The CIELO Seismic Experiment

The Crust and lithosphere Investigation of the Easternmost expression of the Laramide Orogeny was a two-year deployment of 24 broadband, compact posthole seismometers in a linear array across the eastern half of the Wyoming craton. The experiment was designed to image the crust and upper mantle of the region to better understand the evolution of the cratonic lithosphere. In this article, we describe the motivation and objectives of the experiment; summarize the station design and installation; provide a detailed accounting of data completeness and quality, including issues related to sensor orientation and ambient noise; and show examples of collected waveform data from a local earthquake, a local mine blast, and a teleseismic event. We observe a range of seasonal variations in the long-period noise on the horizontal components (15–20 dB) at some stations that likely reflect the range of soil types across the experiment. In addition, coal mining in the Powder River basin creates high levels of short-period noise at some stations. Preliminary results from Ps receiver function analysis, shear-wave splitting analysis, and averaged P-wave delay times are also included in this report, as is a brief description of education and outreach activities completed during the experiment.

Varieties of eclogites and their positions in the cratonic mantle lithosphere revealed by Jd-Di thermobarometry and trace element geochemistry

<p>The PT conditions and position of different groups of eclogites in the subcratonic lithospheric mantle (SCLM) worldwide has been established using clinopyroxene Jd-Di thermobarometry for different cratons and kimberlite localities. Beneath Siberia, Fe-eclogites found within the 3.0-4.0 GPa  and  were probably formed in Early Archean times forming the base of the lithosphere. In the Middle and Late Archean, eclogites were melted during subduction creating restite and cumulates from partial melts traced ascending channels.</p><p>High-Mg eclogites (partial melts or arc cumulates) are related to low-T geotherms. Melt-metasomatized eclogites trace a high-T geotherm and are often close to the middle part of the mantle lithosphere. Abundant eclogitic diamond inclusions from Siberia also mostly belong to the middle part of the lithosphere. </p><p>Ca-rich eclogites from Precambrian kimberlites of India are located in the middle lithospheric mantle whereas those entrained in Phanerozoic magmas are derived from the lithosphere base. In the Wyoming craton, kimberlites carry eclogite xenoliths captured from the 4.0-2.5 GPa interval.  In mantle lithosphere sampled by Proterozoic kimberlites, Ca-rich eclogites and grospydites occur in the 4.0-5.0 GPa interval. South Africa HT eclogite and diamond inclusions from the Proterozoic Premier kimberlites are derived from the deeper part of the mantle lithosphere and trace a high-T geotherm at depths of 7.0-4.0 GPa showing an increase in Fe upwards in the mantle section. Similar trends are common beneath the Catoca cluster kimberlites in Angola.</p><p>Mantle eclogites have clinopyroxenes and garnet trace element patterns with opposite inclinations determined by KDs with melts. Flatter and bell-like REE patterns with Eu anomalies? HFSE troughs and U, Pb peaks are common for MORB-type basaltic eclogites. High-Mg eclogites show less fractionated incompatible element patterns.  LILE-enrichments and HFSE troughs are typical for kyanite-bearing eclogites. Clinopyroxenes from diamond-bearing eclogites show lower REE and troughs in Nb and Zr, peaks in Pb and U concentrations compared to barren eclogites with round smooth trace element patterns and small depressions in Pb and Ba.</p><p>Support: RFBR 19-05-00788,  Russian Ministry of Education and Science</p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.2c9ebbff3c0067455141161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=4b235af5b7a8029fc48da92cba3afd9d&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt=""></p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.d13207104c0065755141161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=d8f9503af82277872a4263e84ff9e0cf&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt=""></p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.6b7fb9204c0063955141161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=6b87575d150326ed00a773ccd740ef07&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt=""></p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.d6683a304c0060165141161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=d034421517782917a447efa1c07c6281&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt=""></p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.336759404c0065265141161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=b4a9255ae696984c788c9868caf7be97&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt=""></p>

The Medicine Hat Block and the Early Paleoproterozoic Assembly of Western Laurentia

The accretion of the Wyoming, Hearne, and Superior Provinces to form the Archean core of western Laurentia occurred rapidly in the Paleoproterozoic. Missing from Hoffman’s (1988) original rapid aggregation model was the Medicine Hat block (MHB). The MHB is a structurally distinct, complex block of Precambrian crystalline crust located between the Archean Wyoming Craton and the Archean Hearne Province and overlain by an extensive Phanerozoic cover. It is distinguished on the basis of geophysical evidence and limited geochemical data from crustal xenoliths and drill core. New U-Pb ages and Lu-Hf data from zircons reveal protolith crystallization ages from 2.50 to 3.28 Ga, magmatism/metamorphism at 1.76 to 1.81 Ga, and εHfT values from −23.3 to 8.5 in the Archean and Proterozoic rocks of the MHB. These data suggest that the MHB played a pivotal role in the complex assembly of western Laurentia in the Paleoproterozoic as a conjugate or extension to the Montana Metasedimentary Terrane (MMT) of the northwestern Wyoming Province. This MMT–MHB connection likely existed in the Mesoarchean, but it was broken sometime during the earliest Paleoproterozoic with the formation and closure of a small ocean basin. Closure of the ocean led to formation of the Little Belt arc along the southern margin of the MHB beginning at approximately 1.9 Ga. The MHB and MMT re-joined at this time as they amalgamated into the supercontinent Laurentia during the Great Falls orogeny (1.7–1.9 Ga), which formed the Great Falls tectonic zone (GFTZ). The GFTZ developed in the same timeframe as the better-known Trans-Hudson orogen to the east that marks the merger of the Wyoming, Hearne, and Superior Provinces, which along with the MHB, formed the Archean core of western Laurentia.