Geochemistry on the Kekesai composite intrusion

The late Carboniferous to Permian is a critical period for final amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), which is characterized by voluminous igneous rocks, particularly granitoids. The Kekesai composite granitoid porphyry intrusion, situated in the Chinese western Tianshan (southwest part of CAOB) includes two intrusive phases, a monzogranite phase, intruded by a granodiorite phase. LA-ICPMS U-Pb zircon analyses suggest that the monzogranitic rocks formed at 305.5±1.1 Ma, with a wide age range of inherited zircons (358-488 Ma and 1208-1391 Ma), whereas the granodioritic rocks formed at 288.7±1.5 Ma. The monzogranitic and granodioritic phases have similar geochemical features and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions. They exhibit high and variable SiO2 (66-71 wt.%) and MgO (0.41-2.14 wt.%) contents with some arc-like geochemical characteristics (e.g., enrichment of large ion lithophile elements and negative anomalies of Nb, Ta and Ti) and relatively high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (ISr=0.7055-0.7059), low positive eNd(t) (+0.84 to +1.03) as well as a large variation in Hf isotopic compositions with eHf(t) between +3.43 to +14.8, implying both of them were derived from similar source materials. These geochemical characteristics suggest that they might be mainly derived from the partial melting of arc-derived Mesoproterozoic mafic lower crust with involvement of a mantle-derived component in variable proportions by mantle-derived magma underplating. The presence of late-Ordovician to earliest early Carboniferous inherited zircons and the Hf isotopic compositions in the monzogranitic sample, similar to that of the widespread juvenile arc rocks, indicates some crust contamination during magma emplacement. Our new data, combined with previous studies, imply that extensive post-collisional magmatism due to underplating of mantle-derived magma, could plausibly be explained by slab break-off regime.

Physics, geochemistry and bulk sedimentology on cores from the Peru Basin

Empirical relationships between physical properties determined non-destructively by core logging devices and calibrated by carbonate and opal measurements determined on discrete samples allow extraction of carbonate and opal records from the non-destructive measurements in biogenic settings. Contents of detrital material can be calculated as a residual. For carbonate and opal the correlation coefficients (r) are 0.954 and ?0.916 for sediment density, ?0.816 and 0.845 for compressional-wave velocity, 0.908 and ?0.942 for acoustic impedance, and 0.886 and ?0.865 for sediment color (lightness). Carbonate contents increase in concert with increasing density and acoustic impedance, decreasing velocity and lighter sediment color. The opposite is true for opal. The advantages of deriving the sediment composition quantitatively from core logging are: (i) sampling resolution is increased significantly, (ii) non-destructive data can be gathered rapidly, and (iii) laboratory work on discrete samples can be reduced. Applied to paleoceanographic problems, this method offers the opportunity of precise stratigraphic correlations and of studying processes related to biogenic sedimentation in more detail. Density is most promising because it is most strongly affected by changes in composition.