No description available.

No description available.

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Mollies Nipple is a butte located in Kane County, Utah and is part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). Mollies Nipple is now of particular interest to the Mars research community because of the presence of unusual diagenetic alunite and jarosite minerals. These minerals are present in sedimentary environments on Mars and have been used to interpret the diagenetic and depositional environments as acidic and/or arid. On Earth, these minerals are present in modern acid saline lakes, fumaroles, or acid mine drainage, but not commonly as diagenetic cements. The butte was mapped as Navajo Sandstone via photogeologic mapping, but the apex is 200 m higher than the surrounding upper extent of that unit in adjacent areas and there are some lithological inconsistencies that suggest the caprock may be a different overlying formation. Correctly understanding the diagenetic and depositional history of Mollies Nipple will inform future studies on Mars and has the potential to change the paradigm of these interpreted jarosite-bearing Martian environments. Stratigraphic sections were measured in the field and samples were collected for laboratory analysis. The dominant lithofacies is a cross-bedded quartz arenite. Structureless quartz arenite to wacke with lenticular green-gray quartz wacke (ash) is also present. Jarosite cement is common in upper sections of Mollies Nipple and is present, but sparse, in lower section of Mollies Nipple. Alunite is present in the upper section of Mollies Nipple. ANOVA conducted on point count data from samples collected from Nipple and representative samples of potential formations at Mollies Nipple do not differentiate between the possible formation candidate and Navajo Sandstone. Based on distribution of lithofacies, comparison with adjacent outcrops of Temple Cap Formation, Page Sandstone, and Carmel Formation, we conclude that the caprock at Mollies Nipple is most likely the Temple Cap Formation.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science, 1979. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography: leaf 93. / by Carolyn Alexandria Morrow. / M.S.

Yes / In the present paper, the author offers new absolute and contextual dating evidence for Scottish archaeological pitchstone. Much archaeological pitchstone from the Scottish mainland is recovered from unsealed contexts of multi-period or palimpsest sites, and pitchstone artefacts from radiocarbon-dated pits therefore provide important dating evidence for this material group and its associated exchange network. In Scotland, all archaeological pitchstone derives from outcrops on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, and on the source island pitchstone-bearing assemblages include diagnostic types from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age period. Off Arran, pitchstone-bearing assemblages never include Mesolithic types, such as microliths, suggesting a post Mesolithic date. This suggestion is supported by worked pitchstone from radiocarbon-dated pits, where all presently available dates indicate that, on the Scottish mainland, Arran pitchstone was traded and used after the Mesolithic period, and in particular during the Early Neolithic period.

Graduation date: 2005

This study shows how the composition of gases released from a single magmatic source may be modified during their ascending path. The main processes that influence the composition of the gases in these high temperature fumarolic environments, are: 1) interactions with wallrocks during gas ascent, which change the fugacities of the metal volatile species and affect the equilibrium between major species (fH2S/fSO2; fH2/fH2O); 2) mixing with meteoric water with consequent Cl adsorption, which may account for the Cl depletion of the gases; 3) remobilisation of previously formed sublimates and/or incrustation deposits. Comparison between the thermochemical models and the mineralogical composition of the silica tubes at Kudryavy and Satsuma-Iwojima volcanoes suggests that high fO2 due to the mixing of the gases with air during their injection into the atmosphere significantly reduces the volatility of several trace elements (As, Sb, Sn, Na, K, Tl, Te, Se and Cd). Comparisons between the enriched metals in aerosols and in the gases suggest that Mo, Pb, Bi, Na, K, Cu, Zn or Fe, which are enriched in the gases, are preferentially deposited in the gas conduits and vents whereas the highly volatile metals (Te, Tl, Sb, As and Se) and Cd condense in the plume.<p>This study determines the reactions that may occur during the alteration of rocks in high temperature fumarolic environments. Three different processes of alteration prevail: <p>(1) Acidic alteration which is characterized by the complete absence of clays, because the constant supply of gases to these systems allows for the pH values of the acidic fluids to be maintained low enough to prevent the precipitation of clay minerals. Complete leaching of all cations, except Si, from the primary silicates leads to important "silicification" of the wall rock. The primary mineral cations are leached in the following order: K, Na > Ca > Fe, Mg > Al > Si, Ti. The fluids enriched in these cations circulate in microcracks at different temperatures and different redox conditions and lead to the precipitation of secondary incrustations. At Kudryavy the incrustations are mainly sulfates. At Usu the lower sulfur/fluoride ratio of the gases allows the occurrence of aluminum fluoride incrustations. The order of primary minerals dissolution (olivine > plagioclase > pyroxene > matrix glass > Fe-Ti oxides) is established for both sites studied. <p>(2) Alteration by an oxidized volcanic gas, resulting from mixing with the atmosphere (500 to 300°C). At Kudryavy, thermochemical modeling suggests that anhydrite and anhydrous sulfates, which occur at intermediate temperatures, are formed by interactions of the rock with oxidized gas. <p>(3) The most important outcome of this work is the identification of the features of alteration by the volcanic gas that directly reacts with the rock at high temperatures (T > 500°C). The Kudryavy rocks show evidences for mineral transformations, which occur in the presence of the volcanic gas phase. Volcanic gas directly reacts with rocks at high temperatures (T > 500°C). The gas destabilizes the primary minerals, remobilizes the rock-bearing cations, and leads to the formation of second mineral assemblages. These transformations occur in situ, without significant mobility (gain or loss) of the cations. The high temperature secondary associations are characterized by the presence of andradite, hedenbergite, hercynite, tridymite/cristobalite. Anhydrite and anhydrous Al sulfate may occur within these mineral assemblages if the gas is oxidized.<p> / Doctorat en sciences, Spécialisation géologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The principal goal of the thesis is to constrain nature of magmatic and alteration processes, character of mantle source(s), geotectonic setting and palaeogeographic implications of the Silurian and Devonian volcanism in Prague Basin (Teplá-Barrandian Unit, Bohemian Massif). The thesis is based on extensive geochemical study covering major- and trace-element geochemistry, neodymium isotope geochemistry and mineral chemistry supported by petrographic and field observations. The most important conclusions of the thesis are as follows: 1. The Silurian volcanic rocks of the Prague Basin represent within-plate, transitional alkali to tholeiitic basalts, which erupted in continental rift setting through thick Cadomian crust. The basalts originated by low degrees of partial melting of garnet peridotite mantle source. Older Wenlock basalts are similar to alkaline ocean island basalts (OIB) derived from subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM), enriched most probably by frozen pods of Ordovician magmas. Younger Ludlow basalts resemble tholeiitic enriched mid-oceanic ridge basalts (EMORB) derived from subduction-modified SCLM depleted by Late Cambrian melting. The Wenlock-Ludlow melting is characterized by contemporaneous mixing of melts derived from both enriched and depleted SCLM mantle domains. 2....