Carbonate assimilation in magmas: A reappraisal based on experimental petrology

The main effect of magma–carbonate interaction on magma differentiation is the formation of a silica-undersaturated, alkali-rich residual melt. Such a desilication process was explained as the progressive dissolution of CaCO₃ in melt by consumption of SiO₂ and MgO to form diopside sensu stricto. Magma chambers emplaced in carbonate substrata, however, are generally associated with magmatic skarns containing clinopyroxene with a high Ca-Tschermak activity in their paragenesis. Data are presented from magma–carbonate interaction experiments, demonstrating that carbonate assimilation is a complex process involving more components than so far assumed. Experimental results show that, during carbonate assimilation, a diopside–hedenbergite–Ca-Tschermak clinopyroxene solid solution is formed and that Ca-Tschermak/diopside and hedenbergite/diopside ratios increase as a function of the progressive carbonate assimilation. Accordingly, carbonate assimilation reaction should be written as follows, taking into account all the involved magmatic components:CaCO₃^solid + SiO₂^melt + MgO^melt + FeO^melt + Al₂O₃^melt → (Di–Hd–CaTs)_ss^solid + CO₂^fluidThe texture of experimental products demonstrates that carbonate assimilation produces three-phases (solid, melt, and fluid) whose main products are: i) diopside–hedenbergite–Ca-Tschermak clinopyroxene solid solution; ii) silica-undersaturated CaO-rich melt; and iii) C–O–H fluid phase. The silica undersaturation of the melt and, more importantly, the occurrence of a CO₂-rich fluid phase, must be taken into account as they significantly affect partition coefficients and the redox state of carbonated systems, respectively.     

Displacement of a landslide retaining wall and application of an enhanced failure forecasting approach

The 10-mile Slide is contained within an ancient earthflow located in British Columbia, Canada. The landslide has been moving slowly for over 40 years, requiring regular maintenance work along where a highway and a railway track cross the sliding mass. Since 2013, the landslide has shown signs of retrogression. Monitoring prisms were installed on a retaining wall immediately downslope from the railway alignment to monitor the evolution of the retrogression. As of September 2016, cumulative displacements in the horizontal direction approached 4.5 m in the central section of the railway retaining wall. After an initial phase of acceleration, horizontal velocities showed a steadier trend between 3 and 9 mm/day, which was then followed by a second acceleration phase. This paper presents an analysis of the characteristics of the surface displacement vectors measured at the monitoring prisms. Critical insight on the behavior and kinematics of the 10-mile Slide retrogression was gained. An advanced analysis of the trends of inverse velocity plots was also performed to assess the potential for a slope collapse at the 10-mile Slide and to obtain further knowledge on the nature of the sliding surface.     

A study on hydrological series of the Niger River

Abstract

The Hubert segmentation procedure has been applied to historical series of annual average discharges of the Niger River at Koulikoro (Mali), Niamey (Niger) and Lokoja (Nigeria) stations. The breaks, especially those identified at Koulikoro and Niamey, match well with those identified in the Senegal River series at Bakel using the same procedure. Lokoja departs from this regional pattern, as it shows in the late 1980s a return to wetter conditions much earlier than the other three stations. The magnitudes of the variation of the inter-annual means between the alternating wet and dry periods are significant and similar. These results seem to suggest that phenomena causing non-stationarity in hydrological series can have a sub-continental impact or, in contrast, may be more limited in their spatial coverage.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor H. Aksoy

Citation Abrate, T., Hubert, P., and Sighomnou, D., 2013. A study on hydrological series of the Niger River. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (2), 271–279.     

Real-time flood forecasting by relating local stage and remote discharge

Abstract

The rating curve model (RCM) proposed by Moramarco and co-authors is modified here for flood forecasting purposes without using rainfall information. The RCM is a simple approach for discharge assessment at a river site of interest based on relating the local recorded stage and the remote discharge monitored at an upstream gauged river site located some distance away. The proposed RCM for real-time application (RCM-RT), involves only two parameters and can be used for river reaches where significant lateral flows occur. The forecast lead time depends on the mean wave travel time of the reach. The model is found to be accurate for a long reach of the Po River (northern Italy) and for two branches of the Tiber River (central Italy) characterized by different intermediate drainage areas and wave travel times. Moreover, the assessment of the forecast uncertainty coming from the model parameters is investigated by performing a Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the model capability to accurately forecast the exceedence of fixed hydrometric thresholds is analysed.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor C. Perrin     

Assessment of rainfall thresholds and soil moisture modeling for operational hydrogeological risk prevention in the Umbria region (central Italy)

Rainfall thresholds represent the main tool for the Italian Civil Protection System for early warning of the threat of landslides. However, it is well-known that soil moisture conditions at the onset of a storm event also play a critical role in triggering slope failures, especially in the case of shallow landslides. This study attempts to define soil moisture (estimated by using a soil water balance model) and rainfall thresholds that can be employed for hydrogeological risk prevention by the Civil Protection Decentrate Functional Centre (CFD) located in the Umbria Region (central Italy). Two different analyses were carried out by determining rainfall and soil moisture conditions prior to widespread landslide events that occurred in the Umbria Region and that are reported in the AVI (Italian Vulnerable Areas) inventory for the period 1991?C2001. Specifically, a ??local?? analysis that considered the major landslide events of the AVI inventory and an ??areal?? analysis subdividing the Umbria Region in ten sub-areas were carried out. Comparison with rainfall thresholds used by the Umbria Region CFD was also carried out to evaluate the reliability of the current procedures employed for landslide warning. The main result of the analysis is the quantification of the decreasing linear trend between the maximum cumulated rainfall values over 24, 36 and 48?h and the soil moisture conditions prior to landslide events. This trend provides a guideline to dynamically adjust the operational rainfall thresholds used for warning. Moreover, the areal analysis, which was aimed to test the operational use of the combined soil moisture?Crainfall thresholds showed, particularly for low values of rainfall, the key role of soil moisture conditions for the triggering of landslides. On the basis of these results, the Umbria Region CFD is implementing a procedure aimed to the near real-time estimation of soil moisture conditions based on the soil water balance model developed ad hoc for the region. In fact, it was evident that a better assessment of the initial soil moisture conditions would support and improve the hydrogeological risk assessment.     

Trend of monthly temperature and daily extreme temperature during 1951–2012 in New Zealand

A new method for calculating evaporation is proposed, using the Penman–Monteith (P-M) model with remote sensing. This paper achieved the effective estimation to daily evapotranspiration in the Ziya river catchment by using the P-M model based on MODIS remote sensing leaf area index and respectively estimated plant transpiration and soil evaporation by using coefficient of soil evaporation. This model divided catchment into seven different sub-regions which are prairie, meadow, grass, shrub, broad-leaved forest, cultivated vegetation, and coniferous forest through thoroughly considering the vegetation diversity. Furthermore, optimizing and calibrating parameters based on each sub-region and analyzing spatio-temporal variation rules of the model main parameters which are coefficient of soil evaporation f and maximum stomatal conductance g _sx . The results indicate that f and g _sx calibrated by model are basically consistent with measured data and have obvious spatio-temporal distribution characteristics. The monthly average evapotranspiration value of simulation is 37.96 mm/mon which is close to the measured value with 33.66 mm/mon and the relative error of simulation results in each subregion are within 11 %, which illustrates that simulated values and measured values fit well and the precision of model is high. In addition, plant transpiration and soil evaporation account for about 84.64 and 15.36 % respectively in total evapotranspiration, which means the difference between values of them is large. What is more, this model can effectively estimate the green water resources in basin and provide effective technological support for water resources estimation.     

The growth and contamination mechanism of the Cana Brava layered mafic-ultramafic complex: new field and geochemical evidences

Mineralogy and Petrology - The Cana Brava complex is the northernmost of three layered complexes outcropping in the Goiás state (central Brasil). New field and geochemical evidences suggest...     

Parentage Identification of Differentiated Achondritic Meteorites by Hand‐held Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

We evaluate the potential of a hand‐held energy dispersive XRF spectrometer for the preliminary classification of non‐chondritic differentiated meteorites. The studied achondrites include nine lunar meteorites, seventeen Martian meteorites, five angrites and eighteen meteorites from asteroid 4 Vesta. Analytical precision and accuracy was tested on thirty‐nine terrestrial igneous rock slabs with a wide range of composition. Replicate analyses, performed on the studied meteorites, show that Fe/Mn values together with Si and Ca/K ratio can be used in the discrimination of different achondrite groups. Fusion crust's Fe/Mn values of meteorites from Vesta and Mars are indistinguishable from those of the interior implying that even measurements on the fusion‐crusted external surface could be sufficient to pigeonhole non‐chondritic meteorites. Hand‐held energy dispersive XRF spectrometer is a non‐destructive but very effective technique for preliminary classification of achondrites in the field and in laboratory and for the identification of mislabelled meteorites in museum collections.