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Red Beds (red + bed)

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Earth and Environmental Science100%

Selected Abstracts

Origin and geochemistry of Miocene marine evaporites associated with red beds: Great Kavir Basin, Central Iran

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007
Hossain Rahimpour-Bonab
Abstract During the Cenozoic numerous shallow epicontinental evaporite basins formed due to tectonic movements in the Northern Province of the Central Iran Tectonic Zone (the Great Kavir Basin). During the Miocene, due to sea-level fluctuations, thick sequences of evaporites and carbonates accumulated in these basins that subsequently were overlain by continental red beds. Development of halite evaporites with substantial thickness in this area implies inflow of seawater along the narrow continental rift axis. The early ocean basin development was initiated in Early Eocene time and continued up to the Middle Miocene in the isolated failed rift arms. Competition between marine and non-marine environments, at the edge of the encroaching sea, produced several sequences of both abrupt and gradual transition from continental wadi sediments to marginal marine evaporites in the studied area. These evaporites show well-preserved textures indicative of relatively shallow-brine pools. The high Br content of these evaporites indicates marine-derived parent brines that were under the sporadic influence of freshening by meteoric water or replenishing seawater. However, the association of hopper and cornet textures denotes stratified brine that filled a relatively large pool and prevented rapid variations in the Br profile. Unstable basin conditions that triggered modification of parent brine chemistry prevailed in this basin and caused variable distribution patterns for different elements in the chloride units. The presence of sylvite and the absence of Mg-sulphate/chlorides in the paragenetic sequence indicate SO4,depleted parent brine in the studied sequence. Petrographic examinations along with geochemical analyses on these potash-bearing halites reveal parental brines which were a mixture of seawater and CaCl2 -rich brines. The source of CaCl2 -rich brines is ascribed to the presence of local rift systems in the Great Kavir Basin up to the end of the Early Miocene. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Measuring remanence anisotropy of hematite in red beds: anisotropy of high-field isothermal remanence magnetization (hf-AIR)

GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2009
Dario Bilardello
SUMMARY The potential of using high-field anisotropy of isothermal remanence magnetization (hf-AIR) measurements for determining the origin of natural remanent magnetization in red beds and for identifying and correcting possible red-bed inclination shallowing was investigated for specimens of the Carboniferous Shepody Formation of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. The technique makes it possible for a typical paleomagnetic laboratory to measure the remanence anisotropy of high-coercivity hematite. High-field (hf) AIR was used in conjunction with 100 mT alternating field (af) and 120 °C thermal demagnetization to separate the contribution of hematite to the remanence anisotropy from that of magnetite/maghemite and goethite, respectively. A 5-T impulse DC magnetic field was used for the hf-AIR to reset the magnetic moment of high-coercivity hematite so that demagnetization between AIR orientations was not necessary. The ability of a 5-T field to reset the magnetization was tested by generating an isothermal remanent magnetization acquisition curve for hematite by using impulse DC magnetic fields up to 5 T in one orientation and followed by applying a field in the opposite direction at each step. Each field application was treated by 120 °C heating and 100 mT af demagnetization before measurement. At 5 T, the difference between the magnetizations applied in opposite directions disappeared indicating that no magnetic memory persisted at this field strength. We performed a validity and reproducibility test of our hf-AIR measurement technique by measuring three specimens multiple times along two orthogonal coordinate systems. The method yielded highly reproducible results and, on rotating the specimen's coordinates, the fabric rotated by 90° as expected, showing that it is not an artifact of the technique. We also measured hf-AIR on samples that had previously been chemically demagnetized in 3N HCl to remove the secondary, chemically grown pigmentary hematite. The hf-AIR fabric of leached samples is similar to that of untreated samples, but shows a better-defined magnetic lineation and imbrication. We interpret the fabric observed for the Shepody Formation to be a compactional fabric that has been reoriented by strain during folding following a flexural-slip model. [source]