Soil Chemical Analysis

Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis

We present the first finding of continental crust-derived Precambrian zircons in garnet/spinel pyroxenite veins within mantle xenoliths carried by the Neogene Hannuoba basalt in the central zone of the North China Craton (NCC). Petrological and geochemical features indicate that these mantle-derived composite xenoliths were formed by silicic melt^lherzolite interaction. The Precambrian zircon ages can be classified into three age groups of 2·4^2·5 Ga, 1·6^2·2 Ga and 0·6^1·2 Ga, coinciding with major geological events in the NCC. These Precambrian zircons fall in the field of continental granitoid rocks in plots of U/Yb vs Hf and Y. Their igneous-type REE patterns and metamorphic zircon type CL images indicate that they were not crystallized during melt^peridotite interaction and subsequent high-pressure metamorphism.The 2·5 Ga zircons have positive eHf(t) values (2·9^10·6), whereas the younger Precambrian zircons are dominated by negative eHf(t) values, indicating an ancient continental crustal origin.These observations suggest that the Precambrian zircons were xenocrysts that survived melting of recycled continental crustal rocks and were then injected with silicate melt into the host peridotite. In addition to the Precambrian zircons, igneous zircons of 315 3 Ma (2 ), 80^170 Ma and 48^64 Ma were separated from the garnet/spinel pyroxenite veins; these provide evidence for lower continental crust and oceanic crust recycling-induced multi-episodic melt^peridotite interactions in the central zone of the NCC. The combination of the positive eHf(t) values (2·91^24·6) of the 315 Ma zircons with the rare occurrence of 302^324 Ma subduction-related diorite^granite plutons in the northern margin of the NCC implies that the 315 Ma igneous zircons might record melt^peridotite interactions in the lithospheric mantle induced by Palaeo-Asian oceanic crust subduction. Igneous zircons of age 80^170 Ma generally coexist with the Precambrian metamorphic zircons and have lower Ce/Yb and Th/U ratios, higher U/Yb ratios and greater negative Eu anomalies.The eHf(t) values of these zircons vary greatly from ^47·6 to 24·6.The 170^110 Ma zircons are generally characterized by negative eHf(t) values, whereas the 110^100 Ma zircons have positive eHf(t) values.These observations suggest that melt^peridotite interactions at 80^170 Ma were induced by partial melting of recycled continental crust. The 48^64 Ma igneous zircons are characterized by negligible Ce anomalies, unusually high REE, U and Th contents, and positive eHf(t) values.These features imply that the melt^peridotite interactions at 48^64 Ma could be associated with a depleted mantle-derived carbonate melt or fluid.

Continental and Oceanic Crust Recycling-induced Melt^Peridotite Interactions in the Trans-North China Orogen: U^Pb Dating, Hf Isotopes and Trace Elements in Zircons from Mantle Xenoliths

The science of the total environment

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/EHaz/ConvergentPlatesClass/macpherson/martin_etal_2005.pdf

An overview of adakite, tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG), and sanukitoid: relationships and some implications for crustal evolution

High-resolution chemostratigraphy reveals an episode of enrichment of the redox-sensitive transition metals molybdenum and rhenium in the late Archean Mount McRae Shale in Western Australia. Correlations with organic carbon indicate that these metals were derived from contemporaneous seawater. Rhenium/osmium geochronology demonstrates that the enrichment is a primary sedimentary feature dating to 2501 ± 8 million years ago (Ma). Molybdenum and rhenium were probably supplied to Archean oceans by oxidative weathering of crustal sulfide minerals. These findings point to the presence of small amounts of O 2 in the environment more than 50 million years before the start of the Great Oxidation Event.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/317/5846/1903.full.pdf

A Whiff of Oxygen Before the Great Oxidation Event

A residual-source model for the origin of A-type granites is assessed by examining the likely mineral content and geochemistry of the residue remaining from generation of an I-type granite. Although this model may explain some characteristics of A-type granites, available data suggest that a residual source is unlikely to generate a partial melt with the appropriate major element characteristics. An alternative model for the origin of some A-type granites involves partial melting of crustal igneous rocks of tonalitic to granodioritic composition. Modeling the partial melting of these source rocks suggests that partial melts with water contents appropriate for A-type granites may be generated by ∼15% to 40% melting. This model can predict many other characteristics of A-type granites.

A-type granites revisited: Assessment of a residual-source model

Negative thermal ion mass spectrometry of osmium, rhenium, and iridium

Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) were episodes of widespread marine anoxia during which large amounts of organic carbon were buried on the ocean floor under oxygen-deficient bottom waters OAE2, occurring at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary (about 935 Myr ago), is the most widespread and best defined OAE of the mid-Cretaceous Although the enhanced burial of organic matter can be explained either through increased primary productivity or enhanced preservation scenarios, the actual trigger mechanism, corresponding closely to the onset of these episodes of increased carbon sequestration, has not been clearly identified It has been postulated that large-scale magmatic activity initially triggered OAE2 (refs 4, 5), but a direct proxy of magmatism preserved in the sedimentary record coinciding closely with the onset of OAE2 has not yet been found Here we report seawater osmium isotope ratios in organic-rich sediments from two distant sites We find that at both study sites the marine osmium isotope record changes abruptly just at or before the onset of OAE2 Using a simple two-component mixing equation, we calculate that over 97 per cent of the total osmium content in contemporaneous seawater at both sites is magmatic in origin, a approximately 30-50-fold increase relative to pre-OAE conditions Furthermore, the magmatic osmium isotope signal appears slightly before the OAE2-as indicated by carbon isotope ratios-suggesting a time-lag of up to approximately 23 kyr between magmatism and the onset of significant organic carbon burial, which may reflect the reaction time of the global ocean system Our marine osmium isotope data are indicative of a widespread magmatic pulse at the onset of OAE2, which may have triggered the subsequent deposition of large amounts of organic matter

Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2 triggered by a massive magmatic episode

Isotopic analysis of conodonts and their host limestones sampled between two regionally extensive, altered volcanic ash layers in eastern Laurentia shows that a 454 Ma epeiric sea maintained large lateral differences in Nd and C isotope compositions. This is consistent with inferred temperature-salinity‐defined epicontinental water masses and restricted circulation between epicontinental and oceanic environments. Because the majority of old marine fossils and sedimentary rocks are known from epeiric seas, some isotope excursions in ancient marine strata may originate from expansion and contraction of geochemically distinct epicontinental water masses, rather than global-scale changes in the state of the earth-ocean system.

Robert A. Creaser

Papers

A Whiff of Oxygen Before the Great Oxidation Event

A-type granites revisited: Assessment of a residual-source model

Negative thermal ion mass spectrometry of osmium, rhenium, and iridium

Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2 triggered by a massive magmatic episode

Isotopic evidence for geochemical decoupling between ancient epeiric seas and bordering oceans: Implications for secular curves