Wet deposition of ammonium in Europe

Ammonium concentration data in precipitation have been compiled to derive a concentration and deposition field for ammonium in Europe. Measurements referring to a total number of 218 measuring sites have been considered. Because of changes in the ammonium concentrations due to the use of improper sampling procedures, a correction procedure is proposed. This makes allowance for the type of sampler used, the length of the sampling period, and whether or not light-protected sample bottles are used. Dependent on the specific sampling procedure used correction factors range from 0.75 to 1.20. According to our calculations, the total wet deposition flux of ammonium in Europe in the early 1980s amounts to 2.4 Mt NH₄ ⁺y^-1. However, for some parts of Europe the flux cannot be estimated very reliably because of the low number or even the absence of measuring sites. Compared to earlier estimates for around 1960, the ammonium wet deposition flux has increased by approximately 25% during the period 1960–1980.     

Compositional variation of coexisting olivine,orthopyroxene and Fe/Mg-ferrite as a function of T and f_{O_2 }: a geothermometer and oxygen-barometer

A thermodynamic model is developed that describes the compositional variation of coexisting olivine, orthopyroxene, and ferrite (Fe₃O₄-MgFe₂O₄) as a function of and T. The ferrite phase has a cation distribution which varies from nearly inverse to nearly random with increasing T and is described with a model in which the number of sites per formula unit on which mixing occurs varies from 1.67 to 2.0. Given this model and the equilibrium phase composition data for coexisting olivine and ferrite at 1,300° C of Jamieson and Roeder (1984), the ferrite solution is described to an excellent approximation by a symmetric regular solution model with W _ft =+14.0 ±0.3 kJ/mole. Orthopyroxene and olivine non-ideality are also considered. The T-dependence of the equilibrium constant for the oxidation reaction 6Fs+2Mt=6Fa+O₂ and the two Fe/Mg exchange reactions between olivine-ferrite and olivine-orthopyroxene, are used to calculate the compositional variation of coexisting phases as a function of and T. The results are summarized on an isobaric (1 bar) –1/Tplot with the compositional variation of olivine, ferrite, and orthopyroxene shown by sets of isopleths. The ferrite isopleths intersect those of olivine and orthopyroxene at sufficiently high angles for this assemblage to serve as a sensitive geothermometer and oxygen-barometer. The model is applied to orthopyroxene-ferrite symplectite in coronas around olivine in a metamorphosed gabbro, to olivine-hosted orthopyroxene-ferrite symplectite in unmetamorphosed gabbros and norites and to olivine-hosted orthopyroxene-ferrite symplectites developed within the rims of lherzolite xenoliths.     

Fluid absent melting of a layered crustal protolith: implications for the generation of anatectic granites

We report the result of H₂O-undersaturated melting experiments on charges consisting of a layer of powdered sillimanite-bearing metapelite (HQ36) and a layer of powdered tonalitic gneiss (AGC150). Experiments were conducted at 10 kbar at 900°, 925° and 950°C. When run alone, the pelite yielded 40 vol% strongly peraluminous granitic melt at 900°C while the tonalite produced only 5 vol% weakly peraluminous granitic melt. At 950°C, the pelite and the tonalite yielded 50 vol% and 7 vol% granitic melt, respectively. When run side by side, the abundance of melt in the tonalite was 10 times higher at all temperatures than when it was run alone. In the pelite, the melt abundance increased by 25 vol%. When run alone, biotite dehydration-melting in the tonalite yielded orthopyroxene and garnet in addition to granitic melt. When run side by side only garnet was produced in addition to granitic melt. Experiments of relatively short duration, however, also contained Al-rich orthopyroxene. We suggest that the large increase in melt fraction in the tonalite is mainly a result of increased activity of Al₂O₃ in the melt, which lowers the temperature of the biotite dehydration-melting reaction. In the pelite, the increase in the abundance of melt is caused by transport of plagioclase component in the melt from the tonalite-layer to the pelite-layer. This has the effect of changing the bulk composition of this layer in the direction of minimum-temperature granitic liquids. Our results show that rocks which are poor melt-producers on their own can become very fertile if they occur in contact with rocks that contain components that destabilize the hydrous phase(s) and facilitate dehydration-melting. Because of this effect, the continental crust may have an even greater potential for granitoid melt production than previously thought. Our results also suggest that many anatectic granites most likely contain contributions from two or more different source rocks, which will be reflected in their isotopic and geochemical compositions.     

Everywhere different? Globalisation and the impact of international migration on Sydney and Melbourne

Using a new approach to classifying migrant group concentrations, we test for evidence of the effects of globalisation, associated by some with ‘protopostmodernity’, on two Australian cities. Sydney is characterised as an emergent world city and a focus of ‘new economy’ activities. Melbourne is associated with ‘old economy’ activities, dominated by manufacturing. In the Australian context, the onset of globalisation also coincided with significant changes to immigration policy: the end of a ‘white Australia’ policy in the early 1970s in favour of a skills-based policy, regardless of race or ethnicity. We argue that the evidence of the spatial behaviour of ethnic groups for these two cities highlights the essential continuity of ethnic segregation and spatial assimilation processes in two cities where segregation levels and experience are fundamentally different from many overseas examples. We further argue for a need to recognise that context, and the ethnic experience, are everywhere different, both intra- and internationally.     

Reconstructing the ancestral Yellowstone plume from accreted seamounts and its relationship to flat-slab subduction

Recent geodynamic analyses have emphasized the relationship between modern flat-slab subduction zones and the overriding of buoyant oceanic crust. Although most models for the evolution of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic Laramide orogeny in the southwestern United States involve flat-slab subduction, the mechanisms proposed are controversial. An examination of the geological evolution of the 60–50-Ma Crescent terrane of the Coast Ranges indicates that it was formed in a shallowing-upward Loihi-type oceanic setting culminating in the eruption of subaerial lavas. Plate reconstructions indicate that the Crescent terrane was emplaced into ca. 20-Ma crust, and the presence of subaerial lavas implies an uplift due to the plume of ca. 4.2 km, which we use to calculate a minimum buoyancy flux of 1.1 Mg s⁻¹, similar to that of the modern Yellowstone plume.Published paleomagnetic data indicate that the Crescent terrane was formed at a paleolatitude similar to that of the Yellowstone plume. The Crescent seamount was accreted within 5 My of the cessation of plume magmatism. Plate reconstructions indicate that it would have originated about 750 km to the west of the North American plate margin if it developed above a fixed Yellowstone plume, and are therefore consistent with the recorded very short interval between its formation and tectonic emplacement.We interpret the Crescent terrane as due to the ancestral Yellowstone plume. Such a plume would have generated an elongate swell and related plateau that would have been overridden by the North American margin. Taken together, the relationship between flat-slab and overriding of oceanic plateau in Laramide times would have been analogous to the relationship between modern Andean flat-slab subduction zones and the Juan Fernandez and Nazca oceanic plateaus.     

Conditions and timing of high-pressure Variscan metamorphism in the South Carpathians, Romania

High-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks, including garnet peridotite, eclogite, HP granulite, and HP amphibolite, are important constituents of several tectonostratigraphic units in the pre-Alpine nappe stack of the Getic–Supragetic (GS) basement in the South Carpathians. A Variscan age for HP metamorphism is firmly established by Sm–Nd mineral–whole-rock isochrons for garnet amphibolite, 358±10 Ma, two samples of eclogite, 341±8 and 344±7 Ma, and garnet peridotite, 316±4 Ma.

A prograde history for many HP metamorphic rocks is documented by the presence of lower pressure mineral inclusions and compositional zoning in garnet. Application of commonly accepted thermobarometers to eclogite (grt+cpx±ky±phn±pg±zo) yields a range in “peak” pressures and temperatures of 10.8–22.3 kbar and 545–745 °C, depending on tectonostratigraphic unit and locality. Zoisite equilibria indicate that activity of H₂O in some samples was substantially reduced, ca. 0.1–0.4. HP granulite (grt+cpx+hb+pl) and HP amphibolite (grt+hbl+pl) may have formed by retrogression of eclogites during high-temperature decompression. Two types of garnet peridotite have been recognized, one forming from spinel peridotite at ca. 1150–1300 °C, 25.8–29.0 kbar, and another from plagioclase peridotite at 560 °C, 16.1 kbar.

The Variscan evolution of the pre-Mesozoic basement in the South Carpathians is similar to that in other segments of the European Variscides, including widespread HP metamorphism, in which P–T–t characteristics are specific to individual tectonostratigraphic units, the presence of diverse types of garnet peridotite, diachronous subduction and accretion, nappe assembly in pre-Westphalian time due to collision of Laurussia, Gondwana, and amalgamated terranes, and finally, rapid exhumation, cooling, and deposition of eroded debris in Westphalian to Permian sedimentary basins.     

Rough seas and time-lapse seismic

Time‐lapse seismic surveying has become an accepted tool for reservoir monitoring applications, thus placing a high premium on data repeatability. One factor affecting data repeatability is the influence of the rough sea‐surface on the ghost reflection and the resulting seismic wavelets of the sources and receivers. During data analysis, the sea‐surface is normally assumed to be stationary and, indeed, to be flat. The non‐flatness of the sea‐surface introduces amplitude and phase perturbations to the source and receiver responses and these can affect the time‐lapse image. We simulated the influence of rough sea‐surfaces on seismic data acquisition. For a typical seismic line with a 48‐fold stack, a 2‐m significant‐wave‐height sea introduces RMS errors of about 5–10% into the stacked data. This level of error is probably not important for structural imaging but could be significant for time‐lapse surveying when the expected difference anomaly is small. The errors are distributed differently for sources and receivers because of the different ways they are towed. Furthermore, the source wavelet is determined by the sea shape at the moment the shot is fired, whereas the receiver wavelet is time‐varying because the sea moves significantly during the seismic record.