Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans

Abstract This paper presents a synthetic view of the geodynamic evolution of the Zagros orogen within the frame of the Arabia–Eurasia collision. The Zagros orogen and the Iranian plateau preserve a record of the long-standing convergence history between Eurasia and Arabia across the Neo-Tethys, from subduction/obduction processes to present-day collision (from ~ 150 to 0 Ma). We herein combine the results obtained on several geodynamic issues, namely the location of the oceanic suture zone, the age of oceanic closure and collision, the magmatic and geochemical evolution of the Eurasian upper plate during convergence (as testified by the successive Sanandaj–Sirjan, Kermanshah and Urumieh–Dokhtar magmatic arcs), the P–T–t history of the few Zagros blueschists, the convergence characteristics across the Neo-Tethys (kinematic velocities, tomographic constraints, subduction zones and obduction processes), together with a survey of recent results gathered by others. We provide lithospheric-scale reconstructions of the Zagros orogen from ~ 150 to 0 Ma across two SW–NE transects. The evolution of the Zagros orogen is also compared to those of the nearby Turkish and Himalayan orogens. In our geotectonic scenario for the Zagros convergence, we outline three main periods/regimes: (1) the Mid to Late Cretaceous (115–85 Ma) corresponds to a distinctive period of perturbation of subduction processes and interplate mechanical coupling marked by blueschist exhumation and upper-plate fragmentation, (2) the Paleocene–Eocene (60–40 Ma) witnesses slab break-off, major shifts in arc magmatism and distributed extension within the upper plate, and (3) from the Oligocene onwards (~ 30–0 Ma), collision develops with a progressive SW migration of deformation and topographic build-up (Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone: 20–15 Ma, High Zagros: ~12–8 Ma; Simply Folded Belt: 5–0 Ma) and with partial slab tear at depths (~10 Ma to present). Our reconstructions underline the key role played by subduction throughout the whole convergence history. We finally stress that such a long-lasting subduction system with changing boundary conditions also makes the Zagros orogen an ideal natural laboratory for subduction processes.

In their late stages of evolution, peraluminous granitic melts exsolve large amounts of fluids which can modify the chemical composition of granitic whole-rock samples. The niobium/tantalum (Nb/Ta) ratio is expected to decrease during the magmatic differentiation of granitic melts, but the behavior of both elements at the magmatic-hydrothermal transition remains unclear. Using a compilation of whole-rock geochemical data available in the literature, we demonstrate that fractional crystallization alone is not sufficient to explain the distribution of Nb-Ta in most peraluminous granites. However, we notice that most of the granitic samples displaying evidence of interactions with fluids have Nb/Ta < 5. We propose that the decrease of the Nb/Ta ratio in evolved melts is the consequence of both fractional crystallization and sub-solidus hydrothermal alteration. We suggest that the Nb/Ta value of ~5 fingerprints the magmatic-hydrothermal transition in peraluminous granites. Furthermore, a Nb/Ta ratio of ~5 appears to be a good marker to discriminate mineralized from barren peraluminous granites.

TheMediterranean offers a unique opportunity to study the driving forces of tectonic deformation
\nwithin a complex mobile belt. Lithospheric dynamics are affected by slab rollback and collision of two large,
\nslowly moving plates, forcing fragments of continental and oceanic lithosphere to interact. This paper reviews
\nthe rich and growing set of constraints from geological reconstructions, geodetic data, and crustal and upper
\nmantle heterogeneity imaged by structural seismology. We proceed to discuss a conceptual and quantitative
\nframework for the causes of surface deformation. Exploring existing and newly developed tectonic and
\nnumerical geodynamic models, we illustrate the role of mantle convection on surface geology. A coherent
\npicture emerges which can be outlined by two, almost symmetric, upper mantle convection cells. The
\ndownwellings are found in the center of the Mediterranean and are associated with the descent of the
\nTyrrhenian and the Hellenic slabs. During plate convergence, these slabs migrated backward with respect to
\nthe Eurasian upper plate, inducing a return flow of the asthenosphere from the back-arc regions toward the
\nsubduction zones. This flow can be found at large distance from the subduction zones and is at present
\nexpressed in two upwellings beneath Anatolia and eastern Iberia. This convection system provides an
\nexplanation for the general pattern of seismic anisotropy in the Mediterranean, first-order Anatolia, and Adria
\nmicroplate kinematics and may contribute to the high elevation of scarcely deformed areas such as Anatolia
\nand eastern Iberia. More generally, the Mediterranean is an illustration of how upper mantle, small-scale
\nconvection leads to intraplate deformation and complex plate boundary reconfiguration at the westernmost
\nterminus of the Tethyan collision.

The respective tectonic effects of back arc spreading and continental collision in Asia are considered either as two independent processes or as closely interrelated. Extrusion tectonics assumes that the opening of the South China Sea and the left‐lateral motion along the Red River fault are geometrically linked in a pull‐apart manner. This model is not accepted by several workers because the structural link between the two processes is not clearly demonstrated. In the case of the Japan Sea, we can show without ambiguity that back arc opening was controlled by large intracontinental strike‐slip faults which can be easily understood as effects of the India‐Asia collision far from the indenter. The Japan Sea opened in the early Miocene in a broad pull‐apart zone between two major dextral strike‐slip shear zones. The first one extends from north Sakhalin to central Japan along 2000 km, it has accommodated about 400 km of finite displacement. Deformation along it varies from dextral transpression in the north to dextral transtension in the south. The second is between Korea and SW Japan and has accommodated a smaller displacement of about 200 km. The extensional domain in between lies in the back arc region of Japan. Distributed stretching of the arc crust resulted in the formation of most of the Japan Sea, while localized oceanic spreading at the southern termination of the eastern transpressional shear zone shaped the Japan Basin. The first oceanic crust was formed in a small triangle based on the eastern shear zone, and spreading propagated westward inside the pull‐apart region. Timing of oceanic crust formation, of formation of the dextral shear zones and of block rotation in between, as well as the internal structure of the basins and the geometry of deformation along the master shear zones are used to reconstruct the opening history. This evolution is discussed by comparison to other manifestations of the arc and back arc activity, such as the history of sedimentation and volcanism. The paper then suggests that the collision of India can have tectonic consequences as far north as Japan and Sakhalin and describes the geometrical relation of back arc opening there and diffuse extrusion.

The Okinawa Trough, lying to the east of China, is a back arc basin formed by extension within continental lithosphere behind the Ryukyu trench‐arc system. Middle to late Miocene uplift, associated with normal faulting of the initially adjacent Ryukyu nonvolcanic arc and the Taiwan‐Sinzi folded belt, corresponds to the first rifting phase. The timing of rifting is supported by the presence of marine sediments of corresponding age drilled in the northern Okinawa Trough. The rifting occurred after a major early Miocene change in the motion of the Philippine plate with respect to Eurasia and ceased during the Pliocene. A second rifting phase started about 2 m.y. ago, at the Plio‐Pleistocene boundary and has continued until the present time. It has proceeded to a more advanced stage in the middle and southern Okinawa Trough than it has farther north. Detailed bathymetric (Sea Beam), seismic reflection, and magnetics data collected during the POP 1 cruise of the R/V Jean Charcot reveal the principal features of the extensional processes. The back arc spreading phase started very recently in the southern and middle Okinawa Trough, as exemplified by several en échelon and, in some cases, overlapping active, central graben oriented N70°E–N80°E. Some of these depressions are intruded by volcanic ridges of fresh back arc basalt with associated large magnetic anomalies. Transform faults between these en échelon active rifts are not obvious. We suggest that the major part of the southern Okinawa Trough is underlain by a thinned continental crust and that except for the system of en échelon rifts of the southern Okinawa Trough, the back arc basin oceanic domain is limited to a width of a few tens of kilometers or less in the axial portion of the trough. The system of axial back arc volcanic ridges that occur in the rifts ends at the latitude of Okinawa Island whereas active volcanoes in the Ryukyu arc occur only north of Okinawa Island. We refer to this transition between active arc and back arc volcanism as the volcanic arc‐rift migration phenomenon (VAMP). Globally, back arc volcanism propagated from the southern Okinawa Trough to the Okinawa VAMP area. Rifting continues to occur in the northern Okinawa Trough but is not yet accompanied by associated volcanism. The Okinawa VAMP area is characterized by a series of parallel basaltic ridges oriented N75°E with associated linear magnetic anomalies characteristic of dyke intrusions. We suggest that the formation of the back arc oceanic domain took place along the axial back arc extensional zone trending N75°E and that this zone presently ends at the southern extremity of the active volcanic chain. The initial phase of formation of back arc basin oceanic crust is non‐steady state and is characterized by the lack of a developed fracture zone pattern. The termination of the VAMP area in the direction of the volcanic zone of the arc is consistent with the suggestion of Molnar and Atwater that the volcanic arc is a fundamental line of weakness which determines where initial back arc spreading occurs. Apparently, back arc extension initially occurred within the continental lithosphere located westward of the Ryukyu arc, along its whole length, but the subsequent back arc volcanism was initiated in the southernmost portion of the region and then moved northward. This migration was accompanied by the shutting down of volcanic activity along the abandoned portions of the arc. It is this transfer of volcanism that we call the VAMP process. Thus arc and back arc basin volcanism seem to be associated in such a manner that spreading tends to migrate simultaneously with a cessation in volcanic activity along the arc. This interplay of arc and back arc activity is probably linked to changes in the parameters of plate convergence. Since the plate motion in the Phillippine sea is oblique to the trench at least in the southern part of the Okinawa Trough, we suggest that the oblique resisting force applied to the edge of the overriding plate engenders the development of en échelon extensional features within and behind the arc. The motion of the Ryukyu platelet with respect to Eurasia is consequently an extensional strike‐slip motion trending roughly parallel to the Okinawa Trough.

Abstract The Early Palaeozoic Orogen of SE China consists of three litho‐tectonic elements, from top to bottom: a sedimentary Upper Unit, a metamorphic Lower Unit and a gneissic basement. The boundaries between these units are flat lying, south directed, ductile decollements. The lower one is coeval with an amphibolite facies metamorphism (M1). The belt is reworked by migmatite–granite domes, high‐temperature metamorphism (M2) and granitic plutons related to post‐orogenic crustal melting. We date here the syn‐M1 ductile shearing at 453 ± 7 Ma by U‐Th/Pb method on monazite. Previous ages and our new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of biotites and muscovites show that the metamorphic rocks experienced syn‐M2 exhumation from 440 to 400 Ma. The Early Palaeozoic Orogen of SE China is an intracontinental belt in which decollements accommodated the north‐directed subduction of the Cathaysian continent. This orogen is an example of intracontinental subduction that was not preceded by oceanic subduction.

to cite the paper EPISODES Volume: 30 Issue: 3 Pages: 162-186 Published: September, 2007

Biomass content and turnover rate were estimated for a lowland wet rain forest in French Guiana. A regression model relating the biomass of a tree to its dbh (diameter at breast height) was deduced from previously published data. A power-law allometric relationship of the form AGTB = a D b was used to estimate the tree biomass, AGTB (Mg ha −1 ), from its dbh D (cm). Using direct measurements of tree biomass in the literature, the best-fit allometric exponent b = 2.42 (SD = 0.02) was found. The logarithm of the coefficient a was normally distributed with an average of −2.00 (SD = 0.27). This method was applied to two permanent research stations of the lowland tropical rain forest of French Guiana: the Nouragues and Piste de Saint-Elie. At the Nouragues, the biomass was estimated from trees 10 cm in diameter on two plots covering a total surface area of 22 ha and yielded an average biomass of 309 Mg ha −1 (± 32 Mg ha −1 , 95% confidence interval). Spatial variability was also addressed at the Nouragues by estimating the biomass of trees ≥ 30 cm dbh over a total surface area of 82 ha. For the wet tropical forest vegetation type, an average of 284 Mg ha −1 was obtained (spatial variability ±55 Mg ha −1 ). Biomass turnover was evaluated at Piste de Saint-Elie from two transects (0.78 and 1 ha) on which all trees ≥5 cm in diameter were recorded and mapped twice in 10 y. Transect 1 showed a slight increase in biomass, from 245 to 260 Mg ha −1 (338 to 345 Mg ha −1 for transect 2), corresponding to a net increase of 1.9 Mg ha −1 y −1 (0.7 Mg ha −1 y −1 ), and the biomass ingrowth was 3.2 Mg ha −1 y −1 (2.8 Mg ha −1 y −1 ). These figures are discussed in the light of the natural recruitment dynamics of tropical forests.

New structural studies and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating in northwest China provide information about late Paleozoic strike‐slip motions subsequent to accretional events, which built eastern central Asia during the Paleozoic. Two principal areas were affected by these large transcurrent motions. First, in the Tianshan range, main east‐west ductile shear zones are dextral and coeval with an eastward decreasing greenschist retrograde metamorphism. Associated biotites give ages ranging from 290 Ma to 245 Ma. The earlier N110 shearing occurred in western Tianshan, while the last one, dextral in whole Tianshan, occurred 250–245 Myr ago. Second, in the Chinese Altay region several NW‐SE shear zones structured the area. The main motion is sinistral and occurred along the Erqishi zone at 280–290 Ma. It is followed by a complex succession of dextral and sinistral shearing episodes, leading to the northwestward structuring, dated at 245 Ma, of a metamorphic zone that was folded during a compressive event.

Mechanisms and rates of magma ascent play a critical role in eruption dynamics but remain poorly constrained phenomena. Water, dissolved in mantle minerals as hydrogen and partitioned into the magma during ascent, may provide clues to quantifying magma ascent rates prior to eruption. We determined the dehydration profiles in olivine crystals from peridotite mantle xenoliths within the Pali-Aike alkali basalt from Patagonia, Chile. The results demonstrate that the amount of water stored in the uppermost mantle has likely been underestimated due to water loss during transport. Using experimental diffusion data for hydrogen, we estimate that the xenoliths reached the surface from 60–70 km depth in several hours, a surprisingly rapid rise comparable to ascent rates for kimberlite magmas.

Abstract. On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north–south transect, data collected in the central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and temporal coherency. Contrasting patterns of palaeohydrological changes have been evidenced in the central Mediterranean: south (north) of around 40° N of latitude, the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by lake-level maxima (minima), during an interval dated to ca. 10 300–4500 cal BP to the south and 9000–4500 cal BP to the north. Available data suggest that these contrasting palaeohydrological patterns operated throughout the Holocene, both on millennial and centennial scales. Regarding precipitation seasonality, maximum humidity in the central Mediterranean during the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by humid winters and dry summers north of ca. 40° N, and humid winters and summers south of ca. 40° N. This may explain an apparent conflict between palaeoclimatic records depending on the proxies used for reconstruction as well as the synchronous expansion of tree species taxa with contrasting climatic requirements. In addition, south of ca. 40° N, the first millennium of the Holocene was characterised by very dry climatic conditions not only in the eastern, but also in the central- and the western Mediterranean zones as reflected by low lake levels and delayed reforestation. These results suggest that, in addition to the influence of the Nile discharge reinforced by the African monsoon, the deposition of Sapropel 1 has been favoured (1) by an increase in winter precipitation in the northern Mediterranean borderlands, and (2) by an increase in winter and summer precipitation in the southern Mediterranean area. The climate reversal following the Holocene climate optimum appears to have been punctuated by two major climate changes around 7500 and 4500 cal BP. In the central Mediterranean, the Holocene palaeohydrological changes developed in response to a combination of orbital, ice-sheet and solar forcing factors. The maximum humidity interval in the south-central Mediterranean started ca. 10 300 cal BP, in correlation with the decline (1) of the possible blocking effects of the North Atlantic anticyclone linked to maximum insolation, and/or (2) of the influence of the remnant ice sheets and fresh water forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the north-central Mediterranean, the lake-level minimum interval began only around 9000 cal BP when the Fennoscandian ice sheet disappeared and a prevailing positive NAO-(North Atlantic Oscillation) type circulation developed in the North Atlantic area. The major palaeohydrological oscillation around 4500–4000 cal BP may be a non-linear response to the gradual decrease in insolation, with additional key seasonal and interhemispheric changes. On a centennial scale, the successive climatic events which punctuated the entire Holocene in the central Mediterranean coincided with cooling events associated with deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic area and decreases in solar activity during the interval 11 700–7000 cal BP, and to a possible combination of NAO-type circulation and solar forcing since ca. 7000 cal BP onwards. Thus, regarding the centennial-scale climatic oscillations, the Mediterranean Basin appears to have been strongly linked to the North Atlantic area and affected by solar activity over the entire Holocene. In addition to model experiments, a better understanding of forcing factors and past atmospheric circulation patterns behind the Holocene palaeohydrological changes in the Mediterranean area will require further investigation to establish additional high-resolution and well-dated records in selected locations around the Mediterranean Basin and in adjacent regions. Special attention should be paid to greater precision in the reconstruction, on millennial and centennial timescales, of changes in the latitudinal location of the limit between the northern and southern palaeohydrological Mediterranean sectors, depending on (1) the intensity and/or characteristics of climatic periods/oscillations (e.g. Holocene thermal maximum versus Neoglacial, as well as, for instance, the 8.2 ka event versus the 4 ka event or the Little Ice Age); and (2) on varying geographical conditions from the western to the eastern Mediterranean areas (longitudinal gradients). Finally, on the basis of projects using strategically located study sites, there is a need to explore possible influences of other general atmospheric circulation patterns than NAO, such as the East Atlantic–West Russian or North Sea–Caspian patterns, in explaining the apparent complexity of palaeoclimatic (palaeohydrological) Holocene records from the Mediterranean area.

We examine the problem of partitioning between shortening and extrusion in the India‐Asia collision since 45 Ma. We compute the amount of shortening expected from the kinematics of India's motion with respect to Eurasia, using the reconstruction at collision time to put bounds on the possible amounts of surface loss within Greater India and within Eurasia. We then compute the amounts of surface loss corresponding to the thickened crust of Tibet and of the Himalayas, assuming conservation of continental crust. The spatial distribution of the topography reveals a large systematic deficit of crustal thickening distributed rather uniformly west of the eastern syntaxis but an excess of shortening east of it. This distribution indicates an important eastward crustal mass transfer. However, the excess mass east of the eastern syntaxis does not account for more than one third to one half of the deficit west of the eastern syntaxis. The deficit may be accounted either by loss of lower crust into the mantle, for example through massive eclogitization, or by lateral extrusion of nonthickened crust. A mass budget of the crust of the Himalayas indicates that lower crust has not been conserved there, but the deficit is so large that local loss in the mantle is unlikely to be the unique cause of the deficit. Alternatively, following Zhao and Morgan [1985], lower crust may have been transferred below the Tibetan crust. We conclude that a combination of possible transfer of lower crust to the mantle by eclogitization and lateral extrusion has to account for a minimum of one third and a maximum of one half of the total amount of shortening between India and Asia since 45 Ma. This conclusion leaves open the possibility that the partitioning between extrusion and loss of lower crust into the mantle on the one hand and shortening on the other hand has significantly changed during the 45 m.y. history of the collision.

Core Ideas OZCAR is a network of sites studying the critical zone. OZCAR covers various disciplines. OZCAR will help disciplines to work together for a better representation and modeling of the critical zone. The French critical zone initiative, called OZCAR (Observatoires de la Zone Critique–Application et Recherche or Critical Zone Observatories–Application and Research) is a National Research Infrastructure (RI). OZCAR‐RI is a network of instrumented sites, bringing together 21 pre‐existing research observatories monitoring different compartments of the zone situated between “the rock and the sky,” the Earth's skin or critical zone (CZ), over the long term. These observatories are regionally based and have specific initial scientific questions, monitoring strategies, databases, and modeling activities. The diversity of OZCAR‐RI observatories and sites is well representative of the heterogeneity of the CZ and of the scientific communities studying it. Despite this diversity, all OZCAR‐RI sites share a main overarching mandate, which is to monitor, understand, and predict (“earthcast”) the fluxes of water and matter of the Earth's near surface and how they will change in response to the “new climatic regime.” The vision for OZCAR strategic development aims at designing an open infrastructure, building a national CZ community able to share a systemic representation of the CZ, and educating a new generation of scientists more apt to tackle the wicked problem of the Anthropocene. OZCAR articulates around: (i) a set of common scientific questions and cross‐cutting scientific activities using the wealth of OZCAR‐RI observatories, (ii) an ambitious instrumental development program, and (iii) a better interaction between data and models to integrate the different time and spatial scales. Internationally, OZCAR‐RI aims at strengthening the CZ community by providing a model of organization for pre‐existing observatories and by offering CZ instrumented sites. OZCAR is one of two French mirrors of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (eLTER‐ESFRI) project.

International audience

The Jamon granite is representative of the Lower Proterozoic (1.88 Ga) oxidized A-type granites of the eastern part of the Amazonian craton. The dominant facies is a metaluminous to slightly peraluminous hornblende biotite monzogranite with K2O/Na2O between 0.8 and 1.5 and FeOt/(FeOt + MgO) between 0.8 and 0.9. In contrast to many other A-type granites, the Jamon granite is characterized by early hornblende crystallization and the presence of magnetite. Crystallization experiments were performed on glass at 300 MPa between 700 and 900°C for various melt H2O contents and for both oxidizing and reducing fO2 [NNO (nickel-nickel oxide) + 2.5 and NNO - 1.5 on average]. For NNO + 2.5 and under H2O-rich conditions, ilmenite, clinopyroxene, magnetite and hornblende are near-liquidus phases, followed by plagioclase. The orthopyroxene stability field is restricted to high temperatures and H2O contents in the melt <5 wt %. In contrast, for NNO - 1.5, magnetite and titanite are absent and orthopyroxene (never observed in the granite), clinopyroxene and ilmenite are the liquidus phases. Conditions of crystallization of amphibole, magnetite and plagioclase constrain the initial melt H2O content to between 4.5 and 6.5 wt %. Plagioclase cores crystallized from 870 to 720°C. Clinopyroxene, amphibole and biotite Fe/(Fe + Mg) values suggest fO2 around NNO + 0.5 during crystallization of the granite. The demonstration of relatively hydrous conditions and oxidizing fO2 for the Jamon granite stresses the diversity of A-type magmas in terms of H2O contents and redox states. The Jamon granite was most probably generated from oxidized Archaean igneous rocks of mafic-intermediate composition.

Peatlands contain approximately one third of all soil organic carbon (SOC). Warming can alter above- and belowground linkages that regulate soil organic carbon dynamics and C-balance in peatlands. Here we examine the multiyear impact of in situ experimental warming on the microbial food web, vegetation, and their feedbacks with soil chemistry. We provide evidence of both positive and negative impacts of warming on specific microbial functional groups, leading to destabilization of the microbial food web. We observed a strong reduction (70%) in the biomass of top-predators (testate amoebae) in warmed plots. Such a loss caused a shortening of microbial food chains, which in turn stimulated microbial activity, leading to slight increases in levels of nutrients and labile C in water. We further show that warming altered the regulatory role of Sphagnum-polyphenols on microbial community structure with a potential inhibition of top predators. In addition, warming caused a decrease in Sphagnum cover and an increase in vascular plant cover. Using structural equation modelling, we show that changes in the microbial food web affected the relationships between plants, soil water chemistry, and microbial communities. These results suggest that warming will destabilize C and nutrient recycling of peatlands via changes in above- and belowground linkages, and therefore, the microbial food web associated with mosses will feedback positively to global warming by destabilizing the carbon cycle. This study confirms that microbial food webs thus constitute a key element in the functioning of peatland ecosystems. Their study can help understand how mosses, as ecosystem engineers, tightly regulate biogeochemical cycling and climate feedback in peatlands.

In the years 1930—1950 clay mineral identification involved mainly a combination of X-ray powder diffraction and chemical analysis with some assistance from other techniques, notably differential thermal analysis. In the period 1950—1970 additional procedures have emerged including infrared analysis, electron optical methods and a variety of thermal methods. These procedures are now treated in other monographs sponsored by the Mineralogical Society and in many other publications. Despite the availability of other techniques, X-ray diffraction remains a basic tool for studying minerals and we hope that this monograph will continue to serve, as did the previous editions, both those concerned with the more academic aspects of clay mineralogy and also those, such as geologists, civil engineers and soil scientists, for whom identification and quantitative estimation of the minerals in natural clayey materials is a practical requirement.

We report a magnetostratigraphic and rock magnetic study of the Yaha section, located on the southern flank of the central Tian Shan mountains, Asia. Our results show a two-fold increase in sedimentation rate as well as marked changes in rock magnetic characteristics ca. 11 Ma. After 11 Ma, sedimentation rate remained remarkably constant until at least 5.2 Ma. These findings are consistent with sedimentary records from other sections surrounding the Tian Shan. We conclude that uplift and erosion of the Tian Shan accelerated ca. 11 Ma, long after the onset of the collision between India and Asia, and that the range rapidly evolved toward a steady-state geometry via a balance between tectonic and erosion processes.

The phase relationships of three peralkaline rhyolites from the Kenya Rift have been established at 150 and 50 MPa, at oxygen fugacities of NNO - 1·6 and NNO + 3·6 (log fO2 relative to the Ni–NiO solid buffer), between 800 and 660°C and for melt H2O contents ranging between saturation and nominally anhydrous. The stability fields of fayalite, sodic amphiboles, chevkinite and fluorite in natural hydrous silicic magmas are established. Additional phases include quartz, alkali feldspar, ferrohedenbergite, biotite, aegirine, titanite, montdorite and oxides. Ferrohedenbergite crystallization is restricted to the least peralkaline rock, together with fayalite; it is replaced at low melt water contents by ferrorichterite. Riebeckite–arfvedsonite appears only in the more peralkaline rocks, at temperatures below 750°C (dry) and below 670°C at H2O saturation. Under oxidizing conditions, it breaks down to aegirine. In the more peralkaline rocks, biotite is restricted to temperatures below 700°C and conditions close to H2O saturation. At 50 MPa, the tectosilicate liquidus temperatures are raised by 50–60°C, and that of amphibole by 30°C. Riebeckite–arfvedsonite stability extends down nearly to atmospheric pressure, as a result of its F-rich character. The solidi of all three rocks are depressed by 40–100°C compared with the solidus of the metaluminous granite system, as a result of the abundance of F and Cl. Low fO2 lowers solidus temperatures by at least 30°C. Comparison with studies of metaluminous and peraluminous felsic magmas shows that plagioclase crystallization is suppressed as soon as the melt becomes peralkaline, whatever its CaO or volatile contents. In contrast, at 100 MPa and H2O saturation, the liquidus temperatures of quartz and alkali feldspar are not significantly affected by changes in rock peralkalinity, showing that the incorporation of water in peralkaline melts diminishes the depression of liquidus temperatures in dry peralkaline silicic melts compared with dry metaluminous or peraluminous varieties. At 150 MPa, pre-eruptive melt H2O contents range from 4 wt % in the least peralkaline rock to nearly 6 wt % in the two more peralkaline compositions, in broad agreement with previous melt inclusion data. The experimental results imply magmatic fO2 at or below the fayalite–quartz–magnetite solid buffer, temperatures between 740 and 660°C, and melt evolution under near H2O saturation conditions.

Explosive eruptions involve mainly silicic magmas in which sulfur solubility and diffusivity are low. This inhibits sulfur exsolution during magma uprise as compared to more mafic magmas such as basalts. Silicic magmas can nevertheless liberate large quantities of sulfur as shown by the monitoring of SO 2 in recent explosive silicic eruptions in arc settings, which invariably have displayed an excess of sulfur relative to that calculated from melt degassing. If this excess sulfur is stored in a fluid phase, it implies a strong preference of sulfur for the fluid over the melt under oxidized conditions, with fluid/melt partition coefficients varying between 50 and 2612, depending on melt composition. Experimentally determined sulfur partition coefficients for a dacite bulk composition confirm this trend and show that in volcanic eruptions displaying excess gaseous sulfur, the magmas were probably fluid‐saturated at depth. The experiments show that in more reduced silicic magmas, those coexisting only with pyrrhotite, the partition coefficient decreases dramatically to values around 1, because pyrrhotite locks up nearly all the sulfur of the magma. Reevaluation of the sulfur yields of some major historical eruptions in the light of these results shows that for oxidized magmas, the presence of 1–5 wt % fluid may indeed account for the differences observed between the petrologic estimate of the sulfur yield and that constrained from ice core data. Explosive eruptions of very large magnitude but involving reduced and cool silicic magmas, such as the Toba or the Bishop events, release only minor amounts of sulfur and could have consequently negligible long‐term (years to centuries) atmospherical effects. This redox control on sulfur release diminishes as the melt composition becomes less silicic and as temperature increases, because both factors favor more efficient melt sulfur degassing owing to the increased diffusivity of sulfur in silicate melts under such conditions.