Grain shape and mineralogy of loess on New Zealands South Island

Infilled fissures are described from the interface between two loess deposits on Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand. Both loesses differ from the other loesses by having a solifluction deposit at their base consisting of angular basalt fragments of the same angularity as fresh frost shattered basalt mixed with the loess. Typically, the fissures are narrow and up to 160 cm deep while the infilling of the overlying loess shows no obvious structure. They occur mainly at higher elevations on south (poleward) facing slopes, and the host loess forms a fragipan of high density. They are most readily explained as being seasonal frost fissures or more probably ice-wedge casts, which would have required either permafrost or deep seasonal frost for their formation. If permafrost had existed, this would imply a cooling of the mean annual temperatures by at least 16 to 18°C.

(Table 1) Stratigraphic position, abundance, shape, color, and refractive indices of glass shards of selected samples from DSDP Leg 60 Holes vitric muds

Precisely determined refractive indices of glass shards from 32 ash-rich, volcaniclastic sediments, mostly turbidites interbedded with nonvolcanic sediments in the Mariana Trough, range from 1.480 to 1.585 (corresponding to SiO2 ca. 75 to 49%), with most in the range 1.500 to 1.540 (SiO2 ca. 70-62%) and a second, smaller mode between ca. 1.560 and 1.585 (57 to 49% SiO2). Shards are almost exclusively colorless from 1.480 to ca. 1.530, light brown with minor colorless and green tones between 1.530 and 1.560, and dominantly brown at higher refractive indices. Tubular pumice shards are more common at higher silica percentages and non- to poorly-vesicular cuniform shards at low SiO2 values, but there is no clear correlation between shape and composition of shards. About half of the samples have bimodal shard populations with silica differences ranging up to 20 percent; unimodal layers have a range of up to about 7 percent SiO2. Of 21 samples in which one type of shard dominates, seven have the main mode in the rhyolitic composition (>69% SiO2), eight in the intermediate range (56 to 69% SiO2), and five in mafic composition (SiO2 <53%). These unusually abundant mafic shards occur mainly in site survey piston cores, SP-IA and 4E, and in Holes 454, 456, 458, and 459B. These are the sites closest to the present arc. Hole 453, containing by far the most vitric tuff turbidites, shows a gradual increase in silica content of ash layers upward to the hole from Cores 36 to 19 (about 4.6 to 3.0 Ma). A drastic decrease in ash-rich beds in the younger (Pleistocene) part of this hole was noted by the shipboard party (see site chapter, Site 453) and was interpreted by them as indicating increasing distance from the arc volcanoes as the trough opened. The increase in silica in ashes from the early to the late Pliocene at Site 453 could be interpreted in the same way and might indicate that the trough started to open in early Pliocene time.

Temperature, salinity and ikaite crystal characteristics in snow, slush and sea ice during R/V Lance cruise in April-May 2011

We identified ikaite crystals (CaCO3 · 6H2O) and examined their shape and size distribution in first-year Arctic pack ice, overlying snow and slush layers during the spring melt onset north of Svalbard. Additional measurements of total alkalinity (TA) were made for melted snow and sea-ice samples. Ikaite crystals were mainly found in the bottom of the snowpack, in slush and the surface layers of the sea ice where the temperature was generally lower and salinity higher than in the ice below. Image analysis showed that ikaite crystals were characterized by a roughly elliptical shape and a maximum caliper diameter of 201.0±115.9 µm (n = 918). Since the ice-melting season had already started, ikaite crystals may already have begun to dissolve, which might explain the lack of a relationship between ikaite crystal size and sea-ice parameters (temperature, salinity, and thickness of snow and ice). Comparisons of salinity and TA profiles for melted ice samples suggest that the precipitation/dissolution of ikaite crystals occurred at the top of the sea ice and the bottom of the snowpack during ice formation/melting processes.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios and age model of ODP Hole 182-1127B

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of constructing an oxygen and carbon isotope stratigraphy for the late Pleistocene succession from Hole 1127B drilled on the Great Australian Bight. Stable isotope analyses were performed on bulk- and fine-fraction (<38 µm) sediment samples. The oxygen isotope variations are generally smaller in magnitude than expected from global pelagic records. This is most likely due to the neriticly dominated sediment composition. Correlation of the oxygen isotope data with carbonate mineralogy and downhole logging data shows simultaneous variations and trends, which are particularly evident in the mid-Pleistocene sediments. Correlation of the oxygen isotope data with the classic SPECMAP curve is used to evaluate the stratigraphic potential of the Site 1127 sediments. This study indicates that an isotope stratigraphy based on planktonic and benthic foraminifers is needed to fully evaluate the response of cool-water carbonates deposited in a margin setting to global ice-volume fluctuations and, hence, the associated sea level variations.

Strength and deformation behavior of ODP Leg 110 sediments

The shape and morphology of the northern Barbados Ridge complex is largely controlled by the sediment yield and failure behavior in response to high lateral loads imposed by convergence. Loads in excess of sediment yield strength result in nonrecoverable deformations within the wedge, and failure strength acts as an upper limit beyond which stresses are released through thrust faults. Relatively high loading rates lead to delayed consolidation and in-situ pore pressures greater than hydrostatic. The sediment yield and failure behavior is described for any stress path by a generalized constitutive model. A yield locus delineates the onset of plastic (non-recoverable) deformation, as defined from the isotropic and anisotropic consolidation responses of high-quality 38-mm triaxial specimens; a failure envelope was obtained by shearing the same specimens in both triaxial compression and extension. The yield locus is shown to be rotated into extension space and is centered about a K-line greater than unity, suggesting that the in-situ major principal stress has rotated into the horizontal plane, and that the sediment wedge is being subjected to extensional effective stress paths.

(Table 1) Bulk and grain density, porosity, and p- and s-wave velocity characteristics of ODP Hole 163-990A sediments

Seismic velocities in rocks are influenced by the properties of the solid, the pore fluid, and the pore space. Cracks dramatically affect seismic velocities in rocks; their influence on the effective elastic moduli of rocks depends on their shape and concentration. Thin cracks (or fractures) substantially lower the moduli of a rock relative to the effect of spherical voids (or vesicles), and lower moduli are reflected by lower P- and S-wave velocities. The objective of this research is to determine the types and concentrations of cracks and their influence on the seismic properties of subaerially erupted basalts drilled from Hole 990A on the Southeast Greenland margin during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 163. Ellipsoidal cracks are used to model the voids in the rocks. The elastic moduli of the solid (grains) are also free parameters in the inverse modeling procedure. The apparent grain moduli reflect a weighted average of the moduli of the constituent minerals (e.g., plagioclase, augite, and clay minerals). The results indicate that (1) there is a strong relationship between P-wave velocity and porosity, suggesting a similarity of pore shape distributions, (2) the distribution of crack types within the massive, central region of aa flows from Hole 990A is independent of total porosity, (3) thin cracks are the first to be effectively sealed by alteration products, and (4) grain densities (an alteration index) and apparent grain moduli of the basalt samples are directly related.

Zeolite and silica diagenesis and sandstone petrography at DSDP Sites 57-438 and 57-439

We detected authigenic clinoptilolites in two core samples of tuffaceous, siliceous mudstone in the lower Miocene section of Hole 439. They occur as prismatic and tabular crystals as long as 0.03 mm in various voids of dissolved glass shards, radiolarian shells, calcareous foraminifers, and calcareous algae. They are high in alkalies, especially Na, and in silica varieties. There is a slight difference in composition among them. The Si : (Al+ Fe3+) ratio is highest (4.65) in radiolarian voids, intermediate (4.34) in dissolved glass voids, and lowest (4.26) in voids of calcareous organisms. This difference corresponds to the association of authigenic silica minerals revealed by the scanning electron microscope: There are abundant opal-CT lepispheres in radiolarian voids, low cristobalite and some lepispheres in dissolved glass voids, and a lack of silica minerals in the voids of calcareous organisms. Although it contains some silica from biogenic opal and alkalies from trapped sea water, clinoptilolite derives principally from dissolved glass. Although they are scattered in core samples of Quaternary through lower Miocene diatomaceous and siliceous deposits, acidic glass fragments react with interstitial water to form clinoptilolite only at a sub-bottom depth of 935 meters at approximately 25°C. Analcimes occur in sand-sized clasts of altered acidic vitric tuff in the uppermost Oligocene sandstones. The analcimic tuff clasts were probably reworked from the Upper Cretaceous terrain adjacent to Site 439. Low cristobalite and opal-CT are found in tuffaceous, siliceous mudstone of the middle and lower Miocene sections at Sites 438 and 439. Low cristobalite derives from acidic volcanic glass and opal-CT from biogenic silica. Both siliceous organic remains and acidic glass fragments occur in sediments from the Quaternary through lower Miocene sections. However, the shallowest occurrence is at 700 meters subbottom in Hole 438A, where temperature is estimated to be 21°C. The d(101) spacing of opal-CT varies from 4.09 to 4.11 Å and that of low cristobalite from 4.04 to 4.06 Å. Some opal-CT lepispheres are precipitated onto clinoptilolites in the voids of radiolarian shells at a sub-bottom depth of 950 meters in Hole 439. Sandstone interlaminated with Upper Cretaceous shale is chlorite- calcite cemented and feldspathic. Sandstones in the uppermost Oligocene section are lithic graywacke and consist of large amounts of lithic clasts grouped into older sedimentary and weakly metamorphosed rocks, younger sedimentary rocks, and acidic volcanic rocks. The acidic volcanic clasts probably originated from the volcanic high, which supplied the basal conglomerate with dacite gravels. The older sedimentary and weakly metamorphosed rocks and green rock correspond to the lithologies of the lower Mesozoic to upper Paleozoic Sorachi Group, including the chert, limestone, and slate in south-central Hokkaido. However, the angular shape and coarseness of the clasts and the abundance of carbonate rock fragments indicate a nearby provenance, which is probably the southern offshore extension of the Sorachi Group. The younger sedimentary rocks, including mudstone, carbonaceous shale, and analcime-bearing tuff, correspond to the lithologies of the Upper Cretaceous strata in south-central Hokkaido. Their clasts were reworked from the southern offshore extension of the strata. Because of the discontinuity of the zeolite zoning due to burial diagenesis, an overburden several kilometers thick must have been denuded before the deposition of sediments in the early Oligocene.