Geology Commons^™

Natural, Experimental, And Educational Explorations Of The Interiors Of Terrestrial Planetary Bodies, Nadine L. Grambling

Doctoral Dissertations

Planetary interiors are enigmatic, inaccessible, and vital to the processes that have formed the rocks we see on the surface of bodies in the inner Solar System today. Based on geophysical explorations of the Moon and Earth, along with information gleaned from rocks at the surface today, there is understanding of the basic structure and processes at depth. Using a combination of natural samples and experimental studies, we attempt to learn more about the physical conditions beneath the surface, and their effect on material properties and tectonics processes in the mantle.

On Earth, mid-ocean ridge processes have long been debated, …

Comparisons Between Tethyan Anorthosite-Bearing Ophiolites And Archean Anorthosite-Bearing Layered Intrusions: Implications For Archean Geodynamic Processes, Ali Polat, Paul Sotiriou

Earth & Environmental Sciences Publications

Elucidating the petrogenesis and geodynamic setting(s) of anorthosites in Archean layered intrusions and Tethyan ophiolites has significant implications for crustal evolution and growth throughout Earth history. Archean anorthosite-bearing layered intrusions occur on every continent. Tethyan ophiolites occur in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In this contribution, the field, petrographic, petrological, and geochemical characteristics of 100 Tethyan anorthosite-bearing ophiolites and 155 Archean anorthosite-bearing layered intrusions are compared. Tethyan anorthosite-bearing ophiolites range from Devonian to Paleocene in age, are variably composite, contain anorthosites with highly calcic (An_44-100) plagioclase and magmatic amphibole. These ophiolites formed predominantly at convergent plate margins, with some …

Petrological And Geochemical Evaluation Of The Sturgeon Falls Intrusive Body, Jonathan Michael Haynes

Masters Theses

The Sturgeon Falls Intrusive Body (SFIB) is a gabbroic intrusion located along the Michigan-Wisconsin border just south of the town of Norway, MI. The SFIB is bounded to the north by the Niagara Shear Zone and the Michigamme Formation (Schulz and Cannon, 2006) and to the south by an unnamed thrust fault zone and the Quinnesec Formation (Sims and Schulz, 1993). Field mapping has shown that the SFIB is composed almost entirely of metagabbro metamorphosed to greenschist facies, with isolated outcrops of clinopyroxenite, which are thought to be xenoliths.

The origin of the SFIB is controversial. Schulz and LeBerge (2003) …

A Geochemical Study Of Crustal Plutonic Rocks From The Southern Mariana Trench Forearc: Relationship To Volcanic Rocks Erupted During Subduction Initiation, Julie A. Johnson

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two suites of intermediate-felsic plutonic rocks were recovered by dredges RD63 and RD64 (R/V KK81-06-26) from the northern wall of the Mariana trench near Guam, which is located in the southern part of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) island arc system. The locations of the dredges are significant as the area contains volcanic rocks (forearc basalts and boninites) that have been pivotal in explaining processes that occur when one lithospheric plate initially begins to subduct beneath another. The plutonic rocks have been classified based on petrologic and geochemical analyses, which provides insight to their origin and evolution in context of the surrounding …

Geochemical Systematics Among Amphibolitic Rocks In The Central Blue Ridge Province Of Southwestern North Carolina, Nathan Collins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Central Blue Ridge sub-province of the southern Appalachian Mountains preserves an unique and complex geologic history. The Cartoogechaye terrane is the westernmost terrane of the Central Blue Ridge sub-province, and is characterized by extensive olistostromal sequences, including mafic-ultramafic massifs, isolated mafic units, and block-in-matrix structures of varying scales. This study investigates the genetic and tectonic relationships, and regional chemical and metamorphic trends of the amphibolitic rocks entrained within units of the Cartoogechaye and nearby terranes, toward constraining the origins of these regional sequences, and examining the rationale for the current Blue Ridge terrane designations.

A distinct compositional variation exists …