Subduction-flip during Iapetus Ocean closure and Baltica-Laurentia collision, Scandinavian Caledonides

Evidence is presented here from the northern Scandinavian Caledonides for development of an extensional basin of Ashgill to Mid Llandovery age along the Baltoscandian margin immediately prior to Baltica-Laurentia collision. U/Pb multigrain and ion microprobe zircon dating of plagiogranites in the Halti Igneous Complex complement previous baddeleyite and zircon dating of a dolerite dyke, and zircon dating of anatectic granite; they demonstrate that this dunite, troctolite, gabbro, sheeted-dyke complex ranges in age from c. 445 to 435 Ma. The dolerite dykes intruded and melted arkoses of inferred Neoproterozoic age. This evidence, taken together with previous documentation of ophiolites (Solund-Stavfjord), ophiolite-like associations (Sulitjelma Igneous Complex) and several other mafic suites (e.g. Rana, Artfjallet) of Ashgill to Llandovery age further south in the northern Scandinavian Caledonides, implies that Scandian collisional orogeny along this nearly 2000-km-long mountain belt was immediately preceeded by development of short-lived marginal basins. The latter developed during the final closure of the Iapetus Ocean and are inferred to be of back-arc origin, some (perhaps all) related to E-dipping subduction. Collision of the continents at c. 435 Ma is inferred to have induced a flip in subduction polarity, leading to underthrusting of Laurentia by Baltica

Little sonny o'mine

(Published By Blanche M. Tice Music Pub. Co.

Aeolian dust in the Talos Dome ice core (East Antarctica, Pacific/Ross Sea sector): Victoria Land versus remote sources over the last two climate cycles

A new ice core (TALDICE) drilled at Talos Dome (East Antarctica, Ross Sea sector) preserves a ca. 250 ka long record of palaeoclimate and atmospheric history. We investigate dust variability and provenance at the site during glacial periods and the Holocene through the Sr–Nd isotopic composition of ice core dust and potential source areas (PSA). We provide new isotopic data on dust sources from Victoria Land such as regoliths, glacial drifts, aeolian sands and beach deposits. Some of these sources are located at high altitude and are known to have been ice free throughout the Pleistocene. The major features of the TALDICE dust record are very similar to those from central East Antarctica. During glacial times, South America was the dominant dust supplier for Talos Dome as well as for the entire East Antarctic plateau. Conversely, during the Holocene the principal input of mineral dust at Talos Dome probably derives from proximal sources which are the ice-free areas of northern Victoria Land, located at similar altitude with respect to the drilling site. Atmospheric mobilisation of dust from these neighbouring areas and transport inland to Talos Dome can be ultimately associated with advection of maritime air masses from the Pacific/Ross Sea region

Gerhardt EBELING, Lutherstudien. Band II. Disputatio de homine. Dritter Teil: Die theologische Definition des Menschen. Kommentar zu These 20-40, Tübingen, J. C. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1989, XXIII + 698 pp., 23,5 x 16. [RECENSIÓN]

One of the key activities during the initial phase of the international GEOTRACES program was an extensive international intercalibration effort, to ensure that results for a range of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) from different cruises and from different laboratories can be compared in a meaningful way. Here we present the results from the intercalibration efforts on neodymium isotopes and rare earth elements in seawater and marine particles. Fifteen different laboratories reported results for dissolved 143Nd/144Nd ratios in seawater at three different locations (BATS 15 m, BATS 2000 m, SAFe 3000 m), with an overall agreement within 47 to 57 ppm (2? standard deviation of the mean). A similar agreement was found for analyses of an unknown pure Nd standard solution carried out by 13 laboratories (56 ppm), indicating that mass spectrometry is the main variable in achieving accurate and precise Nd isotope ratios. Overall, this result is very satisfactory, as the achieved precision is a factor of 40 better than the range of Nd isotopic compositions observed in the global ocean. Intercalibration for dissolved rare earth element concentrations (REEs) by six laboratories for two water depths at BATS yielded a reproducibility of 15% or better for all REE except Ce, which seems to be the most blank-sensitive REE. Neodymium concentrations from 12 laboratories show an agreement within 9%, reflecting the best currently possible reproducibility. Results for Nd isotopic compositions and REE concentrations on marine particles are inconclusive, and should be revisited in the future