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Mineral Growth (mineral + growth)
Selected AbstractsSynchronous peak Barrovian metamorphism driven by syn-orogenic magmatism and fluid flow in southern Connecticut, USAJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2008P. J. LANCASTER Abstract Recent work in Barrovian metamorphic terranes has found that rocks experience peak metamorphic temperatures across several grades at similar times. This result is inconsistent with most geodynamic models of crustal over-thickening and conductive heating, wherein rocks which reach different metamorphic grades generally reach peak temperatures at different times. Instead, the presence of additional sources of heat and/or focusing mechanisms for heat transport, such as magmatic intrusions and/or advection by metamorphic fluids, may have contributed to the contemporaneous development of several different metamorphic zones. Here, we test the hypothesis of temporally focussed heating for the Wepawaug Schist, a Barrovian terrane in Connecticut, USA, using Sm,Nd ages of prograde garnet growth and U,Pb zircon crystallization ages of associated igneous rocks. Peak temperature in the biotite,garnet zone was dated (via Sm,Nd on garnet) at 378.9 ± 1.6 Ma (2,), whereas peak temperature in the highest grade staurolite,kyanite zone was dated (via Sm,Nd on garnet rims) at 379.9 ± 6.8 Ma (2,). These garnet ages suggest that peak metamorphism was pene-contemporaneous (within error) across these metamorphic grades. Ion microprobe U,Pb ages for zircon from igneous rocks hosted by the metapelites also indicate a period of syn-metamorphic peak igneous activity at 380.6 ± 4.7 Ma (2,), indistinguishable from the peak ages recorded by garnet. A 388.6 ± 2.1 Ma (2,) garnet core age from the staurolite,kyanite zone indicates an earlier episode of growth (coincident with ages from texturally early zircon and a previously published monazite age) along the prograde regional metamorphic T,t path. The timing of peak metamorphism and igneous activity, as well as the occurrence of extensive syn-metamorphic quartz vein systems and pegmatites, best supports the hypothesis that advective heating driven by magmas and fluids focussed major mineral growth into two distinct episodes: the first at c. 389 Ma, and the second, corresponding to the regionally synchronous peak metamorphism, at c. 380 Ma. [source] Microstructural features of albite porphyroblasts as indicators of sequential Barrovian metamorphic mineral growth in the Caledonides of the SW Scottish HighlandsJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 7 2004V. Mathavan Abstract Inclusion , porphyroblast and porphyroblast , porphyroblast relationships show that abundant albite in mica schists in the Caledonides of the SW Scottish Highlands are part of the Barrovian metamorphic assemblage. Growth early in the D2 deformational phase of porphyroblast cores followed the growth of Mn-rich garnet but preceded the growth of porphyroblasts of the index mineral almandine. Two sets of inclusion trails in the albite correspond to the regionally expressed S1 and S2. Straight trails of muscovite, chlorite, quartz, epidote and the earliest growth of biotite make up S1. Crenulated trails express deformation of S1 early in D2 with muscovite, chlorite, biotite, quartz, epidote and the Mn-rich garnet associated with the development of S2 crenulation cleavage. The geometries of these trails uniquely record early stages of D2 deformational history. An 0,3 growth is related to the temporal coincidence of the formation of S1,S2 crenulation cleavage hinges as favourable sites for nucleation and the release of large amounts of water from prograde reactions during tectonothermal reconstitution of first cycle immature sediments with a volcanic component. The main characteristics of the regionally expressed D2 schistosity were developed during the major grain coarsening that followed both albite and almandine porphyroblast growth. Essentially inclusion-free An 4,19 rims grew on the inclusion-containing cores in the almandine zone in the later stages of schistosity growth and unoriented porphyroblasts of muscovite, biotite and chlorite indicate that mineral growth extended from the later stages of D2 to post-D2. Previous interpretations of the albite porphyroblast growth having been during D4 to post-D4 contemporaneous with retrogression are inconsistent with the microstructural evidence. [source] The development of spiral-shaped inclusion trails during multiple metamorphism and foldingJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 4 2002T. H. Bell Abstract Three periods of mineral growth and three generations of spiral-shaped inclusion trails have been distinguished within folded rocks of the Qinling-Dabie Orogen, China, using the development of three successive and differently trending sets of foliation intersection axes preserved in porphyroblasts (FIAs). This progression is revealed by the consistent relative sequence of changes in FIA trends from the core to rim of garnet porphyroblasts in samples with multiple FIAs. The first and second formed sets of FIAs trend oblique to the axial planes of macroscopic folds that dominate the outcrop pattern in this region. The porphyroblasts containing these FIAs grew prior to the development of the macroscopic folds, yet the FIAs do not change orientation across the fold hinges. The youngest formed FIAs (set 3) lie subparallel to the axial planes of these folds and the porphyroblasts containing these FIAs formed in part as the folds developed. The deformation associated with all three generations of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts involved the formation of subhorizontal and subvertical foliations against porphyroblast rims accompanied by periods of garnet growth; pervasive structures have not necessarily formed in the matrix away from the porphyroblasts. The macroscopic folds are heterogeneously strained from limb to limb, doubly plunging and have moderately dipping axial planes. The consistent orientation of Set 1 FIAs indicates that the development of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in porphyroblasts with FIAs belonging to Set 2 did not involve rotation of the previously formed porphyroblasts. The consistent orientation of Sets 1 and 2 FIAs indicate that the development of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in porphyroblasts with FIAs belonging to Set 3 did not involve rotation of the previously formed porphyroblasts during folding. This requires a fold mechanism of progressive bulk inhomogeneous shortening and demonstrates that spiral-shaped inclusion trails can form outside of shear zones. [source] Distribution of Palaeozoic reworking in the Western Arunta Region and northwestern Amadeus Basin from 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology: implications for the evolution of intracratonic basinsBASIN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2009Sandra McLaren ABSTRACT The Centralian Superbasin in central Australia is one of the most extensive intracratonic basins known from a stable continental setting, but the factors controlling its formation and subsequent structural dismemberment continue to be debated. Argon thermochronology of K-feldspar, sensitive to a broad range of temperatures (,150 to 350 °C), provides evidence for the former extent and thickness of the superbasin and points toward thickening of the superbasin succession over the now exhumed Arunta Region basement. These data suggest that before Palaeozoic tectonism, there was around 5,6 km of sediment present over what is now the northern margin of the Amadeus Basin, and, if the Centralian superbasin was continuous, between 6 and 8 km over the now exhumed basement. 40Ar/39Ar data from neoformed fine-grained muscovite suggests that Palaeozoic deformation and new mineral growth occurred during the earliest compressional phase of the Alice Springs Orogeny (ASO) (440,375 Ma) and was restricted to shear zones. Significantly, several shear zones active during the late Mesoproterozoic Teapot Orogeny were not reactivated at this time, suggesting that the presence of pre-existing structures was not the only controlling factor in localizing Palaeozoic deformation. A range of Palaeozoic ages of 440,300 Ma from samples within and external to shear zones points to thermal disturbance from at least the early Silurian through until the late Carboniferous and suggests final cooling and exhumation of the terrane in this interval. The absence of evidence for active deformation and/or new mineral growth in the late stages of the ASO (350,300 Ma) is consistent with a change in orogenic dynamics from thick-skinned regionally extensive deformation to a more restricted localized high-geothermal gradient event. [source] Structural characterization of the N-terminal mineral modification domains from the molluscan crystal-modulating biomineralization proteins, AP7 and AP24BIOPOLYMERS, Issue 5 2004Brandon A. Wustman Abstract The AP7 and AP24 proteins represent a class of mineral-interaction polypeptides that are found in the aragonite-containing nacre layer of mollusk shell (H. rufescens). These proteins have been shown to preferentially interfere with calcium carbonate mineral growth in vitro. It is believed that both proteins play an important role in aragonite polymorph selection in the mollusk shell. Previously, we demonstrated the 1,30 amino acid (AA) N-terminal sequences of AP7 and AP24 represent mineral interaction/modification domains in both proteins, as evidenced by their ability to frustrate calcium carbonate crystal growth at step edge regions. In this present report, using free N-terminal, C, -amide "capped" synthetic polypeptides representing the 1,30 AA regions of AP7 (AP7-1 polypeptide) and AP24 (AP24-1 polypeptide) and NMR spectroscopy, we confirm that both N-terminal sequences possess putative Ca (II) interaction polyanionic sequence regions (2 × ,DD, in AP7-1, ,DDDED, in AP24-1) that are random coil-like in structure. However, with regard to the remaining sequences regions, each polypeptide features unique structural differences. AP7-1 possesses an extended ,-strand or polyproline type II-like structure within the A11,M10, S12,V13, and S28,I27 sequence regions, with the remaining sequence regions adopting a random-coil-like structure, a trait common to other polyelectrolyte mineral-associated polypeptide sequences. Conversely, AP24-1 possesses random coil-like structure within A1,S9 and Q14,N16 sequence regions, and evidence for turn-like, bend, or loop conformation within the G10,N13, Q17,N24, and M29,F30 sequence regions, similar to the structures identified within the putative elastomeric proteins Lustrin A and sea urchin spicule matrix proteins. The similarities and differences in AP7 and AP24 N-terminal domain structure are discussed with regard to joint AP7,AP24 protein modification of calcium carbonate growth. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 2004 [source] | ||||||||||