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The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Technical, Media and Corporate Articles based on Major Region - Other US states & regions
The Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation is compiled by Patricia Sheahan who publishes on a monthly basis a list of new scientific articles related to diamonds as well as media coverage and corporate announcements called the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service that is distributed as a free pdf to a list of followers. Pat has kindly agreed to allow her work to be made available as an online digital resource at Kaiser Research Online so that a broader community interested in diamonds and related geology can benefit. The references are for personal use information purposes only; when available a link is provided to an online location where the full article can be accessed or purchased directly. Reproduction of this compilation in part or in whole without permission from the Sheahan Diamond Literature Service is strictly prohibited. Return to Diamond Region Index
Sheahan Diamond Literature Reference Compilation - Scientific Articles by Author for all years
Each article reference in the SDLRC is tagged with one or more key words assigned by Pat Sheahan to highlight the main topics of the article. In addition most references have been tagged with one or more region words. In an effort to make it easier for users to track down articles related to a specific region, KRO has extracted these region words and developed a list of major region words presented in the Major Region Index to which individual region words used in the article reference have been assigned. Each individual Region Report contains in chronological order all the references with a region word associated with the Major Region word. Depending on the total for each reference type - technical, media and corporate - the references will be either in their own technical, media or corporate Region Report, or combined in a single report. Where there is a significant number of technical references there will be a technical report dedicated to the technical articles while the media and corporate references are combined in a separate region report. References that were added in the most recent monthly update are highlighted in yellow within the Region Report. The Major Region words have been defined by a scale system of "general", "continent", "country", "state or province" and "regional". Major Region words at the smaller scales have been created only when there are enough references to make isolating them worthwhile. References not tagged with a Region are excluded, and articles with a region word not matched with a Major Region show up in the "Unknown" report.
Kimberlite - diamondiferous
Lamproite - diamondiferous
Lamprophyre - diamondiferous
Other - diamondiferous
Kimberlite - non diamondiferous
Lamproite - non diamondiferous
Lamprophyre - non diamondiferous
Other - non diamondiferous
Kimberlite - unknown
Lamproite - unknown
Lamprophyre - unknown
Other - unknown
Future Mine
Current Mine
Former Mine
Click on icon for details about each occurrence. Works best with Google Chrome.
CITATION: Faure, S, 2010, World Kimberlites CONSOREM Database (Version 3), Consortium de Recherche en Exploration Minérale CONSOREM, Université du Québec à Montréal, Numerical Database on consorem.ca. NOTE: This publicly available database results of a compilation of other public databases, scientific and governmental publications and maps, and various data from exploration companies reports or Web sites, If you notice errors, have additional kimberlite localizations that should be included in this database, or have any comments and suggestions, please contact the author specifying the ID of the kimberlite: [email protected]
Other US states & regions - Technical, Media and Corporate
A Canoe Voyage Up the Minnay Sotor; with an Account of the Lead and Copper Deposits in Wisconsin; of the Gold Region In the Cherokee Country and Sketches of Popular Manners.
London: R. Bentley, TWO VOLUMES
United States, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Appalachia, Great Lakes
The History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881 Embracing the Three Important Epochs: the Decade Before the War 1861-1865; the War; the Period of Reconstruction.
A Brief Account of the Discovery and Investigation and the Official Reports of Geologist and Mining Engineer on the Occurrence of Diamonds in Pike County, Arkansas.
American Institute Mining Engineering Transactions, Vol. 39, PP. 169-176. ALSO American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) BIMONTHLY Bulletin No.
The Mineralogy of Kentucky; a Description of the Physical And Chemical Properties of Minerals Native to Kentucky. Two Seperate Geological papers by J.s. Hudnall and E.f. Cash and C.f. Allen.
Frankfort: Kentucky Geological Survey, SER. IV, Vol. 27, 170P.
Diamonds... Extract from Arkansaw Geological Survey's Outlines of Arkansaw Mineral Resources Published in 1927 and Producers and Production Figures Revised to 1931.
Variation of Mineral Assemblages and Textures; Studies in Ultramafic and Associated Rocks from Western and Eastern Kentucky Along or Near the 38th. Parallel Lineament.
Geological Society of America (GSA), Vol. 9, No. 5, PP. 608-609. (abstract.).
Relative Abundance, Compositions and P-t Histories of Ultramafic Xenoliths, Green Knobs, New Mexico and Implications For the Mantle Below the Colorado Plateau.
Geological Society of America (GSA), Vol.7, No. 7, P. 1275.
Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME)-American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum, SYMPOSIUM OUTLINE FALL MEETING OCTOBER 24TH. P. 13.
United States, Gulf Coast, Arkansas, California, Virginia, Appalachia
Palaeomagnetism of Granitic Intrusives from the Precambrian basement Under Eastern Kansas; Orienting Drill Cores Using Secondary Magnetization components.
Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 76, No. 2, PP. 273-287.
Microscopic Textures and Structures in the Lake Ellen Kimberlite.
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) MEETING HELD APRIL 24TH. HOUGHTON MICHIGAN., SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW, Vol. 74, No. 14, APRIL 6TH. P. 5. L
Latest Age Dating Results in South Central Kansas: Incompatible with History of Precambrian Events As Reconstructed From Newmag* Basement Mapping Studies.
6th. International Conference Basement Tectonics, Held Sante Fe, Septem, P. 17. (abstract.).
Phanerozoic igneous rocks, including kimberlites of the United States craton west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and east of the Rocky Mountains and their associated
7th. IAGOD Symposium abstract volume, Held August 18-22, Lulea Sweden, pp. 407-408. (abstract.)
Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota
A comparison of the mineralogy of Point of Rocks Mesa, New Mexico with that of Mont. St. Hilaire Quebec and Ilimaussaq Greenland and the Kolapeninsula, USS
New Mexico Geology, Vol. 8, No. 2, May p. 42. extened abstract
Petrology and geochemistry of xenolith bearing alkalic basalts from The geronimo Volcanic field, southeast Arizona, evidence for polybaric fractionation and implicat
Mantle metasomatism and alkaline magmatism, edited E. Mullen Morris and, No. 215, pp. 347-370
Comparative amphibole chemistry of the Montregian and White Mountain alkaline suites and the origin of amphibole megacrysts in alkali basalts andlamprophyres
Mineralogical Magazine, Vol. 52, No. 364, No. 1, March pp. 91-104
Phanerozoic igneous rocks, including kimberlites of the United States craton west of the Blue Ridge Mtns. &east of the Rocky Mountains and their Association mineral depos
I.a.g.o.d., Proceedings Of The Seventh Quadrennial Iagod Symposium, Vol. 7, pp. 103-110
Subsurface structural geology of the Joplin Quadrangle
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Open file, United States Geological Survey (USGS)-Missouri G.S. Symp: Mineral resource potential of, p. 3. (abstract.)
Geology and exploration of the Rose lamproite, southeast Kansas, SOURCE[ Geological Society of Australia Inc. Blackwell Scientific Publishing,SpecialPublication
Geological Society of Australia Inc. Blackwell Scientific Publishing, Special, No. 14, Vol. 2, pp. 1179-1191
lead, neodymium, and Strontium isotopic investigations of kaersutite and clinopyroxene from ultramafic nodules and their host basalts: the nature of the subcontinental mantle
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 54, pp. 3449-3460
Preliminary aeromagnetic, gravity and generalized geologic maps of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Basin and Range-Colorado plateau transition zone study area in southwestUtah, Nevada
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Open File, No. 89-0432, 16p. 3 oversize sheets 1: 250, 000
Integration of COCORP deep relfection and magnetic anomaly analysis in the southeast USA:implications for origin of the Brunswick and East Coast magneticanomalies
Geological Society of America (GSA) Bulletin, Vol. 102, No. 2, February pp. 271-279
The Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary interval, Raton Basin, Colorado and New Mexico and its content of shock metamorphosed minerals evidence relevant K/Tboundary
Geological Society of America, Paper No. 249, 104p. $ 30.00 United States
Comment on lower crustal evolution under central Arizona: Strontium, neodymium, and lead isotopic and geochemical evidence from the mafic xenoliths of Camp Creek
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 99, pp. 400-409
Petrogenesis of Archean lamprophyres in the southern Vermilion graniticcomplex, northeastern Minnesota, with implications for the nature of their mantle source
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, Vol. 104, No. 4, pp. 439-452
Baldridge, W.S., Perry, F.V., Vaniman, D.T., et al.
Middle to late Cenozoic magmatism of the southeastern Colorado Plateau And central Rio Grande rift ( New Mexico and Arizona): a model for continentalrifting
Tectonophysics, Vol. 197, No. 2-4, November pp. 327-354
Kimberlite exploration techniques in glaciated terrains in Michigan
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) Annual Section Meeting held April 24, 1991 Michigan Tech., 5p. courtesy of author
An analytical method for hydrogeochemical surveys: inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry after using enrichment coprecipitation with cobalt and amM.
Journal of Geochemical Exploration, Vol. 41, No. 3, November pp. 349-362
Late Proterozoic magmatism in the eastern United States: neodymium, lead and Strontium isotope systematics and implications for crust-mantle interactions
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstract Volume, Vol. 23, No. 5, San Diego, p. A 135
Constraints on the structure and tectonic development of the early Mesozoic south Georgia Rift, southeastern United States; seismic reflection data processing &int
Tectonic imbrication and foredeep development in the Penokean Orogen, east-central Minnesota-interpret. on regional geophysics and the results of testdrilling
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Bulletin, No. 1904 C, 15p
Tectonic imbrication and foredeep developments in the Penokean Orogen, east central Minnesota: an interp. based on regional geophysics, results of testdrilling
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Bulletin, No. B 1904-C, D, pp. C 1-17. $ 2.00
Tectonic imbrication and foredeep development in the Penokean Orogeny, east central Minnesota: an interpretation based on regional geophysics and drill
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Bulletin, No. 1904 C-D, 17p. and 10p
Overt and cryptic strongly potassic mafic liquids in the Neogene magmatism of the n.part of the Rio Grande Rift, USA: a lithospheric drip feed into asthenospheric so
Proceedings of Fifth International Kimberlite Conference held Araxa June 1991, Servico Geologico do Brasil (CPRM) Special, pp. 420-422
New Strontium, neodymium, lead isotopic dat a from plutons in the northern Great Basin: implications for crustal structure and granite petrogenesis in the hinterland of the Sevier th
Gravity and magnetic anomalies associated with Tertiary volcanism and a Proterozoic crustal boundary, Hopi Buttes volcanic field, Navajo Nation, Arizona
Geological Society of America (GSA) Abstracts with programs, 1992 Annual, Vol. 24, No. 7, abstract p. A82
New age determinations of central Colorado Plateau laccoliths, Utah:recognizing disturbed K-Ar systematics and re-evaluating tectonomagmaticrelationships.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, Vol. 194, No. 12, December pp. 1547-1560.
Sequencing Reelfoot extension based on relations from southeast Missouri and interpretations of the interplay between offset preexisting zones ofweakness
Mid-continent diamonds Geological Association of Canada (GAC)-Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) Symposium ABSTRACT volume, held Edmonton May, pp. 99-100
Geochemistry, origin and provenance of upper Proterozoic to upper Cambrian alkaline to transitional basaltic rocks in and contiguous to sector Humberzone
American Journal of Science, Vol. 293, November pp. 980-1009
Precise uranium-lead (U-Pb) (U-Pb) ages of Duluth Complex and related mafic northeastern Minnesota: geochronological insights to physical, petrogenetic, paleomagnetic, and tect
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 98, No. B 6, August 10, pp. 13, 997-14, 014
Precise uranium-lead (U-Pb) (U-Pb) ages of Duluth Complex and related mafic northeastern Minnesota: geochronological insights to physical, petrogenetic, paleomagnetic.
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 98, No. B8, August 10, pp. 13, 997-14, 014.
iron-copper-rare earth elements (REE) deposits in Middle Proterozoic rocks of the Midcontinent region of the United States..are they Olympic Dam-type deposits?
The Gangue, Geological Association of Canada (GAC)/Mineral Deposits Newsletter, No. 42, April pp. 1-4
Hidden gems in the NURE data: placer exploration potential for gold, PGM, rare earth elements (REE) and other metals in the Arctic coastal plain and Foothills Province, Alaska
Coupled substitution of Hydrogen and minor elements in rutile and the implications of high OH contents in niobium and chromium rich rutile from the upper mantle.
American Mineralogist, Vol. 78, No. 11, 12, November-December pp. 1181-1191.
The 1.75 Ga Iron King volcanics in west central Arizona: a remnant of an accreted oceanic plateau derived from a mantle plume with a deep depleted component.
Lithos, Vol. 64, 1-2, pp. 49-62.
Arizona
Mantle plume - not specific to diamonds, Component
Alleghanian (Appalachian) Orogeny, a product of zipper tectonics: rotational transpressive continent continent collision and closing of ancient oceans along irregula
Geological Society of America Special Paper, No. 364, pp. 199-208.
Upper mantle tomographic VP and VS images of the Middle Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico: evidence for a thick heterogeneous chemical lithosphere
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Oct. 27-30, Abstract p. 473.
Condie, K.C., Cox, J., O'Reilly, S.Y., Griffin, W.L., Kerrich, R.
Definition of high field strength and rare elements in mantle and lower crustal xenoliths from the SE United States: the role of grain boundary phases.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 68, 19, pp. 3919-3942.
Quartz exsolution in clinopyroxene is not proof of ultra high pressures: evidence from phase equilibration temperatures and eclogite from the eastern Blue Ridge, southern Appalachians.
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting ABSTRACTS, Nov. 7-10, Paper 195-3, Vol. 36, 5, p. 453.
Kimberlite - one of the best preserved dikes - and possible the first found - is currently located in a parking lot on Green Street in downtown Syracuse, N.Y.
A former vice president of product development at Tiffany & Co. has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $ 1.3 million in diamond bracelets, earrings etc.
Resolving geological and geophysical evidence for a reactivated Cambrian plate boundary beneath the Ouachita orogen: the Alabama- Oklahoma transform fault.
Geological Society of America, 47th Meeting South central April 4-5, 1/2p. Abstract
Lower crustal xenoliths from Jurassic kimberlite diatremes, Upper Michigan USA: evidence for Proterozoic orogenesis and plume magmatism in the lower crust of the southern Superior Province.
The effects of melt depletion and metasomatism on highly siderophile and strongly chalcophile elements: S-Se-Te-Re-PGE systematics of peridotite xenoliths from Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 166, pp. 210-233.
Abstract: Beneath eastern North Dakota lays the Superior Craton and the potential for continued diamond exploration as well as diamond mine development. The Superior Craton is a large piece of Earth’s crust that has been tectonically stable for over 2.5 billion years. The long duration of tectonic stability has allowed the underlying mantle to cool enough to develop the necessary temperature and pressure conditions to form diamonds at depths of more than 50 miles below the surface. Diamonds are transported to the surface through kimberlitic eruptions, which are volcanic eruptions that originate tens of miles below the surface and typically erupt along zones of weakness in Earth’s crust such as faults and fractures. The resulting eruption commonly forms a pipe-shaped geologic feature called a kimberlite. Kimberlites typically occur in groups referred to as either fields or clusters. Although some kimberlites contain high concentrations of diamonds, most either contain relatively low concentrations or are completely barren of diamonds. North Dakota's first diamond exploration test well was drilled during 2010 in Pembina County, located in the northeastern corner of the state (Nesheim, 2013). Although this diamond test well failed to encounter a kimberlite, the growing number of kimberlites being discovered and diamond mine projects being developed across the Superior Craton suggests diamond exploration will continue into North Dakota’s future (figs. 1 and 2). Understanding the distribution and approximate emplacement (eruption) ages of currently discovered kimberlites across the Superior Craton may provide insight into exploring for, and predicting, the distribution of possible kimberlites within eastern North Dakota.
Abstract: Here we report field, petrographic, and geochemical analyses of the southeast Missouri Avon Volcanic District intrusive rocks and present the first combined textural and geochemical evidence for the presence of a primary magmatic carbonatite phase among ultramafic dikes, pipes, and diatremes of olivine melilitite, alnöite, and calciocarbonatite. The ?13CVPDB values measured for primary calciocarbonatite as well as carbonates in olivine melilitite and alnöite rocks range from ? 3.8‰ to ? 8.2‰, which are within the typical range of mantle values and are distinct from values of the carbonate country rocks, 0.0‰ to ? 1.3‰. The carbonate oxygen isotope compositions for the intrusive lithologies are in the range of 21.5‰ to 26.2‰ (VSMOW), consistent with post-emplacement low temperature hydrothermal alteration or kinetic fractionation effects associated with decompression and devolatilization. Metasomatized country rock and breccia-contaminated igneous lithologies have carbonate ?13CVPDB values gradational between primary carbonatite values and country rock values. Unaltered sedimentary dolomite breccia and mafic spheroids entrained by calciocarbonatite and the lack of microstratigraphic crystal growth typical of carbonate replacement, also exclude the possibility of hydrothermal replacement as the cause of the magmatic-textured carbonates. Rare earth element (REE) patterns for the alnöite, olivine melilitite, and carbonatite are similar to each other with strong light REE enrichment and heavy REE depletion relative to MORB. These patterns are distinct from those of country rock rhyolite and sedimentary carbonate. These data suggest that rocks of the Avon Volcanic District represent a single ultramafic-carbonatite intrusive complex possibly derived from a single mantle source.
Abstract: Igneous intrusions, notably carbonatitic-alkalic intrusions, peralkaline intrusions, and pegmatites, represent significant sources of rare-earth metals. Geophysical exploration for and of such intrusions has met with considerable success. Examples of the application of the gravity, magnetic, and radiometric methods in the search for rare metals are presented and described. Ground gravity surveys defining small positive gravity anomalies helped outline the shape and depth of the Nechalacho (formerly Lake) deposit within the Blatchford Lake alkaline complex, Northwest Territories, and of spodumene-rich mineralization associated with the Tanco deposit, Manitoba, within the hosting Tanco pegmatite. Based on density considerations, the bastnaesite-bearing main ore body within the Mountain Pass carbonatite, California, should produce a gravity high similar in amplitude to those associated with the Nechalacho and Tanco deposits. Gravity also has utility in modelling hosting carbonatite intrusions, such as the Mount Weld intrusion, Western Australia, and Elk Creek intrusion, Nebraska. The magnetic method is probably the most successful geophysical technique for locating carbonatitic-alkalic host intrusions, which are typically characterized by intense positive, circular to sub-circular, crescentic, or annular anomalies. Intrusions found by this technique include the Mount Weld carbonatite and the Misery Lake alkali complex, Quebec. Two potential carbonatitic-alkalic intrusions are proposed in the Grenville Province of Eastern Quebec, where application of an automatic technique to locate circular magnetic anomalies identified several examples. Two in particular displayed strong similarities in magnetic pattern to anomalies accompanying known carbonatitic or alkalic intrusions hosting rare-metal mineralization and are proposed to have a similar origin. Discovery of carbonatitic-alkalic hosts of rare metals has also been achieved by the radiometric method. The Thor Lake group of rare-earth metal deposits, which includes the Nechalacho deposit, were found by follow-up investigations of strong equivalent thorium and uranium peaks defined by an airborne survey. Prominent linear radiometric anomalies associated with glacial till in the Canadian Shield have provided vectors based on ice flow directions to source intrusions. The Allan Lake carbonatite in the Grenville Province of Ontario is one such intrusion found by this method. Although not discovered by its radiometric characteristics, the Strange Lake alkali intrusion on the Quebec-Labrador border is associated with prominent linear thorium and uranium anomalies extending at least 50 km down ice from the intrusion. Radiometric exploration of rare metals hosted by pegmatites is evaluated through examination of radiometric signatures of peraluminous pegmatitic granites in the area of the Tanco pegmatite.
Abstract: A hypabyssal kimberlite dike in southwestern Pennsylvania (USA), emplaced through Proterozoic basement and Phanerozic cover, contains a xenocryst and xenolith assemblage typical of material sampled within the subcontinental lithosphere, including xenocrysts of Cr-rich pyrope, magnesiochromite, Cr-rich diopside, and peridotite xenoliths. Temperatures and depths of equilibration of the clinopyroxene (840 ºC and 130 km to 1350 ºC and 170 km) indicate some sampling in the field of diamond stability. Diamonds have not been reported, however, and the chemistry of the garnet (lherzolite, Cr-poor megacryst, and Group II eclogite) and spinel (<56.0 wt.% Cr2O3) are consistent with diamond absence and the off-craton tectonic setting of the kimberlite. An unusual feature of this suite is that, unlike most mantle xenolith/xenocryst spinel, some of those from Masontown have an unusually high silica content (to 0.59 wt.% SiO2). The significance of the high silica content is unclear, but may be related to an ultrahigh-pressure precursor chromite polymorph with a calcium ferrite structure, which can accommodate Si in solid solution.
Abstract: We present new data on the crystallization age of, and composition of olivine phenocrysts within, an alnöite and olivine melilitite of the Avon Alkalic Igneous Province (AAIP) of Missouri. The AAIP is an ultramafic igneous province consisting of more than 80 known lithologically and texturally diverse intrusions, cropping out in northeastern flank of the St. Francois Mtn. Terrane. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of biotite phenocrysts constrains emplacement to 386 +/- 1 Ma. Xenocrystic biotite from one sample yields 40Ar/39Ar age spectra characteristic of episodic loss, indicating crystallization at ca. 1.3 Ga followed by partial loss in the ultramafic magma at 386 Ma. Olivines within the alnöite are subhedral, variably serpentinized, and embayed. Olivines within the melilitite are euhedral, but extensively serpentinized. Disequilibrium textures observed in alnöite olivine are consistent with resorption of magmatic olivine as a result of decompression during crystallization. Euhedral olivine within the melilitite appear to have remained in equilibrium with melt, suggesting derivation of alnöite and melilitite from unique magmas. Major and trace elemental abundances of olivine from the alnöite were characterized with electron probe microanalysis. Olivines are Mg-rich (Fo86.9-Fo89.9), and exhibit systematic variation in trace element (e.g., Ni (1627 to 3580 ppm), Cr (97 to 1603 ppm), Co (149 to 259 ppm), Ti (11 to 267 ppm), Al (undetectable to 923 ppm), and P (undetectable to 433 ppm)) abundances with decreasing forsterite content consistent with fractional crystallization. All geothermometers yield a range in temperature, e.g., the Al in olivine (De Hoog et al., 2009) yield temperatures of 1087° to 1313° C at depths of 80 km to 180 km (modern-day midcontinental LAB). Olivine trace element discrimination diagrams indicate AAIP magmas were derived from mantle sources with an alkalic affinity, similar to other continental alkaline rocks and kimberlite. A mantle origin via partial melting of carbonated peridotite mantle is suggested due to the high Mg content, results of geothermometric modeling, and high Ca and Ti abundance within olivine phenocrysts. Melting of the mantle may have ben triggered by "Acadian" tectonic events.
Abstract: The southeast Mojave Desert hosts one of the world’s largest rare earth element (REE) deposits at Mountain Pass, California. Although surface geology has been studied, a full understanding of the carbonatite and associated intrusive suite complex requires subsurface geophysical characterization. In this study, a combination of geophysical methods, including magnetotelluric (MT), magnetics, and gravity are used to create a two-dimensional (2D) geophysical model to a depth of about 10 km. An electrically conductive body is found 2-3 km below and west of the deposit that is associated with a magnetic high that could be connected to a deeper (10 km) conductive body related to possible intrusions or hydrothermal systems. The carbonatite body coincides with a steep magnetic gradient and a bench or terrace in the gravity data that may reflect relative lower-density intrusive rocks. Although carbonatite rocks are typically magnetic, the carbonatite rocks, associated intrusive suite, and host rocks in this area are essentially non-magnetic. Combined geophysical data indicate that the enriched REE deposit may be related to a regional extensive hydrothermal alteration event.
deposit - Taughannock Creek, Ithica, Dewitt Reservoir
Abstract: Kimberlites are unusual igneous rocks that are not only the singular source of gem quality diamonds, but also a source of upper mantle and lower crustal material for scientific study. As kimberlite magmas rise, they disaggregate xenoliths from the surrounding country rocks. One mineral that is commonly picked up and transported to the surface is garnet, and their compositions have been correlated with different mantle conditions and source materials. The goal of our study is to use garnet compositions to characterize the diversity of lithologies sampled by Mesozoic kimberlitic intrusions in New York State. Approximately 90 kimberlitic dikes cut through the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of central New York State, most clustered around the cities of Ithaca and Syracuse. Samples of garnet-bearing kimberlites were collected from both of these localities (Taughannock Creek, Ithaca and Dewitt Reservoir, Syracuse), in order to compare the garnet populations present to see if the two dikes sampled similar mantle and crustal materials. Garnets were extracted from both dikes, and their bulk compositions were obtained using energy-dispersive, x-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS). We were able to identify four major compositional groups of garnets: 1) low to moderate Cr pyrope, 2) high Cr pyrope, 3) almandine, and 4) grossular. Samples of each of these were then analyzed for trace element composition by laser ablation, inductively coupled plasma, mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS).
Both dikes contain macrocrysts of almandine and Cr-bearing pyrope (up to ~ 5 wt. % Cr2O3); garnets with a high grossular component were only found in the Dewitt kimberlite. Based on the classification of Gurney et al. (1984), none of the garnets indicate a high diamond potential for either kimberlite. While the pyrope and almandine macrocrysts in both dikes are broadly similar in composition, sub-populations of garnets can be recognized based on trace element profiles. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that the kimberlite intrusions in central New York sampled garnets from a heterogeneous mantle source and, in addition, sampled garnets from a Grenvillian lower crust.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: G3, Vol. 18, 7, pp. 2727-2747.
Canada, Somerset Island, Saskatchewan, United States, Kansas
magmatism, convection, diamond genesis
Abstract: Thirty new high-precision U-Pb perovskite and zircon ages from kimberlites in central North America delineate a corridor of mid-Cretaceous (115–92 Ma) magmatism that extends ?4000 km from Somerset Island in Arctic Canada through central Saskatchewan to Kansas, USA. The least contaminated whole rock Sr, Nd, and Hf isotopic data, coupled with Sr isotopic data from groundmass perovskite indicates an exceptionally limited range in Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions, clustering at the low ?Nd end of the OIB array. These isotopic compositions are distinct from other studied North American kimberlites and point to a sublithospheric source region. This mid-Cretaceous kimberlite magmatism cannot be related to mantle plumes associated with the African or Pacific large low-shear wave velocity province (LLSVP). All three kimberlite fields are adjacent to strongly attenuated lithosphere at the edge of the North American craton. This facilitated edge-driven convection, a top-down driven processes that caused decompression melting of the transition zone or overlying asthenosphere. The inversion of ringwoodite and/or wadsleyite and release of H2O, with subsequent metasomatism and synchronous wet partial melting generates a hot CO2 and H2O-rich protokimberlite melt. Emplacement in the crust is controlled by local lithospheric factors; all three kimberlite fields have mid-Cretaceous age, reactivated major deep-seated structures that facilitated kimberlite melt transit through the lithosphere.
Abstract: A lack of liquid water limits life on glaciers worldwide but specialized microbes still colonize these environments. These microbes reduce surface albedo, which, in turn, could lead to warming and enhanced glacier melt. Here we present results from a replicated, controlled field experiment to quantify the impact of microbes on snowmelt in red-snow communities. Addition of nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium fertilizer increased alga cell counts nearly fourfold, to levels similar to nitrogen-phosphorus-enriched lakes; water alone increased counts by half. The manipulated alga abundance explained a third of the observed variability in snowmelt. Using a normalized-difference spectral index we estimated alga abundance from satellite imagery and calculated microbial contribution to snowmelt on an icefield of 1,900?km2. The red-snow area extended over about 700?km2, and in this area we determined that microbial communities were responsible for 17% of the total snowmelt there. Our results support hypotheses that snow-dwelling microbes increase glacier melt directly in a bio-geophysical feedback by lowering albedo and indirectly by exposing low-albedo glacier ice. Radiative forcing due to perennial populations of microbes may match that of non-living particulates at high latitudes. Their contribution to climate warming is likely to grow with increased melt and nutrient input.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 481, pp. 223-235.
United States, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky
geophysics - seismics Reelfoot Rift
Abstract: Seismic discontinuities between the Moho and the inferred lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) are known as mid-lithospheric discontinuities (MLDs) and have been ascribed to a variety of phenomena that are critical to understanding lithospheric growth and evolution. In this study, we used S-to-P converted waves recorded by the USArray Transportable Array and the OIINK (Ozarks-Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky) Flexible Array to investigate lithospheric structure beneath the central U.S. This region, a portion of North America's cratonic platform, provides an opportunity to explore how terrane accretion, cratonization, and subsequent rifting may have influenced lithospheric structure. The 3D common conversion point (CCP) volume produced by stacking back-projected Sp receiver functions reveals a general absence of negative converted phases at the depths of the LAB across much of the central U.S. This observation suggests a gradual velocity decrease between the lithosphere and asthenosphere. Within the lithosphere, the CCP stacks display negative arrivals at depths between 65 km and 125 km. We interpret these as MLDs resulting from the top of a layer of crystallized melts (sill-like igneous intrusions) or otherwise chemically modified lithosphere that is enriched in water and/or hydrous minerals. Chemical modification in this manner would cause a weak layer in the lithosphere that marks the MLDs. The depth and amplitude of negative MLD phases vary significantly both within and between the physiographic provinces of the midcontinent. Double, or overlapping, MLDs can be seen along Precambrian terrane boundaries and appear to result from stacked or imbricated lithospheric blocks. A prominent negative Sp phase can be clearly identified at 80 km depth within the Reelfoot Rift. This arrival aligns with the top of a zone of low shear-wave velocities, which suggests that it marks an unusually shallow seismic LAB for the midcontinent. This boundary would correspond to the top of a region of mechanically and chemically rejuvenated mantle that was likely emplaced during late Precambrian/early Cambrian rifting. These observations suggest that the lithospheric structure beneath the Reelfoot Rift may be an example of a global phenomenon in which MLDs act as weak zones that facilitate the removal of cratonic lithosphere that lies beneath.
Abstract: The varied lithologic facies and mineralogy resulting from emplacement of syngenetic alkaline, ultramafic and carbonatite (AUC) intrusions are made more diverse by variable weathering and alteration. Ultramafic-carbonatite intrusive complexes are a source for many valuable minerals including diamonds and rare earth element minerals. The intrusive bodies are often difficult to detect in the field due to their paucity, weathering, vegetation, and, in some instances, similarity to country rock, especially in the case of carbonatites among sedimentary carbonates. Remote spectroscopic detection is used extensively for geologic mapping yet has not been applied to differentiating sedimentary and igneous carbonate weathering profiles. Here we document the alteration mineralogy of a newly authenticated melilitite-clan carbonatite occurrence in the Avon Volcanic District in southeast Missouri, USA. The presence of lizardite, vermiculite, phlogopite, and andradite in the weathered crust of calcic and dolomitic carbonatites differentiate them from sedimentary dolomites. We apply field and laboratory spectral measurements to determine the feasibility of humid region AUC remote sensing and classification. Automated humid region detection and classification of carbonatites among sedimentary carbonates is shown to be possible using ratios of absorption features in the 2000-2400?nm range as well as features centered near 680, 900, and 1100?nm due transition metal charge transfer and crystal field splitting in garnet, sheet-silicates, and spinel.
Abstract: The varied lithologic facies and mineralogy resulting from emplacement of syngenetic alkaline, ultramafic and carbonatite (AUC) intrusions are made more diverse by variable weathering and alteration. Ultramafic-carbonatite intrusive complexes are a source for many valuable minerals including diamonds and rare earth element minerals. The intrusive bodies are often difficult to detect in the field due to their paucity, weathering, vegetation, and, in some instances, similarity to country rock, especially in the case of carbonatites among sedimentary carbonates. Remote spectroscopic detection is used extensively for geologic mapping yet has not been applied to differentiating sedimentary and igneous carbonate weathering profiles. Here we document the alteration mineralogy of a newly authenticated melilitite-clan carbonatite occurrence in the Avon Volcanic District in southeast Missouri, USA. The presence of lizardite, vermiculite, phlogopite, and andradite in the weathered crust of calcic and dolomitic carbonatites differentiate them from sedimentary dolomites. We apply field and laboratory spectral measurements to determine the feasibility of humid region AUC remote sensing and classification. Automated humid region detection and classification of carbonatites among sedimentary carbonates is shown to be possible using ratios of absorption features in the 2000-2400?nm range as well as features centered near 680, 900, and 1100?nm due transition metal charge transfer and crystal field splitting in garnet, sheet-silicates, and spinel.
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Vol. 50, 4, 1p. Abstract
United States, Kansas
kimberlite
Abstract: The Critical Zone is the realm where rocks meet life. This study examines the physicochemical interactions that occur when interbedded limestone-shale systems and kimberlitc eruptive materials weather to form soils. Fast weathering with extensive soil loss has been a major environmental concern in the Flint Hills. Knowledge of soil formation processes, rates of formation and loss and understanding how these processes differ in different systems are critical for managing soil as a resource. The kimberlites of Riley County, KS, are CO2-rich igneous rocks that are high in Mg and Fe; they are compositionally distinct from the Paleozoic limestones and shales found throughout the rest of the region. Bulk composition and mineralogy of the soils overlying these different bedrock types have been analyzed using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray diffraction of <2mm soil fraction and <2µm soil clay fraction, bulk elemental extraction, and particle size analyses. Results show that the kimberlitic soils have higher concentrations of Fe, Mg, Ca, K and some trace elements (e.g. Ti, Ni, Cu). The weathering products differ mineralogically as well, e.g. lizardite is abundant in kimberlitic soils and absent from the limestone terrane. As a result, kimberlite-sourced soils have significantly different physical properties than the thin limestone-sourced soils surrounding them. Particle size analysis shows that the limestone-shale soils have a higher proportion of silt-sized particles whereas the kimberlitic soils have more clay (10.55% vs. 8.06%) and significantly more sand (36.12% vs. 14.83%). Mineralogy was determined for all <2mm fractions and for some <2µm soil clay fraction to understand the association and mobility of these major and trace elements in the respective soils. Interestingly some of the similarities between the kimberlite and limestone-shale soils suggests that loess/wind-blown sediment is making a significant contribution to the soil profile. Kimberlite-sourced and limestone-shale-sourced soils produce different weathering products and could potentially have agricultural significance in terms of ionic and nutrient mobility.
Abstract: The Arctic is warming 2-3 times faster than the global average. The rapid increase of near-surface air temperatures at high latitudes is driving a loss of ice in oceans, rivers, mountain glaciers, and soil. Permafrost, the perennially frozen ground found in frigid climates, is estimated to store approximately 1,500 gigatons of carbon, or about half of the world’s underground stores. This carbon is slowly escaping from the soil as permafrost thaws; this thawing could release as much carbon into the atmosphere as current emissions from global land use change over the next 80 years. Like many other models of future conditions, uncertainty plagues the estimates of permafrost carbon release. Salmon et al. explored how nitrogen, an important contributor to this uncertainty, interacts with carbon in thawing soils. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants and soil microbes but occurs in limited supply in tundra soils. This limitation restricts plant growth and microbial decomposition, which are critical pieces of the carbon cycle. The researchers drilled soil cores at the Eight Mile Lake site in interior Alaska to depths of 85 centimeters to evaluate the annually thawed active layer (0-55 centimeters) as well as the upper permafrost (below 55 centimeters). They then incubated the soil cores at 15°C for about 8 months and measured the subsequent nitrogen levels and microbial biomass. The data collected in the incubation informed statistical models that were used to analyze the effects of depth, time, and growing season conditions on nitrogen and carbon dynamics. The findings revealed that both carbon loss and microbial biomass decreased significantly with soil depth. Models predicted that soil decomposition would release the largest amount of mineral nitrogen from soils located in the middle of the active layer. Permafrost soils at the bottom of the soil profile, however, released a large flush of mineral nitrogen during the initial thaw but a small flux of mineral nitrogen during subsequent decomposition. These patterns indicate that microbes near the soil surface are nitrogen limited, whereas deep microbial communities are more limited by carbon. The team’s calculations estimate that mineral nitrogen released from the soil profile would increase tenfold during the first 5 years of permafrost thaw. Should permafrost continue to thaw in the Arctic, these results suggest that tundra ecosystems may experience an increase in nitrogen availability that exceeds plant and microbial demands. Excess nitrogen, in turn, could precipitate increased decomposition of soil carbon and increased levels of nitrogen in streams draining from thawing permafrost landscapes. The study offers critical insights into how warming temperatures in the Arctic could dramatically increase permafrost thaw and initiate profound changes in carbon and nitrogen cycling in tundra ecosystems.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 242, pp. 165-190.
United States, Arizona
peridotite
Abstract: Scientists have known for a long time that various types of rock conduct current differently and that these differences are even more pronounced as the temperatures and pressures increase farther beneath Earth’s surface. They also know that unusual changes in electrical conductivity can signal activity down below, like migrating magma or a release of trapped fluids. Thus, electrical measurements can uncover clues about the events that trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions here on the surface. They can also give clues to the mantle’s structure and dynamics. However, interpreting these signals is far from straightforward. Earth scientists increasingly use electrical observations made in the field to image Earth’s crust and mantle, in particular, at subduction zones and mid-ocean ridges. An effective means of interpreting these electrical images and placing them into context with other geological observations is key to translating raw data into usable knowledge. Such knowledge includes assessing potential hazards by investigating, for example, links between fluid release and earthquake generation or the production and transport of magmatic melt from its source region to an eventual eruption. SIGMELTS is a freely available app that helps to characterize electrically conductive or resistive features detected at depth using electromagnetic observations. The objective of this Web application is to facilitate the elaboration of models of the electrical properties of crust and mantle materials, which, in turn, is used to improve the interpretation of field electromagnetic observations. A new version of SIGMELTS is now available.
Abstract: The Grand Canyon is a gigantic geological library, with rocky layers that tell much of the story of Earth’s history. Curiously though, a sizeable layer representing anywhere from 250 million years to 1.2 billion years is missing. Known as the Great Unconformity, this massive temporal gap can be found not just in this famous crevasse, but in places all over the world. In one layer, you have the Cambrian period, which started roughly 540 million years ago and left behind sedimentary rocks packed with the fossils of complex, multicellular life. Directly below, you have fossil-free crystalline basement rock, which formed about a billion or more years ago. So where did all the rock that belongs in between these time periods go? Using multiple lines of evidence, an international team of geoscientists reckons that the thief was Snowball Earth, a hypothesized time when much, if not all, of the planet was covered in ice.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Vol. 20, 2, pp. 952-973.
United States, New Mexico
xenoliths
Abstract: Elemental and isotopic compositions of volatile species such as halogens, noble gases, hydrogen, and carbon can be used to trace the evolution of these species in the Earth. Halogens are important tracers of subduction recycling of surface volatiles into the mantle: however, there is only limited understanding of halogens in the mantle. Here we provide new halogen data of mantle xenoliths from intraplate settings. The mantle xenoliths show a wide range of halogen elemental ratios, which are expected to be related to later processes after the xenoliths formed. A similar primary halogen component is present in the xenoliths sampled from different localities. This suggests that the mantle has the uniform halogen composition over a wide scale. The halogen composition in the convecting mantle is expected to have remained constant over more than 2 billion years, despite subduction of iodine?rich halogens. We used mass balance calculations to gain understanding into evolution rate of I/Cl ratio in the mantle. Calculations suggest that, in order to maintain the I/Cl ratio of the mantle over 2 Gyr, the I/Cl ratio of the subducted halogens must be no more than several times higher than the present?day mantle value.
Abstract: Many populated areas in the world (e.g., Flagstaff, AZ; Auckland, NZ; Mexico City, MEX) lie within active monogenetic volcanic fields that typically contain small volcanic cones and explosive maar craters formed over the course of a single eruptive cycle. Although much work has focused on the eruptive behaviour of monogenetic volcanoes, little geological information exists about their subsurface development and how the movement of magma through Earth’s shallow crust modulates the location and style of hazardous volcanic eruptions. Determination of the dynamics of magma intrusion and the transition from a coherent magma's ascent to its explosive fragmentation is crucial to our understanding of the controls on explosive versus effusive eruptive behaviour, thus to better evaluation of risks in a certain area. This study aims to determine the processes and relative timing of activity that took place below the ground surface of the deeply-eroded but well-preserved Jagged Rocks Complex, a cluster of monogenetic volcanoes within the Miocene Hopi Buttes Volcanic Field in northeastern Arizona, by combining detailed structural mapping, volcanological observation, paleomagnetic and geochemical analysis. The Jagged Rocks Complex, exposed at ~ 350 m below the pre-eruptive surface, comprises a well-preserved intrusive network, including dikes, sills and inclined sheets, associated with different type of fragmental bodies including buds, pyroclastic massifs and a diatreme, that represent different extents of shallow-depth fragmentation. These exposures at the Jagged Rocks Complex provide an excellent natural laboratory for examining the subsurface record of volcano initiation, and for constraining interpretations of processes controlling upward migration of magma from intrusion to eruption. This multidisciplinary approach allows an investigation at different levels from the source region to the surface, and aims to shed the light on the processes that regulate eruptions not only within monogenetic volcanic fields but also within small basaltic volcanoes in general.
Abstract: The late Jurassic Masontown dyke in Fayette County, SW Pennsylvania, preserves abundant rounded, mm to cm-diameter masses of olivine and serpentine cemented together in serpentine-rich kimberlite groundmass. Each mass is interpreted to be a partially serpentinized olivine xenocryst or peridotite xenocryst. Each rounded clast is jacketed by a distinct rim of serpentine; probably originally olivine. The (1) ubiquitous roundness of clasts and (2) the presence of distinct serpentine jackets around each clast, supports emplacement of the dyke by a 'kimberlite factory' (Brett et al., 2015). Due to the paucity of available samples, we have used non-destructive imaging by computed tomography (CT) at the National Energy Technology Lab in Morgantown, WV, to construct 3D models of the internal structure of hand samples loaned from the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of Natural History. MicroCT (1-3 micron resolution) and industrial CT (~15 microns resolution) serial scans processed in ImageJ and Blob3D allow for 3D characterizations of individual clasts, including their shape factors (sphericity, roughness, etc.) and sizes (i.e. crystal size distributions).
Abstract: Shallow submarine volcanoes pose unique scientific and monitoring challenges. The interaction between water and magma can create violent explosions just below the surface, but the inaccessibility of submerged volcanoes means they are typically not instrumented. This both increases the risk to marine and aviation traffic and leaves the underlying eruption physics poorly understood. Here we use low-frequency sound in the atmosphere (infrasound) to examine the source mechanics of shallow submarine explosions from Bogoslof volcano, Alaska. We show that the infrasound originates from the oscillation and rupture of magmatic gas bubbles that initially formed from submerged vents, but that grew and burst above sea level. We model the low-frequency signals as overpressurized gas bubbles that grow near the water-air interface, which require bubble radii of 50-220?m. Bubbles of this size and larger have been described in explosive subaqueous eruptions for more than a century, but we present a unique geophysical record of this phenomenon. We propose that the dominant role of seawater during the effusion of gas-rich magma into shallow water is to repeatedly produce a gas-tight seal near the vent. This resealing mechanism leads to sequences of violent explosions and the release of large, bubble-forming volumes of gas—activity we describe as hydrovulcanian.
Abstract: Permian dikes, sills, and diatremes in southern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky (the Omaha, Wildcat Hills, Cottage Grove, Will Scarlet, Williams, Grant, and Clay Lick intrusions) share similar geochemistry and are classified as ultramafic lamprophyres. Major element compositions are 30-35 wt% SiO2, 6-7% Al2O3, 12-14% FeOt, 16-19% MgO, 3-5% TiO2, 11-16% CaO, 0.1-0.7% Na2O, 1.2-2.7% K2O, and 0.4-1.3% P2O5. The Grant Intrusive Breccia is an exception, with lower SiO2, Al2O3, FeOt, MgO, TiO2, and higher CaO. Typically, these rocks are fine grained, with phlogopite, serpentinized olivine ( Fo88), diopside, perovskite, Fe-Ti-spinel, apatite, and calcite. Blocky and lath-shaped pseudomorphs in some samples probably represent melilite, which would make the rocks alnöites. The Grant and Williams diatremes contain sedimentary and igneous clasts (including amphibole megacrysts) within a carbonate-rich matrix. The Grant exhibits pelletal lapilli and is characterized as a lamprophyre?carbonatite tuffisite. Trace element patterns exhibit enrichment of LREE, strong REE fractionation, and relative depletions of K, Sr, Zr, and Hf, closely matching those of the mela-aillikites of Aillik Bay, Labrador. The Grant Intrusive exhibits even greater REE enrichment and notable peaks at Nb, La, and Ce. Geochemical characteristics, including distributions of 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr, are consistent with near-primary melts from a metasomatized peridotite source containing phlogopite-rich veins. Derivation of the lamprophyres from carbonate-rich parental melts similar to the Grant Intrusive could be achieved by separation of carbonatite. A narrow range of initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.70301-0.70449), and initial ?Nd (3.7-5.1), suggests a uniform mantle source close to Bulk Earth. T-depleted mantle model ages range from 540 to 625 Ma, and might correlate with timing of enrichment of a lithospheric mantle source during the breakup of Rodinia.
Abstract: From 2009 to 2016, a drastic increase in seismic activity occurred in the Central and Eastern US (CEUS), particularly in the Oklahoma-Kansas region. The majority of hypocenters were focused in the crystalline basement rock. Information regarding the physical properties (elastic wave velocity, peak strength, etc.) of rocks in the CEUS basement to date is sparse. Forecasting future seismic hazard and predicting the in situ response of the crystalline basement requires their geomechanical parameters be adequately constrained. This work assesses the mechanical and petrophysical properties of several sets of basement rocks from Oklahoma to provide a better framework for understanding intraplate seismicity and overall basement deformation in the continental United States. Laboratory experiments were conducted with granite, rhyolite and diabase basement rock samples collected from southern Oklahoma. Evolution of compressional and shear wave velocity with increasing confinement was measured through a series of ultrasonic velocity tests. A suite of uniaxial and triaxial tests were conducted to measure the elastic and inelastic deformation behavior of the basement rocks. Deformation data was evaluated using the Mohr-Coulomb criterion and compared with additional preexisting deformation data of igneous basement rocks. Dynamic and static elastic properties compare favorably with available field measurements and demonstrate the role physical properties can play in varying mechanical behavior. Granitic samples demonstrate moderate variation of intrinsic physical properties can alter elastic properties and failure behavior significantly. Water-weakening in the basement rocks may indicate fluid-assisted processes such as stress corrosion cracking enhance deformation in the crystalline basement.
Abstract: The Hopi Buttes volcanic field (HBVF) is located on the Colorado Plateau, Northern Arizona. In this Miocene volcanic field, the erosion level increases southward, allowing the study of maar-diatreme volcanoes from top (posteruptive crater infill and ejecta ring) to bottom (lower diatreme). The Twin Peaks volcanic complex consists mostly of two hills (North Peak and South Peak) with thick lavas at their summits and pyroclastic rocks underneath. In the HBVF, such volcanic remnants have received little scientific attention so far, despite their relative abundance. Our field observations allow us to interpret the North and South Peaks as remnants of two maar-diatreme volcanoes which evolved into lava lakes filling the craters. Within the complex, we distinguish four volcanic units (from unit 1 at the bottom to unit 4 at the top). On the basis of the field description of the deposits and the componentry measurements, we suggest that unit 1 is phreatomagmatic, unit 2 is phreato-strombolian (with mixed phreatomagmatic and strombolian characteristics), unit 3a is phreato-hawaiian (with mixed phreatomagmatic and hawaiian characteristics), unit 3b is hawaiian (formed by lava fountains) and unit 4 consists of lava lakes filling the maar craters. There is therefore a progressive evolution from a purely phreatomagmatic eruptive style, which excavated the craters and diatremes and partly filled them, to magmatic explosive to nonexplosive eruptive styles, which filled the maar craters up to the pre-eruptive surface. We discuss traditional criteria used to distinguish phreatomagmatic from magmatic eruptive styles in ultramafic to mafic maar-diatreme volcanoes.
Abstract: Uncertainty exists in the configuration and extent of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) because of deficiencies in geophysical data and limited information from outcrops and basement drill holes. Additional ambiguity is caused by misunderstanding the definition of continental rifts. Six principal problematic regions in mapping the MRS are described. Gravity and magnetic data, supported by drill hole and seismic reflection data, show that the Eastern Lake Superior rift segment of the MRS continues south from Lake Superior and connects to a much narrower rift in northern Lake Michigan. The eastern margin of this transition is ill defined because of the lack of definitive anomalies and supporting seismic and drill hole data, but is interpreted to occur near the U.S. - Canada border. The rift segment in southeastern Michigan intersects the Grenville Front and likely continues eastwards in modified form to near the boundary with Canada. Cross-cutting gravity and magnetic signatures may reflect Grenvillian overthrusts near the terminus of the MRS in Michigan. The proposed southerly extensions of both branches of the rift system into Oklahoma and Ohio are based primarily on positive gravity anomalies, but neither postulated extension appears to be associated with rifted troughs. Rather the gravity anomalies of the western branch are related to intrusive mafic rocks and those of the eastern branch are most likely related to deep crustal metamorphic rocks thrust into juxtaposition with less dense crust by Grenville orogenesis. Recent paleomagnetic investigations, in conjunction with high-resolution radiometric dating, imply that the MRS developed during the rapid southward movement of Laurentia during a quiescent period along its eastern continental margin. Massive magmatic activity accompanying the rifting was likely due to rising mantle material that was displaced by subducted lithosphere along the southern margin. The heated crust was made more ductile, fostering rifting due to extensional stresses. The Nipigon Embayment remains as a possible candidate for an early "third branch" of the MRS, but current evidence is insufficient to include the Fort Wayne "rift" as part of the MRS. Future studies of the MRS would be well-served by new age-dating and high-resolution seismic studies of the lithosphere.
Science Advances, doi. 10.1126/sciadv.aay5178 13p. Pdf
United States, Connecticut
UHT, HPG
Abstract: Diamond and coesite are classic indicators of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP; ?100-kilometer depth) metamorphism, but they readily recrystallize during exhumation. Crystallographically oriented pyroxene and amphibole exsolution lamellae in garnet document decomposed supersilicic UHP majoritic garnet originally stable at diamond-grade conditions, but majoritic precursors have only been quantitatively demonstrated in mafic and ultramafic rocks. Moreover, controversy persists regarding which silicates majoritic garnet breakdown produces. We present a method for reconstructing precursor majoritic garnet chemistry in metasedimentary Appalachian gneisses containing garnets preserving concentric zones of crystallographically oriented lamellae including quartz, amphibole, and sodium phlogopite. We link this to novel quartz-garnet crystallographic orientation data. The results reveal majoritic precursors stable at ?175-kilometer depth and that quartz and mica may exsolve from garnet. Large UHP terranes in the European Caledonides formed during collision of the paleocontinents Baltica and Laurentia; we demonstrate UHP metamorphism from the microcontinent-continent convergence characterizing the contiguous and coeval Appalachian orogen.
Precambrian Research, in press available, 43p. Pdf
United States, Iowa
geophysics - seismics
Abstract: Large amplitude aeromagnetic and gravity anomalies over a ~9500 km2 area of northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota have been interpreted to reflect the northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC), a buried intrusive igneous complex composed of mafic/ultramafic rocks in the Yavapai Province (1.8-1.7 Ga). Hundreds of meters of Paleozoic sedimentary cover and a paucity of basement drilling have prevented detailed studies of the NEIIC. Long considered, but not proven, to be related to the ~1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift System (MRS), the NEIIC is comparable in areal extent to the richly mineralized Duluth Complex and is similarly located near the margin of the MRS. New geochronological and geophysical data together support an MRS affinity for the NEIIC. A dike swarm imaged in aeromagnetic data is cut by intrusions of the NEIIC, and a new apatite U-Pb date of ~1170 Ma on one of the dikes thus represents a maximum age for the NEIIC. A minimum age constraint is suggested by (1) large-volume magmatism associated with the MRS that was the last such event to affect the region; and (2) the presence of reversely magnetized dikes, similar in character to MRS-related dikes elsewhere, that cut several intrusions of the NEIIC. The NEIIC is largely characterized by the presence of multiple zoned intrusions, many of which contain large volumes of mafic-ultramafic rocks and have strong geophysical similarities to alkaline intrusive complexes elsewhere, including the MRS-related Coldwell Complex of Ontario. The largest of the zoned intrusions are ~40 km in diameter and are interpreted to have thicknesses of many kilometers. Suspected faults, alignments of intrusions, and intrusive margins tend to be aligned along northwest and northeast trends that match the trends of the Belle Plaine fault zone and Fayette structural zone, both previously interpreted as pre-MRS, possibly lithospheric-scale discontinuities that may have controlled NEIIC emplacement. These interpretations collectively imply notable potential for the NEIIC to host several different types of undiscovered base metal and critical mineral deposits.
Abstract: Large amplitude aeromagnetic and gravity anomalies over a ~9500 km2 area of northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota have been interpreted to reflect the northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC), a buried intrusive igneous complex composed of mafic/ultramafic rocks in the Yavapai Province (1.8-1.7 Ga). Hundreds of meters of Paleozoic sedimentary cover and a paucity of basement drilling have prevented detailed studies of the NEIIC. Long considered, but not proven, to be related to the ~1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift System (MRS), the NEIIC is comparable in areal extent to the richly mineralized Duluth Complex and is similarly located near the margin of the MRS. New geochronological and geophysical data together support an MRS affinity for the NEIIC. A dike swarm imaged in aeromagnetic data is cut by intrusions of the NEIIC, and a new apatite U-Pb date of ~1170 Ma on one of the dikes thus represents a maximum age for the NEIIC. A minimum age constraint is suggested by (1) large-volume magmatism associated with the MRS that was the last such event to affect the region; and (2) the presence of reversely magnetized dikes, similar in character to MRS-related dikes elsewhere, that cut several intrusions of the NEIIC. The NEIIC is largely characterized by the presence of multiple zoned intrusions, many of which contain large volumes of mafic-ultramafic rocks and have strong geophysical similarities to alkaline intrusive complexes elsewhere, including the MRS-related Coldwell Complex of Ontario. The largest of the zoned intrusions are ~40 km in diameter and are interpreted to have thicknesses of many kilometers. Suspected faults, alignments of intrusions, and intrusive margins tend to be aligned along northwest and northeast trends that match the trends of the Belle Plaine fault zone and Fayette structural zone, both previously interpreted as pre-MRS, possibly lithospheric-scale discontinuities that may have controlled NEIIC emplacement. These interpretations collectively imply notable potential for the NEIIC to host several different types of undiscovered base metal and critical mineral deposits.
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research ( researchgate), 34p. Pdf
United States, Arizona
diatremes
Abstract: Round Butte (Hopi Buttes volcanic field, Arizona) exposes a diatreme 170-190 m across, 190 m below the pre-eruptive surface. The central part of the massif is 130-150 m in diameter, displaying 20-30 m-high subvertical cliffs. The well-known layer-cake stratigraphy of the sedimentary rocks of the Colorado Plateau permits identification of the largest lithic fragments preserved in the Round Butte diatreme. We define three main groups of pyroclastic facies: undisturbed beds, disturbed beds and non-bedded rocks. Two other minor facies groups were mapped: megablocks (blocks over 2 m in long axis), and small-volume debris avalanche deposits. Pyroclastic megablocks are finer grained and richer in lithic clasts than most diatreme rocks surrounding them. These pyroclastic megablocks are interpreted as subsided portions of the maar ejecta ring. Sedimentary megablocks originate either from above, or from the same level, relative to their current location, i.e. no megablock has a net upward displacement. Small-volume debris avalanche deposits are poorly sorted deposits resulting from gravitational destabilization of the surrounding country rocks into the syn-eruptive crater. Small-volume debris avalanches and individual megablock collapse are the main ways in which the crater grew in size laterally during the eruption. We combine the componentry of the disturbed bedded pyroclastic facies, the non-bedded pyroclastic facies and the pyroclastic megablocks with a series of conceptual models for country rock fragmentation. This exercise further allows us to estimate diatreme wall slopes of 70° below the Bidahochi Formation to approximately the depth of the root zone around 440 m below the pre-eruptive surface. Lithic fragments at the current level of exposure come from elevations up to 190 m above (i.e., up to the pre-eruptive surface) and up to 250 m below (i.e., down to the root zone) their current locations. Pyroclastic units displaying the richest content of lithic clasts with a deep origin are typically the non-bedded facies interpreted to have formed from debris jets during the eruption.
Abstract: A lack of precise age constraints for Neoproterozoic strata in the northwestern United States (Washington State), including the Buffalo Hump Formation (BHF), has resulted in conflicting interpretations of Rodinia amalgamation and breakup processes. Previous detrital zircon (DZ) studies identified a youngest ca. 1.1 Ga DZ age population in the BHF, interpreted to reflect mostly first-cycle sourcing of unidentified but proximal magmatic rocks intruded during the amalgamation of Rodinia at ca. 1.0 Ga. Alternatively, the ca. 1.1 Ga DZ population has been suggested to represent a distal source with deposition occurring during the early phases of Rodinia rifting, more than 250 m.y. after zircon crystallization. We combined conventional laser-ablation split-stream analyses of U-Pb/Lu-Hf isotopes in zircon with a method of rapid (8 s per spot) U-Pb analysis to evaluate these opposing models. Our study of ?2000 DZ grains from the BHF identified for the first time a minor (?1%) yet significant ca. 760 Ma population, which constrains the maximum depositional age. This new geochronology implies that the BHF records early rift deposition during the breakup of Rodinia and correlates with sedimentary rocks found in other late Tonian basins of southwestern Laurentia.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 10.1029/2021GC009660 11p. Pdf
United States, Kansas
geophysics- seismic
Abstract: Wastewater injection tied to oil and gas development has induced earthquakes across a broad swath of the central US. These earthquakes have almost exclusively occurred in the crystalline rocks, many kilometers below the main disposal zone in this portion of the country, the Arbuckle Group aquifer. However, the hydrologic properties of these deep crystalline rocks are not well known and are needed to accurately model pressure transmission from injection wells to faults in the deep basement and related earthquake hazards. Newly compiled pressure data, from wastewater disposal wells in Kansas, provide an opportunity to constrain these properties. In this study, we construct a detailed, three-dimensional geological model for the Arbuckle and basement, based on data from >400 wells covering south-central Kansas. We use the model to simulate injection and pressures from more than 300 wells. The model indicates that Arbuckle pressures increased by 1.1 MPa in high injection rate areas and overpressures of <0.1 MPa may be the cause of seismicity in the basement. The simulation results also yield the likely range in hydrologic properties for the crystalline basement and suggests large-scale properties of the basement are enhanced by hidden networks of faults and fractures.
United States, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Canada, Alberta, Saskatchewan
craton
Abstract: Combined observations from natural and experimental deformation microstructures are often used to constrain the rheological properties of the upper mantle. However, relating natural and experimental deformation processes typically requires orders of magnitude extrapolation in strain rate due to vastly different time scales between nature and the lab. We examined a sheared peridotite xenolith that was deformed under strain rates comparable to laboratory shearing time scales. Microstructure analysis using an optical microscope and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was done to characterize the bulk crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO), intragrain misorientations, subgrain boundaries, and spatial distribution of grains. We found that the microstructure varied between monophase (olivine) and multiphase (i.e., olivine, pyroxene, and garnet) bands. Olivine grains in the monophase bands had stronger CPO, larger grain size, and higher internal misorientations compared with olivine grains in the multiphase bands. The bulk olivine CPO suggests a dominant (010)[100] and secondary activated (001)[100] that are consistent with the experimentally observed transition of the A to E-types. The bulk CPO and intragrain misorientations of olivine and orthopyroxene suggest that a coarser-grained initial fabric was deformed by dislocation creep coeval with the reduction of grain size due to dynamic recrystallization. Comparing the deformation mechanisms inferred from the microstructure with experimental flow laws indicates that the reduction of grain size in orthopyroxene promotes activation of diffusion creep and suggests a high activation volume for wet orthopyroxene dislocation creep.