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A. G. Harris

Publications and source records attributed to A. G. Harris.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1987

Conodont color and textural alteration: An index to regional metamorphism, contact metamorphism, and hydrothermal alteration

Experimental and field data are used to extend the utility of conodonts as semi-quantitative thermal indices into the regimes of regional and contact metamorphism, as well as hydrothermal alteration. An Arrhenius plot of data from induced conodont color alteration by pyrolysis in air at 1 atm was used to generate the geologic temperatures for conodont color-alteration indices (CAI) above 300 °C, that is, for CAI values of 5½ through 8. Such CAI values occur in very low- to medium-grade, regionally metamorphosed, contact-metamorphosed, and hydrothermally altered rocks. The uniformity or variability of CAI values within a sample, together with conodont texture, can help to distinguish grades and environments of metamorphism, particularly in metacarbonate sequences. Induced CAI by pyrolysis in a water-methane mixture at ½ kbar results in retardation of CAI and in a disparate mixture of both low and high CAI values within each experimental sample. In this system, color-alteration processes, above a CAI of 2 to 3, seem to change from predominantly carbonization to predominantly loss of organic matter, presumably by oxidation and volatilization of oxides. These experiments approximate the type of CAI mixture characteristically found in conodonts recovered from hydrothermally altered rocks. These data indicate that CAI values of 6 to 8 cannot be used to assess precise temperatures of hydrothermally altered rocks but may serve as useful indicators of potential mineralization.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗
USGS1980

Radiometric dating of sediments using fission tracks in conodonts

Conodonts are microfossils which are commonly found in marine rocks of Cambrian to Triassic age. Although their biological affinities are difficult to assess, conodonts are valuable stratigraphical indices for much of their geological range1. Recent work has also established that conodont colour alteration indices (CAI) are useful guides to diagenetic temperatures and hence burial depth2. Fission tracks3 in conodonts allow measurement of uranium concentrations and estimates of 'age' to be made using isotopic methods4. We report here that fission tracks counted in irradiated, thermally unaltered (as indicated by CAI) middle Palaeozoic conodonts indicate typical uranium concentrations of ???1 part in 10 9, with some samples higher. A single specimen of Siphonodella from the Lower Mississippian yielded an age estimate of 380??140 Myr consistent with conventional interpolations. This method may also allow the unroofing of deeply buried sediments to be dated. ?? 1980 Nature Publishing Group.

Nature↗