Silicate mineralogy of basalts at DSDP Leg 54 Holes

Basalts drilled from the East Pacific Rise, OCP Ridge, and Siqueiros fracture zone during Leg 54 are texturally diverse. Dolerites are equigranular at Sites 422 and 428 and porphyritic, with phenocrysts of plagioclase (An69.73) and Ca-rich clinopyroxene (Ca42Mg48Fe10) at Site 427. The East Pacific Rise lavas and some of those from the OCP Ridge are fine-grained and porphyritic. The majority of the large crystals are clustered skeletal glomerocrysts of plagioclase An64-77), together with olivine (Fo80-87), Ca-rich clinopyroxene, or both. Euhedral phenocrysts of plagioclase, together with olivine, Carich clinopyroxene, and Cr-Al spinel in some cases, occur in most of the fine-grained lavas. These phenocrysts are small (maximum dimension <1 mm in all but one sample), sparse (combined modal amount <1% in all samples), and distinctive from the megacrysts which characterize many ocean-floor lavas. In two East Pacific Rise lavas, zoned plagioclase (An83 cores) is the sole phenocryst phase. In other porphyritic lavas from all the main East Pacific Rise and OCP Ridge units drilled during Leg 54, the plagioclase phenocrysts contain cores of bytownite (An79-87) surrounded by more-sodic feldspar (An67-77). Core/rim relationships vary from continuous normal zoning, through discontinuous zoning, to extensive resorption of the calcic cores in some samples. The compositions of the plagioclase calcic cores are systematically related to those of the glomerophyric plagioclase and olivine in the lavas containing them. Furthermore, only one compositional population of calcic cores occurs in each rock. The possible causes of these relationships are far from clear. Magma mixing, although superficially applicable, is inconsistent with important aspects of the phenocryst mineralogy of these particular lavas. A more satisfactory model to explain both phenocryst zoning and rapid glomerocryst growth immediately before extrusion may be constructed by postulating influx of water into the upwelling magmas within Layer 3 of the oceanic crust beneath the East Pacific Rise, and subsequent loss of part of this water during effervescence within feeder dykes between Layer 3 and the ocean floor. It is shown that this model is fully consistent with published data on water and carbon dioxide contents and ratios in the pillow-margin glasses, vesicles, and phenocryst inclusions of ocean-floor basalts. The evidence for the precipitation of plagioclase- dominated crystalline assemblages from these magmas in the upper part of Layer 3 is concordant with recent geophysically based modeling of the structure of the East Pacific Rise. Calcium-rich clinopyroxenes in dolerites from the OCP Ridge and Siqueiros fracture zone show radial, oscillatory, and sector-zoning. In Sample 428A-5-2 (Piece 5a), the compositional trends resulting from this zoning closely resemble those of the pyroxenes in some lunar lavas. The controls on crystallization of interstitial pigeonite - epitaxial upon augite - in this rock are discussed. Both sector-zoning of the augite and nucleation of pigeonite within microvolumes of magma with a low Ca(Mg + Fe) ratio appear to be important factors.

(Table T1) Correlation of the postglacial laminated unit between ODP Holes 178-1098A, 178-1098B and 178-1098C

The Antarctic Peninsula region is ideally suited to monitor how global change affects Antarctica because it is one of the most sensitive regions of the continent to rapid climate change. This has been clearly demonstrated by the recent break up of the Larsen A Ice Shelf. Drilling at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1098, Palmer Deep, western Antarctic Peninsula, recovered almost 50 m of sediments that record the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic history of the region from the last glacial maximum through the rapid climate oscillations of deglaciation into the Holocene. This sedimentary section will provide a wealth of high-resolution paleoenvironmental data from Antarctica that will be useful for climate modelers and paleoceanographers alike. This data report presents the preliminary results of a high-resolution, microscale sediment fabric study of the postglacial sediments from Palmer Deep Site 1098. These sediments have previously been described as being annually laminated; however, this investigation shows that although the interpretation of this sequence as seasonal sediments is most likely correct, there are a number of features that indicate there is strong interannual variability affecting the laminations.

Age model and elemental data of DSDP Holes 48-401 and 80-549

A growing body of geologic evidence suggests that emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) played a major role in global warming during the early Paleogene as well as in the transient Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) event. A ~5 million year record of major and trace element abundances spanning 56 to 51 Ma at Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 401 and 549 confirms that the majority of NAIP volcanism occurred as subaerial flows. Thus the trace element records provide constraints on the nature and scope of the environmental impact of the NAIP during the late Paleocene-early Eocene interval. Subaerial volcanism would have injected mantle CO2 directly into the atmosphere, resulting in a more immediate increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas abundances than CO2 input through submarine volcanism. The lack of significant hydrothermalism contradicts recently proposed mechanisms for thermally destabilizing methane hydrate reservoirs during the PETM. Any connection between NAIP volcanism and PETM warming had to occur through the atmosphere.

Organic geochemistry of interstitial waters at DSDP Holes 64-474 and 64-479

Studies of the nature and amount of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in pore-water solutions have been confined mostly to recent sediments (Henrichs and Farrington, 1979; Krom and Sholkovitz, 1977; Nissenbaum et al., 1972). The analyses of organic constituents in interstitial waters have not been extended to sediment depths of more than 15 meters (Starikova, 1970). Large fluctuations in organic contents of near-bottom interstitial fluids suggest that organic compounds may provide insight into the chemical and biological processes occurring in the sedimentary column. Gradients in inorganic ion concentrations have been used as indicators of diagenesis of organic matter in deep sediments and interstitial waters. Shishkina (1978) attributed the occurrence of iodine and Cl/Br ratios that deviated from the value of seawater to the breakdown of organic matter and the liberation of bromide during mineralization. Sulfate depletion and maxima in ammonia concentrations were interpreted to be a consequence of sulfate reduction reactions in pore fluids, even at depths of more than 400 meters (Miller et al., 1979; Manheim and Schug, 1978).The purpose of this chapter is to study organic carbon compounds dissolved in interstitial waters of deep sediments at Sites 474 and 479.