Time relations and structural-stratigraphic patterns in ophiolite accretion, west central Klamath Mountains, California

New geochronological data and published structural and stratigraphic data show that two distinctly different ophiolitic assemblages formed in general proximity to one another at nearly the same time and were subsequently imbricated along a regional thrust zone. The Josephine ophiolite constitutes a complete oceanic crust and upper mantle sequence which lies within the western Jurassic belt of the Klamath province. Within the study area the Josephine ophiolite was formed by seafloor spreading at about 157 m.y. before present. It was immediately covered by a thin pelagic and hemipelagic sequence which grades into a thick flysch sequence, both of which comprise the Galice Formation. The Galice flysch was derived from volcanic arc and uplifted continental margin orogenic assemblages. A major nonvolcanic source for the Galice flysch appears to have been the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt of the Klamath province exposed to the east. Proximal volcanic arc activity migrated to the site of the Josephine-Galice section by 151 m.y. and is represented by numerous dikes and sills which intrude the ophiolite and Galice Formation. The Preston Peak ophiolite is a polygenetic assemblage consisting of (1) a pre-mid-Jurassic tectonitic peridotite-amphibolite substrate which represents disrupted and unroofed basement of the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt and (2) an upper mafic complex which was intruded through and constructed above the tectonite substrate at about 160 m.y. The mafic complex consists primarily of diabase hypabyssal rocks that are overlain by diabase-clast breccia and hemipelagic deposits. A major arc-plutonic complex was emplaced into the Preston Peak ophiolite in at least two pulses at 153 and 149 m.y. Major phases of this complex consist of wehrlite, gabbro, pyroxene diorite, and hornblende diorite. The Josephine ophiolite is interpreted as the remnants of interarc basin crust. The Preston Peak ophiolite is interpreted as either a primitive remnant arc complex or a rift edge facies for the Josephine interarc basin. The Galice Formation represents a submarine fan complex that was built on juvenile crust of the Josephine basin floor. During the time interval of 153 to 149 m.y. the locus or arc magmatism migrated to an area which included the interarc basin floor and the remnant arc or basin edge. The basin shortly thereafter closed by convergent tectonics during the Nevadan orogeny resulting in the imbrication of the Josephine and Preston Peak ophiolites and their superimposed arc assemblages. The transition from seafloor spreading generation of Josephine ophiolite to its tectonic accretion by convergence and basin closure occurred within 5 to 10 m.y. The process of rifting and ophiolite formation in series with convergence and ophiolite accretion is considered an important mechanism for generating and displacing allocthonous terranes in the Klamath Mountains-Sierra Nevada region, and perhaps throughout the western cordillera

Early, intensive marine resource exploitation by Middle Stone Age humans at Ysterfontein 1 rockshelter, South Africa

Modern human behavioral innovations from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) include the earliest indicators of full coastal adaptation evidenced by shell middens, yet many MSA middens remain poorly dated. We apply ²³⁰Th/U burial dating to ostrich eggshells (OES) from Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1, Western Cape, South Africa), a stratified MSA shell midden. ²³⁰Th/U burial ages of YFT1 OES are relatively precise (median ± 2.7%), consistent with other age constraints, and preserve stratigraphic principles. Bayesian age–depth modeling indicates YFT1 was deposited between 119.9 to 113.1 thousand years ago (ka) (95% CI of model ages), and the entire 3.8 m thick midden may have accumulated within ∼2,300 y. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes of OES indicate that during occupation the local environment was dominated by C₃ vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES ²³⁰Th/U ages and stable isotopes shows the following: 1) YFT1 is the oldest shell midden known, providing minimum constraints on full coastal adaptation by ∼120 ka; 2) despite rapid sea-level drop and other climatic changes during occupation, relative shellfish proportions and sizes remain similar, suggesting adaptive foraging along a changing coastline; 3) the YFT1 lithic technocomplex is similar to other west coast assemblages but distinct from potentially synchronous industries along the southern African coast, suggesting human populations were fragmented between seasonal rainfall zones; and 4) accumulation rates (up to 1.8 m/ka) are much higher than previously observed for dated, stratified MSA middens, implying more intense site occupation akin to Later Stone Age middens

A criterion audit of women's awareness of blood transfusion in pregnancy

BACKGROUND: In the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) Report, the very high risk of mortality in women who refuse blood transfusions is highlighted. The objectives were to establish current knowledge about, and views of transfusion in our pregnant population and to establish the level of compliance with the set audit standard. METHOD: Questionnaire survey of 228 women, including both high and low risk pregnancies, attending ante-natal clinic between 2–9 May 2000 at the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital, Stoke on Trent. RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. Only 43% were aware of the possible need for blood transfusion in pregnancy. If a blood transfusion was required, 92% stated that they would accept a blood transfusion in pregnancy. Four percent stated that they would not accept a transfusion because of religious reasons and risk of infection and the remaining four percent did not declare a reason. CONCLUSIONS: This short survey identified that 57% of women were not aware of the possible need for blood transfusion during pregnancy. There is a need for more information to be shared on this subject with all antenatal women. Women who would refuse a transfusion need to be identified at booking and be referred for counselling and a management plan made for pregnancy, labour and delivery

A 3D measurement of the offset in paleoseismological studies

The slip rate of a seismogenic fault is a crucial parameter for establishing the contribution of the fault to the seismic hazard. It is calculated from measurements of the offset of linear landforms, such channels, produced by the fault combined with their age. The three-dimensional measurement of offset in buried paleochannels is subject to uncertainties that need to be quantitatively assessed and propagated into the slip rate. Here, we present a set of adapted scripts to calculate the net, lateral and vertical tectonic offset components caused by faults, together with their associated uncertainties. This technique is applied here to a buried channel identified in the stratigraphic record during a paleoseismological study at the El Saltador site (Alhama de Murcia fault, Iberian Peninsula). After defining and measuring the coordinates of the key points of a buried channel in the walls of eight trenches excavated parallel to the fault, we (a) adjusted a 3D straight line to these points and then extrapolated the tendency of this line onto a simplified fault plane; (b) repeated these two steps for the segment of the channel in the other side of the fault; and (c) measured the distance between the two resulting intersection points with the fault plane. In doing so, we avoided the near fault modification of the channel trace and obtained a three-dimensional measurement of offset and its uncertainty. This methodology is a substantial modification of previous procedures that require excavating progressively towards the fault, leading to possible underestimation of offset due to diffuse deformation near the fault. Combining the offset with numerical dating of the buried channel via U-series on soil carbonate, we calculated a maximum estimate of the net slip rate and its vertical and lateral components for the Alhama de Murcia fault. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Climate response to the 8.2 ka event in coastal California

A fast-growing stalagmite from the central California coast provides a high-resolution record of climatic changes synchronous with global perturbations resulting from the catastrophic drainage of proglacial Lake Agassiz at ca. 8.2 ka. High frequency, large amplitude variations in carbon isotopes during the 8.2 ka event, coupled with pulsed increases in phosphorus concentrations, indicate more frequent or intense winter storms on the California coast. Decreased magnesium-calcium ratios point toward a sustained increase in effective moisture during the event, however the magnitude of change in Mg/Ca suggests this event was not as pronounced on the western North American coast as anomalies seen in the high northern latitudes and monsoon-influenced areas. Nevertheless, shifts in the White Moon Cave record that are synchronous within age uncertainties with cooling of Greenland, and changes in global monsoon systems, suggest rapid changes in atmospheric circulation occurred in response to freshwater input and associated cooling in the North Atlantic region. Our record is consistent with intensification of the Pacific winter storm track in response to North Atlantic freshwater forcing, a mechanism suggested by simulations of the last deglaciation, and indicates this intensification led to increases in precipitation and infiltration along the California coast during the Holocene

A survey for low luminosity quasars at redshift z~5

We present the results of a multi-colour (VIZ) survey for low luminosity (M_B<-23.5) quasars with z~5 using the 12K CCD mosaic camera on CFHT. The survey covers 1.8deg^2 to a limiting magnitude of m_z=22.5(Vega), about two magnitudes fainter than the SDSS quasar survey. 20 candidates were selected by their VIZ colours and spectra for 15 of these were obtained with GMOS on the Gemini North telescope. A single quasar with z=4.99 was recovered, the remaining candidates are all M stars. The detection of only a single quasar in the redshift range accessible to the survey (4.8<5.2) is indicative of a possible turn over in the luminosity function at faint quasar magnitudes, and a departure from the form observed at higher luminosities (in agreement with quasar lensing observations by Richards etal (2003)). However, the derived space densitys, of quasars more luminous than M_B(Vega)<-23.5, of 2.96x10^-7 Mpc^-3 is consistent at the 65% confidence level with extrapolation of the quasar luminosity function as derived by Fan etal (2001a) at m_i<19.6(Vega).Comment: 8 Pages, 8 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Closing in on the oxygen isotopic fractionation factor between calcite and water using natural carbonates

The oxygen isotopic fractionation between water and calcite is the cornerstone for estimating the formation temperature of calcite [1, 2, 3]. The oxygen isotope thermometer is one of the most valuable tools in geothermometry, palaeoclimatology and palaeoceanograph

Northeast Indian stalagmite records Pacific decadal climate change: Implications for moisture transport and drought in India

This is the final version. It is currently under embargo. It was first published by Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063826/full.Two types of El Niño events are distinguished by sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies centered in the central or eastern equatorial Pacific. The Central Pacific El Niño events (CP-El Niño) are more highly correlated with weakening of the central Indian Summer Monsoon and linked to decadal Pacific climate variability. We present a 50 year, subannually resolved speleothem δ18O record from northeast India that exhibits a significant correlation with northern Pacific decadal variability and central equatorial Pacific SSTs. Accordingly, we suggest that δ18O time series in similar northeast Indian speleothems are effective tools for investigating preinstrumental changes in Pacific climate, including changes in El Niño dynamics. In contrast to central India, rainfall amounts in northeast India are relatively unaffected by El Niño. However, back trajectory analysis indicates that during CP-El Niño events moisture transport distance to northeast India is reduced, suggesting that variations in moisture transport primarily control δ18O in the region.This work was supported through the BanglaPIRE project (NSF OISE-0968354), an award from the Vanderbilt International Office to JLO and SFMB, and awards from the Cave Research Foundation and the Geological Society of America to CGM. SFMB received financial support from the Schweizer National Fond (SNF), Sinergia grant CRSI22 132646/1