We would like to extend our appreciation to Morris and Tooker for their comments, discussion, and additional information that they provide pertaining to the geologic environment of the Mercur gold district, Utah. Their review of the characteristics of the Sevier orogenic belt are particularly relevant; however, such characteristics must be interpreted within the context of the additional geologic events of the region, which include the Jurassic compressional event that has been described from northern Utah and western Nevada. For this purpose, we offer the following reply.

Morris and Tooker have two main points of disagreement with our paper. First, they find the range of K-Ar ages we reported as disturbing and indicate that they date neither tectonic, hydrothermal, nor gold mineralization events; and second, they contend that all mineralized structures at Mercur must be younger than Late Cretaceous in age.

Trace-element data for mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) and ocean island basalts (OIB) are used to formulate chemical systematics for oceanic basalts. The data suggest that the order of trace-element incompatibility in oceanic basalts is Cs ~ Rb (-~ Tl) = Ba(= W) > Th > U ~ Nb = Ta ~ K > La > Ce = Pb > Pr (~ Mo) ~- Sr > P --~ Nd (> F) > Zr = Hf = Sm > Eu ~ Sn (~ Sb) ~ Ti > Dy ~ (Li) > Ho = Y > Yb. This rule works in general and suggests that the overall fractionation processes operating during magma generation and evolution are relatively simple, involving no significant change in the environment of formation for MORBs and OIBs.
In detail, minor differences in element ratios correlate with the isotopic characteristics of different types of OIB components (HIMU, EM, MORB). These systematics are interpreted in terms of partial-melting conditions, variations in residual mineralogy, involvement of subducted sediment, recycling of oceanic lithosphere and processes within the low velocity zone. Niobium data indicate that the mantle sources of MORB and OIB are not exact complementary reservoirs to the continental crust. Subduction of oceanic crust or separation of refractory eclogite material from the former oceanic crust into the lower mantle appears to be required. The negative europium anomalies observed in some EM-type OIBs and the systematics of their key element ratios suggest the addition of a small amount (~<1% or less) of subducted sediment to their mantle sources. However, a general lack of a crustal signature in OIBs indicates that sediment recycling has not been an important process in the convecting mantle, at least not in more recent times (~<2 Ga). Upward migration of silica-undersaturated melts from the low velocity zone can generate an enriched reservoir in the continental and oceanic lithospheric mantle. We propose that the HIMU type (eg St Helena) OIB component can be generated in this way. This enriched mantle can be re-introduced into the convective mantle by thermal erosion of the continental lithosphere and by the recycling of the enriched oceanic lithosphere back into the mantle.

Many Earth science departments today recruit significant numbers of environmental geoscience students alongside mainstream geology or Earth science students. This student-led change in academic emphasis suggests that a successor to Chemical Fundamentals of Geology will meet the needs of students better if it covers the chemical foundations of environmental Earth science as well as geology. The shift in the emphasis of this new edition is reflected in its expanded title. <...>