During Late Precambrian or Early Cambrian (~550 m.y.) a sequence of interlayered graywackes and shales was intruded by the Columbia granite. At approximately 340 m.y. the granite and sediments were metamorphosed to at least amphibolite facies. During the peak and waning stages of metamorphism, these lighologies experienced 3 or possibly 4 deformational events which occurred while faulting was initiated along the Lakeside fault zone. Retrogressive mineral assemblages in fractures along the Lakeside fault and Central Piedmont Lineament indicate that reactivations along these zones occurred during regional cooling and continued after 221 m.y. During Late Triassic or Early Jurassic, the region was intruded by diabase dikes. An erosional unconformity separates alluvium and colluvium from the layered and intrusive rocks. / Master of Science

Résumé: L’Institut pour l'étude de la neige et des avalanches en Suisse (SLF) a développé SNOWPACK, un modèle thermodynamique multi-couches de neige permettant de simuler les propriétés géophysiques du manteau neigeux (densité, température, taille de grain, teneur en eau, etc.) à partir desquelles un indice de stabilité est calculé. Il a été démontré qu’un ajustement de la microstructure serait nécessaire pour une implantation au Canada. L'objectif principal de la présente étude est de permettre au modèle SNOWPACK de modéliser de manière plus réaliste la taille de grain de neige et ainsi obtenir une prédiction plus précise de la stabilité du manteau neigeux à l’aide de l’indice basé sur la taille de grain, le Structural Stability Index (SSI). Pour ce faire, l’erreur modélisée (biais) par le modèle a été analysée à l’aide de données précises sur le terrain de la taille de grain à l’aide de l’instrument IRIS (InfraRed Integrated Sphere). Les données ont été recueillies durant l’hiver 2014 à deux sites différents au Canada : parc National des Glaciers, en Colombie-Britannique ainsi qu’au parc National de Jasper. Le site de Fidelity était généralement soumis à un métamorphisme à l'équilibre tandis que celui de Jasper à un métamorphisme cinétique plus prononcé. Sur chacun des sites, la stratigraphie des profils de densités ainsi des profils de taille de grain (IRIS) ont été complétés. Les profils de Fidelity ont été complétés avec des mesures de micropénétromètre (SMP). L’analyse des profils de densité a démontré une bonne concordance avec les densités modélisées (R[indice supérieur 2]=0.76) et donc la résistance simulée pour le SSI a été jugée adéquate. Les couches d’instabilités prédites par SNOWPACK ont été identifiées à l’aide de la variation de la résistance dans les mesures de SMP. L’analyse de la taille de grain optique a révélé une surestimation systématique du modèle ce qui est en accord avec la littérature. L’erreur de taille de grain optique dans un environnement à l’équilibre était assez constante tandis que l’erreur en milieux cinétique était plus variable. Finalement, une approche orientée sur le type de climat représenterait le meilleur moyen pour effectuer une correction de la taille de grain pour une évaluation de la stabilité au Canada. / Abstract : The snow thermodynamic multi-layer model SNOWPACK was developed in order to address the risk of avalanches by simulating the vertical geophysical and thermophysical properties of snow. Risk and stability assessments are based on the simulation of the vertical variability of snow microstructure (grain size, sphericity, dendricity and bond size), as well as snow cohesion parameters. Previous research has shown a systematic error in the grain size simulations (equivalent optical grain size) over several areas in northern Canada. In order to quantify the simulated errors in snow grain size and associated uncertainties in stability, snow specific surface area (SSA), was measured using a laser-based system measuring snow albedo through an integrating sphere (InfraRed Integrating Sphere, IRIS) at 1310 nm. Optical grain size was retrieved from the IRIS SSA measurements in order to validate the optical equivalent grain radius from simulated SNOWPACK outputs. Measurements occurred during a field campaign conducted during the 2013-2014 winter season in the Canadian Rockies. The two study plots selected are located at Glacier National Park, BC and Jasper National Park, AB. Profiles of density and stratigraphic analysis were completed as well as grain size (IRIS) profiles, combine with snow micropenetrometer (SMP) measurements. Density analysis showed good agreement for the simulated values (R[superscript 2]=0.76) and thus the simulated resistance for the SSI was assumed of reasonable precision. Snow instabilities predicted by SNOWPACK were observed by SMP resistance variation. The optical grain size analysis showed systematic overestimation of the modeled values, in agreement with the current literature. Error in SSA evolution in a rounding environment was mostly constant whereas error in conditions driven by temperature gradient was variable. Finally, it is suggested that a climate-oriented parametrization of the microstructure could represent an improvement for stability assessment in Canada given the variability and size of avalanche terrain.

No description available.

We have carried out detailed thermometric and cooling history studies of several LL-, L- and H-chondrites of petrologic types 5 and 6. Among the selected samples, the low-temperature cooling of St. Severin (LL6) has been constrained in an earlier study by thermochronological data to an average rate of similar to 2.6 degrees C/My below 500 degrees C. However, numerical simulations of the development of Fe-Mg profiles in Opx-Cpx pairs using this cooling rate grossly misfit the measured compositional profiles. Satisfactory simulation of the latter and low temperature thermochronological constraints requires a two-stage cooling model with a cooling rate of similar to 50-200 degrees C/ky from the peak metamorphic temperature of similar to 875 degrees C down to 450 degrees C, and then transitioning to very slow cooling with an average rate of similar to 2.6 degrees C/My. Similar rapid high temperature cooling rates (200-600 degrees C/ky) are also required to successfully model the compositional profiles in the Opx-Cpx pairs in the other samples of L5, L6 chondrites. For the H-chondrite samples, the low temperature cooling rates were determined earlier to be 10-20 degrees C/My by metallographic method. As in St. Severin, these cooling rates grossly misfit the compositional profiles in the Opx-Cpx pairs. Modeling of these profiles requires very rapid cooling, similar to 200-400 degrees C/ky, from the peak temperatures (similar to 810-830 degrees C), transitioning to the metallographic rates at similar to 450-500 degrees C. We interpret the rapid high temperature cooling rates to the exposure of the samples to surface or near surface conditions as a result of fragmentation of the parent body by asteroidal impacts. Using the thermochronological data, the timing of the presumed impact is constrained to be similar to 4555-4560 My before present for St. Severin. We also deduced similar two stage cooling models in earlier studies of H-chondrites and mesosiderites that could be explained, using the available geochronological data, by impact induced fragmentation at around the same time. Diffusion kinetic analysis shows that if a lower petrological type got transformed by the thermal effect of shock impacts to reflect higher metamorphic temperature, as has been suggested as a possibility, then the peak temperatures would have had to be sustained for at least 10 ky and 80 ky, respectively, for transformation to the petrologic types 6 and 4. Finally, we present a model that reconciles textural data supporting an onion-shell parent body of H-chondrites with rapid cooling rate at high temperature caused by impact induced disturbance, and also discuss alternatives to the onion shell parent body model. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thesis advisor: Ethan F. Baxter / Spiral garnets are well-documented metamorphic microstructures that have been observed in orogens throughout the world. The preferred orientation of spiral garnet axes has been proposed (Bell and Johnson, 1989) to record and preserve information about the timing, rate, and orientation of the tectonic-scale processes. Using the model of Be Spiral garnets are well-documented metamorphic microstructures that have been observed in orogens throughout the world. The preferred orientation of spiral garnet axes has been proposed (Bell and Johnson, 1989) to record and preserve information about the timing, rate, and orientation of the tectonic-scale processes. Using the model of Bell and Johnson (1989), Aerden et al. (2013) proposed a link between the preferred orientation of spiral garnets and changes in relative plate motion between Iberia and Africa. The goal of this thesis is to this relationship by absolutely dating, eight samples from the Betic-Rif arc with measurable spiral axis orientations were chosen for Sm-Nd garnet geochronology. Chapter one is a detailed literature review of prior work on the formation and interpretation of spiral garnets. In chapter two we present 11 bulk Sm-Nd garnet ages from eight samples, these ages range from 35.6 ± 2.8 to 13.62 ± 0.69 Ma. The results from the obtained bulk garnet ages reveal a more complex relationship between FIA orientations and plate motion that originally hypothesized in Aerden et al. (2013). Large-scale rigid block rotations that postdate garnet growth may have influenced the current orientation of FIA from the western Betic-Rif. In chapter three, zoned geochronology was conducted on a single sample from the Nevado-Filabride Complex. This study revealed spiral garnet formation occurring on a rapid timescale, just 〖0.45〗_(-0.32)^(+0.51) Myr. While other zoned garnet studies have shown similar rapid growth in subduction zone setting (Dragovic et al., 2012), this is the first such documentation of such rapid growth from a garnet hosting spiral inclusion trails in a regional metamorphic setting. We calculated strain rates considering different genetic models for the spiral inclusion trails either by garnet rotation in simple shear, or by episodic overgrowth of suborthogonal crenulation cleavages due to switching stress axes. In both cases a similar fast strain rate of ca. 10-13 s-1 was obtained, which is an order of magnitude faster than typical regional strain rates and faster than previous spiral garnet studies regardless of the method used to calculate strain-rate. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

This study utilizes recent advances in the analysis of neodymium (Nd) and samarium (Sm) by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) to constrain timescales of heating and fluid flow within the lithosphere. Garnet grows during metamorphism and can be linked to its pressure and temperature of growth, while carbonate mineralization ages can be linked to hydrothermal fluid flow. The ability to date these common minerals makes it possible to unravel the timing and duration of tectonometamorphic processes. Garnet from the Eoarchean Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt (NSB) in Québec, Canada yields an age of 2574.66 ± 0.72 Ma. This is the most precise Neoarchean age reported for this terrane and was achieved through a modified partial dissolution procedure designed to remove the effects of much older (up to 3.8 Ga) inherited mineral growth. An accurate age for the most recent metamorphic garnet in the NSB is critical, as the (controversial) Hadean Nd model age calculations for this terrane depend on the time at which the 147Sm/144Nd systematics were last altered. Carbonate mineralization ages are explored for a diverse group of thirty samples using a novel sequential acid extraction procedure. Through this procedure it is possible to constrain carbonate mineralization in a variety of geologic settings (metamorphic fluid flow, hydrothermal and ore-forming systems) to ± 20 Myr. Zoned and bulk garnet geochronology at ten sites within a unusually localized area (~5 km2) of high temperature granulite-facies metamorphism in Bristol, New Hampshire reveals multiple brief (<1 Myr) periods of garnet growth focused between 393 and 386 Ma, at peak temperatures of 730-850°C. Comparison with garnet growth ages and temperatures , in central Massachusetts (364 Ma at 950°C) and Connecticut (341 Ma at 1000°C) reveal a regional trend of pulsed high temperature garnet growth spanning ~60 Myr from north to south, the same time span bracketed by associated igneous rocks dated via zircon geochronology. Ultrahigh metamorphic temperatures were achieved during the Acadian Orogeny in New England in localized, short pulses, likely related to igneous heating and/or associated fluid flow above and beyond the regional heating due to tectonic overthickening.

A study has been made of two deposits of Fe-Cu-Zn sulphide ores, from Gr¢sli and Eiker, in the Proterozoic Kongsberg Series of South Norway. The ores are located at the junction of acid-intermediate supracrustals and amphibolitized gabbros. The supracrustals underwent Upper Amphibolite facies metamorphism of Svecofennian age (1600 to 1500 m.y.B.P.) and were then intruded by the gabbros which underwent subsequent Sveconorwegian (1200 to 1000 m.y.B.P.) metamorphism at ~lid-Amphiboli te facies grade. The ore bodies were originally part of the supracrustal sequence, which was deposited as a volcano-sedimentary succession (with some hydrothermally altc:ced equivalents), similar to the KuroKo-type c1r.'posits of Japan. The ores have thus undergone both phases of h5[;h grade regional metamorphism. At Gr¢sli, the ores were partially incorporated in the gabbros prior to the later (Sveconorwegian) metar.lorphism, during which extensive shearing occurred throughout the ores at Eiker. The cores of the gabbroic intrusions retained original igneous mineralogies and textures, with progressive amphibolitization towards the peripheries. A subsequent Epidote-Amphibolite and later Greenschist facies grade overprint produced varying retrograde assemblages in the silicate rocks. Under Greenschist facies conditions, rejuvenation of the Sveconorwegian shear (at Eiker) caused brittle faulting, while fluid activity (at both Gr¢sli and Eiker) caused the formation of chloriteact ino.li te-carbo!)a.te assemblages around some of the ore bodies. Renobilisation of ~he ore material itself was minimal. Studies of R00thermometry and geobarometry indicate that the ore deposits were re-equilibrated during the Epidote-Ampllj boli te facies overprinting.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / The CD-ROM contains Appendices 1-4 in MSWord format. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.