20 my are consistent with published K-Ar ages on micas from the same area, and reflect post-metamorphic cooling.Six whole-rock samples define an isochron with an age of 244±7 my (=1.47×10–11yr–1). Three further samples, collected within 30 cm of contacts with the tonalite, plus 1 cm sawn slabs of leucogranite and tonalite from either side of a contact fit a line with 10% greater slope; this line is interpreted as a mixing line, resulting from contamination of the leucogranite, near its contacts, with strontium from the enclosing tonalite. The time of contamination is uncertain but petrological evidence suggests it is the result of the metamorphism.Neither leucogranite whole rocks nor minerals from the tonalite, at contacts and in a xenolith, show any evidence for preferential mobilisation of radiogenic strontium in the course of metamorphism.The work was carried out in Heidelberg during successive tenure of the Michael Foster Memorial Scholarship from the University of Oxford and a Wates Travelling Fellowship of the Royal Society of London. Field work and sample collection was supported in part by the Geologische Bundesanstalt, Wien. For support from each of these sources I am very grateful. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge with thanks the support and facilities afforded me at the Laboratorium für Geochronologie by Dr. Hans-J. Lippolt. 相似文献
Studies of block fields at Massanutten Mountain, Virginia, document and provide information on the magnitude and frequency of mass movement on these coarse-grained slopes. Block fields, which traditionally have been considered relicts of Pleistocene climate, occur on and downslope from resistant Massanutten Sandstone in Passage Creek basin. Slopes are strewn with boulders and vegetative cover on the open block fields is absent to sparse. Several block fields were investigated for evidence of recent movement using the degree of lichen growth, differences in block weathering, and rock-fall damaged trees. Temporal and spatial aspects of geomorphic processes can be inferred through dendrogeochronology. Corrasion scars and stem ages infer a minimum age for a geomorphic or hydrologic event. High flows on Passage Creek coincided with tree-ring determined dates of block-field movement. Although, Pleistocene periglacial climate may have facilitated original formation of block fields, some block fields now continue to spread downslope during intense runoff events. Present block-field mass wasting may be the principal erosional process in these areas of resistant rock. 相似文献
Alpine biotites containing excess40Ar have been analysed by step-heating argon analysis of both neutron irradiated and unirradiated samples. In addition to age spectra the data are discussed in terms of the thermal release of40Ar,39Ar,37Ar and36Ar and also displayed on a correlation plot of36Ar/40Ar vs.39Ar/40Ar which is used to interpret the data and present a model of isotopic evolution during metamorphic cooling. This diagram overcomes misleading complications of isochron plots. The samples exhibit the following argon systematics: (1) flat age spectra for 80–90%39Ar release with anomalously old ages but early gas fractions that approximate the accepted cooling ages; (2) each sample shows decreasing36Ar/40Ar with increasing temperature of heating step with three samples having a negative correlation of36Ar/40Ar vs.39Ar/40Ar and one a positive correlation; (3) there appear to be two36Ar components, one released at high temperatures and correlated with radiogenic40Ar and one released at low temperatures which is not correlated with radiogenic40Ar; and (4) there is no significant effect of neutron irradiation on the release of40Ar and36Ar.Interpretation suggests that these biotites contain a record of the evolution and isotopic composition of ambient argon retained within the metamorphic host rocks during cooling. After incorporation of argon of high40Ar/36Ar another argon component, of atmospheric composition, was retained at lower temperature and argon partial pressures. 相似文献
Variation in fluvial landforms and associated vegetation in the headward (upstream) direction has received little study and the controlling factors are not well understood. The relations among channel gradient, basin area, stream order, and the headward extent of fluvial landforms and vegetation was studied in 18 small basins and larger nearby stream reaches in the Massanutten Mountain area, northern Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Low-order streams were traversed to their basin heads. Notice was made of the point or region of the disappearance of fluvial landforms. Indicator species were used to confirm landform identification. The studied landforms include the channel bar, channel shelf, floodplain, and terraces. Basin geomorphic characteristics were determined from topographic and geologic maps and ground surveys. Results suggest that gradient is the most important factor controlling the development of fluvial landforms. Floodplains have not developed along stream reaches where average channel gradients exceed 0.15. Channel shelves and associated vegetation occur farther upstream than floodplains. 相似文献
The Picillo Farm, EPA Superfund Site, in western Rhode Island was an unauthorized disposal site of hazardous organic chemicals. Predominantly organic contaminants have entered an aquifer comprised of layered glacial deposits and fractured bedrock and spread past the site boundaries with groundwater flow. Hydraulic conductivities in the glacial deposits range over two orders of magnitude and fractures and faults in the granitic bedrock further complicate the spreading of contaminants. Monitoring wells delineate two plumes that extend towards a fault-controlled valley with lakes and wetlands; one to the northwest and the other to the southwest. In this investigation we studied the electrical characteristics of both plumes.One dimensional Schlumberger depth soundings were conducted along several profile lines over the plumes and compared to those over non-contaminated sections of the site. With regard to the southwestern plume, high formation factors (ratio of bulk layer to pore water resistivity) between 12 and 45 were observed compared to values between 2.5 and 7.7 measured over the non-contaminated sections. Also, high values (> 5) of vertical electrical anisotropy (ratio of geoelectrically determined depth to high resistivity bedrock to drilled depth to bedrock) were measured over the contaminated part of the site. These values are extremely high compared to other non-contaminated sites (range: 2 to 3) in glacial stream channels of southern Rhode Island. Geoelectric measurements were affected by lateral effects. However, the consistency of high formation factors (11 to 35) and high vertical anisotropies (3 to 5) over the southwestern plume in comparison to low formation factors (3 to 8) and vertical anisotropies (1 to 1.5) over non-contaminated sites represents a marked difference between both sites. Overall, the Schlumberger depth soundings are less susceptible to near-surface lateral inhomogeneities than expected from other geoelectrical methods. Also, the disadvantage of a 1D interpretation was compensated by estimating resistivity and thickness ranges within the concept of non-uniqueness using the Dar Zarrouk parameters (Maillet, R., 1947. The fundamental equations of electrical prospecting. Geophysics, 12(4): 529–556.).The results over the northwestern plume, i.e. an area with higher contaminant concentration than the southwestern plume, were mixed and showed no consistent trends. Predominantly reducing conditions, as indicated by the presence of soluble ferric (FeII) iron hydroxides in ground water samples, increased the electrical conductivity. This is believed to have compensated the effect of high formation factors on the bulk saturated layer resistivity within the affected area. 相似文献
