Tiffany Barry | University of Leicester (original) (raw)

Papers by Tiffany Barry

Bulletin of Volcanology

Three voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites have been identified along the southern margin of the cent... more Three voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites have been identified along the southern margin of the central Snake River Plain. As a result of wide-scale correlations, new volume estimates can be made for these deposits: ~350 km3 for the Steer Basin Tuff and Cougar Point Tuff XI, and ~1,000 km3 for Cougar Point Tuff XIII. These volumes exclude any associated regional ashfalls and correlation across to the north side of the plain, which has yet to be attempted. Each correlation was achieved using a combination of methods including field logging, whole rock and mineral chemistry, magnetic polarity, oxygen isotope signature and high-precision 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. The Steer Basin Tuff, Cougar Point Tuff XI and Cougar Point Tuff XIII have deposit characteristics typical of ‘Snake River (SR)-type’ volcanism: they are very dense, intensely welded and rheomorphic, unusually well sorted with scarce pumice and lithic lapilli. These features differ significantly from those of deposits from the better-known younger eruptions of Yellowstone. The ignimbrites also exhibit marked depletion in δ18O, which is known to characterise the SR-type rhyolites of the central Snake River Plain, and cumulatively represent ~1,700 km3 of low δ18O rhyolitic magma (feldspar values 2.3–2.9‰) erupted within 800,000 years. Our work reduces the total number of ignimbrites recognised in the central Snake River Plain by 6, improves the link with the ashfall record of Yellowstone hotspot volcanism and suggests that more large-volume ignimbrites await discovery through detailed correlation work amidst the vast ignimbrite record of volcanism in this bimodal large igneous province.

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2008

A new category of large-scale volcanism, here termed Snake River (SR)-type volcanism, is defined ... more A new category of large-scale volcanism, here termed Snake River (SR)-type volcanism, is defined with reference to a distinctive volcanic facies association displayed by Miocene rocks in the central Snake River Plain area of southern Idaho and northern Nevada, USA. The facies association contrasts with those typical of silicic volcanism elsewhere and records unusual, voluminous and particularly environmentally devastating styles of eruption that remain poorly understood. It includes: (1) large-volume, lithic-poor rhyolitic ignimbrites with scarce pumice lapilli; (2) extensive, parallel-laminated, medium to coarse-grained ashfall deposits with large cuspate shards, crystals and a paucity of pumice lapilli; many are fused to black vitrophyre; (3) unusually extensive, large-volume rhyolite lavas; (4) unusually intense welding, rheomorphism, and widespread development of lava-like facies in the ignimbrites; (5) extensive, fines-rich ash deposits with abundant ash aggregates (pellets and accretionary lapilli); (6) the ashfall layers and ignimbrites contain abundant clasts of dense obsidian and vitrophyre; (7) a bimodal association between the rhyolitic rocks and numerous, coalescing low-profile basalt lava shields; and (8) widespread evidence of emplacement in lacustrine-alluvial environments, as revealed by intercalated lake sediments, ignimbrite peperites, rhyolitic and basaltic hyaloclastites, basalt pillow-lava deltas, rhyolitic and basaltic phreatomagmatic tuffs, alluvial sands and palaeosols. Many rhyolitic eruptions were high mass-flux, large volume and explosive (VEI 6–8), and involved H2O-poor, low-δ18O, metaluminous rhyolite magmas with unusually low viscosities, partly due to high magmatic temperatures (900–1,050°C). SR-type volcanism contrasts with silicic volcanism at many other volcanic fields, where the fall deposits are typically Plinian with pumice lapilli, the ignimbrites are low to medium grade (non-welded to eutaxitic) with abundant pumice lapilli or fiamme, and the rhyolite extrusions are small volume silicic domes and coulées. SR-type volcanism seems to have occurred at numerous times in Earth history, because elements of the facies association occur within some other volcanic fields, including Trans-Pecos Texas, Etendeka-Paraná, Lebombo, the English Lake District, the Proterozoic Keewanawan volcanics of Minnesota and the Yardea Dacite of Australia.

Geological Magazine, 2003

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2004

Structural reappraisal of several classic rheomorphic ignimbrites in Colorado, Idaho, the Canary ... more Structural reappraisal of several classic rheomorphic ignimbrites in Colorado, Idaho, the Canary Islands and Italy has, for the first time, revealed abundant oblique folds, curvilinear folds and sheathfolds which formed during emplacement. Like their equivalents in tectonic shear-zones, the sheathfold axes lie sub-parallel to a pervasive elongation lineation, and appear as eye structures on rock surfaces normal to the transport direction. With the recognition of sheathfolds, ignimbrites previously inferred to have undergone complex rheomorphic deformation histories are re-interpreted as recording a single, progressive deformation event. In some examples, the trends of sheathfolds and related lineations change with height through a single ignimbrite suggesting that rheomorphism did not affect the entire thickness of ignimbrite synchronously. Instead, we infer that in these ignimbrites a thin ductile shear-zone rose gradually through the aggrading agglutinating mass whilst the flow direction varied with time. This suggests that, in some cases, both welding and rheomorphism can be extremely rapid, with ductile strain rates significantly exceeding rates of ignimbrite aggradation.

Low aspect-ratio ignimbrites are thought to be emplaced by particularly hazardous, radial, high-v... more Low aspect-ratio ignimbrites are thought to be emplaced by particularly hazardous, radial, high-velocity pyroclastic density currents from caldera-forming eruptions. Their circular distribution has been inferred to record simultaneous flow in all directions from source, overtopping hills, rather than passively flowing down valleys. As part of a study into how such currents behave and evolve with time, we have been testing the inference of simultaneous, radial (i.e. rather than sectoral) flow by mapping out the internal chemical-architecture of a zoned, low-aspect ratio ignimbrite sheet on the island of Pantelleria, Italy. This pristine, welded ignimbrite (aspect ratio ≤ 1:5,000) was deposited during a phase of the most recent (~45,000 ka) caldera-forming explosive eruption on the island. One extensive flow-unit is zoned from pantellerite to trachyte, and records that the composition of the erupting magma changed with time. Detailed logging with very close-spaced sampling for chemical and petrographic analysis has distinguished an internal chemical stratigraphy. The chemical variations allow us to divide the brief history of the sustained current into successive time-periods. The compositional zones have been mapped internally through the deposit, both (1) regionally (longitudinally from source and laterally around the broadly circular sheet), and (2) around topographic barriers draped by the ignimbrite. The study takes advantage of superlative exposure and topographic control. We have reconstructed how the footprint of the sustained current shifted as the current waxed then waned, and as it encountered and then overtopped barriers. Our data reveal that even this sheet-like low-aspect ratio ignimbrite was not emplaced entirely radially: rather, it flowed into certain sectors before others. Deposition was diachronous, and previously proposed lithofacies correlations within the ignimbrite are demonstrated to be incorrect. We are now investigating how the current interacted with individual topographic barriers of different sizes and shapes. Both cone-shaped hills and transverse barriers, entirely draped by thin ignimbrite have been mapped in the field, and the chemical variations within the draping ignimbrite have been analysed up and around the topography. Data currently being processed should reveal whether the current's leading edge advanced over topographic barriers initially, as is commonly assumed, or that some barriers temporarily blocked or deflected the current until the mass-flux waxed (or until deposition modified the topography) sufficiently for the current to advance further. The well-constrained case studies will test the validity of concepts such as deflection and flow-stripping developed principally from analogue experiments. Initial results are changing our understanding of how these unusually devastating pyroclastic density currents behave.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2006

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2004

The intra-oceanic South Sandwich subduction system is distinctive in having a narrow slab with sl... more The intra-oceanic South Sandwich subduction system is distinctive in having a narrow slab with slab edges at its northern and southern ends. We present new geochemical data to investigate magma genesis beneath the parts of the arc and back-arc segments that lie close to the two slab edges: Kemp and Nelson seamounts at the southern edge of the South Sandwich arc, and segments E1 and E2 in the south, plus segments E9 and E10 in the north, of the East Scotia Sea. In the arc, Kemp and Nelson seamounts exhibit enhanced subduction fluxes compared to the remainder of the arc. The southernmost (Nelson) has the isotope (low Nd and high Sr isotope ratios) and elemental (ultra-high Th and Ba and high Hf/Nd ratios) characteristics of a sediment melt, or supercritical aqueous fluid, component. The more northerly (Kemp) has the same characteristics as the remainder of the arc (high Nd and slightly raised Sr isotope ratios, high Nd/Hf ratios, high Ba/Th ratios), indicative of a fluid component derived mainly from subducted crust, but has a greater mass fraction of that component than the rest of the arc. In the back-arc basin, the slab-edge segments are generally fed by more fertile mantle (E-MORB in all but E1) than the segments in the centre of the basin (N-MORB). At the edges, segments furthest from the trench (E2, E9) have small subduction components while those nearer to the trench (E1, E10) have larger subduction components and slightly more depleted mantle. We argue that several processes were important at the slab edges: roll-back of the slab, forcing sideways flow of relatively enriched mantle into the mantle wedge; convergence of the arc with the back-arc spreading centre, imparting a greater subduction component into the back-arc lavas; and anomalous heating of the subducting slab, increasing subduction fluxes and the contribution of sediment melts to the subduction component.

Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 2002

Journal of Petrology, 2003

Tectonophysics, 1997

The Gobi Altai is the easternmost extension of the Mongolian Altai and consists of topographicall... more The Gobi Altai is the easternmost extension of the Mongolian Altai and consists of topographically discontinuous E-W-trending ranges with peaks averaging 2000–3000 m in elevation. The region is seismically active and characterized by prominent E-W left-lateral strike-slip faults that localize transpressional deformation and uplift along their lengths and at stepover zones. This report summarizes structural field investigations made in the

Contributions To Mineralogy and Petrology, 2005

The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic th... more The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic tholeiitic flood basalt succession up to 1,350 m thick, extending >10,000 km2, and underlain by a sill complex. U–Pb dating on baddeleyite from one of the sills thought to be contemporaneous with the lava extrusion, gives an age of 1,382±2 Ma. The lavas, subdivided from oldest to youngest into Basal, Aphyric and Porphyritic units, are dominantly basaltic (>6 wt.% MgO), with more evolved lavas occurring within the Aphyric unit. The most magnesian lavas occur in the Basal unit and the basaltic lavas exhibit a generalised upward decrease in Mg number (MgO/(MgO + Fe2O 3T)) through the succession. All of the lavas are regarded as products of variable degrees of olivine, augite and plagioclase fractionation and to be residual after generation of cumulates in the deep crust. The basaltic lavas display an up-section fall in the ratio of light to heavy rare-earth elements (LREE/HREE) but an up-section rise in Zr/Nb, Sc, Y and HREE. The older lavas (Basal and Aphyric units) are characterised by low ɛNd and ɛHf in contrast to higher values in the younger (Porphyritic unit) lavas. The Porphyritic Unit basalts are characterised by a notable enrichment in Fe and Ti. The Zig-Zag Dal succession is inferred to reflect an increase in melt fraction in the sub-lithospheric mantle, with melting commencing in garnet–lherzolite facies peridotites and subsequently involving spinel-facies mantle at increasingly shallow depths. Melting is deduced to have occurred beneath an attenuating continental lithosphere in conjunction with ascent of a mantle plume. Lithospheric contamination of primitive melts is inferred to have diminished with time with the Porphyritic unit basalts being products of essentially uncontaminated plume-source magmas. The high iron signature may reflect a relatively iron-rich plume source.

Contributions To Mineralogy and Petrology, 2005

The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic th... more The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic tholeiitic flood basalt succession up to 1,350 m thick, extending >10,000 km2, and underlain by a sill complex. U-Pb dating on baddeleyite from one of the sills thought to be contemporaneous with the lava extrusion, gives an age of 1,382±2 Ma. The lavas, subdivided from oldest to youngest into Basal, Aphyric and Porphyritic units, are dominantly basaltic (>6 wt.% MgO), with more evolved lavas occurring within the Aphyric unit. The most magnesian lavas occur in the Basal unit and the basaltic lavas exhibit a generalised upward decrease in Mg number (MgO/(MgO + Fe2O3T)) through the succession. All of the lavas are regarded as products of variable degrees of olivine, augite and plagioclase fractionation and to be residual after generation of cumulates in the deep crust. The basaltic lavas display an up-section fall in the ratio of light to heavy rare-earth elements (LREE/HREE) but an up-section rise in Zr/Nb, Sc, Y and HREE. The older lavas (Basal and Aphyric units) are characterised by low ɛNd and ɛHf in contrast to higher values in the younger (Porphyritic unit) lavas. The Porphyritic Unit basalts are characterised by a notable enrichment in Fe and Ti. The Zig-Zag Dal succession is inferred to reflect an increase in melt fraction in the sub-lithospheric mantle, with melting commencing in garnet-lherzolite facies peridotites and subsequently involving spinel-facies mantle at increasingly shallow depths. Melting is deduced to have occurred beneath an attenuating continental lithosphere in conjunction with ascent of a mantle plume. Lithospheric contamination of primitive melts is inferred to have diminished with time with the Porphyritic unit basalts being products of essentially uncontaminated plume-source magmas. The high iron signature may reflect a relatively iron-rich plume source.

European Journal of Mineralogy, 2004

New helium isotope data (3 He/4 He) from a series of co-genetic Siberian lavas of Cenozoic age (0... more New helium isotope data (3 He/4 He) from a series of co-genetic Siberian lavas of Cenozoic age (0.6-3 Ma) provide possible evidence for mass-dependent helium isotope fractionation. These lavas, erupted around the Baikal rift, have sampled subcontinental lithospheric ...

Bulletin of Volcanology

Three voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites have been identified along the southern margin of the cent... more Three voluminous rhyolitic ignimbrites have been identified along the southern margin of the central Snake River Plain. As a result of wide-scale correlations, new volume estimates can be made for these deposits: ~350 km3 for the Steer Basin Tuff and Cougar Point Tuff XI, and ~1,000 km3 for Cougar Point Tuff XIII. These volumes exclude any associated regional ashfalls and correlation across to the north side of the plain, which has yet to be attempted. Each correlation was achieved using a combination of methods including field logging, whole rock and mineral chemistry, magnetic polarity, oxygen isotope signature and high-precision 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. The Steer Basin Tuff, Cougar Point Tuff XI and Cougar Point Tuff XIII have deposit characteristics typical of ‘Snake River (SR)-type’ volcanism: they are very dense, intensely welded and rheomorphic, unusually well sorted with scarce pumice and lithic lapilli. These features differ significantly from those of deposits from the better-known younger eruptions of Yellowstone. The ignimbrites also exhibit marked depletion in δ18O, which is known to characterise the SR-type rhyolites of the central Snake River Plain, and cumulatively represent ~1,700 km3 of low δ18O rhyolitic magma (feldspar values 2.3–2.9‰) erupted within 800,000 years. Our work reduces the total number of ignimbrites recognised in the central Snake River Plain by 6, improves the link with the ashfall record of Yellowstone hotspot volcanism and suggests that more large-volume ignimbrites await discovery through detailed correlation work amidst the vast ignimbrite record of volcanism in this bimodal large igneous province.

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2008

A new category of large-scale volcanism, here termed Snake River (SR)-type volcanism, is defined ... more A new category of large-scale volcanism, here termed Snake River (SR)-type volcanism, is defined with reference to a distinctive volcanic facies association displayed by Miocene rocks in the central Snake River Plain area of southern Idaho and northern Nevada, USA. The facies association contrasts with those typical of silicic volcanism elsewhere and records unusual, voluminous and particularly environmentally devastating styles of eruption that remain poorly understood. It includes: (1) large-volume, lithic-poor rhyolitic ignimbrites with scarce pumice lapilli; (2) extensive, parallel-laminated, medium to coarse-grained ashfall deposits with large cuspate shards, crystals and a paucity of pumice lapilli; many are fused to black vitrophyre; (3) unusually extensive, large-volume rhyolite lavas; (4) unusually intense welding, rheomorphism, and widespread development of lava-like facies in the ignimbrites; (5) extensive, fines-rich ash deposits with abundant ash aggregates (pellets and accretionary lapilli); (6) the ashfall layers and ignimbrites contain abundant clasts of dense obsidian and vitrophyre; (7) a bimodal association between the rhyolitic rocks and numerous, coalescing low-profile basalt lava shields; and (8) widespread evidence of emplacement in lacustrine-alluvial environments, as revealed by intercalated lake sediments, ignimbrite peperites, rhyolitic and basaltic hyaloclastites, basalt pillow-lava deltas, rhyolitic and basaltic phreatomagmatic tuffs, alluvial sands and palaeosols. Many rhyolitic eruptions were high mass-flux, large volume and explosive (VEI 6–8), and involved H2O-poor, low-δ18O, metaluminous rhyolite magmas with unusually low viscosities, partly due to high magmatic temperatures (900–1,050°C). SR-type volcanism contrasts with silicic volcanism at many other volcanic fields, where the fall deposits are typically Plinian with pumice lapilli, the ignimbrites are low to medium grade (non-welded to eutaxitic) with abundant pumice lapilli or fiamme, and the rhyolite extrusions are small volume silicic domes and coulées. SR-type volcanism seems to have occurred at numerous times in Earth history, because elements of the facies association occur within some other volcanic fields, including Trans-Pecos Texas, Etendeka-Paraná, Lebombo, the English Lake District, the Proterozoic Keewanawan volcanics of Minnesota and the Yardea Dacite of Australia.

Geological Magazine, 2003

Bulletin of Volcanology, 2004

Structural reappraisal of several classic rheomorphic ignimbrites in Colorado, Idaho, the Canary ... more Structural reappraisal of several classic rheomorphic ignimbrites in Colorado, Idaho, the Canary Islands and Italy has, for the first time, revealed abundant oblique folds, curvilinear folds and sheathfolds which formed during emplacement. Like their equivalents in tectonic shear-zones, the sheathfold axes lie sub-parallel to a pervasive elongation lineation, and appear as eye structures on rock surfaces normal to the transport direction. With the recognition of sheathfolds, ignimbrites previously inferred to have undergone complex rheomorphic deformation histories are re-interpreted as recording a single, progressive deformation event. In some examples, the trends of sheathfolds and related lineations change with height through a single ignimbrite suggesting that rheomorphism did not affect the entire thickness of ignimbrite synchronously. Instead, we infer that in these ignimbrites a thin ductile shear-zone rose gradually through the aggrading agglutinating mass whilst the flow direction varied with time. This suggests that, in some cases, both welding and rheomorphism can be extremely rapid, with ductile strain rates significantly exceeding rates of ignimbrite aggradation.

Low aspect-ratio ignimbrites are thought to be emplaced by particularly hazardous, radial, high-v... more Low aspect-ratio ignimbrites are thought to be emplaced by particularly hazardous, radial, high-velocity pyroclastic density currents from caldera-forming eruptions. Their circular distribution has been inferred to record simultaneous flow in all directions from source, overtopping hills, rather than passively flowing down valleys. As part of a study into how such currents behave and evolve with time, we have been testing the inference of simultaneous, radial (i.e. rather than sectoral) flow by mapping out the internal chemical-architecture of a zoned, low-aspect ratio ignimbrite sheet on the island of Pantelleria, Italy. This pristine, welded ignimbrite (aspect ratio ≤ 1:5,000) was deposited during a phase of the most recent (~45,000 ka) caldera-forming explosive eruption on the island. One extensive flow-unit is zoned from pantellerite to trachyte, and records that the composition of the erupting magma changed with time. Detailed logging with very close-spaced sampling for chemical and petrographic analysis has distinguished an internal chemical stratigraphy. The chemical variations allow us to divide the brief history of the sustained current into successive time-periods. The compositional zones have been mapped internally through the deposit, both (1) regionally (longitudinally from source and laterally around the broadly circular sheet), and (2) around topographic barriers draped by the ignimbrite. The study takes advantage of superlative exposure and topographic control. We have reconstructed how the footprint of the sustained current shifted as the current waxed then waned, and as it encountered and then overtopped barriers. Our data reveal that even this sheet-like low-aspect ratio ignimbrite was not emplaced entirely radially: rather, it flowed into certain sectors before others. Deposition was diachronous, and previously proposed lithofacies correlations within the ignimbrite are demonstrated to be incorrect. We are now investigating how the current interacted with individual topographic barriers of different sizes and shapes. Both cone-shaped hills and transverse barriers, entirely draped by thin ignimbrite have been mapped in the field, and the chemical variations within the draping ignimbrite have been analysed up and around the topography. Data currently being processed should reveal whether the current's leading edge advanced over topographic barriers initially, as is commonly assumed, or that some barriers temporarily blocked or deflected the current until the mass-flux waxed (or until deposition modified the topography) sufficiently for the current to advance further. The well-constrained case studies will test the validity of concepts such as deflection and flow-stripping developed principally from analogue experiments. Initial results are changing our understanding of how these unusually devastating pyroclastic density currents behave.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2006

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2004

The intra-oceanic South Sandwich subduction system is distinctive in having a narrow slab with sl... more The intra-oceanic South Sandwich subduction system is distinctive in having a narrow slab with slab edges at its northern and southern ends. We present new geochemical data to investigate magma genesis beneath the parts of the arc and back-arc segments that lie close to the two slab edges: Kemp and Nelson seamounts at the southern edge of the South Sandwich arc, and segments E1 and E2 in the south, plus segments E9 and E10 in the north, of the East Scotia Sea. In the arc, Kemp and Nelson seamounts exhibit enhanced subduction fluxes compared to the remainder of the arc. The southernmost (Nelson) has the isotope (low Nd and high Sr isotope ratios) and elemental (ultra-high Th and Ba and high Hf/Nd ratios) characteristics of a sediment melt, or supercritical aqueous fluid, component. The more northerly (Kemp) has the same characteristics as the remainder of the arc (high Nd and slightly raised Sr isotope ratios, high Nd/Hf ratios, high Ba/Th ratios), indicative of a fluid component derived mainly from subducted crust, but has a greater mass fraction of that component than the rest of the arc. In the back-arc basin, the slab-edge segments are generally fed by more fertile mantle (E-MORB in all but E1) than the segments in the centre of the basin (N-MORB). At the edges, segments furthest from the trench (E2, E9) have small subduction components while those nearer to the trench (E1, E10) have larger subduction components and slightly more depleted mantle. We argue that several processes were important at the slab edges: roll-back of the slab, forcing sideways flow of relatively enriched mantle into the mantle wedge; convergence of the arc with the back-arc spreading centre, imparting a greater subduction component into the back-arc lavas; and anomalous heating of the subducting slab, increasing subduction fluxes and the contribution of sediment melts to the subduction component.

Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 2002

Journal of Petrology, 2003

Tectonophysics, 1997

The Gobi Altai is the easternmost extension of the Mongolian Altai and consists of topographicall... more The Gobi Altai is the easternmost extension of the Mongolian Altai and consists of topographically discontinuous E-W-trending ranges with peaks averaging 2000–3000 m in elevation. The region is seismically active and characterized by prominent E-W left-lateral strike-slip faults that localize transpressional deformation and uplift along their lengths and at stepover zones. This report summarizes structural field investigations made in the

Contributions To Mineralogy and Petrology, 2005

The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic th... more The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic tholeiitic flood basalt succession up to 1,350 m thick, extending >10,000 km2, and underlain by a sill complex. U–Pb dating on baddeleyite from one of the sills thought to be contemporaneous with the lava extrusion, gives an age of 1,382±2 Ma. The lavas, subdivided from oldest to youngest into Basal, Aphyric and Porphyritic units, are dominantly basaltic (>6 wt.% MgO), with more evolved lavas occurring within the Aphyric unit. The most magnesian lavas occur in the Basal unit and the basaltic lavas exhibit a generalised upward decrease in Mg number (MgO/(MgO + Fe2O 3T)) through the succession. All of the lavas are regarded as products of variable degrees of olivine, augite and plagioclase fractionation and to be residual after generation of cumulates in the deep crust. The basaltic lavas display an up-section fall in the ratio of light to heavy rare-earth elements (LREE/HREE) but an up-section rise in Zr/Nb, Sc, Y and HREE. The older lavas (Basal and Aphyric units) are characterised by low ɛNd and ɛHf in contrast to higher values in the younger (Porphyritic unit) lavas. The Porphyritic Unit basalts are characterised by a notable enrichment in Fe and Ti. The Zig-Zag Dal succession is inferred to reflect an increase in melt fraction in the sub-lithospheric mantle, with melting commencing in garnet–lherzolite facies peridotites and subsequently involving spinel-facies mantle at increasingly shallow depths. Melting is deduced to have occurred beneath an attenuating continental lithosphere in conjunction with ascent of a mantle plume. Lithospheric contamination of primitive melts is inferred to have diminished with time with the Porphyritic unit basalts being products of essentially uncontaminated plume-source magmas. The high iron signature may reflect a relatively iron-rich plume source.

Contributions To Mineralogy and Petrology, 2005

The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic th... more The lavas of the Zig-Zag Dal Formation of eastern North Greenland constitute a Mesoproterozoic tholeiitic flood basalt succession up to 1,350 m thick, extending >10,000 km2, and underlain by a sill complex. U-Pb dating on baddeleyite from one of the sills thought to be contemporaneous with the lava extrusion, gives an age of 1,382±2 Ma. The lavas, subdivided from oldest to youngest into Basal, Aphyric and Porphyritic units, are dominantly basaltic (>6 wt.% MgO), with more evolved lavas occurring within the Aphyric unit. The most magnesian lavas occur in the Basal unit and the basaltic lavas exhibit a generalised upward decrease in Mg number (MgO/(MgO + Fe2O3T)) through the succession. All of the lavas are regarded as products of variable degrees of olivine, augite and plagioclase fractionation and to be residual after generation of cumulates in the deep crust. The basaltic lavas display an up-section fall in the ratio of light to heavy rare-earth elements (LREE/HREE) but an up-section rise in Zr/Nb, Sc, Y and HREE. The older lavas (Basal and Aphyric units) are characterised by low ɛNd and ɛHf in contrast to higher values in the younger (Porphyritic unit) lavas. The Porphyritic Unit basalts are characterised by a notable enrichment in Fe and Ti. The Zig-Zag Dal succession is inferred to reflect an increase in melt fraction in the sub-lithospheric mantle, with melting commencing in garnet-lherzolite facies peridotites and subsequently involving spinel-facies mantle at increasingly shallow depths. Melting is deduced to have occurred beneath an attenuating continental lithosphere in conjunction with ascent of a mantle plume. Lithospheric contamination of primitive melts is inferred to have diminished with time with the Porphyritic unit basalts being products of essentially uncontaminated plume-source magmas. The high iron signature may reflect a relatively iron-rich plume source.

European Journal of Mineralogy, 2004

New helium isotope data (3 He/4 He) from a series of co-genetic Siberian lavas of Cenozoic age (0... more New helium isotope data (3 He/4 He) from a series of co-genetic Siberian lavas of Cenozoic age (0.6-3 Ma) provide possible evidence for mass-dependent helium isotope fractionation. These lavas, erupted around the Baikal rift, have sampled subcontinental lithospheric ...