Library

Notes: The two major Early to Middle Palaeozoic tectonic/metamorphic events in the northern Appalachians were the Taconian (Middle to Late Ordovician) in central to western areas and the Acadian (Late Silurian to early Middle Devonian) in eastern to west-central areas. This paper presents a model for the Acadian orogenic event which separates the Acadian metamorphic realm into eastern and western belts based on distinctively different styles. We propose that the Acadian metamorphism in the east was the delayed consequence of Taconian back-arc lithospheric modification. East of the Taconian island arc, thick accumulations of Late Ordovician and Silurian sediments, coupled with plutons rising along a magmatic arc, produced crustal thermal conditions appropriate for anomalously high-T, low-P metamorphism accompanied by major crustal anatexis. In this zone, upward melt migration was coupled with subsequent E-W crustal shortening (possibly due to outboard collision with the Avalon terrane) to produce mechanical conditions that favoured formation of fold and thrust nappes and resultant tectonic thickening to the west (and probably to the east as well).The basis for the distinction between the Eastern and Western Acadian events lies in the contrasting styles of metamorphism accompanying each. Evidence for contrasting metamorphic styles consists of (1) estimated metamorphic field gradients (MFGs) based on thermobarometric studies, and (2) petrological evidence for contrasting P–T trajectories. West of the Acadian metamorphic front, the Taconian zone has an MFG in which peak temperatures of 400-600° C were reached at pressures of about 4–6 kbar, with both P and T increasing to the east. Near its western edge, the Western Acadian metamorphic overprint has a similar MFG to the Taconian, and is mainly discriminated by 40Ar/39Ar dating and microtextural evidence. East of this narrow zone, the Western Acadian overprint is characterized by progressively higher temperatures (600–725° C) and pressures (6.5–10 kbar, or more) to the east, yielding an overall MFG that lies along, or slightly above, the kyanite–sillimanite boundary on a P–T diagram. There is little or no plutonism accompanying Western Acadian metamorphism.In contrast, thermobarometry in the Eastern Acadian, east of the Bronson Hill Belt, yields high-T, intermediate-P conditions for the highest grade rocks known in New England: T= 650–750° C, P= 4.5–6.5 kbar for granulite facies assemblages which apparently formed along an ‘anticlockwise’P–T path. The Bronson Hill Belt lies geographically between the Eastern and Western Acadian zones and shows transitional petrological behaviour: anomalously high temperatures at intermediate pressures, but a ‘clockwise’ path with decompression cooling.Radiometric dating indicates peak Taconian conditions may have been achieved as early as 475 Ma in the Taconian hinterland and as late as 445 Ma in the Taconian foreland (including the Taconic allochthons). Eastern Acadian magmatism may have started as early as 425 Ma, and most nappe-stage deformation and metamorphism in the Eastern Acadian zone appears to have ended by about 410 Ma. Tectonic thickening in the Western Acadian (including the western counterparts of the nappe-stage deformation documented in the Eastern Acadian) must pre-date attainment of peak metamorphic conditions dated at 395–385 Ma. Dome-stage deformation clearly post-dates peak metamorphism and deforms metamorphic isograds. The end of Western Acadian deformation is well constrained by 370-375 Ma radiometric ages of late pegmatites and granitoids which cross-cut all structures.

Notes: One-dimensional thermal (1DT) modelling of an Acadian (Devonian) tectonothermal regime in southern Vermont, USA, used measured metamorphic pressures and temperatures and estimated metamorphic cooling ages based on published thermobarometric and geochronological studies to constrain thermal and tectonic input parameters. The area modelled lies within the Vermont Sequence of the Acadian orogen and includes: (i) a western domain containing garnet-grade pre-Silurian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks from the eastern flank of an Acadian composite dome structure (Rayponda–Sadawga Dome); and (ii) an eastern domain containing similar, but staurolite- or kyanite-grade, rocks from the western flank of a second dome structure (Athens Dome), approximately 10 km farther east. Using reasonable input parameters based on regional geological, petrological and geochronological constraints, the thermal modelling produced plausible P–T  paths, and temperature–time (T –t) and pressure–time (P–t) curves. Information extracted from P–T –t modelling includes values of maximum temperature and pressure on the P–T  paths, pressure at maximum temperature, predicted Ar closure ages for hornblende, muscovite and K-feldspar, and integrated exhumation and cooling rates for segments of the cooling history. The results from thermal modelling are consistent with independently obtained pressure, temperature and Ar cooling age data on regional metamorphism in southern Vermont. Modelling results provide some important bounding limits on the physical conditions during regional metamorphism, and indicate that the pressure contemporaneous with the attainment of peak temperature was probably as much as 2.5 kbar lower than the actual maximum pressure experienced by rocks along various particle paths. In addition, differences in peak metamorphic grade (garnet-grade versus staurolite-grade or kyanite-grade) and peak temperature for rocks initially loaded to similar crustal depths, differences in calculated exhumation rates, and differences in 40Ar/39Ar closure ages are likely to have been consequences of variations in the duration of isobaric heating (or ‘crustal residence periods’) and tectonic unroofing rates. Modelling results are consistent with a regional structural model that suggests west to east younging of specific Acadian deformational events, and therefore diachroneity of attainment of peak metamorphic conditions and subsequent 40Ar/39Ar closure during cooling. Modelling is consistent with the proposition that regional variations in timing and peak conditions of metamorphism are the result of the variable depths to which rocks were loaded by an eastward-thickening thrust-nappe pile rooted to the east (New Hampshire Sequence), as well as by diachronous structural processes within the lower plate rocks of the Vermont Sequence.

Notes: Abstract Mechanical properties of acceptor (calcium and strontium)-substituted lanthanum chromites are reported as a function of composition, temperature and environment. The strength dependence on temperature for these perovskite conductors was found to depend on the acceptor type, with the calcium-substituted chromites showing a significant reduction in strength with increasing temperature, while the strength of strontium-substituted chromites was essentially invariant with temperature. The decrease in strength observed upon annealing in highly reducing environments was correlated to changes in lattice structure, stoichiometry and fracture morphology. A significant observation was the decrease in the cohesive strength of the grains relative to grain boundaries, beyond a critical oxygen vacancy concentration in the chromites. The structural changes in the chromite lattice upon reduction also resulted in decreased fracture toughness. © 1998 Chapman & Hall

Notes: Abstract Lanthanum gallate doped with alkaline earths was prepared from combustion-synthesized powders. Mechanical properties of the doped gallates were evaluated as a function of composition and temperature. The indentation fracture toughness of Sr-substituted gallates was significantly better than the Ca- and Ba-substituted materials, but the toughness of all the doped gallates was significantly lower than yttria-stabilized zirconia, a typical electrolyte material. Small improvements in room temperature toughness and strength were measured in (La0.9Sr0.1)xGa0.8Mg0.2O3−δ, (“LSGM-1020”) samples with significant A-site cation non-stoichiometry (x = 0.9). The flexural strength of stoichiometric LSGM-1020 decreased from ≈150 MPa at room temperature, to ≈100 MPa at higher temperatures (600–1000°C). The notched-beam fracture toughness of LSGM-1020 decreased from ≈2.0–2.2 MPa√m at room temperature, to ≈1.0 MPa√m at 600°C. The decrease in mechanical properties over this temperature range was correlated to changes in crystal structure that have been identified by neutron diffraction. These crystallographic changes were also accompanied by significant changes in the thermal expansion behavior and elastic modulus. For off-stoichiometric LSGM-1020 with A/B cation stoichiometry of 0.90, strength and toughness also decreased with temperature, but the retained toughness (≈1.5 MPa√m) at elevated temperatures was higher than the toughness of the stoichiometric LSGM material.

Notes: Abstract Amorphous oxide combustion products with compositions corresponding to Y4Al2O9, YAlO3, and Y3Al5O12 were synthesized by the glycine-nitrate process and heat-treated to induce crystallization. The crystalline structure of the resulting powders was determined by powder X-ray diffraction techniques. The phase stabilities of the crystalline phases were investigated as functions of the glycine-to-nitrate ratio, the yttrium-to-aluminium ratio, and the heat-treatment conditions. Heat treatment for short durations resulted in incompletely crystalline powders that consisted of a mixture of Y4Al2O9, YAlO3, and Y3Al5O12 phases, regardless of the chemical composition of the amorphous combustion product. However, heat treatment for longer durations or higher temperature generated both pure-phase, monoclinic Y4Al2O9 and Y3Al5O12 with the garnet structure. Prolonged heat treatment at high temperature failed to generate pure-phase orthorhombic YAlO3. Subsequent analysis revealed a sluggish, complex crystallization process involving the formation and decomposition of several phases.