Stratigraphic correlation of the Awahab and Tafelberg Formations, Etendeka Group, Namibia, and location of an eruptive site for flood basalt volcanism
- Authors: Marsh, Julian S , Milner, Simon C
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6738 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007552 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2007.04.004
- Description: Detailed field and geochemical investigations in the vicinity of the type section of the Tafelberg Formation of the early Cretaceous Etendeka Group, NW Namibia, have revealed the existence of a large eruptive vent in the lower part of the regional volcanic sequence produced by Strombolian and Vulcanian eruptions. The vent is filled with the thick, differentiated, ponded Kudu-Run olivine-rich basaltic flow, which has a distinctive low Zr/Y geochemical signature as well as a Tafelberg-type tabular basalt and the Nil Desperandum latite. Field evidence indicates that the Kudu-Run basalt and the latite were erupted from fissures located within the vent. Associated with the vent is an extensive pyroclastic apron extending from the vent edge and which is interbedded with the regional stratigraphy. Blocks of Precambrain basement lithologies occur within this deposit and indicate that the vent was excavated to a depth of at least 350 m below the palaeosurface at that time. The original Tafelberg Formation type section described by Erlank et al. [Erlank, A.J., Marsh, J.S., Duncan, A.R., Miller, R.McG., Hawkesworth, C.H., Betton, P.J., Rex, D.C. 1984. Geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Etendeka volcanic rocks from SWA/Namibia, 195–247. In: Erlank, A.J. (Ed.), Petrogenesis of Volcanic Rocks of the Karoo province. Special Publication of the Geological Society of South Africa, vol. 13, 395 p.] the Tafelberg Gully section, crosses from the lower part of the regional sequence into the intra-vent sequence and returns to the regional sequence higher up. In doing so it includes some of the localized intra-vent flows and excludes a number of flows which are part of the regional sequence in its lower part, thus rendering it inappropriate as a type section. A revised type section for the Tafelberg Formation is described by combining the upper part of the Tafelberg Gully section with a new section of 14 flows at the base of the regional sequence in the Tafelberg North (TBN) section some 2 km N of the Tafeleberg Gully. Distinctive flows in the TBN section can be mapped southwards where their precise stratigraphic relationship to the northward-thinning Springbok and Goboboseb Quarts Latite members of the Awahab Formation can be demonstrated. These stratigraphic relationships are entirely consistent with palaeomagnetic reversal stratigraphy and demonstrate that the same N–R–N polarity sequence occurs in the type sections of the Awahab and Tafelberg formations. Thus, the Awahab and Tafelberg magma systems were contemporaneous but the Tafelberg system outlived that of the Awahab. The Awahab system was built from eruptive centres located S of the Huab River whereas the Tafelberg vents were located further north. , Full text article access in Journal of African Earth Sciences, 48 (5). pp. 329-340. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2007.04.004
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- Date Issued: 2007
Rare earth element geochemistry of the Insizwa lobe of the Mount Ayliff Complex, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Marsh, Julian S
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6736 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007548
- Description: New rare earth element (REE) data from all lithologies of the Insizwa lobe, Mount Ayliff Complex, are presented. On the basis of size and type of Eu anomaly, the geochemical subdivision of the complex as previously described is sustained and, additionally, the Top Gabbronorite of the Central Zone is shown to have formed from a magma that was compositionally distinct from other Central Zone magmas. The Basal Zone crystallized from magmas with large negative Eu anomalies probably acquired through crustal contamination. Previously recognized compositional heterogeneity in the contact rocks is also a feature of the REE. Overall, the Insizwa magmas had higher La/Sm ratios and, to a lesser extent, higher Gd/Yb ratios than Karoo basalts and appear to have no representatives in the basalt lava sequence of Lesotho.
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- Date Issued: 2004
Review of South African research on volcanic and related rocks and mantle-derived materials : 1999-2002
- Authors: Marsh, Julian S
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6737 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007550
- Description: This report reviews South African research relating to the scientific interests of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) and which was published between 1999 and 2002. The focus is on published work and does not include conference presentations and abstract volumes or other informal documents.
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- Date Issued: 2003
Magma flow inferred from AMS fabrics in a layered mafic sill, Insizwa, South Africa
- Authors: Ferré, Eric C , Bordarier, Cecile , Marsh, Julian S
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6733 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007543
- Description: The Insizwa sill, is a 25-km-diameter, >1000-m-thick layered mafic intrusion, part of the Karoo Igneous Province in South Africa. The peridotitic and gabbronoritic rocks are undeformed and mineral fabrics demonstrably result from magma flow. A horizontal, centimeter-scale model layering is visible in numerous outcrops. Plagioclase crystals are both tabular and elongated. Their preferred orientation, parallel to the layering, forms a foliation and a NW–SE lineation, respectively interpreted as the magma flow plane and flow direction. Throughout the 78 stations of this study (699 specimens), magnetic susceptibilities (K[subscript m]) range from 750 to 10,000×10[superscript (−6)] SI. The magnetic anisotropy (P[subscript j]) ranges from 1.03 to 1.08. Magnetic ellipsoids are both prolate and oblate (average T[subscript j]≈0). Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) fabrics are dominated by multidomain to pseudo-single domain magnetite. High-field magnetic experiments indicate that the paramagnetic contribution from the mafic silicates is less than 50 percentage for low susceptibility rock types. The anisotropy results from magnetite grain shape solely as shown by no significant increase in P[subscript j] with increasing K[subscript m]. The magnetic lineation (305°, 05°) is consistent throughout the sill at various scales and coincides with the mineral lineation in average. In contrast, the magnetic foliation (125° NE 10°) is generally perpendicular to the mineral foliation and to the layering. Several explanations for this odd configuration are discussed. The variations of magnetic parameters across the layering and field observations point to a multiple injection. The magnetic lineation is consistent with the presence of a single feeder dike situated to the SE of the sill.
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- Date Issued: 2002