Apatite fission track analytical data for samples from ODP Leg 152

We test a new approach to understanding the tectonic evolution of passive margins by using fission-track analysis on detrital apatites from sediments deposited offshore East Greenland. These apatites have not undergone postdepositional track annealing and therefore reflect provenance. The apatites preserve a component of the source rocks' thermal history that otherwise may not be retained within the present-day outcrop. Fission-track derived denudational histories from samples at Ocean Drilling Program drill sites offshore East Greenland at lat 63°N are compared with data from the onshore Singertat Complex. Previous apatite fission-track studies and geomorphic mapping of the East Greenland coast have shown that locally up to 6 km of denudation may have occurred, implying significant tectonic or magmatic activity starting as much as 30 m.y. after breakup at 56 Ma. In contrast, apatite fission-track data presented here record <2 km of Cenozoic denudation in southeast Greenland, probably driven by magmatic underplating at the time of breakup. Large-magnitude, postrift denudation of East Greenland is restricted to the area around Kangerdlugssuaq (68°N). The timing (<40-50 Ma) and magnitude are in accord with revised plume track models suggesting that the Iceland plume crossed the margin here during the late Eocene.

Fission track analyses of ODP Hole 129-800A samples

Four models of fission track annealing in apatite are compared with measured fission track lengths in samples from Site 800 in the East Mariana Basin, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 129, given an independently determined temperature history. The temperature history of Site 800 was calculated using a one-dimensional, compactive, conductive heat flow model assuming two end-member thermal cases: one for cooling of Jurassic ocean crust that has experienced no subsequent heating, and one for cooling of Cretaceous ocean crust. Because the samples analyzed were only shallowly buried and because the tectonic history of the area since sample deposition is simple, resolution of the temperature history is high. The maximum temperature experienced by the sampled bed is between 16°-21°C and occurs at 96 Ma; temperatures since the Cretaceous have dropped in spite of continued pelagic sediment deposition because heat flow has continued to decay exponentially and bottom-water temperatures have dropped. Fission tracks observed within apatite grains from the sampled bed are 14.6 +/- 0.1 µm (1 sigma) long. Given the proposed temperature history of the samples, one unpublished and three published models of fission track annealing predict mean track lengths from 14.8 to 15.9 µm. These models require temperatures as much as 40°C higher than the calculated paleotemperature maximum of the sampled bed to produce the same degree of track annealing. Measured and predicted values are different because annealing models are based on extrapolation of high temperature laboratory data to geologic times. The model that makes the closest prediction is based on the greatest number of experiments performed at low temperature and on an apatite having composition closest to that of the core samples.

Fission track age determinations of rocks from north Greenland

Apatite fission track (FT) ages and length characteristics of samples obtained from Cambrian to Paleocene-aged sandstones collected along the margin of Nares Strait in Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are dominated by a thermal history related to Paleogene relative plate movements between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. A preliminary inverse FT thermal model for a Cambrian (Archer Fiord Formation) sandstone in the hanging wall of the Rawlings Bay thrust at Cape Lawrence is consistent with Paleocene exhumational cooling, likely as a result of erosion of the thrust. This suggests that thrusting at Cape Lawrence occurred prior to the onset of Eocene compression, likely due to transpression during earlier strikeslip along the strait. Models for samples from volcaniclastic sandstones of the Late Paleocene Pavy Formation (from Cape Back and near Pavy River), and a sandstone from the Late Paleocene Mount Lawson Formation (at Split Lake, near Makinson Inlet) are also consistent with minor burial heating following known periods of basaltic volcanism in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait (c. 61-59 Ma), or related tholeiitic volcanism and intrusive activity (c. 55-54 Ma). Thermal models for samples from sea level dykes from around Smith Sound suggest a period of Late Cretaceous - Paleocene heating prior to final cooling during Paleocene time. These model results imply that Paleocene tectonic movements along Nares Strait were significant, and provide limited support for the former existence of the Wegener Fault. Apatite FT data from central Ellesmere Island suggest however, that cooling there occurred during Early Eocene time (c. 50 Ma), which was likely a result of erosion of thrusts during Eurekan compression. This diachronous cooling suggests that Eurekan deformation was partitioned at discrete intervals across Ellesmere Island, and thus it is likely that displacements along the strait were much less than the 150 km that has been previously suggested for the Wegener Fault.

Zirkon fission track ages of for middle Pleistocene Rangitawa Tephra, New Zealand

Rangitawa Tephra is an important stratigraphic marker in mid-Pleistocene marine and terrestrial sequences in New Zealand and adjacent ocean basins. Zircon fission track ages (ZFTA) on Rangitawa Tephra from five sites in the southern North Island yield mean site ages in the range 0.34 to 0.40 Ma with a weighted mean of 0.35 + 0.04 Ma (1 sigma). On the basis of glass shard major-element chemistry, ferromagnesian mineralogy, ZFTA and similarity of paleomagnetic dates of proposed tephra correlalives in deep-sea cores, it is concluded that Rangitawa Tephra represents a major eruptive event in the Taupo Volcanic Zone most probably associated with eruption of the Whakamaru-group ignimbrites (0.35 0.39 Ma) or less likely the Paeroa Range Group Ignimbrites (0.36 -0.38 Ma). Pollen analyses from two onshore sites, together with regional loess stratigraphy, show that Rangitawa Tephra was erupted during a glacial period. The ZFTA and previously reported oxygen isotope data from DSDP Site 594 indicate that Rangitawa Tephra was erupted near the end of oxygen isotope stage 10.