Rietveld refinement of Sr5(AsO4)3Cl from high-resolution synchrotron data

The apatite-type compound, penta­strontium tris­[arsenate(V)] chloride, Sr5(AsO4)3Cl, has been synthesized by ion exchange at high temperature from a synthetic sample of mimetite [Pb5(AsO4)3Cl] with SrCO3 as a by-product. The results of the Rietveld refinement, based on high resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data, show that the title compound crystallizes in the same structure as other halogenoapatites with general formula A 5(YO4)3 X (A = divalent cation, Y = penta­valent cation, and X = F, Cl or Br) in the space group P63/m. The structure consists of isolated tetra­hedral AsO4 3− anions (the As atom and two O atoms have m symmetry), separated by two crystallographically independent Sr2+ cations that are located on mirror planes and threefold rotation axes, respectively. One Sr atom is coordinated by nine O atoms and the other by six. The chloride anions (site symmetry ) are at the 2a sites and are located in the channels of the structure

Carbon/oxygen ratios, clay composition and gas-hydrate saturation of ODP Leg 164 sites

The analyses of downhole log data from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) boreholes on the Blake Ridge at Sites 994, 995, and 997 indicate that the Schlumberger geochemical logging tool (GLT) may yield useful gas hydrate reservoir data. In neutron spectroscopy downhole logging, each element has a characteristic gamma ray that is emitted from a given neutron-element interaction. Specific elements can be identified by their characteristic gamma-ray signature, with the intensity of emission related to the atomic elemental concentration. By combining elemental yields from neutron spectroscopy logs, reservoir parameters including porosities, lithologies, formation fluid salinities, and hydrocarbon saturations (including gas hydrate) can be calculated. Carbon and oxygen elemental data from the GLT was used to determine gas hydrate saturations at all three sites (Sites 994, 995, and 997) drilled on the Blake Ridge during Leg 164. Detailed analyses of the carbon and oxygen content of various sediments and formation fluids were used to construct specialized carbon/oxygen ratio (COR) fan charts for a series of hypothetical gas hydrate accumulations. For more complex geologic systems, a modified version of the standard three-component COR hydrocarbon saturation equation was developed and used to calculate gas hydrate saturations on the Blake Ridge. The COR-calculated gas hydrate saturations (ranging from about 2% to 14% bulk volume gas hydrate) from the Blake Ridge compare favorably to the gas hydrate saturations derived from electrical resistivity log measurements

Xenoliths in ultrapotassic volcanic rocks in the Lhasa block: direct evidence for crust–mantle mixing and metamorphism in the deep crust

Felsic granulite xenoliths entrained in Miocene (~13 Ma) isotopically evolved, mantle-derived ultrapotassic volcanic (UPV) dykes in southern Tibet are refractory meta-granitoids with garnet and rutile in a near-anhydrous quartzo-feldspathic assemblage. High F–Ti (~4 wt.% TiO2 and ~3 wt.% F) phlogopite occurs as small inclusions in garnet, except for one sample where it occurs as flakes in a quartz-plagioclase-rich rock. High Si (~3.45) phengite is found as flakes in another xenolith sample. The refractory mineralogy suggests that the xenoliths underwent high-T and high-P metamorphism (800–850 °C, >15 kbar). Zircons show four main age groupings: 1.0–0.5 Ga, 50–45, 35–20, and 16–13 Ma. The oldest group is similar to common inherited zircons in the Gangdese belt, whereas the 50–45 Ma zircons match the crystallization age and juvenile character (eHfi +0.5 to +6.5) of Eocene Gangdese arc magmas. Together these two age groups indicate that a component of the xenolith was sourced from Gangdese arc rocks. The 35–20 Ma Miocene ages are derived from zircons with similar Hf–O isotopic composition as the Eocene Gangdese magmatic zircons. They also have similar steep REE curves, suggesting they grew in the absence of garnet. These zircons mark a period of early Miocene remelting of the Eocene Gangdese arc. By contrast, the youngest zircons (13.0 ± 4.9 Ma, MSWD = 1.3) are not zoned, have much lower HREE contents than the previous group, and flat HREE patterns. They also have distinctive high Th/U ratios, high zircon d18O (+8.73–8.97 ‰) values, and extremely low eHfi (-12.7 to -9.4) values. Such evolved Hf–O isotopic compositions are similar to values of zircons from the UPV lavas that host the xenolith, and the flat REE pattern suggests that the 13 Ma zircons formed in equilibrium with garnet. Garnets from a strongly peraluminous meta-tonalite xenolith are weakly zoned or unzoned and fall into four groups, three of which are almandine-pyrope solid solutions and have low d18O (+6 to 7.5 ‰), intermediate (d18O +8.5 to 9.0 ‰), and high d18O (+11.0 to 12.0 ‰). The fourth is almost pure andradite with d18O 10–12 ‰. Both the low and intermediate d18O groups show significant variation in Fe content, whereas the two high d18O groups are compositionally homogeneous. We interpret these features to indicate that the low and intermediate d18O group garnets grew in separate fractionating magmas that were brought together through magma mixing, whereas the high d18O groups formed under high-grade metamorphic conditions accompanied by metasomatic exchange. The garnets record complex, open-system magmatic and metamorphic processes in a single rock. Based on these features, we consider that ultrapotassic magmas interacted with juvenile 35–20 Ma crust after they intruded in the deep crust (>50 km) at ~13 Ma to form hybridized Miocene granitoid magmas, leaving a refractory residue. The ~13 Ma zircons retain the original, evolved isotopic character of the ultrapotassic magmas, and the garnets record successive stages of the melting and mixing process, along with subsequent high-grade metamorphism followed by low-temperature alteration and brecciation during entrainment and ascent in a late UPV dyke. This is an excellent example of in situ crust–mantle hybridization in the deep Tibetan crust