Barite-celestite solid solutions have been synthesized under controlled conditions by the counter-diffusion of Ba2+, Sr2+ and SO42–ions through a porous transport medium (silica gel), to investigate the factors which control compositionalzoning. The equilibrium compositions of solid solution and aqueous solutionhave been determined from the relative solubilities of barite and celestite, predicting that virtually pure barite should precipitate from Sr-rich solutions. However, nucleation and growth in a porous medium, where mass transport is by diffusion, takes place at very high supersaturations. The threshold supersaturation for nucleation is inversely related to the solubility and is therefore much higher for barite than celestite. The balance between the thermodynamics and kinetics of nucleation and growth at high supersaturations leads to zoning patterns the reverse of those predicted at equilibrium. At high supersaturations the zoning is periodic and sector-controlled with many of the general features observed in natural minerals. Oscillatory zoning with compositional gaps can take place without the need to invoke miscibility gaps or periodic variations in externally controlled intensive parameters.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that much of the ‘hummocky moraine’ present within the northern part of the LochLomond Readvance ice cap formerly situated in the North West Scottish Highlands may be interpreted as suites of ice-front moraines deposited during active decay. These landforms can be used to reconstruct ice cap decay, whichleads to important insights into the shrinking form of the ice cap and associated environmental conditions. Evidence has been collected from 10803 airphotographs and from detailed field survey. It is presented at three spatial scales.

The nitrate deposits of the northern Atacama Desert occurin a narrow zone between the low-lying Pampa del Tamarugal to the east and the hills of the Coastal Range to the west. High purity nitrate ore occurs as stratiform seams about 20 cm thick, present at depths of 3–7 m below thedesert surface. The ore is hosted by a variety of lithologies and overlain by salt-cemented regolith. The ore is largely composed of nitratite (= sodanitre or Chilean salt peter) and halite with locally abundant humberstonite, polyhalite and mirabilite. Other salts present include Ca iodates and a variety of sulphate, borate and chromate minerals. Textural relationships can be used to deduce paragenetic sequences for individual salt samples and these combined to produce a generalized paragenetic web for the nitrate ore.These textural data can be combined with published solubility data to investigate the course of fluid evolution during ore genesis. The multiplicity of paragenetic relationships within the ore reflects the derivation of precipitating fluids from a variety of sources: westwards flowing Andean groundwater, coastal fogs, occasional rainfall and Andean-derived surface floodwaters. The unusual mineralogy of the nitrate ore reflects the extreme chemical evolution of the precipitating brines through multiple episodes of salt precipitation and remobilization during transport to the nitrate horizons. The formation of high purity nitrate ore appears to be the result of multiple phases of dissolution, reprecipitation and recrystallization, that have separated the highly soluble nitrate salts from less soluble salts in the overlying profile. Salts have largely accumulated through displacive growth, but some of the host silicate and carbonate lithologies have also undergonea small degree of salt replacement.

The Okenyenya igneous complex is one of a suite of intrusions which define a prominent northeast-trending linear feature in Damaraland, northwestern Namibia. Precise Rb–Sr internal isochron ages range from 128.6 ± 1 to 123.4 ± 1.4 Ma for the major phases of intrusion identified within the complex. The tholeiitic gabbros forming the outer rings of the complex, and the later alkali gabbros which form the central hills, cannot be distinguished in terms of Rb–Sr ages, although field relations clearly indicate the younger age of the latter. The intrusionsof nepheline-syenite and essexite comprising the mountain of Okenyenya Bergon the northern edge of the complex give ages of 123.4 ± 1.4 and 126.3 ± 1 Ma, respectively, and form the final major phase of intrusion. The ages obtained for early and late intrusive phases define a minimum magmatic ‘life-span’ of approximately 5 Ma for the complex. The determined age of the Okenyenya igneous complex (129–123 Ma), when taken together with the few reliable published ages for other Damaraland complexes (130–134 Ma), suggests that these sub-volcanic complexes were emplaced contemporaneously with the widespread Etendeka volcanics (˜ 130 Ma), and relate to magmatism associated with the breakup of southern Africa and South America with the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. The linear distributionof intrusions in Damaraland is interpreted to be due to magmatism resultingfrom the upwelling Tristan plume being focused along a structural discontinuity between the Pan-African, Damaran terrain to the south, and Proterozoiccratonic basement to the north.

The meta-igneous greenschists of the Start Complex, SouthDevon, are composed of a mineralogically uniform, but texturally variable, actinolite-epidote-albite assemblage with retrogressed variants containing chlorite, muscovite, sphene, carbonate and oxidized opaque minerals. Geochemically they represent a suite of relatively primitive tholeiites, exhibiting mild differentiation, depleted incompatible element abundances, and variable light rare-earth-element-depletion patterns comparable to modern basalts from normal spreading ridge segments (N-MORB). As the Start greenschistsexhibit a number of chemical similarities to the nearby Upper Palaeozoic Lizard ophiolite, and MORB-type clasts within the Rhenohercynian Zone generally, they may also represent local Variscan ocean crust, which floored smalloceanic basins that separated the Old Red Sandstone continent from the Armorican microplate to the south. The Start Complex could thus represent a previously unrecognized oceanic component to the Variscan orogenic belt (Rhenohercynian Zone) of Northwest Europe.

Within internal regions of orogenic belts, systems of ductile thrusts and folds may form which are geometrically and kinematically analogous to those observed in foreland thrust belts. The Moine Nappe of Sutherland, northwestern Scotland, developed during WNW-directed Caledonian displacements under amphibolite facies conditions. Broad zones of mylonite associated with the ductile Ben Hope and Moine thrusts both contain numerous, small-scale folds which can be attributed to transient flow perturbations. It is possible to isolate and differentiate generations of such folds basedon their association with particular major thrust zones and'or their geometry. In regions of lower strain between these thrusts, there are a series ofkilometre-scale buckle folds, the axial traces of which define arcuate trends. Those with hinges orthogonal to transport are northwestvergent, whilst those plunging subparallel to the mineral lineation display variable vergence. The spatial distribution of these geometries suggests a causal relationship with displacements on specific underlying thrusts. We propose that they reflect larger (kilometre-scale), and possibly longer-lived flow perturbations. The transport parallel folds are persistent features that often centre on earlier structural culminations, and are thought to reflect components of differential shear. The most prominent set of regional buckle folds root downwards into the ductile Moine Thrust, and openly refold the structurally overlying Ben Hope Thrust and its associated buckle folds, thus supporting a foreland propagating sequence of ductile displacements.

Dark patches of charnockitic rocks characterized by orthopyroxene occur within garnetiferous granite gneisses (leptynites) in a granulite-migmatite suite around the Chilka Lake, Orissa, within the Eastern Ghats belt in the Indian Precambrian. Analysis of structures of different scales observed in this terrain establishes the presence of three phases of deformation. S1 is pervasive in the metapelitic granulites (mainlykhondalite), while in the migmatite complex composed of leptynites, charnockites and quartzofeldspathic veins, S1 is present exclusively within the charnockite lenses and bands, and shows different stages of obliteration in the associated leptynites. Thus, the charnockite patches must be earlier than the surrounding migmatitic rocks. The charnockite patches and the surrounding leptynitic gneisses are chemically quite different and the two rock types are not related by any prograde or retrograde transformation. The shapes and disposition of charnockite patches in the mixed exposures are found to be largely controlled by the third phase of folding and locally associated shearing. The kinematics of this late deformation are not favourable for fluid ingress from deeper levels.

Volcanic and hypabyssal intrusive rocks of the Lower Palaeozoic English Lake District and Cross Fell inliers are elements of the Ordovician destructive plate margin system of microcontinental Avalonia. Two igneous sheets within the marine sedimentary Skiddaw Group of these inliers, previously described as lavas, are reinterpreted as sills. Sedimentary rocks enclosing these sills are of late Tremadoc-early Arenig (c. 493 Ma) and early Llanvirn (> 476 Ma) age, and breccias along the upper contacts of both were produced by steam explosivity and fluidization ahead of theadvancing tips of the intrusions. Previous interpretation of the breccias on the older sheet, as sediment deposited on the eroded top of a lava flow, implied an early Ordovician onset of arc magmatism. Such early magmatism would have been virtually coincident with the latest Tremadoc initiation of arc magmatism in Wales, but evidence for such a near synchronous response tothe putative onset of subduction is lacking. Respective onsets of magmatismwere probably separated by at least 17 m.y., and possibly by as much as 29 m.y. The apparent contemporaneity of mid and late Ordovician volcanic episodes in England and Wales, and similarities in extensional tectonic style, suggest that the two areas then were part of the same subduction system responding similarly to plate-scale magma-generating and tectonic processes. The early Ordovician situation is uncertain, but the absence of arc volcanic rocks of this age in the English Lake District suggests that this area and Wales are not tectonically juxtaposed elements of a former simple linear arc.

The multiphase Strath Ossian Pluton was intruded into metasedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic Grampian and Appin groups (Grampian Highlands, Scotland) during Silurian or early Devonian times. Emplacementfollowed the main ductile tectono-thermal history of the area and took place during post-orogenic regional uplift and cooling. Early emplacement of dioritic magma in the northern part of the pluton resulted in migmatization of its immediate country rocks with the generation of new ductile structures. The main granodiorite was then emplaced with magma migrating towards the southeast where wall-rock stoping took place. Elsewhere the pluton created its own space with little stoping or veining. Thermal metamorphism caused by granodiorite emplacement resulted in the progressive development of the assemblage quartz+ plagioclase + biotite+ cordierite +andalusite ± K-feldspar in the metapelitic country rocks. Six prograde mineral assemblage zones are identified in the aureole. Final emplacement of a marginal porphyritic microgranite was accompanied by the release of alkaline fluids into the thermal aureole. This produced sillimanite (fibrolite) in association with hydrous phases such as chlorite and white mica. The development of andalusite and cordierite-bearing assemblages is estimated to have occurred at temperatures of 650±50 °C at an estimated pressure of 3.2±0.5 kbars. An approximately isobaric temperature change of 300±50 °C across the width of the main aureole is deduced. The migmatization close to the plutons margins took place at temperatures of about 700 °C. An estimated depth of emplacement of about 11 km is obtained for the Strath Ossian Pluton. This implies considerable regional uplift both prior to, andimmediately after its emplacement. Thus it has been estimated that at the peak of regional metamorphism, probably during the Ordovician Period, the country rocks were at a depth of 15 to 18.5 km, whereas the early Devonian dykes of the Etive dyke swarm, which cut the Strath Ossian Pluton, were emplaced at, or near surface.