Structural, petrographic and chemical analyses of a set of northeast-trending quartzofeld-spathic dykes in Wadi Kid area (southeastern Sinai) show that they are the product of anatexis of pelitic rocks. Metamorphic P-T data indicate that anatexis could have occurred only 2 km below the present erosion level. The partial melts intruded into overlying rocks during regional metamorphism along a set of northeast-oriented extensional fractures, thereby recrystallizing and in some cases obtaining tectonite fabrics. The fractures were formed perpendicular to the regional mineral lineation and show that the area was within the deeper parts of the brittle–ductile transition zone. The original depth of the presently exposed crustal level corresponds well with the theoretical and experimentally derived depths of the brittle-ductile transition zone in high heat flow regimes. The emplacement of a granitoid pluton or gneiss dome, possibly of dioritic composition, could be responsible for both melting and tensile fracturing of the overlying rocks.

Potassium–argon dating of 44 samples of basalt lavas and pantelleritic ignimbrites provides a provisional chronology for the 1900-metre thick Cenozoic succession of the Suregei–Asille district, northeast of Lake Turkana. Volcanic rocks of the Asille Group range in age from late Oligocene (Chattian) to late Miocene (Tortonian). Data obtained from conventional K–Ar total-rock analysis of basalt samples are appraised statistically to indicate the presence of three periods of enhanced volcanism centred around 27, 17 and 11.5 Ma. Equivalent ages obtained from the pyroclastic pantellerites by conventional K–Ar total-rock analysis and 40Ar/39Ar analysis of sanidine concentrates indicate that basic and acid eruptions were closely spaced in time. Continental tholeiite flood lavas belonging to the Gombe Group are of Pliocene age, but are difficult to date precisely because of their young ages and relatively high atmospheric contamination occurring as a result of the secondary alteration in the ubiquitous glass mesostasis. Those ages involving least atmospheric correction are considered most reliable, and are closely similar for the Chen Alia and Harr formations at around 4.85 Ma, although later flood eruptions may have occurred to the south and west of the Suregei–Asille district at about 3.85 Ma.

Mornes Patates is the youngest volcano in Dominica occupying a depression on the southwestern flank of a larger stratovolcano, Morne Plat Pays. Within the depression an arcuate ridge, apparently of acid andesite lavas, has been cored and largely buried by the explosive emplacement of two acid andesite domes and their associated pyroclastic deposits, mainly block-and-ash flow deposits. A basaltic scoria horizon, exposed on the northern side of the depression, has a 14C age of 28450 ± 1500 years B.P. and is not seen on the volcano itself, which suggests that the domes and pyroclastic rocks are younger than this. A 14C age of 450 ± 90 years B.P. from a block-and-ash flow deposit from the Morne Patates dome apparently confirms this and the youthful morphology also suggests a young age. The angular shape of the depression and the steep submarine slopes are consistent with an origin as a lateral gravity slide rather than a caldera collapse. Vigorous fumarolic activity and swarms of local earthquakes suggest that magma exists at depth (several kilometres) beneath the Morne Patates–Morne Plat Pays area.

A new and well-preserved.asteroid, Protremaster uniserialis (gen. & sp.nov.) is described from the Lower Jurassic (Sinemurian) of Antarctica. This find extends the fossil record of the family Asterinidae and the subfamily Tremasterinae considerably and lends support to the idea that asteroids underwent an important morphological diversification in the late Triassic-early Jurassic.

The relationships of the Keisley Limestone, an isolated carbonate mudmound in the Cross Fell Inlier of northern England, have long been problematical with respect both to the other upper Ordovician as well as the Silurian strata of the inlier. Bedded limestones, separated by gaps from the Keisley mudmound below and from atavus Biozone graptolite shales above, yielded a prolific shelly fauna to Temple in 1968 which he regarded as being of lower Llandovery age. This age is controversial. To try to establish the precise ages of the rock units, the position of the Ordovician–Silurian boundary, and the detailed nature of the changes which took place at this boundary, a critical section was excavated. Bed by bed lithological and faunal collections reveal from beneath the known atavus outcrop (a) five bentonite bands, unexpected in the context of northern England, (b) graptolites of both acuminatus and persculptus Biozones above the bedded limestones and (c) a similar but distinct assemblage from siltstones associated with these limestones which contains Hirnantia elements. From the palaeontological evidence there is little doubt that the topmost part of the carbonate sequence is of Hirnantian age.

The mineralogy and petrology of banded pumice clasts from a mixed-magma non-welded ignimbrite on Tenerife, Canary Islands, is described. Phenocrysts, which frequently show signs of resorption, are grouped into three assemblages in mutual disequilibrium; these assemblages were originally precipitated by alkali basalt magma (assemblage 1, titanaugite + olivine + calcic plagioclase + high-Mg Fe–Ti oxides), trachyandesitic magma (assemblage 2, salite + kaersutite + sodic plagioclase + hauyne + medium-Mg Fe–Ti oxides) and phonolitic magma (assemblage 3, aegirine-augite + biotite + sodic sanidine + sodalite + nepheline + sphene + low-Mg magnetite) respectively. Phenocryst types (e.g. clinopyroxene, feldspar) which are common to two or all assemblages are compositionally distinctive in each. The excess silica content of nepheline in assemblage 3 indicates a temperature of 770 °C for phonolitic magma, while Fe–Ti oxides and clinopyroxene-ilmenite give temperatures of 915 °C and 907 °C respectively for the trachyandesite. Assemblage 1 and 2 phenocrysts are set in mafic glass; assemblage 3 phenocrysts are only found in a matrix of salic (phonolitic) glass. Analyses of the volumetrically dominant phonolitic glass define a compositional trend consistent with fractionation of assemblage 3 phenocrysts. Analyses of the mafic glass scatter about a straight-line trend produced by mixing of phonolitic liquid with homogeneous intermediate (trachyandesitic) magma. These relations are interpreted as the result of two distinct magma mixing events, consequent on the invasion of a stably zoned magma chamber containing phonolitic liquid stratified above denser trachyandesitic magma, by intruding basaltic magma. High Ca content of assemblage 1 plagioclase suggests precipitation of the basaltic phenocrysts under locally high partial pressure of water. The preferred model involves, in chronological sequence: (i) generation of a differentiated phonolitic cap above trachyandesitic magma, through wall crystallization and boundary-layer uprise of phonolite; (ii) pooling, convective heat loss, and partial crystallization of dense, hydrous alkali basalt magma injected into the chamber and forming a liquid layer beneath the trachyandesitic magma; (iii) volatile saturation of the residual basalt liquid through crystallization, consequent buoyant uprise into, and efficient mixing with, trachyandesite; (iv) eruption of chamber contents and partial mixing of the mixed basalt–trachyandesite with phonolite, although the precise relative timing of eruption and the second mixing event is not known.

The permeability of rocks fractured by random, planar cracks, is expressed as a classical bond percolation problem on a random lattice, by Voronoi partition of space. The percolation threshold is determined as a function of the statistical characteristics of the cracks, or of their traces on an arbitrary face of the rock, by using an empirical quasi-invariant of percolation theory.

Basal Turonian Ezeaku Sandstone ridges along the Cenomanian hiatus in Afikpo area contain sandstone pebbles, cobbles, and boulders randomly distributed in nearly all the coarsening upward subfacies of the host units. Contacts with the host sandbody are sharp and, in places, lined with solution grooves. Generally, the angular to subrounded clasts have their 2 mm rims ferruginized, are fine to coarse grained and very strongly bioturbated. They are compositionally and texturally more similar to the adjacent Albian Asu River Group sandunits. These characteristics suggest an extrabasinal origin for these marine sandstone clasts. Albian Asu River Group sediments uplifted by the Cenomanian deformation are the most likely source. The general absence of similar clasts towards the eastern palaeostrandline where the primary Cretaceous source rocks lay is consistent with the interpretation. The remarkable parallelism between the trend of the clast outcrops and the axis of the Santonian anticlinorium (NE–SW) suggests the same axial direction for both tectonic phases.

The composite dyke at An Cumhann, Arran consists of a central unit of quartz-feldspar porphyry flanked by narrow marginal dolerites containing xenocrysts of quartz, plagioclase and alkali feldspar identical to the phenocrysts in the porphyry. The chemistry of the marginal dolerites indicates that they formed by the crystallization of a hybrid magma produced at depth by the incorporation of the porphyritic acid magma in a basic liquid. During the intrusion of the hybrid magma, flow caused a differential distribution of the xenocrysts across the initial basic dyke. Subsequent intrusion of the quartz-feldspar porphyry magma along the still unconsolidated centre of the basic dyke produced the wide central unit. A similar origin is proposed for other composite intrusions of the same type in the region. Whilst it is unlikely that the coexistence of the highly contrasting magmas necessary for the formation of these intrusions is entirely coincidental there is little likelihood that the two liquids were related as members of the same fractionation series.

The Cnapan Breaca felsite sheet contains strongly devitrified pyroclastic rocks including welded tuffs. These indicate formation in a high level, surficial or sub-volcanic environment. The gross structure and lithological associations of the sheet are similar to those of some ignimbrites. These observations support a resurgent caldera model for the evolution of the Rhum centre and raise some doubts about previous interpretations of the felsite-breccia association on the island.

The Jarawa Younger Granite complex is composed of high silica alkali granites that were emplaced 161 Ma ago. The granites are characterized by high contents of Rb, Li, F, Sn, Nb, W above normal low-Ca granitic rocks and have typical S-type characteristics that are indicative of a substantial component of crustal melt.

Mineralization in the complex is associated with the biotite granite which was emplaced as a sheet-like body at relatively shallow depth and occurs as disseminations and as greisen lodes and veins.

Chemical studies of the granites have shown that the biotite granite represents a highly fractionated rock that crystallized from a residual magma from which the hornblende-biotite granite had previously crystallized. However the biotite granite is characterized by steep gradients in some minor and trace elements that apparently indicate that liquid-state differentiation and/or volatile complexing processes made significant contributions to their differentiation. Enrichment of Th, Li, Rb, Sn, W and Nb may be more closely linked to roofward migration of F.

Intertidal molluscs are known to occur in similar positions or zones on shores throughout the world. However, little is known about the extent to which these distributions are preserved in the fossil record. This study attempts to define the relationship to present sea level of live and dead intertidal molluscs in the Mediterranean, and utilizes this information to interpret the position at which Quaternary shorelines were formed.

The preservation of zonation patterns in the fossil record is affected by post-mortem transport, breakage and burial of the shell material. To take account of such taphonomic changes, experimental studies of shell transport and burial under waves and unidirectional currents were made, and the distribution of dead molluscs on modern shores were compared with live distributions. It proved possible to predict the frequency with which certain species were deposited on the modern shore and, by analogy, the likelihood of their preservation in the fossil record. Thus death assemblages in fossil shorelines can be accurately related to past sea levels.

Lherzolites outcrop throughout the North Pyrenean Zone of the Pyrenees and are everywhere associated with metamorphosed carbonates. It has been suggested that heat from the cooling of the lherzolites was responsible for the high temperature metamorphism of the carbonates. A gravity survey reported here shows that the volume of the lherzolite body at Lers is approximately 0.8 km3. The maximum volume of carbonates that such a body could metamorphose is 3.2 km3. This latter value is so much less than the volume of carbonates inferred from field mapping that the lherzolite body cannot have been the sole source of heat for metamorphism of the carbonates.

It has been suggested from seismic data that there is a step in the Moho beneath the North Pyrenean Fault in the central Pyrenees. Gravity anomalies reported here show that either the step is less than 10 km high or that the density contrast is very low at the base of the crust in the Pyrenees.

Results of detailed remapping of the Kirkcudbright area in the Southern Belt of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, together with new palaeontological data, necessitate revision of the regional structure, and re-interpretation of the sedimentary history of the northwest margin of the Lower Palaeozoic lapetus Ocean. On the east side of Kirkcudbright Bay, at least six sediment-ologically and structurally distinct, subvertical tectonic blocks can be distinguished. Recognition of the Raeberry Castle Formation as a Wenlock turbidite sequence, rather than mid- to late Llandovery as previously interpreted, removes the need to postulate the existence of an axial rise and a distinct basin adjacent to the south, in mid- to late Llandovery times.

Geological survey, electron microprobe analyses of clinopyroxenes and isotopic age determinations have revealed that the intrusive dolerites and basic–intermediate lavas of the Shelve Ordovician Inlier are part of a co-magmatic suite which show transitional affinities between tholeiites and alkali basalts. The ages of most of the intrusives are shown to be mid-Ordovician.

Early Tertiary igneous activity on Rhum was preceded by doming and the formation of a major arcuate fault system, the Main Ring Fault (MRF), within which Lewisian gneisses, Torridonian sediments and younger rocks were uplifted by as much as 2 km. Doming and uplift are attributed to the diapiric rise of acid magma which ultimately formed the granophyres and felsites of Rhum. Felsite emplacement was accompanied and immediately preceded by the formation of explosion breccias and tuffisites. This phase involves massive gas escape along the MRF fractures; it marked a period of major subsidence within the MRF during which fossiliferous Jurassic sediments and relics of Tertiary lava flows were brought to low structural levels within the MRF. Finally, a further period of uplift, again of about 2 km, took place once more bringing gneisses and basal Torridonian sediments within the MRF to high structural levels. The driving force for this last phase of uplift may have been provided by a further uprise of acid magma or, more realistically, may have been directly connected with emplacement of layered ultrabasic rocks which now form the core of the Rhum centre.

Acidic welded tuffs of the Capel Curig Volcanic Formation were deposited from ash-flows that transgressed from a proximal subaerial to a distal submarine environment. Isolated pods of welded tuff enveloped by marine sediments represent a distal facies of the formation deposited beyond the limits of the continuous ash-flow tuff sheets. Various mechanisms for the separation of the tuff pods from a parent flow are discussed and it is concluded that it is most likely that the formation of the pods was due to disruption of a subaqueous ash-flow during transport rather than by downslope collapse at the front of a previously deposited ash-flow tuff sheet.

Glassy basalt tuff was the primary material cored in 1979 from a 181 m deep drill hole on the east tuff ring of Surtsey volcano. Despite the fact that the hole extends 122 m below sea level all the core is similar to the exposed tephra composing the two tuff rings of the island. The tuff includes abundant accretionary lapilli and tuff vesicles, indicating that it was all deposited subaerially. During the growth of the tuff rings, repeated hydromagmatic explosion cycles began with a series of intermittent tephra-finger explosions leading up to continuous uprush explosions which lasted for several minutes to several hours. This nozzle-like continuous activity produced eruption columns 100–250 m in diameter and 500–2000 m in height which probably quarried several hundred metres below the ground surface. The continuous-uprush explosion type provides a reasonable mechanism to excavate a diatreme from the top down. During construction of the tuff rings, concentric faults repeatedly downdropped a funnel-like structure (400–800 m in diameter) several hundred metres, thus accounting for the presence of subaerially deposited tephra in the drill core far beneath sea level. Ring dykes later intruded upward along these faults and fed small lava flows. Heat in the surface tephra probably originated primarily from these shallow intrusions.

The Lower Eastern Layered Series (LELS) comprises approximately units 1–5 of previous workers. Remapping has revealed considerable along-strike lithological variation in the units of the LELS. It is suggested, on the basis of field and geochemical evidence, that two layers formerly regarded as ‘conformable intrusive sheets of fine-grained olivine gabbro’, may be evolved alii valite layers rather than later intrusions. Xenolith suites, in these layers and elsewhere, indicate a component derived from the roof or walls of the magma chamber. Cryptic variation is more extensive in the LELS than in other parts of Rhum: olivine forsterite content varies from 85.6 to 70, and clinopyroxene Mg×100/(Mg+Fe) varies from 88 to 74. Postcumulus effects and subsolidus re-equilibration have altered the initial compositions of the mineral phases. The data are consistent with a model of repeated replenishment by picritic magma, although the replenishing liquids may have been slightly less magnesian than those subsequently available, during the formation of the upper ELS.

Palaeomagnetic data from mid to late Palaeozoic rocks are potentially valuable for testing models of the assembly of Spitsbergen and for determining the palaeo-position of parts of Spitsbergen relative to the major tectonic elements that comprised the Old Red Continent. Fine-grained red sandstones from the Tournaisian to Namurian Billefjorden Group, collected by members of Cambridge Spitsbergen expeditions, were subjected to stepwise chemical and thermal demagnetization. The characteristic magnetization is found in normal and reverse polarities and corresponds to a pole position at 23° S, 332 °E, dp = 5.7°, dm = 10.5°, which is near an early Carboniferous pole computed for the Baltic Shield-Russian Platform (Baltica). When compared to Laurentia (North America) in the context of the revised Mauch Chunk palaeomagnetic study, Spitsbergen falls a few degrees south of the Bullard reconstruction but the error of the determination of the palaeolatitude overlaps with this position. Therefore relative motion between any part of Spitsbergen and Laurentia and Baltica during the Carboniferous is not resolved.