The Cretaceous geological evolution of the Canadian Arctic was marked by voluminous magmatism comprising Canada's portion of the High Arctic large igneous province (HALIP) that is thought to have resulted from a mantle plume head. This magmatism is largely recorded as extensive Early Cretaceous lavas of the Isachsen Formation, Late Cretaceous continental flood basalts of the Strand Fiord Formation, and an extensive network of dykes and sills forming their plumbing systems. Axel Heiberg Island near South Fiord contains a small, structurally complex portion of the overall network of HALIP tabular intrusions, from which samples from the South Fiord intrusions and Isachsen Formation basaltic lavas were analysed to better understand their petrogenesis. Specifically, we apply trace-element ratios together with Sm-Nd isotope systematics in order to identify processes that shaped the chemical evolution of the South Fiord intrusions and Isachsen Formation lavas, to identify (1) mantle source chemistries and (2) the role of crustal assimilation. On the basis of Sm-Nd isotopic results, South Fiord intrusion magmas were derived from a homogeneous mantle source whereas a more heterogeneous source is invoked for the Isachsen Formation lavas. Furthermore, modelling with Th/ La, Nb/U, Ba/Th and Ba/Nb suggests that South Fiord intrusive magmatism was contaminated by sedimentary rocks from the Sverdrup Basin. Conversely, a trend towards high Ba/Th in Isachsen Formation lavas suggests a subducted sediment component derived from extinct subduction zones. We surmise that (1) South Fiord intrusive rocks are geochemically distinct from the Isachsen Formation lavas and (2) the HALIP mantle plume head intersected and incorporated sediments from ancestral subduction zones to the present-day Aleutian and Alaska subduction zones to produce the Isachsen Formation flows, whereas the South Fiord intrusions (and correlated Strand Fiord magmatism) were generated from plume material that interacted with upper crustal sedimentary rocks.
Stream-channel cross-section survey data are a fundamental component to studies of fluvial geomorphology. Such data provide important parameters required by many open-channel flow models, sediment-transport equations, sediment-budget computations, and flood-hazard assessments. At Mount St. Helens, Washington, the long-term response of channels to the May 18, 1980, eruption, which dramatically altered the hydrogeomorphic regime of several drainages, is documented by an exceptional time series of repeat stream-channel cross-section surveys. More than 300 cross sections, most established shortly following the eruption, represent more than 100 kilometers of surveyed topography. Although selected cross sections have been published previously in print form, we present a comprehensive digital database that includes geospatial and tabular data. Furthermore, survey data are referenced to a common geographic projection and to common datums. Database design, maintenance, and data dissemination are accomplished through a geographic information system (GIS) platform, which integrates survey data acquired with theodolite, total station, and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) instrumentation. Users can interactively perform advanced queries and geospatial time-series analysis. An accuracy assessment provides users the ability to quantify uncertainty within these data. At the time of publication, this project is ongoing. Regular database updates are expected; users are advised to confirm they are using the latest version.
Oblique, terrestrial imagery from a single, fixed-position camera was used to estimate linear extrusion rates during sustained exogenous growth of the Mount St. Helens lava dome from November 2004 through December 2005. During that 14-month period, extrusion rates declined logarithmically from about 8-10 m/d to about 2 m/d. The overall ebbing of effusive output was punctuated, however, by episodes of fluctuating extrusion rates that varied on scales of days to weeks. The overall decline of effusive output and finer scale rate fluctuations correlated approximately with trends in seismicity and deformation. Those correlations portray an extrusion that underwent episodic, broad-scale stick-slip behavior superposed on the finer scale, smaller magnitude stick-slip behavior that has been hypothesized by other researchers to correlate with repetitive, nearly periodic shallow earthquakes.
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